…doncha just love it? Though I think you’d have to go a long way to find something blacker than this. Still, it raised a wry smile and a groan from me.
Year: 2005
-
Travel Breaks I Can Do Without
When I say that I’m retired, people often respond by asking where I’m planning to go on my travels. Frankly, I’m not a great traveller. For the most part, give me the garden, a good book and a glass of wine and I’m in heaven.Today, Gavan Naden in the Guardian has put together ten further reasons why I have no desire to go dashing off on travel breaks, his list of ten breaks that most people could do without.I see that one of the breaks is based in the land of my birth: A Two Day Celebration of Animals at the BrightLife Centre in the Isle of Man. Reading the synopsis of this is enough to make me despair for the future of the human race. Yes, I know that there are people doo-lalley enough to believe in this crap, but it really makes me fear for the waste of brains that is going on. The Centre appears to be a hotbed of hocus-pocus and pseudoscience. I see one of the other courses is an "Angel Experience Day" – the synopsis of this makes for depressing reading for anyone with a smattering of rationality as well. At least I suppose I can be thankful that this day, unlike a similar course offered in South Africa does not appear to have a "Fun exercises with the Angels" segment.Given the choice between a stay at the BrightLife Centre and Bog-snorkelling in Wales, I think I would almost choose the bog-snorkelling. It may be crap I would be swimming in, but at least it’s good honest crap with no pretensions to being other than what it is. -
George, Don’t Do That*
Back in May, I referred, approvingly, to George Galloway’s performance in front of a US Senators’ committee.Well, George has been using his powers of oratory again, but this time to rather more shameful rabble-rousing and tub-thumping. You can see the video transcripts here. As ButterfliesAndWheels says, this is lynch-mob language. It is misogynist, sexist racist communalist slavering garbage.I think Hilzoy over at Obsidian Wings sums up the sinking feeling I had when I watched the video and heard Galloway’s words.* With apologies to dear, gentle Joyce. Those were simpler times. -
Down on the Farm
Martin and I paid a visit to two friends at their farm in Flevoland yesterday. A pleasant day out. Here’s some shots from their garden.
-
The Far Reaches of Food
I’ve never actually been able to bring myself to swallow a live oyster, so to read about eating live octopus tentacles makes me realise the attractiveness of Tofu.Update: watch the video for the full horror of this dining experience. This is clearly a dish that will end up on the menu of El Bulli any day now. -
MRDA
MRDA stands for "Mandy Rice-Davies Applies" – dating from the time of the Profumo scandal in Britain. It would seem to apply to the recent pronouncement by the Health Professions of South Africa who today cleared the South African Health Minister of any wrongdoing over her statements about how to deal with AIDS.It seems to me that the Health Professions of South Africa are a body who deserve to be scorned, and South Africa’s Health Minister escapes to let more South Africans die needlessly. I don’t know who I hold in more contempt. -
Zach’s Back
Zach has apparently returned from his stay in the Love in Action facility and announces the fact. The comments, and Zach’s occasional reactions in the comments thread make interesting reading.Bottom line? I don’t know what’s true and what isn’t in this story. If Zach has in fact written this last entry in his blog then he seems to be a strong young man who will bend with the wind in order to continue growing. I hope so. -
The JCB Song
And now, by way of something a little lighter, here’s the JCB song by Nizlopi, with a charming video from Monkeehub (and a nice web site, too). Be sure to read the story behind the song.(hat tip to Daddy, Papa and me for the link) -
Stevie and The Empress of China
I make a point of reading Flea’s One Good Thing blog, because her postings generally do one of two things (or both): they make me laugh out loud, or they make me reflect on the human condition.This post: Stevie made me do both. In it she talks about a documentary – Stevie – and muses on the real-life characters and the events that occur around them. I haven’t seen the documentary, but her description of the events and her reflection on how us humans can behave for good or ill makes me want to seek it out. The mainspring for the events in the documentary is how someone who was abused as a child can often grow up to be an adult who also abuses.That got me thinking about an old Dory Previn song, The Empress of China:i tell you how i hate you
in the voice my father used
you answer with your mother’s worn cliches
and in another life
your father hears his wife
and i see his fury blazing in your gazean echo hears an echo
and my mother’s fist is raised
the hand i clench at you
shows her distrust
the way one behaves
is determined in the graves
of all the great grandparents
gone to dustI used to be playing Dory Previn’s records all the time in the early 1970s. I had the distinct feeling that she was slightly insane, but she had the soul of a poet and wrote eerie unsettling songs:did jesus have a baby sister?
was she bitter?
was she sweet?
did she wind up in a convent?
did she end up on the street?
…
did she long to be the saviour
saving everyone she met?
