Especially when designed by committee.
I hardly need words, as images tell this tale so well. So let us start with one of my top contenders for mascots who are clearly serial killers, and paedophiles to boot. Je presente Bonhomme Carnival:
He is the living incarnation of the snowmen that have enchanted [haunted, ed.] children of Québec City for generations. Bonhomme is the ambassador of this celebration to foreigners and he is the symbol of the festivities during this joyous period of the year. Bonhomme proudly wears the traditional red hat and belt. Bonhomme was created in 1954 and since 1955, the date of the first annual edition of the Carnival, he has personified [snowmanified, mascotified, ed.?] the “joie de vivre” associated with this winter celebration.
What a nice imagination these PR types have. All those words defeated by one look into his soulless plastic eyes. I’ll give them the traditional belt, though. The coureurs de bois did use woven belts to support their backs and to use, presumably, as tump-lines when portaging. [The fur trading companies looked especially for short, illiterate, men to paddle the canoes, and I think one can see the short stature still reflected in the populace. Not to mention the smoking pregnant mamas. But that is a cultural difference that seems impregnable, unlike the youth of Quebec.]
But back to soulless mascots, how about those delightful beasts from the London olympics?
Are these cyclopean fiends not the stuff of nightmares?
And then let me just die of embarrassment at this lame attempt not to offend anyone, except perhaps for the uni-ocular.
Is it any wonder they had to give them out for free? Isn’t the Wonderbread logo a nice corporate touch? Almost as healthy as MacDonalds, the official olympic restaurant or something like that. Is Miga’s mitten a piece of toast? Many Canadians identify with the name Quatchi of course, and Sumi clearly reflects our cultural history. The missing side-kick, Mukmuk, was the best of a bad lot:
And you’ll be happy to know you can buy that particular Mukmuk [did you notice the very clever word play on mukluk, ed.?] on eBay, if you have a child you would like to confuse.
There is a terrific, odd, Canadian movie, Bad Cop Bon Cop, in which the bad guy [whose motives one sympathizes with greatly, if Canadian] dons a beaver mascot suit as a disguise:
What more does one need for proof?
Mascots and clowns. Dreadful creatures.
But I feel better, having shared my horror.
watch your speed
one more. my turn to make dinner. EO – you’re shift starts at 104. Dude, Hot Blooded by Foreigner would have worked, but i know it’s a hokey song. 🙂
Road Songs. OK, I got one.
bring to boil. let simmer 10 minutes. pop a road soda and play some Johnny Cash…
Well, I started off with Chuck Berry and Maybelline, as a Road Song, then played a bunch of Chuck, then somehow got on the Beatles, via Roll over Beethoven, I think, and then somehow ended up with this. Life is a trip.
Fun to see Springsteen just a bit starstruck. I mean, who is cooler than Paul? No one. Not even The Boss.
DP, you’ve been pushing this story so I thought you’d like this one. When the pope endorses abortion rights (i.e. when hell freezes over) maybe I’ll get excited. In the meantime this remains an interesting side-show for me, pushing generally in the right direction. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” 😉
Rock-Star Pope at war with GOP’s Ayn Rand Capitalism
18 wheels and a dozen doughnuts …
Can’t hear that song without replacing the lyrics, and wanting to go to Tim Hortons.
Nobody is cooler than Paul – I have to agree. I still cry watching this:
For the Dude, who took the 100th spot, a cyber award:
And just so you know, there have been 1835 comments so far.
I mean 1836….
The not as cool as Paul Beatle using a form of today’s word.
Xty, thank you for the award, I am truly flattered. If I live another 35 years you can have a picture of me like that only with a yoint ‘stead of a cig.
The hunger games continue for our wild friends. These turkeys are taking turns sitting atop this shrub and eating frozen grapes from the vines that have overgrown it.
I think I mentioned that we ate a wild turkey my nephew-in-law shot at Thanksgiving and it was awful. But I envy you your wildlife.
There is another holy trinity and it’s called turducant. Lacking the duck and pheasant, I can see why the turkey didn’t turn out.
Health alert for diabetics: the following link contains puppies and is sure to raise your blood sugar level.
http://hellomyducky.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-it-already-christmas.html
Honestly, I have harvested my share of wild turkeys (yes, also in glass form, but we’re talkin’ strictly bird now) and when prepared properly they have much richer and more complex flavor than store bought. Not sayin’ that I poked a gun out the window here. That would be wrong and I just wouldn’t do it. (Seems like I heard that before somewhere.)
thanks for the article EO. yup – it’s what i have been saying. i like this new Pope.
the neocons are so obviously on the losing side of history now. it’s been 40 years since Reagan, and plenty of time now to gauge how well the revolution he “parroted” worked. step aside you scared old men. quit denying the failure, and quit denying your kids a future! as you all know here – i consider both political parties in the USA neoconservative.
one of the comments to the article so succinctly says, “There is no such thing as a ‘extreme right wing conservative’ those people are the baseline. everyone to the left of that is the extremist. Self-hating Americans. It’s sad. What’s wrong with having traditional values.” wow. how do you debate rationally with people like that?
Dude – my Yooper buddy is finding a lot of dead deer. he says that after the last winter like this, the herd did not recover for years. and happy 100.
Xty – i do love my Brussels sprouts. i like all the vegetables in that family except red radishes and turnips.
A close friend of ours wrote this book:
http://lizpearson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/book-whenindoubt.jpg
can’t resist
Vile weed indeed. But a better vegetable than ketchup.
I am still being a vegetable in the basement in front of the food network and some talented female chef person just called Guy Fieri “Mr. Bling”.
to each his own. i love broccoli. (and cauliflower)
that last one probably won’t change your mind Xty. and i just cannot have Giada killing the thread.