"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

"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.

Tourists salvaging what they can of their Paris trip? Or are these locals? I'm guessing locals. They're smoking!

A striking contrast on the streets of Paris: A couple sits sipping drinks at an outdoor café as flames burn just steps away. The moment was captured Saturday near the Arc de Triomphe, on the outskirts of rioting that erupted during demonstrations over rising prices, inequality and public spending. Video shows the pair continuing their conversation as a burning trash bin lights up the background.

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 19, 2026

ADDED: For me, a longtime connoisseur of travel critique, this video shows us a stark version of what is nearly always the case. I'm guessing these are, in fact, local residents, because they're smoking, but if they are tourists, they are doing what I think tourists more or less always do. They have a fantasy of a place and they believe they can go to that fantasy and they perform the mental labor of believing they have entered into the place they imagined. They screen out or rationalize the contradictory material and they determinedly live out their dream. 

Reminds me of that old Charlie Kaufman movie, "Synecdoche, New York," where a woman takes a real-estate tour of what is her dream house. The house is on fire, and she buys it and lives in in... dies in it:

ADDED: Protesters pop the bubble of tourist's fantasy of communing with the Mona Lisa:

Another smoky sunrise.

That's a photo by Meade. I did not go out because the AQI was "very unhealthy." 

Talk about whatever you like in the comments.

ADDED: Trump at Truth Social: "We are holding Canada responsible... the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!"

"And for an only-would-be-famous person — that is, a civilian who is active on social media — cigarettes are a playful, blasé-bad-girl prop."

"A scroll through TikTok and Reels will show plenty of seductive supercuts of smoking scenes in movies and on TV; cult-popular Instagram accounts like @Cigfluencers ('your favourite smoker’s favourite smokers') give fans a place to leave impassioned comments like 'MADE ME WANT A CIG SO BAD' (re: Ava’s Parisian cigarette in the Hacks finale) with only the occasional scold ('Wow, a page dedicated to people who will die early of lung cancer').... Ironically, the efficacy of turn-of-the-century laws banning cigarettes from public spaces... combined with early-aughts anti-smoking campaigns... which worked to keep millennials from being as cigarette-crazed as older generations, have, by the harsh light of 2026, given cigarette smoking the rosy glow of a bad habit from the good old days...."

From "Cigarettes are back in vogue. How did this happen? Celebrities like Dua Lipa and Gracie Abrams have been photographed with cigs, as have social media influencers who like the retro vibes" (WaPo).

"Free yourself of old-fashioned ideas."

That's not the L&M commercial I'm searching for. And neither is this, though it does have an amazing performance by Teri Garr:

That first video shows what it meant to "live modern" in the 1950s. The couple reminds me of my parents. The Teri Garr commercial shows the ordeal of living in the 1970s and the pathetic hope that cigarettes could bring 2 decent struggling humans together for a tiny moment.

But the one I was looking for is a 1960s commercial with a jingle singing "They said it couldn't be done." The thing that supposedly couldn't be done was to put a filter on a cigarette and have it still taste good. The ad began by showing a few things that "they" said couldn't be done that really were done. The only example I remember is showing Florida as a big swamp followed by images of glorious Florida real estate. The logic of the commercial was that if other supposedly impossible things happened, then this other one probably happened too. See how 1960s that was? 

Reset.

better than watching the ball drop pic.twitter.com/BOvloDhV07

— Mads (@MadsPosting) December 31, 2025

"People often ask her how, as a famous person, she still takes the Tube, but the reason why is simple — nobody is looking up from their phones."

"'It’s heartbreaking,' she says. 'Nobody’s looking into the f***ing world any more.'"

From "Kate Winslet: ‘Young women have no concept of what being beautiful is’/At 50, the actress doesn’t care what people think of her any more. She lets rip about social media, weight-loss drugs — and why it has taken her so long to become a director" (London Times).

