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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Afternoon Open Thread

Friday Afternoon Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  August 15, 20144:07 pm| 62 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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An image captured in New York City almost exactly 60 years ago by photographer Vivian Maier:

August 1954. New York, NY

Any plans for the weekend? Caption ideas?

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Reader Interactions

62Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    August 15, 2014 at 4:11 pm

    They just showed the film here but it was just for one night. The people that saw it loved it!

  2. 2.

    gbear

    August 15, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    They look happy.

  3. 3.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    I can’t believe she is wearing that!

  4. 4.

    Trollhattan

    August 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    The story of finding her life’s work, literally on its way to the dump, recognizing it for something special and then curating and reconstructing it is nothing short of miraculous. Had she not worked in anonymity she might have become a celebrated photographer on the level of, say, Diane Arbus.

  5. 5.

    SuperHrefna

    August 15, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    What a fantastic photo! I love it and I’m just so grateful that I live now.

  6. 6.

    peggy

    August 15, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Could have been me, I was a child of the fifties. Notice the litter on the streets and the men all wearing hats.

  7. 7.

    Iowa Old Lady

    August 15, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Random complaint: Calling the US the “Homeland” grates on my last nerve. So shut up, Lindsay Graham.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    August 15, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    Caption ideas?

    The Cracker Family in the Big Apple.

    ;-)

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 15, 2014 at 4:18 pm

    Reposted from below, an eye-witness live-tweeted Michael Brown’s killing. He was shot in the back

    DIGITAL ERA ‏@ SLIKK_DARKO Aug 9
    @ TheePharoah nah u gone be cool, u just ain’t gone forget that, so the boys shot him?
    Bruh. ‏@ TheePharoah Aug 9
    @ SLIKK_DARKO yeah man. 7 times i think
    DIGITAL ERA ‏@ SLIKK_DARKO Aug 9
    @ TheePharoah from behind ?
    Bruh. ‏@ TheePharoah Aug 9
    @ SLIKK_DARKO the first two was, the next 5 werent, he turned around

  10. 10.

    cckids

    August 15, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    I’m a child of the sixties, but, dammit, Mom, I had that haircut of the child on the left. Add to that, cats-eye glasses.

    Yikes.

    Cool pic, though

  11. 11.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 15, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: It really does sound so much better in the original German.

    Heimatsicherheitshauptangst

  12. 12.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    Weekend plans include the cleanup and unpacking. BTW I met my first BJer IRL, she was awesome.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 15, 2014 at 4:22 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: So shut up, Lindsay Graham.

    Advice for all seasons and all occasions. It must’ve been last Sunday NPR was playing a clip of him scare-mongering about ISIS “coming here!” in their top-of-the-hour newscasts. I wonder how old their editor (or whoever puts those clips together) was the last time he was squawking from that hymnal. Depressing that he’s taken seriously

  14. 14.

    BGinCHI

    August 15, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    I would not want to be on the end of that woman’s backhand.

  15. 15.

    Belafon

    August 15, 2014 at 4:30 pm

    I’d call it “Tie in the Window.”

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 15, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Now that Lindsay’s conveniently out of prime military service age, he’s really enthusiastic about sending the military in to do…something involving killing lots of brown people.

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    August 15, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    @BGinCHI: Right? She reminds me of my great-grandmother, who could freeze the milk in your cereal bowl in July with her Glare of Doom and wouldn’t hesitate to smack a kid into next week on mere suspicion of a sassy mouth.

  18. 18.

    M. Bouffant

    August 15, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    I saw an exhibition of Maier’s work a few yrs. ago. Good stuff, great eye, quite a story.

  19. 19.

    Iowa Old Lady

    August 15, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    @Baud: I vote for this

  20. 20.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    August 15, 2014 at 4:39 pm

    Marla Hooch, what a hitter.

  21. 21.

    SarahT

    August 15, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    Caption : “If you liked it you should’ve put a ring on it !” ?

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    August 15, 2014 at 4:42 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Haha, the older lady does look like Marla as a grandma.

  23. 23.

    RenoRick

    August 15, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    Mooooooooooooooooommmmmmmm!!!!!! Rudy is wearing my favorite dress again!!!!!!!!!!

  24. 24.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    Which coast is prettier? mid coast Maine or California? Water is equally frigid in both places, though. Next time I go to a beach it will be in warmer climes.

  25. 25.

    geg6

    August 15, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    When I was very small, my mother used to do my hair like the girl on the right.

    I hated it. It was fucking 1965, fer chrissakes. Not 1935.

    Oh, and as of right this minute, the wedding is off again. Anyone who read to the end of the last post comments knows of what I speak. Kill me now.

