Sunday, March 28, 2004
I Doubt This Can Be Right
· According to Fox News, the new Hamas leader thinks President Bush is the enemy of God.
"We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims. America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon," Rantissi said. "The war of God continues against them and I can see the victory coming up from the land of Palestine by the hand of Hamas."I think it's always a mistake to drag God into things like this.
posted by P | at 11:54 AM | |
Saturday, March 27, 2004
It's Madison Time
· Well, not yet. But I urge you to see this movie, if you can: Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part, sometimes called Outsiders. It seems a trifle naive to us now, but there are parts that certainly can stand comparison with anything coming out, particularly the scene in which our heroes get up in a café and perform "The Madison". If this is not the coolest scene in movie history, then ní lá fós é (to continue our Irish theme).
The interesting thing is that at that period Hitchcock was looking at French novels (Vertigo is based on a book called D'entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac) while French directors were looking at American novels (Bande is based on Fool's Gold by Dolores Hitchens).
posted by P | at 1:48 PM | |
A Shropshire Lad
· Over at my parents' house, I was told that "these old books are just in the way". I reshelved a few of them, but I noted that two had belonged to my father: At Swim-Two-Birds, which I gave him, and A Shropshire Lad, which he must have bought in his happy hedonist youth. As for the first book, it is a remarkable description of a Dublin student's life and the complexity of existence. It even has three separate openings. The second opening, for example:
There was nothing unusual in the appearance of Mr John Furriskey but actually he had one distinction that is rarely encounteredhe was born at the age of twenty-five and entered the world with a memory but without the personal experience to account for it.There's something interesting about that. A memory but no personal experience, isn't that the way sometimes? The story is interspersed with chunks of Irish epic stuff:
(Sweeny is of course Mad Sweeny, and you have to know that in the Old Irish epics people would often preface their answer to a question by saying, "ni ansa", "not difficult", or "easy to relate"). There is some more fun like this and about the writer whose characters start writing about him while he's asleep and so on, but it's a rather sombre book if you read carefully. It also has three endings, in a way: "... cut his jugular with a razor three times and scrawled with a dying hand on a picture of his wife good-bye, good-bye, good-bye."At the butt-end of a year's wandering in the company of each other, the madman of Briton had a message for Sweeny's ear.
It is true that we must part today, he said, for the end of my life has come and I must go to where I am to die.
What class of a death will you die? asked Sweeny.
Not difficult to relate, said the other, I go now to Eas Dubhthaigh and a gust of wind will get under me until it slams me into the waterfall for drowning, and I shall be interred in the churchyard of a saint, and afterwards I shall attain Heaven. That is my end.
Anyway, my father read the book and decided it was okay, but he didn't care for what he called the "Joycean bits".
Now for Housman. Of course there was a lot of argument about how good a poet he was. I think it's sometimes inappropriate for us mortals to complain about poets who, after all, are trying to do something that I couldn't even begin to do. I wouldn't know where to start. I cannot write anything resembling a poem. So Hands Off A.E. Housman! Here's "XXII":
The street sounds to the soldiers' tread,You'll notice some internal rhyme and other trickery: st, s, so, tr, tr. And what it means to me? When I was a boy in the late 60's I was waiting for my uncle or somebody at the Kansas City train station, and my mother said: "Look. Green Berets." Sure enough, there were two soldiers waiting for a train, and they looked very grim, not shooting craps and joking about as you see in the movies. I thought: maybe they're off to Vietnam. So I hope they're okay.
And out we troop to see:
A single redcoat turns his head,
He turns and looks at me.
My man, from sky to sky's so far,
We never crossed before;
Such leagues apart the world's ends are,
We're like to meet no more;
What thoughts at heart have you and I
We cannot stop to tell;
But dead or living, drunk or dry,
Soldier, I wish you well.
posted by P | at 7:32 AM | |
Friday, March 26, 2004
Not This Again
· Angua has collected some news items about anti-semitic attacks in the Greater Toronto Area. It made me wonder what sort of person goes around spray-painting swastikas and knocking over other people's graves? In general, what sort of moron goes out at night and does anything of the kind?
I used to live on Spring Garden Road, Halifax's busy busy thoroughfare. Every morning around 2:00, when most bars close, there would be a steady trickle of Ostrogoths and Mongol hordes staggering home, bawling obscenities and firing bottles all over the place. Once I looked out to see that they had set fire to the bus shelter. Brilliant. That takes some doing. Armed, presumably, with just a cigarette lighter, you'd have to be fairly patient and intent on your work.
Once I was talking to a guy in a bar and all of a sudden he started going on about the Jews in a creepy way. Nothing obvious at first, mind you, but it struck me as odd that someone would take an interest in a people about whom he knew very little. He wasn't talking about the Besht or the Yiddish theatre or Hassidism; he was concerned about the Jews. A bit like a recently divorced guy who wants to address the subject of "women: pro et contra". And eventually, it came out, like pus from a boil (sorry): an objective review of the Holocaust was needed, etc., etc., etc.
