Doing my part to spread some holiday cheer

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/121806/xmas-dick.gif

2 Afterthoughts

re: recent advertising industry rant:

1 - I happened to be at Union Square Park at the right time of night to go through the lighting display, and it's actually really cool. I was giggling and spent quite a bit of time there. The lights are motion-sensored and fun. Way to go designer Boontje, still fuck you Target. [I re-read the aforementioned sign and there's also a conspicuous section which says something like, "Target has also sponsored other holiday and seasonal displays in New York City." This is starting to sound like a performer's bio in a program, and I hate those too.]

2 - I walked through more than usual of the Union Square subway station, where Amstel bought every open wall space in existence, and overall the ad campaign doesn't actually leave any room to wonder about what brand it is, it was just that my particular morning path happened to cross those few specific ambiguous ads.

Adimmorality

There is, in fact, something I find more insidious than advertising campaigns that plaster names, labels, and logos as large as possible everywhere you look, until you're so used to them you almost don't see them anymore (though their effect is just as present on your mind and behavior).

It's this new trend I've been noticing, or maybe it's not new at all, of campaigns that DON'T include either the business name, or the product being advertised, at least not visibly enough to identify it.

3 things:

1. A subway campaign by Starbucks. The more square poster-like ads in the car all feature, very clearly, a big Starbucks cup and the name of a holiday-season-specific product available. And probably some other pro-Starbucks language pertaining to how it will improve the sense of family in your holiday and even your general health and well-being. The context of this ad is a certain color scheme - mostly red, a red background, red cup, white lettering, and either periwinkle blue or mint green accents (these alternate from one to the next).

1a. Then there are the long, thin ads that run above the windows along the entire length of the car, in 3 or 4 pieces. These feature very specifically the same color scheme and attitude, but feature family scenes - mom bringing the Christmas turkey to the family waiting at the table. A row of people bundled up waiting in line to place presents in the mailbox. A big family snowparty with snowballs, iceskating, snowmen, etc. Nowhere in these ads is there a Starbucks cup, nor even a representation of a warm drink, nor the word Starbucks.

2. Also subway related, but in the station - this one by Amstel Light. The ads are all very simple, a huge golden-colored poster with a beer bottle in the center, and it's "dressed up" in different ways, as related to the holiday season. I get off the L-train and the first one I see is tinseled-out and I can't read the brand name. The second is wrapped in foil like a gift, and again I can't read the brand name. The third has a red and white scarf, and the brand is slightly obscured but clear enough that I can guess. Then I turn the corner, and there's a maybe 10-12 foot by 3 foot poster (same colors) outlining each syllable of the first line of "Deck the Halls" including the tra-la-las, as if on a karaoke program where a ball or arrow bounces on each syllable as you sing. The ball is a bottle of unadorned Amstel Light, and since it's not video or movable, there's a separate bottle of beer on top of each syllable. That's 17 bottles of beer on the wall, lined up in a pretty row, leaving no doubt as to the brand.

3. The "installation" at the north end of Union Square Park, called Bright Nights or some shit. They closed down the whole end of the park for nearly a week putting up scaffoling and such, so I was curious when it reopened. Apparently the scaffolding is the support system for some sort of lighting display or program that comes on at night. But, of course, metal scaffolding is ugly alone, so they decorated it with some green fabric and red and white ribbon, almost as if each standing tower is a big gift. Seemed fairly innocuous as I walked through the first time, until I looked a little closer at the ribbon, which is a red background with white printed leaves and flowers, maybe poinsettia, and infiltrated with white target signs, you know, the red and white logo for Target? If you're anywhere close that little target is all you can see clearly on the scaffolding. (I have never seen the light display and don't intend to, so that part's missing from my analysis.) At either end of the walkway is a sign describing the installation, but first mentioning the sponsor, Target, and the designer's name. As if we didn't fucking KNOW it was Target's deal.

Problems: a) the advertisers are pretending to be generous with the space they've bought in not being clear that these are indeed advertisements, (as opposed to actual donated space or a public service announcement) which is illegal, by the way - check the FTC - but these big wigs have probably found ways around that. ADVERTISERS ARE NOT GENEROUS EVER. b) the advertisers believe that their logos as unconnected to a name or product will be enough to carry the effect of the supposedly sanctimonius message - and THEY'RE CORRECT. c) due to the nature of advertising as it has been, obscuring the advertised product simply makes people more curious and confused, therefore increasing the effectiveness of the ads with out obscured products. THEY'RE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A UNIVERSAL HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC, CURIOSITY, TO MANIPULATE OUR CONSUMING HABITS - NOT TO MENTION OUR SUBCONSCIOUS SYSTEMS OF BELIEF.

