welcome fu long!

lucky dragon ventures out of the cage
after several weeks of shyness, fu long, the first panda cub born in europe for 25 years, has finally appeared out-of-doors at his home in the vienna zoo. *sigh* - adorrrrrrable! excuse me while i nip off to get another shot of insulin. here's another pic to enjoy while i am gone:

amber and america chat with hillary

thanks to ms snarker for posting this video from youtube. just in case you didn't see it over there, i brought it here for your viewing pleasure. it is obviously aimed at a certain age-group. i enjoyed it anyway. i do think america ferrera is rather adorable.

once hillary stops bobbing her head in a listening yet knowing way, and starts to talk in a more personal way, i really want to believe her. and why shouldn't i? must i be cynical? *sigh* especially as she begins by complimenting barack. *another sigh*

btw, there was also an obama video with this one, a campaign ad by caroline kennedy. also extremely persuasive.

julie christie wins a screen actors' guild award

i am becoming american! ok, legally i always have been, but being so far away from home for so long i am starting to think that if something is said in an english accent somehow it sounds classier. thus, despite thinking that the make-up peeps haven't quite got it right (too much blush for that natural english rose look)(not to mention the hairdressers - what were they thinking?), i went a bit gooey when listening to julie christie's acceptance speech. see what you think:

Julie Christie SAG Awards
Uploaded by worldhappiness

what we are fighting for

in the end, i still do not yet know for whom i will be voting in the primary. while the candidates are busy playing politics, i am just trying to get my work done. does anybody remember the years before watergate, when presidents and kings and prime ministers were looked up to with respect as leaders and nobody knew what they did when they went home? that's not to say that they were any different of course ... it's just that sometimes i yearn for those days of ignorant innocence. *sigh*

meanwhile, a quote that i just found on 'fetch me my axe':

"The thing that must survive you is not just the record of your practice, but the principles that are the basis of your practice.
--Bernice Johnson Reagon"

and that is why i want to be a teacher.

holocaust remembrance day

today in europe was the observance of holocaust memorial day. it is still possible to light a candle here. for information about the history of this day, which was instigated originally by the european parliament in 2000, look here.

libby purves posted the following prayer, said to have been found by the body of a dead girl at the ravensbruck camp:

"Lord, remember not only the men and women of goodwill, but also those of ill will. Do not remember all the sufferings they have inflicted upon us; remember the fruits we bear, thanks to this suffering – our comradeship, our loyalty, our humanity, courage, generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this. And when they come to judgement, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness."

the soldier bear

'voytek', a bear that was adopted in the middle east by polish troops in 1943, has had a campaign launched in scotland to put up a permanent memorial to his life and work says the bbc:

"He was found wandering in the hills of Iran by Polish soldiers in 1943. They adopted him and as he grew he was trained to carry heavy mortar rounds. When Polish forces were deployed to Europe the only way to take the bear with them was to "enlist" him. So he was given a name, rank and number and took part in the Italian campaign. He saw action at Monte Cassino before being billeted - along with about 3,000 other Polish troops - at the army camp in the Scottish Borders. The soldiers who were stationed with him say that he was easy to get along with. "He was just like a dog - nobody was scared of him," said Polish veteran Augustyn Karolewski, who still lives near the site of the camp. "He liked a cigarette, he liked a bottle of beer - he drank a bottle of beer like any man." When the troops were demobilised, Voytek spent his last days at Edinburgh Zoo."

more details in an article from the daily mail here.

goal fiesta

in the absence of a qpr game this weekend (since it was a cup weekend and they are no longer in it, although the chap who scored for the non-leaguers against liverpool at anfield is a qpr reject), here is a youtube collection of high points so far:
and in case you have forgotten, i looooove akos buzsaky!

the ravaj is teaching maths!

i do not recall if i have mentioned this previously, but in my current incarnation as a student teacher, i had to pass a maths exam in the summer. not having studied mathematics seriously (except for a couple of weeks before the gre's, and that is another story) for approximately 27 years, i was terribly intimidated by our first lesson back in june. i could not understand a word the teacher was saying, and after 3 hours i was in tears. our amazing teacher managed to turn this all around, however, and i ended up passing the summer exam with a score of 93. now, i am teaching some 3rd grade maths. it is a miracle! and here is a pic to prove it!!

the bees have ten years to live?

the telegraph reports that we are truly near disaster:

"The decline in honeybees is risking the sustainability of home-grown food. They pollinate more than 90 of the flowering crops we rely on for food. They are estimated to contribute more than £1 billion a year to the national economy yet the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spends an average of only £200,000 a year on research to protect them."

when speaking recently with a friend, she laughed this off, saying we shall be able to genetically engineer the food that we need and the demise of the bees is not a major problem. i love her dearly, and thus did not tell her to buzz off. however one may estimate the effect of the decimation of the bee community, the fact that does not seem to be disputed is that the bees are dying. i don't have a vote in the uk, but some of you do. i do pay a few taxes though :-) nu, government, do something! SAVE THE BEES!!

*sigh* if only it were that easy. read the rest of the report here.

readers' response to ravaj

now and then we here at your_ears_should_hear like to share with you what we have heard about what you have thought about what you have read. this week, for your edification and entertainment, we present some commentary regarding the nature of football from continent to continent. a couple of days ago we received the following message:

"Protest of Anglo-centric reportage!

Dear Ravaj,

As a regular reader of your otherwise lovely blog I must protest your sports reportage!

All we see is pix of English "footballers"! Yesterday our Patriots (who play football, be-emmet) won the AFC playoffs and their 18th in a row! Not a word from you! Can this be a not-so-subtle attempt by a Yankees fan (FEH!) to undermine the morale of us locals here in Red Sox Nation!? As a "resident alien" you ought to have more respect for those of us with resident (more-or- less-permanent) status!

Sincerely yours,

S. Anthony A-----, D.D. (Hon.), Emeritus-in-Exile"

delighted that we have a reader (we have a reader!), we felt we should write a thank-you note, including in it some points of clarification:

"dear anthony sir

despite the aberrant fact of my birth occurring in manhattan, new york (thus making me no less alien than your good self), i have had the advantage of growing up in an environment where the queen's english was spoken. i therefore point out, with all due respect, that the game that i live and die for aka football is the one where the players use their feet (hence 'foot'ball, since they usually use one at a time). it is not the strange tribal war game in full body armour where players throw with their hands and catch with their hands and only use kicking with their feet as a last resort (either for the extra point, a field goal, or in anger).

with regard to this american version of football, may i also note that my favourite aunt, who hopes to become 83 this year, nearly had a heart attack whilst watching her beloved green bay packers last night. i fail to see why i should condone a (so-called) sport that besides being erroneously named is also a danger to the health of my loved ones.

yours sincerely
- dame ravaj of shepherds bush.

ps what the heck - go giants!"

latest re anne frank's tree

the bbc reports that a deal has been made that will absolutely definitely save the tree that anne frank wrote about in her diary:

"Dutch officials and conservationists have reached a deal to save the tree that brought comfort to Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis. The 150-year-old horse chestnut will be supported by a frame before the summer. The Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation won a court injunction in November stopping the city of Amsterdam from cutting down the diseased tree. Officials feared it could topple over and crash into the Anne Frank Museum, which gets a million visitors a year. The city of Amsterdam, the museum, the tree's owner, the Netherlands' Trees Institute and the Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation agreed on the plan, which was worked out by a team of experts from several countries. An Amsterdam judge granted the tree a temporary reprieve last year, after the city council ordered it to be chopped down. Neighbours and supporters argued that, as a symbol of freedom, the tree was worth making extraordinary efforts to preserve. Even for posterity, grafts have been taken from the chestnut and are being raised in a nursery to replace the old tree if it turns out it cannot be saved again in 15 years' time."

academy awards 2008

an image of uncle oscar
that reminds me, i must be the last movie buff blogger on the east coast to note that the nominations for this year's academy awards were announced today. the full list is on the academy's site. i have only seen two of any film nominated for anything this year. and i want julie christie to win, even though i haven't seen her film yet. "movie buff" she said she was? hey, this has been a tough year, what with going back to school and moving and cetera. i still know who van nest polglase was and can recite herbert lom's full name!

bisodol is brilliant!

i am quite excited this evening. both of my north american housemates had acid indigestion, and i introduced them to the magic of bisodol powder. tums had failed, there were no purple pills available and pepto just felt doubtful. "this stuff is magic!" i said, "the moment it hits it starts to work. it tastes a bit foul so don't put in too much water, but i promise it will work." L2 swallowed, made a face, and pronounced me a witch. in a good way. hey, her current facebook entry says, and i quote directly from the page, "is loving English pharmaceuticals... they taste awful, but they work!" then L1 decided to try it, and admitted it had some effect. i'd like to thank the academy, and of course my mother (for buying me the box in the first place).

wonderbra woman

you would not believe how many hits i have been getting for the blurb about jeremy paxman and his pants. big papers took up the story and now it seems all people are thinking about is knickers. in an effort to be egalitarian, i now bring to you the latest news from wonderbra. after a previous commercial that ripped off the drumming gorilla from the cadbury's chocolate ad:


the company has now engaged the stunning dita von teese to be the new, er, face of wonderbra. the telegraph reports:

"Von Teese is renowned for her "traditional feather fan dance" as well as her "boudoir/bathtub show", according to her website. In 2005, she performed naked except for $5 million worth of diamonds for a benefit show at the New York Academy of Art. In her latest "Lipteese" show, she straddles a giant lipstick that spins and bucks like a mechanic bull, her website explains. She has also published a book, Burlesque/Fetish and The Art of the Teese, and is credited with being the main force behind "New Burlesque", the recent revival of burlesque dancing."

it all sounds quite wonderful, but i think it may take a bit more than this to talk me out of my marks & sparks underwire bras :-)

elizabeth holloway marston

who?

i just heard of her myself a few minutes ago. elizabeth marston was the wife of william, the creator of the comic strip character 'wonder woman'. and then, of course, she was so much more!

this 3-page article in the boston u alumnae quarterly from 2001 describes her life in much greater detail. here are a couple of highlights:

"Elizabeth's husband, William Moulton Marston, a psychologist already famous for inventing the polygraph (forerunner to the magic lasso), struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love. "Fine," said Elizabeth. "But make her a woman.""

