1)In today's ear worm news... Got La Cucaracha stuck in your head? Finding out what the song means may not be key to getting rid of it, but you should understand what you are humming. (And if it's not stuck in your head, it will now! You're welcome.)
#1 Among other things: I primarily collect Batman stuff and action figures of all kinds. Secondary (but still scary) collections include vinyl records, art, robots, squid, DVDs and videos, trade paperback comics, Legos, gaming miniatures, trading cards, all kinds of books, scrap pieces of plastic, wood, metal and beyond, instruments. I’m actually slimming down a bit due to space concerns. And when I say ‘concerns’, I mean ‘am I going to be crushed in the night?’
Want to give high-fives too? Participation is a lot like Thursday Thirteen, only your post is links to who and what you like. (Plus, it's only 5 instead of 13!)
The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!
Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).
“You know, I’m completely ignorant of that artist’s work. I try not to pay any attention to art history.” I heard these words from a slight, young European artist, a lock of hair strategically hanging across his left eye, just frazzled enough to be chic. I wanted to smack him upside the head; thought better, maybe just a headlock and some nuggies. It wasn’t like I was talking to him about some cult figure from Albania or Bushwick. I was referring to Robert Rauschenberg, the Robert Rauschenberg. I’d bumped into this kid after closing time on a Sunday afternoon in the “Killing Room” at a Williamsburg gallery.
Where the following video can be found...
James Kalm ventures out east to visit an exhibition which melds the influences of Graffiti, Surrealism, science-fiction illustration and cartoon art titled "Pop Subversion". Curated by Andrew Ford, this exhibition inhabits an undefined realm that many young artists currently find themselves in, between the street and the gallery, the comic book and the hallucinatory dream. Features an extended interview with Andrew Ford.
Patty Clayton was the first radio voice of Chiquita for radio in 1944, followed by Elsa Miranda for 1945-6 promotional tour. Elsa Puerto Rican not related to the Brazillian singer in the fruit hat who inspired the character of Chiquita Banana.
Here's the original Chiquita Banana theatrical ad:
Chiquita became so popular that parody ensued... I give you Juanita Banana by the Peels (1965).
In 1987 artist Oscar Grillo, creator of the Pink Panther, transformed Chiquita Banana from banana woman into a woman. And that's about when I lost interest in her.
The Get Out! Kitschy Kitschy Coo Award is given by Pop Tart and reflects Pop Tart's enjoyment of mocking, amusing, and amazing comments made at any of her blogs, including her blog posts at CQ.
The award gives more than a nod to Elaine Benes, only Pop Tart's incredulity isn't mocking; she's really amazed &/or amused. Pop Tart reserves the right to remove the mocking element in the "Get out!" because the person commenting has already provided that. Plus, she's not shoving you.
Or perhaps it's that your comments are Elaine-esque, giving a full frontal shove to Pop Tart. But we'll leave that debate to the philosophers in the crowd.
Should you be clever enough to be given the "Get Out!" Award, feel free to display the award with a link back to Kitschy Kitschy Coo (either to the post where Pop Tart awards it to you, or the blog's main URL, Kitschy-Kitschy-Coo.Com).
I'm smitten with AT&T's Valentine's Day ad -- not so much for the phones (I don't even think we get that service here, bastards), but as we all know, I'm a sucker for a puppet show. I partially married hubby for his puppet skills, and if that makes him The Puppet Master and myself the puppet, well, I can live with that.
In the commercial a red boy mouse finger puppet hits on a blue girl squirrel finger puppet:
Mouse: You know what I think? Squirrel: What? Mouse: Heaven must be missing a squirrel.
Ms Squirrel laughs, but you know she falls for it. Just as I have.
AT&T needs to sell me these finger puppets.
Seriously.
Are you listening, AT&T? I don't want an iPhone. Especially as I don't have service for it here. But even if I could, I'd still want those adorable finger puppets more.
I guess this whole post makes me AT&T's puppet, posting their ad like that... Unless they make me the puppets. Then I am The Puppet Master.
We all remember the Trix Rabbit (who began his life in 1959 as a hand puppet before becoming an animated rabbit in 1960), right?
Well, have I got news for you...
