August 6, 2022

Here are 9 TikToks to amuse you this evening. Let me know what you like best.

1. A vertiginous walk.





6. What do pro golfers think of the breakup of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson?

7. Does your boyfriend really fit into your family?


34 comments:

Dave Begley said...

#5. How could that have happened?

Lash LaRue said...

5. One more reason that wind turbines are a mistake.

Canadian Bumblepuppy said...

The slo-mo camera was hilarious although all were good.

Really enjoying these little snippets. Thanks for finding them.

effinayright said...

I think she says Platonic.

MadisonMan said...

"Plutonic" LOL.
I have to say the "Help Me" look from the Boyfriend is just hilarious.
My favorite comment on the train: Ironically, the train was carrying coal.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

Anytime I travel in West Texas, I come up on those trucks carrying the blades. They usually travel in threes, and I have only seen them on the Interstates or major highways, so far. There are a lot of Climate Change Religion Totem Farms sprinkled around West Texas and Oklahoma.

But I like the two piano pieces best with the last one, the young lady, best of all.

toxdoc said...

#2. I think those are Chinese Marmots (Marmota sibirica). Groundhogs (M. monax) are North America only. Groundhogs were presumed to be mostly solitary animals (except moms with chucklings) however, the ones in Ohio seem to be more social and whole families may stay together. Not sure if it's because people in Ohio are more appreciative of them but, I often see groups of groundhogs in Ohio but, only singlets or mothers and young in Kentucky.

Sean Gleeson said...

It's true, though, about plutonic relationships; I have never heard of one ending well. Hades himself tried to have a plutonic relationship with his niece/wife Persephone, and it totally did not work out.

wildswan said...

Wind turbine was interesting. Kim and Pete - not really sure who they are. Hoping to get through without finding out.

Skeptical Voter said...

The young woman is suggesting "strike while the iron is hot"--or else get married where your female trade value is highest. While it strikes me that she is right, it's sorta sad. OTOH way back in the way back my wife and I got married at 21 (me) and 22 (her). Almost 57 years later we are still chugging along.

forest said...

The mountainside walk and the crash of the wind turbine are interesting. In the first, the calculation of the positions of the foot supports and the installation appear to be carefully done, disaster is skirted but the walker stays on the right side. 8n the second, it appears there was a guesstimate which resulted in the massive fail. No substitute for a clear and knowledgable mind taking the time to get it right.

Liked the goffers, people with serious skills and focus showing disinterest and disdain for the inconsequential which is portrayed as consequential, or marketed as such, by some media

reader said...

I don’t understand why #5 happened. Back in the day I worked at General Dynamics Space Systems Division. Whenever we had to deliver portions of the rocket body it was done at night, the entire route was shut down by the police, and everything was measured. It only takes one time that a rocket body won’t fit under an overpass for people to learn not to leave anything to chance. That actually happened but the neither the rocket nor the overpass was harmed.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The wind turbine rotor commentary on reddit, said the lead took a wrong turn that had them turning just before the railroad crossing. They didn't stick to the planned route.

Sebastian said...

Wind turbines truly are monstrosities, a blight on the landscape, deadly to birds, disposable energy producers, and a massive haul to future landfills.

Mary Beth said...

#5 - I was just thankful that the train didn't derail.
#2 - They have lovely fur. Is it bad if I'm thinking about how I'd like a coat of little critter skin? I feel like it's kind of bad since they're cute, but not bad in the same way it would be if they were pets or people.
#6 - Some people must be interested, there are so many news stories about them. I don't know them, but I know who they vote for.

Wilbur said...

AA, if I may directly pose you a question: What was it about the pro golfer TikTok that you found amusing? Not criticizing your choice, just curious as to what I missed. I'm not a KK hater, although I've never heard of Pete Davidson.

It came across as wholly mundane to Wilbur, not even sarcastic. I suspect the question would elicit the same reactions from people across most segments of the population.

Ann Althouse said...

"AA, if I may directly pose you a question: What was it about the pro golfer TikTok that you found amusing?"

Dissecting humor won't make it funny for you, but you want insight into why others were amused.

1. The KK/PD relationship was covered extensively in the press, but it wasn't actually important. KK has been covered for years as if she's important. It's just taken for granted that people "keep up" with Kardashian -- her AND her relationships. It was, in fact, odd, that she went with PD (after Kanye West) but, really, why should we care? So there's this foundation of everyone supposedly finding this thing interesting and newsworthy.

2. Pro golfers are a completely separate area of fame. Other than Tiger Woods, they don't really get much attention, though they really are doing something that requires great skill and mental fortitude. It makes sense to ask them about golf and really nothing else.

