Conspiracy Theory

Uh, Wednesday night was normal. The property was inexplicably sold out, so the front desk staff gets a nice little bonus. It was even quiet, with no complaints. What a bonus!

That's why I don't have anything to write about, except for a State Farm commercial.

Now, I never deliberately watch a commercial if I can help it, but I occasionally misjudge how long a commercial break is going to be, and dip out of fast-forwarding too soon. This State Farm spot has been running at the end of a lot commercial breaks, so I've encountered it several times - enough to notice the oddity of the magazine titles in the background.

You may have to resize for HD to see them on your computer; on an HD TV, they're much clearer:

Is it me, or is this the weirdest newsstand in the world? Here are a few of the titles:

Bass West
Tempo
Stocks and Bonds Daily
Architecture Today
Auto Rater
Podiatrist
Wall Street Investing
Sports World
Screen Idol
News (not any particular kind of news, just..."news")
Ho[something]can (it's on the back shelf, maybe a porn?)

And my personal favorite:

Gun * Ho

Aside from Bass West, none of these magazines exists, as far as a first-page search of Google reveals, anyway. So...I guess these are fake magazines made up by the production designer? But...why?

I mean, I assume there's some kind of copyright issue with filming the covers of real magazines (except for Bass West), but if that's a problem, why film this spot in front of a newsstand at all? Why not just have this take place in a convenience store, or at a hot dog cart, where you don't have to make up a bunch of fake magazine covers?

But here is what I find most perplexing...why is Bass West the only real magazine on the newsstand?

Are you trying to tell us something, State Farm commercial?

Are you?