Better Know Some Midwestern Shit, Part 1

[intertribal]

First off, what the hell is up with LJ's "subtitle"?  "Discover global communities of friends who share your unique passions and interests"?  Sounds like a robot took over.

So I was looking at the Culver's menu (my mother's obsessed with their ice cream), and had a good time with the pictures.  In case there are people that don't know, Culver's is a Midwestern burger chain.  As with anything Midwestern, there are weird undertones of "family values" at Culver's.  Their claim to fame is the ButterBurger.  Sounds bad, actually not that bad.  Part of their slogan: "If you’ve been to a Culver’s and experienced fresh, delicious food served with friendly smiles, you’ve been Culverized."  Yeeee-aaaah.

First we have some slab chicken on stone bread:

Next we have some alien crabs on bread:
 

 

And the winner, a sandwich to rival the worst sandwich I have ever had:

It looks awful as shit to me (true, good food to me often involves rice, but not always, and I do eat sandwiches and burgers).  I mean, McDonald's has better photos.  I'm not saying the food itself is shit, mind you - I've never had any of these particular beauties - but can we maybe invest in some better photography?  Slap some lettuce and tomatoes on this shit?  Just for the hell of it?

Comments

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I'm not asking you to change your icon. Just saying you relate to frightening images. I still think it's funny how you tend to 'relate' to lighter-haired icons, and I tend to 'relate' to brunettes, though.

Well, in a very literal way, it's something I'd actually do. I have boots like that. I like wearing them with skirts. And I love trekking around natural places and pausing in front of bodies of water. Relatedly, I like the imagery of black boots with the more feminine skirt. Here especially, it seems childlike, and my associations with children (or at least myself as a child) are all like untamed, unprofessionalized, full of play and spirit and imagination. But at the same time, she's got boots to get her through the grass and mud, and to kick shit with, and to generally be not a dainty, indoor, doll-like girl.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is kind of funny - maybe it's something about being something else on the internet? Also, I really don't think it's a frightening image, but that's ok. I like icons where the girl looks out at the viewer, and I like that she seems confrontational/direct/vaguely aggressive, cuz it feels like she's holding her own. The milkshake for me is like an ironic pop culture Americana icon - same with the diner/restaurant she appears to be in. Like it goes with the picture on my profile page. And it's not an urban icon.

That makes sense. It's not what I necessarily think of when I see it, but that makes sense.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's that I don't see the irony in it, at all. Not even that Americana, certainly not enough to be kitschy. I dunno, I have a similar reaction to her that I do to like, Lady Gaga--but that dissipates somewhat when somebody explains to me what the camp is all about (I don't really 'get' camp, I guess--and the somewhat is b/c it doesn't dissipate for all the stuff she treats as downright meaningless, like Latin American military imagery). It makes me uncomfortable in a sort of clash-y, something-isn't-right-here way. but i don't know what the something is. maybe it's that the image seems all at once sexually suggestive, childish, assertive, girly, prim, all-american but generic, intense but totally blank. It's toying with me and then saying no (clearly I don't go in for femdom?). It's telling me it hates me while it pretends to sip its pink milkshake. Am I supposed to respect that? Respect the anger and the girliness? Am I supposed to sit back and take it? Am I supposed to compete in the stare-down? Am I supposed to break the stare and pin her against a wall? I dunno, man. But it seems like the one thing I'm not supposed to do is understand.

Well, that's how my reactions were, in any case. The longer I sit and stare at your icon, the more uncertain I become. Lol.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

*It's not even that Americana

apologies for attempting to use Americana as an adjective, then omitting a subject.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

No, the icon itself isn't kitschy, but I find the milkshake to be so. I'm not sure why you think she hates you (I don't think she hates you!). And I'm not sure you're supposed to really do anything with an icon - what am I supposed to do with yours? Because I don't... do anything with it, really. But, well, I guess that's why we're different people.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

But milkshakes are everywhere! hmm. well, insofar as the icon is representing the person i'm speaking to, i feel as if i'm interacting with it, or interacting w/ someone who has chosen to represent themself with such an icon.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't think I've undergone any major personality changes recently... although perhaps as you said, I just relate to things you find frightening? I don't really feel that way about icons, though, I will say. I just don't really think about them too much - no more than a username, really - unless they're really in your face (like strobey, or something).

speaking of lady gaga...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

i felt you needed this.

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Lol! That's great, thanks.

Is it amazing that I've managed to survive without once hearing that song (prior to this video)? I'm not really a Lady Gaga fan though, and apparently it gets no radio play in Lincoln.

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

then you need this, too:



I only found it b/c of this article, which i found b/c of the recent link on the female gaze to her piece on "Alejandro", which is better than that one (the article, not the video).

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

wow, that is an... epic video.

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

haha, yeah.

found the other article if you're interested/bored: http://www.fatshionista.com/cms/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=69&p=412

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

that's funny (about the radio play), though it makes a sort of sense. yeah, i'm not a lady gaga fan either, though I have a mixed reaction to her sometimes.

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Well, except that a lot of her other songs get played. It could just be that I don't like the way it sounds and I change the station? There's a lot of songs that I didn't even know were hers (judging by people's reaction to her visually - I guess I thought the songs would be more "different" or "unique" or something), because they sound like everything else I hear on KFRX.

Re: speaking of lady gaga...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I dunno. Yeah, her music is not what's interesting about her. The music is just mainstream, generic, everybody can like it stuff.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Well, they do say men are more 'visual'. Maybe we men like to do things with images. :P

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha.

At the risk of opening a can of worms, what are your opinions on that whole men are visual, women are verbal thing? I really only know about it in the context of romance novels vs. porn.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

will get back to you after i turn in these goddamn grades and meet a student for lunch.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

also, to be fair, many images of women, icons or otherwise, are sexualized, and it bothers me sometimes in trying to pick an icon. like, my reaction is "that would be cool, if it weren't saying 'look at me, i'm a sex object!' goddamn it."

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

True. Although I will say that I personally prefer an icon with a face (a lot of girls and "girly icon communities" are into icons showing the back of the girl's head, her hair over her face, etc.).