Friday Ephemera

Today’s word is rethink. || Always respect the media. || Piano improvisation made simple. || Build your own mobile phone. || “No bathroom inside, but many nearby.” || She does this better than you do. || Self-lubricating condoms. || For me, yes, but not thee. || One whole minute of performance art. || Don’t all rush at once. || Chart of note. (h/t, Damian) || How Jack Became Black. || Ladies, in states of undress, with skeletons. || On watching Alien for the first time. || Ladder-climbing snake robot. || Drone versus aircraft wing. (h/t, Tony) || Today’s other word is character. || Naked man fights cop car. || Rat infestation. || Achievement redefined. || Analogy of note. || It’s hard to know where to start.

Comments

[Captain Nemo]

One whole minute of performance art.

It's Sandrine Schaefer again, isn't it?

[Hector Drummond, Vile Novelist]

The ladies and the skeletons -- if I was a lady myself, this would be the point at which I could say "That reminds of a few dates I've had".

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Achievement redefined.

Redefined yet again.

While we are on the subject of punching and NPCs...

Regarding the ladies with skeletons, the third one down is either displaying a bit a photographers innuendo, or Skeletor there has a baculum.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

BTW, can we start a pool on how soon the shopkeeper gets charged with assaulting the "youths" trying to rob him ?

[Daniel Ream]

Naked man fights cop car

The T-700 series needed some work.

[lotocoti]

where to start

If we're talking Semtex H suppositories, the bloke from today's other word.

[Darleen]

On the other hand, not fake, and carries even more misandry than the exploding anus story.

[Darleen]

ruh-roh ... I think one of my comments got eaten. :(

[The Sage]

Don’t all rush at once.

They don't even say if they are gluten free...

[Joan]

Today’s word is rethink.

The 'repent, sinner' shirt is perfect. :-)

[David]

The ‘repent, sinner’ shirt is perfect. :-)

Isn’t it just?

‘Morning, all.

[David]

It’s Sandrine Schaefer again, isn’t it?

There’s one way to find out. Do it for art.

[David]

I think one of my comments got eaten.

Freed. Thanks.

[David]

You can’t call them ‘mansize’.

[svh]

Today’s other word is character.

Is he another male feminist ally? #NPC

[PiperPaul]

"Ladies, in states of undress, with skeletons"

Searching the creativity bank for a boner joke. Oh, wait...

I can recycle this, maybe.

[David]

Is he another male feminist ally? #NPC

You have to wonder what his parents would make of his behaviour. Are they proud? And again, the assumed piety seems to set no limit on how to behave to random strangers. As if holding the approved far-left views somehow excuses acting like a sociopath.

[PiperPaul]

"excuses acting like a sociopath"

Speaking of that, the build-your-own cell phone reminded me of Mr Mercedes (I'm slow and just saw the episode with the device last evening).

[Watchman]

Sandrine Schaefer-Research Actions artwork: uploaded Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 11:22 PM

Zero comments. 210 plays including mine after David linked it.

The art world must be waiting for the post mortem fame and increase in value of this work.

I worked in an arts school in a university where a significant proportion of the students' yearly final artwork was so important that after it was assessed and marked that it was just left by the student and never removed from the campus so that the university had to trash it a few days later.

[David]

after it was assessed and marked it was just left by the student and never removed from the campus so that the university had to trash it a few days later.

Today’s other, other word is symbolism.

[David]

Zero comments. 210 plays including mine after David linked it.

I’ve noticed that several of the, um, artists whose work I’ve featured here over the years have started blocking embedding or making their videos private. These things of which they’re so proud and wish to gift to mankind for our education and betterment. This deprives you heathens of aesthetic enrichment, but also deprives them of practically all of the views their videos will ever get. Which is a shame, really. If the artists in question were willing to join our discussions and perhaps even explain why their efforts are meaningful and fabulous, that might be… enlightening.

[Captain Nemo]

There’s one way to find out. Do it for art.

Ah, it IS Sandrine Schaefer. I wish I'd known as a four year old that what I was doing after a particularly cold morning was actually avant-garde performance art. All that potential talent wasted.

