I am currently reading Slaughterhouse - Five. Maybe the best stocking stuffer I have received. The book is about a guy named Billy Pilgram who has become dissjointed in time and does not experience time linearly as we do. At some point Billy watches a WWII film on the TV in reverse... From end to beginning with this simple yet wonderful description. I had to share it.American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
Ha! Look at that. Now that is effective marketing! Way too effective perhaps. Adult Swim of Cartoon Network scared the crap out of Boston today. Some simple "Light Brite style" boards were scattered around half a dozen cities to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force (more likley their upcoming movie.) The boards laid undisturbed in Boston for 3 weeks and then suddenly the calls started coming in. My guess is either someone decided to help "blow up" the campaign. Or someone who didn't like the campaign was hoping to make trouble for the company responsible. The story is here at The Bostonist
