Day: March 28, 2003

First Empire, now Stu

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

Why don’t you do like Stu — and screw up another great cheesy ad jingle? Again, a legendary local jingle has been altered for the worse.

Viewers of daytime and late-night Chicago-area TV should know that after the question, “Why don’t you do like Stu?” The catchy musical suggestion is that one, “Push it, pull it, tow it to Golf Mill Ford.”

“It” is your old, broken down car, and the ad showed a hefty gentleman pushing, pulling and then towing a junker into the lot of this suburban Ford dealership.

In the new ads, there is no singing. It’s just a spoken suggestion and loses all of the force of the original.

What’s next? Attacking another country just because they might at some unspecified point in the future have weapons half the world already has? Oops.

And a good time was had by all … two

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

So for Karen‘s birthday last night we dined at Geja’s and then stayed at the Hotel Monaco downtown near the Chicago River.

Geja’s is a fondue place and prides itself on “romantic fondue dining.” And, true, they do have the flamenco guitarist plinking away in the corner and the lighting is “romantic.” As for the food, I believe it’s generally accepted that melted food is more romantic.

But when the dining experience is over, how is the lingering, overpowering stench of grease supposed to help get us in the mood? Does this turn people on?

Scenes from a lobby

/ Kevin B. O'Reilly

There it sits. Unloved. Unwanted. But why?

In the lobby of my building, the gift of a wide world full of possibilities awaits the “Current Resident” who has the wisdom to simply take it.

The shiny metal case, promising “1045 FREE HOURS!” But why won’t anyone pity that poor America Online promo CD?

“I just want to be loved, is that so wrong?!” it cries. “I just want to overcharge you for crappy connection service and allow spammers to target you mercilessly.”

Yet, amazingly, no one is interested. Oh, “Current Resident,” when will you ever learn?