Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘stuff’ Category

British media diet review

Posted in stuff on Thu Jan 23rd 2020| 3 Comments »

In December 2019 I stuck to a British media diet: all the books, music, news, television, film, social media, etc, that I consumed came from British people or by way of Britain. (Ordinarily my media diet is about 70% US, 20% British and 10% other.)

The main exception:

  • “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019) – the new Star Wars film

The main things I learned:

  1. Trashy: Living in the US you are shielded from the worst of British media, which makes it seem better than it is.
  2. Whitecentric: As Whitecentric as US media is, UK media is worse. It has many of the same blindnesses (Islamophobia, colour-blind racism, etc).
  3. Fishbowl: Social media is heavily filtered based on your gender, IP address and search history. The World Wide Web has become a fishbowl.

The main thing I missed:

  1. Pete Buttigieg’s racially tone deaf antics.

Specifics:

News: I got my news from The Economist, BBC and the Times. Whitecentric and generally centre-right but solid more or less. Not obsessed with Trump like the US media, just quietly horrified. Way better than the three-ring circus of US cable news. But I avoided the right-wing rags run by billionaires – the very world that Fox News came out of it.

Music: I used to listen to Virgin Radio from London from like 1999 to 2007. I knew who Macy Gray was before she hit the US. But now it has too much classic rock for my taste. So I wound up listening to compilations on YouTube of the top hits in Britain from 1970 to 1994. Not that great, especially the 1970s, especially if you take out the US music. But, to be fair, my taste in music was mainly shaped by US music in the 1970s.

Songs I re/discovered:

Books: I read:

  • Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier
  • Swing Time (2016) by Zadie Smith
  • Sense & Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen

The world according to bookish introverts – like me!

Social media: I set up separate YouTube and Twitter accounts and stayed off of Instagram. The strength of social media comes from who you follow and one month is not long enough for that to shine. But setting up the accounts showed me how much the Internet is filtered “just for you”. For example, no matter how UK-centric I tried to make my Twitter account, Twitter still tried to push local US sports at me.

Google was pretty good at making my searches UK-centric. Of course, that means it had been quietly making my searches just as US-centric all along.

Film and television: I saw:

  • “Melody” (1971)
  • “The Young Victoria” (2009)
  • “Alexandria: The Greatest City” (2010)
  • “The Three Doctors” (Doctor Who, 1972-73)
  • “Good Morning Britain” from 2019

That comes to some seven hours or 1.5 hours a week – hardly anything to go on. I loved the documentary on Alexandria and how the British seem more interested in history, even if Whitewashed.

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

561

Read Full Post »

Lost Speech of Martin Luther King

Posted in stuff on Mon Jan 20th 2020| 2 Comments »

Dr King at County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, July 30th 1967. (Via the University of South Carolina)

A lost speech of Dr Martin Luther King Jr has been found. On July 30th 1967 at the County Hall in Charleston, South Carolina here is some of what he said in the 45-minute speech:

On White backlash:

“Now we hear a lot of talk about the white backlash and uh you hear people saying that Negroes pushing too fast and all of this so that now you get a white backlash – a white reaction. Whatever I hear anybody say this I always remind them the white backlash isn’t nothing new. It’s just a new name for an old phenomenon. There has never been a single solid determined commitment on the part of the vast majority of white Americans on the question of genuine equality for the black man.”

On US history and the lack of reparations:

“Now America must hear about its sins because we will never understand what is happening in this country today without understanding that we are now reaping the harvest of terrible evil planted by seeds centuries ago. Yes we were given emancipation but no land to make it meaningful. And you know what? At that same time, America was giving away millions of acres of land in the West and the Midwest. It was said the nation was willing to undergird its white peasants from Europe with an economic floor.”

On poverty and universal basic income (UBI):

“Everybody who’s able ought to have a job in this country. And everybody … who isn’t able to work ought to have an income. That should be a guaranteed annual income. There are plenty of things that can be done to get jobs for the jobless. Jobs can be created very easily … It’s possible to end poverty. The question is whether the will is there. And Negroes can learn, we hear all these things when we talk about employment they tell us we’re not qualified. Now I don’t know what you feel about it. But that always uh gets me a little disgusted. Someone kept you in slavery for 244 years, and then segregated and discriminated for another 100 years and every time you go up to get you a job that want you to have a W.E.B. Du Bois mind and then beyond that they want you to have a Ralph Bunche sense of international affairs, a Marilyn Monroe figure, a Lena Horne face.”

On race riots and Black supremacy:

“And so I’m not gonna give you a motto or preach a philosophy ‘Burn, baby burn’. I’m gonna say ‘Build, baby build’, ‘Organize, baby, organize’. I’ve decided to stick with love. Somebody’s gotta have some sense in this world. And a lot of white folks have demonstrated eloquently that they don’t have no sense and why should we be that way? The reason I’m not gonna preach a doctrine of black supremacy is because I’m sick and tired of white supremacy.”

More: The Root.

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

574

Read Full Post »

Charles & Eddie: Would I Lie To You?

Posted in stuff on Sun Jan 19th 2020| 4 Comments »

Remarks:

This went to #1 in Britain in 1992 and was a top ten hit throughout Europe and the Anglosphere – except in Iceland (#14) and their native US (#13). I remember hearing it in the 1990s but had forgotten all about it till I went on a British media diet last month.

The song sounds like a remake of some old Aaron Neville song, from like 1971 or something. But it is original. And the influence of US soul music, Aaron Neville or otherwise, is by way of British Northern soul. As it turns out, Charles and Eddie did not write the song – that was done by Michael Leeson and Peter Vale, both born in Britain.

See also:

Lyrics:

Nothing but love, baby
Mm-mm-mm
My, my, my, my, my girl (Look into my eyes)
Would I lie to you, yeah? (Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you?)

Look into my eyes, can’t you see they’re open wide?
Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you? (Oh, yeah)
Don’t you know it’s true, girl, there’s no one else but you?
Would I lie to you, baby, yeah?

Everybody wants to know the truth
In my arms is the only proof
I’ve hidden my heart behind the bedroom door
Now it’s open, I can’t do no more

I’m telling you, baby, you will never find another girl
In this heart of mine (Oh-oh)

Look into my eyes, can’t you see they’re open wide?
Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you? (Oh, yeah)
Don’t you know it’s true, girl, there’s no one else but you?
Would I lie to you, baby, yeah? (Would I lie to you?)

Everybody’s got their history (History)
On every page a mystery (It’s a mystery, yeah)
You can read my diary, you’re in every line
Jealous minds, never satisfied

I’m telling you, baby, you will never find another girl
In this heart of mine (In this heart of mine)

Look into my eyes, can’t you see they’re open wide?
Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you? (Oh, yeah)
Don’t you know it’s true, girl, there’s no one else but you?
Would I lie to you, baby, yeah? (Would I lie to you?)

(Would I lie to you?) When you wanna see me night and day
(Would I lie?) If I tell you that I’m here to stay
(Would I lie to you?) Do you think I give my love away?
(Would I lie?) That’s not the kind of game I play

I’m telling you, baby, you will never find another girl
In this heart of mine (In this heart of mine, deep in my heart)
Whoo

Look into my eyes, can’t you see they’re open wide?
Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you? (Oh, yeah)
Don’t you know it’s true, girl, there’s no one else but you?
Would I lie to you, baby, yeah? (Would I lie to you?)
(Would I lie to you, baby?)

Look into my eyes, can’t you see they’re open wide?
Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you? (Oh, yeah)
Don’t you know it’s true, girl, there’s no one else but you?
Would I lie to you, baby, yeah? (Would I lie to you?)
(Come on, come on, come on, come on and kiss me, baby)

(Look into my eyes)
(Would I lie to you, baby, would I lie to you?)
I wouldn’t lie to you, baby, there ain’t no one else but you

Source: AZ Lyrics.

Read Full Post »

Zadie Smith: Swing Time

Posted in stuff on Sat Jan 18th 2020| 7 Comments »

“Swing Time” (2016) is a novel by Zadie Smith about two mixed-race girls who grow up in lower-middle-class London in the 1980s. One dreams of becoming a dancer, the other dreams of – nothing. But finds herself starting a girls’ school in West Africa on behalf of a Australian rock star.

I was disappointed: I had heard good things about Zadie Smith and liked some of her essays. Maybe it went over my head. Maybe it will grow on me. It had a surprise, tear-jerker ending and some good characters and scenes, but in the end it did not add up to much.

A good book, like travel, makes you see the world differently. This one did not. The main character herself travels the world, with a rock star, and goes to West Africa. But all of it seems to have little effect on her. It is almost as if she had never left her desk in London.

In most stories the hero wants something. Dorothy and Odysseus want to go home. Kunta Kinte wants to be free. Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” wants to become a real girl. Jane Austen’s heroines want to be happily married. The main character of this book seems to want nothing.

In this book the hero just drifts through life. Her best friend wants to be a dancer. Her mother wants to be elected to parliament. Her employer, a rock star, wants to start a school for girls in the Gambia. They all go after their dreams. Meanwhile she does not have even ordinary ambitions, like wanting a boyfriend or children or a career or just more money. She is a spectator to her own life.

We do not even know her name – she neither gives it nor does anyone call her by it.

Like Afua Hirsch in “Brit(ish)” (2018), which I am reading now, the narrator grew up mixed-race in London and went to West Africa. But whereas Hirsch is full of insights about race, identity and history, Zadie Smith’s main character seems to have few insights on those subjects. It is almost as if a White person wrote her book. Well, not quite: unlike Graham Greene in “The Heart of the Matter” (1948), at least she sees Africans as real people.

The best scene was when her best friend called a fellow Brown person a racial slur (“Paki”) at a tenth birthday party full of White girls. When her mother, who is Black, came to take them home:

“The moment we were outside, though, all her fury was for us, only for us, she pulled us like two bags of rubbish back down the road, shouting: ‘You think you’re one of them? Is that what you think?’ I remember exactly the sensation of being dragged along, my toes tracing the pavement, and how completely perplexed I was by the tears in my mother’s eyes, the distortion spoiling her handsome face. I remember everything about Lily Bingham’s tenth birthday and have no memory whatsoever of my own.”

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

560

Read Full Post »

books I read in 2020

Posted in stuff on Thu Jan 16th 2020| 26 Comments »

Some books I read in 2020:

C.S. Lewis: The Abolition of Man (1946) – argues that some moral values can be proved to be right through reason, that they do not have to be based on religion, ethnocentrism, capitalism or personal feelings.

Jane Austen: Sense & Sensibility (1811) – two sisters want to get married. One follows her heart, the other follows her head. Their elders follow the money. No one gets it right.

Afua Hirsch: Brit(ish) (2018) – race and identity in Britain. She grew up mixed-race in the Whitest suburb of London (Wimbledon), went to Oxford, and lived for a while in West Africa. Read this as a side effect of my British media diet.

Michael Moorcock: The Warlord of the Air (1971) – an alternate universe where it is 1973 and the British Empire never fell. Anti-imperialistic science fiction. A book my father read.

Ross King: Leonardo and the Last Supper (2012) – My post on “The Last Supper” was based on this book.

Daniel Defoe: A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) – Defoe was just a boy during the Plague of 1665 in London, but wrote a fictional, you-are-there journal based on first-hand accounts.

H.G. Wells: The War of the Worlds (1898) – invasion of the Martians. Same plot as Defoe’s book. The root of all those post-apocalyptic science fiction stories, which unknowingly echo the Plague of 1665.

Sonia Shah: Pandemic (2016) – the single best book I have read so far on pandemics during the Pandemic of 2020.

Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870) – I would have absolutely adored this book when I was 11!!! Better late than never. My post on Captain Nemo’s library came from reading this. Tip: Read an unabridged version! And just let all the almost-poetic scientific names wash over you.

Isaac Asimov: The Land of Canaan (1971) – a history of the Jews and Phoenicians, who were divided more by religion than language. Includes Carthage. Asimov is an atheist Jew – he is proud of Jews but does not believe in their god. Still, he provides a good backgroud history for anyone who wants to better understand the Bible. Out of print, but still in some libraries and used-book stores. I read this while I was living like it was 1979.

Masha Gessen: Surviving Autocracy (2020) – her Autocracy: Rules for Survival article for the New Yorker made into a book.

Bob Woodward: Rage (2020) – Crazytown meets the pandemic. Woodward’s account of the what went on in the White House from 2018 to 2020, sequel to “Fear” (2018).

Roy Morris, Jr: Fraud of the Century (2003) – My post on the Election of 1876 was based on this book.

Heather Cox Richardson: To Make Men Free (2014) – a history of the Republican Party from 1854 to 2008, from the Party of Lincoln to the party of naked capitalism.

Sarah Kendzior: Hiding in Plain Sight (2020) – creeping autocracy in the US.

Isabel Wilkerson: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020) – the US race-based caste system. Wilkerson is best known for “The Warmth of Other Suns” (2010).

Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own (1929) – what is required to become a woman writer in a sexist society.

Timeline:

  • 1700s: 1
  • 1800s: 3
  • 1900s: 4
  • 2000s: 9

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

525

Read Full Post »

Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca

Posted in stuff on Wed Jan 15th 2020| 1 Comment »

“Rebecca” (1938) is a Gothic romance novel by Daphne du Maurier. The Rebecca of the title dies before the story even begins but haunts it to the end. It was a bestseller in Britain and the US and has been in print ever since – for over 80 years now.

Alfred Hitchcock made it into a film of the same name in 1940, his only film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The novel was so dark he had to water it down to meet the Hollywood Production Code. His films “The Birds” (1963) and “Jamaica Inn” (1939) were also based on her books. He knew her family.

Du Maurier said “Rebecca” was:

“a sinister tale about a woman who marries a widower …. Psychological and rather macabre”.

She thought it was “too gloomy” and the ending “too grim” to ever be a bestseller. The ending was grim, but it was also unexpected – and perfect.

Gothic romance novels are supposed to be gloomy and grim: they are love stories that are also horror stories. “Rebecca” takes the daydream of marrying a rich man and turns it into a living nightmare. Like many Gothic romances, it features a big house with a secret that threatens to bring everything down.

Self narration: Whenever I read a book I try to put myself in the hero’s shoes – Frodo, Kunta Kinte, Alice. It is part of the joy of reading. But this time I felt like I was reading about myself! Which made its events all the more horrifying.

My favourite lines:

  • “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
  • “They are not brave the days when we are twenty-one.”
  • “the sort of girl you expected to meet in those sort of places.”
  • “the poor pomposity of youth”
  • “content with the little glory of the living present”
  • “he patted my cheek in his terrible absent way”
  • “I can feel now the stiff, set smile on my face that did not match the misery in my eyes.”
  • “a prop who wore a smile screwed to its face”
  • “all the pent-up hatred and disgust and muck of the lost years.”
  • “the cold wind blew in my face. The stars raced across the sky.”
  • “And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” – is the first line of the book and one I have heard my mother repeat down through the years. I thought she was talking about Mandalay, the royal city in the middle of Burma, that she was quoting Kipling or something. But she was talking about a mansion by the sea in England, the scene of one her favourite books. That I would like the book too was maybe over-determined.

In 1937, when du Maurier’s husband was stationed in Alexandria, Egypt, she was homesick for England. And so she began to write: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Manderley was based on her own home by the sea in England – Menabilly.

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

535

Read Full Post »

Nada Surf: Popular

Posted in stuff on Sun Jan 12th 2020| 4 Comments »

Remarks:

It took 32 years but at long last someone made a song based on “Penny’s Guide to Teen-Age Charm and Popularity” (1964). In 1996 this song was a top-ten hit in Iceland, France and Belgium but, despite MTV’s best efforts, it did not even crack the top 100 in their native US.

When I first saw the video I was wondering if it was shot at Bayonne High School in New Jersey. I doubted it because Bayonne, like metropolitan New York as a whole, is not lily White, certainly not as White as it is in the video. But, as it turns out, the video was shot at that high school – only to be Whitewashed.

See also:

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
Three important rules for breaking up
Don’t put off breaking up when you know you want to
Prolonging the situation only makes it worse
Tell him honestly, simply, kindly, but firmly
Don’t make a big production
Don’t make up an elaborate story
This will help you avoid a big tear jerking scene
If you want to date other people say so
Be prepared for the boy to feel hurt and rejected
Even if you’ve gone together for only a short time
And haven’t been too serious
There’s still a feeling of rejection
When someone says she prefers the company of others
To your exclusive company
But if you’re honest, and direct
And avoid making a flowery emotional speech
When you break the news
The boy will respect you for your frankness
And honestly he’ll appreciate the kind and
Straightforward manner in which you told him your decision
Unless he’s a real jerk or a cry baby you’ll remain friends

[Chorus 1]
I’m head of the class
I’m popular
I’m a quarterback
I’m popular
My mom says I’m a catch
I’m popular
I’m never last picked
I got a cheerleading chick

[Verse 2]
Being attractive is the most important thing there is
If you wanna catch the biggest fish in your pond
You have to be as attractive as possible
Make sure to keep your hair spotless and clean
Wash it at least every two weeks
Once every two weeks
And if you see Johnny Football Hero in the hall
Tell him he played a great game
Tell him you liked his article in the newspaper

[Chorus 2]
I’m the party star
I’m popular
I’ve got my own car
I’m popular
I’ll never get caught
I’m popular
I make football bets
I’m the teacher’s pet

[Verse 3]
I propose we support a one month limit on going steady
I think It would keep people more able to deal with weird situations
And get to know more people
I think if you’re ready to go out with Johnny
Now’s the time to tell him about your one month limit
He won’t mind, he’ll appreciate your fresh look on dating
And once you’ve dated someone else, you can date him again
I’m sure he’ll like it
Everyone will appreciate it
You’re so novel, what a good idea
You can keep your time to yourself
You don’t need date insurance
You can go out with whoever you want to
Every boy, every boy in the whole world could be yours
If you’ll just listen to my plan
The teenage guide to popularity

[Chorus 1]
I’m head of the class
I’m popular
I’m a quarterback
I’m popular
My mom says I’m a catch
I’m popular
I’m never last picked
I got a cheerleading chick

[Chorus 2]
I’m the party star
I’m popular
I’ve got my own car
I’m popular
I’ll never get caught
I’m popular
I make football bets
I’m the teacher’s pet

Source: Genius Lyrics.

Read Full Post »

Soleimani

Posted in stuff on Tue Jan 7th 2020| 23 Comments »

Qasem Soleimani (1957-2020), also spelled “Suleimani”, was the Iranian general the US killed last week in Baghdad, on January 2nd 2020 at 22:00 UTC (it was one in the morning the next day in Iraq).

In the US almost no one knew who he was, but now the press is saying he was a Horrible Terrible Person, worse than Osama bin Laden (the head of Al Qaeda) or Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (the head of ISIS), both of whom the US also assassinated.

As CNBC, a supposedly serious news outlet, tweeted, in its own voice:

“America just took out the world’s no. 1 bad guy”

And that was not even Fox News on the far-right!

If Soleimani was that terrible, why did the press say so little about him before he was killed? He has been a general in Iran since the 1980s – he was hardly hiding under a rock.

Before and after: Compare the Wikipedia before and after his death:

On December 27th, the second paragraph:

“Soleimani hailed from a humble background. He began his military career since the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War of the 1980s, during which he commanded the 41st Division. He was later involved in extraterritorial operations, providing military assistance to anti-Saddam Shia and Kurdish groups in Iraq, and later Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories. In 2012, Soleimani helped bolster the Syrian government, a key Iranian ally, during the Syrian Civil War. Soleimani also assisted in the command of combined Iraqi government and Shia militia forces that advanced against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2014–2015.[19]”

On January 7th, today:

“Soleimani began his military career at the start of the Iran–Iraq War during the 1980s, eventually commanding the 41st Division. He was later involved in extraterritorial operations, providing military assistance to Hezbollah in Lebanon. In 2012, Soleimani helped bolster the government of Bashar al-Assad, a key Iranian ally, during Iran’s operations in the Syrian Civil War and helped to plan the Russian military intervention in Syria.[20] Soleimani oversaw the Kurdish and Shia militia forces in Iraq, and assisted the Iraqi forces that advanced against ISIL in 2014–2015.[21][22] Soleimani was one of the first to support Kurdish forces, providing them with arms.[23][24] He maintained a low profile during most of his career.”

Compare: Both paragraphs might be perfectly true – they are not logically contradictory. But notice the change in emphasis: two good things about him have been taken out (humble origins, anti-Saddam) and two bad ones added (pro-Assad, helps Russia). Good and bad, that is, from a US point of view! Just over half the edits made to the English-language Wikipedia come from the US.

Demonization: Soleimani, as you might expect, fought both for and against US enemies. He was, be it noted, a general for Iran, not the US. And Iran, be it further noted, is not some rebel province of the US empire. But now that President Trump has killed him, Soleimani is being demonized, flattened into a Hollywood “bad guy”. Why?

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

533

Read Full Post »

S’Express: Theme from S-Express

Posted in stuff on Sun Jan 5th 2020| 1 Comment »

Remarks:

Of all the #1 hits on the British pop chart from 1970 to 1994 (I listened to them all), this one from 1988 is one of my favourites. In the US it only went to #91. It is heavily based on samples, everything from Gil Scott-Heron to aerosol spray. S-Express means the S Train in New York – even though the band is from Britain.

