Hostage Christmas Memes

MMM 474

Penultimate Monday of 2021.

Looks warm there.

Rock Around the Croc: Minuet and Trio Form

Continuing our exploration of the Classical Era and the Viennese Classical Style. As a quick recap, the Classical era runs from the death of Bach in 1750 to the early 1800s, and the three principal figures of that era were Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The music of the Classical era is characterized by changed instrumentation (especially the invention and development of the piano), increased use of homophonic texture, use of tune as musical theme, and a change in expressive content (from the almost mathematical-sounding, motoric, intricate fugues of Bach to the highly lyrical and immediate sound of a sonata by Mozart or Beethoven).

That being said, Haydn has the nickname “the Father of the Symphony” because of how incredibly prolific he was, and the symphony is arguably the most important musical form of the Classical era. The structure of a typical symphony is four movements, with each movement set in its own form, as chosen by the composer. Last week I covered Theme and Variations form. This week we move on to Minuet and Trio, which often appeared in the third movement in symphony, string quartet or solo piano work.

On Account of Meme

2021 BBF Miss Congeniality

Hello, and welcome to Big Boob Friday’s 2021 Miss Congeniality Tournament.

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Today’s models didn’t make the cut for the tournament, but I’ve been assured by multiple sources that they all possess sparkling personalities.

Weird Names / Weird Creatures

The Crazy Uncles of the Animal World

Secret Santa 2021

We had 10 participants this year, which was wonderful to see. I got some charming commentary in the emails with the photos, and I’ll either encourage the recipients to re-create those in the thread or I’ll try to add them as I’m able with the photos, just want to get something up here sooner.

Here are Roamy’s gifts:

Just kidding, this was a fake-out box

Here are Jay’s gifts:

Here are Jimbro’s gifts:

Non-descript, discrete packaging for discerning clients.

I’m told there is a dog toy charging, as depicted here, to be added later when a good usage photo is available.

Mitchell’s gifts:

Carin’s gifts:

She said she’s afraid to eat the beaver bites. I told her eating beaver was not so bad.

Lumpy’s gifts:

I’m told these were delicious.

And all together.

IMPOTENT POAT UPDATE by HOTSPUR!!!!!!!

Stellar gift wrap:

LOL This is sooo true:

Pupster’s gifts:

MJ’s gifts:

More Humeme Than Humeme

MMM 473

Something about Sunday night/Monday morning is killing my ability to sleep through it. Maybe I need one of those booty pillows.

She’d do.

Rock Around the Croc: Still More Classical

There’s so much more to say about the Viennese Classical Style that, three posts in, I still feel I’m doing introductory material. That being said, let’s jump right into some of the musical concepts that serve as the foundation of the Classical Era. I’ll start with a quote from Professor Robert Greenberg: “The Enlightenment’s influence on musical style resulted in an emphasis on thematic and structural clarity and purity and expressive restraint.” Now let’s break that down a little bit.

Thematic clarity is a very important concept in the Classical era because the symphony, probably the musical form most commonly associated with that era, is built around themes, and the composer’s art consists of what is done with those themes.