Anti Valentine's Day
I hate Valentine's Day.
I'm not against romance.
I just find Valentine's Day to be lacking in the romance department.
It's trite, commercial, guilt or envy inducing. Fuck that shit.
So this Valentine's Day I decided to do things a little different. I decided to celebrate my anti-feelings. At the Media Lab I hosted tea on the day before Valentine's Day. Karen Brennan was my co-host. She likes Valentine's Day. She likes chocolate and crafts, so I concede where this might sway her, but I counterpoint with "Halloween!!!"
As part of the Anti/Valentine's Day tea we had red and black frosted cupcakes and DIY candy hearts, made with edible ink. The event was a hit. We had tables with paper, pipe cleaners, glue and all sorts of accessories you might need to create a valentine.
To inspire creativity I made a few samples.
I used Lego figures for this one.
The little Lego man holds a bouquet and peers through the panes of a door,
where he sees his lady love kissing her lady love. Oops.
When I first made the card I grabbed the third minifig without checking for gender. The fact that it was a lady seemed a better choice. I mean there are surprises and then there are surprises.
The funniest part of this whole experience is that people kept telling me how much they liked/loved me, as I suspected they thought I felt anti-valentine because I had low self esteem or some such. So I got a LOT more Valentine love than expected.
Surprises all over the place.