Save the Bananas
Bananas come almost entirely from the same part of the world, and that base is under such attack from disease, "It could take a global effort to save the bananas' gene pool." The banana could become a thing of the past. Like the Dodo bird, it would gain mythic status.
And what fruit would be more deserving? Besides apples, I mean. Novels would be written, movies would be made that would incorporate the banana legend.
(...a certain album cover)
When the bananas go extinct, it will be majorly bad. So bad, in fact, that I only wish some Gwen Stefani lyric could provide an accurate metaphor with which to describe the lameness of that potential situation.
UPDATE: From the comments, a better, longer article about the topic.
And what fruit would be more deserving? Besides apples, I mean. Novels would be written, movies would be made that would incorporate the banana legend.
(...a certain album cover)
When the bananas go extinct, it will be majorly bad. So bad, in fact, that I only wish some Gwen Stefani lyric could provide an accurate metaphor with which to describe the lameness of that potential situation.
UPDATE: From the comments, a better, longer article about the topic.
posted by Chris Althouse Cohen at 7:11 PM
9 Comments:
Nooooooooooo not the bananas! Somebody takes my bananas away, and I'd have to represent.
Even though generally I'm no hollaback girl.
You AIN'T no hollaback girl.
There's an allegory for something regarding the fate of the banana, but I'm not sure with what it would be in reference.
This story seems to pop up with regularity, and the type of banana eaten by most folks up to the early sixties was the Gros Michel variety, not the current Cavendish, so a mass extinction of bananas happened before.
Plus this Guardian article from 3 years ago had a much sexier opening paragraph than the New Scientest article you linked,
It is a freakish, doped-up, mutant clone which hasn't had sex for thousands of years - and the strain may be about to tell on the nation's fruitbowl favourite. Scientists based in France have warned that, without radical and swift action, in 10 years' time we really could have no bananas.
Also, dug this up from 16 years ago regarding the same problem.
Finally, this article from Popular Science delves into the subject at much more depth (which may excite some, bore others).
Bananas will exist in some form, they just may not be the same "freakish, doped-up, mutant clone" we've grown accustomed to, these pasts 5 decades.
(I know the allegory now, species should never abandon sexual reproduction)
I hate thinking of stuff, just after clicking publish, arggggghh.
For that VU cover, no pictures of the peeled version?
Wiki has a picture of the unpeeled, and peeled cover, with this statement, "The Velvet Underground and Nico is sometimes referred to as the "banana album" as it features a Warhol print of a banana on the cover. Early copies of the album invited the owner to "Peel slowly and see"; peeling back the skin revealed a flesh-colored banana underneath. Persistent rumours that the sticker was impregnated with LSD were untrue. The 2002 Deluxe 2CD re-issue of the album once again features a peelable banana. The banana was on the cover to represent heroin addiction (a monkey eats bananas, and having a "monkey on your back" is generally a metaphor for heroin addiction.)"
Funny how people still insist on de-gaying Andy Warhol, sometimes a flesh colored banana, really is a penis, and just a penis.
(A former Prof of mine was one of the editors of this tome, regarding the push and pull regarding Warhol's sexuality and how it effected criticism about him.)
You AIN'T no hollaback girl.
Oh, right. No doubt. My bad. Rock steady!
And now I'm done teasing Ms. Stefani. Who was my own personal style idol for way longer than I care to admit. Okthanksbye.
xwl: Popular Science does look better. I'll keep that on my list of sites to look at for blog material...even though your link to it didn't work.
Doh!, blame the timestamp (2:32AM)
fine, fine, here's the correct PopSci link.
I would comment on the deployment of the phrase, "better, longer" beneath the banana picture, but that would be asinine and puerile.
(thanks for putting the link on the main post, though)
Maybe I'll just post a link to the lyrics (with musical notation) of Yes! We Have No Bananas, instead.
(the PopSci article mentions the song (from 1923) as evidence of how far back this problem goes)
There are other cultural references I could have made, too, like the song that's used in Beetlejuice during the possession scene.
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