I Have Seen the Light
I've made up my mind. I'm not buying a new television until I can afford a Philips 42" Plasma TV.
I own the same 17", mono Toshiba TV I bought all the way back in 1986. It's been through 3 states, 3 dorm rooms, and 5 apartments. God only knows how many "miles" of projection it has on the meter. She's dusty, not too sharp, and producing an odd green spot in one corner.
So in an effort to avoid Atlanta traffic this afternoon I killed some time in Best Buy. Televisions are usually the section of retail stores I avoid with great pleasure, but this time I decided to dive right in. And when I did, I had a vision. I saw my future, staring me right in the face.
Philips' plasma tv steals a page from the Apple design book. Simple, thin, clean, and without a bunch of crap on the outside. Its elegance, shape, and clarity are a beauty to behold.
So I wandered around, checking out the rest of the department. To my disbelief, televisions have not only become larger, but rounder. Most looked like a grainy film being projected on the side of a giant fishbowl. They were ominous, bulbous, absorbing, and a little scary to stand in front of. I kept imagining them leaping off the shelf and crushing me with the weight of their massive CRTs.
I wandered back to the Philips, and felt right at home once again. I smiled, felt a sense of calm, followed by a hand tapping me on the shoulder.
"You like it?"
A sales lady dressed in yellow and blue smiled warmly at me with a open expression; waiting for me to put my eyes into words. I backed away, and shook my head.
"Who wouldn't? But for $6000..."
"Oh don't concern yourself with that," she reassured me. "We have great financing here if you're interested."
My head filled with snapshots of my coming tax return, of watching Six Feet Under W-I-D-E screen, and the expression on my wife's face when I walked through the door carrying a giant cardboard box emblazoned with the bold black letters of the Philips logo on the side.
I ran.
Comments
hahaha. i hate tv =|
Posted by: circles at April 17, 2002 11:16 PM
oh boy, i feel ya. the worst part is i just got a major windfall from a television show featuring pat sajak that would allow me to buy this outright, with cash, but that wouldn't be too smart. Or would it?
Thank God the money doesn't come 'til September.
Posted by: matt at April 18, 2002 12:13 AM
ah well. since you're talking design, have you seen the bang & olufsen beovision 5 (only available in europe)? at about 20.000,00 EUR (yes, that's no typo) it's not a cheap option though
see it here: http://www.bang-olufsen.com/product_frame.php?product=442
Posted by: metabe at April 18, 2002 8:51 AM
»She's dusty, not too sharp, and producing an odd green spot in one corner.«
Is that the TV or the wife?
Posted by: Chris at April 18, 2002 5:22 PM
