Pun Salad Accepts Full Responsibility!

[not a bullet]

Although Pun Salad has pooh-poohed the left wing efforts to link conservative/libertarian rhetoric with mass murder, recent events have caused me to take a hard look in the mirror.

CNN's John King: "Before we go to break, I want to make a quick point. We were having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race. My friend Andy Shaw used the term 'in the crosshairs' in talking about the candidates. We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from that kind of language."

OK, you might laugh. Obviously, the chances of a lunatic being set off by an inadvertent metaphorical mention of "crosshairs" is low. But if it saves even one life, then isn't it incumbent on us all to watch what we say, tone down the rhetoric, and just basically STFU? Of course.

Which made me look with shame upon Pun Salad's use—some might say overuse—of the HTML <ul> tag, the unordered list.

  • Or, as it's informally known: the bullet list. Uh oh.

  • What was I thinking? If pop psychology, as explicated by numerous New York Times and Washington Post columnists, has taught us anything, it's that the juxtaposition of (a) conservative opinion and (b) anything at all suggestive of firearms is likely to send your random psychopath off on a spree of indiscriminate shooting of politicians, children, and other innocent bystanders.

  • And who am I to say that the plethora of those • symbols in so many Pun Salad posts hasn't pushed some nutball into a violent reaction: "Ohmigod! Bullets! Bullets everywhere! Telling me… Must killkillkilll…"

  • So what to do?

  • Maybe change it to an arrow? But I'd hate to take responsibility for any crazed archers out there. Better avoid anything pointy.
  • A heart perhaps? It's a symbol of love, baby. But to a person in a certain frame of mind, it can also be a big fat target. Avoid this too.
  • Hello kitty! Nah, that one almost makes me homicidal.
  • Ditto for snowflakes. I'd be OK with not seeing another one as long as I live, and I take no responsibility for what I might do if the frickin' town plow buries my mailbox again…

    Deep breaths… Pure thoughts… I'm OK now.

  • Ah, a nice flower. Who could be tipped over the edge by that?

    Anyone who's allergic, that's who! Die, you insensitive clod!

Can't win, I guess.

IMAO has a brief list (bullet-free, but excessive pointiness) of other problematic behavior, and his commenters have many, many more examples. We're doomed.


Last Modified 2012-09-29 6:33 AM EDT

Evelyn Prentice

[3.5
stars] [IMDb Link]

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)

An oldie (from 1934) but it's pretty good. It's easy to see why William Powell and Myrna Loy made so many movies together: chemistry, glamor, charisma, intelligence, you name it. ("Not bad for a guy with a weak chin!")

Ms. Loy plays Evelyn, and Mr. Powell is John, her high-powered, rich and famous lawyer husband. Only problem is that he doesn't spend a lot of time at home; he's always spending evenings in the office, or out of town. This makes Evelyn ripe pickings for local gigolo and all-around weasel Larry Kennard. And John is also targeted by his latest client, the beautiful widow Nancy Harrison (Rosalind Russell—woof!—in her first movie role).

As near as I can tell, nothing happens in terms of actual infidelity. But on the other hand, appearances can be very important, seeds of mistrust are sown, etc. And (worse) Kennard turns up dead somewhere around the middle of the flick, so whodunit? It all leads up to a dramatic courtroom finish, and John solves the mystery (literally) on his feet.

It's an interesting old-fashioned melodrama, with a few dashes of screwball comedy mixed in. Enough to make me check out those other Powell/Loy movies…


Last Modified 2024-01-28 2:48 PM EDT