Cereus, or Giant Apple Cactus*

I must have driven past this giant cactus plant with hats on it a hundred times, but on the way to the bookstore this morning, it finally entered my consciousness. The fact that I was stopped at a traffic light near it probably had something to do with it, but who knows what causes one to notice certain things and completely tune out others? I'm sure the advertising industry has put a lot of time, money and energy into this very question, but mostly what they have succeeded in doing is to figure out how to further annoy the heck out of me.

Although we do our best not to miss a single stage in the Tour de France, we do record it for the sole purpose of starting to watch an hour late so we can fast forward through the commercials. Now if only I could figure out what to do about the stickers on the fruit....

I heard a very clever take off on a sports commentary in which every move made by the players was "brought to you by----" Now, the Tour riders are plastered with the names of their sponsors from head to, er, butt! (That one must cost extra!) I used to think about writing some sort of satirical treatment of how advertising has entered every aspect of our lives, but it wouldn't even be satire anymore. It would just be a rant, which is pretty much what I'm doing now.

Whereas the cactus hat tree brought a smile to my face....

*According to the neatly posted sign at the foot of the "tree". There are some naturally occurring flowers on this one, which will turn into edible red fruits (rather than hats)