It's picture time

[spatch]

Reebok had these silly ads around South Station during the Boston Marathon weekend. This ad is still up on Summer Street near the Fort Point bridge intersection. The gist of the ad campaign was that it was okay to not run like a banshee and then pass out from heat exhaustion while you cramp up and die. And that apparently Reebok shoes are good for not cramping up and dying in. And that when you're cramping up and dying, you begin your sentences with 'and' and end them with a preposition.

The slogan picked to help us remember not to cramp up and die is "Run Easy" which, in and of itself, is an okay slogan. But this is the Age of Local Branding, so the Reebok ads in Boston had to pertain to Boston, and apparently that also includes adding the city name to the end of their spiffy slogan. Thing is, "Run Easy Boston" isn't really a proper sentence. Thankfully here some kind grammatician has actually affixed a little comma sticker to the sign and made a decent sentence out of it.

I have no idea where the heck they got a comma sticker from, though. Or from the heck where they got a comma sticker. Something about prepositions, etc.



This is actually a picture of cookware in Target showing what dandy foodstuffs you can make with their dee-luxe cookware sets. Thing is, we think for some of the pictures, they just threw whatever they had into the picture for MAKE LOOK FOOD.

This, for example, appears to be an omelet with what look like garden peas -- still in the pod, mind you -- and red peppers. With two blades of grass on top, apparently. Just my morning usual, really.



Oh, and there was also a RANDOM CARNIVAL IN MEDFORD this weekend and we happened across the tail end of it tonight. There's some rides and some dark ride/funhouse bally art, too, including, well, a disturbing fire hydrant. See? Oh boy.

Here's the entire set and how.

Comments

[juldea.livejournal.com]

The "Run Easy Boston" ads are still up pretty much all over, although they're not taking up the entirety of South Station any more (boston.com/events has the monopoly at the moment.)

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

The comma sticker might be from Eats, Shoots and Leaves. My copy came with a couple of sheets of punctuation stickers in it.

And I'm guessing that what's on top of that omelet is chives. The peas in the pod, well, not in my breakfast, please.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

Mmm, grass omelet.

It looks like snow peas to me, actually. If you leave them on the vine a little too long you can actually see the peas inside them.

[annilita.livejournal.com]

That's where I was thinking it came from, too.

[samethreechords.livejournal.com]

I saw the Boston ones when I was in town this weekend and thought they were a little better than the "Run Easy NY" bits ("Stop and smell the garbage" and "Not everything has to be done in a New York minute.") It is a bit silly but I kinda like the campaign anyway.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

http://www.uccapps.com/StillspeakingStore/Category.asp?Cat=StickersDecals&Prod=Sticker

But those are red commas. Still.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

juldea, you have a very cool "hold me" icon.

That is all. :)

[ron_newman]

Medford used to have a spring carnival in Medford Square, next to City Hall. But a couple of years ago, some Medford cops assaulted some Somerville High kids, or vice versa, depending on whose story you believe. The next year, Medford decided to discontinue this tradition. This year, they brought it back in a scaled-down "kiddie" version at a different site. I didn't go. Were there any rides suitable for adults?

[ron_newman]

Belmont has a carnival from this Wednesday through Sunday, next to the high school. Here's a coupon for a $15 unlimited-ride wristband (normally $18)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

In all efforts of honesty, it was not made by me, but I similarly appreciated it and got permission from the creator to use it and pass it along. Nab it yourself, if you like!

[spatch]

It was mostly a kiddie thing. Very small lot. The flat rides weren't heavy on the fear or height factor, mostly spin-n-barfs with kiddie rides along one side and a Dragon Wagon kiddie coaster that they were actually running backwards.

There was a Satellite, which I got a pic of, the prerequisite Tilt-A-Whirl, a Tempest model I haven't seen in years, a rudimentary portable flying swing ride ("Ghetto Yo-Yo") and a Cobra. Another ride I hadn't seen in ages.

There was one walk-through fun house, one hall of mirrors, and one trailer-mounted ride-thru. Not a bad haul for a "kiddie" version of a carnival.

[avatrix.livejournal.com]

Some types of peas, notably "sugar snap" peas, have edible pods. I used to steal them from my father's garden as a little kid, and just eat them straight off.

[spatch]

Oh, I love those kinds of peas. We used to do the same snitch-n-eat-n-run-before-anybody-catche-you thing in our garden at home, but I don't remember ever eating the pods. I bet they're pretty tasty, but even so, would you fold them up in an omelet? Or omelette? Or an eggy-type fried-thingo?

[spatch]

Red is always very good when it comes to grammatical markup. I have an admirable respect bordering on a pitty-pat in the heart when it comes to the right woman wielding a red marker. As long as that marker isn't going anywhere near my stuff, I mean.

