Spanish porn star Nacho Vidal, who likes to advertise his aromatic candles shaped like male genitalia on Twitter, has been arrested on manslaughter charges following a man's death during a mystic ritual in which he inhaled psychedelic toad venom @AFP https://t.co/csPGMAnQOq
— Hazel Ward (@WardieJerusalem) June 3, 2020
Open Thread
Tony Jay
Not surprised. We all knew it was bound to turn out this way.
eric
@Tony Jay: not talking about Cummings. (yet)
Aleta
The service for George Floyd is streaming live now. At the Post, etc.
MattF
I wonder, though, what’s the connection between the image and the tweet? I don’t see any toads or wax penises there.
Spanky
Toad venom? So he’s been reading old Newton plague cures too, eh?
(Must be Toad Day here on BJ.)
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I had two thoughts reading that tweet.
1. Wow, that’s a lot of unexpected twists and turns to pack into one sentence.
2. What scent exactly do those aromatic phalli have?
Baud
We asked how 2020 could get any worse. Now we know.
Mart
@Baud: I dunno, sniffing some psychedelic toad venom sounds like a pretty good option right about now.
kindness
Venom? I thought that the psychedelic stuff from toads was succreted out of glands in their skin. I always associated venom to be related to a biting thing.
Calouste
@MattF: Random police car to indicate it is a crime story. Fairly common in Europe if there aren’t any suitable pictures related to the actual crime available, and publishing pictures of suspects is not common. Sometimes there might be other pictures, an article about fraud might get a picture of a stack of money for example.
Tom Levenson
I saw that story, thought about posting it, and quailed.
David is made of sterner stuff.
Lavocat
Sure picked a bad time to stop sniffing glue. And don’t call me Shirley.
CaseyL
That tweet should be shown, discussed, and celebrated in Journalism Schools everywhere as the absolute best Who/What/When/Where/Why ever. Tells you everything you need to know in one sentence, while also leaves you wanting to know more. (In this case, “WTAF???”)
PenAndKey
Informative, but no… I’m okay not finding out more.
The Moar You Know
@MattF: I gotta be honest, given the substance of the story, I flat-out don’t want to see ANY pictures that could be associated with it.
West of the Cascades
@Calouste: They couldn’t find a photo of a venomous toad?
Another Scott
Let’s see “neopreno” sounds like a kind of rubber…
rofl. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
p.a.
President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama today advised never to inhale psychedelic toad venom.
donald trump and assorted magats: hold this diet coke.
West of the Cascades
Headlines like the one on this post make me deeply, deeply sorry I am aware of all internet traditions.
Benw
@Tom Levenson: Apparently quails used to be native here on Long Island and kept the tick and bug population in check. We wiped out their habitat and now we’re stuck with shitloads of ticks and lyme disease. The moral of this story is: fuck Donald Trump.
Timurid
Where it’s at? I got two ball gags and a poison toad.
CaseyL
@PenAndKey:
Really? You would have missed out on knowing Vidal’s “25-centimetre aromatic candles of the male genitalia, [are] available in black, white or cerise.”
Now, that is some hard-hitting reportage!
LuciaMia
Should this be considered a respite thread?
MattF
@LuciaMia: Is that a toad in your pocket?
Anomalous Cowherd
The Sonoran Desert toad, Bufo alvarius, has parotid glands and skin liberally laced with DMT – a potent but short-acting hallucinogen. People have been known to scrape the flattened toads off the asphalt to take home and smoke the dried skin.
However, if one is taking a MAOi the combination may well be fatal.
MomSense
I did not have this on my Fuck 2020 bingo card.
MomSense
@MattF:
Or are you just happy to see me?
catclub
@CaseyL:
You are doing a bang-up job yourself!
catclub
@Timurid: I got green balloons…. maybe too late.
Baud
@LuciaMia: Depends on your particular kink.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Tom Levenson:
Chicken.
I\ts been my favorite news item of the last day or so.
TomatoQueen
Loathesome creatures. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article243089741.html
WereBear
It did remind me of this classic :
Josie
This thread is exactly why I like to visit BJ several times a day. The things you learn on a full service blog.
