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Art Colony: Fax Me
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
› by victoria
here's to a happy valentine's day free from the distorted images projected by TV and movies and other people's projected expectations of how things should be.
here's to hilariously messed-up movies that make us laugh with their cheesy romantic sub-plots (Lotte! Lotte!--okay, maybe you have to see the movie to get it--he pronounces her name "Latte" which makes it even funnier)...
here's to Biff and all truly great boyfriends everywhere. (rather like Elanamatic, in the pre-Biff era I was archetypally single).
here's to good friends with whom you can laugh things over.
And here's to sexy dancing robots.
And Now, Messages on Candy Hearts:
Words of love change with the times, and the makers of NECCO Sweetheart Conversation Hearts aim to keep up. While "Be Mine" is a sentiment always in fashion, in recent years sweeties have been able to share candy hearts bearing such modern mottoes as "Fax Me" and "Yeah Right." And as of last Valentine's Day there were 12 new sweet thoughts to choose among, thanks to the many eager candy-eaters who have sent their suggestions to NECCO.
"It is a big responsibility to be the wordsmith of romance.... The mottoes can't be offensive, distasteful, or too wordy. That eliminates a lot of ideas immediately."
-Walter Marshall,
NECCO Vice President
Winning Words
Millennium-specific candy hearts brought messages of love like "2000 Kisses" and "2000 Hugs." "Romeo" and "Angel". "Amore," "Swing Time," "Much Ado," and "In the Mood" served up romantic themes.
The rest of the 12 new mottoes came from readers of American Girl magazine. "There's nothing better than tapping into the minds of youth for new hearts ideas," says Walter Marshall, the NECCO vice-president known as "the King of Hearts" for his role overseeing the mottoes. The winning ideas from the magazine's readers are "Got Love," "Girl Power," "Time Out," and a peace sign-the hearts' first wordless slogan.
Sweethearts
Colors and Flavors
pink cherry
yellow banana
orange orange
green lemon
purple grape
white wintergreen
brown (new) chocolate
Sweet Talk for the Times
Some favorites among the more than one hundred Sweetheart sayings have been in circulation since the hearts were first factory-made in 1902. These classics include "Kiss Me," "Sweet Talk," and "Be Mine." Sometimes a motto is discontinued for a time and then makes a reappearance; others are gone for good. Sayings considered outdated by NECCO include the funky "Dig Me" and the cheerful "You Are Gay."
"It is a big responsibility to be the wordsmith of romance," says Marshall. "The mottoes can't be offensive, distasteful, or too wordy," he explains, which "eliminates a lot of ideas immediately." Mottoes also need to make sense to people of different generations, ruling out such recently proposed lingo as "Phat" and "Buff." Space is also an issue. Conversation hearts come in two sizes-the standard 1/2 inch and the larger 3/4 inch model. The small hearts generally can fit no more than two words with four letters each, while the large hearts may accommodate two words with six letters each. Fortunately, creative phrasing can help fit longer sentiments onto the tiny hearts, as in the case of "EZ 2 LOVE."
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