The Taste of Platinum

The bright, blue bottle is eye-catching. The name is intriguing. Introduced a week before the Super Bowl by Anheuser-Bush, Bud Light Platinum is hardly light. It has the smooth texture of Bud Light, but has the alcohol content of something much stronger. Bud Light Platinum is 6% alcohol by volume, as opposed to regular Bud Light, which is 4.2%. This is a very rich alcohol content for a “light” beer, considering usually dark beers only range in the 6% area. Anheuser-Busch’s very own Budweiser just has 5%.

If your beer of choice is Bud Light, when you take your first sip of Bud Light Platinum you’ll notice its flavor is pretty similar to Bud Light. But it’s just not the same. If Bud Light isn’t your favorite beverage, then hopefully you can appreciate when I say Bud Light Platinum is like a light beer on steroids. Heavy steroids.

In my opinion, it makes Bud Light taste watered down in comparison. When compared to the tastes of Bud Light and Budweiser, I’d have to place it in the middle. It is very smooth like Bud Light, strong like Budweiser, but doesn’t have that rough aftertaste of Budweiser, either. It does have a bit of an aftertaste, but that’s mostly due to the high alcohol content.

Just like its taste, Bud Light Platinum’s calorie content (137 per 12oz bottle) is somewhere in the middle when compared to Bud Light and Budweiser. Bud Light has 110 calories per 12oz bottle and Budweiser has 145.

The word Platinum suggests a prestige product, and so does its price. On average, Bud Light Platinum costs about a dollar more than other Anheuser-Busch beers when purchased in a six-pack. Is it worth the extra money? I think on special occasions it is. After I had 3 beers of Bud Light Platinum I felt like I usually did after 4 and a half Bud Lights. Therefore, the higher alcohol content will ensure you get your money’s worth.

The Book of Eli

 The camera guides the viewer through a barely standing forest, with the sun illuminating smoky air. Torched by an intense fire, all that remains are black trees, which constantly shed what appears to be either ashes or leaves. The only life forms present are starving and ravaged. This post-apocalyptic world is where we find Eli (Denzel Washington), one of the few survivors of a long forgotten world who, with machete in hand, is prepared for anything and ready to do anything to protect himself and his cargo from the horrors of this torn and twisted world.

As we follow Eli through a desert-like terrain spattered with missile craters and half destroyed cars and demolished roads, it almost seems as if he is traversing through the ruins of a large city, if not a massive junkyard. You can’t help but realize a sense of lost hope as you watch Eli wander across this dead planet and encounter corpses of the unfortunate.

The movie soon moves to violence as Eli is ambushed by a group of rogue “outlanders,” desperate to survive in this cruel world. It becomes apparent that Eli is not the man to mess with when he takes on the entire clan and kills them with ease. Eli proves not to hesitate to do what he must to make his way west, where, for some reason, he believes there is something for him and his book–his very motive for survival.

Having run out of subsidence, Eli’s search for water brings him to an outpost in the middle of nothing which is run by Carnegie (Gary Oldman), who is eager to expand his territories through manipulating the hopeless minds of the post-apocalyptic peoples through inspiration brought from a special book–a book only Eli has possession of.

From here, the conflict escalates as Carnegie tries to get Eli’s precious book and Eli refuses all advances. When a local girl, Solara (Mila Kunis), attaches herself to Eli he reluctantly has to look out for her, too.

The directors, twins Allen and Albert Hughes work brilliantly together to give the film more of an eerie feel. Eli is captivating as a distrusting religious man, mellowed down from years of solitude. Carnegie is the perfect villain for this movie, both engaging and viscous; he is limitless on what he’ll do to get what he wants. Solara is the sweetheart with good intentions but at first only causes Eli grief.

If this movie teaches us anything, it teaches us the true power of ignorance, as well as the power of hope. This movie shows us the consequences of our mistakes before we make them, and perhaps we can learn from our mistakes before they happen.

Pringles for Breakfast?

Everyone's familiar with the salty snack that, "Once you pop, you can’t stop." It was announced that Kellogg has decided to buy Pringles from Procter & Gamble for $2.7 billion. According to BBC News (2012), Pringles are sold in more than 140 countries and generate annual sales of $1.5 billion. It’s safe to say Kellogg will get its money back in two or so years.
 

Why the sale? Originally P&G wanted to sale Pringles to Diamond Foods but the deal never went through because Diamond had problems with its accounts. How I interpret this is that P&G has been trying to sale Pringles for a while. P&G is a billion dollar company but when you look at all the products it offers (Crest, Olay, Mr. Clean, etc.), Pringles doesn’t really fit in anywhere. Because Pringles is the only brand geared toward food, it makes sense for P&G to trim it off their business tree. One brand is hardly enough to justify the investments required for marketing to that particular niche.

Kellogg, a company most famous for its breakfast foods, will be adding a new niche–lunch snacks. I am very interested in seeing where this procurement will lead. Will Kellogg expand on its new marketing area? Or will it stay like it is: 37 different kinds of breakfast foods, and Pringles?

