Went out to dinner in a little French bistro. Ate about sixteen atoms of food. I had some crustaceans that yielded no more than a tablespoon of meat, but the mustard and the, oh, I don’t know, the drizzle - probably some truffle oil made by a family that has been making truffle oil for six generations - it was marvelous. The main course was a literal log of chicken.
“You had the chicken?” My wife said. “And not the lamb?”
“I feel bad for lambs,” I said, “And I wanted to see what the French would do with the blank slate of chicken.” Make a log of it, as it turned out. My wife had something that looked like an abstract sculpture in a lake the hue of fresh uranium. All quite fine.
The waiter had a Star Wars tattoo, the Jedi order. I asked him if he played Knights of the Old Republic, and he had, and asked, somewhat surprised, if I did. No. Not an RPG / 3rd person guy. I don’t like hovering above a character’s back. More of an FPS guy. Ever heard of Dark Forces? He had not. I said it was a Doom clone that got pretty good, and he should look at some YouTubes to see how things have changed.
I later realized he was probably not born when Dark Forces came out.
Someone posted this on Twitter, and I had to investigate.
It is difficult to reconcile two things: I barely remember it, and it was around in the 80s. C’mon, man! The 80s, just the other day, right?
I don’t know if I went there. That’s the unnerving part. I recall drive-in trips in the late 80s for dates, and a newspaper story. We thought they would always be there, so there was no haste to go. But then they were gone.
This one was special.
You can hear the Jetsons theme, can't you?
Don’t know if that was so.
It was dark red brick, with varying colors. This made it modern, but not futuristic. There's a difference.
To get a better idea of the materials:
Carpeted!
In Fargo there was a drive-in on the north edge of town. The Star-Lite. I’ve no recollection of going there when I was in the playground demo; I do remember being sleepy when we came back from the Farm, rounding the corner where the old highway merged into the streets of Fargo. I’d see the enormous silent images up on the screen. It was a great, strange dream.
Later when I went to the Star-Lite in high school I saw the playground area. It seemed rusted and disused.
Anyway, back to France.
Dump 'em off; they don't care about the movie, anyway. Don't worry - they're constantly observed by a Gerry Anderson marionette!
Primp all you like and hope the Coke bottle worked
Social distancing:
I drive past the site twice a week. I think about it once a year. If that.
It's Thursday! Time for cul-chah
1833. Attributed to Auguste Desperret.
Auguste Desperret (1804-65) was a French artist who produced political cartoons and caricatures for the republican satirical weekly La Caricature, edited by Charles Philipon, which flourished briefly in France following the relaxation of press censorship brought by the July Revolution of 1830. That revolution brought an end to the authoritarian rule of King Charles X, who was forced into exile and replaced by the ‘July Monarchy’ of Louis-Philippe I (who would in turn be overthrown in the revolution of 1848).
This one’s a puzzler. Playe? Google translate has no help.
The bottom left cage says Ste. Pelagie - okay, we can figure out that one. A prison, seen here.
A prison, seen here.
Ah - could they all be prisons?
Google La Force, and voila. Playe, still don’t know. The names on the keys don’t translate. IK don’t know if the guy is allegorical or a real figure.
But you get the idea.
|
Fifty-six thousand souls, the size of Fargo when I was growing up. But not an oasis in the middle of nowhere - it's a Cook County burb, and old. It split off from Cicero in 1908.
