Impressive. Thanks Dover for all these art links. Once upon a time, I didn’t care about this stuff. Eastman Johnson,…
Open Thread – Weekend 18 Dec 2021
Looks like everyone’s gone to bed. Might do the same.
Shit! Late to the party again! Story of my life.
First cab off the rank!
Barking Toad May 1, 2024 9:28 pm ZK2A, the Plonk and Knickerless know they are fcuked so are throwing all…
Oompa Loompa
Podium!
Bronze!!
Missed by this much.
JC
Just read your reply to me in the old tread,
. I read your last paragraph with quiet admiration.
Spent the best part of the day getting admitted to hospital. It seems my Chrissy Surprise is another amputation.
Thanks Santa.
soixant-neuf?
Dude, look after yourself and lots and lots of best wishes and best of luck.
Spent the best part of the day getting admitted to hospital. It seems my Chrissy Surprise is another amputation.
Thanks Santa.
Which bit, Miss?
Dover, like the painting. The first Men’s Shed. Nice.
Johannes Leak.
Mark Knight.
Warren Brown.
David Rowe.
Graeme Bandeira.
Christian Adams.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Matt Margolis.
Steve Kelley.
Chip Bok.
Gary Varvel.
Lisa Benson.
Thanks Tom. I liked some, but the likes vanished for some reason.
they’ve come back. Weird.
Bless you Tom, and thanks for your diligence in helping us laugh at the weird world of pollieticks
The beards on Holbeins’ Ambassadors look nicer and seem to be far healthier than the ones sported by ABC gardeners ,Islamic j’hardists and the ones you see today.
Am looking out upon the wonders of nature while I sit in the dark. Dawn seems undecided as to the shade of lipstick whereby to kiss the morning sky over Sydney. This morning, against the grey morning sky the colours are so vivid ranging from a delicate pink through to peach and soft orange all in a matter of moments; and are reflected differently in the water below, right now I can see the light blue of the sky and those small bands of clouds are now a mixture of white and gold.
So lucky to live in a most exquisitely beautiful spot, though, over the last many years that we’ve lived here, have had precious little time to appreciate the glory of our luck. Counting blessings early in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day is good thing.
This morning is a stark reminder that we live in Donald Horne’s Australia:
Hope you all have a good day notwithstanding the malice and misery visited on so many Australians by those ‘second rate people’
I doubt if Menzies would have even thought about about doing what the current post modern trash is inflicting
Donald Horne was always part of the problem. I don’t think he regarded Whitlam as ‘second rate’. Correct me if I’m wrong. Just another Marxist don.
Spent the best part of the day getting admitted to hospital. It seems my Chrissy Surprise is another amputation.
Thanks Santa.
Best of luck, just terrible.
Hoi Tom
Any particular reason why you feature David Rowe every day but never the other Fairfax cartoonists?
Midday and I’ll be in Broadbeach tomorrow …
https://joannenova.com.au/2021/12/sat-18th-protests-across-australia/
Oops. I meant today.
That would have been a heated argument ZK2A. But in those days, and these days, nobody here walks around with a gun in their pocket, so Port Arthur could not have been averted that way. It’s a cultural thing. We are not the US, which I say with great respect to the US.
Bryant didn’t start shooting in some suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney for a reason, plenty of guns in pockets.
Luck had nothing to do with making something from nothing in this country of droughts and flooding rains.
I have nothing but admiration for my forebears who came here and started farms out of wilderness with not much more than their bare hands, after leaving their rented two acres in Ireland.
Luck had nothing to do with making something from nothing in this country of droughts and flooding rains.
Australia’s luck was not having a Political Class capable of touching and destroying absolutely everything. That has now changed.
And there we were thinking that 409 were all authentic confirmed by testing covid cases (not that anyone trusts the testing though)
“Vaccine side effects, not actual COVID-19 infection
The 409 suspected COVID-19 cases is a real figure mentioned in a Dec. 10 FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee briefing document on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trials.
But it doesn’t say these cases were associated with COVID-19, nor were there “increased” infections.
The FDA states the symptoms exhibited by the 409 cases seven days after vaccination are likely symptoms that appear to “overlap with those of COVID-19″ but aren’t necessarily actual infection, what the agency characterized as vaccine reactions. ”
seems like that 409 got covid is a fabrication
I understand your anger and frustration rick but we aren’t quite Somalia yet.
Hope springs eternal.
“The Ambassadors”!
Thanks Dover. 😀
From the DeadThread…
Sal at the Pub – if you hate winter, Wyoming is definitely not for you.
A good piece from Vikki Campion in today’s Telegraph…..
Vikki Campion: Let’s not kid ourselves, The Voices sound like a political party
The Coalition once made a virtue of never pandering to the Greens, but with this new coat of paint, in shades of teal and pink, The Voices have it spooked, writes Vikki Campion.
The online footprint of targeted political advertising campaigns shows Labor running pro-mining ads to the people who once handed out their how-to-vote cards in central Queensland and the mining areas of the Hunter — albeit with two different messages.
In the former they promise to back mining jobs; in the latter, they promise to make electric vehicles more affordable — with a spike of advertising investment of $20,000 from Labor’s national secretariat in November.
Independent candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender has only 74 followers on Facebook but has spent $7882 on its platforms already.
This dual-messaging is a risk the Coalition runs now, as inner-city Liberals get spooked by the self-proclaimed, non-partisan “Voices of” groups.
For a non-partisan outfit, The Voices echo each other’s lines, copy each other’s ads, and collectively spray against the Coalition.
Labor somehow always escapes animosity from this non-group of apparently disconnected, non-partisan “independents”.
The Coalition once made a virtue of never pandering to the Greens, but with this new coat of paint, in shades of teal and pink, The Voices have it spooked.
If the Coalition had given in to the Stop Adani movement the last election, it would not have won 77 per cent of the seats in Queensland, which, combined with the result in WA, was what handed them government.
