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Latest Caption Contest
Caption Contest #14
By Anirban on April 8th, 2010 in caption contest, India, mass transit
This one’s from Mumbai… y’ know the city in the country famous for its snake charmers and…
Digressions in Discourse
By Anirban on April 8th, 2010 in caption contest, India, mass transit
This one’s from Mumbai… y’ know the city in the country famous for its snake charmers and…
25 Responses to Caption Contest #8
“I am NOT AN ANIMAL! I am a SUPERHUMAN BEING!”
Kevin Smith’s additional for Amalgam Comics- Spiderelephant Man (Spiderman from Marvel Comics combined with the little known DC villain Elephant Man) aka S.E.M.- failed to garner attention in the US, however . . .
maybe someone can pick up from here . . . I’ve lost the thread . . .
Perhaps I’ll be struck down by lightening–Headline in NY Times- Ganesh Bitten by Radioactive Spider!
everyone forgets about the proportionate memory…
When not saving the world, SpiderElephant Man karaokes with friends to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
Spider-Ganesh, Spider-Ganesh, Hindu deity, with elephant flesh,
Wrote the Mahabharat, with his tusk, catchin’ criminals, dawn to dusk,
Look out: here comes the Spider-Ganesh
You know, I spent about an hour trying to think of how to make that Spider-Man jingle work and couldn’t do it. Kris, I bow at your feet…
It only took me 37 hours to think of it. What you need, amigo, is more time to waste. Step 1; start “working” from home. Step 2; figure out what the hell rhymes with Ganesh . . . after that it’s all gravy.
Good for you… I’m still stuck with the likes of “Power & Responsibility – Hindu Deity ” and “My friendly neighborhood Ganesha” …
*Gets Brainwave*
“What if – Michael Straysinski got another 6 year run on The Amazing Spider-Man”
and yeah…the Jingle is awesome…its in my head now with new lyrics
I don’t think 37 hours would make a bit a difference. By the way, I’m living proof that you can “work” from work, too. Just make sure your computer screen doesn’t face the door.
Wow! Inspired, Kris. Can’t top that, but here’s a second verse..
Son of Shiva, strong and wise; got a trunk and compound eyes,
Keeps us safe, from all harm; doin’ it with just two arms.
Look out: here comes the Spider-Ganesh
I can’t stop now…verse 3:
Spider-Ganesh, Spider-Ganesh; from Pakistan to Bangladesh,
He’s a hero, he’s a god; pachydermata arthropod!
Look out: here comes the Spider-Ganesh
here’s the bridge:
“While you’re taking a bath,
He’ll stand guard at your house,
Lost his head to Shiva’s wrath,
Now he rides – on a mouse!”
Wow! Gotta give props to “Pachydermata athropod,” and the bridge. I don’t have much funny left, but I’m inspired to try one more time:
Spider-Ganesh, Spider-Ganesh, superhero/celestial mesh,
Fightin’ crime, will he forget? He’s part elephant, don’t you fret,
Hey there, there goes the Spider-Ganesh!
+ Wealth and fame, he’s ignored, peanuts are his reward . . .
(special thanks to Aakaash for the “proportionate memory” joke and Pulao for co-authorship)
“Uh-oh…my divine spider-elephant sense in tingling…like it did when I first faced the chameleon in 1967…but not like time when I fought electro in 1968…much stronger than when I faced the black cat in 1977…Oh No the crowd is carrying me towards the evil Mystique-Kali”
ROTFLMAO at that theme song! You guys rule!
The best line is still, “Wrote the Mahabharat, with his tusk, catchin’ criminals, dawn to dusk…” This captures both the superhero and divine nature of Spider-Ganesh.
Even though there’s not much left in the ol’ Karma tank, I’ll try two more, (incorporating Kris’ unused line).
“Spidey-sense, he’s aware; get in trouble, hears your prayer.
Venerate, one and all; there he goes, up the wall.
Look up!: there goes the Spider-Ganesh.
