From a news story about making the White House kitchen kosher for a single holiday party. It’s like childhood kooties taken to a whole new level of fear and waste.
Have we used enough tin foil yet?
fear
A pattern of dangerous penis-shaped technologies?
Amidst the fear over quakes, water safety, and radioactive fallout, I do not mean to come off as a paranoid conspiracy theorist, or even an antiquated “mother earth” feminist. Still, it is impossible to ignore, in all the dioramas, illustrations, and video footage all the penis-shaped technologies at the heart of Japan’s natural and man-made disaster.
Most obviously, the six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are all boxes (or were boxes, until the explosions) that cleverly conceal what appears to be a giant dildo of radioactive nuclear fuel rods, with torus doughnuts of water at the base and a steel containment vessel pointing this unholy mess of danger and energy sky-ward.
Japan’s protector/daddy/occupier the US military flew its Global Hawk man-less planes to take detailed images of the disaster. These are the drones that support the video distance warfare that delivers bombs throughout Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Libya. It’s good that these planes have some non-military uses, although I nearly spit out my drinking water when I saw on television these giant black penises flying through the air.
The storyline seems to be that we are dependent on reckless technology that happens to look like enormous penises. And that we can only contain the damage they cause by employing their similarly shaped flying cousins. We are then treated to a parade of government officials, energy company spokespeople, and nuclear epxerts– all of whom seem to be male– who promise vaguely that everything is mostly under control.
What is your favorite penis-shaped disaster technology?
Big love for Doritos, in a sauna
Another user-generated Doritos Superbowl ad entry. I am certain that chips, fear, and desire can lead to love!
The innocence of sleep
Call me a pervert. It won’t be the first time. But there’s something deliciously innocent about watching men sleeping. In Japan, people sleep in public with neither shame nor fear.
More fear of girly men
“Does this skirt make my butt look big?”
How is it that the wonderous Japanese male gender-bending, almost all in the name of heterosexuality, keeps getting bad press and moral condemnation. Another foreign article in Times Online profiles men who like to eat cake, a feminine past time, and dream of becoming house-husbands.
Rather than celebrate freedom and variety, the phenomenon of herbivores and ojo-man has alarmed sociologists who predict the demise of the Japanese nation. One pompous sociologist is quoted with this fearful prediction:
“I worry that herbivorous boys are the future of Japan . . . As young Japanese men become more timid and more averse to taking risks, it will affect the energy and vitality of the society.”
Who knew that a skirt and feminine aspirations could be such a powerful threat to the survival of a proud people? Are girly men Japan’s terrorism?
Update: CNNGo has a profile about Japan’s first men-only nail salon, in Osaka only for now.
Parodies of “Gathering Storm” Anti-Marriage ads
A “Gathering Storm” has created a flood of parody ads discussing the apocalyptic potential of gay marriage. These two are some of my favorites. Have you seen any good ones?
There’s also Rachel Maddow’s commentary on the National Organization for Marriage’s “2M4M” campaign.
And Steven Colbert’s news report and parody:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/224789/april-16-2009/the-colbert-coalition-s-anti-gay-marriage-ad
And here’s a link to the original scare video with paid actors talking about their fear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AzLrn5JVIo
Tokyo Moe 