i need a change of mood ...

... aaaaah, that's better.
one year when i was confined to my forest green recliner for a few weeks with a herniated disk and a lot of percoset (is that the pain-killer, or some kind of new nato missile?), i discovered reruns of 'la femme nikita' on tv. two episodes a day for all that time was enough to ensnare me, and eventually i managed to watch every ep of every series.

that is my excuse for owning a dvd of the film the league of extraordinary gentlemen, which includes ms wilson as mina harker and also the moment when she turns to all the other male heroes during a chase scene and tells them to back off because "these men are mine!"

jerusalem pride latest

yahoo/planet out/gay.com report:

"A group of ultra-orthodox Haredi Jews is attempting to thwart a gay rights rally in Jerusalem, planned for June 21, by placing a curse on Pride participants. The group is also promising a huge anti-Pride rally. A group of rabbis from the Eda Haredit sect published a warning Sunday saying, "To all those involved, sinners in spirit, and whoever helps and protects them, may they feel a curse on their souls, may it plague them and may evil pursue them; they will not be requited of their transgressions from heavenly judgment." The letter further threatened: "Know what happened to the evil persons who were cursed, and thus feel in your souls that your end will be bitter."

Last year's festivities were marred by members of the Haredi sect, who created a massive uproar, blocking roads, setting trash bins on fire and throwing rocks at police. The Pride parade was canceled and a rally held instead in a heavily guarded sports stadium. In 2005, a member of the sect stabbed three Pride participants.

Although this year's parade has preliminary approval, it is still possible for authorities to halt the controversial event. Pride organizers Jerusalem Open House plan to take the decision to Israel's High Court of Justice if the parade is banned. "The Orthodox curses and their refusal to commit to non-violence prove that this is not just a Pride parade but a fight for Israeli democracy, freedom of expression and for the capital city, which is everyone's city," said Noa Satat, head of Jerusalem Open House. "We call on the mayor and prime minister to immediately condemn the threats of violence and protect democracy in this country." (Hassan Mirza, Gay.com U.K.)"

another naive comment from ravaj - i just don't get why violence is considered an appropriate response to that with which one does not agree. less naively perhaps, i also say that if olam haba/the next world aka a jewish view of heaven is going to be full of these haredim then i am quite happy not to be joining them and look forward to eternity with those i love and who love me wherever else that may be.

finally, if you are looking for a good curse, my favourite is:

May You Be Like A Chandelier!

(thgin lla nrub dna yad lla gnah)

suicide by cop?

look at this photograph. what do you see? a person. as you try to identify her/him, what clues can you find? first of all i see the rainbow logo on the cap with the slogan 'pride'. next i see the glasses that look protective, rather than ocular. earphones that muffle sound? perhaps someone at a shooting range? i cannot see the eyes, this person is a cypher.

the daily mail published this photograph today with the caption "Ann Sanderson, who was shot by police in Sevenoaks, had a history of mental illness". call me paranoid, but however unintentionally it may have been, i see this as perpetuating negative associations with the g/l/b/t community.

sanderson is the first woman to be shot dead by police in britain. the mail suggests that in her madness, sanderson may have been consciously seeking death. of course, this is the daily mail speaking. i just wonder if it is not possible for trained police marksmen/women to shoot to maim, rather than kill?

deux femmes

jumping from one url to another, starting, i think with scribegrrl re kyra sedgewick, via helen mirren and other older gorgeous women, i ended up here:

my french isn't good enough to get it all, even if catherine deneuve wasn't talking at the speed of light. luckily for us all, the cameraperson kept both women in shot much of the time. the thing is, pardon me for objectifying, but i can sit here for all 9 minutes just looking and enjoying their presence. excuse me for a while, there is something i have to do now ...

unanswerable questions

anita on bbc radio five live just now has been asking listeners to send in unanswerable questions. here are a few that caught my ear:

why isn't 'phonetic' spelt the way it sounds?

why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

what did we get back to before we had drawing-boards?

if you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, can you be whelmed? (i like this one a lot)

if you choke a smurf, what colour will it turn? (a listener texted in to say that since smurfettes blush, the smurf would turn purple)

who put an 's' in 'lisp?

finally, in response to the statement that there is no word that rhymes with 'orange', a listener directed us to abergavenny where may be found the blorenge mountain. i don't know, i think you need to say them both in a welsh accent ...

britain's 50 best days out

the times presents 50 wonderful things to do in the british isles, rather than swan off abroad.

