10/29/01
Terribly
Happiversary ...
Terribly-Happy.com:
Perspectives in Inconsequentiality
A historical presentation
By Maynard A. Prahps, PhD.
Many have asked, since the very beginning of Terribly Happy, a Web site that appeared a mere year ago on the Internet online journaling scene: "What the... the fuck is this?"
It is a common cry among both fans and those who would rather give a fornication of the flying variety to a rolling, holed pastry. What the fuck is this thing we call "Terribly Happy?" Where did it come from? Can I do my thesis on it?
As I have learned in my research for this presentation, the answers to that are: Damned if I know, Austin Texas and "Yes, you can," respectively.
Prehistory
As best we (me and my mom, who helps sort my papers sometimes except that one time she threw away all my notes after I spilled coffee on them and she thought it was unsanitary to keep them around, DAMN YOU MOTHER! I needed those notes!) can determine, the notion of "Terribly Happy" as a medium for cultural and artistic expression has been around for much longer than the Web, or even the process of publishing.
Long before even the printing press, the ancestors of current "Terribly Happy" owner Omar G. (and don't let the Shitclown currently residing at terriblyhappy.com fool you) were laying down the foundation for what would become the Web site.
In fact, the concept has existed for so long that early versions of the modern bible include a passage about a "Plague of Terribly Happy":
From Leviticus 12:3 (excised)
And ye, the village was freightened (sic) by a plague of terrible happiness, a bloodsea of yellow falling from the sky. The villagers did run and laughted (sic) as if their flesh were being torn asunder. A dark/brite (sic) day made awfeul (sic) by the bastarde comedick orateur (sic, sic, sic).
An early third-century drawing still exists, inspired by this passage:
Evidence of the existence of a "Terrible, Happy" form of art is present in early cave drawings on three continents (now preserved and displayed in several natural history museums) and other, non-textual works. Traces of influence exist in Asian art, including this painting believed to have been created between the years 500 and 520:
The expressions of exultation on the faces of these Chinamen (as they were called in the days when such terms were not politically incorrect) was believed to be a progressoin display of free love and sexual promiscuity. It would be a running theme throughout the history of Terribly Happy, as we will see in the Middle Ages and, especially, during the 1970s.
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Hey, look at this! Stuff to buy! Haaawwwt-Damn!
Clip
Art Corner
"Bob's just not a team player. He's doesn't even like our heat-sensitive productivity monitors!"