November252009
"Come to think of it, maybe that’s why it’s hard to detect much in the way of palpable feeling in Carey’s music. Her singing voice wavers up and down through the octaves, like someone slowly tuning a shortwave radio in search of an authentic emotion. It’s technically amazing, but almost impossible to relate to on a human level – possibly because she no longer experiences anything akin to regular human life. She might not even experience proper emotions these days. She might have people who do that for her. Aides who rush in and hitch up the corners of her mouth each time she starts to smile, and mop down her cheeks with tiny hand-knitted towels when she cries."
— Charlie Brooker: The life of Mariah Carey sounds terribly demanding | Comment is free | The Guardian
November212009
Welcome, Sterling Cooper »
Well, look at this little past meets present! McCann Erickson, the big bad wolf that bought up Sterling Cooper in the season finale (and screwed over Betts on her big Coca Cola ad!), has put up a video on their main site that cheekily excerpts all the McCann references in “Shut the Door, Have a Seat”.
The video will be up for a week or “until Matthew Weiner yells at us for doing it,” as per a McCann exec in this article.
Of course, they thought they’d be sneaky enough to get the last “there will be diamonds on the doorknobs” line past us, but! not so fast! that line is from season 2, re: the Putnam Powell and Lowe merger.
• footnote - by Natasha Simons
This story totally rocks. I hope Weiner leaves it up, because it’s a great pwned moment.
Reblogged from The Footnotes of Mad Men..
Bad bad overwriting
From Men’s Journal, recommended by Jason Kottke:
On September 6, 2008, a Saturday, Walt took him to Ponce Inlet late in the afternoon. It was his weekend with the kids. As he did every two weeks, he picked up Christopher from the group home where he lived, then picked up Angela, his 14-year-old daughter, at her mom’s house in Oviedo. Christopher sat next to Dad in the front seat of Walt’s red Celica, the top folded back, wind running through Christopher’s short dark-brown hair. Angela sat squished along with two of her friends in the back. It was a perfect day to go to the beach.
They stopped at McDonald’s, Christopher’s favorite, on the way. Christopher ate his double cheeseburgers slowly, maddeningly, the exact same way he did every time. He took off the top bun, held it in his hand, and ate the pickles. Then he ate the lettuce. Then the top bun. Then he ate the meat. Then the bottom bun, then each french fry, one at a time. He chewed vigorously, with his mouth open, loud enough for Walt to ask him to stop. Occasionally, when he became anxious or upset, he might stand beneath the spout of the soda fountain and press the button, and try to catch the spill in his mouth.
October282009
"Animal welfare groups voiced outrage today after the restaurant critic AA Gill said he shot a baboon on safari “to get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone”.
In a Sunday Times column, Gill recounted in detail how he shot the creature from 250 yards while hunting in “a truck full of guns and other blokes” in Tanzania. He said he felt the urge to be “a recreational primate killer” before shooting the animal through the lung.
"
— AA Gill shot baboon ‘to see what it would be like to kill someone’ | World news | The Guardian
"I’d recommend everybody try bombing on stage at least once. People are always chasing new highs; what about new lows? Dying on your arse is a low you won’t believe. I heard of a guy who died during a benefit gig for victims of miscarriages of justice. An old guy came up and put his arm round him at the bar. He felt a bit better until he realised he had done so badly he was being consoled by one of the Birmingham Six."
— In a sniper’s sights… : Features 2009 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide
October252009
October232009
"Now this is blogging:
“I mean let’s forget about the fact they’re right wing catholics, let’s forget about the fact they hate women, gays and immigrants. Let’s ignore their lies, their scare tactics, their disinformation. Let’s ignore the pasts of the people involved in Cóir. Let’s look aside as the links to the despicable Youth Defence are brought to the fore and let us implicity trust the motley crew of mentalist, pencil licking helpers, they’ll have at the polling stations on Friday as they ‘monitor’ the amount of votes cast.
“This is like that hilarious film Sideways where they go around touring vineyards. You don’t really give a shit what happens once they all die in the end, the tedious cunts.”
"
— Hahaha, I am laughing, but it’s a laugh of not glee | Twenty Major – Still smoking in Dublin bars
October222009
"But if weaning means never drinking breastmilk again, then Mongolians are never truly weaned - and here’s what surprised me most about breastfeeding in Mongolia. If a woman’s breasts are engorged and her baby is not at hand, she will simply go around and ask a family member, of any age or sex, if they’d like a drink. Often a woman will express a bowlful for her husband as a treat, or leave some in the fridge for anyone to help themselves.
While we’ve all tasted our own breastmilk, given some to our partners to try, maybe used a bit in the coffee in an emergency - haven’t we? - I don’t think many of us have actually drunk it very often. But every Mongolian I ever asked told me that he or she liked breastmilk. The value of breastmilk is so celebrated, so firmly entrenched in their culture, that it’s not considered something that’s only for babies. Breastmilk is commonly used medicinally, given to the elderly as a cure-all, and used to treat eye infections, as well as to (reportedly) make the white of the eye whiter and deepen the brown of the iris.
"
— peaceful parenting: Breastfeeding in the Land of Genghis Khan
