BVD
Spencer Tracy’s second rule for acting is to not trip over the props. This might be a problem for Jon Hamm. In a bit of slow news day genius, his show leaked the information that the actor has been requested to wear underwear on the set. A rep for Mr. Hamm said: “It is ridiculous and not really funny at all. I’d appreciate you taking the high road and not resorting to something childish like this that’s been blogged about 1,000 times.”
This was an issue when Tallulah Bankhead was making “Lifeboat”. Other performers complained about the thespian not wearing panties. Director Alfred Hitchcock wondered if this was a matter for wardrobe, or a matter for hairdressing.
This concern about foundation garments, conveniently arising during the pre-easter shopping season, made PG wonder when men started to wear drawers. Could this be the result of manufacturers inventing demand for a product? Wikipedia says the loincloth is thousands of years old. A footnote, about the invention of the jockstrap, led to an English article, A brief history of pants: Why men’s smalls have always been a subject of concern.
“In 1935, the first Jockey briefs went on sale in Chicago. Designed by an “apparel engineer” called Arthur Kneibler (working at the time for Coopers Inc), the arrival of the first underpants denuded of any legs and featuring a Y-shaped opening has been compared with the 1913 invention of the bra, or the 1959 debut of tights. In three months, 30,000 were sold. Coopers, now known as Jockey International, sent its “Mascul-line” plane to make special deliveries of “masculine support” briefs to retailers across the United States. When the Jockeys arrived in Britain in 1938, they sold at the rate of 3,000 per week.”
One popular brand of underwear is the BVD. This was originally made by Bradley, Voorhees & Day, hence the name. They are not named for Bovine Viral Diarrhea. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Andrew Gillum
The first hints of a delicious scandal were on twitter. @RealCandaceO “Removing one page of report that had @AndrewGillum’s personal address listed which was wasn’t my intent— but YES— BREAKING: Democrat Andrew Gillum was involved in a crystal meth overdose incident last night in a Miami hotel. Orgy suspected, but unconfirmed.” 10:17 AM · Mar 13, 2020 The tweet had copies of a police report, featuring the prominent Florida Democrat.
At first, PG was leery. No corporate media outlets were reporting the story. It could have been another Andrew Gillum. The police report may have been counterfeit. PG started to google “Andrew Gillum” and “Dow Jones.” One of those items had a very bad day Thursday, but made a comeback on Friday. For Mr. Gillum, things got much worse.
Andrew Gillum involved in suspected crystal meth incident in Miami Beach, police say March 13, 2020, 11:50 am The confirmation did not take long to arrive. The Local 10 report had a remarkable comment: “I was in Miami last night for a wedding celebration when first responders were called to assist one of my friends,” Gillum said in the statement. “While I had too much to drink, I want to be clear that I have never used methamphetamines. I apologize to the people of Florida for the distraction this has caused our movement. I’m thankful to the incredible Miami Beach EMS team for their efforts. I will spend the next few weeks with my family and appreciate privacy during this time.”
Right now, we are in a world of trouble. We are facing a nation kept in solitary confinement. We don’t know how long this communal isolation will last, or what impact it will have on the spread of COVID-19. The sociological impact of keeping 333 million amped up hotheads inside, indefinitely, is horrifying. What is seriously needed now is a delicious sex scandal, to give a healing nation something to tut tut over. Once again, Florida Man™ delivers.
For those who just arrived, here is the story. “Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews were called to a hotel at 1100 West Avenue shortly before 1 a.m. regarding a suspected drug overdose. … Aldo Mejias, 56, told officers that he gave Travis Dyson, 30, his credit card information to rent a hotel room for the night. … Mejias arrived at the room later that night, at which time he found Dyson and Gillum inside the hotel room, appearing to be under the influence of an unknown substance. … Dyson opened the hotel room door and then immediately walked to the bed and collapsed in a prone position. … According to the police report, officers who responded to the hotel tried to speak with Gillum but he was too inebriated. … officers found three small clear bags inside the hotel room containing suspected crystal meth. … Gillum left the hotel room and “returned to his residence without incident.”
There were more developments. Travis Dyson is a piece of work. His now-private instagram account looks like something you would see from a Miami entrepreneur (NSFW). There is a chummy picture of Mr. Dyson, Mr. Gillum, and a third man.
