"Bismillah, c'est les ténèbres" — "a seemingly nonsensical phrase that appeared to mimic the colloquial blend of Arabic and French that young people in France sometimes use."

Does that seem nonsensical to you?

I'm reading "Student Protesters in France Have a Strange New Slogan. What Does It Mean? “Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres” has appeared on signs at recent demonstrations. It doesn’t make much sense (it means, 'In the name of God, it’s the darkness') but is seen as shorthand for a generational divide" (NYT).

It may be mysterious and confusing, but it's not nonsense. 

It sounds like something Batman would say:

One student leader explains the joke/"joke": "No young person talks like that.... Young people have reclaimed this phrase to point out that attempts to monitor and infiltrate their movements do not go unnoticed, and to assert their ability to organize in spite of them." It's a joke, another says, because "it is such a terrible impersonation of a young person." And it's racism, she adds, "because it implies that the people who are going to vandalize property are Arab.”

"There is a foreign manipulation of the information which has given rise to stupid and unacceptable comments from many people, including foreign leaders...."

"All the people who speak ill of our country at the moment, they are people who do not like France. Those people annoy me.... In these moments you see who likes France and who does not. All the people who speak badly of us now do not like our country."

Said French President Macron, quoted in "‘Stupid’ of Trump to blame immigration for riots, suggests Macron/French president singles out ‘those in campaign mode’ in swipe at Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanhayu’s comments on migrants and Muslims" (London Times).

What Trump said was: "France is burning. The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!"

And, at a campaign rally, he said France is being “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu attributed the rioting to an “invasion of extremist Islam.”

Wednesday sunrise, the heron is back it his spot, holding firm.

He does not fly away.

"When my agent called me about a 'Simpsons' audition, I knew exactly what role it was for, and the idea actually made my stomach sink."

Said Sunil Malhotra, quoted in "Apu Returns to ‘The Simpsons’ With a New Voice Actor/After almost a decade away from Springfield, the character returned to the show, this time voiced by a South Asian actor rather than a white man" (NYT).

Was it wrong to remove Apu in the first place?

If it wasn't wrong, is it right to bring him back? Do you remove the problem if you insert a voice actor of the same ethnicity as the character? If so, what was wrong with the TV version of "Amos 'n' Andy"? It had black actors.

"It's so funny because it's so nothing in a way, but incredibly profound. It reminded me of Sam Shepard."

nathan fielder creating a play called “smokers allowed” to get around the smoking ban

what’s the loophole? nathan’s responding “theater law” makes me laugh every single time 😭 pic.twitter.com/PLSnotfqC1

— susie (@susieetweets) October 20, 2026

"There are more than 1,200 Halloween haunted houses that charge admission...."

"There are small haunts put on by organizations, like schools, and driven by volunteers; outdoor haunts with sprawling mazes where ghosts, ghouls and slashers hide; and haunts that live permanently in their spaces but open only during the weeks before Halloween. New York City’s Blood Manor falls into that last category.... Jim Lorenzo, Blood Manor’s owner and operator, said that he has to 'do 365 days worth of business in 23 days.'... Come Nov. 15, Mr. Lorenzo will hand his landlord a check for '$200,000-ish,' paying rent for the entire year.... 'We had to show financials because the landlord couldn’t understand, how could you afford to pay rent all year long'..."

From "The Bedeviling Work of Designing and Redesigning Haunted Houses/If you’re looking for the ultimate home renovation project, try opening a haunted house" (NYT).

"I mean, sometimes I like feeling nothing but sometimes it's it's fun to feel something."

Thanks to Lem, in the previous post, for pointing to this video, which has Nathan Fielder exploring the concept of "cringe."

Back in 2013, I blogged about the word "cringe." People were admiring "cringe-inducing" comedy, notably "The Office," which I wouldn't watch, because it made me feel bad. I mean, I like to feel something, but not bad.

Sunrise — with birds on a misty lake.

Coots:

Heron:

Ducks:

"A lot of people look at me, and they think I’m extreme, and I’ll be the first person to say that: I’m extreme."

"However, the only reason that I am extreme is because I’m a product of an extreme society. We are actually, I would say, one of the most extreme societies that have ever existed on the face of the Earth. We are in a society of extreme disconnection and extreme destruction and disharmony. It’s all sold to us as absolutely normal. But it’s not. Right now, we’re going through the sixth extinction. It’s human-driven. Millions of species are going extinct because of our actions. That’s extreme."

