Another day, another peek-see at the Life movie Spring Break World Tour and Narnia has picked up another souvenir, this pick-up more along the lines of a cute trinket.
This quote was one of those second-glance moments.
"Patience has never been my strongest virtue and I work on it on a daily basis.
I heard from somebody that the type of personality that they were looking for going to Mars was like stamp collectors, um...because I think there's an attention on and a focus, a meticulousness to detail. Um, that is very particular in that kind of personality and I um even have a hard time even licking a stamp and putting it on an envelope, let alone even organizing them like, on a folder so I think I would be the wrong person." - Jake Gyllenhaal
And it took a minute to sink in, but then I realized what he had said: "licking a stamp".
This was not an urban dictionary use of the term, Jake was referring to the actual licking of postage stamps and placing them on letter envelopes.
The video at 03:00:
A few facts about the United States post office and lickable vs. self-adhesive stamps:
• In 1995, less than 20% of the United States' stamps were self adhesive
• One year later, by 1996, over 60% of the country's stamps were self-adhesive
• By 1999, the figure was over 87%
From a Q&A dated January 16, 2008:
Q: Are all US postage stamps now self-adhesive?
A: Nope, some are still "water-activated". Just ask at the counter in your post office and they will show you a book of all the stamp types they currently have. source
And now, a Narnia "exclusive". A rare photo of Jake at the front counter of his local postal office asking to see the big postal book of lickable stamps available for purchase:
All chuckling aside, hearing Jake talk about licking stamps and
sticking them on envelopes does indeed cause a pause and pivot in
step. While the movie Life is about space exploration and living in
the foreseeable future, it would seem that there are still times when
Jake is stuck in a time warp. Either that or his accumulated years in
the closet are starting to show.
collaborated by Prairie Girl and M&M
pic sources: Yelp and beaumont enterprise
our playlist: Strawberry Letter 23 - The Brothers Johnson
Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
Return to Sender - Elvis Presley