Yet this week we’ve stopped gas and oil drilling and exploration off the NSW coast — which is what The Voices want: no gas, no oil, no mining. The consequence of that is commodities become scarcer, more expensive, we lose jobs, and we become more reliant on other countries.
Australia’s domestic diesel fuel additive supplies have dwindled. Without the diesel additive AdBlue, modern trucks just don’t work. Tamworth has one bowser left and it’s on rations. This would have our trucks and farming stop by February if news reports are believed, causing more chaos than Covid because we don’t produce urea in Australia any more as overseas companies and emissions targets move our industries overseas.
Fuel prices are set to soar exponentially and have already hit record highs.
The government can best regulate The Voices like other political parties and treat them like the Greens, who the Liberals never sought to appease and the Nationals enjoy driving to maddened exasperation.
Funnily enough, these so-called independents are more manageable to herd into one party line than the candidates of any of the major parties.
Whether in Mackellar, Kooyong, Wentworth or North Sydney, their advertising is eerily similar, all warning that the city MP they are fighting “votes with Barnaby Joyce on climate” — almost as if they aren’t independent at all, but following talking points issued by one guru.
The Voices team, which claims not to be a team, runs thousands of dollars of advertising on online platforms each week. At the same time, Facebook pages professing to be “community organisations” and “independent” climate groups run thousands of dollars more on their behalf, and self-diagnosed NGOs run their political infrastructure.
What The Voices lack in followers the make up with money, running up to four times the PM’s online spend in the past seven days.
Kylea Tink, an “independent” for North Sydney, and “North Sydney Independents Pty Ltd” has spent more than $6385 on her 14 ads since September, with an authorisation on the Voices for North Sydney page from an address in Kiah, 500km away on the border of NSW and Victoria.
That would be normal if it were a political party with a head office somewhere, but why is the third-party authority for Voices of North Sydney coming from a seven-hour drive away?
Mackellar “independent” Dr Sophie Scamps spent $1644 in the past seven days on Facebook advertising — nearly twice what the Prime Minister spent — and Monique Ryan, the “independent” for Kooyong, has only had her page for seven days at the time of writing but had already spent $3539 — nearly four times the equivalent of what the Prime Minister spent on Facebook advertising in the past week.
Wentworth’s Allegra Spender only has 74 followers on Facebook but has spent $7882 on its platforms already, including more than $3111 in the past week.
Unlike political parties, The Voices don’t disclose their fortunes.
They haven’t had three years to fundraise, so where are these thousands of dollars a week for advertising coming from?
And, most importantly, who will they back when they need to choose the PM?
Clive Palmer, whether you love him or hate him, (and my father is running as his United Australia Party candidate for Kennedy) at least is upfront about his advertising prowess, where his money comes from, and what he believes in.
All we can ascertain from The Voices is they somehow read each other’s minds since they say they are not linked in any way.
They spend a lot of time on social media talking about how they aren’t working together, then repost and congratulate each other and wish each other luck.
It’s all eerily reminiscent of Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor who, surprise, surprise, are in a working arrangement with one of The Voices’ biggest supporters, Simon Holmes a Court.
Tony, Rob and a whole bucket of bile.
Activist groups such as Climate200 then say they “support winnable campaigns with funding expertise and infrastructure” so long as they are “committed to climate action and integrity”.
If it looks like a political party, talks like a political party and spends like a political party, it’s a political party — and should be treated as such.”
Rosie when I visit Parramatta and look at Hambledon Cottage, Experiment Farm cottage and Old Government House , I marvel that they carved such beauty and elegance out of the bush.
Kylea Tink..a rellie of Andrew Tink?
Are there any male “Voices” or is it just doctors’ wives? Allegra, Kylea, Zali…not a Plain Jane among them. 🙂
Interesting article Cassie. I see Zoe ABC Daniels is running against Wilson too. Same outfit? Interesting to see a creep from the past pop up in that contest- Ian McPhee
rickw at 6.31, apropos of venue choice for mass killers and big fat Martin in particular:
‘Bryant didn’t start shooting in some suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney for a reason, plenty of guns in pockets.’
Yup. He would have got about three seconds in if he’d pulled that shit at the Footiscray or Vic Markets.
Or Festival Hall. He would have been bowling-balled in a flick of a lamb’s tail.
Sal at 12.38 a.m. on the OT, vis-a-vis people demanding he go bankrupt via repeated $14K fines from Pallashay:
‘Easy for you when you’re demanding I put my balls under the guillotine.’
Again with this. People with no skin in the game insisting other people burn their livelihoods down.
Isn’t it the same type of argument as “you get vaxxed to protect me”?
Vikki has belled the cat, good article.
Protest votes are interesting.
Going over the NSW LG election results.
Sometimes the Greens pickup a Councillor as Australians Against Further Immigration decline say 5%, then the Green vote goes up nearly the same – back around their typical polling figures.
Before we make inferences and draw conclusions, 99% of the populace are not political junkies like we are.
As in AAFI do not run candidates – their 5 % evaporates and falls 95 % on the Greens (their vote then goes up by 4.5 % from 5.5 % to 10 %.
‘Isn’t it the same type of argument as “you get vaxxed to protect me”?’
More of a ‘I’ll stand and fight, and if necessary fall by telling you to stand and fight, and definitely fall’.
Talking to the fellow drivers in line at the grain site, there’s zero interest in getting a booster jab.
The general thought is that if the first two don’t work why would a third.
Simple logic.
UK Government report admits there are 23.5 Million people in England who have NOT had a single dose of a Covid-19 Vaccine
Dr. Mike Yeadon: The Scientific Tyranny is Permanent, Totalitarian and it’s nearly here, it’s up to us to stop it
Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial
Certainly is a complete fabrication.