@jessicalipscomb “Just spoke with Travis Dyson, a friend of @AndrewGillum who was in the hotel room last night. He says Gillum did not mention anything about a wedding.” Mr. Dyson spoke to a virus happy Miami web newspaper. “I personally was not celebrating a wedding. I don’t know if [Gillum] was in town for a wedding. He did not mention that.” Dyson said he has known Gillum since around last spring. “We’ve been friends for a while,” Dyson said. He then went silent on the phone and did not answer subsequent calls from New Times.” So much for discretion.
@AndrewGillum “I heard @realDonaldTrump ran home to @FoxNews to lie about me. But as my grandmother told me — never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it. So ignore him and vote, Florida!” 11:18 PM · Oct 29, 2018 As @realDonaldTrump should know, tweets are forever. Someone should explain this to the people tweeting to Mr. Gillum’s defense.
@cenkuygur “The @AndrewGillum headlines are very misleading. He was not in a seedy motel by himself. He was at high-end hotel with friends for a wedding. They were all intoxicated, as everyone in weddings are. Even if there was meth, it was on the floor. There were at least 3 people in room.”
@cmclymer “Let me see if I understand this correctly: conservative commentators are on here this morning attacking Andrew Gillum, who is not in office, over an alleged incident but NOT attacking Trump for intentionally enabling one of the worst catastrophes in modern U.S. history.”
@hshaban “a Florida friend suggested that Andrew Gillum is going to be tarnished by this, despite not being arrested or accused of any wrongdoing, in a way that is somehow worse than the sitting governor of Virginia, who was discovered to have worn blackface”
@Jasmyne “What’s interesting about this story is that this same publication called Gemmel Moore a prostitute when he was found dead at #EdBuck’s. But 30 y/o white Travis Dyson is a “male escort.” Interesting. That right there is the bias we’re always talking about in how the media reports.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
π Day
Today is 3-14. It is a saturday, and 314 are the first three digits of pi (affectionately known as π ). It is a math thing, the number you multiply a diameter by to get the circumference. When your grammar school math teacher told you about π, she probably used 3.14, or 3 1/7. (PG went to school when Hewlett and Packard were still in the garage.)
You might also have heard the formula for the area of a circle, the racy π r squared . This means that you multiply π by the radius (half the diameter, a line from the border to the center point), and then multiply the whole contraption by the radius again. The formula has a funny sound to it. Pie are not square, cornbread is square, pie are round. Like Sly Stone says, all the squares go home.
According to wikipedia, π seems to have been known as early as 1900 b.c. The pyramids of Egypt have a π based feature. The Greek letter π is the first letter of the Greek word περίμετρος (perimeter) . This was determined OTP.
The pyramid- π function is fairly simple. The total length of the four sides, at the base, will be the same as the height of the pyramid, times two, times π. PG likes to make model pyramids. They are 6″ tall, and the base sides are 9 3/8″. The combination of these four sides is 37 1/2″. If you multiply 6x2x3.14, you get 37.68″ The .18″ is because of a measuring error.
A lady named Eve Astrid Andersson has a page of her website dedicated to π. The only trivia question that PG understood was the first one…1. What is the formal definition of pi? …the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter // 3.14159 // the radius of a unit circle // the surface area of a sphere of diameter 22/7 // a delicious dessert, especially if it contains cherries.
There is the football cheer from M.I.T. ” Cosine, secant, tangent, sine 3.14159 // Integral, radical, u dv, slipstick, slide rule, MIT!”
In 1998 a movie titled π was released. It caused brain damage in 3.14% of those who saw it. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that 1998 = 666 x 3.
