Well, I watched every single one. Yes, every single one of the 25 gajillibajillion Old Spice Response videos featuring everyone’s favorite towel-wearing, cake-making, kitchen-building, swan-diving, beast of a man who wears an array of wonderfully-scented Old Spice products.

As I stated before, I was hoping Wieden and Kennedy (the brainchilds behind these Old Spice commercials) would try not to overexpose Isaiah Mustafa and desensitize us to the campaign. So what do they do? They let Isaiah hold a video conversation with THE ENTIRE INTERNET.

But somehow… it worked. As quickly as it began, it ended and I actually found myself wanting more. Brilliantly written, it would have been quite a scene to be in the war room as the busy copywriters and creative team blitzed and poured over every relevant post, comment or tweet, then quickly rushed Isaiah onset to majestically translate every single response.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like talks to regular joes, his real-life daughter (Re: Haley), flirts with Demi Moore (Re: @mrskutcher), joshes with Twitter, and even dogs on rival ad agency Crispin Porter and Bogusky’s Subservient Chicken campaign. Which, when all is said and done, could prove to be the inferior viral marketing campaign based on the latest numbers and opinions. Enjoy.

A sad day for Cleveland. A great day for Comic Sans.

I love the NBA.

You’ve got eccentric, maniacal owners; players with mountains of ego that resemble business institutions more than human beings; and the most powerful, borderline malevolent commish in all of professional sports. So it gives me great joy to see the circus around one of the most anticipated free agent decisions in sports history.

In the end LeBron chooses Miami and “sacrifices” money to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. The announcement creates a tidal wave of events, most notably mass suicide in Cleveland and an epic Comic Sans-driven rant by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. Grow up, Dan.

Clevelandites indict James on charges of treason, greed, and being a big fat asshole. This despite the fact that his “self-serving” ESPN special entirely benefited the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

My favorite color on the whole situation came from ESPN’s Chad Ford on Twitter : I’ve never seen so many people so angry that a selfish, backstabbing, ego-maniacal loser just willingly left town.

My take? Let the man be. Is there any good way for a popular high-profile athlete to leave their hometown team? LeBron just made one of the most important decisions he’ll ever make in his life, and he’s condemned for following his heart. Would you stay in the same job if it didn’t feel right? Don’t hold another human being (despite being a superstar athlete) to different standards than you would hold yourself.

Oh, and Lebron: Screw you for not going to the Dallas Mavericks.

How do you follow up Volkswagen’s brilliant Fun Theory campaign? With more of the same of course! DDB Stockholm’s Fast Lane campaign strongly continues the Fun Theory tradition of improving our world one smile at a time.

I vote for the ideals of the Fun Theory and Fast Lane to be implemented into every public works organization in the country. Everyone’s insurance premiums might go up a tad, but it’ll absolutely be worth it.

In one of the dumbest self-promos I’ve seen in awhile, Kaffeine Communications compares the buoyancy properties of salt to its own brand strategy. What?

MTV was once cool. Before it was nothing but Real World spinoffs, spray tans and hair gel, it was about music, spontaneity, creepy idents that didn’t make sense, and an element of hip that transcended the teeny-bopping set. You know, when the M stood for Music instead of MySpace.

la comunidad gamely tries to bring back some of the old MTV weirdness in these World Cup themed spots. Fun, but it isn’t enough to make me forget how far MTV has fallen.

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Though I use Firefox at work, I’m a Chrome guy at home. Earlier this week there was an Adobe Flash bug that prevented sound in my Chrome browser, so I went back to IE for awhile. Literally, I stopped surfing altogether simply because the experience was too damn slow and irritating. Chrome is for real people, and this speed test does a great job of showing Chrome’s greatest strength.

It’s official. Let it be known. I’m talking to you, “woman who pays with a check at the grocery store”. And you too, “man who will only drive a mid- to late-model Buick, Oldsmobile, or Crown Victoria”. And don’t think I forgot you either, “man who owns the entire run of Perry Mason on VHS”.

Of course if you’re actually on IE6, you probably can’t read this.

Overall, the Super Bowl was a big fat “meh”. The game wasn’t the high-scoring affair it was promised to be, and none of the ads presented any sort of creative breakthrough. Call me a cynic, but it was really more of the same… slapstick humor, midde-aged white guy goofiness, random animal hijinks, and more GoDaddy ads that make me ashamed to be in the ad biz. The only one to hit the mark creatively and effectively was Google’s entry. They kept the focus on the product, and in that way were able to make a poignant comment on how important the internet (and specifically, Google Search) can be in our lives. But I’m sure most folks probably thought it was too boring.

If you’re really keeping count, you could probably say that the real Super Bowl winner was the actor in the ads below. How many commercial actors can lay claim to starring spots in not one, but two Super Bowl spots… in the same Super Bowl? As average as the ads are, that’s still pretty impressive. So kudos to you, Paul Giamatti look-alike.

#12: The Sounds – Crossing the Rubicon

Not as universally powerful on first listen as their other efforts, but slightly deeper songcraft makes it grow with each successive listen. Well, deep for Swedish New Wave anyways.

#11: Florence and The Machine – Lungs

Florence Welch’s soul-inspired indie rock is dominating the UK. After a few hit singles, there were huge expectations for the album. It meets them and then some.

#10: The Decemberists – Hazards of Love

A great album to take with you on a road trip due to its seamless transitions and rock narrative. More incredibly, it’s not the only rock opera album on my list.

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Las Vegas brings back their famous catchphrase (sort of) with their new “What Happens in Blank” campaign. Everything is fun and games, until the end when they diss our base of operations, Lincoln (assumingly, Lincoln Nebraska). And oddly, the place where the two chicks are hanging out looks eerily similar to our very own Isles Pub & Pizza. But I digress.

Poo poo to you Vegas; you’re nothing but a giant concrete vacuum sucking the cash out of rich Asian businessmen, the retirement money from bored geriatrics, and the sobriety from wild bachelors/bachelorettes.

And I salute you for that. From Tyler V.