(1657) Almost evening all.

 

17. Taking another look at Max Headroom

Why? Answer: Because two or three suggested vids and vlogs came up on it on Youtube … so what does that say about my consumer habits? The power of suggestion.

Backstory: Chrysalis had a song to promote in the early to mid 80s, so I believe, they needed some kind of computer generated character, Matt Frewer appeared and looked the part as a model for the ad. There are various truths about it, including his own:

The computer graphic wasn’t, it was him with masses of prosthetic makeup … the computer generation was suggested by the artwork backdrops, plus the voice glitches, which were electronic. So they had this concept for a character … how to use it?

TV series of course … but it needed a backstory … good reporter (Frewer) finds out some deep truths about network TV, late night talk shows, the whole talking head thing. The Man wants him dead, there’s a chase, he crashes into one of those 80s road or building signs saying Max headroom, meaning vehicles needed to be lower than that. All good as an idea.

But what to get him to do? Here was the first glitch … those who’d created him were earning their money from The Man … and they were mocking, satirising, exposing it all … there was this ‘keep it safe’ thing … yes, he was rude, abrasive, nonWoke, embarrassing, all sorts … including witty, fast on the uptake … it was good for awhile … Elvis Costello had been doing it, the new Gen X were irreverent. One part of the joke was he looked vaguely pre WW2 Aryan … which was real irreverence towards the black nobility.

One disaster was New Coke, with them using MH to sell it … disaster. Plus technology was rapidly improving … it was an idea which, as one analyst put it … had had no major wins in the final analysis … the Sex Pistols had, others had … but there was only so much he could do on TV, for so long. The Letterman and Wogan “interviews” had gone off well enough:

… but where to next? And in this, I’m going to insult the arrogant Left which thinks it’s oh so clever, chortling over the latest joke played on the plebs. And the worst plebs to these people are those on “the joyless Right”, forever angry about this or that … about the oh so clever Left.

It’s a motif played out by the Demrats and Labour today … they hate the people of the land, think them lesser beings, real hicks. In short … exactly whom is Max going to satirise? He’d already offended Slebs, Leftists expecting to be feted, but MH instead played on their weak ego spots. Joke fell flat. Was the Right watching the show? Nope … just the Left, and these creators were mocking them.

The character, the shows, died a natural death. Everyone watching wanted MH satirical in his/her own way, never about them themselves … who lacked humour now?

Someone mentioned MH was very 80s … it had had its time, that was that.

16. Keeping it real

Operation Fortitude, the ingenious deception of WWII. In the build up to the 1944 Normandy landings, British and Allied forces assembled a phantom army to fool German reconnaissance units. Thousands of inflatable vehicles were deployed near Dover to make it look like a landing… pic.twitter.com/W7UWvEIze1

— Bobbie (@bo66ie29) June 5, 2025

15. Steve and war room at 1068

• 3,000 Deportations A Day: Steve Bannon Reacts To Momentum On Sealing Border
• Sen, Josh Hawley: Judges are issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump more than any other president combined
• Jack Posobiec: “If You Want To Keep Your Country You Need Mass Deportations”
• Sense of Urgency: Kevin Czinger Calls On Washington To Act On Industrialization Of A.I.

 

 

Reader Bob with Liz Crokin

(1128) Eat well. (1159)

 

13. Also lest we forget

12. Nothingburger

11. Two Tier no legit mandate

10. The cost of hiring labour

9. Farage and Tice dig the hole that bit deeper

JH: I’d asked Toodles how things were at her riverhouse a morning or two ago, her time and she sent:

The river is like glass atm.

Some of the clouds are dark and hovering, mixed with fluffy whites along with lovely blue patches. A few birds are chasing one another. They are fussing, while the background of nature’s choir is sweet and just slightly dissonant.

Oh! A boat just went past, cutting through, little ripples tapping the bank.

It’s started raining across the other side of the river. Like an army, it is marching quite deliberately over to my side!  On the once smooth river the sound is nice … steady and heavy but not pounding … it brings a nice fragrant breeze up to the verandah … now it’s gotten to the house, making music on the tin roof.

It has been fresh and sweet but now with notes of earthiness. I am getting spray on me, here in my cave, looking out enjoying the breeze and spray….

… oh, that small plane who visits just went through the rain clouds, adding to the music with its low, slow rumble …

… and as it came, it has gone in a flash.  A few dripping soldiers linger drip drooping from the tin and from the cypress needles … the river now flowing at a quick pace.

Interesting texture.

JH: Just a word about those rocks … they’re meant to halt erosion of the bank but apparently, some ex neighbours got naughty about the rocks (lovely for their garden I suppose) … the Toods clan has been repairing the damage since.

Three more pictures tomorrow to give an idea of the Toodles habitat in southern Bama.

(0644) Looking dreary out there, if not exactly raining. Oh no … here come da sun. (0716)

 

8. Saw this in passing

… and thought it might be useful for your online comments, as with Dunning-Kruger, Hultgreen-Curie and so on:

7. NHS and the real state of medicine

They’re all “show more”, inc. Rupert, but you already have the picture I think. I can retrieve it for some days if needed.

6. Steve at 1067

• Arizona Hobbs Vetoes Bill That Would Prevent China From Buying Land Near US Military Bases
• Bongino Reveals FBI Found Sensitive Documents Linked to James Comey
• Macron’s France Promises to Finally Stop Migrant Boats Crossing
• Senator Moreno: We Need to Drag Chris Wray into Congress, Subpoena Him
• Trump calls Putin
• Younger people are suffering strokes – Why could that be?
• EU diverts Covid money laundering funds to fuel the Ukraine war machine
• Ship carrying 800 EVs abandoned in Pacific as toxic fire rages
• Much, much more.

5. X rated DAD today at 1067

a) Three of the leading pornographic video platforms have announced that they will stop broadcasting their content in France as of Wednesday, June 4th (because of age verification)

b) ‘Give me the girl or I’ll kill you’ – French family traumatized after Algerian migrant invades house armed with pitchfork, exposes his genitals and tries to kidnap 8-year-old girl.

c) Italy’s Parliament has approved a sweeping new security law backed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, introducing tougher penalties for squatters, protestors, and those who attack police.

d) Berlin court orders Senate to release suspects’ first names after AfD legal win (knife attckers).

e) France: Unable to control crime, the government now targets beachside smokers.

4. Archived

There was a long piece came through from an unknown (NormandBiz) … and therefore not for publication … but before removing it with all the others it was in with, I had a look, esp. at a couple of the youtubes. The entire thing is now on USB stick for safekeeping but not on my main devices.

It was well put together, the author seemed British to me, opening with Gorgeous George, and it made a case we already know about … esp. on AIPAC. The tone of course was Democrat/Labour, it was what they would run on their serious sites, it was long, many links.

Please know it is archived and accessible, should I need to get to it quickly – there were good points made. Ta for that.

(0518) Morning all … back to politics of the current kind. (0549)

 

3. Just some comments on that other spat

2. Just on that Big Beautiful Bill

1. The Trump-Musk thing

More seriously:

And a counterview to a point:

There being so much on the MSM plus the net, this will be a commemoration but the fine detail can be found in most western publications. For those born on the Planet Zog:

The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day (after the military term), it is the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of France, and the rest of Western Europe, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

[Express]

Naturally we commemorate the planning, decoys, assembly and operation … especially the bravery of those participating … most westerners, plus others have at least some family connection with the event.