There are certain people who think the solution to any problem is to simply throw a lot of money at it. Other people will say that’s the surest way to make a problem worse. I think the key to this conundrum is that people just aren’t breaking down the issue simply enough. You see, money is intended to be exchanged for goods and/or services, and with certain goods it is simply unwise to start an exchange based on a delivery method that involves throwing. Bricks, for example.
Yesterday there was an interesting post on Boing Boing about the bizarrely icky mating practices of giant squids, and as one would expect, the URL was promptly forwarded to a few of my friends. Inspired by the post’s title, Den wrote back, “‘Violent, Tangled and Deeply Weird’ – I think that’s a great t-shirt slogan.”
And so it was.
So what else could I do but whip up a design and throw it on CafePress?
The print-on-demand stuff makes this pretty easy, so I went ahead and tossed together a whole store with a plethora of “Violent and Tangled” products on there. I think the boxers and thongs are especially funny.
I set the markup on everything at a buck, and any dough CafePress sends my way from these things will be donated to Creative Commons, so I hope other people find it as funny as I did.
This clip from 30 Rock always cracks me up.
Alec Baldwin deserved an Emmy just for this scene alone. He may yell on his kids’ answering machines, and the rest of the Baldwin brothers may collectively wallow in cinematic mediocrity for several more decades to come, but no matter what, it will have all been worth it to bring us this moment.
And you may think I’m kidding about that.
Mar 23
My friend Clare caused me great psychological distress today. I think I need therapy to re-repress the frightening childhood memories that she caused me to recall this evening.
Here’s the scene:
I am unwinding on the couch with my laptop after an exceedingly long day of handling mindbogglingly epic crises for a couple clients. I’m drinking an Abita Amber and browsing through the feeds of my friends’ blogs when I run across THIS POST in which she (quite rightfully) rips on this awful French sketch series from the old Nickelodeon classic Pinwheel.
Your next mental image could be one of me wiping beer off the screen of my precious MacBook Pro.
This series always has, and always will, CREEP ME THE FUCK OUT. It’s probably more responsible for scaring me away from psychedelic drugs in college than the D.A.R.E. program in elementary school ever could have been. Seriously, these little buggers freak the bajeezus out of me.
Enfants du maïs, I tell you.
Clare is right — this abomination interrupted an otherwise delightful morning kids’ show. My little sister and I watched it nearly every summer weekday for several years starting in the early 80s. It was one of those shows that young kids enjoyed, and older kids really didn’t mind. It translated pretty well across age groups — the music was especially addictive. (At least, it was for me.)
I especially loved Bill Cosby’s “Picture Pages,” a segment that he did when he wasn’t busy filming Jell-O Pudding Pop commercials. My other favorite was “Simon in the Land of the Chalk Drawings,” a segment that was heavily drawn upon (right down to the intro song melody) for a series of Mike Myers SNL skits years later. If you yourself don’t remember it, check this out:
I wish I could find a video of the SNL bit, but NBC has erased nearly all evidence of it from the interwebs. This picture will have to suffice to jog your memory:
But seriously … those freaking French goblin children. I hope I can sleep tonight.
Thanks a friggin’ lot, Clare.
