Here's a new series of GEICO commercials where the gecko gets stalked by a wildlife enthusiast. Watch him narrate for nature lovers while the green mascot goes about his business at libraries, golf courses, cafes and parks.

I love it. The safari guy is totally at odds with his surroundings, but he's got that wild, sort of lovable Steve Irwin enthusiasm about him. My favourite is the spot where the gecko ditches him on the subway.

One point for beast; zero for man.

A UK-based Kellogg's Nutri-Grain campaign aspires to bring the office tea trolley back in vogue.

I have no strong feelings about mobile snack trays, but this glorified Nutri-Grain evangelist is sizzling. (So much hotter than his American counterpart, the break room bagel guy.) He can push my trolley any day of the week -- or at least stand around pouring me tea for an indecently long time before moving onto the next hungry cog.

Back in January, after viewing a crop of really weird McDonald's commercial from DDB Stockholm, I wrote, "OMFG! WTF? We don't know what drugs they use over in Sweden but, damn, we want some now! Or at least we want to know what goes on inside the minds of DDB Stockholm Copywriter Magnus Jacobsson and Art Director Frederik Simonsson who created these three off-the-charts whacked ads for McDonald's."

Like crows drawn to scraps of tinfoil, the average person cannot resist the temptation of an optical illusion -- no matter how many times they've visited the Imaginarium.

To promote the Soul handset, Samsung presents 10 optical illusions in under two minutes. And while the use of optical illusions to promote the Soul is confusing in itself, the video has sparked an argument on Engadget over whether the actual number of illusions seen is 8 or 9. (It's definitely not 10.)

If that proved as pointless and disappointing to you as it did me, please accept my apologies and some Magic Eye porn.

And it's a lot like the English way, actually. Also see banner variation.

Sadly, the banner doesn't sing, dance or turn monitors into open bars. Guess it won't be joining the rich media gallery.

If you're the sort of person who enjoys listening to creative people prattle on endlessly about their work and how what they magically make "flowers open up," then you'll love this new section of the Belvedere website in which photographer Terry Richardson discusses his work for the vodka brand. He even says "fuck" which seemingly makes sense since the brand is re-birthing itself as the bad guy of upscale vodkas.

To view, go here, choose country, answer age question, skip stupid intro, click Discover Luxury Reborn, Click Terry's Room. Don't you love the simplicity of navigating a Flashturbation site?

"Fuckin' Liberating!"

Here's yet another one of those videos that presents itself as one thing but is likely just another promotion for something no one needs or wants. In the video, the predictions of Nostradamus are examined as they relate to some mysterious wind that is supposed to "besiege the capital of Europe" otherwise known as Brussels.

The video ends with the classic date teaser, "Fall 2008" and a link leads to http://legrandsouffle.be, a blog with the ubiquitous countdown clock and other goodies. It's not in English so it's unclear if there are any further details on the site. No doubt, those who can read the site will fill in the blanks.

The video was posted by Cherry and Cake, a fairly well known agency in the Netherlands. Care to comment, guys?

Along the lines of Meth and workplace safety ads, this commercial for the American Asthma Foundation dramatically illustrates what it's like to experience an asthma attack. It's not pleasant and the commercial does a perfect job making the point.

OK, then. After having crapped all over sexism in the office place, why not jump right back into reality: the use of sex, namely ass in this case, to garner attention for the purposes of selling stuff. This is a consumer-created ad for French railway Voyages-sncf.com. See? Even "regular people" know sex sells.

On the way out from her AgencySpy gig, SuperSpy minces no words lashing out at guys and sexism in the workplace reversing things a bit so men can endure the rampant objectivity apparently experienced by women in the ad business. For some, her point of view may be seen as harshly bitter but I'd say it's not very far off base in some instances.

She writes, "I'm going to find the first junior employee that I can and comment on how nice his jeans fit or better yet, tell him my own sexual fantasies and see if he bites. Yes, he probably will, but the power I exert in doing it, in making him feel uncomfortable for a brief moment, small, at jeopardy for his job (that brief sweet vengeful second), will be some sort of justice for all the ad guys who have come onto me and the chicks I know or don't even know in the work environment."

This campaign won a Gold Clio in the Content & Contact category.

To commemorate Ehud Goldwasser, Gilad Shalit and Eldad Regev, Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah on July 12 of '06, Y&R/Tel Aviv asked major sites to shut down for five minutes on July 12, '07. For that short period of time, each page aired this message.

If after a panoply of awards shows you are still not sure which ads were best, below are the agencies, clients and campaigns that received a Gold or above in Clio's Television/Cinema/Digital, Interactive, Technique and Radio categories.

The MySpace homepage has Taco Bell's "Why Pay Mo'" campaign site heavy on the spin.

If you're feeling particularly masochistic, give yourself a shout-out in the campaign rap song while the dead presidents gyrate in their new bodies (likely lifted from New Kids on the Block). Oh, and play with the rap name generator. (Mine is "Allota Beanz.")

My pal Ariel Waldman over at Shake Well Before Use found this ad for Travel Alberta in San Francisco's MUNI (subway) stations which ask the question, "Who knew blogging was so popular 3,000 years ago?" to which Ariel posits, "Apparently, Canadians believe blogging stands for stone-logging." Hmm.

Occasionally, important events present themselves which call for the entire advertising industry to band together as one unstoppable force with the sole mission of advancing a worthy cause and doing good for all human kind. One such event has presented itself today requires our complete attention and participation.

What is this important cause? Why the voting for Barbarian Group's own Eva McCloskey as Boston Magazine's Most Wanted Single, of course! What? Did you think we as an industry were going to participate in that Cannes Humanitarian Lion thing and solve all the world's ills? Of course not. That's way too much work. A simple hottie contest is much more our style so please, do your part. Vote for Eva and represent!

Back in the day, if you wanted a ride home from college for the holidays, you'd slap up your request up on a bulletin board somewhere around campus or check that same billboard for those already heading in your direction. That's "so yesterday" as one Disney pop starlet used to sing. Now, we have Web2.0-friendly PickupPal.

Somewhere in the bowels of my memory is a man with a 'fro, a soothing voice and a paintbrush. As a kid I watched him on TV, mesmerized as he effortlessly whispered magic onto his canvas.

Right about now, though, I'm wondering whether those gripping pastures and endless telephone lines were not actually thinly-veiled and mildly traumatic messages about ethnic cleansing.

I like how at the end he gets all sinister and hisses, "We're almost done here, aren't we? No. It's never done."