After a long hard slog to climb the "Ned" Everest yesterday, the pond likes to unwind in its Sunday meditation.
This usually involves letting an aged compulsive obsession deep into a paranoid monomania and persecution complex out of his attic to fly a few kites with Uncle Dick ...
It's not as entertaining as a Marina Hyde offering such as The heat is on the Captain Tom Foundation spa complex – and it’s not coming from the indoor pool, deeply weird in a very English way, nor is it as weird as Republicans doing a King Chuck and developing fixations on Greek and Roman erections, as in Michael Schaffer's Politico outing, Republicans Want to Mandate a Single Style of Architecture in Washington, though the pond could hear old Henry off in the distance nodding his approval ... (the hole in the bucket man is a very noisy nodder).
Or if you want something completely different, how about Julian Lucas's profile of Samuel R. Delany in The New Yorker, How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City.
The pond was never into Delany, especially when he went sword and sorcery, but always liked the idea of Delany, and the idea is explored in style, with a few bon mots along the way...
“It was like getting hit on by Shakespeare!” he reminisced, with a gasping, staccato laugh. He would have accepted had Sturgeon found them a motel.
Once upon a time, the pond used to spend its Sunday with angry Sydney Anglicans, desperately searching for a complimentary woman. Sure the Anglicans still provide rich comedy ...
... especially when very angry English Anglicans take the bait ...
After Cottrell’s speech, Canon Dr Chris Sugden, chair of the conservative Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible Jesus urged people to pray to “our father”.
He said: “Is the archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong, or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.”
Indeed, indeed, and the pond hopes that the loose Canon hasn't been eating shellfish or mixing his seeds and his cloth in recent times, and beware the abomination of eating things without scales. Do eels count in that one? The pond does love a little unagi with proper Japanese sauce ... (phew, they do have embedded scales, no hell for the pond this week, thanks Kiwis).
These days the pond is happy to let the angry Anglicans go their own way - confident She finds it all vastly amusing - and instead is content to serve up the usual homily about the ABC, courtesy of prattling Polonius doing his kite flying Uncle Dick impression ...
It's desperate, pitiful stuff ... and for a moment, a nanosecond, the pond almost felt a little ashamed, at the reptiles for allowing this Uncle Dick out of the attic each weekend for his monotonous ranting, and at the pond for encouraging the reptiles to do it, but there's the lickspittle boosting of Sky to consider, and where else might you find someone to pander so willingly and freely, what with Mike Pence being busy elsewhere?
And then the pond looked around for its usual bonus, and as observed yesterday, found the soil remarkably barren, and useless for the tilling, but there needs to be words between the cartoons, so gormless garrulous Gemma had to do duty ...
Nobody asked for a culture war? Tell that to the reptiles ...
And so to a bonus to the bonus, and the pond did mention a seasoning of Salt yesterday, though it much prefers pepper, and as it turns out pepper would have been the wiser choice ...
This is what passes for whimsy in the lizard Oz? Dear sweet long absent lord, a chance to run a snap of a crucifixion? Because a crucifixion is so whimsical and winsome and winning?
Back in the day you didn't need Catholicism to introduce you to dog Latin, high schools still served up the real deal, and the pond can still recite it by heart ...
Cum in Italiam proficisceretur Caesar, Ser. Galbam cum legione XII. et parte equitatus in Nantuates, Veragros Sedunosque misit, qui a finibus Allobrogum et lacu Lemanno et flumine Rhodano ad summas Alpes pertinent.
Or if you will ...
When Caesar was setting out for Italy, he sent Servius Galba with the twelfth legion and part of the cavalry, against the Nantuates, the Veragri, and Seduni, who extend from the territories of the Allobroges, and the lake of Geneva , and the River Rhone to the top of the Alps.
The pond never did work out who the Nantuates were, but the word exuded charm ...
At this point the reptiles interrupted the whimsy with an uncredited snap ...
The tattered remnants of the lizard Oz's graphics department continues to be a great disappointment ...
At least the pond provides a link to the Saturday Paper ...
And if you want more of that typographical carry-on, why not try a little tFont?
And that brings the pond to its greatest problem, and we're not talking about the adverse effects salt can have on blood pressure and your heart ...
You see, the pond was lured into swallowing a little salt by these lines ...
My Catholic upbringing introduced me to (bits of) Latin, and surely to some of the most powerful language ever conceived. Do other religions make use of words such as contrition, redemption, salvation, rapture?
The pond got wildly excited at the thought of explaining that other religions preferred to talk of the great snatch ...
The pond had already had trouble with teenage boys excited by talk of a rapturing ...
More comics here, which is just as well because the final serve of Salt turned out to be a total bust, a bummer, as useless as that stupefyingly ignorant remark about religions and what they get up to (She will not be amused) ...
The pond apologises, but at least has an excuse to wrap up proceedings with a few cartoons celebrating the past week's achievements ...
Polonius briefly amazed me this morning by claiming that he understood a joke, thus implying that he has a sense of humour. Could have fooled me. Of course he immediately undercut this claim by quoting Malcolm Muggeridge, surely the dullest and most humourless man ever to edit a humour magazine (mind you, “Punch” was notoriously unfunny for much of its history).
ReplyDeleteIn any case it was merely a lead-in to Instalment #2,621 of”Why the ABC are a pack of wood Lefties who won’t give me a platform”. Obviously still desperate to claim he could identify a joke, Hendo then cites Bertie Wooster supposedly having a dig at Commies and 5 year plans. I wonder why he didn’t mention a much more clearcut instance of political satire in Wodehouse - Roderick Spode and his fascist Black Shorts, clearly based on Oswald Mosley and the League of British Fascists. Of course that dates from the 1930s, and all good conservative Catholics know that the fascists were a fine bunch of Church-supporting chaps back then….
(And of course in one of those wonderful coincidences of history, Muggeridge interviewed Wodehouse as part of the inquiry into whether the latter collaborated with the Nazis during his WW2 internment. Pity he didn’t pick up a few tips on humour from Plum in the process…).
I also don’t know if “Uncle Dick” is the best comic strip analogue for Polonius, DP - assuming you’re referring Richard Pennyquick, AKA Uncle Dick of “The Potts”. After all, he was a jolly, high spirited good-living sort of fellow, quite unlike Gerard in nature. The dullard Boofhead may be a lot closer to the mark (and when is some enterprising comics historian going to organise a “Boofhead” reprint volume? The only one I have dates back to the 1970s). Still, at least Boofhead provided the odd dry chuckle - it’s hard to say the same about Hendo.
Ta, Anon, for remembering what it was liked to be mugged by Muggers, who always reminded the pond of a wizened Punch in search of a Judy, and also f reminding the pond of the immortal Spode.
DeleteFor those who came in late, there's always a Wiki ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderick_Spode
When he first sees Spode, Bertie describes him:
About seven feet in height, and swathed in a plaid ulster which made him look about six feet across, he caught the eye and arrested it. It was as if Nature had intended to make a gorilla, and had changed its mind at the last moment.
In Bertie's eyes, Spode starts at seven feet tall, and seems to grow in height, eventually becoming nine feet seven. Bertie immediately thinks of Spode as "the Dictator" even before he learns of Spode's political ambitions. As Bertie says, "I don't know if you have even seen those pictures in the papers of Dictators with tilted chins and blazing eyes, inflaming the populace with fiery words on the occasion of the opening of a new skittle alley, but that was what he reminded me of." Bertie learns how accurate his initial impression of Spode was when Gussie tells him that Spode is the leader of a fascist group called the Saviours of Britain, also known as the Black Shorts. Gussie says of Spode, "His general idea, if he doesn't get knocked on the head with a bottle in one of the frequent brawls in which he and his followers indulge, is to make himself a Dictator."
Franco was much loved by B. A. Santamaria, and naturally Polonius devoted much energy to enshrining B. A.'s memory.
As for Uncle Dick, the pond's shorthand sometimes is too short. The pond was doing a Humpty Dumpty and joining the concept of Uncle Polonius in the attic and the kite flying Mr Dick ...
