Friday Ephemera

“A lacquer fixative sees that it doesn’t sag.” || He does this at least as well as you would. || I struggle to understand modern music. || At last, amplified squirrels. (h/t, Damian) || Meanwhile, in Essex. || Practically flirtatious with a criminal mastermind. || Merry old London town. (h/t, Holborn) || London’s alleys and passages. (h/t, Things) || The dance they do. || Nicely done, but good question. || Aqueduct of note. || The thrill of Icelandic quiz shows. || Um. || Things you’ll find on a lesbian dating app. || For big earrings. || A little build-up. || Place your bets. || His beef wellingtons are fancier than yours. || Coffee foam. || Fifteen seconds of art. || And finally, festively, it seemed such a good idea at the time.

Comments

[ComputerLabRat]

Fifteen seconds of art.

We've seen her...art...before, haven't we. With her arse in the air and sometimes with shrubbery on display?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

A lacquer fixative sees that it doesn’t sag

Piker.

[pst314]

And yet she built her career on attracting attention through vulgar exhibitionism.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

"Educator"

Honk !

[NTSOG]

Sandrine Schaefer - Fifteen Seconds of Art: Is she the solidly built sheila who wobbled around on a stage naked with talcum powder? If it is, at least she's dressed this time.

[pst314]

Fifteen seconds of art.

Did our tax dollars pay for that?

[pst314]

Piker.

Yippee ki yay, tovarish?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Yippee ki yay, tovarish?

Da, ty ponimayesch.

[Pooklord]

And so many medals on their chests. The hair must make them very brave.

[Joan]

Things you’ll find on a lesbian dating app.

'Harley' didn't put a lot of effort into 'her' profile.

[JuliaM]

" His beef wellingtons are fancier than yours."

Strangely offputting, like golden raspberries. They just look...wrong!

[David]

Morning, all.

‘Harley’ didn’t put a lot of effort into ‘her’ profile.

I’m still not entirely sure that Harley isn’t a wind-up. It’s the combination of the mugshot, the badly-painted toenails, and the words “fun gamer girl.” But I’m told, by people who know about such things, that this, um, phenomenon is now quite commonplace.

[David]

Strangely offputting, like golden raspberries. They just look...wrong!

I thought they looked rather impressive. Though I’m someone who still sniggers at the words beef wellingtons.

[David]

Is she the solidly built sheila who wobbled around on a stage naked with talcum powder?

No, that was Doris Uhlich, whose talcy buttocks thrilled us no end.

Philistines, the lot of you.

[NTSOG]

Philistines, the lot of you.

As the famous Maxwell Smart often retorted "And loving it!"

[Nikw211]

"Educator"

Can't quite work out whether what's more alarming in that video.

Is it the signs of a deranged mind behind the blank almost unblinking eyes?

Or the lyrics?

Or is it in wondering just how ample she almost certainly must be?

[David]

Can’t quite work out what’s more alarming in that video.

It’s worth bearing in mind that grand and fashionable causes - say, “social justice,” or feminism, or “critical race” woo – often attract people who aren’t happy with themselves – who, shall we say, have issues. It seems to be a kind of diversion, a displacement. Which is to say, their actual problems are not necessarily the ones they want to talk about. And which, in turn, may explain why these things so often have an odd, vaguely creepy, atmosphere.

[ Added: ]

Jordan Peterson made a similar point. I forget the wording, but the gist was that if you can’t win peer approval by the usual means – if you’re too fat, or too thin, or plain, or just psychologically obnoxious, you can still announce your piety and importance by banging on, rather zealously, about climate change or “whiteness.” And there’s a chance to build a clique and browbeat people – to, as it were, make them pay - via some variation of “social justice.” All that lovely scolding, those endless games of Gotcha!…

And hence the very common, pretty much defining, Mean Girls dynamic.

[Grant McKenna]

Hi- the Icelandic Quiz Show has been removed due to a copyright claim. I assume it's this story: https://au.news.yahoo.com/contestants-astonishing-tantrum-on-tv-game-show-105335549.html

[David]

I assume it’s this story

It is. I’ve updated the link twice. The current one seems to work.

[David]

You’ll be thrilled to hear I’ve forked out for some quality upgrades to our amenities. Including Satellite TV.

