Berube . . . Recherche?

Penn State cultural theorist Michael Bérubé poses strange comparisons for those who would make value judgments:

Which is better?

Passenger-side airbags . . . or the second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony?

Charles Mingus’s “Moanin’” (off Blues and Roots) . . . or the episode in the Simpsons’ “Tree House of Horror” in which Homer goes through a mysterious portal into the third dimension?

Wallace Stevens’ “Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction” . . . or game seven of the Twins-Braves World Series in 1991?

Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion . . . or the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”?

The French Revolution . . . or DVDs?

Remember to show your work! . . . and have an arbitrary weekend, everyone.

The commenters go him one better, with such gems as these:

This is addictive! I’ll try to restrain myself after these last ones:


Bill Clinton ... or George Clinton?

George Bush ... or Reggie Bush?

Hee hee! ... or Bwaaaa ha ha! ?

Posted by John Protevi on 10/20 at 10:15 AM

My way… or the highway?

Posted by Chris Clarke on 10/20 at 10:16 AM

Show your work… or have an arbitrary weekend?

Posted by liz on 10/20 at 10:20 AM

Frailty, thy name is Protevi. Here’s the last one, I promise!

The Tigers ... or the Cardinals?

Posted by John Protevi on 10/20 at 10:21 AM

All of these dichotomies are irrelevant. Lutheran surrealism is the bestest of all!

Soup...or salad?

Posted by Orange on 10/20 at 10:29 AM

Here are some more:

State College, Pa or ... Jerusalem?

Posted by Kirby Olson on 10/22 at 10:20 AM

Ritz Crackers? Or Che Guevara?
Euler’s Formula? Or Chicken Tikka Masala?
Bourbon? Or The House of Bourbon?
Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction? Or Sugar Maples?
As a civilization, it is clear we are faced with a choice.

Posted by John Fromm Uconn on 10/22 at 01:37 PM

The French Revolution… or, The French Connection!

Posted by Sabres Fan on 10/22 at 02:51 PM

Hmm.

• Predicate nominatives . . . or parabolas?


• Dostoyevsky . . . or Cole Porter?


• Sour cream herring . . . or baboons?


• Influenza . . . or mimes?


• Chlamydia . . . or bedbugs?


• Krazy Kat . . . or Botticelli?


• Anne Coulter . . . or waterboarding?

You get the idea. The possibilities are endless. It's kind of like "underrated/overrated," which I played with my sister years ago. Beethoven is great, but underrated. Coolidge was underrated; Kennedy overrated. Shirely MacLaine--underrated. Neck rubs and Paris Hilton--underrated. Peanuts, J. D. Salinger, and Donald Trump--overrated.

Yadda yadda (underrated).