  26. 26.

    Glocksman

    August 15, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    @peggy:

    Could have been shot during the immediate postwar period.
    For this gearhead, the easiest way to set a time frame on a pic is to find the newest car shown, but there aren’t any cars in this one, though the van in the background screams 1930’s.

    That said, there are times I wish I’d been born earlier.
    The idea of a senior high school trip on a train to NYC like the one my mother took in 1960 is appealing.

    The class of 1985 that I graduated with took no trip, but I did get a scholarship to go on a Close Up foundation trip to DC when I was a senior.
    The side trip to Williamsburg and meeting Jack Anderson were the highlights, along with eating Bean Soup in the House restaurant with then Congressman Frank McCloskey.

  27. 27.

    Bill Arnold

    August 15, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    @M. Bouffant:

    Good stuff, great eye, quite a story.

    I powered through the 5 “street” portfolios at the link in 15 minutes (procrastinating).
    Head is still spinning. Great work.

  28. 28.

    Hawes

    August 15, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    From left to right: Betty Cracker, John Cole, Anne Laurie.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  29. 29.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    @geg6: This sounds like a plot line of some rom-com.

  30. 30.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    @Hawes: You do know that John Cole is really Jane Coale, right?

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    August 15, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    @geg6: Oh dear. So sorry to hear about all the dramatics.

  32. 32.

    Mardam

    August 15, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    Caption: Whaddayoolooginat?

  33. 33.

    geg6

    August 15, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I adore the ride all the way up the Cali coast. Nothing better as far as views go. But the beaches are pretty awful and the water is horrific. I could live without the Maine coast. Too cold for me. But the place that has the best beaches is definitely the Florida Keys. I know many who swear by the west coast of Florida, but I hate the west coast of Florida. Just hate everything about it and pretty much every person I’ve ever met there. It’s either all a bunch of racist snowbirds or crackers to the nth degree. Gimme the Atlantic coast, if I have to be on mainland Florida (which I never plan to do again), or, a thousand times better, the Keys.

  34. 34.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 4:57 pm

    @geg6: I have never been to Florida, would love to go to the Keys some day. I also love Goa in India, especially those beaches that most tourists haven’t yet discovered.
    Goa has miles of sandy beaches and great sea food.

    ETA: Coast of Maine, especially the Acadia National Park is beautiful in the summer and not too hot.

  35. 35.

    Shakezula

    August 15, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    I don’t know about the rest of you but the first thing I heard when I looked at the picture was “Mooooooom!”

  36. 36.

    Scamp Dog

    August 15, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    The look on the woman’s face reminds me of my grandmother, gone 20 years now. A very serious woman, although she loved my brother and me wholeheartedly. My dad referred to her on occasion (never in her hearing) as Old Dutch.

    We were at some farm/petting zoo when a gaggle of geese started after me, honking and flapping their wings, scary when you’re no taller than the geese. Grandma picked up a corner of her skirt to make a “wing” to flap at the geese, and drove them away: they turned out to be no match for an old farm girl, then in her 60s.

    I still miss her.

  37. 37.

    Iowa Old Lady

    August 15, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    @Shakezula: This one is good too

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    August 15, 2014 at 5:09 pm

    @geg6: We may be crackers on the West Coast, but we’re not all bad! Have you ever seen any of the incredibly clear, beautiful fresh water springs that form entire turquoise rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico? Stunningly beautiful. I know this state well, and I’ll take the Gulf side over the Atlantic any day of the week, thankyewveramuch! The thing that rocks about the Keys is, you get both!

  39. 39.

    raven

    August 15, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve been to the Atlantic twice this summer. Give me the emerald coast every day.

  40. 40.

    danielx

    August 15, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Indeed you do, and in the right location(s) like Bahia Honda, only a hundred yards or so apart. It was – gulp – better than thirty years when I was there the first time, and it’s still a delight.

    No square grouper washing up these days though.

  41. 41.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 15, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    @Betty Cracker: The gulf side is, frankly, amazing to me. On the east coast, you’ve got your standard ocean with waves. On the west coast, it’s a very gentle lapping against the shore. Fantastic contrast.

  42. 42.

    Funkula

    August 15, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    That pic reminds me of my dad talking about visiting Czechoslovakia in the 70s and seeing old women on the street who looked like they could have won WWII singlehandedly.

  43. 43.

    Violet

    August 15, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    @geg6: Saw your post. Sorry about all you’re dealing with. Especially frustrating since you’re sort of on the outside (not your kid) but also on the inside (your partner’s kid).

    Weddings make people crazy. That’s just a fact. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself and stay as calm as possible. If that means not doing the liqueur or bringing the dog to the wedding, then do that.

