07/09/25: I think the green door (on the roller-coaster wall that looks like another attempt by the House Minority Speaker to appear to have lost more waist-weight via photo-fraud) is the entrance to a Tube Station.
And if you think America's Deep State is corrupt, they're tyros and pikers compared to a country that would tolerate and ignore a tidal wave of rampaging Asian rapists that had been admitted to the country via The Ultimate White Guilt Suicide Immigration Act.
Prince Andrew to Epstein: "Can we do the Island one weekend with the Oxford Theme?!"
Years ago, I watched the movie, 'The Ruling Class' - Peter O'Toole starred. A primer to understating British gov't, it looks like they have a very long history of being bat sh_t crazy. Their whole buttoned-up appearance is the ultimate spoof.
07/10/25: If you happen to have time to spare, pick up a used paperback copy of "Chips, The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon," an American who literally had to be a magician.
He came to England after WWI and instantly he's intimate with the powers that be. Considering how the English as a rule disdained the Americans, this should have been impossible. He was the exception to the rule.
The title above is the 1968 edition edited by Robert James. If you like what you're reading, stop. Then splurge on the 3-volume set of the real Diaries, just published (AVOID the PAPERBACK edition, it's a disaster). Anticipate a year or so to get it all read.
Also excellent and possibly a better suggestion would be "The Fringes of Power, 10 Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955," by John Colville (1915-1987); W.W. Norton & Com. [UK Hodder & Houghton 1985]. If possible, avoid the paperback edition. Another marathon read, but absolutely worth the time invested.
Finally, you can't go wrong with the Spike Milligan WWII diaries, which perhaps should have been my first suggestion. I'll elaborate if you are interested. They're succinct, often humorous, dead serious when necessary, and all-round excellent.
Wooo, great interesting reading list. But maybe should come with a warning label ‘Could blow your mind/cause brain damage’.
Both our gov’ts are ruled by the insane it turns out. The capitol bldg would make a suitable insane asylum, when you think about it: lock 'em in, lock 'em in.
More of a 'meh' from me for this one. Like nearly all 'conceptual' art (including the likes of Banksy), it's far shallower than it imagines. This, though, is made much worse by it ruining the view of the wonderful old Charterhouse building behind it. Originally built as a priory in 1371, Charterhouse was much expanded to become a beautiful Tudor courtyard house. Well worth visiting if you're in London!
With only a few hundred more bricks, this waste of time and effort should be disassembled and placed on top of Boston Commons obscene sculpture of MLK or a penis or something.
Thank you for mentioning The Charterhouse. I looked it up and learned some things. Also found YouTube videos about it, so I took a tour! At least the questionable piece of art brought our attention to something worthwhile where it belongs.
If an architect REALLY wanted to epater le bourgeois these days , they’d design an attractive structure that blended in well with its surroundings. Folks would be slack-jawed with amazement.
Guy Haslam: Too right. Originality used to be a positive quality in architecture ... back when it meant a pleasing or interesting variation on a well-established style. And one that was compatible with surrounding buildings.
That was then, this bizarro brain fart is now. Its aim is not to enhance an existing space but to express a sarcastic comment on it. Perfect for today's England where the pseudo-intelligentsia see it as their mission to trash centuries of tradition and substitute fuck-you gestures "pour épater les bourgeois."
Regarding the jewish dictator’s visit, I was going to remark that I’ve never been more ashamed of my country. Although his visit to the “Capitol” is horrible, I actually gave up on “America” several years ago. Nothing would surprise me, anymore.
I expect congress and President Pervert to put a solid gold statue on the national mall commemorating israel’s brave fight against the terribly misbehaved Palestinian children. Right next to it they’ll erect a statue of the ukrainian coke head dictator playing piano with his penis while giving the American people a big middle finger. The American people wouldn’t respond, at all. They are too scared, desperate, and brainwashed.
Roger, Jimmy suffers from "Oppositional Defiance Disorder" aka "libertarian". Like almost all low res libertarians he thinks he has an IQ of 130 when it's really barely 110. They can't analyze, they only criticize
You're kinda stupid, aren't you? You have the stink of a Big Party troll. I have never been a member of or supporter of ANY party because, professionally, I could not be.
Analyze this: St Jimmy’s simply acknowledged the facts that we (US-UK enablers) fully support and supplied the means to the murder of oh, about 50,000 civilians, including medical people and over 200 journalists, in Gaza because a completely staged “invasion” occurred with the planning, aid and assistance of Bibi & Co.
Ukraine is no different. After 2 more than 2 decades of military build ups, persecution and denial of even 3rd class citizen rights of entire Russian-speaking oblasts, erecting dozens of bioweapon labs, staging the overthrow of a government that sought only to modestly dial back the insanity of its racist, neo-Nazi Azov armed forces and stop serving as the world’s most corrupt money laundering center, Russia did what it’s done for centuries by saying “Enough: You want war, you got it.”
It’s gullible automatons like you who need a course in critical thinking, not him. Or not, as you’ve got plenty of equally compliant company to maintain your mass delusions of truth.
