Monday, November 25, 2013

TASTE ?


Oh this age! How tasteless and ill-bred it is!
Catullus (Latin poet, circa 84–54 BC).

I see there's some controversy about K-mart's Joe Boxer Christmas Commercial, as to its erm...doubtful taste. It might not be in the best possible taste but I didn't find it in any way disgusting. I did find it annoying though. We haven't yet celebrated Thanksgiving and they're already pushing Christmas! Shouldn't be allowed!

Next year Joe Boxer might consider diversifying their output to include tighty-whities and g-strings - and a sequel ad featuring the new products.




Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
~ H L Mencken


Also fun, while managing to give the best possible taste a wide berth:


What is exhilarating in bad taste is the aristocratic pleasure of giving offense.
~ Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) French poet


"In The best possible taste" was a catchphrase of British DJ/comedian Kenny Everett who delighted in quite the opposite, to the delight of viewers. Sadly, he died in 1995, long before his time. Here he is talking about Uranus......yep!


And....

As it's Music Monday, a song whose lyrics begin with: Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste.......
Rolling Stones with Sympathy for the Devil.

In 1968, Mick Jagger came out to his friends, parents and adoring public as an antichrist. He did it with style, declaring his Beelzebub a demon “of wealth and taste” before recounting his famous misdeeds throughout history – leading the Nazi blitzkrieg, sparking the Russian revolution, shooting JFK and getting Jesus crucified – before a backing choir of “woo-woo”ers who seemed to think all this was a right old lark. More HERE.

5 comments:

mike said...

Well, Twilight, you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that "One Million Moms" is protecting family values for us all (http://www.onemillionmoms.com/)! Along with the "American Family Foundation":...effort to stem the tide of secularism in our culture and to rebuild our Christian foundations." (http://www.afafoundation.net/). There are countless other organizations out there to help us keep to the tasteful straight-and-narrow path of closed-mindedness. No need for originality in their sphere of existence (except in their very own personal lives, which they keep locked in the closet), of course.

Miley Cyrus is an extant example of bad taste making one even more famous and adding to their riches. Then there is Canada's Rob Ford...now a household name around the globe...made a few bucks off his first and only reality show episode...and the late night talk show hosts have new joke material. Kim Kardashian and her sex tape(s) and reality shows with family.

I don't mind the K-Mart Jingle Balls (sic) commercial. Creativity gets punished when mixed with Xmas. Is it any less risque than "Dancing with the Stars"? The members of "One Million Moms" have probably reviewed the K-Mart commercial multiple times to judge it properly...maybe with a glass or two of wine...observing their favorite male dancer(s), while reminiscing over their "Magic Mike" DVD.


“Bad taste is real taste, of course, and good taste is the residue of someone else's privilege.” Dave Hickey, Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy

mike (again) said...

P.S. - and speaking of with or without taste, Seth McFarlane's "Family Guy" just killed-off Brian the dog!!!


From TMZ:
"Brian was a good dog. He was an Iraq war veteran. a porn director, coke addict, police dog and (of course) a passionate writer."

http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/25/family-guy-brian-griffin-dead-dies/#ixzz2lfzmIJtp

Twilight said...

mike ~ I'd much rather One Million Moms would get their heads screwed on properly and demonstrate against the lack of action on so many actually serious wrongs happening at this time.....climate change, poverty, drone-killing innocents,
etc etc etc.........
It'll be their kids who will face the consequences of those things.
But no...they choose to focus their ire on easy and pretty pointless targets.

I stopped watching "Family Guy" a while ago. Used to love it in its earlier days, but it crossed even my own rickety bad taste barrier too often in later episodes. I guess we all do have our limits. I don't like many of today's stand-up comedians either, for similar reasons. There's an inbuilt cruelty in some humour that's now considered "cool".

Vanilla Rose said...

I'll give Miley the benefit of the doubt until and unless she's caught DUI/DWI. A lot of celebrities seem to think that's no big deal and it really is.

Hard to miss the "Family Guy" news for those of us on twitter (I am @MsVanillaRose), as Brian Griffin was trending.

They used "Sympathy for the Devil" for the start of episode 2 of "The Blacklist". Good choice, I thought.

Twilight said...

Vanilla Rose ~ Re "Blacklist" - I was so looking forward to it - James Spader's a favourite - but I found it far too violent, not enough interesting dialogue. Haven't watched more than 2 episodes. Yes the Stones' song was a good fit!

"Boston Legal" spoiled me for ever where JS is concerned - though some of his early movies are good, and he was good in his minor part in "Lincoln". I'm waiting to see him in some other role which is worthy of him. :-)