Today’s guest post comes from tim.
I like marilyn monroe.
i watched a movie about her, well actually in my own adhd way i enjoyed a movie about her. got the gist of it and got back to my life in about 10-15 minutes and was able to plug in the theme of the movie, lawrance olivier was a great stage actor who wanted to be a great film star and marilyn was a great film star who wanted to be a great actor. it is said marilyn had a hard time getting it right but when she did every eye in the place was on her.
brad pitt is dumb as a rock.
robert redford chose brad pitt to be in a river ran through it and turned him into a star. i happened at the time to be listening to a books on tape story that had brad reading from his pre star days. he stumbled his way through the reading mispronouncing the hard words and doing that stammer when you see the word coming and you dont know how to pronounce it, then pushing forward in a way that results in a cadence that makes your voice do a herky jerky tempo that reminds me of a rumba line. a river ran through it was a beautiful movie, story, was beautiful cinematography it won critical acclaim but what it will go down as in my book is as the vehicle that launched brad pitt.
entertainers are allowed to be wonderful at what they are at and no one asks brad pitt to read anymore but he has a wonderful future as eye candy.
johnny depp may or may not be sharp. it doesnt matter because he is so creative.
jimmy stewart and tom hanks are the same person in different generations.
sophia loren, emmie lou harris and cher are incredible 70 somethings.
i like bob dylan, tom waits, andrea bocelli, ella fitzgerald, chet baker, willem de kooning ansel adams, art deco, raspberries, pinot grigio,pesto, mornig fog, a sultry voice, a cats purr, sunshine on my shoulders, ice cold water and i dont know why. marilyn sure was pretty, jimmy stewart is personable, who doesnt like sun on their back and isnt life great when we appreciate the simple gifts we have. no one ever looks at a mountain and says it is beautiful but the mineral deposits are not as strong as those in theurals, no one looks at a raspberry and says yeah it tastes good but it is lacking in terms of beta carotene.
we have a set of values in our head that says good or bad, pleasant or repulsive, i want it or get me outta here. i dont know where you got yours and i dont care where i came upon mine but you are not going to be able to talk me out of the things i like.
sometimes its simple. ice cold water on a hot day vs putrid eggs in an unopened garbage can. you know which you want and what to choose but what about all the other stuff we run into every day?
isnt it amazing others dont see the beauty and feel the attraction to the same things that call out to you?
how can pink martini not be the most popular music in the world?
how can there be any pistachio’s left?
why isnt there a radio station that just plays miles davis kind of blue 24/7?
What is taste?
Trail Baboon 
(from the night owl)………….”Taste”, in the context of your monologue is simply an unending inventory of acquired likes. I’ll always view Paul Newman as the most handsome and sexy man to have ever lived, for instance. It still rankles me that he died young (73) by his own hand; the one which put cigarettes in his mouth 30 times a day for God knows how many years.
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dying by sucombing to addiction is not dying by your own hand, it is falling victim to the predators who bait their traps and reap their bounties no matter the costs. artists have more soul driven lives than accountants and the logical correctness of overcoming addiction is not how they operate. he couldnt quit that addiction for beans but he could make cat on a hot tin roof come to life better than its ever been done.
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I’m wondering, Cb, would you have considered it dying by his own hand had he died in a car racing accident?
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Good question, PJ. My answer is “probably not” because racing, however dangerous, is a calculated risk whereas smoking one’s entire life is a cumulative assault on the body with well-known and verifiable consequences.
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PJ, average people look at racing as a highly dangerous activity. The folks who actually drive racing cars do not. They are trained athletes who are supremely confident in their own abilities and even in the abilities of those steering all the cars around them. Race cars drivers snort at suggestions they are taking risks.
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I suspect “taste” is like pornography-one can’t define it, but one knows it when one sees it.
Another thought on taste that went the rounds in my costuming salad days:
Elsa Schaparelli had loads and loads of taste, most of it very bad. Coco Chanel had very little taste, but what she had was excellent.
OT-we have houseguests-Peaches is a mostly black tortoiseshell, 8 month old new mother. Her only son (currently known by the grand title of “Son of Peaches”) is about 2 weeks old, eyes not open, can’t really walk yet. and currently all black (like the New Zealand rugby team), but we expect that to change. They will be with us through the month of June. We could not be happier.
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we added tortoise to the menagerie around here a while back and enjoy them also. in the scando tradition you can assign a first name like mort and call him mort peachesson
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Son and I found a big snapping turtle on the edge of a field the other day. And last night I had a dream about turtles.
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Happy for you, mig. If your tortie has anywhere near the personality of our Martha, you’re in for a fun ride. tim, what mig is referring to is a cat of a certain color, not a tortoise.
