Friday Ephemera
Leaf-blowing drama. || DIY policing. (h/t, Julia) || Needs more dress. || Near miss. || A masterclass in stealth redistribution. || He does this better than you would. || That’s exactly how I would’ve done it. || How deep are the oceans? || “Do you see this?” || Today’s word is oversharing. || An educator speaks. “I’m not anti-white,” says she. || A virtual 1950s electronic music studio. (h/t, Things) || Just tap it, he said. (h/t, STG) || Can pigs jump? || The progressive retail experience (or how to undermine a high-trust society). || “The propped-up people in Victorian ‘post-mortems’ look alive for a much simpler reason.” || A game about a very long baguette. || And finally, because you’d never, ever tire of it.
Update:
I know its creators think it is clever but all I get from it is a sort of prequel to A Clockwork Orange.
Lifted from the comments, where Stephanie is unimpressed by the latest advert for John Lewis home insurance, shared by fellow commenter John. It has to be said, the advert in question does seem to be sending messages that its makers, and executives at John Lewis, don’t quite understand. Presumably, the urge to seem trendy and affirm transgenderism – while coyly hiding behind the fig-leaf excuse that, well, some boys just like to vamp around in their mother’s clothes, so, hey, we’re not really being political – blinded them to other, perhaps more obvious construals. Given the attempt at woke messaging, it does seem odd to associate transgender people with juvenile roleplay, antisocial self-absorption, and gratuitously destructive behaviour. It’s almost funny, in a dark kind of way.
The advert – a theme of which appears to be “I’m fabulous, so fuck you and your possessions!” – isn’t going down terribly well with the department store’s customers, who, it seems, aren’t amused by the thought of their homes being wilfully trashed by an incredibly spoiled child in bad drag. Apparently, we’re meant to find the boy in the advert adorable and affirming. Not, say, selfish and malicious, and old enough to know better. Which is the actual effect.
‘Odd’ isn’t perhaps the correct word. ‘Apposite’ comes to mind.
Well, the incidence of Cluster B personality disorders, especially narcissistic personality disorder, is very high among those lumped together as transgender. Which is what I found darkly funny. Especially as transgender people are presumably the intended beneficiary of the ostensible message.
The advert – a theme of which appears to be “I’m fabulous, so fuck you and your possessions!” – isn’t going down terribly well with the department store’s customers, who, it seems, aren’t amused by the thought of their homes being wilfully trashed by an incredibly spoiled child in bad drag. Apparently, we’re meant to find the boy in the advert adorable and affirming. Not, say, selfish and malicious, and old enough to know better. Which is the actual effect.
number of UK terror suspects tops 43,000 after MI5 rechecks its list
And we all know that there are not enough police to keep watch on that many.
Maybe, I don’t know, crazy idea, the UK should stop importing terrorists and criminals? And start expelling those already present?
Karl After a number of citizens phone the police to warn of an obvious lunatic waving around an axe in the street should the police…?
There would be no continuing problem if the people being murdered by terrorists, thugs, and lunatics were mostly members of the intellectual and political elites. The crazies would be in asylums, the thugs would be in prisons, and the borders would be secure. (Am I implying that our ruling elites are deeply culpable? Yes. Evil, even.)
“stop thief”
Hue and Cry
“I’m fabulous, so fuck you and your possessions!” – isn’t going down terribly well with the department store’s customers,
Not the least of which – as it is an ad for home insurance – deliberate destruction isn’t at all covered. So any woke parent tempted to gain TikTok fame videoing their kid prancing about the house with paint, glitter and a baseball bat to smash stuff will be unpleasantly surprised they’ll have to dip into their own bank account to cover it until the kid makes hit records.
They have said so often and so loudly that men in the women’s locker rooms can never be a problem, that when there is a problem they double down. When you insist on crazy, doubling down is your only option, otherwise you are admitting that you are acting/talking crazy.
when there is a problem they double down.
As noted upthread.
pst314: ’ And we all know that there are not enough police to keep watch on that many.’
Before the blood had even dried on the floor of that Leigh on Sea Methodist church, and the air ambulance had taken off empty, the cry went up ‘We need police at every MPs surgery!’
The news that, like the London Bridge terrorist attacker felled by narwhal tusk and MP5 bullets (but mostly MP5 bullets), this particular stabby Somali is a graduate of ‘Prevent’ might give them pause…
At the moment on Twitter, the key fact of the murder appears to be how awful the police were for not letting a priest administer last rites. I swear, for some people, this makes them worse than the murderer.
The news that, like the London Bridge terrorist attacker…this particular stabby Somali is a graduate of ‘Prevent’ might give them pause…
See here.
Has anyone been missing Laurie Penny?
https://youtu.be/2ekItpkGntM
Most unexpected headline of the day: Colombia begins sterilizing Pablo Escobar’s hippos.
Has anyone been missing Laurie Penny?
Did you notice that she tried to be very transy-correct by saying pregnant “people”, but several times slipped up and referred to women?
At the moment on Twitter, the key fact of the murder appears to be how awful the police were for not letting a priest administer last rites.
David Amess seems to have been a devout Catholic. I suspect that he would have wished to receive the last rites. Without knowing the exact details, the police seem unaware or indifferent to the importance that the victim might have attached to receiving this sacrament.
To many Christians, the heavy handed approach taken by police to Easter ceremonies during the lockdown is probably weighing on the mind.
It is possible to feel unease about the refusal to allow last rites while also feeling angry and horrified by the murder and all of the other issues that it raises.
Has anyone been missing Laurie Penny?
SheThey really is an idiot.not letting a priest administer last rites…To many Christians, the heavy handed approach taken by police to Easter ceremonies during the lockdown is probably weighing on the mind.
Yes.
You can find this imbecilic claim that “blacks are the real Jews” in any Afro-Centric bookstore in America.
A different James: That’s very well expressed. After all, catching the murderer shouldn’t prohibit thinking about the welfare (spiritual as well as physical) of the victim: it’s not a zero-sum game. “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone,” as Someone once put it.
I do not recall ever before hearing of a case where police refused to allow a priest to administer last rites. As I understand it so far, there were witnesses to the killing and the killer was apprehended immediately, so what could be so tricky about “securing the crime scene” that a priest could not be allowed to approach the victim?
It’s the product makers that pay on those contracts
Yes, but there’s a whole lot of legal wrangling that has to be done first. In 1984, product marketing departments were much more concerned about the image the film presented in conjunction with their brand, such that product placement contracts often have extensive conditions on how the product must be portrayed on screen. Two extreme examples: Ferrari is famous for not allowing their cars to be depicted negatively in any way, to the extent that they will not allow them to be used in video games that depict significant damage to the cars. On the other end of the spectrum, part of the reason for Apple Macs ubiquity in film is a long standing policy that any film/TV production may use Macs onscreen in any way with no restrictions or a contract. Apple sees the exposure as worth more than any potential negative associations.
Given all that, if you’re making an indie film with a tiny budget and nobody wants to sponsor your film, you do what you have to.
Turns out I was right. It was raptor not rapture. Sigh.
In the “Rocky Horor Picture Show”, neither Brad nor Janet are raped by Frankenfurter, they are seduced and show a remarkable willingness to be so seduced. As long as the other doesn’t find out….
neither Brad nor Janet are raped by Frankenfurter, they are seduced
IIRC Frankenfurter got that sex by pretending to be the other partner (Brad for Janet, Janet for Brad). That’s legal rape.
Has anyone been missing Laurie Penny?
“For most of human history, abortion was legal.”
Wut?
Also, what’s happened to her accent that’s making her start to sound like she’s from deepest darkest “Zommersszeet” (Somerset)?
Rocky Horror Picture Show
I watched the film version of this again a couple of weeks ago as I’ve always rather enjoyed it, ever since first seeing it when I was about 11 or 12.
Though I still like the music in it, what was most striking about seeing it again in 2021 is just how many of the ideas now in vogue were not just in circulation in 1973, but well enough known to be the basis of a hit musical a good part of the public would get.
That’s legal rape.
I recall some psychologists and critics observing out that one of the conventions of a certain kind of pornography is that “everyone wants it” if the “liberated” individual will just ignore their initial protests and resistance.
not letting a priest administer last rites
It appears that the Daily Mail’s reporting was…inaccurate.
seeing it again in 2021 is just how many of the ideas now in vogue were not just in circulation in 1973, but well enough known to be the basis of a hit musical a good part of the public would get.
The beginning of the slippery slope? We’re light years away from a sweet transvestite with a Fredericks of Hollywood charge account to not-so-sweet transexuals who routinely chop off breasts and penises, take hormone treatments before or during puberty and hold the LGBQT-whatever to ransom for not being extreme enough.
extensive conditions about how the product must be portrayed on screen
In that sense I see what you mean, the film couldn’t afford to make the concessions that would have been demanded. Joints like PepsiCo and Frito-Lay in those days protected their good-guy image with George Raft-like persistence.
Hindsight, though, I bet Repo Man could have swung Lance crackers and Shasta cola if they really wanted to. The generics they arted up instead look great, suit the landscape.
Add on about Repo Man — now that I’ve read the Mental Floss article I know the generics came from Ralph’s. That makes perfect sense,too, and point unchanged.
@Sue Sims
“I’d guess that he’s one of a rather large class: the first generation born in the UK, and who are frequently more ‘radical’ – i.e. fanatical – than their parents.”
I’ve wondered about that, and the only half-way reasonable explanation I could come up with is:
The new immigrant is ecstatic about the new home country – comforts and security they could never have before. The children see Mom and Dad working menial jobs when the kids of the native-born get new cars just for graduating high school. So, red-hot anger.