Fragments From Floyd

InDeScent Stories

I suppose this gizmo is all over the TV station ads, which we miss (as in "don't see"...not as in "long to have seen") but I've heard it marketed on one my truck's radio stations. To someone like me who is very nasally-oriented, this thing sounded really interesting the first time as I listened. The name, ScentStories, made me think that somehow, music and scents or voice-stories and scents were somehow produced together in a multisensory and unique way. Neat idea! Then, when I learned it was a product by Febreze, the mystique vanished: the little "player" is a heater and fan arrangement that blows dryer paper scents into your room (no music, no stories)--five scents per special disk, for thirty minutes per fragrance.

Then one day a week or so after my first introduction to this novel smell-generator, I was perusing a magazine while proctoring an exam. There was the ScentStories ad as I turned the page and I was able to learn more about the aroma-player. It seemed a shame that there were only five or six scent disks available to use in the little machine. The world of smell is so rich and varied, so emotionally evocative and transporting. There really ought to be many more disks, and I got right to work on this important task before I left the classroom that day. Of course sitting there surrounded by first-semester students, my first thought was "what disk could I design that would evoke the ambience or memory of the college dorm experience?"

And thus, my first supplemental InDeScent Story was born. I think I will call it "Overnight in Dorm C". Eventually, I'll model my new disk on one like, oh, "Mountain Trail" that you can see demonstrated here. (You really must view the demo to understand my new disk!) I'll have sound effects just like the ones on the demo link to go along with each of the five aroma selections. Some day, my disk will be on the clickable menu between "Wandering along the Shore" and "Strolling Through the Garden." Just you wait. For now, here are the selected fragrances for "Dorm Room", first new disk:

Aroma One: A Hundred Dirty Socks. After all, how can you expect freshmen to spend time doing laundry when there are frat parties every night except Tuesday? Let'em pile up. There are better ways to do laundry! This aroma will connect you via olfactory memory to another fragrance: Locker Room, coming on a future disk!

Aroma Two: Puddles of Stale Beer. It accumulates under the bottom bunk where your room mate threw the half-full can that just missed your head. And your retaliatory can, half-empty, ended up under the dresser where the dirty sock collection is housed. That was Tuesday night, a week ago. (If you're really a nasal sophisticate, you can tell what brand of beer has gone stale in this aroma sample!)

Aroma Three: Regurgitant. Ah, the emetic experience. Traces of frat party excess will linger in the stairwell long after the pain of knee-walking to the porcelain bowl has passed, reminders of what a good time somebody told you you had. In this case, you'll note how strongly the scent brings you immediately back to the experience.

Diane Ackerman said it well: "Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines, hidden under the weedy mass of many years and experiences. Hit a trip wire of smell and memories explode all at once."

Aroma Four: Burnt Popcorn. A guy has to eat. It is a vegetable, you know. And when everything you once had in your stomach now is either in the stairwell or the porcelain recepticle, well is there anything healthier-smelling than popcorn? (If the package says nuke for 2 minutes, five will be all the better!) The oily smoke saturated your clothes--even masking the smell of dirty socks--but it cannot do for you smell-wise what Aroma Five can do!

Aroma Five: The Lysol Solution. How can one indulge in the nostalgia of college dorm aromas without including this one! Remember? One tall can stayed in the bathroom you shared with your suitemates; its aroma was often experienced in olfactory medley with Aromas Two and Three. But perhaps the most signficant nasal memory will be of this piney product sprayed regularly on your dirty socks (Aroma One) and underwear (why not!?) Daily use reduced laundry visits to once a semester! What great memories--brought to you by InDeScent Stories--all the smells you wish you could forget.

Okay. Now, to brainstorm the sound clips for these aroma-scapes. Hmmm.

Posted by fred1st at December 20, 2004 05:38 AM | TrackBack