8.18.2005
Say, that's a nice suit.
There's a big intersection about five minutes from our house that is insanely busy: five big roads meet up in a rough star-shape, and it supposedly handles about 10,000 cars per hour, which seems like a lot to me although I don't really have any basis for comparison. And as if that didn't make it busy enough, there's also six gigantic malls looming over the entire scene and, below ground, one of the biggest and most crowded subway stations in the city. (And just in case the six above-ground malls weren't enough, the subway station has a long, two-story mall inside it, so no worries.)
As you can imagine, the entire area is usually pretty busy, particularly around five or six o'clock when everyone's leaving work and heading to the malls or wherever the hell it is they head around here. (One of the five KFCs? One of the two Pizza Huts?) And, of course, as you also might imagine, what with so many people passing through and a limited amount of surface area, advertising space is also at a premium. So suppose you have something you really want people to know about, but you can't afford to put a massive poster that's hundreds of feet tall down the side of an office building overlooking one of the malls, like Panasonic routinely does. What do you do, hotshot? What to you do?
(No, "shoot the hostage" isn't right, but good guess.)
It's simple: you pay a guy to put on dark, wrap-around, grandparent-style glasses; wear a silver suit and hat; and walk around with a TV screen strapped to his back that's playing a commercial for your product. You know, like this guy ...
Really, what could be more sensible? Nothing apparently, since this is by no means an uncommon site--I see people like this almost every time I go over there around dinner. The other day there was a group of three of them lined up in a row: two with the TV screens, and one with a Casio keyboard strapped around his neck that people could stop and play. They looked sort of like Devo, but with less pointy hats.
Sadly, I have no picture, since I didn't have my camera with me. Although on that note, I am about to get an ultracompact camera that I can carry around with me at all times (my camera now is great, but it's got a huge zoom lens and isn't the sort of thing you want to carry around all day, every day), so if I'm lucky I'll be able to get some "Devo" pictures soon, assuming they're still around.
Until then, I suggest you whip it.
Whip it good.
As you can imagine, the entire area is usually pretty busy, particularly around five or six o'clock when everyone's leaving work and heading to the malls or wherever the hell it is they head around here. (One of the five KFCs? One of the two Pizza Huts?) And, of course, as you also might imagine, what with so many people passing through and a limited amount of surface area, advertising space is also at a premium. So suppose you have something you really want people to know about, but you can't afford to put a massive poster that's hundreds of feet tall down the side of an office building overlooking one of the malls, like Panasonic routinely does. What do you do, hotshot? What to you do?
(No, "shoot the hostage" isn't right, but good guess.)
It's simple: you pay a guy to put on dark, wrap-around, grandparent-style glasses; wear a silver suit and hat; and walk around with a TV screen strapped to his back that's playing a commercial for your product. You know, like this guy ...
Really, what could be more sensible? Nothing apparently, since this is by no means an uncommon site--I see people like this almost every time I go over there around dinner. The other day there was a group of three of them lined up in a row: two with the TV screens, and one with a Casio keyboard strapped around his neck that people could stop and play. They looked sort of like Devo, but with less pointy hats.
Sadly, I have no picture, since I didn't have my camera with me. Although on that note, I am about to get an ultracompact camera that I can carry around with me at all times (my camera now is great, but it's got a huge zoom lens and isn't the sort of thing you want to carry around all day, every day), so if I'm lucky I'll be able to get some "Devo" pictures soon, assuming they're still around.
Until then, I suggest you whip it.
Whip it good.
