Celebrity Fragrance Commercials

It seems to me that during this holiday season, the commercial focus has shifted from the repetative Chia-pet spots of the past to featuring an array of fragrance ads featuring beautiful celelbrities. In a loop. Non-stop. Sometimes the ads play with one different ad (of course for some OTHER fragrance) in between. I figured, why try to escape. Let me review these amazing commercials that somehow make me feel like paying $50 for a sniff before I snap back into reality.

First up - Emporio Armani's add for Diamonds featuring Beyonce.



I like this one the best because the girl is hot, she can SING, and the whole ad overall gives off a really classy feeling. While I don't appreciate seeing it every five minutes, it's better than some of the other ones.

Second up - Commercial for L.A.M.B.'s fragrance "L" featuring Gwen Stefani.



Okay, I'll be the first to say that I love Gwen, but wtf? What is creative about this ad? "I want you all over me...I want you all over me...now I'm going to stand here in a bathing suit...and then I'm going to pop out of a perfume box..." It's just basically screaming out "You know what...I'm famous, just buy my stuff, I don't have to be creative." But, it's okay, Gwen has already told us in her HP commercial that it's really tough being creative and beautiful and rich ohmigod. :[

Third up - Charlize Theron for Dior's J'adore



First of all, Charlize Theron is hot. Second of all, I actually like the message that it's somewhat portraying that a woman doesn't need all of those pricey things to be beautiful, but while I'd like to believe that is the message, you know what's really going is "hey, what will make this fragrance sell?" "Hrmm...how about Charlize Theron...NAKED." "....DONE."

Fouth up: Dated Britney Spears fragrance commercials.



They are really pushing both this commercial for fantasy and the one for Curious. I love that it even has "Britney + Kevin" to truly reveal how outdated it is. I think the guy might even be K-fed himself. Oh man, I guess if it works, don't fix it?

Fifth up: Shania Twain for Shania Starlight.



Incredibly boring, but her speaking voice makes me laugh since it's not at all commercial. "Uh...SHANIA STARLIGHT! My..new sparkling fragrance!" I wonder how many times it took to get that.

Sixth up: Antonio Banderas for Blue Seduction



Yet another form of seduction by Antonio Banderas, and almost identical to his other commercials. I couldn't find the English ad, but it's pretty much the same. At least he's not saying something stupid like "I want you all over me", although I think he would sound a lot hotter saying it than Gwen.

Finally: Hillary Duff for With Love



I wish they showed the whole thing on TV, they usually don't. I actually like this one, it's the most creative out of all of them, and she does all the singing and acting herself. The part where her pursuer sniffs her garment WOULD be a little creepy, though, if it weren't a fragrance commercial.

Now, I just have one more commercial I want to comment on. That's the commercial featuring Diddy for Ciroc Vodka. He pretty much scoffs at all the puny fragrance adds and show's what's REALLY important about the holidays.



And that's it. Happy Commercial viewing.

:)

My last day of classes here at UAlbany was yesterday. This semester flew by. Now I just have a paper to hand in for Monday, my Japanese final on Tuesday, my Chemistry final on Thursday, and my logic and American City exams on the following Monday.

I'm leaving for Japan on the 27th of January. Uwwaaaa. I need to get my visa papers and get my visa before I can calm down and be excited about it. I might hop down to NYC with Ri if it comes really late. Then, after my semester is over at Kansai Gaidai, I'm going to live on the floor of Ri's apartment until I figure out what to do, since she got a swank ECC job.

Ri's graduating tomorrow which is exciting! The two of us have been here for what feels like forever.

Check this out:



I absolutely adore Flight of the Concords.

I've also been playing the 10 day free trial of World of Warcraft. It's actually a pretty fun game, who knew?

Miranda! - Uno Los Dos/English translation

This is an English translation* of "Uno los dos" by the Argentinian music group Miranda!.






Original Lyrics:
Uno Los Dos

Déjalo así mi amor.
No quiero mas excusas por favor.
Cuánto tiempo hemos sido
uno los dos?
Me preguntan a mí
contestas vos.

Y es que tu
no eras tu sin mi no
no eras nada ni yo
existía sin tu compañia.

