... you can talk about whatever you want.
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July 20, 2017
At the Succulent Café...
... you can talk about whatever you want.
(And please help support this blog by doing you Amazon shopping through The Althouse Portal.)
"Are you humbled by this incarceration?"/"Oh, yes, sure. I wish this would have never happened."
Said O.J. Simpson, winning parole.
He also said: "I’m in no danger to pull a gun on anybody. I’ve never been accused of it. Nobody has ever accused me of pulling any weapon on them."
Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson never accused him. They were dead. But O.J. — chattering away and seemingly under the impression that he is well-loved — didn't seem to see any need to avoid statements that would make us think of those old murders.
Still, he was acquitted of those murders, and they had no role in the parole board's decision (or so they said). He'd served 9 years for armed robbery, and he met the standard and deserved parole. But why didn't he act humbled and remorseful and keep his statements short?
That would have worked better in the effort to obtain parole. It must be that he believes he can be popular. That might seem delusional, as I heard Jeffrey Toobin on CNN call him. But it might not be wrong. From Page 6: “Everyone in town is shopping him a reality show.”
He also said: "I’m in no danger to pull a gun on anybody. I’ve never been accused of it. Nobody has ever accused me of pulling any weapon on them."
Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson never accused him. They were dead. But O.J. — chattering away and seemingly under the impression that he is well-loved — didn't seem to see any need to avoid statements that would make us think of those old murders.
Still, he was acquitted of those murders, and they had no role in the parole board's decision (or so they said). He'd served 9 years for armed robbery, and he met the standard and deserved parole. But why didn't he act humbled and remorseful and keep his statements short?
That would have worked better in the effort to obtain parole. It must be that he believes he can be popular. That might seem delusional, as I heard Jeffrey Toobin on CNN call him. But it might not be wrong. From Page 6: “Everyone in town is shopping him a reality show.”
"Suprihmbé is a proheaux womanist thot scholar who wants to promote freedom, is Morrison political, and likes cats."
Okay, I just learned a new word: "proheaux."
The quote in the post title is the blurb about the author of something I was reading (at Wear Your Voice), "Being Naked With My Son/My nudity does not offend my son, because he has not been exposed to trivial conversations about modesty. My nudity means nothing to him." Excerpt:
But that word! Proheaux. I looked it up and got another article by Suprihmbé: "proheauxism: a working definition." Key to understanding the coinage: Heaux is a way to spell the plural of ho. (Do you have a better idea? I wrote "the plural of ho" because I didn't.) The definition has 4 parts. I'll just quote #3:
The quote in the post title is the blurb about the author of something I was reading (at Wear Your Voice), "Being Naked With My Son/My nudity does not offend my son, because he has not been exposed to trivial conversations about modesty. My nudity means nothing to him." Excerpt:
Why is my nakedness around my child an issue? Why is him seeing my genitalia in a non-sexual manner an issue? Is he worried my child is going to develop some sort of Oedipus complex? According to Freudian lore, my son being just about around 5-years-old, is in the phallic stage. Freudian psychology is heterocentric and cissexist–it deals in binaries and doesn’t take into account a spectrum of identities. For its time it was revolutionary–but science is permeated with sexist and racist men, polluted with biases.Ah! Freud came up. I brought up Freud this morning, in the context of the hard, pointing prong of Callista Gingrich's hair, and as I did that, I was thinking, life was so much more interesting when adult conversation flowed easily into Freudian speculation. Then prissy demands for science spoiled the fluid fun. Suprihmbé seems to be saying that Freud's work was patriarchal, but the rejection of Freud's ideas for their failure to fit the rigors of science is also patriarchal, so there is perhaps something of the counter-patriarchial in restoring Freudianism, sparingly and strategically, such as in the discussion of Callista's pointy prong.
... At this age my son is supposed to have formed some sort of erotic attachment to me. Yet here he is, playing pretend in our living room, oblivious to the projected sexual nature of our being naked and sweating in our little house.
