Your Advertisement Sucks, Peloton, Accept it

Whenever a big company finds itself or its products made fun of there are basically two ways they can handle it. They can accept the jokes with a good-natured, "Okay, whatever," and look pleasantly chill, or act defensive and seem tone-deaf and oversensitive. For example, when Saturday Night Live did a skit about someone in charge of Sara Lee's social media accidentally using it as if it were their own to make thirsty comments on Instagram and bemoan their love life being crappy, the real Sara Lee company responded with mild bemusement how, "“While the explicit jokes in the skit do not align with Sara Lee Bread’s brand, we know SNL pushes the envelope for laughs and are taking it all in stride." Sara Lee looked like a good sport and maybe even got some extra sales from all the hubbub. They handled things well. Peloton has done the opposite.

If you have been on the internet lately you've probably seen people making fun of an ad for a stationary bike that includes a streaming subscription to live training sessions known as Peloton. The advertisement focuses on a very pretty and thin woman who is given a Peloton by her husband on Christmas and proceeds to catalog all her process as she goes from 115-ish pounds to 110 pounds and declares--as if desperate for recognition to her recordings--how this Peloton, "Changed her life." The whole thing is awkward and cringe-inducing, and it went viral for these reasons. Apparently, Pelton does not appreciate all this, having made a press release saying people, "Misinterpreted," their advertisement.

It is a bad ad.

This press release--which included excerpts from three whole emails that had been sent to them expressing support for the ad--reads as self-pitying and isn't a good look. Perhaps Peloton has reason to be upset, with their market-share taking a hit due to some backlash from the ad, but maybe if they instead embraced this absurdity that could actually help. I mean, how many people had zero clue what Peloton was before this ad and now maybe those folk are at least curious about the brand? Seriously, Peloton, capitalize on this buzz and you can turn lemons into delicious and profitable lemonade, or you can sit around simply whining about your lemons.

I Tried out Instacart and Liked it!

The other week Clarkson was really sick. He is fine now, it was just a 48-hour bug. However, while he was sick our son had a fever and kept throwing-up as well as having nasty diarrhea. We really needed certain groceries, but Samii and I agreed we should both be present at the house seeing as our son was blowing-up at both ends. For that reason, we tried something neither of us had done before, one of those grocery delivery services--Instacart specifically. It was pretty cool.

Normally Samii and I like going to the grocery store. It is fun to find new tasty foods, you can select exactly what you want, and should something be missing it is easy to pick something else. Lots of folks hate grocery shopping, however, so that has given rise to services such as Instacart, Shipt, and more. I saw that the delivery of the first order in Instacart was free for new users, so I eagerly downloaded it and got to work.

We got our grocery items from the local chain known as Schnucks, which had an assortment of brand-name items and Schnucks-specific goods in the app. It was pretty easy to navigate with my typing in, "Cinnamon Rolls," giving me a solid selection of all I may want. Anyways, I did our grocery needs in the app and submitted it to be shopped for. Then a shopper was assigned who picked-out our groceries, and the app updated me as they went, which was snazzy. The grovestand-style orange juice I wanted (I like pulp) was out-of-stock so the app asked if I would be okay with the, "Some pulp," option. I clicked that was fine and things chugged along. Eventually, our shopper had everything and put it in what Instacart said was a special cooler/freezer so that nothing would spoil or thaw. A bit later a driver picked the stuff up and brought it to our house. He came to our door and was nice.

All-in-all I put in the order at 4:45 PM or so that day and was told it'd get to our house between 6:30PM-7:30 PM. Everything indeed arrived on time, at 7:00 PM. The app added-on a service charge of about $3.50 and we tipped the driver $5.00 too, so that was not too bad at all. Should we had gotten delivery that would've easily added another $10 or so. Although, the option exists to just have someone shop for all your stuff and then you just pick it up should you want things to be a bit easier but not pay a delivery fee. There is a subscription service as well to get free delivery all the time, but that is more for people who use these grocery apps a lot.

Instacart was really helpful the day we needed it and I liked using it. That said, we still plan to usually go to the grocery store ourselves due to both enjoying it and because all those additional costs in the app would definitely add-up over time if we used it a lot. That said, Instacart was handy in a pinch and I can see the appeal of these grocery-delivery apps. Maybe then next time we can't get to the store for some reason but really need stuff I'll try another app like Shipt and offer my thoughts on it as well!

The, "Black Widow," Movie Trailer is Online

The trailer for, "Black Widow," looks decent. It clearly has a lot of spy-style action as this is a more espionage-themed Marvel movie. Also, as this is a prequel (due to how things end-up for Black Widow in, "Endgame," e.g. she is dead) I imagine it maybe sets-up future stuff--perhaps more Taskmaster later on, or the appearance of William Hurt as Thunderbolt Ross hints at the long-rumored idea of a, "Thunderbolts," flick or Disney+ show. I mean, I imagine that is the idea, otherwise, it is kind of random to finally be making a, "Black Widow," movie considering how, as I mentioned, the Scarlett Johansson version ain't exactly in the MCU now. Plus, with Yelena Belova appearing here I imagine she'll take on the mantle of, "Black Widow," perhaps. Should the movie be great or mediocre, David Harbour as the Red Guardian looks pretty entertaining at least.

