Best of 2000s Winners

Results like these would make any Apple Fanboy proud... I'm NOT one of them!

Bummer Results:

Agency of the decade: Goodby, Silverstein and Partners (at least it wasn't Crispin Porter)

Best outdoor ads: Apple's Silhouettes (no comment)

Marketer of the decade: Steve Jobs (no comment)

Brand of the decade: Apple (no comment)

Product of the decade: iPod (no comment)

Yay Results:
Media company of the decade: Google (well deserved)
Magazine of the decade: WIRED (well deserved)
Website of the decade: Youtube (well deserved)
Campaign of the decade: Apple, "Get a Mac" (hated what they're selling, yet an excellent ad campaign)
Marketing innovation of the decade: Viral Videos (very good buzz generator)
Digital device/platform of the decade: Facebook (well deserved)

My first Blu-rays

I got my first Blu-rays yesterday courtesy of good ole Santa... I think it's a pretty good choice for my first Blu-ray discs. I can't wait to try them out and see how much different they are from DVDs. The Dark Knight is a two-disc special which also supports BD Live which is some special online enabled feature of sorts.

Just think, it was under 10 years ago that I got my first DVDs to play on my PS2... Now it's Blu-rays for my PS3! Way to go consumerism!

The N97 mini

Got a new phone! The average phone usually stays with me for about 2 years until I upgrade to something new. I had the HTC Touch for 2 years exactly and it was time to make the change! I enjoyed the touchscreen experience but missed actual hardware buttons, so the obvious choice was this beauty.

No more crappy cellphone shots on this blog ;)

Chip 'n Dip Kuwait

Chip 'n Dip opened at 360 Mall a couple of weeks ago... I was soo excited about it opening thinking it was going to be something like Dip 'n Crunch from Lebanon.

I went on Sunday and decided to try their fried prawns combo which comes with fries, sauces and a drink. The sauces include the classics like ketchup, honey mustard, mayo, bbq, chili etc. They also have some cool dips like mushroom, cream cheese, pepper mayo... none of which were available :( The prawns were processed prawn (maybe fish?) meat attached to a prawn tail and fried. The fries were alright yet nothing to wow about... To make a long story short, MAJOR disappointment. One good thing is they serve Coke instead of icky Pepsi :P

Check out a picture of the meal on the full post link below.

MJ: RIP

I just got Michael Jackson's This Is It CD. I had asked my dad to get me it while he was in the US. I already have most of the songs on the CD but I thought it would be my way of paying my respects to MJ.

I also just realized, it's been almost 9 years since I've bought an original music CD! Good job Dan... wait until all your favorite artists are dead THEN get their CDs :P

Best of the 2000s

http://www.bestofthe2000s.com/

Adweek is asking people to vote for the best "anything" of the decade! They've narrowed it down to 33 categories. Looks promising, can't wait to see the final results.

Twitter billboard... not smart!

One of the trending topics on twitter, was twitter billboard and it turned out to be something hilarious. A local US news station decided to have a live twitter feed on their billboard along with a picture of their anchors... and this news tweet was posted and someone caught it! It's ROFL, yet I find it really cool that they have internet enabled billboards now. :P

Eid Doughnuts

These are really cool from Dunkin Donuts. I like the idea but I feel they should have been stuffed with rice or something :P

Kitty in the ceiling!

Aww how cute! :)

McDonald's new see-thru wrapper

I ordered McDonald's for lunch at work today (yes they actually deliver in Kuwait City) and was so impressed with their new see-thru wrapping, you can actually see your burger nice and tucked away waiting for you to dig in...

For those of you who aren't fluent in sarcasm, I'm well aware it's grease! I am still lovin' it though! ;)

A million dollars in a lake

What a shame... The guy can't tell the difference between a Lambo and a Bugatti! Oh yeah, stupid-ass crash too :P

This Is It!

Watched the MJ movie on Friday and I have to say this... MJ is a true legend. What a huge loss to the world. As a Michael Jackson fan, the movie rocked! The music was awesome and he still had it! It was just great to see him actually in action rather than seeing him in the media as a walking corpse who touches kids then dangles them out of windows.

As a movie movie... it blows! You won't believe how many people actually walked out in the middle of it... one guy even stood up and was telling his friend "Esh hatha, kolo ghina!" what the hell was he expecting? lol

Burn it off dude!

Cool sign at the entrance to Zahra Complex in Salmiya... was taking a shortcut through the mall for the AC to get to Eureka. (WTF would I get from Zahra Complex? :P)

Friday the 13th skipped a day

So Friday the 13th was actually a good day... I went and saw Michael Jackson's This Is It which I will post about next, however the funny thing is Saturday the 14th was the messed up day!

Saturday November 14, 2009 Events:
- Witnessed a cat dying after getting hit by a car in Salwa (an awful sight... I went back 2minutes later to see if I could do something about it but it had already passed on :( )
- Saw a guy who appeared to be dead stopped at a green light (it was horrifying, the guy had his head tilted back with his mouth open and cars were honking like mad and he didn't budge, I got worried and actually U-turned to see what happened... apparently he was just in deep sleep and was gone by the time I turned :P)
- Saw a car spin-out in front of me on Gulf Road... nothing happened though, he regained control and zoomed off.
- Almost ran out of gas, finished my favorite cologne, listened to crap music on the radio (yeah I know, minor things that happen everyday but worth tying in to the Friday the 13th post :P)

So much for posting...

Work is getting the best of me... sigh :(

Clever package branding...

Pringles are awesome! Got it from Beirut... They're British crisps :P

More to come at the Avenues?

I went to the bathroom at the Avenues food court a couple of months ago and I spotted this on a screen...

Are we finally getting a Taco Bell and Wendy's? I sure hope so! Another picture after the jump...