"the British Isles are at their best in summer, and it’s plain daft to clear off just when the party’s in full swing. We’ve chosen 50 of our personal summer favourites: we may be wilfully subjective and wildly opinionated, but we reckon they’re the best of their kind – and each is another reason why the best holiday in Europe is right on your doorstep."

my personal favourite? number eleven:

THE WORLD WORM CHARMING CHAMPIONSHIP

the website is here

mazal tov jennifer!

jennifer ehle wins the tony award for best featured actress in a drama (the coast of utopia by tom stoppard)

that's it, really :-)
i didn't see the play.

so what's this all about?
my sister is friends with her.
and i love her mother and father (we used to be neighbours).
no kudos by association.
nevertheless, mazal tov and hurrah for jennifer!

happy endings

lewis hamilton has won his first grand prix
i'm sorry, but i am a sucker for happy endings as well as the underdog. lewis hamilton, aged 22, has become the first black driver to win a formula one grand prix. he has been on the podium in all six of his races, but today he started from the pole position and ended up with the chequered flag.

i'm not usually into motor racing, but always kept an eye on it because my father enjoyed it. i think he would have cried a little if he had seen this race.

if you are interested in knowing any more about what happened, here are the links to the morning papers in the uk:

the telegraph
the bbc online
the times
grauniad
the independent
and then there's the daily mail

farewells

my favourite building in the world
spent last week going into the city to say goodbye to friends, but it didn't seem real that i was about to leave my beloved nyc to move to boston of all places. i've been warned not to wear my yankees t-shirts, ESPECIALLY any referring to johnny damon. also, i should remove the yankee cap from my car window if i want the window to remain whole. still surrounded by an ineluctable procession of cardboard boxes, all i can think is that if i am supposed to give up bagels for health reasons (massive carb reduction necessary for blood sugar levels), moving 200 miles from new york seems a bit drastic.

*sigh*

anyway, even if i lived on the same street as the chrysler building for the rest of my life, i have to tell you that each time i see it i get this nanosecond of joy and a goofy grin.

" ... (the chrysler building) became the star of the New York skyline, thanks above all to its crowning peak. In a deliberate strategy of myth generation, Van Alen planned a dramatic moment of revelation: the entire seven-storey pinnacle, complete with special-steel facing, was first assembled inside the building, and then hoisted into position through the roof opening and anchored on top in just one and a half hours. All of a sudden it was there—a sensational fait accompli."

— Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser. Architecture in the Twentieth Century. p209."

enough with the adulation - back to the boxes.

falwell's flaws

pandagon links to an online article by max blumenthal in the nation with regard to the history of falwell's attitudes and their roots. blumenthal states that while today the xian right is involved in sexual politics, e.g., anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality, its origins lie in segregationism and racial resentment. in blumenthal's own words:

"But for Falwell, the "questions of the day" did not always relate to abortion and homosexuality--nor did they begin there. Decades before the forces that now make up the Christian right declared their culture war, Falwell was a rabid segregationist who railed against the civil rights movement from the pulpit of the abandoned backwater bottling plant he converted into Thomas Road Baptist Church. This opening episode of Falwell's life, studiously overlooked by his friends, naïvely unacknowledged by many of his chroniclers, and puzzlingly and glaringly omitted in the obituaries of the Washington Post and New York Times, is essential to understanding his historical significance in galvanizing the Christian right. Indeed, it was race--not abortion or the attendant suite of so-called "values" issues--that propelled Falwell and his evangelical allies into political activism."

read the article for the full story. i am a bit shocked about my ignorance in this area. i am not so shocked about the bottom-kissing of the republican presidential candidates as noted by blumenthal:

"On the day of Falwell's death, Republican presidential frontrunners fell over one another to memorialize him. Arizona Senator John McCain, who in the 2000 presidential campaign had called Falwell an "agent of intolerance," then spoke at the 2006 graduation ceremony at Liberty University, praising Falwell as "a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country."

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose Mormon faith is listed as a cult by Falwell's Southern Baptist Convention, hailed him as "an American who built and led a movement based on strong principles and strong faith.... The legacy of his important work will continue through his many ministries where he put his faith into action."

Rudy Giuliani, the thrice-married prochoice former New York City mayor, gay rights advocate and erstwhile cross-dresser, was also profuse in his praise of Falwell. "He was a man who set a direction," Giuliani said. "He was someone who was not afraid to speak his mind. We all have great respect for him.""

a-rod again!

mariano rivera & alex rodriguez celebrate a win last night against the white sox. a-rod broke the game open with a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning, helping manager joe torre to his 2000th victory as a manager. much joy was felt all around.

this has been another sport-related post brought to you by the procrastinating packer who should be in the other room with her heavy-duty markers and rolls of packing tape.

robot teddy bear

yesterday, the telegraph presented a story about a new robot designed in the usa. the headlines called it a "new us weapon". however, the article highlights its ability to carry a wounded serviceman from the battlefield.

read about the bear, aka Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot, here.

the bbc report emphasises the rescuing ability of the bear, here. this includes the following quote:

"Gary Gilbert, from the US Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Centre in Frederick, Maryland, said that the teddy bear appearance was deliberate. "A really important thing when you're dealing with casualties is trying to maintain that human touch.""

finally, time magazine's best inventions of 2006.

bad moon rising

from the times last wednesday:

"I see a bad moon rising, I see trouble on the way
by Michael Horsnell

Extra police officers are to be deployed on the streets this summer after research established a direct link between the full moon and violence. Analysts at Sussex Police found a rise in unruly incidents at full moon while investigating external factors that influence people’s behaviour. Together with the most common paydays, the full moon was identified as a particular time when aggressive behaviour rose among drinkers in pubs and nightclubs in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex.

Inspector Andy Parr ... admitted that the idea might sound fanciful, but he added: “There are many things we are still learning about. The Moon has a strong influence on tides and magnetic forces can influence people’s psyche.”

