Inspired by the handbag thread in the pit, I thought I would ask fellow dopers what they thought were the most beautiful, touching and lasting tributes to the memories of the people we lost that day, and also what they saw as the most offensive, annoying, or otherwise awful pieces of useless trash we were forced to put up with.
I am slightly ashamed to say that there was a long period where I was very, very tired of hearing every single celebrity ramble on patriotically and meaninglessly about how they felt. I was tired of news stories that had no new information whatsoever dominating every news medium for what seemed like months. I was tired of the fairly shameless merchandising and American flags on EVERYTHING. I’m sure many people felt the same way.
I’ll stick to songs for this post anyway.
Good Songs-
David Wilcox - September 12
Moby - Sleep Alone
Simon & Garfunkel - American Tune (Yes, I know!)
Bad Songs-
Neil Young - Let’s Roll
Charlie Daniels - This Ain’t No Rag, It’s a Flag
Cher - Song For The Lonely (I think it’s called that)
What do you guys think? Any category is acceptable (with the possible exception of “Legislation”), give goods and bads, one or the other, just general opinions, whatever.
The worst one has to be that Photoshop image of the eagle shedding a tear. That looks sooooooooooooooooooo cheesy, it makes me blow dry chunks every time I see it.
The best one is the photo of the three New York Firefighters raising the American flag in the middle of the ruins of the WTC towers. Says everything that needs to be said.
I can’t remember the name, something like “Spanky the American Eagle” or thereabouts. It was an anamorphic eagle action figure, He-Man’s body, rippling muscles, gripping a waving American flag. “With removable wings!” The ad encouraged us to cough up $19.95 to help “remember the fallen heroes!”
The best? Huh. To be honest, I liked the two towers of light they had in Manhattan for a month. Quiet, dignified, sad and hopeful at the same time. It caught me.
I almost started a thread on this topic (well, actually, just the “worst” tributes-- your topic is much better) when I saw this GW Bush 2001-dollar bill as a featured item on eBay. :eek: Couldn’t this guy find a better-looking picture of the President?
Not awful in the way the handbags are, but kind of a well-intentioned, 9/11-inspired graphical vat of glurge. And (as is required for any glurge worthy of the name) he misspelled the word “Memoriam” on the bill and in the description.
The worst thing I’ve heard was that terrible cover of “Wish You Were Here” during the “Tribute to Heroes” show. I used to love that song, and now I can’t listen to it without thinking of Fred Durst and his stupid baseball cap. When Limp Bizkit attempts to cover Pink Floyd, the terrorists are well on their way to winning.
There have been a lot of good tributes, but only one comes to mind right now. My mom cut out a cartoon off the editorial page. It says “Twin Towers” at the bottom, and in the place of the towers are a police officer and a fireman. I don’t know why, but that picture gets me every time I see it.
Also, I noticed that they interview one of the workers at the site in “Spiderman”. I assume this was a subtle nod to recognize what had happened, since they had to digitally remove the image of the towers in the movie. Did anyone else notice this?
I liked how, through it all (the aftermath that is) even when the US could not be faulted for looking inward, taking care of themselves etc, they still managed to send tribute and thanks to other, I guess what you would call sidebar stories, related to 9/11. One that stuck in my mind was a beautiful piece on how Gander, Newfoundland took in literaly thousands of people when flights we being re-routed and grounded. The US was under attack and reeling in shock, yet still found the time to thank others. It’s the kind of thing you’d want in a neighbour.
Drollman-- over 200 posts with a spelling mistake!
Last week in Las Vegas, we were walking along the Strip near New York, New York when we saw an incredibly tacky sidewalk store selling t-shirts featuring Sept. 11 images, NYFD logos, etc…
As we got closer, we realized it wasn’t a store and that these shirts had been left there by ordinary people as a memorial/tribute to the tragedy. It was quite touching in its simplicity and its unstructuredness.
I was in the library glancing at a book called “Plane Insanity.” The author is a flight attendant, and the book is about the crazy things that happen on airplanes. There was a notice in the front:
This book was written, edited, and send to the publishers before the events of September 11, 2001. Now that the victims are resting in peace, can the rest of us learn to live with it?
George Carlin wrote that he hoped that after the year 2000, the crime of the century took place really quick so he could read about it.
Thought James Taylor’s live version of “Fire and Rain” during the MSG tribute was absolutely beautiful in its simplicity.
Worst tributes are the thousands of horrendous patriotic t-shirts, mugs, posters, bathing suits, eagles, you name it. That is the price you pay for a semi-free market.