Plus have a look at the Tess Lawrie and Andrew Hill exchange over on Steve Kates site at I don’t know how you sleep at night honestly
You are not wrong miltonf, Horne is just another leftist but the quote still stands as the reality –
True and the luck I mean is hard-work, blood, sweat and tears, and as so many on here know the harder you work the luckier you get — The Drover’s Wife is my heroine – Labor’s HandBag Hit Squad– Dorothy Tagney and Enid Lyons achieved more for all Australians than did the likes of the LaborWomen so touted as ‘Trail blazers’ what a gross gaggle of wreckers.
Apparently, 2 shots are not enought. Words fail.
Pfizer tests extra COVID shot for kids under 5 in setback
Sigh, we’d been mostly spared the curse of astroturfing, but now it’s here in full. Maybe the Lincoln Project guys should open a local office. They’d fit right in.
Sorry to repost, but I feel this is so very important in a world full of sound bytes and innumeracy.
——————————————————————-
From the “woeful” thread.
https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1411/rr
The “false positive paradox” and risks of testing asymptomatics
Similarly, Baden et al., 2020, found a 0.6% background positive PCR test result in the 30,420 clinical trial participants for the Moderna vaccine, after initial testing. Study participants for this trial were selected based on being at higher risk for exposure to the virus and the testing was conducted from late July to late October 2020.
Common sense would suggest that a test with 99% specificity would return only about 1 in a 100 false positive results. But this is not how it works. The false positive rate is far higher when disease prevalence is as low as the studies just cited have found. In other words: the Positive Predictive Value of screening testing is very low when background prevalence is low (Bokhorst et al. 2012; Skittrall et al. 2020; Dinnes et al. 2021).
Here’s why: If we test 1,000 people randomly in a population where 1% have the illness at issue, and our test is 99% specific to that illness, we will have one true positive and one false positive for each 100 tests. So testing 1,000 people results in 10 true positives and 10 false positives.
Using the BMJ test accuracy calculator (Watson 2020; see link for the calculator in the references; it’s educational to play with the calculator to see how different inputs affect false results)., we calculated various scenarios using real-world background prevalence data and test accuracy data.
First, we conservatively assumed 1% pre-test probability of active infection, which is, based on the data reviewed above, which is a higher level of active infection than was found in the large vaccine clinical trials.
We also assumed 58% sensitivity and 99% specificity, which are the findings of a recent Cochrane meta-analysis combining 64 published studies of antigen test accuracy, when used to test asymptomatics (Dinnes, J. et al. 2021).
The result in this scenario is 50% false positives (1 true positive and 1 false positive)?—?even with a 99% specificity test. There would theoretically be zero false negatives, so the risk of missing actual infections is not at issue.
50% is the same as random chance. In other words, this 99% specificity test can do no better than a coin flip when declaring a positive result. So screening in this scenario is not warranted because data that is no better than a coin flip is not data?—?it’s random chance.
However, the situation is much worse than this because neither PCR nor antigen tests are close to a 99% specificity level in practice, for various reasons (Braunstein et al. 2021). Lee 2020 performed a lab analysis of the CDC PCR test accuracy, which was widely used in the first months of the pandemic, and found it had a 70% specificity (i.e. 30% false positives) and 80% sensitivity (20% false negatives). This is because of faulty designs built in to the test from the beginning, as various news accounts from the Washington Post, NPR and ProPublica have since revealed.
This level of inaccuracy matches the CDC’s own internal report that found 33% false results when its PCR test was released in late February 2020, as reported on by National Public Radio (Temple-Raston 2020).
Intuitively, and in an emergency situation, we may think that a 70-80% accuracy rate is far from perfect but may still be “good enough.” But this is where common sense and intuition gets us – and the public – into trouble. If we input these figures in the BMJ calculator, we obtain a catastrophic 30 out of 31 false positives.
In other words, at a 1% pre-test probably (background prevalence), just one out of 31 positive test results is a true positive. And, again, we have zero false negatives, so the tests are not missing true positives in this scenario.
This problem relates to more than just misidentifying positive COVID-19 cases; it also is relevant to data on hospitalizations and death rates. After testing became widely available, it became standard practice to test all patients admitted to hospitals in the U.S., regardless of symptoms. While this may have been a necessarily cautious step in order to minimize outbreaks in hospitals, it significantly inflated hospitalizations and deaths attributed to COVID-19. A positive test result was the primary basis for defining COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths since no symptoms were required to designate a COVID-19 hospitalization or death as such.
In other words, since the CDC and WHO case definitions took the unprecedented step of defining a “confirmed case” as simply a positive lab test result, and then most jurisdictions also defined a COVID-19 hospitalization and a COVID-19 death in the same manner, if the large majority of positive test results are false positives, it is necessary to re-examine the pandemic surveillance data chain from the beginning.
Well my weekly selection is three for this week !
I was struck by the fact that all 3 great films the clips are from were made in the 1970s (i.e around 45 years ago) and, as such, they’d be no way they’d ever be made today.
In the 1970s Hollywood was at its zenith releasing thought provoking quality films which often proved popular with the movie going public.
Two were huge hits whilst the third has now been recognised as one of the best films ever made.
Network
Howard Beale’s preaching of “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” – is even more pointed today.
https://youtu.be/adQI81ZJWXg
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Is there a more sad but, at the same time, an uplifting ending to a movie ?
https://youtu.be/sM4TtkPT43c
Barry Lyndon
IMO the most beautiful film ever made and the seduction scene is just pure genius in the way, cinematography, costumes, pacing and the music of Schubert all combine to make it just divine.
https://youtu.be/Z2JEXHf_eYE
Enjoy !
This isn’t COOMA gaol.
Miss Anthropist,
I hope they don’t give the chop to anything….. vital.
I am looking for a very silly foreign film.
Chinese, 1988, starts off with a “cool” westernised hacker with Ray Ban aviators and a Coke can.
There is shortly thereafter a surgery scene (?) where a neurologist declares that a person is “mentally insane”.
