This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, a groovy Volkswagen bus, was definitely cruising on snappy.

The latest snappy or crappy may not be so snappy for some: positive reinforcement graffiti.

This graffiti was snapped at Lakeside Park, right before I had to put the camera away to chase Sawyer and Phoebe out of the water.

While it’s not very artistic per se, it is kind of refreshing to see a positive message scrawled on cold concrete amidst debris.

Yes, graffiti is illegal and often very crappy. No, I did not paint this.

Some graffiti, like those really cool murals that once graced many New York City subway trains, can also be quite artistic.

We’re not talking swear words or illegible tags, but graffiti that actually enhances a structure or mood.

Positive reinforcement messages, which some of us chant or tape to our bathroom mirrors, can really change your attitude and outlook.

Does this graffiti do it for you?

What do you think?
Please vote and leave comments below.

Have you ever dabbled in graffiti?

What’s the coolest/stupidest graffiti you’ve ever done or seen?

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, a gun-toting mailbox, got mixed reviews. Folks liked that it was an effort at cleverness, but not that it was unkempt.

Several folks also voted crappy on a bugged-out VW bug posted many moons ago – but now we got the Volkswagen’s big sister: an awesome Volkswagen bus.

Judging from my calling it awesome, you can bet I think this thing is groovy. Check out the slide show, featuring six ways of looking at a VW bus.

The couple that owned this beautiful bus was also fun – and definitely full of the hippie vibe. When I told them I’d send them a link to their VW when I posted it, they said they had no computer.

One of my friends, too, has a VW bus decked in peace signs. He may not have the hippie vibe, however, as his bus is parked between his Harley Davidson motorcycle and an old Ford pickup outfitted with a gun rack and NRA stickers.

What do you think?
Please vote and leave comments below.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, the hind end of some animal decked out to look like a face, was voted crappy, snappy and mixed. One commenter said it crossed the crappy line to become snappy again.

The latest snappy or crappy may also give us pause.

My first reaction to this gun-totin’ mailbox in the El Cortez Heights Neighborhood was a chuckle. So that makes it snappy.

But the more I thought about it, I realized how rude it was to outfit a mailbox with a gun pointing at the letter carrier (since we’re not allowed to call them “mailmen” anymore).

Wonder if these folks’ mail ever gets lost?

What do you think?
Please take the poll and leave comments below.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, vanity license plates, got several snappy votes, but others were mixed, depending on what the plate said.

The latest snappy or crappy will surely not leave you on the fence. You are most likely going to be immediately amused or repelled by it.

The plaque below this, shall we call it, thing, read “Wyoming Werewolf.”

I won’t immediately tell you where I spied this interesting artifact, except to say that it wasn’t for sale. Sorry to all you readers who was counting on it for a holiday gift.

While I’ve heartily voted snappy on most of the snappy or crappy selections, this one gets my first true crappy, crappy, crappy.

What do you think?
Snappy. That thing is hilarious and I wish it were hanging in my kitchen.
Crappy. I wouldn’t even hang that monstrosity in my garage.
Atrocious. How demeaning to the deer, or whatever animal’s hind end that is, to put teeth, a tongue and eyeballs on it like that.
Undecided. I’m from Wyoming and am still figuring out if I’m offended or not.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, a gorgeous T-Rex, was a giant snappy.

The latest snappy or crappy can go either way – vanity license plates. I became addicted to looking at license plates after years of playing the alphabet game on road trips, where you need to find letters of the alphabet in their correct order all over the road.

Some vanity plates, like ICUFFEM can be snappy and fun, perhaps proclaiming an occupation as a police officer or shirt maker.

Others, like MAMMERS or METLIKA, are not immediately apparent in their meaning.

Still others are simply good ole fun.

What do you think?
Snappy. It’s great that folks can extend their personalities to their license plates.
Crappy. They are called vanity plates because people who get them must be vain.
Snappy – but I wouldn’t pay extra for one.
Crappy. I don’t even notice them because I’m too busy cutting off the people in front of me and driving 22 miles over the speed limit.

What would your vanity plate say if you had one?

What’s the dumbest/coolest vanity plate you’ve seen.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, a happy mustard face on bread, generally got an all-around snappy. It also elicited fond memories of triangular pancakes and other foodstuff we make into funny faces or shapes.

The latest snappy or crappy is also smiling – but with a toothier grin. Meet the giant T-Rex (as if a T-Rex could be anything but giant).

This dude stands on the corner of East Tanque Verde and North Kolb roads in front of a McDonald’s.

Even though he’s not as funky as some other Tucson art, he is handsome and fun. He gets a snappy from me.

What do you think? Please respond:
a. Snappy. Dinosaurs bring back fond memories of visiting natural history museums.
b. Snappy. Dinosaurs bring back fond memories of being mauled by large-toothed dogs and other creatures.
c. Crappy. Just another hunk of junk marring our gorgeous landscape.
d. Crappy. Although I like the dinosaur, I don’t like that my kids insist on going to McDonald’s every time we pass it.

Rynnote: I am on vacation until Tues., Aug. 11, but I lovingly leave you with a special vacation photo Snappy or Crappy. All pictures are from a previous summer vacation in New York City, where I love to visit after hightailing it out of there after 17 years. P.S. Only look at one photo each day, so it’s like you’re getting a new one every morning.

Enjoy!

This fun feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something striking: is it Snappy or Crappy?

Shoot the clown

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. Hilarious! Where’s the ammo?

Crappy. I love clowns and this is downright mean.

View from the deck of the glorious, glamorous, grandiose, gorgeous, graceful Brooklyn Bridge

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. There’s no way the Brooklyn Bridge is not snappy.