These luxuries may have to be reflected in the prices at the bar.

[Karl]

His beef wellingtons are fancier than mine.

Well, sure.
Bet he didn't make his on a fucking sailing boat though!

[John Lewis]

https://youtu.be/Jrg0X9H6FGU

On what has thankfully become a Leningrad Cowboys themed thread here are the boys with their mates - the Red Army Choir.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

...Leningrad Cowboys themed thread...

Beat me to it, for some reason a decent full version of that video has become nigh impossible to find. From the song, "...Muscle Shoals has the Swampers"..., for anyone interested there is a good documentary about Fame studios, along with Muscle Shoals Sound after the Swampers broke off from Fame, and the astounding number of musicians who recorded at both places.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Good news, everyone ! Existential crisis averted.

[Mike D]

quality upgrades

Looks like Carry On Screaming.

[PiperPaul]

Muscle Shoals has the Swampers

I like the dig at Neil Crosby in that song.

[David]

Looks like Carry On Screaming.

But with lower production values. Here, let me change the channel. Ah, that’s better.

I got the dish at a substantial discount.

[pst314]

Though I’m someone who still sniggers at the words beef wellingtons.

Because in the plural they sound like rain gear?

[David]

Because in the plural they sound like rain gear?

Exactly. Meat boots.

No socks, obviously. For the full effect.

[pst314]

Honk !

We live in a very strange world, where lunatics boast of their lunacy.

[David]

Jeff wants to show you something.

[anon a mouse]

for anyone interested there is a good documentary about Fame studios

which left unsaid that "the Swampers" were.. .wait for it... a bunch of white guys.

Twas funny, that.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Well, if you say so...

Every day I wake up and thank Gaia mean tweets are gone, and we have class back.

[Michael Stone]

All that money to send a probe to mars and they can't even put a poffle on the microphone!?

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

A Quiz:

Kashima rushed home on horseback. Raijin, the thunder god, defecated drums. Large gold coins fall from the sky, symbolizing the redistribution of wealth from the greedy to the carpenters and builders who would rebuild the destroyed infrastructure, and the prostitutes they’d pay.

a) Current Democrat economic theory and plan;

b) Current "climate change" theory and plan;

c) How to end the covid farrago;

d) Japanese myth.

e) All of the above.

Chose the best answer.

[Sam Duncan]

“Existential crisis averted.”

And incalculable publicity gained. Well played, Hasbro, well played.

“Well, if you say so...”

There was a promo for one of the digital TV channels here in Britain (I think it may have been Sony Christmas Movies, because that's a thing) which began, “In a year that's been all about coming together...”. It was on for about four months and I ran out of things to throw at the telly.

[Governor Squid]

London’s alleys and passages.

You can't imagine my astonishment at recognizing the first entry on that list. I've been to London exactly twice, but the second time I visited I stayed at a cute little B&B on Pelham Street just a little east of the tube station. It was fun to wander around the neighborhood, though I wish I'd realized at the time that I was exploring a noteworthy alley!

(The Lovely Bride loves nothing quite so much as the V&A, so the number of husband points I received for finding a B&B less than 400 meters from the entrance was sufficient to keep me out of the doghouse for nigh on two years.)

[WTP]

We live in a very strange world, where lunatics boast of their lunacy.

"Is's wha' I do fer me kibble". Loonies gotta looney. It has always been thus. What's truly looney is we schmucks pay them for it. Because we are too wealthy and thus too lazy to tell them to sod off. It's "easier" to subsidize it. Thus we get more and more of it.

[Adam]

Deap Thots

1. Alexander Augustine makes entirely too much sense on immigration. He must be deplatformed immediately and cancelled as to employment.

2 Senator Paul says there are no long-term studies of the effects of puberty blockers. He says don't know what effects they will have.

The bets are that the recipients will vote Democrat or its non-US equivalent forever.

[WTP]

Well, if you say so...

Broader, more in tune with the modern thinking version, "Being stupid makes us smart".

[pst314]

Loonies gotta looney. It has always been thus.

Yes, but at one time our intellectuals did not coddle them.

I used to unthinkingly accept the prevailing liberal attitude that, when dealing with crazy people, one should let their odd behavior pass without remark or objection. Not anymore.

