Friday Ephemera
Husband detected. || In between homes. || Bandits’ Roost, not unlike a certain alley referred to around these parts. || Cacti in bloom. || Bird synthesizers. || Kestrels at home. || Canned cake. || Stacking scenes. || Something error happen. || The progressive retail experience, parts 426, 427, and 428. || Today’s word is intriguing. || Onwards and upwards. || “Save time and water.” || She has some “shower thoughts.” || 1940s waterfront. || Today’s other words are scrotal heat stress device. || Life hack. (h/t, Julia) || All in the jaw. || Dog-fussing detected. || Heh. || Heh 2. || Heh 3. || Can you drink heavy water? || Make way for more woke innovation. See her inner loveliness. || And finally, the thrill of air travel.
“Save time and water.”
Are you sure this will help us sell more shower heads?
Shower heads?
I once saw an apartment building built in the 1920’s (The Roaring Twenties) where the showers each had 4 to 6 heads.
I agree with the Critical Drinker.
“1940s waterfront.”
“Colorization (not historically accurate)”.
These are. (Hat-tip to Technology Connections on YouTube, which sent me down that rabbit-hole in the first place.)
intriguing
Must be for those men who want to emulate the primary school boys’ game of seeing who could pee over the wall into the girls’ toilet.
canned cake
Top quality food porn.
“Cacti in bloom.”
Oh, stunning!
Bandits’ Roost, not unlike a certain alley referred to around these parts.
It’s exactly how I imagined it. 🙂
saves time and water
and once clean our totally representative 21st century couple can get on with their busy schedule of appearing in advertisements for ……… everything.
Make way for more woke innovation. See her inner loveliness.
They always have the same bad attitude/personality.
Morning, all.
They always have the same bad attitude/personality.
Why, it’s almost as if wokeness were a pretext, a license, for a narcissistic and obnoxious personality.
Heh 3.
I would have to.
I would have to.
Much like unguarded bubble wrap, or a big red button marked Do Not Press.
Bandits’ Roost
That would have been a great album cover in the 70s.
That would have been a great album cover in the 70s.
It’s pretty much how I imagine the regulars here.
Mentioning no names, obviously.
Make way for more woke innovation. See her inner loveliness.
One of the benefits of retirement is that I no longer have to go downtown five days a week.
At least around here, the most likely person to move out of your way at the store is a white man. It is called courtesy. A group of black women on the sidewalk? They don’t care who they run over. This claim that white people don’t move out of your way is a standard lie of the left.
It is called courtesy.
Very much related. Indeed, eerily similar.
Very much related. Indeed, eerily similar.
It’s not all that rare, sad to say.
very much related: nothing like being angry about past injustices that one cannot really prove are still happening to make the world a more harmonious place. /sarc obv
|| The progressive retail experience ||
Is it wrong that I’m thinking up ways to help these retailers recover some of their losses by setting up their shops for some live-action Saw scenarios to be distributed on pay-per-view?
Progressive retail: gee I wonder how food deserts come about? Or particularly pharmacy deserts.
Progressive retail: gee I wonder how food deserts come about? Or particularly pharmacy deserts.
It’s a mystery.
It is called courtesy.
American behaving badly in Paris, although not even the worst caricature of a white American tourist would deliberately push the natives off the sidewalk.
I haven’t been in Paris for 30 years or so, and at that time the Parisians had very high self esteem, strutted around like supermodels, and had a short fuse for perceived breaches of urban etiquette like say getting crowded off the sidewalk – they wouldn’t have shrugged it off, they would have started a whole street theater performance of “votre comportement n’est pas correct, mademoiselle”.
Black women also have very high self esteem and a short fuse. They don’t quite strut, but they do jiggle and represent. Not that I’d wish them even on Parisians, but historically Parisians would have been able to perceive what was going on and hit back twice as hard. The self-esteem of Parisians was backed by something – personal and collective achievement, culture, civilization. And they didn’t cut outsiders any slack, the attitude being we probably don’t want you here anyway and we don’t apologize for that, but if you can’t behave like a civilized Parisian we certainly don’t want you here.