Corazón
dame algo de razón.
Hemos perdido personalidad
en esta relación.
Esta noche te lloraré tanto
que te irás de mí.
Limpiaré con lágrimas la sangre
que ha corrido aquí.
El cd que habíamos compilado
para hacer el amor
ayer fue mi disco favorito
y hoy es lo mas triste que oí.

Hoy por primera vez
yo te confesaré
que me cuesta dejarnos
y que no sé
en cuanto tiempo me acostumbraré.

Nunca fuí
dependiente de mi,
mas bien lo fui de tí,
te entregaste enamorada al juego.
Y aunque no
ha estado nada mal
yo me quiero escapar
recuperemos nuestra libertad.

Esta noche te lloraré tanto
que te irás de mí.
Limpiaré con lágrimas la sangre
que ha corrido aquí.
El cd que habíamos compilado
para hacer el amor
ayer fue mi disco favorito
y hoy es lo mas triste que oí.

Nos pasabamos noches enteras
escuchandolo.
Por momentos no escuchaba nada mas
que tu pasion.
Pero ahora que me dices esto
debo reconoces
que quiero volver a ser de mi
ya no me acuerdo como era ayer

Abriré mi placard
pondré todo en su lugar.
Tengo que separar
toda tu ropa que no quiero usar.
Yo te juro que no
no te guardo rencor.
Sólo quiero volver
a ser ese chico que te presenté.
El cd que habíamos compilado
para hacer el amor,
Ayer fue mi disco favorito
y hoy es lo mas triste que oí.

Lo mas triste que oí
fue tu adios al partir.
Y con esta canción
me desprendo de tí.


English Translation (by Ashley Rosell):
Two as One

Let it be, my love
I don’t want anymore excuses, please
How long have the two of us been existing as one?
I wonder to myself
You answer.

And it’s that you
Weren’t you without me, no
You weren’t anything, nor did I
Exist without your company

Heart
Give me some sort of reasoning
We have lost sight of our own identities
In this relationship

Tonight I will weep over you going away from me
I will cleanse with my tears the blood that has been shed here
The CD that we had compiled for making love
Yesterday was my favorite
And is today the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.

Today for the first time
I will confess to you
That it’s difficult to leave us behind
And that I don’t know how long it will take for me to get used to it.

I was never dependent on myself
But I was much more so on you
You gave yourself up, in love with the game
And although it hasn’t been bad
I want to escape
Let’s reclaim our liberty

Tonight I will weep over you going away from me
I will cleanse with my tears the blood that has been shed here
The CD that we had compiled for making love
Yesterday was my favorite
And is today the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.

We spent entire nights listening to it
For moments I couldn’t hear anything else but your passion
But now that you tell me this
You should recognize
That I want to return to being me
But I don’t even remember how I was yesterday

I will open my drawer
Put everything in its place
I have to separate out all of your clothes that I don’t want to use
I promise you that I will not hold a grudge
I only want to go back to being that guy I was when we first met
Tonight I will weep over you going away from me
I will cleanse with my tears the blood that has been shed here

The cd that we had compiled for making love
Yesterday was my favorite
And today is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.

The saddest thing I’ve ever heard
Was your goodbye as you left
And with this song
I break away from you.

---

*My translation is by no means perfect. If there are errors, please feel free to do your own translation.

Interesting people, effective music.

Recently, music has started to affect me in a big way. I've always been a music lover, yes, but I've always zoomed on one thing or another and have forgotten about everything else. The other day I stumbled upon an index called "500 greatest songs by Luca" which is probably amazingly illegal, but had a lot of great songs on it. Upon listening to some of them, I realized that the music we have now is nowhere near as thoughtful nor as well organized and beautiful as some of the music from previous decades is that has stood the test of time. I don't really understand the whole emo movement that's going on right now where every song sounds the same, using almost the same three power chords each time. Is music, as is all other things, moving toward a purely commercial direction? Where are the deep thinkers with the beautiful ideas and amazing musical composition skills? Was it only the drugs they were taking talking?

