Reheated (76)
For newcomers and the nostalgic, some items from the archives:
Academic of pallor denounces “whiteness,” flaps his scented handkerchief.
It’s worth pondering, for instance, what kind of adult might feel a need to signal their virtue, or what they imagine as virtue, habitually, and in such ostentatious ways. I mean, if you’re about as virtuous as you think you ought to be, given whatever circumstances, why would you spend time and effort putting on a show? What kind of person feels compelled to seem virtuous – to pretend to be more pious than they actually are – and to a degree that involves contortions like those above? At risk of sounding ungenerous, I think it’s a telling activity. A warning of sorts.
Atlantic senior editor Honor Jones dislikes crumbs. And so, she got divorced.
Two-year-old boy likes footballs and tractors. Progressive father twitches.
At which point, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that readers’ comments are not welcome at the Today site; and Yahoo News, where the item above is also published, is “temporarily suspending article commenting.” This, we’re told, is in order to “create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions.” Yes, we will engage and connect by not talking about things.
It does often seem that people writing on certain topics, and with certain political leanings, are to be spared the indignity of discussion or disagreement. Say, people who use their own small children as a political experiment. Or whose list of things deemed “too masculine” includes a shirt with a tractor on it, owning a Ford car, and, obviously, manual labour.
Also, open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
why would you spend time and effort putting on a show?
To fool people.
It does seem a possibility one might consider. And yet, despite his theatrical efforts, and indeed because of them, Professor Barrett still seems to be neurotic, untrustworthy, and gripped by revolting ideas.
Like so many of his peers.
Says a lot about her peers.
Well, yes, I rather think it does. At the time, the uniformity of approval and praise – from other upper-middle-class ‘liberal’ women – was quite striking, almost eerie. As I said in the original thread, it reveals a psychological and moral gulf that can exist between we, the unremarkable, and our glorious betters:
Such that one can refer to oneself as “a capable woman taking care of her family,” while pretty much destroying it, seemingly on a whim, and then bragging about it, in print.
Departments of psychology and philosophy are reliable sources of fashionable nonsense–dare I say fashionable evil? Yes, I dare.
In today’s election news from the US&A, in Chicago (geographically part of the US&A) the utterly useless mayor has been beaten like a gong getting a whopping 17% among eight other candidates who have been running. The reason for this drubbing will amaze everyone.
Surprisingly she left out “lesbian” in her excuse seeing as how all but one of the other candidates, including one female, are also BIPOC.
The leader among the candidates (the top two will have a run-off, neither having gotten more than 50%) “…has led school systems in Chicago, New Orleans and Philadelphia…”
We all know how well those are working, so travel tip: “avoid Chicago”.
“How much of my life—I mean the architecture of my life, but also its essence, my soul, my mind—had I built around my husband?”
Did it never occur to her that her husband built his life around her and their children? That this is what normal, sane men and women do when they marry?
Adults give up the unfettered pleasures of the single life, for the deeper rewards of family. In the real world, as opposed to the fantasy world of feminism and Marxism and little children, nobody can “have it all”: Every time we choose one thing we lose something else. That’s just life, and adults recognize it very early.
But many writers are, well,
In the real world, as opposed to the fantasy world of feminism and Marxism and little children, nobody can “have it all”
See Karl Marx’s assertion that communism will allow everyone to be everything:
The fatuousness of that famous quote is obvious to every adult, but not to Marxists even today.
Theodore Dalrymple comments:
A literary quote:
Facts not in evidence. Maybe he meant after the unlimited energy source is discovered and everyone has their own multifunctional, Bender-type robot (except one that doesn’t want to Kill All Humans).
That.
Well, it’s worth noting how Ms Jones’ three small children seem rather peripheral to her mental drama, very much in second place to her ramblings about herself, putting her face in the wind, microdosing, and a dislike of crumbs. As if children can have their family structure shattered without consequence.
And likewise, loving husbands.
An apology of note.
Not in 1845 when Marx wrote that, but I’m sure that today’s deluded commies will say it. Goodness knows, I’ve heard of various
science fictionskiffy writers who peddle that childish woo.You can’t help wondering what the hell else Mr Tatchell would be willing to lie about. What precise level of farce would be too much?
“How I keep the rent low in my neighborhood”
“She actually told me she’s proud of me for the first time”.
Either because mothers are generally required to, or, because a chip off the block given the level of parenting that would produce this hot mess.
“It wasn’t until my first stint in college…”
What our culture needs right now: fat, black sci fi characters
Illustrating one of the differences between science fiction for adults and sci-fi for pseudo-adults.
