In case those Irish surnames all sound the same
1. Charlie McCreevy: former Irish minister for finance, incoming Brussels Commissioner for something that sounds very important, and hero of the Wall Street Journal editorial page ("For the past seven years, he has steered Europe's most dynamic economy. His supply-side economic policies of cutting taxes and reining in government spending have given Ireland an average growth rate of 8% a year etc etc")
2. James McGreevey, outgoing governor of New Jersey, in circumstances that are, to say the least, interesting, and most likely not a hero of the WSJ editorial page, but who might be well advised to join his near-namesake in Brussels as soon as possible.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Today's Huck Finn(s)
It can't be a coincidence that we received advance copies of two important new travel chronicles today. And like Toqueville taking the measure of a nation by wandering its highways and byways, these authors tell us more about America than perhaps we are ready to know.
Yes, we too are shocked at how hard it is to discern which is the effort of Paris Hilton's teacup chihuahua (The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries, Warner Books, $9.95) and which is the work of Geddy Lee's housepet--er, drummer, Neil Peart (Traveling Music, ECW, $28.95). Uncanny.
It can't be a coincidence that we received advance copies of two important new travel chronicles today. And like Toqueville taking the measure of a nation by wandering its highways and byways, these authors tell us more about America than perhaps we are ready to know.
I awoke this morning to find one of the many hard-to-identify C-list celebs who routinely fill out the dance card passed out on the floor, near a puddle of vomit.
When I first began to encounter the German word schadenfreude ... I couldn't find the compound word in my little German dictionary. I decided to decipher its meaning by looking up the component words, and from schaden and freude I worked out my own home-made translation of "tarnished joy" ... like adventuring through China or Africa--with dysentery.
Yes, we too are shocked at how hard it is to discern which is the effort of Paris Hilton's teacup chihuahua (The Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries, Warner Books, $9.95) and which is the work of Geddy Lee's housepet--er, drummer, Neil Peart (Traveling Music, ECW, $28.95). Uncanny.
Rain with scattered showers and the odd tidal wave
With the necessary allowance for it being the silly season, here's one of the major items from the Irish Times news update page today (subs. req'd) -- the remarks of a scientist, or perhaps a "scientist," who claims that Ireland is the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Strangely enough, the central focus of his theory is on the historical sites of County Meath, which as we noted a few days ago, is also believed by a sample of British people to be the location of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. But anyway:
Dr Ulf Erlingsson, whose radical theories have caused a storm of debate, is on a three-day tour here to prove Ireland contains remnants of the mythical land described by Greek philosopher Plato in 370 BC.
Dr Erlingsson, 44, today visited Newgrange and Knowth megalithic passage tombs in Co Meath which he believes are linked to the ancient temples of Poseidon and the Ancestors in Atlantis. He also believes the Atlantis capital can be connected with Tara in Co Meath - the legendary seat of the high kings of Ireland.
He said:"...And Plato said that 10 kings met in the Atlantis capital every five years, which would equate with Tara's historical connection with the high kings."
...The geologist's theories are contained in his book Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land, to be published next month.
Besides our instinctive reaction of "who are you calling a fairy, dude?" we had to look up to see what other telling correspondences between Ireland and Atlantis might be. So:
[wikipedia] westwards from that island [Britain], there were the three islands of Cronus, to where proud and warlike men used to come from the continent beyond the islands, in order to offer sacrifice to the gods of the ocean.
Which indeed matches the modern day practice of proud and warlike men coming in from the counties beyond Meath to gloat about recent football results, and as a result offering themselves as sacrifices to enraged local toughs. Slightly more seriously, the Swede doesn't seem to have much evidence beyond the fact that Ireland is an island where it rains a lot, and the only known geological event that sounds like Atlantis was in the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, now only known for its iconic daily role in BBC's Shipping Forecast. But what would science fiction and fantasy be without a few good speculations? Thus now that R Morgenstern's beloved TV show Stargate has been supplemented with Stargate: Atlantis, we expect to hear many brogues in the latter show in the near future.
With the necessary allowance for it being the silly season, here's one of the major items from the Irish Times news update page today (subs. req'd) -- the remarks of a scientist, or perhaps a "scientist," who claims that Ireland is the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Strangely enough, the central focus of his theory is on the historical sites of County Meath, which as we noted a few days ago, is also believed by a sample of British people to be the location of Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings. But anyway:
Dr Ulf Erlingsson, whose radical theories have caused a storm of debate, is on a three-day tour here to prove Ireland contains remnants of the mythical land described by Greek philosopher Plato in 370 BC.
Dr Erlingsson, 44, today visited Newgrange and Knowth megalithic passage tombs in Co Meath which he believes are linked to the ancient temples of Poseidon and the Ancestors in Atlantis. He also believes the Atlantis capital can be connected with Tara in Co Meath - the legendary seat of the high kings of Ireland.
He said:"...And Plato said that 10 kings met in the Atlantis capital every five years, which would equate with Tara's historical connection with the high kings."
...The geologist's theories are contained in his book Atlantis from a Geographer's Perspective: Mapping the Fairy Land, to be published next month.
Besides our instinctive reaction of "who are you calling a fairy, dude?" we had to look up to see what other telling correspondences between Ireland and Atlantis might be. So:
[wikipedia] westwards from that island [Britain], there were the three islands of Cronus, to where proud and warlike men used to come from the continent beyond the islands, in order to offer sacrifice to the gods of the ocean.
Which indeed matches the modern day practice of proud and warlike men coming in from the counties beyond Meath to gloat about recent football results, and as a result offering themselves as sacrifices to enraged local toughs. Slightly more seriously, the Swede doesn't seem to have much evidence beyond the fact that Ireland is an island where it rains a lot, and the only known geological event that sounds like Atlantis was in the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, now only known for its iconic daily role in BBC's Shipping Forecast. But what would science fiction and fantasy be without a few good speculations? Thus now that R Morgenstern's beloved TV show Stargate has been supplemented with Stargate: Atlantis, we expect to hear many brogues in the latter show in the near future.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Dear God not another comparison of Dubya with an English leader
In September's Vanity Fair, pretty boy conservative historian Niall Ferguson has an article comparing Dubya with Henry V, or at least Shakespeare's version thereof [VF is link-stingy so you'll have to take our version of the article on faith, or look for the newstand issue with Reese Witherspoon on the cover]. We are disturbed that Niall somehow missed our own contribution to this comparison -- both characters professed a distinctly double-edged love for France.
And then there's this continual need of conservatives to compare Dubya to some giant of English history, which even in the case of Henry V has undergone several rounds of debunking, such as here and here. Our own previously expressed position is that there's an uncanny resemblance of Dubya's worldview to that of Joe Chamberlain, but that's a name that's either too unfamiliar or has the wrong echoes for Dubya's boosters (especially those boosters who get Neville and Joe mixed up).
A final noteworthy thing about Ferguson's piece is that beyond the few obvious points, he doesn't even expand on the comparison all that much -- it's really just a sustained critique of Dubya, with the Henry V comparison as a veneer. And it's not for lack of material either, it's impossible not to think of the WMD charade as one reads the Archbishop of Canterbury's headache-inducing case for Henry's claim to France, complete with laugh line "So that, as clear as is the summer's sun" -- just like Colin Powell's speech to the UN. Do the "smart conservatives" feel the need to disguise their dissent just enough so that their fellow conservatives won't show their fangs?
In September's Vanity Fair, pretty boy conservative historian Niall Ferguson has an article comparing Dubya with Henry V, or at least Shakespeare's version thereof [VF is link-stingy so you'll have to take our version of the article on faith, or look for the newstand issue with Reese Witherspoon on the cover]. We are disturbed that Niall somehow missed our own contribution to this comparison -- both characters professed a distinctly double-edged love for France.