Always on, the side of right; avatar, in red tights.
Wealth and fame, he’s ignored; peanuts are his reward
Look out!: there goes the Spider-Ganesh”
You know it’s a common fallacy that Ganesh likes peanuts. He doesn’t and he’s tired of people putting him in a box like that. He like ‘laddoos’ people! Little sweets, large sweets, fried sweets and baked sweets. Sweets made of milk, sweets made of cream. But no damn peanuts!
OK – I made a couple of edits – removed the peanut fallacy, inserted “friendly neighbourhood” into the last verse (AS IT SHOULD BE) which replaced the “Pakistan to Bangladesh” reference, which is OK since those countries don’t really jump on the Ganesha bandwagon anyway.
Who says collaborative writing doesn’t yield art? Glance hither
Spider-Ganesh, Spider-Ganesh,
Hindu deity, with elephant flesh;
Wrote the Mahabharat, with his tusk,
catchin’ criminals, dawn to dusk!
Look out: here comes the Spider-Ganesh…
Son of Shiva, strong and wise,
got a trunk and compound eyes,
Keeps us safe, from all harm,
doin’ it with just two arms!
Hey There: here comes the Spider-Ganesh…
[Bridge]
While you’re taking a bath,
He’ll stand guard at your house,
Lost his head to Shiva’s wrath,
Now he rides – on a mouse!
Spider-Ganesh, Spider-Ganesh;
friendly neighbourhood Spider-Ganesh,
He’s a hero, he’s a god;
pachydermata arthropod!
Look out: here comes the Spider-Ganesh
I don’t know if this classifies as a cultural observation, but I found it interesting that the Americans (as far as the theme song is concerned) mainly focused on the “Ganesha” part – myth, deity, Hinduism, while Anirban and myself (Indians) yammered on about the “Spider-” part – the powers, the artists, the comics.
Where does Pulao fall, you ask? Good question. As with all good caption-contest hosters, she is absent from the list of direct contributors and is only credited with “co-authorship”, which is nebulous, but works for my insight.
I feel the birth of an essay – “The God and the Spider” perhaps?
Not to rain on your East/West divide parade, Aakaash, BUT if we were to consider all the comments, we would find that:
1) The folks who concentrated on the superhero aspect are those who actually read comics. Yes, that would include you and Anirban, but also would include: Kris’s “catchin’ criminals, dawn to dusk,” and turgidpossum’s “Spiderelephant man.” That makes it a fifty-fifty Indian/American split. (Pllus, Kirsten combined ganesh and spider-man.)
2) Plenty of Americans who commented on this blog (from, I know, a grand total of around eight) didn’t, actually, talk about Ganesh at all. First responder Katie Levin went with an awesome Elephant Man reference, turgidpossum, as noted above, created a new superhero that had nothing to do with Ganesh, and Duodecad followed up on turgidpossum’s creation by commenting on the figure’s Travoltaesque pose.
So, where do I fall? I fall out of reach of your narrow definitions of culture! Muhahaha!
damnation!
Why does Pulao always have to resort to “facts” and “statistics”? But of course, point taken. It was just a fleeting impression anyway, but you’re right – I say “as far as the theme song is concerned” but there are no theme song contributions from Anirban or myself! Whoops!
by the way, is 23 comments a new record for a post?
No, 24 is now the new record. Sheesh, get your facts straight!
I have anothe,r unfortunately boring, explanation of the way the Spider-Ganesh songs “makes meaning”: OK, the structure, tune, and repeated words or just the location of repeated words in the verse are what carry the meaning that signals “Spider Man theme song.” For example, if somebody hummed the tune by itself and you remembered seeing the movie or cartoon, you’d think “Spider Man.” The Hindu deity content is what is extra, so of course that content is more marked.
I also concur with Pulao that it’s tough to divide the posters’ content by whether or not they grew up with Ganesh as a deity. But we probably could get about dozen different critical essays about it. Or maybe just one with a dozen or so authors. Publication!!!