Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2011

  • Eurovision Looms

    Well, it’s a new year, and the annual spectacle of Eurovision is on the horizon. Last night, we were treated (if that’s the word) to the selection process of the Dutch entry. This year, the Dutch banner is being lofted by a three-man band called the 3JS, whose main claim to fame seems to be that they hail from Volendam.

    Last night, the Dutch TV viewing public (including Martin and I) were subjected – I think that is the correct term – to the 3JS performing five of their songs, from which one would be selected by the public to be the official Dutch entry to Eurovision 2011.

    Dear lord, but it was truly dire… I honestly think that if you sat yourself down to pick five songs that you, in your heart of hearts, believed had not a snowball’s chance in hell of being the winner of any Eurovision contest in its long and chequered history, let alone Eurovision 2011, then these five songs would be the result.

    The schadenfreude of seeing the judges desperately trying not to say that the songs were utter crap as potential Eurovision entries was truly wondrous to behold. It was car-crash television at its finest.

    This is the winning entry. Judge for yourself. To give the song credit, this was the last song, and the only decent stab at what Eurovision demands (you really don’t want to experience the others). However, the Netherlands has failed to qualify for the Eurovision final for the past six years running. This song is not going to change that.

    If this wins Eurovision, I’ll eat my hat.

  • The Indefatigable Elena

    When I was living in London, back in the 1970s and early 80s, I was fortunate enough to be able to dine at L’Escargot in Soho a couple of times. The restaurant was ruled over by Elena Salvoni, the tiny, but formidable, maître d’. Well, I say formidable, but she was also charming, and put me completely at my ease.

    Incredibly, she’s still going strong at 90 years of age. She’s a Soho institution.

  • The Value of Libraries

    A couple of days ago I mentioned someone’s idiotic idea to stop funding the UK’s libraries and use the money to give everyone Kindles. The idea came about because local government in the UK is looking to close many public libraries in a desperate attempt to save money. Philip Pullman gave a brilliant speech on the subject a few days ago, in which he defended the libraries from the bean-counters:

    I still remember the first library ticket I ever had. It must have been about 1957. My mother took me to the public library just off Battersea Park Road and enrolled me. I was thrilled. All those books, and I was allowed to borrow whichever I wanted! And I remember some of the first books I borrowed and fell in love with: the Moomin books by Tove Jansson; a French novel for children called A Hundred Million Francs; why did I like that? Why did I read it over and over again, and borrow it many times? I don’t know. But what a gift to give a child, this chance to discover that you can love a book and the characters in it, you can become their friend and share their adventures in your own imagination.

    And the secrecy of it! The blessed privacy! No-one else can get in the way, no-one else can invade it, no-one else even knows what’s going on in that wonderful space that opens up between the reader and the book. That open democratic space full of thrills, full of excitement and fear, full of astonishment, where your own emotions and ideas are given back to you clarified, magnified, purified, valued. You’re a citizen of that great democratic space that opens up between you and the book. And the body that gave it to you is the public library. Can I possibly convey the magnitude of that gift?

    Somewhere in Blackbird Leys, somewhere in Berinsfield, somewhere in Botley, somewhere in Benson or in Bampton, to name only the communities beginning with B whose libraries are going to be abolished, somewhere in each of them there is a child right now, there are children, just like me at that age in Battersea, children who only need to make that discovery to learn that they too are citizens of the republic of reading. Only the public library can give them that gift.

    Go and read the whole thing – it’s worth it.

  • Reaping the Whirlwind of Hate

    David Kato has been murdered. Given the climate of hate against LGBT people that has been encouraged in Uganda by both the State and organised religion*, it comes as no surprise. It still shocks though, and for those still in danger in Uganda, things must seem very dark at the moment.

    * Oh, and, we really should not forget, the sorry excuse for a human being who goes by the name of Giles Muhame. As the Guardian reports:

    He and other recent graduates of Makerere University in Kampala launched a newspaper late last year. With a circulation of fewer than 3,000 copies it would have remained obscure were it not for its anti-gay campaign.

    For its 2 October issue, it pictured Kato and another man on the front page under the words “Hang them”, and the sub-headlines “We Shall Recruit 100,000 Innocent Kids by 2012: Homos” and “Parents now face heart-breaks [sic] as homos raid schools”. The paper promised to expose 100 gay people, and printed the photographs, names, and in some cases home areas, of people it claimed were gay. A few weeks later Rolling Stone carried another frontpage story with the headline “More homos’ faces exposed”, with the identities of 17 people inside.

    I see that Mr. Muhame is reported to have said that “I have no regrets about the story. We were just exposing people who were doing wrong.”