I've been reading up on some popular artists that I've kind of overlooked due to my own prejudices or simply for the fact that I tend to shy away from what's popular to the mainstream simply because the mainstream lets a lot of really horrible things succeed. Some of the music everybody and their mother obsesses over I've found difficult to get interested in, for example, and I'm going to get beat down for saying this, but I've never really been interested in the Beatles. Sure, they have some good songs, but I've always felt like I've missed the point.

That all being said, I've been reading up on Eric Clapton. Mostly, just things on wikipedia. But, I never knew a lot of the background of his music before because I was never really interested. To be honest, the only reason I wondered why he was such a phenomenon is because of Ryuichi Ogata's (緒方龍一) deep interest in him. Being that Ryuichi Ogata is a member of a Japanese boyband, it kind of contradicts my claim that I can't get into things that are in the mainstream. Let me specify by saying that I only meant EXTREMELY current American mainstream emo-punk-rock. That's specific enough.

Anyway, I never knew that Clapton lived such an intense life, nor that he had such close ties to the Beatles. The song "Layla" was in fact written about George Harrison's wife with whom Clapton had fallen in love. Knowing that and going back to listen to the song, you can hear the emotion and the tension behind it. THAT, is my point. People claim to have these emotions and feelings and thoughts, but nothing stands out. NOTHING is captivating. It all sounds the same. It's all marketable. Clapton was also on drugs during that time, so maybe that's key, but I doubt it. He was also in a ton of bands, and is an all over impressive guy know that I know more about him.

I'm not saying that there is no good music out there now, it's just so hard to find. If you happen to stumble upon this entry, give me your recommendations for what you think is really good, contemporary music. Even if it's months from the entry date.

Meeting and Parting, Coming and going.

As I went down the hill along the wall
There was a gate I had leaned at for the view
And had just turned from when I first saw you
As you came up the hill. We met. But all
We did that day was mingle great and small
Footprints in summer dust as if we drew
The figure of our being less that two
But more than one as yet. Your parasol
Pointed the decimal off with one deep thrust.
And all the time we talked you seemed to see
Something down there to smile at in the dust.
(Oh, it was without prejudice to me!)
Afterward I went past what you had passed
Before we met and you what I had passed.¹

For the first time ever, the current path of my life has never been more clear to me. I would say "nor has it ever been so scary", but that's not true. I know what I need to do right now, and no matter how it turns out, I will have to go from there. For now, just being able to focus on the present is wonderful since I've always had the tendency to be thinking about how the present will be affecting me years from now, thus adding unnecessary stress to whatever situation with which I might be dealing.

I remember last year I had already damned myself to a career path that I knew I wasn't going to enjoy, yet had not the knowledge nor the courage to change it. If I had continued on that path, I would have graduated with a degree in that field and continued life being a miserable mess. It is amazing how much my life has changed in a year, and even more amazing how much it has changed within the last four years. I've done things that I would have never have done before, made incredibly close bonds with people, learned how to get through tough situations and stand on my own two feet. I've learned how to not let people push me around, and I've learned what it means to have people truly care about you. I may not have become especially good or the best at any one subject, but I've really learned a lot and can definitely say that these past few years have been a truly enriching experience in my development as an individual.

That being said, a lot of people might not like who I am now because I'm not at all likely to sugarcoat things or protect anyone's feelings. But, I think that if the truth is too hard to handle, you should do something about it to make reality more pleasant. Truth doesn't always have to retain the same value, and there are numerous ways of fixing things.

Anyway, I'm excited that I'm going to be going to Japan after all. I am scared and worried about it, but I'm sure I'll be fine once all of my questions are answered. I won't actually believe it until I get off the plane, and then I will ask myself "how did a girl from Italy Valley end up all the way on the other side of the Earth?"

And I will know the credit belongs to nobody but me. I know it's kind of egotistical to say something like that, but what a great feeling!

---

¹Robert Frost, Meeting and Passing

My terrible Macbook.

With the biggest shopping day of the year coming up tomorrow, I figure what better time than now to discuss this matter.

I purchased my Macbook about a year ago in September and was thrilled with it. It had a lot of cool features, and its operating system had a lot of features that windows didn't. However, about 2 months later, I had an adapter problem and decided that I was going to fork over the extra couple hundred dollars to get an Apple Care plan. A few months after that, my machine developed the flicker that can be seen here. This is not my machine, but my machine has the exact same problem.