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Our son and his wife have a tortie. She is a maniac. She likes to jump into the fridge anytime the door is open. She stalks small children as though they were gazelles on the veldt.
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Our Martha can be a handful as well. She’s very willful, not the kind of cat you can pick up and cuddle with whenever it suits you; she’ll let you know when your attention is desired. She does, however, not jump into the fridge, probably because there isn’t room for a cat in there, and she generally shies away from people, including children, she doesn’t know.
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our little Peaches may well be like that, once she gets past new motherhood. Like our late, great calico, she can pretty much take us or leave us. She likes getting out to explore, but when it is time to settle down, she is in the box with her boy (which is as it should be).
tim, I love the Icelandic Peachesson idea. We just watched “Man Who Would be King” (even more excellent than I remembered-s&h was duly impressed by it as well), so I think we should name him Danny after the Sean Connery character to go with Peachy,. Michael Caine’s character. s&h does not think that is a good idea, given the ultimate fate of Danny.
I am resisting like anything naming him “Herb”.
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I remember that show! Although I forgot about it until now.
“Dumb show,” she opined, denying that this expresses any “taste” whatsoever. “I am just right!” she harrumphed.
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Brilliant, Holly.
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To some extent, we can analyze what makes us respond emotionally to certain star performers. Marilyn was not only gorgeous but had such a strong need to be loved and liked that you sensed it immediately. Whereas some beautiful women give us the sense that they are unattainable, a guy can see Marilyn’s vulnerability and think, “I could have her!”
Emmylou is certainly beautiful, but then so are many other women who sing well. I can explain my own strong response to her by citing her profound personal humility and her passion for music. She’s almost too beautiful to be believed, and yet she cares far more for music than she cares about herself. Gee, that’s an appealing mix!
And then, as tim hints, you come down to the unknowable appeal that some performers have for us and some do not. Are these capable of being explained by deep differences in ourselves? I know a guy whose knees go weak at the sight of Morgan Fairchild and yet there are guys who consider her less attractive than many cheap prostitutes. Taste is mysterious. I hear that there are people who actually find Jerry Lewis funny.
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I am drawn to Emmylou’s music and think she is indeed beautiful. However, her beauty is not part of the musical allure. I love Lyle Lovett’s music, voice and style. Man, is he NOT beautiful.
When I was a kid I saw the movie, “The Nutty Professor” and fell madly in love with Jerry Lewis’ smooth, sophisticated persona. That must have been an 11 year old’s taste. Now that moving seems pretty silly and revolting. One’s age must play a role in this.
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No . . . her beauty isn’t part of the musical allure. But her allure goes beyond musicality. She is an enormously appealing person, for all kinds of reasons.
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Ha ha… thanks Steve! I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand Jerry Lewis’ appeal!
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Nor do I. Never have.
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You gotta be French to love Jerry.
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
I am with MIG and CB–I know it when I see it, and I know it is preferences. However, what I rarely understand is this–my true taste, what I really like and want, IS ALMOST ALWAYS VERY EXPENSIVE AND OUT OF MY PRICE RANGE.
For example, the new kitchen range I am lusting after: Gas, 2 ovens, one of which is convection, not stainless steele. Top of the market. Sigh.
I cannot afford my own life.
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I feel you pain, Jacque, I have that same affliction in some areas.
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We are a trio.
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My oven is fine, it’s the car I want. A Tesla to be exact. All electric, performance auto. Alas, the basic sedan costs more than I make in a year…sigh.
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Your “opportunity” to “enhance” your credit score. TeeHee.
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Exactly!
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count me in on that as well. That does sound like a wonderful piece of baking equipment. Trouble is, I would have to work so much to afford it, I would have no time to use it.
I think there needs to be a Baboon term for this phenomenon.
I am, however, taking delivery on a pretty spiffy range come next Thursday. It has been a longggggg scone drought at our house. On the other hand, just got the Xcel electricity useage evalution, and you can really see the bite a range takes just based on that.
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Interesting post, tim, but I think both Emmylou Harris and Cher would balk as being categorized as “70 somethings,” neither has reached that milestone yet, but Tina Turner would fit the bill.
Apart from that, you raise some interesting points. I think many fans expect their idols to possess qualities that they themselves value, one reason why so much effort and money is spent trying to shape the public’s perceptions of sports, music and especially movie stars.
I’ll have to ponder the question of what taste is. More later if I think of something.
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I took tim to mean “70 somethings” as in “of the 1970s.”
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Nope pj hit it
Are they 68?
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Nope, Emmylou is 66 and Cher 67. Sophia is closer to 80 than either of the other two to 70.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
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No doubt about it. And, as I have experienced more than once in my life, someone I considered downright homely upon first meeting them, turned out to be such a lovely person that I could no longer see anything but their beauty. The reverse is also true.