It's just beneath the surface, but it's there.
posted by P | at 2:49 PM | |
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Spain's Message
"We went to this war in Iraq and all we got was 200 killed by the real terroristsnot by angry Iraqis. We didn't want this war, because we thought terrorism is best fought by other means, and now it turns out we were right. So goodbye, Aznar."
Around 70 Spaniards have died in Iraq; none of them was in a position to stop the terrorists in Spain. They were there just to go along with the US invasion, out of sheer friendship to the US. So, to them, they have been wasting their time. So it's no good blaming them, as some have done, for electing a new party, or calling them cowardly (compared to whom, may one ask??).
posted by P | at 3:17 PM | |
Well, the Thing is ...
· CNN.com has this to say:Pakistani forces believe they have surrounded Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, among al Qaeda fighters near the border with Afghanistan, Pakistani officials tell CNN. Government sources say the military plans a heavy air assault once the sun comes up in hopes of preventing Zawahiri from escaping.
So things can be done against international terrorism without actually invading a country and picking it up by its ears and frogmarching it about. Of course business is business. Yet in my fantastically (even morbidly) humble opinion, tearing down and rebuilding Iraq is nowhere near a tenth as good as hunting for the people behind 9/11 and killing them.
Moreover, capturing them and trying them would be the best thing, because they would then be exposed to the whole world in their wickedness, stupidity and folly, and that would have a great impact.
posted by P | at 2:13 PM | |
Friday, March 12, 2004
Al-Qaida?
·To judge by the latest story on CNN.com, the attack in Spain looks like the work of al-Qaida.:
Authorities also said they have found and detonated three more bombs, apparently set on timers to explode later, where rescuers and security forces were on the scene.The business of wanting to blow up rescue workers seems like a Palestinian terrorist move. The IRA and ETA were always trying to make a point of some kind, which would be completely lost on potential sympathizers if you then murder the good people who are running to help the victims.
Another thing to think about is the fact that Spain is made up of regions: Catalonia, Gallicia, Andalusia. Catalans speak a different language which is similar to Spanish but, historically, an independent branch of the Romance languages. I should imagine regionalists in these places were just as revolted by this outrage as anyone else, and ETA would have known that.
Here's Juan Cole:
Al-Quds al-Arabi reports that credit for the bombing was taken by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, a small terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda. It is named for the ex-policeman Muhammad Atif [Atef] of Egypt, who was a member of Ayman al-Zawahiri's al-Jihad al-Islami and who helped plan the shooting of dozens of Western tourists at Luxor in 1997. Atif was killed by American bombardment in Afghanistan in fall of 2001.UPDATET: There's a link there to Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades">Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which didn't work before. (Some inSaNe html thing).
posted by P | at 2:11 PM | |
Thursday, March 11, 2004
Terrorist Outrage in Spain
· I don't know what to make of these serious assaults in Spain. CNN.com's story has the confusing headline "Spain looking at link to Islamic militants ETA remains top suspect, ministry says".If you read the rest of the story, and have read Spanish newspapers before, you might think ETA was behind it.
But they mention the van with detonators and an "Arabic tape with Koranic teachings" found not far from the site. I think it's no stretch to assume that terrorist organisations work together at times. It doesn't mean they're all in cahoots, but they can share enemies. I can't remember where I read this, but some commentators thought they saw the hand of the IRA in a shooting in Israel a few years ago. It was a sniper attack, killing several Israeli soldiers, and the weapon was found abandoned at the site, apparently an unusual method for Palestinian terrorists. I do know that there is some sympathy among leftist IRA types for the Palestinians: anti-colonialism blablabla. It shows that enthusiasts for a Catholic, Irish-speaking Ireland can find common cause with some Arabic-speaking Moslems, or, indeed, with anybody who wants to join the Terrorist Club for Men. It's embittered people who consider they've been excluded from the real important circles of power. So what to do?
I don't completely share the current disdain for President Bush, but I do think his team have been a bit myopic about the War on Terror. I recall he said something like "~They hate us for our freedom~", or so. I don't think that's the problem. You might think theocracies in the Middle East are worried about our secular way of life, our pornographic entertainents, or our dens of alcools, but I doubt that's the case. I think the big thing is they don't like us running their affairs. They may regard our input, as hypocritical Christians/Heathens, in a poor light. They may see us as the cop who saves the underage prostitute in order to take her as a mistress. And there might be a grain of truth in all that.
Anyway, just take a look at the picture taken at the site. (It's not too frightening). Just imagine that each bag represents a family and a bunch of friends. Or maybe some were isolated people who had no friends; it doesn't matter.
posted by P | at 2:42 PM | |
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Embarrassing Moments in Security
· Mysterious "stolen security item" was Mossad chief's cellphone, according to this story in Maariv:A month after the public was given the disturbing news that "a sensitive piece of equipmant has been stolen from a high-ranking security figure", It was today (Wednesday) released for publication that the person involved was none other than Mossad chief Meir Dagan. The item in question was his cellular phone -- presumably containing some interesting names and numbers.
