|
Weinzierl Jewelers |
|
Victoria’s Corner Bar. Nightly Specials and Menus. 952-443-9944 |
|
8 First Street in Waconia. 952-442-2885 |
|
942-443-2078 |
|
Funeral Home & Cremation Services 952-474-9595 |
|
Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic. Occupational Therapy. Speech Therapy. 952-443-9888 |
|
Huber |
|
City of Lakes & Parks 952-443-2363 |
|
“Trees Are Our Roots” 8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990 |
|
Headlines and bylines |
|
Front Page Feature Story |
|
From the Editor |
|
Addie’s Drawing |
|
Letters to the Editor |
|
Victoria Moments |
|
Hook Line & Sinker |
|
Calendar of Events |
|
Click here to Advertise |
|
the Gazette |
|
Return to Home Page |
|
Order paper Gazette |
|
Notes and Quotes |
|
The Scoop at City Hall |
|
Love 'em or hate 'em, you can hardly ignore 'em. I'm talking about commercials, those that attract my attention, good or bad. How many of you know that Marie Osmond lost 50 pounds on Nutrisystem? The commercial is on television so often and has become so irritating to me that if I wanted to lose weight on a program, I would not choose Nutrisystem. I'd rather be fat than listen to or ever again hear Marie Osmond. "I looked in the mirror and saw what I did not want to see," she says over and over in the repeated commercials. I always want to ask why she didn't notice the first 40 pounds in the mirror? And then there's Kirstie Alley whose favorite weight loss program over the years has been Jenny Craig. It always looks to me like she's still wearing an extra 50 pounds. Oh, well, what would she and Marie Osmond be doing if they weren't losing weight on television? And then there's Mike Lindell, bless his heart, and My Pillow. Yes, we know Mike from when he owned and operated Schmitty's here in Victoria and I like the guy. Personable as can be. But hearing about My Pillow and mypillow.com 400 times a day is way too much. "Buy one, get one free. The official pillow of the National Sleep Foundation. I personally guarantee My Pillow will be the most comfortable pillow you'll ever own." I thought that after Christmas, Mike would take a break, but he's still pushing pillows. Do you think if I bought a couple he would go away? And then there's a radio commercial that drives me up a wall. Can you sing the tune for "One eight seven seven cars for kids, K-A-R-S kars for kids. One eight seven seven kars for kids, donate your car today." For a while I thought it was cute and catchy but now when I hear it I'd like to throw the radio. And then there's those Liberty Mutual Insurance ads where, "Boom," you get into an accident with a brand new car and, "Boom," there's depreciation and, "Boom. What good is insurance if you get punished for using it?" All those Booms bother me. And then there's Geico and Kenny Rogers singing, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealing's done." And when his card playing friends have obviously had enough of his singing in the middle of a hand .... everything stops and Kenny says, "What! What?" I do smile at that one, every time. And then there's Elvis Presley singing "Amazing Grace" which I actually also don't mind. As a matter of fact I bought Elvis' set of Old Gospel CDs a few years ago. They're for the ages. And then there's commercials at Movie Theaters before the show starts. Last week we were at an Eden Prairie theater and were surprised to see a huge ad on the huge screen prior to the start of the show. I expect to see commercials for Coke and Popcorn and Previews, but here was this big commercial for Eastern Carver County Schools. Do we have a shortage of kids in our school district? Too many classrooms? Are we trying to snag students from Eden Prairie? Were taxpayer dollars used to pay for the commercial? Who paid to produce it? Or was it a gift to Eastern Carver County Schools? And then there's Tioga, North Dakota, where we were for five days in mid January and we didn't have the television or radio turned on for the entire time. And they only have a small theater in town with old movies that are run by volunteers on Saturday nights. And we didn't read newspapers or magazines. So no commercials bombarded our air space the entire time we were with daughter Jenny and family. We went fishing, played Scrabble, played Hearts, ate delicious meals, fed the chickens, fed the dog, and slept well. I should admit that we did see one "commercial" in Tioga -- sort of. We were driving by an Alco store, and standing out in front near the highway was a guy in a bulky parka, fur lined hood, and mittens -- it's winter, after all -- holding a large sign advertising a sale. He was standing very, very still and after we passed the place, Jenny says, "That wasn't a real guy." The rest of us said it was a real guy. So Jenny gets on her cell phone, calls Alco and asks, "Is that a real guy you have holding that sign out by the highway?" She heard laughing on the other end of the phone and then, "Yes, he's real." The real guy is my favorite commercial of the month. When we got back to Victoria, Mom calls and says, "Did you hear about the oil leak into water pipes at Glendive, Montana?" I says, "Nope." So I googled later to see what I missed and discovered it wasn't a big deal. In fact, they called it a non-issue, so we didn't miss too much. Maybe I should give up television and radio and movies and reading for Lent this year. Then what would I write about? |
|
From the Editor |
|
Dedicated to the sunshine of truth, the moonshine of meeting deadlines, and the starshine of Victoria. |
|
The Victoria GAZETTE |
|
Sue’s Album A symphony of photos and fewer than a thousand words at www.VictoriaGazette.com |
|
February 2015 |