The Thin Black Duke
“Toad Venom Ritual” will be the name of my next band.
PenAndKey
Is that what we are here?
VOR
That’s a Prius police car. That model, the Prius V, is often used for taxis.
dmsilev
Look, the only thing that can stop a bad guy with psychedelic toad venom is a good guy with psychedelic toad venom.
Subsole
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
It depends. Sandalwood, Musk, New Jockstrap, Cinnamen.
Or so I’m told.
Patricia Kayden
Subsole
@p.a.:
Nah. They’re too busy freebasing drain cleaner.
Subsole
@Timurid:
What about folks that go both ways, y’know, like AC-DCs?
cmorenc
Wonder how much she (actually he) charged the man for that party. Hope Nacho got paid up front, doesn’t look like much chance of collecting an any outstanding balance.
zhena gogolia
Oh, great. There’s a guy servicing our A/C and he has Rush Limbaugh blasting from his radio in the driveway. “You dare to disrespect a policeman?”
Vomit.
We used to have a nice local oil company with friendly service people. They got bought out by a big impersonal company. This guy has NY license plates (we’re in CT). I guess it’s time to switch.
Bill K
What balloon juice goes in green balloons?
Patricia Kayden
mrmoshpotato
(Clicks on Next button from downstairs)
Well, ummmmmm, this is unexpected.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tom Levenson: Well, he does go by bjdick(mayhew) on twitter.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Porn industry is considering shutting down because of Covid and tapping into their Strategic Reserve of Lisa Ann videos.
cmorenc
When you come to a psychedelic toad in the road, which fork should you take? The left one or the salad fork?
JaySinWA
@p.a.:
“Inhaling psychedelic toad venom is not a useful preventative treatment for Covid-19”
Argiope
Florida called, and they want their man AND their toad back.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
Well, if anyone needed a reason to start drinking early, I’d say this is it.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@cmorenc: Isn’t there a dedicated toad fork? My brother and I don’t get invited out to dinner often, so my knowledge of silverware is limited.
Eric NNY
Nacho Vidal needs to become a category on this site reserved only for gems such as this.
Mary G
Speaking of venomous toads, somebody else has been reading polls and decided maybe that ass doesn’t need kissing so much any more:
Kent
Seriously. I thought that kind of extreme crazy involving animals only happened in Florida.
Aleta
Criterion Channel says on twitter that they’ve taken down their paywall on some of the films in their collection that represent Black Lives. https://twitter.com/Criterion/status/1268586676068257792/photo/4
Subsole
@zhena gogolia:
I thought that asshole was supposed to be dying?
Ahead of schedule, I mean.
sdhays
As one does….
Yutsano
@Aleta: The Colour Purple.
All The Colour Purple. It just hit me how that film changed my perspective on AA lives.
NotMax
@Aleta
Both of them?
//
sdhays
@JaySinWA: YOU CAN’T SAY THAT!1!! THERE HAVEN’T BEEN QUADRUPLE-BLIND TRIALS COMPLETED YET!!1!
Origuy
In 1964, the Beatles performed at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. They refused to appear if the audience was segregated. Kitty Oliver was 16, black, and a Beatles fan. She cleaned houses to save money for a ticket. She sat alone, among a nearly all-white section, and sang “Love Me Do” along with everyone else.
NotMax
Why are there no 34th degree Masons, Alex?
zhena gogolia
@Subsole:
It was either him or somebody imitating him.
chopper
looks like i picked the wrong week to quit sniffing psychedelic toad venom.
different-church-lady
Good to see things are getting back to normal.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
There’s a televised memorial service for George Floyd on right now. Al Franken is speaking. It’s on NBC, CBS, and ABC. Interestingly enough, neither PBS or Fox (the entertainment channel) are carrying it
raven
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Jesus, the huge outbreak in Albany was from a funeral, this doesn’t look to good.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Anomalous Cowherd: Michal Pollan included a chapter on toad venom in his book about psychedelics, How to change your mind.
https://news.northeastern.edu/2019/09/20/what-lsd-mushrooms-and-toad-venom-taught-michael-pollan-about-spirituality/
prostratedragon
@zhena gogolia:
Few of years ago I experienced a multi-day carpet-laying job by a fan of Rush or Jones or somebody. Reminded me then that there was a time when people working in the homes or offices of others kept things like that to themselves. I thought it both threat and harbinger. (Was in Michigan at the time)
zhena gogolia
@prostratedragon:
Yes, I think it’s highly inappropriate. But I guess these days we can’t complain.
prostratedragon
@Eric NNY:
Substitute for Florida Man? Subcategory thereof?