Because I NEVER NEEDS NO RED MARKSERS.

[28bytes.livejournal.com]

That fire hydrant reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it.

[jimmystagger.livejournal.com]

I like the Reebok ad that features the man puking (classy) and the one that reads "What Are You Just Doing?" (more gramatical horror).

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Does Somerville ever have a carnival? I never hear of any...

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

That campaign was enough that I'll never buy their product. The one of the sobbing runner with a broken ankle was the nail in the coffin.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I CAN HAS RICE WIF GRAYPZ?

[spatch]

I wonder how happy those people were to discover that their moments of sheer pain, anguish and personal failure were photographed, blown up, and used as advertising to chastise us about running too hard.

At least I hope they were well and duly compensated, though I know full well they weren't.

Oh well. Reebok sux anyway. New Balance-4-Life, yo!

[spatch]

They put the kibosh on the carnival in the Assembly Square parking lot a few years back because, and this was one of the reasons cited, the Assy Square lot is vaguely accessible by the Orange Line and the Orange Line brings in all Those Unwanted Types.

Yeah, and I'm sure the Christmas Tree Shops now brings in only the highest clientele.

[spatch]

That's what sh--[USER HAS BEEN BANNED BY LJ FOR TIRED INNUENDO]

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

The message I got from the campaign was this:

"Don't put effort into anything. Don't strive to excel, and don't compete. If you do, you're almost certain to fail, like these poster boys and girls did. Instead, buy our product and let the act of wearing it bring you self esteem. Running is so not cool, especially compared to shopping or watching TV with sports shoes on."

[ron_newman]

Here's some discussion of this subject at The Somerville News website. The article is from two years ago, but someone recently re-started the discussion thread.

[spatch]

"You attract so many people," Roche said. "The location is on the Orange Line, so you're not just getting people from Somerville.
You're getting different people of different backgrounds."

There we go. Fuckin brilliant quote right there.

I never read the discussions at The Somerville News site because they make my teeth hurt.

[ron_newman]

Yeah, don't you love the assumption that people don't know how to transfer between subway lines, or ride buses?

[redtheblue.livejournal.com]

So I guess the ad campaign was originally "The British ARE coming", but they had to take them down after the mayor called in the National Guard?

[spatch]

What really gets me is the inference that people from Somerville aren't from "different backgrounds."

Take a walk up Broadway some fine day from Sullivan Square, up and over Winter Hill, down through Ball Square to Powderhouse, over into Davis, and then maybe around to Union if you'd like and you don't mind the walkin.

I wonder how many different "backgrounds" you'll encounter when you do that.

I only hope that the next time Mr./Ms. Roche (I forget the gender) wants to speak euphemistically and not just outright say "we don't want those gangs in our carnival", a better choice of words can be found.

[spatch]

A sign reading "The British are coming" could be construed as a viable threat to the Colonies and, as such, would be treated as a Hoax Device(TM) by Teh Authoritays.

or something.

[ron_newman]

It's Bill Roche, the alderman from Ward 1, which is East Somerville and Assembly Square. Very likely the most diverse section of Somerville, followed closely behind by Union Square.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

Because I NEVER NEEDS NO RED MARKSERS.

Oh doesn't you now....

[bex77]

Of course, this gets to me on an entirely different level. People...they were ALL BRITISH at that point. Duh. What was actually shouted, in theory, was "The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming!" or maybe "The Regulars are coming! The Regulars are coming." No way to tell, unless you got the Wayback Machine. History. Bah.

[bex77]

Oh, and one more thing. Neil and I happened upon that carnival on Friday night, and I said, "We should tell Spatch about this. He'd love it. And post about it on LJ!" I apologize that we didn't let you know about it immediately but I am very glad you got to see it!

Why not the fields?

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

Dilboy Field would be the most ideal location, followed closely by Trum Field and Conway Park...or the state-owned parks.

Re: Why not the fields?

[ron_newman]

My guess it that it would ruin the grass, whose primary purpose is to provide a playing field for football and soccer.

Re: Why not the fields?

[spatch]

Yup. Lot carnivals are hell on grass. Ride installations and breakdowns, booths, infrastructure (electrical/water hookups, etc) and all that foot traffic just ruin a field.

My hometown holds a fair on the Town Common every May. There's concessions and rides brought in by Fanelli, I think, and the entire place is a mudpit for about a month afterwards, especially on years when it rains during the fair weekend (which seemed to be EVERY year.) Even on sunny years, the Common is left completely bald.

[jmspencer.livejournal.com]

I just e-mailed you this but then realized you won't be in for a couple days... the person who put the comma in Run Easy, Boston, I just found out, is The Grammar Vandal (http://www.thegrammarvandal.com/) and works in my bay.