The Trix Rabbit "is probably the most striking example of a cereal trickster who closely follows the mythic conventions of the North American tricksters in particular." As proof, I give you an excerpt from Tricksters and the Marketing of Breakfast Cereals, by Thomas Green, The Journal of Popular Culture (Volume 40, Issue 1, Page 49-68, February, 2007):
The plot of his 30-second tales follows a mind-numbingly predictable sequence. The Rabbit observes some kids eating Trix cereal, and decides to disguise himself in order to get some too. At first his plan appears to succeed, but then his manic enthusiasm for the fruit-flavor properties of the cereal cause him to convulse in such a way that his disguise is thrown off and the trick revealed. The kids take the cereal away from him and pronounce the ritual condemnation mantra: "Silly Rabbit. Trix are for kids."
In his basic form, the Trix Rabbit resembles mythical trickster figures in that he is an anthropomorphized animal, like the hare trickster Wakjunkaga. He exhibits the insatiable hunger typical of Wakjunkaga, but not for foods typically associated with rabbits. He desires only the Trix brand breakfast cereal, and is willing to cheat and deceive in order to get it. In the early days of Trix, the variations on the specific disguise that the Rabbit adopted were still closely identified with the plot premise: He was attempting to appear as something other than a rabbit, so a little old lady or astronaut disguise would do. In more recent years the disguises have begun to take on the form of whatever the advertisers perceive as popular with kids at the time, so in the 1980s the Rabbit disguised himself as a breakdancer, and, most recently, a karaoke singer. In any case, the Rabbit is using these disguises, to appear more human than rabbit, which emphasizes the way in which the Trix Rabbit most closely corresponds to the archetypal Radin/Jung trickster.
Jung, in particular, theorized, in a now largely discounted but still interesting way, that the trickster figure represents the psychological state of humanity making the transition from animal to human. Using Radin's description of Wakjunkaga as a touchtone, Jung describes the trickster cycle as demonstrating how the trickster gradually comes to greater levels of control over his selfish, predatory, animalistic impulses—associated with animal physical forms such as the hare, the coyote, and the raven. In this way, according to Jung, Radin's trickster evolves into a thereomorphic culture hero who sacrifices himself to give gifts to humankind, which is the hallmark of humanity in this scheme (144). The Trix Rabbit fits right into this design, not only in the way that his animal form matches that of the Winnebago Indian Hare that Radin studied, but also in the symbolic pattern of his advertisement narratives. The Rabbit desires the Trix cereal, which represents the outward sign of humanity: "Trix is for kids." He disguises himself as a kid, taking on the superficial form of a human in an attempt to make the transition. But the disguise is unable to conceal his baser selfish impulses—which manifest as frenzied enthusiasm—and his true animal nature is revealed to the kids who take away the magical humanizing substance. Whether or not one gives credence to the impact of Jungian depth psychology on the communal consciousness, the cyclical tragic drama played out over and over again produced a verifiable impact in at least one case. In the 1980s there arose such a public outcry about the Rabbit's plight that General Mills held an election allowing kids to vote on whether the Rabbit should be allowed to finally get the Trix. The vote came out in the Rabbit's favor, and he was rewarded with three spoonfuls of the cereal—although his advertisements then immediately reverted to the old formula.
I thought scholarly types might enjoy this bit of info on the Trix Rabbit (the rest of you, just enjoy another video).
We got the kids a few of these toy pens by Stylus Pens (the SpongeBob Squarepants Etch A Sketch Pen & the Nerf Dart Blaster Toy Pen -- and the Star Wars Darth Vader Lego Pen I kept for myself) and they were huge hits. At such small prices, I'm thinking we'll be adding to their collection with birthdays etc.
But the best gift by far was Flarp -- just 88 cents at Walmart, it was not only the thing the three youngest (ages 4, 7 and 11) played with the most, but the thing they called their favorite gift and mentioned to others first when asked what they got for Christmas. We always say that a purchase of Flarp is the best 88 cents ever spent.
See some folks with Flarp in action:
Lessons learned? Kids are cheap thrills seekers. Just like cats.
You can spend big bucks on the latest toys, but all your cat wants is a wad of tin foil rolled into a ball to bat about, or the plastic ring on a milk jug, or a rubber band... I suspect our kids might be easily amused with the same. But we settle for cheap toy pens & Flarp -- oh, and Silly String. Every birthday party, we arm the kids and the grown-ups (all the way to Great Grandpas & Grandmas) with cans of silly string and that's their favorite part.
1)In today's ear worm news... Got La Cucaracha stuck in your head? Finding out what the song means may not be key to getting rid of it, but you should understand what you are humming. (And if it's not stuck in your head, it will now! You're welcome.)