Jersey Shore Part II

Last week I took you into a world few people haven't heard of: Jersey Shore. It's synonymous with summer, east coast, clubbing and alcohol. I wanted to review Jersey Shore because I really am not familiar with it, myself. Since it first aired I was quick to judge it but I never gave it a fair chance. After watching two episodes, my opinion hasn’t really changed.

This is a world of summer fun–of alcohol and sex. It’s a world where it’s not what you know, but how you look. The people here couldn’t care less what’s on the inside if you’re outside isn’t suntanned crispy and your abs aren’t playgirl material. Lawyers and doctors don’t stand a chance.

In the first episode Nicole (Snookie) got belligerently wasted, rubbed up on the male house guests and passed out–missing the house’s quality bonding time. Being the awkward stranger (everybody lost respect for her after her behavior), she is compelled to leave Jersey Shore and go back to where everyone “treats [her] like a princess.”

Moral of the story: upon the first night of being with new people in an unfamiliar area don’t drink excessively, kiss up on strangers and pass out.

In the second episode we find the house guests doing their first day of work at the T-Shirt store. Angelina greets this new job with protest. She reflects, “When I think of Jersey Shore I think of a playground.” Of course you shouldn’t be bothered with a job while partying it up in Jersey Shore. God forbid you have to contribute to society in any way while here. She was very devastated to find out Dan (the store owner and their landlord) expected her to work more than once a week. “I feel like this job is beneath me,” she complains. She remarks, “I’m a bartender,” as if bartending is a real step-up from sales. When referring to her job back home, she says, “I do…like, you know, great things.” As we all know, nothing is greater than pouring two different kinds of beverages into a cup and handing it to a customer for an exaggerated tip. Spending eight to nine hours of a day at this shop is overwhelming for her. This only demonstrates that she’s never had a real job in her life.

When the group does go out at night it is nothing less than epic. They go to the craziest clubs and nobody is off-limits. Jenni (Jwow) fools around with Pauly D and Sammi makes out with Ronnie. As previously stated, Jwow, the “praying mantis,” has a boyfriend back home, thus, what she does with Pauly D is probably disliked by her man. Sammi’s and Ronnie’s interaction wouldn’t be too eye-catching if Sammi hadn’t already been talking to Mike (The Situation). “The Situation just never fails,” Mike says, in reference to his competition to winning Sammi over. This of course is a major blow to his ego, because he doesn’t exactly succeed in this situation.

Jersey Shore Part I

Jersey Shore is a show I was always aware of but never really had an interest in watching. The only times I saw any episodes was when I visited friends who were watching it while I was there. My interest for the show never really spiked. I felt it was just a reality show about a bunch of Italian-Americans who like to drink and party.

I can’t rightfully write a review about the TV show if I don’t actually watch it. Since my experience with Jersey Show is so sparse, I decided to go back to the beginning and watch the first episode. I am mainly going to focus on the cast members, because you can’t really appreciate Jersey Shore unless you get introduced to the people. The introductions are very basic–they illustrate the party hard personalities of the new inhabitants of Jersey Shore.

“Out here, in Rhode Island, guidos, when we stop or chrome keeps spinning,” Pauly D says in the opening scene while on top of his motorcycle. I’m not sure what spinners on a bike have to do with anything, but OK. Besides having a flashy bike, he works out a lot and uses extensive amounts of gel in his hair. He even has a tanning bed in his house. I guess I can’t blame him because tanning beds can be a real rip-off. If he uses it as regularly as he says he does than he probably made his money back quickly. His tagline is he is “your girl’s favorite DJ.”

The most memorable thing I saw about Nicole, aka “Snookie,” is her obsession with guidos and that she drives to Jersey in a beater of a car, which actually breaks down on her during her drive to the house. Another thing she demonstrated in the first episode is that she really can’t drive at all. That, and she is a very wild drinker.

Mike, aka “The Situation,” describes how he is the “Situation” because of his abs. He gets his situation abs from working out five times a week to represent the ultimate guido. Mike explains that a guido is a “smooth, good looking, well dressed Italian.” Originally the term “guido was a demeaning term referencing Italian-Americans in New York and New Jersey. Mike started the show with Sammi as a romantic interest but blew that opportunity when he invited some girls to the hot tub and made out with one.

Sammi, aka “Sweetheart,” is “the sweetest –SENSOR– you will ever meet.” She’s looking to “break a lot of hearts and get with a lot of good, hot, sexy guidos,” because, if you haven’t noticed, Italian guys are pretty awesome. “If you’re not a guido then you can get the –SENSOR– out of my face,” she says.

What I gathered from Vinny’s introduction is that he was raised in a lifestyle rich with Italian heritage and he can fist pump like no other.

Jenni, aka “Jwow,” is “like a praying mantis.” She intends to go to Jersey Shore to live the new experiences and leave what’s at home behind her. She has a boyfriend at the beginning of the series, but I’m sure based on her introduction that after a few episodes that relationship ends.

Ronnie introduces himself with his one rule: “don’t fall in love with Jersey Shore.” Too bad he couldn’t follow his one rule, as we all know he is currently going through a break up with Sammi.

Angelina–I have no idea who she is. She says she is the Kim Kardashian of Staten Island but I don't see it.