caraig | Things That Bother Me, Redux

in my last hour at work today, a customer came up and asked if he could print something out on our printers. This is never a problem, of course. Now, this was not the usual hanger-out at the store, this was a well-dressed, well-groomed sharp young business professional. What he printed out, though, was an image, purporting to be an Iraqi insurgent after he was hit by a sniper's bullet. Looking back on it, and with what minimal, amateur knowledge of ballistics that I have, I have to say that it was a ridiculously photoshopped image, but saying that I'm glad it was in black and white. It would have been pretty damn graphic.

So I kind of queasily hand him the printout, and he asks, 'Can you print that in color?'

This bothers me.

I sometimes get the Nobles Collection catalog. Most of the stuff in it is movie reproductions and licensed-based offerings, like a LOTR chess set and 'reproductions' of swords which can't possibly have existed. (Excalibur was not a Crusader-pattern cruciform-pommel longsword, for example.) Sometimes they have some cool stuff that would look great in a villain's lair, particularly a rich or pretentious or rich and pretentious villain. (The replica mariner's instruments, like sextants and chronographs and armillaries and orreries are cool!) Earlier this month I got the latest one, and of course they have Christmas-theme things. One of the items was a Santa Claus statue... dressed as a sort of Crusader Kris Kringle complete with sword, hauberk, and surcoat. Um... Crusader Santa?

This, too, bothers me.

But of course, aside from these moments of cognitive dissonance, things are going pretty swimmingly. More later! Pax.