Category: Beauty

Swoopy

Architecture

Following on from last night’s post, I happened on this little photo essay:

Eero Saarinen’s outlandish air terminal for TWA at New York’s JFK International Airport was sculpted as an abstract symbol of flight.

Now most Readers. knowing my abhorrence for Modernist architecture, would be forgiven for thinking that this post will be a diatribe against this building.  But on the contrary, I think it’s beautiful — for one thing, there aren’t any hideous straight lines and corners such as found in Bauhaus monstrosities.  As the writer of the article puts it:

Unlike most air terminals, which seemed intent on depressing passengers, Saarinen’s not only raised the spirits but also showed that concrete structures could be truly delightful.

And it is.  In the time it was built, I would imagine that its space-age, swoopy shape would be very much in keeping with the age of early space travel of the late 1950s and early 60s.  As the designer himself put it:

“…the architecture itself would express the drama and excitement of travel… shapes deliberately chosen in order to emphasize an upward-soaring quality of line.”

The first tragedy is that Saarinen died the year before his creation was finished.

The second tragedy is that the beautiful building has of course been “modernized” to make it “more efficient”.

Ugh.

There’ll be a parallel essay to this topic on Saturday.

Getting Worried

Architecture, Resistance

Not me, for a change, but the Modernists certainly are.  Note the panic in this piece:

This time around, the traditionalist lunatics have succeeded in taking over the asylum. Reactionary ideas hostile to the cosmopolitan, to Modernism, to modernity itself, are in the ascendant. Tory placemen (and they are generally men) are being appointed to the boards of cultural institutions such as the British Museum and the BBC. The thoroughly middle-class National Trust is under attack as “woke” for exploring colonialism.

I am so pleased that our ideas so hostile to Modernism and all that Le Corbusierian ugliness are starting to alarm the Left.

I also love the fact that the author of this nonsense reveals his bias and prejudices so clearly, such as referring to respected philosopher Sir Roger Scruton as “tweedy” — tweed being the clothing fabric of the hated upper classes, don’t you know — and saying that we conservatives are the lunatics simply for wanting to keep and maintain our heritage (as opposed to “rebuilding better” every generation or so).  And gawd forbid that more men are becoming influential in the cultural wars…

Note too that this Lefty asshole is a “a member of the Mayor of London’s Diversity in the Public Realm Commission“.  Diversity in the public realm?

Never let it be forgotten that people of his ilk perpetrated crimes against the “public realm” such as the infamous Red Road housing units in Glasgow:

…which were recently demolished, to the relief of everyone including the residents.

A pox on Modernism and all its adherents.

Black & White Beauties

Beauty, Gratuitous Chick Pics

We haven’t done one of these for a while, so from my archives, feast your eyes on some of the lesser-known beauties of yore:

Patricia Morison

Lisa Gay

Corinne Calvet

Ruth Roman

Evelyn Nesbit

Odette Lara

Hildegard Knef

…and the original Bond Girl, Lilian

And just for the heck of it, something a little more daring from Miss Bond:

Woof.

Whoa Mama

Gratuitous Chick Pics, Music

The other day I was browsing through a report of some celebrity event (so that y’all don’t have to), said event being a country music award thing, featuring 50+ popsy Connie Britton (invited, no doubt, because she once played a country singing star on TV).

Well, says, I, nothing wrong with having a look at Connie, even though she’s a tiresome old Lefty, because I loved her in Friday Night Lights :

Yup, it’s all still there.

However, in scrolling down the page past a few country musicians I’d never heard of before (no surprise as I’m by no means a fan of the genre) I came upon one Hannah Dasher, and my ears suddenly pricked up, because:

Yup, I know she’s a big ol’ gal, but as any fule kno, that’s my particular weak spot.

So on to her music.  Here’s You’re Gonna Love Me…

…and by golly, I do.

Afterthought:  yes, she reminds me of her too, only in brunette.

Website Problem

Gratuitous Chick Pics

Longtime Reader Roy obviously took two Grumpy Pills instead of his normal one, and tells me off:

I hate to say it, Kim, but I am not seeing a whole lot of difference between your regular “Women” pics and your “Train Smash Women” pics. They all seem to have the same thing in common: “massive mammaries” all out of proportion to their figure.

Well, it all depends on perspective and situation, dunnit?  Here are two examples, one of my “regular” choices, and one Train Smash.  See if you can spot the difference:

The point is not the similarities in appearance — of which I will readily agree, on occasion — but life choices.

One of the problems with liking voluminous female frontal shapes is that generally speaking, one has to accept a certain degree of, shall we say extra tonnage on the rest of the premises.

More to the point, skinny women with huge tatas are the ones which look misshapen (YMMV):

…whereas the larger ladies (my preference) at least look in proportion (e.g. Kelly Brook, above).

And let’s not even talk about Teh Skinnies:

…who have no place on my website unless they do something of note (Righteous Shooters, for example).

So there ya go.