culture » Absurd Intellectual

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Posted by Amy Breen on 5 May 2010 Everything Else

May 052010

Although not much of a holiday in Mexico where it originates, Cinco de Mayo has become pretty popular in North America as a way to celebrate all things Mexican (especially the beer and tequila).

The celebration gets its name from the Battle of Puebla which took place on May 5, 1862. On that day, the Mexican army defeated the French and stopped them from taking over the country, although they were vastly outnumbered.

Much like Oktoberfest and St. Patty’s Day, Cinco de Mayo has become a way for North Americans to celebrate another culture by taking in its music, food, and drink.

In honour of Cinco de Mayo, there is an interesting list of things you may not know about the history of the pseudo-holiday.

For example:

4. So wait, what were the French doing in Mexico in 1862? Think of them as an armed collections agency. After declaring their independence in 1810, Mexico went through decades of infighting, as well as fighting with America. this cost a lot of money. In 1861, Mexican President, Benito Juarez, declared a 2-year moratorium on loan repayments to foreign nations, including Spain, England, and France in an attempt to avoid bankrupting the country. All three nations invaded Mexico to collect on debts. While Spain and England left, France tried to stay and take over the country. Obviously, it didn’t work out for the French as we celebrate Cinco de Mayo and not Cinq mai.

5. Cinco de Mayo must be HUGE in Mexico! Not really. While the Batalla de Puebla helped to unify Mexico around one event, the major celebrations of Cinco de Mayo has largely been contained to the village of Puebla, about 100 miles east of Mexico City, where the original battle took place. In reality, Cinco de Mayo is much more popular in America, where citizens of Mexican descent (and those who just like a good margarita) hold festivals from sea to shining sea.

So grab a couple of Sol’s, head down to your local Mexican restaurant, or make a few of your own dishes to commemorate Cinco de Mayo!

School over-reaction both depressing and ironic

Posted by Amy Breen on 17 January 2010 Modern Life

Jan 172010

I came across a story on Boing Boing that was equal parts depressing and ironic.

Depressing: The vice-principal of a San Diego school called in the bomb squad after seeing a student’s science project, fearing that it was dangerous.

Ironic: The school is Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School, which emphasizes technological skills.

This incident seems to highlight both the ridiculous paranoia taking over our culture, and the obliviousness some educators seem to have concerning what their students are doing.

Even more depressing? This quote from the story from Sign on San Diego:

The student will not be prosecuted, but authorities were recommending that he and his parents get counseling, the spokesman said.

Yes, let’s discourage the kid from creating more science projects by telling him he needs counseling, for, you know creating something for the school that emphasizes technology.

2009 in auto-tune

Posted by Amy Breen on 9 December 2009 Modern Life

Dec 092009

An industrious individual has taken some of the top entertainment stories of the year and set them to music, and auto-tuned the voices. It really reminded me of the purely awesome auto-tune video of Carl Sagan (feat. Stephen Hawking), A Glorious Dawn.

This is humorous and purely for fun, and I can appreciate that. It’s when the music studios try to sell me a singer as a legitimate artist, but who is obviously using auto-tune.

However, I think it has been getting more attention in the last year or so, and instead of being the industry’s little secret, it’s approached more honestly (as honestly as you can approach something that helps you sing in tune).

It would drive me crazy — Samoa moving to left-hand-side driving in Sept.

Posted by Grant Hamilton on 15 August 2009 Modern Life

Aug 152009

According to an article in Salon, the island country of Samoa is going to move from right-hand-side driving to left-hand-side driving. Salon notes that this is just the third country to switch sides in the past 39 years:

While Sweden switched to the right side of the road in an effort to “harmonize” with the rest of continental Europe, the Samoan initiative, at the behest of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, is aimed at a different form of standardization — switching cars to right-hand drive so that Samoans, rather than having to rely on expensive U.S. imports, can buy cheaper right-hand-drive cars (or have them sent by relatives) from Australia and New Zealand, both of which drive on the left.

Interestingly, Salon delves into the history and rationale for differing left- and right-hand side cultures, and although I’m not sure I buy them (sounds too much like rationalization than anything else) , they also look at safety records in countries that favour one over the other.

And then there’s pedestrians:

Earlier this year, Korea passed a law stating that pedestrians should keep to the right, both on sidewalks and roads without sidewalks. The Korea Times, noting that despite the fact that schoolchildren are taught the refrain “people keep to the left, and cars keep to the right,” most Koreans found the practice “uncomfortable.” In a survey, 73 percent of Koreans reportedly favored walking to the right, while a “a related experiment showed that people had 15 percent less eye movement and an 18 percent slower heartbeat when on the right side — indicating they feel more comfortable when walking on the right.”

Frankly, I think just standardization — on whichever side — would do the most good. Although, when I lived in Toronto, I did like the signs they had on escalators, which told people to “stand right” and “walk left” so that people in a hurry could pass lazy slowpokes who were just avoiding the stairs.

What our culture has become

Posted by Amy Breen on 17 April 2009 Modern Life

Apr 172009

Susan Boyle. Ken McKay/ITV

I’m sure most of you out there have by now seen the video of 47 year old Susan Boyle performing on Britain’s Got Talent.

The frumpy women is interviewed about why she’s there, what her dreams are, and is greeted with apprehension and eye-rolling when she comes out on stage to sing.

While watching the video, I was thinking, “Oh, here we have a unattractive, older woman who is treated like a joke by the audience and the judges. Obviously, she’s going to have a fantastic voice.” And she does.

Which is apparently a surprise to some people. I mean, Britain’s Got Talent is turning this into a formula. Remember Paul Potts from last year? He went on to win the competition. Yes, he received some looks from the judges for being an older slab of a man, but they weren’t nearly so overt in their criticism as they were of Susan Boyle.

This whole thing strikes me as incredibly sad. As a culture, we have become so saturated with images of what a female singer “should” look like, that we forget that talent lies in the quality of the person’s voice. It’s as if we don’t think a woman can be a good singer without being the full package: the hair, the impeccable makeup, the impossible body. Not to mention that if someone is “old” we think it is funny that they would even dare to come out of their homes.

Tanya Gold wrote a great piece for the Guardian, calling out the behaviour of the audience and the judges — and everyone watching — as the ugly ones.

“I am so thrilled,” said Amanda, “because I know that everybody was against you.” “Everybody was against you,” she said, as if Susan might have been hanged for her presumption. Why? Can’t “ugly” people dream, you flat-packed, hair-ironed, over-plucked monstrous fool?

…

This lust for homogeneity in female beauty means that when someone who doesn’t resemble a diagram in a plastic surgeon’s office steps up to the microphone, people fall about and treat us to despicable sub-John Gielgud gestures of amazement.

Gold goes on to say Boyle will probably win the contest, as the occasional support of women like her helps us forgive ourselves for “grinding every other Susan into the dust.”

Sad because it’s true.

Japan is either crazy or progressive, not sure which

Posted by Amy Breen on 6 April 2009 Modern Life, NSFW

Apr 062009

This past weekend in Japan, it was Kanamara Matsuri, otherwise known as Festival of the Steel Phallus (or, simply, Penis Festival to some Westerners).

From the Wiki page (so not sure how accurate it is):

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan’s prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights with the young girl before a blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon’s teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

Basically there’s a parade where people carry around large penises, and then a gathering where you can suck penis-pops, eat penis cake, and ride giant penises. And people take their families! Okay, I take the crazy part back, this is just pure awesome. Just check out these ladies!

Two Japanese ladies enjoying Kanamara Matsuri

Head on over to this website (a photographers travel guide to Japan) to see a lot more (NSFW) photos of the festival. Seriously, they get really into it.