"My husband and I both do the shopping, but I’m the one who usually goes to the big grocery store. I kind of like it."

"I like to look at the packaging and the strange products—like the 'outer-space-flavored' soda that Coca-Cola released last year."

From an interview with the cartoonist Roz Chast, interviewed — at "Roz Chast’s 'Fireworks Megastore'/The artist discusses stumbling across surprises while shopping, and rebelling against efficiency" — about her new New Yorker cover.

Have you ever done artwork based on the visual stimulation of shopping? This was based on Chast's encounter with one of those big fireworks stores:

"In deadly assaults and harmless bursts of celebratory explosives, a divided nation demonstrated this holiday weekend just how anxious and jittery it has become..."

"... as the perennial flare of fireworks saluting American freedom reminded all too many people instead of the anger, violence and social isolation of the past few years."

Marc Fisher writes, in "‘Nothing feels safe:’ Americans are divided, anxious and quick to panic" (WaPo).

Fisher quotes:

Thane Rosenbaum, a lawyer and novelist who runs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society at Touro University in New York: "There is a fundamental national insecurity now, after a perfect storm of social chaos where covid forced us to stay apart and the killing of George Floyd unleashed a movement that broke trust in the people who protect us... We’re in a moral panic: ‘Will anyone pick up the phone if I call for help?' Women feel more vulnerable because of the Supreme Court decision on abortion. Everyone feels more vulnerable because of soaring gas prices. People don’t see a way out."

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum and a former Boston police official: "[W]e’re in uncharted territory in terms of anxiety... With the George Floyd murder, war in Ukraine, the questioning of elections, people don’t know who to trust. Who would think that in an iconic place like Highland Park, you would need to post snipers on rooftops on the Fourth of July? But that’s what we’ve come to. Nothing feels safe anymore."

Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist: "We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth... We are cut off from one another and from the past."

Sky ladder.

I'm reading "CHINA REVEALS PLANS TO COLONISE SPACE WITH A MARS BASE, CARGO FLEETS, ALIEN CITIES, AND A ‘SKY LADDER’" (Independent):

The notion of a “sky ladder” or corresponding space elevator has been considered by humans since 1895, when it leapt from the brain of Russian space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky... Engineers would first assemble an enormous space station, and then drop cables down to the Earth that would be fixed on the equator – as it would be impossible to build in the United States or Europe. Unfortunately, a cable that is both long enough, and strong enough, to maintain its integrity is yet to be invented. Once that has been overcome, however, it is likely that the cost of travelling into space would fall by over 99 per cent, with equipment and personnel travelling relatively simply between planets.

That was published on the 25th. I'm seeing it today because I googled "sky ladder," the name of a documentary we happened to watch last night. It was featured on my Netflix home page, but it came out in 2016: "Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang."

... Sky Ladder is a 1,650-foot-tall ladder, held aloft by a giant balloon and rigged with explosives. As the massive sculpture ignites, it creates a fiery vision that miraculously ascends to the heavens.

I'm quoting a review at ArtNet. You can judge for yourself whether a ladder-shaped concatenation of fireworks held up by a hot air balloon looks miraculous. It's not as miraculous as a space elevator made of materials not yet invented. 

The Chinese government looms large throughout the film. As a child during the Cultural Revolution, Cai helped his father, [an] artist and bookseller who spent most of his salary buying his own [wares], burn the vast majority of the family’s library. Cai is perhaps best-known for the spectacular firework show he created for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but there are some who question his willingness to collaborate with an authoritarian regime.... [T]here’s also Cai’s disappointing involvement with the government’s 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. The filmmakers sat in on meetings where the artist’s vision was severely compromised by government officials....

The government official says — to quote the subtitles — "I'm telling you, the government is here to help you... You have to figure out something creative with all these chains on you... Mao taught us to be practical and realistic.... We'll support you only when you follow the rules." 

And the artist works with them — works on what is bombastic propaganda for the Chinese government. 

The movie mostly offered up Cai as a great artist, but it also gave us plenty of reason to think he was more of a con artist. In that light, it was tantalizing that — to me, at least — he looked so much like Obama.