In 1998 a three-month psychological study of 1,200 inmates in the maximum security wing at Armley jail, Leeds, discovered a rise in violent incidents in the days before and after a full moon.

Superstitions involving the Moon can be traced back centuries. In the 17th century, Sir William Hale, the Chief Justice, was explicit about the connection between the Moon and a person’s mental state: “The Moon has great influence on all diseases of the brain, especially dementia.” As well as madness, the full moon was associated with lycanthropy, in which a man becomes a werewolf. People are also more likely to be or to feel ill. Research at Leeds University found that the number of requests for GP consultations rose by 3.6 per cent when the moon was full.

But for all the studies that claim to have found a link between the lunar cycle and human behaviour, no one has been able to explain it. Some believe that, as humans are mostly made of water, lunar gravity pulls us in the same way as it does the sea.

The next full moon is on June 30."

i am definitely drawn to the idea that because we are mostly made of water, lunar gravity creates tides within us!

ps
article by 2 toronto psychiatrists
google list of books on full moon & human behaviour

andorra 0-2 israel

roberto colautti scores for israel in their european championship match against andorra yesterday. who would believe that israel is above the (not so) mighty england in the table today? who would believe a game would be played in the weather conditions depicted above?

nu - as we all know, i am a super fan of football, english football in particular and especially my beloved queens park rangers. the question has been asked, and i may have answered it before, when israel play england for which team do i cheer? was thinking about it again today.

a. i've always been brought up to root for the underdog, so it would have to be israel.

b. if i were living in england, it might invoke some antisemitism amongst people with whom i have to live and work if i cheered for israel, so it would have to be england.

c. or not.

d. living in america, where in the north at least nobody really cares, i don't have to worry about other people's reactions, thus it could and would be israel.

e. israel picks some arab players also, e.g. walid badir & salim tuama, so i can cheer for one place at least where people work together without fear and terror.

liberty island yesterday afternoon

accidentally found myself on the circle line and did not have my camera but did happen to have piglet.

this is a pic taken with the phone for which i really missed having proper equipment. nevertheless, i hope it gives a sense of what a lovely afternoon it was. more later with piglet, but for now i got so much sun on my head that i must go lie down ...

aloysius to return in brideshead movie?

reuters reports today that aloysius bear, who starred in the 1981 television version of evelyn waugh's 'brideshead revisited', may yet make a cameo appearance in the film version currently in production.

read about it here.

while andrew davies, one of the scriptwriters, announced that there would be no bear in the remake; his colleague/successor?, jeremy brock, stated:

""Aloysius does make an appearance in the film, a subtle performance full of quiet authority which seems to hint at his master's latent immaturity without ever resorting to teddy-bear stereotypes.""

separated at birth?

shrek
and
fungus the bogeyman

you be the judge!

presented by the raymond briggs and ursula k leguin 'i thought of it first' society for the preservation of acknowledgements

knut was cute

just a few months ago, knut the polar bear cub, rejected by his mother and hand-reared by a keeper at the berlin zoo, well, he ruled germany.

now knut is six months old and getting a bit long in the tooth. soon he will just be a regular ole polar bear, and the zoo will have to decide what to do with him. ah me, the ongoing saga of life after being a child star. rest peacefully dear knut.

rutka laskier's diary

reports are coming in of the discovery of the diary of a 14-year-old polish girl called rutka laskier. it was written in early 1943 in the bedzin ghetto, and is being touted as the story of the 'polish anne frank'.

yahoo offers the associated press story here.

"I simply can't believe that one day I will be allowed to leave this house without the yellow star. Or even that this war will end one day. If this happens I will probably lose my mind from joy," she wrote on Feb. 5, 1943. "The little faith I used to have has been completely shattered. If God existed, He would have certainly not permitted that human beings be thrown alive into furnaces, and the heads of little toddlers be smashed with gun butts or shoved into sacks and gassed to death."

great news from oz!

m from melbourne just posted this press release on the dayenu list.

while the 2000 ccar resolution at the convention in greensboro ended up terribly watered down from the original version presented by the women's rabbinic network, it was still the first, and ground-breaking, step. having been present at the sydney mardi gras celebration also in 2000, which marked the first time g/l/b/t jews had come out in the parade as jews, i am thrilled to see this step taking place in oz. i was invited to the parade because at that time there was no other rabbi in the country able or willing to march. things are so different now. hip hip hurrah!

being interviewed for israeli tv before the parade. front & left is the back of the amazing woman who brought me over with her air miles and put me up at her house for a week.

pink jerusalem protested

first, there was the campaign to attract the pink dollars to jerusalem. now, yediot achronot reports the backlash. today, the deputy prime minister, eli yishai, said:

"I unequivocally reject the attempt to focus a state-sponsored campaign on a delusional minority that suffers from a normative defect. Jerusalem and Amsterdam are the same for these people. Therefore, those who fail to recognize Jerusalem's holiness had better stay away from it."

the tourism minister, yitzhak aharonovitch, responded by saying it was all his predecessor's idea, and his office would not support the campaign in the future.

etc, etc. read the comments, if you can bear to ...

