Friday, September the 12th, 2008
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The engine of capitalism is said to be the creation of desires. Advertising and allied brain-manipulation techniques persuade us to covet things we did not even know we wanted, and illusory wants soon become needs. Sprawling insouciantly in my ivory tower, it is very easy to pretend that I am above such grimness. For example, I do not own—nor covet—a mobile phone, and would much rather curl up with a copy of Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart than go shopping for fripperies. But of course, such pretence is delusional. I am as eager as anyone else to get my hands on stuff, depending on the stuff. Thus I am indebted to OutaSpaceman for drawing my attention to a product which I did not know existed, but realise I have always wanted, no, needed. I can say in all honesty that without this magnificent item my life would remain forever incomplete, pointless, wasted.
I speak, of course, of the cardboard cut-out model of the Hindenburg disaster, available here.