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Good Audience

Children at a Paris Puppet Theater
by Alfred Eisenstaedt
More here.

PANIC! PANIC! PANIC! But whatever you do, don't lose your cool.

Introducing GM’s latest, greatest product!

The all new 2009 Cognitive Dissonance is jam packed with distressing features and conflicting emotions!

Let the auto industry take you on an exciting, terrifying journey!

Now you can go from pitying laid off workers, to raging against the incompetency of CEOs, to fearing for your own job if the economy collapses, and finally to the bitter indignation caused by the fact that our society depends on alienating and polluting vehicles in the first place!

Your head will spin, your heart will wrench and your nerves will be shot... all in less time than it takes to listen to the evening news!

And don't forget, any negativity and money hoarding will only make things worse, you fools!

Julian, that is a very homosexual question.

It's a well established fact that Mugabe is an idiot, but this little anecdote still made me chuckle:

At one point I put it to him: "Do you ever get out? Do you ever see the appalling state of your schools and hospitals?"

He said to me, "Julian, that is a very homosexual question."

At that time, the [British] government of Tony Blair contained a couple of ministers who were homosexual.

Mr Mugabe referred to them as "the gay mafia". He thought homosexuals were out to get him.

And therefore anybody who criticised him became "homosexual".

- JULIAN MARSHALL, BBC FOCUS ON AFRICA PRODUCER, 1975-90

I love that his mind is exactly like that of an immature fifth grade boy.

Museum of Broken Relationships

A man and a women in Croatia is travailing the world with The Museum of Broken Relationships. It was a concept created to help people deal with breakups. The two of them don't like the traditional destroy and prepare for 'new' method of therapy. Distraction does not allow one of remember the good parts of the relationship nor does it highlight the learning experiences. This Museum is a great way of making bringing broken hearts together so that they no longer feel alone. Each object is donated by someone locally alone with a story about the relationship it was a part of. Currently the exhibit is in San Francisco at the Root Division gallery.

A favorite is the prosthetic leg.

Pepsi!

This is funny. Someone, possibly the people who created the new, awful Pepsi logo, have released a pdf of a redesign presentation. It is great, especially when a diagram illustrates Pepsi's gravitational pull in the shopping aisle.

Please ignore all the silly commentators (and the poster) on Brand New who have no sense of humour and don't understand that this is a joke.

Good news

iTunes helpfully informs me that Dinah Shore's recording of "Daisy Bell" (aka A Bicycle Built for Two) is CLEAN.

Thank goodness. I am so sick of the curse-filled rants that filthy woman tried to pass off as 'songs.'

marriage

When i read that the Feministing.com contributor Ann said she cried when she saw this video, i admit i scoffed, cried? really?
well for the record i CRIED! CRIED A BUNCH! It is so powerful! Please watch.


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Also my mother recommended the film "Wendy and Lucy" she has not seen it but
apparently a superb film let's see it?

FUCK YOU!

Truthfully one of the main reasons i am linking this video is the song at the end. Thank You Feministing!

Virginity!

A friend of mine shared this with me. A 22 year old women, is selling off her virginity. She has a B.A. in Women's Studies, and is looking at her virginity as an opportunity to test societies feelings around virginity.
I had not hear about it prior to being send this link.
When i read the headline i was disgusted. than after reading a sentence or two i gained new respect for the woman selling her virginity.
I remember during early high school friend of mine joking about doing a similar thing. One can sell anything, why not their virginity.
We equated it to prostitution though.
I applaud Natalie Dylan, though i fundamentally worry about the commodification of everything. As she explains, virginity as always been a commodity, but historically it was sold by a father to a husband. I hope she writes a paper on her experience.

Homecoming

Hello internet. I am returned.


I've just spent the last couple of weeks in sunny South Africa. I sunned myself under the blazing sun. The sun shone bright, except during the solar eclipse. My parents' son searched for solar panels, and bought himself sunglasses. Sun sun sun.

Sun sun sun.

I apologize for all the sun chat, but I'm just trying to keep the memory alive as I brace myself for the rest of winter in Canada. Canadians, do you remember the sun? He says hey.

Because I am lazy, here are lists:

South Africa Trip '09 - Pros

• Beautiful scenery
• Meeting relatives
• Seeing African animals in non-zoo settings
• Warm ocean
• Cheap booze
• Mountains! Everywhere you look!
  
• Seeing birthplace, old house, grandparents' house etc.
• Ability to instantly charm strangers when traveling with friendly 16 month old baby girl
• Biltong stores, stalls, and trucks (in style of ice-cream truck) everywhere
• Koeksisters in grocery stores, melktert on dessert menus
  
• Amusing violations of road rules

South Africa Trip '09 - Cons

• Bizarre accidental bra strap tan
• Terrorized by jellyfish
• Terrorized by fleas
• Terrorized by Appletiser. South Africans, you need to work on your beverage standards. Appletiser is not apple juice, Sprite is not "the same as lemonade."
  
• Everyone sounding like they are related to me, accent-wise
• Horrifying story of old apartheid injustice coming out at unexpected moment
  
• Seeing poverty while in process of spending, spending, spending
• Stolen cellphone
• Being told that "Strong women in positions of power aren't women anymore. They are unpleasant men. But even so, I'd still have chosen Hillary over Obama."
• AIDS jokes

Overall, it really is a great place to visit. Cape Town is just astonishingly beautiful. I'm sure I'll have more to say about my trip in the days to come. It may take me a while to process things though.