    I’m sure that he does have no regrets. People like him never do. They just continue to cause misery and to make the angels weep.

    Further update: here are some other people, listed in a rightfully angry obituary who doubtless also have few regrets, but who should really recognise their responsibilities:

    The responsibility for the repeated harassment, beatings, death threats and now possibly his murder lies with all those politicians and religious leaders around the world who have led the campaign of hate against LGBTIQ people: David Baharti who introduced the anti-homosexuality bill in the Ugandan parliament; the Red Pepper tabloid which like the Rolling Stone had published names of people they alleged were gay; Martin Ssempa who led the Ugandan national task force against homosexuality; Ugandan Minister of Ethics Nsaba Buturu who has rabidly spoken out against homosexuality; the following religious leaders who have fueled the anti-gay campaign in the region: Archbishop of Rwanda, Onesphore Rwaje, Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda, the All African Bishops Conference, Apolo Nsibambi of Uganda, Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi, Archbishop Akinola, Pastor Mulinde of Trumpet Church Uganda, Bishop Lawrence Chai of Free Apostolic Churches of Kenya and Sheikh Ali Hussein of Masjid Answar Sunna Mosque and Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria; Peter Karamaga of the National Anti-Homosexual Task-force Uganda; President Museveni who has showed no support for gay Ugandans saying that homosexuality is a western import receiving support from other African presidents like President Mugabe and Mrs Museveni who in the same vein has called homosexuals an abomination to African culture; American Christian right pastors Lou Engle, Rick Warren, Scott Lively and Dan Schmierer of the ex-gay group Exodus International, for their continued support of anti-gay legislation; South African diplomat Jon Qwelane and President Jacob Zuma. Finally, responsibility lies with those in power in regional and international bodies who have refused to take a stand on homosexuality as a human rights issue. Last year, the African Union denied the Coalition of African Lesbians observer status. Around the same time, the UN General Assembly Human Rights Committee passed a resolution condemning extrajudicial executions, deleted from this resolution was an amendment that explicitly addressed protections based on sexual orientation.

  • Ken, Ken, and their Operas

    I’ve just watched the version of Mozart’s Magic Flute filmed by Kenneth Branagh. I was absolutely blown away by its sheer bravura. From the opening single tracking shot beginning in the trenches of World War 1, then rising far above; to the finale where summer returns to the blasted fields, it was an absolute visual tour-de-force.

    But the visuals were not alone. It was Mozart’s glorious music, after all. The performers were excellent, singing was top class, and there was an English translation of the libretto that was extremely good and witty. I saw from the credits at the end that the translation was done by Stephen Fry, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at its quality.

    In the end though, the visual feel of the film was what struck me, and Kenneth Branagh’s direction reminded me of the baroque style of Ken Russell –particularly of Tommy, his rock opera. The sheer adrenaline rush of watching their imaginations writ large on the silver screen is terrific.

  • Dinner Table Talk

    Mo seems to have captured the false logic expressed by Baroness Warsi to a tee.

    As Ophelia points out, Anthony Andrews has also demolished the Baroness’s claims quite effectively:

    She wants to give greater voice to religion in the political arena, yet she also wishes there to be less criticism of religion, in other words, power without scrutiny.

  • Titter Ye Not

    I found it hard to suppress a titter, let alone a guffaw of derision, when I read today that the Astrological Association of Great Britain is sending a petition to the BBC. In one of the brilliant Stargazing Live programmes broadcast at the beginning of the month, the presenters (Dara Ó Briain and the physicist Brian Cox) made statements to the effect that astrology is rubbish.

    Gasp! Who would have thought it?

    This shocking revelation has spurred the AAGB into outraged action. Their petition is requesting that

    the BBC make a public apology and a statement that they do not support the personal views of Professor Brian Cox or Dara O’Briain’s on the subject of astrology. We also request that the BBC will commit to making a fair and balanced representation of astrology when aired in the future.

    It seems to me that the views of Cox and Ó Briain were a perfectly fair and balanced representation of astrology. Nothing more needs to be said.

  • Libraries Versus Kindles

    There’s an interesting post over at Stumbling and Mumbling that asks the question whether it would be more cost effective to stop funding the UK’s public Libraries, and to use the money to buy everyone a Kindle instead.

    My immediate reaction was that this was yet another example of someone knowing the cost of everything, and the value of nothing. However, I recognise that the question was asked with an air of enquiry. So it’s good to see that most commenters on the post are shooting down the premise, and that, at its most basic: “Public Libraries” do not equal “Kindles”.

    I’m a member of the public library in our local little town. I’ve never actually borrowed anything from it, but I continue to support it, because it’s a community resource.

