A Requiem for Circuit City

Times are tough, and stores they are a-closin. Even if you haven't been directly impacted by the economic crisis, chances are you have at least some emotional connection to one of the more recent companies in bankruptcy...Circuit City.

Yes, Circuit City is in trouble, they're closing 1/5 of their stores and laying off thousands of employees nationwide. It's possible that by 2009 the store will be just a footnote in our collective 20th Century nostalgia.



Anyone else remember this commercial? The idea of a kid having that much clout that they can just waltz into the adult world, present their case to a business-suited employee, and walk out of their with cash in hand...it's like a beautiful fantasy of what the free market can achieve.

But the dream could not last. Circuit City was ultimately done in by competition from Best Buy and some very shady HR practices, such as laying off 3,400 of their top-tier employees in order to replace them with lower paid workers. Capitalism: UR DOIN IT RIGHT WRONG.

Let's save our sympathy for all the red-shirted workers who are losing their jobs. If you go trawling for close-out deals, be cool to them. Times are tough.

Domino's Uses Mass-Murdering Clown To Promote Pizza

This commercial hit my local market this week, and suddenly it's on every time I turn on the TV. This means I have many, many occasions to scoff and giggle about how this shockingly unflappable pizza-lady is mere moments away from a torturous death. I would question whether the Joker's goal of ordering from Domino's was even the pizza itself; perhaps he simply wants a victim delivered to his door in 30 minutes or less?

The thing that really gets me is the ad people don't even address these very natural assumptions with a closing shot of the girl driving away from the Joker's hideout; the last we see of her is just a dry read of the punchline; "Here's your Gotham City Pizza. And uh, could you tell the Joker he owes me a car?" Um, sure lady, how bout you come inside and tell him yourself? He'll find it hilarious. And I'm pretty sure you will too.

Wes Anderson Hits Us With Some AT&T Commercials

I was always a big fan of Wes Anderson's American Express commercial, and these new spots for AT&T are pretty swell as well. They feature some trademark Anderson set work ala The Life Aquatic. Hit the jump for the Mom, Businessman, Actor and Architect spots.





On a side note, big ups to AT&T for embracing YouTube.