I figured I’d better get this hall of fame repost up before October has come and gone. It’s one of my favorite pieces of drivel to ever disgrace the blogosphere. Be sure to read the disclaimer first, lest ye be offended. Unless ye be offended by the disclaimer…in which case this might not be the right blog for you.
I will add that I have not seen the pink pumpkins in the last two years (incredibly, that sentence is devoid of euphemism). Judging by their website, the group is still around—and growing much more attractive pumpkins these days. But I didn’t encounter them at the grocery store this October.
Also, the hulu video I had embedded in the original post has been taken down. It’s actually quite difficult to find some of these Celebrity Jeopardy! episodes online. I tracked down another version that (for now) seems to be working. It’s still a classic, and still worth watching if you can.
OK, enough preramble. On to the drivel. Enjoy.
—Hank
originally posted november 14, 2012
Join the hunt.
Buy something pink.
disclaimer
If you’ve read fantasticdrivel at all (or even just perused the tag cloud), you’re probably well aware of my fondness for breasts. I think they’re great. Moreover, I really like women. Especially strong-willed, capable, intelligent women—like Lady Liberte, the unofficial mascot of fantasticdrivel.com. Therefore, I have no problem with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month: a month devoted to saving women and their breasts by raising awareness about breast cancer.
I’ll also add that, as a graphic designer and an advocate for a public awareness cause (Adams Place), I’m beyond impressed by what the Susan G. Komen Foundation et al have been able to accomplish in terms of branding (i.e. the pink ribbon).
I do feel, however, that sometimes companies go a little too far in trying to get a piece of the Pink October pie. I’m not talking about pinkwashing (yes, it’s a word; read more about it on wikipedia); I’ll give these folks the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are dedicated to the cause and not their own profit. Just because it’s for a good cause, that doesn’t make it a good idea. I think you’ll see what I mean by the time we get to pink pumpkins (below).
October is the pinkest month of the year, and it seems to be pinker each time it rolls around.
It’s just a money-grubbing attempt by the NFL to capitalize on the thursday night TV audience, historically the most-competitive night for broadcast TV. It’s working, so I guess it makes sense from a financial standpoint. But it messes with the rhthym of football season. I don’t like it as a fan, I don’t like it as a fantasy manager, and I hypothesize that it results in more injuries, and lower-quality football. The extra-short turnaround for a Thursday-night game means virtually no real recovery time from the brutal slog of an NFL game. And if coaches hold out their superstars because they’re afraid they haven’t fully recovered, that lowers the level of talent that’s out there on the field. The extra-short week also makes it hard to prep for a specific opponent: less time to learn to read and react to the particular quirks and strategies of an offense or defense. One of my favorite elements of NFL football is the “chess game” character of writing and calling the right plays at the right time. TNF undercuts that, resulting in lower-quality football.
