April 7, 1949: South Pacific premieres.

And, as one of its most well-known songs is this one (PERFORMED HERE BY GLENN CLOSE. As I've been watching her on Damages via Netflix Streaming, it's a bit of a jolt to see her doing something so... non-conniving and/or manipulative.):

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUtSrN_W5I8?feature=player_detailpage]

Anyway, so with South Pacific (but more specifically, that song) in mind, I shall point you back to my way-old post about Scott Westerfeld's So Yesterday, which is a crazy mystery about consumerism that features (among many, many other things) a shampoo that dyes its users hands and hair purple. Which, granted, is a ridiculously thin connection, but sometimes I find the more random connections even more fun than the more obvious ones.

Anyway, more than the mystery or the plotline itself, what I love about So Yesterday—like, love so much that it has worked its way into my vocabulary—is the Pyramid of Cool. EVEN JOSH REFERENCES IT, AND HE'S NEVER EVEN READ THE BOOK. Which says... something, but I don't know if it says more about the coolness of the pyramid or about the ferocity of my love for it.