my only complaint is that all the promo pictures they showed were of gay men. aren't there any pink women in jerusalem?

seriously, though, while i like the idea of being welcoming, it appears to have been done in a rather *ahem* hamfisted way.

yankees take a series at fenway

robbie & melky celebrate
0-2 down in the count with 2 out and facing the redoubtable red sox closer jonathan papelbon, a-rod stepped up with a home run to win the game and take the series 2-1.

i should go out and not watch the game more often!

a couple of updates ...

in the news this weekend:

bob woolmer NOT murdered

the telegraph says: "The family and friends of Bob Woolmer are "greatly relieved" after learning that detectives now believe the cricket coach died from natural causes. Following a 2½-month "murder inquiry" into their "revelations" that Mr Woolmer, 58, was poisoned and strangled during the Cricket World Cup, police in Jamaica are preparing to this week make a humiliating U-turn. A review of the case by Scotland Yard, using a Home Office pathologist, is understood to have concluded that Mr Woolmer died from heart failure and that the broken bone in his neck was caused by his subsequent heavy fall. His widow, Gill, and their two grown-up sons are understood to have cautiously welcomed the news."

no legume litigation for hugh

The actor won't be prosecuted for allegedly hurling baked beans at a photographer, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Friday. Grant, who also will not face charges for allegedly kicking the photographer, was arrested following the clash on April 24. "We have advised the police that there is insufficient evidence to charge Hugh Grant with any offense in relation to an allegation that he kicked a photographer," said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. "This is because there were clear discrepancies between the accounts of independent witnesses and those of the photographers involved," she said. "In relation to a second allegation involving a takeaway food container, the CPS decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest."

random moment

friday night, three o'clock in the morning, standing in astor place. i am with two new friends, a football-loving brazilian jew from sao paolo, and her g/f, a ladino-music-loving serbian jew from beograd. we are surrounded by the orange street light of the night, and are trying to remember our favourite versions of the kabbalat shabbat song 'lecha dodi'.

who shall be the next surgeon general?

majikthise, aka lindsay beyerstein, posts on nominee james w holsinger here

holsinger is the founder of hope springs community church. their website includes notice of a recovery group for men:

"Men’s Sexual Integrity: Offers an opportunity for men to heal from sexual brokenness and find strength to overcome unhealthy sexual behaviors in a safe and confidential environment. Find the support and accountability you need and develop a closer relationship with the one who can heal, Jesus Christ."

using the site's search engine, it provided no results for the words 'homosexuality', 'gay', 'lesbian', 'sex', or 'sexual'. on the other hand, that doesn't seem right because of the above recovery group.

on the other hand, the lexington herald-leader in kentucky has this article online which includes this quote from a fellow minister of holsinger:

"Hope Springs also ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian, Calhoun said. "We see that as an issue not of orientation but of lifestyle," he said. "We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle." On this point, the church would differ with many gays and lesbians, who consider their sexuality a matter of identity, not a lifestyle choice."

holsinger is the man nominated for the post of surgeon general? a plethora of curses seeks exit from my lips

instead, fyi, for non-hgttg aficionados, what is 'majikthise'? wiki tells us:

"Majikthise and Vroomfondel are philosophers, though they may not be. They make their appearance as representatives of the Amalgamated Union of Philosophers, Sages, Luminaries and other Professional Thinking Persons in order to protest a demarcation dispute against the Deep Thought computer being asked to determine the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. Through contemporary satirical industrial relations references they maintain that the search for ultimate truth is the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers."

*sigh* as ever, missing douglas adams.

manhattanhenge

nu - did anyone see manhattanhenge this year? if not, you have another shot on 13th july.

ps a michael flanders gem:

"(In case it isn't obvious, this is about Stonehenge...)

There's so much building go on everywhere else - on Salisbury Plain nothing, no building at all. There hasn't been any building there for about, ooh, four thousand years I suppose, really. Even then, I daresay, back in Neolithic times, there was some old Stone Age man standing in the observation platform watching what was going on. I daresay he didn't care for it much either...

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Well wot's this then? You're not going to put up these great ugly stone blocks 'ere, are you? You can't do that! I've got Ancient Lights on my cave! Well, what is it anyway? A henge? Well, what's a henge? You may call it megalithic culture, I call it vandalism! I suppose you realise this is about the last nesting place for mammoths in the whole of Wessex?

What with them building up the long barrows and the round barrows and the bell-shaped barrows... They've started cutting out these white horses on the hillside now, have you seen that? I don't know - it's some sort of ad for mead, I think. They don't call 'em the Beaker Folk for nothing! And then you come dragging along these great prefabricated dominoes all over the roads! They're not meant for that sort of traffic. Every fine weekend it's the same story: ox-carts nose to tail all the way from 'ere to the coast.

I don't know where you get that stone from anyway - that's not local stone - I can tell. You get it from where? The Preseli Mountains? In Wales? I know it's in Wales - I've been abroad. Ooh, what'd'yer want to bring it all the way... You're bringing it the wrong way anyway: you want to bring it round the Chanctonbury Ring road, avoiding earthworks at Avebury.