Black women also have very high self esteem and a short fuse.
I think that high self-esteem is part of the problem.
That reminds me of articles I read many years ago: According to liberal dogma, ghetto kids did poorly in school because they had “low self esteem”. (This was based on zero evidence. Have you noticed how the less evidence there is for something, the more confidently liberals assert its truth?) The liberal remedy, therefore, was to always praise, never correct, and above all never discipline. But some studies showed that black kids had significantly higher self-esteem than white and Asian kids, which rather destroyed the claims and the justification for the school policies.
scrotal heat stress
Band name.
Heh.
Self-esteem: true self-esteem must be based on achievement and mastery of skills. It is called confidence. Without achievement, self-esteem is called being a jerk, a fool, a tool (heck there are dozens of words for it). Strutting around just because you exist is…words escape me.
ccscientist: It strikes me that the modern attitude to self-esteem is not unlike the socialist attitude to wealth: if people don’t have it, you can solve that by simply giving it to them.
Self-esteem
The western educational system for the past generation has been built around embedding unshakeable belief in their own guilt/entitlement/superiority/inferiority into malleable infants and impressionable pre-teens based solely on their skin colour. How could it possibly end up any other way?
Finally got around to watching the most recent Bond film, No Time To Die, and dear God, it’s dull. After an hour of it, I just gave up. I’d heard it wasn’t a good film, but I didn’t expect it to be quite this flat, badly paced, and unengaging.
“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, I expect you to die, Mister Bond. Of boredom.”
“No, I expect you to die, Mister Bond. Of boredom.”
I was actually surprised by how flat it is. There’s no sense of pace or momentum, and the story and characters just don’t grip, at all. As I was watching it, my mind kept wandering. At one point I remembered that dozens of critics had gushed over this thing, and I struggled to imagine them watching the same film.
No, Time To Die, as someone quipped.
On the other hand, I hear that the new (2021) Dune movie is very good. Even the dyspeptic Critical Drinker likes it.
“It’s all in the jaw”
Reminds me of twins I dated in high school
I wasn’t impressed by No Time To Die. In fact, with the exception of Casino Royale, I wasn’t impressed by any of the Craig era films. Quantum of Solace was a tedious series of inaction sequences in search of a plot; Skyfall was marginally better in that its series of action sequences were at least held together by a thin thread of something resembling a plot; Spectre was a heap of self-indulgent “look at us, aren’t we all being ‘clever and meta and shit’ with our storyline” wankery; and No Time To Die, well, it appears to have been tailor-made to destroy a character and film franchise I and many others liked and cared about. And I’m not sure where the franchise goes from here, but if it’s more of the same (and, as a life-long Bond fan, it pains me to say it) then I’m out.
The Other Half watched the whole thing, though he did not enjoy the experience.
“I know, let’s make a Bond film, but make it really dull and mopey and maudlin.”
It’s a mystery.
“Unexpectedly”.
And they didn’t cut outsiders any slack, the attitude being we probably don’t want you here anyway and we don’t apologize for that, but if you can’t behave like a civilized Parisian we certainly don’t want you here.
Mass-importing deranged narcissists seems to have put an end to that.
It strikes me that the modern attitude to self-esteem is not unlike the socialist attitude to wealth: if people don’t have it, you can solve that by
simply giving it to themtaking it from everyone who does.“(as a life-long Bond fan, it pains me to say it) … I’m out.”
I felt much the same after Skyfall. Not that I hated it (it certainly had its moments) but it didn’t half go on. I remember thinking it was falling in with that modern trend for ridiculously long movies, but looking at the franchise’s history, they’ve usually been well over two hours. Skyfall is within a minute or so of the length of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which might be my favourite.
Regardless, by the end, I felt like I’d had enough of that to do me for at least a decade or so. Spectre‘s still on my PVR from its broadcast début four years ago. I just can’t be bothered.