    A friend from high school was getting married and we all showed up at the church for the wedding. It was locked. Turned out the they’d called it off the night before and not everyone had got the word. All these people milling about outside.

  44. 44.

    Original Lee

    August 15, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    @geg6: Speaking as someone who postponed the wedding due to family drama, I recommend some 20-year-old port and a nice creme brulee, preferably somewhere else.

  45. 45.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 5:18 pm

    @Funkula: Don’t mess with Grandma!

  46. 46.

    geg6

    August 15, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Don’t like the west coast. I just don’t feel comfortable there. Been to Tampa/ Clearwater, Fort Myers, and all over the panhandle. Just not my taste. I only prefer the east coast because I find it more vibrant and full of life. But really, the only part of Florida I will ever make an attempt to visit again is the Keys. Favorite Keys are Key West, Key Largo and Islamirada.

    If I was going to spend money vacationing in a warm continental state, only California would make the cut.

  47. 47.

    Original Lee

    August 15, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    @geg6: OK, sorry, my edited comment apparently died.

    Speaking as someone who postponed the wedding due to family drama, I recommend some 20-year-old port and a nice creme brulee, preferably somewhere else (in a nice way).

    Weddings are the pits for everybody involved. I honestly think the only reason to have them (to let everybody know, in public, that you’re committed to this other person for the rest of your lives) has gotten so buried under Hollywood images that we need to go do something else. Maybe YouTube videos.

  48. 48.

    raven

    August 15, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    @geg6: Sunrise on the Emerald Coast.

  49. 49.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    On India’s 67th Independence Day, the words of its first Prime Minister, Nehru are worth remembering.

  50. 50.

    schrodinger's cat

    August 15, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    @raven: Purty!

  51. 51.

    Violet

    August 15, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    @Original Lee: Yeah, it’s funny when you look back at weddings from the first half of the 20th century. Women are wearing knee length dresses. Maybe their best suits. They’re not always dressed in white. They got married at home or at a church and the reception was at home. It was a simple thing in comparison to the craziness that even a basic level “normal” wedding is today.

    Maybe someone needs to take the kids aside and ask them why they’re getting married–for themselves or for family. If it’s not for themselves then they should postpone.

  52. 52.

    Shakezula

    August 15, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: And you can walk and walk and walk and walk and finally the water gets to your waist and holy crap, where’d the land go?

  53. 53.

    raven

    August 15, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: And you might see the Spirit in the Sky!

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    August 15, 2014 at 5:51 pm

    @geg6: That’s okay by me. It’s getting too crowded over here anyway. ;-)

    @raven: Beautiful!

  55. 55.

    Calouste

    August 15, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    @Violet:

    That’s more because that was all that most people could afford. The upper class in those days went of course for the whole hog with hundreds of guests, special clothes etc. etc. etc.

    It’s just that these days the middle class think they can get something a lot closer to what the upper class does, and puts it all on the credit card. There’s nothing better of course than starting off your married life tens of thousands in debt.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Mary

    August 15, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    I missed last week’s showing of the Maier doc on TVO, but if you’re in Ontario (and maybe some other places, depending) you can see the whole thing here until September 8.

  57. 57.

    cckids

    August 15, 2014 at 6:03 pm

    @Violet:

    Maybe someone needs to take the kids aside and ask them why they’re getting married–for themselves or for family.

    Also, is it about the wedding or the marriage/relationship? Also very easy to lose sight of amidst the flurry of planning.

  58. 58.

    debbie

    August 15, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    @cckids:

    I did too! My mother couldn’t cut bangs straight for shit.

  59. 59.

    debbie

    August 15, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    @Violet:

    Women are wearing knee length dresses. Maybe their best suits.

    Don’t forget the corsages!

  60. 60.

    p.a.

    August 15, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    Caption:”Fuck the birdie, pal; we are smiling.”

  61. 61.

    m.j.

    August 15, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    Oh, for fuck’s sake, Laura. If you start to sing, I’m going to kill you.

  62. 62.

    Lwood

    August 15, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    The wife and I lost our Bichon mix dog this morning. Sudden kidney failure , dog changed completely in a week, was miserable and lost interest in everything. Very sick with no hope. Blood and urine tests were definite. It wouldn’t have been fair to bring her home and extend her pain. It was hard to do the right thing for our pet and end her pain. We lost her affectionate presence but she stopped hurting. Do the right thing even when it hurts you. We rescued her at 8 weeks, homeless and ownerless. She had the best life possible for 11 years. As my oldest daughter said ” This isn’t the first dog I’ve lost but it doesn’t hurt less.” Hug your puppies and kittys.

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