I’ve noticed over and over that in our society the crime of not monetizing things that can bring profit is considered even more heinous than proposing socialist sounding solutions to long-standing social problems. It is not hard to notice, as everything around us is being constantly monetized, but every time I see a new example, like a bird hit in the knee with a tiny rubber mallet, I begin to tweet my sour one note samba.
“This is just a one note samba,” sings Sekhnet, rolling her eyes and walking into the other room whenever I begin the familiar song.
Several sweaty miles through 93 degrees with my laptop on my back the other day I stopped into the lovely mall at 59th and Columbus Circle to use the bathroom and enjoy the air-conditioning. Last May I stood at a vantage point on the second floor balcony where I photographed out the high glass wall to the statue of Columbus and people coming and going, up and down escalators. It was a beautiful shot of the city through floor to ceiling windows and a sea of humanity captured against this spectacular backdrop. I shot a cool stop-motion movie from there and noted it as a great place to take vivid city-scapes.
I stood at the same place yesterday and saw with a shudder that some fucking genius has monetized that vast open space, two wide 40 foot tall banners advertising Glaceau Smart Water now block most of the view, though you can still spy Columbus propped on his pillar in the narrow slice of sky visible between them. If you hold your head just right.
They’d be idiots to refuse the half million a year Glaceau pays them to advertise their product in that striking spot. Why would anyone turn down that kind of money? What would you rather have, a fucking view few even notice or a half million dollars? Duh!
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