Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Hallmarky Mark and the Funky Bunch!

I've decided to fill a hole that I've noticed in the greeting card market by creating my own line of cards. I've found myself in a few situations recently where I've needed a card to say something, but when I look for a card, the perfect one isn't there.

Some of you may need this one for the coming weeks, so feel free to print this out and use it.FrontInside

This next one will be more useful when, within the next few years, the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade and abortions are made illegal.FrontInside

And, finally, I'm surprised that this one isn't on the market already what with all the news stories I've been hearing about this.FrontInside

Maybe I'll be making some more cards in the future as the situations arise.

Monday, February 06, 2006

My Lovely Lady Lumps!

The Superbowl has come to be known just as much for football as it is for the commercials which air during the broadcast. This year was no different. There was a pterodactyl in one and that automatically makes it the best commercial to air. The majority of the spots were for exactly the products you would think: beer and fast food. That's what guys care about. But then there was this one spot that no doubt cost the company a lot of money, but it fell on deaf ears; they just had their demographic completely wrong.

There was a commercial from Dove soap that was aimed at making girls feel better about themselves. During the Superbowl. I know that what happened at the place I was watching this had to happen around the world in unison.

If you haven't seen the commercial, click here. If you can't watch the commercial, I'll explain it. It shows a bunch of young girls and then text comes along the side of the screen explaining what she doesn't like about herself. Well, in a room full of guys, this is exactly what happened where I was and, no doubt, around the world.

Text on screen: Hates her freckles.

Guys in the room: "So do I!" "She should probably just kill herself!"

Text on screen: Thinks she's ugly.

Guys: "She's right about that." "A girl's thinking for once?"

Text on screen: Thinks she's fat.

Guys: "What's that tubby bitch doing on the screen?" "Who invited the Rockbiter?"

Text on screen: Let's tell her she's wrong.

Guys: "She isn't!"

Then there's simultaneous high fives and a bunch of guys regale one another with tales of punching their girlfriends in the face.

We're a terrible, horrible people. Though they don't actually mean that the girls are ugly or fat or whatever, they're so used to trying to keep girl's self-esteem in check that it's instinct to reinforce all the negative shit girls think about themselves so they don't go off and get with a guy who won't see if he can fit his foot in her vagina while she's sleeping.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

President Finally Begins War On Centaurs!

I've said that it was happening before, but this time I think it really is. I said it was happening when Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt announced their divorce. I also said it was happening when that black rooster appeared on my doorstep the morning after the 2004 election. This time, however, I'm sure that the Apocalypse is drawing nigh.

In his State of the Union Speech, George W. made it a point to express the idea that he was not going to stand idly by as human-animal hybrids take over the planet (that link is from Christianity today, where I get all my man-beast news).

I didn't even know that this was something that was on the horizon. Now that I'm armed with this information, I will finally pursue my goal--and no goddamn George W. Bush is going to stop me. If I have to go to a Third World country I will, but in the very near future I will be getting my dorsal fin and live bald eagles in the place of each of my hands.

I'm thinking that he had a dream the night before the speech and insisted to his speechwriters that he work in that angle. Maybe it went like this.

INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY

GEORGE W. BUSH sits at his desk speaking to TWO MEN who sit quietly in chairs across from him as he finishes reading some papers and sets them on his desk.

BUSH
Guys, it's good, but you didn't put
in the thing I told you about this
morning.

SPEECHWRITER 1
Mr. President, we don't really think
that this is a pressing issue that
the nation is concerned about.

BUSH
It's only not pressing because they
don't know about it yet. I guarantee
you that when they hear about it,
they'll go crazy like I did.

SPEECHWRITER 2
We looked into this, sir, and nobody
is even trying to make human-animal
hybrids.

BUSH
Listen, Speechwriter number two--

SPEECHWRITER 2
It's just Speechwriter two. You don't
have to say number.

BUSH
Jesus taught me how to become
President through dreams and, last
night in my dream, he was trying to
tell me to make sure nobody makes any--
(he gets choked up)

SPEECHWRITER 1
It's okay, Mr. President.

BUSH
The man was chasing me, Speechwriter
one. He was chasing me and and and
he had feet like a pig, horns like a
goat, and a tongue and teeth like a vicious
King Cobra.

SPEECHWRITER 1
That was Dick Cheney reading you your
bedtime story.

