July, 2017 archive
Disney’s Pablumfication Factory 0
The Local notes how Disney alters German folk tales they “adapt” from those collected and codified by the Brothers Grimm. Here’s one example:
In the Grimm version though, the road to young romance is a lot more rocky.
The story goes that Rapunzel lets down her hair so that a prince can climb it up to her window, but when the evil sorceress that guards her gets wind of what’s happening, she cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and keeps it for herself.
One day upon climbing up the rope of hair dangled by the sorceress, the prince finds the witch instead of his beloved girlfriend and throws himself from the tower in desperation, landing face-first in a bed of thorns and thus blinding himself.
The prince then wanders blindly for years until he finally stumbles into Rapunzel, who apparently had been living “miserably” in the forest as a single mother of twins all this time. Her tears heal his eyes, and then they live happily ever after.
My grandmother had a two volume collection of Grimm’s tales in translation dating likely from the 1930s. I remember reading “The Snow Queen” when I was (probably) about 12.
The un-Disney-fied tale is one of the darkest and scariest stories I have ever read.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Warning: Language.
Don’t Get Smished 0
It’s been a long time since I received spam texts on my phone, but, as the number of cellphone users has increased, apparently so to has the problem. Plus, the nature of the spam has changed. It’s moved from unwanted ads to fraud.
(snip)
The scam can reach more people, and the messages look real, so it’s easier to fool them, he said.
More at the link.
E. R. 0
Nicholas Kristoff wonders what would happen if Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell were your E. R. doctors.
“The Unforgiven” 0
Gina Barreca compiles a list. It’s not who you might think.
The Court Is in Sessions 0
Will Bunch muses whether “civil asset forfeiture” can be applied to Jeff Sessions for his lying under oath, as no conviction is required to take someone’s stuff. Here’s a bit:
When Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota asked Sessions a fairly straight-forward question about reports of links between the Trump campaign and Moscow, the future AG volunteered: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.” It turns out, as Sessions later conceded in a follow-up written statement, he’d met with the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak. Twice, he insisted — and he doesn’t remember much what they talked about but it wasn’t really the Trump campaign. Honest. Now investigators are probing whether there was at least a third meeting that Sessions didn’t report even when he tried to clear up that first false statement.
Rats Abandon Sinking Ships 0
Remember, the behavior of the rats is not predictive of the ship’s eventual sinking. It’s just self-preservation.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Practice random acts of politeness.
About 2 p.m., Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies received a report a man had been shot in the back at a home in the 14500 block of West 19th Street, near Sand Springs, spokeswoman Casey Roebuck said.
Surveillance footage from the home and witness reports indicate no one was in the backyard when the man was shot, leading deputies to believe the shot was fired yards away, Roebuck said.
Spicing Things Up 0
Alfred Doblin meditates on the short tenure of Shaun Spicer. A snippet:
And a press secretary is only as good as the message he is selling.
“Sit Down and Shut Up” 0
Warning: Language.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Play politely.
Police said two men were playing around with a gun in a basement-level room when the gun accidentally went off, killing one of them.
Trumpling the Peace Corps 0
Gene Nichols recently visited his daughter, who is a Peace Corps volunteer currently working in Gambia. The experience prompted him to muse on the Peace Corps and the motivation of Peace Corps volunteers in the time of Trump. Here’s a bit:
To our president, they’re chumps. For him, the only reason to deal with a place like Gambia is to exploit its people and resources. Winners take. They use. They grow the bottom line. They produce bigger buildings, larger portfolios. All the world envies them. Character, selflessness and service aren’t part of the framework. They never enter the calculus. They never have.
Trumpling Science 0
A scientist speaks out to express his dismay at the Trump administration’s decision ot ignore facts. A snippet:
Follow the link for the scary part.
