Ford's elves are mostly Mexican

Today on TV, I saw an ad for the "Ford Year End Celebration."  The premise of the ad is that the Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta are on display in a store in a mall, and mall customers are oohing and ahhing over them.

During the commercial, one of the customers asks, "Are these made here?" and the spokesman responds "Right here in this store.  A small group of elves come in."  Yuck yuck yuck.  Very holiday themed.  Very cute.  And it also ignores the question.  I'm not one to put much stock in the "buy America," thing, but "where is this car made?" is a legitimate question.

The real, elf-free answer can be found at Wikipedia's List of Ford Factories -- the Ford Fiesta is made in the AutoAlliance Thailand Plant in Pleukdang, Thailand, the Azambuja Assembly Plant in Azambuja, Portugal, the Bahia Plant in Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil, the Valencia Body and Assembly in Valencia Spain, the Valencia Assembly in Valencia Venezuela (I don't know if or why Ford has a special fondness for places named Valencia), the Cologne Body & Assembly plant in Cologne Germany, the Cuautitlán Assembly in Cuautitlán-Izcalli, Mexico, the Ford India plant in Tamil Nadu, India, the Ford Lio Ho Assembly plant in Chung Li, Taiwan, and the Ford Motor Company of South Africa plant in Silverton, South Africa.  The Focus is made in the Azambuja Assembly Plant in Azambuja, Portugal, the Valencia Body and Assembly in Valencia Spain, the Ford Motor Company Philippines plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna, Philippines (though that plant is closing this month), the Ford Motor Company ZAO plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Ford Vietnam Hai Duong Assembly plant in Hai Duong, Vietnam, the Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly in Hermosillo, Mexico, the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan (though the list specified the 2012 Focus--so they may not make it there anymore), the Pacheco Stamping & Assembly plant in Buenos Aires, Argentina (this plant only makes the Focus II), and the Saarlouis Body & Assembly plant in Saarlouis, Germany.  I strongly suspect that the Fiestas made in the Cuautitlán Assembly in Mexico and the Focuses made in the Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly in Mexico and the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan are the ones sold in the U.S.  The exact context of the line in the commercial, the question was either about the Focus, or about both the Focus and Fiesta. The answer to the customer's question , however, was, "No, they're mostly made in Mexico."

(As an interesting--and somewhat creepy--aside, as I was writing this post, I got a spam message advertising a Ford Clearance sale.  One wonders what I triggered with my search for information on Ford.)

Some thoughts on one movie rating...

I haven't seen the new "Winnie the Pooh" movie. However, I do have a question about its rating. According to Jay Leno's Headlines, and also seen in this link to a movie review, "Winnie the Pooh" is rated G for "(violence, profanity)." This begs the questions:

1. Exactly how much violence and profanity can a G-rated movie have?

2. Isn't it really rated G for everything? Obviously not "Winnie the Pooh," but, if a movie only has G-rated violence and profanity and several shots of full-frontal nudity, it's rated R for the nudity. (Then again, Winnie the Pooh doesn't wear pants, and I don't think Tigger or Eeyore wear anything.)

3. Exactly how much violence and profanity has there ever been in "Winnie the Pooh?" Is somebody misunderstanding words like "Pooh" and "heffalump?"

(OK, I know I'm making way too much out of what's almost certainly an editing mistake, but the idea of a movie rated G for violence and profanity still amuses me.)

Resurfacing?

When I was in Cumberland, MD on the Capitol Limited, heading west on our trip to Alaska (so we're talking Monday, August 17 here--I'm writing this on the 18th in Chicago but not posting it immediately), I wanted to access the Internet. There's free WiFi that you can access from the train in Cumberland, so I took advantage of that.

Well, when I completed the now required sign-up page (which seriously limited what I could do online, since that took time and the train's schedule didn't give me much to begin with, and which also made it look like it might not be free next time we pass through, but that's another matter), up popped an ad for "Surface" available on iTunes.

Why on Earth would they advertise a short lived show from so long ago? Was it a new offereing when they WiFi system was set up (they had a copyright date of "2007-2009")? Or has "Surface" developed a cult following that I'm unaware of? Or something else? That one just mystifies me...

Happy thoughts?

Last Wednesday, I was having dinner with my dad when I heard The Partridge Family's "C'Mon, Get Happy" on the TV. My first thought was surprise that "The Partridge Family" was on in primetime; before I could turn around and determine that it was, in fact, background music for some Disney movie, the thought occurred to me that it might have been a commercial.

Now, for the core of my thought: You could probably use the song "C'Mon, Get Happy" for ads for any product except life insurance...

Something is falling down, though it's not the bridges...

I might forgive the Travel Channel's Top Ten Bridges program for saying the 8th-ranked Sydney Harbour Bridge crosses "the harbor of Australia's capital;" Sydney is the capital of New South Wales, and since Canberra is inland, I suppose Sydney is as much a port for it as anything else, and in any case, the show wasn't mainly about Australia. Still, I would hope for clearer geographical knowledge from the Travel Channel.

However, the error that made my skin crawl came with the second-place bridge. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Kobe, Japan--the world's longest suspension bridge--is a worthy choice for the top ten list. However, they kept calling it the "Akashi Kaiyko Bridge"--and spelled it that way in on screen text! It's appalling that a program about bridges would get one of the featured bridges' names wrong, and yet still air!

