20.8.09

niche

Meant to be doing my marketing essay (yes,marketing,a somewhat pleasant detour especially after having just read the vilest,most tedious research piece on aging I've ever read,for one of my economics subject)-got me thinking about niches,and why they're such a big deal.My favorite characters on TV are always the bastards-the two that come to mind are Celia Hodes from Weeds,and Ari Gold in Entourage-amidst a bunch of indifferent,bland and pedestrian characters-they dare to stand out as the outright bitches,they're sure about what they want and aren't afraid to gamble a bit to get them.And the most powerful,long-lasting images that stick in my mind inevitably contain some form of extreme-they do one thing and one thing alone,with pure aggression.I think it partly stems from my undying love for film-I pick apart one from another,slot them into ultra-specific categories and am always on the lookout for a differentiating factor-if you haven't got a niche,being neither here nor there you'll leave a small mark-that'll surely vanish once your audience strays towards something better.You've got to get people settling on preferences-instead of wandering as they choose-I think it was Angelina Jolie who said-the sign that you're doing something right,is that you've got people who strongly agree with what you do,and people who strongly disagree.Anyway,I was thinking about all of this during the walk home-and someplace in this I had allocated a spot for Helena Bonham Carter,except now I don't remember where or what for.Anyway,Helena Bonham Carter in Fight Club-when she first appears,is an image that lasts for a few seconds-when Brad Pitt eyes her from across the road,sees her face concealed by a cloud of smoke-I think that was one of the film's few defining moments,the way life goes on with the everyday but is punctuated by a few absurd,bizarre,explosive moments.A quote from a book I'm currently reading (Picture of Dorian Gray,by Oscar Wilde)

"Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense,and discover when its too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes." Anyway,I know this thing I'm writing,beginning about the essentialness of a niche,ironically doesn't have one.Because I have all these random thoughts about different things,all from the walk home-and one thing leads to another,so there you go.An unsuccessful bedroom philosopher,reminds me of that episode of Friends where Joey's teaching a soap opera class and begins by saying something like "I'm glad to meet you,but I can only teach this class once because I've got an uncurable case of brain cancer and will not live beyond today",and one person in the class responds asking "But we paid for the whole course already!".Ok,it doesn't have anything to do with anything,but it was funny.So there you go.

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