Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Of Shaved Body Parts and Mardi Gras

The other day, I heard that Britney Spears shaved a body part. If no one told you which body part, what would you have guessed? Okay, if you knew it was a body part and it was photographed and was all over the Internet, would your guess have changed? And if she shaved it and was getting a tattoo in the general vicinity of the shaved area, would your guess have changed? And if the tattoo artist said it was a cute tattoo, would your guess have changed? Probably not. If we polled people before the news got out, most would not have said that she shaved her head. Sad.

I know Ian blogged about this the other day, and I am not trying to steal his thunder. I would not want to do it. But lots of people blogged about this on Monday. It seemed to be the thing to blog about.

Today is Mardi Gras, or as I call it, Fat Tuesday. Now, I don't know much about Mardi Gras, but when has that stopped me from passing along my misinformation?

Mardi Gras was founded in the 1960s, when certain vendors in New Orleans had an abundance of doubloons, king cakes, Hurricane glasses and ceramic masks. The city council was charged with taking bribes from local merchants, and making laws to benefit said merchants. That is no different than most municipalities, though New Orleans' corruption is a bit more transparent.

Anyway the city council voted to establish a day so the merchants could sell all of their crap. The mayor threatened to veto the measure, until the council members added a rider to the bill, adding beads in the list of crap to sell, and recommending that women would have to show their breasts in public to secure these little plastic beads. Since all of the requiescat information was in the bill, it passed unanimously. Sadly, again, this is also how many legislatures act.

In future years, flower sellers lobbied (bribed) for there to be flower-covered floats. Then prostitutes wanted sex on the street, and you can imagine what else was added in other years. Notice how my posts tend to write themselves?

So, dear friends, now you know the rest of the story. And all I have to think now is what to give up for lent.

20 comments:

LarryLilly said...

Lent is so 1300's Catholic sweet woman.

Remember meatless fridays? I remember (1950-1960) we always had fish on Fridays, or pasta, with plain marinara sauce, never meat sauce. Going to a catholic school, or the "Big House", (St Pius X) having to wait until after communion. Remember those single serving boxes of cereal, that had the perforated slit on the face, so you could eat from the box? No matter how carefully you ripped open that little side, and poured in the milk, whilst it sat on the slanted desk, it would find the hole the production method would create, and the milk would run down the desk onto your lap. I gave that up when i gave up lent!

Anonymous said...

It's amazing to me how many similarities Kwanza and Mardi Gras have in common. Both contrived holidays.

~Jef

Leesa said...

larry: During Lent, we have meatless Fridays.

edge: this is a joke, sweetie. Not real. All holidays are contrived in a way.

Ryan said...

i wish some1 would tape britney mouth shut i dont care what she shaved she so overrated! thanx 4 stoppin by our blog!

kathi said...

I honestly feel sorry for Britney. I know she's her own sort of freak show, but hey, can you imagine how young she was when all that's gold just got slung her way? I was outta control at her age and I didn't have anything, I can't imagine what I'd done with all she's got. She's in so much trouble, mentally, emotionally...it could lead to a scary end.

Mardi Gras...speaking of days when I was outta control...there are weeks I don't even remember.

Deb said...

I totally agree with Kathi on this one. I feel so bad for Britney. She is so fed up with the paparazzi and people gawking at her 24/7. She has absolutely no privacy at all and I think at the very young age at which she acquired great wealth from her success was a bit overwhelming. I think the ‘shaving of the head’ was symbolic of a new beginning.

Too deep, huh?

Ah hell, the tattoo that she supposedly got on her hip may be hot! ;)

Rick said...

I had to settle for a Virtual Mardi Gras this year.

The Moon Topples said...

Leesa: Thanks for stopping by this morning. I've linked you, as I like what I see here so far. I started my blog around the same time with the same thought in mind: practice, practice, practice.

Oh, and I have nothing intelligent to say with regard to Lent or Mardi Gras. These are fascinating things, of course, but I know very little about them.

Leesa said...

ryan: no problem; but many really want to read about her. Sad.

kathi: anna nichole smith seems to be as sad a story. And I heard Anna Nichole in an interview and she seemed to have the mentality of a middle-school girl. How come that is sexy?

~deb: I did not hear about a tattoo on her hip. I thought it was a pair of lips on the back of her neck.

rick: I could not click on your virtual Mardi Gras. Weird.

moon topples: thanks, sweetie. You have a wonderful site, by the by.

Ian Lidster said...

And there I went and forgot it was Shrove Tuesday and I should be having pancakes. We always did when I was growing up. Hmm, what to give up for lent? I think I'll give up both heroin and political assassination, since I indulge in neither, it shouldn't be so hard. No point in putting myself through an ordeal.
Cheers,
Ian

Prata said...

I don't get involved with lent or mardi gras. As far as Britney Spears is concerned, why feel sorry for her? There comes a time, stardom aside, that you take control of your life. If you don't have the mental fortitude to withstand what's going on in your life, do something else. If you don't have any other talents or skills, you have your parents to blame. Parents should be ensuring their children don't grow up as stars being the emotional and mental equivalent of a 4 year old.

Anna Nicole Smith could have taken any number of opportunities to better herself (I do not know if she did or did not outside of the money she came too) and there's certainly nothing sad there. Glamour doesn't make her any more important or sorrowful than some single mother down the way. However, her child, that now is the inheritor of her estate; that poor thing hopefully has some sense as she gets older. Otherwise, yah. That's gonna be another wasted experience.

Tai said...

Lent.

Give up something for Lent. Hmmm.

Well, it won't be blogging, that's for darn sure!

Oh. Right. Not Catholic!

Leesa said...

ian: the point is to sacrifice. i am going to give up Diet Dr. Pepper. I real sacrifice for me.

prata: okay, making sense again.

tai: yeah, I thought about giving up blogging, but decided against it.

Patriot Action said...

You've given me a good laugh for today.

Anonymous said...

Your summary of Mardi Gras as you see it was funny! Its one of the few holidays thats actually steeped in history. The bimbos bearing breasts for beads (no offense to anyone who's actually done that) only works on Bourbon street and is a rather new (and frowned upon) part of the traditional mardi gras. The parades are all conducted by clubs called crews - lots of work.

Anonymous said...

And I get stuck working right outside of New Orleans during Marti Gras...

How unlucky is that?

I must go get some beads now.

What was this holiday for again????

Shadowdog said...

Giving up sweet sweet soda is no small matter! Good luck with that.

If I were to give up something, it would probably be PIE.

kitten said...

Leesa, excellent writing style, love it love it love it! Also, I do like your take on Mardis Gras, however, would encourage anyone who has not been to a real celebration to go see it live in person in New Orleans. I mean spend an entire year there, not to mention complete the trip with going Catholic *grin* and going to Mass on Sundays for all the guilt you can deal with (chuckle, just kidding). But it does take on a life of its own when one lives there, totally unrelated to drinking too much and having nameless/faceless sex with anyone around.

Leesa said...

matt: that's what I am here for.

kat: yeah, I know. Mardi Gras used to be much more family-friendly.

the other ryan: I think Mardi Gras is some sort of religious holiday.

shadow: I could do without pi. I mean, how often do you need to figure out the area of a circle.

kitten: been there, done that. I have heard that San Francisco is like a different country. I have been to SF, and I still thought I was in the US. Sometimes being in New Orleans, though, it is just different there.

Shadowdog said...

Leesa, hardy har har. ;-P

Kitten, wouldn't faceless sex hurt?