“It wasn’t until my first stint in college…”
Yeah, but there was something prior that made fall for that crap.
Meanwhile, and related, don’t care about her religion, when she’s right, she’s right.
The irony of Marx (and there are many) is that he barely worked a day in his life–was supported by the factory owner Engels. A capitalist.
The true revolution of communists is against reality. Did you know that Stalin personally set prices for thousands of items down to bus fares? Of course these prices had no relation to true costs or values. Bread was cheaper than grain so farmers bought bread to feed to their pigs.
Among the many privileges of women is that of being a housewife. Lots of women CHOOSE this, including several of my neighbors. It is not the Handmaids tale. She is not forced to say home, at least not in the western world. If a man chooses to stay home and not work, his wife leaves him. But yes of course as pst314 said, you give up things to get other things. But I can tell you that the choice to have family is the bet choice someone can make. My 2 yr old granddaughter is currently walking around my house singing nursery rimes.
College know-it-all hippies.
I saw the trailer for Oppenheimer and thought it might be worth seeing. And then I realised it’s directed by Christopher Nolan, which rather complicates matters. I can’t say I’ve ever actually enjoyed a Christopher Nolan film.
Well, quite.
Much like a camp.
With guards.
And barbed wire.
Why do “sex workers” like this try to be as unattractive as possible?
Intellectual dhimmitude.
With her banjo or on it?
Well, that’s a heavy lift.
Well, that’s a heavy lift.
Not entirely unrelated…
So one thing leads to another here…that Jeffery Marsh thing led me down a wiki rabbit hole and…well…Last we were in NYC (2014 iirc) wife and I were out one evening and thought we might be able to check out the Rainbow Room. I was not wearing a sport coat nor tie but as we were right there and given that dress codes, which I do believe in and support where appropriate, have been slipping everywhere we thought we might be able to just pop in and check it out. We were met at the door by a rather stuffy (though I thought he was somewhat pretending to be pretentious for humor puposes) 40-something gentleman who informed us that we were not appropriately dressed and thus would “probably be more comfortable at one of the city’s numerous and various ‘gin joints’..”. I laughed but wifey took some offense at that. Anyhoo…back to digging around in wiki and I find this…
Perhaps if I had been wearing a dress…
Finally found something we disagree on. 🙂
Indeed!
Good news, everyone!
With her banjo or on it?
I’m not confident that her mother would say, “
Songender-fluid creature, return fromthe Hot Gatesthat hot mess with yourshieldbanjo or on it.”Heh. Took long enough.
It’s hard to specify exactly what it is about them, the ones I’ve seen, and I don’t actively dislike them; but they don’t quite do it for me. I’m thinking chiefly of Interstellar, Inception, and the Dark Knight films. I mean, they’re often ambitious and technically accomplished, and have noteworthy set pieces, but they generally strike me as oddly unengaging and emotionally flat. The soundtrack swells and rumbles as if some great emotional outpouring is expected, but… it’s just loud music and a lot of sub-bass.
Also, Nolan’s films quite often feel like work. On leaving the cinema, while not exactly regretting the experience, I couldn’t say I’d enjoyed myself as such, or had any great desire to see the thing again.
I’ve heard it suggested that beautiful women promote fashion trends that are highly unflattering, perhaps unconsciously, as a way to kneecap less attractive competitors. Their underlying beauty (symmetry, appropriate weight, unblemished skin, etc.) is somewhat diminished by a tattoos, bag-like clothing, or clownish makeup, whereas the attractiveness of someone who in an earlier age would have relied upon the flattering effect of well-tailored clothes and skillfully applied makeup is effectively crippled in comparison.
I’m not sure if I’m convinced by this explanation, but it’s something to consider.
I’ve heard it suggested that beautiful women promote fashion trends that are highly unflattering, perhaps unconsciously, as a way to kneecap less attractive competitors.
I first heard a variation on that from the formerly-sensible M. McCardle, but as a signalling method: I’m so gorgeous I can wear a nose ring and still be gorgeous – how about you?
This leads, unfortunately, to the signalling working its way through the populace, with the results we see too often. Guys do it too: ‘I have so much money I can buy a Corvette as a weekend toy’, which trickles down to a minimum wage guy buying a clapped-out Camaro rather than something sensible.
“Formerly sensible” is becoming a depressingly frequent lament. Another example: Anne Applebaum, who had I expected to have more sense in light of her books on the Soviet Union, but who has been throwing around accusations of “fascist” and “Soviet propagandist” with wild partisan abandon.
I also have that impression.
That is a problem I have noticed with some highly praised “literary” writers: Lots of deep allusions and deft style, but the stories leave one unmoved.