I would imagine there wouldn't be anything too damaging in there, just the office and home and a few buddies. But this sort of thing is going to happen more often. I sometimes wonder about agencies that spend their time monitoring suspicious websites and chatrooms: if you can see them, why can't they see you? Look at all the spyware out there, and that's just for fly-by-night data miners. I'm sure these agencies have immense firewalls, and the computers they use for web-related program activities have nothing on them and aren't connected to anything. Still, people just have to make a mistake once in a while.
posted by P | at 3:54 PM | |
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
A New Blog
· There's a pretty crisp blogspot at everythingsruined, by someone who seems to know what he's talking about.
He is saying that President Bush is a moron. I said that, too, a year ago on some Canadian forum, and all these Americans jumped all over me (on a worthless Canadian forum, mind you; why would they care what Canadians say on Canadian forums?). But I don't seem to discern them trying to challenge this guy. Here he goes saying things like this:As for W., I'm amazed by his stupidity but oddly comforted by its consistency. He learned at some point in his life that he had to change--be unlike his father--in order to be viable in this world. As a Bush, he was born to chase power. But he saw the changes in the landscape and responded to them. Going to Andover and Yale was no longer good enough, and he had no interest in war service. I don't think this is merely cowardice or irresponsibility or selfishness. W. could have been an officer or gotten a desk job. But he had already committed by then to, well, being stupid.
And he has more. But maybe we are too harsh on President Bush. Or is it the case that being completely stupid is not a drawback, in that office? H'mm
posted by P | at 5:46 PM | |
A Note from the Translators
· I haven't seen Lost in Translation. I gather it's about two people who are bored because they have to spend time in in Tokyo. Sort of like in Groundhog Day but worse, since it takes place in a foreign country.
People use the expression a lot, but for an interpreter that's the lesser of two problems. It's a good deal harder (and more important) to ensure that you're not adding anything.
Here's something:
Before you lies a work which has confounded a generation of readers, yet which awaits the perusal of the English-speaking public.Of the text itself, however, certain passages stood in need of some editorial attention. We took counsel with ourselves to discover what latitude the translator may allow himself in dealing with an admittedly complicated text.
One consideration is that we don't really care for the novel. We found it to be full of gross syntactical errors and felt that the author had even misspoken himself in several places. We have tried to rectify this where possible. It also struck us that his mastery of the lexicon of his own language was less than perfect; we therefore took the liberty of revising his choice of words in many passages.
We have also had to insert a chapter of our own composition to account for events which otherwise remain poorly motivated; and we have discarded several chapters which (in our eyes) seemed to weaken the argument.
In general, it might be claimed that we have produced a different novel. Well, perhaps we have.
We therefore destroyed the original in all its editions, ordered copies in private hands to be confiscated and burned, and even visited the author's widow and obtained the original manuscript, and had her arrested and imprisoned.
So the matter is concluded. Enjoy!
posted by P | at 5:07 PM | |
The Light of Reason
· According to today's entry, Arthur Silber is giving up his weblog. That's a great shame, since he has consistently written some of the most interesting and thoughtful essays in the format. He writes: "There truly is no point in my spending hours and even days in thinking, reading and writing about these kinds of issues if next to no one is going to be reading what I post here." I understand that, of course. Still, I regard weblogs as a sort of notebook that you can share with your friends, or even with strangers who happen to have similar interests. I don't know what you could do to encourage Mr Silber, other than to keep on reading him. His e-mail is contact@light-of-reason.com.
Lately he has been writing a series called "The Roots of Horror", which examines the causes and results of cruelty. I don't think the series is archived yet, but the latest installment is here.
Looking for a piece on growing up gay that I remember thinking the best of its kind, and very moving (it's here), I was surprised to see how much material he has written. Probably enough to fill a couple books of essays. It's all good stuff. Maybe Mr Silber ought to think about that.
posted by P | at 3:45 PM | |
McPiggishe Portions
· Maybe Colby Cosh is right about the ukase from the head office of McDonald's to discontinue the super-size line of their many fine products. I don't know. I don't have a degree in marketing or anything. Also, I missed out on the whole McDonald's phenomenon for several reasons. First, their coffee is no good. It tastes as if some senior citizen tried to make instant coffee in a mug that already had an inch or two of cold tea in it. Next, their regular hamburger is as nothing, a puff of air. Making it bigger doesn't help. Any of the hamburgers from the standard fast food places is much better. And, finally, the fries! Extruded potato mush fried in vegetable gunge, i.e., oil derived from some weed that people don't normally eat. How hard (or expensive) could it be to actually cut up real potatoes and give them a good zap in beef dripping? Still, to have removed all flavour from meat and potatoes is an unparalleled achievement.
posted by P | at 2:55 PM | |