Oooooh, pretty!
It was on March 31, 1889 that Gustave Eiffel led an entourage of government officials and members of the press up to the top of his new creation, officially opening the monument known as the Eiffel Tower. The tower has since become the most famous symbol of Paris, and the country of France itself. So iconic is the Eiffel Tower’s status that it’s almost impossible to believe that so many people didn’t want this “Awful Tower” built in the first place. And that includes some of Eiffel’s fellow artists….
From Wikipedia:
We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection … of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.
A 1,083 foot tall iron spire? Not in my backyard!!!!
Incidentally, while the tower itself is now in the public domain (but only since 1993!!!), it has been ruled by French courts that the illumination of the tower is a separate work of art that is still protected by copyright. So if you don’t see me post next week, it’s probably because I’m rotting in the Bastille for using that leadoff image…
The French police are sending their best man after me…
And so before the gendarmes show up to arrest me, let’s use my last moments of freedom to answer Melanie’s Share Your World questions for this week!
More trademarked illumination.
What fictional family would you like to be part of?
The Manson family! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that loving, caring, totally fun household?
World’s Greatest Dad!
Which band or artist would you like to play at your funeral or memorial service?
I wouldn’t want anyone coming to my funeral or memorial service. So I’d ask for these guys to play…
Preference. Popcorn, M&Ms or other. Choose something you love snacking on.
I generally keep some combination of Hershey’s with almonds, Kisses, Reese’s, Kit Kats, etc. on hand in the freezer. Yes, the freezer, because chocolate candy is only edible if it’s frozen.
Otherwise, you may as well be munching on a turd.
If you could be any supernatural (fantasy) character, what would you be?
How about a cerberus, the three-headed hellhound that was the guardian of Hades in the days of the ancient Greeks? Not only would I look completely badass, but I could bite people who got too close to me, eat frozen chocolate bars, and lick my balls all at the same time!
Living the dream!
Please share the best advice you’ve ever gotten which you feel ought to be shared with everyone.
The best advice can only be obtained for $500 an hour and not be shared with anyone due to attorney/client privilege…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
the keyboard guy would fit great to any funeral!!! I want highway to hell in a recorder version…
The keyboard guy is the coolest member of the group! The rest of them need to be sent to the gulag…
That video cracks me up every time…..audience looks petrified, band looks bored, singer looks – well – scary. My kinda video. Love the ‘toon too…..love a happy ending. HAHA
Pam
You gotta love rock concerts from behind the old Iron Curtain. I mean, who knew they even had them, let alone that everyone was forced under gunpoint to watch them?
That is EXACTLY what comes to mind in that video……forced “compliance” or else!!
Thanks Bill for providing a SYW that scared even me (a little bit). I still can’t see worth a dang, or it might have been a lot worse. Hershey’s = a turd. Well well well. Explains why they’re my LAST choice if I’m seeking more sugar so that diabetes can kill me faster. Freezing them only resulted in an unseemly and surprisingly (NOT) costly trip to the dentist when I chipped a tooth trying to gum a frozen kiss. Don’t try that at home. The Manson Family huh? Remind me not to make any sudden moves if I ever meet your kin up in there. That guy still looks really bat shit to me. Not that I think you are, someone with your exquisite artistic skills (demonstrated so deftly with the comic you so kindly included could NOT be even fictionally related to a guy who appears to think ‘performance art’ should be gory, and someone should lose their head or something, or it’s not good enough. *urp Pardon moi* A tip of the chapeau for the Tower Trivia moment too, The guy had some vision, even if he wasn’t appreciated in his own time, which is usually the case with ‘fine art’… 😉 Have a perfect week and weekend!
I stared at that family question for about 15 minutes and couldn’t come up with a family fucked up enough for me… all I kept thinking of was Manson family, so I finally went with it! Don’t worry, I’m part of the non-violent branch of the family. I’m enjoying the opportunity to provide some not too well known tidbits on the this day in history series, many of which I’m learning for the first time myself! You just gotta keep SYW going for another seven years so I can complete the cycle of dates!
Fascinating info on the Parisian iconic structure. Cerberus…the most ambidextrous creature…ever!
I’m sure some of them are right headed or left headed…
You’ll have at least one attendee for your funeral! I’ll be leaving straight after the band, though…
That’s fine since I don’t plan on doing any encores. If by some chance I were actually still alive, I’m sure I’d have popped up out of the coffin and strangled the singer before their set ended…