What a horrible lookin' thing! That's all there is to it is then? Just two up and one across the top all the way round? Well if that's modern architecture, roll on the Ice Age I say! Well, you'll never get a roof on it for a start - never get twigs big enough! Yes, we 'ad a wood henge here once but it rotted. These big picture windows you've got all the way around the bottom: oh, they look very nice, yes, I grant you but what about the draughts? What about the lack of privacy? Who wants to live in a thing like that? Will you tell me when they start movin' in, won't yer? We get a pretty rowdy crowd in some of these new developments. I don't want to end up under the altar stone in a crouching position!

It's not going to be lived in? Well, that's something anyway. What is it then? It's a what? You're pulling my... a calendar? Well, it's a bit big for a calendar isn't it? I mean, you'd look a bit silly with that on your desk, wouldn't you? Well, how'd you work it then? You come up 'ere every morning before dawn - well better you than me, mate - and when the rising Sun throws a shadow of that big stone onto this flat one 'ere, then we shall know if it's Summer. Well, that will be very helpful, I must say. But is it Summer? You can't tell. Well, I'd better come and help you shovel the snow off it then...""

tip o' the keypad to ian kitching

good old gordon sumner

the police in 1983
with his stripey jumper and he used to be a schoolteacher o how i loved sting when i was a teenager. annabel weil said he lived on moscow road and some of us went up to stand there and look. i didn't go, i don't know why. i bought all 5 albums on vinyl when they came out. i also bought sting's first 2 solo efforts. this was my music.

24 years later
nu - the police are back together, and beginning a world tour. i am still listening to the 5 albums. have put them all on my i-pod. if only i had 11k for a decent seat at madison square garden. NOT! eleven thousand dollars?!!!!! maybe to hear mozart play ... maybe. bloody hell! if i were sting, i'd pay for the tix and make the people with more money than is good for them who wanted those seats give their 11k towards ending child poverty, or darfur, or finding cures for terrible diseases. i'd do it if i were andy summers! :-)

dance dance wherever you may be

those of you who know me well, also know that i have physical anxiety attacks at the thought of dancing anywhere, anytime. this is a terrible pity when you also know that i would love to be able to dance like eleanor powell or xavion glover or my friend maria two streets over. it is however so. my hands turn to ice, my skin turns pale (except for a bright red spot on each cheek like mary poppins), and i sweat like an endlessly cascading chocolate fountain.

nu - at the cafe deville last saturday night, while i realised that house music is really not my thing, mainly because it is so relentless and i find that utterly boring, i seem to be developing an affinity for a latin beat. not only did i dance and enjoy it for a couple of tracks, but somebody told me (albeit someone even further down the dance food chain than am i) that i looked good. well whaddya know?! and all i'd had to drink was seltzer.

to quote (for me) a more religiously/culturally relevant song - wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles!

nooooooooo! ... death of a panda

xiang xiang in 2006

just saw here on yahoo that xiang xiang, the first panda bred in captivity that was released into the wild, has been found dead after less than a year out there.

""Xiang Xiang died of serious internal injuries in the left side of his chest and stomach by falling from a high place," Heng Yi, an official from the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan, said in a telephone interview. "The scratches and other minor injuries caused by other wild pandas were found on his body," he said. "So Xiang Xiang may have fallen from trees when being chased by those pandas.""

that is so sad. on the other hand, ya ya at the memphis zoo (been there, got the t-shirt. actually, i was wearing it just the other day) is pregnant. apparently, female pandas are fertile for only 3 days a year. and even then they are not always in the mood. ya ya was artificially inseminated.

piglet and a sorry spiderman

outside virgin records the other day in times square i was sure i saw spiderman. piglet said he wasn't so sure, but was kind enough to pose with him anyway:

afterwards, piglet gently pointed out to me the interesting muscle definition of the chap in the suit. it was hard to believe, but upon further investigation it turned out that it was a kid trying to raise money for college. ah me ...

a matter of perspective

piglet stands tall on fifth avenue, but still could not get a taxi to stop for him.

like i don't do king's english

the daily telegraph has produced a new book: "she literally exploded: the daily telegraph infuriating phrase book", and plugged it today in this article. it seems to be a pocket-sized version of something like the urban dictionary, but is certainly of interest to pedants like the ravaj.

examples aside, here is my favourite paragraph from the article:

"It is poverty of thought and expression that make for infuriating phrases. There are comfortably more than 500,000 words in the English language, many more than are available in French or German. They allow us to be specific in every situation, and to be playful, alliterative, allusive - all sorts of things that repetitive use of phrases such as "I'm like, whatever" doesn't allow. If people use four words where one would do, they're wasting your time. If corporate lackeys use jargon to obfuscate or euphemism to obscure, then anger is the right - or as they'd say "appropriate" - response."

'obfuscate' - what a brilliant word?!

go. look. enjoy.

piglet on the town

with crew members on leave from uss wasp in times square yesterday evening.

for those of us who remember, and even enjoyed, watching the film 'on the town' (3 sailors have 24 hours leave in nyc), piglet is playing the frank sinatra role :-)

update: i did not realise that it is fleet week, which explains the shipsfull of sailors that were promenading, as well as the friendly demeanor with which they responded to my requests to be photographed with a small stuffed pig.

another rave for rookie debut

this is tyler clippard

pulled out of a minor league game to make his debut tonight, tyler clippard (who?) is the latest pitcher to start well in the majors. through six innings against the mets, he has allowed one run (a homer to david wright) and three hits for a 6-1 lead. since it is national league, he has also helped himself with a sacrifice bunt and a double! the game isn't over yet, but he's certainly done enough to get another start.

