w V V V V V V 1W . W- 6B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend azine - Thursday, November 14, 2002 E------R-S---- -T--H-R-------------------- The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magaie - JEFF PHILLIPS - AM I WRONG DIDN'T VOTE? YOU CAN STILL YOUR OPINION COUNT 1 1 1 GRIZZLY PEAK'S CHICKEN CHERRY SALAD 1 1 1 1 1 INGREDIENTS 4 boneless chicken breasts 112 lb blue cheese 1/2 lb pecans 1 lb dried cherries 1 cup frozen cherries 1/4 cup honey 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/4 cup dijon mustard 2 tbs garlic minced S--- - -- -- -- -- - -- 2 cups canola oil 1 lb mixed baby lettuces INSTRUCTIONS ingredients Then slowly add canola oil to emulsify, season I with salt and pepper to taste. For the salad: Grill the chicken breasts. On a ! For the vinaigrette: plate, place baby lettuces, top Thaw frozen cherries, com- with 2 oz. vinaigrette. Then top bine with honey, red wine with crumbled blue cheese, dried vinegar, dijon and garlic in a cherries and pecans. To finish, food processor. add grilled chicken breast. With processor running, puree Makes four servings. ----- - ------------------------ I .a i i . i i i i i RYAN WEINER/Daily Grizzly Peak is located at 120 W. Washington St. Like 80 percent of the United States, I didn't vote in the elections last Tuesday. It was a result of general apathy and for- getting to pick up my absentee bal- lot, but it's like Chris Rock said, "Is there anything you won't be able to do just because your guy didn't win?" Yet, I still feel a tinge of guilt for not making my opinion count, and now I will try and make amends by taking on another cause: A progres- sion toward better commercials on television. Here you can make your voice count with very matter effort -just don't buy or use the products. As college students, ages 18-24, we are in the most coveted market- ing demographic. Soon, we will have a disposable income and will be eager to spend it. Companies know this and work around the clock to create successful cam- paigns geared for us. Because of this, we should never settle for the inane advertising that we are forced to deal with. For example, you should never want to "Dial down the center" to use AT&T for collect calls because AT&T replaced David Arquette with possibly the only person with a more abrasive shtick in Carrot Top. On top of that, there almost never a sit- uation where you would want to pay $2 per minute for a phone call - and if you are in that situation, then saving money over dialing the oper- ator isn't your biggest concern. Phone companies and the technolo- gy industry are the worst culprits as dA look at the I underside of U of M each try to find a new, hip way of stimulating the interest of its audi- ence. Of course, every company is searching for that very thing, but since advertising companies are paid boatloads for this service, they shouldn't be rewarded for poor pro- motions. You can't avoid watching televi- sion and seeing commercials for AT&T mobile (What is mLife?), Verizon wireless (Can you hear me now?), Sprint PCS (All-digital nationwide network) or VoiceStream (Whenever minutes). The slogans of these companies have entered our vernacular through sheer repetition. Companies don't care whether you have a negative or positive to response to their adver- tisement as long as you associate their company with a service. Most people would agree that they wouldn't hesitate to hit a man with glasses if they saw the Verizon guy, but that does not matter if new cellular phone customers continue to choose Verizon. The same could be said for any of the other phone companies. Computer industry commercials are at the root of the entire problem. As the leaders in new technology, they feel the need to be the leader in witty and hip advertisements. Unfortunately, these spots are very hit and miss and many are guilty of trying too hard (see: Any dot-com ad during this past Super Bowl). Clever as it may be, you are not going to create a wall mural using your new color Hewlett-Packard printer using 8.5-by-11 sheets of paper. For that you are going to need a little more motivation and about 53 color ink cartridges. If you have that, by all means go ahead, but don't be surprised if all you use your printer for is printing essays and directions from Mapquest (the color will have an easier time indicating if there is a SixFlags or a Cracker Barrel within two miles of your route). The computer industry is still sus- ceptible to what I will call common denominator irritating. This is the kind of advertising that nobody real- ly finds amusing. For this, Dell takes the cake with its Steven series, which stars a twen- ty-something drama student as a bumbling Dell lover, an abundance of "sweet," and the motto, "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell." I know that Steven has his own cult following and I don't care. These are the same people that have goiter fetishes. Any variation of the reality/hid- den camera advertisement no longer has a place in modern television. Whether it is a taste test or cleaning products, the tactic is dated. Unfortunately, while some people recognize this, it didn't stop Pontiac from showing a series for promoting their Aztek, Grand Am, Grand Pri> and Vibe. In the "What would you do with a Pontiac?" collection, a group of men or women take a trip in a Grand An and Grand Prix and are taped. Th< problem is that there is nothing nec essary about driving around in a Pontiac. Las Vegas isn't any more fun if you are rolling up to the MGM Grand valet in a silver Grand Prix. The same could be said for a the Pontiac Vibe commercials, where a group of people in their twentie analyze the car and are amazed a the amount of chrome inside and the use of an AC adapter. I know tha the thought of making smoothie inside a car is intriguing, but it is no reason to plunk down any money fo FACT: Nicotine is the most addictive drug there is. Most people have a plan for quitting: after exams, after graduation, when they get married, when they get pregnant.. but they continue to smokes www.universitysecrets.com Looking for a little tail? Come see The Cunning Little Vixen - a 90-minute opera about the wild adventures of a female fox and her wily intrigues with both man and beast. THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN A lush, melodious, 90-minute opera by Leos Janicek Sung in Czech with English supertitles Nov. 14 - 16 at 8pm - Nov. 17 at 2pm Power Center - UM School of Music Opera Theatre Tickets $20 and $15 - Students $8 with ID League Ticket Office - 734-764-2538 F 1 126 W. MICHIGAN AVE. DOWNTOWN YPSI TU-SA 11-7 SU 12-5 CLOSED MON 734.484.3833 (enriettcihreflh'ei3.cOm