Friday, August 1, 2025

Good morning and welcome back. We are officially 7/12 through the year and, I must say, things don't seem to be getting any better! Accordingly, I'm retreating to cheap nostalgia this week.

Item 1: a link

It's been about 20 years since Sony released this ad promoting its fancy televisions.

A lot of thought went into making ‘Balls’, the 2005 Fallon ad that launched Sony’s LCD TV brand, Bravia – even if the script likely didn’t extend much beyond ‘bounce a million colorful balls down a San Francisco hill’. For starters, where do you even get a million balls?

The agency tried to order them from China, but that would take months. In the end, they made do with just 250,000 after phoning every funfair dealer in the US and emptying the shelves of toy shops. 

You can learn more about the making of the ad here and here and here. If you, like me, are old, you may also remember this ad from the same campaign, directed by future Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer:

Sony still makes Bravia televisions but the ads are not very good.

Item 2: a list

Nintendo 64 Controller Buttons, Ranked:

1. Analog control stick
2. A button
3. Left shoulder button
4. Z button
5. D-Pad
6. B button
7. Right shoulder button
8. C-Pad
9. Start button

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Infrangible

Before I retired from the circus, my one infrangible rule was: don't feed the elephants chili. Believe me, that's a lesson you only need to learn once.

Item 5: a photograph

See ya!

Thanks for reading this little newsletter. See you next week.