LATER clippard got his first win and the yanks averted a sweep. ny times report

the simpsons @ 400

when the simpsons first came on the air, i remember that they were considered the south park of their day, i.e., rude, crude and dangerous to young and impressionable minds. then along came south park. now they are all beloved by the nation. i cannot tell you how upset my father was when the synagogue brought friday night services forward to 6 pm, since that meant he would no longer be able to watch the show.

here are a couple of my favourite images filched from a fan-site:


&

not to mention


es lebe matt groening, akbar & jeff, life in hell and futurama!

vegetarians is da bomb

a report in the british medical journal by a team from southampton university says that intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life.

does this explain why last week the complaints of more than 6k vegetarians caused masterfoods to rescind its announcement that it would be using animal rennet in mars bars?

hoorah for beetroot

beetroot is beautiful!

i don't know why, but so many people i know think that beetroot is vile and would never eat it voluntarily. maybe it goes back to school dinners and having no choice but to eat what was on the plate and the juice dyed everything else. maybe it goes back to a lack of imagination in its presentation, i.e., boil the buggers then cut them into cubes. this week, however, it seems to be rather fashionable. i saw this in the guardian:

"Beetroot. The root of the beet. Beta vulgaris. Doesn't exactly resonate with romance, does it? But actually, since Roman times beetroot has been considered a potent aphrodisiac. Murals featuring beetroot have been found on the walls of Pompeii's brothels, and seeds and other traces uncovered in the excavations there (insert your own Vesuvius eruption gag here)."

and the lovely description of how it stains your, well, everything really:

"... it's incredibly versatile and, for those who are recoiling in horror, not nearly as scary as it looks. Well, apart from the Lady Macbeth hand scrubbing moment after you've peeled it."

in fact, for this very reason, beetroot may be used on the seder plate at passover instead of the lamb's bone. originally suggested for those who could not afford any kind of bone, particularly because of the similarity to blood, the beetroot is now a common seder option for vegetarians like myself.

i also found a piece in the same paper a couple of days later talking mainly about how to get children to like beetroot:

" Explain that, if you eat enough of it, beetroot makes everything go purple - even the inside of your tummy. Few children can resist the prospect of producing purple poo."

there are also a couple of recipes here if you skip to the bottom. finally ... o, i get it - the grauniad is teaching us about eating seasonal food, and beets are just starting now ... a bit more info about the vegetable including, for the faint-hearted or messy eater:

"Golden or white beetroot, or the internally striped chioggia variety, are similar in flavour to the purple stuff but don't turn everything purple"

d & i saw shrek 3 friday afternoon. v. silly and much fun. afterwards at the omega diner, they brought beetroot along with the bread while we were ordering. i realised that there was an important ingredient missing - cloves. that is how my mother and grandmother always do/did beetroot and, while as a child it was awful if you accidentally bit a clove, it still tastes better if you bung a few in.

an early crush - alan bates

saw an article in the mail today by donald spoto. i've read his biographies of marilyn monroe, lotte lenya and marlene dietrich, and this is an extract from his latest work on alan bates.

o but i was in love with alan bates in my early teens. roles in 'georgy girl', 'far from the madding crowd', 'women in love' and 'the go-between' in the late sixties and early seventies won my heart. then a friend of my father, with whom he'd worked on 'jesus of nazareth', came to london and i was his host for a qpr match. as we rode in his limo towards the stadium, cenzo pointed at a house and told me that's where alan bates lived. a few days later i returned to the spot, and went into the front garden. i couldn't see into the window of the house because i have never been very tall, and i jumped up and down trying to look in. the window opened, and i was told to eff off. an exciting moment in my teenage life, recalled in the cartoon below.


spoto goes into detail regarding bates' many homosexual affairs. i don't go into detail about my few. o well ...

cup final saturday

this is traditionally the greatest day of the football season, even if you don't support either of the teams in the final. i guess it's a bit like the superbowl in national sporting importance. that is why, despite the unbelievably awful '80's hair, i share with you the moment i held the precious trophy: how did i get my hands on the f.a. cup? i did the team photoshoot the season after wimbledon-that-was won the cup. the commentator john motson asked me to take a pic of him with the cup for his dad. i said i would, on one condition, that he then took a pic of me with the cup for my dad. this was the photo of ravaj that my parents had on the mantelpiece with the ancestors. so laugh all you wish at the hair (which looked ok at the time don't forget) but i got to hold the fa cup!

cricket news - england are not losing

c'mon peeps give me a break. the yanks just lost to the mets and cannot buy a win, the scum are in the cup final today against man ure, the qpr chaps are on holiday, and england had a really good couple of days of cricket. this picture is of their newest possible star - matt prior. he got a century* today. it came off 105 balls*, and he is the first england wicketkeeper* to score a century on his debut.

