advice columns of the lesser gods

Ramalamadingdong shoesOne does not lightly call the great shoeblogger the Manolo a “lesser” anything, but in a world which considers the phreaky fashion troll John Galliano to be a major god, well we must have a point of differentiation, so there it is.

In the world of advice columns, there is a wide range of approaches and, frankly, quality of advice. I am the humble and ashamed owner of “Can My Bridesmaids Wear Black,” an etiquette book which, at $1.95 for the hardcover on the “Please get these out of our store” table, was overpriced by approximately $2. And all the new (ie late-, as opposed to mid- or early-20th Century) Emily Post books are good primarily as fodder for humorous comparisons with books which don’t suck quite so hard.

In the world of advice columnists, the gods, of greatery or lesseryness as the case may be, there are Miss Manners, Ask a Ninja, Ask a Squid, and The Manolo. Of the first three we shall not speak…yet. Of the Manolo, we shall give only the following, perfect morsel. It is the superfantastic. It will be enough.

Dear Manolo,I’ve bitten the bullet and left academia and gone back to my true love—baking. I am opening a small bakery and I need to some comfortable, yet stylish shoes that have non-slip soles, can bear being covered in butter and sugar, but would still look good when I help in the front.
Kay

The Manolo says,
of the course, there are those who believe that one would be foolish to give up the golden perks of academia, such as the pleasures of frequently reading the papers in which the word “hermeneutics” appears twice in the first sentence, once juxtaposed next to the phrase “Gilligan’s Island”.

What? No more faculty meetings in which the professor of Marxist marketing comes to blows with the elderly Emily Bronte scholar over the matter of parking spaces?

Magritte Bowler shooz

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pillowfight, baby!

Urban Mixer pillowfight, baby! 

FWD from the Flashmob email group: Call out to THE PARTY PEOPLE young and old, in and around Vancouver.

VANCOUVER FLASHMOB PILLOW FIGHT
Art Gallery South Side (Robson Steps)

Same as last year!!! and Next Year. THAT MEANS 3 PM
First Saturday after the First day of spring.
This year. March 24th 3pmSharp (not a minute sooner).
Finish at 315 sharp. Then disperse quickly to the afterparty of your choice.
Don’t boff anyone who is not armed with a pillow.
Use common sense and be compassionate.

March 24th at 3pm sharp!!! (Synchronize your watch to Transit Time)
At Robson Square on the street, south side of the Art Gallery.
TELL EVERYONE!!!

The Rules are:
-Look inconspicuous (For effects don’t draw attention to yourself)
-Hide your Pillow so it’s not visible (preferably feather)
-Do not congregate in the location try to be generally around it.
— It will be really weird when “Out of Nowhere” all these people start to Pillow Fight.

1: At exactly 3pm Pillows OUT!!! And descend onto Robson Square.
2: ONLY Pillow fight those with Pillows
3: DO NOT hit bystanders or cameras unless invited.
4: At 3:15 walk away.

That’s it TELL EVERYONE!!!
No one knows why or for whom it “Just happens”

For those of you on this list that are paying attention.
Assume you are the “Organizer” and start looking around the Net for people.
Just send this message to all the goodvibe people that you know.

Cut and Paste and PASS IT ON !!

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quiz: what uselessly outdated skill are you?

Just the thing for a lazy Saturday.

  What obsolete skill are you?  

You are ‘French’. In the nineteenth century, it was the international language of diplomacy. It is a ‘beautiful’ language, meaning that it is really just a low-fidelity copy of Latin.You know the importance of communicating ‘diplomatically’, which for you means both being polite and friendly when necessary and using sophisticated, vicious sarcasm when appropriate. Your life is guided by either existentialism or nihilism, depending on the weather. You have a certain appreciation for the finer things in life, which is a diplomatic way of saying that you are a disgusting hedonist. Your problem is that French has been obsolete for a long time.
Take this quiz!

Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

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pic o’ the day: KKKarnival

from Neatorama, circa 1926.

KKKarnival!

There’s only one possible soundtrack to this image, and here it is:
The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler, singing “Laughing Matters.”
Lyrics over the jump.

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what you totally should have done for Valentine’s Day

Chuck Norris has a Valentine's present for ya 

For some reason, many men seem to feel that what women really want in a man is want is a yes man, ie someone who, no matter how outrageous her suggestion, always nods and says, “oh that sounds good.” I don’t know if these guys have watched too many episodes of SATC, or if they’re just cribbing off some lame Dave Barry short that  he phoned in one day on deadline, but it is not actually true.

Women of a certain, not-too-distant-from-myself type, may want to do things their way, but they would prefer that all involved understand that this is because their suggestion is the best, not because their fellow is a doormat.

Note that although said fellow may, in fact, actually BE a doormat, it’s probably best for him not to give this impression. Given their druthers, women tend to gravitate towards opinionated animals as pets, not the hokey-dokey labrador type. This is telling, fellas. When the leadership finds out, they’ll put a hit out on my ovaries just for telling you this stuff.

Anyway…

So, given that asking and doing exactly what she tells him is, as we’ve agreed, out, what should the ideal boyfriend do for his ladyfriend on the big V-Day?

Exactly what Chuck Norris tells him to.

I know most men just want to spend Valentine’s Day like any other day – eating Doritos and engaging in a little heavy petting with their girlfriends. V-Day “shebangs” are taxing: they require time, planning and extremely large biceps.

However, after extensive research, I’ve devised a simple strategy: just call Chuck Norris.

To explain, since I’ve been at the University, and am thus more acquainted with what I like to call those “hipster, indie types,” I’ve been privy to a lot of interesting conversations. Most of them concern imaginary battles between trendy “It” fantasy genres: Pirate vs. Ninja! Robot vs. Lumberjack! Space Warriors vs. Chuck Norris! OMG, who will win?!? The answer is simple: Chuck Norris ALWAYS wins….

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