Bull. It's all ass to me

July 8, 2004 7:43 AM

Running of the naked bull-equivalents? (warning - NSFW, maybe - pic of naked female buttocks) Wouldn't this PETA protest, over bullfight cruelty, be more directly analogous to the "Running of the Bulls" if the naked runners were to be chased by a herd of meat eaters, on motor scooters, armed with stun guns?
posted by troutfishing (25 comments total)

??? what does the link have to do with the post ???
posted by psychotic_venom at 7:49 AM on July 8, 2004

This link doesn't do what I think you think it does.

I get a description of a book called "Sombrero Fallout".
posted by Ynoxas at 7:49 AM on July 8, 2004

But I've heard the author has a totally sweet ass.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:56 AM on July 8, 2004

well, he's been dead for around 20 years, dude, any sweetness would have dissipated at this point.
posted by jonmc at 7:59 AM on July 8, 2004

Were you hoping for a link to something along the lines of this thread?
posted by biffa at 8:00 AM on July 8, 2004

Holy Crap! - Here's the correct link
posted by troutfishing at 8:03 AM on July 8, 2004

Everybody clicks on that link though, eh?

"Naked female buttocks"

Katchiiiiiiing!!
posted by troutfishing at 8:05 AM on July 8, 2004

Sombrero Fallout
Troutfishing in America

-books by Richard Brautigan

Now be nice and don't pile on top of PETA. They come in peace with pictures of naked buttocks and nude celebrities.
posted by Shane at 8:20 AM on July 8, 2004

Shane - that's marketing brilliance.
posted by troutfishing at 8:30 AM on July 8, 2004

Sombrero Fallout is better than Troutfishing in America (if nowhere near as influential), but it's far from Brautigan's best. That would be The Hawkline Monster, or maybe Willard and His Bowling Trophies.
posted by soyjoy at 8:30 AM on July 8, 2004

Or "So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away" - although I'd rate Brautigans differently than you, soyjoy. In matters of taste...
posted by troutfishing at 8:39 AM on July 8, 2004

I didn't mean for this to be a Brautigan post, but since it seems to be - I sent this email today to a Metafilter member who will remain anonymous :

"In "Sombrero Fallout - A Japanese novel" Richard Brautigan interweaves two themes - one, a fabulist tale of what ensues as a magical, ice cold sombrero blows in on the wind to land in the middle of a dusty Texas town main street during the searing heat of a Texas day, and the other of Brautigan's neurotic, mournful musings about his lost Japanese girlfriend. In one part of the latter theme Brautigan becomes caught between his lust for a tuna-fish sandwich and his fear that the mercury in the tuna will make his writing strange.

In case you are tempted to read this book, wait a week or so - for the healing graces of time. Otherwise, it might make you morose.

With Brautigan, I seem to share both sorrow over a past Japanese girlfriend, a taste for fantastical tales expressed in a droll, spare style, depression, and a concern for heavy metals.

As it turns out, Brautigan was his own worst threat but dead-on right about canned tuna-fish - some of which is higher in Mercury than any fish, even swordfish.

My own writing started out strange and confused and has grown gradually more lucid with the years. I don't eat tuna fish.

Now, I'm off to my hell of leather and glue.

best, trout"
posted by troutfishing at 8:46 AM on July 8, 2004

if the naked runners were to be chased by a herd of meat eaters, on motor scooters

I'd suggest tigers, but am at a loss as to how to get them to ride motor scooters.
posted by kindall at 8:54 AM on July 8, 2004

The peaceful yet powerful demonstration ended with a rousing speech, both in Spanish and English, by PETA’s campaign coordinator William Rivas-Rivas, who thanked runners for traveling to Pamplona and congratulated them for successfully telling the world that the torture of bulls will not be tolerated and that caring, daring, and baring individuals will be back every year until the bulls are left out of the annual festivities.

How is that a threat, a disincentive even? I can imagine the Pamplona Tourist Board rubbing their hands after that speech.
posted by talos at 9:13 AM on July 8, 2004

Dominique Swain survives "Running of the Nudes," suffers freak accident in Texas desert.

July 8 (Reuters) -- Sexy Lolita star and PETA model Dominique Swain survived this year's PETA demonstration "The Running of the Nudes" in Pamplona, protesting the Spanish bullfighting tradition, but the actress wasn't so lucky when she returned to the U.S. for a vacation in the Texas desert.

Swain, seen here modeling her new favorite headgear while dancing the fandango.