[simultaneous translation into american:
* scored 100 runs at bat in one inning
* pitches
* catcher]

world record panda

Nineteen-year-old female giant panda Qing Qing tightly holds her newly born baby in Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Sept. 9, 2003. Since she first gave birth to a baby panda in 1989, Qing Qing has produced 13 babies in nine births, including four twins, setting a world record in reproduction. (Xinhua)

i got really excited about this report, and the following:

"BEIJING, Sept. 10 Kyodo

A 19-year-old giant panda kept at a breeding center in Sichuan Province on Tuesday gave birth to her 13th baby, setting the world record in reproduction, Xinhua News Agency said.

The giant panda, Qing Qing, is expected to give birth to another baby shortly, according to Yu Jianqiu, vice director of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center. Experts believe Qing Qing was carrying twins. Since first giving birth in 1989, Qing Qing has produced 13 babies in nine births, Xinhua said. Qing Qing's mother gave birth to more than 10 babies and one of Qing Qing's children, now 13 years old, has produced nine babies. The giant panda, found in the wild in southwest China, is one of the world's most endangered species. Currently, about 1,000 giant panda are found in the wild and 140 are kept in zoos or in breeding centers."

it was only as i was posting that i realised the story is four years old! pandas still rool, though :-)

scooby dooby who?

i have to admit that i loved scooby doo when i was about 9. wouldn't miss it. here is a recent adidas ad that has grafted a current icon onto the aged one:

as d says, becks is a lot better looking than that!

thursday thirteen xviii

Thirteen Things about Massachusetts
i'm about to move to waltham massachusetts for the year. i really don't know much about the state, except that gay marriage is legal there and a few years ago there was a bit of a problem about some tea or something ;-)

nu - i decided to google "massachusetts" and here is what i picked out:

1. good old wikipedia
2. native american massachuset on the state flag
3. the state tree is the american elm
4. here are the lyrics to the state polka
5. the lizzie borden murderabilia is in fall river
6. there is a bewitched statue in salem
7. dedham houses the museum of bad art
8. famous firsts and just about everything else to boast about
9. an escaped cow has become a folk hero at the sacred cow animal rights memorial in sherborn
10. the state's football team (i mean the one you play with your feet) is new england revolution
11. the senators for massachusetts are both democrats and both nationally known
12. barney frank is congressman for the 4th district
13. the highest point in the state is mount greylock

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not to mention ...

honestly, you go away for a day to find a new place to live and all these things happen. i see that jerry falwell has died.

there is a very old joke that my father told me: moishe comes home from school and says to his mother, "am i going to hell?" "what do you mean?" she asks. "kevin says that when i die i'm going to hell!" "o," says his mother, " yes, you are." "what?!" exclaims the boy, "what do you mean?!" "you'll be there," says his mother, "and so will i. your father will be there too, and your sister, and all your grandparents, and your cousins, and the cantor, and the rabbi, and sandy koufax, etc." "o," says moishe, "that's ok then!"

presumably falwell is in his heaven now. i never met him, but i almost picketed his house once. when i was in virginia, a couple of hours from his home in lynchberg, he made a fuss about the purple teletubby being a gay symbol:

"On 10th. February, 1999 the National Liberty Journal in the USA published an article entitled "Parents Alert: Tinky Winky Comes out of the Closet" by the right-wing Christian evangelist Jerry Falwell. He wrote, "The character, whose voice is obviously that of a boy, has been found carrying a red purse, and has become a favourite character among gay groups world wide. Further evidence that the creators of the series intend for Tinky Winky to be a gay role model have surfaced. He is purple - the gay-pride colour - and his antenna is shaped like a triangle - the gay-pride symbol.""

many folks did go down to picket. i wanted to, but it was during the temple's celebration of the festival of purim. what i did instead, was dress up as 'rabbi teletubby', and inform the congregation that she was subbing for the regular rabbi, who was, in fact, picketing with the others.

yolanda denise king r.i.p.

the eldest daughter of martin luther king and coretta scott king collapsed and died last night at the age of 51

npr
higher power productions
time
ny times
the times

in the early seventies, my father taught for a semester at emory university in atlanta. they were about to develop a serious judaic studies programme, and were wooing him. the braves were the worst team in baseball, but the university people did offer a meeting with either governor carter or martin luther king sr. "governor who?" said my father, and asked to meet mlk sr, having met his son previously when marching from selma to montgomery. together they went to visit the grave of mlk jr. my father said that while they were standing there together, mlk sr. sighed, and said, "my isaac."

fat is beautiful

i got a bit excited today to see an article in the ny times about a current exhibition of the photographs of leonard nimoy called "the full body project" (at least, that's the title of the book of the photos that will be published). the nude subjects of the photographs are plus-sized women.

the article covers the development of mr nimoy's sensitivity:

"(he) admits that before he began this project, it had never occurred to him that beauty might be culture driven, that a fat body in Africa is treated quite differently from one in the United States."

what a pity then, that the piece concludes with these words:

"And what of his own attitude toward fat women? “I do think they’re beautiful,” he said. “They’re full-bodied, full-blooded human beings.” He doesn’t necessarily find them sexually attractive. “But I do think they’re beautiful.”"