Sidewalk lady wouldn’t like me. When I am walking (and I don’t take up much space, weighing 110 lbs), and someone or group of someones is walking straight toward me (hence on the WRONG side of the sidewalk), I just stop dead in my tracks. They literally have either to run into me or follow the rules. (I find that Asians seem not to have gone to kindergarten, where we all learn to walk on the right-hand side of the hall.)
And that black bitch stealing the groceries from another woman? I would have gone to town on her ass. She might have come out on top, but she’d have scars on her face for life. I don’t understand letting someone walk all over you like that.
I don’t remember which movie it was, but I do remember saying “so help me, if they plug the renegade agent hacker’s laptop into their main computer — ” right before I pushed the eject button.
The self-esteem of Parisians was backed by something – personal and collective achievement, culture, civilization.
I’m not so sure about that. You couldn’t get within two blocks of the train stations (Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est anyway) in Paris without choking on the smell of urine and that was the early 80s when the city had already been overrun by North African immigrants.
Now I want cake. But it has to come from a machine.
Typesetting is important.
“On the other hand, I hear that the new (2021) Dune movie is very good. “
It’s a great visual spectacle. It’s full of really good actors giving it their all. And…I preferred the original, Sting in the space nappy notwithstanding.
I wasn’t impressed by any of the Craig era films
I got very excited by the beginning of Royale, because I’ve often thought that one way to revive the franchise is not to try and compete with modern superhero action blockbusters, but to set the films back during the Cold War and really go to town on the old school 60’s tradecraft and wetwork. You don’t have to modify the Standard Bond Formula either; there were plenty of Cold War-heavy original Bond films.
so help me, if they plug the renegade agent hacker’s laptop into their main computer
I’m not in cybersecurity specifically, but as a software and operations engineer I’ve long since accepted that in entertainment computers are just going to be Magic Wizard Boxes. And honestly, it’s very hard to make what I (or the security guy) do exciting on screen. It’s some pretty tedious shit. Even in the original Neuromancer, what Case does is mostly float around in cyberspace while the black market Chinese military icebreaker does its thing.
Still it might be nice, just once, to have a movie or TV show that has one of those 2003 Battlestar Galactica “this is really, really not Star Trek” scenes with computers.
When a teacher takes children to a drag show without notifying parents or asking their consent because of the “sheer joy I feel in my bones” and because drag queens are “beautiful role models.” “It makes me emotional to think of the space we have created,” says teacher. And rather tellingly, this: “My closeted high-school self finds so much healing in days like today.”
It would, I think, be preferable if these woke and weepy educators would work out their own psychological issues on their own time, rather than making other people’s children participate in them. And if your role models are drag queens – who are meant to be lurid, cartoonish and grotesque – then you may want to rethink your assumptions.
(it certainly had its moments) but it didn’t half go on.
Skyfall I enjoyed – it’s not particularly coherent story-wise, but it’s a very handsome film with good music and sound design, and the set pieces are great fun. Though, as you say, the final act feels about 20 minutes too long. And I enjoyed the first half of Casino Royale, but lost interest when the thing leant heavily on the love-interest, which is not why people generally watch Bond films. (And which helps explain why the latest offering is so dull.) Spectre and Quantum of Solace have all but evaporated from my memory, which is probably not a good sign.
I felt much the same after Skyfall… by the end, I felt like I’d had enough of that to do me for at least a decade or so. Spectre’s still on my PVR from… four years ago. I just can’t be bothered.
Spectre was the beginning of my lack of interest. It closed the lid of the coffin, so to speak. But No Time To Die wasn’t just the last nail in the lid of the coffin for me, it was the full burial service.
I got very excited by the beginning of Royale
As I said upthread, I enjoyed Royale, although I thought the last quarter could have done with some trimming. It had a nice old-fashioned look, and it felt like a modern take on the classic Bond film. There were enough nods to the history of the franchise and the character but without the cartoonish, almost parodic self-references of the later Craig films. And then Quantum just had to start threading everything together, kicking off an entire story arc which is essentially, “I want to hurt you and take over and destroy the world because Daddy didn’t love ME enough¹“, ruining one of the great Bond villains in the process.