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I’m told mean and ugly suit me perfectly
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Good morning. There are lots of good things in the world that are over looked by many people. Our consumer oriented society does not do much to promote good taste. The grocery stores are filled with processed foods that aren’t all that good and are very popular. When I go to see a movie and watch the previews I wonder who goes to see some the terrible looking films that are due to be shown. Fortunately some the of mass produced junk is being exposed and there is more interest in better quality goods and products. Part of what it takes to develop good taste is the willingness to try something different which is not widely available because it is not being produced for mass consumption.
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As I’m sure everyone on this trail will agree, TLGMS would be nationally syndicated rather than defunct if our taste in music coincided with the mainstream’s.
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Right.
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And, I might add, our taste in radio is RIGHT!
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Absolutely!!
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if it coincided with bill klings
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you comments remind me that there may be excellent asparagus again this weekend at the Farmer’s Market, but probably not next weekend.
My taste dictates that asparagus is excellent when consumed immediately after picking, while in its prime harvesting window.
Otherwise, it is good only for composting (with a possible allowance for the blanched white sort that can be had in Europe, but then it needs at least a lot of butter)
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Tough question, TIm. I’ll amplify MIG’s quote about pornography by saying the question “what is taste?” is akin to asking the question “what does heaven look like?” Someone’s heaven may be their neighbor’s hell.
We all see taste as “good taste” or “bad taste,” therefore good taste is what we aspire to have, bad taste is what we aspire to avoid. And of course, taste is guided and constrained by what is socially and culturally acceptable. At my stage in life, I’m more concerned about “does it taste good?” than I am about “is it in good taste?” As someone who drives a 1991 Camry and has many shirts and sweaters older than that, I stopped worrying about being tasteful a long time ago.
Chris in Owatonna
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I have clothes of that vintage too, Chris, but most of them don’t fit anymore. And I agree, at some point it’s a lot more important that it tastes good than it being in good taste or even good for you, although I do take that latter part into consideration most of the time.
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Morning all. Great topic, tim. Like others have already stated I know what I like when I see it and like Chris, I quit worrying about being tasteful eons back (I also own a few pieces of clothing that are a couple of decades old)!
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i type this wearing my decades old, comfortable overalls as I prepare to go replant the raspberries which died out last year. The overalls are not tasteful. And I LOVE them.
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One of my old friends and neighbors, whose main income was from a trust fund established by her father, had such unique style and taste. I once saw her heading out for an evening date wearing a very expensive, white frilly blouse under a pair of old blue, bib overalls, a black velvet jacket and a pair of $300.00 boots (this was in the late 70s). Sad to say, the expensive restaurant they had reservations at, wouldn’t let her in, they considered her inappropriately attired. Personally, I thought those old overalls never looked better on anyone. This is the same friend who responded to the complaint of a patron at a Baker’s Square restaurant where she worked for a short while, that she was paid to be cute, not efficient. Given what her hourly pay was, I thought she had a point.
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I am in on a break, still clad in the bib., which I would not wear on a date, even with my husband. Can’t you imagine the manager’s response to the patron about she’s cute not efficient? That is FUNNy.
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Jacque, I have so many true Patty stories, it boggles the mind. She was smart, beautiful, rich, and truly one of a kind; she couldn’t have cared less what her manager thought, she quit. Problem solved.
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I may have missed something here – who is Patty?
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What happened in raspberry land last year all my raspberries died too
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Mine didn’t all die, but they are definitely thinner than usual. Since they were a total jungle for many years, I’m looking at that as a good thing. I just hope they produce the fall crop better than last year – that was rather pathetic. Although the gooseberry, red currant, and black currant “crops” were so pathetic that you couldn’t even call them a crop.
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Hmmm, mine are humming right along and in truth, could use thinning out, if anyone would like to have some, let me know.
My gooseberries and currants are loaded, so we are planning on gorging right through the currant jelly we have been rationing out (it was that good last year, but what a lot of work)
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Ill take some raspberries tell me when and where
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Beauty and esthetics are a wholly different thing than taste. And taste, to my mind, is as much about someone else’s opinion as it is about your own. “Is it in good taste,” is more a measure of, “can I get away with this without being stared or pointed at” (or laughed at behind my back) as it is about whether or not something is pretty or striking or what-have-you. Tastes are different between people and tastes change over time (see: Anna circa 1970-something in her granny-square vest or her powder blue leisure suit…or my own decade-old overalls that I refuse to give up). While there can be overlap with taste and timelessness (e.g., being well mannered is in good taste and is timeless), taste as it relates to esthetics are changeable where beauty is not. Brad Pitt may be the flavor of the year (and the current popular “taste” for pretty), but Paul Newman has something timeless, which says as much about his face as it does about the soul behind it.
