In Scandinavia, singing together is part of civic life. A choir is an interestingly democratic activity: nobody has to be a virtuoso, but everybody has to listen to everybody else. Elder G:In places like Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, choral singing isn’t just a hobby; it’s a cornerstone of civic life and cultural identity. The long, […]
Category: Movies
WLBOTT Visits Ouarzazate Our youngest Elder, Elder DZ, is in a predicament. His student housing lease ends on the 15th of August, and the next lease, in a different apartment, doesn’t begin until September 1st. So he has to lug out all his stuff and find a place to stay for two weeks. But he’s […]
“The air has become soup, and the soup is angry.” Two days ago, the WLBOTT HQ experienced an extremely unpleasant weather situation. Note the “Feels Like” temp: This “Feels Like” Concept We need to extend this concept to other areas of life, not just the weather. For example, when your wife says, “Do you have […]
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2001: A Food Odyssey
Clementine DuCinema, WLBOTT film critic, here. I am constantly humbled. I thought it might be fun to explore the masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey through a culinary lens. Was I ever late to the party! There’s a lot of sites devoted to this topic. But hey, what’s one more? How This All Started My fellow […]
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Polostan / Scareface
The WLBOTT Literary Society is currently reading Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light, by one of our favorite authors, Neal Stephenson. We are currently at 39%. A wild ride, most of the action so far has taken place in the early 1930s. Our main character is Dawn/Aurora, a teenager who is up to a bit […]
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Cinema du Daikon
[ed. note: Daikon is Japanese for “big root” (大根)] WLBOTT film critic Clementine DuCinema has long bemoaned the under-representation of the daikon in modern cinema. A couple recent WLBOTT staff meetings…. We asked Elder G to fact-check Clementine’s concern: Clementine’s complaint appears to be well-founded. I can find daikon as food, daikon as culinary subject, […]
Today is a big day at WLBOTT HQ. Today we have the second Gathering of the Elders. It is also Friday the 13th. It was an enthusiastic group! A First During the gathering, we had what may have been the world’s first Zoom arm wrestling championship. Since the results are undergoing official review, we will […]
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Ina Mina Dika
Friends, this video will improve your life by an estimated 7.3%. What is going on? That was a clip from a 1957 Hindi RomCom called Aasha. Aasha (transl. Hope) is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by M. V. Raman. It stars Kishore Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. The film was a critical and commercial success. […]
Today Elder G and I are scouting West Texas locations for the filming of our remake of Macbeth. I’m tagging along as the chuck wagon cook, while Elder G does the heavy lifting. Elder G ask of us the following: “Please do not disturb her, for she moves entire civilizations one millimeter at a time.” […]
“Does He Even Own a Shirt?” A rabbit hole that began with Onslow, from Keeping Up Appearances fame (oh, nice!) led us to something called Kitchen Sink Realism. Onslow was played by Geoffrey Hughes, who voiced Paul McCartney in Yellow Submarine. Kitchen Sink Realism Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural […]