Facebook Can Be Funny

Have you heard that the Facebook guy, Mark Zuckerberg, is worth $1.5 billion at the ripe old age of 23? There’s a reason for it. Facebook is one of the few Internet sites that is able to specifically target marketing. If you want to run an ad, you can ask that it be run specifically for females between the age of 25-30 that like reading and are located in the Raleigh area, for example. Since you fill out your interests, age, gender, location, relationship status, etc. on your profile, these ads can be strategically placed in the viewing of prospective clients.

That’s what worries me about the ads that I get. They seem to have me pegged (mostly). I get a lot of advertisements for dating sites (one was even specifically targeted for people 25 and up!) and travel opportunities. Other ads, well, I just don’t know about.

Here are a few:

“Cause of belly fat” with a picture of man’s six-pack. Even if I were to say, want to lose some of my belly fat, I don’t want my stomach to look like THAT. I get lots of more targeted ads for weight loss (one I saw today said simply, “You fat?”) which makes me wonder, has Facebook figured out my BMI based on the pictures I have on there? I’d really rather not know!

“Bald hair creme” with a picture of the top of a bald man’s head. Um, I’m not a man, and I have plenty of hair. Shouldn’t this ad have been targeted to someone else?

I get the same “Meet 5 guys” ad that I talked about before, but I actually got one that had pictures on it…of FOUR guys. Is the fifth supposed guy so anxious to meet me too ugly to include his picture?

On the dating topic, one of the more pointed ads advertised “find your husband.” I wish it were that easy!

One I got this morning was just strange. It was for Jansport, the backpack company: “Wherever you go please take us with you.” Nope, I like my old backpack of a competitive brand just fine don’t travel without it. If I brought you along too you’d probably just get in a fight when I wasn’t looking. Plus I’d have to carry one on the front, which would just be suspicious as I go through security.

Another totally random ad was for Philadelphia real estate. I live in North Carolina, why would I buy a house in Philadelphia?

What funny ads have you seen online?

Updated: Who Said That? Movie Quotes!

**Looks like I stumped you all on 6, 8, and 20! All the answers are now below…thanks for playing!**

I’m nothing if not a follower. When Debra posted quotes from her favorite movies and asked us to guess, I knew I had to do the same. I had planned on listing favorite movie quotes anyway, but this way just makes it fun.

How well do you know your movies? Some of them I know are easy (especially if you like the same movies as me!) and some are hard. Leave a comment with your guesses/answers. Don’t look them up, just guess! I’ll give you hints if you ask. Let’s see how well you do!

1. “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”
“I think you can in Europe.”
- 10 Things I Hate About You

2. “Where’s Elizabeth?”
“She’s safe, just like I promised. She’s all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we’re all men of our word, really. Except Elizabeth, who is in fact, a woman.”
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

3. “If I were Hitler you’d give me my father. If I were Hitler, you’d give me your country!”
- Forget Paris

4. “Ain’t nobody gonna pick up three filthy, unshaved hitchhikers and one of them a know-it-all that can’t keep his trap shut.”
“Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don’t intend to dignify with comment. But I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism.”
- O Brother, Where Art Thou?

5. “You called everyone but Slurpee Heaven.”
“That’s not true. I did call Slurpee Heaven. They didn’t want you. Heard you had attitude. Said you weren’t Slurpee material.”
- Two Weeks Notice

6. “My mom never hid the fact that my dad chose his career over us. What was it she always said?”
“Once a carnie, always a carnie.”
“Mom still cries every time she sees a tilt-a-whirl or a fat lady in a tube top.”
- Drop Dead Gorgeous

7. “I’m making you taller. Don’t you want to be taller? You’re a midget in 34 states.”
“Yeah, well, I’m an animal in the other 34…24…22.”
- Ocean’s 13

8. [in a letter to a woman who loves him] “She is the only woman in the world whom I could ever think of as a wife.”
- Mansfield Park

9. “I cannot remember a time before you started telling that story.”
“I was asked to provide a detailed explanation of the evening.”
“And you did, Rosie, you really did. I really felt like I was there…sort of against my will.”
- Win a Date with Tad Hamilton

10. “It’s my choice not to go. I could have gone. He would have supported it.”
“But you don’t have to choose.”
“No, I have to. I want a home; I want a family, that’s just not something I’ll sacrifice.”
- Mona Lisa Smile

11. “Laws don’t touch men like Thaddeus Rains. Only justice does.”
“Whose justice, yours or God’s?”
- American Outlaws

12. “I have great insight. I’d use it on myself, only I don’t have any problems.”
- Music and Lyrics