And then there's this continual need of conservatives to compare Dubya to some giant of English history, which even in the case of Henry V has undergone several rounds of debunking, such as here and here. Our own previously expressed position is that there's an uncanny resemblance of Dubya's worldview to that of Joe Chamberlain, but that's a name that's either too unfamiliar or has the wrong echoes for Dubya's boosters (especially those boosters who get Neville and Joe mixed up).
A final noteworthy thing about Ferguson's piece is that beyond the few obvious points, he doesn't even expand on the comparison all that much -- it's really just a sustained critique of Dubya, with the Henry V comparison as a veneer. And it's not for lack of material either, it's impossible not to think of the WMD charade as one reads the Archbishop of Canterbury's headache-inducing case for Henry's claim to France, complete with laugh line "So that, as clear as is the summer's sun" -- just like Colin Powell's speech to the UN. Do the "smart conservatives" feel the need to disguise their dissent just enough so that their fellow conservatives won't show their fangs?
Men
Here's the thing. We don't read Esquire magazine for the articles. That is to say, we read it not as readers, but as thinkers: We read it and think, wow, who reads this stuff?
And yet sometimes, when we're reading-but-not-reading Esquire and feeling all proud for not believing that "real" men date models and drive penis cars and worry about their self-love techniques, we find ourselves suddenly in sync with the Esquire intellectual aesthetic. To wit: The naming of Andre 3000 as Esquire's best dressed man in the world. But even more so, also from the September issue, we were pleasantly surprised to read this entry among the "seven most remarkable things in culture this month":
Least believable trend: Fat guys and their hot wives on CBS.
Like, yeah! The schlubby guy-tacky gal thing is everywhere, not just on the aforementioned unwatchable TV shows (King of Queens, Still Standing, and Center of the Universe). See, for example, FX's DVD on TV; every episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown; and pretty much any beer commercial. Which may explain why the only things you'll see on the TV in the BOBW staff rec room are baseball, Le Journal, Buffy and Angel reruns, and Stargate. Say what you want about Richard Dean Anderson, but he's no Kevin James.
Here's the thing. We don't read Esquire magazine for the articles. That is to say, we read it not as readers, but as thinkers: We read it and think, wow, who reads this stuff?
And yet sometimes, when we're reading-but-not-reading Esquire and feeling all proud for not believing that "real" men date models and drive penis cars and worry about their self-love techniques, we find ourselves suddenly in sync with the Esquire intellectual aesthetic. To wit: The naming of Andre 3000 as Esquire's best dressed man in the world. But even more so, also from the September issue, we were pleasantly surprised to read this entry among the "seven most remarkable things in culture this month":
Least believable trend: Fat guys and their hot wives on CBS.
Like, yeah! The schlubby guy-tacky gal thing is everywhere, not just on the aforementioned unwatchable TV shows (King of Queens, Still Standing, and Center of the Universe). See, for example, FX's DVD on TV; every episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown; and pretty much any beer commercial. Which may explain why the only things you'll see on the TV in the BOBW staff rec room are baseball, Le Journal, Buffy and Angel reruns, and Stargate. Say what you want about Richard Dean Anderson, but he's no Kevin James.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Pardon our French
Dontcha hate it when media insiders keep some choice bit of obscenity to themselves with just a "I know and you don't" nod to the rest of us? The excellent detective work of R Morgenstern democratised one such incident a few weeks ago, but now we bring another to your attention. As part of our general keeping up with world affairs, we try to watch the news from the main Axis of Evil country every evening, i.e. France.
Specifically, an excellent local public channel provides the France 2 nightly news with subtitles. Monday night's little sports item at the end concerned tennis star Amelie Mauresmo's remarks to an excited crowd in Montreal following her victory in a lucrative tennis tournament.
We're working from the subtitles of course, but she basically said "OK, I'm going to try speaking a little Quebecois, it may not be quite proper... J'ai crissement bien jouer!" No sub-titles at this point, just huge laughter from the crowd and a grinning news anchor back in the studio. The best translation we can get is from 540 kilometers down the 401, in Toronto's National Post:
...which roughly translates into "I played pretty f------ well."
The French-English dictionaries are no help, variously translating crissement as crunch or screech but Mauresmo seems to have been implying that there's a particular Quebec twist on this word. So far, it's all dead ends in our research with Google too, a fact which alone lessens our willingness to bid in their IPO. But any help from our friends up north with this fascinating etymology greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: Thanks to reader LG up north for the following explanation, which has the extra virtue of being consistent with the one thing we know about Quebecois slang, namely its use of religious words and images:
[LG] About the word: it comes from "Christ". The proper spelling would
be "christement" ("christly") but in slang it became simply
"crissement". The sentence would therefore translate as "Christ,
I've played well!".
[Aug 16] And further thanks to reader DS, who draws our attention to the dubious grammar in the reported version of Mauresmo's quote; she would have said "J'ai crissement bien joué," not jouer. Serves us right for cutting and pasting from a Toronto paper.
Dontcha hate it when media insiders keep some choice bit of obscenity to themselves with just a "I know and you don't" nod to the rest of us? The excellent detective work of R Morgenstern democratised one such incident a few weeks ago, but now we bring another to your attention. As part of our general keeping up with world affairs, we try to watch the news from the main Axis of Evil country every evening, i.e. France.
Specifically, an excellent local public channel provides the France 2 nightly news with subtitles. Monday night's little sports item at the end concerned tennis star Amelie Mauresmo's remarks to an excited crowd in Montreal following her victory in a lucrative tennis tournament.
We're working from the subtitles of course, but she basically said "OK, I'm going to try speaking a little Quebecois, it may not be quite proper... J'ai crissement bien jouer!" No sub-titles at this point, just huge laughter from the crowd and a grinning news anchor back in the studio. The best translation we can get is from 540 kilometers down the 401, in Toronto's National Post:
...which roughly translates into "I played pretty f------ well."
The French-English dictionaries are no help, variously translating crissement as crunch or screech but Mauresmo seems to have been implying that there's a particular Quebec twist on this word. So far, it's all dead ends in our research with Google too, a fact which alone lessens our willingness to bid in their IPO. But any help from our friends up north with this fascinating etymology greatly appreciated.
UPDATE: Thanks to reader LG up north for the following explanation, which has the extra virtue of being consistent with the one thing we know about Quebecois slang, namely its use of religious words and images:
[LG] About the word: it comes from "Christ". The proper spelling would
be "christement" ("christly") but in slang it became simply
"crissement". The sentence would therefore translate as "Christ,
I've played well!".
[Aug 16] And further thanks to reader DS, who draws our attention to the dubious grammar in the reported version of Mauresmo's quote; she would have said "J'ai crissement bien joué," not jouer. Serves us right for cutting and pasting from a Toronto paper.
Monday, August 09, 2004
And history ain’t changed
Today's NYT web front page gives prominent play to two stories:
Senator Presses White House on Leaking Qaeda Suspect's Name
Senator Charles Schumer said the disclosure of a suspect's capture may have complicated efforts to combat terror.
Reporter Ordered to Testify Over C.I.A. Leak
A federal judge held a reporter for Time magazine in contempt for refusing to name the officials who leaked an agent's identity.
The first refers to the apparently premature divulging of the name of an al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan; the Pakistanis had made him a double agent and wanted to keep the name under wraps as long as possible, but it was released as part of the spin operation to justify the recent terror alert. The second refers to the leaking of the CIA identity of Joseph Wilson's wife, he had been pouring cold water on Dubya's Niger--Iraq--uranium claims.
Thus all the pundits who try and confine Dubya's missteps as isolated incidents now have to confront his systematic tendency to use the media to leak secret stuff when spin requires it. Remember Dubya's own eloquent advice about falling twice for the same trick:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
Today's NYT web front page gives prominent play to two stories:
Senator Presses White House on Leaking Qaeda Suspect's Name
Senator Charles Schumer said the disclosure of a suspect's capture may have complicated efforts to combat terror.
Reporter Ordered to Testify Over C.I.A. Leak
A federal judge held a reporter for Time magazine in contempt for refusing to name the officials who leaked an agent's identity.
The first refers to the apparently premature divulging of the name of an al Qaeda operative arrested in Pakistan; the Pakistanis had made him a double agent and wanted to keep the name under wraps as long as possible, but it was released as part of the spin operation to justify the recent terror alert. The second refers to the leaking of the CIA identity of Joseph Wilson's wife, he had been pouring cold water on Dubya's Niger--Iraq--uranium claims.
Thus all the pundits who try and confine Dubya's missteps as isolated incidents now have to confront his systematic tendency to use the media to leak secret stuff when spin requires it. Remember Dubya's own eloquent advice about falling twice for the same trick:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
How long before someone starts marketing a SUX?
We've posted recently about politicians or their DJs being seemingly unaware of the associations of songs that they adopt for their crowd-pumping music. The same thought came to mind as we watched a commercial for yet another hideous Sport Utility Vehicle, this one being some genre of Nissan. There's already much repositioning going on in the marketing of the SUV and indeed the term SUV itself may not be long for this world. But the ads have clearly moved away from their traditional Canyonero format to something that's meant to be simultaneously more soft-focus and "cool" -- the latter as defined by the suits in PR companies.
Now, "cool" might be taken to imply gritty and alternative, which is not quite what the well-off half-wits who drive these things want, so in its musical choice, the Nissan ad finds what seems like the perfect solution -- a song, Surfing on a Rocket, by French techno-druggies Air which does indeed sound all smooth and airy yet vaguely edgy. And if you haven't heard of Air, it's that band that your annoying Eurotrash friend is always telling you about.
But is it really such a good choice? The song's video hasn't been that widely seen as it tends to only make the late night rotation on MTV, but its basic imagery is a fairly literal exploration of the title, a mixture of the military and the Phallic with a crazed American general and a 1950s-era army base honey joyfully riding the aforementioned rocket. [Here's the least technologically annoying link to the video]. Will Nissan be as happy with this ad if it succeeds in making the song and its video extremely popular?
We've posted recently about politicians or their DJs being seemingly unaware of the associations of songs that they adopt for their crowd-pumping music. The same thought came to mind as we watched a commercial for yet another hideous Sport Utility Vehicle, this one being some genre of Nissan. There's already much repositioning going on in the marketing of the SUV and indeed the term SUV itself may not be long for this world. But the ads have clearly moved away from their traditional Canyonero format to something that's meant to be simultaneously more soft-focus and "cool" -- the latter as defined by the suits in PR companies.
Now, "cool" might be taken to imply gritty and alternative, which is not quite what the well-off half-wits who drive these things want, so in its musical choice, the Nissan ad finds what seems like the perfect solution -- a song, Surfing on a Rocket, by French techno-druggies Air which does indeed sound all smooth and airy yet vaguely edgy. And if you haven't heard of Air, it's that band that your annoying Eurotrash friend is always telling you about.
But is it really such a good choice? The song's video hasn't been that widely seen as it tends to only make the late night rotation on MTV, but its basic imagery is a fairly literal exploration of the title, a mixture of the military and the Phallic with a crazed American general and a 1950s-era army base honey joyfully riding the aforementioned rocket. [Here's the least technologically annoying link to the video]. Will Nissan be as happy with this ad if it succeeds in making the song and its video extremely popular?
Friday, August 06, 2004
Raleigh would be happy
Within the limits of our Irish secondary school pathetic French class, this Le Monde article seems to be discussing a dispute between the French and Belgians about the invention of the chip/French Fry. And our French can definitely handle the discussion of who likes what with their fries:
En Angleterre, elle s'associe avec les poissons frits pour les fameux fish and chips. Si les Néerlandais aiment la manger avec de la mayonnaise, les Québécois la préfèrent avec du cheddar frais. Les Italiens apprécient leur patatine frite avec un rien de sel et les Mexicains leurs papas a la francesa avec du citron et du piment. Baptisée ranskikset en Finlande, où on l'aime avec du ketchup, elle devient kentang goreng en Malaisie.
Strangely enough, no mention of what les irlandais like with their chips, but recent research by us in Westport leads us to the conclusion that the preferred accompaniments would be boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes, with maybe a side of crisps and baked potatoes as well. OK so we are exaggerating based on a couple of sightings but those sightings did leave an impression -- at a somewhat pretentious hotel restaurant, the two men at a table of four next to us ordered steaks burnt to a cinder, and proceeded to down said cinder with boiled and mashed potatoes and chips. Which reminded us of the classic Simpsons scene:
Homer Simpson: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer [with sarcasm]: Heh heh heh ... ooh ... yeah ... right, Lisa. A wonderful ... magical animal.
But at least Homer's three part diet of ham, pork, and bacon has some Atkins virtues to it. In Ireland, however, with its wonderful magical tuber, Atkins has a lot of work to do.
Within the limits of our Irish secondary school pathetic French class, this Le Monde article seems to be discussing a dispute between the French and Belgians about the invention of the chip/French Fry. And our French can definitely handle the discussion of who likes what with their fries:
En Angleterre, elle s'associe avec les poissons frits pour les fameux fish and chips. Si les Néerlandais aiment la manger avec de la mayonnaise, les Québécois la préfèrent avec du cheddar frais. Les Italiens apprécient leur patatine frite avec un rien de sel et les Mexicains leurs papas a la francesa avec du citron et du piment. Baptisée ranskikset en Finlande, où on l'aime avec du ketchup, elle devient kentang goreng en Malaisie.
Strangely enough, no mention of what les irlandais like with their chips, but recent research by us in Westport leads us to the conclusion that the preferred accompaniments would be boiled potatoes and mashed potatoes, with maybe a side of crisps and baked potatoes as well. OK so we are exaggerating based on a couple of sightings but those sightings did leave an impression -- at a somewhat pretentious hotel restaurant, the two men at a table of four next to us ordered steaks burnt to a cinder, and proceeded to down said cinder with boiled and mashed potatoes and chips. Which reminded us of the classic Simpsons scene:
Homer Simpson: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No!
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal!
Homer [with sarcasm]: Heh heh heh ... ooh ... yeah ... right, Lisa. A wonderful ... magical animal.
But at least Homer's three part diet of ham, pork, and bacon has some Atkins virtues to it. In Ireland, however, with its wonderful magical tuber, Atkins has a lot of work to do.
The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
In Dubya's widely reported gaffe
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we
the following detail is telling:
No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.
In Dubya's widely reported gaffe
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we
the following detail is telling:
No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Sauron's Glorious Revolution
It seems that the use by the Lord of the Rings film trilogy of a haunting Celtic soundtrack was much too effective because it has now polluted young British minds with an amusingly bizarre version of one of the key historical events on the Islands. A poll of one thousand young people on the Big Island found the following consensus opinion:
The Battle of the Boyne was fought with elves, orcs and even a few hobbits in the ranks, a new survey suggests...About one in 10 young people in Britain confused fact with fantasy and said they thought the famous battle of 12 July [1690] was straight out of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings best-selling book and blockbusting movie trilogy.
The scene where William of Orange defeated King James II in the famous Battle of the Boyne was at Helm's Deep, not Ireland, they believed.