You can see the similarity to the Napoleon fixated kite flyer if the pond mangles a quote in the wiki ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dick
Aunt Betsey explains to David Copperfield that Mr. Dick has been called mad, but that she considers him merely an obsessive compulsive paranoid devotee of Stalin references and a 1950s mindset. Mr. Dick's brother had him committed to the Sydney Institute when Mr. Dick became upset by the treatment of his favourite sister. He now attempts to write a memorial documenting his own ill-treatment, but this is constantly interrupted by a fixation about the head of the ABC and all its limbs, a body which should have been beheaded in 1649 – "how could the people about him have made that mistake of putting some of the trouble out of their heads, after they were taken off, into mine?" Aunt Betsey explains this as transference, "That’s his allegorical way of expressing it. He connects his illness with great disturbance and agitation, naturally, and that’s the figure, or the simile, or whatever it’s called, which he chooses to use."
As for Uncle Dick of The Potts, you are of course completely right, and the pond stands chastened at the thought of confusing him with Polonius ...
Struth - so Ted Sturgeon swung both ways? Still, he was one of the first SF writers to include gay themes in some of his stories, so perhaps that’s not a great surprise. I recently reread a couple of early Delany novels; “Babel-17” was pretty good, but I found “The Einstein Intersection” as impenetrable as when I first read it 40+ years back. I may also have been permanently scarred by Delany by trying to read his huge and confusing “Dhalgren” just after its publication, when I was a callow yoof of 16 or 17…. Actually, I think I might have bought the book because it received a rave review from none other than Theodore Sturgeon!
ReplyDeleteThe pond never worried about finding out the background to writers for the sci fi pulps, so it came as a surprise to the pond too ...but Sturgeon and Sheckley were early heroes of the pond, as a way of learning there was more to sci fi than the dull Asimov ...
DeleteAsimov's 'The Gods Themselves' (1972) was one of the very last sci-fis I ever read. I recall it because Asimov - on account apparently of his jewishness - stated that he simply couldn't write stories about either aliens or sex (or aliens and sex), but in TGT he managed all of the above.
DeleteBut yeah, maybe because of that aliens and sex limitation, he mostly was a bit dull, like in the whole 'Foundation' series for example. Though I did kinda enjoy The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun - back when it was thought that maybe about 7 or 8 billion humans on Earth would crowd us ínto 'caves of steel' (oh for such innocent times).
Re the American Republican Party wanting to reshape Washington with classical buildings: Hitler had a plan to rebuild the city of Berlin which was called “Gesamtbauplan fur die Reichhauptstadt” (Comprehensive Construction Plan for the Reich Capital). It’s referred to as Hitler’s plan for Germania. Mania has now bounds.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Mania knows no bounds.
DeleteCould we perhaps do a copy of that for Canberra ? It could do with some genuine architecture - unless, that is, it's changed since I was last there in about 1977.
DeleteThe current record for 'my political house is bigger than your political house' is held by Nicolae Ceaușescu for his Romanian Palace, completed in 1997 (note, after they did away with him). Some data: the heaviest building in the world; second largest administrative building in the world; houses the two chambers of the Parliament of Romania along with three museums and an international conference centre; nevertheless, about 70% of the building remains empty (ref Wikipedia).
DeleteThere was some collateral damage of course, a few suburbs were bulldozed. I hardly need to list some of the current aspirants for this meaningless title.
Imagine a government boasting the least grandiose, most functional and efficient parliament and administration centre ever. Not going to happen. AG.
In reply to you, GrueBleen: I've only visited once and liked Canberra very much. Loved the Parliament House design (1980s), the National Gallery and the National Botanic Gardens. I guess we are all different.
DeleteI haven't actually seen much of Canberra for over 40 years, so you could be right, Anony; maybe I would like it if I ever really saw it. But the Fed Parliament House isn't so wonderful, I understand: by puting it all underground basically, it has become very warrenish as the occupancy has increased - though maybe the Labor cutback on Polly staff has eased that a bit.
