View Full Version : Oh, The Humanity!!
Just a little bit of silliness.
I hope I don't offend anyone here......but I absolutely hate those blow-up christmas figures that people put in their yards. My kids and I always had a laugh when we would see them deflated.
Anyhow.......on my way to the recycling center in a small town near here, I came across this yard with all these deflated christmas/holiday figures. All I could think of was "Oh, the humanity!!"
I guess it doesn't take much to make me laugh. :laff: :laff:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/Oh%20the%20Humanity-2_1.jpg
Float On
12-15-15, 12:21pm
I hate those too.
Actually the only one I came close to liking was a huge black cat one during Halloween. There were 3 real cats sitting and looking at it. I didn't have time to grab the camera but I laughed a long time over it.
catherine
12-15-15, 12:46pm
haha! You're not offending me, but you would offend DH. Every year we have the same argument about two blow-up snowmen that he calls "Elfie" and "Frosty" He insists on putting them up. They are so tacky, and when they're deflated during the day they look like they've been hung because they're anchored to a tree with wire around their necks. They get tipsy and fall over and I always have to tell DN, "Your pal is drunk again tonight--take care of him!"
iris lilies
12-15-15, 1:07pm
I was just waxing on, smugly, on another website that in my Victorian Village neighborhood, we don't have those hideous blow up figures.
There is no rule against them, there is no shaming talk on our neighborhood chat sites, we just seem to all share a similar aesthetic. Electric candles in the windows and tiny lights either white or solid color, are the decorations around here. There are some strings of multi colored lights and that's as wild as it gets.
haha! You're not offending me, but you would offend DH. Every year we have the same argument about two blow-up snowmen that he calls "Elfie" and "Frosty" He insists on putting them up. They are so tacky, and when they're deflated during the day they look like they've been hung because they're anchored to a tree with wire around their necks. They get tipsy and fall over and I always have to tell DN, "Your pal is drunk again tonight--take care of him!"
LOL catherine!
iris lilies
12-15-15, 1:09pm
I hate those too.
Actually the only one I came close to liking was a huge black cat one during Halloween. There were 3 real cats sitting and looking at it. I didn't have time to grab the camera but I laughed a long time over it.
i've seen some blow up figures positioned by windows for Halloween, and they are scary. I approve of those.
I am glad someone else said it first. I really don't like them. I think they are big and loud and gaudy, but some people love them, so to each his or her own.
No offense here. Anymore it seems like most all of the outdoor decorations are cheap plastic junk from overseas promoted by big box stores starting well before Halloween. So I don't do much outside decorating. I do appreciate the Holiday spirit of their owners, but it's not my style. Back in the old days when the old man would cut Santa and Frosty out of plywood and use a pattern from Popular Mechanics to paint them, now that was nice.
No offense here. Anymore it seems like most all of the outdoor decorations are cheap plastic junk from overseas promoted by big box stores starting well before Halloween. So I don't do much outside decorating. I do appreciate the Holiday spirit of their owners, but it's not my style. Back in the old days when the old man would cut Santa and Frosty out of plywood and use a pattern from Popular Mechanics to paint them, now that was nice.
My most favorite decoration of all time in my home town. Someone used plywood and cut out snoopy yelling up to santa whose sled was crashed on the roof "I don't care who you say you are fat man, get off my roof."
My most favorite decoration of all time in my home town. Someone used plywood and cut out snoopy yelling up to santa whose sled was crashed on the roof "I don't care who you say you are fat man, get off my roof."
That's great:)!
Williamsmith
12-15-15, 3:01pm
My dad cut a star out of plywood and wrapped it in aluminum foil, drilled holes in the point of each star and mounted the large blue bulbs there. He hung it at the very top of our two story house so it could be seen for a long distance. That was the only outdoor decorations we had. Inside.....different story.
The blow up plastic crap from China ough to get you a fine and 90 days community service.
haha! You're not offending me, but you would offend DH. Every year we have the same argument about two blow-up snowmen that he calls "Elfie" and "Frosty" He insists on putting them up. They are so tacky, and when they're deflated during the day they look like they've been hung because they're anchored to a tree with wire around their necks. They get tipsy and fall over and I always have to tell DN, "Your pal is drunk again tonight--take care of him!"
That's great, Catherine! Ha! I actually started a 12 Days of Blowup Snowman album feature on my Instagram account. There's a guy who has one just down the street. I pass it every day on my way to work. I stop at the stop sign and take its picture from the same spot. It's always different. Careening this way or that, or leaning with its face against a tree. It's just my own little private project. With our weather lately, it can be in almost any position or state of deflation.
In case some of you aren't familiar with WKRP.......It's when Les Nessman is doing a Thanksgiving give-away promo by throwing out live turkeys from a helicopter overhead. He didn't know they couldn't fly. And when they crashed to the ground, he was yelling "Oh the Humanity".........which is sort of like the dreadful burning and crashing of the Hindenburg blimp when the reporter was yelling "Oh, the Humanity"........which was awful......but I like using the phrase in reference to the WKRP turkey disaster.
So when I see something silly........like lots of "dead" deflated christmas blow-up guys, those words came to mind. haha
Speaking of cheap crap........of which there is sooooo much of in this country.........here's an image I think I posted last year. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it in Big Lots. (I know.......you're thinking "What the hell was she doing in Big Lots??")........but unfortunately, cheap crap is everywhere......but that's for another post.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/xmasplungercrap_zpsfeeeefed.jpg
SteveinMN
12-15-15, 3:37pm
An apartment building near where my mom lived for a while deployed an inflatable snowman for the winter months. I call this one "Faceplant".
http://i68.tinypic.com/2jg5e75.jpg
Anymore it seems like most all of the outdoor decorations are cheap plastic junk from overseas
Ironically, the cheap plastic blowmolds -- from back when "Made in Japan" meant "junk" -- are now going for surprising money.
http://i65.tinypic.com/2hf1l44.jpg
This trio went for $70 on ebay recently. I suppose in 50 years when outdoor Christmas decorations are holograms projected into thin air, people will be nostalgic for inflatable Santas and snowmen....
"Faceplant"......that's good Steve!
ToomuchStuff
12-15-15, 3:50pm
One of the bosses and myself just had the WKRP discussion, as he thought it was Herb Tarlic who had the famous "as god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly" line, and I said it was Mr. Carlson and he was just thinking it was Herb, because at the time, the actors parents lived in Kansas close to him and he knew them.
I get the Hindenburg reference, and I also thought it needs something like a grinch with a sharp stick standing over it.
There are several others I have seen over the years that have made me entertain the idea of Christmas lights. The man hanging from the roof, or upside down from the lights, the reindeer that was hunted and hanging, bleeding, the reindeer creating baby reindeer, santa peeing off the roof, etc. I'd probably be more likely to get someones tangled christmas lights and hang them in a single ball as I have seen done.
Years ago, I had a friend hang a christmas tree upside down from his vaulted ceiling. The joke was if he did it again, others would go up on a ladder and nail the packages up there.
Oh....I guess Les was just the one yelling "Oh the Humanity!" haha I loved that show.
Neither DH nor I have ever had any energy to put lights on our house. I find it amazing that anyone does........after everything else we have to do. I'm lucky to get the tree put up and food made for several holiday occasions.
One of my friends, an Etsy seller, is wild about blowmolds. Old-timey technology has its own charm. I'm a fan of a little nostalgia, myself.
iris lily
12-15-15, 8:50pm
No offense here. Anymore it seems like most all of the outdoor decorations are cheap plastic junk from overseas promoted by big box stores starting well before Halloween. So I don't do much outside decorating. I do appreciate the Holiday spirit of their owners, but it's not my style. Back in the old days when the old man would cut Santa and Frosty out of plywood and use a pattern from Popular Mechanics to paint them, now that was nice.
Today we drove past a house that had those plywood figures. I remarked to DH those were of our era.
