REPOST: Books: "Giving the finger" -- and no, not at a Board of Public Works meeting.

NA Confidential is sliding into oblivion, and so to close out the abysmal year of 2020, I'll be making a daily post from the archives.

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Books: "Giving the finger" -- and no, not at a Board of Public Works meeting.

May 17, 2016

Kudos to the Indiana University Press, because this long overdue translation of a study of gesture is far better cause for celebration than a mere IU basketball game. It reminds me of being in Italy and seeing people communicate with hands in addition to words.

Incidentally, the author's mention of Luigi Barzini's classic book The Italians reminds me of the "mut read" stature it once enjoyed. During the 1970s and 1980s, travelers to Italy always were advised to read The Italians before leaving home.

I've a strong suspicion that the wisdom of this recommendation still holds true, even 50 years after publication, and so I'll reread Barzini before we visit Sicily this autumn.

As for the gestures, maybe only one or two, just in case ...

Giving the finger at The Economist

GESTURE IN NAPLES AND GESTURE IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, by Andrea de Jori; translated by Adam Kendon ... Indiana University Press; 632 pages; $49.95 and £34

A MAN and a woman are talking on a bus in Naples. All of a sudden, the man raises his hand, draws together his fingertips, lifts them to his lips and appears either to spit on them or to give them a kiss before pointing them at the woman. How to know whether his intentions are noble or base, romantic or murderous—spitting on one's fingertips being the second most deadly insult in Naples after spitting directly in your face?

The answer may well be found in Andrea de Jorio's extraordinary volume, “Gesture in Naples and Gesture in Classical Antiquity”, now finally translated into English almost 170 years after it was first published ...

... In modern times, Luigi Barzini was the writer who did most to put out the word on de Jorio and his classic. In “The Italians” (1964), Barzini described “Gesture in Naples” as a gem, though one so difficult to obtain that he had to resort to purloining a copy from an unsuspecting English gentleman. Thanks to a fine translation by Adam Kendon, an anthropologist who has studied aboriginal sign language—and to the imagination of Indiana University Press—thefts of this kind will no longer be needed.

Thanks for asking, Delta Air Lines. I'm happy to tell you how likely I am to recommend you to others.

Hello Roger,

We wanted to follow up on the opportunity to share your feedback regarding your experience on your flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Louisville (SDF) on February 22, 2018. We are committed to providing exceptional service on every flight and understand that we didn’t meet those expectations with a delayed arrival.

Please know that we are committed to providing exceptional service on every flight, and we appreciate hearing from valued customers like you. We ask that you share your thoughts regarding your recent flight experience by completing this short survey.

How likely are you to recommend Delta Air Lines to others?

Thanks for “reaching out” to me, Delta Air Lines.

On the evening of Thursday, February 22, we left Atlanta for Louisville roughly on time, to be informed by the captain that arrival at SDF might actually be a tad early.

This was welcome news. We’d already been awake for more than 20 hours since rising to depart Porto, Portugal for Amsterdam and Atlanta, and gratefully, we hit the runway in Louisville at 11:35 p.m., a full 20 minutes early.

Then we exited the plane – at 12:35 a.m., after waiting an entire hour for a gate to debark, which was explained to us by the captain as a case of other flights being diverted because of fog (with heavy rain predicted after midnight), and with one plane apparently sitting at our arrival gate with almost no workers present to move it out of the way.

He never explained why someone decided to park a plane at a gate where another flight would be due later that evening. If there is any justice in the world, it was an ex-employee.

We got to the car just as the rain started. The way back to New Albany took a bit; we were so long getting off the flight that the storm had moved in, and effective visibility on the interstate a few yards, with a speed of 35 mph.

A little after 1 a.m., we were home, where we rushed immediately upstairs to check on our elderly cat Hugo.

Wait – I forgot to mention that we’d been informed by the cat-sitter that our elderly cat Hugo didn’t look well, and the hour spent on the tarmac was vivid in my mind as we sadly found him lying dead. The circumstances strongly suggested that he passed after midnight. The faithful little guy tried to wait for us, but Delta had other ideas, so listen carefully, engorged multi-national corporation.

Neoliberalism and monopolies being what they are, and Louisville’s connections with Delta being pervasive, we have little realistic chance of boycotting Delta in the future. To claim such would be unrealistic, and I’m not in the mood to shake my fist at you.

Just know that I’ll never, ever forgive you for whatever staggering levels of incompetence led to a plane being parked where it shouldn’t have been, and for sitting on the ramp for a full hour, knowing our cat needed us, and being unable to get to him in time.

Fuck you, Delta Air Lines.