[Alex DeWynter]

"...Muscle Shoals has the Swampers"

You mean I've been hearing that right all this time? I'd just sort of figured they were saying something that made sense, just with the lack of enunciation so tragically common among vocalists.

[Steve E]

I like the dig at Neil Crosby in that song.

Neil Crosby? Didn't he play with Stephen Nash, Graham Stills, and David Young?

[WTP]

I used to unthinkingly accept the prevailing liberal attitude that, when dealing with crazy people, one should let their odd behavior pass without remark or objection. Not anymore.

Yes. Not to sound like a jerk but I came to that conclusion about 20 years or so ago. Regardless I do appreciate hearing about other people speaking up about these things. It's about the only thing that gives me any hope.

[Alex DeWynter]

Strangely offputting, like golden raspberries. They just look...wrong!

They certainly don't look like food.

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

The Leningrad Cowboys singing "Sweet Home Alabama" clip is amusing on so many levels. I particularly grooved on imagining the balaclava player thinking "I finally get to rock out on this thing."

[Steve E]

I particularly grooved on imagining the balaclava player

Now this guy is rocking the balaclava:

While this guy is rocking the balalaika wearing a balaclava while balancing a baklava:

[Daniel Ream]

Well played, Hasbro, well played

I know a handful of people who work for WotC, and the general consensus is that Hasbro corporate is utterly clueless when it comes to marketing their products. They're so large, and their income stream so massive, that even thunderous mistakes won't affect things much. So there's no incentive not to make them.

TL;DR: I think this one's on stupid marketing people rather than clever marketing people.

[David]

While this guy is rocking the balalaika wearing a balaclava while balancing a baklava

[ Reaches under bar, rings tiny silver bell. Henchlesbians loom. ]

[Steve E]

Henchlesbians loom.

I'm a bad boy.

[David]

[ From the alleyway, sounds of a brief scuffle. A smell of burning coat. ]

[Darleen]

Heh.

[fnorr]

We live in a very strange world, where lunatics boast of their lunacy

And we are forced to applaud.

[PiperPaul]

Neil Crosby?

I'm not sure which of the Guild's torture correction machines I deserve for that.

[Sam]

While [Scott Bakula] is rocking the balalaika wearing a balaclava while balancing a baklava:

Fixed your egregious oversight.

[David]

[ Reaches for tiny silver bell. ]

[pst314]

[ From the alleyway, sounds of a brief scuffle. A smell of burning coat. ]

David, could you please ask the henchlesbians to, in future, check the pockets before burning a coat? It smells like Steve had some of your bar snacks in his coat. [ rummages in pockets for anti-nausea pills ]

[David]

[ rummages in pockets for anti-nausea pills ]

I was hoping the appalling smell from the toilets would obscure the odour of singed foodstuffs and melting polyester.

[Peachy rex]

I give you the next "Superman" movie. Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates... And directed by J.J. Abrams!

Jesus wept.

[pst314]

I was hoping the appalling smell from the toilets would obscure the odour of singed foodstuffs and melting polyester.

Synergy, David, synergy.

[Karl]

As ever, the Bee is closer to an actual news organisation than news organisations. And much funnier.

Even if they do make an inferior beef wellington.

[Captain Nemo]

I give you the next "Superman" movie. Written by Ta-Nehisi Coates... And directed by J.J. Abrams! Jesus wept.

Why do I get the feeling that it's going to make The Quest For Peace look brilliant?

[Steve E]

Fixed your egregious oversight.

A pox upon me for a clumsy lout.

[Steve E]

the odour of singed foodstuffs and melting polyester.

I'll have you know that coat was a gentle blend of nylon, neoprene and spandex.

[Fred the Fourth]

"prices at the bar."
After the fiasco last year wherein I found evidence that I was the only denizen paying my tab with legit dosh, I decided to reduce my anxiety levels by not attending any longer to such crass considerations as "prices".
Unless, of course, you'd like to browse through my fine selection of "currencies", including a variety of equities in Theranos Corp., COMPAQ Computers Inc., and American Motors Corp.
How DO you stay afloat, anyway? I mean, Liability Insurance for the Henchlesbians alone must be eating most of the revenues.
Is this...is this place secretly an Art Project? Modern Performance Art? With attendant Government Funding? Are we all just...Components? Elements in some sort of avant-guard symboliziation / metaphoricalist-fuzzy-logic REPRESENTATION? Objec/x/tificationalizationing?
[distant sound of sirens...muffled explosions from the remoter minefields]

[Steve E]

Is this...is this place secretly an Art Project? Modern Performance Art? With attendant Government Funding? Are we all just...Components?...