We also passed many flattened blow ups. DH said they are flat because people are turning them off during the day to save energy. these things need electricity to power a fan that blows into them.
rodeosweetheart
12-15-15, 8:53pm
A crane company here puts lights up the side of the crane and then an outline of a tree. They also put "Merry" on the side in metal, somehow, and light that it. It looks like a real-life erector set! Very cool.
SteveinMN
12-16-15, 10:25am
And every year this happens...
http://i66.tinypic.com/28vcf3a.jpg
3M's headquarters building in Maplewood, Minnesota.
rodeosweetheart
12-16-15, 10:45am
And every year this happens...
http://i66.tinypic.com/28vcf3a.jpg
3M's headquarters building in Maplewood, Minnesota.
Cool!
Just a little bit of silliness.
I hope I don't offend anyone here......but I absolutely hate those blow-up christmas figures that people put in their yards. My kids and I always had a laugh when we would see them deflated.
Anyhow.......on my way to the recycling center in a small town near here, I came across this yard with all these deflated christmas/holiday figures. All I could think of was "Oh, the humanity!!"
I guess it doesn't take much to make me laugh. :laff: :laff:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/Oh%20the%20Humanity-2_1.jpg
oh, how I hate these things. The only good thing about them is that the kids seem to enjoy them. Saw one today at lunch deflated. tee hee
freshstart
12-22-15, 3:34pm
I forgot about Les and the turkeys, I have to find that! We moved into a predominantly Italian neighborhood and not to stereotype but boy, they take decorating seriously. As a kid we never had outside lights, I was raised during the energy crisis and I was a 6 yr who took Jimmy Carter's suggestions to heart. Finally, when I had kids, I found a sparse wire and white lights wreaths that is very pretty lit. That goes on the front door, tree in window, candles in other window, decorations for outside viewing done. Well, neighbors learned that we weren't doing great this year. So 3 lovely sets of neighbors have come over to offer to do our outside lights. "Just point us in the right direction!" Um, we don't do outside lights but look at our lovely wreath! I hope we aren't alienating ourselves too much, lol. The chief of police has 6 of those really big blow up things, dude, that's 4 too many.
freshstart
12-22-15, 3:35pm
And every year this happens...
http://i66.tinypic.com/28vcf3a.jpg
3M's headquarters building in Maplewood, Minnesota.
no controversy over inclusion? A menorah would be hard to make.
Let’s see if I can describe the scene in my neighbor’s yard.
It’s the house directly across the street, up on a small terrace. On the left side, at the top of the terrace, is an inflatable Christmas tree. When deflated, it hangs down the terrace looking very much like a festive green condom.
On the right are 3 inflatable figures next to each other – Spiderman crouching on a chimney with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/ovdhdhz), Christmas Mickey Mouse standing with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/pgywhhp), and Santa in a chimney with flames coming up behind his rear end and a reindeer with a fire extinguisher behind him (http://tinyurl.com/p8zugt7).
However, when the wind is right and the 3 figures turn and bend, we’ve got Spiderman and Mickey hugging each other or, alternatively, Spiderman putting his head in Mickey’s lap or vice versa. Santa is usually on the left, just watching. However, sometimes the kids in the house will switch the figures around so that Santa is in the middle. Then DH and I call Santa “the mediator” because it looks like he’s trying to stop Mickey and Spiderman from getting to each other - or maybe they’re both trying to hug Santa and his reindeer. And sometimes Santa is turned sideways so that either Mickey or Spiderman is sticking his head in the reindeer's rear end.
Many inappropriate remarks have been made between me and DH. We’re way too easily entertained.
Well, actually turkeys do kind of fly, I've had them fly in front of my car while trying to cross a road and they can do some real damage or maybe it's just 'falling with style'. A town across the southern boarder from here has an annual Turkey Drop from an airplane. They took a few years off...something about FAA and PETA getting involved. http://www.ky3.com/news/local/live-turkeys-dropped-from-plane-at-the-turkey-trot-in-yellville-arkansas/21048998_35772182
I think geek really is cool, I saw a blow up tardis with a christmas bow I could have bought for under $200. I passed and payed my bills, :)
freshstart
12-23-15, 10:09am
Let’s see if I can describe the scene in my neighbor’s yard.
