Hulver's site || Comments || Happy Pride

funny you should mention this by Kellnerin (4.00 / 2) #6 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:00:33 PM EST

When discussing another controversial book with D (one which is no longer in circulation), I was mentioning the preponderance of brand names in it. (That other book is pitched as an adult book, but it's YA at heart.) D's mind jumped to product placement, although it's unclear if that was really the case, or just part of the landscape of the narrative.

Ethical issues aside (and on those, I basically agree with CRwM), I think too-specific brand names tend to shorten the shelflife of the book. I'm guessing "Lipslicks" is going to sound a little silly/weird/incomprehensible rather soon. The same issue exists in any medium, but I have a sense that the novel is a form that's meant to last, or at least has the potential to be more than "of the moment."

The interactive stuff, the websites and phone numbers, all sounds kind of cool, but it's the same issue. How long will they commit to maintaining them? Maybe "Cathy" isn't the stuff of lasting classics (or maybe it is, I dunno), but it bothers me that the book as currently conceived will likely deteriorate over time. The pieces will start to disappear or become inaccessible so that eventually it will no longer be "whole," so to speak. I think that's shortsighted and downright irritating.

But that's just me.

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"later" meant either "when you walk around the corner" or "oatmeal."

What would be placed in a Dickens novel? by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #7 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:06:24 PM EST

Butterball?

I mean, I like looking at the ads in old magazines, but that doesn't mean I want it in a novel. It just blurs the line too much. You end up with something like the MSNBC Movie.
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Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
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Dickens Product Placement by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 3) #9 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:36:00 PM EST

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. People who believe I turn out to be the hero also purchased Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer, which the Publisher's Weekly called "topflight storytelling." People who feel these pages show that somebody else is the hero of my life purchsed The Barbeque! Bible by Steven Raichlen. The average customer gives The Barbeque! Bible four and a half stars."

- Charles Dickens, David Copperfield: To the X-Treme!!!, a Penguin Deluxe Classic Edition.

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Sounds like a new FC by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #10 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:40:32 PM EST

First there was the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Then, there was the WFC. Now, the best of both: Rewrite the opening line(s) of your favorite novel with product placement in the NRPPFC (Novel Rewrite Product Placement Fun Challenge).
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Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
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It is weirdly addictive. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 2) #12 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 04:56:21 PM EST

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the precision-crafted Jeger-LeCoultre Reverso Gran' Sport Men's Watches were striking thirteen."

- George Orwell, 1984

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of Jaguar XK Convertible, with Bosch® Servotronic 2 power-assisted, speed-sensitive, variable-ratio rack and pinion, Enhanced Computer Active Technology Suspension, 3-point front safety belts with pyrotechnic pretensioners, and 7-in. touchscreen for audio, telephone, climate, navigation, personalization, and valet standard."

- Jane Austen, Ride and Prejudice

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: A screaming came across the sky. by Driusan (4.00 / 2) #14 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 05:53:05 PM EST

It was not the first time it happened, but nothing gave Slothrop a hard-on quiet like the thought of a Boeing 787.
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I needed a new sig. And now I have one.
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: It is by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #16 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 06:38:45 PM EST

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses delivered by a participating local FTD® florist, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the Highland lilac from Rochester, A Timeless Frangrance, Inspired by Nature[tm], or the more delicate perfume of the Kabloom® pink-flowering thorn.
-- A Picture of Dorian Gray
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Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
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: It is, redux by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #17 Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 06:51:35 PM EST

Buck did not read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer "The Voice of the Northwest since 1863"[tm], a part of the Hearst Corp. family of papers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle toned with the AB-Swivveler®, and with warm, long hair, kept soft and easy to manage with White Rain® shampoo and conditioners, from Puget Sound to San Diego, where you, too, can spend a fun filled weekend for the whole family at the Hotel del Coronado - A KSL Luxury Resort.
-- The Call of the Wild
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Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
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: already there. by garlic (4.00 / 2) #19 Wed Jun 14, 2006 at 10:54:33 PM EST

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.

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