NOTE: The "sky ladder" topic is — by chance — a continuation of yesterday's Tower of Babel theme.

At Wheeler's place.

Antifa rioters set off fireworks at @tedwheeler’s NW Portland condo. They’ve also started a large fire on the street. #PortlandRiots pic.twitter.com/A3KnDvCBCv

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) September 1, 2020

Using bats, antifa black bloc rioters are smashing up property around @tedwheeler’s Portland condo. There have been no police at all tonight per Wheeler’s directive of “deescalation.” #PortlandRiots #antifa pic.twitter.com/D0RtQtGL6j

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) September 1, 2020

And there's this from The Oregonian: "Man under investigation in fatal shooting of right-wing demonstrator in Portland was outside mayor’s condo night before with daughter": "Michael Forest Reinoehl, the 48-year-old man under investigation in the fatal shooting Saturday night of a right-wing demonstrator in downtown Portland, attended a Black Lives Matter protest the night before outside the mayor’s home. Reinoehl brought his daughter, who was carrying a baseball bat.... The Friday night protest had the feeling of an evening block party with a DJ and other musicians playing in the street as people danced, while about a dozen demonstrators sat inside the lobby of Wheeler’s residence in the Pearl District, locking arms with a list of demands for the city to address systemic police violence and racism..... Reinoehl calls himself an anti-fascist and wrote in mid-June on his Instagram page, 'I am 100 % ANTIFA all the way! I am willing to fight for my brothers and sisters!'"

Japanese fireworks.

IN THE COMMENTS: Unknown said:

I think it's actually computer generated. No, I'm not kidding. I don't see smoke - it's low res, the sound is exactly synced (they could have altered it afterward, but...). As a software developer with a lot of experience in computer generated images, it looks totally fake to me.

Aw, too bad! I looked it up and found, at Hoax-Slayer, "'Japan’s Fireworks Best in the World' Video is A Digital Simulation."

"Brazil on Sunday became the latest country to drift toward the far right, electing a strident populist as president in the nation’s most radical political change..."

"... since democracy was restored more than 30 years ago. The new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has exalted the country’s military dictatorship, advocated torture and threatened to destroy, jail or drive into exile his political opponents. He won by tapping into a deep well of resentment at the status quo in Brazil — a country whiplashed by rising crime and two years of political and economic turmoil — and by presenting himself as the alternative.... Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Mr. Bolsonaro’s seaside home in Rio de Janeiro, jumping and hugging each other when the results were announced. As golden fireworks lit up the sky, they chanted 'mito,' or legend, paying homage to their president-elect."

The NYT reports.

ADDED: Drift?

"Hundreds of pro-Trump demonstrators and counter-protesters clashed Saturday at a 'Patriots Day' rally in Berkeley, the third time the two groups engaged in violent confrontations on city streets in recent months..."

The L.A. Times reports.

Fistfights broke out near Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, where Trump supporters had scheduled a rally. Fireworks and smoke bombs were thrown into the crowd, and a few demonstrators were doused with pepper spray.

Both groups threw rocks and sticks at each other and used a large trash bin as a battering ram as the crowd moved around the perimeter of the park. One bank boarded up its ATM machines before the rally as a precaution....

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, said he came from Montana with about 50 others to protect Trump supporters. They were joined by bikers and others who vowed to fight members of an anti-fascist group if they crossed police barricades.

“I don’t mind hitting” the counter-demonstrators, whom he called “neo-Nazis,” Rhodes said. “In fact, I would kind of enjoy it.”

I found that hard to read. Both sides are calling each other Nazis? Everybody's hitting everybody?

Or is the L.A. Times choosing to depict this as more confusing than it is?

"Fistfights broke out...," "Fireworks and smoke bombs were thrown..." — the subjects of these sentences are not human beings. 

Trump arrives at the Inaugural Concert — stopping to salute the statue of Abraham Lincoln — to the tune of The Rolling Stones' "Heart of Stone."

"You'll never break this heart of stone," Mick sings — in recorded music — as Donald Trump walks out, holding hands with Melania.

Let's keep watching.

