Random Observations

-I always hate on commercials and the way they show black people, but a new, small trend has given me hope. It's the trend of fun, clever, and loving black fathers in TV commercials. There are two car commercials that show this trend, one for Chevrolet and one for Volkswagon. In the Chevy one, a little girl keeps shouting magic words at the car. The father comes out and tells her to try something else. When the girl does it, the father pushes a button on a key fob to make the car start. The girl is amazed, and the commercial is cute. In the Volkswagon commercial, the father is driving the car as his son (in the front seat) asks him what each button does. The kid finally asks what the hazard button does and the father replies that it's a "warpspeed button" and that he didn't want to touch that. Of course the kid does, and the father speeds up a bit. Another cute commercial. So, here's to the ad agencies who came up with those commercials that not only show a very positive view of black people, but a positive view of black men...I commend you!

-It seems like FOX has given up being creative when it comes to reality TV. First, there was Trading Spouses, a clear ripoff of ABC's upcoming Wife Swap (although the show wasn't that bad). The Next Great Champ, a show that's very similar to NBC's upcoming The Contender, is coming on in a couple of weeks. Now, FOX is showing Renovate My Family, a show that seems to merge elements of Extreme Makeover, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and The Swan into something hosted by the son of Dr. Phil. What's next? A Real World ripoff where the people don't know they're on camera?

-I've only taken a couple of looks at the Republican National Convention thus far. Given that I'm not a Republican, I'm not sure how much I will watch. However, I will say that those protesters who snuck into the convention and wrecked havoc were ridiculous. Dammit, we should respect each others' views enough not to do something like that. No group of crazy Republicans did that at the Democratic National Convention, and we shouldn't do that at their convention.