the thinker

last night in seattle, a young pitcher called matt desalvo got his first win for the yankees in his second game on the mound. put on waivers at the beginning of the year, nobody would take him, and he wound up staying in the nyy organisation. today, he is helping fill the holes in the yanks' crumbling pitching rotation. according to the yankees' broadcasters john sterling and suzyn waldman, matt also reads books. real books. last night john said he thought one should read books for enjoyment. why, then, did he and suzyn spend a lot of air-time pointing out what an oddball a reading ballplayer is in the locker room? i wonder how safe it is in the major-leagues to be out as a reader? today's ny times notes:

"The latest book being read by Matt DeSalvo is “The Quest For Christa T.,” by Christa Wolf, an author from the former East Germany"

somebody should be keeping a list of what he reads ...

paris hilton wtf

under the headline 'too pretty for prison', yahoo news reports on ms hilton's desperate attempt to stay out of jail:

"Well, as we all know by now, last week the judge threw the book at part-time pop star Paris Hilton (it was probably the closest Paris had ever gotten to a book, come to think of it) and sentenced her to 45 days in jail for driving twice with a suspended license. Paris's first defense was to blame her long-suffering minion/publicist, Elliot Mintz, claiming he mistakenly told her it was just fine for her to get behind the wheel. (This led poor Elliot to experience a brief moment of self-respect/clarity and temporarily break free from his client's acrylic-taloned clutches, when he announced he was quitting her employ...but lo and behold, he was back on Paris's payroll a mere day later.) So anyhoo, when the judge refused to let Elliot take the fall, the harebrained heiress changed her strategy...and asked her fans to sign a petition urging California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her because she provides "beauty and excitement to (most of) our otherwise mundane lives" and is "notable for her leading roles on the Fox reality series The Simple Life and in the remake of the Vincent Price horror classic House Of Wax." Wow, what an airtight defense--if Johnny Cochran were alive to see such democracy at work, he'd surely approve. No word yet on whether Arnie will pay this petition any heed (a rebuttal petition, demanding that Paris serve her time, is also floating around somewhere on the Interweb), but hey, if Paris ends up in the slammer--and Nicole Richie gets sentenced for her own recent moving violation--then presto! Fox has the perfect premise for The Simple Life 6. And you know, if there are any ladies who could go on television wearing prison stripes and still look svelte, it's those two..."

speechless with disgust ...

eurovision voting 2

serbia seem to be running away with this, and the uk still have nool pwun. the radio is now playing the most successful song from eurovision that never won. it is from 1958 and it is called 'volare'!

the announcer ken bruce is languidly complaining about the bloc voting, and has suggested that it may be time to separate the contest into east and west europe. i wonder which group will accept israel? the uk still at the bottom with zilch.

the next song by a eurovision loser is 'sam' by olivia newton-john. is it cool yet to have loved her forever? probably never :-) not only did i buy the album of xanadu, but auntie d has a copy as well. she does not remember how or why! anyway, onj lost to abba in 1974 so that's not so embarrassing. the uk still has a score of zero.

great excitement - the uk got 7 points. they did get them from ireland. i'm a bit disappointed, though, that they broke their duck. then malta voted the uk the best with 12!

we are near the end of the voting. three countries to go. who shall it be?!

with one country left, the winners are serbia. how boring. i wanted the ukraine to win
i think they finished 3rd. no, in fact they came in second!


goodnight from helsinki

eurovision voting

i am listening online to bbc radio 2 and the call-in votes are finished, so it only remains for the best bit of the whole experience - the scores. the finnish hosts are trying to be cute in the green room. they are doing it in english, but that doesn't seem to help. "we are ready. is the ebu ready?" the uk host says wryly, "we are more than ready." now they are talking finnish. now they have finished. ouch, i am sorry.

42 countries will be voting, so it may take a little time.

montenegro vote first. serbia 12, macedonia 10 or dix points. looks like east and west europe are voting for themselves. belarus gave ukraine 10 and russia 12 and the audience is booing.

here comes a western european vote from austria. hmmmm - they went for serbia as the best. poor old uk getting a few points but not many. actually, so far they have none at all! the radio guys are going to leave the voting for a bit and i don't blame them. they are playing non-eurovision songs by former eurovision losers - first up is julio iglesias with 'begin the beguine' and it is time for me to go and look in the fridge and think about some dinner!

eurovision tomorrow night!

how am i going to follow the competition? i am hoping to find it on the radio via the computer. will the ukrainian teevee come up tops? will scooch from the uk be the most embarrassing? the excitement is palpable (hey, i am sitting in a pile of boxes rescued from the supermarket crusher that need to be taped together. the most thrilling moment of the day is figuring out what to do with the books that are odd sizes!).

meanwhile, the times whets our appetites with the top ten funniest eurovision moments. pardon me while i go check it out.

back. i don't care what anyone says i still love lulu. this was the eurovision with which i grew up. it's not quite the same these days.

here is the 1984 winner. do not ask me what it means. just enjoy the pure clean fun :-)

finally for tonight, a recent winner for israel - dana international with 'diva'