My first reaction after an abbreviated Trudeau: … and we’re supposed to have something to say?
prostratedragon
@zhena gogolia: Know what you mean. I grinned and bore it, probably still would. Just not worth even the possibility of hassle.
SFBayAreaGal
@Baud: I busted out laughing
SFBayAreaGal
@Lavocat: I love this movie
Martin
@zhena gogolia: Kick him out and report him to his employer. “I don’t need your employees blasting their racist talk radio fetish into my house.” I’ve sent countless contractors and employees away for that shit, to the extent that my opinion of trades has gotten quite low. I have one white contractor that I like – and all the others are minorities, because I cannot deal with another old white fucker that looks like me deciding that I’m the right person to start complaining about the negros to.
Small sample size, but roofers are the absolute worst.
raven
@Martin: You have white roofers? It’s almost all hispanic folks here.
Elizabelle
@Martin: Agreed. The rightwing crap would get me to find another tradesperson.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: Ugh, wingnut contractors! Pardon the redundancy. (Though technically, I am a contractor.) I believe I shared photos here of the MAGA-mobile that showed up to install our A/C last year.
The MAGA choad left his Tupperware container of macaroni or whatever on the floor of the hallway when he interrupted his lunch break to take a call, and Daisy stuck her tongue ALL the way in it. I didn’t say a word! :)
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Hahaha
Martin
@prostratedragon: White privilege can be used as a force for good. I have no problem getting these people fired. I’ve even insisted on sending their employer a compliant in writing just to ensure that they had something to put in their file. cc to the CEO.
But because these people tend to hide their behavior around minorities and surface it with me, it’s my responsibility to dox them to their employer and ensure that others don’t need to suffer from them.
It has to be worth the hassle or else things won’t change. I learned this from my staff many years ago when I first became a supervisor. We were in a period where we were hiring temps to get through a difficult hiring period and one of my staff pulled me aside and asked that a temp be sent back for what I at the time considered fairly minor reasons. And in that conversation I realized that they were only minor to me, but they were major to the people that were having to more regularly deal with their shortcomings. After that I got a reputation for sending temps back before lunch of their first day. I learned that it didn’t matter if it was a hassle for me if I was creating a hassle for a bunch of other people by not dealing with it. My reputation became such that the head of HR would regularly tell me ‘yeah, we have some temps in the pool, but you’ll send them all back, so can you wait a few days?’ I got much better temps after that, also in part because I’d hire the good ones on full time, which is what the head of HR wanted for the temps, so I became the pipeline for the best of the pool – and man, did I get some great employees after that.
If you can in any way make the effort, do it. It’s less work than the alternative.
Elizabelle
Just in, Richmond VA. Not only protesters are roaming its streets. From the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Barbara
@zhena gogolia: I would make them turn it off not matter what it was. If you can hear it it’s too loud. Fixing your A/C isn’t a license to bother you with his preferred radio broadcast material.
raven
@Barbara: It would be pretty dumb to fuck with someone who is working on a piece of equipment like that.
Martin
@raven: Yeah, I’m mystified as well. Would not be the least bit surprised if there was some organized effort to keep the minority roofers out.
My favorite is our exterior painters. I do all the inside stuff, but I can’t really work fast enough to deal with the exterior, and I don’t want that a many different ladders. The owner of the biz is Korean and barely speaks any english, but he’s fluent in spanish because all of his workers are latino, and his crew bosses translate from english to spanish for him. It’s pretty hilarious, and his crew is great. The owner is a stickler – he’ll swing by and find something that even I didn’t see (and I’m a very good painter) and tell them to fix it.
