A crystal Faberge egg studded with diamonds commissioned by a Russian tsar that sold for a record £22.9m ($30m) at auction in London. I think it looks like a soap dish with a "Wade Whimsy" inside!
It's another snippets post, dear reader:
- Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion news: Prada has bought Versace (for a knock-down price), bringing two major Italian luxury fashion houses under one roof. Prada has leather handbags. Donatella has leather skin. A perfect match!
- Oops news: Contractors working for Ealing Council cut down a perfectly healthy and beautiful flowering cherry tree - on the correctly-named street, but in Richmond, the completely wrong borough altogether!
- Inevitable festive-related fluffy animal news: A reindeer that escaped from "Santa's Enchanted Forest" in Formby, Merseyside (on the grounds of good taste, no doubt) was found curled up asleep on a nearby beach.
- Fun before the internet news: The decorative Golden Hare that was the prize in the early 80s treasure hunt phenomenon Masquerade [the ornately-illustrated book that had millions across the globe gripped by solving its puzzles and riddles to find clues] has sold for £82,000 at auction.
- Party animal news: A drunk raccoon was found passed out on the floor of a liquor store in Virginia after breaking in and ransacking the shelves. My kind of vermin!
- 20-foot erection news: A giant golden statue of a naked Roman gladiator nicknamed "Golden Balls" by local people has been returned to its rightful place outside an antique shop in Wigan, after a dispute with the local council led to him being banned.
Wise words
- And, finally - literature: I recently stumbled across an interview from 2021 with the legendary US gay author John Rechy (who was 94 earlier this year), and was particularly taken with a couple of quotes...
- "It [the phrase “sex worker”] drives me mad. A sex worker takes the prostitution out of the thing. I remember when a collection of my essays was being published and they referred to me as an “ex-sex worker” and I said, “No way, no way, please. Call me a whore, a prostitute, anything but sex worker.” It disrespects the proud tradition of whoring."
- "I will never call myself a queer. That word is one of the things that I detest that has happened, and it’s almost being forced now. For me, you cannot separate that word from the hatred and violence that once accompanied it. When I read it being used in The New York Times, I think, “It’s their word and they can fucking have it all they want.” I will never use “queer.” It’s an ugly word."
- "It [the phrase “sex worker”] drives me mad. A sex worker takes the prostitution out of the thing. I remember when a collection of my essays was being published and they referred to me as an “ex-sex worker” and I said, “No way, no way, please. Call me a whore, a prostitute, anything but sex worker.” It disrespects the proud tradition of whoring."
Amen to that:
Yes, Sir!
And the weather? Pissing down again.
