My own identity and something I truly enjoy

Over the short history of this blog it has been impossible to tell who exactly was making each entry as Mikaela and I shared a single log in. I took care of that this evening by creating a seperate permission for each of us. Now my submissions will be signed 'EFL' (Erik Finn Larson) While Mikaela's will be signed 'Mikaela'. It feels really great to have my very own blogging identity once and for all. I guess I can call my Mom now and let her know I have truly arrived.

Anyhow, I read somewhere the other day about one very positive result of the current economic downturn. As companies have hunkered down into full cash preservation mode, there has been less money going into media advertising (particularly TV advertising). As a result, direct advertising (otherwise known as "the infomercial") has made a push from it's typical realm of late night "I Love Lucy" re-runs on the Hallmark channel. Perhaps you have noticed those Sham-wow advertisements popping up during prime time on real television networks.

Many people view this as a negative thing; I for one think it is great. The infomercial is so superior to the standard brand advertisement in every way. My love for infomercials can be be traced back many years, I generally credit two particular infomercial pioneers as my greatest influences:

Mr. Ron Popeil The King of Salesmen!

At a young age Ron had me dreaming of homemade fruit rollups, jerky made for pennies on the dollar, and delicious dried apricots. The Ronco 5 tray dehydrator was followed up quickly with an even more fanciful creation, the Ronco Pasta Maker. Mmmmmmm - nutritious whole grain pasta any time you wanted it. And the sausage attachment would finally let the inner-butcher within each of us loose.

Although tough to imagine topping these two fantastic machines Ron amazed me with his grand masterpeice: The Showtime Rotisserie Oven. After first viewing the full length infomercial for The Showtime Rotisserie Oven I found myself blurting out "Set it and forget it" at random but quite regular intervals - it once got me kicked out of 5th period french class. I'm not even going to go into the solid flavor injector or those wonderful blue gloves that were thrown in to sweeten the deal. One word - AMAZING!

Mr. Tony Robbins What's not to trust about this guy?

I was fairly regular 13 year old kid when Tony and his "Get the Edge" infomercial found its way to the Saturday 11:00-11:30 AM time slot on Channel 14. So while I didn't fit the the target demo (underacheiving, overweight, depressed, drug-addicted, alcoholic, welfare recipients) - I definitely felt the need to get my personal edge in life. Walking on coals and/or running into huge stadiums filled with cheering people equipped with one of those Madonna style micro-phones you didn't have to hold was soon all that filled mind. I never purchased nor read Get the Edge, but I still feel like I am a better person for having watched several Tony Robbins infomercials over the years.