Jager
This is Nacho’s IMBD profile:
Nacho Vidal, Actor: Back 2 Evil. Already one of the most popular and hard-working men on the hardcore scene, Nacho Vidal has only been in the business since 1998. He’s a Spanish-born super-stud whose swarthy good looks and wild-eyed approach to his work have kept him very busy over the past few years. Nacho has built a reputation as a Spanish Rocco Siffredi, a guy who is at his …
He wrote his own profile
raven
@Martin: Our painters are awesome. The owner is Mexican and most of his guys are Guatemalan. When I had a hernia operation the owner and his wife brought me pupusas! These folks work so damn hard and they deserve better than they get.
prostratedragon
@Martin: 1) It wasn’t my call/contract; 2) I’m not white.
prostratedragon
@Jager:
“He wrote his own profile”
Lies, LIES, I tell you.
Punchy
This is why I’m not a porn star.
Also…could a porn star’s name be any cheesier than “Nacho”?
Brachiator
Coming late to the venemous toad story stuff.
Is this the respite thread?
Martin
@raven: I start with the call to the employer. If they’re not a tiny business, they’ll recall the contractor without involving you – the cable company or gas company have a zillion employees to send a replacement. If they’re an independent contractor, I’ll tell them I need them to pack up their tools and stop the work. I’ve had a few go off in a huff but these folks usually rely too much on word of mouth to get business, so they usually go quietly. They’ll ask why, and I tell them we’ll talk about it at their truck after they’ve packed up – I do it on their territory, and without making a scene or embarrassing them in front of my family or whatever. I try to not be mean about it, but I am direct. I’ll tell them Rush is a racist, and I’m not going to tolerate that on behalf of myself and my neighbors and society at large. If he wants to listen to it on his time, fine, but don’t bring it here. If they do good work, I’ll tell them that too, that being skilled at their job isn’t enough to make up for that behavior.
The tricky ones are the employees of small businesses – the owners know who their employees are, and are usually on board with it. Those can get ugly, with me telling off the owner on the phone, usually in close enough proximity for the tradesperson to know something is up, and then me angrily shoving the trade off my property mostly because I’ve now got my irish up and lost all sight of diplomacy.
In one of the weirder interactions, the trade was fine but the owner made comments when he stopped by to check on the work. The trade apologized to me on behalf of his boss, and I offered to hire him independently, which I later did when he got his own insurance and struck out on his own.
Steeplejack
Aqua Buddha and Nacho Vidal walk into a bar . . .
Martin
@prostratedragon: Sorry, didn’t mean to infer you were. Just a reminder to everyone to use whatever privilege they happen to have. I talk to the room a lot without being clear that I’m talking to the room.
Homeowners can do a lot more than renters. People with money can do more than people without money. Use those for good.
Martin
@Punchy: Gouda? Maybe Velveeta.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
?
SFBayAreaGal
Never a dull moment here at Balloon-Juice
cckids
@Martin: I cannot deal with another old white fucker that looks like me deciding that I’m the right person to start complaining about the negros to.
I feel you. I’m a part-time cashier at a Kroger store in Bellevue WA, many of my co-workers are people of color, many of them immigrants (as is a huge part of our customer base). I’m older and so white; lots of the old white people seem to take that as license to come through my line to bitch and dunk on my crew-mates. They always seem shocked that I am not. here. for. that. shit.
This is my second job, people, I need it, but don’t NEED it. Also, I’m old enough & have been through enough that I have given away all my f*cks. Don’t start racist talk with me.
Martin
@cckids: I think people would be shocked at how common it is for older white guys to get together with complete strangers and decide to spontaneously do racism. Every time I just want to stab them in the heart.
evodevo
@Martin: Nah…I just up and say “Oh, you’re one a them redneck racists, huh.” They get all bent out of shape trying to say they aren’t, but then I say “Well, it sure sounded like it!” And, since I am a small old white female, WNFLTG, they usually find they have something pressing to do elsewhere…