So I built what is an instant messaging bot using the Smack API and the Openfire XMPP server. Doing it is pretty simple of you read the documentation and Smack’s developer notes. The bot relies on a queue-like object that Smack gives you called a PacketCollector. All you need to do is log in to the server, and let the packet collector wait for incoming messages. Clearly, you need to respond to the messages and use thread tools to do the waiting and all, but in general, the effort is relatively straightforward.
Category: Commercials
What I think about the one creative island on TV – the stuff between the shows
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Got fast?
What do you get when you combine anime-inspired graphite ball with evil eyes and sharp legs?
You get your fast.
What do you get when you unleash Peter Stormare (Steve Buschemi’s partner in Fargo) and a sexy lab assistant on a pimped out car?
You get “vee dub in da haus“.
It takes about 5 times to see these sets of commercials to get the idea and when you do, they are so cool. “What’s this for?” asks the sexy lab assistant, pointing at an air scoop installed on the hood of a Mitsubishi Eclipse. “Its for sucking air” answers the worried owner. “It’s good for sucking!” she quips back. Seconds later the car is destroyed, making way for the GTI behind it.
Word to VW: commercials are sweet. Cars that hold togethre are better. I will stick with less cool, and less mechanic than very cool and soon to be broken.
Still, throwing money at really different commericals is nice.
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Campbell Select
Campbell Soup, a product I religiously try to avoid, released a new line that aims for the upper crust of, well, the canned soup consumer. Maybe they can crack through the resistence, thinks Campbell, if we launch the product with an actor with a fancy accent.
Enter John Lithgow, not too busy at present, Harvard grad, fancy accent in tow.
All of this would have been in vain, but the copywriters did their job this time complementing Lithgow with a brilliant slogan:
Why settle when you can select?
Is it just me or is that great?