I don't like the expression "let rip." It's too reminiscent of "rip one." But let's read this OED entry for "to let rip." which is defined as "to act or proceed without restraint; (also) to speak violently," which I don't for one minute believe that Kate Winslet did, even as she chided women for — whatever — lip injections and Ozempic. 

The first of the historical quotes comes from California in 1857 and gives some insight into the court system:

Are these the same celebrities who denounced anyone who resisted the mask, the vaccine, and the lockdown in Covid times?

I'm reading "Pop Culture Takes Up Smoking Again/From movies and TV shows to music, the habit is no longer taboo. It’s even being celebrated for the way it makes characters look cool or powerful" (NYT).

Both Lorde and [Addison] Rae have worked with the singer whom [Jared Oviatt, the man behind the Instagram account @Cigfluencers,] credits with the smoking revival: Charli XCX, the Brat Summer pioneer who is a proud smoker. She even once received a bouquet of cigs for her birthday from Rosalía, another notable smoker. (The bouquet evoked the bowls of cigarettes Mary-Kate Olsen reportedly set out at her 2015 wedding to Olivier Sarkozy, a subversive, very French detail.)

"When he lit a cigarette, a nurse in blue scrubs appeared over his shoulder, peering at Hockney with apparent concern."

"But by staying silent, the nurse respected the buttons that both he and Hockney wore, reading 'End Bossiness Soon.' The artist made those after the British government banned smoking in public spaces in 2007. These days, Hockney has 24-hour medical care, and ensuring that he will be well enough to go to Paris for the exhibition opening has been a priority for his team. He planned to travel by car, with his dachshund, Tess; his doctor would travel separately, he said. 'I am looking forward to it, because it is the largest exhibition I’ve ever had. Which it should be,' Hockney said with a wry smile. 'Shouldn’t it, really?'"

From "David Hockney Wants His Biggest Ever Show to Bring You Joy/The artist is 87 now and under constant medical care. But he was determined to make it to Paris for the exhibition of his life" (NYT)(free-access link).

"Finding a studio that made her 'feel comfortable enough to be creative' took time, she said, and eventually, she found Pot, a studio in Los Angeles that seeks to empower people of color in ceramics."

"'In that studio, I met a lot of people that help me feel safe and feel able to create whatever I want without thinking: Am I going to sell this or is this going to be something that people are going to want in their stores?' said Ms. Muñoz, who now lives in El Paso and has a studio in Guadalajara, Mexico."

From "That Art Piece on Your Coffee Table? It’ll Get You High. Cannabis paraphernalia is joining the world of home décor. Here are some of the most interesting new designs and designers" (NYT)(free-access link).

I'm expending one of my 10 gift links on this one because I want you to see some of the godawful pottery the NYT is promoting for artists and empowerers of people of color. I found this article at the top of the NYT home page, right next to "Trump Favors Blunt Force in Dealing With Foreign Allies and Enemies Alike." No pun intended, I'm sure.

I'm old enough to remember the kind of gigantic atrocious ashtray that was regarded as an "art piece on your coffee table," back in the heyday of tobacco smoking. 

Smoking paraphernalia "joined the world of home decor" a long time ago.  

By the way, did you ever look and look and finally find a place where people helped you feel safe and feel able to create whatever you want without thinking and then you relocated to Mexico?

Now, get out there and be creative. Creative for the people. Of color. Perhaps orange. Or avocado....

"'Hookahs and music were banned from the beginning, said Yahia Naeme, the owner of the cafe..."

"... who said the ban had lost him business because many people used to come to his cafe specifically to smoke hookahs. 'If we can’t offer it, they’ll get bored and go elsewhere,' he said. Other cafes in Idlib have skirted the law by offering hookahs in speakeasy-type environments behind closed doors. But Mr. Naeme did not want to risk running afoul of the area’s rulers...."

From "Cafes Can’t Play Music, but the Water Taps Work: Life Under Syria’s Rebels/The Islamists who now lead Syria have ruled the city of Idlib for years. Residents say they imposed some strict laws, but also heeded some complaints and improved public services" (NYT).