Open letter to tthe producers...

The fall/season finale of Heroes tonight was the last episode until the writers' strike is settled.

What new shows were advertised? Clash of the Choirs and a new version of American Gladiators.

I think this proves that the writers are worth far, far more than they're asking in their negotiations. I'd say to he producers that if you think there's a chance I'll watch the reality crud that will replace the scripted shows I enjoy, think again. I'm more likely to give up TV completely. I'd probably come back when the strike ends and the good shows return. Are you sure that all your viewers will? (Remember--some of us still need to buy new digital TVs; returning might mean buying converters or new sets.)

Something fishy? Is a sponsor all wet?

I just note the irony: ABC's "20/20" last Friday (April 20) was all about the environment in honor of Earth Day. One of the problems they mentioned, albeit very briefly, was overfishing. One of the show's sponsors (at least locally) was Captain D's--a seafood restaurant.

Will this joke put me in Jeopardy?

Tonight's "Final Jeopardy" category on Jeopardy was "A Real Renaissance Man." If the category had been "A Reel Renaissance Man," I'd have bet money the answer would have been "Izaak Walton."

(I know--you're probably saying there's something fishy about that pun. I'm always angling for puns. Call it stream of consciousness writing. I refuse to pole everyone on whether I should keep casting out puns.)

TV - Super Bowl ads

On the whole, I thought the commercials this year were a disappointment. Looking at the webpage about Super Bowl ads, I have zero recollection of several of the ads there. Some ads, like Overstock.com's, Burger King's, and the five-blade razor were ho-hum. (Some time ago, I saw a comedy clip somewhere of a 20-blade razor. It must have been before they started making four-blade models, since those made me think of that skit, also.)

The first ad that sticks out in my mind was a Sierra Mist ad where TSA agents confiscate an air passenger's soda--it just annoyed me.

The Bud Light "Magic Fridge" commercial was funny. That was one of the best.

The FedEx "caveman" commercial was well done on a technical standpoint, but it just didn't resonate with me. I don't care that it has been getting a lot of praise elsewhere--it just didn't grab me.

The Aleve commercial with Leonard Nimoy was decent--I don't think it was as funny as the advertiser thought, though. Still, as a moderate Trekkie with gout, it appealed to me.

The one immediately following that--"Don't judge too quickly" with the doctors was amusing--but I didn't catch who it was for. If you don't know who the commercial was for right after it--that means it wasn't too effective. (The second Ameriquest commercial clarified who the first one was for, but I think the company name is really too low-key in that series.)

My dad and I agreed that our favorite commercial to that point in the game was the "horses-playing-football streaker" ad--an assessment I'd agree with. That was another highlight.

Someone should tell the The Dove Self-Esteem Fund that not everyone has bought a digital or HDTV yet, and it's kinda annoying to only have half a sentence appear on the screen. Ditto for the Michelob Light Amber beer and Ameriquest.

I liked the "I won't tell if you won't" with the young Clydesdale. That was a nice commercial--and a funny one, too. If I had to pick a best commercial from this year, that would get the nod from me. My dad is also in agreement on this commercial being the best. Too bad neither of us touch beer.

I also liked the Honda "mudflap" commercial (the one where the silver "naked" lady and Yosemite Sam go off together in the truck). I've heard no one else talking about that one--but that was one of the better commercials. Probably my favorite after the three Bud / Bud Light commercials I liked.

As a final aside, the highlight of the geriatric rockers' (so dubbed by my mom) performance was the comment about "Satisfaction," "This one, we could have done at Super Bowl I." I like much of the Stones' music, but the show was lousy. It just fell flat.

TV - Drum machine

I was watching "The War That Made America" this morning (an interesting program in its own right). After the program, there was a short subject that was from "Animusic." The film was an animated movie of a machine that played the drums--along with the music the machine played. Neither "cute" nor "funny" are quite the right word--it simply made me smile.

TV - DirecTV looses a channel and gains a bad package

Flipping through the channels last night, I noticed that TCT -- another religious channel -- replaced PBS You. I was a little sad about that, since the religious channels don't appeal to me, and I kept thinking I'd take one of the PBS You telecourses one of these days. Of course, since I never watched PBS You--I, who actually like the intellectual stuff on TV--that didn't bode well for it. Indeed, since the channel seems to have croaked completely, I'm left with the conclusion that something is better than nothing.

It was while trying to look up stories / press releases about the change, I also stumbled the more interesting development: a couple of copies of a press release about DirecTV's new "Family Package," including a discussion of it on a message board. The list includes a half dozen channels I watch regularly (National Geographic Channel, RFD TV, The Science Channel, The Weather Channel, Link TV, CNN Headline News) and more than thirty channels rarely or never watch, but doesn't include at least two of my favorite channels--The History Channel and History International. For $35/month, the plan looks like a bad deal to me.
I'm skeptical about what strikes me as a widespread push for "family packages" and/or "a la carte" programming. The cable and satellite industry wants to keep going as it has, and the religious right and broadcast industry want to regulate cable and satellite channels (for quite different reasons). I don't know if this really cruddy package DirecTV has come up with is really an attempt to appease groups that I don't think can be appeased, or if it's a deliberate attempt by DirecTV to "prove" people don't want "family packages." All I know is I'm keeping my TV package as it is.