Palm Pre

The Palm Pre seems like a pretty cool phone. It is trying to give the iPhone and the Android operating system phones, G1 and G2, a run for their money. It has a touch screen, full keyboard, and is supposed to work seamlessly with Facebook and all the Google life applications (Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, etc.). Aside from one part of the phone being sharp enough to cut cheese (see video above) the phone seems great.

Recently, I saw an ad for the Pre while watching hulu.com and I realized that Palm is also doing a really brilliant job of marketing the phone. See the commercial below.



The ad is about a phone that optimizes your uses of the internet and media anywhere you are. The voice over talks about that. The actress using the phone shows us that. But, to me, the most compelling part of the ad is the way that it calls to mind the dancing prisoner meme. See the video below.



These videos have been around for a while now. The dancing men are prisoners in the Philippines. The people who run the prison consider the dancing to be part of the rehabilitation process, but it has also become a viral video craze as well as a a draw for tourists, who can go an watch in person, and they have also become a draw for tourists, who can go an watch in person.

There are too many similarities between the Pre ad and the dancing prisoner videos to be unintentional. And it is, in fact, a brilliant meme to conjure up in people's minds to say: Palm is back and we understand you and Web 2.0. If you understand the reference it shows Palm is savvy and has its finger on the pulse. But it is also a striking and amusing image if you aren't familiar with the phenomena. It works on both levels, but screams to those in the know: this is the phone for you.

This ad is a great example of why companies and especially market researchers should pay attention to memes.

Man-taloons

I saw a guy waiting for the bus the other day. He was wearing a style of shorts that I've been seeing around for a while now: long tight jeans that have been converted to at the knee cuts off. I was suddenly struck by the fact that these shorts really look like pantaloons. Granted, our founding fathers seem to be wearing a silky variety, but you can't tell me there isn't a resemblance.



Then it came to me: pantaloons + hipster dude jeans = man-taloons.

Best blog post I've read in a long while

I read the blog Jezebel on a regular basis. I don't read all their posts, but the blog does such a good job of covering gossip and gossip that I sometimes get frustrated with other magazines or blogs for being behind the time and/or misinformed.

They do decidedly unsnarky red carpet coverage and a very thoughtful attitude towards fashion. Below is a particularly good example.

"So, I adore Dior and all that, but once years ago in Vogue I read this story about Galliano in which someone - maybe a Sykes - described him as "a wood sprite," and the evidence seems to have been his applying some kind of expensive mask in an airplane bathroom during descent. What do you think of Tinsley Mortimer's Park Avenue girl gone very slightly downtown?" ~ by Sadie

This just tickles me.

Watching Television

Last Sunday I wasn't feeling so well. Perhaps I was all "Revolutionary Spirited-Out," a mild case of food poisoning or battling off a little flu; who knows. I read for a while but was feeling nauseous, so the words were sort of swimming on the page. So, obviously, I spent the day watching the entire first season of The L Word.

It isn't deep, but, good lord, is it entertaining. You can just consume it like popcorn. It is full of beautiful people with very dramatic love lives, which is the perfect recipe for dishy, soapy goodness. Jenny and Shane are totally the best characters.

I woke up feeling a million times better. I swear television marathons are better than chicken soup at getting you back on your feet. Perhaps the miraculous recovery is just the bed rest, or perhaps it is the body's reaction to its own sloth. Whatever it is, I highly recommend gluttonous consumption of television for quick healing of what ails ya.