In a recent thread, while discussing Clarkson’s Farm, the problem of arbitrary, tyrannical Council government came up. I think this illustrates that very well. After all, one’s own trash from lunch and snacks is personal, not commercial. I would not be dismayed if Brits were to hold 21st Century Tea Party protests, in which they throw Council bullies and then relax with a nice cup of tea.
Under feudal systems, they had sumptuary laws forbidding the lower classes from dressing like nobility–in China, Japan, Europe, other places probably. ie the peasants had to know their place. China and Japan had laws that you could only use fancy fabrics if you were nobility for example. This is why kimonos are fancy on the inside –to show off out of sight of the authorities.
The current contempt of the elite for the common man shows in how they reacted in lockstep to trump and his supporters.
Luxury beliefs take the role of fancy clothing today.
Oh my, after reading that Daddy with Daddy issues piece, I made the mistake of looking at his bio:
As always, the least qualified people occupy positions where they can do the most damage.
And they do everything they can to exclude qualified people–starting with university degree programs which exclude sensible people, conservative people, anyone who does not embrace the fashionable delusions.
as a way to kneecap less attractive competitors
That was probably me, although I was referencing Steve Sailer.
I think it’s part of it but not the whole story; there’s a fair bit of “I’m desperate for attention and I don’t care what kind, and affecting a shocking appearance gets me that”.
And for some reason, Nolan’s films often have poorly mixed or needlessly inaudible dialogue. He seems to do it on purpose.
It’s almost too perfect. Re-reading the thing, I still laughed at Mr Deitcher’s disdain for men “boxed in by masculinity” and who, for instance, own wrenches. Unlike our ideologically emasculated neurotic, who imagines himself on a much higher plane, and who “spirals into panic” at the mere thought of a toolbox or anything approaching manual labour.
this hot mess
And with a topping of annoying vocal fry!
*chef’s kiss*
Not disordered.
At what point is an LEO ineffective and what is really needed is a capable exorcist?
In my faith (Roman Catholic), one of out prayers is to St. Michael the Archangel. It ends with the line “[C]ast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”
“Evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.” They’re hiding in plain sight.
That’s tomorrow’s batch sorted.
Cluster B disorders are very common among the sexually dysmorphic.
Was it accompanied by S-backing? Because that would be just awesome.
Speaking of ineffective LEO, it is important that a county have a police force that that looks like the community so in 94.4% hwite Essex (the English one) the coppers are hiring!.
Because that’s more realistic?
Speaking of ineffective LEO, it is important that a county have a police force that that looks like the community so in 94.4% hwite Essex (the English one) the coppers are hiring!.
I read that the UK police now hire functionally illiterate people, as long as they are dark-skinned immigrants.
Because that’s more realistic?
There are artsy types who think “realistic” is the highest goal, forgetting that art is supposed to be understandable, to which goal dialog should be understandable and should advance understanding. To extend this though, good novelists also choose non-dialog details to advance the story and avoid anything that causes confusion. (although some not-so-good ones enjoy creating “ambiguity” for its own sake.) All art is stylized for the sake of conveying ideas.
A few days ago, The Other Half was watching Tenet on TV and I walked in halfway through. For maybe twenty minutes or so, I’d say about a third of the dialogue was muffled or inaudible, and clearly deliberately so. At which point, I stopped caring and played a game instead.
Ephemera already
Where TF has the week gone?
If you’re going to have a decidedly convoluted and unobvious plot – one that requires a lot of expositional dialogue – and you then deliberately make much of that dialogue inaudible, as if that were clever, then… well, bugger that. I don’t generally watch films in order to be frustrated by the sound mix. (Coppola’s The Conversation comes to mind as an exception.) Presumably, Mr Nolan thinks the effect is immersive or realistic or intriguing or something. More typically, it’s distancing and boring, and disrupts any suspension of disbelief.
Eaten–no, devoured–by HOA issues.
Or, as Jerry Pournelle used to say, “devoured by locusts”.
I heartily agree with that, including the epithet.
Artistes like Nolan could take a lesson from Classical Greek drama, in which every line of dialogue was crafted to maximally advance the story and the message. And in the original performances the dialogue was spoken clearly so that everyone could hear every word.
The In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida disease. Sometimes caused by drugs and alcohol, sometimes by pretentiousness.
Well, the use of sound mixing and things-not-quite-heard to further a story or elicit intrigue isn’t new or beyond the pale. Again, The Conversation, which came out in 1974, comes to mind as an example. But I find Nolan’s use of muffling much more distancing and tedious. It just reminds me that I’m sitting in a cinema, or on the sofa, feeling somewhat alienated and bored.