¹ A description which also handily categorises most of the woke woo-woo filleted here by our host.
(I find that Asians seem not to have gone to kindergarten, where we all learn to walk on the right-hand side of the hall.)
In the UK, wouldn’t the learn to walk on the left-hand side?
/ducking
And then Quantum just had to start threading everything together, kicking off an entire story…
The ongoing, and rather dull, through-line from one film to another – hey, Bond and Blofeld are related, because why not, and Bond has a steady girlfriend! – was a very bad idea. And Léa Seydoux was by no means a triumph of casting.
Asians seem not to have gone to kindergarten…In the UK, wouldn’t the learn to walk on the left-hand side?
In Singapore on escalators it is stand on the left walk on the right.
In Hong Kong on escalators it is stand on the right walk on the left – and people are slowly learning to walk that way too rather than random chaos as in the past.
The most impressive pedestrian lane discipline I have ever seen was in Cambodia in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh during a major festival where the crowds perambulated in very tight lanes. Interesting was the comparison with road traffic there – literally random free way
I think that high self-esteem is part of the problem. Who could have seen this situation coming from 50 years away? I know one guy but he was dismissed as just being ridiculous.
It’s a great visual spectacle. It’s full of really good actors giving it their all. And…I preferred the original
I really hated the David Lynch version.
…hey, Bond and Blofeld are related, because why not…
The purpose of retconning is to allow inferior people to shit in everyone else’s corn flakes.
to allow inferior people to shit in everyone else’s corn flakes
The image that has created makes me thankful that it is supper I have just finished eating and not breakfast.
It’s a great visual spectacle…
The film encompasses close to half the novel. (I’m re-reading the novel and just reached the last chapter covered by the movie, noticing that it is just about fifty percent of the book.) That doesn’t always happen, due to the complications of retelling a written story in visual form.
Asiaseen: You’re welcome.
The purpose of retconning is to allow inferior people to shit in everyone else’s corn flakes.
See also just about anything touched by Alex Hilary Kurtzman.
One of the benefits of retirement is that I no longer have to go downtown five days a week.
Another benefit is no longer having to deal on a daily basis with techno geek assholes.
Professor does not have an unhealthy obsession with Marvel comics.
Another benefit is no longer having to deal on a daily basis with techno geek assholes.
This. And the other assholes as well. Now if I can get through my annual physical next week, I hopefully won’t absolutely have to speak with another “smart” person for months.
WTP: Best wishes!
On a lighter note, this is a casus belli.
Make way for more woke innovation. See her inner loveliness.
She’s so oppressed, who paid her ticket to Paris?
I’d pay for her ticket to the Central African Republic.
From a seventh grade class picture in sweden, a “child refugee“. The West is to a significant degree ruled by liars, thieves, and betrayers.
Next, Bubba Yaga’s dancing hut.
You mean Baba Yaga.
No, I do not.
“If my introduction to you as a writer is ‘Hi, here’s my pronouns and I’m gender binary windshield wiper fluid queer trans species…’ That doesn’t make me want to read your shit.
…hey, Bond and Blofeld are related, because why not…
Because Dr. Evil was Austin Power’s brother and no one in Hollywood has had an original idea in ages.
That doesn’t make me want to read your shit.
Heh.
An anyone should wish to know more, there’s some info on Heart in a Box here.
That doesn’t make me want to read your shit.
Somewhat related:
Again, if the pitch is basically “I’m black or gay or have pronouns to show you, and am therefore infinitely fascinating and important,” what follows is likely to be bollocks.
And of course this.
The words colossal twat don’t begin to cover it.
If my introduction to you as a writer is …
Curiosity got the better of me.