BUSH
Not this time! It wasn't. I swear.

SPEECHWRITER 2
Fine. We'll put it in there. But
don't blame us if people give you a
hard time about it.

BUSH
(excited)
Oh thank you! Thank you! You guys
won't regret this. I've got to go
tell Laura. I'm going to attack those
human-animal hybrids before they can
band together and attack me. It's a
pre-emptive strike. I'm good at those.
I'm going to write to him and give him some suggestions about things that he can try to put the kibosh on before it actually happens: Time travel for monetary gain (don't get any ideas from Back to the Future 3), cars that fold into briefcases, and Fizzy Lifting Drinks.

Fishing with People Who Have Played Robots on Film and/or Television: Explainified!

The show was pre-empted by the State of the Union this week, but should return back when I feel like writing it.

I need to stop getting myself into these repetitive articles because my ADD just doesn't let me stick with them.

If I decide not to finish it, I'll let you know who won sometime (the show was taped in advance and the winner has already been decided, handily).

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

This Is Where Space-Time as We Know It Will Collapse!

Some say it couldn't be done. Others said that it shouldn't be done. Others, still, said it bloudn't be done. That last group of people had an unfortunate accident involving a nail gun and their cerebral cortex; you really shouldn't make fun of them.

But I digest! I will attempt to do something which, until this point, was only done by witches or the autistic. I will compare apples and oranges.

"That's like comparing apples and oranges," you say. That's not like comparing them, it is comparing them. But I'll do it because I live for danger. Danger is my maiden name.

Shape
In case you're not familiar with them, I'll provide photographic evidence of the aforementioned fruits once only whispered about in sewing circles and hinted at in Better Homes & Gardens articles.

On the left is an apple and on the right is an orange--a pissed off orange. As you can tell by looking at them, they are roughly the same shape (roundish). This is evidence that, in ancient times when fruits and vegetables ruled the land and consumed dinosaurs and sabre-tooth tigers in the blink of an eye, that apples and oranges used to mate. Since their reproductive organs fit together in the way that only Daddy Nature could have intended it, this is rock-solid proof that apples and oranges are not as dissimilar or as gay as some would like you to believe.

Color
Once again, thanks to the photographic evidence I have been able to provide, you can tell that apples and oranges are not exactly the same color. But hold on. I'm about to blow your goddamn mind. See, apples don't just come in the red variety. They also come in green and probably a variety of other colors like red. Then, it's safe to assume by Newton's Theory of Gravity and Apples that they also come in orange. It's a complicated equation, well over your head, but trust me, it's all 100% legit.

Also, when you look on the following color wheel, you can easily see that red and orange are neighbors, therefore, they're basically the same thing. They water each other's plants and get one another's mail when they're on vacation.Flavor
Have you ever eaten an apple or an orange? Probably not since up until the beginning of this article you believed that they were a mythical fruit picked from the trees of Atlantis. Well I have. And they both taste exactly the same. Next category.

Adorableness
As established in 1885 by a scienceist (this is even more science-y than a scientist), the adorableness scale is a way of comparing exactly what it sounds like. What happens is, each item in question is asked to become its most adorable and, depending on what it chooses, one can find out how similar or dissimilar the objects in question are.

Up first was the orange and this is how it decided to dress up.As you can see, it chose the stove-pipe hat. And, personally, on an adorableness scale of 1 to 10 in my heart, this scores a perfect one-hug-dred.

Below you'll see the Adorableness Chart which is very much like the Color Wheel. How close the two items appear in the chart directly corrolates to how alike they are.Looking at the chart of hard science (as it's known in the Scienceist community), if the apple were to choose either the bumblebee or the Monopoly Guy, this would prove that apples and oranges are very similar.

Let's see what the apple chose to portray its adorableness at its maximum.This is not unprecendented, though it rarely does happen. The last time two items were perfectly equal on the adorableness chart was when both girls from the Parent Trap dressed up as Hitler. And their own parents couldn't even tell them apart.Let's get together!

Conclusion
The next time somebody says to you, "That's like comparing apples and oranges," just shake your head with a knowing smile and realize that you're a much smarter and better person for having read this essay. And, armed with that knowledge, go to your local grocer and ask them to sell you one of their apples or oranges for less than $100 each; they will know that you are privy to the secret and they will begrudgingly oblige. They not only make great pets, but they're both essential ingredients in making blueberry pie.