and in private to her mirror
did she whisper saviourette?Whatever happened to Dory Previn? According to this web site, she’s still with us, for which I am glad. But, I think the opinion on this page comes closest to expressing my own feelings on the subject.Postscript: Dory Previn issued her own protest against the Iraq War in March 2003 – you can download it from here. -
A Sub-Editor’s (Wet) Dream
There’s a sub-editor in ESPN who’s feeling very pleased with himself (it’s bound to be a him) for having thought up this headline. And, I confess, it’s not a bad effort at all… -
You’ve Stolen My Heart
…is the title of a soon-to-be-released CD of Bollywood music. It’s the result of a collaboration between the Kronos Quartet, Asha Bhosle and Rahul Dev Burman – Bollywood’s pre-eminent composer (and Bhosle’s husband). Sounds good. My pre-order’s gone in.Kronos are not your father’s classical string quartet. They seem to take a delight in pushing the boundaries with interesting collaborations. I’ve got a copy of Gorey End in my music collection – the collaboration with the Tiger Lillies – which captures the atmosphere of Edward Gorey perfectly. You can almost feel the mist rolling out of the rusty iron gate of a delapidated graveyard.Oh, and if you want to hear the full glory of The Tiger Lillies, may I recommend Shockheaded Peter?(hat tip to Sepia Mutiny) -
Pipe Dream
A fun piece of computer animation showing a musical automaton comprised of a Heath Robinson-ish collection of percussion instruments, pipes and lots of well-aimed balls. -
Love Is The Answer
While I doubt that I would agree with Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney, over many aspects of his religion, he has always struck me as a particularly humane and sensible man. That feeling was confirmed when I read his latest column in The Guardian railing at the Bishops of the Church of England who have declared that "civil partnerships are not a form of marriage". As he says:Many bishops want the image of homosexuality confined to public toilets – so much easier to condemn. Consequently, clergy have been forbidden from blessing civil partnerships. We can bless battleships, and cats and dogs at the pet service: just not gay couples wanting to commit to a lifelong relationship.I think he’s just as exasperated as I am over their crass idiocy. -
Great Dishes of Europe
Just stumbled across the Opinionated About Dining blog, and I see that there’s a photogallery devoted to the Great Dishes of Europe. I’ve not had the pleasure of an acquaintance with any of these dishes, apart from one: the Hen’s egg and Quail’s egg, which we had as part of the menu when we were at Can Fabes in May.Mind you, the photogallery also contains dishes from the infamous El Bulli, so perhaps the phrase "pleasure of an acquaintance" will not apply in all cases. I see that the El Bulli restaurant itself gets a mention in two of the entries of OAD: here and here. Reading them does give me a strong feeling of The Emperor’s New Clothes. One entry does rather give the game away: "if you want your meal to taste good, I doubt you will enjoy El Bulli". Oh gawd, we’re back in the territory of Yes, But Does It Work? again. I did rather think that the idea of going to a fine restaurant was to enjoy the bloody food, but clearly I’m as innocent as the little boy in Andersen’s fairytale. -
Dying To Kill
"Dying to Kill" – that phrase graces the cover of the August 2005 issue of Prospect magazine. Given the moral universe in which I live, it’s a phrase that I find supremely unsettling. But clearly, there are those who live in a completely different moral universe and to whom this phrase is an edict of aspiration. One such, Hassan Butt, is interviewed in the magazine. Read the interview.Elsewhere in the web version of the magazine, Ayaan Hirsi Ali puts her finger on the definitions of the two moral universes:Those who love freedom know that the open society relies on a few key shared concepts. They believe that all humans are born free, are endowed with reason and have inalienable rights. Governments are checked by the rule of law, so that civil liberties are protected. They ensure freedom of conscience and of expression, and ensure that men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, are treated equally under the law. People can trade freely, and may spend their recreational time as they wish.The terrorists, and the Shari’a-based societies to which they aspire, have an entirely different philosophy. Humans are born to serve Allah through a series of obligations that are prescribed in an ancient body of writings. These edicts vary from rituals of birth and funeral rites to the most intimate details of human life; they descend to the point of absurdity in matters such as how to blow your nose, and with what foot to step into a toilet. Muslims, according to this philosophy, must kill those among them who leave the faith, and are required to be hostile to people of other religions and ways of life. This hostility requires them to murder innocent people and makes no distinction between civilians and the military. In Shari’a societies, women are made subordinate to men. They must be confined to their houses, beaten if found disobedient, forced into marriage and hidden behind the veil. The hands of thieves are cut off and capital punishment is performed in crowded public squares in front of cheering crowds. The terrorists seek to impose this way of life not only on Islamic countries, but, as Blair said, on western societies too.Give me the open society every time. -
Bulwer-Lytton Lives!
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873) contributed to the society of his day as both a politician and an author. However, he is perhaps best known in our time as being an exceedingly bad novelist. The opening of his novel Paul Clifford has passed into our collective consciousness: It was a dark and stormy night…There’s something fascinating about regarding the train wreck of bad writing (I mean, just look at Dan Brown), and the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest celebrates the fact. The Apostropher reminds us that this year’s contest has just awarded its prizes, and treats us to some wonderful examples of writing that Bulwer-Lytton would have been proud of. -
Yes, But Does It Work?
DP over at the Gizmodo blog waxes lyrical about the Alessi lemon Squeezer designed by Philippe Starck. Yes, it does look very striking, I grant you that, but the key question is, does it work as a lemon squeezer? And the answer apparently is: “not particularly well” – and this from Starck himself.
Er, hello? Is it just me, or is this not serving the goal of design? Unless, of course, to serve the great God of Design means that one has to have Function sacrificed on the bloody altar of Form. And, of course, to stump up ridiculous amounts of cash for the privilege (the Alessi lemon squeezer costs $75).
What we are seeing here, of course, is the logical conclusion of the same forces that makes people buy branded bottled water instead of just drinking tapwater. Well, I say to hell with that.
Let me just pull aside the curtain of the little booth that is off to one side of the Great Oz for a moment. Here’s Rolf Jensen of the Dream Company Ltd., talking at a conference last year:
Society is changing from an information society to a dream society. We are moving from the rational computer society to a society of emotions and values. We are moving from the brain to the heart. The values of quality and price have been replaced by emotional values: Swatch watches are out, Rolexes are in; the simple lemon squeezer has been replaced by the elegant Alessi brand; tap water is out and branded bottled water is in. Products are not bought for rational but for emotional needs.Well, bugger you, Mr. Jensen – I will continue to buy products that work well for the purpose for which they were designed – and if I don’t happen to end up paying through the nose for a branded piece of lah-de-dah shite, then I consider that to be an intelligent purchase.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 