Old Spice Guy vs. Fabio vs. Darth Vader iPhone repair

Tired of hearing about the debt ceiling? Depressed by politics as usual? Work? All those back-to-school ads in July? Here are some things to make you smile again.

First up, Isaiah Mustafa (aka The Old Spice Guy) goes Mano a Mano against "Italian model" Fabio (Lanzoni) to see who will be the next Old Spice spokesmodel.





Part of me is tempted to vote for Fabio, who is, like, 55? 60? now. (That must be some portrait he has in his attic.) But my armpits belong to Isaiah Mustafa.

Also worth a viewing, this brilliant (albeit slightly warped) video from comedian Mark Malkoff to determine exactly how far the Apple Store's customer service (or hospitality) extends. FYI, the segment titled "Darth Vader iPhone Repair," at 2:02, is hands-down my favorite.



Finally, getting back to our political crisis du jour, here's yet another reason Republicans need to vote on raising the debt ceiling:

Top 3 Super Bowl XLV ads

Come on, admit it, half (or three-quarters) of the reason you watch the Super Bowl is for the ads. As per usual, most of this year's Super Bowl ads disappointed. (Actually, I thought this year's Super Bowl ads SUCKED -- and were needlessly violent, creepy, and/or inappropriate or offensive.) But I felt these three were blog worthy.

First up, Volkswagen's "The Force" ad for the Passat (which has over 13 million views on YouTube, over 12.7 million of which were before the Big Game):



[Click here to see a short interview with the boy who would be Vader, who looks exactly like a young Luke Skywalker.]

Next, even though I am neither a Justin Bieber nor an Ozzy Osborne fan, I thought this Best Buy spot was amusing:



But perhaps my favorite Super Bowl ad (which I'm not 100 percent sure actually aired during the Super Bowl) is Old Spice's new Scent Vacation ad featuring the Man Your Man Could Smell (but Probably Never Look) Like, Isaiah Mustafa.



[I don't care if this ad is basically like all the other Isaiah Mustafa Old Spice ads, I still like it.]

Honorable mentions to Bud Light, Volkswagen (the Black Beetle ad), and to CarMax (though the spouse thought it was "a lame commercial").

FYI, to see more Super Bowl XLV ads, and how they rate, go here.

Sesame Street's Grover gets his Old Spice on

"Look at yourself. Now back to me. Now back at yourself. Now back to me. Sadly, you are not a monster. But if you listen to Grover, you will know all about the word on...."

Looks like Isaiah Mustafa, the hunky actor featured in those great Old Spice ads, has some competition -- in the form of a furry blue monster. But I don't think Isaiah minds, as it's for a good cause (and his daughter thinks its way cool) -- Sesame Street's Grover teaching kids about the word on (though not as in "let's get it on") via a send-up of Isaiah's now classic original Old Spice ad.

Here's the Sesame Street version of the Old Spice ad, titled "Smell Like a Monster," featuring Grover:



And here's the original Old Spice ad, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like," featuring Isaiah Mustafa:



I'm on a blog. [Insert Old Spice whistle. Fade to black.]