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December 23, 2009
What I want for Christmas: Inspiration
I don’t need socks or a flannel nightgown. I don’t want a self-improvement book or a kitchen appliance.
What I need is inspiration, especially in the dark days of January, when I'll be desperate for ideas, seeking help thinking outside the box.
So if you’re standing in the mall right now, fighting panic and claustrophobia, wondering what to get me, I’m happy to provide you with a few suggestions. (Of course, these would be good gifts for anyone who needs inspiration when the going gets tough.)
What’s more compelling than a personal ad? That’s why I want Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor: The Best and Worst Personal Ads of All Time.
Any kind of advertising is meant to stop you in your tracks. So how about a book about the best ads: Twenty Ads That Shook the World: The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All.
And when it comes to advertising, one very effective form is the billboard. So how about: Great American Billboards.
Billboards make me think of postcards, which are all about compelling visuals. So if I need visual inspiration, perhaps this would be a good choice: The Postcard Century.
And one of the most interesting use of postcards is Frank Warren’s web site and series of books called PostSecret, where people mail in theirsecrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. Mr. Warren has a new book Confessions on Life and Death and God.
Wow, that’s a lot of books. I need to take a break and watch a video. I just got a new Val Kilmer DVD (that's a different kind of inspiration). Or how about a collection of television commercials from the 50s and 60s: Retro TV Commercials.
Thanks, Santa! Merry Christmas, everybody!
Posted by Alison Davis at December 23, 2009 02:34 PM
(Find me around the web)
