the collected musings of ms. rachel b. doyle

Nov 07
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The Avett Brothers - Will You Return?

Nov 05
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A 32-meter (or 105-foot) statue of a youthful Chairman Mao is under construction in Hunan province.

A 32-meter (or 105-foot) statue of a youthful Chairman Mao is under construction in Hunan province.

Nov 04
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A hysterically funny oversized man-bat (Rémi Gaillard) hangs out around cash machines, parking garages, toilets and elevators, surprising French people going about their daily business – and joyfully frolicking to the Ghostbusters theme song. A few respond angrily, others scream, and some get the joke. Gaillard “occasionally ran into some trouble while shooting his videos”, but his issues were “never of the legal kind.” Most of the time, the maddening bat just flapped its wings and sped away.

Oct 24
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When the skies are endlessly gray, I listen to Fleet Foxes - Mykonos on repeat, during my lunch break. Hypnotic songs about escaping just feel so appropriate.

Oct 13
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Blonde Ambition photography by Paula Parrish

Blonde Ambition photography by Paula Parrish

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I am the best prime minister ever,” said Berlusconi, who is embroiled in corruption and bribery scandals. “I am absolutely the politician most persecuted by prosecutors in the entire history of the world throughout the ages.” He added that he had spent “200 million euros on judges…
— Silvio Berlusconi, via Harper’s Weekly
Oct 05
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Wire - Kidney Bingos, recorded at Preussen Tonstudio Berlin, 1988

Oct 02
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xxyyzz: This is how Berlin is choosing to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the 19 years since its first day of German reunification on October 3rd, 1990.

Giant Dolls. WTF? Whoever pitched this Gulliver’s Travels parade was unfortunately way off, and frankly, downright sinister. It gives me the creeps. Also, obviously I will go see it tomorrow.

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The widespread support for Polanski shows the liberal cultural elite at its preening, fatuous worst. They may make great movies, write great books, and design beautiful things, they may have lots of noble humanitarian ideas and care, in the abstract, about all the right principles: equality under the law, for example. But in this case, they’re just the white culture-class counterpart of hip-hop fans who stood by R. Kelly and Chris Brown and of sports fans who automatically support their favorite athletes when they’re accused of beating their wives and raping hotel workers.
— Katha Pollitt in The Nation. Also read: Marcia Clark’s “The Lost Polanski Transcripts” in the Daily Beast.
Sep 29
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“A nanny supervising a baby suspended in a wire cage attached to the outside of a high tenement block window. The cages were distributed to members of the Chelsea Baby Club in London who have no gardens, or qualms about putting a child in a box dangling over a busy street.” Baby Cage, 1937 by Reg Speller via Life magazine’s hilarious 30 Dumb Inventions feature.

“A nanny supervising a baby suspended in a wire cage attached to the outside of a high tenement block window. The cages were distributed to members of the Chelsea Baby Club in London who have no gardens, or qualms about putting a child in a box dangling over a busy street.” Baby Cage, 1937 by Reg Speller via Life magazine’s hilarious 30 Dumb Inventions feature.

Sep 28
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