In this tragicomic commercial for Skittles, a man is asked by his coworker to demonstrate how everything he touches turns to Skittles. Kinda awesome, right? Not so, my friend.

A soliloquy of Shakespearean proportions follows, as the forlorn fellow relates how the "Skittles touch" keeps him from holding his son, dressing himself... and how it resulted in a most unfortunate fate for a man he met on the bus. Talk about bringing a new meaning to the word "bittersweet."

But seriously, though -- all the Skittles you could ever want, any time you want them? That's pretty cool. Plus, I can think of a few people I'd like to lay the Skittle mojo on.

Still. Those Skittle marketing dudes are effed up.

Okay, I'll admit it: I don't know the first thing about hardware-based security. But thanks to this ad for Intel's vPro and Centrino Pro, directed by the inimitable Christopher Guest, I want to know more.

In the spot, "Old School" rocker Dan Finnerty strolls through a cubicle maze, crooning about his software and IT problems of yore, before meeting up mid-office with indie artist Rob Giles, who's done up for the occasion like the unholy spawn of Axl Rose, Ozzy Osbourne, and, uh, several other unholy people. Together they rock the place out with lyrical tales of the magic things that happen with hardware-based remote managability.

Did I leave the experience knowing more about the topic than when I started? Not so much. But I was left with a powerful urge to forth and look stuff up about it. So there you go. Plus, I dig that one guy who can't get his lighter to work. Hee.

At first, I had my doubts about the impartiality of this little video romp from NYT technology columnist David Pogue about the supersweet features of the iPhone (and the perilous dangers of having one before anyone else). But let's face it: the thing has way more than enough fun stuff to turn any technophile dreamy-eyed, and thus turn any review into an ad. Watching Pogue's fingers zip across the iPhone screen and make wonderful things happen is sort of like watching really hot strippers make candy -- enticing, hypnotic, and very likely to bring about fits of Homer Simpson-level drooling.

Still, Pogue does attempt to stay the journalistic course, blending fairness and fun when he fends off a rabid, iPhone-hungry crowd by listing the device's flaws until nearly everyone loses interest. All in all, it's a fairly good overview, and a fairly good time as well.

Plus, if you look carefully as Pogue displays the phone in iPod mode, you'll see that the first album that comes up on his device is by Aaron Carter. Aaron Carter! Now that's just fun.

Nicole Kidman turned forty last week, and as this European commercial for Nintendo DS reminds us, the brain is the first thing to go. Here, angelic-looking Kidman is distressed to find that her "brain score" is 52, which is apparently pretty dire. (Guess that's what happens when you use up all your energy making sure everything in your home and your wardrobe is the exact same shade of white.)

To remedy the situation, Kidman jumps into a rigorous Nintento DS game of... Rock, Paper, Scissors. I'm not sure exactly how that particular game gives your brain a workout, but then again, my brain score's not 52.

Nowadays, those lucrative, super-secret commericials celebs do overseas just aren't so secret anymore, and they know it. Does this mean a trend away from the truly enjoyably embarassing ads of yore? (Well, we've always got Nic Cage.) Kidman may look fantastic here, but she's still advertising herself as being dumb as a bag of rocks (or paper or scissors). So I just don't know.