First up is a television commercial. One of the reasons I talk about advertising so much is that ads tells us a lot about ourselves. The science of marketing is pure psychology, and there's always a lot of graphic artistry, skilled writing, and occasionally even brilliant acting embedded in those messages designed to make you "commit" to the buying act.

So I'm relaxing after a hard day of staring out the window, and I'm watching network TV, maybe Frasier, and this McDonald's commercial comes on that looks something like Foxy Brown meets Coffee. We're in an alley, or on a corner, and two soul sisters with afros and 70s outfits are talking about some kind of "deal going down" and it's very Linc Hayesian with a Lalo Shiffrin kinda soundtrack and just as you're starting to engage with this thing the Hamburgler mascot pops up. I couldn't find a link for this so you'll just have to trust me here.

Looks to The Raven like McDonald's is targeting the black viewership, and trying to connect with a hip, urban community by connecting their interests with the Criminal Element. Shafted again by the Man, we say.

What It's All About

In blogland, it can often come down to competition for eyeballs—yes, the same concern that broadcasters and publishers have always had. Salonblogs' own Xian Crumlish at Salonika today has a sharp item featuring this cogent observation:

Bloggers who snark, "Maybe I should write about sex to get more hits" don't realize that you have to write about whatever looms large in your own consciousness, and then if it happens to map up with the priorities of a lot of other minds, you get the hits.

And sex never hurts. By the way, did we mention that Melora Hardin will be starring in The Hot Chick, an upcoming Touchstone comedy?

6:51:20 PM       

We humans come pre-wired with a sophisticated biological and psychological assortment of tools that have evolved to give us an edge against the hazards of the world. For instance, smoked fish is one of the "most dangerous" foods available, according to CNN. If you get a bad one on your bagel, you're going to be sorry. And then you'll never eat fish again, because food items are "one-trial learning" stimuli that strike at the core of your brain stem, where all the survival information is on the fast track.

Our eyes give us all kinds of vital clues for navigating life's riskier challenges. Certain animals and insects are marked with black and yellow: Nature's hazard sign. It's no coincidence we use the same scheme for marking road placards and the Gorton's Fisherman Bobble Head Doll. You see these things, it's "heads-up!" bro.

They Don't Like Us

On Monday, members and supporters of Islamic Jihad held a rally in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Just getting there was half the fun, as "at least one Palestinian died and three were injured" at a checkpoint near the festivities. In addition to flag burnings and chanting, they held a "walk on the U.S. flag" event. As you can see here, these guys are a resourceful bunch who made their own Stars and Stripes—as indicated by the flag's 160 stars. You see a demonstration where they're stomping and wiping their feet on your flag, you go somewhere else to ask directions because these things also tend to be "one-trial" lessons.

Death Drives a Lunch Truck

I learned this early on, when I used to work the graveyard shift for a bank. Sometime around 3:00 a.m., the so-called "roach coach" would pull up. You've seen these, the funny pickup truck with corrugated aluminum sides that fold up to reveal a cavalcade of comestibles. The rules are simple: pick right, hunger is abated. Pick wrong, puke your guts out. Most of us got poisoned about once a month, usually from the tuna fish sandwiches or the potato salad cups.

This all came back to me when I was looking at McSweeney's this morning, and ran across their Interviews with Lunch Truck Drivers. Great reading, and educational, too.

Pascover: Hey Will. So what's good tonight?

Ko: [Chuckles] Well, as always, Cliffy, everything's good tonight.

Pascover: OK, I'll have a Half T. Sui, G&G, extra heavy, sunshine.

[A Suicide, or Sui, is a half-loaf of french bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese and stuffed with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions I think, and maybe some other things. A Triple or T. Sui has three meatballs as well. A Half T. Sui is on a third of a loaf, and I believe it only has one meatball. G&G stands for grease and garden, that is, mayonnaise and lettuce. Extra heavy means extra garlic, and sunshine is mustard.]

You Can't Win

In a casino, that is. Sure, if you get lucky and don't stay very long, you can sneak out with a few extra bucks, but the house percentage works against the inveterate gambler and the more you gamble, the worse the odds against you. You'd think people would figure this out, but psychology is a funny thing, so that the gambler remembers winning $2.75 and forgets the $2,987 he squandered along the way.

One of my favorite writers, Joe Bob Briggs, has a sharp UPI story today titled The Vegas Guy, in which he runs down the lesser-known table games and adds some commentary on why they're so addictive.

"Pai Gow": This is a great game that, among other things, LOOKS cool. It has these dominos that look like Indiana Jones found them in the Temple of Doom. All you need to play is to be a 16th-generation Chinese gambler who has read 47 books in Mandarin.

More Raven this afternoon.

10:48:56 AM