See also:

Lyrics:

Enjoy this trip
Enjoy this trip
And it is a trip

S’Express
S’Express
S’Express

Countdown is progressing
Uno dos
Uno dos tres quatro

I got the hots for you
Boop
REPEAT

I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-boop bep b-bep ah ah
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-bep boop boop b-bep bep
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-boop bep b-bep ah ah
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-bep boop boop b-bep bep

S’Express
S’Express
S’Express
S’Express

Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now

Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Ooh ooh ooh

I got the hots for you
Boop
REPEAT

I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-boop bep b-bep ah ah
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-bep boop boop b-bep bep
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-boop bep b-bep ah ah
I got the hots for you
Boop boop b-bep boop boop b-bep bep

Oh that’s bad
No that’s good

Enjoy this trip
And it is a trip
REPEAT

Drop that ghetto blaster

Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now
Come on and listen to me baby now

S’Express
S’Express
S’Express
S’Express
S’Express
S’Express
S’Express

Aah

Source: Genius Lyrics.

Read Full Post »

2019

Posted in stuff on Sat Jan 4th 2020| 2 Comments »

Looking back at AD 2019:

Turning 50: Sesame Street, Apollo 11, Woodstock and the Internet.

Turning 400: Black America. It has now been 400 years since the first recorded arrival of Black people on the mainland of English-speaking North America.

Blackface: Both the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, and the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, were caught in blackface scandals but remain in office. Blackface is still totally a thing at the Bolshoi and other ballet companies. So much so that the Bolshoi feels no need to apologize.

Reparations for Black slavery in the US is now enough of a thing that Democrats running for president are asked about it. And enough for ADOS to be a word.

The word “racism”: Thanks to the vileness of President Trump, the White Liberal press in the US is beginning to use “racist” to describe a person’s words and actions, not just the (unknowable) contents of their heart.

Terrorism: White nationalists carried out massacres in Christchurch, New Zealand and El Paso, Texas. Muslim terrorists in Sri Lanka killed hundreds of Christians and others on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.

Concentration camps are making a comeback in the US, China, and India.

The Mueller Report showed that Russia tried to swing the US election in 2016 in Trump’s favour, but could not prove that Trump himself conspired with Russia – presumably because of his obstruction of justice.

Impeachment: Trump was later impeached for trying to get Ukraine, a foreign power, to help him win the 2020 election. Half the US thinks he should be removed from office. Trump will go on trial in the Senate – where bootlicking Republicans have most of the votes.

Britain: Boris Johnson became prime minister of Britain and went on to win a historic landslide on the promise of “Get Brexit Done”.

(Leah Millis/Reuters)

Hong Kong has seen its biggest pro-democracy protests since becoming part of communist China, with over a million having taken to the streets.

Brazil on fire.

On fire: forests in Australia, California, Brazil, and the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

The Doomsday Clock: still two minutes to midnight.

Global temperature average: 14.63°C in April (NOAA), the second hottest on record. The average for the 1900s was 13.7.

Word of the Year: climate emergency (Oxford).

Time’s Person of the Year: Greta Thunberg, queen of green, a Swedish high school student and climate shamer.

(Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation)

Coon of the Year: Jay-Z, beating out Oprah (“Leaving Neverland”), Judge Tammy Kemp, and Candace Owens.

Top US R&B song: “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas ft. Billy Ray Cyrus.

Top Hollywood film: “Avengers: Endgame”.

World map:

De facto borders, May 14th 2019. Click to enlarge. [x]

Top images (on Google Images):

the most beautiful woman:

Bella Hadid

well-dressed man (same as last year):

car:

Audi RS Q3 Sportback (2020)

computer:

Dell OptiPlex Dual Core. RAM: 4 GB. OS: Windows 10.

president:

US President Donald Trump

In memoriam: Carol Channing, James Ingram, Karl Lagerfeld, Dick Dale, Nipsey Hussle, John Singleton, Doris Day, I.M. Pei, Franco Zeffirelli, João Gilberto, Johnny Clegg, Toni Morrison, Valerie Harper (Rhoda), Eddie Money, Jessye Norman, Diahann Carroll, D.C. Fontana (Star Trek writer), Carroll Spinney (Big Bird), Joshua Brown, Atatiana Jefferson, Willie McCoy, Brandon Webber.

Good riddance: Jeffrey Epstein, David Koch.

– Abagond, 2020.

See also:

569

Read Full Post »

The Communards: Don’t Leave Me This Way

Posted in stuff on Sun Dec 29th 2019| 2 Comments »

Remarks:

This song went to #1 in both the US and UK, but in different decades done by different artists:

  • 1977: Thelma Houston: #1 US, #13 UK
  • 1986: The Communards: #40 US, #1 UK

It was the number one song in the UK for 1986 as a whole.