"A California beach town is banning residents from smoking inside their own homes, saying the health benefits outweigh concerns over government overreach."

"Carlsbad, a surfing hot spot near San Diego, has decided to prohibit people from lighting up inside apartments, condos and other shared buildings where multiple families live.... At least 84 of California’s 483 municipalities — including Beverly Hills, Cupertino and Pasadena — have enacted similar bans in multi-family private residences, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation."

The London Times reports.

Yes, sometimes I get my news of what's happening in the U.S. from a U.K. paper.

Here's another one: "California’s TikTok generation must learn joined-up handwriting/US state is the latest to adopt rules that require cursive writing to be taught in schools." I'd never seen the expression "joined-up handwriting." By the way, I didn't see the term "cursive" back when I was learning it. It was just called "writing" — as opposed to "printing." Somewhat later, before "cursive," I saw "script." But "joined-up handwriting" is completely new to me, and it really makes it seem silly: Whatever was so important about not lifting the pen up when going from letter to letter? It was once believed to be faster, and there was so much time to be saved.

One Californian proponent of the new requirement (a Democrat) asserted that "there’s a lot of research that shows that cursive handwriting enhances a child’s brain development, including memorisation, and improves fine motor skills."

Can someone convert this into cigarettes? Is living here today the equivalent of smoking 2 cigarettes or 2 packs of cigarettes or what?

AirNow.

IN THE COMMENTS: Chest Rockwell said: "There's a calculator for that!" 

Thanks! So it's like I'm smoking 10 cigarettes today. That's about the number of actual cigarettes I've smoked in my entire life.

There's also this, from Enigma, about why cigarette smoke is much worse. 

"A perfumier designed the aroma to contain hints of 'pus, blood, faecal matter and sweat' so [Jude] Law could imagine himself as [Henry VIII]...."

"At the start of filming Law said he made sure 'very subtly' to use a dab or two of the stomach-turning scent. However, when he found that the smell aided his performance, 'it became a spray-fest.' "When Jude walked in on set,” the director, Karim Aïnouz, said, 'it was just horrible.' [Alicia] Vikander, who performed sex scenes with Law, gave a look of disgust as the actor [said] 'Even the camera operators were gagging. My memory is that we were laughing a lot.... [I'd] read several interesting accounts that you could smell Henry three rooms away. His leg was rotting so badly. He hid it with rose oil. I thought it would have a great impact if I smelt awful.'"

From "Jude Law has more than a whiff of Henry VIII in Firebrand/The film received an eight-minute standing ovation after its premiere at the Cannes film festival on Sunday" (London Times).

Watch Ms. Vikander approach the putrid actor:

I asked ChatGPT, "Can you tell me about other actors who have used smelliness to enhance their performance?" In classic ChatGPT form, I got a list of 5 items:

"She unfurled the floral fabric wrapping to reveal a rose-scented nest of tobacco. 'You could put it in your bath and soak in it...'"

"... her friend explained. 'I did the other day and afterwards I just lay on my bed for three hours. It was intense.' Others joined in with their new-age nicotine experiences. Some had drunk tobacco juice in the Amazon jungle, which made them 'purge' (never 'projectile vomit,' please), but was worth it for the 'most incredible clarity.' Others had 'smudged' with it — ie wafted the smoke around in order to 'clear negative energy' — or had 'shamanic snuff' (powdered tobacco) blown up their noses through a special pipe ('so grounding')."

From "WHY TOBACCO IS THE NEW (LEGAL) WELLNESS INGREDIENT/Bathe in it, drink it, waft it around — but whatever you do, don’t smoke it" (London Times).

"oil painting of an elephant playing a guitar smoking a cigar in a low lit bar."

