Monday, June 15, 2009

Embracing My Inner Soap Geek

Inner? Who the fuck am I kidding? There's nothing closeted about my life-long soap addiction/devotion.

Anyhow, when I first set up this blog, it had nothing to do with Otalia. And the name - Superhero Lunchbox - had nothing to do with Otalia or "freakin' superhero", either. I named it long before there ever was an Otalia, on account of my somewhat geeky penchant for making lunch boxes devoted to cool topics. The best lunchbox I ever made was one devoted to great women authors. It featured Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, Dorothy Parker, and a bunch of other cool literary chicks. And a Willa Cather thermos. I made that for my good friend, Nickie, who still uses it almost 20 years later.

But, really, who better to devote a lunchbox to in 2009 than the women of Otalia? My latest creation:


14 comments:

Natnic said...

I can hardly wait to hear your comments on the Monday June 15th show. I thought it was realistic. I know it is hard to see such negativity but we would end up with a hollow storyline if every person opposed to the same-sex lovers was a crazed gun toting maniac and everyone in town was bubbly and happy about it. The way they wrote Rafe's opposition was so nuanced. The character of Rafe is not a paper tiger like the anti-gay characters I've seen on AMC.
He is a Hispanic young man! Of course he wants to take care of him Mom.

TheWeyrd1 said...

NICE lunchbox! I had a Brady Bunch one when I was a kid. I wish I still had it.

Liz and Dani said...

Squee! I love it!
XO Liz

Robert said...

Fantastic! P&G should contract with you and sell 10,000 right off the bat!

Snapper said...

Natnic - I'm writing about the confrontation, right now. I can preface my post by saying that I think EJ earned his paycheck this week.

TheWeyrd1 - Mine was Partridge Family. I loved me some David Cassidy in 1972, while quietly harboring a crush on Susan Dey.

L&D - It's pretty damned sweet, but I think it could be a whole lot cooler. I'm thinking the next two will be old-school, cut and paste. I have more control that way. You won't be disappointed.

Robert - If someone would pay me to talk, write about and do goofy crafty things having to do with pop culture, my life would pretty much be perfect. I'm seriously considering making a lunchbox for Ellen Wheeler.

CG said...

Great job! And can I also say I can't wait what you have to say about Monday's show. Just when I think I can't be impressed more by the greatness of this show, they prove me wrong and blow my mind away even more. I was floored by the performances of EJ Bonilla and Jessica! It was simply stellar and actually physically gave me goosebumps! As someone said before, it wasn't the charicature 'anti-gay' reaction we usually get, but an incredibly written scene layered with: religion (u either accept the whole thing, not choose the parts that u like); honesty (why she didn't tell him before); confusion (r u gay, what about gus); backround (male latino son of a single mom being overprotective), etc. I thought it was nothing short of brilliant!!! These two better get an Emmy, as should the writing team!!

JCF said...

If EJ is on summer break from college now (as I've heard---a much better reason to be off GL than prison! ;-/), it's like he finally found his acting chops again yesterday.

Yesterday, EVERYBODY on the show was firing on all cylinders: great stuff! Oh, the angst-y ecstasy! (And FU CBS! >:-0)

Snapper said...

Agreed, JCF, EJ was awesome...ALMOST as awesome as my freaking lunchbax!

Snapper said...

And, CG, we're on the same page re EJ/Rafe: so good, on so many levels. Look out for my post later tonight. My stupid profession keeps interupting my real work!

bl said...

How and why did you start making lunchbox art? I think it is a very cool idea and have wondered what goes into designing one after I saw blanks at the craft store.

Of course, a part of me wonders how you could make a great box and give it away.

Snapper said...

I was an undergrad (mid-late 80s), publicly focusing on antiheroines like Cordelia, while privately being much more interested in characters such as Holly Lindsay (it's not far to go from spending years analysing King Lear to spending years analysing GL - the structure of good soap is a lot like Elizabethian drama) and wanted to blend something totally American and pop-culturish with the very traditional. Plastic wouldn't do, because the lunchboxes of *my* childhood (the 70s) were all metal. If you're in your 20s, you won't know this, but there was a good ten-year stretch when metal lunchboxes were not available. Some crazy faction had decided that metal was UNSAFE! All that rust! Sharp corners! Plastic was the order of the day, so it became sort of a mission - hitting Goodwill stores and old hardware stores that had really old metal lunchboxes they'd never sold in 1978. There was no such thing as a blank, metal lunchbox back then. I'd recycle old ones. The Women in Lit lunchbox, interestingly enough, started out as a Rambo:First Blood lunchbox.
Sadly, I don't have a single lunchbox of my own making, anymore - unless you count the unfinished "Paris Hilton on one side, Lindsay Lohan on the other side" one I've recently decided to dismantle and devote to something better. (don't ask...there was an idea there, somewhere) I've given them all away. I actually owe one to my old friend, Marc...I'll have to get on that.

You should do it, bl - it's surprisingly satisfying in the goofiest way.

Unknown said...

Thank the sweet baby Jesus there is someone who makes me feel less dorky about my Olivia refrigerator magnets.

And, Dorothy Parker, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, and Willa Cather??? Rockin' it, baby!

Snapper said...

Fridge magnets??? Martha, baby - photos!!!!!

bl said...

I had a metal lunchbox in the 1980s, which made me feel weird, as everyone else had plastic ones. It was blue/white with a Holly Hobbie design (not that I was familiar with the character) and the only girl lunchbox that was at the store--which perhaps was due to the ban issue. I had no idea there was a ban on the metal ones, so I surfed to read more information on that. I haven't thought about it in years. I do agree it could be used as a weapon, but I think you can hit a classmate just as easily with a plastic lunchbox.

If the WIP lunch box was Nicole and Paris I would have been more concerned, at least Lindsey Lohan was in soaps. ;)

Making a magnet or a lunchbox is just an artistic expression, and doesn't hurt anyone, so I see nothing wrong with it. All one is spending is time and a little bit of money.

I don't see it as a far jump from analyzing King Lear to certain residents of Guiding Light's Springfield as even Roger Thorpe thought his life was analogous to the title character.