cutting the other edge
Culture Fragments
They go marchin’ in!
Feb 8th
When I say I’ve been waiting a long time for this, I mean decades.
I had the good fortune to not only back the FSU Seminoles during the ’90s, but also go to school there. Their recent run of subpar seasons wasn’t my first experience with love for the underdog, though. My loyalty to the New Orleans Saints was solidified during my high school years in Northwest Florida, whose Mardi Gras makes up in outrageousness what it lacks in size.
I came close to having my heart broken twice in 2007, and by far the more notable of the occasions was the Saints’ loss to the Chicago Bears on January 21. But hey, you know? When you love the underdog, the heartbreak is part of the experience. I was almost afraid to look, when they won 13 games in a row this season. When they went to the playoffs, I braced myself for another near miss. But the Vikings went down easier than the Bears. And my-freaking-God, there the Saints went to the Superbowl.
It’s funny, what we tell ourselves when we want something really bad. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll love them anyway.” And then: that freaking interception! Watching Tracy Porter run 74 yards was like peering into another dimension, one in which the Saints were the exact opposite kind of team they’d been my entire life. But you know what? This new dimension’s just fine! WHO DAT, BITCHES? I TOLD YOU THEY’D WIN IT! GEAUX SAINTS!
Dear BBC: is it necessary to be so totally sexist?
Nov 30th
Here was the title of the BBC Online article:
“Men and women ‘respond differently to danger’ ”
And here was the accompanying photograph:
Really? Really? In 2009?
The interrobang
Nov 24th
Perfectly summarizing this National Novel Writing Month.
And the year 2009.
And this whole decade, actually.
(some info here)
Mauer Mob
Oct 14th
Recreating the Berlin Wall…with people.
From their website (in English):
This project is initiated by Martin Butler, a British performance maker and curator, working together with the liminal institute.
“Mauer Mob. 2009 – Recreating the Berlin Wall” is a large scale art project in the frame work of the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Berlin, Germany. The idea is to form on the 9th of november 2009 – the night the Wall fell 20 years ago – a line of people that will recreate the Berlin Wall with their physical presence, marking the path where the wall once stood. Thousands of people will form a human chain that will make its way on the 9th of november around 8.15pm. This action will last for approximately 15 minutes.
The Berlin Wall project is about creating a “temporary monument of reflection”. When it was created, the wall was one of the clearest man-made divisions of people with different ideologies. For the 20th anniversary of its deconstruction we will rebuild the Berlin Wall, not from steel and concrete, but from people. To remember when Berlin became one again after decades of separations – physically as well as in the minds…
The flash mob will consist of 330 groups, forming a line from Köppchen See area in the north, to Lohmülenstraße by Treptow in the south, with the bulk of participants centering near Brandenburger Tor. The organizers hope to see thousands of people participate. You can register for a place on their homepage by clicking on a little person icon and entering your information.
Mass movements are pretty.
Hey, Hipster Bitches!
Aug 7th
Bodycon is back, right?
Well, it’s only fair–if you want to wear this:
You ought to pay your dues, and respect this:
Lycra sausage casings and high-rise jeans have a long and storied heritage that must be paid tribute. Back before you were born, nobody gave a fuck about irony—they were too busy having fun. You’ve heard of fun, right? It was really neat. People got drunk, turned the music up, sang along, and had sex with each other…all without a trace of self-mockery. Bet you wish you could.
Hope’s not lost. Innocent fun could be the latest silly retro trend. You don’t care if people laugh at your dippy plastic sunglasses or uneven beard, do you? So why should you care what they think of your new studied optimism?
Remember, kids: Spandex isn’t a toy, it’s a tool.