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It’s the blue eyes. My brother has them, too–a throwback to our Irish heritage. They just appeared again in the next generation in my great nephew. They are devastatingly blue. Sign.
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Morning.
I think this is where I’m supposed to mention Jaclyn Smith. ….sigh. 🙂
Fun blog today tim… it’s one of those topics that’s not so deep I have to think hard about it (and consequently, don’t) but intriguing enough my mind can think about it while doing other stuff too.
Marilyn has never done it for me. Neither does Miles Davis. Driving around this morning heard Gershwins ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, which is one of my favorites and I hadn’t heard in awhile. Had a ‘parking lot moment’ there.
Cary Grant, John Lithgow, Glenn Close to name a few… Charles Laughton, Edward Evertt Horton and to dance like Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire…
Some of the neighbors are doing fieldwork… boy, it’s not very dry… but it’s late in the season…and it’s going to rain again…and we’re all behind…and I really should go try…but it’s not good to ‘mud’ it in… but it’s going to rain… and it’s late…. hmmmmm. Maybe later…………… and I really should cut grass.
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What are you planting, Ben?
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Love me some Gershwin…Ben, if you ever get a chance to see Kevin Cole in concert, just go. He is one of the best current interpreters of Gershwin I have ever heard. Saw him with the MN Orchestra a couple years ago – just fabulous. He really is a student and devotee of All Things Gershwin – and knows his stuff. This clip doesn’t include that fabulous opening clarinet, but enough of a taste to keep you humming all day. 🙂
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I’ve heard that The signature glissando at the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue started as sort of a joke. Paul Whiteman’s first clarinet, Ross Gorman was a master at that particular effect. Rhapsody in Blue was written with Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra in mind, but the glissando was not part of it. The first time the orchestra performed the piece for Gershwin in rehearsal, by previous arrangement among the musicians, Gorman started off with this soaring opener, trying, I think, to be over the top. Gershwin like it and kept it in.
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Sorry for the typos…
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Nice history, Bill.
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Thanks Anna– That was fun. And I didn’t mind the typos Bill. 🙂
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How can you not love miles
Did you hit the play button on that kind of blue inset dale plugged in? Better yet listen to the whole album. Best album ever made
I am thinking there are universals in this world
Kind of blue best album ever made has to be one
I heard the Gershwin ditty and remembered being in a hippy pot smoking park in Chicago with my speakers on the roof of my third open sunroof with led zeppelin and jimi Hendrix all around and the guy who came up with heavy lidded eyes said “wow man, Gershwin ! I thought I was the only person who listened to him” we had a good smile and I passed him the roach
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And Jaclyn Smith
We can agree on that.
I be she doesn’t look as good as Emmy Lou today
And Cher… I watched burlesque with my daughters last night and the sheer quantity of the plastic surgeon intervention was disturbing
She didn’t used to have marshmallow lips
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Got 25 acres of oats planted (and it’s up and looking good). Got started on corn last week. So I have corn and soybeans yet.
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nice renee
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Thanks. I finally figured out (with Dale’s help, how to post videos. Connie Kaldor has long been one of my favorite Canadian singers.
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yes what is her baby song?
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Thanks Renee; that is nice.
tim, I did listen to the Miles clip. Nope, just doesn’t do it for me. “Best album ever made?” Wow, that’s pretty high praise… I’m thinking of all my favorite recordings and which ones I go back to over and over again. There’s Steely Dan ‘Aja’, ‘Quadrophenia’ by The Who… Stephan Fearings ‘So Many Miles’ come to mind first. But I know there’s more…
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thats what todays topic was about. where the heck does taste come from? i like mine you like yours and thats all that matters.
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Hope you get some dry weather so you can get the seeds in the ground. Just finished planting my vegetable garden today. Yay!
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Taste IS a funny thing. When a new fashion (or music, or new ethnic food…) comes out, I will find some of it “awful”. But if it goes mainstream, and/or I see or hear it a LOT, it may start to grow on me, and I get used to seeing/hearing/tasting it and may end up liking it… I hated bell bottoms when they first came out, and sitar music, and anything that tasted spicy hot. No longer!
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I still hate sitar music
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my mom brought me bel bottoms from new youk city in 1967 and i was the fashion guru for a couple years because of being first. i was too cool for school
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lets send some positive vibes clydes way. i hope he doesnt need them but believe he might. i miss him and his insights.
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Yep, me too. Haven’t seen or heard him on FB lately either. And now when I look it’s like he’s disappeared from there (or at least “unfriended” me).
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Me too, Anna.
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i checked it out and he is still on fb with other friends he has outside the trail where the demands are less i assume. all we can do is send good vibes at this point i guess
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I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
― Oscar Wilde
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me and oscar
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