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Meta-Wednesday

Meta-Wednesday is once again brought to you by T-Rex! And I guess also by Aristotle. And a little help from Utahraptor.

Thanks to Aristotle for being so fun. I wonder, though, if he were sent back through time, what other theorist he might elect to brawl with. That would be fun...

Chaps or Face Paint? You decide!

There are a lot of good things about the Olympics. For instance, the illusion of global cooperation, the traveling torch, and holding your breath while the crazy bobsledders risk their lives for national pride. Unfortunately ice dance costumes don't quite fall into this category of giving you that nice Olympic feeling. Take a look, courtesy of Go Fug Yourself.

Olympic Ice Dancing: Fab and Fabber

Apparently the theme of the ice dance costumes is offensive stereotypes, ironic for an Olympic Games which made obvious overtures to the native cultures of Canada. As a result, the Aboriginal-inspired getup seems especially inappropriate. I also completely fail to comprehend the "tacky American trucker" look worn by the representatives of Great Britain, as well as the Wild West chaps on the French pair.

The only possible explanation is that the ice dancers were forced to choose their theme based on what was available at the party store. One of them got Bad Luau, another got Cowboys, and that last pair got stuck being the piñata.

One last thought: Teams should break away from this strategy. Not only do they look ridiculous, but the only pair that looks acceptable is also the pair wearing the gold.

Weekend's Over!

Here's your Monday dose of cuteness.

Great Things in History

An event we are truly grateful for. (Grapeful?)
















Thanks to marriedtothesea.com, and also to this clearly brilliant lady.

Another Point for Lincoln

As a historian, I sometimes run up against the demand for this kind of historical interpretation.


















"Whatever happened to the loser, Douglas?" is right up there with "Alexander Hamilton. How big a jerk was he?" and "Tell me about the time (x) got killed in a duel/a nasty early American disease/blown up by a cannon". True or not, these are the most popular parts of history. Someone recently referred to it as the "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" approach to making history appealing. Since rock and roll hadn't been invented yet, we're forced to leave it out (must. avoid. anachronism.). Fortunately we don't have to dig very deep to find great stories about famous Americans going nuts on opium, and we're also working with the ever-scandalous Peggy Eaton Affair. We have the goods in our knowledge arsenal.

Still. I sort of wish this had happened. Proof of the historical origins of "your mom" jokes would be revolutionary!

Meta-Wednesday

Here's a new tradition at Chix Soup, going out to everyone who is buried in theory, hating metatextualism, and wondering what post-post-postmodernism is going to look like: Midweek Meta Madness.

Once weekly, on Wednesdays, I'll dig through my arsenal of madness to bring you the very best in brain-exploding, uselessly amusing theoretical commentary.

Here's a little sample of what you can expect (metaclick on it to expand).



Enjoy!

One More Thing

Add this to the list of things I hope you didn't get on Valentine's Day.

Step Away from the Pajama-Gram

If you're still in the market for a Valentine's Day gift...don't get any of these. Personally, from that list, I'd most like to receive the duct tape roses. "Would least like to receive" is a tie between any of the mentioned undergarments and that atrocious bear.

As a bonus, I would have included the animatronic gorillas that sing "Wild Thing" on the no-go list. I had an unfortunate encounter with said gorilla, so allow me to fill you in on the potential horrors of owning one of these buggers. What the little tag doesn't tell you is that eventually the control mechanism breaks and the gorilla just sings the song over and over and over. The only way to shut it up is to stuff it in a duffel bag full of pillows, or conk it on the head by swinging it ahead something metal. Neither really fill you with the "Valentine's Day spirit".

That said, if a bad Valentine's Day gift was to arrive at your workplace, a gorilla that sounds like a bad American Idol audition beats the hell out of Fundies.