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.
Monday, May 19, 2008
AM/PM
AM/PM convenience is now in chicago. They have brought a plague of ads. Really a plague of one ad. But! RE: the slogan: "Too much good stuff"
Dear AM/PM, that's exactly the problem. Love, me.
Dear AM/PM, that's exactly the problem. Love, me.
Classic rock is killing me
We listen to classic rock at work: 97.1 The Drive. They play "the greatest music ever made." Jerks.
So I hear a lot of songs over and over again. After they become wallpaper, totally background, certain patterns can pop back out, like the swirls in the ceiling that suddenly look like a face. One thing that grabbed me. The song: "Rock and Roll Heart." He says he "gets off" (ugh) on "screaming guitars" in a song which has a dramatic lack of them. In fact, the last time Clapton was around a screaming guitar was probably 73 when he made a record with Duane Allman.
So I hear a lot of songs over and over again. After they become wallpaper, totally background, certain patterns can pop back out, like the swirls in the ceiling that suddenly look like a face. One thing that grabbed me. The song: "Rock and Roll Heart." He says he "gets off" (ugh) on "screaming guitars" in a song which has a dramatic lack of them. In fact, the last time Clapton was around a screaming guitar was probably 73 when he made a record with Duane Allman.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Thursday, December 13, 2007
James ellroy
is quietly (in some sense) writing the great, sprawling American paranoid, post-modern, modernist novel. It's taking him year and it's coming in installments but shit is it good. Next one due next summer. Oh yeah.
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