[David]

Is this...is this place secretly an Art Project?

I prefer the term nourishing educational resource.

What?

[Fred the Fourth]

[Warily eyes "sausage" on bar. Hints of movement.]

[Fred the Fourth]

But you know, here's a possible revenue center...
Back in 96 in Tokyo I was treated to a fancy dinner which included fresh shrimp grilled. Very very fresh shrimp, if you know what I mean. Disconcerting.
But, the point is, they were fantastically expensive. Something on the close order of $100 US. Per person.
I'm guessing there was a nice profit in there somewhere.
So you COULD consider taking advantage of some of the natural benefits of the local, uhm, ecosystem.

[pst314]

G. K. Chesterton parodies Tennyson, Whitman, and Yeats.

[Chester Draws]

The bets are that the recipients will vote Democrat or its non-US equivalent forever.

We should not fall into the Left's assumptions that people will vote based solely on their "intersections".

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a9275845/trans-women-republican-voters/

[Darleen]

Who could have foreseen this?

[pst314]

Who could have foreseen this?

Some liberals who have lived or traveled in Germany and a few other Western European nations tell me that mixed-gender toilet facilities are commonplace, universally accepted, and something I should get used to: "Take a stall and do your business and stop whining you over-sensitive, prudish American" was their implication. (If Europeans do something then our American customs are to be despised and jettisoned.) I did not notice such toilets when I spent 2 weeks in Switzerland, France, England, and the Netherlands, but I only visited sites popular with tourists.

So, how common are such facilities, and in which nations? And what is the mix of popular attitudes across Europe?

[Darleen]

Silly me, I didn't know that translating-while-white was just another act of white supremacy.

[WTP]

I've been to Europe about six or seven times over the past 25 years or so, most time in tourist areas, yes, but also off the beaten path. While I don't recall any unisex toilets outside of perhaps a very small business/restaurant (note two of my father's real estate office locations in south Florida were unisex...I know because I cleaned them), my wife does seem to recall one in a museum in Rome...she thinks...that was unisex. Though consider my usual observation in this regard that I took that woman to Europe half a dozen times, yet I have reason to believe she still ain't shit there once.

[Killer Marmot]

No matter how sophisticated the equation, the answer is always white supremacy.

[Darleen]

mixed-gender toilet facilities are commonplace, universally accepted, and something I should get used to

Then I'll stick to Japan ... the public facilities I used - train stations, hotels - were sex-segregated and sparkling clean.

They even run a "women's only" subway cars on most train lines.

[pst314]

WTP and Darleen: Thank you for your observations. I welcome anyone else who can weigh in.
I have been suspecting that the people I talked to were more "woke" (and less honest) than they tried to let on.

[pst314]

They even run a "women's only" subway cars on most train lines.

As I understand it, that is due to men who rub sexually against women (and do worse) in crowded trains. I have heard that this also happens in Italy, but presumably much less often or there would be sex-segregated trains there too?

[Daniel Ream]

They even run a "women's only" subway cars on most train lines.

Yes, well. There are reasons for that.

I give you the next "Superman" movie

Ehhh. I wouldn't count your Kryptonians just yet. Warner is banking on the release of Snyder's extended cut of Justice League somehow reviving their failed franchise, which is not going to happen. Ta-Nehisi Coates has proven singularly unable to write comics anyone wants to read. Abrams is only producing, no director has been announced, which means absolutely nothing has been committed to this project.

The various DC movies have been falling like dominoes. Pattinson's Batman has been delayed until 2022, the third Wonder Woman movie likely will not get made at all after WW84 tanked so badly, Ezra Miller's Flash hasn't even begun shooting yet (it's not coincidental that shooting is supposed to begin in April - after Warner has had a chance to gauge reaction to the Justice League re-release) and Aquaman 2 is vaporware.

