iancul

Shorpy - the 100-year-old photo blog - has some great photos:


And the last one, a long, moody, exposure:

Today I had the “honor” of witnessing the utmost essence of manelism impersonated in a human being. As I was riding the tube, I couldn’t help noticing a young man, probably between 25-28 years old, who was listening manele (a music genre which is very much disliked by upper social classes and educated people in general in Romania).

I said I couldn’t help noticing him because even though he had earphones, everyone in the tube wagon could clearly hear the music. Not having anything better to do :P, I started watching him for a while, studying him (gotta keep in touch with all sorts of people if you want to be efficient in advertising, right ? :) ). He was wearing a white Armani Xchange tshirt, with a big A and X sewn on his chest, all glittering like tiny silver coins. He had a well-rounded beer belly, which was stretching his tshirt well enough. He was also wearing some Lottot sneakers, which are a turkish or chinese Lotto ripoff. He was also chewing some gum in a very noisy and self-content way, while keeping the music’s beat with his left foot.

But the pinnacle of his “look” was the book he was reading with great passion. Yes, some “manelists” can read, or so it seems (maybe he was faking it :))))))) ). It was a Sandra Brown book, a very used and “enjoyed” one, maybe borrowed from the barber’s shop where he had his nails done or something like that. I regret not taking a photo, but even that wouldn’t have been able to portray half of this fascinating person.

Finally, to better get the idea and the mood, here’s a real “treat”:
Florin Maimuta - “Pumnii mei minte nu are”
(Florin The Monkey - “My fists brainz ain’t got” - hardly translated to match the original’s lack of any respect for grammar)

Later edit:

found this funny song made by members from Suie Paparude, Junkyard - Run Shot :)

Wonderful work from Stephanie DeArmond.

(via Coudal)

Sometimes I think that kids these days don’t have “the magic” we used to have some good years ago. It’s true they have tons of games, internet, information, etcetera etcetera but most of these are just “quantity” instead of “quality”. Some gems appear from time to time, but few manage to give the “timeless masterpiece” or “true soul enchanter” feeling. And even among these, most of them are retellings of old wonderful stories we used to read at our grandparents’.

Ratatouillle (also highly rated here) is by all means a “feast” for the soul. Pixar has what it takes when it comes to technique, but even they don’t always hit the right recipe (can’t help the puns, sorry :P). Cars, for example, was far from great, good, but never great. Incredibles was loads of fun, but all based on reinterpreting comics and action-movies cliches. Bug’s life.. Woody Allen is a genius, can’t beat that.

And here comes Ratatouille. It looks jaw-dropping, sounds excellent, but the story.. the characters.. That’s where it truly is wonderful. The expressions, the looks, the tiny gestures, the nods, sighs, grimaces, they all make you believe, absorb, watch in awe as Remy’s wonderful universe engulfs you. Every single character is a joy to watch, you can’t help laughing heartily, the voices are perfect (funny thing to see who the people actually are, you get the feeling that they are just some people voiced by Remy and the other characters). Peter O’Toole as Ego has one of the best “villain-esque” characters ever, reminding a lot of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas :) and having one of the best scenes in the movie, the Marcel Proust’s madeleine effect.

This movie will surely earn itself an Oscar, and if it doesn’t then it will either be beaten by another “chef d’oeuvre” or it will be one of the worst cases of Academy forgeries and set-ups :P

In the end, this is what kids nowadays have, gems that are not only on the pages of a book, but right in front of their very eyes, moving, breathing, living by themselves. And just like all truly wonderful stories, Ratatouille manages to enchant anyone, from kid to grown-up.

…but surfing through Flickr I came to see this, fotos from the Apple store on the day the iPhone was launched. I know Apple has some of the most fanatic adepts, it can probably compete islamism when it comes to it’s followers’ dedication :P

Here is the first guy who bought the gadget. How can an object inspire so much joy, excitement? Even kids are less enthusiastic sometimes. Beeing sort of a tech geek myself, I know that getting some new aparatus will have its highs, but this seems just way out of normality. Or something like that. It reminds me of the Mr. Bean gag when he comes in the morning and pops the balloons he used to give the impression he was sleeping first in line at a new store :)

It’s sad when things get to own us, instead of the other way around. It would be nice if we had a Tyler Durden to burn our material chains from time to time and wake us up to reality :) Just let go?…