MORTARBLOG: "The U.S. power grid is so dumb…"

YOU: "How dumb is it?"

MORTARBLOG: "It's so dumb it thinks soy milk is Spanish for "I am milk.""

But seriously, folks, the grid is really dumb. You would not believe how much power goes to waste every day, and how much grossness gets spewed into the atmosphere every day to make all that power that's going to waste. Fortunately there's a simple, free way to start doing something about it. Which is where Mortar client Genability comes in. We could explain what they're up to using boring old words, but we'd rather share our new animated short, "Giving People Power Over Their Power." It's narrated by our pal Ed Begley, Jr., and it has mole people and birds that drop money and even a pony!

Please take two minutes and fifty-seven seconds of your day to check it out.

Pretty cool, right? Did you laugh? Did you cry? Did you want to punch the PG&E guy? (Don't.) OK, then tell all your friends about WhatsMyPower.com, and let's all help make the grid a little smarter.

Lord knows this world could use a little less dumbassery.

Stick figures: They make moves. Never-ever-ever do they fake moves.

InFocus Labs, a projector company (that Mortar has probably kept in business for years due to a certain British person's predilection for misplacing projectors,) recently sponsored a Worst PowerPoint Slide Contest. It's awesomely bad.  

But hey, it's Memorial Day weekend, which is awesomely good! We hope you enjoy it, and remember: our pals at Eat24Hours.com are waiting patiently to supply the chow for that party you're throwing – it sure beats cooking!

"You're with the government? Don't worry…they only eat people with brains."

So the CDC just posted a new Preparedness Guide...In Case Of Zombie Apocalypse.

Forgetting for a moment that we totally called this, we find it notable that the post not only didn't get anyone at the CDC in trouble, it was the possibly most popular thing they've ever posted – and a good way to get Americans to think about overall disaster preparedness.

"The blog post went up on Monday. “A typical post gets 1,000 hits,” (CDC spokesman David) Daigle said. “We got 10,000, then 30,000 on Tuesday, and then it crashed the server.” The server then reportedly came back to life and ate the IT guy's brain."

OK, we made part of that up. But it wasn't the "30,000 hits" part. Our point is, See how much traction a little well-placed, unexpected humor can get you? Particularly if you're known for being boring?

Think about it. While you still can.

Via The New York Times (And Zombie Flanders.)

So when Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising hit the Tumblrz last week, our in-box just about blowed up. At first, we weren't going to blog it, because we figured  – you're hip, you're a connossieur, you'll find it on your own. But two things changed our mind: One, it's really funny, and we can't resist funny. Two, it's a living exhibition of something we tell our clients all the time – no one wakes up in the morning excited about ads. Not even yours.