If you’re thinking of stopping by at our house in the next few days, bring snacks! After a very party-heavy February full with dinner parties, a girl party, and a couple of after-bars at our house, we’re out of cheese, crackers, and most of our booze. The shenanigans were definitely worth it but I think I will not be entertaining for a couple of weeks.
To be honest to our friends, most of the food and wine that was consumed this month was brought into the house by them. However, when the bars close and a few people are too drunk to drive home, my pantry becomes the victim. I am considering signing up for Sam’s club. Velveeta anyone ?
A few weeks ago we saw the British Advertising Awards at the Walker. Here is my favorite from the the show.
As an added bonus, and on a totally unrelated topic, here is Lewis Black on Fossils, which is a really good bit of smart, relevant stand up, unlike so much of the stand up you see on the likes of YouTube.
Apparently humor is quantum, with many energy levels. I ran across this image:
And was thoroughly amused. But no one else I’ve talked to seems to get it, so here is the the Wikipedia explaination complete with nice graphic explanation.
Before we took off for Thailand, Ben was joking that he would tell everybody that he’s from Canada not willing to be associated with the stereotypical loud and obnoxious American tourist. It turns out he didn’t have to resort to that measure: being a half-world away, Thailand didn’t seem to be overrun with US nationals and those whom we met appeared quite normal. It was me who should have been ready to hide my nationality….
Tropical island of Ko Samui. A tiny airport is full with tourists ready for their next destination. It’s 5 AM and everybody is flocking to the coffee stand. One hears French, German, Australian accents. Young people with backpacks and scuba gear are intermingled with sleepy families. Things are, you know, casual– flip-flops and T-shirts. Then HE walks in. HE is sporting peach corduroy pants with a large embroidered logo on the back picket. He’s probably in his late forties, with a sizable beer belly, thinning blond hair and a fresh burn on his skin. The gut is hanging over the corduroy but the onlookers are spared– it is covered up by an expensive-looking silk T-shirt in the same fruity color. Unfortunately, the T-shirt is too thin to protect us from the view of the ample-sized man breasts effectively highlighted by large sweat stains. HE pulls out a real cloth handkerchief and tries to control sweat coming down his face and through the T-shirt. Aside from resembling a tropic flower in color, HE looks mighty uncomfortable– his feet are squeezed into a pair of glossy black dress shoes with impossibly pointy tips. But HE looks too good to be sitting down– HE is pacing up and down the isle while his equally husky female companion is complaining about something to the second couple they’re traveling with. Those two are not nearly as colorful even though the female is sporting all-too-tight leopard-print shirt and a henna-colored overgrown mullet. There’s no mistake– those people are from the Motherland.
All through Thailand, Russians seem to be everywhere. We, as a nation, need visas to travel to most of the countries so Thai government offering visas on arrival to Russian nationals opens a whole new road for the sun-starved. While the young Russians blend into the crowd relatively easily (until they open their mouths, that is), one cannot miss an Russian family. I am not so proud to report the following common features observed among most of my fellow countrymen:
They speak LOUDLY
They assume nobody else talks Russian and feel free to openly discuss everything and everybody in sight including the fellow tourists.
They complain. A LOT. Things in Thailand are just not like in Russia. And yes, they do so LOUDLY
They KNOW they’re superior to other nations including the hosting Thais (it is socially acceptable to be racist.)
They feel entitled to being first to everything. Queuing up does not apply to Russians.
Ironically, the only place “intellectually superior” nation was not spotted was in National museum.
Women of all ages wear things too tight and too short
40-year old men with extra weight do not only wear speedoes. We witnessed one proudly parading in yellow-and-red-stripes banana hammock! His poor 6-year-old daughter must be so damaged.
They do sneak bottles of vodka everywhere with them, including family snorkeling adventures. And then they complain about the provided food.
My apologies to all quiet, polite and intelligent Russians who undoubtedly went unnoticed– I am sure you were as ashamed of what you have seen as I was. At least, I had an easy escape of saying that I am from Minnesota.
Here’s a link from Treehugger that makes me feel proud of having been a vegetarian for 11 years. While I did know that producing beef does take much more energy than farming vegetables, it was a discovery that cattle are responsible for more greenhouse gases than all transportation methods combined! It’s still probably just a coincidence that the new Hummer ad mocks the carrot-eating folk by showing that Tofu is Ok as long as you compensate with an H3.
I am a realist will not try to persuade everyone to give up beef forever (and don’t you dare giving up showering either to compensate for that burger habit!). Still, just think about how much difference it would make over your lifetime if you replace one meal a week with some veggie-goodness
For those of you looking for buy me a Christmas present, here’s my #1 request! (scroll all the way down the page. Clicking on the photo is probably NSFW unless you do it very quickly)
Also, please note that the item is made out of “eco fur”. I can only guess how they earned that classification (by using the fur of roadkill perhaps?)
You have read some diverse bits about the motherland on this blog already (here and here.) At this point, is it reasonable to introduce “Only in Russia” category?
Thanks to Kostja, here’s another fun Russia fact– the only country whose parliament is passionate on the topic of pop stars in space.
I don’t really believe it myself, but Damn Interesting has an article on Hufu, which is supposed to be “The Healthy Human Flesh Alternative.”
According to Wikipedia, Hufu might be a hoax and their web site has been down.
The first question, of course, is why would anyone want to do this? I can’t believe there would be much of a market for this - at least I hope there isn’t.
?