  • Microsoft’s Marketplace Mess

    Following on from the last post about Windows Phone 7 and the shortcomings of its Marketplace infrastructure, here’s some information about the different types of services offered by the Marketplace around the globe. As you can see, it’s a bit of a mess.

    It’s particularly bad here in the Netherlands, because although there are currently three models of Windows Phone 7 available on the open market (with more on the way), you can’t actually buy any applications, because there’s no Apps Marketplace available. Some people set the Location in their Windows PC to the US or the UK. That allows the Zune software on their PC to display the Apps Marketplace for those countries. However, unless you have a credit card issued by either a US or a UK bank, you may still find that you won’t be able to buy any applications. A few people have reported success, but others are saying that their credit cards are being refused by the Marketplace because they are issued by Dutch banks.

    I note that, currently, Table 1 in Andrew’s post is showing that both India and Hong Kong have the App Marketplace available. I don’t think this is correct. I’m seeing people from both territories (India and Hong Kong) complaining in the Zune and Windows Phone 7 forums that the App Marketplace is not available to them. As far as I’m aware, there’s an easy way to test this. Just set your Location in Windows 7 to a particular country, and then start up the Zune software on your PC (which is used to browse the App Marketplace in those countries where it is offered). Most country settings will not even display the Marketplace menu (e.g. India and Hong Kong do not), and even for some that do, the App Marketplace is still not available (e.g. the Netherlands).

    While I can understand that the deals with third parties to offer music and video media via the Marketplace can take Microsoft some time to set up, I don’t think that’s a valid excuse for Windows Phone 7 applications. If the phones are being openly sold in your country, and supported by your local carriers, then the App Marketplace should be available to you. That’s clearly not the case in many countries, some of them (e.g. India) being major markets. I really want Microsoft to succeed with WP7, but they seem intent on shooting themselves in the foot at every opportunity.

  • Review of Windows Phone 7

    There’s an excellent in-depth review of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 over at MobileTechWorld. Well worth checking out if you’re interested to read a clear-eyed view of WP7.

    I note also that the reviewer has pointed out the problem that Microsoft has created for itself in the Marketplace infrastructure:

    Unfortunately there’s a really important issue that Microsoft doesn’t seem to really care about: it is impossible to change your Zune/Xbox Live country location once it is create[d] and linked to your Hotmail account. I created it nearly 5 years ago just to check an Xbox 360 demo that was only available in the US and I’m now stuck with it because it’s tied to my main Hotmail account. The end result is that I can’t buy anything using this account (needs a US credit card). Come on Redmond! Just give me the ability to choose the local Marketplace I want to buy from on the fly. Let me download free apps and trials in the US and buy apps where I live. Or simply allow me to correct my location.

    Until Microsoft correct this Marketplace misstep, I’m not even considering the purchase of a Windows Phone.

  • It’s Not Your Body

    Eric MacDonald writes a good deal of sense in his blog Choice in Dying. Today’s entry is a case in point where he takes to task the trite observations from a hospice chaplain and puts the fundamental point that it’s simply not humane or justified to hold that Religion believes itself in the possession of absolute knowledge, applicable to all people, always, and everywhere.

    I have a friend who is currently dying. He has good days and bad days. I sincerely believe that it is his decision, and his decision alone, as to when he judges that his quality of life has passed the point of no return – not down to some religious meddler in other people’s lives, who would prolong his agony for the sake of some fictitious god and their own self-righteousness.

  • La Cage Aux Folles

    For my birthday this year, Martin proposed that we take a trip to Amsterdam for a meal in old haunts (O Sole Mio – we’ve been going there for the best part of 25 years), and to see the new production of La Cage Aux Folles in a brand new theatre, the De La Mar.

    So yesterday, we put the dogs in kennels for the night (the first time that we had done that) and headed off to Amsterdam. I spent the afternoon trolling the bookshops, while Martin bought a new suit.

    In the bookshops I found a biography of Charles Laughton, a book about the influence of Alexander van Humboldt on the roots of American Environmentalism, a Journey Through Trees, and two books that included work by Erwin Olaf.

    It was particularly apposite to find the book of the De La Mar Photo Collection, which includes Olaf’s work, since that same evening we were able to see the full-scale photos featured in the book in the theatre itself. They are stunning images, and show Olaf at the peak of his form.

    The theatre, although newly rebuilt from the foundations up, occupies the site of an older theatre, with the same name, and a cinema. The new building is stunning, and already looks set to be a real jewel in the crown of Amsterdam’s cultural life.

    The production of La Cage was excellent. I have to say that I sometimes have reservations about Dutch versions of well-known theatre pieces. Dutch, shall we say, is not the most musical of languages; but this worked triumphantly. Much of it was down to a brilliant cast, led by Jon van Eerd as Albin and Stanley Burleson as Georges.

