Time and a Hoff.

I spent the first 112 years of my 117-year career never hearing the word "content."  Now, you can't go four minutes without hearing it, without running into someone called a "content strategist," or a "content copywriter," or without someone spouting off about how "content is king."

A few days ago I was Escher-ing up, around, over and under various rabbit holes looking for an idea, or for back-up to an idea. Somehow I remembered an illustrator from my early childhood whose style I always liked--long before I even knew he had a style. The illustrator was called Syd Hoff and his book I remember best was a charming story called "Danny and the Dinosaur."

I found a site featuring many of Hoff's illustrations and there I read about a booklet he helped create for a "popular-priced liquor brand called Calvert. Calvert are still around, oddly-enough, but owned by another company that I'm sure is owned by another company which I'm sure is owned by another company. I'd bet seventy-five cents that no one that works for any of those associated company has ever tasted anything by Calvert and those brands of albatrosses though they probably earn a fortune.

Fifty years ago, I worked the 4PM to midnight shift in one of Chicago's largest liquor stores, I'm 99-percent sure I never sold a bottle of anything Calvert. And I sold a lot of bottles that summer.

I found a bunch of ads Syd illustrated on here. I know I'm both old and old-fashioned but I'm a sucker for cartoons and I found these more fun than about 99-percent of the ads I see today.

I also read about this:

I quickly went to abebooks.com and for $10.85, tax and shipping included, I got Hoff's Calvert booklet delivered to my door.

I don't give a rat's ass about content and I absolutely abhor the term. Never once in my 68 years on this darkening and dumbening orb have I used it. 

That said, everything that follows makes me content.