[Captain Nemo]

And now, a palate cleanser. Crossover graffiti art of note:

https://twitter.com/patrickoduffy/status/1053033229752528896

[David]

Ah, it IS Sandrine Schaefer.

I’m just glad you weren’t disappointed.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Mafia no noger wants to be called "The Mob"

"When people hear about 'the Mob’,” said Joey "the Ice Pick" Polino, "they now think of people mindlessly screeching about some red versus blue political nonsense...Al "Big Mouth" Venturo agreed. "What's the first word in organized crime? Organized. We're not just idiots screaming at people in restaurants like the mobs you see nowadays. I mean, occasionally we kill people in restaurants, but it's all well planned out and actually accomplishes something."

Heh.

[David]

What I want to know is why Muldoon’s Typepad avatar changes on a seemingly random basis. It’s terribly confusing. For a second, I thought you were Hal.

[Farnsworth M. Muldoon]

You can’t call them ‘mansize’.

Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Sexist sandwiches have to go.

BTW, anchovy mayonnaise, and you think what we eat is weird ?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

What I want to know is why Muldoon’s Typepad avatar changes on a seemingly random basis.

Frequency hopping.

[David]

Frequency hopping.

It’s like you went to the gents and came back wearing a false moustache.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

BTW, of all of the people in all of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Hal ?

Here I thought I had been called every name in the book already. What a world, what a world.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The moustache is real, it is the glass eye and false nose that I change.

[David]

He did it again. The lingerie’s a bit much, don’t you think?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

The lingerie’s a bit much, don’t you think?

Part of the cunning plan, it helps me escape through the massage parlor next door.

However wearing it reminds me to cut back on my meme intake.

[David]

However wearing it reminds me to cut back on my meme intake.

We do have a back-up planet, don’t we? I mean, for when this one finally buckles under the weight of absurdity and collapses into some kind of woke singularity.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...when this one finally buckles under the weight of absurdity...

The academics were also concerned by a meme that created a human-like body from pictures of pizzas and hamburgers, with frankfurters used for limbs and a smiley-faced potato for a face.

"Academics", LOL. Guiseppe Arcimboldo was unavailable for comment.

[David]

[ Checks Muldoon’s latest avatar.]

It’s an outrage.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

[Checks Muldoon’s latest avatar.]

Lon Chaney with his 1,000 faces has nothing on me, and chameleons hide when - correction - if they see me coming.

[PiperPaul]

"How Jack Became Black"

Didn't Steve Martin go through this in one of his documentaries?

Or, wait - maybe it was the other way around.

[jabrwok]

The Freestyle Skydiver...I've seen something like that before.

Putting a disintegrator in the top of the tube would certainly ramp up the excitement of the performance.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

You can’t call them ‘mansize’.

A reply of note.

[prm]

Also on the tissue thing - another Munchausen By Proxy virtue signalling mother. With a woke 4 year-old.

#thingsthatdidnthappen

[R. Sherman]

Related to Muldoon's flirtation with lingerie. BTW, avatars are merely a social construct like everything else. See, e.g. Elizabeth Warren.

[David]

Related to Muldoon’s flirtation with lingerie.

“Black dyke energy” should be a band name.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

@R. Sherman,

Speaking of TERFS and "trans-activists"...

"All", well except you lot. BTW, in keeping with the nomenclature, isn't a "trans-activist" really and activist pretending not to be ?

[David]

It’s a positive space. Imagine the jollity.

[David]

You can’t call them ‘mansize’.

Somewhat related.

[R. Sherman]

“Black dyke energy” should be a band name.

I think it's been mentioned before on these pages that there is absolutely no indication that any of has possesses the slightest musical acumen. It's like a bunch of college students sitting around planning a major party, but no one's got money for the beer.

[David]

there is absolutely no indication that any of us possesses the slightest musical acumen.

It’s all about the attitude, man. And the hair.

[Daniel Ream]

there is absolutely no indication that any of us possesses the slightest musical acumen

You speak as if this is somehow an impediment to commercial success.

