Category Archives: Literary

marketing ploy o’ the day: Lakehead University

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Hmmm, wonder what that says?

Hey, that’s kind of a nifty-looking poster. Wonder what it actually says.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Yale Shmale we say to the male

Graduating from
an Ivy League university
doesn’t necessarily mean you’re smart.

Lakehead University, a teensy-tinsey little school out in the boondocks near my aunt’s place (which actually describes all of the places near all of my aunts, come to think of it, except Dodie) has come up with a killer of a marketing ploy, if a bit late for September registrations.

A little background; it’s not exactly Ivy League, but it was considered appropriate for His Royal Highness Randy Andy when he did his time in the Colonies. It has a vaguely preppy, vaguely party reputation, but the draw for parents is that it’s so isolated you can’t really end up passed out at Younge and Bloor at dawn; that they assume you’ll dedicate your time to studying instead of drinking is a testament not only to their optimism, but also to the scarcity of really good booze up there. When I went to university, Lakehead had about 2500 students, roughly as many as my sister’s high school.

Apparently, they’ve decided to do a bit of outreach and in this their historically quirky, smartassed attitude has done them proud. Check out the Yale Shmale website and, if you’re still looking for something to do in September, keep them in mind.

We wouldn’t want you to end up like that guy in the poster!

TWAT: the war against t-shirts

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the war against tees

That’s a fine looking fellow, the guy on the left. And a fine looking shirt he’s got on, too. Can you read it? I can’t, which is why I had to read the article about him and his shirt and why it’s illegal at JFK.

The article that informs me that it is now illegal to wear a shirt with Arabic writing on it in American airports.

Yes, TWAT is now The War Against Tees.

Then I once again asked the three of them : “How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn’t this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?”

so inspector Harris answered “you can’t wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads “I am a robber” and going to a bank”.

I said “but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says “we will not be silent“. I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan, you can google them or email them at wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc.”

Inspector Harris said: “We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don’t have a translator. Maybe it means something else”.

I said: “But as you can see, the statement is in both Arabic and English“.

He said “maybe it is not the same message“…

At the point of almost missing his flight, he allows JetBlue to buy him another shirt to wear over the “illegal” one. Apparently, lots of people had called and ratted him out. Remind me to dig out the story of my Arabic necklace and the nice lady at US Customs and Immigration.

I put the t-shirt on and removed the price tag. I told the four people who were involved in the conversation: “I feel very sad that my personal freedom was taken away like this. I grew up under authoritarian governments in the Middle East, and one of the reasons I chose to move to the US was that I don’t want an officer to make me change my t-shirt. I will pursue this incident today through a Constitutional rights organization, and I am sure we will meet soon”.

If you want to call Jet Blue and ask about their regulations against Arabic script, you can use the following numbers:
* If calling within the U.S., Bahamas or Puerto Rico: 1-800-JETBLUE (538-2583)
* If calling from the Dominican Republic: 1-200-9898
* If calling from outside the U.S. or Dominican Republic: 001-801-365-2525
* Customers who are deaf or heard of hearing (TTY/TDD): 1-800-336-553

Raed Jarrar’s blog Raed in the middle

words

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From the Archive
  
  Wednesday, September 04, 2002

I was in a writing course once and the instructor started off by asking people for their favorite word.

I felt like a freak for picking what I did, but that’s okay, because everybody there, from the buzzcut lesbian to the grannies with their eyeglasses on decorator chains claimed that their favorite words were “love” “hope” “peace” “forgiveness,” etcetera.

BARF!

Mine was “wallapalooza” which is as far as I’m concerned as fine a word as you will find anywhere. I got it from Oprah, which is an excellent provenance for a word.

To his credit, the instructor’s face fell. Oh dear, you could see him think, one of THOSE groups.

He dropped his usual references to Greek tragedy and substituted what he could remember of Agatha Christie, James Herriot, and Jane Austen.

I still feel bad for him, and that was three years ago.

pepe the prawn on the latest dvd offerings

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Prawn, Squid, what’s the diff, when it come down to the cool factor?

Operation Global Media Domination: The Technorati Treatment

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TIABrutal. Brutal.

For the first time in this young blog’s life, it’s been demoted, and that immediately after adding a snazzy “add to Technorati favorites” button in the sidebar.

Is this gratitude? I ASK YOU?!?!?

Breathe, raincoaster, breathe. Find the still centre. And strike from there with your whole being.

So, yesterday it seems there were 50.5 million blogs in the world, and mine was 49,000 and change. Today there are 52 million blogs and mine is Rank: 50,075 (182 links from 51 blogs) . And it’s forgotten all about the links from Liberty Forum and Nastyfuckingporn.com, as if they never existed, as if they never mattered.

NOT THAT I’M FUCKING BITTER!!!!!!

!

Oh, Perish the thought! I wonder how long it’ll take me to hunt down and exterminate 1.5 million bloggers?

Harcourt Fenton Mudd, a man after my own heart...and whatever it'll fetch on the open market