Uncategorized » Discount Thoughts

As you may have surmised from the previous post, my job search ended recently, and yes, I will still be residing in the northeastern United States. However, I will not be in Boston. Starting in July, I am going to be the manager of the structural biology core facility at Brown University, so I’ll be moving to Providence.

This is really exciting for me. Structural biology is an area that Brown wants to grow, and we’re going to be getting some great new equipment to help that happen. Before I even start, they’re installing a new Rigaku instrument for X-ray crystallography and SAXS, and this fall they will be installing a new high-field Bruker NMR spectrometer with a cryoprobe (to complement an existing 500/cryo). The equipment is going to be top-notch, and I think there will be lots of opportunities for groups at Brown and in the surrounding area to use this facility to expand their research programs.

I certainly hope they take advantage, because I love structural biology and think these techniques are incredibly useful research tools. Also, a broad user base is key to keeping facilities like this solvent.

Providence is too far to commute (at least for me), but it’s not that far from Boston in real terms, especially given the rail connection. I expect to be back in Beantown relatively often, for visits to the Gardner, concerts, and the occasional massive exposition full of amazing indie games. Of course, if there are some expositions full of amazing indie games in Providence, I am up for that, too.

So farewell, Boston! I will be slightly more distant from you in the future.

After that last rant, I got the thought that I shouldn’t be so negative. After all, maybe these ad executives just need some guidance. There is a way to make the “manliness” angle work in advertising without being patronizing to men, insulting to women, and an all-around irritant to everybody. An example is the Keith Stone commercials from Keystone Light, one of which is below.

Now, Keystone Light isn’t a beer I’d normally choose to drink, but I always remember the name, which shows that these commercials are effective. They’re also funny, in a way that plays off the “manliness” of Keith Stone without really being insulting to anyone. The commercials have a ’70s vibe that allows them to present a scruffy-looking dude as a male paragon, without indulging in any of the misogyny or male panic that infects other advertisements and shows using this theme. The campaign also recognizes that light beer isn’t macho no matter how “manly” you try to make it seem, and so it winks at the idea with its various scenarios.

Arguably the Miller Lite “man up” commercials are also doing this. The difference is that every single person in the Miller Lite ads is a repellent asshole. The Keith Stone character, however, generally comes across as a nice guy who wants to help a lady out. That doesn’t mean these ads are perfect, but they’re a much more pleasant way of marketing through manliness than the odium we’re being subjected to from other advertisers.