Here's the NYT coverage:

With cameras filming his every move, even his airplane, Mr. Trump arrived in Washington a day before he is sworn in, appearing at a luncheon with supporters at the Trump International Hotel, where he praised the collective I.Q. of his cabinet members.

“We have by far the highest I.Q. of any Cabinet ever assembled,” Mr. Trump said in the remarks, which reporters heard only the first several minutes of before being escorted out.

UPDATE 1: Is Trump tweeting? Seems like he's using a device.

UPDATE 2: 3 Doors Down is performing a song — "Kryptonite" — with the line "If I go crazy then will you still/Call me Superman."

Let me get back to "Heart of Stone." That blew my mind. It was clearly cued up to began as Trump began his walk out. The song begins "There've been so many girls that I've known/I've made so many cry and still I wonder why." Given the gender politics of the campaign, that's radically insolent. And he's walking with his wife. She has to hear of the many "girls" that he's known? The song continues:

Here comes the little girl
I see her walking down the street
She's all by herself
I try and knock her off her feet

Try and knock her off her feet?! Does she just let you?

And later:

Don't keep on looking that some old way
If you try acting sad, you'll only make me glad....

UPDATE 3: Toby Keith is singing, "We'll raise up our glasses against evil forces" and holding up a big red cup of what he calls whiskey. [AND: We know Trump sees alcohol in the light of his older brother's tragic descent and death, so I don't think the alcohol-based crowd-rousing suited the occasion.]

UPDATE 4: I loved the fireworks with the military performance of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." That was properly elevated and spectacular, with reverence appropriate to the occasion and the setting. I'd have liked it if all the music had been done by the military performers, but I understand that some of the popular music suited Trump's man-of-the-people theme.

Trump's speech, with a hand-held mike, was very casual. There were some good references to national unity and a desire to serve all of the people, but too much of it leaned toward the partisan, with bragging about the campaign and even talking about polls.

I thought everyone looked great. Trump had very glossy hair. His black coat went nicely with Melania's black coat. Ivanka stood out in green. Tiffany looked better than I'd ever seen her. All the adults were super-tall. The children were adorable. But kids: No chewing gum!

"The death toll from the terrorist attack on a Bastille Day fireworks celebration in the southern French city of Nice rose to 84 on Friday..."

"... as the government raced to establish the attacker’s identity, extended a national state of emergency and absorbed the shock of a third major terrorist attack in 19 months," the NYT reports.

News organizations in France and Tunisia identified the man believed to have committed the attack as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, 31, a delivery-truck driver who was born on Jan. 3, 1985, and raised in Msaken, a town in northeastern Tunisia, and who moved to France around 2005...

According to two officials briefed on the investigation but who were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Mr. Bouhlel had a history of petty crime, including burglary and theft, but his name was not in a French database of people suspected of being radicalized militants....

Only hours before the attack, [resident François] Hollande had confirmed that a nationwide state of emergency put in place after the November attacks would end on July 26...

ADDED: The NYT article does not refer to the method of attack in the headline or until the 5th paragraph of the article. The method of attack is particularly terrorizing, since motor vehicles are everywhere and no one has a plan to control them. 

"Given that a firework is basically a bomb, Stephenson has been charged with attempted second degree murder of a law enforcement officer."

"This is a very serious offense, especially so given that the intended victims were cops. [Khasim] Stephenson could face life imprisonment for the fireworks attack even though he didn't injure anyone."

The night the Milwaukee fans rooted for the Chicago Cubs.

The Brewers had already won the game the fans came to see....

And then thousands of jubilant fans, eager to celebrate the Brewers' first divisional title in 29 years, remained in the stands and crammed the concourses.

And Brewers' players gathered on the field.

All eyes were on a giant screen and everyone was transfixed by the final outs of the game beamed in from St. Louis, the game the matched the second-place St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs.

When the Cubs won, 5-1, the Brewers, at last, were champs, fireworks going off beneath the closed stadium roof and streamers raining down.

Clinching, in the NL Central division.

Fireworks.

Did you take 4th of July festivities into your own hands?

At the Special Touch Café...

... you can get tattoos, fireworks, and more. We didn't get any fireworks or tattoos. Not today, anyway. We did get some dinner at Culvers, though.

