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.
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.