an ongoing list.
Portajohn's in the forest Preserves.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Man war
I guess there's a fight in the world of people who write ads that run during football and are geared towards football fans. This is about the word "man-" as prefix.
Howie Long, in a truck commercial* ridicules some poor schlub about a feature on his truck. Long, who is a former terrifying defensive end and square of jaw, calls this feature a "man-step." This poor guy, whose jaw is out of square, and is designed to overall seem less virile and competent than Long, has made the womanly** choice and bought a truck that has a feature that is convenient. The wuss.
Then, there are radio ads for some sort of body wash. I didn't get the particulars of brand/specific product name whatever. It's narrated by former Eagle defensive-lineman current-ESPN walking heart attack Mike Golic. He talks about using the body wash to take care of your "man-suit."
The ads use the prefix to 1) make something seem less masculine and 2) make something seem more masculine. A semiotic disagreement.
"Man-step"echoes the Seinfeldian "not-a-purse/man-bag." I'm surprised that Long doesn't call it Euro.
"Mansuit" is there to make men think it's ok to care if they smell terrible or not. Because men can't care about this even one tiny little bit unless they wrap it in several layers of masculine talk.
So when "man' is used as a prefix, how am I supposed to feel?
BTW, Both dudes are in TECMO Superbowl, BTW. Long is better.
*goddamn them and the flood or urine-colored lite beer ads during football.
** obv. I'm using this on THEIR terms as pejorative.
Howie Long, in a truck commercial* ridicules some poor schlub about a feature on his truck. Long, who is a former terrifying defensive end and square of jaw, calls this feature a "man-step." This poor guy, whose jaw is out of square, and is designed to overall seem less virile and competent than Long, has made the womanly** choice and bought a truck that has a feature that is convenient. The wuss.
Then, there are radio ads for some sort of body wash. I didn't get the particulars of brand/specific product name whatever. It's narrated by former Eagle defensive-lineman current-ESPN walking heart attack Mike Golic. He talks about using the body wash to take care of your "man-suit."
The ads use the prefix to 1) make something seem less masculine and 2) make something seem more masculine. A semiotic disagreement.
"Man-step"echoes the Seinfeldian "not-a-purse/man-bag." I'm surprised that Long doesn't call it Euro.
"Mansuit" is there to make men think it's ok to care if they smell terrible or not. Because men can't care about this even one tiny little bit unless they wrap it in several layers of masculine talk.
So when "man' is used as a prefix, how am I supposed to feel?
BTW, Both dudes are in TECMO Superbowl, BTW. Long is better.
*goddamn them and the flood or urine-colored lite beer ads during football.
** obv. I'm using this on THEIR terms as pejorative.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Kafka was right
Today I was asked to install some software that I had never heard of on a machine that I didn't know existed. The Requestor gave me incomplete instructions for the wrong version. This is all I have to go on. It is with this in mind that I suggest Franz Kafka as the one true Prophet of modernity, having seen deeply and truly into the great dead heart of the 20th century.
This is the absurd engine of our insane economy: rituals and rules.
And Kafka was the best at this because he wasn't all like "ha ha you want that in triplicate too?! but instead showed us the voluntary terror and dread of living under the dominion of the unkillable behemoth; the fear and angst of the glacially-paced death we invite bureaucracy to inflict on us all.
This is the absurd engine of our insane economy: rituals and rules.
And Kafka was the best at this because he wasn't all like "ha ha you want that in triplicate too?! but instead showed us the voluntary terror and dread of living under the dominion of the unkillable behemoth; the fear and angst of the glacially-paced death we invite bureaucracy to inflict on us all.
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