DeleteThe public architecture of Canberra has improved quite a bit in the last few decades, GB. It probably hit its low in the mid-late 70s when the love affair with brutalist concrete monstrosities was at its height. The worst examples, such as several Belconnen office complexes and the adjacent bus interchange, have now thankfully been erased. Their replacements may well be undistinguished - I know bugger-all about architecture - but at least they aren’t actively hideous.
DeleteAh, well it was in the 70s that I lived in Canberra for nearly 5 years. Picked just the right time, then.
DeleteSo, Polonius: "ABC management and journalists are wont to deny this [lack of wingnut presenters, producers, editors]. But no one has been able to name anyone who fits the bill." Good trick that reptile bit about "no one has been able to name...". Andrew Bolt made a profession of it in denying the existence of any 'stolen generation' too.
ReplyDeleteThere’s Gerard quoting Tony Seabrook, head of the WA Pastoralists and Graziers Association, who supported the suggested closure of remote Aboriginal communities by Liberal Premier Barnett, after the Abbott Government shifted responsibility for funding Aboriginal Communities’ essential services (note that, essential services) to the states. No wonder Aboriginal communities want a voice enshrined in the constitution and to have a taste of the democractic ideals Gerard thinks are lacking at ABC.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-19/head-of-wa-pastoralists-and-graziers-backs-closure-of-remote-co/5902724
The problem with those who frequent the Sydney Institute, and also those like Seabrook, is not so much that they are insulted from the rest of the world and left-of-centre political views, but that they always think they know the answers and that their interests trump those of everyone else.
Given that the ABC runs programs such as “Songs of Praise” and other political and religious news (eg., the Pope’s latest pronouncements) and the religious leaders’ platitudes at various religious festivals, it can hardly be accused of ignoring religion, unless Gerard wants daily religious edicts (which religion?!) delivered via ABC.
PS. On the Voice, this is an excellent article:
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/09/australia-constitution-changes
"...their interests trump those of everyone else." Yep, they really do wholeheartedly believe that, it shines through in every single thing they write.
DeletePolonius commenting on humour!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am surprised he has heard of the word.
The usual push of the resend tab to retell us the ABC is a communist outfit, despite it being about as right as Sky, a regular host of Mudoch propagandists and taking its lead stories from Murdoch Papers.
Then to top it off, some multi-generation inherited wealth, privilege and entitlement West Australian Squatter, who thinks his views must be accepted by ABC executives, because all his life he has got what he wants, should be treated by ABC management with the same deference he would get from a cap lowering Polonius meeting one of his betters.
Tognini: “We don’t care about who has the numbers, who owes who a favour or who’s next in line.
ReplyDeleteShe must be one of the ones out in the conservative-free world gerard mentions, because “We” is not The Australian, not Sky, not the Murdoch media. Just a quick sample:-
Newspoll, indicating the numbers for and against.
“Greens and their ‘leverage over Labor’ pose a ‘deadly serious threat to Australia’s future” (news.com.au)
“Albanese ‘demotes’ leadership ‘rival’ Tanya Plibersek” (skynews.com.au)
“Tanya Plibersek denies targeting Anthony Albanese’s leadership as she is grilled over absence from Labor launch in Perth (skynews.com.au)
“Labor reshuffle: Anthony Albanese’s subtle move against Tanya Plibersek (News.com.au)
I thought Tanya was caught up in some family stuff which had kinda lessened her PM ambitions.
DeleteBut hey, if you're a reptile, never tell the truth, it's always a big reptile (and wingnut) put-down.
That Nine Entertainment ad: well, lots of accusations about it being racist, but hey, that great native Australian Warren Nyunggai Mundine reckons it isn't racist so that settles the matter. And I don't reckon it's particularly racist, just childishly stupid and insulting - and hopefully just a wee tad counter-productive outside the reptile herpetarium.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.afr.com/politics/federal/mps-criticise-anti-voice-ads-targeting-business-leaders-20230706-p5dm6y
But hey, this 'it's shareholders money' thing is one of those reptile themes that they like to throw around, forgetting that it isn't "shareholder's money' until the profit margin and share dividends have been determined and stated. Otherwise, every little bit of expenditure would have to be shareholder vetted and approved, yes ?