π has been calculated to over five million digits. The second part of this feature are a few of those numbers. There are 82 characters in each line. This feature shows π extended to 10,165 digits. This is .02% of five million. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899
8628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284
1027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652712
0190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152
0920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270
3657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381
8301194912983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629
3176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468
4409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136
2977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830
2642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303
5982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519577818577805321712268066130019278766
1119590921642019893809525720106548586327886593615338182796823030195203530185296899
5773622599413891249721775283479131515574857242454150695950829533116861727855889075
0983817546374649393192550604009277016711390098488240128583616035637076601047101819
4295559619894676783744944825537977472684710404753464620804668425906949129331367702
8989152104752162056966024058038150193511253382430035587640247496473263914199272604
2699227967823547816360093417216412199245863150302861829745557067498385054945885869
2699569092721079750930295532116534498720275596023648066549911988183479775356636980
7426542527862551818417574672890977772793800081647060016145249192173217214772350141
4419735685481613611573525521334757418494684385233239073941433345477624168625189835 6948556209921922218427255025425688767179049460165346680498862723279178608578438382
7967976681454100953883786360950680064225125205117392984896084128488626945604241965
2850222106611863067442786220391949450471237137869609563643719172874677646575739624
1389086583264599581339047802759009946576407895126946839835259570982582262052248940
7726719478268482601476990902640136394437455305068203496252451749399651431429809190
6592509372216964615157098583874105978859597729754989301617539284681382686838689427
7415599185592524595395943104997252468084598727364469584865383673622262609912460805
1243884390451244136549762780797715691435997700129616089441694868555848406353422072
2258284886481584560285060168427394522674676788952521385225499546667278239864565961
1635488623057745649803559363456817432411251507606947945109659609402522887971089314
5669136867228748940560101503308617928680920874760917824938589009714909675985261365
5497818931297848216829989487226588048575640142704775551323796414515237462343645428
5844479526586782105114135473573952311342716610213596953623144295248493718711014576
5403590279934403742007310578539062198387447808478489683321445713868751943506430218
4531910484810053706146806749192781911979399520614196634287544406437451237181921799
9839101591956181467514269123974894090718649423196156794520809514655022523160388193
0142093762137855956638937787083039069792077346722182562599661501421503068038447734
5492026054146659252014974428507325186660021324340881907104863317346496514539057962
6856100550810665879699816357473638405257145910289706414011097120628043903975951567
7157700420337869936007230558763176359421873125147120532928191826186125867321579198
4148488291644706095752706957220917567116722910981690915280173506712748583222871835
2093539657251210835791513698820914442100675103346711031412671113699086585163983150
1970165151168517143765761835155650884909989859982387345528331635507647918535893226
1854896321329330898570642046752590709154814165498594616371802709819943099244889575
7128289059232332609729971208443357326548938239119325974636673058360414281388303203
8249037589852437441702913276561809377344403070746921120191302033038019762110110044
9293215160842444859637669838952286847831235526582131449576857262433441893039686426
2434107732269780280731891544110104468232527162010526522721116603966655730925471105
5785376346682065310989652691862056476931257058635662018558100729360659876486117910
4533488503461136576867532494416680396265797877185560845529654126654085306143444318
5867697514566140680070023787765913440171274947042056223053899456131407112700040785
4733269939081454664645880797270826683063432858785698305235808933065757406795457163
7752542021149557615814002501262285941302164715509792592309907965473761255176567513
5751782966645477917450112996148903046399471329621073404375189573596145890193897131
1179042978285647503203198691514028708085990480109412147221317947647772622414254854
5403321571853061422881375850430633217518297986622371721591607716692547487389866549
4945011465406284336639379003976926567214638530673609657120918076383271664162748888
0078692560290228472104031721186082041900042296617119637792133757511495950156604963
1862947265473642523081770367515906735023507283540567040386743513622224771589150495
3098444893330963408780769325993978054193414473774418426312986080998886874132604721
5695162396586457302163159819319516735381297416772947867242292465436680098067692823
8280689964004824354037014163149658979409243237896907069779422362508221688957383798
6230015937764716512289357860158816175578297352334460428151262720373431465319777741
6031990665541876397929334419521541341899485444734567383162499341913181480927777103
8638773431772075456545322077709212019051660962804909263601975988281613323166636528
6193266863360627356763035447762803504507772355471058595487027908143562401451718062
4643626794561275318134078330336254232783944975382437205835311477119926063813346776