But that word! Proheaux. I looked it up and got another article by Suprihmbé: "proheauxism: a working definition." Key to understanding the coinage: Heaux is a way to spell the plural of ho. (Do you have a better idea? I wrote "the plural of ho" because I didn't.) The definition has 4 parts. I'll just quote #3:
Sex positivity for black and brown women and femmes. Specifically sex worker & trans inclusive. Might be: a professional heaux, a refined heaux, an elegant, sensual woman of divine sex. One who owns oneself, regardless if she is attached to a man or masculine person or not. One who understands and reveres the power of healthy femininity (and masculinity) and understands that this power is beyond the physical. It is political, it is economic, it is survival, it is personal. Fuck classism. Fuck respectability. Fuck the norm. Fuck free emotional labor.
"The light did him harm, but not as much as looking at things did; he resolved, having done it once, never to move his eyeballs again."
"A dusty thudding in his head made the scene before him beat like a pulse. His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum. During the night, too, he’d somehow been on a cross-country run and then been expertly beaten up by secret police. He felt bad."
Wrote Kingsley Amis in "Lucky Jim," quoted in "The Metaphysics of the Hangover."
Wrote Kingsley Amis in "Lucky Jim," quoted in "The Metaphysics of the Hangover."
Amis may go over the top, but still: A small woodland creature of the night voids himself there, then finds it a convenient place to end its days. (Elvis Presley, stepping to the mic in Vegas, complaining, maybe, of his own hangover, once growled, “My mouth feels like Bob Dylan’s been sleeping in it.”) But the night before—ah, the night before—the mouth was a source of great pleasure—the marvelous taste and scent of the wine, the beer, or the spirits.
"How would you feel about your ex boyfriend getting a robot that looked exactly like you, just in order to beat it up every night?"
"I mean, it might be alright, it might mean he can be calmer and more normal with you - think about Aristotle’s theory of catharsis. But we really haven’t discussed this as a society. We’re drifting towards it and the technology is very close to being available, but we just aren’t talking about it."
From "Why female sex robots are more dangerous than you think" (in the UK Telegraph).
I'm in favor of these robots (I realized as I was commenting in the last post about "sex" robots), and I'm interested in the way some people seem so afraid that robot girlfriends will be treated badly, rather than feeling encouraged that men (or women) without companions will get psychological comfort and pleasure from a full-sized replica of a human being.
I'd like to flip the question that I put in the post title and ask "How would you feel about your ex boyfriend getting a robot that looked exactly like you, just in order to shower it with all the love and conversation you never seemed to want?"
From "Why female sex robots are more dangerous than you think" (in the UK Telegraph).
I'm in favor of these robots (I realized as I was commenting in the last post about "sex" robots), and I'm interested in the way some people seem so afraid that robot girlfriends will be treated badly, rather than feeling encouraged that men (or women) without companions will get psychological comfort and pleasure from a full-sized replica of a human being.
I'd like to flip the question that I put in the post title and ask "How would you feel about your ex boyfriend getting a robot that looked exactly like you, just in order to shower it with all the love and conversation you never seemed to want?"
"It is difficult to conceive of a deceit so degrading or a deceit so damaging to the victim on its discovery."
Said the judge (in the UK) as he sentenced Gayle Newland, 27, to 6 1/2 years in prison for "pretending to be a man [by] using a fake penis."
The complainant said she was persuaded by the defendant to wear a blindfold at all times when they met and only found out she was having sex with Newland when she finally took off her mask.
Newland claimed her accuser always knew she was pretending to be Kye Fortune - a Facebook profile she created at the age of 15 using an American man's photographs and videos - as they engaged in role play while struggling with their sexuality.
She said no blindfold was used as they had sex on about 10 occasions at the complainant's flat in Chester in 2013.... The defendant spent "hundreds" of hours talking on the telephone to her friend as Kye and more than 100 hours in each other's company.
"Callista Gingrich’s hair is a fabulous shout-out to a mythic Washington."
WaPo headline for a Robin Givhan essay.
Ms. Gingrich was appearing at her confirmation hearing — she's nominated for ambassador to the Vatican — and her hair was "a perfectly styled chin-length bob with a side swoosh... controlled and proper and smooth."
Yes, but what is "mythic Washington" that has anything to do with Callista's surrealistic hair?
Oh, but it's hard, it "does not move or swing a la Anna Wintour’s timeless golden bob."
It's a stiff hard prong, like a horn, for the lady who's going to represent us in the Vatican. If you wanted to say it poked at convention in a delightful new way, you could.
