r-e-s-p-e-c-- aw, screw it

2003.01.28
Is it superlame to have my head at the top of my website? Admittedly it's pretty stylized and all, but still.

Also, I wonder if I should switch to something like John's site has, with a comment link for every day. Or is the guestbook enough? I could do a comments page on a daily basis, though per entry wouldn't really work.


Cartoon Dialog of the Moment
"Would you please kiss me?"
"Say please."
"Please."
"Say pretty please."
"Pretty please."
"Say pretty please with sugar on it."
"Pretty please with sugar on it."
"Say pretty please with sugar on it and a cherry on top."
"Pretty please with sugar on it and a cherry on top."
"Now jump through this hoop."
[Jumps]
"Now sit up and beg."
[On knees] "I'm begging you."
"I can't kiss you because for some reason I no longer respect you. But here's a treat." [tosses nugget]
"Mmm! Beef-flavored!"
Matt Groening, "Life in Hell"
...I think I can find traces of this in my romantic history. Wish I could find an online source for these cartoons.


Link of the Moment
America the Bountiful, "Classic American Food from Antiquity to the Space Age". Neat perspective.

Quote of the Moment
[Euphemisms] cover up the facts of life--of sex and reproduction and excretion--which inevitably remind even the most refined people that they are made of clay, or worse.
Hugh Rawson, introduction to "A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk".
Peterman, who is lending me the book, was taken by its "FOP (Fog or Pomposity) Index", the sum of letters, syllables, and words in the euphemism divided by the same sum for the original phrase. Is there a word for the opposite of a Euphemism? (For example, "bullshit" for "euphemism"...we'll allow the gentle reader decide for him or herself which word is more appropriate for what we'll be hearing in tonight's State of the Union.)


Quick Link of the Moment
Chris Anderson, editor-on-chief from Wired is at the conference Davos and doing a journal for Slate, the latest entry about the Japan dinner makes for a good quick read--talks about how vibrant the youth culture in Japan is, despite its ongoing recession. For some reason, even being an entrenched married mortgaged corporate tool doesn't stop me from seeing that as a hopeful sign.