#writersoftwitter 1
#writersoftwitter 2 (“he/they”)
#writersoftwitter 3 (“he/him”)
And as a bonus, some questionable but also rather telling advice: #writersoftwitter
And as a bonus, some questionable but also rather telling advice
Good to know that one needn’t have any actual ability, or have anything remotely interesting to say. One is merely “valid” by default.
And Léa Seydoux was by no means a triumph of casting.
That. She’s an attractive enough clothes-horse, but like a bottle of lemonade that’s been open too long, her Bond performances were flat and tepid.
That.
Well, in each film she struck me as devoid of charisma. For much of the time, she was practically inert. Pretty, yes, but utterly unengaging.
An urgent humanitarian appeal.
One is merely “valid” by default
Of course…because high self esteem. They’ve been pushing it for years. To all the wrong people.
I’m waiting for self-esteem to be declared a basic human right.
The idea that any twit can become a poet or writer or anything and everyone should love their work merely for their identity is backwards. The many successful black musicians and singers (pre-rap) did a lot to improve race relations. No one bought James Brown because he was black. Or Ella Fitzgerald. Or any of them. Everyone loved their music. I tried to read the word salad that David linked to, and could not. Even if you are white, the world does not shower praise on poets. We allow poets and novelists and painters to do their thing like we allow pigeons to strut around on the sidewalk. We mostly ignore them. One out of 1000 (if that) becomes famous and even then not like a singer. In the real world, if you do a useful job you get paid but you don’t get praised, loved, adored. That is for grandmas over their grandchildren. Who thinks people should swoon over them? It is the most grandiose narcissism.
Meanwhile, In Today’s Exciting Episode Of “Cultural Appropriation”™!
Who thinks people should swoon over them? It is the most grandiose narcissism.
So many people seem to believe that being the center of attention is what life is all about. It’s entwined with our celebrity culture.
For one reason or another my wife ran across a video of Jeff Beck playing with Johnny Depp. I haven’t delved very deeply into music culture lately and I mostly avoid celebrity stuff. I was intrigued by Beck’s Fender Strat being played/strung upside down. Based on image searches it appeared Beck had only been doing this the last ten years or so. Curious I dug through the comments…OMG the fawning and worshipping and concern for Johnny Depp such that any comments from that video were a waste of time. So searching just Jeff Beck a great deal of discussion, even/especially by music critics was similar fawning and God-like praise and OTT comments like “God plays electric guitar. He just uses Jeff Beck’s fingers”. I see similar in regard to sports figures though I don’t dig deep into that domain much anymore. If I had a time machine, I would be tempted to go back 2500 years and kill Socrates.
“OMG the fawning and worshipping and concern for Johnny Depp such that any comments from that video were a waste of time.”
Strongly agree. Social media are largely a wasteland, dominated by fans who have nothing to say beyond “that’s so cool” or “that sucks”. In the early days of the internet there were more sites where the comment threads were worth reading as most of the commenters had something of substance to say, and I enjoyed reading those comment threads to learn more details that were not in the original post. Now those threads are dominated by trolls and fools who cannot even say “I agree” in a witty way. [ Insert archival video of fangirls screaming and crying and wetting themselves at the sight of the Beatles. ]
Meanwhile, In Today’s Exciting Episode Of “Cultural Appropriation”™!
I suppose she could try to appropriate it back….
I was intrigued by Beck’s Fender Strat being played/strung upside down.
Neither, it is really a left hand neck on a right hand body. Because of the 6 in line tuners on a Strat (or similar) flipping the neck makes it easier to bend the E and B strings (the most frequently bent) because of tension difference between going to the farthest tuners (normal neck) and nearest (flipped neck). There is a similar phenomenon with a stop tailpiece (like on a Les Paul) and the angle the strings make between it and the bridge – smaller=easier.
Hendrix, OTOH, just played a right hand Strat left handed, but strung normally so the effect would be the same as Beck’s neck, as opposed to Albert King who played left handed and strung backwards.
Hendrix, OTOH, just played a right hand Strat left handed, but strung normally so the effect would be the same as Beck’s neck, as opposed to Albert King who played left handed and strung backwards.