3. So to ask them about the KK/PD breakup is, really, to make fun of the idea that everyone cares about it, to (comically) TEST the idea that the press is relying on it, that everyone is "keeping up" with Kardashian.

4. Their reactions confirm what we probably already think: Who the fuck cares?!

5. You could have made point #4 any number of ways. It's not completely random to employ golfers, but it is absurd.

Wilbur said...

Ok, thanks. So it's the contrast between the celebrity world of the Kardashians and the pro golfers' world viewpoint that creates the comic tension or absurdity here.

I sincerely appreciate it.

Ann Althouse said...

6. The basic answer is "Who cares?" We all have that answer. But that has always been the question with the Kardashians, but their show, which manufactured fame out of nothing, and always got people saying "who cares?," has been on for 20 years, and has made them billionaires. They keep going, presuming you will care — you must care! — though everyone — seemingly — is always saying "Who cares?" It's always somebody else who cares, but a lot of people must care, or why is keeping up continually foisted on us. Obviously, the *golfers* don't care, and they've got important things to *focus* on, to perform their hard work. There's an absurdity, broadly, to the concept of caring about the Kardashians, and using golfers highlights this absurdity.

Ann Althouse said...

7. There's also who cares about golf. I wrote "they've got important things to *focus* on, to perform their hard work," and I hesitated at "work." Is this work? What is the work product? Is it anything more substantial than the Kardashians' reality show? Why are we watching men with clubs knocking a little white ball towards and then into a series of holes, over and over again. What are the surprises? The ball rolls into the hole or rolls past it. What difference does it make? That money is at stake, for *them"?

Ann Althouse said...

8. If we're keeping score with $ amounts, Kim tops the leaderboard. And she's got the last laugh.

Temujin said...

Somehow #5 is trying to tell us something about the battle between fossil fuels and green energy, and the unintended consequences of shutting down one for the other. Just because you want windmills and wind energy does not mean it's going to work. The train represents the past, powerful, energetic, moving things forward. The windmill represents the future(?). Weak, slow, and not as sleek as we like to think.

Or...not.

hugh42 said...

Platonic = good performance. Bird talking =great example. Boyfriend=good video. Turbine blade=how possible? Maybe they start dreaming on a long trip and ignore their JOB. Viaferrata = first view of that. Now I know what my friend did!

dbp said...

I had a moment when I doubted if I've been mispronouncing Platonic all these years, but...

plu·ton·ic
/plo͞oˈtänik/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
GEOLOGY
relating to or denoting igneous rock formed by solidification at considerable depth beneath the earth's surface.
2.
relating to the underworld or the god Pluto.

Not this time.

michaele said...

I like Temujin's insightful comments about the symbolism of the wind turbine blade. We are so f**ked with the dems' obsession with green energy.

boatbuilder said...

"There's also who cares about golf. I wrote "they've got important things to *focus* on, to perform their hard work," and I hesitated at "work." Is this work? What is the work product? Is it anything more substantial than the Kardashians' reality show? Why are we watching men with clubs knocking a little white ball towards and then into a series of holes, over and over again. What are the surprises? The ball rolls into the hole or rolls past it. What difference does it make? That money is at stake, for *them"?"

Now you've gone way too far. Your world view is completely alien to me.

Charlie said...

A Plutonic relationship is when you meet the other person on Pluto.

Charles said...

Seems 9. "What exactly can a female provide in a plutonic relationship?" is a more tuneful version of the same plaint in 29/31 by Garfunkel and Oates from a few years back.

Leslie Graves said...

Love most of them especially Plutonic. Not wild about bird TikToks for the most part.

Jupiter said...

"Girls want attention and provisioning, guys want sex and sandwiches".

Aren't those the same things?

Aggie said...

#5 (the wind turbine train wreck) took place about a year ago, in Luling Texas. Actually, the camera's vantage point is right next to the City Market BBQ, a very old and extremely well-rated BBQ pit. No plates, no forks; you get your meat order on a sheet of butcher paper, and there are paper towels. Every time I go there I see working men, some real Big Boys, chowing down. It's excellent BBQ.

Aggie said...

Geez, I just realized here we are gloating about the destructive power and unintended consequences of Green Energy, and then I get off on a tangent rave about excellent BBQ and professional-grade Meat Eaters. Somewhere, and 'Order for Immediate Cancellation of Social Credit' is probably being filed....

Dave64 said...

6, 5, 4

Nancy said...

Vertiginous walker: now try it carrying a goat in your back!