...is a good parody of the Pretty Cure franchise. Look, Mostly Harmless botched International Women's Day, forgot to blog against the Iraq invasion/occupation on both massive protest days this past weekend, and even missed Pi Day. But what could be more relevant in our topsy-turvy screwed-up world than the way corporations help young girls entertain themselves? One way they do this is by selling an idealized version of girlhood (which leads to other kinds of sales that the tsuma and I have learned how to postpone if not block entirely simply by repeating the mantras, "takai!" [expensive] and "when you're old enough to buy it for yourself," whenever onechan says, "I want that!"). So what does Pretty Cure's version reveal about gender in Japan? That's a subject for another post, after onechan and I have watched our way through more episodes.
But in between coloring in the Yes! Pretty Cure 5 girls' hair in the cheapo coloring books we did buy for her, drawing cartoons of onechan and her friends with Pretty Cure hair ("draw a maru [circle]!" for the face [so she can do the rest]), and discussing why it may not be a good thing to actually have ponytails that go all the way to the ground, we have come up with a few new characters. When the Pretty Cure 5 characters transform (in this season it's called metamorufose rather than the usual henshin), they spout something about "the power of a young girl's..." (dreams, passion, anger, whatever), at least according to the folks who give you the almost-instant subtitles on the YouTube (wikipedia gives you more literal, that is, WTF? translations, btw). When you add in the silliness of some of their names (Cure Rouge, Cure Lemonade, Cure Mint...), you have great material for parody.
So I started with Cure Yada (the power of a young girl's defiance). Onechan countered with Cure Coughy (the power of a young girl's sickness). I shot back with Cure Gelato (the power of a young girl's sugar high), Cure Itai (the power of a young girl's overreaction), and Cure Cranky (the power of a young girl's sleepiness). Onechan is still working on her response. We'll be collaborating on character designs and plots this spring. More later!
...is more golf not-quite-live-blogging. Tiger, Vijay, and Sergio are chasing Vaughan Taylor at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Bay Hill has been playing brutally tough this week, as only 18 players are under par right now and many really good players are in double digits over par, so anything can happen. If I wake up in time to catch the back nine, I may share my reactions. But I should probably save myself for the upcoming majors--the Kraft Nabisco Championship at the end of March (after I get back from the Fulbright meeting in Tokyo, that is), and of course The Masters at the beginning of April. And before then the field at this weekend's Safeway International is stellar--Ai, Lorena, Moira, and Meaghan will be there, so I will, too, so to speak.
10 comments:
Cure -- Seven Dwarfs??? Hell, use all the other dwarfs that Disney had originally created for the film. Of course a "Cure Barbie" would be parody mixed with a desperate ironic plea for overcoming eating disorders. But in this day and age, when the "latest" fashion mandarins are proclaiming that 2007 prom and wedding dresses be based on Disney and other animated character's attires, curing the culture is downright imperative (except of course if i could hang out with an idoru of Dr. Aki Ross).
The scores seem to be coming down again, now that the wind has died back a bit. The greens are pretty damn slick today though--zip.
you're watching? I won't get to actually see any PGA events here until Shigeki Maruyama remembers how to play golf.
how 'bout that Vijay, eh? how did Tiger double 11?
Yeesh, Tiger's finish--43 on the final nine?!--made Moira's look a lot better. Congrats to Vijay (and Rocco for recovering from a disastrous 3rd round). Sergio has to wait once more....
you know, I wasn't even thinking (consciously) of Disney when I came up with these parodies--they were based on my observations of my own daughters' behavior (and the none-too-subtle lessons I'm trying to teach onechan!). but now that you mention it, maybe the 7 dwarves were based on 2-3-year-old girls!
TC -
Just a quick note from work -
Can or will you make a post announcing the WAAGNFNP blog? I'd do it myself but I'm up to my eyeballs already.
My 3/21 post will herald the coming of the WAAGNFNP. I've already added the link to the sidebar for impatient folks in the know.
It appeared to have been a duffer's day at the Arnold. After all the "up and comers" started spraying balls into ponds, and into people's yards, the core PGA pros didn't seem to want to miss any of that action. There were really on a few memorable shots at all during the round, and two of those were by Vijay: a mega-putt that was read perfectly and with such a precise touch that until he tried it again a hole later you almost didn't realize how great it was; and that approach onto the green--after a monster drive over the water--putting so much back spin on the ball (more like billiard english) and hitting directly onto the only possible spot, that the ball hit the green, angled off towards the pin, and spun down to within inches of being an eagle.
Otherwise, so much hamhandedness on a final day was quite depressing. Sergio bouncing off rocks; Woods hitting tree, hedge, sand, lip, more sand, over the green; Lehman chunking one into the crowd; and so forth.
If i hadn't spent Saturday watching the 12 hours of Sebring followed by the Australian Grand Prix, and all those overtimes in between, i would have thought my weekend lost. hehehehhehe.. the G2 class race to the flag after twelve hours: ferrari against porsche banging each other in million dollar cars at the top of the finishing straight and finishing less than a second apart was sensational. F1 with so many HD cameras now, makes you feel like you are really driving.
Sounds like it was US Open conditions and set-up. When did Arnie become such a hardass?
When did Arnie become such a hardass?
Exactly. One of his comments, when he did a long one on one segment--critiquing several players at various holes during their fourth round--just seemed so bitter. Paraphrasing, these guys aren't hitting anything different than we did, same club selection, same basic strategies, just that we had to redesign the course to play longer with more hazards. So it is all the same but it isn't seems to be his take. And then he was pissy how the players just don't take time to relax with the galleries during their rounds, as if the players had such a luxury given the PGA rules, endorsement contracts, high-end purses, and now the Fed-Ex cup points.
Arnie got edge!
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