DC Colquhoun went to a revival of Jonathan Miller’s staging of The Mikado recently, and rewrote the verses to Ko-Ko’s song: "I’ve Got a Little List". Perfect.
-
Clash of Ideologies
Here’s a perfect example of far apart our perceptions of the world can get. Trouble is, I can’t quite decide who to side with. On balance though, I think I come down on the side of Mr. Eugenides. Mr. Boyle is either a saint or a fool, and, lord knows, there is often not enough space betwixt the two to insert a cigarette paper.Leave a comment
-
Autistic Pride
I’ve got a confession to make; when I heard about the YouTube video "In My Language" last year, I watched about two minutes of it, before I stopped, thinking to myself "why do I want to see any more of this autistic woman humming to herself and making noises with objects?"Well, more fool me. Today, I went back to it and watched it to the end. And I have to say, it’s remarkable. I was prompted to return by this article in Wired, which opens with a portrait of Amanda Baggs (the young woman in the video). The article is definitely worth reading, and you really should see the video, if you haven’t already done so.Update: Amanda Baggs makes a few clarifications on the Wired article over at her blog.2 responses to “Autistic Pride”
-
I only saw the part of your post above the video and was coming back to say – Geoff, watch it to the end! But you did. Amazing I thought. I expect you’ve seen Stephen the artist before – but I thought this video of him drawing ‘Rome’ after one 40 min helicopter ride was incredible – the brain (his at least) is phenomenal. Have a look if you’ve not seen it –
-
I have a copy of Stephen Wiltshire’s Floating Cities in the library. Wonderful.
Leave a comment
-
-
Hidden Lives
Honor Moore writes about her father, Bishop Moore. A bittersweet tale.6 responses to “Hidden Lives”
-
That was beautiful – beautifully written and as you say, a bittersweet tale. So much nonsense is made out of nothing; sometimes I get so tired of it. The other night at my evening course one of the people was going on a bit about ‘gay priests and vicars’ and how unnaceptable it was and the man running it (who is a vicar) cut in slightly and said ‘Oh.. I assure you, you will have taken communion from more than one gay vicar, and you will again.’ and I looked at him, and I wondered, as I already had since meeting him. Why does this stuff go on, and will it ever not be so?
-
Why does it go on? I need to bite my tongue here, and just point to the Anglican Church tearing itself apart over a "non-issue", to Pope Benedict talking about "intrinsic disorders", and to Islamists executing gays and women for merely existing. Will it ever not be so? Not in my lifetime.
-
Oh, and GayUganda has a post up at the moment that is another illustration of how narrow the knife-edge can be. I can’t help feeling that it’s all going to end in tears. I hope not, but I fear so.
-
It doesn’t sound too good does it. I feel deeply sorry for both of them. The thing that gets forgotten by these narrow opponents, is that they may say that ‘gay believer’ is an oxymoron, but they ignore the fact that God seems to respond (I know, I know, I’m not asking you to accept) to the gay person the same way as to the straight. I think secretly, its that that annoys them more than anything.
-
Oh, and MadPriest has a blog entry on Bishop Moore, and the comments also make interesting reading. I will not throw stones, much as I’m tempted to.
-
Ohh. So depressing. I love the opening:
was a man of enormous personal courage, a passionate, articulate, and tireless champion of the poor, the disenfranchised and the most desperately helpless in society. He was all that, but …
the ‘but’ saying it all. Then the point being his ‘violation of his wedding vows’ – Hmm. you mean ‘he’s gay’ just say so.
‘I feel like he has died twice’ – why? He’s the same person now you know this as he was before you knew this. Throw as many stones as you like Geoff – and get me a packet of gravel while you’re at it will you.
