the pattyo

During the whole Prop 8 thing a friend of mine was going on and on about how someone should be able to marry whatever he or she wants. I suggested that he didn’t really mean it; that marrying one’s dog might not be a good thing, and perhaps shouldn’t be allowed.

But maybe it will be?

Lee Jin-gyu fell for his ‘dakimakura’ – a kind of large, huggable pillow from Japan, often with a picture of a popular anime character printed on the side.

In Lee’s case, his beloved pillow has an image of Fate Testarossa, from the ‘magical girl’ anime series Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

Now the 28-year-old otaku (a Japanese term that roughly translates to somewhere between ‘obsessive’ and ‘nerd’) has wed the pillow in a special ceremony, after fitting it out with a wedding dress for the service in front of a local priest. Their nuptials were eagerly chronicled by the local media.

‘He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere,’ said one friend.

‘They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,’ they added.

The pillow marriage is not the first similarly-themed unusual marriage in recent times – it comes after a Japanese otaku married his virtual girlfriend Nene Anegasaki, a character who only exists in the Nintendo DS game Love Plus, last November.

Found it here.

1959: Mattel’s Barbie doll, created by Ruth Handler, made its public debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York.

Yep. I’m sorry the darn thing every made it out there. I’m even sorrier she was so successful. And I’m rather shocked that she continues to be successful.

Because I take naps. And naps make your brain better.

I read it here. It must be true.

Have you seen the Nutrisystem ad with someone named “Amy” and Marie Osmond? Man, it’s enough to convince me NOT to try to lose weight. Amy looks anorexic (I read on the site that she’s a size 2 now), and Marie Osmond looks like … well … like a lot of plastic surgery has taken place.

Scary stuff.

I know I could stand to lose some weight, but I also know that bodies change, and I just don’t think were meant to have 22 inch waists when when in our 50s.

Or maybe I’m just lying to myself.

But no one will accuse me of looking like I’ve had plastic surgery, and no one worries that I have anorexia. So there’s that.

New movie ties Taiwan’s messy politics to a Bay Area murder

Summary for story goes here and here’s some morej summary to go with the story

Hmmm. I’m guessing they’ll try and fix that one quickly. But good to know where the summary will be … I might have missed it otherwise!

(I saw it here … but you might not.)

… on the side of a van driving by:

Pets Exterminated … Naturally!

Yep. Really.

(It was really “pests”. Honest.)

Police say a Massachusetts man who stuffed 75 bottles of body lotion in his pants couldn’t slip away from authorities, hampered by slacks that were nearly bursting at the seams.

… you can bet I’ll look more closely now!

I read it here.

… about this recalls of various Toyota vehicles:

“Don’t become a hypochondriatic driver.”

Um. Okay then. That means, basically, that some shoes might be on sale. But maybe not. Big help, Footwear etc.

I shopped there. Once. Said I’d never go back because the man tried to sell me shoes that didn’t fit. Went back. Actually bought shoes that didn’t fit.

Never again!

Read in an email:

PUBLIC NOTICE OF OPEN MEETING:

SUBJECT: GRAND BOULEVARDS PROGRAM

TIME: 6PM -9PM

LOCATION: WESTMINSTER PRESERVATION CHURCH

1100 SHASTA AVENUE

Heh … funny typo!