James, that was damn funny, especially the ending. I am still grappling with the hyphenation of overlay. My mind went immediately to a sexual connotation (self-own here) and the way we are all being mind fucked by our sci-fi society. ;)
🧐What in the backwards reeling from sanity, brick and mortar wasting, loose canon on crack architecture, faux pas lawn chair replica feck up, real estate retardation is this??!!??
But hey, on a good note, at least it's got a door.
Welcome to the outside, from the outside.
Also, welcome to the outside from, again, the outside.
Definitely the money could be better spent on humanitarian efforts. What a colossal insult to our intelligence and waste of desperately needed resources. People with too much money and a detachment from reality.
Unlike the usual monstrosities chosen for eyesore of the month, I like this one, except that they haven't maintained the grass/weeds in the tunnel. To me it is a whimsical piece of art.
good design balances function and form. This nonsense is devoid of any function. a wanking waste of material, space, attention, effort. its pure esthetic dissonance and the instigators should be fined or given some public service duty as penance.
I don’t get it. And it’s blocking that beautiful Tudor building. Aren’t these “art students” embarrassed just a little when they see that juxtaposition ?
I think you are getting grumpy in your old age. I think this is kinda cool and way more interesting then other art I have seen. You're a painter. I am certain you know that not everyone loves every piece of work you make, but I am also certain that many people, me included, appreciate that you make it.
James has been mostly grumpy for the 30 or so years I’ve read his stuff. It’s the target of his grumpiness that has shifted over those years.
The one thing that has remained unchanged since at least 1998 is that we have always, in Jim’s mind, been about 9 to 18 months away from a complete apocalyptic global economic and social meltdown. I now refer to a 9- to 18-month period as “one Kunstler”. I’ve survived quite a few Kunstlers since 1998!
Little from the UK makes any sense these days.
07/09/25: I think the green door (on the roller-coaster wall that looks like another attempt by the House Minority Speaker to appear to have lost more waist-weight via photo-fraud) is the entrance to a Tube Station.
And if you think America's Deep State is corrupt, they're tyros and pikers compared to a country that would tolerate and ignore a tidal wave of rampaging Asian rapists that had been admitted to the country via The Ultimate White Guilt Suicide Immigration Act.
Prince Andrew to Epstein: "Can we do the Island one weekend with the Oxford Theme?!"
Years ago, I watched the movie, 'The Ruling Class' - Peter O'Toole starred. A primer to understating British gov't, it looks like they have a very long history of being bat sh_t crazy. Their whole buttoned-up appearance is the ultimate spoof.
07/10/25: If you happen to have time to spare, pick up a used paperback copy of "Chips, The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon," an American who literally had to be a magician.
He came to England after WWI and instantly he's intimate with the powers that be. Considering how the English as a rule disdained the Americans, this should have been impossible. He was the exception to the rule.
The title above is the 1968 edition edited by Robert James. If you like what you're reading, stop. Then splurge on the 3-volume set of the real Diaries, just published (AVOID the PAPERBACK edition, it's a disaster). Anticipate a year or so to get it all read.
Also excellent and possibly a better suggestion would be "The Fringes of Power, 10 Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955," by John Colville (1915-1987); W.W. Norton & Com. [UK Hodder & Houghton 1985]. If possible, avoid the paperback edition. Another marathon read, but absolutely worth the time invested.
Finally, you can't go wrong with the Spike Milligan WWII diaries, which perhaps should have been my first suggestion. I'll elaborate if you are interested. They're succinct, often humorous, dead serious when necessary, and all-round excellent.
Wooo, great interesting reading list. But maybe should come with a warning label ‘Could blow your mind/cause brain damage’.
Both our gov’ts are ruled by the insane it turns out. The capitol bldg would make a suitable insane asylum, when you think about it: lock 'em in, lock 'em in.
07/10/25: Bring tons of silicone putty (too many escape hatches!).
Little from the USA makes any sense either.
More of a 'meh' from me for this one. Like nearly all 'conceptual' art (including the likes of Banksy), it's far shallower than it imagines. This, though, is made much worse by it ruining the view of the wonderful old Charterhouse building behind it. Originally built as a priory in 1371, Charterhouse was much expanded to become a beautiful Tudor courtyard house. Well worth visiting if you're in London!
I agree entirely. If they had to erect this folly, why not do so next to some modern monstrosity that might benefit at least from a little brick?
With only a few hundred more bricks, this waste of time and effort should be disassembled and placed on top of Boston Commons obscene sculpture of MLK or a penis or something.
Thank you for mentioning The Charterhouse. I looked it up and learned some things. Also found YouTube videos about it, so I took a tour! At least the questionable piece of art brought our attention to something worthwhile where it belongs.
Maybe Jim needs to loosen up a little. I see it just as an amusing twist on our conventional experience of architecture. Can’t we have a little fun?
Just as with this structure, the "fun" we have been having is a little too "Alice In Wonderland, Off with your head."-mode right now.
Sigh…
If an architect REALLY wanted to epater le bourgeois these days , they’d design an attractive structure that blended in well with its surroundings. Folks would be slack-jawed with amazement.
All creativity comes from God. That is why the Godless have lost their creativity.
Your comment is profoundly true!
