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And now for something completely useless
Mar. 14th, 2006 10:24 amThere is something that is satisfying, a little guilt-inducing, and subtly irritating, all at the same time, about contemplating the sort of crap that you could get if you literally had more money than you knew what to do with. Some things you could sorta-kinda justify, like the secret room that you had put in for "security" purposes (that is, for the crime-fighting career that you plan to take up once you lose those extra ten pounds and look halfway decent in a leotard). And then, there are things like the pirolette, which is good for letting people know that you are ready and willing to drop $150-$250 on a hunk of wood that will be a conversation piece for about ten seconds at your next party.
Don't get me wrong--I think that the basic idea--making the figure-ground effect that you read about in Psych 101 concrete--is pretty cool. Here's what bugs me about it: I've always thought that the figure in the figure-ground illustrations was supposed to be a vase. If they had hollowed out their pirolettes(I don't think that any of them are; some of them obviously aren't), it could double as a big wooden goblet, and you could put it on a shelf, maybe putting seashells or those colored glass pebble things in it, as if it were just another tchotke (sp?), and maybe, maybe, once in a while, someone would look at the thing, standing against a light background... and after a while, look at you... and then look back at the thing... and then back at you, and you have subtly turned your head so that your profile is to them...
But no, it's just this big wooden thing that has no particular purpose (stubby mace? bedknob? something that you can mash a whole clove of garlic with at once?) and that basically begs the bored guest to ask you about it, so that you can squeeze another ten seconds of conversation out of your guests before they start making excuses about not keeping the babysitter waiting. On the other hand, maybe I'm just bitter about the fact that, even if I did have more money than I knew what to do with, it would just immortalize my extra chin for all eternity, or until I ran out of firewood, whichever came first. Meh. Maybe if they end up as something that you can have done for $10 at the county fair.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to don a physique-flattering cape, twist the sconce next to the fireplace precisely 37 degrees to the left, and find out just how superstitious and cowardly a lot criminals really are.
P.S. Now this... this... is a conversation piece.
Don't get me wrong--I think that the basic idea--making the figure-ground effect that you read about in Psych 101 concrete--is pretty cool. Here's what bugs me about it: I've always thought that the figure in the figure-ground illustrations was supposed to be a vase. If they had hollowed out their pirolettes(I don't think that any of them are; some of them obviously aren't), it could double as a big wooden goblet, and you could put it on a shelf, maybe putting seashells or those colored glass pebble things in it, as if it were just another tchotke (sp?), and maybe, maybe, once in a while, someone would look at the thing, standing against a light background... and after a while, look at you... and then look back at the thing... and then back at you, and you have subtly turned your head so that your profile is to them...
But no, it's just this big wooden thing that has no particular purpose (stubby mace? bedknob? something that you can mash a whole clove of garlic with at once?) and that basically begs the bored guest to ask you about it, so that you can squeeze another ten seconds of conversation out of your guests before they start making excuses about not keeping the babysitter waiting. On the other hand, maybe I'm just bitter about the fact that, even if I did have more money than I knew what to do with, it would just immortalize my extra chin for all eternity, or until I ran out of firewood, whichever came first. Meh. Maybe if they end up as something that you can have done for $10 at the county fair.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to don a physique-flattering cape, twist the sconce next to the fireplace precisely 37 degrees to the left, and find out just how superstitious and cowardly a lot criminals really are.
P.S. Now this... this... is a conversation piece.