Another really silly film is Hero – Beyond the Boundary of Time (farang) or Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies.
A good foreign film is The Killer, but you already knew that. Anime weeb showed it to us at school when we were 15. Blown away.
I never found the film I was looking for with the Atlantean feel, lasers and 747s at the end where the island blows up and our buff hero rescues the buxom babes.
That was mentally insane, how silly that was.
The only thing independent about the “independents” running in the 2022 federal election is their arrogance (the lunattic left’s calling card) in thinking voters are dumb enough to believe they’re not a front for the Greens and the ALP.
Big Trouble in Little China.
Second rate politicians? They don’t rate except in the scumbag stakes.
Boomer time.
Anyone here use cash app?
Can I use it as my bank for salary? How does it work?
I honestly know more about crypto than I do cash app and paypal.
I think we moved from 2nd rate to malicious incompetence over 60 years.
Thanks Wolfman. I looked up the Wiki after watching that Barry Lyndon clip and found this:
No wonder it looks unique and beautiful.
I’m just going to come out and say it.
Billy Ocean, Luther Vandross, Bobby Caldwell, David Bowie, Bill Withers and Prince were all better than Michael Jackson.
Pfizer goes full Frankenstein.
Give us your baby. These shots need fine tuning.
In other words, at a 1% pre-test probably (background prevalence), just one out of 31 positive test results is a true positive.
Where’s my freaking false positive??!!
Billy Ocean knew all about reptilians, the fey realm, the TV headed people, frogs turning gay and 3D polygons moving in spheres.
Holy cow this is trippy to start with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyrowWnlNnQ
Pfizer tests extra COVID shot for kids under 5 in setback
Incompetent and immoral.
Fizzer proves that IT’s contention that corporatism is evil has some truth.
Why are so many people going Blind after getting the Covid-19 Vaccine?
Bother,
Accidentally “reported” Lisa Benson’s cartoon from Tom. Late riser, eyes blurry, mind furry.
calli says:
December 18, 2021 at 8:20 am
Thanks Wolfman. I looked up the Wiki after watching that Barry Lyndon clip and found this:
Kubrick was “determined not to reproduce the set-bound, artificially lit look of other costume dramas from that time.” After “tinker[ing] with different combinations of lenses and film stock,” the production obtained three super-fast 50mm lenses (Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7) developed by Zeiss for use by NASA in the Apollo moon landings, which Kubrick had discovered. These super-fast lenses “with their huge aperture (the film actually features the lowest f-stop in film history) and fixed focal length” were problematic to mount, and were extensively modified into three versions by Cinema Products Corp. for Kubrick to gain a wider angle of view, with input from optics expert Richard Vetter of Todd-AO. The rear element of the lens had to be 2.5 mm away from the film plane, requiring special modification to the rotating camera shutter. This allowed Kubrick and Alcott to shoot scenes lit in candlelight to an average lighting volume of only three candela, “recreating the huddle and glow of a pre-electrical age.” In addition, Kubrick had the entire film push-developed by one stop.
No wonder it looks unique and beautiful.
Very true calli.
Kubrick is by far my favourite film-maker, and Barry Lyndon is a staggering achievement that on first release (which I missed) didn’t really hit the mark with audiences.
But with so many of his films in the following years it was re-evaluated and came to be valued as a great film. It’s in my top 20 films of all time.
It’s a great story – based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, and is probably Kubrick’s most heart-felt and emotional film.
The best music video ever is for Tame Impala’s The Less I Know the Better.
A little spicy for 8.30 AM.
Pfizer in Nigeria.
No consent to participate in the trial and plenty of deaths and injuries. Sound familiar?
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/11/pfizer-nigeria-meningitis-drug-compensation
It’s a great story – based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, and is probably Kubrick’s most heart-felt and emotional film.
Kubrick made them re-shoot scenes in Full Metal Jacket until the cast were looking properly combat fatigued!
Vickers Wellesley, fuel and code breaking contribution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5c2G8e8lvs
I love Kubrick movies.
Another one that’s much underrated is Quantum of Solace.
Just out of curiousity, does anyone know if Ms Campion’s columns contain a disclaimer at the end noting that she’s shacked up with the aforementioned Beetrooter?
And no Cardi, I’m not having a go at her, just observing, as we criticise collectivists when they do it.
Mulling things over as I shaved this morning, I realised someone like Andrews will always produce an incompetent government.
Power and the political game is what matters to him, having competent subordinates who will point out where he’s wrong is anathema to him. Thus he will promote yes men, and play the game to remove those who he sees as a threat (anyone who’s competent). So you end up with an organisation that’s full of people trying to make themselves look good and paper over the cracks so they can get closer to the king. Not having anyone who can run things means he has control, and a ready scapegoat if things go sour.
Going to be interesting watching things next year, I suspect someone will be that annoying voice in Labor MP’s ears asking questions like “well, who’s next?”, “where is the blame going to fall?”, and sowing the seeds of his fall.
Not quite as organised as I had it in my head, but I think it gets the point accross.
OK – looks like I’ll have to check out Barry Lyndon.
On the subject of Kubrick, this film is bloody hilarious and contains several scenes that are homages to his greatest works.
My favourite Kubrick film is of course, Clockwork Orange.
Can’t disagree with your analysis Bluey. So many politicians not even interested in policy.
Blah – “A Clockwork Orange” to be correct.
Curious admission in that of ghost contributors to papers from sponsoring organisations.
Noted Liar knob gobbler, Mavis has a story about The Other Great Man in Teh Weekend Paywallian. No, I haven’t bothered to read it.
Rabz says:
December 18, 2021 at 9:11 am
OK – looks like I’ll have to check out Barry Lyndon.
On the subject of Kubrick, this film is bloody hilarious and contains several scenes that are homages to his greatest works.
My favourite Kubrick film is of course, Clockwork Orange.
Agree re Color Me Kubrick – it is very funny and, unbelieveably, loosely based on fact !