I'm just checking out the r/dalle2 after seeing it mentioned in the New York Magazine article, "Will DALL-E the AI Artist Take My Job? I was unnerved by how well DALL-E 2 mimics a human photo editor. So I put my AI competition to the test." 

I like the elephant paintings, but part of what I'm liking is badness, and I feel liberated from knowing there's no delusional artist behind it... though I am a longtime fan of the subreddit r/delusionalartists.

But, of course, I want the human artist to win. I think! The author of the NY Magazine article, Megan Paetzhold, does win in this competition that she controlled against the AI in its current form:

"The average life expectancy of Americans fell precipitously in 2020 and 2021, the sharpest two-year decline in nearly 100 years...."

"In 2021, the average American could expect to live until the age of 76, federal health researchers reported on Wednesday. The figure represents a loss of almost three years since 2019, when Americans could expect to live, on average, nearly 79 years. The reduction has been particularly steep among Native Americans and Alaska Natives.... Average life expectancy in those groups was shortened by four years in 2020 alone.... While the pandemic has driven most of the decline in life expectancy, a rise in accidental deaths and drug overdoses also contributed, as did deaths from heart disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, the new report found....  One in seven Native Americans and Alaska Natives has diabetes, the highest rate among racial or ethnic groups in the United States, and many struggle with obesity or excess weight.... Although the U.S. health care system is among the best in the world, Americans suffer from what experts have called 'the U.S. health disadvantage,' an amalgam of influences that... include a fragmented, profit-driven health care system; poor diet and a lack of physical activity; and pervasive risk factors such as smoking, widespread access to guns, poverty and pollution. The problems are compounded for marginalized groups by racism and segregation...."

 
The NYT reports.

Much of that is about how the individual person lives: food, smoking, alcohol, drugs. Covid came from the outside, but what percentage of the deaths are attributable to conditions that the individual might have avoided? Of course, it's hard to fight obesity and addiction once they've beset you. And some people decline more quickly as they get older. Who knows exactly why? I'm only 5 years away from the average point of death, but I don't feel I'm coming in for a landing on that descent path. Still, who can say?  

"What if we got more ambitious with the messaging and went after gun ownership itself?... Before you shut this down as Tipper Gore territory or just say no to Nancy Reagan 2.0..."

"... consider the effect of other big public service campaigns, which are especially successful when it’s clear the message comes down to saving lives... the seatbelt campaign... the “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” campaign... [the campaign against] cigarette use.... While in the pocket of the tobacco industry, Hollywood played a key role in glamorizing smoking, but then later, after paid tobacco product placement was banned, clamped down on the appearance of smoking on film and TV....  Sometimes, of course, a cigarette, like a gun, is key to a movie’s story line or characters. But the use of firearms onscreen can certainly be more intentional. Reaching for the gun in the course of storytelling isn’t always necessary. The best cinematic fight scene by far this year involved a weaponized fanny pack...."

 From "What to Do About Americans Who Love Their Guns" by Pamela Paul (NYT). 

 

They're still glamorizing violence! I would hate to see filmmakers pour their imagination into weaponizing more of the many ordinary objects that surround us. 

I'll bet you can think of some deadly household items you've witnessed over the years. Help me make a list. I'll start with the Roald Dahl/Alfred Hitchcock frozen leg of lamb. And the phone is ringing for Grace Kelly:

"Black smokers prefer menthol products, and the Biden administration's decision to ban menthol cigarettes will inevitably fuel an already well-established, lucrative, and violent illicit market."

"This will criminalize the behavior of Black communities and lead to more interactions with law enforcement, not less."

Said Richard Marianos, a former senior official with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, quoted in "How Biden’s Menthol Ban Endangers Black Bodies" (Washington Free Beacon).

Biden's move to criminalize menthol cigarettes would violate his goals of eliminating disparate impact—supposedly neutral policies that disproportionately affect minority communities—in law enforcement.... Such disparate impact is why Biden's menthol ban has earned criticism from left-wing civil liberty activists, such as the American Civil Liberties Union....