Monday, December 24, 2007

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 I love that it even has "Britney + Kevin" to truly reveal how outdated it is.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.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

:)

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?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

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.