My favourite Kubrick film and my favourite film of all time is 2001: A Space Odyssey. When I first saw on re-release in the mid-70s I was utterly gobsmacked and I’ve been in awe of it ever since.
The Moment is pretty good as well. If there’s a song that better evokes an Ozzie summer I’m yet to see or hear it.
Both have the added bonus of being great songs.
Wolf – I was never able to get through it. May be time for another viewing.
Rabz
It wouldn’t hurt. Though I’m sure that just like Mr Gai Brodtmann and every ALPBC co-op member who goes on to stand as an Independent in a Lieboral electorate she brings her own mind to each missive.
C’mon, Bear – you know you want to.
Barry Lyndon is one 0f the great achievements in cinema. The lens wizardry, for starters; the card-playing scenes with his irish confederate are skin-pore intimacy done to perfection. But while it’s a masterpiece, like all masterpieces it stands on the shoulders of others. There’s a debt to Fellini in the use and study of striking faces, and there’s a lot of admiration, too, for early Kurosawa’s framing of scenes.
Ryan O’Neal did a Playboy interview in which he raved about how honoured he felt to have been selected by Kubrick for the movie — the paramount acknowledgment of acting talent etc etc etc.
Well, later, Kubrick did an interview of his own in which he said O’Neal was picked because he was a pretty face and would do exactly as told. He could have used cardboard cutouts, of which the wooden O’Neal was the closest approximation. That’s where the Kurosawa legacy comes to mind. Watch The Seven Samurai and what you get are a series of static scenes shot from a fixed point — pretty, perfectly framed scenes that move across the screen like illustrations from an old-fashioned storybook. Turn a page, another gorgeous composition; next scene, more gorgeousness.
That’s how Barry Lyndon progresses — one beautiful scene after another.
It’s very close to the top of the Desert island Movie list. His best movie despite what the critics said at the time.
Thankfully you can now watch one of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest works in full and for free — the black comedy Dr Strangelove (1964) — thanks to the Internet Archive.
Daily Mail
We cannot stop the spread of COVID, but we CAN end the pandemic: Protect the old and vulnerable, forget lockdowns – and learn to live with the virus, writes Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford University School of Medicine professor
are covid vaccines reducing hospitalizations and deaths? (spoiler: it does not look like it):
What are various Cat’s verdicts on “Paths of Glory”?
And no, I haven’t seen it.
Arrgghhh! bloody apostrophes defeat me again!
Rabz says:
December 18, 2021 at 9:38 am
What are various Cat’s verdicts on “Paths of Glory”?
And no, I haven’t seen it.
Great film – in my top 50 . . . but I’m biased.
areff says:
December 18, 2021 at 9:30 am
Barry Lyndon is one 0f the great achievements in cinema. The lens wizardry, for starters; the card-playing scenes with his irish confederate are skin-pore intimacy done to perfection. But while it’s a masterpiece, like all masterpieces it stands on the shoulders of others. There’s a debt to Fellini in the use and study of striking faces, and there’s a lot of admiration, too, for early Kurosawa’s framing of scenes.
Ryan O’Neal did a Playboy interview in which he raved about how honoured he felt to have been selected by Kubrick for the movie — the paramount acknowledgment of acting talent etc etc etc.
Well, later, Kubrick did an interview of his own in which he said O’Neal was picked because he was a pretty face and would do exactly as told. He could have used cardboard cutouts, of which the wooden O’Neal was the closest approximation. That’s where the Kurosawa legacy comes to mind. Watch The Seven Samurai and what you get are a series of static scenes shot from a fixed point — pretty, perfectly framed scenes that move across the screen like illustrations from an old-fashioned storybook. Turn a page, another gorgeous composition; next scene, more gorgeousness.
That’s how Barry Lyndon progresses — one beautiful scene after another.
It’s very close to the top of the Desert island Movie list. His best movie despite what the critics said at the time.
Great review areff.
I probably will. It’s like a “Wet Paint”sign really.
What is the address for Steve Kates blog? Pls.
Still scratching my head over Adam Bandt’s ‘take a year off and smoke dope’ message to high schoolers, or rather, one particular word in it:
Whether you want to be a lawyer, artist, miner, or just smoke weed for a year or two: I’m proud of you.
Albanese has been making his funny noises about ‘renewal not revolution’, and now this? What kind of feedback are they getting from the focus groups?
Swanned into town for the Snail and some small cigars.
Packed the munted Blue Scrap of Safety, just in case*.
Banter abounded at the newsagents as some old codger was turned away.
A cocky cursed up a storm tossing his ‘Cruiser looking for a BSS.
Waited for the cigar lady to finish her morning dart
before the ceremonial masking of protection and precisely one marching pace
between threshold and counter.
*With a big fucking hill between here and there at 27° with 80% humidity,
returning empty handed was a sub-optimal outcome.
Rabz, with respect, you “couldn’t get through” a masterpiece like 2001, but you think Quantum of solace is underrated? QoS is by almost universal consent one of the very worst Bond movies ever made. I first saw 2001 when I was 13 and I’ve been watching it ever since.
“Just drink box wine for a couple of years”
“Just smoke crack for a couple of years”
“Just bang heroin for a couple of years”
Hmmm. Limited use of marijuana and fulfilling safety obligations is okay – smoking or drinking every day outside of very limited consumption is likely not good for you.
I don’t think 19 year olds think “just one joint before bed”.
Bons – Click on the Law of Markets link on Dover’s blogroll on the RHS just below the tweets.
Frank is risen.
Praise the Lord!
not a music video, but the Dierks-gets-his-comeuppance scene from Letterkenny is art set to music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSrdL7jIO70
You don’t need to be familiar with the show (which is hilarious, btw. See it on SBS on demand) to know exactly what is going on.
You were warned Dierks! If you misstep.