Right now I think that advertising other than identifying signs above the store itself should be abolished. I'm not even going to mention a website review of a company I recently did at work whose purpose is research and placement of behaviorally targeted advertising on the internet. (You think they're not tracking your keystrokes and clicks?) I'm totally horrified and what with so many goddamned outside factors at work on my personality, moods, beliefs I don't know who the fuck I am anymore. I'm tired of it, and also tired of feeling I need to be so suspicious. Tired.

The Incomplete Story of the Man at the Green Door

He frequently hangs around the stoop two doors down from my building, he and a couple of other people, which I've come to believe are his parents. I must admit, the door isn't actually green, it's the entryway behind him and the inner door. But I've always gotten a green door feeling from the place. Wears the same clothes pretty much all the time - blue adidas jacket, black jeans with paint stains, baseball cap. Always says, "Hey, Hot Dog!" and smiles as we pass, though he's heard me tell people her name is Lily. It's his term of endearment.

He looks to be in his 40's, I'd guess. Maybe younger, he's a little haggard. Dark hair but it's unclear whether or not he's Puerto Rican or even Hispanic, though most members of the neighborhood hail from Puerto Rico. Pretty thick, longish mustache. Nice guy, predictable. Stable. And especially because of the lack of creepy looks or personal questions, kind of endearing.

I didn't realize he was gone, I guess it must have been a few days - walking down the opposite side of the street with Lily I see a missing person sign on a street lamp post. Big picture of him - at least I think it's him - and then I read what he was last seen wearing and I'm sure it's my green door guy (turns out he is Puerto Rican after all). Shit. Now he has a name, and 7 children, for god's sake, and he's missing. Only it's weird, because for several days that's the only sign I see, and it's not all that noticable. It's not like they're going door to door asking questions or papering the whole neighborhood. Then later I see another, nearer the subway stop, a more high-traffic area. I feel pretty horrified at the whole situation. Not afraid for myself, but sickened at the thought of where he might be, what might have happened, and knowing that his whole fucking family is wrestling with the same things, as well as just plain not having the guy around. I think about it a lot, more than seems natural, or something. Sick. Sickened, shuddering, bent over because I momentarily lose the strenght to stand up straight.

Then one day he's back. It's been maybe 2 weeks, maybe a little more. He looks different, like he's gained a little weight, and it confuses me - I can only think that maybe he's been in a hospital being fed intravenously. Does that even make sense - would that cause weight gain? I see him, in the same old clothes, and I stare. I don't mean to be an asshole, but I have to make sure it's him. His top four front teeth have disappeared. And he looks serious, moreso than before, understandably - only I don't, because I've no idea what happened. He was gone and then he was back. And it's clear in the feel when we meet eyes that something has changed, but I don't know what. Though it's sort of comforting to hear, "Hey, Hot Dog!" again.

Incomplete because I don't know what this guy gained or lost in those two weeks. How he suffered or didn't suffer, feared or didn't fear. Was he trying to run away on purpose? But we're not close enough friends for me to ask...and I'm no longer sickened, just......heartbroken.

This Sunday morning I'm sitting here at the computer doing a little research on Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and union organization attempts among their employees. It's kind of cold in the apartment, but I could turn on the heater and I haven't so it can't be that bad.

Normally in a situation and time like this, Lily Bug would be snuggling herself in a burrito-shaped pile of blankets and puppy on my bed. Her routine is to go back to bed after breakfast, since that's when I leave for work during the week, and when I'm home on the weekends, if I'm not in the bedroom, to her it's as if I'm not home, which is fine. She needs her Lily-time, as do we all.

However, for some reason Lily has decided she needs to be where I am this morning. She still needs to satisfy her morningtime sleepy quota, so that means she is curled up in my lap, my hand holding her little dog-butt in place, while the rest of her body is snuggled inside the sweatshirt I'm wearing, with her head resting in the armpit against my shoulder. No, I did not position her this way. She did that by herself.

And at the risk of a gag-me cuteness factor, I needed to put that out there because it's been a rough week, and my Lily knows it. My ex had a very hard time when I moved Lily across the country to live with me, understandably. She's still pretty angry about it. But R, even though you're not reading this, I don't know if will make any difference to you, but I want you to know that THIS DOG HAS KEPT ME ALIVE AND SAFE MORE TIMES THAN I CAN COUNT THESE PAST FEW MONTHS. And I mean that specifically - literally. She is a major reason I'm not dead.

Does size matter?

-She says: I see two people here, the little girl and the grown-up girl. So who is going to win?

-I say: little girl wants desperately to suffocate big girl to death with a pillow, in her sleep. Big girl wants desperately to beat little girl with a bludgeon until she shuts the fuck up. They want each other dead.

-So my question now is, HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY BOTH STILL ALIVE?
I am furious.