Stop Me Before I Vote Again

I walked just now into a darkened room in my apartment, looking for a book I'm in the middle of reading. (I'm the night-owl of the family, awake long after everybody else is asleep). There on the bureau, winking confidently at me, was one of my family's innumerable Macintosh laptops.

Long since, I had to outlaw these machines from the connubial cubiculum. That little light, slowly cycling from dim to bright and back to dim, at a catatonic 30 beats per minute or so, is possibly the most annoying branding gimmick since "ring around the collar". Worse even.

And it's surprisingly bright. In a dark room, it slowly illuminates, with its spectral phosphorescence, all the furniture you should have replaced years ago, and all the clutter you should have stowed. Then it goes dim again, and you start to relax... and oh shit, there it is again. Torture. Just try to sleep with a Steve Jobs avatar telling you relentlessly: Look at me... I'm a Mac... Look at me....

On balance, the cool brands are maybe even worse than the dorky brands, as the sane politicians are worse than the crazy ones.