Says Robin Greenfield, quoted in "He forages all his food but calls your diet ‘extreme’/Robin Greenfield seeks to challenge ideas about what counts as normal food" (WaPo)(gift link).

I see that he's in northern Wisconsin, and he eats a lot of "wild rice, acorns, wild pecans, black walnuts, hazelnuts, plums, fish and deer."

How do you eat acorns? We could forage a lot of calories from our own little yard if we knew how to eat acorns. Hint: It's a lot of work!

By the way, I remember Euell Gibbons. He was big enough, back in the 1970s, to be satirized on "The Carol Burnett Show": 

The heron at 6:59 a.m. — in reverse chronological order.

"All of us are going to die. Sometimes the time we have spent on things has far less meaning than the time we spend with God, the quality time we give to God...."."

Said the Rev. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari, speaking of timeliness and death, quoted in "Priest Dies After Crucifix Falls on Him During Livestreamed Mass/The Rev. Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari was addressing his congregation in Guayaquil, Ecuador, when a wooden cross detached from a wall and struck him" (NYT).

That happened Saturday. In a similar event, on Friday, "Visitor Killed by Roof Debris at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West/A 55-year-old rector from a university in Brazil was killed while on a walking tour of the famed architect’s winter home in Scottsdale, Ariz." (NYT).

A question I asked Grok: What are some other incidents of a person getting killed by an object that has some ironic significance? On my own, I only thought of [that character I falsely remember as having been played by] Daniel Day-Lewis in "Howard's End."

Reading this, you may wonder, am I spending my time well? Death is right there walking beside you, ready to take you out when the time is right.

"Congress must demand a full accounting of the damage Mr. Musk and DOGE caused, and we will not let anyone obstruct our oversight."

Said House Foreign Affairs ranking member Rep. Greg Meeks, quoted in "Capitol agenda: Dem gavels are coming for Elon Musk/Democrats have long eyed investigating the world’s richest man and the GOP’s top donor. They may get their chance if they win back congressional power in November."

That's in Politico this morning, along with this: "Democrats have a message for Elon Musk: Watch out/From DOGE to Ukraine, the uberwealthy GOP donor could be an irresistible target if House gavels change hands."

"I grew up feeling that I was a vehicle for male pleasure. I never really considered my own needs."

"My priority has been to make sure I don’t get rejected or abandoned. Therefore, I’m prioritising my partner’s enjoyment because the first thing I’m protecting is my safety. Maybe it is controversial to say it.... You tell some men they’re not satisfying you and it’s terrifying what the potential reaction could be. Understandably, we avoid that conflict at all costs. I don’t think I’m unique. I think what a lot of us are doing when we’re having sex is making sure he’s OK, because otherwise you’re going to be left alone and be some old spinster."

Said Lily Allen, quoted in "Lily Allen: ‘I felt I was a vehicle for male pleasure — not my own’ It’s been a difficult few years for the pop star Lily Allen, whose marriage to the Stranger Things actor David Harbour fell apart in very public fashion. Now she’s riding high again" (London Times).

"If you're tired, go to sleep."

Enjoy three minutes of the Brewers talking about Murph’s funniest dugout moments. 😅 https://t.co/g9YNEcJrzR

— Sophia Minnaert (@SophiaMinnaert) October 19, 2026

"The incentives of the streaming era mean many documentaries are now preordained affairs: true-crime narratives populated by talking heads..."

"... and pitched when the outcome is already known, or cozy, authorized docs about celebrities. [Lance] Oppenheim, like [Nathan] Fielder and John Wilson, is after something more heightened and less predictable; unlike them, he doesn’t have a writers’ room or make himself a character in the proceedings. He borrows from the tradition of nonfiction filmmakers like Frederick Wiseman, seeking out stories that can unfold in real time. Often, the process involves a lengthy 'fishing expedition,' leaving him with hundreds of hours of footage to sift through in the edit. Then there are the surreal flourishes that bring the work into the realm of what Oppenheim calls 'docufantasia.'..."

From "Lance Oppenheim Is Going Places How the 30-year-old director cold-emailed his way into making two of the best films of the year" (NY Magazine).

The "2 of the best films of the year" are "You Can See Everything," that film about Elizabeth Holmes, and "Primetime, " the one about the "To Catch a Predator" guy, Chris Hansen.

By the way "How To With John Wilson" is my all-time favorite TV show.

And I like this quote from Oppenheim's wife: "It’s almost like he was an alien beamed down to Earth and the only piece of software that was downloaded was like, ‘You are going to make movies.'"

Sunrise.