Two things in life make us want to spit: 1) drivers who cut into our lane without signaling and 2) pop-ups on the Net. One that’s particularly galling is an azcentral.com survey that stops you from reading further without answering a bunch of questions. Well, we’re not ashamed to say we baldface lie. One day we were born in 1938, the next in ’92. Today we’ll give one fake e-mail address, tomorrow another. It’s fun mucking with the Republic’s pitiful attempts at demographic survival.
Boo-friggin’-hoo. Monolithic companies like the Pub have been screwing with our heads since the advent of advertising, and these institutions are now feeling the pinch thanks to streamlined competition and other market forces. In his new book, Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion, author Lucas Conley outlines the funny/frightening lengths to which our cultural “identity-makers” now go to keep their boot on your neck.
Thu., Aug. 7, 7 p.m., 2008
