Sunday, April 6, 2008

Thoughts On Trying the Torch Take-Down, 81% Dissatisfied, the Pregnant Man, and the "Good Ship" Debate

I just want to weigh in on a few things I've come across over the last couple of days.

1. Mad props go to the Free Tibet protesters who went for the Olympic torch-snatch and also tried to extinguish the torch today as Konnie Huq (surrounded by a coterie of security guards) jogged through London to commemorate the games. And let me remind you - this is jolly old England here. Judging by this, protesters should have something spectacular in store for Mount Everest.

2. I enjoyed the word choice of the latest NY Times/CBS Poll, which concluded that 81% of Americans polled say that "things have pretty seriously gotten off the wrong track" in the U.S. On the other hand, 19% believe that "things in this country are generally going in the right direction." Let me just say that 100% of me is not surprised at the results.

3. On Friday, I had a novel thought: Whatever would happen if a man got pregnant? The only example I had ever seen was that of California Governor Arnold Scwarzenegger, in the 1994 film "Junior." But lo and behold, on the very day I had this thought, the New York Post ran an article about a pregnant man named Thomas Beatie! I knew I could rely on the Post for something.

4. Josh Kurp, Five Best impresario and Copy Chief for New School Free Press (ooh, and contender for next year's Editor-in-Chief), just e-mailed me and some others an mp3 of "Good Ship Venus," a delightful and bawdy sailor's tune. Going by title alone, the song struck me as the precursor to Shirley Temple's "On the Good Ship, Lollipop." Kurp wrote back, "Peter, Peter, Peter, if you knew anything about Shirley Temple, you'd know the 'Good Ship Lollipop' refers to an airplane." True, true! I saw the video! But you see, that only proves my point further - here we see the modern "Good Ship Venus" of the industrial age, naturally sapped of its original aura (i.e. sex on the boat). Thoughts?