It's One Serious Run

I have a thing for finding random shows to watch. Plus, I like to find new things on TV. They may not be brand new, but I like to see just what kind of variety is available and if I can get something out of the show then that’s just a bonus. I just found a very different kind of reality show. It’s called Bullrun and it’s all about how well the contestants can drive a car. I had heard of the show before, but I’d never really watched. It turns out that it’s pretty entertaining.

Now, it’s not just a regular old driving challenge that tests how well a person can follow driving rules. The show features twelve pairs of drivers who push their own cars to the limit. The teams must travel over three thousand miles to see who will be crowned the champion. Along the way there are challenges set up and the weakest team is sent home. Every day the pairs must use their navigation skills to find the established checkpoints along the course. The teams also have to display some very extreme driving skills in challenges that test their abilities and feature some eye-catching special effects.



The cars on this show aren’t your typical Honda Civic. The teams are behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Murcielago, Plymouth Barracuda, Lexus SC 300, Mini Cooper S, Mustang Mach 1, Acura NSX, Dodge Viper, VW Beetle, BMW 355i, Dodge Challenger, Corvette, and a Hummer H-3.

The whole point of the show is how well the teams can follow directions and drive their cars.

If you want to watch Bullrun tune into Speed Thursday at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. or check out their website at
http://www.speedtv.com/programs/bullrun/.

Here's just a preview of what you can see on the show.


I can say that, after watching two episodes, that I’m hooked. It’s pretty addicting and you can easily pick your favorites in a matter of minutes. Plus, it not your typical reality show; it’s more than finding love, showing your strength, or singing your heart out. It has parts of virtually every type of reality show plus the fact that it’s a cross-country driving challenge in some really awesome cars. To top it all off, the drama of every show on TV is still there. I definitely recommend checking it out.

The Hunt for Something Interesting to Watch

A lot of people love reality TV and a lot of people hate it. It’s been my experience that there isn’t much of a happy medium involved in this particular area of television. Personally, I like some of the reality TV available and completely hate the rest. Recently I’ve starting watching what I would call knock-off reality TV. By that I mean shows like House Hunters.

It turns out it’s actually a really interesting show and it’s almost like CSI, there are a couple of spin offs. The show follows perspective buyers as they learn the ins and outs of buying a home. The show puts focus on the ups and downs people face. It’s kind of like American Idol in that you choose your favorite and hope it “wins.” Except in this case, there’s no voting, talented singers, or sarcastic judges.

House Hunters International is really entertaining because you get to see just how different homes are across the world. This show follows buyers as they note the major differences from what they’re used to and the quirks that might encounter when purchasing and living in a foreign country.

To me it’s really cool to see just have different homes really are in different areas, even in the United States. In the foreign version, it’s kind of cool to see just how far your money can go and just how much people are willing to spend, but the second goes for the American based show as well.

If you’re interesting in catching an episode, what House Hunters weeknights at 8 p.m. and House Hunters International weeknights at 9 p.m. on HGTV.

Here’s a clip of an amazing home in Bali featured on House Hunters International.

Simply Refreshing

Unfortunately it’s taken me a while to blog on this, I’m a bit forgetful. In my time watching television, I saw various commercials on the Pepsi Refresh Project. Based on the commercials, I thought it seemed like a really awesome ideas to make some positive change happen and have a say in it.

The Pepsi Refresh Project’s goal is, as the website notes, to give “away millions to fund great ideas.” The company is turning to anyone, be it an individual, a non-profit, or a business, to come up with positive ideas that could have an impact. Pepsi takes 1000 submissions every month and allows anyone to vote on the ideas they like. You can vote 10 times everyday! People can submit ideas related to health, art and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, or education. The ideas are then broken into $5,000, $25,000, $50,000, or $250,000 categories.

It’s a really interesting way to change the world we live and gives people a role in making a better world. I would definitely suggest checking it out and even voting on some of the submissions.

Check it out at http://www.refresheverything.com/index.

Here are a couple of the commercials promoting the project. The first I put up because it’s a really creative commercial.

This video basically explains how the project works.

Now Available!...on Facebook

Since I’ve been taking a marketing class this semester, I’ve been really interested in how products are produced and sold. It’s really cool to be able to watch a commercial and basically analyze some of the parts of it. Which is why, when I came across a book a while back, I thought it could be a really interesting read.

