Friday: Hili Dialogue (and lagniappe)

February 5, 2016 • 6:15 am

It’s Friday, and tomorrow I’m off to Old Blighty. Just for one week, though, an unpleasantly short trip, as I’d prefer to stay longer. But shortly after I return I’ll be off to Halifax, Ottawa, and Montreal, where I will eat poutine, bagels, and smoked meat. On February 5, 1909, the invention of the first plastic (Bakelite) was announced; it was very brittle and is no longer used, but the clarinet I had as a teenager was made from it.  On this day in 1939, Franco became the head of Spain; he remains dead. And on this day William Burroughs was born in 1914, Hank Aaron in 1934, and, in 1956, Betty Ong—a flight attendant on AA flight 11, who reported from the plane via cellphone before it was flown into the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is dissing poor Cyrus again. Malgorzata is not sure what Andrzej (who writes the dialogues) was on about, she guesses that “Ants can be satanists – they can bite and it is painful as hell. Ants, with their totalitarian organization in the nest, cannot be sceptical.”

Cyrus: Shall I tell you a story how a satanist ant met a skeptical ant?
Hili: You are lying. There are no sceptical ants.

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In Polish:
Cyrus: Opowiedzieć ci jak się mrówka satanistka spotkała z mrówką sceptyczką?
Hili: Kłamiesz, nie ma mrówek sceptyczek.

Reader Bruce sent this photo from the Millie LaRue Fan Club (note: Millie is a d*g, so you don’t have to “like: the page), and they’re asking for a caption. It smells like a setup photo to me. For one thing, the cup has clearly been moved.

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Here’s Gus:

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And here’s Leon, back in Wroclawek:

Leon: One has to rest before the weekend.

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18 thoughts on “Friday: Hili Dialogue (and lagniappe)”

  1. “On this day in 1939, Franco became the head of Spain; he remains dead.” I may be wrong, but is this not a reference to a running gag in National Lampoon magazine from the ’70s?

      1. Yes, but I also seem to recall a picture of Franco with a balloon of him saying “I’m still dead.” in National Lampoon. Of course that was during my undergraduate days and my memory of that time may be somewhat suspect.

      2. I caught the reference (gosh, now I feel old!)

        Another Chevy Chase “Weekend Update” favorite from the same memory bank: “This just in: Sirhan Sirhan today announced he is changing his name to Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan. No reason was given for the change.”

    2. On this day in 1939, Franco became the head of Spain; he remains dead.

      Is there any evidence of significant lamentation over this. (I’m feeling generous – I’ll allow his family a small amount of lamentation. As long as they do it in Guernica.

    1. My eldest son, Zac now 39 years of age, likes showing to his three kiddos one of my finest pix of when he himself was ~seven months old: whilst my father and I quaffed our morning’s java, Z crawled on over to Grandpa’s kitty’s water bowl and, there in the same posturing as this wee girl’s, took his morning’s beverage and simply quenched that thirst.

      Love the pix — even if a setup.
      Sweet memory.

      Blue

  4. LANDLORD BITTER – your fave – official beer f WEIT? search here for availability in a pub – the nearest to the Institute of Education where the talk is, postcode WC1H 0AL, is near where I work – 1/2 a mile walk.
    http://timothytaylor.co.uk/pubs
    I heard Chomsky talk there years ago, and Richard Dawkins.

    1. Thanks. I’ll declare it the Official Beer if I get a good pint. It was CAMRA’s Beer of the Year a while back, and deservedly so.

      Pity they stopped making my other fave: Ind Coope Burton Ale.

    2. Hmmm, I did ask Oxford CAMRA for some suggestions a few days ago, but no response …

  6. Speaking of Satanists, the Satanist Temple has just achieved a bit of a victory in Phoenix. They applied to give the invocation before the city council and the council threw a hissy fit and ultimately decided to drop the invocation tradition entirely. And, no they didn’t bite anyone.

    1. And, no they didn’t bite anyone.

      That is because atheists have the trademark on biting…at least for babies.

  7. Gus and Leon are looking very sharp today.

    Good to hear Franco is still dead. I never thought he would die.

  8. Actually, I adore the two Bakelite hand mirrors and a gorgeous, red snakeskin – design, bangle bracelet given me.

    Very many (~50k) Bakelite items on eBay this morning, too, as always there are a whole lotta.lotta up for auction. Amongst today’s offerings ? thus o’PCC(E)’s likely, not ? http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-UNIQUE-ENGLISH-GRAFTON-VINTAGE-CATALIN-PHENOLIC-BAKELITE-CLARINET-/111893981949?hash=item1a0d66aafd:g:pkAAAOSwX~dWo8As Check out its cost !

    And the clarinet is not even the priciest Bakelite item up just today: there’s a wristwatch @ ~$60k, a necklace valued at that (its entry states) with a take – it – now tag of only $28k and a $19k Fender Stratocaster circa Buddy Holly !

    Blue

  10. The Bakelite factoid reminds me of the old Barnes & Barnes song (think Weird Al Yankovich for oldsters) entitled “Linoleum” with the repeating, echo-effect lyrics, “Linseed oil… solidified by… oxidation.”

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