Leave a comment
-
-
The Value of Evidence
Professor Alan Sokal has an interesting piece in the Guardian’s Comment is Free section today: "Taking Evidence Seriously. He is perhaps best known for his joke on Post-modernism: "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity". I only wish that the good professor were joking when he writes here on the propensity of people, and politicians in particular, to give credence to irrationalism. Alas, he’s not, and quite right too.Update: Norm Geras makes an excellent point over at his blog: a secular State is not the same as an atheistic State. Prof. Sokal appears to conflate the two, and Norm is quite right to point out this obfuscation.Leave a comment
-
21st Century Kitsch
Good art is difficult to do, great art even more so. Personally, despite the technical accomplishment, The Prophecy strikes me as kitsch of the highest order. It’s a pity, because the artist, Aymeric Giraudel, has some stunning digital photos on his site. But this work leaves me stone cold. It’s The Chinese Girl for the 21st Century gay male fashionista. And the accompanying video – complete with Madonna reading a bowdlerised version of Revelations – is even more toe-curling. Not for me. Give me Pierre et Gilles any day.One response to “21st Century Kitsch”
-
Pretty, bland, odd. Didn’t do much for me either fraid.
Leave a comment
-
-
Windows Live Photo Gallery – Part II
I see that Microsoft has released an update to Windows Live Photo Gallery. The build number has gone from 12.0.1308.1023 to 12.0.1329.201.
I can’t see any obvious changes in the functionality of the program, so presumably there are only bug fixes in this release.
I had hoped that one of the bugs to be fixed would be the one that is in the “Publish on Flickr” process. As I wrote back in October last year, during the upload process, the XMP Title field gets put into the Flickr Description field. What should happen is that the XMP Description field should be used for the Flickr Description field. Microsoft has acknowledged the bug, but here we are, four months later, and no sign of a fix.
Sigh.
Leave a comment
-
XML People
OK, if you’re not a geek, this will mean nothing to you. Tim Bray writes about the people behind XML. Wonderful. I have had the privilege of meeting some of them. What continues to give me electric shocks is the self evident fact that Ted was right; Tim BL has reinvented the whoopee cushion and the joy buzzer in Internet terms. But, ultimately, that doesn’t matter. Le roi est mort, vive le roi!Leave a comment
-
Damn
One of the blogs I try and make a point of reading regularly is Tom Reynolds’ Random Acts of Reality. Consequences is a fairly typical entry. Just when you think the story is bad enough, he delivers a real kicker in the last line. Damn.2 responses to “Damn”
-
i wanted to say hi i know non of this tom reynolds but i thought i would say hi i have family in rotterdam and thought it would be nice to have another friend im in cornwall england so anyway nice to meet you love and sunshine antoinette
-
Yes. The last line was a kicker alright. On the helpline I do shifts answering we occasionally get people who have done the same thing. They too have changed their minds and ‘phone for an ambulance. It’s crap because you know that with what they have taken, it’s too late anyway. Most people don’t realise that these over the counter things work like this.
Leave a comment
-
-
Freeheld
I’m pleased to see that Cynthia Wade’s film Freeheld has been recognised with an Oscar. Laurel Hester may not have died in vain, but the fact that her life was held in such contempt continues to leave a very nasty taste, and a reminder that the struggle for simple recognition of human rights goes on, seemingly without end.Leave a comment
-
Strawman Alert
Andrew Brown reaches a new low in his opinion piece in today’s Guardian. I really am getting awfully tired of the falsehoods that he and people like him (Theo Hobson springs to mind) trot out whenever they mention the name of Richard Dawkins.8 responses to “Strawman Alert”
-
Yes. Agree. I have, however, seen some more rational pull downs of Dawkins, who does indeed have flaws in both his reasoning and understanding of what it is to believe. I don’t have that much time for the man, not because he opposes belief, which is his natural right, but because of faulty logic and connections, and because he descends into polemic. People with an agenda so often do.
-
And his agenda is?
-
Gelert, please give references for these pull-downs. I’ve not seen anything so far that I find convincing. And I like polemic, I think it has value.
-
It’s not ‘pull downs’ – that would be to fall into the same trap, but I have seen some good responses to what he says, which addresses the errors he makes, I will track em down if I can.
I don’t argue with his view – its how he expresses it, and the fact that he makes errors in what he states. I feel he is not interested in discussing so much as spouting. He is a ‘fundamental atheist’ as much as any fundamental believer, and seems more interested in hammering his own opinion than actually engaging in debate. I’ve heard atheists on the topic many times, but doing it with interest, debate, respect and a willingness to be corrected, learn, or even be wrong. I don’t any of that in him, that’s all.