8796959703098339130771098704085913374641442822772634659470474587847787201927715280
7317679077071572134447306057007334924369311383504931631284042512192565179806941135
2801314701304781643788518529092854520116583934196562134914341595625865865570552690
4965209858033850722426482939728584783163057777560688876446248246857926039535277348
0304802900587607582510474709164396136267604492562742042083208566119062545433721315
3595845068772460290161876679524061634252257719542916299193064553779914037340432875
2628889639958794757291746426357455254079091451357111369410911939325191076020825202
6187985318877058429725916778131496990090192116971737278476847268608490033770242429
1651300500516832336435038951702989392233451722013812806965011784408745196012122859
9371623130171144484640903890644954440061986907548516026327505298349187407866808818
3385102283345085048608250393021332197155184306354550076682829493041377655279397517
5461395398468339363830474611996653858153842056853386218672523340283087112328278921
2507712629463229563989898935821167456270102183564622013496715188190973038119800497
3407239610368540664319395097901906996395524530054505806855019567302292191393391856
8034490398205955100226353536192041994745538593810234395544959778377902374216172711
1723643435439478221818528624085140066604433258885698670543154706965747458550332323
3421073015459405165537906866273337995851156257843229882737231989875714159578111963
5833005940873068121602876496286744604774649159950549737425626901049037781986835938
1465741268049256487985561453723478673303904688383436346553794986419270563872931748
7233208376011230299113679386270894387993620162951541337142489283072201269014754668
4765357616477379467520049075715552781965362132392640616013635815590742202020318727
7605277219005561484255518792530343513984425322341576233610642506390497500865627109
5359194658975141310348227693062474353632569160781547818115284366795706110861533150
4452127473924544945423682886061340841486377670096120715124914043027253860764823634
1433462351897576645216413767969031495019108575984423919862916421939949072362346468
4411739403265918404437805133389452574239950829659122850855582157250310712570126683
0240292952522011872676756220415420516184163484756516999811614101002996078386909291
6030288400269104140792886215078424516709087000699282120660418371806535567252532567
5328612910424877618258297651579598470356222629348600341587229805349896502262917487
8820273420922224533985626476691490556284250391275771028402799806636582548892648802
5456610172967026640765590429099456815065265305371829412703369313785178609040708667
1149655834343476933857817113864558736781230145876871266034891390956200993936103102
9161615288138437909904231747336394804575931493140529763475748119356709110137751721
0080315590248530906692037671922033229094334676851422144773793937517034436619910403
3751117354719185504644902636551281622882446257591633303910722538374218214088350865
7391771509682887478265699599574490661758344137522397096834080053559849175417381883
9994469748676265516582765848358845314277568790029095170283529716344562129640435231
1760066510124120065975585127617858382920419748442360800719304576189323492292796501
9875187212726750798125547095890455635792122103334669749923563025494780249011419521
2382815309114079073860251522742995818072471625916685451333123948049470791191532673
4302824418604142636395480004480026704962482017928964766975831832713142517029692348
8962766844032326092752496035799646925650493681836090032380929345958897069536534940
6034021665443755890045632882250545255640564482465151875471196218443965825337543885
6909411303150952617937800297412076651479394259029896959469955657612186561967337862
3625612521632086286922210327488921865436480229678070576561514463204692790682120738
8377814233562823608963208068222468012248261177185896381409183903673672220888321513
7556003727983940041529700287830766709444745601345564172543709069793961225714298946
7154357846878861444581231459357198492252847160504922124247014121478057345510500801
9086996033027634787081081754501193071412233908663938339529425786905076431006383519
8343893415961318543475464955697810382930971646514384070070736041123735998434522516
1050702705623526601276484830840761183013052793205427462865403603674532865105706587
4882256981579367897669742205750596834408697350201410206723585020072452256326513410
5592401902742162484391403599895353945909440704691209140938700126456001623742880210
9276457931065792295524988727584610126483699989225695968815920560010165525637567856
6722796619885782794848855834397518744545512965634434803966420557982936804352202770
984294232533022576341807039476994159791594530069752148293366555661567873640053666
Pretty Monsters Part Four
Pretty Monsters is a work of speculative fiction. You visit a world created by the author’s imagination. If you make enough predictions, some are going to come true. This happens in The Surfer.
Adorno, aka Dorn, is a soccer goalie. He thinks he is pretty good. His father is a Philadelphia doctor, who brought Dorn to Costa Rica on a moments notice. “Dorn is here with his father because of Hans Bliss and the aliens. Because, you know, Hans Bliss said that the aliens are going to show up again real soon and this time he knows what he’s talking about. Not like all those other times when he said the aliens were coming back.”
Hans Bliss is some kind of hippie utopia-grifter dude. Before the end of the story, Mr. Bliss is dead. There is some kind of virus going around, killing a bunch of people. In Costa Rica, all the visitors are quarantined in a gym. They spend their days playing soccer, looking at “googlies,” and getting in arguments. Meanwhile, the virus is busy in the outside world.
