Originally Posted by Alekhine

However, there is a definite J Peterman thing with Rivendell, as Beke has pointed out time and again. I know that marketing is designed to sell things, but I find Riv to be goofy in the way they do it sometimes - they will outright rhapsodize about a Ticonderoga #2 pencil or Lip Ivo lip balm (seriously, not one iota better than ordinary Chapstick - they just like it because it's old and "the original lip balm since 1901," and they don't want it becoming extinct, as far as I can tell), and I think it is kind of silly that otherwise intelligent consumers might be inclined to get caught up in the brainwashing way that Riv hawks certain products.