“Goes Down Smooth. Creeps Up On You. Fast!” . That jingle for malt liquor was in heavy rotation in the ‘80s on much-missed KDAY, purveyor of early hip-hop to the AM waves of Los Angeles.  Admirable as it may have been  for its candid,  aproach the ad  did beg the question, or two, about targeting fortified liquor beverages to the urban community.

Well times have changed – not-so-much: I  took this pic of Dr. Dog’s Elixir’s delivery truck just the other day in South LA. Blast by Colt 45 is the Pabst co.’s  latest entry in the fruit-flavored Malt beverages, the 12% alcohol by volume, apparently a  bastard child of  ghetto brews and today’s energy drinks.  Now Pabst – and Snoop – have come in for some  harsh criticism on account of the kid-friendly flavoring of their brew and also because apparently the contents of just one can contain enough booze to meet the legal criteria for binge-drinking in several states. The company has defended its spokesperson: “For Snoop its more than an endorsement. Its  a lifestyle!”

No doubt,  and Just like back in the day the product (drink responsibly, of course!) comes with corporate promo language in ebonics…

Not that Pabst has yougsters in mind with its tutti-frutti line of rtificial flavorings…its just that malt conoisseurs apparently simply demand “sassy-ass strawberry” and “pimp lemonade” with their buzz.

So Malt liquor lives on in the food deserts south of the 10 – and apparently not only there as youtube poster  Timinator13  proves with his series of concptual Blast-based videos (that Pabst would probably gladly do without)

For their next celebrity spokesperson maybe they should look into Afroman another artist with proven malt lifetstle credentials…

E’ l’affettuoso nomignolo che a  Hollywood  molti usano per la Disney, sarcastico tributo al carattere dei dirigenti dello studio (Michael Eisner e Jeffrey Katzemberg, per dirne un paio)  e in generale alla cultura interna della casa di Burbank; in particolare lo  scientifico (piu’ esatto sarebbe forse “scientologico”) accanimento con cui al suo interno viene promosso il suo prodotto: la felicita’. Personalmente ricordo mi fecero una certa impressione la prima volta le scritte su ogni scrivania: “sorridete quando parlate al telefono!”

Del tutto incolpevole  invece , Paperino,  che abbiamo biecamente strumentalizzato nel fermo immagine, sopra, del piccolo gioiello di propaganda del 1942 “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land”  di Jack Kinney contenente la canzone “Der Fuehrer’s Face” di Spike Jones.

We haff vays of making you laff!

Its the happy moniker with which many in Hollywood refer to the Walt Disney Company, Disney Studios and Disneyland thanks to the famously autocratic company culture and the scientific (scientologistic?) way in which it regiments its product. For a company that nominally purveys happiness its minions and managers (Eisner, Katzemberg anyone?) are pretty darned humorless about abiding by internal rules.

Donald on the other hand whom I’ve shamelessly slandered in the above frame grab from   “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land”   (Jack Kinney, 1942 – featuring Spike Jones’  ”Der Fuehrer’s Face”) is entirely blameless.

Il movimento degli “indignati” contro il complesso politico-finanziario si estende in America. Dal primo ottobre e’ attivo il presidio Occupy LA, l’occupazione a oltranza davanti al municipio di Los Angeles, in solidarieta’ con l’occupazione di Wall street a New York e simili inizitaive prevista in dozzine di citta’ americane. Fra i militanti in California, Daniele Colaiacomo, imprenditore creativo nel settore della computer grafica e animatore della sezione mediatica del movimento.