Huh? – The Cultured Curmudgeon

Automatic Bartender?

February 13, 2014indexHuh?

Likör – Tankstelle literally means liqueur station. I must admit that in the modern world there are tons of jobs that I look at and think to myself, one day a machine will be doing that, but never have I thought bartenders should be concerned. I mean, isn’t interacting with the bartender half the fun of going out for a drink? At the very least talking to your friends about how cute/angry/insulting/generous the bartender is being ranks as a staple of the going out experience. Yet, now that I know people have been trying to create these machines since at least 1931, I know that someone out there wants it to exist, so now I need to imagine a world where they do. So far, I’m scared. photographer unknown, liquor vending machine germany 1931

Lightening strike

January 20, 2014indexHuh?

I love this picture for several reasons. It is fascinating to me to see a Paris where the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible from such a distance (and is the tallest element in sight, thus drawing the attention of the lightening). Yet I also love it because it reminds me that there is always more than one way to see an event. My first thoughts on this were to consider how it was the vanity of mankind reaching out to the sky that drew the destructive force to it. I had even started writing something to that effect. However, in the process of writing about it, I realized that in drawing the lightening to the tower, the lightening didn’t strike somewhere else. One thing is certain though, in life, we have a choice. We can give into the fear of the lightening strike and keep the status quo or we […]

Faster than a speeding train

January 14, 2014indexHuh?

The human brain is such a fascinating thing. I look at this photograph and have such a sense of nostalgia. Distant memories try to come to the surface and I can’t resist the smile that crosses my face. The odd thing is there is no way that this should trigger any memory. It would be another 20 years before I entered the world at the time it was taken. It shows how powerful and how present images from the fifties are in American culture. I may not have lived it first hand, but is definitely a part of me. Photograph by Elliot Erwitt,Wyoming USA 1954

Joyride, 1924 style

January 5, 2014indexHuh?

You really have to love the fact that youth never really changes. Inspite of all the standards and means that we’ve put into place to insure a quality education and quality life, when boys see a hotrod, they can’t help themselves, today just the same as in 1924. There is something beautiful in that connection to the past. photograph found via @HistoryPics

Smoke ’em if you got ’em?

December 30, 2013indexHuh?

Smoking is one of the few things that I ever quit that I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to. It’s also one of the few things that I quit the same way I started, casually. One day I smoked, the next I didn’t. There wasn’t even a conscious decision to stop. It was almost like I just forgot to smoke for a while, then so much time had passed that I figured it was too late to start again. This picture had nothing to do with my personal experience, but it’s still a GREAT smoking area!

Crazy white people sports

December 29, 2013indexHuh?, Photography 📷

Forget for a moment that this is an incredibly well constructed photograph (and you know that it is), I can’t help wondering if the people in that cart would have gotten on if they could have seen the rigging from this angle.