Stardate 20010921.1820 (Crew, this is the Captain): So here I am, Friday night, watching the tube. It's a ballgame between the Braves and the Mets, which isn't too bad. Of course, I mute for the ads but sometimes I watch. First there was an ad for Budweiser which began with a big field full of golden barley being harvested by a middle-aged man and his wife with his-and-hers combine harvesters. (If that ain't love, what is?) It then segued to the Budweiser brewery showing brewing and bottling. That's almost deceptive advertising. There isn't a whole lot of grain in Bud to begin with, which is why it is so pale and flavorless. But most of the grain that they
do use is rice; there's damned little malted barley in there at all.
Then there was an AOL advertisement which kept putting a huge text banner up (they know about people like me with mute buttons) saying "1000 free hours!". Finally one of them had, at the bottom in fine print, "over 45 days". Hmm, is that so? In other words, any of those hours still remaining are lost after 45 days. To use a thousand hours over 45 days you'd have to be online more than 22 hours per day. Again, it's almost deceptive advertising.
And then there was a closeup of a poster at the ballgame: it was an American flag and under it were the words: "These colors don't run." Damned straight. At least there's something honest on TV. (discussion in progress)