The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff by Clara Shih talks about using Facebook as a marketing tool. It starts out by giving a timeline of the evolution of technology from mainframe computers to the social media takeover. Shih also talks about the fact that as technology changes we use it for very different purposes. A part of the book is devoted to explaining social capital and how we can get it through online sources. The evolution of social networking has made getting this capital even easier. Another big portion of the book is focused on the role social networking has on business and how it is carried out. An interesting point Shih makes is that social networking has altered the connection between businesses and customers. Shih writes, “Businesses feel more empowered to go after new markets and audiences. Customers feel more accountable for providing input and more grateful when their input is incorporated in the design of new products.” At the end of the book Shih includes a section on how to use Facebook in your business.

As a business major who will potentially work for a company involved in retail, this seemed really interesting. It’s no surprise to me that, with the extreme popularity of Facebook, companies are utilizing it in their operations.

Looking for Something Special? Try Facebook!

It’s impossible to watch television without seeing a commercial. Well, your favorite social networking site is becoming just like TV. You’ve all noticed the list of ads plastered down the side of the screen as you browse your Facebook page. I was sent an article about this particular aspect the other day and it seemed pretty interesting.

In the article, “Ads Posted on Facebook Strike Some as Off-Key” by Brad Stone, notes that there may be some issues with those advertisements. The social networking site offers a service to those who are marketing some type of good or service. People can design and post their ads, all through Facebook. Those can be can be segmented so that they only appear on users’ pages that list something in relation to what is being marketed. The problem in all of this is that ads that have nothing in common with the user and may be potentially offensive can still appear on someone’s profile. The article notes that Facebook has, and is working to add more, policies to deal with this type of issue. Now a picture on an ad must have something in common with what is being sold. Even with the policy in place, an inappropriate advertisement can still slip through the cracks. Although this is the case, the article notes that Facebook expects the quality of advertisement to increase over time, which they believe will help solve some of the problems.

I think it’s almost crazy that we can’t escape commercials in today’s world. Even if it’s not the standard TV ad, it’s still out there. Now that these new age commercials have come to my attention, they’re almost annoying. What do you think about advertising on Facebook? Should there be a limit?

It Doesn’t Mean Anything If It’s Not on Facebook

Television networks are trying to reach more people on as many levels as possible. They do so through shows, promotions, websites, games, and many other things. Like a lot of other networks, SyFy, is attempting to boost interest through social media.

In the article, “SyFy, Facebook Team Up on Social Gaming” by Mike Shields, talks about how the company is attempting to do this. The network wants its gaming site to reach a similar level of popularity that Facebook games have achieved. So, SyFy has implemented several ideas that they think will help them achieve their goals. The company has made it possible for gamers to challenge friends to games, publish their activity, and receive notification if one of their scores is beaten all through Facebook. SyFy is also tamping into the popularity of Twitter. Fans can now get updates from Twitter directly from the network’s blog.

Twitter and Facebook are taking over, almost literally. They’re in nearly every part of our lives. I can’t remember the last time I watched TV without hearing a promotion for one of the social networking sites. This is just a prime example of how networks are using this new revolution in their favor.

There’s No Such Thing as Too Much of a Good Thing

At this point I’d say it’s easy to tell how much I love TV. Well, I don’t just watch it, sometimes I actually read about it too. I came across this article the other day called “Revolution in a box: it’s not Twitter or Facebook that’s reinventing the planet. Eighty years after the first commercial broadcast crackled to life, television still rules our world. And let’s hear it for the growing legions of couch potatoes: All those soap operas might be the ticket to a better future after all.” Charles Kenny writes about the unbelievable powers of television. Its popularity continues to grow, even in areas that have just received electricity. As the popularity grows, so does its access, and in turn the number of channels available. Kenny talks about the considerable influence of soap operas. In Brazil, for example, some shows are so popular that newborns are now popular stars’ namesakes. Another way television is changing the world is by educating kids. Depending on the type of show children watch, their test scores have gone up and they’re less likely to do drugs. Watching television, in some places, has even lowered birth rates. Kenny mentions that governments would be wise to harness televisions’ considerable power in positive ways. Basically, the article credits television for the good that’s happening in many parts of the world.

A lot of what I’ve come up, while writing this blog, has bashed TV. It’s bad because of this or that. It’s harmful and doesn’t do much for you. I think it’s safe to say that that list could go on forever. This article is really interesting, since it never really attacks TV once. I think there might be something to that idea.