While researching the exact date when a wine company came to its senses and stopped making whisky, I ran across an old ad for Sandeman. Their logo - sorry, their iconic logo - featured a man of mystery in a cloak, with a Spanish hat. It's good branding, if used right. Here's an example from 1965, to show just how utterly Spy Mania had swept the pop-culture world.

Of all the knock-offs and rip-offs of the Bond theme, that's one of the better ones. The problem with coming up with something different was the sheer perfection of the original; it's so simple, so exactly right that anything else sounds like an obvious imitation. Which of course it was. The only thing that came close was the "Secret Agent" man theme, which traded the jangly guitar for something more menacing and forthright. It lacked the mystery of the Bond theme, but it was good in its own right.

Since it's October 1st, the official start to the Month of Halloween, here's another commercial from the 70s. Alcoholic old ladies: always a larf.

WEB C'mon. Don't tell me your BS detector didn't red-line over this.

It's debunked, here.

APPS In every major city in the land this morn, libel lawyers woke up with a big smile, not knowing quite why they felt so darned good today. Then they read the Verge:

It's Yelp for humans, to make the obvious comparison, except you don't have to sign in to anything to check out the restaurant down the street and have your poor experience with the unfriendly proprietor and glacial service confirmed. Now, more evil:

And they would know: