Colossal Cupcakes Kudos

You don’t see many really interesting store signs in downtown American cities anymore.  At least, you don’t see signs like the store signs of old.  As I child I loved the bright flashing neon, the painted windows, the cigar store Indians, and the giant-sized representations of one of the store’s products — be it a watch, or eyeglasses, or a single shoe.  Those were among the things that made the central cities so interesting and exciting.  Now, you get signs that are more subdued, as if the shopkeepers are too cool and hip to advertise their wares with signs that scream for attention.  It’s not a positive development in my book.

So, when I was walking down Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland last night, I had to stop and admire the signage for Colossal Cupcakes.  Bright lighting blazing against the night sky!  A glass window frosted with a depiction of a huge cupcake with hot pink icing!  And speaking of icing, the icing on the (cup)cake was a huge representation of a cupcake, all lurid pink and blue, hanging above the front entrance!

I’m not a cupcake eater, but I would have marched right into the store to buy a baker’s dozen and compliment the store owner for being proud of her product.  Unfortunately, the store was closed for the night, so I can only post on our family blog, encourage our northern Ohio readers to give their bakery business to Colossal Cupcakes, and say:  Colossal Cupcakes, I salute you!

First Dennis Rodman, And Now This

North Korea has got to be the most bizarre country in the world.

Cut off from interaction with the rest of the world for decades, run by the military and a ’50s-era communist dictatorial regime, North Korea and its leaders seem to have a hopelessly distorted view of the world.  It releases laughable claims about its leaders and their prowess, it issues remarkably aggressive declarations about fighting with South Korea, the United States, and other purported enemies — and then its young leader will put on a big show about watching a basketball game with Dennis Rodman.  North Korea is so isolated from reality that it apparently doesn’t realize that Dennis Rodman has long since become a comical figure and punch line for his own peculiar behavior.  Entertaining an oddball, fringe figure like Rodman does nothing except leave outside observers scratching their heads.

It would all be laughable — except that North Korea has an enormous military, missile and (apparently) nuclear capabilities, and a starving population, and within days of Rodman’s visit, North Korea announces that it is withdrawing from its non-aggression agreements with South Korea and that it has the right to issue a pre-emptive nuclear strike.  Although North Korea hasn’t followed through on all of its prior threats, the provocative statements of an unbalanced regime have to be taken seriously.

It sounds weird to say it, but the reality is that any country so delusional that it thinks hosting Dennis Rodman is a way to show it is a friendly, functioning member of the world community is capable of just about anything.