Both are covers of a Philly Soul song written by Gamble & Huff for Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

The Communards changed up some of the words and made it into a duet. They cannot hold a match to Thelma Houston’s singing, but I like their instrumental music better, especially the piano. Somewhere between the two there is an even better song.

See also:

Lyrics: 

Don’t leave me this way
I can’t survive
I can’t stay alive
Without your love, no baby

Don’t leave me this way
I can’t exist
I will surely miss your tender kiss
So don’t leave me this way

Oh baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you’ve got to do
Your started this fire down in my soul
Now can’t you see it’s burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
‘Cos only your good loving can set me free

Don’t leave me this way
I don’t understand how I’m at your command
So baby please, so don’t you leave me this way

Oh, baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you’ve got to do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can’t you see it’s burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
‘Cos only your good loving can set me free
Set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free
Come, satisfy me, come satisfy me
Don’t you leave me this way

Don’t leave me this way
I can’t exist, I will surely miss your tender kiss
So don’t leave me this way

Oh, baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
So come on down and do what you’ve got to do
You started this fire down in my soul
Now can’t you see it’s burning out of control
So come on down and satisfy the need in me
‘Cos only your good loving can set me free
Set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free, set me free

Don’t you know by now, don’t you know by now

I’m losing control

Source: Genius Lyrics.

Read Full Post »

Merry Christmas!

Posted in stuff on Wed Dec 25th 2019| 7 Comments »

Star of Bethlehem via ligonier.org.

Merry Christmas to everyone, to every Who down in Whoville, to the lurkers, the commenters. the trolls and even the banned!

See also:

Read Full Post »

U2: Sweetest Thing

Posted in stuff on Sun Dec 22nd 2019| 3 Comments »

Remarks:

I heard this the other day on Virgin Radio in London. One of my favourite U2 songs – with the same name as one of my favourite Lauryn Hill songs! In 1998 this song went to #63 in the US but was a top-ten hit in the rest of the Anglosphere. It was the B-side of a song I like even better: “Where the Streets Have No Name”.

Bono wrote this song as a birthday present and apology to his wife for having worked on her birthday. Thus the video. It was shot in his native Dublin, Ireland.

With this posting U2 easily qualifies as my favourite rock band.

See also:

Lyrics:

My love, she throws me like a rubber ball
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
But she won’t catch me or break my fall.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
Baby’s got blue skies up ahead
But in this, I’m a raincloud
You know she wants a dry kind of love.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)

I’m losin’ you, I’m losin’ you
Ain’t love the sweetest thing?

I wanted to run, but she made me crawl
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
Eternal fire, she turned me to straw.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
I know I got black eyes
But they burn so brightly for her
I guess it’s a blind kind of love.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)

I’m losin’ you, I’m losin’ you
Ain’t love the sweetest thing?
Ain’t love the sweetest thing?

Blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
You can sew it up, but you still see the tear.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)
Baby’s got blue skies up ahead
But in this, I’m a rain-cloud,
Ours is a stormy kind of love.
(Oh, the sweetest thing.)

Source: U2, Songfacts.

Read Full Post »

Webster’s dictionary

Posted in stuff on Sat Dec 21st 2019| Leave a Comment »

Webster’s dictionary (1806- ), the main dictionary in the US, bears about as much relationship to Noah Webster as a Christian church does to Jesus Christ. “Webster’s” and “Christian” are names in the public domain. They are not trademarks like Apple or Google.

Anyone can call their dictionary a Webster’s – and they do. Random House and Microsoft have both done it. So has Simon & Schuster. Because it is a name people in the US trust – even though it is not a trademark!

What is trademarked are names like “Merriam-Webster” and “Webster’s New World” – but not “Webster’s” itself.

The Merriam brothers bought the copyright to the original, real dictionary of Noah Webster in 1844, but that expired in 1889. They tried to keep others from using the name “Webster’s”, but in vain.

In 1909 a judge told them:

“[The Merriam company] is in no position to deny a purely descriptive use of the word to any other dictionary which is as legitimate as its own. The constant iteration that all such are ‘bogus’ or not ‘genuine’ is merely a childish extravagance.”

In 2019 Merriam-Webster (now owned by Encyclopædia Britannica) is still printing stuff like this in their dictionaries:

“The name Webster alone is no guarantee of excellence. It is used by any number of publishers and many serve mainly to mislead an unwary buyer.

“Merriam-Webster™ is the name you should look for when you consider the purchase of dictionaries or other fine reference books. It carries the reputation of a company that has been publishing since 1831 and is your assurance of quality and authority.”

