Another sign

of not being like the other kids who aren't like the other kids: all the scary drinks that jacquez links to a review of in her recent post? I read the reviews of them. And I thought to myself: hey, I've HAD some of those... I LIKE the ones I've had of those... the guy writing the review is something of a wimp, isn't he...

Mind you, it could just be a sign that my mom was right all along, that when the Asian-ancestry nurse brought me to her for the first time in the hospital she really did have the wrong baby instead of the merely Caucasoid, dark-haired kid she was supposed to bring my mom. I dunno.

On the other hand, this stuff was actively revolting. IN my defense, the only reason I bought it was because I saw a bottle of something brown sitting next to the soy milk and assumed it was chocolate soy milk. There was no label, just a product name and some info on the lid. I didn't look and see 'peanut' until AFTER I had swallowed a mouthful and wondered 'wtf did I just drink'.

I had to laugh at this...

Scanning a New York Times article for my mom, on the Catholic Church's announcement about it not being okay any more to try to convert Jews. This is what the OCR software made of one line of the story:

'Put another way, your road to salvation is as good as rune.'

I'm almost tempted to leave it like that.

Footbinding in Modern American Art

Well, if you define 'TV cartoons' as art, anyway.

Those of you who've seen the Cartoon Network show "Dexter's Laboratory" - the next time you're watching, keep an eye out for Mom. I was watching the other night when suddenly I got smacked between the eyes from behind by that part of my brain which records everything I ever read or look at. And what it smacked me with was a diagram of a normal human foot's skeletal structure, overlaid with the skeletal structure of the old 'lotus feet' effect you got from binding girls' feet in China. I spent the rest of the show watching all the characters' feet and realizing my brain just wasn't going to let go - Dexter's mom's got lotus feet.

This isn't something that can get chalked up to cartoon distortion, either. Dad's got normal feet compared to his body. Dexter, too, even though he has no neck. And Didi - Didi's feet are larger than her HEAD, and Didi's got a case of Charlie Brown Syndrome. Add in the fact that she's got that ballerina fetish and if anyone on the show should have deformed feet, it's her. Mom alone has teeny tiny feet, and Mom has never been seen to take her shoes off. True, Mom seems to be able to keep up with Dad when they go out shopping, but she's definitely slower than either of her kids.

Dexter's mom's got bound feet. Who knew? What's next?

Quick note: I came within a hair of writing a six-page monograph on founder effect and restricted genetic exchange's consequences for isolated Smurf populations as portrayed on the 80s TV show when I was in college. Dexter's mom is getting off light.