Last night while I was watching VH-1 Classic, one of their little commercials came on. As you may know, this channel doesn’t have corporate commercials (like beer, soda or feminine hygiene products) so their commercials usually advertise VH-1 sponsored concert tours or their “Save the Music” campaign.

Anyway, this ad started playing last night where an office staff was celebrating the birthday of one of their co-workers. It was his 33rd birthday, as evidenced by the cake with wax “33” candles on it. It was playful and fun with his co-workers singing happy birthday and dancing about the office. It seemed very campy and fun and I suspected some forthcoming reference to a cheesy 80’s song. But suddenly he collapses head first into his birthday cake.

He was dead

Out of the blue the celebration ends and text appears indicating that 33 is the average life expectency in some African country because of AIDS. I guess it’s an effective ad because I’m talking about it today, but damn, what a bummer. One minute you’re hearing Kylie Minogue singing about the Locomotion and the next thing you know life ends for one office worker and thousands of Africans.

Then today, Matt and I decided to go see “Open Water”. This movie is based on a true story of a couple that was left behind in the ocean during a deep-sea scuba diving expedition. I’m not going to give away the ending in this paragraph * (but check out the footnote below if you’re interested in hearing details of what happens) but let’s just say that this movie doesn’t have the typical Hollywood ending.

So now it’s twice within 24 hours that I’ve seen something that ends drastically different than I had expected. I think I need some Prozac.

*The end of this film is so depressing! (spoiler coming…if you don’t want to know what happens…STOP READING NOW). First, they float for close to 24 hours. They get stung by jellyfish, then the husband’s leg gets bit by a shark, then there’s a lightning storm. Finally, they show the couple as the sun is rising and she’s hugging her husband. Next thing you know, she removes his gear and let’s him float away. He had died in her arms overnight. Minutes later, he gets pulled underwater and devoured by sharks. Feeling hopeless, she removes her gear, then goes underwater and drowns herself. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

August 7th, 2004
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: snarl

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