WATCH OUT, GUYS

More merch on sale at the Hispanic Festival. It's a little puzzling. The colors remind me of bees but the expression isn't particularly threatening. The shape and number resemble a postage stamp but they haven't cost 33 cents in the U.S. in a long time. No idea about Mexico or other Latin countries. I didn't see any buyers but someone might want to make a statement.

My astute colleague Steffe in Sweden points out that this is a form of Mexican lottery card. https://images.app.goo.gl/5revpyLqxjL9JVfq9

TAUTOLOGY

An exercise in formal logic at the Renaissance Festival. If A = B and B = C, then A = C. Trump doesn't drink so draw your own conclusions.            

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

As everyone has heard, many Americans are tired of following rules that they find chafing, even though they are a powerful brake on the spread of Covid-19 and will save thousands of lives (maybe their own, or their parents). I'm still horrified at how many people I see at outdoor bars, maskless and packed closely together. (And, no, Stolichnaya is not an adequate disinfectant.)

 

The reference is to a song (is that the right term?) by the hip hop group N.W.A. It is called Straight Outta Compton, that being a hard-life part of the Los Angeles area. The piece is extremely violent. I knew of it but had to look up the lyrics to get the point. Take my word for it.

 

Can't wait to see what  happens after 19,000 people packed an arena in Tulsa to see the would-be dictator last night. Is the appropriate concept herd immunity or thinning the herd?                  

PERSPIRE

A young man at the Cinco de Mayo festival. He has a serious expression and a perplexing tee shirt. Sure, people get hot playing most sports (maybe not ski jumping) but what's the point of proclaiming it? Maybe it's just sporty.   

Tee shirts can be confusing. Once in Japan I saw someone in a shirt with the text "we slay all suckers who perpetrate and lay down law from state to state." At first I thought it was hostile gibberish. A commenter later told me it was a line from Run DMC.     

Death Punch

There is an old saying that there is no disputing taste: de gustibus non est disputandum. Everyone has their own and preferences change a lot over time. Still...

What's with the tee shirt? Can't see it well in this image but below and to the left and right of the skull are a pair of brass knuckles. Is this something to proclaim - what? - a taste for? Otherwise, the couple were perfectly normal. She has Batman and Robin on her shirt. 

Taken while sitting on a bench in the heat at the underwhelming Taste of Downtown St. Louis.        

A Timely Tee Shirt

I was sorting through tee shirts while packing last night and came across this old one. It's from the Truisms series by one of my favorite contemporary artists, Jenny Holzer. Her modus operandi is streams of aphorisms, thrown at us like water over the falls, or sometimes a single sentence that burns for long periods of time. I first encountered her work many years ago while walking down Picadilly in London and saw these words projected on the side of The Ritz Hotel: You cannot stop hunger by drawing a cake.

Obviously low on material but I won't need this shirt where we're going. (No, it's not Canada.) May or may not have a post tomorrow. Maybe I can find something Texan tonight.