Crankbait, part two
Apple’s 1984 commercial
There was a lively discussion in several forums about the little addition to the commercial. Somehow, an iPod got added to the figure’s form. It’s all about product placement, and themes, or to some of the A-list folks, “memes.” Whatever.
The deal is, when I was in the Apple store in November, then again after Xmas, all of the employees had the little belt-clip iPod thing going on. Like it was a fashion accessory, required, or so it seemed.
Now, I have one. In fact, as I’m typing, the first part of the Ring Cycle is running through the speakers. It is an extremely handy gadget, as I can spool up that whole opera cycle – that’s about 14 music CD’s. With room to spare. Plus there’s no getting up and shifting discs around.
It’s a brilliant piece of equipment, in its simplicity, form and function. A bit pricey, but it was all part of that Xmas – birthday from Sister. I didn’t know that I needed one, and now that I’ve got one, I can see how it’s really useful. I don’t think I’ll be found in the front of a boat, fishing away with little earplugs in, though. But if I wind up driving down to the coast next month, I might use it then.
Otherwise, I’m pretty much just enamored of the way an iPod handles the music mixing in this here trailer.
It was that digital re-mastering of a legendary ad, that’s what got to me. That’s what was obliquely funny. Then, thinking back, there’s an odd theme – the belt clip, the sport clip, the arm band, the display of the gadget. Like that central figure in the edited/updated 1984 commercial.
There’s an inherent elegance, too. In the product itself, plus, that advertising. It all fits. I just wish I could get more of my material to flow as well as that. Even if it’s really just advertising.
Crankbait
I was poking around online, and I came across a Slashdot link to an interview with Bruce Sterling.
It touched on a number of topics near and dear to me, omitting just one, and there was quote or two I was going to pull, but I never marked the point in the page – that’s the problem with reading material online, can’t underline something for later.
I clicked back to the article two, maybe three times, trying to find what piqued my interest so, what I didn’t underline. Never could recall it. But it spurred an unrelated idea, a topic drawn from a topic….
Unrelated:
Measure the visual weight, the amount of screen space taken up by advertising on a web screen. Any website. How much of the space is clutter? How much of the space is market driven adverts for something you don’t need, in fact, time spent actively avoiding the flashing, wiggling bits? What’s that measurement? A divine proportion of some form.? Or maybe it’s not a divine proportion. I just wondered as I wandered around the web. How much is advertising versus how much is actually text that gets consumed?
Just trying to get caught up
I rode back with a former girlfriend, not that odd, and we discussed many topics, mostly business, a little gossip, and not much else. “Maybe you can do a reading on (new boyfriend) and me…” Maybe so, but if it ain’t broke, why analyze it to death? They’re happy, life is good.
I kept thinking about that image with the guitar case, and I kept thinking I liked it. I’m not sure I really like the part about bullets flying, but I liked the part about the guitar player, just wandering along, and he kept getting swept up in controversy. Mistaken identity. “Aren’t you a musician?”
I kept toying with images, and I kept meaning to get around to this one picture, from El Rincon de Cortez, in El Paso.
“Bet you never been here before,” was the comment.
I was sure I hadn’t, but as I entered the receipts into the accounting ledger, up popped “El Rincon de Cortez” – subtitle: El Paso Road Food. So I have been there before, or so the computer tells me.
This one picture caught my eye, captivated me, and I started making up stories about what was there.
To me, one of the aspects of Southwestern Americana travel that’s just too cool, it’s that sense of history – real or imagined.
