St. Paul Winter Carnival

Before we return to the regularly scheduled political programming coverage, I thought I would show you the craziness that is the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

Here's the legend of the St. Paul Winter Carnival- really it's just an excuse for people to get drunk and party-

As the "King of the Winds," Boreas assigned to each of his brothers a permanent grant of great force and power. To Titan was assigned the blustery North Wind. To Euros was granted control of the irresponsible East Wind. To Zephyrus was given custody of the bountiful West Wind. To Notos was presented the balmy but unstable South Wind. The brothers cavorted gaily over land and sea. Boreas, while on his extensive travels, came upon a winter paradise known as Minnesota. He paused to behold the enchanting beauty of a magnificent group of seven gently sloping hills in whose embrace nestled a beautiful city. Boreas whistled in sheer ecstasy, "Historic Saint Paul and her seven hills! An ideal place. I will make Saint Paul the capitol of all my domains. It will henceforth be emblazoned to the world as the winter playground of the Realm of Boreas." Meanwhile, Vulcanus Rex, the god of Fire, and the implacable enemy of Boreas, crackled in defiant disdain. "By the great sword of Mars I will temper the blusterings of Boreas with the heat and roar of my forces." He was tireless in his bitter resistance to all the festivities of Boreas. Undaunted, Boreas proclaimed a celebration in the spirit of gay Carnival. "So be it!" shouted Boreas, "There will be a Carnival in old Saint Paul!" Boreas selected a Prime Minister to coordinate preparations in all the Principalities, Provinces and Royal Houses within the realm of Saint Paul. And so, for ten glorious days, there was Carnival and joyous celebration in St. Paul -- feasting, dancing, fun and frolic reigned over by Boreas and the Queen of Snows, the fairest maiden of the realm, along with the four Winds, who were each accompanied by a lovely Princess from the realm of Boreas. Klondike Kate, a lady of song and merriment, added her sassy but enchanting voice to the festivities by singing songs of desire and sentiment. Senior King Winter, Queen of the Northlands, and their court contributed good will and wisdom, while Junior King Frost and Queen of the Snowflakes with their court, add youthful exuberance to the festival.On the 10th day of celebration, Vulcanus Rex and his Krewe stormed the magnificent ice castle and confronted the King's Guard. Upon the good counsel of the Queen, Boreas bade farewell to the people of his winter capitol in the interest of peace and goodwill, and returned to dwell among the gods of Olympus. Boreas and his court looked forward to the time when summer's warmth would once again relinquish its hold on the realm and the frosty atmosphere of winter would prevail.

We happened to be there the weekend of the Vulcan Victory Parade- here's a video mash-up. I apoligize for the quality, it was dark.

And a few still shots of the parade-

Minnesota's "Unnoficial State Bird"

One of the two State Fair Gophers- they were nice enough to stop and let me get a shot.

And the glorious flames.

~Mer

Purple Pineapple Town's FIRST contest

Hey Everyone-
My friends at Crew Creative advertising asked me to help out with their latest project by holding a DVD giveaway contest.

It's a movie called Gangsta Rap: The Glockumentary. Even though I’m not a big fan of rap, this movie looks pretty hilarious.

Description: The hardest group you've never heard of is back! Like a hip-hop version of the mockumentary classic Spinal Tap, Gangsta Rap tells the story of the rap group who ran the west coast underground in the mid to late eighties. With such classics under their belt as "Beat Yo Mama with a Hammer" and "In My House Shoes", gangsta rap fell into obscurity after several run-ins with the law, shady business management, failed comeback attempts and countless child custody cases. But now, they’re back! The DVD hits stores Tuesday, February 5th!

Here's the "In My House Shoes" music video to give you a taste.


THE CONTEST
Rules Are: Write a 25-100 word (or more, this is just a guideline) rap about an object. The object can be anything. Some examples would be one about cheese, a cell phone, a printer... I don't care. (Feel free to use any of those examples listed- I simply listed things near me. Except the cheese. I just really like cheese.) Entries will be judged on creativity and humor. There is no limit to who can enter or how many times you can enter. If you live somewhere outside the US, feel free to enter, just remember I can't guarantee that the DVD will work in some players.

The deadline for entry is Feb. 10th. Please e-mail all entries to purplepineappletown@hotmail.com

The decision will be made by me the next day, and the DVD promptly shipped to you. There is only one winner.

Good Luck!
~Mer

The Crazy Presidential Race!

Well, with John Edwards out of the Democratic Presidential Race, and Rudy Giuliani out of the Republican, I feel like I can guarantee that the craziness that has been this presidential election so far is about to get crazier.

Between the people asking if Obama is black enough, to can Hillary Clinton handle the Presidency, can Mitt Romney be elected because of his Mormon religion, am I the only one standing on a mountain yelling, "Can we PLEASE just focus on the ISSUES people?"

Honestly, we should just stick the candidates in boxes, not tell anyone what their names are, and have them debate on the issues. When the elections are over, they get to come out of the box. We actually would elect a President on the ISSUES! Such a strategy has never been tried before! It's a groundbreaking new concept! GASP!

~Mer

Questions or Comments? Contact Mer at purplepineappletown@hotmail.com

A message from our buildings and bridges...

