Archive for the ‘Social class’ Category
September 15, 2019
Today’s Zippy takes us into the world of soap-opera comics, specifically those by Nick Dallis (with various collaborators):
(#1) Realistic cartoon characters from three Dallis strips: Rex Morgan, M.D.; Judge Parker; and Apartment 3-G (among other well-known soap opera strips: Mary Worth, Brenda Starr)
The characters in realistic cartoons are stylized sketches from life, while those in cartoony worlds are grossly exaggerated, some not even humanoid in form. Zippy himself is human (a Pinhead rather than a Roundhead) but cartoony — though as other Zippy strips have demonstrated, he can be made even more so (cartooniness is a recurrent theme in Bill Griffith’s world).
Then there’s the segregation theme, with realistic cartoon characters mostly taking the position that realistics and cartoonies shouldn’t mix in any way: stick / keep to your own kind! (Note the meta move of having cartoon characters espouse beliefs and attitudes about cartoon characters.) With the predictable tragedy of prejudice against mixed couples, joined by bonds of affection, sexual relationship, or matrimony.
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Posted in Comic conventions, Formulaic language, Linguistics in the comics, Music, Race and ethnicity, Social class, Social life | 2 Comments »
June 28, 2019
Identify that Artwork, 6/28/19: a piece of conceptual art (what I’ll call Skylunch III) taking off on a sculpture (Skylunch II) reproducing a photograph (Skylunch I) showing construction workers eating lunch on a girder high in the sky. Skylunch II and III are mounted on trucks so that they can easily move from place to place.
Bob Eckstein caught sight of Skylunch III in NYC’s Columbus Circle this morning, on top of a pickup truck:
(#1)
Presumably just part of the composition (Skylunch I and II have 11 men, we see 8 here), and the photo is none too clear. I wondered who created it, when, with what materials, for what purpose, and why the men are — or appear to be — all clones of a single model.
Informed answers to any of these questions would be appreciated; comment on this posting, or send me e-mail. (Google Images is useless; it thinks #1 is a photo of a musical group.)
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Posted in Art, Music, Social class, Social interactions | 1 Comment »
March 7, 2019
(A version of things I posted on Facebook earlier today about my life, with glancing allusions to various phenomena of social life. Posted here to have a more permanent and accessible record, on WordPress. There will be a little bit of linguistics.)
(#1) (Not an accurate portrayal of Xfinity/Comcast staff)
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Posted in Homosexuality, Hypallage, Movies and tv, My life, Social class, Social interactions, Social life, Taboo language and slurs | 2 Comments »
June 16, 2017
… plus two grandmothers.
A bit more for Fathers Day, with photos from back in the day, more Alpen-Flora, and some reflections on social class. Starting with these photos:
(#1)
On the left (#1a): my dad, with his parents, Bertha and Melchior Zwicky, in April 1941 (on, I think, my grandparents’ farm in Sinking Spring PA, west of Reading). On the right, two photos from 1948, at my aunt Marian (Marian Rice Fries) and uncle Herb’s farm outside of New Smithville PA, west of Allentown. Top (#1b): Dad and his mother-in-law, Susannah Hershey Rice (called Sue). Bottom (#1c): Marian and Sue, her mother.
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Posted in Holidays, Language and plants, My life, Names, Social class | 2 Comments »
January 28, 2017
(About video mansex, so not for kids or the sexually modest.)
On the 24th, “A day with Danny Vox in the ultimate fantasy t-room”, an appreciation of the actor Danny Vox in Joe Gage’s Titan porn video Mens Room Bakersfield Station (2004), a long and complex production set in a fantasy t-room in the Bakersfield CA bus station. Now some words on Gage and his career in filming mansex.
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Posted in Gay porn, Gender and sexuality, Language of sex, Masculinity, Social class | Leave a Comment »
July 16, 2016
Today’s morning name was not one that came to me apparently from outer space, but had a clear basis in my recent experience — namely, watching the British detective drama Midsomer Murders episode “Blood Wedding” (S11 E1), in which a character with this name plays a significant role. As it turns out, the name (in one of its North American variants) has appeared on this blog before (on 4/21/15, “Verbatim letter”).
To come: the name, my previous posting, and the upper-class twit Randall Colquhoun in “Blood Wedding”.
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Posted in Language play, Morning names, Movies and tv, Silliness, Social class | 2 Comments »
January 27, 2016
Or: Australia Australia Australia!
From Daily Jocks on the 25th, this example of their own AUS line (with my caption appended):
(#1)
A triple threat: proudly
Australian, proudly
Working class, proudly
Queer – “I like to get
Down under with
Me mates”
The company’s ad copy:
Say G’day to our newest underwear collection, designed downunder (for your downunder). Featuring a soft waistband with bold AUS logo and printed Australian flag, the cotton/spandex blend will keep you feeling comfortable.
To come: more on the underwear and the body of the model in #1. Then to Monty Python’s “Bruces” sketch, notes on Bruce as a particularly Australian name (and, in the U.S., as a particularly gay name), with a digression on the wattle, and then to Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, Dame Edna Everage, and Aussie bloke Barry McKenzie.
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Posted in Captions, Gender and sexuality, Humor, Language and plants, Language and the body, Movies and tv, Names, Slang, Social class, Underwear | 2 Comments »
April 8, 2015
From a memoir piece by Sissela Bok in the Spring 2015 issue of The American Scholar, “Meeting the Mystics: My California encounters with Gerald Heard and Aldous Huxley”, about a time in her life shortly after she married Derek Bok (in 1955) and settled in the United States. Through her husband, she met a set of mystics, rebels, and countercultural icons. A photo from January 1960 in Southern California:
Left to right: Gerald Heard, Christopher Isherwood, Sir Julian Huxley, Aldous Huxley, and Linus Pauling
Rebels all, mystics, LSD explorers, and so on. All, of course, men. And all in suits; well, the ’60s had not really gotten underway yet. You can tell that Heard was the true rebel because he’s the only one with a beard.
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Posted in Academic life, My life, Social class | Leave a Comment »