Donkey with cart in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. It exacts that Old World charm. In fact, it looks like it is left over from the Old World.

Crappy. That stinkin’ donkey is more hideous than the Snappy or Crappy doll on the Tucson porch.

Tourists on lower Broadway. Please note menacing figure in background who appears he’s conniving to mug them.

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. Tourists wholly amuse me. I like sending them in the wrong direction.

Crappy. Tourists wholly annoy me. I like sending them in the wrong direction.

Dead things in a gaggle

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. I’m fascinated with the dead.

Crappy. At least seeing this dead things photo means we won’t have to see that other NYC vacation dead things photo of the giant sewer rat.

Mottled corn

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. It reminds me of how much I love butter.

Crappy. I don’t get why someone would put this outside a food booth as a marketing device.

Garbage truck with hostages.

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. I always wondered what I should do with my old stuffed animals.

Crappy. This is not funny at all. Stuffed animals are supposed to be cuddly, cute and adored – not tethered to the front of a trash truck.

Coney Island’s historic Cyclone rollercoaster

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. I love roller coasters, especially those that are ancient and rickety.

Crappy. I’d never ride that death trap. It’s nearly 100 years old and feels it.

A REAL salt bagel

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. Wow. Yum. Awesome. I’m so sick of those fake frozen bagel blobs.

Crappy. If you eat this much salt, you may as well join the gaggle of dead things.

Graffiti van

What do you think? Please respond:

Snappy. Graffiti is a colorful and welcome art form as long as it’s done right.

Crappy. Never mind the clown, I’d shoot whomever did this to my van.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, fake and real bilingual signs, caused quite a stir.

The latest snappy or crappy promises to be much more appetizing: playing with food.

The very happy bread photo was submitted by reader Tami.

“It’s my quirky thing I do for my kids when I make them a sandwich,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Mustard smiley faces on bread are wholly snappy, adding a fun touch to what may normally be a mundane sandwich, especially if the sandwich is packed something boring like iceberg lettuce.

Other snappy ways to play with food include drawing on the disposable rinds of oranges and grapefruit, arranging waffles and sausage into an imitation Dali and creating apple head old people dolls out of rotten and dried-out apples.

Other folks, however, go into overkill when playing with food – like using a military issue combat K-Bar knife to cut a sandwich. While this weapon is specifically designed for marines, a person who shall remain anonymous used it to slice bread and pickles.

Even though using a colossal knife to slice a sandwich may be akin to using a chain saw to carve a turkey, it’s still snappy because the food is still edible.

Folks who play with food and end up wasting the food are engaging in crappiness.

What’s your take on playing with food? Please respond:
a. Snappy as long as the food is still edible.
b. Crappy. How dare someone mess with my meal.
c. I remember how mom used to draw syrup faces on my pancakes – snappy!
d. Where can I buy one of those knives?

Thanks, Tami, for the fun bread pic. You’re other Snappy or crappy submission will be up soon.

Got a Snappy or crappy spotting around town? E-mail photo and comments to rynski@tucsoncitizen.com

RYNNOTE: It has come to my attention this post has given birth to a hate fest. I must admit I am bit surprised, as I initially posted this as a joke — I don’t really think “Arroyo Chico” means “bike path where people get hit by cars that go above 15 mph,” or any type of bike path for that matter. Please accept my apologies for not realizing so many people could lack a sense of humor. Ryn.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy?

The last snappy or crappy, multicolored architecture, got mixed reviews, although many folks agreed that some Old Pueblo architecture is wholly on the crap list.

Here’s another one that could straddle the crap list: bilingual signs

While it’s very nice to know that “arroyo chico” could translate to “bike path where people get hit by cars that go above 15 mph,” and “centro” means downtown, the signs also cater to folks who don’t want to bother to learn English.

Yes, I know, there is no national language. But there should be. And yes, it should be English.

At least the bilingual signs are less crappy than the signs only in Spanish, like a 7-11 billboard on Stone Avenue near Grant Road.

That sign may make us want to boycott the convenience store altogether, although some days we may honestly crave a Slurpee.

What do you think?
Bilingual and Spanish-only signs are:
a. Snappy. They expand my linguistic horizons and add character to the city.
b. Crappy. I would rather learn a foreign language by choice, not force.
c. I really don’t care because I speak 52 languages and understand all signs.
d. ????? No habla English.

This fun Odd Pueblo feature asks the audience to rate a trend, topic or sighting of something around town: is it snappy or crappy? The last snappy or crappy, the cutest kid with a Mohawk, was voted one of the snappiest yet.

The jury is mixed on the latest snappy or crappy: multicolored architecture.

It could easily go either way, depending on how it’s executed.

The first example is snappy.

This midtown stone border is sweetly kitschy and hopefully was painted using masonry primer or the paint will flake off and make it incredibly crappy. It’s an older home that deserves some funky touches.

The second example is crappy.

This newer building, on North Alvernon Way just north of Fort Lowell Road, should have at least left out the purple. The effect is a multicolored mismatching mishmash.

It’s a prime example of art trying too hard to be cool when it really isn’t, not unlike those paintings of a single dot in the middle of the canvas at which you are supposed to oooh and aaah even though all you are looking at is a dot.

What do you think? Please respond:
a. I agree the stone wall is snappy and the newer building looks like a pile of poop.
b. I think the stone wall is crappy and the newer building is gorgeously sleek and attractive.
c. All multicolored architecture is crappy. The whole world should be one big beige blob.
d. I don’t care because I’m stuck in a red brick house and all other architecture makes me angry.

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