Two Unrelated Items from the Basement

One funny, one not so funny.

First, the Fighting Nun:


It's a stick puppet. You put your hand into the black robes, up from beneath, to hold the stick vertically and then, with two fingers, press down on levers that make her arms fold out into a punch. When we were in our 30s, doing this could make us laugh hysterically.

Second, the Time magazine O.J. Simpson cover:


It don't believe the artist, Matt Mahurin, whose work generally involved making photos look dark and moody, intended anything by it. The editor or art director who picked Mahurin was probably working from unconscious bias. People were not wrong to be outraged over it.

It's kind of the opposite of the Bobby-Jindal-as-white-guy portrait, now that I think of it.