Icing the dinosaur
=v= The city of Pittsburgh has been invaded by dinosaurs, a project similar to New York's "Cow Parade," Omaha's "J. Doe," etc. Unlike those other projects, which allow local artists to decorate prefab blanks in the shapes of cows, people, Snoopies, etc., this one actually starts with dinosaurs in varied shapes.
Some friends of mine in Vancouver populate that city with dinosaurs as well, though this is more of a mobile art project, as those dinos ride bikes in protest of fossil fuels. ("Extinction stinks!" they remind us.) The Pittsburgh project might confuse some cyclists, by the way, since the gathering point for Critical Mass has long been "by the dinosaur." (One might be inclined to view these immobile dinos as an insidious plot to disperse Critical Mass, as the city has so far failed to do, but that would just be a paranoid digression that one would prefer to distance oneself from.1)
No, one's sound and unparanoid mind turns instead to a more pressing matter: the need for public art in the form of Barney the Dinosaur meeting his untimely demise in some way — untimely only in the sense of being years too late. I've requested the appropriate prefab blank so that I could execute (heh heh) this vision, but they haven't gotten back to me.
But now an even more urgently pressing matter is afoot! I just overheard a radio ad for something called "Barney and Friends on Ice," and they're coming to Pittsburgh! Fellow jihad members, our time is ripe! You know to do.
(As my previous entry has revealed, I can find a Simpsons moment in just about anything. This, however, is a moment that evokes Matt Groening's early work in his Life in Hell comic strip, which once reminded us that "cartoon-themed ice follies are your best entertainment value." But I digress once again.2)
1 Not all digression is bad, as readers of such works as Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine can attest to. Not that I'm comparing myself to him. Digressing online can be problematic when one has no facility for creating footnotes. Fortunately, I know how to roll my own.
2 "The Simpsons on Ice" evoked some scorn from veteran Life in Hell fans, who saw it as some sort of sellout on Mr. Groening's part. I found the whole spectacle amusing. I never attended cartoon-themed ice follies of any kind, but I can tell that it holds appeal for all ages. My own mother attended "The Simpsons on Ice" and found herself seated next to an old, old man who, it turned out, sold the family home to my grandfather. Which is where I'm sitting right now, writing this blog entry. But I digress ...
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