Posts Tagged ‘Costco’

Like Attracting Like

Sunday, October 4th, 2015

Being drawn to people who look like ourselves is a common phenomenon firmly based in science. A number of recent articles provide an explanation, here, here, and here. When finding another person attractive, your standards will relate to aspects of your own appearance that you know best — your face, the shape of your head and body, your coloring, etc.

Does this “like attracted to like” phenomenon apply beyond our evaluation of other people?

I think so.

It’s often remarked how the pets people choose, especially dogs, look like their owners. From anecdotal evidence, and my practice as an armchair psychologist, I believe a strong case can be made that this gravitational pull extends even further — to inanimate things that catch our eye in the material world. I’ve posted about this subject once before, here. Yesterday brought to my sight another example.

At Costco there was an indoor display of pumpkins. It was huge, while maybe not yoogeWhen autumn arrives, who among us — whether a person or a cartoon character — can resist the spell of ripe pumpkins? The scene was worthy of being photographed and so I snapped several pictures of it.

Here’s one:

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Pumpkins at Costo

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Later at home, while looking through the full set of photos, one picture jumped out. It includes a woman who, amid the crowd attracted to this harvest of pumpkins, I remember reacted to the display with special delight:

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I rest my case.

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Why are publishers pseudo-soiling their new book jackets?

Friday, October 4th, 2013

A couple of years ago I noticed a flurry of books, written by and about women, whose covers featured images of women in a strange pose: turning aside and away, showing not their faces but their backs to the potential reader. See examples here.

Now another strange phenomenon has appeared: book covers or jackets with a worn, “distressed” look, as if their designers wanted to pre-deliver the tatters and soiling that come from handling a cherished volume over a long period of time.

Examples include a new paperback edition of Gertrude Stein’s Paris France (with subtle age-staining applied front and back); a soon to be released novel by Daniel Alarcón (with similar pseudo-soiling of its cover, simulating the residue of sweaty palms); and that new biography of J.D.Salinger (with pretend nicks and creases fondly recalling your own well-worn copy of Catcher in the Rye).

Set these books on your coffee table, and your “I-much-prefer-used-bookstores” bona fides won’t be questioned.

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On the tables at Costco, 9-27-2013 . . .

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