Tag: Entertainment

Pushback

Bad News, Culture, Music, Wokism

Here’s an interesting situation over in Britishland:

The English Touring Opera has dropped 14 white musicians in a woke drive to ‘increase diversity’ in the company.  The musicians, aged 40 to 66, have been told they will not be offered contracts with the company in Spring 2022 citing diversity guidance from the Arts Council England, the Sunday Times reported.
The musicians, who officially work as freelancers, can be dropped from the opera season-on-season but many have played with the company for up to 20 years and consider it a permanent job.

Of course, this is a disgusting thing to do, but complaining doesn’t achieve anything, as any fule kno.

Here’s a thought.

I don’t have the numbers, but I’m willing to bet that this 40-66 age group would constitute a majority of the Touring Opera’s audience.  So I call on all patrons in that age range to boycott their performances.

I wonder if the company’s finances could sustain the subsequent loss of income…

Missing

Entertainment

Nobody seems to know who Sean Lock is in the U.S. (unless they watch stupid Brit TV quiz shows), but I for one am going to miss him, the sour, dark, cold bastard.

Question:  Does the full moon cause people to commit crime?
Answer:  No, it doesn’t.
Sean Lock:  Then why do I go out killing every month?

Sean Lock:  It’s amazing how many people will talk to you in a pub when you throw a pint of beer in dog’s face.

Question:  What is the traditional sport in which the contestants get thrown into a lava cauldron afterwards?
Sean Lock:  Show jumping.

Sean Lock:  I really wish they would.

Here’s Sean about Twitter…

…and relationships, and Glueball Wormening

…and political correctness, and why women earn less than men.

Anyway, Sean died of lung cancer last week, age 58.

Which makes the opening of this routine really ironic.

Reaping What Was Sown

Gypsies Tramps & Thieves

Saw this little piece via Insty, and had to laugh:

Worlds are colliding in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Homeless encampments are popping up right outside million-dollar homes.
Michael Beckley is one of a growing number of homeowners who are taking matters into their own hands, trying to keep tents from appearing in the parkways in front of their streets. “It’s brutal, because it will effectively kill the grass. When the first tent showed up here, I fenced it off and said you f—— aren’t coming up here,” Beckley said.
Fences can now be seen roping off parkways throughout the neighborhood. The action is legal, according to the city, because homeowners are required to maintain and care for the parkways adjacent to their homes. Many homeowners are convinced the homeless encampments will lead to a spike in neighborhood crime, especially thefts in the neighborhood.

I don’t know Denver at all, but I’m willing to bet that the Capitol Hill neighborhood votes solidly Democrat/Socialist at every election.  If this is true, then:

Update:  Longtime Reader Tim M grew up in Denver, and agrees with my analysis.

Real Enthusiasm

Entertainment, Military

So why would anyone believe or have any time for a movie stuntman (!) talking about his favorite tanks?

About one-and-a-half minutes in, you’ll see exactly why.

Money quote:  “If you can’t afford a Spitfire, [an Achilles tank] is the next best thing.”

Absolutely brilliant.

Then there’s this caustic take on horrible British tanks by a man after my own heart.

Money Quote:  “It’s not really bullet-proof.  Except from a revolver.  For a while.  From a distance.”

I have never before subscribed to any EwwwChoob channel, but I think I’ll do so for The Tank Channel.

Vicky

Beauty, Entertainment

Her late father was easily one of the funniest writers in the English language;  her brother is a renowned (and very good) restaurant and food critic, and like both father and brother she is a graduate of Oxford University.  Unlike the other two male relatives, she is also a champion poker player and constant guest on cooking- and quiz shows on Brit TV, where she tends to overawe most of the other competitors (and quiz masters) with her frightening intellect and acidic tongue.  She’s also married (alas) to one of the most effete, yet funniest and angriest comedians on television, and I would pay a small fortune to have them both as dinner guests.

Her name is Victoria Coren (Mitchell), her father was Alan Coren, her brother is Giles Coren, and her husband is David Mitchell — and each one of those men is worthy of a post all to himself.  But they pale beside Victoria.

And I’ve had a massive crush on her for well over a decade.

Here’s one of the compilations from when she appeared as a contestant on the ghastly Countdown  series.   And then there’s QI, where she gets into arguments with the equally-intellectual Stephen Fry and Sandi Toksvig.

And here’s when she and her husband appeared together on Would I Lie To You?  (which is a hysterically funny show).

Class, intelligence, sense of humor, good looks. and a penchant for erotic spanking… ask me to explain again why I love her.