If You're a Fast Food Executive You Better Eat a Burger on Video, Now!

It all started innocently enough. McDonald’s CEO and chairman, Chris Kempczinski, was in a promotional video discussing the latest offering from the chain. Called the, "Big Arch," he took tiny bites and otherwise didn't seem that into the burger. It was awkward and kind of funny, with McDonald's itself poking fun at the incident. Fast Food is a vicious business, however, and the other companies smelled blood in the water.

Yesterday, March 4th, Burger King's official TikTok posted a slightly older video of the CEO taking a massive bite out of the Whopper before grinning and remarking with a sauce-covered face all he needed now was napkin. Shots fired. Oh, and you know Wendy's had a plan too as its, "US president, Pete Suerken, shared a [new] video online of himself eating a burger from his fast food chain. But in his video, not only does he take a big bite, he apparently eats the entire burger. He then tops it off with a fry dipped into a milkshake." As of today, A&W is getting into the trend with their advertising character, "Allen, the A&W Guy," wearing an outfit suspiciously like Kempczinski's on Instagram and enjoying their signature Teen Burger before concluding with an invite for, "Chris," to join him for lunch sometime. It is admittedly hilarious, but how did this become a thing?

I suppose, considering the current state of our Nation and the World, sometimes you just need something fun to happen that you can discuss with people. While this is a bit embarrassing for McDonald's, even them getting clowned on keeps the company in people's minds while allowing other companies to get some attention too. It's relatively good-natured and low-stakes joking around, and that is a refreshing change of pace from our current reality. Hell, I've seen people remark how they'll try the Big Arch burger just to see why it got so much press, so mission accomplished for McDonald's? We all get to tell some jokes and watch as random executives from fast food chains eat some burgers, it's nice and chill!

I, myself, can't eat burgers that contain beef due to my allergy. I love a good Bison burger (cooked on a separate grill) or even a veggie burger with real bacon on it--although restaurants do get confused by such an order. Seeing all this talk about food from various companies gives me a hankering for them, so in the end, everyone wins, even McDonald's, as the butt of the joke. Welcome to the Burger Wars. Unlike other current ones, this is thankfully all just in good fun.

I Have an Article in, "Undie Comix," #3!

"Undie Comix," is a fanzine that combines a love of the old edgy underground, "Comix," as well as today's independent comics to be, well, Undie Comix! They post regularly on Instagram, have a Patreon you can support, and sell issues of the mini magazine on their website. Issues of, "Undie Comix," feature edgy comics as well as articles/reviews about comics. Now, in the third issue, there is a written piece by yours truly! Titled, "Examining What, 'The Filth,' Say About Identity and Personality,'" it features me discussing how one of my favorite comics ever, "The Filth," considers our sense of identity and how it can be tweaked via injectable personalities within the story (Morrison and Weston made an amazing read). Here is a glimpse at some of my article:

I am honored to have made a contribution to this issue of, "Undie Comix," and would encourage you to get a digital or physical copy to enjoy my piece and the hard work of everyone else within the pages!

Television Tuesday: The First Two Episodes of, "Clipped," Build Suspense Expertly

"Clipped," is a six-episode series by FX on Hulu and is based on a real event when audio was leaked of the owner of the L.A. Clippers, Donald Sterling, saying a whole lot of racist stuff. The show is based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast, "The Sterling Affairs," and as it is a dramatized version of events that means some parts are a bit fictionalized of the 2014 event but other aspects are disturbingly true. Episodes drop early in the morning on Tuesdays, so the third one is actually viewable now but I have not yet seen it. That said, I am excited to watch it as the first two entries are superb at building suspense and setting up the messy downfall of Donald Sterling.

To summarize what happened, Donald Sterling had an assistant (known as V) whom he had some sort of relationship with (not exactly even sexual, but more almost like he was coddling and infantilizing her) and when things went sour she leaked a lot of audio of him saying some really racist and otherwise offensive things. There was a ton of fallout and episodes 3-6 will clearly cover that. Such a short summary does a disservice to a number of complexities the podcast and now show dig into, however.

The primary cast is fantastic. V is portrayed by Cleopatra Coleman and comes across less as the evil opportunist some tried to paint her as and instead seems a bit scared, worried about her own livelihood, and dangerous enough to cause a lot of trouble if she feels threatened. Jacki Weaver plays Sterling's wife, Shelly, and is superb in showcasing a mix of rage, sadness, and abject terror at what will happen if the things her husband has said on tape are revealed. Ed O'Neill portrays Sterling and nails a solid blend of seeming a bit like a buffon but also having a scary and nefarious edge lurking below his aloof surface. 

 Laurence Fishburne absolutely kills it as Doc Rivers, however. Everyone has praised his portrayal as the coach of the Clippers, and he puts in work. With the way he walks, gestures, and does the voice he truly is showcasing some acting chops. That said, some of the actors portraying athletes have had it noted they don't look much like the people they are meant to represent. It isn't too distracting, but Blake Griffin really does not look like Blake Griffin.

"Clipped," and its first two episodes build a bundle of suspense while moving at a nice breezy speed putting the pieces in place for the infamous P.R. fiasco. There is a bit of a trashy soap opera feel to it all, but the show leans into that vibe with little Instagram montages and such between scenes. This was a social media event right as social media really began taking off a decade ago, and, "Clipped," doesn't show away from that. I am excited to watch the next four episodes of this series as I only vaguely recall just how messy everything got and taking a deeper dive into what occurred should be interesting and entertaining!

5 out of 5 stars (for the first two episodes).

Meta's New, "Threads," Has Launched and Shows Potential

 

Ol' Mark Zuckerberg of Meta has done something new. He's got Facebook and Instagram along with other projects and now Meta's development team has released Threads. Threads is basically Meta's way to compete with Twitter. It has potential and is relatively easy to use. A number of features are missing in comparison to Twitter, but that is being worked on. Threads has been rapidly downloaded by those curious about it as well as people who are fed up with Twitter and how Elon Musk--its current owner--seems desperate to run it into the ground. If you already have Instagram it is really easy to import some stuff over into Threads. I feel like it has potential but clearly is in its earlier stages.

One nice bonus of Threads is that it is making Elon Musk really angry. He is threatening to sue Meta for all kinds of things ranging from poaching Twitter staff to somehow stealing, "Trade secrets," as if other sites haven't done a knock-off of Twitter before. Plenty of folks have sites like Twitter that want to be better, threads just has the money and public interest to possibly actually succeed at it--sorry Mastodon, Bluesky (although it is getting buzz), and etc. I don't know if Threads will replace Twitter, but it seems to be the biggest contender for the metaphorical crown in quite some time. We shall see and in the meantime, I'll enjoy how when I use it Elon Musk won't be there. Should you want to find me on Threads, I'm thenewestrant there as well as basically all other social media.

Time for the Best Valentine's Day Song in the Year it Turns 20!

OutKast's Instagram had some fun little Valentines today.

It is Valentine's Day, therefore it is now time for the best song about the holiday. "Happy Valentine's Day," was on OutKast's superb double LP, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below). Both a pro-love and anti-love song, it works whether you've got a sweetheart or are single. It's just a great tune and is 20 years old in 2023. Here ya go:

Happy Valentine's Day and/or Fuck That Valentine's Day indeed.

Film Friday: Why Would You Lie to Us With a New, "Friday the 13th," Tease Like That?

"Friday the 13th," as a franchise has apparently been in legal Hell (unrelated to when Jason went to Hell) due to fights over the rights. For a moment it looked like something had been figured out, however. Hints were being dropped that a new film starring Jason Voorhees could be coming, but it was all for naught. New Line Cinema had a faux-Instagram alert that Jason Voorhees wanted to send a message to people. It got lots of folks excited. Then New Line Cinema revealed they were just having a bit of fun. Fun? Is it honestly that fun to play with my emotions and hope for a new, "Friday the 13th," and then leave me feeling let down and dejected? I imagine something is in the works, but it won't be announced immediately soon, most likely. What a bummer.

Yogi Donuts are a Delicious Treat

Over at the West County Mall, they have made one of their food court's spots a, "Pop up eatery." Various businesses will appear at it for a week or so and then be gone. It's a clever idea and I swung by the Mall to check out the first business to, "Pop up," Yogi Donuts. Yogi Donuts has a food truck that serves delicious mini-doughnuts with tasty toppings. To raise awareness of their truck and how you can book it for all kinds of events they were at the Mall and I bought some doughnuts to try. I got the honeylicious option that features the miniature donuts covered in sugar and topped with honey. It was quite yummy.

These made-to-order doughnuts are hot, definitely satisfy the tastebuds, and I am pleased to have tried them! If you live in the Saint Louis region I'd encourage you to stop by the West County Mall as Yogi Donuts will be there the rest of the week (Sunday is their last day). That, or you can always find them on Instagram and Facebook to find out where their truck will be next--or book it for your own event!

Influencers/Bloggers/etc. Always Need to Sign a Contract When Promoting a Product

If you have a blog (like me) or are a social media influencer (I'm not, but I know some people who are), you probably get solicited to promote a product or service sometimes. I've never been paid to promote a product, but if I were I'd obviously disclose it (I have signed contracts for my writing though, in case you wondered). One reason requests to promote a product or service have never gone anywhere is I am tentatively offered money but there is no contract or anything. Plus, usually whatever I'm asked to promote doesn't even make sense with my blog so why bother? For real though, if you don't sign an actual contract that you should probably have a lawyer check out too, you really shouldn't be cutting deals to talk about a product on your Instagram/Tiktok/blog/so forth. 

This article by Tanya Chen (and this one that the first link references also by Chen) tell the story of influencers struggling to get paid by Ooh! Companion, which is, "...an Australian-based sex toy company that was founded just a year ago, and much of its visibility and success has been thanks to its Instagram marketing." Basically, they sold influencers a line about female empowerment and shame-free sex toys, agreed to work together via DMs and handshake agreements instead of signing on a dotted line, and then it took months and threats of going public about being shortchanged for any influencers to get paid. Ooh! Companion wanted the clout of influencers recommending their toys without actually paying to get the promotion, and they surely aren't the only company to try that kind of trick.

As the tide turned against them they made their Instagram page private.

If you're going to publically promote a product and lend your fame/readership/whatever to an item you damn well better be sure you're going to get paid; the way to assure that is to have an ironclad contract that protects you if anything goes wrong and you have to sue. Now then, I would like to take this time to promote a new brand that reached out to me and promised a platter of lukewarm chicken wings would be mailed to my address if I talked them up--"Dog Whiskey." It's like regular whiskey, but for your dog so they can get drunk and throw up too! "Dog Whiskey: It'll Send Rover Right Over!"

Scott Lobdell is Giving Away Free Signed Comics

This is pretty cool, fun, and all-around classy. Scott Lobdell has been sending a free signed comic to anyone who asks for one on Instagram and gives him their address in a message. He's done this a number of weeks and asks nothing in return (not even shipping, near as I can tell). I've actually already got something signed by Scot Lobdell, I met him at a previous comic show! It was the now (sadly) defunct Project Comic-Con. He was extremely nice and humorous, so it makes sense he'd do something cool like this.

When I first met Scott, I told him how I was covering the show for my blog. He responded with a playful, "You ever say anything mean about me?" I somewhat sheepishly said, "No, but maybe DC," as he was writing a lot for DC at the time. He emitted a big laugh and said, "Well, that's fair." He clearly continues to be an awesome guy and I applaud him for doing something to bring smiles to folk's faces during the Worldwide quarantine.

Mid-January 2019 Links and News to Counter the Cold

Freeze-Out

To think, this January started out so mild and warm...and then the snow came. Right as things are starting to melt the weather reports are saying this weekend may very well be nasty too, so how about we spend our time cooped-up inside by keeping warm with some assorted links and bits of news?

Interesting Things (In My Opinion)

Let's start with an article whose headline sums up my opinion on all these supposed internet-celebrities we have nowadays, "No One is an Influencer if Everyone is an Influencer." Written by Maria Sherman and published by Jezebel it perfectly expresses that all these folk who think having a couple thousand followers on Youtube or Instagram somehow makes them an important celebrity are quite often just the worst (no surprise there) and are mainly interested in little more than making money hocking various products . We all know that famous quote (which is often butchered) about how in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes? I think we need to tweak that to read, "In the future everyone with at least 15 followers will think they are famous."

The idea that a person would actually get death threats for posting a negative review of a movie (in this case, "Aquaman,") sickens me. That female movie critics seem to get a lot more online abuse for simply having an opinion is equally disheartening.

Kotaku had two recent articles involving Japanese culture and individuals that caught my eye. One was about how the mini-disc (which never caught on too much in America) still has a relatively strong degree of popularity in Japan despite the rise of iPods and other MP3 players. The other article mentioned that Marie Kondo lady who helps people organize their houses/lives and how a comment she made about trying to not keep too many books brought the wrath of the internet upon her. I mean, it isn't like she is coming into people's houses and tossing their books in the trash so I don't quite get the hate.

Watching the internet collectively crack-up like a teenager over how, "Now That's What I Call Music," has reached its 69th iteration (in America at least, they're in the triple-digits in the UK) is funny in a tacky and juvenile way, but funny nonetheless. If you don't get why people think it is funny...um, ask your parents or an older friend.

I know I am alternatively very affectionate towards the works of Tom King or incredibly hard on him for making stuff I think is hot garbage, but I will always say the guy is quite nice. He is assisting in giving-out free comic-books to Government employees affected by the shutdown, which he didn't have to do but is very kind to offer folk who don't have much positive stuff in their lives right now.

Anyone who reads this blog knows I hated when Megyn Kelly took over the third hour of, "The Today Show," and proceeded to drag the whole program down. Therefore, I had no love lost when she was unceremoniously booted from it and the rest of NBC. I like seeing her ex-boss (head of NBCUniversial, Steve Burke) admit putting her on the show was a mistake, but laugh incredulously at how he essentially tries to say nobody could have predicted things would go so poorly. I'm pretty sure I and everyone else saw it coming, Steve.

In, "A comic I never thought was coming back actually is and I'm excited,"-type news, "Sex," by Joe Casey, Piotr Kowlaslski, and (the amazing colorist) Brad Simpson is in fact going to return! I know when it suddenly ended claims were made it'd be back, but I honestly wasn't too optimistic. We are getting, "Sex," Volume 6 straight to graphic novel form, though, in an arc titled, "World Hunger." A joyful surprise like this is the best kind of surprise.

My Dad is certified/accredited/whatever the term is as an Ornithologist. That means he is someone who studies birds. An organization dedicated to that practice as well as conservation, Audubon, made a cool article about just how many interesting birds there are contained within, "Red Dead Redemption 2," and how intriguing accurate the game is at its portrayal of said birds (with a handful of errors here-and-there). I've been meaning to send my Dad a link to the article as I imagine he'd find it cool.

Lastly, President Trump served a bunch of hard-working student athletes who managed to win a championship an assortment of fast food, because America has turned into a twisted fun-house mirror version of itself at this point.

Try and Stay Toasty

I hope everyone stuck in the path of the previous and upcoming snowstorms manages to stay comfortable even with all this frozen precipitation.