Great Gifts From Web and Tube!

While the sun is out, and splendid is the breeze, I am to be found outdoors, in the car with the windows rolled down and music turned up, on the porch, in the garden, harassing the neighbors.

Then the icy North Wind crashes my party, and I'm running inside for a sweater, or if the sun disappears, I just stay in. Stuff to do, and all that. There's the writing, dishes, napping, and the usual work-pursuing, web surfing and tube watching. Before I chide myself for all this slacking, I need to just say that you can never predict where your inspiration will come from, or what freebie gifts you may uncover using these tools of the devil. Allow me to elaborate...

There's The Chair from the Requip commercial, restless leg syndrome drug. "The Chair" has thousands of people (like me) very stirred up and looking for a clue on how to get one of these. There are threads and blogs and a torrent of interest for a chair that does not exist. The drug company says the ad agency did a mock-up just for filming the commercial, and since all the interest has been on the chair and not on the drug, "The Chair" is being de-emphasized in the newer runnings of the Requip ads. There are millions of dollars to be made on manufacturing this chair, and so far, the demand in the marketplace is not being met by anyone. All that money not being made. As a former business woman, and whipped horse of the corporate 'delight and surprise' dog & pony show, this unmet market astounds me. Millions, I say. No one is biting.

Another television gem has been the Lexus ad featuring Nina Simone. I remember when she died a few years ago, and we played her CDs at work all the time when I was a music department manager. But the gift of this ad is that the CD this song is taken from has been out of print, a live from Paris album 1968, and now this interest from the commercial (Google it & see) is bringing this amazing artist to the attention of a wide sweep of listeners, young and not so, and I'm sure will resurrect this CD from the archives and make it at least downloadable somewhere. This is beautiful.

Back on the Web, I have been trying to find which roses are growing in our garden here, and the web has great resources to do this. Being in the City of Roses, it is a fun day to go to the Rose Garden, but I kind of get overwhelmed and would just rather enjoy the experience than do research. Our neighborhood yards have some really old rose specimens, and my neighbor thinks that some of the grafted stems have died off and the root stock is reasserting itself after 50-odd years of predictable blooming. If you drive past some yards along a street, there are common trendy types from years past, that makes me think that Fred Meyers had a sale in 1963 on coral lipstick pink teas, or they all shared divided clumps. I love a mystery.

Etsy. I wish I had thought of it. I have big plans now to max my tschochskies there. Sounds sleazy. The marketplace for all things hand made, and the only crocheted toilet top tissue box covers you would find would probably be a reference to what this website is NOT. This is the next threshold for the hipster DIY nouveau-geek or whimsical offbeat crafster. I am so there.

The History Channel had a two hour show Monday night called "Hippies", featuring many interviews, film footage, analysis by contemporaries, Peter Coyote and the Diggers, music, Vietnam, and the Man. Although it had its omissions and gloss-over-lightly areas, it was a great show and I'd recommend people of all ages to see it, younger viewers with their Boomer of choice to fill in some gaps. Fabulous way to spend two chilly evening hours.

While Google-ing some people I used to hang out with in Ann Arbor, I discovered that my old pal Misty Callies is super-famous!! There is a prime level hip restaurant in New York City called 'Prune'. The chef there is named Gabrielle Hamilton, a famous younger woman who has almost single-handedly revolutionized "great little eatery" standards in Manhattan. I'm sure Paris has been thrown out of there at least once. Anyways, Gabrielle wrote an article for Food & Wine magazine that goes on and on how my pal Misty was her mentor in the late 90s in Ann Arbor, working at Misty's restaurant on State Street called Zanzibar. Misty and her brother Todd run it, but Misty is the visionary and driving force (as she always was 20 years ago) and taught the future Prune owner a new, non-NY way of creating a restaurant. I was so thrilled, and the story had a pic of Misty at work, and talked about her gruff communication style but genius of concept and attitude. Misty was my hero for many years back in the early 80s when I worked with her and her brother at various places in Ann Arbor, and it was so gratifying to see Misty getting some national press and praise. And the stories I could tell about parties at Misty's house...and I may some day with the names changed for the usual reasons.

Two more commercials, and I'm done...

The silly Comcast (how I hate thee) one with the tiger striped tattooed guy---"Sorry Roger, you tiger now!" Can't help it, I laugh every time.
The one with the Asian guy all done up in a Riverdance costume and headband, dancing his heart out in the middle of his living room, twirling, leaping, kicking, Irish pipes playing...then his wife and daughter walk through the door carrying shopping bags and just gawk---"Wow, you're home early" he says weakly. I can't remember what the product is, because I just laugh so hard, oh wait, it's a flooring company. Hardwood floors. Must be HGTV. It's tough to write funny ads, it so skews to the target audience, but everyone who sees it should get it.

I'm an amateur sociologist, it's my job.