Rate this low-cost, high earning papyrus

 

The Post-It Note

 

 

The urban myth surrounding the Post-It notes ascendancy to a multi-million pound idea is a tale that one can only hope is true. The reason it’s such a nice tale is the shear haphazardness for the whole affair. Arthur Fry was a scientist at 3M and had stumbled over a formula for a unique low-tack adhesive. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out how it’d be useful, eventually he decide when sat at church that if applied to little pieces of paper it could mark particular sections of the Fry Family bible without damaging the pages. Further he thought, they could be useful for sticking notes on things. So he went to 3M and told them his idea. They were sceptical but produced one batch and a small marketing budget of $20,000. He put all that money into buying little baskets and spent a weekend going to major companies and placing the baskets on the desks of secretaries. Within 3 weeks he had signed off on a patent worth millions and promptly left 3M to retire in luxury.

But why rate them?! No other piece of office equipment can convey bad news in as soft and quirky a way. I have seen people decide between scraps of paper or post-its for messages and even though they are sticking them horizontally onto the desk, where its adhesive it erroneous, they choose the post-it every time.

And it’s a blessing for ones memory, whatever new additions to your to-do list fly your way a quick note and a stick and it’s before your eyes for the rest of the day but miraculously is never in your way.

Drafts of the great literary works of the end of last century are sure to have been corrected by one of these little yellow gems. However it’s also sadly true that the post-it has been so integrated into modern culture that it is a regular object in modern office art. Crap art at that. But it is unique in this, and that is the key indicator to the success story of an inventive and reportedly nutty old inventor.

Get Rich Quick Rating 7 out of 7

Artists Muse Rating 2 out of 7

Rated: 6 out of 7

Rate this legend

Steve Carell- Star of The Office and 40 Year Old Virgin

Steve Carell is simply one of the finest comic performers around. His body of work is already impressive having featured on The Daily Show; stolen scenes from Will Ferrell in Anchorman and had a starring in one of the greatest comedies of recent years with The 40 Year Old Virgin. But I don’t want to talk about those, as the role which I think defines Carell’s career is in the US version of The Office.

In a show which shouldn’t have worked due to the stigma of trying to remake a classic British comedy show in America (check out the US Red Dwarf for an example of when this scheme goes horribly wrong) it somehow works brilliantly. While the supporting cast are incredibly good (Ed Helms, John Krasinski and Jenna Fisher to name but a few of the talent), I think it’s Carell’s performance as the socially awkward boss Michael Scott that shines through. It’s a role which could have easily failed in anyone else’s hands, but here the character works perfectly. He’s a complete idiot who does and says things which seem obscenely offensive (on occassion he is a borderline racist, homophobe and sexist), but somehow Carell manages to allow us to forgive all of Scott’s misgivings. For every bad/stupid thing Michael Scott does, you can’t help but feel sorry for him and this is all because of the performance. It’s just like James Gandolfini making Tony Soprano a likeable character…Carell also succeeds in making a jackass rather sweet and that’s no easy feat.

Of course if I’m to assess Steve’s entire career, I could find fault with many things including the huge misstep that is Evan Almighty, and I do worry that he’s going to pick a few more predictably bad comedies down the line. But as long as he continues to star in The Office and keeps his current momentum going, I predict this guy is destined for even greater things!

Eyebrows: 6 out of 7

Ability to choose projects: 5 out of 7

Rated: 6 out of 7