Author: Kim du Toit

Renaissance Man

Architecture, Beauty, Classic Beauty, Culture, Fine Art

What do you call a man who was a professor of Architecture at Turin University, photographer, writer, skier, inventor of engines and designer of race cars, acrobatic pilot and mountaineer?  Carlo Mollino.

I have to say that I’m not enamored of his exterior architecture designs — there’s way too much Gropius and not enough Athens, never mind art nouveau;

…although not all the time:

His interiors are a little too Scandi and not enough Edwardian:

…although his Teatro Regio in Turin is incredible:


…from the inside;  the outside?

…and of his furniture we will not speak.


(Follow the link above for a full exposition of all these, and more.)

But how can you not enjoy his design of something as mundane as a bus?

And then there was his Basiluro race car, which at Le Mans 1955 (yes, that Le Mans race) managed to reach 135mph with a 750cc engine (!) until it was forced off the track into a ditch by a Jaguar:

However, it was Mollino’s photography which first caught my attention (guess why):

And my favorite:

His ultimate expression was this statement:

“Humans matter only insomuch as they contribute to a historic process; outside of history, humans are nothing.”

And Carlo Mollino sure left his mark on the historical process, in so many fields.  Che uomo!

Nothing New

Anarchist thugs

Christopher Rufo examines the modern Zeitgeist with respect to the murder of that healthcare company executive in Manhattan, summarizing it as “left-wing nihilism”.  (It’s a long read, but a very good one.  Moreover, the topic deserves more than bullet points and bumper sticker aphorisms, so I urge you all to go over there.)

The only issue I have is his description of the condition as “nihilism”.  It isn’t;  it’s anarchism.

And once you realize that, then the parallels between the late 19th century in both Europe and the United States will become immediately apparent.  (For those who want to see that for themselves, I urge you — and not for the first time — to read Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower  for an outstanding analysis of the anarchist movement of that period.)

Simply put, then, the growth of anarchic movements in the West was and is a manifestation of desperate social frustration by young people, and the assassination of politicians, public figures and (back then) royalty was, if you like, simply an inchoate and largely-indiscriminate striking out against authority.  The reasons could be any of a number — hatred of the ruling class, hatred of big business, hatred of the police/army and so on — and just anyone in authority could be a target, whether “justified” or not.

The trap we need to avoid is that of accommodation and empathy towards such anarchists.  Those all very well in dealing with small children, but when adults strike out with such viciousness and violence against society’s laws, they should be treated no differently from rabid animals, and destroyed.  (Small wonder that the Manhattan murderer is going to face federal charges as well as state charges;  New York state set aside the death penalty, you see, but the federal government hasn’t.)

And if they executed Timothy McVeigh for his murderous action, this little bastard Mangione deserves no less.

Curiously Unattractive

The Worst

Yes, they might be outwardly attractive — if you’re into that body type — but for some reason, I have an abiding suspicion that these three conservative chicks would be… unimpressive performers (if you get what I mean).  In no specific order:

Ann Coulter

Megyn Kelly

Laura Ingraham

My friend Patterson always claimed that he avoided what he called “Mensa” women because they generally had no sense of humor. I can’t say that about the above three (because I don’t know them that well), but it’s by no means unlikely.

All I know is that I don’t get the same feeling looking at them as I do when I see Salma Hayek or Scarlett Johannsen, for example.