‘Unqualified’ election victory

As reported by Dexerto:

Brady Rogers, a 33-year-old business owner from Kelowna, British Columbia, secured a seat on city council during the October 17 municipal election, despite repeatedly claiming that he had no interest in becoming a politician.

His victory comes after his campaign attracted widespread attention for its sarcastic messaging, including an introduction on his official website that reads:

“Do I enjoy politics? No. Do I know what I’m doing? No. But am I qualified? Also no.”

The Growmitment

A 2 minute short for Movember Foundation’s 2026 campaign.

Link to video

Preposterously Persistent

A new spot for the Nissan Qashqai hybrid features an utterly absurd yet spectacular Hollywood-style chase in the quest to make a point about its battery life.

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A knockout punch for ‘stupid plans’

Everybody has a plan… until they get punched in the mouth.

 

Mike Tyson’s famous line is at the heart of a new campaign for Boost Mobile and is delivered by the man himself… with the sort of punch you’d expect.

   —‘Anybody here have a plan?’
   —‘Never ever’

Selfie for All

A marvellously-conceived 2 minute film that kicks off with reflections and drama in a Scottish pub and then, unexpectedly, reveals itself as a promotional film for Flanders in Belgium.

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The Amber Nectar

Foster’s has a new spot and it’s delightfully silly.

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Death sentence hopeful executed… after 18 years

To quote from a news report:

A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate specifically to get on death row was executed Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the attack.

[James] Robertson had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for strangling Frank Hart while he slept in 2008 and waived all appeals. He told investigators that he did it so he wouldn’t have to live out his days in prison.

Robertson was 17 years old when he went to prison in 1980 for burglary and assault. Years of convictions for escape, battery and weapons while in prison kept adding time to his total sentence. Hart had been sent to prison in 2003 following a sexual battery conviction.

‘It's totally even a city’

From Norway: The Oslo-hater is back and this time, his grievances are countered with a musical tribute to the city.

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Oura’s ‘hand’-crafted world

In a new campaign, the smart ring brand finds a smart way (what else?) to place its rings in sharper focus.

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Link to behind-the-scenes video

Wanted- ‘A Professional Nose’

From Finland: the tourism marketeers for the Turku Archipelago want to promote it as “the best-smelling destination in the world” and to that end, are offering a ‘Nose Job’ — a short term assignment as a scent reviewer.  To quote from the promotion website:

As our Nose, you'll follow your nose across the islands and assess the archipelago's scents, from sea air and pine forests to saunas and freshly baked bread. You'll describe and analyse what you smell in a way that makes other people want to smell it too. And you'll document all of it yourself on video and in photos, which Visit Turku Archipelago will use in its social media and other channels. At the end, you report your findings. Honestly.

We’re assessing applicants based on four things:

• How convincingly you smell, including your technique, and how vividly you describe what you smell.
• How you come across on camera.
• Your social media presence and how well you connect with an audience.
• The application that leaves the jury most convinced.

We don't hold interviews. We make the decision based on your video and application form alone, so make them count.

 

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Life Stripped Away

A chilling eye-opener to Motor Neurone Disease.

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The Introvert Travel Agency

A new campaign from Visit Sweden.

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RIP Jeffrey Archer

From an obit on the BBC website:

As many have observed, Jeffrey Archer, who has died aged 86, led a life as colourful as the plot in one of his novels.

He was, at one time or other, a senior Conservative politician, a best-selling author, a peer of the realm, and a convicted perjurer.

Possessed of huge drive, vast wealth and immense personal charm, Archer bounced back from disaster and, more than once, rebuilt a shattered life.

But for all his talents, he will be remembered as a man affected by a defective moral compass, whose public humiliation was entirely self-inflicted.

Few critics praised Archer's prose style, his sense of humour, or the emotional depth of his characters.

But none could match his talent for relentless, aspirational, rags-to-riches plots that, once started, could not be put down.

Lord Archer often appeared incapable of separating autobiographical fact from fantasy in his continuing drive for public recognition.

He died a wealthy man, albeit one whom very few trusted.

 

From an obit on the website of India’s The Statesman:

In his novels, the hero is usually wronged and then wins. In his own life, Archer often did the wronging. And yet he kept winning back an audience. That says something about him, and something about us.

RIP Singeetham Srinivasa Rao

A small sample of the man’s genius in the scenes that he visualised for his silent masterpiece.

Pushpak Vimana (1987)
   —Love at a Funeral Viewing
   —The Beggar — scenes compilation

RIP Eva Marie Saint

North By Northwest (1959)
   —‘A nice face’
   —‘A big girl’

On CBS Sunday Morning in 2014 (includes archival footage of her memorable Oscar acceptance)

Couch on wheels

From a post by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, North Carolina, following a traffic stop of two men ‘driving’ a couch atop two electric scooters:

Well, this was certainly a first... our EDU Officers encountered quite the situation this weekend when they stopped two gentlemen traveling down S. Tryon Street on a couch... Yes, an actual couch. We had questions too.

While we appreciate the creativity, we do have to remind everyone: no matter what you’re “driving” (using that term extremely loosely ), please think about safety first. Ask yourself: Should this be on a road… with actual cars… will the sheer shock of seeing this on the road cause other drivers to lose focus and drive unsafely? If the answer feels even slightly like ‘yes,’ maybe rethink the ride.

As a rule - probably best to leave the mobile furniture displays to IKEA.

Experience Your First Spray

A new spot for bidet brand Tushy portrays what the ‘first time’ might feel like.

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For ‘People-Drinking Vampires’

Liquid Death gets around to promoting its Blood Zero energy drink

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Scam-pocalypse

From Australia: a new spot for Telstra has Steve Buscemi back as an alien warlord, looking ‘twice’ as ridiculous.

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Urge to F***

From Argentina: condom brand Tulipán has a new campaign to counter an unexpected challenge —its customers are not having enough sex.  As explained in a news release:

Tulipán, the condom brand that holds around 40% of the Argentine market, has spent 37 years persuading people to use protection. This week it admitted it has a different problem: its customers are not having sex.

The brand has marked Students' Day, the start of the Argentine spring and the busiest date in its calendar, by wiping its Instagram account, replacing its bio with the line “we don’t know what else to do to get you to have sex”, and issuing a public apology to younger Argentines. It then launched a fragrance.

‘The Urge to F***’ is the brand's first fragrance, created by Zurda, the independent Buenos Aires agency behind the campaign. It is real, it is on sale, and it comes with a product demonstration film that follows the conventions of every perfume advertisement ever made while describing none of the usual notes. A fictionalised documentary treats the whole thing with the seriousness of a public health emergency.

 

Link to product video

Link to mockumentary