Distant fireworks.

Seen — last night — from across the lake. No explosive sounds, just crowd murmurs...



... and the sound of a boombox somewhere tuned to the radio channel that plays the official "Rhythm and Booms" soundtrack. Earlier, pop tunes played. "Man in the Mirror," for example. Meade said they needed some more patriotic songs. And then, as if on cue, the final set of songs began — "Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder," "The Marine Hymn," "Stars and Stripes Forever," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".... All played and I heard no Madisonian dissenting opinion from this crowd. Many noticed "Taps" and stood.

Happy 4th!

This was the scene on the Terrace last night, watching the big fireworks show across the lake...



What a throng! It was like fireworks Woodstock. Replete with nudity: When the show was over, and much of the crowd, including (we will assume) all the children, had cleared out, a few young guys shed their clothes, dove into the lake, swam around, hopped out, ran to the end of the pier, and dove in again. One display and then another.

I left my apartment building at 6:30 to go for a walk, and right in front was a tour bus unloading a crowd.

They were here to see the sunset from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

The view from my corner, with silhouetted tour-bus crowd:



It was 72° and beautifully clear, not that clearness makes for the prettiest sunset. It doesn't. But the promenade was crowded with people and doggies:



I walked to the end of the promenade and turned onto a side street. It seemed as though everyone in the world was walking a dog:



UPDATE: At 10:40, I was sitting out on my terrace, watching the newly downloaded episode of "America's Next Top Model" and glancing up from time to time at the city lights, and suddenly there was a fireworks display out on Liberty Island. I have no idea what the occasion was. Surely, it wasn't the last day of classes, though that was an occasion for me. Perhaps you imagine all the lawprofs out on the town carousing the night after the last day of classes. But no, I was spending a quiet evening at home in my temporary home in Brooklyn Heights, but someone, somewhere, put on a fireworks display that I could fantasize was a celebration of the beginning of my lusciously 4-month-long summer. Yes, there are exams and many other tasks to accomplish, but still: It's summer.

Just another Brooklyn sunset.

Tonight. (It's better enlarged.) Later, there were fireworks out in the harbor again. Again, I have no idea why. March 2nd. Is there some March Groundhog Day? What? St. Patrick minus Ides?

Fireworks, again... and I don't know why.

Living here, it's a regular thing to hear fireworks and to go out on the terrace and watch....



I have no idea what the occasion is. Is it for the 3 large ships that ease by?



UPDATE: It was the ships:

Three of the world's best-known ocean liners steamed out of New York harbour together late today, sailing out of the same port for the first and only time in their history.

The Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and newly launched Queen Victoria slipped past the Statue of Liberty together under the cover of darkness as fireworks burst overhead, offering maritime history fans a unique opportunity.

Since the QE2 is off on its last world cruise and, in November, will become a floating hotel parked in Dubai, this was the only time the three ships would ever meet.

Launched by her namesake in 1967, the QE2 has travelled 5.5 million nautical miles - the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times - undertaken 25 world cruises and crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times.

It's the victory of good over evil: Diwali!

Suddenly, we hear a boom. It's fireworks. What for? Is it for Eid? I don't know, but I grab my camera and run onto the terrace for the beautiful show.







When it's over we Google around for an answer. It's Diwali (also called Deepavali):

Known as the "Festival of Lights," it symbolizes the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for humankind....

Hindus and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships. For Hindus it is one of the most important festivals, and beginning of the year in some Hindu calendars. There are several beliefs regarding the origin of the holiday. The most repeated version is that Hindus celebrate Diwali to mark the time when Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana. Some also view it as the day Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura or in honor of the day Bali went to rule the nether-world, obeying the order of Vishnu. It is also a significant festival for the Sikh faith. In India, Diwali is now considered to be more of a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.

Excellent!

Fireworks celebrating... I don't know...

Last night, I heard what sounded like fireworks, and it really was fireworks.



I don't know what the occasion was, but it was a very mellow pleasure to be curled up in bed reading, to hear the muffled sounds, to get up to investigate, and to observe the distant show.