In the future, every time I authorize a payment for a flight, I’ll pause just for a second to honor Hugo’s memory, and I’ll look at the Delta logo, and I’ll repeat, perhaps as many as 16 times (his age): Fuck you, Delta Air Lines.

If it is humanly possible to “hate” a corporation, then be aware that I hate Delta Air Lines’ guts. Apart from that, the flight was just dandy.

Sincerely,

Roger

P.S. I see that there was no oval to be blacked in with my response to the question of whether I’d recommend Delta Air Lines to others.

The proper reply: I’d rather drink Miller Lite; if you know me, you know exactly what this implies: Fuck you, Delta Air Lines.

Piss off, LEO. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries -- and your governor's worse than ours, on top of it all.

Thanks to J for pointing me to this.

I've decided to point something more fitting at it.

Back in the mid-1990s I helped run a beer bar and pizza joint in Indiana (gasp), on the north side of New Albany. "Better" is a relative and senseless term, but at the Public House we tended to carry beers that were hard to get in Louisville. Lots of Kentucky license plates were in the parking lot on weekends. I was proud of this, because "they" said it couldn't be done.

Much time has passed, and currently there's quite a lot to do in both New Albany and Jeffersonville, particularly downtown. It's even possible that the Derby price structure is a bit more reasonable way up here. I'm a cynic and a realist, and I know better than to get emotionally involved in such matters.

But for more than 25 years, I've been busting my butt trying to make this a better place, and state lines aside, folks anywhere else in the country tend to see us as one big metro area.

Too bad LEO doesn't. Now if you'll pardon me, I have a few epithets to mutter.

A guide to Louisville’s neighborhoods, two hours at a time, by Staff (Aaron's Trust Fund Baby)

The Derby isn’t until Saturday, but your Airbnb is in… Germantown, or St. Matthews, or… and you are not sure what to do with your time. Don’t worry, gentle visitor. Take our LEO hand, and let us lead you on nine, two-hour, neighborhood-specific adventures of wonder, gluttony, imbibing, shopping and just plain fun in a few central Louisville neighborhoods where you may be staying, or where you will want to stay next year ...

SouthPointe, Summit Springs and auto-centrism amid the bursting retail bubble.

Photo credit: Barrister Commercial Group.

The usual auto-centric suburban design adorned with a hideous, generic name; a few more trees and a blizzard of developer-speak verbiage, and this nagging impression that with all this accumulated wealth looking for a landing spot, just imagine if it were invested in human beings rather than cornfields.

Work has begun on a new $80 million, 363,000-square-foot retail center in Louisville.

After years of planning and a prolonged court battle, local developer Barrister Commercial Group has finally broken ground on SouthPointe Commons that will sit on 48 acres off Bardstown Road near the Gene Snyder Freeway.

“SouthPointe Commons will achieve a unique ambiance through a complement of restaurants, entertainment, fashion tenants and specialty retailers connected with tree-lined streets. The lifestyle center is all about amenities and designs that enrich the consumer experience,” Barrister Commercial Group CEO Frank A. Csapo said in a news release.

Then there's this.

There is a retail bubble -- and it's bursting, by Paul R. La Monica (CNN)

 ... During a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, CEO Richard Hayne (Urban Outfitters) compared the state of retail to the housing glut last decade that helped bring about the Great Recession.

"Retail square feet per capita in the United States is more than six times that of Europe or Japan. And this doesn't count digital commerce," Hayne said. "Our industry, not unlike the housing industry, saw too much square footage capacity added in the 1990s and early 2000s."

"Thousands of new doors opened and rents soared. This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst," he added. "We are seeing the results: doors shuttering and rents retreating. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future and may even accelerate."

Back here in New Gahania, we're doing precisely the same thing, except Summit Springs (such a horrible name) is being placed atop a hill along a poorly planned commercial corridor (State Street), and now its money-grubbing progenitors have an active partner in the city of New Albany, because it's a bright, shiny object ... and who cares when the storm water comes cascading down the slope?

ON THE AVENUES: Our great and noble leader is here to stay, so let's break out the țuică and make a joyful noise.

City Hall approves heroic "Statue of Disdain" branding symbol for Summit Springs.

Yet another public-private partnership from the same people who brought you Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats.

Books: "Giving the finger" -- and no, not at a Board of Public Works meeting.

Kudos to the Indiana University Press, because this long overdue translation of a study of gesture is far better cause for celebration than a mere IU basketball game. It reminds me of being in Italy and seeing people communicate with hands in addition to words.

Incidentally, the author's mention of Luigi Barzini's classic book The Italians reminds me of the "mut read" stature it once enjoyed. During the 1970s and 1980s, travelers to Italy always were advised to read The Italians before leaving home.