He debates it like someone whose personal issues are in the way of the subject matter, and he offers statements as ‘definites’ that I, as a believer know are simply not. I have a lot of time for his other work, I just don’t respect his style of discussion on this topic, too much agenda behind it. -
Is there a prob. with the link to that ‘value’ marker? It won’t let me access it.
-
Gelert, sorry, yes – a malformed link. Here’s the proper one.
-
Gelert, clearly, we have different opinions on Dawkins. I prefer his straightforward manner, but I can understand that it can make some folks very uncomfortable. I saw that in action at the Beyond Belief Conference in 2006. But, I don’t see that as being "more interested in hammering his own opinion than actually engaging in debate". And, please give me examples of "offering statements as ‘definites’ that I, as a believer know are simply not".
-
I’ll come back to you on this one – I’m looking out that reposte I mentioned.
Leave a comment
-
-
Can You See The Stars?
Light pollution is increasing, which means it is becoming ever more difficult to see stars in the night sky. The Globe At Night organisation is asking people around the world to take part in a survey of light pollution levels during the period from 25 Febuary to 8 March 2008. It’s quite easy to do, and I’ll be hoping for some cloudless nights to add my observations into the total.(hat tip to Phil Plait for the link)2 responses to “Can You See The Stars?”
-
Thanks for the pointer – an adding an incentive for me to moan to the council about the search lights they’ve just installed on a (closed at night) car park at the end of the street
-
Light pollution here is so bad its impossible to see the sky when it’s less than ‘brown’. Being an insomniac, I have to wait until the early hours and a clear night to be rewarded with a deep dark sky and stars…
Leave a comment
-
-
The Salamander’s Tale
YouTube user RodHullIAmHim has provided some visuals to The Salamander’s Tale. This is a short extract from the Audiobook version of Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestor’s Tale. The voices you hear are of Dawkins and his wife, Lalla Ward. The tale itself illustrates the phenomenon of ring species – evolution happening on a spatial dimension, rather than a time dimension. The tale ends with a typically thought-provoking twist from Dawkins, one that he explores further in his book.2 responses to “The Salamander’s Tale”
-
That was fascinating – I’ve not come across that before, thanks. Sadly I doubt it would change the minds of those who find it more comfortable to make a seperation between us and all other species – who claim our ‘superiority’ gives us the right to do as we wish with other forms of life, and even with sections of our own species.
-
Gelert, yes, I fear that you are right. One of the few faults I find with Professor Dawkins is his touching naivety.
Leave a comment
-
-
Ballard on Ballard
Ballardian has a transcription of a terrific interview that J. G. Ballard gave to James Naughtie. Unmissable. Here’s Ballard talking about his book Empire of the Sun:In a way it shows the lengths that human beings will go to survive, the instinct for survival is intensely strong, no doubt about that, people will give up everything: every shred of dignity, every dream, every illusion, they will give up their most cherished fantasies, just to live for another half-an-hour. It’s a terrible thing to have to face but it’s true — war is a corrupting experience, it’s corrupting in the sense that violence is quite seductive, it has an appeal, In that, you can understand a world entirely given over to brutality and violence, whereas, sort of, peace — civilised life in the everyday sense of the term — is much more ambiguous, in fact, because we keep discovering there are things about ourselves that don’t quite accord with this notion that we are — civilised inheritors of the whole enlightenment tradition, and that we live in welfare societies and, you know, care for each other, but then something happens that reminds us that maybe it’s not quite that straightforward — war is very corrupting because it is so clear cut — people have a ruthlessness about the need to survive that is unmistakable really.Leave a comment
-
From The Desk of Mr. Thompson John
I see that scamming is alive and well. I’ve just had a message "From The Desk of Mr. Thompson John" [sic], who purports to be the head of the auditing department in the Buckingham Palace Road branch of Barclays Bank in London. Yeah, sure. You’ll forgive me if I don’t bother to claim a share in the $10.5 million that you claim to have just lying around waiting for a sucker to send in their bank details to you.Actually, there’s now an emerging sport of folks who spin out the line to these scammers. My favourite at the moment is the exchange between Lewis D. Noogie and the Contract Killers. Worth reading…3 responses to “From The Desk of Mr. Thompson John”
-
It’s hard to believe that anyone falls for this. But they do! It’s called greed. And sometimes hope. I believe that recently I nearly fell foul of a scammer – this time a suposed on-line literary agent. For someone who’s desperate I guess its worth a try. Not me.
