A whimsical tale, told by a kid, in French

Your weekly dose of CUTE.

I wonder if French people think English-speaking kids are cuter than French-speaking kids.

Better than my favorite Super Bowl commercial?

Okay, I was a little disappointed with most of the ads that aired last night, especially considering it cost $2.5 million per 30 second spot (so you’d think they’d put a little more creativity and innovation into them). The Tebow ad wasn’t as controversial as everyone was making it out to be–at least, I had no problem with it. There were ads that were far more offensive: misogynist and just plain yuck, denigrating women and portraying men as emasculated by relationships/marriages. And what was with all the sans-pants action? Seriously … THIS is what you think 93 million people are like?

That said, my favorite Super Bowl ad was the simplest one, and also the most effective. Google’s simple storytelling underlined not only the power of understated simplicity but also the importance of story. And it didn’t turn off half the population. (And it’s not even as if Google needs the publicity! Maybe that’s why … many of the other advertisers were trying too hard.)

And then, this morning, I came across this, from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in the UK. It’s beautiful, poignant, effective, simple. I wish more commercials eschewed the American tendency for making everything overblown.

Sarah Palin doesn’t need a teleprompter

… but she does need notes on her hand to reference.

From her appearance at the Tea Party Convention over the weekend:

Let’s look a little closer:

In case you still can’t make it out:

Energy
Budget Tax Cuts
Lift American Spirits

They came in very handy for the Q&A session. A number of people were wondering what it would have looked like if Sarah Palin had engaged in a televised Q&A, like President Obama did at the GOP retreat and with the Democratic senators. Well … probably something a little like this:

Thanks to Stefan Sirucek at HuffPo for the article.

Big Snowdown in Little DC

Enjoy us enjoying what Fox News called “The Blizzard of 2010.”

Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly (UNCUT)

Earlier this week, Jon Stewart entered Bill O’Reilly’s “No Spin Zone” for a conversation … or, as Fox News described it, a “faceoff.”

Interestingly though, a lot of Jon’s most incisive and effective arguments were left on the cutting room floor. Fortunately, Fox News generously put the full, unedited conversation online, where it was picked up and logged by Gawker.

Among Jon’s best lines:

How many tyrants do you know that really suffer because they can’t get cloture?

[F]ox News used to be all about, you don’t criticize a president during wartime. It’s unacceptable, it’s treasonous, it gives aid and comfort to the enemy. All of a sudden, for some reason you can run out there and say, “Barack Obama is destroying the fabric of this country.”

There’s no Real America, there’s no coastal elite. … The idea somehow that there’s a Real America, where the good people live, the ones that love God and love the country–that’s ridiculous. … You’ll probably find more evangelicals [in the West Village] than you have in your neighborhood.

He’s not Magneto–Khalid Sheikh Muhammad isn’t going to sprout wings and fly out and start shooting buildings with lasers.

Snowpocalypse DC 2.0

So I love snow. You could say I’m a Snow-bie. Or a Snow-journer. Or … okay, I’ll stop.

Suffice it to say, I get very excited when there’s snow. (Which, if you’re one of my Facebook friends, you can see in my videos.)

So … Snowpocalypse DC 2.0 (aka Snowmageddon or SnOMGasm) is here.

Let it begin!

Siri: A personal assistant for the iPhone

Here’s a review on Venture Beat.