Black Glass Read Online Free PDF Page B

you know how it looks to the casual observer: to them, you are nothing more than a rat with a hopeful squint.
    [Intercept: BREACH internal msg system: Milk | casino owner]
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: proposal
    Mr Agostino,
    I realise you are a busy man who cannot waste his time on vague promises. So here’s a solid promise: I can increase your profits in the main room by a minimum 12 per cent (that’s after my fee is paid). No increase as promised, no fee.
    My proposal relates to the environment of your establishment. I hope you won’t take offence when I say there are many potential enhancements that would boost Double Six’s ambience, reputation and profit margin. About me: I’m male, full ID, clean papers, no record. My work is legitimate. In my other life I’m an artist, and I like to think there’s an element of art in what I do for a living. If you’re interested we can meet.
    â€” Milk
    PS re. your frontage — I recommend replacing those harsh globes with rose-frosted 40-watters, and the scrappy plants with a shiny broad-leafed variety (real, not fake). You’ll see an immediate increase in patron retention. The street kids hanging around the car park make punters uneasy — suggest placing more security out there. Your koala needs new lasers, and there’s a dead goldfish in the foyer tank — I’d remove that immediately.
    [Excerpt, audio interview, location unspecified: Milk | Damon]
    Like certain colours make you hungry — you know, that juicy tomato-red. Others calm you down, relax you. I can’t get too specific. You journos have your trade secrets too, right. Protect your sources, all that.
    Ah, okay. Well, this certain orange. Special mix, has to be right on the dot. It brings on a deep concentration, but with this strange flipside — almost Zen, only more reckless. This colour actually alters time perception: subjects can focus on a risky, repetitive task for long stretches without getting bored or spooked. Good casino wallpaper. That’s just one example.
    Yeah, yeah, but it’s more than psychology. Tuning is an art. Take an abstract painting: no subject matter, right? It’s all colour and form, light and texture. We’re affected by the painting because of how those elements interplay, the way the colours vibrate, the subconscious — sorry for the psych talk — the subconscious imprint of those shapes. That’s what makes us feel something. But you hang that beautiful painting in a really foul-smelling room. What happens? The image gets tainted. Subconsciously, that beautiful picture stinks. People won’t linger. It won’t sell.
    Now say you pair that image with a nostalgic smell — cut grass, baking bread. Or something more personal — the scent of a lover who never loved you back … Right, now you get it. Ouch, huh? Now that painting is hooked up to a completely different mood. So every experience can be enhanced, shifted. That’s what we do.
    No it’s not an exact science — memory’s a big part of it too, and memory’s subjective. Take me, for example: can’t stand the smell of boiled cabbage. To me it smells like failure, like poverty, and that goes right back to my upbringing. But say mint, or ginger, or lemons — to me, they never smell anything but good.
    Anyway, you get the picture. A moodie is … What’s a good way to put it? A moodie is an architect of atmosphere. He makes life into art.
    Ah, come on, man — Damon, isn’t it? What about you? Your job paid for that watch — Gucci, right, I can read the brand name from here. And that Regions accent: you must have come to the city for some reason. Why should we starve, us creative types? What does that prove to anyone?
    [Intercept: internal msg system: casino owner | operations manager]
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Fw: