Friday Ephemera
Early bird. (h/t, Damian) // Hardcore bee porn. // Don’t stare, it’s what they do. // Star Trek: The Motion Picture – the re-scored, much shorter, 22 minute cut. // Meanwhile, in Korea. // Duck vacuuming. // She makes things with cardboard better than you do. // His carved wooden lion is way better than yours. // Another day at the office. // Night bus. // Because some people really want to analyse the complexity of pop lyrics. // Prosthetic ovaries. // One for the ladies. // Click farm. // Clouds and rock. // Get low-slung and groovy with Nuthin’ But An Alien. // “The woman has a weapon and appears to be mentally unstable.” // Back when TV logos were physical objects. // Terrarium lamps. // An athlete in action. // And finally, a modern twist on when hubris meets nemesis.
One for the ladies.
If someone holds the lighter I’ll give it a try.
Mom?? Is that you?
Went off to a matinee, and Alien Covenant is definitely not Prometheus 2, it’s rather more Prometheus Squared.
Was utterly bored within the first five or so minutes, hung out to at least see all that occurred—And with gorgeous cinematography.
And you did, sirs.
Well done, gentlemen. Well done.
It’s really a pity that the tmrepository.org web site shut down; it’s clearly still needed.
Anyone who says “all real IT professionals do” anything is, prima facie, ignorant of real IT, professional or otherwise.
I sometimes wonder if firefighters or other suchlike have to deal with this kind of thing.
“Yeah, man, I made a fire in my fireplace at home once, and I totally put it out with my beer so you sooo don’t know what you’re talking about with horizontal ventilation opposite the hoseline attack route to reduce flashover and smoke particle ignition.”
The implication of previous events – the first film’s unexplained ‘space jockey’ – is much more effective than a car crash of discontinuities, abandoned storylines and clunky exposition… The mystery, not knowing, is sort of the point.
This. (Show don’t tell.)
Affirmative action in action.
Affirmative action in action.
Can’t they just call it ‘lefty racists being racist’?
Can’t they just call it ‘lefty racists being racist’?
It would save a lot of confusion.
“Vote Green.”
“Vote Green.”
That has to be ‘Skidrow-on-Sea’.
@Hal
“that one never uses Microsoft when real software is available”
The ransomware targeted MicroSoft Windows XP which is about as out-of-date as a Model A…
An important website.
This. (Show don’t tell.)
Mark Kermode again:
Yes, that.
The reason Alien was scary was that it didn’t have backstory.
Exactly. I really didn’t even care for Aliens, the second one, while everyone else seemed to love it. I suspected at the time it was because I knew what to watch out for. Though a part of me wonders if it wasn’t perhaps because I had taken my best friend’s girlfriend on a date to see the first one, which added some extra angst…but I digress…
The reason Alien was scary was that it didn’t have backstory.
Agreed. It’s interesting though, to ponder the difference between those sagas where backstories diminish the original versus those where they add to it. Think the origin of the One Ring discovered in The Hobbit.
The ransomware targeted MicroSoft Windows XP which is about as out-of-date as a Model A…
In the process of pretty much merely noting headlines going by, I did see some commentary on XP getting targeted, and yes, XP is now pretty much that leftover bit of infrastructure that some VP ordered to be set up and has yet to be replaced, etc. etc.
But then very much while just skimming headlines—all headlines, not just tech—I did spot Win7 actually being a major target.
I really didn’t even care for Aliens, the second one, while everyone else seemed to love it. I suspected at the time it was because I knew what to watch out for.
It depends on what you’re looking for and which movie you;re looking at.
—I really need to get around to watching through the extended or whatnot release of Alien and see how that one is. In it, Ripley finds Dallas.
Alien is an absolutely classic Ten Little Indians set in a haunted house.
Aliens, in turn, is an absolutely classic war movie, which also got made during the depths of the nineteen empties, so there is all the pointed commentary and imagery regarding yuppies and other forms of underclass—You know, Burke, I don’t know which species is worse. You don’t see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage.
Alien 3 is a very direct discussion on death. You’re all gonna die. The only question is how you check out. Do you want it on your feet? Or on your fuckin’ knees… begging? I ain’t much for begging! Nobody ever gave me nothing! So I say *fuck* that thing! Let’s fight it!
Alien Resurrection is a variety of Prometheus Zero Point Five where someone’s attempt at witty was to have an android be programmed to genuflect before a computer interface altar.
‘A student group at the University of Guelph in Canada has apologized for including the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side” on a playlist at a campus event. Because, don’t you know, the tune contains “transphobic lyrics.”‘
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/32713/
the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side”… contains “transphobic lyrics.”
As with a certain festive favourite, it seems to me that the umbrage-takers are rather missing the sentiment of the thing.
“Walk on the Wild Side”… contains “transphobic lyrics.”
I imagine the offended are too stupid to know that all the people in the song were real members of the Warhol set. Somehow none of them found time to be offended by the lyrics and sue the hell out of Reed.
Next on the target list for songs to go down the memory hole, “Lola”, for the same reasons, and “Pinball Wizard” for offending the deaf, dumb, and blind. I will denounce myself for not saying “differently abled”.
“Walk on the Wild Side”… contains “transphobic lyrics.”
Lou was so far ahead of his time. See also I Wanna Be Black. Sigh.
What I mean about the first Alien though is that I don’t think that another movie compares to it in its potential to convey that level of fear. The advertising consisted of that one commercial and the related poster with the one line “In space, no one can hear you scream”. There was no way to describe the alien to anyone who hadn’t seen the movie. You simply HAD to see the movie. Similar to Jaws where you don’t see the shark itself until later in the film, except with Jaws everyone already knew what a shark looked like. It prolly helped being a teenager at the time and not a cynical 20something when the second film came out, but even back then I was not much of a fan of horror movies. The cliches and such bored me, though the first Halloween being a slight exception.
I imagine the offended are too stupid to know that all the people in the song were real members of the Warhol set.
The imperative to be pretentiously indignant trumps all else.
The imperative to be pretentiously indignant trumps all else.
What’s astounding is that when they are informed of the actual facts, i.e. historical context demonstrating that their interpretation is exactly opposite of what was originally intended, they nonetheless double down on the lunacy. It is the arrogance of it which maddening.
It is the arrogance of it which is maddening.
The arrogance is maddening, yes, and the ignorance, and the dogmatic refusal to entertain any other possibility. But worse, I think, is the readiness of others to apologise and defer to these joy-robbing little shits.
But worse, I think, is the readiness of others to apologise and defer to these joy-robbing little shits.
Absolutely, what are they gong to do if you tell them to go piss up a rope ? It is the same thing with the “demands” students make of administrations, the administrators have nothing to lose by saying no, it is not as if the students are really going to go to another school, and if they want to riot, arrest and throw their asses out, it is not as if they are irreplaceable.
Is the offending part of ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ this line?
“And the colored girls go”
“Do, do do, do do, do… etc.”
Is the offending part of ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ this line?
From what I can make out, what gives offence to such people – or what gives them an excuse to feign being offended – is that there are things in the world which aren’t about them, and which don’t normally frame them as the centre of attention. This is particularly offensive, it seems, if the thing in question makes other people happy. A party costume, an old song, things of that sort.
I don’t think the center of attention thing explains enough. Not at the breadth of the problem. While certainly a driver amongst the “leaders”, for lack of a better word, this posturing resonates with many of the followers because they need something, anything to justify their existence. They get worthless degrees in nonsense and stupidity, tie themselves up in oceans of debt with no prospect for gainful employment, and thus they are stuck. It goes to the basic, brain-stem survival instinct. They’ve just totterred along taking the easiest path to a phony credential and have no other idea as to what to do with themselves. Then the fear kicks in and its trigglypuffs all the way down.
Then the fear kicks in. . .
Attempting to Camouflage their own inadequacies and lack of purpose with fake righteous outrage. Everybody wants to be a hero, and bashing Lou Reed is a helluva lot easier than joining the Marines.
Reconfiguring Quantum Identities
Reconfiguring Quantum Identities
Happily, I’ve a meal to prepare.
bashing Lou Reed is a helluva lot easier than joining the Marines.
Or admitting you wasted tens of thousands of dollars and a good percentage of your life on “talents” no one has any use for and thus can’t get/hold a job of sufficient value to feed, clothe, and house yourself. Yes, it’s moral posturing and some hero wannabe but I see that as a surface issue that yes they want to camouflage. But deep down, what drives the extended exaggeration is fear coming from feelings of worthlessness, or as you say inadequacies.
As much as I laugh at these people though, my mockery is tempered by the understanding that they are suckers, victims of the con artists that have been running our educational system(s), and our psychological and other societal institutions, for decades. And we let them do it with our money. So who is truly the sucker here?
But deep down, what drives the extended exaggeration is fear coming from feelings of worthlessness, or as you say inadequacies.
Mmh. Chatsworth House Farm Shop steak pie. Them’s good eats.
Chatsworth House Farm Shop steak pie.
Is that the meal you prepared?
Is that the meal you prepared?
‘Prepared’ as in ‘threw in oven, poured large glass of red.’
I thought that was the course number!
ID 10 T
the Lou Reed song “Walk on the Wild Side”… contains “transphobic lyrics.”
Iowahawk:
Some sort of harmonic convergence is upon us. Lovecraft’s “Old Ones” will be showing up shortly.
Isn’t banning the song transphobic? Or homophobic? Or both? Lou Reed had a long relationship with “Rachel” who he dedicated the album Coney Island Baby and who was a pre op transsexual. (They can be seen together on the cover of the record “Walk in the Wild Side the Best of Lou Reed”) Even in death he is transgressive to the squares and the prudes.
Some sort of harmonic convergence is upon us.
Published in Hypatia, A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, along with such classics as “Coming to Understand: Orgasm and the Epistemology of Ignorance”, and “From vaginal exception to exceptional vagina: The biopolitics of female genital cosmetic surgery”.
However, speaking of ignorance, these learned scholars appear not to know the difference between a vagina and external genitalia, as the former can really only be viewed with a speculum or endoscope. OTOH, perhaps I should just report for regrooving for only understanding the cis-patriarchal anatomy, and not feminist anatomy.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Aka – Star Trek: Where Nomad Has Gone Before (after the season 2 episode, “The Changeling” which essentially had the same plot with a space probe called “Nomad” which had acquired advanced technology from another civilisation).
I love the original Jerry Goldsmith score (not so much the bombastic theme tune, but the ethereal music for the cloud scenes), but the Daft Punk music worked surprisingly well. The edit added a sense of urgency missing from the interminable original; not a complete failure but a film which wasn’t nearly as philosophical as it wanted to be.
Aka – Star Trek: Where Nomad Has Gone Before
Oh, yes, that was the other name that popped up when summarizing the movie, been rather a few years since I’ve seen ’em go by . . .