So "Spark" has hit the shelves, and many people, many MANY people, are buzzing about it.  Being slightly too cheap to buy a copy (at least thus far-- don't worry Mr. Winsor, I can't hold out forever), I've groused over the online portions, and have savored the blog pieces.  Can I recommend a book that I haven't yet read?  Well, I'll recommend it to myself, and if you overhear the conversation, you do what you feel's right.

Will "Spark" make as many waves as jolly Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point"?  Tough to say, but it hardly matters.  Books of this nature, books with this heavy marketing theme, now litter Barnes & Noble's tables (not the shelves, the TABLES), and receive heavy mentions by TV talking heads, newspaper columnists, and probably (though we're as of yet unacquainted) Ma and Pa America.  Ideas like "Activation" and "Opportunity Costs" now get played around with in the kitchens of Burger Kings, and half of America’s eyes are scoping for niche markets.

I'm under the impression that Marketing used to be the work of the Wizard of Oz.  That is, it used to be concocted behind the proverbial green curtain, and the razzle-dazzle that issued forth from behind said curtain wasn't scrutinized for how much eye of newt it contained.  Today, though, at least on an intellectual basis, marketing ploys are open to being dissected by whoever wants to take a crack at it:  there goes 20% of America paying attention to that man behind the curtain.

Marketing seems to have gone civilian, much like border patrolling recently went courtesy of our patriotic, paranoid minutemen brethren.  Perhaps this has happened before, when thanks to cynicism, irony, or just intellectual mustering, the public pierced Madison Avenue's veil, forcing those yahoos (of whom I suppose I can count myself a member) to start over from scratch.  Thank heavens that Peeled Snacks isn't marketing driven.  I mean, it'd be nice if marketing would take the wheel for a while, but for the time being it’s just the quality of the fruit and the nuts in the driver's seat.  Of course, those that have read Spark will see right through that last sentence....

 

Poem for the day:

At long last I have finished thee,

Ended your life on my shelf, swallowed you

My whale, your Jonah.

Staring at me you have dared me

threatened me with nourishing eyes,

and finally I fell for you, hard.

Last me throughout my belly, no further.

Fulfill my coffers with fruit and nuts.

Afterwards, I care not what comes of you.

I have finished thee, snack.