Entertainment – Page 20 – Splendid Isolation

Good Olde Dayes 1

June 29, 2019 Kim du Toit Marketing / Advertising

Upon reading this lovely story, I was transported back to a time when advertising gave it to you straight and hard. But first, a quick excerpt:

Following outrage in the past couple of years over ads that were seen as toxic, the U.K. has responded by banning advertising that perpetuates negative stereotypes or equates physical attractiveness with social or romantic success. The elegant simplicity of this solution might leave us wondering, why hasn’t anyone thought to do this before?

Because until recently, society wasn’t in thrall to the Great Wokening, is why. So please indulge me as I hearken back to a time when everyone understood their roles in life.

Let’s not talk about the kiddies:

Not just ads, either:

…and even comics did the tongue-in-cheek thing:

And let’s hear it for product packaging and promises:

…and for energy and pick-me-ups:

And given that we’re celebrating Love-A-Homo/Trannie/Whatever Month, here’s my all-time favorite:

But let me not get nasty. One more good ‘un:

Like the title suggests: the good old days. I miss ’em. [eyecross]

Others may differ. I, however, have a sense of humor about this kind of thing.

Bloodhound Gang

May 4, 2019 Kim du Toit Music

I’d never heard of this band before (unsurprisingly, as I regard rap as somewhere below anthrax), but I love their song titles and lyrics. I mean, who can resist stuff like this:

A Lapdance is So Much Better When the Stripper Is Crying
and
I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks

Besides, tell me you can argue with this statement: “Stephen King was a better writer when he drank.”

True dat.

The best thing I can say about Bloodhound Gang is that if I were forty years younger, I’d be doing this — not in rap, of course, because I would want to play actual, you know, music — as long as I could find a like-minded bunch of musical anarchists to accompany me.

And try as I may, I cannot think of a better motto for a band than

NO REASON TO LIVE BUT WE LIKE IT THAT WAY

Fuckin’ A.

RFI: Chickblogs

April 23, 2019 Kim du Toit General

New Wife asked me to point her towards blogs written by women that are not all political, not about guns, and which chat about everyday life (but not mommyblogs, because she’s not interested in hearing about kiddies and/or recipes). She already goes to ol’ C.W.’s place (which she loves) and Knuckledragger (because he makes her giggle), and also visits Brigid (for the recipes) and Sarah (because Sarah).

In other words: general interest blogs, updated daily, written by women.

Anyone have any ideas?

News Roundup

April 16, 2019 Kim du Toit Good Stuff

Wherein I summarize the news of the recent past. (Warning: I’m in an irreverent mood today…)

1) TV presenter gives up booze — and becomes the world’s most boring woman. (Caution: link contains Piers Morgan.)

2) Gang-rape victim reports crime, gets raped again by a cop — guess it just wasn’t her day, was it? (Come on: it happened in Pakistan, that bastion of civilization where all women are revered.)

3) Dallas gang beats up trannie — guess the race of the attackers… nope, ’twasn’t Muzzies; not this time, anyway.

4) Notre Dame Cathedral destroyed by fire — I guess the BVM was busy doing something else at the time, huh? (I warned ya.)

5) Rich farts in CT can’t sell their houses at inflated prices — ‘cos all the would-be buyers have fled to low-tax states already.

6) Naked stabber killed by security guard — wait, McDonald’s has security guards now? Oh yeah… southern California. Never mind. And finally, from the Department of Good News:

7) Hollywood sees revenues plummet — see pic above.

U.S. Not There

April 11, 2019 Kim du Toit Travels

Here’s a list of the world’s major international airports, voted on and ranked by over thirteen million travelers on a combination of (among others) amenities, cleanliness, shopping, ease of movement, and passenger treatment:

1. Singapore Changi Airport
2. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)
3. Incheon International Airport
4. Hamad International Airport (Doha)
5. Hong Kong International Airport
6. Central Japan International Airport
*7. Munich Airport
*8. London Heathrow Airport
9. Narita International Airport
*10. Zurich Airport

11. Kansai
*12. Frankfurt
13. Taiwan Taoyuan
*14. Amsterdam Schiphol
15. Copenhagen
16. Shanghai Hongqiao
*17. Vancouver
18. Brisbane
*19. Vienna
20. Helsinki-Vantaa

21. Sydney
*22. Cape Town
23. Melbourne
24. Dubai
25. Cologne / Bonn
26. London City
27. Auckland
28. Hamburg
*29. Durban
*30. Paris Charles De Gaulle

31. Dusseldorf
*32. Denver
*33. Johannesburg
34. Seoul Gimpo
35. Madrid Barajas
*36. Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson
*37. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
*38. Houston George Bush
39. Guangzhou
40. Jakarta

41. Haikou Meilan
42. Athens
43. Barcelona
44. Xi’an
45. Gold Coast
46. Bangkok Suvarnabhumi
47. Lima
*48. San Francisco
49. Quito
50. Toronto Pearson

51. Christchurch
52. Perth
53. Bogota
54. Kuala Lumpur
*55. London Gatwick
*56. Dallas/Fort Worth
*57. Seattle-Tacoma
58. Baku
59. Delhi
*60. Lisbon
61. Muscat
*62. Montréal
63. Moscow Sheremetyevo
64. Mumbai
65. Shenzhen
66. Hyderabad
67. Fukuoka
68. Guayaquil
*69. Bangalore
70. Oslo
*71. Los Angeles
72. Beijing Capital
73. Stockholm Arlanda
*74. New York JFK
75. Chengdu
76. Adelaide
*77. Minneapolis St.Paul
*78. Phoenix
79. Porto
80. Moscow Domodedovo
*81. Boston Logan
*82. Rome Fiumicino
83. Malta
84. Dublin
*85. Houston Hobby
86. Hanoi Noi Bai
87. Abu Dhabi
88. Bahrain
89. Budapest
90. Halifax
91. Warsaw
*92. Detroit Metropolitan
*93. Nice
94. Mauritius
95. Luxembourg
*96. Chicago O’Hare
97. Prague
98. Birmingham
99. Changsha
100. Billund

Source: Skytrax World Airport Awards (and asterisks indicate that I’ve been through them myself, some admittedly a while back)

Some comments:

I’m told that anyone who has been through the top 10 airports with any frequency (e.g. Mr. Free Market) will be unsurprised by those rankings. I’m only surprised by Munich’s #7 ranking — I found it quite ordinary, but it’s been over a decade since I was there so maybe it’s improved.
Excluding JFK, most of the U.S. “international” airports aren’t really that — they handle way more domestic- than international flights, so they’re light on amenities and shopping (compared to Heathrow and Singapore, for example, where international flights comprise probably 90% of the total and long waits for connecting flights are the norm).
The numbers are not weighted by airport size or traffic, which is why some of the Third World airports (e.g. India’s) are ranked where they are.
I’m amazed that JFK is ranked as high as it is. For all its pretensions to being a world-class city, New York’s Kennedy and LaGuardia are Third World airports — in fact, they’re worse than that — and not one person I’ve ever spoken to (including New Yorkers) has ever taken issue with me on that comment.
Unless Bangalore has been rebuilt since I’ve been there, I cannot believe its ranking. Ditto Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo, which is a nightmare, and Charles De Gaulle in Paris. All of these have set some kind of record for staff indifference to passengers’ needs.