Date: Sun Nov 4, 2001
Subject: RE: subliminal advertising?
At 15.38 +1100 01-11-04, Phil Graham scrobe:
>Each year, as part of my advertising class, I get students to record each
>and every engagement with corporate messages, noting where they encounter
>them, when they encounter them, and any reactions they have to them. The
>first thing they have to do each day is write down what they remember from
>the previous day.
>You can try it if you want. All you need is a pen and paper.
Seeems to me where I sit at the keyboard (macally iKey), using Eudora, and
with the rainbow Apple at the top left corner of the menu bar, looking at
the monitor (SONY Multiscan 210ES, Trinitron, with a TCO-99-approved
sticker), wielding the mouse (Logitech) and with my favourite small sharp
scissors (Fiskars) between me and my Kodak DC280, within convenient reach
for my right hand, oh yes there's my little magnifier as well (Eschenbach)
- seems to me that I would be doing nothing much else that writing notes...
So while I wait for my Braun coffeemaker to do my Zoega coffee, let me
continue. Well, there you see: I already forget all the icons within my
view on my virtual desktop: old version of Netscape, the MACOS Face, Virex
DropScan, Acrobat reader, Stuffit Expander. Gosh, I write slowly (cos I
also went back and added the sticker on the monitor): coffe's already done.
So, Back at the Mac with my Zoega in one of the Dunoon cups and, on a
Höganäs saucer (had to turn it upside down to remember, the Dunoons I know
without checking), two round white rye crackers (Härjedalsbröd) spread with
non-dairy margarine (Carlshamns) and hard cheese (bought at Hemköp sez the
wrapping - and the sticker from the bottom of the cheese is no longer
there, cos I peeled it off to scan it the other day: there was a URL
on my cheese, ost.se, we get URLs on the most unlikely things these days.
Scuse me while I finish them.
And refill the coffee.
In anticipation of what else there is to describe in terms of logos, just
on the space within reach to my right, I stretch slightly to grab my
dictionary (Norstedts) to check the English for window-cleanser. Cos I have
some Vim standing there, for cleaning the pane on my Epson scanner ever so
often. And a Chiffonnette rag, of course. Scanner is within reach to my
right, as well. I won't go into the rest of the bookshelf where the
dictionary lives. Next to the Vim there are two plastic containers (for
weed expeditions), with a drying sample of Sticky Groundsel (no TM there!!)
on top. The big container still merrily announces its origin as an ice
cream container (GB, Carte d'Or). Must be a couple of years old, from
before my dairy free days (hard cheese in the morning being as much lactose
as my belly can take)
Gee, it's 12.16 (yes I had a very late Sunday morning) and just barely
daylight. Grey November, indeed. The desk lamp (IKEA) is on.
So, in the desktop space in front of the scanner there's my Spiralux
cutter, another pair of scissors (Skultuna) an Artline marker by
Schachihata, A biro ;-) with the logo of the University of Linköping, a
Faber-Castell pencil, a palette knife (no logo!! bought in the sixties) and
the plastic pieces of a toy puzzle heart. Plus one of my printouts of the
weed list.
Between the camera and the scanner there's my desktop waste "basket": an
empty 500g coffee can from the eighties (COOP Brasilkaffe), and next to the
monitor there's an old plastic ruler (generic) on top of another weed list
printout. I won't dig around in the bigger chip basket with pencils et
cetera (and my old Casio on top) - and the smaller chip basket is just
filled with sea shell fragments from San Diego. At the back, towards the
wall there are two big beer glasses (Budweiser) filled with the sort of
found objects that appear on my weed pages. In the same mess a small
collection of miniature keys and a dried sprig of Ternate-leaved Cinquefoil
with seeds (to be returned outdoors).
The left side of my desk is easier. There's the LaCie CD burner, which is
also the repository for all my specs: four extra pairs of glasses (two of
which I use regularly, and why do I keep the others there, I wonder) plus a
pair of hobbyist's snap-on magnifiers. No doubt branded, too, but in small
print, and stuck behind my ears while in use. Another biro (bloody
futuristic design), logo from Malmö Högskola. My watch (Swatch).
The little white shelf made by my son at school, top shelf loaded with
Fujifilm recordable CDs, second shelf holding my digipass for the SEB
Internet bank, my little case with nail care implements (bought at IKEA -
like the chair I'm in, and the new legs for the table from a couple of
years ago. The tabletop itself, a sturdy slab of pine wood, bought in -72
from a shop in Stockholm - I've forgotten the name). Two miniature lidded
boxes of turned wood, one made by my grandfather, the other by some
anonymous Asian worker. On the tabletop, under my pocket calendars for this
year and last (Almanacksförlaget), the ISCRAT leaflets. And another weed
list. In the same area, an envelope of salad seeds (Bröderna Nelson) and the
sturdy but worn spectacle case I got after my mother. A clipboard clip
(generic).
To my immediate left *Den Nordiska Floran*, Mossberg, Stenberg, Eriksson.
W&W publishers - this flora is, I think, uncommon in that it is generally
referred to as "Mossberg": the artist of the team, not the botanist. Might
be because his name is first, alphabetically, but I'd like to think it is
because of the artistry, which is really exceptional, beautiful and
informative.
Beyond that a notebook from Indiska and a ring binder with Diane's diss
(but do I ever get around to Really Reading it...) In the furthest corner a
Sharpo Rapid C5 punch. And that brings me to 13.17 - but then I've had to
use my dictionary a number of times.
I am reading, these days, Halldor Kiljan Laxness' *Independent people*
about the sheep farming crofter Bjartur and his children, about a hundred
years ago. Not a lot of brand names in their environment, not a lot of
variety in merchandise or diet. It is debated among the children whether
"the countries" even exist, and when a city dweller camping on their land
one summer treats a couple of children to a meal (on the wildfowl he has
been permitted to shoot) that is the first time they have ever had fried
food. But COFFEE is a constant beverage, in mornings and when there are
guests in the croft.
Uhm. This cataloguing is pretty seductive. Hope I haven't bored you all to
tears - no obligation to read it all, either, of course.
Eva
PS. Well the cheese URL doesn't work, apparently it's been cut off when
the cheese was sliced :-)
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