Cool Pictures IX: duuude dude dude i'm like totally tripping

[Valka D'Ur]

Well, in terms of "scaring children straight", I think they succeeded.

I eventually got over my fear of mud puddles, at least the ones that weren't deep. The reason I avoid them now is because I don't want to get my socks and feet wet, not because I'm afraid of getting sucked down underneath the ground and suffocating.

Actually, there was one year in the theatre when I deliberately jumped in a mud puddle. We were doing "West Side Story" and one of the scenes involved a song that used stuff found in a garbage can. Since I was the head of the props department on that show, it was up to me to find or make this stuff.

One of the objects was supposed to be an umbrella. So I went out and bought the plainest black umbrella I could find, and took it to the theatre. This thing had to look decrepit enough to throw out, so my assistant and I just attacked it - we cut holes in it, bent the ribs out of shape (broke some off), and then took it to the assistant director for approval.

He considered it, then bent it over his knee and was satisfied. I put the finishing touch on it by taking it out to the parking lot and finding a mud puddle (it had rained earlier in the day). I threw the umbrella into the puddle and proceeded to jump up and down on it (cathartic, because that show was really stressful to work on). I remember one of the production crew asking the director, "What is she doing?" and the director told her, "Oh, she's just getting the umbrella ready for the Officer Krupke scene."

So yeah, mud puddles have definitely had an influence on my life, both bad and good.

Because childhood was quite different at the time. Remember that having eight-year-olds working in factories or as powder monkeys was not frowned upon in the least. This thing of extending childhood and a semi-childhood until you're almost 20 is quite modern.

I'm talking about the 1960s, and me finding this stuff in the children's section of the public library. There was a whole shelf full of fairy tale books.

Or maybe it was just my imagination. I remember having a nightmare about Snow White when I was 8. In the dream I was riding in my dad's white Toyota car and we went waaay off course and got stuck in the really narrow winding stairway of the Wicked Queen's castle. She was coming to get us and I couldn't get the door open to escape.

 

[Takhisis]

I'm talking about the 1960s, and me finding this stuff in the children's section of the public library. There was a whole shelf full of fairy tale books.

I was talking about the time when the stories were compiled and written down. After all, the story of how the evil stepsisters tried to fit in the crystal shoe was uglier in the pre-Disney era.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

After all, the story of how the evil stepsisters tried to fit in the crystal shoe was uglier in the pre-Disney era.

Yeah, that's true. One cut her toes off so her foot would fit and the other cut her heel off. The prince noticed the blood and got suspicious.

There are numerous ways to interpret such stories. I remember seeing a ballet version of Sleeping Beauty in which "love's first kiss" meant the prince woke her up by raping her (this was shown on PBS).

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Okay, here's something rather cool. It's the world's tallest sandcastle. A Canadian woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was part of the team that built it (her contribution to it included the turtles near the bottom).

There are some interesting details in this when you take a closer look. You should already be able to spot some famous landmarks:

And here's some more details of the turtles. Say "aww" when you find the baby turtles that have just hatched!

 

[Arakhor]

I can see the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and what is perhaps Mount Rushmore, but I don't recognise any of the others for now.

 

[Kyriakos]

 

[Takhisis]

There are numerous ways to interpret such stories. I remember seeing a ballet version of Sleeping Beauty in which "love's first kiss" meant the prince woke her up by raping her (this was shown on PBS).

I recommend that you read Eric Burns-White's statements on the hero's redeeming penis theme.

And here's some more details of the turtles. Say "aww" when you find the baby turtles that have just hatched!

But they only have one head each!

 

[Michkov]

I'm talking about the 1960s, and me finding this stuff in the children's section of the public library. There was a whole shelf full of fairy tale books.

Or maybe it was just my imagination. I remember having a nightmare about Snow White when I was 8. In the dream I was riding in my dad's white Toyota car and we went waaay off course and got stuck in the really narrow winding stairway of the Wicked Queen's castle. She was coming to get us and I couldn't get the door open to escape.

That's nostalgia for you, I read those stories so did my dad and his dad before and they all turned out alright. After all it's not like these things are real. Maybe tell the kids that before they start reading

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The thing about children's literature and drama is that it's perceived very differently in a lot of cases at the time when a child is first exposed to it and when they revisit it as an adult.

I remember really enjoying Peter Pan when I saw the Disney version. 20 years later I worked on a production of the musical when the theatre company I worked for did it. It was still a fun show. Fast forward another ~30 years and I saw a live production on TV... and I was appalled. I never realized before just how utterly racist that story is.

Yes, society's attitudes have changed a great deal and when the original story was written, Indians (or aboriginals/indigenous/native/whatever term is currently approved) were considered to be unenlightened, childlike, and in need of being "civilized." But considering how everything has changed all this time later, that musical needs to be retired and not performed anymore.

 

[Hygro]

Valka that sandcastle looks a lot like Civ box art.

 

[Arakhor]

I did think it looked a bit like the Civ 3 Tower of Babel, yes.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've never owned any boxed versions of Civ III, so I wouldn't know. This was an effort to break the Guiness world record for building the world's tallest sandcastle, and it took place somewhere in Germany. The group was successful.

I don't know who designed it or where they got their ideas from.

 

[tjs282]

The thing about children's literature and drama is that it's perceived very differently in a lot of cases at the time when a child is first exposed to it and when they revisit it as an adult.

So true. Remembering how much I enjoyed Arthur Ransome's 'Swallows & Amazons' series (apart from 'Peter Duck' and 'Missee Lee') when I was their age, I read the first one -- published in 1930, set in 1929 -- to my boys as their bedtime story earlier this year.

The books are reasonably progressive in some ways (e.g. the first book puts John Walker and Nancy Blackett -- who is a wonderful creation -- on an equal footing, and all 4 girls contribute to the adventures at least as much as the 2 boys do), but in others, not so much (e.g. Susan does most/all of the domestic/camp chores 'because she likes doing it').

Likewise, they're clearly very much a product of their time: the (British upper-middle class) Swallows' casual colonialism (imagining themselves as intrepid explorers, and casting everyone else as 'natives' and 'savages') seems much more jarring now than it did when I was 8 -- so with any luck, that aspect went whooshing over my boys' heads as well.

 

[Kyriakos]

Seems that everyone visits the flea market these days; no money to spare.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, it's like reading Bomba the Jungle Boy. It's a blatant ripoff of Tarzan in South America, a white boy lost and meeting a lot of Injuns who're superstitious, primitive and stupid, and of course the big bad and any characters worth mentioning as individuals are white visitors e.g. naturalists and millionaires. Some of the Injuns are good because they help the white protagonists and are loyal to them.


Anyway, pics:

Filipinos riding on carts cross an overflowing dam during a downpour in Las Piña, Philippines.
Photograph: Francis R. Malasig/EPA

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Arakhor]

Well, that's elaborate.

 

[Kyriakos]

Alphabet as a totem-pole-kin?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The "Q" is a bit weird.

 

[Silurian]

Lower case