Clipper Coffee is Some Good Stuff

I am of course someone who greatly enjoys coffee and as such, I am always looking for new kinds to enjoy. The other weekend I was with my wife and son at one of the local grocery chains known as, "Dierberg's," and a nice man named Tom Charleville was sampling the wares of Clipper Coffee Company. It is his business which is based here Saint Louis and specializes in roasting in small batches right here in STL. I gave it a taste and was pretty impressed, although it was a bit lighter than I like as I normally brew my coffee as dark as the void of space. With that in mind, I bought some to bring home and brew to my specifications. Once I made a pot the way I like (very strong) I drank some more and it tasted just as good super-dark as it did a bit lighter. Yes, my friends, Clipper Coffee is some good stuff.

I think what I liked most about Clipper Coffee is how even when I made it dark there was no bitter taste, just a nice strong smoothness. This probably is due to the, "European Standard Quality," the website discusses using for its whole bean and ground coffee that is exercised for its delicious and unique blend of Costa Rican, Guatemalan, and Colombian beans. I found the regular ground blend of Clipper Coffee to be superb and imagine their decaf offering to be stellar too (and as I mentioned, whole bean options exist for both regular and decaf too).

Should you live in the Saint Louis region you can purchase Clipper Coffee at Dierbergs, Fresh Thyme, and Lucky's Market. They also ship via their website's store should you live somewhere else and want to give this coffee a try. I was very impressed with Clipper Coffee and plan to continue buying it. I thank Tom for doing his samples at Dierbergs and introducing me to this delicious brew!

Note: This is not a paid post or advertisement. I simply love Clipper Coffee and felt like making a post discussing my affinity for it. I will be notifying Clipper Coffee Company I made this post but they otherwise are completely unaware of my blog--I was simply offered a sample at Dierberg's when shopping and loved what I tasted!

Take a Moment to Commemorate World AIDS Day

Since December 1st, 1988, the day has been designated as World AIDS Day. I have of course worked in public health and spent time working with an agency that assisted those with HIV/AIDS and educated others about HIV/AIDS as well. Named Williams and Associates, they continue to engage great work as do the countless others who strive to inform others about HIV/AIDS and provide assistance to those impacted by it. So many millions of lives have been lost to HIV/AIDS and while prevention and education have done a lot to help, there still is much to be done.

"Earthbreakers," is an Upcoming Game With a Clever Genre Blend

When it comes to video-games it is common to mix-up genres. There will be role-playing games that maybe incorporate puzzles, driving games with bits of jumping and platforming, etc. One thing that I always have found fascinating is when video-games mix real-time strategy with other stuff like first-person games. It has been dabbled in before, with the mostly forgotten game, "Savage," where one player would play it like a RTS and also try to send directives to those playing in the first-person (people didn't always listen). I recall one of the, "Battlefield," games having a, "Commander," feature too that kind of did something similar. These were multiplayer games, however, and while some single-player games did this as well, it always seems to be a little screwy when an RTS/FPS blend is attempted in either style, with multiplayer being especially tricky as people don't always work together that well. Well, "Earthbreakers," looks cool and may simply work great as opposed to being wonky.

"Earthbreakers," will have multiple teams of players that have their own equipment sets doing RTS tasks together while running around doing first-person shenanigans. It seems everyone will have the ability to be doing both RTS and FPS activities, which will perhaps help boost a feeling of teamwork as opposed to in some of the games I named where it was a singular player in the RTS-mode sometimes seeming to be bossing-around everybody else. I'll be keeping an eye on, "Earthbreakers," while it is in development and hope it comes to consoles eventually as right now it is just for computers, and my laptop is way too weak for games.

This Company's Idea of, "Owning," Part of a Comic or Other Objects Just Sounds Dumb and Borderline Scammy

Courtesy of sometimes-interesting and sometimes-clickbaity/dumb website Bleeding Cool we have a new article that is interesting but about really dumb idea. Basically, this company called, "Otis," does a thing called, "Alternative asset ownership," where people buy a, "Share," of a physical object and then as that object theoretically gains in value or (possibly?) gets sold for a profit you get some money for your share.

They've done this with vintage comics, apparently, making it possible for people to buy shares of one. This seems really stupid to me. You either own a comic or someone else owns it, it is a singular object. Saying, "100 people share ownership of this thing," seems like trying to take some stock market concepts (and the stock market itself is arguably one big con game that has some very real examples of how it has caused great harm--e.g. the Great Depression) and apply it to things you can't really do such a thing with. I mean, I guess pizza is an object in that you can literally carve that up and share it in the form of slices...but how do you engage in that with a comic?

