Slog - Comments on This Is Your Brain on Hope

Comment by I wish I could be that egg.

I wish I could be that egg. — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:58:24 -0800

Rachael Leigh Cook is so hot.

Comment by Andy

Andy — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:06:58 -0800

I love a good mockery of the war on drugs, but isn't this ad reducing "hope" to about as vapid and meaningless a phrase as "family values"?

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:09:46 -0800

LOL. Just yesterday I posted "Heroin is so Pass/e" as one of my fave vids by one of the local bands that will be playing at the KEXP BBQ Friday.

Seriously, it is totally last century.

Comment by David Wright

David Wright — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:13:38 -0800

MoveOn is all about preaching to the choir. The only thing a swing voter sees in that ad is a bunch of hipster-class twenty-somethings advertising their Bush-Derangement-Syndrome.

Comment by amelia

amelia — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:17:12 -0800

Doesn't anyone else recognize Boy Meets World star Rider Strong in the Obama ad?! WTF?

Comment by Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:17:21 -0800

Whatever happened to Rachael Leigh? Has she shown up in any cheap soft (or hard) porn yet? It's the next logical step in her downward career trajectory. Point me to it!

I need a quick thrill.

Comment by yourmom

yourmom — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:46:52 -0800

Get over the hipster thing, Dom. It makes you sound shrill.

Comment by Dominic Holden

Dominic Holden — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:51:10 -0800

@7) But hipsters are smelly and gross.

Comment by yourmom

yourmom — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:58:53 -0800

so's your mom

Comment by Dominic Holden's mom

Dominic Holden's mom — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:07:55 -0800

Hey! I'm not smelly.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:14:57 -0800

Well, not when you wash up.

Comment by NaFun

NaFun — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:18:40 -0800

Dom's mom is maybe the most awesome person in the world.

Just sayin'

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:46:27 -0800

Especially in the shower.

And stop peeking!

Comment by Dougsf

Dougsf — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:18:41 -0800

That ad staring Rachel Leigh Cook isn't the ad they were mocking, the RLC ad was a more modernized, late-90's spin-off of the ad they were mocking.

In the original "brain on drugs" ad, it seemed pretty obvious - based on the man's attire - that they specifically meant "don't do coke".

Comment by mourner

mourner — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:26:43 -0800

that anti heroin ad was totally true

Comment by Dominic Holden

Dominic Holden — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:06:01 -0800

@15) I hope you're joking, but I'm worried you're serious. Heroin, bad as it may be, is not a frying pan; your brain is not an egg; your body does not drip with yolk, no matter how high; and your family is not a dish rack. Not only is it deeply abstract, it's a terrible analogy. That commercial has no applicable information for the would-be heroin user or the addict trying to recover. It's just vacuous fear mongering, with an inexplicably sexy model to make it strangely appealing.

Comment by lostboy

lostboy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:49:47 -0800

Dom @16, we've seen a lot of solid reporting from you, but you're drifting into anti-anti-drug hysteria here.

Pretending that only literal fact is true is the trademark rhetorical device of 12-year-olds. Metaphor often conveys truth more effectively than fact, but then I don't think you need anyone to explain this to you.

Far from being "deeply abstract," illustrating a wrecked life with a wrecked kitchen is about as shallow as an abstraction can get. (Not in a bad way; think accessible.)

"No applicable information for the would-be heroin user"? How about "heroin will fucking break you," illustrated in vivid and memorable fashion?

And I'd say the "inexplicably sexy model" who made the ad "strangely appealing" was key to its success. The ad got noticed, even by those otherwise jaded to its message. Obviously, Dom, it was memorable enough for you.

Comment by Greg

Greg — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:38:17 -0800

I don't want no heroin, but I do want that model. Raowr.

Comment by willow

willow — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:57:25 -0800

In the Obama ad, is that Willow's girlfriend that got shot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Comment by ellarosa

ellarosa — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:31:15 -0800

this reminds me to smoke some pot. thanks!

Comment by Krelus

Krelus — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:16:01 -0800

The other day I saw that TV spot while watching the Daily Show... I thought it was funny as hell. I think that's what it was supposed to be, just something that's lighthearted and vaguely silly. Reading into it any further than that is pointless.

Comment by Big Sven

Big Sven — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:31:35 -0800

As usual, moveon shows themselves to be politically tone dead morons. Yes, in a tight election, the thing we want to do when we are fielding a candidate with an admitted history of trying hard drugs is to make light of anti-heroin efforts.

Could we have a reanimated corpse of Layne Staley, still in his sleeping bag, talking about hope? 'Cause I hear all the youngsters like that kind of, you know, irony and stuff.