July 25: TJI (XAW, Day 9)

[evay]

Is that what it's called? wow, I never knew. I mean, how do you Google that? "swinging balls on strings perpetual motion machine"?

...ooh, actually, that does give you the name. 8) Google rocks! Well, okay, The Straight Dope rocks. I actually found TSD via their books, which my best friend lent me in college, and was delighted to find the column on the web. It's a little like TVTropes for trivia buffs.

Speaking of TVTropes, why isn't there one for The Wacky Aunt, aka Auntie Mame? Or am I looking under the wrong keywords? I'm up to S3 of Eureka, and Carter's wacky sister just came to town. She reminds me a lot of Jess's flaky mom from Gilmore Girls, and they're not a big leap from Lwaxana Troi (whose portrayer, Majel, noted that she deliberately played her as "Auntie Mame in space"). Doesn't the crazy aunt/goofy uncle have a trope name?