the watch of time

This is the fourth of a mini-series devoted to the notion that, despite what passes for ‘reality show’ entertainment today, there is always room for marketing a less meaningful or evocative concept.  

• WHAT’S MY PUNCHLINE?  You don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to enjoy the verbal antics of everyday people who are fed straight lines and can win prizes for a side-splittingly clever retort.  Match wits, and feel their pressure sometimes in front of friends and family, sometimes on the jumbo screen out of the crowd at a sporting event.  Empathize with their humiliation when they come up with a lame or pedestrian response, or rejoice with their joy when they chime in with a winner.  It’s all in the delivery and timing and smarts, and it’s got to be fast!
• YOUR SMELL IS MY AROMA:  Our sense of smell is said to be one of the most powerful reactive, memory stimulants.  In a mock laboratory setting we have volunteers test their faculties with a range of odours, from pleasing to nasty, from potent to lightly discernible, hoping to connect them with their anecdotal memories. This is followed by scientific view of what makes certain aromas pleasant to some and not others, while considering the olfactory evolution through human and animal history.  At least one of your senses will be tingling.
• CLEAN UP AT THE LAUNDRY MAT:  At one time or another it seems most of us have to use a public laundry mat.  Whether we’re traveling on vacation, staying at a campground, or it’s just a practical necessity of life, the need for clean often means a trip to these much used and sometimes abused facilities.  We compare the regulars and occasional users, see how they spend their waiting time, and hear some of their ‘war stories’.  We catch up with those who respect the communal need with efficiency and consideration, while confronting those who try to pull a sheet over their actions.  After all, this is a business where change is always coming.