Author: Kim du Toit

Granite State Call-In

Disaster

I may need a little personal help from my Readers in New Hampshire — it doesn’t involve me, but someone very dear to me, and it is not financial.

So if you live in New Hampshire, please drop me an email and I’ll supply the details.

Many thanks.

Monday Funnies

Funny Stuff

And in a more classical vein, after last Friday’s annual physical:

But let’s move on from that, and into the usual mixture of smut, bad taste and slander:

Now for the “smut” part:

And if that’s what awaits you at your workplace, you should hit the road…

Boldini’s Portraits

Fine Art

I may have mentioned before that one of my favorite artists, Giovanni Boldini, made a name for himself as a portrait artist during the late 1800s and early 20th century.  But I didn’t feature too many of those portraits — which oversight I’m now going to rectify.

Here’s La Contessa Speranza:

…Madame E.L. Doyen:

…Madame Juillard:

…Madame Veil-Picard:

…Mrs. Howard Johnston:

…Lina Bilitis (with her two Pekinese):

…and one of his favorite subjects, La marchesa Luisa Casati:

All these, and many more can be seen here.  It’s only when you look at portraits done by other artists of the time that you can see how different Boldini was, and why he was one of the most popular.  Here’s one (Florence Chambres) that he himself painted in about 1862, before he developed his signature style:

I think you get my point.

But just in case you were getting sick of all those society dames, here’s another of my non-portrait Boldini favorites, At The Paris Opera:

This one was painted sometime during the late 1880s, as I recall, and just looking at it makes me want to go back in time to the fin-de-siècle period.  What a riot.

Checkup & Oil Change

Health

Yup, it’s time for the annual check under the hood, looking at the dipstick and of course all those irritating questions:

Not to mention getting all judgey:

See y’all later, I hope.

Update:  All good, subject to the blood test results.  Alert the media.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

I know that Righteous Shootings, almost by definition, include the term “needed killing” somewhere in the preamble.  But here’s an excellent example of taking out someone who’s just breathing oxygen unnecessarily:

A Vietnam War veteran managed to fend off a deranged, naked intruder who broke into a woman’s California home on Friday morning.

The elderly vet was thrown to the ground by the maniac, fracturing both of his legs before he opened fire and fatally shot the intruder.

Police say the nude suspect had been wandering the neighborhood moments earlier, shouting incoherently and attempting to break into several homes.

LAPD Capt. Warner Castillo told reporters that the suspect eventually forced his way into a residence where a woman and two other people were inside, including the 79-year-old veteran, identified by neighbors only as George.

‘The 79-year-old man tells the suspect to leave, tells him I have a gun and I will shoot you. The suspect grabs the man, lifts him, throws him on the ground, and that’s where the man suffered two broken legs,’ Castillo said.

Despite being in agony having been body slammed to the ground by the intruder, the elderly homeowner managed to grab his firearm. 

And the best part:

Police said the rambling man was shot at least two or three times inside the home before collapsing.

Yeah, but:

‘I think it’s a textbook example of self-defense, and I really, really hope he does not face charges,’ neighbor Betsy Weiss said.

It’s Los fucking Angeles, so anything’s possible — but I think the “two broken legs” thing should cause even an L.A. district attorney to think twice before pressing charges.

But the locals should start warming up the tar and plucking the chicken feathers, just in case.