No, this is not me getting all Proust on you. Or maybe it is. I’ve never read Proust, so you’ll have to tell me. It’s mostly the heat getting to me. Or something.

I am “of the right vintage” to actually remember cigarette ads on television. One of the brands that still comes to mind every now and then is Benson & Hedges. Their “hook” was that their main product, the “100”, was longer than the typical cigarette. This led, as you might easily imagine, to many a sight gag in their TV spots.

But it’s a print campaign of theirs that came to mind recently. Again, capitalizing on the “100” gimmick, they ran a sweepstakes where you could choose from 100 individual little sweepstakes, where the prizes all had “100” worked into them. Some were clearly meant to be silly, like “100 rolls of duct tape” (for example)…but you never know. Others, like “100 pints of ice cream and a freezer”, were of the sort where you’d think “You know, I could use that”. A few, like “100 minutes on a gondola in Venice” were travel packages or other big ticket items that would certainly garner a LOT of entries. I enjoyed looking over those two-page spreads, and picking out the ones I’d like to win.

I can also sing quite a few advertising jingles from way back then.

Thinking on all this now, I can’t help but notice that advertising has gotten quite dull. It is entirely possible that this is because my media consumption has changed over the decades, as well as because the media landscape itself has changed. No one seems to write jingles anymore (I understand that’s because it’s cheaper to use already existing stock music than to commission someone to come up with a new tune), and a lot of what passes for marketing is in corporate sponsorships and simply getting the brand name “out there”.

This may or may not be a “bad” thing, but I find it bland and boring. We’ll have to see what ad campaigns from the 2010’s are remembered in the 2030’s.

Any recent ads or ad campaigns strike you as truly creative or memorable?

One cannot help but notice that lately, some members of one particular political party are all in conniptions about other people who don’t perfectly fit into the gender stereotypes that they’d prefer. They are even trying to pass laws against anything that they imagine could possibly be considered as promoting or aiding such “deviant” behavior, as if it is somehow an existential threat to the safety of their children.

There’s a LOT to unpack in their delusion; more than I have the time or space or energy for.

But I have tried to get my mind around the whole matter, and I’ve come up with a “working model” that allows me to go about my life unthreatened by other people who, though they may not fit into the usual gender boxes, just want to go about their lives without being threatened, too. Continue reading →

A new word that’s coming into widespread use is “doomscrolling”. It’s the bad habit of constantly checking the news to see what depressing thing has taken over the headlines this time. The reasons behind this, quite naturally, are seeing a lot of people becoming depressed or at least “down in the dumps”.

Now I’m not a professional – and if you seriously are depressed, you should seek out some professional help after you’re done reading this essay – but it seems to me that humans have been devising ways to chase away gloom for thousands of years…..

This famous musical, for example, is based largely on the plays of Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BCE), and it really does capture the look of daily life in Republican Rome:

Continue reading →

I happened to come across my first 2022 quarter today. There’s a new portrait of George Washington on the face – and Maya Angelou on the obverse. Now even though I haven’t read anything of hers, I understand she’s a very great writer and deserves more than just a few accolades. But being put on a quarter? There’s plenty of worthy Americans that should be honored with an appearance on our money, but why her in particular?

Might it have something to do with her being a black woman with a “tragic backstory”?

Are we honoring her because of her writing skills, or because she checks off a lot of boxes?

Continue reading →

(By the way, this will be my last post for 2021. See you in the new year!)

I recall reading of one holiday ritual that I firmly believe we need to do more often. On New Year’s Eve, go outside and start a large fire (in an appropriate fire pit or other safe place, naturally). As you and your friends stand around sharing good cheer, throw into the fire representations of everything you don’t want to follow you into the new year. The idea is that through “sympathetic magic”, the bad juju will burn up, turn to ash and smoke, and blow away on the wind.

If you can’t build a fire, simply writing the bad things on a piece of paper and burning that in an ashtray or other fire-safe container will work. If you must do it indoors, do it near an open window so you can blow the smoke outside.

This is also the time of year when various journalists prepare their “Best of the Year” lists.

How about a list of the year’s Worst? The stupid, awful, and inane things that should be left in the past?

Continue reading →

I’m not sure what this is or how it works. Seems to be some sort of “blog sharing” thing, so I thought I’d try it:

What is a blog hop?

Blog readers see the same list on each blog, and can “HOP” from blog
to blog seeing the same list of links to follow: BLOG HOP!

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