Welcome
one and all to an exciting new feature never before done in the entire
history of the world we know as wide web. Actually, that's a lie.
Everybody swaps links with everyone else and we're just catching up
in giving the service its own wee title.
I
was finding that I was writing editorials where the only reason
for doing so was to mention some link a reader had sent in. And
I do prefer to keep that heading for those vitally important times
whenI want to moan about our PC, make pathetic excuses for why the
site hasn't been updated for ages or just to tell concerned readers
about how my left leg fell off the other week for no apparent reason.
Anyway,
from now on, the links will have their own heading. Some weeks they'll
just be the links themselves there, other weeks I might write something
about what the link links to… if that makes sense.
First
up, nostalgia corner. You must have been dead or resident in Foreign
not to have seen this Tennents lager ad some years back. "Thick
with meaning" I believe we semioticians would describe it and
very clever with it. The basic message is "aren't you glad
to be living in Scotland drinking our lager and not forced to live
in That London?" As far as I know, this commercial never aired
in England, so I think it's fair to assume that it was targeted
at domestic consumers. It does work, looking at it again I get homesick
and I fuckin' live here, Gawd 'elp me.
Further
back, the "Escher" ad for McEwans lager was a model of
that late 80s, arty, poncy thread that typified advertising in that
decade. But, brilliant with it, if not for sales of McEwans lager.
For apparently, potential consumers stunned by the visual artistry
of the ad's execution dutifully rushed off to sample said McEwans
lager, only to find that cat's piss was nectar of the Gods in comparison.
There's a moral there somewhere about how good advertising can kill
off a bad product but I can't be arsed thinking it through.
I
do vaguely remember that Rikki Fulton (GLAKH) parodied the ad on
Scotch and Wry so if anyone can track down the relevant You Tube
clip, write in and I'll share.
Outright
winner of this week's Wrong On So Many Levels Award is this really
strange photograph that I found via Graham Linehan's website. Yes,
that GL, of Father Ted fame. Graham's very interesting musings on
The IT Crowd among other things (not sure I agree with him , but
who am I to judge?) can be found at:"Why,
That's Delightful" with Graham Linehan While the strangest
picture you'll see this year can be found at: Swastikas
Hockey Team (You have to scroll down a bit)
Finally,
it's a big JT welcome to our first guest link recommender, one Campbell
Armstrong. Campbell is Scottish but resident in Ireland and has
written scores of thrillers and crime fiction and one very good
memoir (I Hope You Have a Good Life) that explores all the dimensions
of our capacity as human beings to experience loss. I've never met
Campbell face to face but I imagine he probably lives in a house
made of gold and sits on a gold throne watching a gold telly while
eating crisps made of gold. More to the point, he's a good mate
to The JT and he loved the content of this link so much I asked
him to introduce it. So that's me for this week and this next bit
is Campbell Armstrong.