I wish I'd known as a four year old that what I was doing after a particularly cold morning was actually avant-garde performance art.

The thing is, it's actually quite a clever little trompe l'oeil. The particular viewing angle, the confluence of the edge of the condensation and the distant skyline, the visual effect of what amounts to a manual screen wipe - it's the sort of thing you'd expect to see in a ten-second interstitial segment on a Sunday morning children's arts and crafts television programme. Someone has to come up with those.

[Boatswain's Mate]

I play guitar, A, D, E,
I don't play bass cuz that's too hard for me,
I play the piano if it's in C,
And when I go to town, I wanna see all three.

-- Ringo Starr, "Early 1970"

[David]

You speak as if this is somehow an impediment to commercial success.

I’m busting out my dance moves as I type.

[Lancastrian Oik]

On watching Alien for the first time.

I went to see it on its release in 1979 with a few friends.

The only seats to be had that Saturday night were in the front row of the Odeon, which in those pre-multiplex days seated about 400 people, and it was packed.

As the creature exploded out of John Hurt's abdomen, my mate Frank exclaimed loudly "He's got a hard-on!" and the whole place erupted in laughter. I doubt Ridley Scott ever envisaged that happening.

[Jonathan]

Skynet operatives in training to hunt down the last humans.

Sleep tight.....

[R. Sherman]

Sleep tight.....

I’m busting out my dance moves as I type.

Ahem.

[Darleen]

You can’t call them ‘mansize’.

A reply of note.

Uh oh...looks like that reply, whatever it was, resulted in Twitter suspension.

[Jonathan]

This Tweet nicely sums up what we've thought for ages...

via Geoffrey Miller

[David]

whatever it was,

I daren’t repeat it in front of a lady.

[Darleen]

This Tweet nicely sums up what we've thought for ages...

(An introductory chemistry course at Berkeley has as its stated primary goal “to disrupt ‘the racialized and gendered construct of scientific brilliance,’ which defines ‘good science’ as getting all the right answers. all students are scientifically brilliant.’”)

When everyone is "scientifically brilliant", no one will be ...

[Jonathan]

When everyone is "scientifically brilliant", no one will be ...

" Paging Mr Harrison Bergeron."

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I think it's been mentioned before on these pages that there is absolutely no indication that any of has possesses the slightest musical acumen.

Au contraire, counselor, just yesterday Lancastrian Oik admitted to being a plank-spanker and I, he said with all modesty, can spank a plank in all seven modes and other oddball scales, though when I do I must confess I get the "WTF is he up to now" look, but no one has thrown a cymbal at me. Yet.

So all we need is someone to confess to being able to play a bass and drums and we have the start of the band plus, it appears, the Guild of Evil Singers and Dancers.

[Boatswain's Mate]

So all we need is someone to confess to being able to play a bass and drums and we have the start of the band plus, it appears, the Guild of Evil Singers and Dancers.

(Sigh) OK, you got me. And what do y'all want, sticks, brushes, or rods (and wood or nylon)?

[David]

all we need is someone to confess to being able to play a bass and drums

Reminds me of a joke heard in a studio during the early 90s. “What’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?” “You only have to punch the instructions into a drum machine once.”

[Boatswain's Mate]

“What’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?” “You only have to punch the instructions into a drum machine once.”

I resemble that remark, sir!

[David]

[ Straightens coasters, resumes nonchalant wiping of bar. ]

[Boatswain's Mate]

[ Straightens coasters, resumes nonchalant wiping of bar. ]

You forgot [Add secret formula, H2O, to whisky bottles.]

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

“What’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?”

How do you get a guitar player off your porch ?

Pay for the damn pizza.

What's the difference between a rock guitarist and a jazz guitarist ?

A rock guitarist plays three chords for a thousand people, a jazz guitarist plays a thousand chords for three people.

What do you call a bass player with no girlfriend ?

Homeless.

I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip the veal and try the waitresses.

[David]

Heh. I hadn’t heard those.

