Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A maze of twisty passages, all alike

It's amazing how the Intertubes can lead you all over Creation and back.  Via I can't remember where I ran across the Wikipedia page for Zip The Pinhead, a carnival freak who seems to have led a fairly normal life, along with entertaining something like a hundred million people (if you can believe Wikipedia), including Edward, the Prince of Wales.

That made me think of the later day Dada inspired comic, Zippy the Pinhead, whose name was inspired by the original Zipster.  My very favorite was the one where Zippy and his friend reenact scenes from the 1990s cult foreign language classic, French In Action.  That's right, there was a Yale French language class that became an underground hit, strange though it may sound.  I loved it, Back In The Day - my conversational French got good enough to chat with cab drivers.

Strangely, the Wikipedia page for French In Action didn't mention the rumors that the pretty blonde ingenue (Valérie Allain) was rumored to be a 1990s porn star, although this seems to be not true.

Figures.  The Internet leads to a porn reference, even via a circus freak and an Ivy League foreign language self-help course.  Or especially via a circus freak show and an Ivy League University.  Rule 34: it's the law.  OK, maybe one exception allowed*.


* I'm afraid that the smart money doesn't bet on even this one exception, sadly.

8 comments:

bluesun said...

**but that also doesn't mean that I'm going to be hitting google for that one...

Dave H said...

Depends on whether or not you consider fan or slash fiction porn.

NotClauswitz said...

Zippy the Pinhead was my Zen Master in college, I followed the cartoon-strip religiously and could draw a better than passing copy...

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

I have to confess, when I first saw the post title, for some reason I thought you would be talking about the Republican presidential nominations. I'm still not sure if that means something about me or about the nominations.

But it does work for the internet, too.

Borepatch said...

Jake, I assume that there's a Rule 34 for the Republican primary, but am afraid to look.

;-)

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

Oooooh, thanks for that image, Borepatch. [shudders in horror]

Now, where did I put my brain bleach?

Matthew said...

Hey now, Valerie had a very... "French" sensibility when it came to supportive undergarments in the FIA series.

Also bore a reasonable resemblence to my French teacher in high school, where I watched FIA and from which she apparently took fashion tips.

Borepatch said...

Matthew, I'm reassured that I'm not the only one here who remembers FIA. Although I must say that I'm grateful that my High School French teacher did not look like Valerie Allain - it was hard enough to concentrate in class without that distraction.