In the NYT Style Magazine (Men’s Style) on-line on 9/5/19 (in print 9/8), a remarkable piece by Hilton Als, “‘Giovanni’s Room’ Revisited”, with the subtitle: “James Baldwin’s 1956 novel is a layered exploration of queer desire — and of the writer’s own sense of self”. The cover:
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Als’s text comes with an artful photo-essay illustrating a reimagining of the story of Giovanni’s Room as an interracial gay love story, each photo also serving as a men’s high-fashion spread, displaying extraordinarily expensive clothing from famous brands.
A jarring moment in modern culture.
The Scott Hilburn cartoon from 10/26/16, with a bit of caveman dialogue:
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Three things: the Caveman cartoon meme; the simplified register the two cavemen talk in; and the juxtaposition of two parallel worlds, everyday life vs. a remarkable fictive alternative.
From my comment on yesterday’s posting “Greetings”, about well-wishings for my 79th birthday:
[At yesterday’s Palo Alto shapenote singing] I did indeed lead both 79 and 272 [in the 1991 Denson revision of the Sacred Harp], and others chose suitably gloomy songs in my honor. Plus 285t Arnold, which begins “Come, let us join our friends above / That have obtained the prize; / And on the eagle wings of love / To joy celestial rise.” I somehow hadn’t noticed the “eagle wings” — potentially relevant because Arnold is etymologically ‘eagle-strong’ (English erne ‘sea-eagle’). Maybe just a fortunate accident, maybe on purpose; I’ll need to look at some sources.
I’ve now looked at sources, and, as I suspected, just a fortunate accident.
The avalanche of birthday greetings has, I think, pretty much come to an end. Well over a hundred well-wishings, mostly on Facebook (in several different locations), some in e-mail, and a few by phone — but, this year, for the first time ever in my adult life, not even one in mail, physical rather than electronic mail. Times change.
Greetings from people from all times of my life, from childhood on, and from all parts of my life. In many keys: charming, whimsical, artful, playful-sexy, thoughtful, and moving.
(References to gay male life, men’s bodies, and mansex, so not suitable for kids or the sexually modest.)
Yesterday was my birthday, my 79th, 79 being, as I noted in a 8/29 posting for the day, a sexy prime. 8/29 is also, every year, National Coffee Ice Cream Day, and coffee is my favorite ice cream flavor. Put all this together and you get this birthday present, delivered by Kim Darnell yesterday:
(#1) Coffee ice cream, plus a selection of Big Gay Ice Cream flavors for Big Gay Arnold
This will take us to the pornstars of the end of summer, to Greenwich Village, and to South Park, with a final side trip to visit with the Marquis de Lafayette.
The 9/3 Pearls Before Swine:
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Great big themes:
anti-intellectualism: the distrust of, and rejection of, learning;
the ignorance of the young, elevated to a form of resolute stupidity;
mass hysteria: the amplification of irrational beliefs and behaviors in crowds
All packaged into dumbnado, with the libfix –nado, that entertaining pop-cultural product of the Sharknado movies.
Just popped up on Facebook, this old (1/30/07) Bizarro cartoon:
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See my 8/22/19 posting “Sexy Dark Swiss”, with its section on truffles, fungal and chocolate.
The One Big Happy from 8/7:
Ah, the ambiguity in ten to one, turning on two dfferent uses of to. Ruthie’s grandfather intends one sense, Ruthie gets another (closer to her everyday experience).
Today’s Wayno/Piraro Bizarro collabo:
(#1) (If you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Dan Piraro says there are 5 in this strip — see this Page. The HBD — happy birthday — note is presumably for one of Piraro’s two K-named daughters.)
A twist on the caveman cartoon meme, with a Neanderthal pursuing a higher education. And attempting to get college credit for his life experiences.