I might’ve taken my particular brand of nerd gonzo a bit far in that last post, but that’s the effect being forced to do excessive amounts of math (that’s with an “a”) tends to do to me. Speaking of nerd gonzo, if you grew up loving bicycles and virtuoso prog rock power trios, Rush drummer, Neil Peart wrote a nice little piece for the Cleveland Plain Dealer about his first century ridding on back roads in Ohio. It’s fluff, but Neil is one of the few people in the world I just go ahead and love unconditionally. Growing up a geek and a drummer, I couldn’t avoid respecting the hell out of a guy who grew up on a farm, clearly practicing paradiddles something like ten hours a day and clearly reading classic literature in every other free moment. That he rode bicycles, too, arrived like a confirmation that my life was on the right track. It wasn’t, but how could I hold that againt him? He’s even reclusive and largely freaked out by people.
He also wrote some books, including one about cycling in West Africa. Respect.
I felt I had some things in common with Neil, but nothing compared to the eerie things I seem to have in common with Internet advertisers. I visited Shutterstock.com once, and decided I wasn’t interested in their services, but now they’re not only following me everywhere I go, but also targeting my interests (hipster triatheletes with bright t-shirts and soul patches).
The truly creepy thing? I hadn’t searched Shutterstock for cycling photos–I was settling a bet about whether or not a certain picture of Jesus was in the public domain, OK? (I have so many hobbies you know nothing about.) Anyway, I’ve been in retail, and I know the companies that offer cookie-tastic ads that chase users around the interwebs, but ones that track me down, figure out I like cycling, and then use that to market to me? Holy shit. That’s as technologically cool as it is personally terrifying.
But it makes sense.
The recipe for real marketing combines one part interest and one part ridiculously asinine bullshit. I like bicycles, for instance, so I’m just a hop, skip, and a jump from buying a brightly colored extremely expensive leather bag that also becomes a saddle cover.
Yes, Brooks has found a way for anyone interested in transporting a single container of Proofide or a small wallet (but not both) to maintain a keen fashion sense. Click through the image to check out the full details. Bonus: there’s a Shutterstock ad wired to appear on that page sometimes, so, chances are, in just visiting the site, you might get a glimpse of something you actually like being used to try to sell you something you don’t. And they say privacy’s dead!
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