It’s the house directly across the street, up on a small terrace. On the left side, at the top of the terrace, is an inflatable Christmas tree. When deflated, it hangs down the terrace looking very much like a festive green condom.
On the right are 3 inflatable figures next to each other – Spiderman crouching on a chimney with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/ovdhdhz), Christmas Mickey Mouse standing with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/pgywhhp), and Santa in a chimney with flames coming up behind his rear end and a reindeer with a fire extinguisher behind him (http://tinyurl.com/p8zugt7).
However, when the wind is right and the 3 figures turn and bend, we’ve got Spiderman and Mickey hugging each other or, alternatively, Spiderman putting his head in Mickey’s lap or vice versa. Santa is usually on the left, just watching. However, sometimes the kids in the house will switch the figures around so that Santa is in the middle. Then DH and I call Santa “the mediator” because it looks like he’s trying to stop Mickey and Spiderman from getting to each other - or maybe they’re both trying to hug Santa and his reindeer. And sometimes Santa is turned sideways so that either Mickey or Spiderman is sticking his head in the reindeer's rear end.
Many inappropriate remarks have been made between me and DH. We’re way too easily entertained.
lmao, thx for that laugh!
SteveinMN
12-23-15, 11:18am
no controversy over inclusion?
Nah. There are pine trees all over the state. One of the few species that looks alive during the winter. :)
lmao, thx for that laugh! Me too, thanks sbagirl! :laff: Not a lot of Christmas blowups around here, but at Halloween Frankenstein down the street appeared to have been the victim of some sort of attack and was flagging down passersby for help, waving weakly as he hung over the mailbox.
ETA: we will probably go to "Winterhaven" tonight. There's a neighborhood here where it's tradition that everyone puts up a big display, I think they're even given money from the HOA to help pay for the electricity. There's everything from fantastic light displays to blowing bubble 'snow' to blowmolds, slide shows, plenty of music, lots of plywood cutouts, nativity scenes - I remember one with the baby Jesus lying on a kid's lawn chair - I have to admit, it IS sort of magical, wandering around in the dark with all the sparkly lights, looking at people's well meaning efforts.
I just love that people take the time to put up displays. Tacky, elegant, over the top or subtle, I love them all. I just keep thinking of the exuberance people have putting them up...or planning them. Each one makes me smile on a night journey.
frugal-one
12-23-15, 1:09pm
Our town puts up sterile white lights and huge, sterile white snowflakes on the poles (they are all the same). UGH!
Let’s see if I can describe the scene in my neighbor’s yard.
It’s the house directly across the street, up on a small terrace. On the left side, at the top of the terrace, is an inflatable Christmas tree. When deflated, it hangs down the terrace looking very much like a festive green condom.
On the right are 3 inflatable figures next to each other – Spiderman crouching on a chimney with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/ovdhdhz), Christmas Mickey Mouse standing with his arms extended (http://tinyurl.com/pgywhhp), and Santa in a chimney with flames coming up behind his rear end and a reindeer with a fire extinguisher behind him (http://tinyurl.com/p8zugt7).
However, when the wind is right and the 3 figures turn and bend, we’ve got Spiderman and Mickey hugging each other or, alternatively, Spiderman putting his head in Mickey’s lap or vice versa. Santa is usually on the left, just watching. However, sometimes the kids in the house will switch the figures around so that Santa is in the middle. Then DH and I call Santa “the mediator” because it looks like he’s trying to stop Mickey and Spiderman from getting to each other - or maybe they’re both trying to hug Santa and his reindeer. And sometimes Santa is turned sideways so that either Mickey or Spiderman is sticking his head in the reindeer's rear end.
Many inappropriate remarks have been made between me and DH. We’re way too easily entertained.
LOL!
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