#inscrutable

[bookdragonquotes]

[bitter69uk]

Adieu to the divine Françoise Hardy (17 January 1944 – 11 June 2024). Her death aged 80 is deeply saddening but not unexpected (Hardy had been living with cancer for many years). Where to start with this Parisian pop goddess, French national treasure, inspired musician, impossibly chic style icon (dressed by Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne and photographed by likes of Richard Avedon and David Bailey) and occasional model and actress? On a superficial level, with her moody, inscrutable penchant for glancing downwards through a sweep of long bangs and false eyelashes, Hardy was a French kissin’ cousin to contemporaries like Marianne Faithfull and Chelsea Girls-period Nico. Most importantly, her music is timelessly devastating. Think of the swirling, lush drama and crescendos of 1960s Dusty Springfield or Phil Spector productions, but with a Gallic twist and with Hardy’s beguiling, coolly poised but sensual and emotive murmurs, sighs and whispers at the eye of the storm. And from her 1962 debut onward, she wrote her own songs when it was far from the norm for pop singers, let alone female ones. No wonder Gen X-ers embraced her as an adored cult figure during the 1990s “loungecore” era. My favourite songs by Hardy (and her quality control was exceptional) would have to include “Je n’attends plus personne” (with its unexpectedly angry snarling fuzzed-out guitar), “Et Même” (with its “handclaps-of-doom” intro before the piano kicks in – trust me, that description makes sense when you listen to it!), “C’est le passe”, “Tu peux bien”, “Je t’aime”, “Voilà” and her collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg (“Comment te Dire Adieu” and “L’Anamour”). What an artist, what a woman.

[minionresearch]

[fortunaestalta]

[sumerianlanguage]

lu nu du

Hi! I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean - du can mean any of a number of things, especially without sign numbers. Is this "the person doesn't go?" Or maybe a phrase - "a person not going" or (with du7) "an unsuitable/imperfect person"? If this is my first Sumerian anon hate I want to make sure I understand it right!

[howifeltabouthim]

So she is capable of this, is she? David might have thought, taking mental notes for the heroine in his novel, or maybe he didn't think that at all. Who knows how it is with men, their mental system of connections? They could be thinking of anything at all: an ignored stock tip, an unresolved problem, a cold pale ale, a plump pair of lips, a way to untangle themselves from a complicated situation.

Irina Reyn, from What Happened to Anna K.

[beingharsh]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Our God, some contend, is immutable, And their faith is, indeed, irrefutable: When He does what He should, It's because 'He is good,' When he doesn't, "His ways are inscrutable.'" -- Laurence Perrine

Believers still don't seem to get that saying their god is good, loving, has a plan, or is on the side of their particular social or political ideology... and is unknowable, inscrutable, beyond human comprehension, or works in mysterious ways... is just a lot of words to say it doesn't exist.

[alastairvox]

How could I resist such an enticing advertisement

[consideratesea]

there’s a livelaughlove style sign at this laundromat that just says “Thou Shalt Not Whine” and I truly don’t know why

[bitter69uk]

“She is beautiful and more than beautiful; she is surprising. Darkness in her abounds, and all that she inspires is nocturnal and profound. Her eyes are two caverns where mystery dimly glistens, and like a lightning flash, her glance illuminates: it is an explosion in the dark.” From the poem The Desire to Paint (1869) by Charles Baudelaire.

"She didn't bother with neurosis; she went straight to psychotic." Music manager and publicist Danny Fields on his friend Nico.

“When she sang with the Velvet Underground it was like a loved one taking a razor to your throat.” Steven Puchalski, Slimetime: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies (1996) “If they ever held auditions for the Angel of Death, Nico probably would have walked it.” From a 1988 music press obituary for Nico.

Light a black candle! The late, great heroin-ravaged German chanteuse, actress and fashion model Nico (née Christa Päffgen, 16 October 1938 – 18 July 1988) - the Marlene Dietrich of punk, Edith Piaf of The Blank Generation, Warhol Superstar, Moon Goddess, Exiled Countess of Gloom, “possessor of the most haunting wraith cheekbones of the twentieth century” (thank you, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair) - was born on this day 86 years ago. The eternally alluring and inscrutable Nico has always been my favourite singer (and John Waters’ too, for that matter). Portrait of Nico by Maarten Corbijn. (This photo would be adapted for the front cover of Nico’s final studio album Camera Obscura (1985)).

[justana0kguy]

2023 AUGUST 27 Sunday

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

~ Romans 11:33,36

[eroticdictionary]

[howifeltabouthim]

He was impossible to read. Maybe that was part of being the best knight in the world, keeping your intentions veiled, so no one could exploit them. Maybe he'd mastered and armored his exterior so completely that nothing, not even his own emotions could get out. Or maybe it wasn't so much that he was unreadable as that somewhere in his long pursuit of invincibility he'd lost the ability to be read.

Lev Grossman, from The Bright Sword

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Black holes have the universe's most inscrutable poker faces.

"The Fabric of the Cosmos" - Brian Greene

[bitter69uk]

“Dietrich is not a woman, not a man, but a phantom as could only come out of Central Europe.” Doyenne of fashion Diana Vreeland quoted in the book Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up (1990) by Bob Colacello.

“She has sex but no positive gender. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men.” Kenneth Tynan.

“If we had to invent someone to be the ideal woman … we would have to invent Marlene Dietrich.” Billy Wilder.

Let’s all pause for a moment of old-school diva worship! Supremely world-weary, enigmatic and throaty-voiced German actress, chanteuse, personification of Continental decadence and all-round international glamourpuss extraordinaire, Marlene Dietrich (27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was born on this day! Pictured: portrait of Dietrich by John Engstead, promoting the 1940 film Seven Sinners.