March 1 is National Smile Day!

 Here are some random smiles in celebration, and to make this Picture Perfect Wednesday complete!

 

 

 
 
  
 
 

 

It's a Mohammed Monday!

THIS WEEK WITH JESUS & MO

Musical Monday with Fu-Schnickens

We try to mix a little education with the entertainment these parts. So, on this Musical Monday, we bring you a rap video from the early 1990s that answers a question you didn't even know you wanted answered: What is a True Fuschnick?

Click below, sit back, and prepare to be schooled!

Um... okay. Maybe we over-sold the educational value to that video... but it IS a very entertaining bit of rap from the early 1990s. (1992 to be exact, and the third single from what would prove to be their biggest album -- their debut album, "F.U.: Don't Take It Personal.")

You can read about the group's history at Wikipedia by clicking here. (Among the groundbreaking they can be credited with was defining a trail that the longer-lasting Wu-Tang Clan would soon follow.)

They don't make 'em like this anymore!

How to Get Killed in One Easy Lesson (1943)
Starring: Stephen McNally, Barry Nelson, and an Anonymous Narrator
Director: Anonymous
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A captured Japanese sniper explains how American soldiers make themselves easy targets.

I've had to sit through many, MANY training films and video presentations over the years... and very few have been as entertaining as "How to Get Killed in One Easy Lesson". Maybe if they were, I wouldn't feel like going to "training" was such a waste of time.

Take a few minutes out of your day to watch this WW2-era short film... maybe you, too, can learn how not to be seen! (I wonder if someone working on "Monte Python's Flying Circus" might have seen this film as a very young man? There are several similarities between it and some of the more famous sketches on the show.)

Fanny Friday

 

"Flapper Fanny Says" (later just "Flapper Fanny") ran as a single-panel daily cartoon from January 26, 1925 until June 29, 1940. The series was part of a wave of popular culture that focused on the flapper look and lifestyle, and it was created and initially drawn by Ethel Hays (1925-1930), then Gladys Parker (1930-1935), and finally Sylvia Sneldman (1935-1940).

Flapper Fanny will be appearing here at Shades of Gray, on every other Friday for the foreseeable future. We're kicking things off with the very first "Flapper Fanny Says" cartoon, although future weeks will bring a random selection of Hays' run on the strip (which was very Art Deco in style and consistently featured a flapper cartoon and a witticism), Parker (whose work on the series was more what in line with what is traditionally thought of as a comics strip format), and Sneldman (who combined elements of both her predecessors and increasingly drew upon an expanded cast of characters that had been introduced by Parker).

You can read a little more about the publishing history of Flapper Fanny here. 

Happy birthday, Emily Blunt!

Actress Emily Blunt turns 40 years old today. Here's a celebration in pictures!

It's National Cat Day (in Japan)!

Feb. 22 (2/22) is National Cat Day in Japan. This day was chosen by the nation to celebrate the greatest animals on planet Earth, because the date (2/22) sounds to Japanese ears like a cat meowing--nyan-nyan-nyan, which "two-two-two" in Japanese.

Here are some pictures of ladies and their pussies in observation of this very special day!

 
 

Where are the dancers?

On International Dance Day 2022, the ballerinas ran off into the wild. We're trying to keep track of them, and we'll try to bring you updates on the last Wednesday of each month until International Dance Day 2023. Here's what some of them have been doing recently:

Sarah found herself (which is fitting, since we are posting on 2/22).

Miko found what may be the Stairway to Heaven...

... while Sydney may have found the Highway to Hell (at the Bridge Over Troubled Waters).

But there's no doubt that MacKenzie and Zarina found themselves further from home than anyone else: They ran into a group of short guys and tagged along for a trip to Mordor.

A 120+ year-old movie that's still fresh

The Brahmin and the Butterfly (aka "The Butterfly's Chrysalis") (1901)
Starring: Georges Melies and an anonymous dancer
Director: Georges Melies
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A sorerer (Melies) uses magic to create a beautiful winged woman by enchanting a giant caterpillar... but things don't go quite as he planned.

 "The Brahmin and the Butterfly" is one of my favorite shorts from early special effects wizard Georges Melies. It's a little goofy, a little creepy, the effects are pretty good even by modern standards, and it's got a story with a twist. All in about two minutes!

What's more, I think the story will resonate with modern audiences. Take a look and let me know if you agree! (The version I'm providing below features a modern score done specifically for this film, which makes watching it even more enjoyable.)

Musical Monday with New German Cinema

Singer/songwriter Jessica Weiss, who has been the face and voice of UK-based band Fear of Men since 2011, recently unveiled a solo project. Check out the first video released in support of it below... and enjoy the ethereal spookiness! (I don't think I've enjoyed a song of this genre as much as this one since C'est la Mort in the early 1990s.)