"It just totally came out of nowhere," Swain said of the mysterious falling sombrero. "But I think I'll keep it. It looks good on me and it's made out of cruelty-free straw, not leather like a cowboy hat.

When asked if she was recovering and expected to continue her acting career, Swain said, "Hell, yeah, it's just a damn sombrero! Get real, people. And remember, fur is cruel, meat is murder, AND I AM NOT AVRIL LAVIGNE! Geez, we don't even resemble each other."
posted by Shane at 9:48 AM on July 8, 2004

Just walked by 6th and Congress here in Austin to see another PETA campaign involving nudity. There's a big old sign that says "The Slave Trade is Alive and Kicking" and in front of it was this woman kneeling down, with fake scars on her back, completely topless--VERY STRANGE. All to talk about the trade of Elephants and cruelty towards them. Ain't that WEIRD?
posted by psychotic_venom at 11:25 AM on July 8, 2004

weird works.

How is that a threat, a disincentive even?

i'm not privy to PETA's motives, but it's not a threat. it's a protest. the more attention it gets, the more people join next year, etc. etc and ... 4. critical mass!
posted by mrgrimm at 11:40 AM on July 8, 2004

I like "the pill versus the springfield coal disaster"

and as much as I like nudity, I just don't think that it helps all that much to dissuade people who exploit animals.
posted by milovoo at 11:43 AM on July 8, 2004

as much as I like nudity, I just don't think that it helps all that much to dissuade people who exploit animals.

no, but it may affect the people who financially support the people who exploit animals (or somewhere on down the capitalist food chain). if it convinces potential activists to help out, is it worth it? hell yeah.

it also gets stuff like this in the news. and that's a Good Thing.

i love Loading Mercury with a Pitchfork and Rommel Drives on Deep into Egypt.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:08 PM on July 8, 2004

So tourists can now visit Pamplona for the bull run and then two days later see the 'young women in their skimpies' run? I can see how that would make tourists stay at home.
posted by biffa at 1:53 PM on July 8, 2004

Werewolf Raspberries

(with a Glenn Miller record playing in the background, perhaps "Tuxedo Junction")

. . . and all you wanted to do was take your best girl out into the garden on a full moon night and give her a great big kiss . . . too bad the raspberries were covered with fur and you couldn't see their little teeth shining in the moonlight. Things might have been different.

If you had played your cards right, you could have been killed at Pearl Harbor instead.

Late spring
1940

...from The Tokyo-Montana Express
(out of print)
posted by Shane at 1:54 PM on July 8, 2004

So tourists can now visit Pamplona for the bull run and then two days later see the 'young women in their skimpies' run? I can see how that would make tourists stay at home.

Precisely. Someone mentioned critical mass - that's been there all along. San Fermín is a very large 7-day-long alcohol-fest in which the bulls are one of the many side shows (including the excellent local food). Naked people will fit in nicely and stretch the festivities a couple days more.

Rest assured that the running of the bulls isn't going anywhere anytime soon. This a massive fest that brings in loads of money to a very nice and neat but ultimately provincial town.

It's worth taking into account that during San Fermín people routinely die in bizarre circumstances: from being crushed to death at the entrance of the ring by other runners to being ran over by cleaning machinery while passed out drunk. Deaths by bull goring are not as common as they should be; which probably explains why the authorities don't put an end to the stupidity ... of getting drunk and then running in front of 1,000+ pound bulls (local runners usually don't get drunk in preparation for an early morning event in which participants risk their life).

So there are many reasons why San fermín should at the very least be significantly modified. But all those reasons also make it what it is.

By the way, the fastest way to understand what bullfighting is all about is watching rejoneo (bullfighting on horse). Running the bulls drunk has nothing to do with it.
posted by magullo at 3:16 PM on July 8, 2004

Shane - and then, there's "In Watermelon Sugar", one of my personal favorites.
posted by troutfishing at 6:17 PM on July 8, 2004

For an account of the Running Of The Nudes by somebody who took part, see Richard Herring's Warming Up.

[FYI: Richard Herring is a (fairly minor in terms of profile, major in terms of where I rate him) British comedian. Warming Up is his daily diary, and one of my few Internet must reads. He did the Running Of The Nudes as part of his forthcoming show, The Twelve Labours Of Hercules Terrace]
posted by Hartster at 3:11 AM on July 9, 2004

as much as I like nudity, I just don't think that it helps all that much to dissuade people who exploit animals.

Oh, It won't. But thanks for the ass, anyway.
posted by jonmc at 6:31 AM on July 9, 2004