Alright- so a week ago the 35W bridge collapse was ruled to have been caused by faulty gusset plates. For those of you who don't know what gusset plates are, here's a picture-

The gusset plates essentially hold the bridge together. The 35W bridge's was only HALF as thick as they should have been. This caused 13 people to die, and 145 people were injured.

The thing is, this isn't the first time that builders and architects have cut corners- In 1996, a bridge in Ohio collapsed, because the gusset plates weren't adequate to support the design load. Thankfully, no one was killed in that incident, but it should have been a wake up call to builders and architects, as well as transportation departments, that you can't cut SAFETY to save money.

Another case in point- the Twin Towers. Involved was not only negligent construction of the building, they also violated fire standards dating as far back as 60 years! The planes scraped away the fireproof coating on the steel beams, allowing the intense fire to soften the steel. Also, other than the core of the two towers were built like regular high-rises, with clusters of heavy steel columns and beams linked into a cage-like matrix. Beyond that, the 110 floors in each tower had NO vertical support columns.

Was the money saved by using the cheaper fireproofing substitutes, and no vertical support columns, worth the 2,974 deaths, and the 6,291 injuries, not to mention the rescue workers now dying from inhaling the airborne particles.

How many more people are going to have to die, before builders and architects put safety over money? Or will we continue to have these disasters, with the Government writing them off as "isolated incidents."

A great quote from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Towering Inferno seems to sum this up.

Chief O'Halloran (Steve McQueen) : You know we were pretty lucky tonight, body counts less then 200. You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill ten-thousand in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and carrying out bodies until someone asks us... how to build them.

So for once, lets ask the firefighters, the police officers, and the rescue workers- everyday people who risk their lives for the rest of us.

Dedicated to the victims of the 35W bridge collapse, 9/11 victims, and all who risked their lives to save them.

~Mer

What's that sound in the air...

Well, it's January, and you know what that means!

The whining of the Presidential Candidates!

I don't know about you guys, but as much as I love the craziness that is politics, I can't STAND when the candidates start sniveling and complaining about how they're getting attacked. If I'm old enough to know that as asinine as it is, that's basically what goes on during a Presidential election. You put your good (or bad) name out there, and your opponents try to tear you to bits.

Why is this such a surprise to them, I have no idea. This has gone on since before Abraham Lincoln's time, and will likely continue until the Sun explodes. (Or until we adopt another system of government.)

Don't get me wrong, I think that the attack ads are stupid, but we live in a society where there is (supposedly) free speech. I want a candidate that's going to be able to man (or woman) up and deal with this without crying to the media (or their mommy) about the so-called injustice of it all every time someone says something bad.

Memo to the Presidential Candidates- It's not the Elementary school playground anymore. You're big boys and girls. Deal with it.

~ Mer

Questions or Comments? Send them to: purplepineappletown@hotmail.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Purple Pineapple Town.

-Meredith

Quotes from the Frontrunners

As the primaries loom closer... I present- Quotes from the front runners of both parties (with commentary!).

REPUBLICANS

Rudy Giuliani-

"Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it."

Actually Rudy, Freedom is defined as liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another and/or a political right.

"There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader. "

Hmm... and you've done that Rudy?

Fred Thompson-

"China is one of the world's greatest proliferators of weapons of mass destruction to these rogue nations."

I have no words on this one- just another quote from him-

"Clearly, the Chinese know that we want a good relationship with them."

I would stick with playing an authority figure Fred- not actually being one.

Mitt Romney-

"And a special thank you to the citizens of Massachusetts: You are paying all the taxes, creating all the jobs, raising all the children. This government is yours. Thank you for letting me serve you. I love this job."

Hmm... It seems to me that there are children, taxpayers, and new jobs in the other 49 states- and the government doesn't belong to Massachusetts alone.

"Ronald Reagan was a president of strength. His philosophy was a philosophy of strength - a strong military, a strong economy and strong families."

Do I even have to point out the problems with this one?

Mike Huckabee-

"One thing governors feel, Democrats and Republicans alike, is that we have a health care system that, if you're on Medicaid, you have unlimited access to health care, at unlimited levels, at no cost. No wonder it's running away."

Actually- One of the BIG problems of Medicaid is that it LIMITS the access to quality health care. Not to mention it rations the treatments and services that you can receive.

"The health care system is really designed to reward you for being unhealthy. If you are a healthy person and work hard to be healthy, there are no benefits."

Wake up Huckabee- Under the Family and Medical Leave act, you get up to 12 weeks of UNPAID leave in a twelve month period. Sick wages are often much less than normal too... do you call that a reward?

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton-

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

Besides the obvious grammatical errors... Hillary- your husband was the president. Not you. He may have asked you for advice on occasion, but he was the president. It's not a tandem job.

"If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle."

Ok... so you're going to knock front page stories- which often do with good deeds, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan- because you want to change your hairstyle. I'm sure our fighting men and women really appreciate how much time you spend on your hair.

Barack Obama

"No one is pro-abortion."

I think the pro-choice people would argue you on that point.

"We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. "

This quote is simply wrong in so many ways- especially when you hear this one-

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America."

So if there's not a liberal America and a conservative America- surely there's no Red States or Blue States, since we're simply "The United States of America."

John Edwards-

"I was wrong to vote for this war. Unfortunately, I'll have to live with that forever. And the lesson I learned from it is to put more faith in my own judgment."

How was your judgement when you had your campaign pay for your $400 dollar haircut?