As the story goes on to note, this would be laughable except for the fact that the Battle really was a major event with Pan-European dimensions, and depending on one's point of view, it may have set the stage for parliamentary democracy, a coup, or repression of the Catholic minority, and it certainly affected the subsequent evolution of the United Kingdom.
But leaving that aside, let's look at the fun side of the survey; they really ought to tell us how the survey respondents related Kings William and James to the Rings characters and how the rest of Ireland related to the Rings locales. For no particular reason, we'd guess that William was Sauron, and James II would be Theoden, but after that we're stuck, not least because in the actual battle, our Sauron wins. Suggestions welcome. But in the meantime, there is surely a new marketing ploy for Irish tourism: why go to New Zealand to see the Rings sites when you can visit them all in much closer County Meath?
It seems that the use by the Lord of the Rings film trilogy of a haunting Celtic soundtrack was much too effective because it has now polluted young British minds with an amusingly bizarre version of one of the key historical events on the Islands. A poll of one thousand young people on the Big Island found the following consensus opinion:
The Battle of the Boyne was fought with elves, orcs and even a few hobbits in the ranks, a new survey suggests...About one in 10 young people in Britain confused fact with fantasy and said they thought the famous battle of 12 July [1690] was straight out of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings best-selling book and blockbusting movie trilogy.
The scene where William of Orange defeated King James II in the famous Battle of the Boyne was at Helm's Deep, not Ireland, they believed.
As the story goes on to note, this would be laughable except for the fact that the Battle really was a major event with Pan-European dimensions, and depending on one's point of view, it may have set the stage for parliamentary democracy, a coup, or repression of the Catholic minority, and it certainly affected the subsequent evolution of the United Kingdom.
But leaving that aside, let's look at the fun side of the survey; they really ought to tell us how the survey respondents related Kings William and James to the Rings characters and how the rest of Ireland related to the Rings locales. For no particular reason, we'd guess that William was Sauron, and James II would be Theoden, but after that we're stuck, not least because in the actual battle, our Sauron wins. Suggestions welcome. But in the meantime, there is surely a new marketing ploy for Irish tourism: why go to New Zealand to see the Rings sites when you can visit them all in much closer County Meath?
Svengate: Department of Unfortunate Names
[BBC] Eriksson's agent Athole Still said that his client was pleased with the decision.
"I called Sven immediately after hearing the news and he was going out for dinner with England assistant coach Tord Grip," said Still.
[BBC] Eriksson's agent Athole Still said that his client was pleased with the decision.
"I called Sven immediately after hearing the news and he was going out for dinner with England assistant coach Tord Grip," said Still.
Antonym of the day
Thursday's Wall Street Journal contains a tendentious and sloppy opinion piece (reg. req'd) attacking the supposed tacit collusion of US privacy watchdogs with al Qaeda; by mingling the timeline of pre- and post-9/11 strategies for passenger screening, and misstating the reasons for the ineffectiveness of each, it manages to come to the pleasing conclusion that 9/11 was all Bill Clinton's fault, and that those pesky privacy types are facilitating the same again today. The concluding quote:
There is no way to keep a terrorist from flying without first trying to determine who he is. Yet the most innocuous identity verification system prior to a flight is now seen as tantamount to illegal surveillance. With the rights advocates back in the saddle of national security, al Qaeda can blithely get on with its business.
We also noticed the piece's preferred term for privacy groups: privocrats. Now, perhaps this construction is enough to make one the toast of the next VRC cocktail party, but it's also fairly stupid. Presumably intended to be a combination of privacy and bureaucrat, it misses the fact that the typical person with concerns about privacy is not a part of the bureaucracy, which is precisely what has them so worried.
But anyway, if one was curious as to what the opposite of this word might be, there's a ready option from Northern Ireland in Sinn Fein's favourite word, securocrats, capturing that very blurred line between administration and domestic security policy. A term of special relevance to residents of New York City and Washington DC, wondering why more and more of their daily routine is dominated by decisions made by unelected and thinly accountable officials offering the rote response "security reasons" to all questions.
There is no way to keep a terrorist from flying without first trying to determine who he is. Yet the most innocuous identity verification system prior to a flight is now seen as tantamount to illegal surveillance. With the rights advocates back in the saddle of national security, al Qaeda can blithely get on with its business.
We also noticed the piece's preferred term for privacy groups: privocrats. Now, perhaps this construction is enough to make one the toast of the next VRC cocktail party, but it's also fairly stupid. Presumably intended to be a combination of privacy and bureaucrat, it misses the fact that the typical person with concerns about privacy is not a part of the bureaucracy, which is precisely what has them so worried.
But anyway, if one was curious as to what the opposite of this word might be, there's a ready option from Northern Ireland in Sinn Fein's favourite word, securocrats, capturing that very blurred line between administration and domestic security policy. A term of special relevance to residents of New York City and Washington DC, wondering why more and more of their daily routine is dominated by decisions made by unelected and thinly accountable officials offering the rote response "security reasons" to all questions.
Labels:
GWOT,
Irish angle
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Is this history as tragedy or farce?
It being an especially quiet day on the web, we made the mistake of surfing over to the odious Instapundit to see him plug "Michelle Malkin's audacious new book" In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror. This is a book that the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy will able to promote in its sleep, because the tactics are so tried and tested at this point -- the politically loaded and self-consciously contrarian title, a huge media machine to cover the supposed PC squelching of the book, and the sidestepping of the fact that given the cause and the author, any arguments in the book to advance its thesis will be total shite.
But hey, the author is a woman espousing reactionary causes, which is so, like, transgressive, so clear some spots on the Bill O'Reilly show immediately. The "liberal" media will then feel compelled to allocate some column inches to a "balanced" report on the outrage, and God forbid, some of what the book advocates could actually become government policy.
Our own point of curiosity about this book is to see what the coterie of Irish-American yellers will make of it -- the aforementioned O'Reilly of course, but also Sean Hannity, and even America's Pundit, Tim Russert. Not for the first time, the US War on Terror seems to be taking unwise tips from Northern Ireland, which, if it was getting more attention, might not be what Dubya would want those coveted Irish-American voters to hear about.
Will Michelle's defence of internment cover its disastrous application in Northern Ireland? Even 30-plus years later, we still don't know all the details about its introduction by the British government in 1971, but with each release of the British Cabinet papers (following the thirty year lag) a little more comes out. Such as:
[BBC] The UK Government introduced internment in Northern Ireland in 1971 against the advice of its military commander, newly-released secret documents show.
The decision to detain republican terrorist suspects without trial caused fury and unrest in Catholic communities.
But Lieutenant General Sir Harry Tuzo, head of the Army in the province, had warned it would have a "harmful effect", according to the confidential cabinet papers.
Documents released under the 30-year rule also make it clear that the move, regarded as one of the biggest mistakes of the troubles, was made against the counsel of Whitehall advisers. [PM] Heath himself acknowledged that the measure was an explicitly "political act" intended to shore up the government of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, in the face of the rising tide of IRA violence.
So, there's the prior experience with internment of the other main player in the war in Iraq: it didn't work, the military and senior civilian officials were against it from the start, and the Prime Minister who actually made the decision did so to prop up a collapsing government, not because he expected it to be militarily effective. Is anyone taking odds on how long the new Iraqi government is expected to last?
[UPDATE: after this posting, it occurred to us that we are not even fully tuned in to Malkin's insansity; she is advocating internment of US citizens, not in Iraq, thus identical to internment in Northern Ireland, but without the attempt to prop up a teetering sub-national (or foreign?) government. The blog Orcinus does the necessary work in bringing actual historical facts about the US experience with internment to the table.]
