Observing our obstriction...

---

What a wonderful image. Seen HERE on the Twitter feed of BabelColour @StuartHumphryes 

The picture is outside Mansion House, London in 1919. The post was from Remembrance Day yesterday: "101 years ago today: 11am on Tuesday 11th November 1919, crowds in London observe the very first 2 minute silence for those killed in the Great War. The men have removed their hats out of respect for the fallen. (I originally coloured this photo for the Evening Standard in 2019)."

Observing our obstriction...

---

What a wonderful image. Seen HERE on the Twitter feed of BabelColour @StuartHumphryes 

The picture is outside Mansion House, London in 1919. The post was from Remembrance Day yesterday: "101 years ago today: 11am on Tuesday 11th November 1919, crowds in London observe the very first 2 minute silence for those killed in the Great War. The men have removed their hats out of respect for the fallen. (I originally coloured this photo for the Evening Standard in 2019)."

OMG VI...

---

I knew I wasn't the only one thinking this...

For those thousands or concerned readers, please accept my apologies for lack of blogging recently; posting will remain light, certainly for the short-term.

OMG VI...

---

I knew I wasn't the only one thinking this...

For those thousands or concerned readers, please accept my apologies for lack of blogging recently; posting will remain light, certainly for the short-term.

Only Obama's olinguito...

---

The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].



For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

Only Obama's olinguito...

---

The story behind this famous selfie is HERE

Last month the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013 was declared as "selfie". The word has become more popular with the ubiquitousness of smartphones but has in fact been around for over a decade (yes, before Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed). Barely a month later the site Selfies at funerals closes up shop because Obama just put the cherry on the icing on the cake. The main reasons why the picture of Obama's selfie stands out are many as a great article in the New York Post makes clear and few that pay any attention at all can doubt Obama's narcissitic tendancy: "Days before the funeral selfie, the White House tweeted out a Pearl Harbor remembrance that consisted of a photo of Obama laying a wreath. Six days before that he honored Rosa Parks by tweeting out a picture of himself sitting on the bus she desegregated. Nine days before that he honored the anniversary of JFK’s death with a tweet of himself looking at the fallen president’s White House portrait." [Link NYP]. Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press has another word for it: "Until the White House revisits its draconian restrictions on photojournalists’ access to the president, information-savvy citizens, too, would be wise to treat those handout photos for what they are: propaganda." [Link, NYT].

For those interested the Word of the Year shortlist (see first link above) was as follows: bedroom tax (the BBC's favourite); binge-watch, bitcoin, olinguito (Ows' favourite), schmeat (WTF?), showrooming and twerk (any perv's favourite).

Offensive or Overreaction III?...

---

Sports Illustrated's 2013 Swimsuit Issue; Katie Upton is on the cover again but another issue is if they are "perpetuating racial stereotypes by drawing power and class lines between the Westernized models and the 'primitive locals'" as Jezebel Mag Hag argues....hmmm, there are a few pictures on the Yahoo!News link (fast heading toward eleven thousand comments!) but the Jezebel website has far more: surely adding to the exploitation if any existed.  "People are not props", they say, 'Why not?' I ask and they tend to shoot themselves in the foot by adding "Using people of color as background or extras is a popular fashion trope... ...But although it's prevalent, it's very distasteful". Eh? People of colour? Half the models are people of colour and is it OK if the 'props' are white people? Anyway, the hat-tipee Weasel Zippers makes a good point about Yahoo!News' saying that the "reaction has been mixed, even among the men who are supposed to be titillated": "Someone needs to tell Yahoo! News the men who comment on liberal feminist blogs are not even remotely representative...".



Interesting factoid: The swimsuit edition 'has become one of Time Inc.’s biggest revenue drivers over the years, bringing in more than $1 billion' [Forbes] Wow.

Offensive or Overreaction III?...

---

Sports Illustrated's 2013 Swimsuit Issue; Katie Upton is on the cover again but another issue is if they are "perpetuating racial stereotypes by drawing power and class lines between the Westernized models and the 'primitive locals'" as Jezebel Mag Hag argues....hmmm, there are a few pictures on the Yahoo!News link (fast heading toward eleven thousand comments!) but the Jezebel website has far more: surely adding to the exploitation if any existed.  "People are not props", they say, 'Why not?' I ask and they tend to shoot themselves in the foot by adding "Using people of color as background or extras is a popular fashion trope... ...But although it's prevalent, it's very distasteful". Eh? People of colour? Half the models are people of colour and is it OK if the 'props' are white people? Anyway, the hat-tipee Weasel Zippers makes a good point about Yahoo!News' saying that the "reaction has been mixed, even among the men who are supposed to be titillated": "Someone needs to tell Yahoo! News the men who comment on liberal feminist blogs are not even remotely representative...".

Interesting factoid: The swimsuit edition 'has become one of Time Inc.’s biggest revenue drivers over the years, bringing in more than $1 billion' [Forbes] Wow.

Optimus odous II...

---

In the original optimus odous I asked rhetorically if anyone could still say that the Carcharodon carcharias in the film 'Jaws' didn't look real (I could have asked the same thing here). In the picture below it's a similar tale: decoy seal, sublime predator. Photo credit Dana Allen (Cater News) in False Bay, off Cape Town in South Africa. From the DT picture gallery today. You get the feeling this shark has been pictured before: just imagine it's a dog with a bone: he's looking at the camera and he's smiling!

Optimus odous II...

---

In the original optimus odous I asked rhetorically if anyone could still say that the Carcharodon carcharias in the film 'Jaws' didn't look real (I could have asked the same thing here). In the picture below it's a similar tale: decoy seal, sublime predator. Photo credit Dana Allen (Cater News) in False Bay, off Cape Town in South Africa. From the DT picture gallery today. You get the feeling this shark has been pictured before: just imagine it's a dog with a bone: he's looking at the camera and he's smiling!