Very true, or at least they create chaos and confusion.
Chaos and confusion doesn’t come from God. Only from the father of lies.
Guy Haslam: Too right. Originality used to be a positive quality in architecture ... back when it meant a pleasing or interesting variation on a well-established style. And one that was compatible with surrounding buildings.
That was then, this bizarro brain fart is now. Its aim is not to enhance an existing space but to express a sarcastic comment on it. Perfect for today's England where the pseudo-intelligentsia see it as their mission to trash centuries of tradition and substitute fuck-you gestures "pour épater les bourgeois."
Neither astounded nor amused. It simply detracts from the environment it occupies.
Makes as much sense as anything here in the US.
Regarding the jewish dictator’s visit, I was going to remark that I’ve never been more ashamed of my country. Although his visit to the “Capitol” is horrible, I actually gave up on “America” several years ago. Nothing would surprise me, anymore.
I expect congress and President Pervert to put a solid gold statue on the national mall commemorating israel’s brave fight against the terribly misbehaved Palestinian children. Right next to it they’ll erect a statue of the ukrainian coke head dictator playing piano with his penis while giving the American people a big middle finger. The American people wouldn’t respond, at all. They are too scared, desperate, and brainwashed.
You are a well propagandized Harvard sophomore.
Nope. The propaganda is the opposite of what I'm writing. I'm a non-propagandized 67 year old retired congressional investigator.
Propaganda is never seen as propaganda by the authors. Your first post reeks of propaganda and bias.
Roger, Jimmy suffers from "Oppositional Defiance Disorder" aka "libertarian". Like almost all low res libertarians he thinks he has an IQ of 130 when it's really barely 110. They can't analyze, they only criticize
You're kinda stupid, aren't you? You have the stink of a Big Party troll. I have never been a member of or supporter of ANY party because, professionally, I could not be.
Analyze this: St Jimmy’s simply acknowledged the facts that we (US-UK enablers) fully support and supplied the means to the murder of oh, about 50,000 civilians, including medical people and over 200 journalists, in Gaza because a completely staged “invasion” occurred with the planning, aid and assistance of Bibi & Co.
Ukraine is no different. After 2 more than 2 decades of military build ups, persecution and denial of even 3rd class citizen rights of entire Russian-speaking oblasts, erecting dozens of bioweapon labs, staging the overthrow of a government that sought only to modestly dial back the insanity of its racist, neo-Nazi Azov armed forces and stop serving as the world’s most corrupt money laundering center, Russia did what it’s done for centuries by saying “Enough: You want war, you got it.”
It’s gullible automatons like you who need a course in critical thinking, not him. Or not, as you’ve got plenty of equally compliant company to maintain your mass delusions of truth.
Americans will fall for anything…. literally anything, especially if it’s well-groomed, neat, doesn’t cuss, and pretends to be Christian or Jewish.
Oh what bullshite.
It's absolutely true.
07/09/25: Your call is very important to us.
James, that was damn funny, especially the ending. I am still grappling with the hyphenation of overlay. My mind went immediately to a sexual connotation (self-own here) and the way we are all being mind fucked by our sci-fi society. ;)
🧐What in the backwards reeling from sanity, brick and mortar wasting, loose canon on crack architecture, faux pas lawn chair replica feck up, real estate retardation is this??!!??
But hey, on a good note, at least it's got a door.
Welcome to the outside, from the outside.
Also, welcome to the outside from, again, the outside.
😅😂🤣
Something Lewis Carroll could have created in his pipe dreams.
https://manchesterhistorian.com/2015/the-milk-of-paradise-opium-usein-19th-century-english-literature/
I ended up with "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" too, with traditional running bond.
Definitely the money could be better spent on humanitarian efforts. What a colossal insult to our intelligence and waste of desperately needed resources. People with too much money and a detachment from reality.
Unlike the usual monstrosities chosen for eyesore of the month, I like this one, except that they haven't maintained the grass/weeds in the tunnel. To me it is a whimsical piece of art.
good design balances function and form. This nonsense is devoid of any function. a wanking waste of material, space, attention, effort. its pure esthetic dissonance and the instigators should be fined or given some public service duty as penance.
I don’t get it. And it’s blocking that beautiful Tudor building. Aren’t these “art students” embarrassed just a little when they see that juxtaposition ?
I think you are getting grumpy in your old age. I think this is kinda cool and way more interesting then other art I have seen. You're a painter. I am certain you know that not everyone loves every piece of work you make, but I am also certain that many people, me included, appreciate that you make it.
James has been mostly grumpy for the 30 or so years I’ve read his stuff. It’s the target of his grumpiness that has shifted over those years.
The one thing that has remained unchanged since at least 1998 is that we have always, in Jim’s mind, been about 9 to 18 months away from a complete apocalyptic global economic and social meltdown. I now refer to a 9- to 18-month period as “one Kunstler”. I’ve survived quite a few Kunstlers since 1998!
I agree. It reminds me of something Dali would do
...but it's a great view-blocker for the first floor windows of that building, you have to admit.
I wonder what is behind that door?
07/09/25: Vanna White.
The doggie-door? The whole structure is so you won't notice the doggie-door.