It being an especially quiet day on the web, we made the mistake of surfing over to the odious Instapundit to see him plug "Michelle Malkin's audacious new book" In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror. This is a book that the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy will able to promote in its sleep, because the tactics are so tried and tested at this point -- the politically loaded and self-consciously contrarian title, a huge media machine to cover the supposed PC squelching of the book, and the sidestepping of the fact that given the cause and the author, any arguments in the book to advance its thesis will be total shite.
But hey, the author is a woman espousing reactionary causes, which is so, like, transgressive, so clear some spots on the Bill O'Reilly show immediately. The "liberal" media will then feel compelled to allocate some column inches to a "balanced" report on the outrage, and God forbid, some of what the book advocates could actually become government policy.
Our own point of curiosity about this book is to see what the coterie of Irish-American yellers will make of it -- the aforementioned O'Reilly of course, but also Sean Hannity, and even America's Pundit, Tim Russert. Not for the first time, the US War on Terror seems to be taking unwise tips from Northern Ireland, which, if it was getting more attention, might not be what Dubya would want those coveted Irish-American voters to hear about.
Will Michelle's defence of internment cover its disastrous application in Northern Ireland? Even 30-plus years later, we still don't know all the details about its introduction by the British government in 1971, but with each release of the British Cabinet papers (following the thirty year lag) a little more comes out. Such as:
[BBC] The UK Government introduced internment in Northern Ireland in 1971 against the advice of its military commander, newly-released secret documents show.
The decision to detain republican terrorist suspects without trial caused fury and unrest in Catholic communities.
But Lieutenant General Sir Harry Tuzo, head of the Army in the province, had warned it would have a "harmful effect", according to the confidential cabinet papers.
Documents released under the 30-year rule also make it clear that the move, regarded as one of the biggest mistakes of the troubles, was made against the counsel of Whitehall advisers. [PM] Heath himself acknowledged that the measure was an explicitly "political act" intended to shore up the government of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, in the face of the rising tide of IRA violence.
So, there's the prior experience with internment of the other main player in the war in Iraq: it didn't work, the military and senior civilian officials were against it from the start, and the Prime Minister who actually made the decision did so to prop up a collapsing government, not because he expected it to be militarily effective. Is anyone taking odds on how long the new Iraqi government is expected to last?
[UPDATE: after this posting, it occurred to us that we are not even fully tuned in to Malkin's insansity; she is advocating internment of US citizens, not in Iraq, thus identical to internment in Northern Ireland, but without the attempt to prop up a teetering sub-national (or foreign?) government. The blog Orcinus does the necessary work in bringing actual historical facts about the US experience with internment to the table.]
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Word parse of the day
historical: meaningless past information about potential terrorist attacks, not requiring any specific action from the White House, such as Dubya's indifference to the summer 2001 terrorism warnings
old: very meaningful past information about potential terrorist attacks, requiring very specific action from the White House, such as the new terrorism alert based on information from 3-4 years ago
historical: meaningless past information about potential terrorist attacks, not requiring any specific action from the White House, such as Dubya's indifference to the summer 2001 terrorism warnings
old: very meaningful past information about potential terrorist attacks, requiring very specific action from the White House, such as the new terrorism alert based on information from 3-4 years ago
Monday, August 02, 2004
Sometimes portals make things disappear
Like zeroes. From today's Wall Street Journal newswire (subs. req'd):
South Korea's Daum Communications agreed to buy Lycos for about $95.6 million from Spain's Terra Networks, which paid $12.5 billion for the Internet portal at the height of the technology boom in 2000.
Like zeroes. From today's Wall Street Journal newswire (subs. req'd):
South Korea's Daum Communications agreed to buy Lycos for about $95.6 million from Spain's Terra Networks, which paid $12.5 billion for the Internet portal at the height of the technology boom in 2000.
Euphemism of the day
From an Irish Times article (subs. req'd) describing a government report into a rampant culture of overcharging at one of Ireland's retail banks, National Irish Bank (NIB); one of the bank's favourite tactics was surreptitious increases in the interest rates charged to borrowers:
The report says the tampering with interest rates was known amongst bank staff as "adjusting the decimal"
UPDATE: Too many euphemisms from this scandal to keep track of. In Tuesday's Irish Times, Fintan O'Toole pulls out another one:
When it emerged that a letter accompanying an internal NIB investment bulletin had referred to "the people who have money invested offshore already or whose money is 'Hot'," we got straight-faced denials that hot money meant hot money. Beverley Flynn [Fianna Fail TD and NIB staffer] told the High Court, on oath, that "hot" in this context might have meant "a person who was 'hot' for an investment or pension, somebody about to do business".
From an Irish Times article (subs. req'd) describing a government report into a rampant culture of overcharging at one of Ireland's retail banks, National Irish Bank (NIB); one of the bank's favourite tactics was surreptitious increases in the interest rates charged to borrowers:
The report says the tampering with interest rates was known amongst bank staff as "adjusting the decimal"
UPDATE: Too many euphemisms from this scandal to keep track of. In Tuesday's Irish Times, Fintan O'Toole pulls out another one:
When it emerged that a letter accompanying an internal NIB investment bulletin had referred to "the people who have money invested offshore already or whose money is 'Hot'," we got straight-faced denials that hot money meant hot money. Beverley Flynn [Fianna Fail TD and NIB staffer] told the High Court, on oath, that "hot" in this context might have meant "a person who was 'hot' for an investment or pension, somebody about to do business".
But, you left out the best part
Barbara "Lady Black" Amiel has an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd). It's actually a harmless enough article, although we're not sure what the point is. But the real story is Babs' bio at the bottom:
Ms. Amiel is a London-based writer
Thus leaving out hubby Conrad's huge legal problems, his failed battle to keep the Daily Telegraph and thus the heavily endangered Canadian Hack welfare program (Steyn, Babs, Frum) at that Unionist rag, not to mention that Babs herself is named in a few of the lawsuits against Conrad. Most of which are filed in US or Canadian courts. "London-based writer." Hmmm.
Barbara "Lady Black" Amiel has an op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal (subs. req'd). It's actually a harmless enough article, although we're not sure what the point is. But the real story is Babs' bio at the bottom:
Ms. Amiel is a London-based writer
Thus leaving out hubby Conrad's huge legal problems, his failed battle to keep the Daily Telegraph and thus the heavily endangered Canadian Hack welfare program (Steyn, Babs, Frum) at that Unionist rag, not to mention that Babs herself is named in a few of the lawsuits against Conrad. Most of which are filed in US or Canadian courts. "London-based writer." Hmmm.
Bill Clinton, David Beckham, and Sven-Goran Eriksson
They are three men with potentially useful contributions to make to the following event, outlined in Monday's Daily Telegraph:
Monica Lewinsky will appear at the Edinburgh TV Festival to discuss the money she made from the revelations of her relationship with former US President Bill Clinton.
She will join Rebecca Loos, who also received payments for interviews following her alleged affair with England football captain David Beckham, in a panel discussion on chequebook journalism.
The panel could also use the insights of Faria Alam, alleged paramour of England football team manager Sven, and key player in the preposterous and preposterously named Svengate "scandal." Of course, the most interesting compare and contrast between the US and UK versions of these media imbroglios is that in the UK the player-hating doesn't reach the point where it's used to change the government. But perhaps America's ace puritan/pervert, Ken Starr, will feel tempted to hop on a plane to Scotland just for old time's sake.
UPDATE 22 JUNE 2005: we're seeing some Google searches come here to determine Faria Alam's nationality, with her being back in the news because of her sexual harassment case against the FA. She's from Bangladesh.
They are three men with potentially useful contributions to make to the following event, outlined in Monday's Daily Telegraph:
Monica Lewinsky will appear at the Edinburgh TV Festival to discuss the money she made from the revelations of her relationship with former US President Bill Clinton.
