VLVL2 (10) Designer Selzer, 193

[Paul Nightingale]

(193.4-9) "... a little robot fridge, with two round video screens side by
side, each with an image of a cartoon eye that shifted and blinked from time
to time, and a smile-shaped speaker for a mouth, out of which now came a
synthesised medley of refrigerator tunes, including 'Winter Wonderland',
'Let It Snow, and 'Cold, Cold Heart'."

Reminiscent of R2D2 (reference both Star Wars and VL, Ch2, of course). The
medley of appropriate tunes also recalls Zoyd's "dream album" (36).

(193.11) Prairie: "You said 'designer seltzer', what's that?"

Well, apart from anything else, tautology. From the OED: 

(In full seltzer-water.) An effervescent mineral water obtained near
Nieder-Selters, containing sodium chloride and small quantities of sodium,
calcium, and magnesium carbonates. Also an artificial mineral water of
similar composition.

1741 Pott in Phil. Trans. XLI. 618 To drink the Selters Water, and keep to a
cooling Regimen. 1784 Cullen tr. Bergman's Phys. & Chem. Ess. I. 242 Seltzer
water ... excites upon the tongue a taste gently salt, and mildly alkaline.
1847 Mrs. Gore Castles in Air xix, Neither soda-water, however, nor
seltzer-water ... inspired me with courage to look Sir Robert in the face.  

(193.12-14) "... the marketing philosophy of the mid-1980s ... Bill Blass,
Azzedine Alaia, Yves St. Laurent--"

Famous names in the fashion world. Another kind of prop. In particular, Yves
St Laurent:

"French couturier Yves Saint Laurent has been challenging the fashion
establishment for nearly half a century. One of the first to revolutionize
street style with his 1960s 'Beat Look' collection, and credited with the
creation of the pantsuit - his le smoking, a tuxedo tailored for women,
provoked the androgynous movement in fashion - Saint Laurent continues to
produce sexy, vibrant lines.

Continues at:
http://www.frenchculture.org/books/release/art/bautesaintlaurent.html

"M Saint Laurent arrived in Paris from Algeria in 1953 aged 17. In the
French capital he met Michel de Brunhoff, editor of Vogue magazine, who
introduced him to Christian Dior.

"Within a year he was Dior's assistant, and by 1957, after Dior's death, he
had become artistic creator at the legendary house. In 1962 he set up his
own business with his partner, Pierre Berge.

"In 1999 he and M Berge gave up rights to the YSL brand when they sold the
company to Gucci and, under the creative control of the American Tom Ford,
the Italian firm now distributes Yves Saint Laurent ready-to-wear clothes
and beauty products."

Continues at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F01%2F05%2Fwy
ves05.xml

(193.16-17) "... it's YSL-logo container in the essentially Reagan-era
fashion colours of gold and silver."

The passage as a whole continues the alchemy riff.

(193.17-21) "One of the video eyes winked at her, and from the mouth emerged
a shiny pink tongue of some soft, wobbling plastic. 'Anything else?' the
creature inquired in the kind of voice Prairie had come to mistrust even
before she could talk."

Raoul, of course, is an inanimate object masquerading as a live being.
Prairie, of course, has no difficulty recognising whom/what she can and
cannot trust.

Cf her response to Sister Rochelle: "Where Prairie had been, 'your mother'
in that tone of voice usually meant trouble, and she wasn't sure of this
woman, who looked sort of middle-class, knew how it sounded" (112).

Furthermore, Raoul has, apparently, not been programmed to be deferential;
is in the business of selling, rather than serving (although those two
concepts are often inseparable in practice).