I read the news today, oh boy...
Jan. 29th, 2011 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakEgypt: wow. Aside from everything else, though, it reminds me again of the innate hypocrisy and contradiction of the West regarding the Middle East. We'd like you to be democratic and free, sure, but only if it can be guaranteed your freely elected goverment will be pro-West and above all secular; otherwise, we'd rather keep the pro-West despot in place, thanks. And I do mean "West", not just "US". Among the many, many Wikileaks that somehow never made headlines as opposed to gossip was the fact the German goverment agreed not to press any charges against the CIA agents who abducted a German citizen in order to torture interrogate him. Guess where to? Egypt. Back to the present: monanotlisa put up a post detailing what you can do from here about the internet and telephone lockdown. Meanwhile, this tweet from two days ago is amazing.
***
In more lighthearted news, today's Süddeutsche in its book review section has a headlline saying "Was it gay love?" about the latest book on Goethe and Schiller, by Katharina Mommsen. Seems literature professors finally got around to slashing our two literary giants. People, I did that six years ago, and also more recently two years ago. The review itself, written by a male professor on the work of a female one, is rather fun because it's really just like a current day slash fanboy meets fangirl debate on the internet. Basically Gustav Seibt liked her book and thinks she sort of kind of has a point that it was intense and not your avarage friendship, and yes, okay, Goethe published that 1805 (year of Schiller's death) pro-homosexual love essay about Winckelmann... but he still thinks they really were 100% heterosexual and "love" in the famous "dem Vortrefflichen gegenüber git es keine Freiheit als die Liebe" (Schiller to Goethe, look up the quote in English in my linked old slash post) doesn't mean, you know, love, but "selflessness". If you say so, Gustav, if you say so. For readers of these ramblings who know German, the title of this pioneer slash work is "Kein Rettungsmittel als die Liebe" (that was Goethe's variation of Schiller's statement which he used in one of his later novels, and the difference between "freedom" and "salvation" is telling. I'll look it up when I can. One must support the followers of one's old thesis. :)
****
Speaking of academics, I see you can now graduate on your Beatles knowledge. (Cue lots of song title puns in the comments to the article.) I find this rather charming and of course wonder that if I hadn't my PhD already, whether I could go to England score with my knowledge. Probably not, because, like certain composers, I can't actually read music. But you know, I bluffed my way through a three-terms-seminar on Wagner by biographical knowledge alone and got great degrees, so who knows. Meanwhile, try out this quiz on your own Beatles knowledge. .
Something else I came across was someone putting up a 1966 Teen World article in which the Beatles each give a list of replies to the question "what tickles your fancy". Bearing in mind that these kind of list replies could have been just written by the busy Derek Taylor, their PR guy, it's also possible they were genuine replies because some are just odd and random enough (and became true later, which in 1966 no public relations man could know they would). Anyroad, as the Beatles would say, the replies make for hilarious and at times touching reading. Particular highlights:
Ringo:
- Buying loads of toys for baby Zak and playing with them before Zak does.
- Having wild pillow fights in airplanes.
- Talking like Donald Duck, even though he hates the cartoon character.
- Wearing a cowboy hat to the breakfast table.
(Comment by yours truly: I think there is a YouTube clip out somewhere where Ringo talks like Donald Duck, and we now know whose faults all those pillow fights were. *g*)
Paul:
- Hiding John's glasses.
- To sketch his mates when they don't know he's sketching them.
- Catching frogs.
- To get married, buy a house, settle down and raise loads of children.
- To grow a beard and mustache.
(Comment: What's up with the frogs, Paul? (Actually, brother Michael told the world what that was all about. ) Also, the beard kind of worked for you but the mustache was not your friend. Loads of children, check.)
John:
- To take Cyn and the baby with him wherever he goes.
- To film the other Beatles off-guard with his movie camera.
- Beating Paul at a game of chess.
- Having one of his old teachers, who used to scold him, ask him for his autograph.
- To be able to eat all he wants and as much as he wants without gaining any weight.
- To make his mother-in- law take out the garbage.
(Comment: if he really said that about Cynthia and Julian, double aw. LOL about the teacher. The mother-in-law wish definitely sounds like John, and so does the eating thing. The reason why he was so frighteningly thin from the late 60s onwards was that some idiot called him "the fat Beatle" around Help! and he had body loathing issues ever since.)
George:
- To set a world's speed record for sports car driving.
- Choosing all of Pattie's clothes.
- NOT to sing in the shower.
- Owning a pair of PINK suede boots.
- Pulling loose threads from his buddies clothes.
(Comment: George sure loves car races. And clothes. Choosing all of Pattie's, George, really? Also, figures he'd be a thread puller.)
Overall comment: Paul and John both have a thing for secret sketches/recordings, it seems. While George and Ringo democratically want to tease everyone, Paul has it in for John's glasses in particular and John has chess issues. In conclusion, aw.
Lastly: David Tennant proves his impeccable taste in music:
monanotlisa put up a post detailing what you can do from here about the internet and telephone lockdown. Meanwhile, this tweet from two days ago is amazing. ***
In more lighthearted news, today's Süddeutsche in its book review section has a headlline saying "Was it gay love?" about the latest book on Goethe and Schiller, by Katharina Mommsen. Seems literature professors finally got around to slashing our two literary giants. People, I did that six years ago, and also more recently two years ago. The review itself, written by a male professor on the work of a female one, is rather fun because it's really just like a current day slash fanboy meets fangirl debate on the internet. Basically Gustav Seibt liked her book and thinks she sort of kind of has a point that it was intense and not your avarage friendship, and yes, okay, Goethe published that 1805 (year of Schiller's death) pro-homosexual love essay about Winckelmann... but he still thinks they really were 100% heterosexual and "love" in the famous "dem Vortrefflichen gegenüber git es keine Freiheit als die Liebe" (Schiller to Goethe, look up the quote in English in my linked old slash post) doesn't mean, you know, love, but "selflessness". If you say so, Gustav, if you say so. For readers of these ramblings who know German, the title of this pioneer slash work is "Kein Rettungsmittel als die Liebe" (that was Goethe's variation of Schiller's statement which he used in one of his later novels, and the difference between "freedom" and "salvation" is telling. I'll look it up when I can. One must support the followers of one's old thesis. :)
****
Speaking of academics, I see you can now graduate on your Beatles knowledge. (Cue lots of song title puns in the comments to the article.) I find this rather charming and of course wonder that if I hadn't my PhD already, whether I could go to England score with my knowledge. Probably not, because, like certain composers, I can't actually read music. But you know, I bluffed my way through a three-terms-seminar on Wagner by biographical knowledge alone and got great degrees, so who knows. Meanwhile, try out this quiz on your own Beatles knowledge. .
Something else I came across was someone putting up a 1966 Teen World article in which the Beatles each give a list of replies to the question "what tickles your fancy". Bearing in mind that these kind of list replies could have been just written by the busy Derek Taylor, their PR guy, it's also possible they were genuine replies because some are just odd and random enough (and became true later, which in 1966 no public relations man could know they would). Anyroad, as the Beatles would say, the replies make for hilarious and at times touching reading. Particular highlights:
Ringo:
- Buying loads of toys for baby Zak and playing with them before Zak does.
- Having wild pillow fights in airplanes.
- Talking like Donald Duck, even though he hates the cartoon character.
- Wearing a cowboy hat to the breakfast table.
(Comment by yours truly: I think there is a YouTube clip out somewhere where Ringo talks like Donald Duck, and we now know whose faults all those pillow fights were. *g*)
Paul:
- Hiding John's glasses.
- To sketch his mates when they don't know he's sketching them.
- Catching frogs.
- To get married, buy a house, settle down and raise loads of children.
- To grow a beard and mustache.
(Comment: What's up with the frogs, Paul? (Actually, brother Michael told the world what that was all about. ) Also, the beard kind of worked for you but the mustache was not your friend. Loads of children, check.)
John:
- To take Cyn and the baby with him wherever he goes.
- To film the other Beatles off-guard with his movie camera.
- Beating Paul at a game of chess.
- Having one of his old teachers, who used to scold him, ask him for his autograph.
- To be able to eat all he wants and as much as he wants without gaining any weight.
- To make his mother-in- law take out the garbage.
(Comment: if he really said that about Cynthia and Julian, double aw. LOL about the teacher. The mother-in-law wish definitely sounds like John, and so does the eating thing. The reason why he was so frighteningly thin from the late 60s onwards was that some idiot called him "the fat Beatle" around Help! and he had body loathing issues ever since.)
George:
- To set a world's speed record for sports car driving.
- Choosing all of Pattie's clothes.
- NOT to sing in the shower.
- Owning a pair of PINK suede boots.
- Pulling loose threads from his buddies clothes.
(Comment: George sure loves car races. And clothes. Choosing all of Pattie's, George, really? Also, figures he'd be a thread puller.)
Overall comment: Paul and John both have a thing for secret sketches/recordings, it seems. While George and Ringo democratically want to tease everyone, Paul has it in for John's glasses in particular and John has chess issues. In conclusion, aw.
Lastly: David Tennant proves his impeccable taste in music:
