all this useless beauty

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Is it better to have been loved and lost, than never to have been loved at all? These sites, galleries of photographs of an abandoned Japanese amusement resort (click on the pictures for more) raise some intriguing questions about the nature of beauty and loss.

roller coaster in fog

If we’re being honest it seems pretty clear that, had we seen this place when it was going strong, we would probably (as the jaded grownups we have become) consider this to be a pretty tacky amusement park, which is a bit like calling something a pretty water-resistant duck. Amusement parks are amusing, but they are rarely sophisticated or ironic. And they are rarely beautiful.

But now look.

roller coaster

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Technorati me!

quiz: which of the Ancient Greek Muses are you?

Polyhymnia 

And so we continue on Intellectual Day, here at the ol’ raincoaster blog. This quiz reminds me of the time one of the guys at the station on Barney Miller was giving a costume party and Wojo wanted to go. “Great,” said Dietrich. “It’s Come As Your Favorite 4th-Century BC Philosopher.” Of course, I would have to be ahead of my time…by about two centuries.

You scored as Polyhymnia. You are Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred poetry. Religion is the biggest part of your life, and you’re not afraid to let everyone else know. You are kind of shy and not great at letting people know who you really are.

Polyhymnia
88%
Thalia
81%
Erato
69%
Calliope
69%
Terpischore
69%
Clio
63%
Melpomene
63%
Euterpe
63%
Urania
50%

Thalia...but she's weirder looking than Polyhymnia, so I had to use her instead

Which of the Greek Muses are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

Cthulhu versus the World: a YouTube Masterpiece

In which the Great Cthulhu discovers the joys of pure evil,
and puts paid to a panda over pounding punk. 

“Wha? Batman? This doesn’t even make sense!

Like that’s bad.

Leslie Hall: the whitest woman in rap

Gawd help the gene pool if she teams up with Mr. White and Nerdy; she so white she make him look like Jay-Z. Here, via the superfantastic Manolo, is Leslie Hall‘s rap in praise of gem sweaters. And the bedazzlers of the world give thanks…and the rest of us run for the exits. The glasses…the beehive…the ill-fitting lamé…spandex is a privilege, people, not a right! I think I’m going to need to wear matte black Gucci for three solid days just to cleanse myself psychically after watching this suburban goddess’ soul cry.

If only I could afford Gucci

and from the comments of the Manolo:

As a woman whose sainted mother-in-law ran a successful knitshop in Chicago for thirty years & more, I am conflicted upon viewing this video. Surely the woman has swallowed a sequin topped with LSD or absorbed some ecstasy-producing dye from the purple angora. I am all for creativity, and encourage even more silly dancing, singing & outrageous sweaters for the delight of the snowbound &/or snowblind of any sort. As for the gold lame w/insignia divulging areas of anatomy better kept en matte, I am left totally speechless.

Lyrics over the jump: Continue reading

chasing bars

Another dead-on music video from DCLugi. Does it sound slightly familiar, perhaps?