They are good for US English in the late 1900s but not much beyond that. Their 2019 paperback edition does not have coloured (person), plonker or even LOL.

Merriam-Webster is the “real” Webster’s only in a historical sense. In 1961 they completely redid their unabridged dictionary as “Webster’s Third New International Dictionary”. Noah Webster rolled in his grave.

 

Noah Webster’s most notable books:

  • 1783: American Spelling Book – better known as the Blue Backed Speller because of its blue cover (pictured). By 1900 it had sold at least 60 million copies in the US – second only to Holy Scripture itself. Price: $0.14 (= 3.4g of silver).
  • 1806: A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language – made J and V separate letters in their own right (were seen as forms of I and U). Webster, a huge nationalist, made US English spelling different than British English on purpose!!! Mainly by shortening words: color not colour, traveler not traveller, archeology not archaeology, plow not plough, ax not axe, etc. But also stuff like center not centre, and baptize not baptise. Most of the differences in US spelling go back to his nationalistic zeal.
  • 1828: An American Dictionary of the English Language – his magnus opus. He worked on it from age 48 to 70. But at $20 (481g or 16 crowns) it was beyond the reach of the masses, back when most White men made a dollar a day.

In 1844, a year after his death, his family sold his book rights to Charles and George Merriam. In 1847, with the help of Webster’s son-in-law, Chauncey A. Goodrich, they got his dictionary down to $6 (144g or 5 crowns) and made it a hit.

– Abagond, 2019, 2020.

Sources: mainly “The Dictionary Wars” (2019) by Peter Martin; “Spell it Out” (2012) by David Crystal; and “Letter Perfect” (2003) by David Saks.

See also:

555

Read Full Post »

Blackface at Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet

Posted in stuff on Tue Dec 17th 2019| 58 Comments »

The Bolshoi Ballet (1776- ) in Moscow is one of the oldest and most famous ballet companies in all the world – and they have been doing blackface since at least 1877 in their performances of “La Bayadère”, a classic French-Austrian ballet about India. Feel the high culture!

Vladimir Urin, the director of the Bolshoi Theatre:

“The ballet ‘La Bayadère’ has been performed thousands of times in this production in Russia and abroad, and the Bolshoi Theatre will not get involved in such a discussion [about blackface] …

“Finding some sort of deep insults in this is simply ridiculous … No-one has ever complained to us or saw… an act of disrespect.”

Svetlana Zakharova, a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi:

“There is nothing strange here, it’s absolutely normal for us… this is art.”

White art. She left out the word “White”.

Misty Copeland, the top Black American ballerina in the world, has a different take:

“I get that this is a VERY sensitive subject in the ballet world. But until we can call people out and make people uncomfortable, change can’t happen.”

“It is painful to think about the fact that many prominent ballet companies refuse to hire dancers of colour and instead opt to use blackface.”

As everyone knows, Black people can’t dance. They have no natural rhythm. Or something. That is why it took till 2015 for the American Ballet Theatre to have its first Black American female principal dancer – Copeland herself. It was such a new experience for them that they forgot to give her “The Black Token Handbook”. Fifth Edition, 2009. So she never read Chapter 2, “The Happy Negro”. Or Chapter 3: “Be Seen, Not Heard”. So there she is running wild on Instagram saying things about White people that lack “nuance”.

In the US, ballet is very much the preserve of rich White people. Some of the very same people who seem to think that only working-class Whites are racist. Because racism comes from a lack of education and proper upbringing. Sneer, sneer. And yet for 142 years they never called this stuff out, going on right in front of their eyes.

Wow, okay.

The New York Times, their newspaper of record, said in 2007 of the Bolshoi’s “La Bayadère”:

“I’d like to think that the old tradition of whites in blackface might work again if it was well done (e.g. white actors as Othello, now exceptionally rare in theater), but this looked too ludicrous to be even grotesque.”

Ah yes, the old traditions! Blackface just needs to be done better.

And “La Bayadère” is hardly the only ballet that dehumanizes people of colour.

Meanwhile silly old me assumed that the Bolshoi would never dare do anything like this, not this side of 1968, not if they wanted to perform in the US and have any sort of international respectability. Wow, do I feel like a fool. I should have known better.

People tell me I see racism in everything. But time and again I find myself assuming Whites are less racist than they are.

/rant off

– Abagond, 2019.

Sources: mainly the BBC and Ballet Conrad (33-minute video).

See also:

559

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »