Sometimes product launches might JUST be to get “viral” so maybe I’m part of the problem here, but Miller High Life just realized a “Bar-fume” which is a perfume meant to evoke the smell of your favorite dive bar.
Miller High Life Launches a New Perfume That Smells Just Like a Dive Bar
Honestly, this isn’t as awful an idea as one might think. Or … is it?
The "transformative" blend, it added, includes notes of cedarwood and patchouli, "so every spritz takes you back to that well-loved bar top," and tobacco and leather, which are meant to evoke "the comforting musk of worn-in barstools." There are also notes of champaca blossom for "that crisp, refreshing aroma when the bartender cracks open The Champagne of Beers" and a little whisper of sea salt, "like the basket of fries you look forward to at the end of the night." And really, when all those scents come together, it does sound like a delightful sniff.
God, that’s SO CLOSE. But if you know me, you know they lost me in that first sentence. Patchouli might be the worst invention since the nuclear bomb.
That’s right, I said it.
Do you want to smell like spoiled onions or body odor? I’ve got a scent for you! Take that out of this concotion and I’d genuinely want to take a sniff (not that I wear cologne, but I’m curious). But with patchouli in it? Hell to the no. I spent four years living in Santa Cruz, I am still well over the limit for patchouli for my lifetime.
It’s also been noted by my wife and daughter that “Bar-fume” really emphasizes the word BARF, which is … perhaps not ideal. Hmm. It’s not out of the question that this is all an episode of Punk’d.
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I think Spotify broke us all. I’m talking, of course, about Spotify Wrapped - which not only influences how some of us listen to music (I know at least some of you think about whether you’re listening to that pop song so much it’s going to make the year-end list) but also … now EVERYONE wants to do a “Wrapped” style infographic at year end. Some, like Peloton, have been useful – though of course, I don’t have mine from 2024 because I didn’t save it. But it’s nice to see all the effort you put in (or didn’t) in the prior year, what instructor you exercised to the most, etc. As a golf dork, I enjoy the GHIN wrapup showing my best and worst scores, how many rounds I played, etc. It’s all stuff I sort of already know, but I appreciate the effort. I get reading wrapups from Goodreads and now, StoryGraph which I’m migrating to, telling me summary stats of all the books I’ve read that past year
Others? Do we NEED a “Carrot Weather” wrap-up telling you the highest and lowest temperatures you experienced? (I don’t even know where it was 18 degrees for me this past year, honestly.)
The bigger question is about resources – these wrapups cause some engagement and folks to share them with others (though if you share your Carrot Weather year-end wrapup with me, expect some snark back). Would I like it if instead of the GHIN Wrapped, the USGA developers were working on making the overall app better? I would. Same with Goodreads (which is pathetic despite having access to Jeff Bezos money), etc. And with Peloton, a company hemoragghing money to the extent it’s making serious product decisions, even doing this at all seems frivolous. Everything has an opportunity cost.
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I recently saw this at my local supermarket and had to ask what I thought was the only relevant question which is …what is unconventional orange juice?
The answer? Organic orange juice. I’m just going to assume this is a Northern California thing, but that’s bizarre language. I guess saying “non-organic” makes it sound bad in some way, and folks probably want to know if they’re ordering a drink using said juice, but … this feels like oversharing.
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As I mentioned above, I’ve been using The Story Graph instead of Goodreads, mostly because Goodreads hasn’t really updated itself in years and also because I don’t need to support Jeff Bezos anymore than I already do. One thing that TSG does better than Goodreads is its challenges. For example, someone can easily put in all the Pulitzer Prize winning novels and you can then see how many you’ve read. But there’s even more wild ones out there - like reading a book from every state. In challenges like this, you can just add whatever book you want to set that target, and of course I couldn’t resist. My biggest takeaway? There are a lot of books - at least in my “to-read” category - that take place in New York. Like, way too many. I’m a pro New York guy, but it’s stunning. Maybe it’s just MY pile, but I don’t think so. The other takeaway is this - I’ve read books based in most states and in the few I have left, I have a book in my to-read pile that IS based in those remaining states, except for … Arkansas. Do you know a book based in Arkansas that is worth reading? Fire away!