But actually, it can be: that's why public companies have boards and board meetings in which shareholders can have their say and exercise their rights. Don't they ?
Polonius strikes: "Barry [of Media watch] shows no evidence of ever having considered from where subscription Sky got many of its viewers. The answer is from the free-to-air and taxpayer funded ABC. Due primarily to its lack of diversity." Oh he really knows how to lay on the bullshat, doesn't he. Now just a simple little question: how many viewers have shifted from ABC to Sky ?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, have a read of this if you want to be informed:
Sky News Australia is tapping into the global conspiracy set – and it’s paying off
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/24/sky-news-australia-is-tapping-into-the-global-conspiracy-set-and-its-paying-off
But otherwise, remember that Sky News is also paid for by taxpayers, it's just that unlike the ABC their payments are direct and selective. Everything that is ever paid for is paid by "taxpayers" one way or another. And if the majority of taxpayers didn't want to pay for the ABC, then it would be closed down, wouldn't it. Just like if the majority of shareholders didn't want to pay for the Voice Yes vote, then they could stop it by calling a shareholder meeting, couldn't they.
Couldn't Tom Switzer invite polonius on the ABC. Or does he only want a visage, not just the voice.
ReplyDeleteTom is balance. He thinks he is adding buoyancy and direction.
A weight in other words.
Able to be discarded when not being attacked in culture wars, or needing to be shackled to the ground of conservatism.
A gig on the Switzler show could definitely be a way of cheering up the Grinch-like Polonius. After all, does anybody actually listen to it? I certainly haven’t, and I don’t know anybody who has. I could imagine Tom and Hendo, happily grizzling away to each other, blissfully ignorant of the fact that their listener numbers are in single figures.
DeleteSalt: "...a centrifugal force flings commuters and lifestylers to the city's edge." Now nobody spoil the poor little sod's ignorance by telling him that there is simply no such thing as centrifugal force - there is centripetal force and linear momentum though. Is that what he meant but was too ignorant to express ?
ReplyDelete"Back in the day you didn't need Catholicism to introduce you to dog Latin, high schools still served up the real deal..." Butt bg but, did the high schools teach you about the Roman abacus ?
"The Ancient Romans developed the Roman hand abacus, a portable, but less capable, base-10 version of earlier abacuses like those that were used by the Greeks and Babylonians.
The Roman abacus was the first portable calculating device for engineers, merchants, and presumably tax collectors. It greatly reduced the time needed to perform the basic operations of arithmetic using Roman numerals."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_abacus
So how come nobody ever teaches about Roman (and Greek and Babylonian) abacuses and reckoning boards ?
How nice to hear from Gemma that Italy’s new Far Right government is starting to turn their economy around. Of course she doesn’t provide any evidence, and a quick Google indicates that at this stage the main “evidence” for greater than forecast economic growth is unsubstantiated claims by PM Meloni herself. Still, if it’s good enough for Gemma it’s good enough for me; perhaps they’ll be encouraging productivity by following Il Duce’s precedent and force-feeding doses of cod liver oil to recalcitrants.
ReplyDeleteThe Chairman happily wastes yet more dosh on another failing, ideologically-drive project-
ReplyDeletehttps://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smh.com.au%2Fbusiness%2Fcompanies%2Fmurdoch-to-keep-talktv-open-despite-low-viewing-figures-20230706-p5dm9k.html
"But despite a number of high-profile interviews on Piers Morgan’s show – including Donald Trump and Cristiano Ronaldo – the channel has failed to replicate the success of Murdoch’s outspoken US news network Fox."
DeleteYep, anything involving Piers Morgan is just bound to be a huge success. Remember how successful he was in attracting a massive audience to Sky After Dark out here.
The times, they are a-changin:
Delete‘Bread is much easier’: how Japan fell out of love with rice
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/09/bread-easier-japan-rice-staple-food