Which November was I supposed to remember remember?

It's been a while since I've posted... I've been really busy for the past two weeks with a matter which I can't discuss on here. I hope this month won't be that busy and i'll get the chance to post more, but anyway... V for Vendetta, awesome movie, will watch it tonight in honor of missing out on the 5th of November! :P

Halloweek!

I won't be dressing up for Halloween this year... haven't done so since freshman year so I've decided to dress my blog up for the occasion!

The flat tire

So it was a Friday night and I was heading to Salmiya with some friends on the 5th when suddenly we hear this loud helicopter-like noise... we were looking over head to see what's going on so I slowed down and then suddenly the sound got lower. One of my friends was like "Danny, it's your car!" So I hit the flashers and eased my way to the extreme right lane and stopped. The burned rubber smell was a killer.

I honestly never knew that changing a tire was that easy... it literally took us 10 minutes and none of us had ever changed a tire before. I was so surprised that I didn't feel a change in the ride... after the tire ripped I was riding as smoothly as always. Anyway, I felt it was Golfo (my baby's name) telling me, "listen up Dan... you better take better care of me, I just saved your life" So I owed him a nice pampering... new tire, a nice wash and a brand new pine tree air freshener :P

Vodafone Symphonia

Awesome radiation wall... but still very cool.

Windows 7 blues

I've been checking the Sony Vaio site for the past month waiting to find out when I'll be able to upgrade to Windows 7. The support page said to check back when it officially launches so I can see what my options are. Now after the launch, they apologize tell me that my hardware configuration does not make me eligible for a Windows 7 upgrade and I should consider getting a new Vaio... EXCUSE ME?

I customized my Vaio with a top of the line Intel chip, great RAM and dedicated graphics. My specs surpass the minimum requirements by hurdles! WTF Sony... Now i'm gonna have to cough up $120 for a regular upgrade!

Our office in the sky

This large blue beauty is the home of our new office called the Al Jawhara Tower. The building is 32 floors and 160m high. It's a smart building (auto lock doors, card access, self cleaning windows, car elevator parking garage, and that's all I can think of for now :P). We've only been there for a week now but it seems like a month!

Oh and the view is awesome from the 21st floor! Check them out after the break...
(Building photo credit to Karam from our office, the somewhat crappy phone shots are mine)

One loong week

Last week was soo freaking long! We moved to our new offices which are awesome, but stuff was happening left right and center that I haven't had time to post anything here nor update my twitter status... So yeah, I'll be spilling everything in the coming posts. Brace yourselves.

Micro branding

Just came across an article on AdAge... Kellogg UK is preparing a trial run of branding its cereal flakes in a campaign to combat generic versions of its corn flakes cereal. I think that's awesome! Although I prefer Nestle's corn flakes (they stay crispier longer in milk, I hate soggy cereal) I would definitely buy Kellogg's Corn Flakes just to see their logo laser beamed on each flake lol. That's great for us advertisers, putting whatever logo we like in the public's cereal. Hmm... I wonder if they'd charge per box or per flake :P

Mobile lottery... psshh!

So the other day I got a message from some number in lord knows where telling me I won $1,116,000... Obviously I didn't fall for it (I didn't quit my job and tell all my friends to F*** off :P) Instead I just  thought I'd Google it to see if anyone actually fell for this, and wouldn't you know it a guy from the UAE of all places actually called these guys up and sent them 2,500 EURO to process his papers :P What a putz! lol Shouldn't Zain have some sorta SMS spam blocker?
You can read his complaint here and here too :P

It's just a $1!

I just realized that I have no problem paying $1 for virtual Facebook gifts and I've never considered paying 99cents for a legal MP3... That's just ridiculous! lol I've searched for songs at times and it took me weeks, risking spyware and viruses just to find the right version I want. Maybe legal MP3s aren't so bad... I shall try them one day!

The coming week

This is the first time i'm actually looking forward to the week ahead. I love weekends and usually don't want them to end, but this coming week should be good. We're moving to our new "smart office" this Thursday, so we'll be closed for business on that day... In other words, 4 day week! Score!! hehe

When the past comes for a visit...

This weekend an old friend of mine came to visit from Saudi Arabia. We were friends back in school and the last time I had seen him was in the 10th grade. He hasn't changed much and that's exactly why this reunion wasn't as exciting as one would expect... We were never really good friends and after this trip, things are still the same. I was just being a friend, showing him around and making him feel welcome. No I wasn't obligated to do so, yet a part of me felt that it's the proper thing to do seeing as we have a shared past together...

Come to think of it, i'm glad he stopped by. It gave me the chance to remember where I was and where I am today and i'm happy with the outcome.

Cheers M, thanks for the visit!

Straightening the GAP

Looks like the Gap is trying to "straighten" its rep :P

I'm lovin it...

Found this as someone's Facebook DP... I'd love to see what they serve on the side with that :P

Cool coat hanger

Luckily I caught them before they got away... good luck you guys! :P

PS. If anyone is interested, you can supposedly get this at IKEA.

Interesting find...

Tupac is alive!! No surprise there... what is surprising is that he's living in Kuwait and has a Centrepoint Privilege card! :P

Mountain Dew gets no respect

What a shame...

Back from Beirut!

Well I've officially been back for more than 24 hours and I still can't get used to the fact that I left again... It was great revisiting my old life.

Sigh... this clip truly sums it up perfectly!

Saturn is no more...

Ok, I'll admit I never liked Saturn cars. I think they're ugly pieces of American hunk-a-junk and that's why they were only sold in the US, but GM recently decided to pull the plug on them after a failed sale attempt. It's kind of sad to see a car company disappear like that... I'd hate to be the guy who just bought a brand new 2010 Saturn right now :P

I'll miss their commercials, that's for sure!