The Bar. (L&D's own chatroom)

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I hope I'm not talking too much!

Before about 1976, skateboards had a different character. They had steel wheels instead of urethane wheels. There were still roller skates which you opened with a key. There was a song about such roller skates sung by Melanie in 1972, known as "Brand New Key."

Keith Haring, tragically, passed away from AIDS in the early 90s.

The bottom painting looks just like some cave paintings done (in either France or Spain) circa 20,000 BC.

One of the most amazing works of art is the Venus sculpture, with exaggerated feminine attributes, which was said to have been done circa 25,000 to 30,000 BC.

Of course you are not talking too much! I come here to enjoy your conversation!
You are right about Haring, most of the money he made he donated to AIDS research foundations, and his work today, which is still reproduced in all sorts of formats, still supports AIDS research.
Yes, the cave art actually combines a few different periods and a few different caves. The figure you speak of used to be called the "Venus of Willendorf" but art historians (such as myself) discarded that title about 15 years ago, since there is no evidence of any sort to suggest she (or her muli-shaped, multi-sized, multi-region of origin) counterparts represent anything to do with love, fertility, goddesses, or beauty. We used to have "arm-chair archaeologists" who hired ditch-diggers to go out and find "antiquities" that they could say something "educated" about. Now, we rely on hard facts and evidence, so some titles and interpretations have changed. I am definitely talking too much!!

*Beware of teacher: she has a history of monologue-ing !

No...you are not talking too much. You are offering an interesting perspective. And I like the way you presented it. Showing your intelligence, but not downgrading someone else's intelligence. That's the way new theories should be presented.

I can't help but see the exaggerated feminine attributes in the Venus of Willendorf. I'll have to read some of the revisionist work on it.

One of my "special interests" as a child happened to be evolutionary anthropology. When I would get thrown out of class in junior high, I would create "family trees" of Man's origins.

This Bar: the only Bar where we can Boogie to "Flashlight"--then, two minutes later, discuss Paleoanthropology.

I'll have to look up the origins of the name "10 o'clock Scholar"--but this Bar has a fine resemblance to at least the idea of the "10 o'clock Scholar."

Well, those are some of the best things about this bar!! The boogie-ing, the discussions, the clientele! Give me Geeky conversations or give me silence, I say!

You are right about the "Statuette of a Woman, Willendorf, Austria" she does have very exaggerated sexual features. That part is not being called into question, more the why, and the by whom parts. Historically it was assumed these (there are lots, some are thin, some old, some young, etc..) were made by men, for men, so to speak. Yet, there are no male statuettes at all. Recent scholarship suggests they may have been made by women, as teaching tools, magical protective amulets (tiny enough to wear around the neck or carry in a skin bag), representations of symbolic "clan mothers" (no faces, ever, so probably not directly representational) and maybe even as symbols of a sort of 'wealth' or well-being. This is because it would have been next to impossible to build up that very obese body type in Paleolithic Austria! Chances are good that we will never really understand the intentions...5,000 years from now, I wonder what sort of god people will think "Uncle Sam" was! That would be a fun one to try to explain!

That's plausible, too. In many so-called "primitive" societies, there are religious/fraternal/sororital societies for women and men. Frequently, the esoteric knowledge gained within these gender-based organizations are not shared with the opposite gender.

This idea was extant in western society until very, very recently. That each gender had esoteric knowledge which should not be passed along to the opposite gender--that this passing along of esoterica had the character of a taboo.

I grew up with the idea that men should not interfere, or inquire into, "womens matters."

I still feel that men should understand that women, sometimes, just need to keep certain things private.

LOL....They would think of Uncle Sam as anachronistic--dressed up in 19th century garb even in the 21st century. That he never acquired modern clothes. I guess this was because this was an example of an idealized America in the 19th century that's been passed over generations.

Interestingly enough, I did not realize this until very recently; I just took for granted the image of Uncle Sam, and just didn't really closely study him.

You are quite perceptive! Once we, as a society, establish an ideal for a thing, it will "die" in the sense that it gets stuck in a time warp and does not re-adapt to changing societal needs. Then we tell ourselves that the thing has "always been that way" and was "never intended to change" because it is sacred/inviolable and so forth. Humans are funny.

While I do not perceive big differences in gender myself, I realize that many other people do. We have invented many of the ways that we claim men and women differ but, on the biological front, there are two or three significant differences. I was raised in a home that tried to enforce strict sex roles. That didn't work! I played with Star Wars figures and climbed trees and such.

I will say that there is something of romance maintenance to be had in keeping some things to oneself, or doing some activities in private.

Things have definitely changed in the gender front.

A few times in my life, especially when I was a teenager, I violated some "taboo" pertaining to "private womens issues" and got severely lambasted for it. Based on their reaction, I probably should have been more cognizant of this, and more sensitive.

One just has to be sensitive to that which really pushes people's buttons--really triggers something negative.

Even though I was wildly curious about how my grandmother experienced life in Russia when she was young, I never asked her about it. I feel that her time in Russia, combined with the immigration experience, conspired to close her mind to it, and made it painful to recall.

Same with my mother and her childhood. There's something which I must not breach, otherwise, Pandora's Box is opened.

Now....for a little "decadent" fun.....let us listen to: "Get up and Boogie" by Silver Convention.

I know where you are coming from there, I never "got" various sensitive spots that people had until it was too late. ugh. I couldn't understand being punished for transgressions that just didn't seem like they should be real things...oh well. If decadence is the air...then let us dance!! !

I love your conversation, but now I would like you take my hand and spin me around a bit!

Yep...early disco does that to you...gives you the urge to spin and Boogie!

Especially: "Hollywood Swinging," by Kool and the Gang!

And after this dance.....I can sense that you need a replenishing drink--what is your pleasure?

Now we have Carl Douglas in "Kung Fu Fighting"--took advantage of the Karate/Kung-Fu craze of 1974.

Hundreds of martial arts school opened up at that time, and hundreds went out of business within a year.

Do they have any of those Italian ice thingies you have been buying me on the way home? I love frozen drinks...if not, I will have a virgin peach margarita, please.

That is a great song! Hilarious. I think they vastly underestimated Americans lack of coordination and commitment!

Italian Ice----coming up! You'll like the Rainbow Flavor--a New York specialty!

Ever had crushed ice with fruit-flavored syrup----they can be divine, too!

These sorts of songs--"Kung-Fu Fighting," "Hollywood Swinging" were wildly popular back in 1974---and you constantly heard these songs on the radio at the beach. People would bring little transistor radios, or larger ones. No boomboxes yet. No headphones.

And at summer camp, during "socials," the counselors would play these songs on the record player---at the first note, the kids would go wild---and start dancing right away. The most popular song at camp, though, was "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace.

And in New York City neighborhoods, people would sit on a "stoop" (a stairway which rises up into a doorway), and listen to the baseball game, or play dominoes to Meringue music.

Fast-paced Meringue is also music which people really go wild over.

The more elegant Hispanic people would dance to Salsa, which produced a more "social" dance. Meringue is the "boogie-type" music.

If you really want to spin, I'll put on a Meringue record!

Yes, definitely. I am learning to like dancing, here, away from critical eyes. It is actually a lot of fun.