She will join Rebecca Loos, who also received payments for interviews following her alleged affair with England football captain David Beckham, in a panel discussion on chequebook journalism.
The panel could also use the insights of Faria Alam, alleged paramour of England football team manager Sven, and key player in the preposterous and preposterously named Svengate "scandal." Of course, the most interesting compare and contrast between the US and UK versions of these media imbroglios is that in the UK the player-hating doesn't reach the point where it's used to change the government. But perhaps America's ace puritan/pervert, Ken Starr, will feel tempted to hop on a plane to Scotland just for old time's sake.
UPDATE 22 JUNE 2005: we're seeing some Google searches come here to determine Faria Alam's nationality, with her being back in the news because of her sexual harassment case against the FA. She's from Bangladesh.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Another Bloody Sunday
We suppose we have to give some credit to the Fox News spinners for getting on the job so quickly on the church bombings in Iraq. The spin is as follows:
This proves that the terrorists are engaged in a religious war;
The tactic of church bombings was previously seen in Pakistan, so the perpetrators may well be from Pakistan
What they don't want you to think about:
There have been many bombings of mosques during Friday prayers;
In particular, both Pakistan and Iraq have seen extensive bombings of Shia mosques by Sunni extremists;
Iraqi Christians were not victimised under Saddam
Some things that the spinners don't seem to understand:
Difference between Armenian and Armenian Christian, between Assyrian and Syrian, and they're a bit shaky on the whole Chaldean Christian thing
We suppose we have to give some credit to the Fox News spinners for getting on the job so quickly on the church bombings in Iraq. The spin is as follows:
This proves that the terrorists are engaged in a religious war;
The tactic of church bombings was previously seen in Pakistan, so the perpetrators may well be from Pakistan
What they don't want you to think about:
There have been many bombings of mosques during Friday prayers;
In particular, both Pakistan and Iraq have seen extensive bombings of Shia mosques by Sunni extremists;
Iraqi Christians were not victimised under Saddam
Some things that the spinners don't seem to understand:
Difference between Armenian and Armenian Christian, between Assyrian and Syrian, and they're a bit shaky on the whole Chaldean Christian thing
Friday, July 30, 2004
Hip-hop's Gaelic Names
A sign we've been in the USA too long: when in the Islands recently and seeing references to a musical group McFly, we were reading that as M, C, Fly and assuming that he/they is/are a hip-hop outfit. But no, it really is meant to be read like a surname and they are in fact a quasi-rock boy band. Then there's the film director McG, which again contains hip-hop-esque letters, but it didn't catch us out the same way as the teenyboppers.
Incidentally, the latter Mc, who is actually the quite Irish sounding Joseph McGinty Nichol, director of Charlie's Angels, just fell out with Warner Brothers over his planned direction of a new Superman movie and was quickly replaced by Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-Men).
But we digress. Mike Skinner is doing a good job of creating a respectable and distinctive white English rap, so it's not fanciful to imagine someone developing an Irish version, not forgetting of course the pioneering work of House of Pain. Anyway, finding a name won't be a problem. Someone should start with O'G.
A sign we've been in the USA too long: when in the Islands recently and seeing references to a musical group McFly, we were reading that as M, C, Fly and assuming that he/they is/are a hip-hop outfit. But no, it really is meant to be read like a surname and they are in fact a quasi-rock boy band. Then there's the film director McG, which again contains hip-hop-esque letters, but it didn't catch us out the same way as the teenyboppers.
Incidentally, the latter Mc, who is actually the quite Irish sounding Joseph McGinty Nichol, director of Charlie's Angels, just fell out with Warner Brothers over his planned direction of a new Superman movie and was quickly replaced by Bryan Singer (Usual Suspects, X-Men).
But we digress. Mike Skinner is doing a good job of creating a respectable and distinctive white English rap, so it's not fanciful to imagine someone developing an Irish version, not forgetting of course the pioneering work of House of Pain. Anyway, finding a name won't be a problem. Someone should start with O'G.
Pussy Talk
or, How Journalism Works in the U.K.
The British papers were recently abuzz with the news that the United States had banned that subtle humor classic "Are You Being Served?" as too hot for TV. The Sun seems to have gotten the story first, on July 15, with the headline MRS SLOCOMBE'S PUSSY SHOCKS U.S.:
US TV bosses have banned Mrs Slocombe's pussy as too shocking for Americans.
The British sitcom Are You Being Served? faces being toned down or even axed because of the double entendre jokes.
Typical lines from the 30-year-old show set in a department store include Molly Sugden as Mrs Slocombe, below, saying: "It's a wonder I'm here at all. My pussy got soaking wet. I had to dry it out in front of the fire."
The moral clampdown follows Janet Jackson's nipple-revealing performance at the 2004 Superbowl.
Some viewers sued networks, claiming they were upset.
US Public Broadcasting Service exec Doug Myrland said: "We're worried. British sitcoms are problematic--they thrive on double entendre."
This was followed by an item in the seemingly more respectable London Times three days later:
Mrs Slocombe's pussy--one of the unseen stars of the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?--faces a ban from US television as it is too saucy. American broadcasters have been sensitive to criticism of their moral standards after Janet Jackson revealed her nipple during this year's Super Bowl. They fear viewers could sue over lines from Mrs Slocombe, such as: "It's a wonder I'm here at all. My pussy got soaking wet and I had to dry it out in front of the fire."
Public Broadcasting Service spokesman Doug Myrland said: "British sitcoms are problematic. They thrive on double entendre."
Well, this all seemed a bit, er, fishy to us, given the years we've spent asking "Are you free?" in front of our all-too-American televisions. A little digging revealed the source of this "scoop": a July 13 Christian Science Monitor article about, yes, potential editing of British programs on certain PBS affiliates. Nowhere does it mention AYBS, Mrs. Slocombe, or the aforementioned pussy. And this PBS "exec"-cum-"spokesman" Doug Myrland? He's the station manager at the San Diego public TV station.
His actual quote in the CSM, regarding the Brit-coms shown on his affiliate:
"They thrive on double entendre, and we're saying, 'Do we have to do something with those?' " Mr. Myrland asks. "We're worried that we're maybe on thin ice.' "
Not as thin, perhaps, as the editorial walls between Rupert Murdoch's English newspapers.
or, How Journalism Works in the U.K.
The British papers were recently abuzz with the news that the United States had banned that subtle humor classic "Are You Being Served?" as too hot for TV. The Sun seems to have gotten the story first, on July 15, with the headline MRS SLOCOMBE'S PUSSY SHOCKS U.S.:
US TV bosses have banned Mrs Slocombe's pussy as too shocking for Americans.
The British sitcom Are You Being Served? faces being toned down or even axed because of the double entendre jokes.
Typical lines from the 30-year-old show set in a department store include Molly Sugden as Mrs Slocombe, below, saying: "It's a wonder I'm here at all. My pussy got soaking wet. I had to dry it out in front of the fire."
The moral clampdown follows Janet Jackson's nipple-revealing performance at the 2004 Superbowl.
Some viewers sued networks, claiming they were upset.
US Public Broadcasting Service exec Doug Myrland said: "We're worried. British sitcoms are problematic--they thrive on double entendre."
This was followed by an item in the seemingly more respectable London Times three days later:
Mrs Slocombe's pussy--one of the unseen stars of the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?--faces a ban from US television as it is too saucy. American broadcasters have been sensitive to criticism of their moral standards after Janet Jackson revealed her nipple during this year's Super Bowl. They fear viewers could sue over lines from Mrs Slocombe, such as: "It's a wonder I'm here at all. My pussy got soaking wet and I had to dry it out in front of the fire."
Public Broadcasting Service spokesman Doug Myrland said: "British sitcoms are problematic. They thrive on double entendre."