That side swoosh made me think of all the talk of the significance of upward curves in Seurat paintings like "Le Cirque" and "Le Chahut":
What does it mean, the upward curve? I remember reading (long ago) that Seurat thought it meant happiness and joy, but I can't confirm that. Rereading this post, I'm tempted — by the horned devil? — to make the Freudian leap and say it signifies the erect penis. And that's not inconsistent with happiness and joy. And perhaps that's why it's disconcerting — to Givhan and others — that it's so stiff and hard.
Ms. Gingrich was appearing at her confirmation hearing — she's nominated for ambassador to the Vatican — and her hair was "a perfectly styled chin-length bob with a side swoosh... controlled and proper and smooth."
Yes, but what is "mythic Washington" that has anything to do with Callista's surrealistic hair?
[H]er hair is being discussed because it manages to be both utterly unique and a marker of the kind of place that Washington... once believed itself to be but certainly is no longer.... a mythic Washington: a place of order and comportment, stuffy but reliable, self-conscious, mannered, impervious. And most of all, studiously dignified.Is it so stuffy and sober? It's got that insouciant, elongated, extra curve...
Who has done that before while saying take me seriously? If Callista Gingrich were a liberal, wouldn't Robin Givhan be enthusing about how modern and impudently playful it was?
Oh, but it's hard, it "does not move or swing a la Anna Wintour’s timeless golden bob."
It's a stiff hard prong, like a horn, for the lady who's going to represent us in the Vatican. If you wanted to say it poked at convention in a delightful new way, you could.
That side swoosh made me think of all the talk of the significance of upward curves in Seurat paintings like "Le Cirque" and "Le Chahut":
What does it mean, the upward curve? I remember reading (long ago) that Seurat thought it meant happiness and joy, but I can't confirm that. Rereading this post, I'm tempted — by the horned devil? — to make the Freudian leap and say it signifies the erect penis. And that's not inconsistent with happiness and joy. And perhaps that's why it's disconcerting — to Givhan and others — that it's so stiff and hard.
"On Wednesday, Kirkland worried about her pet parrot, Rookie, whose cage didn’t fit in her Jeep. After she saw flames cresting a hill near her house..."
"... she left within 15 minutes and had to leave Rookie behind. Rookie likes to imitate the sound of firetruck sirens. But that afternoon, the bird was quiet. Kirkland thinks the parrot sensed something was wrong."
The parrot was right.
Kirkland is Janet Kirkland, 72, quoted in "'An insane amount of heat' as fire near Yosemite National Park moves with frightening speed," in the L.A. Times.
Was it mean of the L.A. Times to use that quote? It should be known that Kirkland saved her 2 dogs, and I can see not wanting a loose parrot in the car with the dogs. You know, you can get a travel-size carrier for a bird.
The parrot was right.
Kirkland is Janet Kirkland, 72, quoted in "'An insane amount of heat' as fire near Yosemite National Park moves with frightening speed," in the L.A. Times.
Was it mean of the L.A. Times to use that quote? It should be known that Kirkland saved her 2 dogs, and I can see not wanting a loose parrot in the car with the dogs. You know, you can get a travel-size carrier for a bird.
July 19, 2017
At the Succulent Café...
... you can talk all night.
(And shop all night at The Althouse Amazon Portal, which is always a way for you to show support for this blog.)
"Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president."
"How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president."
Trump, in an interview with the NYT.
There was what looked like an attempt to charm the NYT reporters with a performance by Ivanka's daughter Arabella.
Trump, in an interview with the NYT.
There was what looked like an attempt to charm the NYT reporters with a performance by Ivanka's daughter Arabella.
At one point, his daughter Ivanka arrived at the doorway with her daughter, Arabella, who ran to her grandfather and gave him a kiss. He greeted the 6-year-old girl as “baby,” then urged her to show the reporters her ability to speak Chinese. She obliged.Those last 2 words say: You can't soften us up.
"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, his office said Wednesday."
"The Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix said tests revealed 'a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma” associated with a blood clot above his left eye that was removed last week,'" The Washington Post reports.
It was just a few weeks ago, after the Comey hearing, that people were wondering at his "confusing" speech. For example, here, at Vox (on June 8th).
It was just a few weeks ago, after the Comey hearing, that people were wondering at his "confusing" speech. For example, here, at Vox (on June 8th).