[Darleen]

I married the bass player ... :)

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

I married the bass player ... :)

All righty, then. Two guitars, drums, we dragoon Darleen's spousal sub-unit, the Guild of Evil Singes and Dancers and we're getting the band back together...

[David]

I married the bass player ... :)

I’m now picturing Darleen as a rock chick with a scandalous history.

[Darleen]

Who, me? [smile of pure innocence]

[Pogonip]

I can be an Evil Dancer as long as I don’t have to go up or down any stairs the day after the performance.

[R. Sherman]

All righty, then. Two guitars, drums, we dragoon Darleen's spousal sub-unit, the Guild of Evil Singes and Dancers and we're getting the band back together...

And . . . the audience. . .

[Patrick Brown]

How do you know when there's a singer at your door?

They can't find the key and don't know when to come in.

Speaking of plank-spanking... (that's me in the tasteful shirt on the left)

[Boatswain's Mate]

I’m now picturing Darleen as a rock chick with a scandalous history.

Who, me? [smile of pure innocence]

Right, I'm just going to the Gents for a w..., w..., wee bit. Won't be a jiffy.

[Jonathan]

Q: What do you do when the drummer locks his keys in the car?

A: Break the window to let the bass player out.

Q: How can you tell when the drum riser is level?

A: The drummer drools out of both sides of his mouth.

I'll get my coat....

[Jonathan]

And...the audience

More like:

[Hal]

BTW, of all of the people in all of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Hal ?

Now you've done it David. Farnsworth is going to be glowing and have an ear to ear grin for weeks now.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Farnsworth is going to be glowing and have an ear to ear grin for weeks now.

Yes, in much the same way one glows and grins while passing a kidney stone.

[jabrwok]

A rock guitarist plays three chords for a thousand people

Speaking of limited chordage...

[Hal]

Yes, in much the same way one glows and grins while passing a kidney stone.

Oh, dear. Right wing stone or left wing stone this time?

Either way you do have the easy out; Of whomever on the right or left is annoying you, simply remind that You poor dear, you look terrible. Why not be conservative instead, it's sooo much easier!

[Hal]

On watching Alien for the first time.

Details, details.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...it's sooo much easier!

Oh, another link to The Curia. Remind me to light a candle to St. Hermes for whomever the poor sod who ginned that up is.

[R. Sherman]

Shifting gears: All heroes must be deconstructed.

I doubt I'll see this movie, thanks to the above review, although I was already ticked about the absence of the American flag making an appearance. I think I've mentioned before on these pages, my father played a minor role in the space program as an engineer for a prime NASA contractor. As a kid, I got to see Apollo 10 lift off from the VIP section at Cape Kennedy. I remember driving there in the morning and seeing Americans of all demographics parked along the coast highway with lawn chairs out waiting for the launch.

I was so proud of . . . us.

These people who wish to destroy those memories can bugger right off.

(Sorry to dampen the mood.)

[Jonathan]

I was so proud of . . . us.

Oh Sherman. You're obviously a Nazi stooge; didn't you know it was Proud Black Women that put humans on the moon?

[R. Sherman]

@Jonathon

Dad actually worked with "computers" back in the day. I heard about their efforts back in the '60s. Nothing but admiration from him. Fun fact: Dad became a Republican because of the Democratic senate majority's reaction to LBJ's civil rights legislation.

[R. Sherman]

Fun fact #2: Until July, 1969, we had a modestly sized B&W TV. When Apollo 11 launched, Dad went out and bought a honkus Zenith color console TV which took up half the living room, because "I want to see the moon in color."

Alas, Apollo 11 only carried B&W cameras.

Still, we finally had a color TV!

[lotocoti]

a rock chick with a scandalous history.

Years ago, the pretty young things from some programme began pinning photos of various C and D list celebrities they'd cavorted with, on the office notice board. That particular game of one-up-personship came to a shuddering halt when the quiet, middle aged lady who was filling in as a researcher, dropped a bundle of pics from her younger days as a librarian at the Beeb. Apparently the thing with several blokes from some rock group which didn't crash like a lead dirigible lasted quite some time.

