At The Commercials: The oddly compelling Esurance woman that is not Erin.

I don't know what it is about this girl, Mica, on the new Esurance commercials. She's not really conventionally attractive, but something about her appeals to me. Heck, she doesn't even have the usually artsy-nerd glasses I like; those are full-out nerd glasses. I think it is that dry, "ohmygod you're sostupid" quality to her voice that appeals to me. Well-done, Esurance, even if nobody on YouTube likes the commercial.

Side note: When did Erin Esurance get so foxy? Apparently, her presence is going to be scaled back in commercials. Also, she apparently spent all of her commercial money on cybernetic breast implants.

Anyway. I'm sure I'll be sick of this commercial in two months, after it has been hammered into my head, since Esurance spends about $7 billion each month on commercials. At least Mica's co-worker, The Saver, seems like a pretty swell dude. I'm hoping he can provide some legitimate funnies next time.

(Speaking of other commercials with hot girls - Both of the new State Farm commercials have attractive girls. There is the obvious one, with the three girls all wishing for a hot guy. But even in the other one with the stoner guys, the girl from the other apartment? Totally wafflecrapper, as Dr. Drew would say.)

Radio Review: Loveline still thrives, with the right guest

Olivia Munn has been rumored as a permanent co-host for
Drew in the past, but nothing has come of it, unfortunately.

There are few radio shows I manage to listen to regularly, since Rhode Island essentially only has two talk radio stations. One is WPRO (CHECK!!!), and while my friend is going to be hosting an entertainment show starting this weekend, they focus mostly on political talk – Ick. Pass.

The other main talk radio outlet in Rhode Island is WEEI – sports talk. While I can't stand some of the co-hosts on the afternoon drive show, and the morning show is always a horrible train-wreck of butchered politics and sports talk, the early afternoon (Dale and Holly) and late night shows (Planet Mikey, Celtics Rewind with John Ryder CHECK) and game coverage are excellent. However, I can't always stomach the sports talk, especially after a bad game, when horrible callers flood the airwaves. (“Gah-nett is washed up! We should trade Al-hen for David Lee!”)

Because of this, I really wish Loveline was available on my radio, but alas, I always have to catch a stream or a download of it after the fact. Dr. Drew is still taking calls from screwed up kids and stoners, even though Adam Carolla is long gone from the show. Thankfully, Drew also outlasted Ted Stryker, his horrible co-host following the Carolla years that caused the show's ratings to tank.

Currently, Loveline has no co-host with Drew. Normally the guest for the night serves as a sort of color commentator on calls, whereas Drew breaks it down like, shockingly, a doctor would. The variety of subjects he tackles is pretty admirable – It has to be difficult to follow-up a call on pot usage with a girl who has been molested, followed by another stoner asking why his wang can't get hard.

However, the quality of the show is definitely enhanced by a strong guest, as opposed to Drew going solo. The best guests tend to be comedians – Daniel Tosh absolutely kills it every time he guests, as did Don Glover and Daniel Puti (Troy and Abed from Community), and established celebrities like Joel McHale and David Alan Grier. I've frequently linked to DAG in the past, but he just has so many great Loveline bits that I can't resist doing so again. Check out this moment, when DAG talks about his girlfriend cheating on him.

Drew solo grade: B+
Drew with a good guest: A

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Please enjoy a song medley from DAG, David Alan Grier, on Loveline, above. His Thanksgiving song comes in at about 50 seconds, but the other songs he sings are also entertaining.

Some other classic Loveline bits: DAG giving his children names based on medicine. Adam tries to help out a phone sex operator. And a caller has no idea about how big things are.

News - Thursday, September 24, 2009

Straight off the meat hook and right on to your plate, it's the news!

- The big celebrity news of the week concerns Mackenzie Phillips, who apparently had a 10-year incestuous relationship with her dad, and a lifelong addiction to heroin. Although I didn't see her appearance on Today, the news story that MSNBC.com staff did about it was well-done, I thought.

It is odd to me that people are questioning whether it actually happened or not, though. Yes, she was on drugs, so I suppose you can question the validity of her memories, but she does come across as pretty lucid in her responses, at least in the news article. Also, from listening to Loveline and Dr. Drew, this sort of sexual abuse is somewhat common in horrible, drug-filled situations like these.

- Work on an AIDS vaccine is progressing forward, with clinical first trials showing some promise. Scientists don't seem to think it'll be a perfect solution, but it is great to see progress being made.

- And finally, in bizarro stripper news... A former stripper is claiming that a Catholic priest would preach on Sunday, and then make fun of God by banging her, and attending nudist and sex clubs obsessively, the other six days of the week. You will be absolutely, positively SHOCKED about where this happened. Wait for it... Wait for it... MIAMI FLORIDA.

Just say no to moving to Florida, unless it's for college. (Erin Andrews, call me!)

Thanks to this site for the image at the top.

Steve Greenwell, narcissist, and the blog business

So, Dr. Drew has a personality test that you can take online that assesses how narcissistic you are in various areas. If you're interested in taking it, you can click here, and find out your own score. The higher the number, the more narcissistic you are, although Drew does stress that this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

If you want to have some fun with it, I can try to guess your score before you post it. My score probably isn't that surprising – I've taken the test twice and gotten a 21 and a 25, putting me well-above the “average” score of 15. The maximum is 40. I write a blog that is basically just me pontificating on various subjects, and think that other people enjoy it, which takes a certain amount of narcissism to believe.

And because the post the other day on the scheduling of this blog got such a great response, I've decided that from now on all scheduled posts will drop at roughly 4 p.m. EST every day. As long as issues don't pop up, there should be a new post at that time every day. This does not apply to “news” posts, although I don't do as many of them now, and any sort of “spur of the moment” post.