Well, this all seemed a bit, er, fishy to us, given the years we've spent asking "Are you free?" in front of our all-too-American televisions. A little digging revealed the source of this "scoop": a July 13 Christian Science Monitor article about, yes, potential editing of British programs on certain PBS affiliates. Nowhere does it mention AYBS, Mrs. Slocombe, or the aforementioned pussy. And this PBS "exec"-cum-"spokesman" Doug Myrland? He's the station manager at the San Diego public TV station.
His actual quote in the CSM, regarding the Brit-coms shown on his affiliate:
"They thrive on double entendre, and we're saying, 'Do we have to do something with those?' " Mr. Myrland asks. "We're worried that we're maybe on thin ice.' "
Not as thin, perhaps, as the editorial walls between Rupert Murdoch's English newspapers.
Hang the DJ
So we'll let the raft of conventioneering bloggers analyse the substance of Kerry's speech, and we'll watch for Andrew Sullivan to explain how all the good stuff in Kerry's speech is either just solid One Nation Toryism or something he wrote two years ago -- but let's talk about the post-speech musical choices in Boston. Of course we're biased, but U2's Beautiful Day is an excellent choice to get the crowd pumped. But then, the segue into Van Halen? Post David Lee Roth Van Halen? The same Van Halen as used for Dick Cheney's crowd pumping soundtrack (albeit a different song)? The band in which the key member is, like, Dutch? And does anyone read the lyrics when these songs are being chosen:
Run, run, run away
Like a train runnin' off the track
Got the truth bein' left behind
Falls between the cracks
Enough to make us long for the Clintonian days of Fleetwood Mac.
So we'll let the raft of conventioneering bloggers analyse the substance of Kerry's speech, and we'll watch for Andrew Sullivan to explain how all the good stuff in Kerry's speech is either just solid One Nation Toryism or something he wrote two years ago -- but let's talk about the post-speech musical choices in Boston. Of course we're biased, but U2's Beautiful Day is an excellent choice to get the crowd pumped. But then, the segue into Van Halen? Post David Lee Roth Van Halen? The same Van Halen as used for Dick Cheney's crowd pumping soundtrack (albeit a different song)? The band in which the key member is, like, Dutch? And does anyone read the lyrics when these songs are being chosen:
Run, run, run away
Like a train runnin' off the track
Got the truth bein' left behind
Falls between the cracks
Enough to make us long for the Clintonian days of Fleetwood Mac.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Symbolism, Oirish style
It's Galway race week. This nugget from Wednesday's Irish Times (reg. req'd):
Two centuries of Irish history collided in the first race at Ballybrit last night, when a horse called Ocras Mor could finish only third behind a well-fancied winner, The Posh Paddy.
For our readers lacking the cupla focal, Ocras Mor means The Great Hunger, i.e. the Famine.
It's Galway race week. This nugget from Wednesday's Irish Times (reg. req'd):
Two centuries of Irish history collided in the first race at Ballybrit last night, when a horse called Ocras Mor could finish only third behind a well-fancied winner, The Posh Paddy.
For our readers lacking the cupla focal, Ocras Mor means The Great Hunger, i.e. the Famine.
Betterer and Worser
More on the Ireland v. U.S. culture wars:
FLAVO(U)RS.
BETTER in Ireland. From Rhubarb yogurt to Blackcurrant juice to Blood Orange popsicles, the Islands have the U.S. beat. (With the significant exception, of course, of such crisp (potato chip) flavo/u/rs as prawn cocktail, greek kebab, marmite, and roast chicken. No, we're not kidding.)
RADIO.
BETTER in Ireland. First of all, 'cause it's easy to get BBC4 (even if you don't think much of The Archers, how about Quote Unquote? The plays and book readings? The Shipping Forecast?). But there's much to listen to on RTE, too, like the charming tales of Sunday Miscellany. And of course there's Raidió na Gaeltachta, which is kinda fun to listen to even if you don't have your cupla focal...
Important warning for American readers: David Sedaris is rarely heard on any of these stations.
More on the Ireland v. U.S. culture wars:
FLAVO(U)RS.
BETTER in Ireland. From Rhubarb yogurt to Blackcurrant juice to Blood Orange popsicles, the Islands have the U.S. beat. (With the significant exception, of course, of such crisp (potato chip) flavo/u/rs as prawn cocktail, greek kebab, marmite, and roast chicken. No, we're not kidding.)
RADIO.
BETTER in Ireland. First of all, 'cause it's easy to get BBC4 (even if you don't think much of The Archers, how about Quote Unquote? The plays and book readings? The Shipping Forecast?). But there's much to listen to on RTE, too, like the charming tales of Sunday Miscellany. And of course there's Raidió na Gaeltachta, which is kinda fun to listen to even if you don't have your cupla focal...
Important warning for American readers: David Sedaris is rarely heard on any of these stations.
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Those New York Times corrections, with annotations
One shouldn't mock the NYT too much, because in their highly visible corrections and editorial followups to past reporting missteps, they do much more than just about any other media outlet. But their daily corrections section nearly always leaves out the juicy bits, like their occasional tendency to say that such-and-such article was indeed total shite, without saying which particular journalist wrote it. But in one of our many services to readers, we feel compelled to offer our own annotations to Tuesday's corrections. Since the NYT, in most un-bloglike fashion, doesn't seem to offer a permanent link to each day's corrections, we'll reproduce the relevant ones below.
First:
A front-page article on Saturday about President Bush's appearance before the National Urban League in Detroit misstated the name he used for the rival party. Mr. Bush said, "Does the Democrat party take African-American voters for granted?" — not "Democratic."
This is revealing. It's standard Republican spin to always refer to the other party as the Democrat party. The blog Political Winds was presciently tracking this tendency just two weeks ago. It traces to the charming Joe McCarthy, who hated the proper party name's association with democracy. But what we learn from this correction is that someone, almost certainly in White House media operations, is specifically calling outlets to enforce this particular spin word.
Second:
An article on Wednesday about the plight of single men facing a shortage of single women in Alaska misstated the surname of a ticket agent who said he was looking for a long-term relationship. He is Seth Augdahl, not Augdah
So, that's why the phone calls from eager women weren't flooding in.
And finally:
Because of an editing error, an article in Business Day yesterday about plans by Banco Santander Central Hispano to buy Abbey National of Britain misstated the stock price of Abbey National on Friday. It was 580 pence ($10.62), not £580 ($1,061.86).
So if you're an Abbey National shareholder and you calculated your wealth based on the original article, divide your previous answer by 100. D'OH!
One shouldn't mock the NYT too much, because in their highly visible corrections and editorial followups to past reporting missteps, they do much more than just about any other media outlet. But their daily corrections section nearly always leaves out the juicy bits, like their occasional tendency to say that such-and-such article was indeed total shite, without saying which particular journalist wrote it. But in one of our many services to readers, we feel compelled to offer our own annotations to Tuesday's corrections. Since the NYT, in most un-bloglike fashion, doesn't seem to offer a permanent link to each day's corrections, we'll reproduce the relevant ones below.
First:
A front-page article on Saturday about President Bush's appearance before the National Urban League in Detroit misstated the name he used for the rival party. Mr. Bush said, "Does the Democrat party take African-American voters for granted?" — not "Democratic."
This is revealing. It's standard Republican spin to always refer to the other party as the Democrat party. The blog Political Winds was presciently tracking this tendency just two weeks ago. It traces to the charming Joe McCarthy, who hated the proper party name's association with democracy. But what we learn from this correction is that someone, almost certainly in White House media operations, is specifically calling outlets to enforce this particular spin word.