[ Frantic scribbling. ]
Is this on the test?
fangirls screaming and crying and wetting themselves at the sight of the Beatles
Wasn’t that originally staged as PR/hype and then it caught on memetically?
Was it staged?
Neither, it is really a left hand neck on a right hand body.
Yes, I did notice that on further examination. Of course Beck or whomever other insanely rich rock star could afford to tell Fender how they want their guitar made. What I was curious about is with all the blues played by all the bajillion millionaire rock stars and even garage band types, why didn’t anyone “discover” this until recently? Is it really that much easier? It sounds like something a mathematician/engineer might have thought of and convinced himself it worked. I don’t play myself (excepting real simple/casual blues harp and some keyboards…the latter long, long ago). Just seems like something someone would have discovered before now. Though I questioned similar about why it took so long to invent the bicycle.
Also on the Hendrix thing…part of what caught my eye was that Beck’s neck was one way and Depp’s was flipped from Beck’s. I couldn’t remember which was “normal” (it was at about this point that I realized both guitars were built for right-handers) so I at first presumed Depp, being an actor and thus douchier, might be doing some sort of right-handed use of a left-handed guitar tribute to Hendrix…or something. Then I read the thing about the notes being easier to bend…then I thought, does Clapton do this? And then I got all over-under-sideways-down and gave up. IYKWIM.
Of course Beck or whomever other insanely rich rock star could afford to tell Fender how they want their guitar made.
True, but with bolt on necks like Fenders (and many others) have it it pretty simple for anyone to make the switch either with an aftermarket or off another Fender.
Is it really that much easier?
I can’t speak to a Fender (as I think they are pretty much repurposed pizza paddles), but it is a bit easier with the stop tailpiece adjustment mentioned so I can see where it might be a thing. Even easier than both is just use lighter gauge strings if it isn’t going to affect your tone. OTOH, some of the older blues guys who grew up on cheap guitars strung like the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge have hands that can crush engine blocks and can bend anything.
…being an actor and thus douchier, might be doing some sort of right-handed use of a left-handed guitar tribute to Hendrix…
A lot of people do that claiming to be trying to emulate Hendrix tone – the bridge pickup on a Strat is at an angle where normally the end under the high E string is closest to the bridge and the low E farther back. Closer to the bridge sounds more trebley (or tinny), the further back more warm, so if you play a lefty right handed but normally strung, the high E is now over the pickup farther back and theoretically a bit warmer.
Of course that claim is BS unless you have the same gauge strings, same amp, same amp settings, same picks, etc., etc., so in truth it is mainly douchiness.
Hendrix, OTOH, just played a right hand Strat left handed, but strung normally so the effect would be the same as Beck’s neck
Just trying to follow here, you know for the test, but if Hendrix guitar was right handed and strung normally how would it be the same effect as Beck’s. The distance to the tuner (or the length of the string) would be different. On Hendrix’s guitar the distance would be longest on the low E string, on Beck’s it would be longest on the high E string. Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
Never mind. I got my E strings mixed up.
How George Jetson would live in a world without flying cars.
Never mind. I got my E strings mixed up.
As long as it is not your G-strings and blogging thongs.
From a seventh grade class picture in Sweden, a “child refugee”.
Cover illustration for a Hans Christian Anderson fable about how birds who notice cuckoos are shunned or pecked out of the community – cuckoophobia is not who we are. But the context is that Sweden is knowingly and proudly nurturing millions of cuckoos, the doubt in this case not being whether the hatchling is a cuckoo, but whether the cuckoo is a hatchling.
As long as it is not your G-strings and blogging thongs.
[ PTSD episode triggered. ]
As long as it is not your G-strings and blogging thongs.
G-strings are for plucking, thongs are for thinging. For blogging it’s the banana hammock
How George Jetson would live…
At least one of those pictiures at first looked like CGI, but no, that’s a real house. Missing a mid-fifties Cadillac, though.