Tuesday, February 07, 2006

News Flash: Olympics Adopt Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man As Mascot



Who are these bizarro creatures? I can't help but think of a grainy 1950s commercial for, say, marshmallows, or some freaky Frosty-the-Snowman-meets-Teletubby bastard love child.

Meet Neve and Gliz, the official mascots of the upcoming Torino Olympics. From the official Olympic website:

Neve and Gliz are complementary characters: they represent the two elements without which the Olympic Winter Games cannot take place: snow and ice; and they personify the essence of winter sports: the harmony and elegance of the movements made in sport (with the fluid and rounded shapes of Neve) and the power and strength of the athletes (the angular and smooth shapes of Gliz).


Okay, commenters, have at it. Just remember, my American friends, that it was our country who produced Izzy:

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are really pretty cute and I like their history. However, while the Torino symbol is on each one, it's small and my first thought was that they were nursery or preschool mascots. The blue guy associates fairly easily with snow and ice, but I don't tend to associate red with snow and ice.

Anonymous said...

I imagine these two gooey squishy beings must be singing whatever Belgian atrocity won the Eurovision Song Contest this year.
Bleh.

Franklin said...

I think they look like a red state and a blue state happily holding hands, symbolising life in the coming post-Bush era.

Carol said...

You mean after The Rapture?

Rana said...

I think it's an Olympic requirement, like the order and color of the rings, that Olympic mascots (a) be almost cute, but not quite, (b) symbolize something (badly), (c) make people around the world go "whuh?"

It's really rather impressive, if you think about it - years of peculiar Olympic mascots successfully befuddling people of all nations, bringing the world together in a state of bemused confusion.

Jane said...

Ah, Izzy, the big blue sperm. Brings back wonderful Olympic memories. I don't know what to say about the Turino mascots, except that I think Izzy has more personality. Heh

Anonymous said...

I've been reading too much queer theory lately. I hate them. I'm surprised Neve doesn't have the traditional huge eyelashes, but maybe they just don't show too well in this picture.
/Monika

Anonymous said...

This is clearly another part of the gay agenda.

Can everyone not see that both characters are somewhat androgynous? And that "gay power" salute they're both giving gives me chills to think of how many of our young might take up a sinful lifestyle because of inappropriate role models like Neve and Gliz. If I'm not mistaken, Gliz is a brand name for lubricant used by sodomites (and I only know this second-hand...so to speak).

They are an abomination.

Father Groper

Franklin said...

BTW, are those legs on the red thing, or does she just have incredibly pendulous breasts?

Carol said...

I think they are her sno-cones.

Anonymous said...

I suppose it's too contentious of me to observe that the red (dark pink) one is supposed to symbolize elegance and harmony, but the blue one gets power and strength. I want the blue one to be the girl.

Anonymous said...

I keep picturing their spindly little necks snapping like twigs and their bulbous heads popping off and rolling around. Says a lot about me as a person, I guess.

Anonymous said...

When anime goes bad.