Now, I'd like to point out that my $400 HP laptop had a complete motherboard failure 6 months after its purchase. However, the customer service was amazing and they had it repaired in no time. Apple's customer service is AWFUL. In order to have anything done with your computer, you have to set up an appointment with a Genius over the phone, then cart yourself and your computer to the store and deal with these snarky jerks with over-inflated egos who are apparently the next up and coming Steve Jobs and have no time to deal. And don't you dare try to speak to one without an appointment! They have no time for you little people.

Just two days ago, my $1200 macbook developed yet another issue. Now when the battery nears fully charged, the adapter light flashes back and forth from green to orange, and the battery status goes from "charging" to "fully charged" over and over. This too seems to be a normal problem, and I'm going to need to get my computer looked at by a wonderful Genius so I can potentially get a new battery. Lovely. How about making a product that works.

And that $400 HP laptop? Still running. Could use some RAM and a little TLC, but after 4 years, I think that's pretty impressive.

I don't think I'll ever buy another Macintosh computer.

Ready to move foward.

I'm pretty much ready to get out of Albany forever. The things that I felt attached to here, I'm no longer attached to, and there isn't enough time to make new things happen. I need something new, and I'm hoping that the universe or whatever force there is out there is with me on that fact.

Anyway, I finally got a flickr account, so if you want to see some of my photos, go here: Clicky.

Senoritis?

I really don't have the ambition to study whatsoever. Right now I have this whole "Well, I can fail this, as long as I pass THAT" sort of attitude, and it's not really productive. I'm just tired of school, I guess.

There is a photography contest I kind of want to enter, but there are already thousands of participants and my photography is really, really amateur compared to some of the submissions. Maybe because I am an amateur, oh snap. I might as well try, first prize is a $1000 scholarship or $1000, so that'd be cool.

I've been working on a song on piano, but since I can't really play piano, it's coming slowly. AMATEUR.

I should probably continue to study for nihong0z. This blog is utterly useless.

Okay, then.

Today definitely wasn't lacking in its interesting moments. I discovered that I've been ripping myself off an incredible about by using mealtrades at the Kosher Cafe/Bagel express to get my morning bagel when I could just pay $1.99 at the Outtakes store to get the same thing. I'm intelligent.

It amazes me how much the prices are different up (over?) here than back home. For example, I went into a CVS and decided to pick up some ramen which at home would cost about $0.10 a piece, but here it was 2/$0.79. So, yeah, $0.79 isn't a lot of money but, I'm cheap right now. And, what the hell, it's instant ramen.

So, in more interesting news, I probably bombed my chemistry test. I knew things did not bode well when I realized I had left my scientific calculator in my room and had to come all the way back to get it since I'm useless without one, and I don't think I could do logarithms in my head no matter what. Luckily, I got there just as the professor arrived. It didn't change the fact that I didn't know much about the first two pages of the exam. 55 is passing though, I think. Hopefully I can pull at least that.

Afterward, I decided to go to the costume shop to pick up a bow-tie for my mad-hatter (cheap-ass, poor excuse for a) costume. Ri went with me, and we jumped on the 12 that blatantly stated "CROSSGATES MALL" on it, but...instead it ended up taking us downtown. So, we jumped off at the first stop, which apparently was ridiculously far away from school. Thankfully, we remembered that Ada lived somewhere around there (more like 5/6 streets down) and thought that it'd be better to try to go find her apartment than to stand on the corner in the dark, both of us being pretty much blind in the dark. It was cold, too, but we managed to find it, and it was more fun than just going to lame old Crossgates.


I'm totally studying the wrong country, randomly.

Aaand people manage to kill my good moods within 5 seconds. Thanks.

Zzzzz....

The weekend was too short.

Had I gone to Chem class last time, I probably would have known that I have I test today and would have studied for it instead of reading about it last night. It's probably a lost cause now.

It's getting pretty cold outside. I predict snow on my birthday, I don't care what the weather channel says.


Dear Professors,

Just give me a D- so I can sleep through the rest of the semester.

Thanks,

Ash

Check your ego.

I've noticed a lot of people here seem to think of themselves very highly for absolutely no reason whatsoever. The only basis for judgment these people have to determine how great they are is to compare themselves to others. I recently heard this girl (a stranger) rattling off at the mouth about someone I know in a way that made this person seem inferior to her. She obviously doesn't know the person she was talking about, and she made her quick, sweeping judgment based on a physical observation. I wanted to say "And what makes you so special, you empty-headed, judgmental twat?" Yes, "twat", because it's great to call someone a name that is just as useless as the person to whom it is referring.

But, you know what? Trying to tell people like that anything different to change their opinion is absolutely pointless. It's cool to talk down about people, isn't it? Even if you know nothing about them. And especially if they aren't up to society's standards of beauty, because that totally obliterates any good qualities that person may have.

So, what do you say when someone makes fun of someone you know from across the room (when you probably shouldn't be listening anyway)? I'm not sure.

Humans are really stupid, and I say this from experience.

C'est la vie.

I didn't end up receiving a paycheck after all, which means that I will have to wait yet another two weeks to hopefully receive FOUR paychecks which the state now owes me. FOUR. This means I'm going to be taxed a ridiculous amount. I guess I can look forward to my tax return this year, though. Every penny counts.

I realized today that I really suck at guitar. It's pitiful, really. All of my callouses are gone, so I can't play well at all. I also think my guitar's neck is getting warped since there is an annoying vibration. Maybe I should use it more than twice a semester, but I'm shy. I shouldn't have been shy before when I could somewhat play, because now it's even worse. I need to practice, practice, practice. I used to practice for about 3 hours a day, but who has that sort of time anymore? When I lived in the country-side (and only had dial-up internet), that's all I had to do. At least I can remember chords and placement. I just need to make my fingers bleed.

I have a number of tests coming up within the next couple of weeks which feels odd to me since it seems like I just had one in ever class about two weeks ago. But, who knows, that's probably about right. I'm out of luck when it comes to my city class, but I think I'll be okay on my logic and chemistry tests. It's pretty bad when I, someone who detests mathematics and science, am having an easier time with those sorts of classes but cannot wrap my head around something that is supposed to weave into American history. That last sentence was extremely awkward (and most likely incorrect) usage of English.

It's 10pm already, how did that happen?

I suppose I'll spare this post from picture spam.

Getting Up Early...

So, tomorrow I finally get the three paychecks the Federal Work Study program has been owing me for what seems like forever. However, since the payroll office is located in its new, convenient location of NOT ON CAMPUS, I have to plan around these things. This means getting up early, as I have class at 1:15 (that I've skipped more times than I should already), avoiding the cleaning man who comes anywhere from 9:30 to 12:30, and finding time to eat sometime between all of this when I have work at 3pm, with class getting out at...2:35? I mean, attendance isn't taken in class, and it's pretty much useless to even go to it, but...I need the class to graduate (gen-eds) and I feel like somehow THIS stupid class is going to ruin everything.

Hopefully not?

Hopefully it'll all turn out all right.

For now, I leave this picture. Click it, etc.

Stomach aches...

I think I'm going to end up getting that bug that's going around. I haven't gotten the stomach flu in about a year, so I guess I'm due. Still, it was nice when I went about 7 years without vomiting once. Vomiting is my least favorite pastime in the world, at least I'm pretty sure.

I created a new deviantART account for my more polished photography pieces. I'm not so sure deviantART is the most popular place for artwork these days, but I'm not sure really where else to put it up. I actually think most people use Flickr? I haven't used it yet, I'm going to have to look into it.

For now, here's one of my photos from devART. If you click on it, it should take you to the page, and from there you can click on my username and view my gallery. There are prints available at unreasonable prices (not my fault) if anyone is interested, haha.

Kicking it off...

So, here it is. I've finally decided on a place for a public blog, after making weak attempts at having them elsewhere. Although, I don't think blogging is really something someone should really try hard to accomplish...just having a public blog makes so that I can't as openly bitch about things and people. Or maybe I can.

Now for random fun, let's post some bad pictures from my high school photography class that I attempted to salvage using photoshop. I think more of this kind of thing will be posted here.











The reason why I keep these things kicking around is because of the memories they bring back from high school. Good memories, but I'm happy to have gone forward with life.