“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, telling my father when he finally came home. And we haven’t talked about it much since then. I don’t know why it’s easier for some people to talk about aliens than to talk about death. Aliens only happen to some people. Death happens to everyone.”
The quarantine continues. Dorn has a soccer match. A guard makes a fool out of Dorn. It turns out the guard was a professional player. Dorn decides to quit playing, or maybe not. Dorn doesn’t quite know what he wants to do.
The aliens really do arrive. Dorn is out of quarantine, so he can see them. “Dad,” I said. “Dad! Everyone! The aliens! They’re here. They’re just outside! Lots of them!” But I stood there feeling empty and lost and ashamed and alone until I heard my father’s voice. He was saying, “Dorn! Adorno, where are you? Adorno, get out here! They’re beautiful, they’re even more beautiful than that idiot said. Come on out, come and see!”
Is a visit from aliens going to coincide with COVID-19? Or maybe a gang of murderous con-women, like Zilla and Ozma in The Constable of Abal. “Zilla was not greedy. She was a scrupulous blackmailer. She did not bleed her clients dry; she milked them. You could even say she did it out of kindness. What good is a secret without someone to know it? When one cannot afford a scandal, a blackmailer is an excellent bargain. Ozma and Zilla assembled the evidence of love affairs, ill-considered attachments, stillbirths, stolen inheritances, and murders. They were as vigilant as any biographer, solicitous as any confidante. Zilla fed gobbets of tragedy, romance, comedy to the ghosts who dangled so hungrily at the end of their ribbons. One has to feed a ghost something delicious, and there is only so much blood a grown woman and a smallish girl have to spare.”
“the ghosts who dangled so hungrily at the end of their ribbons.” The titular Constable was one of these ghosts. When Zilla was not looking, the Constable and Ozma got to be pals. Ozma was developing into a young women, which was not convenient to Zilla. “It isn’t your fault, Ozma. My magic can only do so much. Everyone gets older, no matter how much magic their mothers have. A young woman is trouble, though, and we have no time for trouble. Perhaps you should be a boy. I’ll cut your hair.” Ozma backed away. She was proud of her hair. “Come here, Ozma,” Zilla said. She had a knife in her hand. “It will grow back, I promise.”
“I took a position in service,” Zilla said. “You are my son, and your name is Eren. Your father is dead, and we have come here from Nablos. We are respectable people. I’m to cook and keep house.” “I thought we were going home,” Ozma said. “This isn’t home.” “Leave your ghosts here,” Zilla said. “Decent people like we are going to be have nothing to do with ghosts. … This did not sound at all like Zilla. Ozma was beginning to grow tired of this new Zilla. It was one thing to pretend to be respectable; it was another entirely to be respectable.”
The new employer, Lady Fralix, is not with the program. Or maybe she is, and Zilla is out to lunch, with Ozma caught is trans-respectability purgatory. “The pink dressing gown,” Lady Fralix said. “If you let me keep your ghost in my pocket today, I’ll give you one of my dresses. Any dress you like.” “Zilla would take it away and give it to the poor,” Ozma said. Then: “How did you know I’m a girl?” “I’m old but I’m not blind,” Lady Fralix said. “I see all sorts of things. … You shouldn’t keep dressing as a boy, my dear. Someone as shifty as you needs some truth now and then.”
“It’s a good thing,” Lady Fralix said, “that most people can’t see or talk to ghosts. Watching them scurry around, it makes you dread the thought of death, and yet what else is there to do when you die? Will some careless child carry me around in her pocket? … Your mother is a goddess,” Lady Fralix said. “My mother is a liar and a thief and a murderer,” Ozma said. “Yes,” Lady Fralix said. “She was all of those things and worse. Gods don’t make very good people. They get bored too easily. And they’re cruel when they’re bored.”
There is more action, but in an effort to maintain a spoiler free blog, you will have to read the story. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Quotes are from the .pdf. Previous episodes of this series are available. (part one part two part three part five)
Look at Texas Right Now
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
Police searching for Jeep that hit, killed teen standing near the sidewalk
Rebekah Neumann’s Search For Enlightenment Fueled WeWork’s Collapse
No One Has Ever Lost Money Underestimating the Intelligence of People
Yes, The Left Needs to Keep Infighting – Here Are 6 Reasons Why
Three years after the I-85 fire, Basil Eleby is turning his life around
doing really immature things like throwing dildos at the window and trying to get them to stick
Black-owned business featured in Target ad inundated with racist reviews
Ignorant Boomer Shares CNN Article Thinking It’s Real
Former Vice-President Joe Biden’s verbal gaffes
Sweeping Bill To Expand Ga. Gun Laws Could Force Atlanta To Sell Confiscated Firearms
Checkers employee shoots customer upset over wing order, manager says
The Sad Send-Off of Amy Klobuchar | Black Lives Matter Shuts Down Her Final Event
@billscher has a severe reaction when @mattklewis says good morning
Klobuchar’s Rally Cancelled After BLM Protesters Storm The Stage Over Murder Case
Wild video shows drivers doing donuts on I-285, shutting down traffic
Man accused of killing girlfriend, then wife hours later
Athens-Clarke Ditches Electronic Voting Machines For Hand-Marked Paper Ballots
Vietnamese curator banned from event – ‘Asians are seen as coronavirus carriers’
Want a Great Example of GOP’s War on Voting Access? Look at Texas Right Now.
“I have not been tweeting snakes at Elizabeth Warren”
Israel, Abortion There Is Legal — and Often It’s Free
It’s OK for People to not Drink Alcohol and You Shouldn’t Be a Dick About it
Blaming ‘Low Information’ Black Voters for Not Cleaning Up White Folks’ Mess
10 Things You Need To Let Go Of To Get Yourself Back On Track
“How Dare You, As A White Woman” Tell Me How To Interpret MLK Jr.
Nina Turner – March 5, 2020 – CNN Chris Cuomo
Hilary Rosen apologies after first apology to Sanders surrogate Nina Turner sparks uproar
Bill Maher Goes Full Sexist, Defends Chris Matthews and Mocks His Accuser
British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read
New sneakers claimed to resemble Adolf Hitler
Mother-In-Law Wondering If You Two Raw Dogging Enough to Put a Baby in Them Guts
Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect.
Vogue 2020 Pride Gala and Award Ceremony
Meth & Cocaine Addiction Overtaking Opioids in Georgia
These Are the Questions We Should Be Asking About Coronavirus
Virginia And Colorado Have Officially Banned Hair Discrimination
Twitter suspends NY Post writer after he exposes Carlos Maza’s riches and hypocrisy
A Pig’s-Eye View Of Literature
Stacey Abrams Is Building a New Kind of Political Machine in the Deep South
tips for reading ~ letters from dickinson to higginson
nonzero bernie ~ Hilary Rosen ~ rhps ~ oates ~ Birmingham jail letter
croz at aspen ~ covid 19 ~ baldwin ~ bye pete ~ nyc crime
@DothTheDoth My sexual orientation is emerging from fog-covered woods to vote & then exploding in thousands of crows. ~ “I’m not going to lie, but some people are like don’t ask about genitals, but its like thats important to some people” ~ @chenchenwrites Everyone quotes this, but it really is so good “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it.” Emily Dickinson ~ I think we know each other well enough that I can put the question this way without fear of offending you do you do you have any idea how much of an asshole you sound like in this tweet ~ Mrs. BB stole that joke from Bill Maher. The porn star in question had an amusing comeback. @StormyDaniels Loving that Bill Maher is still butthurt about the time I was funnier than him on his show. You’d think that he’d have learned from the last time he tried to slut shame me that it doesn’t work. Kinda impressed that this time he was dumb enough to include the whole porn industry ~ A Closer Look at ‘White Fragility’ Theory So, research should allow us to determine whether white fragility is pandemic or hogwash or something in between. … People who write about “whiteness,” like DiAngelo, say repeatedly that they are talking about social structures, not about biology and skin color. But in practical application this distinction disappears: At the level of individuals and group dynamics, “whiteness” and white skin color become synonymous. Inborn characteristics rather than degree of participation in racist social structures defines a person’s social standing and the value of their lived experience or ideas. ~ @LADYBUNNY77 Just heard the news that a drag queen has been booted from @RuPaulsDragRace for pretending to be a female casting agent and forcing people to appear in a string tasteless, demoralizing videos. But wait! How can they fire the show’s host? ~ Things move fast on twitter. I spent all day on a movie set, and left my phone in the car. When I got home, #ElizabethWarren was not even trending. She was already old news. ~ @ninaturner was asked about problems with @BernieSanders She did not answer the question, but made a speech about “The President FDR” and “the spirit of” MLK. ~ “Digital blackface is basically the use of a GIF or meme featuring a black person by a non-black, most specifically white person. When a white or non-black person uses a reaction GIF or meme featuring a black person, in that moment they are choosing to metaphorically don the skin of a black person for the sake of making a point.” ~ You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you ~ @ihatejoelkim Whenever I see insanely broad generalizations about a group I belong to on here? I simply sit back, remember I am one of the good ones and then tweet out their home address. ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
World Premieres In Atlanta
Several movies have had a world premiere in Atlanta. We will take a look today. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. Information about the films is from the Internet Movie Database. This is a repost.
