I am BAFFLED as to why the SEC put John Steinbeck’s Burning Bright on their Moomba float. It's an experimental theatre piece about characters struggling with impotence, infidelity and infertility. A cry for help from someone in the SEC struggling with these issues; or an employee who wants to signal they’re down with the latest avant guard theatre despite their boring government job? Perhaps a meta-comment that the book is so bad it should be burned (it was a critical flop)?
Or (and I suspect more likely) someone in the marketing department saw the book in a bookshop window, thought “Hey, briquettes burn bright! Let’s use that!” and didn’t actually check out what it was about.
This is amazing – I did not appreciate the context around Burning Bright. Also, it wasn't exactly recent at the point – it was published some 16 years prior!
To further add to the cultural confusion, I've received a note from someone who was there that the float was playing the song "Keep the Home Fires Burning"... which is a British patriotic WWI song.
Informative and humorous as always Alex. Keep em coming.
I am BAFFLED as to why the SEC put John Steinbeck’s Burning Bright on their Moomba float. It's an experimental theatre piece about characters struggling with impotence, infidelity and infertility. A cry for help from someone in the SEC struggling with these issues; or an employee who wants to signal they’re down with the latest avant guard theatre despite their boring government job? Perhaps a meta-comment that the book is so bad it should be burned (it was a critical flop)?
Or (and I suspect more likely) someone in the marketing department saw the book in a bookshop window, thought “Hey, briquettes burn bright! Let’s use that!” and didn’t actually check out what it was about.
I guess we will never know.
This is amazing – I did not appreciate the context around Burning Bright. Also, it wasn't exactly recent at the point – it was published some 16 years prior!
To further add to the cultural confusion, I've received a note from someone who was there that the float was playing the song "Keep the Home Fires Burning"... which is a British patriotic WWI song.
Wonderful. I love this kind of chaos.
Hilarious while informative as per usual! No notes.