Ahem – Cuckoo – Calli made the comment about the Bond fillum.
https://eugyppius.substack.com/p/there-isnt-one-plan-there-are-fifty
* that bastard stole my guest post
** just because eugyppius did it better than I ever could doesn’t make it fair
My two favourite Kubrick moves are Dr Strangelove and Spartacus.
Just to be precise, Quantum of Solace is not a Kubrick movie – obviously.
I just find the cinematography, action sequences and music superb. Some of the panoramic shots have a David Lean quality to them. And the initial car chase with the gear shifts…
Ryan O’Neal made all the girls swoon in Love Story. He was still a bit of a heart-throb by the time Barry Lyndon came around.
First saw 2001 at an anniversary release in a cinema.
An experience somewhat marred by a luggage toting couple
obviously burning time, mid journey.
Their inane chatter came to a screeching halt at that bit where the soundtrack
causes your internal organs to resonate.
And for Australia, where exposure levels are among the lowest in the world, and Governments persist in pursuing Covid-O it just means that we haven’t even seen our first wave yet. Our wave will be spread out over the next 10 years every winter, until the vulnerable unexposed are all done.
I loved 2001. Everything about it. Not quite true to Arthur C. Clarke’s book, but who cares?
Give “The Voices” a fair go.
They are just fortifying the next election.
Re, Toms Toons, I think Ramirez has lost the plot with this one:
calli says:
December 18, 2021 at 10:21 am
I loved 2001. Everything about it. Not quite true to Arthur C. Clarke’s book, but who cares?
Both the film and the book were developed together. The book was released after the movie (I believe).
The original source for 2001 was Arthur C. Clarke’ s The Sentinel.
FFS.
The collaboration between Clarke and Kubrick didn’t work out, so details got mashed up or left out all together.
It doesn’t matter, both works stand alone. I’ll have to dig out a copy of “The Sentinel” – read it years ago, borrowed because I had zero money for such frivolities!
Likewise.
Trivia – the film was not shown in France until 1975.
Boeing drops COVID-19 requirement for US employees
I found it ambiguous. Is Ramirez saying that the Reps are in denial of the “fauxsurrection” and that it really was a genuine coup attempt, or that they are denying that those caught up in it should be treated fairly under the law, ie. ignoring all those people languishing on remand?
Probably the worst war movie of all time. It started well during the training phase, however the war scenes were just ridiculous bullshit: An infantry platoon being willingly led by a pogue while fighting (badly) against one woman.
Thanks. Very good.
You may like this article.
I clicked on Jo Nova’s site in the sidebar and this was the top item. The real operation warp speed to deny people genuine treatments.
Antihistamines and the remarkable story of the freakishly good treatment plan in Spain that no one mentions
Because of the subject (end of the world), the crackling dialogue, the black humour and the stellar cast, I rate Dr Strangelove the best movie ever made.
I also rate A Space Odyssey pretentious twaddle.
That’s OK. Kubrick was an artistic explorer for half a century and those movies were near opposite ends of that journey.
cohenitesays:
December 18, 2021 at 10:26 am
Re, Toms Toons, I think Ramirez has lost the plot with this one:
Ramirez was good under Trump, but Kung Flu has destroyed him.
All good Tom.
I 100% agree re Dr. Strangelove – in my top 5 of all time.
Can’t agree re 2001 but it would be a boring old world if everyone agreed with everyone else . . . ie like lefties do.
It’s a toe. I have eight others. My dancing days are over.
White House Fearmongering Over Omicron Now Ridiculous and Over the Top
Posted on December 17, 2021 by Sundance
Kubrick’s first film, The Killing, is worth a gander too. Little touches that suggest a career with much more to come.
“Hospitals brace for third wave” say the headlines.
But still no talk of early intervention with antivirals, which was good enough for Florida.
Shut up and have your third jab, peasants!
On another note, I wonder how the TGA will foil the use of the Novavax in Australia now that it has been approved by WHO?
Seriously, Novavax needs to invest in one of those revolving doors so that bureaucrats can move straight into well-paid corporate positions. It’s amazing how well that works to dispel reservations.
Sorry* to hear that, Miss A. But surely, with less toes to trip over, your dancing should be even better.
*Hope that was enough sympathy. One strugles for that fine line between sincerity and smarminess.
The Dapto Doge – Ray Hadley – wants to stay safe in his booth forever:
https://twitter.com/BenDavisCP/status/1471768859975684098
Madam Nafink is again trying to threaten people from the comfort of his trolling threads. Referring to a politcal group of people as dog fuckers (to paraphrase) isn’t caught under these laws according to this delusional wanker. The Proust of the Cat.
The Carry On movies are far and away the best movies ever made.
The silent ones?
whats a cash app?
Yeah, same with Ramirez. It’s amazing how an apparent health threat can strike right through any BS detectors and turn previously sensible righties into frantic Karens.
Ramirez is the like that with Trump too, hence his cartoon this morning. There’s something about Trump that he just can’t cope with, it’s visceral and emotional. Really strange how this sort of thing works.
First, the Great Barrington Declaration.
Second, The Science!
Heresy can not stand.
The prick and only the prick is the way.
Ray who?
We’re diseased here in Ncl. Stricken. Omicron is stalking the streets! Running at about 600 a day of positive test results, which suggests many more in total since 40% of omicrud infections are so mild the victim doesn’t even know he/she/it has it.
AGED CARE LOCKED DOWN AND EVENTS IMPACTED AS HUNTER CASES SOAR (Ncl local news, 17 Dec)
areff says:
December 18, 2021 at 11:31 am
Kubrick’s first film, The Killing, is worth a gander too. Little touches that suggest a career with much more to come.
It sure is . . . it was the film that announced him to the world of cinema.
It wasn’t his first feature film – that was Fear And Desire, which was followed by Killers Kiss. Both are really only of curiosity value now.
But from The Killing (released in 1956) to his death in 1999 the 11 features he made were of a quality that has been never matched.
I have always felt that when Kubrick died a part of cinema also died as well.
