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‘WELL I AM NOW!’: The mystery of this 28-year-old AT&T commercial is finally solved


 
If you are of “a certain age” you’re going to remember this AT&T commercial which played incessantly on television in the late ‘80s.

It featured a stock broker or some other sort of entitled business-class asshole who was trying to call Phoenix, but mistakenly dialed Fiji instead.
 

 
A native answers his call:

“NockaMockaBeeSai”

or was it “Wanna-mocka-pee-si?”

or was it “Bolenockapeaceye?”

Anyway, the businessman ends up getting infuriated when he has to hold for a minute to get credited. He says “AT&T operators gave me instant credit.” The operator informs the man that he is “not dealing with AT&T,” to which he snaps back “WELL I AM NOW!”
 

“WELL I AM NOW!”
 
When we were kids we used to make fun of this dork incessantly, always imitating “WELL I AM NOW!” in the whiniest, most privileged voice imaginable at any opportune moment.

We’d also imitate the native Fijian’s phone greeting, sometimes answering our own phones in his voice, but no one could ever really agree on what he was saying…

“Bolamakapeesai?”

“OckaNockaBeeSai?”

“Onga laka pisai?”

This was one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Twentieth Century. Of course back then we didn’t have the Internet and Google—but as we now live in the magical futureworld where all questions are easily and instantly answered, we now know exactly what was being said. Here it is:

“Bula Vinaka, Beachside”

“Bula Vinaka,” is a Fijian expression for “hello, thanks.”

You should always go straight to the Internet with any lingering questions from your pre-Internet childhood.
 

 
“WELL I AM NOW!”

The only mystery that yet remains is how this doof managed to mistakenly dial Fiji instead of Phoenix without dialing the country code.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Coldwave: The Nestle ‘Alpine White’ song is the official non-denominational holiday anthem
Who was that mysterious middle-aged bald guy that appeared in like EVERY early ‘80s MTV video?

Posted by Christopher Bickel
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01.19.2016
08:46 am
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Debbie Harry hawking Sara Lee French bread in 1980s TV commercial
07.03.2014
09:20 am
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I’ve been waiting forever to find high quality video of this commercial! I set a Google alert for it, because it is my absolute favorite punk rock non sequitur, and it’s just too absurd to be viewed with inferior video. It was just uploaded by what appears to be a Harvard square gay bar called Videodrome Discothèque—perhaps a nod to Debbie’s performance in Cronenberg’s Videodrome? Not for the last time am I thanking a gay bar for its contribution to the world!

Before you get all huffy, I post Debbie Harry selling French bread not to mock or disdain her, but to show our faithful readers what an insanely sexy person she is. She freaking unsheathes a loaf of Sara Lee bread and with a series of advantageous close-ups (she absolutely works the camera), she somehow actually convinces me I want to buy Sara Lee French bread! A product which I know to be crummy! Such is the power of Debbie Harry! 

Her foray into domestic product endorsement reminds me of my favorite Debbie Harry quote:

“I could be a housewife… I guess I’ve vacuumed a couple of times.”

A woman after my own heart.
 

Posted by Amber Frost
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07.03.2014
09:20 am
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Inception Memorex: VHS tape commercial from 1982
08.02.2011
02:12 pm
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Is it live, or is it Memorex? We must dig deeper.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Inception Orange

(via IHC)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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08.02.2011
02:12 pm
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Breathtaking 90 second TV commercial
07.27.2011
01:34 am
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This Guinness commercial is a decade old but I just discovered it. I don’t think it ever aired on television outside of the United Kingdom. It may be new to some of you as well.

It’s brilliantly directed by Jonathan Glazer who has also done outstanding videos for Nick Cave, Radiohead and Massive Attack. His feature length film Birth is a hugely underrated film released in 2004. Fans of Stanley Kubrick should view it immediately.

Film footage of surfers riding waves in Waimei Bay in Hawaii were digitally combined, using the blue screen effect, with footage of specially trained Lippizaner stallions jumping over hurdles in large pools of water. The images together create magic.
 

 

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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07.27.2011
01:34 am
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The Fuego This Time: The Rise of Colombia’s Bomba Estereo & Worldwide Tropical Bass

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Bogota duo Bomba Estereo started out in 2005 comprised of multi-instrumentalist/producer Simón Mejía and singer Liliana Saumet. As the infectious “nu-cumbia” sound started making waves around that time, groups like B.E. have become its young, largely educated face. They’ve become a full band that’s currently on worldwide tour.

As shown by clip #2, the tropical bass scenes currently burgeoning throughout West African and Latin America (along with their European diasporas) are not going unnoticed by global marketing agencies.
 

 

 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
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06.24.2010
01:09 am
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Trippy 60s Watch Commercial
04.13.2010
01:12 am
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I dig this.

Posted by Tara McGinley
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04.13.2010
01:12 am
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