...sometimes by pretentiousness.
Especially that, because “art”. A nice experiment is to find some show – “Arctic Circle” comes to mind because the dialogue at different times is in English, Finnish, German, and Russian – and turn off the subtitles. If you can follow and generally understand what is going on, both the acting and dialogue/sound are on the money, even if it isn’t “art” by Cannes standards (and I use “standards” loosely).
Muffled dialog: on the classic Law and Order, lots of dialog necessary to the story and all of it clear (except the first few seasons with too much background noise). Modern Chicago PD 3 key actors have a voice issue (raspy, poor diction, don’t open their mouth). argh. IRL if you can’t hear someone you say “what?” but in movies the audience is just lost. Idiots.
In the case of the guy freaked out by a wrench–I thought the Left was all about empowerment? Nothing as empowering as fixing your own plumbing and saving $600. Even my daughter can put up shelves and do other things. “boxed in by masculinity” my ass.
I’m assuming this is the result of a transporter malfunction.
Is it safe to assume if he’d just thrown the rubbish out to litter the environs there’d be no consequences?
Meanwhile, a quandary over whom to charge for a hate crime.
O Cressid! O false Cressid! False, false, false!
Let all untruths stand by thy stainèd name,
And they’ll seem glorious.
That’s the least horrid hypothesis.
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
In that twitter thread, Essex police are stating that the recruiting ad is a fake.
Transporter malfunction…
Mr. Badger, at the top of that thread, made me spit coffee.
transporter malfunction: just a hint that if you have trouble walking, can’t get into a car, and can’t buy clothes at a normal store, then maybe, just maybe, your butt is too big. Reality is so unfair.
Recruiting ad: I suspect a fake but these days who knows? This would be a “fake but truthful” case.
“A Few Good Them“
Mr. Badger, at the top of that thread, made me spit coffee.
The hell with the deck, those gold spike heels must be made of titanium.
Meanwhile, lest we be accused of racism more than usual, let us review Newton’s laws of motion and reprise this lass from the other day.
“A Few Good Them“
From the same artist, a story in two parts:
Part the First:
Part the Second:
The depictions are brilliant.
The depictions are brilliant
I’ve been following him for a while now and his pen is razor sharp.
[ Rummages under bar, emerges with tray of exotic cheeses. ]
Try not to get any on your skin.
This.
[ Washes hands thoroughly. ]
[ Fixes Darleen’s shockingly unorthodox blockquote font. ]
Was it merely unorthodox? Or actually transgressive?
Positively scandalous.
Oh well, all over now, but this boob had a good run.
That could only mean [pause for dramatic effect] Comic Sans.
If someone were to instigate a public shaming of Darleen, would people forget about his HTML transgressions? Asking for a friend.
Of course, we’re all still living in the shadow of Mr Sherman’s spectacular and truly boggling HTML atrocity of August 2016.
[ Eye twitches. ]
What should it be? Psychotherapy and medication? Or a bop upside the head?
Bop upside the head? Or a taser?
Forget the taser. Go with sustained automatic weapons fire.
The longer video is linked here.
Or a bop upside the head?
The mob may not be as active as it once was there but that, the fact that lots of NYPD live there, and not knowing who owns the place, Staten Island probably was not the wisest choice of places to pull that crap as a bop upside the head might be the least of his worries
Looting Amazon truck: I can just see the guy who grabbed the big box of disposable diapers or the 20lbs of catfood…such a victory against The Man!
Because “trans”women need “reproductive freedom”, so c’mon guys and gals*, let’s make this a Women’s History Month to remember.
*(offer not valid for non-Alphabet People after curfew in Sector R)
Watching the obnoxious lady who doesn’t like bbq has made me far far sadder than something taking place at least 4,000 miles away should do.
The fact that such primitives, and they are legion, are allowed to wreak havoc without fear of accountability bodes ill for the west.
The fact that such primitives, and they are legion, are allowed to wreak havoc without fear of accountability bodes ill for the west.
I agree that this is going to get worse … either all those venues under attack will just close shop and give up in certain spaces or someone will finally decide to inflict consequences on the entitled criminals.
I realize that most event vendors probably haven’t thought much about some crazy attendee flipping their tables and equipment, but when the grill full of hot embers went over, the fire extinguisher should have been immediately deployed … embers second.
Let them fight!
Porn “trans”women are upset because a real girl is pretending to be “trans” and makes more money than they do (being a real female might have something to do with it, but I am not checking).
Their chief complaint: “Being trans is not a costume”.
Irony cam be pretty ironic.
I swear, these “trans” can’t leave anything alone.