BILL OF `RIGHTS’: It’s official. The catch phrase of mid-1997 is “right on.” But not the assertive, exclaimatory ’70s “Right On Brother!” like you might have heard from Richard Pryor or Bill Cosby in Uptown Saturday Night. No, this contemporary version’s a quick, perfunctory expression, dropping and then suddenly rising in tone to make the two syllables sound like three. It’s less of a commanding statement, almost like a question: “Right o-on?” I’ve heard it all over town in the last month: on buses, in clubs, at street fairs, in theaters, in convenience stores. People who claim to be in the know tell me it started either with the snowboard crowd or the young-adult backpacking crowd, then spread to the general bar-and-coffeehouse populace, until it finally reached local ubiquity this season. Speaking of the neo-jock crowd…
JUNK FOOD OF THE WEEK #1: That chocolate-goo candy in a modified toothpaste tube I reported on a year or so ago has been reincarnated with a supposedly practical purpose. Clif Chocolate Peanut Shot (“The Natural Energy Burst”) is apparently popular among bicycle marathoners and “X-treme” sports enthusiasts. It’s billed on its tube as “an easy to digest, high-energy food” for folks on the run (literally; the tube’s front shows a sprinter crouching at the starting blocks). It’s made with rice syrup, peanut flour, cocoa powder, ginseng, and salt. As for the taste, imagine a combo of Nestlé’s Quik powder, creamy peanut butter, and a touch of Vegemite (that Aussie yeast-extract sandwich spread). Speaking of odd edibles…
JUNK FOOD OF THE WEEK #2: Burger King’s Land before Time “Dino Tenders” are chicken patties formed in vaguely dinosaur-esque shapes. There’s something odd (yet not as disconcerting as one might expect) about meat pieces flaked apart to the point that they don’t look anymore like pieces from an animal, then re-shaped to look like another (albeit guilt-free-because-extinct) animal. Speaking of species whose time has gone…
BOXING DAY: It’s been nearly four years since the last CD “long boxes” were in stores; surprisingly, I still haven’t seen a significant collector/ speculator market for them (maybe there is one and I’ve just missed it). Anyhow, let’s next see if we can dump the CD jewel box. It’s always a bother trying to take the insert out of those plastic tabs; and those hinge thingies never, ever last. For years, many European record labels have used cardboard CD sleeves with plastic disc holders and paper booklets glued on inside. American labels have traditionally balked at this format, not so much because of cost as because of production flexibility. It’s quick ‘n’ easy to run off those paper front sheets and cardboard back sheets, in any quantity desired, to be stuck into pre-made jewel boxes; while the Euro system (sometimes known by the trademark “Digipak”) adds a few extra steps of assembly work at the time of duplication.
But now there’s really no more excuse.
Several recent releases (from the major-label Minus Five disc to the very indie compilation Big Choice) have proven that even without the plastic disc holder, the ol’ miniature LP-style cardboard sleeve’s snazzier and more convenient. These plasticless sleeves are simple die-cut and glued jobs, as efficient to make as the sleeves for those freebie America Online CD-ROMs attached to computer magazines. Sure they bend, fold, and mutilate under the right level of mishandling, but that only means the package’s no longer in “mint” condition; the disc itself’s still fine. Asking record labels to make more plasticless CD sleeves might not save that much petrochemical product in the long run, but it’d certainly make CD buying a lot cooler and CD handling a lot easier. Speaking of enhancing one’s media experiences…
BOOK ‘EM: I know summer’s already way underway (at least according to the calendar), but it’s never too late to start getting literized. In that spirit, the first Misc. (mid)summer reading list will appear here in two weeks. Send your nominated titles now (remember, only specific individual selections, not “anything by so-and-so”) to clark@speakeasy.org. Hey, if Oprah can do it…
