(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

This morning I checked my task list for Monday and found a note that read simply: "White Collar pig manip".

I took a lot of decongestant earlier today (pretty much all the decongestant) so my memory of how that note got there was very fuzzy, but it did seem important at some point to do a manip of Neal Caffrey stealing a pig. I decided I could figure out why I was doing it later.

The name of this image file is "nealstealsthebacon".

I have to tell you guys, when you're manipping a pig into a screencap from a TV show during work hours, it takes some circumspection.

I finally did go back and dig up the conversation we had which inspired this...whatever it is:

Sam: I just found an Italian website with the phrase "colletti bianchi: piedi di mantenere la calma e trasportare porco." Which translates via Google to "white collar: feet to keep calm and carry pig." I'm pretty sure it's a recc for "Keep Calm and Carry Crowbars".
Anya: It...doesn't make any sense in Italian either. It should be "Si prega di mantenere la calma" -- the feet are probably weird babelfishing -- but the "trasportare porco" is REALLY bizarre.
Sam: It's likely a spam site, so babelfishing is the prime suspect. Still, you can't deny the mental image of Neal stuffing a pig into his coat is pretty hilarious.
Claire: WHAT WAS THE PROVENANCE OF THE PIG?

And then Anya linked me to a photo of Bowie with a pig and it was all downhill from there.

Comments

[nakki.livejournal.com]

Oh gawd, I'm trying so hard not to LAWL, but I apparently made some VERY funny noises because a bunch of coworkers just checked to see if I was choking. OMG, that is too funny for coherent speech!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

LOL! The SRS BZNS look on his face really makes it.

Okay, Sam ...

[katepwa.livejournal.com]

Now you need to do a little reverse engineering, and write the story this illustrates.

Re: Okay, Sam ...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

"Neal Caffrey had a pig and a thousand-yard stare..."

Re: Okay, Sam ...

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Perhaps Neal has taken his love of Italian suits a bit far....

Re: Okay, Sam ...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I picture him having to carry the pig through the FBI offices and being all "Bring it, motherfuckers, who's gonna be the first to mock the pig?"

[amore-di-libri.livejournal.com]

Okay. Not gonna lie. Saw the manip, thought "Okay. I guess that's pretty funny to some people. But I just don't get it."

THEN, I went back and looked at Neal's face. OH MAI GOD! omg, omg omg. That really IS the most serious face in the entire world, and that DOES make the pig the most serious thing in the entire world.

And if that's true, I'm just imagining Neal having to steal this pig in order to save Peter and Elizabeth's lives, and somehow, that just makes it funnier.

In conclusion, thank you for showing me the funnies.

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

This is a much better image than the Bowie. And the tailoring, at least, is more Italianate.

The pig's really for his and Peter's fifth anniversary. The Relevant Postcard lists gift #5 as "Pork RInds."

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

Allora. We call him Porco, for his sausage. *eyebrow waggle*

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

And because he's seasoned with fennel? ;P

(See: slang meaning of "finocchio.")

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

Um, well, I do know that the first stage of refining iron ore produces Pig Iron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_iron). Maybe that has something to do with it?

[iamshadow.livejournal.com]

Also, highly appropriate if it was a Spam site. Containing 100% stolen pig!

[neifile7.livejournal.com]

We did think of pig iron. Doesn't explain the babelfishing, either (different name for it in Italian, ghisa d'altoforno, no porcines involved).

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

That was my thought! But apparently "pig's foot" is a slang term for crowbars in Italy.

[utopia83.livejournal.com]

"Piede di porco", in fact.

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

oh, I get it! Because of the little divided bit on the end, I'll bet.

[calliope-jones.livejournal.com]

Must be a VIP. (Very Important Porker)

[ribby.livejournal.com]

*delurks*

So, I don't know much about White Collar other than what you've posted, Sam, but this reminds me of the character of Gwydion in the Third Branch of the Welsh Mabinogion.

See, Gwydion's a wizard, and a trickster, and one day he decides that he *has* to have the pigs of Pryderi, king of Dyfed, in order to start a war between his lord Math ap Mathonwy and Dyfed, and therefore allow Gwydion to have Math's footholder Goewin.

Well, to make a long story short, I looked at this photo, and thought, hey, Neal's stealing Peter's pigs to annoy him and... um. Get El? Get Peter interested in him? I don't know.

(geeknote: I did my Master's degree in Wales on the Mabiogion).

But I thought I'd share. If you're curious about the story, a decent translation is here (http://www.mabinogi.net/math.htm). It's a rather odd story, full of shapechanging and incest and other interesting things.



~Kris

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAHA I had forgotten that story completely. But it's very reminiscent, isn't it :D

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

Babe crossover?

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

equally important to the inherent story is that the pig seems pretty cool about the whole thing: almost self-satisfied. :D

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

He does look a bit smug, doesn't he?

[quinconcinnity.livejournal.com]

Of course it's serious business, it must be the Transcendent Pig (http://youngwizards.net/ErrantryWiki/index.php/Transcendent_Pig)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I don't even know what to think about the information found at that link. :D

[karadin.livejournal.com]

For some reason I think of Babe the pig singing 'La La La La' as they go through the doors.

[rabidchild.livejournal.com]

He looks really pissed off at the pig, like he's about to give it a stern talking-to...

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I like to think he's pissed off at having to carry a pig around, not at the pig itself per se. He's all, you know, "Bring it, first one to mock the pig will feel my wrath."

[illariy.livejournal.com]

I don't know how but his expression and the pig combine this to make this the most hilarious manip ever. *tries to suppress giggling* *fails*

[bibliophile-bee.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is I know which picture of Bowie you're talking about

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's that sad, there can't be many pictures of Bowie with a pig...