The Spamming of the Christ

springheel_jack is once again my hero for this brisket.

You’re all on my list here one way or another and I’m not sure which of you reads which other of you, but:

nickjb and rroseselavyoui : For love of surreal film and dark, obscure art, desire to experience and participate in same, and enthusiasm for the creative life. Also, libraries!

genericus and jtemperance : Shared enjoyment of dissonant music and an eclectic appreciation of a lot of different kinds of noise!

bruisedhips and turnip : Two talented, smart, sarcastic women who should read each other and conspire with each other against the rest of us. Lots of art, swearing, and cahoots might well occur.

vegemitelover and predicate : people who think, discuss, and make jokes about things that matter like software, love, and God

xtreme_pr0k and fg : EXTREME CLIMBER DUDES!!! (also geeks)

There are probably others.

It’s a cheap-rent street, so there are a lot of odd old businesses from the 1970s. I’ll go back and take pictures next week I think. I was on my way to buy some cigars at Maxamar, itself a funny sort of place, and passed something called the DELTA FORCE BUNKER or something (hope it’s just paintball) and various hobby stores that were weirder than usual, and then this place, which dates from the first wave of Lord of the Rings mania in 1972.

But where else in Orange County can you get a pint of Liver Mousse to go for $10? I ask you.

To: Bennett Clapp, Senior VP, Marketing
From: Staci Sauci, Director, Marketing Initiatives
Re: The Passion

Benn:

We have some real movement here and I wanted to touch base with you and let you know what our direction is. You’re going to be as excited as we are with these!

1. The console gaming contract is 90% firm. Chalice Games is our preferred partner for the XBox market and they have some really dynamic ideas. Both custom controller sellpoints look like a go (hammer and cross) and they have some really sharp Easter Egg ideas. We’ve been working with some of the Extreme Church groups for channel marketing and they are very receptive. I’ve attached some screenshots and a walkthrough movie that we had them do as a rough cut. Let me know what you think of the mix because we did have to adjust the story line a bit to work with this as a sidescroller.
2. The restaurant tie-ins are locked down. Currently we have Taco Bell’s “Don’t Let this Cup Pass” supersize instant win running through April with a Jerusalem trip Grand Prize and they’re cross promoting like crazy. In April we begin Long John Silver’s 30-piece Combo with collectible nail pendant. We did end up removing the standups from the Outback Steakhouse because they had issues with it impacting their entree sales. However, we have a lot of good response from the TGI Good Fridays “Crown of Thorny Onions” appetizer promo to fill the gap in that demographic.
3. I know you had concerns about our lack of sellthrough in the kids area so here’s what we have cooking. We have sent out Reenactment Study Guides to schoolteachers and we’ll have people following that up as well to get kids involved more directly. Providing the teachers with multimedia, props etc. is the next step on that ramp-up. We’re also proactively targeting the costume market for October which we are sure will fill a gap for spiritually oriented “Harvest Festival” dressup. I will let you know asap if the Bubble-Yum thing is a go.

This has been a really different campaign, Benn, and we’re all “Passionate” about making promotion happen. I haven’t been this excited about cross-selling and licensing since we did Triple-X together!

Staci

nickjb saw this thing, and maybe it isn’t a hoax. Ow.

CNN Hip Hop a lypse.

From October 2002. Hurrrrrrffffff

YAK CHEESE for great justice.

Saw Neko Case perform tonight at the Derby. I want to take her home with me, sit her on the couch, and hand her $5 every second to sing, until I run out of money. She is so good.

It was her, Kelly Hogan, and Carolyn Mark with a couple of backup guys. Not what I’d expected, not a full band or anything, but amazingly good. The three of them traded off.

The openers were a forgettably bland wommyn’s music acoustic guitar Lilith Fair boredom duo (the Indigo Girls have a lot to answer for) and a guy who had a sort of Tim Buckley/David Bowie/Big Star’s Third thing going on. He was good but not as good as he thinks. He needs to edit more.

It was good to meet jtemperance in person; I’m glad that worked out!

Neko and her friends have a way of making full-volume long-note heartrending country and gospel music sound effortless, as though they were flying around the club above our heads. It’s really breathtaking when a singer can achieve that.

I’m very sad tonight about things I can’t fix and shouldn’t talk about any more.

dadcat has it right here.

My mother’s letter to the editor in response to this column.

Go Mom.

genital/genital if you aren’t registered with the Times