If pressed to pick a favorite color I’d have to go with what we here in the United States call “Safety Yellow”. If I had to guess, I’d say that my affinity for this arresting color began with my interest in Winnie the Pooh (actually, his pot of honey). It soon shifted to an awed respect of a giant Tonka crane (which I still have), it was boosted by a very cool “adventure man” truck toy (which I would pay $100 to own again), it was set afire by a beautifully tanned blonde (in a safety yellow bikini) on a Florida beach who absolutely refused to acknowledge my existence (I hope she’s fat now) and it occasionally manifests itself in my purchases.
While in college at Georgia Tech (a school whose primary color is gold) I secretly envied the fraternity kid whose room looked out over the back parking lot of the School of Architecture. The only thing you could really see in his room was a stolen traffic sign that just said “HUMP” (we theorized it was over his bed). My envy of this guy’s certain sexual prowess was compounded by the fact that he was the proud owner of a giant safety yellow sign… I mean, at the time, I figured that girls would be compelled to comply to the sign’s demand once they were under its baleful (but safe) yellow influence.
Later, when I’d started working on features and television movies, my first pager was a school bus yellow Motorola which required a great deal of research to locate and a special trip across town to purchase. (Try tracking something like that down in the pre-internet age, punk.)
While we were in South Carolina shooting “The War” I ran across a long-sleeved safety yellow shirt at an outlet mall. Of course I bought it. It just felt right… like I was wearing a giant Tonka tractor or a big yellow street sign that screamed “HUMP!!”. You know, it didn’t work all that well on that show….
My current telephone is a wussy looking little orange Motorola PEBL (which I’ve written about previously). Of course I wish that it were actually Safety Yellow, but it isn’t, so I deal with it the best I can…. and I keep my eye peeled for a phone that’s the correct shade of yellow-orange.
Were I to win the lottery I can guarantee you that within a week I’d be at the car dealership filling out the paperwork to buy a yellow & white Toyota FJ Cruiser… or a yellow Mini Cooper… probably both, even though I need neither. Oh heck, let’s toss in a yellow Lamborghini while we’re at it…. after all, it’s the Italian equivalent of a “HUMP” sign! (one guaranteed to work)
So there.
Now you know why my new site design is Safety Yellow.
