#lap

The sergeants are shunted forward and they blink and stare up at Gonzo as he leans on the edge of his giant mixing bowl. MacArthur never addressed his troops from a mixing bowl--not even one made from a spare geodesic radio emplacement shell--and certainly de Gaulle never did. But Gonzo Lubitsch does, and he does it as if a whole long line of commanders were standing at his shoulder, urging him on. "Gentlemen," says Gonzo softly, "holidays are over. I need an oven, and I need one in about twenty minutes, or these fine flapjacks will go to waste, and that is not happening." And something about this statement and the voice in which he says it makes it clear that this is simply true. One way or another, this thing will get done. Under a layer of grime and horror, these two are soldiers, and more, they are productive, can-do sorts of people. Rustily but with a gratitude which is not so far short of worship, they say "Yes, sir" and are about their business. ↗

— Nick Harkaway

#flapjacks #humor #pancakes #soldiers #war

I'd like to issue a call to realism for those of us in so-called developed industrial nations, who indulge in great horror at the gradual collapse of our own pathologically unsustainable mode of existence while ignoring the reality of the majority of this planet’s residents, who do not in fact share the same dread or anxiety about losing what most of them, frankly, never had to squander in the first place. ↗

— Brian Awehali

#climate-change #collapse #ecology #change

Death isn't enough. It doesn't remove the stain. But a slap, a whiplash, square on the face, does. Because a man's face is as sacred as his mother or his wife. ↗

— Mario Vargas Llosa

#death

After World War II, the major estates really did collapse. ↗

— Hugh Bonneville

#collapse #did #estates #ii #major

Our Western Civilization is in its death throes right now. We cannot stop the wheel from turning; ergo, we cannot save Western Civilization. All we can do is preserve what we can of it and use it as the foundation for the birth for our next civilization. ↗

— Richard Scutari

#magnus-soderman #pg- #death

By the way, if you get mad at your Mac laptop and wonder who designed this demonic device, notice the manufacturer's icon on top: an apple with a bite out of it. ↗

— Peter Kreeft

#apple #apple-computer-inc #bible #catholicism #christianity

Honesty: what a refreshing slap in the face it is. ↗

— Timothy M. Brenner

#humor #inspirational #slap #humor

I have seen him set fire to his wigwam and smooth over the graves of his fathers... clap his hand in silence over his mouth, and take the last look over his fair hunting ground, and turn his face in sadness to the setting sun. ↗

— George Catlin

#face #fair #fathers #fire #graves

The classic definition of slapstick runs along the line of, "Funny is someone else ramming his face repeatedly into a brick wall. ↗

— Katherine Dunn

#family

Today, the rich are the haves and the poor are the have-nots. Tomorrow, the rich will be the have-food and the poor will be the have-not food. ↗

— Bill Gaede

#end-of-man #extinction #globalization #last-generation #mass-extinction