His films weren’t always easy to digest but, to paraphrase Spielberg, no-one could shoot a movie like a Kubrick where the craft was impeccable, the best ever.
I have never cared much for his final film Eyes Wide Shut, but the previous 10 films tend to rank as some of their best in their particular genres.
The Killing – an unusually told heist story.
Paths Of Glory – the best WWI film ever made (only All Quiet On The Western Front comes close).
Spartacus – one of the best epic films (despite the turgid romance) with set-pieces that were most un-Hollywood like.
Lolita – how did they make a film of Lolita in the early 1960s ? Performances by Mason, Sellers and Winters were marvellous.
Dr. Strangelove – a black (or nightmare) comedy masterpiece that is as funny today as it was when it was first released. Peter Sellers (in 3 roles) and George C. Scott are magnificent.
2001: A Space Odyssey – THE sci-fic film that gave the whole genre respectability, with special effects that are still awe inspiring in the service of a story that is impenetrable but also profound.
A Clockwork Orange – the dysoptian film that is even more pertinent today, with one of the great performances of all time by Malcolm McDowell as Alex.
Barry Lyndon – a period drama like no other and the most beautiful film ever made.
The Shining – the horror film that turned the genre upside down with it’s lighting, steadicam work and Jack Nicholson’s definitive role. It maintains a level of dread unmatched.
Full Metal Jacket – the boot camp sequences are both hilarious and terrifying whilst the war in Vietnam is shown as city fighting not the usual jungle setting.
It was also a tragedy he never got to make his Napoleon film, but then we probably wouldn’t have had Barry Lyndon.
I greatly miss his cinematic genius.
Let’s lock down aged care for Christmas.
Can’t have people spending their last Christmas with their families!
Arfur C Clarke’s The Sentinel in pdf.
Short read.
Did anyone hear anything about Dickhead Dan’ treason trial?
I heard the magistrate told dickheads representatives to attend court, the plaintiffs to attend a webex meeting and then dismissed the case because the plaintiffs didn’t attend court?!
The Sentinel
http://www.future-lives.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/TheSentinel.pdf
Watched “Childhood’s End” on the TV a while ago. Not bad at all and fairly true to the Arthur C. Clarke story.
Test
Thanks guys for “The Sentinel”.
Too hot to garden this arvo so I will re-acquaint myself with it.
AWFL chick doing something useful for a change
Eyes Wide Shut was a decent movie by Kubrick. I’m not sure if he finished the movie as he died sometime during the making or straight after. Can’t recall.
I think the story wasn’t his but had been adopted from a novel in the early part of the century.
The naked girls were all great looking. Kubrick chose well.
Also thanks to Arm for his “Perspective” Youtubes. Currently watching the entrance of the Baroque into English art.
Did you know Sir Christopher Wren was the first to use an injection? Apparently he injected a dog with something or other.
Our modern Pfizer sciencey guys cut out the middle man and just inject babies.
Arma
This new os keyboard is a pain in the neck.
Perve.
Test2.3
Notice how the Cathedral report on rants against the unvaxxed by people they previously despised with approval. Reporter refers to rant as a ‘dressing down’ of Perrotett. Whereas, when it’s not to their liking, it will invariably be described as bizaree. Same thing happened with Lambie.
Bling.
Archaeologist’s book examines human adornment (Phys.org, 17 Dec)
I would assume she includes photos, but even without them it would be an interesting tale of what objects people thought were pretty in those cultures.
Omicron currently eating the best brains in Britain.
‘No evidence’ Omicron less severe than Delta, say UK researchers
• 69,000 identified o cases;
• 64 hospitalised;
• 1 dead.
Looking grim…
Electroverse having some issues with the alarmists:
THE CENTER FOR COUNTERING DIGITAL HATE’ SUCCESSFULLY STRIPS ELECTROVERSE OF ITS ADVERTISING
Calli – Unlikely. The Romans were using syringes for injections. What did the Romans ever do for us?
The Greeks were probably were first.
You may like this article.
Thanks P!
This one is a cute little SF story that I really liked:
https://space.nss.org/settlement/MikeCombs/eyeshine.htm
JC says:
December 18, 2021 at 12:28 pm
Eyes Wide Shut was a decent movie by Kubrick. I’m not sure if he finished the movie as he died sometime during the making or straight after. Can’t recall.
I think the story wasn’t his but had been adopted from a novel in the early part of the century.
The naked girls were all great looking. Kubrick chose well.
It was a good film but it just doesn’t have the gravitas for me that hits the heights of greatness like so many of his other films.
It was based on the 1926 novella Traumnovelle (Dream Story) by Arthur Schnitzler which Kubrick had been planning to film for a couple of decades.
He died during post production and just days after he submitted his first cut to Warner Bros.
There is some debate as to whether this would have been the definitive Kubrick vision as he was notorious for tinkering with his films right up to the premieres and even afterwards.
Boeing drops COVID-19 requirement for US employees
What happens when enough are awake.
Just shows you don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
Apparently this was intravenous anaesthesia, using wine and opium.
Federal appeals court allows Biden vaccine mandate for large companies to resume
Federal appeals court allows Biden vaccine mandate for large companies to resume,A federal appeals court Friday reinstated the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for large companies, dissolving a stay by another court that had suspended the mandate and continuing up a battle that will likely be decided by the Supreme Court.The Biden vaccine mandate forces companies with 100 employees or more to require that their workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the Biden administration could enforce the policy using the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Just scanned the FTA Teev guide.
Nein is showing Destination WA.
Maybe somebody there has a sense of humour. Or, more likely, they are completely tone deaf.
Joh…they don’t care.
The media is a post-truth and reason organism.
Any fires expected at the Vatican?
Six asylum seekers Pope Francis is helping relocate from Cyprus expressed gratitude and hope as they left to start their new lives in Italy Thursday barely a week before Christmas.
