You just can't make s-s-s-stuff like this up.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080811/od_afp/switzerlandoffbeatart
I don't know how long that link will work, so for posterity's sake, I will quote the pertinent parts here.
"A giant inflatable dog turd by American artist Paul McCarthy blew away from an
exhibition in the garden of a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and
breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again, the museum said Monday."
I honestly don't know what to say about this, but I do wonder if this Paul McCarthy (and I must confess, when I first skimmed this story, I thought it said Paul
McCartney, which would have addded a whole extra layer of bizarre, but alas, I was wrong...) might be available for the Macy's parade. Maybe he could go right behind the giant inflatable Underdog. And then we could see about commisioning a giant pooper scooper to go along behind THAT.
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I tend to stay away from fast food, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. Like the other day, minutes before my client meeting, as I chowed down on a Croissanwich at a food court. But that's not really what this is about -- this is about the sign I saw at the Burger King as I stood in line...
"No videotaping or photography!" it admonished.
Which prompted a few thoughts.
Like - why not? Are they afraid I might steal the secret formula for the Whopper? Umm, it's no secret -- nasty beef patty, wilted iceberg lettuce, yellow dill pickles, pale tomato, too much ketchup and mayo -- what's the big deal? My dog could reverse engineer that.
And -- what exactly would they have done had I broken out my digital camera and taken a picture? It's a food court. Shared by other vendors. Are they going to throw me out? Ban me from Burger King for life? What if I was just taking a picture of the sign that said no taking pictures?
Or -- maybe they have been the subject of one of those news magazine tv show expose's. "If you eat at the So and So Burger King, you may want to check out this video that shows exactly where that special sauce is coming from..."
Eeeegh.
The thing is, one of the Burger King guys was using a shop vac to suck the grease out of the deep fryer, and I confess that there's a weird part of me that thought that would have made a compelling picture.
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Have you been watching the olympic games at all? I watched a little gymnastics and swimming, but I gotta tell you guys, I just don't find it all that interesting.
I am fascinated by the number of scandals and accusations of cheating that come out during every olympiad. This year, apparently, the Spanish basketball team was photographed making "slanty eyes" and now the Chinese are all up in arms. Meanwhile, Bela Karolyi is hooting and hollaring about the Chinese women's gymnasts being underage. And people are saying that the Chinese government is killing Yao Ming's spirit...
Call me stupid, if you like (really, go ahead. It's fun!), but I THOUGHT the point of these games was to foster world
harmony. So, the way we've decided to do that is to send a bunch of hypercompetitive alpha males and females halfway around the world to win more medals than all the other countries? With bonus points awarded if you humiliate the host country - especially if you don't have a solid trade relationship with them?
Umm, great thinking, folks. Why not just foster world harmony through prolonged campaigns of raping and pillaging?