"The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily allowed the Trump administration to enforce restrictions on the nation’s refugee program..."
"... but it let stand a court order from Hawaii that grandparents and other relatives who want to travel to the United States to visit family must be admitted while the case proceeds on appeal," the NYT reports.
The Milo Yiannopoulis interview Milo says NPR doesn't want you to hear.
Via Breitbart, "NPR reportedly refused to air a radio interview with former Breitbart Senior Editor MILO despite verbal and written assurances to the contrary because he 'sounded too reasonable.'"
ADDED: Newsweek examines whether NPR is silencing Milo but doesn't get very far:
Yiannopoulos said he believes McEnroe and WNPR “were expecting a low-rent troll — someone who would assure the broadcaster’s ossified audience that anyone sympathetic to the president must be a redneck or an idiot.”...On whether they are silencing Milo, they are silencing themselves. That gives free rein to all who want to say NPR was flummoxed by the troll who wouldn't troll on cue but spoke rationally about the value of a troll.
[The NPR interviewer Colin] McEnroe did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did a producer who worked on the Yiannopoulos interview and communicated with members of his staff. A representative for NPR, which rented studio space in New York City to WNPR for the interview, noted that it has nothing to do with McEnroe’s show.
“I am waiting to hear back from WNPR when they’re expecting to air this interview,” the press representative said.
Why the Chinese banned Winnie-the-Pooh.
They didn't want people to see this:
(That's Chinese President Xi Jinping as the Pooh to Obama's Tigger.)
(That's Chinese President Xi Jinping as the Pooh to Obama's Tigger.)
"It was just an odd shape. I just knew it was not something that you usually find."
Said Jude Sparks, age 10, interviewed by the NYT about the stegomastodon fossil he tripped over when he was 9.
Jude said that he went through a phase — between the ages of 5 and 8, to be exact — when dinosaurs and fossils excited him.... “I’m not really an expert, but I know a lot about it, I guess,” he said...If you don't like going to the NYT, here's the story at Fox News, with a different interview with young Mr. Sparks:
“I tripped on the bottom of the tusk and fell flat on my face... It looked like large chunks of bone.”
How I wasted the last half hour.
I clicked on "See James Franco hilariously fail at acting in 'The Disaster Artist' trailer" and watched the trailer...
... and I did not think that looked as though it would be good movie.
And I do think it's possible to make a good movie about a bad movie. I loved "Living in Oblivion." And "Ed Wood" was an excellent movie about making bad movies, including what everyone used to say was the worst movie ever made, "Plan 9 From Outer Space."
Though I thought the movie "The Disaster Artist" looked bad, I thought the memoir it was based on could be good. I considered buying "The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made." And I was interested in the way I was interested in it, because "The Room," is a movie I absolutely refused to see, because I hate movies in which a woman and child (or woman or child) is trapped and we have to spend a lot of time staring at the faces of female/child actors looking very anxious and afraid.
But it turns out there are 2 movies called "The Room," and "The Disaster Artist" is about the other one.
So... that was a squandering of my magic power — paying attention.
... and I did not think that looked as though it would be good movie.
And I do think it's possible to make a good movie about a bad movie. I loved "Living in Oblivion." And "Ed Wood" was an excellent movie about making bad movies, including what everyone used to say was the worst movie ever made, "Plan 9 From Outer Space."
Though I thought the movie "The Disaster Artist" looked bad, I thought the memoir it was based on could be good. I considered buying "The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made." And I was interested in the way I was interested in it, because "The Room," is a movie I absolutely refused to see, because I hate movies in which a woman and child (or woman or child) is trapped and we have to spend a lot of time staring at the faces of female/child actors looking very anxious and afraid.
But it turns out there are 2 movies called "The Room," and "The Disaster Artist" is about the other one.
So... that was a squandering of my magic power — paying attention.
"For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting."
"But for me at least in my previous perception I felt due to my ‘image’ that I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was. Like you said, I haven’t been the kind of friend I know I am capable of being... I never meant to hurt you."
Wrote Tupac Shakur to Madonna in a letter that Madonna says was stolen from her. A judge has blocked the auction that had been scheduled to take place. (WaPo link.)
Wrote Tupac Shakur to Madonna in a letter that Madonna says was stolen from her. A judge has blocked the auction that had been scheduled to take place. (WaPo link.)
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