-
Greed I have no time for. But hope, well yes, I can sympathise with that… But, lord, some folks must be truly bereft of hope if they fall for such geegaws as these lowlifes.
-
Man that was funny. I’ve considered playing with some of these scammers myself, but never done so. Excellent. The wonderful thing about these scams is the tragic stupidity of the scammers.
Leave a comment
-
-
Cruel Clock
The Turing Alarm Clock is a very clever idea – but if you’re not good at mental arithmetic, it seems a rather cruel and unusual punishment…Leave a comment
-
The Dame Edna Experience
Following on from a nod to the passing of Emily Perry, I can’t help reminiscing over an abiding memory from The Dame Edna Experience, broadcast back in 1987. Dame Edna was chatting to her guests: Cliff Richard and Mary Whitehouse before introducing the next guest. The idea of Barry Humphries, an Australian female impersonator in his persona of Dame Edna Everage, having Mary Whitehouse, the epitome of all that was the worst in sanctimonious mealy-mouthed moralists, as his/her guest was enough to beggar the imagination. My brain was already rolling over and begging for mercy."Ladies and Gentlemen", trills Edna, "Would you please welcome Mr. Kurt Waldheim, President of Austria!" She stands up and waves grandly towards back centre stage, where on a raised podium over the band, double doors slide open and reveal Kurt Waldheim, clutching a bunch of gladioli! He steps forward to great applause and waves shyly to the audience. Meanwhile, Cliff and Mary are also on their feet, beaming and applauding. You could see the thought going through both of their minds: "Kurt Waldheim? – how is this possible? – but, he’s a really important politician, and I’m here as well…"Mr. Waldheim turns, and walks along the podium. Suddenly, a trapdoor opens up beneath his feet, and he falls through it, gladdies and all. Complete deathly hush in the studio – camera cuts to Dame Edna returning a lever on the table next to her chair to the upright position. Cliff Richard and Mary Whitehouse ashen-faced. Cliff, horror-struck and mute, turns to Dame Edna, his hands making little gesturings towards the podium as if to say "shouldn’t we be doing something to help?" Dame Edna shrugs her shoulders and says to Cliff: "Ï’m sorry dear, but he was getting boring, so I aborted him".Well, the look on their faces as they realise they’ve been had was priceless. I don’t think I laughed so much in years.3 responses to “The Dame Edna Experience”
-
Please…where can I see a clip of this event.
-
Here’s one: https://youtu.be/QeONI8YV4I0 about 25 minutes in…
-
Many, many thanx for the link, Geoff. I was taken back 35 years but still relative today…sadly within the week ‘ she’s died. Much appreciated your prompt response to my request.
All the best,
Peter
-
-
Leave a comment
-
-
Brain Implants
I see from this post over at the io9 SF web site that John Varley has a new book coming out next month: Rolling Thunder. I’m hoping it will signal a return to his old brilliance. His last couple of novels have had mixed reviews. When he is good, he is very, very good. When he is bad, it appears he writes like Robert Heinlein churning out space opera…The io9 post is about Varley’s plot device in the new novel whereby everyone has a brain implant that allows them to Google information. As you might imagine, there are pros and cons.As I say, I hope Varley is back on form. As I’ve mentioned before, his novel Steel Beach has the greatest opening sentence in all of Science Fiction:"In five years, the penis will be obsolete" said the salesman.Leave a comment
-
Crayon Physics Deluxe
Oooh – I want this when it’s available. The perfect thing for my Tablet PC…Leave a comment
Geoff Coupe's Blog 
Leave a comment