Cypriot authorities had said the pontiff, who visited the divided island earlier this month, would take 50 migrants, who also include Muslims, in a gesture of “solidarity”.
RESTORING NOTRE-DAME
by Samuel Gregg
12 . 17 . 21
Speaking of movies the latest Spiderman gets praise for being non-woke:
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/12/17/spider-man-no-way-home-review-a-woke-free-blast-of-fan-service-and-fun/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=daily&utm_campaign=20211217
Dec 14 (Reuters) – Top asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) on Tuesday said it wants U.S. companies to aim for a board that is 30% diverse and, for the first time, contains at least one member from an under-represented group.
BlackRock’s guidelines did not specify when it would vote against directors at companies that did not meet its new standards, but they indicated the focus would be on large companies first. A lack of diversity was a major reason the firm voted against more directors in 2021 than in prior years.
Infamy! Infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!
Gee, thanks heaps Mr McClown! Three, repeat three, cases in Tassie and my wife and I are now up for 14 days self-quarantine when we come back home from our Tassie holiday, as well as two PCR tests each at our own expense. If there’s another case, I expect he’ll deny us entry entirely! Arsehole.
Hey, did they ever make the gay superman abomination?
Carry On Regardless, the best of them for me.
Joan Sims hosting the wine tasting, Charles Hawtrey as a boxer, Kenneth Connor at the Forth Bridge, the delectable Liz Fraser modeling underwear, Stanley Unwin and his “gobbledegook”, etc.
The best of charming British comedy, still with a touch of Ealing but not quite yet the later sauciness.
I told interstate relatives wanting to visit WA over Christmas not to make any travel plans that don’t involve moonlit parachute drops from a blacked out aircraft for the foreseeable future.
Sneakers can pull on 14 day mandatory hotel quarantine with state and regional border closures at the drop of a hat.
Just done it again, declaring Tasmania a disease ridden hell hole.
The multitudes are in the streets singing his praises and passing the hat to buy more gemstones for his mighty glittering codpiece.
Good news. Nicholas Sandmann – you remember this young kid, yeah – well he just made yet another settlement with a fake news organisation. Must be big because NBC have made the settlement confidential.
declaring Tasmania a disease ridden hell hole
Four Apple Cases cases so far. None in hospital
There’s already been another case Bruce, it’s 4 now. Daughter made a quick visit making sure she was back in WA before Tassie opened the border because she was certain this was going to happen.
Nicholas Sandmann has reached a settlement in his defamation suit against NBC. The terms are confidential.
CNN and the Washington Post also reached a settlement with the young man.
It is to be hoped that our/their own ABC gets hauled up for some justice.
Test 1-2-3.
I-phone test.
That was weird.
Anyhoo, had a Christmas break up with our social golf group last night. A quick nine holes followed by countless cool drinks. One of the group is a local accountant and was saying how one of the clients of his Shelbyville office just had his header destroyed in a crop fire. To add insult to injury, the remaining 75% of the crop which hadn’t been taken off was downwind of the ignition point. All lost, along with fences and damage to a neighbour’s property. Conversation turns to fire suppression and mitigation. Sure, it is hard (practically impossible) to remove the ignition source (hot machinery) from the fuel (dry crop and stubble). The resident Eddie Expert chimes in with “as long as he had a knapsack or fire extinguisher on board, his insurance will cover it”. Accountant says, “without disclosing his private business, even with the best insurance policy in the world he will be miles underwater”.
The retired farmer in the group (usually a man of few words) killed it stone dead:- “What fucking idiot goes with the minimum fire suppression and burns down $1 million in kit and crop for the want of a couple of thousand dollars worth of basic firefighting gear”. He then listed all of the knapsacks, extinguishers, water tanks and compressors he used to carry on every vehicle during harvest.
Eddie Expert went vewwy vewwy quiet at this point.
If it wasn’t for the fact we have forked out thousands (non-refundable!) for this holiday, I’d be staying home.
Covid with lady captains of business, industry, science and media.
There’s a reason they were put on life boats and not in charge of them.
“Captain Karen has panicked the passengers, Chief Petty Officer. Best we put her on the next boat lowered.”
“He’s alright, insurance will cover it” is even higher up the utter cluelessness & callousness scale than is; “It’s okay, they can claim it on tax“
Miss A, I went back to check out JC’s fine contribution to the discussion and the only thing I could find was a reference to Elon Musk’s progenitive goal setting? Was that it?
And also, the bestest best wishes to you.
BBS
Rabz, +1
Oh, and I see L is back from the dead ???
(If it doesn’t show up, I’m clapping)
Indolent says:
December 18, 2021 at 9:31 am
When did The Çat first day this?
Cohenite,
Carry on Cabbie
Carry on Screaming
The confidentiality bit wouldn’t be as much about the money as suppressing the details of their continued deliberate defaming of the kid in the face of mounting evidence that they had got it wrong, and the resultant grovelling apology as part of the settlement.
This kid will never have to work a day in his life.
Currently running my own version of that:
12 days ago – returned from overseas to Sydney for three days quarantine because no flights were available to Perth.
Had to stay 14 days to avoid hotel quarantine and do home quarantine in Perth. However:
Wed – McClown changes NSW risk level to ‘extreme’ – tells WA residents to get back before Saturday (today).
Applied to return to WA on Friday – got knocked back because we hadn’t completed 14 days in NSW.
Applied to return to WA on Tuesday – got knocked back because ‘extreme’ risk level had kicked in.
Changed plan to return via 14 days in Tassie – no quarantine required from NSW or when we returned to WA (risk level ‘very low’).
Fri – McClown changes Tas risk level to ‘low’ – 14 days home quarantine required in WA.
Today – Tassie accepted application to enter state.
That’s where we are at. I doubt whether Tassie will rise from ‘low’ to ‘extreme’ in two weeks. But who knows, McClown has an itchy trigger finger.
What a shit-stain of a country and a tyrant of a premier.