    The dogs were also completely satisfied by the facilities of the kennels (Dierenpensioen Adelheid), so I think that this was a pointer to future cultural journeys to the capital.

  • The Dream Machine

    I’ve always had a soft spot for Adventure games, ever since the original Myst. I much prefer this genre of game over the first-person shooter type, which, frankly, I find appalling.

    After Myst, and its various sequels, there were a series of rather sub-standard knock-offs of the same idea. It wasn’t until Benoit Sokal’s Syberia arrived that I thought that the same standard had been achieved. That was followed by Syberia II that managed to reduce me to tears at a climatic moment in the game (for all the right reasons!). Although a Syberia III has been talked of, there’s still no sign of it appearing on the market.

    In the meantime, there’s the Dream Machine, an online game using clay and cardboard models (I recall The Neverhood with fond memories!) that is surprisingly involving and immersive. You can play the first chapter for free, the subsequent chapters can be unlocked for less than €5 each.

    The puzzles are not as mind-bending as in Myst, but it has a charm that I really liked. It’s the product of two Swedish nerds,  Erik Zaring and Anders Gustafsson, with help from others. It has the potential to become a classic. Try it.

  • It Gets Better, Sorta…

    After the last post featuring Rebecca Drysdale, here’s a rather tamer effort in the same theme from Ricky Martin.

    http://www.youtube.com/v/kzxoQ9rbDAA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3

    While it’s really good to see that he’s dropped the pretence that he’s straight, I still don’t find this latest video as good as the one from Ms. Drysdale. For one thing, it is so carefully bland, with good-looking young people, chosen from an IKEA diversity catalogue. Perhaps as I approach 62 years of age I am just having an attack of sour grapes, but, Ricky, you really could have done better.

  • It Gets Better–Part III

    I’ve been here before – but here’s a video from Rebecca Drysdale that rocks. I’ve never heard of her before, but this is very good – I particularly liked the homage to Vogue.

    You go, girl!

  • Service Interruption

    Just a heads-up to note that I may well be out of circulation from the blogosphere for a few days.

    I’m heading to Blighty to visit an old friend. My connection to the Intertubes is likely to be interrupted. So, apologies if your comment remains in the moderation queue for longer than either of us would wish.

  • Religious Poison

    Very depressing news from Pakistan about Salman Taseer being shot by one of his own bodyguards. While the bodyguard was clearly influenced by his religious beliefs to commit cold-blooded murder, it would seem that he’s had ample encouragement from his religious leaders as well:

    A prominent group of Islamic scholars said that the funeral prayers should not be offered and warned that anyone who expressed grief for Taseer could suffer the same fate.

    The Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan group represents scholars from the mainstream Barelvi sect of Sunni Muslims. Although considered moderate, they have led protests in favour of the blasphemy law.

    “More than 500 scholars of the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat have advised Muslims not to offer the funeral prayers of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, nor try to lead the prayers,” the group said.

    “Also, there should be no expression of grief or sympathy on the death of the governor, as those who support blasphemy of the prophet are themselves indulging in blasphemy.”

    At times like this, it’s hard to disagree with Christopher Hitchens’ view that “religion poisons everything”.

  • The Bird Feeder

    There’s a couple of bird feeders hanging in the tree just outside my study window. At this time of year, there’s a collection of the usual suspects hanging around making use of them, or scavenging the seeds that fall to the ground…
    But today, there was a new bird feeder that took up temporary residence in the pear tree in the garden, eyeing up the potential meals…
    20110102-1243-13

  • The Blog: 2010 in review

    The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

    Healthy blog!

    The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

    Crunchy numbers

    Featured image

    A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,800 times in 2010. That’s about 14 full 747s.

    In 2010, there were 218 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 3578 posts. There were 224 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 35mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

    The busiest day of the year was December 2nd with 188 views. The most popular post that day was Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 – Status Report 2.

    Where did they come from?

    The top referring sites in 2010 were bbc.co.uk, richarddawkins.net, technograns.wordpress.com, forums.dpreview.com, and gcoupe.blogspot.com.

    Some visitors came searching, mostly for eyes to the right nose to the left, crimethinc, pixvue, dutch citizenship test, and windows live photo gallery 2011 problems.

    Attractions in 2010

    These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

    1

    Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 – Status Report 2 December 2010
    11 comments

    2

    More Problems With Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 November 2010
    77 comments

    3

    “The Story of Us, Then” November 2010
    3 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

    4

    Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011 – A Status Report November 2010
    40 comments

    5

    Fun With Technology – Part IV May 2009
    21 comments