I've a strong suspicion that the wisdom of this recommendation still holds true, even 50 years after publication, and so I'll reread Barzini before we visit Sicily this autumn.

As for the gestures, maybe only one or two, just in case ...

Giving the finger at The Economist

GESTURE IN NAPLES AND GESTURE IN CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, by Andrea de Jori; translated by Adam Kendon ... Indiana University Press; 632 pages; $49.95 and £34

A MAN and a woman are talking on a bus in Naples. All of a sudden, the man raises his hand, draws together his fingertips, lifts them to his lips and appears either to spit on them or to give them a kiss before pointing them at the woman. How to know whether his intentions are noble or base, romantic or murderous—spitting on one's fingertips being the second most deadly insult in Naples after spitting directly in your face?

The answer may well be found in Andrea de Jorio's extraordinary volume, “Gesture in Naples and Gesture in Classical Antiquity”, now finally translated into English almost 170 years after it was first published ...

 ... In modern times, Luigi Barzini was the writer who did most to put out the word on de Jorio and his classic. In “The Italians” (1964), Barzini described “Gesture in Naples” as a gem, though one so difficult to obtain that he had to resort to purloining a copy from an unsuspecting English gentleman. Thanks to a fine translation by Adam Kendon, an anthropologist who has studied aboriginal sign language—and to the imagination of Indiana University Press—thefts of this kind will no longer be needed.

World Exclusive: NAC unveils plans for Monument to the Idiocy of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

It's the ultimate in anti-tolling chic.

Non-ironically, the idea for the anti-tolling monument comes from 2013, and the run-up to Downtown Displacement Days.

OMG: Prague artist beats me to the punch ... I mean, the finger.

Once again, a good idea is stolen.

First there was my Facebook post.

If I mounted a statue of a middle-finger salute the approximate size of the Colossus of Rhodes atop Bank Street Brewhouse, would that qualify as public art? Because it's sounding mighty appealing right about now.

Then someone in Prague beat me to it.

“The finger,” said the Czech sculptor David Cerny, “speaks for itself.” On that point, at least, everyone could agree.

Now another snub, this time by a "rich man". I'm feeling somewhat oppressed, but also vindicated.

Rich Man Buys House Next to Ex-Wife, Erects Giant Middle Finger Outside (Gawker)

A Michigan man has reportedly gone to Internet-ready lengths in order to troll his ex-wife with a daily reminder of his feelings towards her.

According to a person claiming to be the ex-wife's daughter, the crazy-wealthy Bloomfield Hills man, identified only as "Alan," allegedly purchased the house next door to his ex, and proceeded to move in with his new girlfriend Tiffany.

He then went a step further and purchased an expensive bronze statue of a middle finger, which he placed on the back porch and aimed at his ex-wife's house.

OMG: Prague artist beats me to the punch ... I mean, the finger.

Back on October 9, with Downtown Displacement Days approaching and a mounting sense of annoyance, I posted a Facebook update.

If I mounted a statue of a middle-finger salute the approximate size of the Colossus of Rhodes atop Bank Street Brewhouse, would that qualify as public art? Because it's sounding mighty appealing right about now.

There were some extremely witty replies. Now I learn that someone else already has done it, and in Prague, one of my favorite cities in the world.

Photo by the New York Times

Here is the whole sad story of how we missed our chance.

I want one, damn it. Come to think of it, I have one ... a photo will appear at an opportune time in the future. After all, a council meeting is never very far away.

Angry at Prague, Artist Ensures He’s Understood, by Dan Bilefsky (NYT)

PARIS — “The finger,” said the Czech sculptor David Cerny, “speaks for itself.” On that point, at least, everyone could agree.

Mr. Cerny is not known for understatement or diplomacy, from depicting Germany as a network of motorways resembling a swastika to displaying a caricature of a former Czech president inside an enormous fiberglass rear end.

But on Monday, Mr. Cerny, 45, took his political satire to new heights — or depths, depending on your perspective — when, on the eve of Czech general elections this weekend, he installed on the Vltava River a 30-foot-high, plastic, purple hand with a raised middle finger. It is a symbol, he said, that points directly at the Prague Castle, the seat of the current Czech president, Milos Zeman ...

 ... He said the sculpture, which he gave an unprintable title, was also aimed at the country’s Communist Party, which could gain a share of power in the coming elections for the first time since the revolution that overthrew communism more than two decades ago ...

 ... The sculpture is part of a Czech tradition of cultural rebellion dating to communist times, when artists, writers and musicians like the Plastic People of the Universe used subversive lyrics or gestures to revolt against authority.