I‘m back from the depths of flu-dom and ready to take on the world, or at least some of its most terrible and ridiculous aspects. I’m not quite at full strength yet, so posting may be a bit light for a few more days. But the flu is definitely on the way out. Thanks for your patience and support!
So does anyone want to discuss that picture up there at the top of the post? Everyone else is. Is Kellyanne Conway being weird and disrespectful to the oval office visitors, a delegation from historically black colleges and universities? Or is everybody being mean to her because OMG she was just trying to take a picture with her phone?
I’m going to go with “weird and disrespectful” but what do I know.
@Alan:
You’re welcome. Yes, it is pretty weird; as I mentioned, Sandifer takes a pretty occult approach himself, deliberately using layouts and references for symbolism as he draws parallels between people and events. This is most obvious in his discussions of Watchmen, which of course did much the same thing.
I first ran into Sandifer with ‘Guided by the Beauty of Their Weapons’, which was an essay on the ‘Sad/Rabid Puppies’ fiasco in science fiction fandom and specifically on everybody’s favourite misogynist and failed SF writer/game writer/techno musician, Vox Day. To quote from late in that essay:
No, I haven’t seen “Future Shock”. I’ll have to look that up.
I’m Canadian, and got back into comics in the 1980s, so mostly got introduced to British comics through 2000 A.D. and A1. (Granted, A1 even had Canadian content in it, via occasional bits of Mister X.) Though I suppose my first real exposure would have been through The Beano in the mid-70s and that version of Dennis the Menace.
@ jenora
I liked all the occult elements and the parallels he alluded to. All very ‘as above, so below’ and the like.
I’m trying to ration myself so I don’t get the proverbial thrill power overdose. I have succumbed a bit to ‘just one more chapter’ syndrome though.
I love the level of detail and also the choice of subjects. I’m not too interested in their American excursions (Varalys is the expert there though) but the rest of it covers both the comics I like and the specific eras within those comics.
It’s like the author and I very much share tastes. I’ve always thought you could trace an evolution in Brit comics from Jinty > Action > 2000AD > Warrior and the essays seem to also take that path.
So once again, a big thank you!
Canada is really similar. While some of our most “famous” national foods (poutine, maple syrup) are pretty uniquely Canadian, a lot of our food is just variations on other already popular dishes brought here by immigrants. And for non-English or -French dishes, a lot of the time the variations were born from trying to make the dish more appealing to the primarily English or French population. Allegedly the California Roll originated from a Japanese chef in Vancouver realizing white people didn’t wanna eat seaweed, so he put it on the inside of the roll.
@dlouwe
You reminded me of the Caesar! I honestly never knew that was a purely Canadian thing. Or that it was so recent! It was invented in Calgary in 1969.
You can buy Mott’s Clamato Juice in any grocery store here. (Which I know YOU know, dlouwe, but might not be obvious to non-Canadians haha.)
I heard a story once about these people on vacation who brought some clam juice with them, along with the stuff to put on the rim. They made some Caesars in their hotel room, and suddenly all the Canadians showed up, demanding to know where they got these drinks from.
Then everyone had a tomato-and-clam-juice-drink party!
(I don’t really like either Caesars or bloody marys. Maries?)
@Rhuu
Yes! I don’t like tomato-based drinks either, but it’s weird to think that Caesars aren’t really a thing outside of Canada (and Mexico apparently), given how ubiquitous they are here. Like, what do hungover people drink when you’re out for Sunday breakfast?
@dlouwe: It’s a thing in Mexico, really? I didn’t know that! Well you really do learn something new every day.
@Rhuu
According to Wikipedia, at least! I’ve only been to Mexico once, and didn’t try to order any Caesars.
@dlouwe
Bloody Marys. or Screwdrivers.
@WWTH
Sure it does. Loads of em. Around here it’s frybread, pemmican, smoked elk, rabbit stew with camas root, roast thistle, etc. Barbecue is an inigenius American cuisine as well, and much more prevalent these days since colonists nicked it.
@Oogly
Happy birthday !
I’m terrified of driving too. I really hope it’s gonna become easier for you.
Update on Concordia — it might not be a white supremacist group. Honestly I thought the whole thing seemed a little fishy. Aren’t bomb threats usually anonymous? Guy still wants to sow fear among Muslims though (unless he was going for sympathy, in which case wtf).
Any thoughts on what — if he is indeed the perpetrator — his motive would be?
@peep – Yes, apparently it was just one guy. The “C4” name seems to have been made in reference to far-right U.S. group, but a leader of that group denounced the connection – “we may be racist, but we don’t threaten people with violence – we are politely racist” (paraphrased). Anyway, the suspect is arrested and the thing’s getting checked out.
On the Montreal Gazette website, some people were saying that since the suspect is from Lebanon, his threat was obviously a “false flag operation” aimed at increasing sympathy for Muslims (?) and comparable to the loads and loads of false rape accusations… so, yeah, I guess David’s post on the white supremacist/MRA overlap is timely.