DanThat'sCool!

Ok.  I don’t care if you are a Red Sox or a Yankee fan.

Well, that might be a stretch.  Maybe even a wicked pissah of a stretch.  But regardless, there was some DanCool advertising puffed out over Fenway Park today.

Cloud Advertising is definitely not your Mother’s old school skywriting.   Companies and businesses in major cities are slowly starting to pick up on the trend, squirting little fog dots across the sky to promote their product to a captive, head tilted audience.  Mohegan Sun Casino is all about it lately, and has spread their message over beaches and ball parks using multiple planes flying in formations that even the Blue Angels would envy, pooping out smoke balls that are easier to read than a Kindle.

Using some crazy Geek Squad computer programming, multiple planes and more smoke machines than Celine in Vegas, these scrolling ads stretch for miles over the city.  According to some cloud ad sites, each letter is at least the height of the Empire State Building (…no, that is NOT a shout out to the Yankees…) and the message can be seen for 15+ miles.

Today’s Go Sox ♥ Mohegan Sun scroll brought the world to a rush hour stop as the message circled the city of Boston.  People were scrambling for their cell phone cameras like they just saw Big Foot. Even the rare green light didn’t get traffic moving while people were hanging out of windows channeling their inner Spielberg.

I can only hope that this fad catches on.  But not in the already played out jumbotron, flash mob “Jen Will You Marry Me?” kind of way.  If I see one more groom-to-be and his dorky wedding party doof their way through another Journey song outside the Mall, it’s not going to be pretty.

I’m talking about some serious OhNoSheDin’t smoke balls.

Think of the possibilities.  Think of your ex.  Or your boss.  Or any VH1 show on your DVR.  (And you know you have some on there….please.)

How sweet would a flyover be in your Baby Daddy’s neighborhood?  ”Where’s my money, Deadbeat?  See you on the Maury Show!”

This could be huge.  Start packing the Black Hawk with dry ice and a Dell laptop.  I can think of about 5 people right now that need a smoke bomb.

Celine?  You wish.

Every Noggin         Needs Some Lovin’

Two things.

One.  Props to Ne-Yo for bringing back a little old school.  With a good boy/bad boy tip of his hat and some pricey music videos,  he accomplished  what many a mother has only fantasized about while under the salon dryer.  He got a chunk (tho, granted, a micro percentage) of city boys to buy a belt, pull their pants up and rock a little retro while they stroll down the sidewalks and mall food courts.  I’ll give Usher a little tip of that hat as well, but sorry, dude…Ne-Yo wears it better.

Two.  I wasn’t lucky enough to be born with a Hat Head.  Through the years, living out a number of Winters in New England, I did master the unfortunate Hat Head, but not the Cool kind.  Not to brag, but I gotz me some nice pearly white teeth, thanks to flouride in my hometown’s water system, and two years of pre-rinsing my braces…but hats have always been my nemesis.  Think of a Tweety Bird Pez dispenser.  Put a goatee on it. Then put a hat on it.  There you go.  Thanks for nothing.

But now there’s Goorin Brothers to the rescue.  Since 1895 they’ve been plopping lids on melons of all shapes and sizes.  The kind of hats that you see in old polariods, flickery movies and today’s runway widescreens.  Throw in some caps and winter fuzzies and you have one sweet retailer.  Check out their site.  There are loads of locations, and page after page of great looking dome shields.

After 4 generations they have landed on Boston’s Newbury Street and they are giving the Fenway B cap a run for its money.  This Hat Shop was made for this stylin’ avenue, as if the Mothership found the perfect docking station.  Walking up the stairs and inside is like a haberdashery time warp.  Worth a look even if you have already maxxed out on hats this season.  (As if.)  Prices are surprisingly understated, but the styles are certainly not.  If you can’t find the perfect cover for your coconut inside this shop then shame on you.  There is really something for everyone.

So a tip of my hat to Goorin Brothers.  And a candy filled tip of my Pez Head as well. Check them out.  Extremely DanCool.

This is a MUST HAVE app.

End of story.

If you live in a major city, immediately delete all your Mobile Apps, and install this one.

shopkick is my all time favorite, hands down.

As soon as I walk out the door and begin my wanderings through Boston, this App is turned on.  Just by elbowing my way thru tourists looking for the Freedom trail and walking into my favorite stores, I can score deals and rewards.  I know it sounds too good to be true, but it works.  You’re going there anyway…so hell yeah, why not get rewarded for it?  It’s a check-in App that does all the work for you.

There are loads of ways to score with this App.  Thru some kind of Star Trekish signal in your mobile phone, the App picks up on where you are and allows you to score points & rewards (Kicks and Kickbucks).  Yeah…it’s a little Big Brother, I know.  But when Big Brother gives me FREE Best Buy gift cards…well, he can climb a ladder, look in my bedroom window and put the pictures on Facebook, thank you very much.

Walk into a selected store.  Get Kicks.

Check into a store on the list.  Get more Kicks.

Scan promoted items.  Get even more Kicks.

Redeem the Kicks for some very DanCool stuff.  iTunes cards, store gift cards and other things that will bring out your greedy side.  The whole process is dumbed down, too. Once you qualify for the rewards, they show up on your phone.  Show the code to the cashier and BAM!…they are filling a shopping bag with free loot.  The hardest part of the process is handing over my shiny iPhone for the transaction. Nobody touches my baby.

You can check my W2.  I’m not employed by their marketing department.  The App just works.  And I have a couple Benjamins worth of Best Buy stash to back it up.

Major cities are on board, with many more to come.  Loads of retail outlets are included, and new ones seem to show up every time I turn the thing on.  Check out their site and see if your city or stores are on the list.  Then put this on your phone.

Then buy me something.