Also DC Comics (which is very distinct from DC Films) is on the chopping block. There have been two major bloodbath-level staffing cuts, nearly all the senior talent is gone, and insiders say Warner is shopping for licensees to buy exclusive publishing rights to the characters.

[Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/oh-the-places-the-woke-will-go-dr-seuss-canceled-for-racial-undertones?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwtwitter

🙄

[WTP]

Then I'll stick to Japan ... the public facilities I used - train stations, hotels - were sex-segregated and sparkling clean.

Heh, funny you mention Japan. That was the only other place my wife remembered such, but as that wasn't Europe I didn't bother to mention. As for clean...in most proper facilities in cities and such, yes. But public toilets in a couple of parks may have been sex-segregated but consisted of simply a hole in the ground. And not very clean. But this was early 1990's.

[WTP]

Also, as for the subways in Japan...they used to pack people in like sardines. During rush hour they had employees there that would help push the last few people in so they could shut the doors. Rode that a couple of times before deciding working late was the better option.

[David]

I took that woman to Europe half a dozen times, yet I have reason to believe she still ain’t shit there once.

Heh. I now see how you wooed the good lady.

[David]

You did woo her, I hope. I mean, she’s not just officially “missing,” is she...?

[Nikw211]

Who could have foreseen this?

I have to say even as a man I find gender neutral bathrooms deeply uncomfortable and avoid using them whenever possible.

[Nikw211]

Silly me, I didn't know that translating-while-white was just another act of white supremacy.

Who are the racists again?

It's all so confusing ...

[Nikw211]

It's all so confusing ...

Clarity appears:

It’s worth bearing in mind that grand and fashionable causes - say, “social justice,” or feminism, or “critical race” woo – often attract people who aren’t happy with themselves – who, shall we say, have issues.

[Ted S., Catskill Mtns, USA]

[ Reaches for tiny silver bell. ]

David's making angels!

[WTP]

she’s not just officially “missing,” is she...?

Missing? Well no...not really. Not missing much anyway.

[pst314]

Also, as for the subways in Japan...they used to pack people in like sardines.

I've seem photos. :-D I was fortunate and only road the subways in the evening.

[David]

Missing? Well no...not really.

Just wanted to check it wasn’t one of those Silence of the Lambs courtships.

[asiaseen]

A lacquer fixative - tonsorial distinction

Quite by chance I saw a Chinese man in Hong Kong this afternoon with a slightly modified elephants's trunk hairstyle. The trunk was smaller than the ones illustrated above BUT it had a subsidiary peak just below it. A double header indeed and tonsorial stupidity is plainly not dead.

[WTP]

Just wanted to check it wasn’t one of those Silence of the Lambs courtships

Oh, hell no. What sort of a philistine drinks Chianti with liver? A bold Cabernet Sauvignon or at the very least a Syrah...perhaps. And fava beans? Don't get me started...

[Uma Thurmond's Feet]

If it's racist to translate while white, wouldn't it be equally racist to read while white? Would running POC's words through a white brain alter the words and degrade them? Perhaps we should segregate all bookstores into whyte and POC. That would eliminate hate crimes for sure.

[Farnsworth M Muldoon]

Over in Blighty, another existential crisis narrowly averted. What would we do without government ?

[pst314]

If it's racist to translate while white, wouldn't it be equally racist to read while white?

Heh.

How about the act of writing? How many sub-Saharan black tribes had written languages before the Europeans arrived?

[David]

Quite by chance I saw a Chinese man in Hong Kong this afternoon with a slightly modified elephant’s trunk hairstyle.

Until I saw the video, I had no idea there was a, um, prosthesis inside.

[sH2]

Ta-Nehisi Coates has proven singularly unable to write comics anyone wants to read.

"Coates hasn't written a word of the script yet, so I'm willing to give him a chance. Maybe it'll be good. And if not, he won't need to worry about anybody saying so, because any criticism of his work will be racist"

https://pjmedia.com/uncategorized/jim-treacher/2021/02/26/next-superman-movie-to-be-written-by-ta-nehisi-coates-n1428565

[Peachy rex]

"I stand for Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Racial Equity, and the Chinese Communist way of life!"