Blood Bank Draws Blood While You Sit There, Watching

Adverblog drew our eyes to this video for Banc de Sang (the Blood Bank), a Catalunya-based org.

While watching the video we got that tense "dude, what are we waiting for?" feeling, ever aware that the red time bar at bottom was elapsing rapidly. The ending was a nice surprise. Great demonstration of the medium being incorporated into the message.

Harry Potter Kicks iPhone's Ass, Buzzwise

Perhaps because of the recent novel-leaking scandal, Harry Potter buzz has exceeded the iPhone in spades. Get this: over 4 percent of blogs of late reference Harry Potter in some way.

Is it that serious? Is it? Is it? Perish the thought, says GP. And while we'd love to blow X amount of hours reading the nearly 700 pages that comprise this latest and last masterpiece of JK Rowling's, well, the spoilers convey all the critical stuff faster. Plus, we've still got a bunch more HP movies to sit through. Why ruin the wizard's cinematic potential with that pesky (always, inevitably, better) literary version?

DirecTV Takes Priority Over Machinations of Alien Royalty

On a mission to benignly molest any and all Sci-Fi classics we may have placed on the altars of our souls, DirecTV tears into the scene in Aliens where Ripley fights the alien queen.

In this appropriation she's really peeved because the queen won't leave her in peace to watch her DirecTV.

Nice touch with Sigourney Weaver who, according to Adfreak, joins William Shatner, Pamela Anderson and Charlie Sheen in the annals of DirecTV's illustrious ad history.

Post Kill Bill, Daryl Hannah doesn't seem to be doing much, so who wants to bet a cookie that the next ad is a Bladerunner nab?

Nestea Takes on Heat in Street Fighter-Style Combat Game

It's obviously not the real thing, but we're having fun with this new game Heat Fighter, a variation on the classic Street Fighter, created for Nestea by Lowe Roche, Toronto.

Players can be customized and the game has all the basic moves you'd expect in a fighting game, though the challengers (Solar, Cole and Mercury) don't seem super-challenging.

The little Nestea superchargers are a nice touch. We are actually kind of feening for some iced tea now.

Google Grows, Star Blows, Diorama Explodes, Pants Lost

- While the statement "more money than God" really doesn't make any sense, Google certainly has a lot of the green stuff. Recently posting its Q2 revenues of $3.8 billion, the digital giant continues to grow with a 58 percent jump from last year and a 6 percent jump from last quarter.

- In Toronto, some are not very happy the Star has begun accepting cover wraps as ad units.

- Using the word "explosion" in an airport diorama gives good reason for the rest of the world to think those of us in advertising seriously do have a screw loose.

- 50 Cent is angered over a Shoot the Rapper banner ad on MySpace which contains the likeness of him. He's suing MySpace.

- Former Deutsch Group Creative Director David Rosen has published I Just Want My Pants Back, a novel about a 25 year-old man "searching for meaning, love, a profession - and a missing pair of pants" and who is..."in need of a functional vagina."

Saatchi Follows Wendy's 'Kicking Trees' Spot With 'Hole'

We've got our hands on Saatchi & Saatchi's follow up to their Kicking Trees commercial for Wendy's which aired during the American Idol finale. This one's called Hole and it's a gleeful expression of the lemming-like acceptance people apparently have for McDonald's and Burger King's practice of leaving their burgers sitting in the window as opposed to Wendy's which, according to red pigtail guy, come sizzling off the grill.

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Soccer Moms: Get Paid to Do What You Do Best

We thought this campaign for bus drivers was cute. Considering we never saw anything besides MDUSD or some other such initials taking up (wasted!) space on the sides of our school buses, we think they'd definitely catch the roving soccer mom's eye. (Beware - she is an aggressive driver.)

And seriously: bus drivers make $16.25 an hour? What were we doing in retail all those years? We could have been in big yellow buses, navigating roads and paper airplanes, sitting on dirty shock-ready plastic seats, eyeing the bully who keeps pushing freshmen out the window, crying ourselves to sleep ... oh, never mind.

Hey. Third World Adolescents Need Porn, Too

The OLPC, an organization devoted to bringing open source laptops to children in Third World countries for less than $200 a pop, have discovered an awkward residual outcome in their well-meaning scheme.

The News Agency of Nigeria has reported some kids at an Abuja primary school "have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials."

Oops. The OLPC has since reported they'll be including porn filters in the newer models of the otherwise-durable computers.

Boobs, Butts, Bimbos Still the Key to Men 18-34

Once again confirming boobs, butts and bimbos can get the human race (or at least mean) to do anything, Heavy has launched its second annual Massive Mating Game which offers guys the chance to win a day with one of four "hottest girls on Earth" simply by watching their videos and becoming their friends on MyHeavy.

Well, Heavy has certainly cracked the male 18-34 code with this one insuring lots of drool and other fluids will hit keyboards as men slather over these videos trying to decide which of the "hottest girls on Earth" is...well...the hottest. It's so easy a caveman could do it. Oh wait, that one's taken.

Food Maker's Self-Regulation Nothing More Than Foolish Fuckery

Proving there's no such thing as meaningful self-regulation in any for-profit industry, food manufacturers, following their recently introduced guidelines for advertising food with too much sugar to kids, have simply played games serving sizes to limit per-serving sugar content to the agreed upon 12 grams thereby loopoling their way past the very junk food guidelines they created for themselves.

As an example, the U.S. Food Policy blog took a look at the nutrition labels for Cocoa Puffs and Trix and determined Cocoa Puffs, the cereal with more sugar than Trix based on the government's standard 30g serving size, will be able to advertise while Trix will not. This is possible courtesy of the foolish fuckery food manufacturers deploy when it comes to serving size. At a serving size of 27g and 12g of sugar, Cocoa Puffs meets guidelines while Trix, with a 32g serving size and 13g of sugar does not.

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