As some of you may know, Gone With The Wind had it’s world premiere at the Lowes Grand Theater on December 15, 1939. The Lowes Grand site is the current location of the Georgia Pacific building. There is a vacant lot next door, on top of some MARTA paraphernalia. This lot was the site of the Paramount Theater, another movie palace that did not survive.
The GWTW premiere was a big deal. Ten year old Martin Luther King Jr. sang with his church choir. Clark Gable requested a private meeting with Margaret Mitchell, who became the envy of every woman in America. When Mr. Gable checked out of his hotel, a lady was going to be given his room. The clerk asked for a minute to change the sheets on the bed, and the lady said, no, I want to sleep on the same sheets as him.
It was the golden age of movies, and the next year Atlanta hosted the first showing of Who Killed Aunt Maggie. The premiere was at the Rialto, on October 24, 1940. The review at IMDB said it was an enjoyable mystery, even if it was a cliche fest. It is not often seen today.
In 1946, Song Of The South had it’s premiere at the Fox Theater. SOTS is a controversial item. It was based on the Uncle Remus stories. These stories were told by rural black people that Joel Chandler Harris knew, while growing up near Eatonton GA. As Wikipedia recounts: “Controversy surrounding his southern plantation themes, narrative structure, collection of African-American folklore, use of dialect, and Uncle Remus character, however, has denigrated the significance of Harris’ work”. You Must Remember This devoted six episodes to Song of the South. (one two three four five six)
The female lead in SOTS was Ruth Warrick. Miss Warrick was a versatile talent. Her first movie role was in Citizen Kane, as Kane’s first wife. She was in many movies, before moving to television. She was perhaps best known as Phoebe Tyler, in the soap opera All My Children. Wikipedia tells a story about her, that is ironic for the female lead of Song Of The South.
“In July 2000, she refused to accept a lifetime achievement award from the South Carolina Arts Commission because she was offended by legislators’ decision to move the Confederate flag from the state Capitol dome to another spot on the grounds in response to a boycott of the state by flag opponents. A lifelong supporter of African-American rights, she felt the flag should be removed completely, and commented, “In my view, this was no compromise. It was a deliberate affront to the African-Americans, who see it as a sign of oppression and hate.”
In 1949, the Paramount had the first screening of The Gal Who Took The West. The female lead was Yvonne De Carlo, who later achieved immortality as Lily Munster. In November 1951, the spotlights returned to Lowes Grand for Quo Vadis
The last film in the GSU picture collection is The Last Rebel. This western had it’s premiere at the Rialto, May 27, 1958. The movie was a return to Atlanta glory for Olivia De Havilland. The film is the story of a man, whose wife dies in a fire during the war between the states. PG questions the use of the Stars and Bars on the marquee.
In 1974, Ringo Starr produced and acted in Son of Dracula. The movie had it’s world premiere at the Cherokee Plaza Theater. Cherokee Plaza is a shopping center on Peachtree Road, just east of the Atlanta city limits. The theater was torn down during a renovation, and the space is currently the produce department at Krogers.
A local radio station hired a band to play in the parking lot at the premiere. At some point, a long limousine pulled up to a stage, and Ringo Starr and Harry Nilsson got out. Both were wearing sunglasses, even though it was after dark. Ringo got on the stage, waved a wand at the crowd, and said “I am turning you into frogs”. He went inside to see the movie, the crowd went home, and the movie was mercifully forgotten.
In 1981, PG went to a supper in an apartment building (now a vacant lot) across Peachtree from First Baptist Church. There was a commotion down the street at the Fox, and PG went to see what it was. Sharkey’s Machine had it’s World Premiere that night.