Second:
An article on Wednesday about the plight of single men facing a shortage of single women in Alaska misstated the surname of a ticket agent who said he was looking for a long-term relationship. He is Seth Augdahl, not Augdah
So, that's why the phone calls from eager women weren't flooding in.
And finally:
Because of an editing error, an article in Business Day yesterday about plans by Banco Santander Central Hispano to buy Abbey National of Britain misstated the stock price of Abbey National on Friday. It was 580 pence ($10.62), not £580 ($1,061.86).
So if you're an Abbey National shareholder and you calculated your wealth based on the original article, divide your previous answer by 100. D'OH!
Acknowledging the Empire
The last few days have put in wide circulation two unlikely, if very backhanded, compliments to Imperial Britain from key figures in the Irish Republican Army lineage: Michael Collins (yes, the one played by Liam Neeson) and Joe Cahill, just deceased after most of a lifetime spent in the IRA. A historian has unearthed the teenage scribblings of Collins, who seems to have been trying to impress the examiners in a British Civil Service exam by writing:
Without a knowledge of history we could not tell how such an island as Great Britain came to be the greatest power on the face of the earth, how her small armies won the battles of Crecy and Agincourt, of Quebec and Plassey and how her fleets destroyed those of all the great European powers in the time of Napoleon, and how this general was in the end defeated by Wellington.
And then, an aphorism of Cahill's, which featured in his many obituaries, and reflected his birth in Belfast in 1920 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:
I was born in a united Ireland, I want to die in a united Ireland
In fact, the British have insinuated themselves even more successfully amongst the present day Irish leaders, with none other than Taoiseach Bertie Ahern having Bass Ale as his favourite alcoholic beverage. But whereas Collins and Cahill had to face truly difficult choices about when the violence should end, Bertie's weakness for England will at most force him to decide whether he wants to pick a fight with Belgian brewers (see the linked article for details). History can be kind.
The last few days have put in wide circulation two unlikely, if very backhanded, compliments to Imperial Britain from key figures in the Irish Republican Army lineage: Michael Collins (yes, the one played by Liam Neeson) and Joe Cahill, just deceased after most of a lifetime spent in the IRA. A historian has unearthed the teenage scribblings of Collins, who seems to have been trying to impress the examiners in a British Civil Service exam by writing:
Without a knowledge of history we could not tell how such an island as Great Britain came to be the greatest power on the face of the earth, how her small armies won the battles of Crecy and Agincourt, of Quebec and Plassey and how her fleets destroyed those of all the great European powers in the time of Napoleon, and how this general was in the end defeated by Wellington.
And then, an aphorism of Cahill's, which featured in his many obituaries, and reflected his birth in Belfast in 1920 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:
I was born in a united Ireland, I want to die in a united Ireland
In fact, the British have insinuated themselves even more successfully amongst the present day Irish leaders, with none other than Taoiseach Bertie Ahern having Bass Ale as his favourite alcoholic beverage. But whereas Collins and Cahill had to face truly difficult choices about when the violence should end, Bertie's weakness for England will at most force him to decide whether he wants to pick a fight with Belgian brewers (see the linked article for details). History can be kind.
Friday, July 23, 2004
For better or for worse
Welcome to a new feature here at BOBW, which delves into the delightful cultural differences between the U.S. and Ireland. Or something like that. What we hope to do is offer readers an easy-to-use guide to various aspects of life at home and abroad, regardless of where said home happens to be. (In most cases, you can substitute the U.K. for Shamrockshire and get the same result.)
Let's start with an easy one:
ICE CREAM NOVELTIES.
BETTER in Ireland, due mostly to the use of sugar, not corn syrup. Europe may be the land of subsidies, but it's not the land of sugar industry protectionist quotas. (We recommend the mini m and m's chipwich, which you can buy in each country so you can do your own taste test.)
MUSIC VIDEOS.
BETTER in Ireland. This is an interesting one. In the U.S., sure, we can easily keep up with hip-hop on our various MTVs. But if we may let's introduce you to VH2, which runs a steady diet of Pixies, Smiths, and Stone Roses--sort of like what it would be like if BOBW had a music video show. Even MTV Deux--a favorite in the U.S.--is better abroad, thanks to a greater devotion to pure rock and lesser reliance on commercials.
SPECIALTY COFFEE BEVERAGES.
A TIE. Yes, it's true, without a green Starbucks awning in sight, even rural Ireland has managed to set up an espresso machine or two. God love 'em.
TELEVISION
WORSE in Ireland. Whereas a year ago we might have given this one to the old country, with the advent of BBC America, the balances have tipped in favor of the New World. Add to that the Islands' 24-hour Big Brother channel; the practice on UK channels of speeding up the tape on certain American one-hour shows (which makes the soulless Angel sound more like a superwimp than a superbaddy) ; and such astonishing fare as ITV's Dirtbusters, which on a recent evening treated us to closeups of dog poo (in different shades and shapes, to be fair), a squirrel in a gutter in Oldham, plus some backed-up sewage in Liverpool that locals likened to Mulligatawny soup.
PRINT JOURNALISM.
WORSE in Ireland, with the following exceptions:
Welcome to a new feature here at BOBW, which delves into the delightful cultural differences between the U.S. and Ireland. Or something like that. What we hope to do is offer readers an easy-to-use guide to various aspects of life at home and abroad, regardless of where said home happens to be. (In most cases, you can substitute the U.K. for Shamrockshire and get the same result.)
Let's start with an easy one:
ICE CREAM NOVELTIES.
BETTER in Ireland, due mostly to the use of sugar, not corn syrup. Europe may be the land of subsidies, but it's not the land of sugar industry protectionist quotas. (We recommend the mini m and m's chipwich, which you can buy in each country so you can do your own taste test.)
MUSIC VIDEOS.
BETTER in Ireland. This is an interesting one. In the U.S., sure, we can easily keep up with hip-hop on our various MTVs. But if we may let's introduce you to VH2, which runs a steady diet of Pixies, Smiths, and Stone Roses--sort of like what it would be like if BOBW had a music video show. Even MTV Deux--a favorite in the U.S.--is better abroad, thanks to a greater devotion to pure rock and lesser reliance on commercials.
SPECIALTY COFFEE BEVERAGES.
A TIE. Yes, it's true, without a green Starbucks awning in sight, even rural Ireland has managed to set up an espresso machine or two. God love 'em.
TELEVISION
WORSE in Ireland. Whereas a year ago we might have given this one to the old country, with the advent of BBC America, the balances have tipped in favor of the New World. Add to that the Islands' 24-hour Big Brother channel; the practice on UK channels of speeding up the tape on certain American one-hour shows (which makes the soulless Angel sound more like a superwimp than a superbaddy) ; and such astonishing fare as ITV's Dirtbusters, which on a recent evening treated us to closeups of dog poo (in different shades and shapes, to be fair), a squirrel in a gutter in Oldham, plus some backed-up sewage in Liverpool that locals likened to Mulligatawny soup.
PRINT JOURNALISM.
WORSE in Ireland, with the following exceptions:
- Curly Wee. A reason to buy the Indo, even (or because?) if they're only rerunning old ones from the 1940s.
- The London Times Saturday and Sunday supplements, esp. Style. Brilliant!
- The upscale tabs. By which we mean OK! and Hello!--and the Tatler. We particularly enjoy not having an idea about who most of these "celebrities" are....
MORE TO COME. Feel free to send us inquiries if there are specific areas you want compared.
Read headlines with care
STING* COULD HELP FIGHT MALE SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION
(22 July Irish Times, reg. req.)
*As in, that of a deadly jellyfish, not the potent tantric rocker.
STING* COULD HELP FIGHT MALE SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION
(22 July Irish Times, reg. req.)
*As in, that of a deadly jellyfish, not the potent tantric rocker.
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