[David]

“I want to see the moon in color.”

The Moon isn’t generally thought of as being particularly colourful, though several astronauts have remarked on the strange quality of the light, due to the vacuum, presumably.

For some marvellous photographs of the Apollo missions, Michael Light’s Full Moon is strongly recommended.

[Darleen]

Still, we finally had a color TV!

My grandparents had the Zenith color console with wireless Space Command channel changer!!! mid-60s. Sister and I fought over the remote when we stayed overnight.

Finally got our first color TV -- RCA -- 1968. The channel changer was me & my sister ;)

Oh the fun of learning to adjust the color/tint knobs.

[WTP]

My grandparents had the Zenith color console with wireless Space Command channel changer!!! mid-60s. Sister and I fought over the remote when we stayed overnight.

Heh. My mother’s best friend won a B&W version (among many other things) on the TV show The Price Is Right. When we would visit/stay with them I had that tv to myself for hours at a time. I remember the remote buttons were spring mounted and getting one of them to work properly was a 1 in 5 long shot.

[Hal]

...it's sooo much easier!

Oh, another link to The Curia.

I've been swamped in classes and I.T. research, but in passing I did recently finally notice a way to mebbe get a general count of U.S. congressional right wingers vs actual conservatives vs left wingers, or so . . .

With the UK party Stuff, as rather noted, it's easy. Over on the right are the UKIP and the BNP and that lot, over on the left are Labour and that lot. Being quite bookended by the right and left are the conservatives, who are known as The Conservatives.

What's come to mind is that the same sort of counting can be done in the U.S., albeit one has to look at the also quite noted conservatives, as opposed to the mere right or mere left.

Do indeed start with the Blue Dog Democrats, the Main Street Partnership, The New Democrat Coalition, and The Tuesday Group, and count the number of members. If some related group of conservatives also turns up, count them as well---noting, of course, that yes, refrain from counting some individual more than once.

Once you've got that list, count the rest. If someone is not included in that list of conservatives, and is Republican, list that whomever as being right wing, rather than conservative. In turn, working from the list, if someone is not included in that list of conservatives, and is Democrat, likewise count that whomever as being left wing, rather than conservative.

I don't know what numbers will turn up in the resulting map of these three distinctly different groups---and tonight, for one, I have to finish recombobulating a pair of computers----but just the sheer demonstration of See A, See B, See C, is not going to just vanish with some extremist who only wants to proclaim Noooooo!!!!!! Nooooo!!!!!! Noooooooo!!!!!!

[Daniel Ream]

Shifting gears: All heroes must be deconstructed.

Some heroes don't deconstruct so easily.

[David]

Sequence of note. Do click to the end.

[ Added: ]

Now with a post of its own. Comments that-a-way, please.

[JML]

"Full Moon" is great (I have a copy).
Also sensational movie "For All Mankind", composed entirely of film from the Apollo Missions, with music by Brian Eno.

True story. My wife is Beijing born (1960) so fairly fucked-up by Chairman Mao, but no dummy - she has a PhD in Physics. When I first met her, she asked me if I thought the moon landing had been faked.

"I'm glad you asked" I said, and sat her down and showed her my DVD of "For All Mankind" which answered the question to her satisfaction.

I think I might watch it again now, it's been a while.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Do you have a Lost and Found ? Someone appears to have dropped this.

[prm]

"With the UK party Stuff, as rather noted, it's easy. Over on the right are the UKIP and the BNP and that lot, over on the left are Labour and that lot. Being quite bookended by the right and left are the conservatives, who are known as The Conservatives."

BNP are socialist, Conservatives are now centre-left progressives. UKIP are somewhat conservative.

So apart from being completely wrong, yes, spot on.

[TomJ]

UKIP are somewhat socially conservative, but veered leftwards economically, seemingly the better to appeal to The North. God knows where they currently stand.

[Squires]

I’m now picturing Darleen as a rock chick with a scandalous history.

She did pick the low-hanging fruit:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx7eqdkwxEw