Lamb Takedown

The Lamb Takedown, we surmise, is an Iron Chef-style spectacular wherein people cook and eat lambs. Straightforward enough, as far as these things go.

Yes, the lamb on the banner is a confusion of cultural signs: innocence married to 80s-era heavy metal (Lamb Takedown is rendered in Iron Maiden's font) and a more recent post-punk aesthetic (expressed by means of the facial jewelry).

When we consider the purpose of the lamb is to be taken down—about time those docile grass-nibblers got their comeuppance!—the jumbled cultural references make perfect "sense."

The twinkle in his eye reminds us that the lamb and the rest of his fuzzy playmates are more than willing to be taken down and taken apart. The lambs are eager participants in their own destruction. Or perhaps this one is depicted as looking down from heaven on tattered wings, having already been lovingly (and adorably) destroyed. From above the Beyond he smiles approvingly. Well killed, gentlemen. Well killed.

As he assures the Lamb Takedown audience and competitors: "Ewe will be rocked."

The bad-boy iconography is there as a balm to the two or three takedowners who might flinch at the thought of killing baby animals in such a self-congratulatory, celebratory way. For them, the rebellious typesetting and nosering offer, at least, a pretext for the killing. Sure, the lamb looks childlike—they might say—but he knows what he's getting into. He knows the score. He's a streetwise urchin birthed in suburbia's rotten crucible. Shed no tears for him.


(Thanks to Dr. Anthony for the referral.)









Addendum: We're not making it up.