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(COOLLIST) The Oddness of Infomercials

Hello, Netizens and FOB's.

I just finished reading a fascinating prose account of a survivor of
an infomercial (somewhere in <URL:http://www.feedmag.com/>).  I hate
to say it, but this story really provoked an emotional response.
There is some deep meme that works within me that both in fascinated
and revolted by advertising.  Perhaps this is just a stronger sense of
what I feel towards all of the media I encounter, I'm not really sure.

Infomercials are fake.  They are completely manufactured realities.
They are oppressors of insomniacs.  They appear on multiple cable TV
channels at 4AM, daring to run simultaneously so late-night viewers
can discover the delay times of the various stations by flipping
channels and observing the desynchronization.

I admit to having watched the whole Apple commercial where the
grandfather gets the dad to buy the Performa.  I even noticed when
they re-edited it after Windows '95 came out.  I didn't like it.

Now, on a related subject, tonight I went around and looked at several
of the various web 'zines.  I already mentioned Feed.  I got to it
through a link from Hotwired <URL:http://www.hotwired.com/>.  From
there, I also visited newcomer Spiz <URL:http://www.spiz.com/>.

They all have some interesting content.  Each distorts the original
concept of the web through its use of HTML hacks.  Each made me wonder
what role my own 'zine, (COOLLIST), has on the web.  My conclusion was
optimistic.  (CL) is not done to attract hits.  I don't even bother
checking to see how often my index page is accessed, although I do get
an occasional thrill from getting an email from Sweden asking me about
motherboard upgrades because a blurb I mentioned once got picked up by
a run-away web robot working for Lycos.  I'm doing this for my ego and
to entertain people I know.  I'm not playing with the professionals.
(CL) is amateur, and I like it that way.

Still, if you are new to the list, check out the archives at
<URL:http://www.yak.net/coollist>.  Maybe a rendered logo would be a
nice addition, but don't look for it soon.

BTW, updates on recent (CL) postings.  First, John Selbie, former
GaTech CSer and current UF CS grad student says that
<URL:http://www.dole.org/> is a must-see web site for fans of my
Arsenio-Dole piece.  Oddly enough, the real Dole in 1996 campaign is
at <URL:http://www.dole.com/>.  It seems completely appropriate that
Dole's team is relegated to a .com (commercial, business) address.

(CL) welcomes new members, John and Moe, fellow Motorola slaves who
have seen the light.  (CL) also congratulates Mike Greene for
completing his B.S.C.S.  When he walks the line very soon, GaTech will
be changed.  The delta may be small, but many will appreciate it.

-- 
Benjamin L. Combee (combee@techwood.org) <URL:http://www.yak.net/combee/>
that public-access-TV-making, video-game-collecting, cryptography-pushing,
World-Wide-Web-explaining, fem-music-loving, bad-pun-creating guy in Austin
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