The Privilege Of Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates appeared on Bookworm 03/05/2015. She was promoting The Sacrifice: A Novel. TSAN is a work of fiction, based on the Tawana Brawley rape allegations. Here is what the show says:
“In The Sacrifice (Ecco), a novel drawn from a notorious racially-steeped case of the late eighties, Joyce Carol Oates speaks of the domino-effect that started with one sacrifice and led to another and another, eventually eviscerating an entire town. By inhabiting her characters from the marginal to the central, Joyce Carol Oates asks herself “what would I do?” In this way she brings emotional clarity to the chaos of public experience.”
As you might recall, Tawana Brawly accused men of raping her. This created a firestorm of controversy. As the book sales pitch says, ” domino-effect … eventually eviscerating an entire town.” When the authorities investigated, the story by Miss Brawley was seen to be a lie.
At the 7:30 mark in the show, JCO said “The tremendous impact of Ferguson MO and the aftermath of the Eric Garner case in New York City are relatively recent and this has a snowballing or avalanche effect on the protests across the nation have been very exhilarating and very wonderful and I’m completely on the side of the protesters”
There are things you can say about the protests over Eric Garner and Michael Brown. There is a lot of turmoil. People saying hateful things about their neighbor. Relations between black people and white people have suffered. This is what JCO calls exhilarating and wonderful.
Many people feel caught in the middle. Yes, there is a problem with the way some policemen treat black people. There is also a lot of heated misinformation being distributed. If you don’t believe everything you are told, you might be called a racist. This is what JCO calls exhilarating and wonderful. JCO clearly has a certain amount of privilege.
Typical of the Ferguson rhetoric is a piece in PuffHo, The 10 Kinds of Trolls You Will Encounter When Talking About Mike Brown. Number two, after “The Full-Blown Racist Troll,” is “The “Wait for Evidence” Troll.” No matter how many times you are lied to, if you don’t believe what you hear, you are a troll and a racist.
This blog posted a poem in November, when the Missouri grand jury released a decision. This decision was recently confirmed by the Department of Justice, albeit accompanied by stories of police misconduct. The poem said that justice should not be a popularity contest. The men Tawana Brawly accused might agree. O.J. Simpson probably has a few thoughts on the subject as well.
The next day, there was an anonymous comment at chamblee54. “Thanks Luthor, your racism never disappoints.” This is what JCO calls exhilarating and wonderful. This repost has pictures from from The Library of Congress. These are Confederate soldiers from the War Between the States.
Who Invented The Word Racism?
Writers tackle was rampaging through Brookhaven. PG looked in a list of old product, and found a feature built on the output of Teju Cole. He has a dandy article, at the New Yorker, about what is antiseptically called drone warfare. It is the twitter feed that gets attention. This is a repost.
@tejucole George Carlin’s original seven dirty words can all be said freely now. The one word you can’t say, and must never print, is “racist.”
The quote marks lend mystery to the tweet. Does he mean the dreaded “n word”? Or does he mean that other six letter slur? There is no shortage of people screaming racist in Georgia, often at the slightest provocation. There is an attitude that racism is the worst thing you can be accused of. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. If you do a bit of research into racism, the word, you will see some interesting things.
The concept of groups of people not liking each other is as old as mankind. The word racism apparently did not exist before 1933 (merriam webster), or 1936 (dictionary dot com). (In 2020, both of these sources have updated their notes, on the original use of the word “racism.”)
Something called the Vanguard News Network had a forum once, What is the true origin of the term racism? This forum is problematic, as VNN seems to be a white supremacist affair. One of the reputed coiners of the R word was Leon Trotsky, also referred to as Jew Communist. Another Non English speaker who is given “credit” for originating the phrase is Magnus Hirschfeld. As for English, the word here is: “American author Lawrence Dennis was the first to use the word, in English, in his 1936 book “The coming American fascism”.”
The terms racist and racism seem to be used interchangeably in these discussions. This is in keeping with the modern discussion. As Jesus worshipers like to say, hate the sin, love the sinner.
The Online Etymology Dictionary has this to add: “racist 1932 as a noun, 1938 as an adjective, from race (n.2); racism is first attested 1936 (from French racisme, 1935), originally in the context of Nazi theories. But they replaced earlier words, racialism (1871) and racialist (1917), both often used early 20c. in a British or South African context. In the U.S., race hatred, race prejudice had been used, and, especially in 19c. political contexts, negrophobia.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
leave a comment