Even if this works, I have questions. Suppose a majority of shareholders in this comic want it sold for a profit, can they vote on it and have that done, or does the investment company that truly has the comic in its hands maintain the full rights to actually sell it? Would it even do so considering it could just take a bunch of money from suckers for their, "Shares," and then store it in a warehouse assuring people their money is safe whilst the company spends it on whatever it wants? I wish I had answers, but the Otis website and is really threadbare and provides no reassurance to how this whole thing functions. It sounds dumb for sure and quite possibly like a scam. The bit of information I could find on the website after digging in their FAQ section indicates they and only they can sell any items people own shares in or Otis can choose to display it for money somewhere, and they then give you any potential profit pro-rata. Until something gets a check for being on display or sells, however, all your wealth is just theoretical shares...yuck. Oh, and one segment, in particular, worries me in the FAQ I found on my deep-dive. It goes as such...

"[Disclosure] There is currently no public trading market for our Interests, and an active market may not develop or be sustained. There is no guarantee that appropriate regulatory approval to permit such secondary trading will ever be obtained. If an active public trading market for our securities does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult or impossible for you to resell your shares at any price. Even if a public market does develop, the market price could decline below the amount you paid for your shares. Please refer to our offering circular for more details regarding potential distributions."

In other words, once you buy a share you are stuck with it despite reassurances they are working on a way to sell and trade shares (with a service fee, of course). You can't sell your share to someone else, and if the object somehow loses value or becomes impossible to ever sell due to declining interest in the market for that comic (or other stuff they offer buying shares in like--I shit you not--expensive shoes) then you are out those dollars.

You know, in the stock market if you buy a stock and it starts bombing you at least have the option to sell it before it is totally worthless, you at least, "Own," some rights to that paper. With this business concept Otis has, however, the investor seems to basically be giving them money with no oversight or safeguards. If the stock market is arguably one big con game that at least supposedly has rules, what does that make something with virtually no guidelines to how they handle your money? For real, in my research I did I found Otis said how they are exempt from any SEC oversight as pursuant to, "Regulation A of Section 3(6) of the Securities Act, for Tier 2 Offerings." They only are operating on a, "Best efforts basis," which sounds encouraging, we all give our best effort, right? Well, if you break-down that phrasing it just means...

"An agreement between an underwriter and an issuer in which the underwriter agrees to place as much of an offering with investors as possible, but is not responsible for any portion of the offering it fails to sell."

Again, you are giving Otis your money, and they essentially have no responsibility to ever actually handle your money appropriately or sell any of the comics, sneakers, purses, etc. you are giving them funds to own these theoretical shares in. That is not good.

To review, Otis is this, "Investment," concept where you supposedly own a share of a physical object, but can't actually do anything with your so-called share and they have zero oversight from the SEC which makes sure that people's securities (and money) are exchanged in legal and controlled ways. If someone were to bring this idea to me on a show like, "Shark Tank," it would take me less than a second to say, "Yeah...I'm out." Should anyone try to encourage you to invest in this Otis thing run away, run away as fast you can.

Happy Thanksgiving 2019!

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving this year if they live in the United States. Should you live in another country, I hope you have a good day too! I'm gonna kick-back and chill.

My Short and Sweet Statement on Comic Piracy (Spoiler: It's Bad)

The past number of days the debate has really blown-up regarding people pirating comics and whether it is right, wrong, sometimes okay, never okay, etc. Many excuses have been made, bad-faith arguments have abounded, false equivalences have been made and I have a short and sweet statement about comic piracy--it goes as such:

Stealing is bad, even if certain exceptions exist (stealing food to feed your family). Pirating comics is stealing without an exception, so don't do it.

There you go. If you can't afford a comic there are legal ways to read it such as going to your local library and even getting legal free copies to read on Hoopla (which you can enjoy with a library card). This helps fund creators. Pirating comics only helps those illegal websites make money, and again, is stealing. Don't twist your beliefs into a pretzel trying to make what you're doing sound moral or principled. If you pirate comics you are stealing, so either stop or own-up to it without excuses.

Stop by STL Comics for Their Store's Grand Opening--It is This Black Friday Weekend!

I've mentioned previously how my friend Eric Meyer of STL Comics is opening a permanent store location. Well, the grand opening of the STL Comics, Toys & More store is this Black Friday weekend! The store will be open from 10AM-7PM both Friday and Saturday, plus there will be awesome guests on both days from 10AM-4PM.

Comic-creator Rick Burchett will be there Friday and Jeff Edwards on Saturday, which should be pretty rad! Not to mention there will be plenty of Black Friday-related deals going on at the store. Should you be in the area I'd encourage you to attend the grand opening at 10431 St. Charles Rock Rd, Saint Ann, Missouri, 63074--note that the store itself is actually within the Manhattan Antique Marketplace, which is a very cool location as well!

I'm excited to swing by the shop and see Eric and his friendly employees such as Jay (a really cool guy). In-between your stampeding with others as you attempt to get a cheap flat-screen television/clothing discount/etc. It will be 100% fun and I'm 99.9% sure no brawls will break-out unlike at some stores this weekend.