13. “Do we have to use that term?”
“What term?”
” ‘Freak.’ The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that…percent of adults develop agraphoraphobia.”
“Agoraphobia.”
“Whatever. I’m just saying, I mean, do we need to be an organization that labels people?”
“Now we’re an organization?”
“You’d call Emily Dickinson a freak?”
“Are you hosting a telethon I don’t know about?”
“Who’s Emily Dickinson?”
“Am I the only one who feels funny about stealing from a handicapped guy?”
- Ocean’s 12

14. “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.”
- The Importance of Being Earnest

15. “Do you have an ethical problem with rifling through a woman’s purse?”
Uhh, yeah, I guess I do.”
“Well, it’s hardly a purse. Dude, it’s more like a clutch or something.”
“Guys, a woman’s purse, alright, it’s her secret source of power. Alright? There are many dark and dangerous things in there, that we, the male species, should know nothing about.”
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

16. “It’s been many years since I’ve had such an exemplary vegetable.”
- Pride and Prejudice

17. “I just don’t think that Brooke could’ve done this. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”
- Legally Blonde

18. “A flower is good for nothing. You can’t eat a flower, a flower can’t keep you warm…”
“And a rose never knocked a man off a horse either.”
“You’re just a silly girl aren’t you?”
“Better a silly girl with a flower than a silly man with a horse and a stick.”
- A Knight’s Tale

19. “So, uh, who told you?”
“Uh, who told me what?”
“You found out, didn’t you?”
“We still have time for one more interview…”
“It’s called leukemia…and yeah, I would like to come with you, but are you just asking me because you feel sorry for me?”
“I don’t know…maybe.”
“Okay.”
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

20. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
“Congratulations.”
“Aren’t you going to ask what for?”
“What for?”
“I’ve made a great decision. I’ve decided to get married.”
“My! Who to?”
“That part is yet to be decided.”

- An Ideal Husband

Hope Lies in Christ

I try not to follow celebrity gossip too closely (after all, it’s still gossip), but I must admit that it has shocked me to hear that Heath Ledger died. He used to be a favorite actor of mine in the A Knight’s Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You days.

I hear about celebrity deaths all the time, but they are usually much older than me (and often not someone I recognize). This is the first that I would say is of my generation. Certainly puts some perspective on life and adds urgency to the gospel message! Without Christ, there is no hope of victory over death.
“For the wages of sin is death, the but free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 NASU
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 NASU

Happily Ever After, You Sure Have Changed

Last night for my birthday, my roommates and I went out for Turkish food and to see the movie Enchanted. We went to the 9:55 showing so I assumed that it would be pretty empty, but I was surprised by who else was in the movie theatre.

Besides the 3 of us, there were only 3 other people there: two guys in their mid-twenties who came together (though they didn’t seem like they were a couple) and a guy in his early-thirties who came by himself. What about this movie appeals to guys? Did they go to the 9:55 showing because they didn’t want anyone to see them?

We all enjoyed the movie which was clearly written for girls like us who grew up with Disney fairy tales: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid (I can’t think of any other allusions, though I certainly might have missed them). Don’t be fooled, this movie is definitely written for adults though the “adult” content is quite mild, it is still there. Moving on.

***Spoiler alert*** (though who doesn’t know how a Disney movie will end?)

As we were leaving the theatre (and after we got done laughing about our fellow audience members), my roommates and I started to discuss the “happily ever after” that Giselle (from the fairy tale land) has. Despite the marriage of their former beaus, Giselle and Robert (from reality) aren’t showed getting married. Maybe it’s supposed to be assumed, but I specifically looked to see if either had a wedding band in the final scene and I couldn’t tell. I think it was intentially overlooked.

Giselle’s “happily ever after” scene consisted of a family (of one child) and running her own design business (of little girls’ princess dresses). (Update: Andie reminded me that she also saved her man from the dragon which is another part of the modern “happily ever after,” minus the dragon of course) What my roommates and I reflected on is that marriage is no longer what our generation dreams of. Sure we want the man, but we want the family and the successful career just as much (if not more so). Getting married to Prince Charming is not enough and not necessarily required for our dreams to come true. Living together is a perfectly legitimate substitute for marriage. In fact, they are interchangable.

I could get mad at Disney about this, but they are merely reflecting our culture. It’s sad, but God’s ideal of marriage is not deemed “necessary” to have a family.

What do you think? If you’ve seen the movie, do you think I’ve painted an accurate picture of it?

Movies Unseen

Last night I watched Sister Act (1 and 2) for the first time. My roommate helped me to see that no well-respected child of the 90s should go without seeing this modern classic.

There are a few other popular 90s movies that I’m glad I haven’t seen: Titanic and Forrest Gump. No need to see them, I think. Can you think of any 90s movies that I have to see?

As the Reverend Mother aptly said, “I am a relic, and I have misplaced my tambourine.”

Ronnica
NaBloPoMo, Day 10