"In an era when few women earned higher degrees, Elizabeth received three, starting in 1915 with an A.B. in psychology from Mount Holyoke College. Next came law school. William, then her fiancé, was headed for Harvard Law, but the school excluded women and would until 1950, funneling them instead to its sister school, Radcliffe. Elizabeth rejected the program as "lovely law for ladies" and opted for Boston University. "She approached her father for support," recounts her granddaughter, Susan Grupposo. "He told her: 'Absolutely not. As long as I have money to keep you in aprons, you can stay home with your mother.' "Undeterred, Gram peddled cookbooks to the local ladies' clubs. She needed $100 for her tuition, and by the end of the summer she had it. She married Grandfather that September, but still she paid her own way.""

an amazing woman. go. read.

bobby fischer is dead

this news is a couple of days old, but i have been struggling with what to say about it. bobby fischer was undoubtedly one of the greatest chess players ever. he also turned into an unbelieveably paranoid recluse, appearing in public only to make horrific comments. he was extremely antisemitic, despite the fact that his mother was a jew, and maybe also his birth father. i wouldn't bother to comment at all, except that indirectly bobby fischer was an important person in my life.

when i was in junior school, i was mad about chess. our form teacher started a chess club, and taught us how to play. in those days, girls were not usually encouraged to play chess, but we were. i made it onto the school chess team, and was the only girl. we won the west london schools under-11 league - the only medal i have so far received! meanwhile, my father and i would play chess together. one of my fondest memories is from the time of the fischer-spassky world championship. the moves were published in the newspaper, and my father and i would play them out on the chess board in the front room, and try to understand what was happening.

sadly, in 1974 my new secondary school - all girls - had no chess players, and my sister refused to play me even if i gave up both rooks and the queen before we began. thus i fell out of practice ... and my father started taking me to see qpr!

suzanne pleshette r.i.p.

another smart, funny, gorgeous woman is gone. 'newhart' was not a well-known show in the uk, and i fell for suzanne pleshette via her turn as a schoolteacher in 'the birds'. waaaaay cooler than tippi hedren! she should rest in peace.

yahoo obit
wiki
more than emily hartley (fan site)

go read what ken levine has to say about suzanne pleshette. the link is at the top on the right (alphabetical by first letter). here is a taste of his eulogy:

"Sometime in the mid 70s Lorenzo Music, one of the creators of THE BOB NEWHART SHOW (and voice of Carlton the Doorman and Garfield the cat) and his wife Henrietta starred in a pilot. I went to the taping. For the big finale Lorenzo & Henrietta were joined on stage by the MTM all-stars. All the cast members from THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, RHODA, PHYLLIS, maybe even PAUL SANDS’ FRIENDS AND LOVERS was that year. It was quite dazzling. Idols like Bob Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore in her absolute prime. But the thing that struck me was how Suzanne Pleshette was so stunningly beautiful that it was almost like she was in color and everyone else was in black in white. She was simply radiant. Shimmering. Breathtaking. And all she did was just stand there.

If there is such a thing as star presence Suzanne Pleshette had it.

She passed away on Saturday. She was only 70. Don’t smoke."

paxman's pants

the bbc's newsnight host, jeremy paxman, is mad at marks and spencer. he believes that the quality of their socks and underwear has fallen. being paxman, he contacted the ceo of the company to discuss the matter, and they will have a meeting in the near future. meanwhile, there is apparently so little of note in the world to be reported today that the daily mail decided to share mr. paxman's woes with us all. and i read the article. well, it spoke to me, it really did. in particular, it was this quote:

""Like very large numbers of men in this country I have always bought my socks and pants at Marks & Sparks," Paxman said."

until i dated lld, it was the same for me. m&s pants and bras my entire life. i remember when i was on kibbutz for 6 months and members of the congregation brought me a care package from my mother, it included a couple of pairs of lovely new knickers.

what is it about marks & sparks and underwear? i don't really know. i suppose it is some kind of middle-class english thing :-) nu - if you have had your fill of primaries and kenya and gaza and cetera, the article is here.

btw the mail also reports that m&s is planning a revolution in the world of men's pants:

"... the elimination of the visible pants line. The new pants will have a seamless design and are being made from material developed for women's lingerie." huzzah!

chaiken's angels

thanks, as always, to ms snarker, for this screen cap from the upcoming l word episode. my favourite angel was always sabrina. my favourite sabrina is always audrey hepburn!

qpr 2-0 barnsley

patrick agyemang celebrates
a goal by agyemang in the first five minutes of his home debut (and his second in two games) led qpr to a home win this afternoon against their opponents from yorkshire. they went two up on half-time through rowan vine, thus leaving us with an hour of extreme stomach churning as we waited to see if they could hold on this time. they did. just. huzzah!

vine scores the second