March 29, 2004
RIP Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Ustinov, actor, director, producer, playwright, raconteur and a host of other things, died in Switzerland at the weekend at the age of 82. He was one of the most extraordinary theatrical figures of the 20th century. [...]
He went to Westminster School where, aged 14, he earned his first fee for a satirical piece about Von Ribbentrop's son, a fellow pupil. An early school report on Ustinov said: "He shows great originality which must be curbed at all costs."
He left school at 16 without qualification or distinction. At the London Theatre Studio he rapidly made a name for himself as an actor and writer in revue. He wrote his first play at the age of 18 and directed his first film at the age of 24.
Ustinov was called up into the army and served for a time as David Niven's batman. He found himself working on an official film, A School For Secrets, at the Malvern radar establishment.
And to the fury of his fellow privates, he was assigned a car and driver, a suite of rooms, two WAAFs to bring him tea and dust his rifle, and a pass which said: "This man may go anywhere and do anything at his discretion."
But later, during the war, he told an officers' selection board that he had a preference for tanks "because you can go into battle sitting down".
Inevitably, the board issued a warning: "On no account must this man be put in charge of others." [...]
The great critic, James Agate, once said of him: "Ustinov is whipped by something which must be genius since it cannot be talent, for the first characteristic of talent is the taking of trouble, and I suspect that Ustinov never takes any." [...]
Some people have said that Ustinov spread himself too thinly. He was invariably dashing around the world from his home in Switzerland, promoting books, making TV series, recording voice-overs, writing newspaper articles or speaking at seminars and literary lunches.
He was always more feted in Germany (where they continually reprinted all his literary endeavours), Switzerland (whose National Library keeps his entire oeuvre on microfilm) and France (where he was elected to Orson Welles's chair at the Academie des Beaux Arts) than he was in his native Britain.
Told you so
Ian Thorpe swam his way onto the Athens Olympic team tonight as debate continued to rage over Craig Stevens' right to contest the 400m freestyle in Greece.
Thorpe swam the seventh fastest 200m freestyle in history at the Sydney trials, powering to the wall in one minute:45.07 seconds to put his place on his second Olympic team beyond doubt.
The triple Olympic gold medallist said he was relieved after the drama of the past few days which saw his chance to defend his Olympic 400m crown in Athens drown after he fell from the blocks in his opening swim of the championships.
He said his plan for tonight's 200m freestyle final was "to be that far in front that no-one was going to catch me".
"That's how I swam the race tonight, to make sure that I got on the team."
Which he's now done. Now that he's going to Athens, perhaps we can now start giving Craig Stevens a break?
L'affaire Thorpe
One of the consequences of declaring Saturday a day of blog-rest was that I missed out commenting on the unexpected disqualification of Ian Thorpe in the Olympic qualifiers that day. Following today's news, however, I now intend to go on at some length on the subject.
AUSTRALIA'S wonder swimmer Ian Thorpe may still compete in his favourite event, the 400m freestyle, at the Athens Olympics even though he was sensationally disqualified in the weekend trials.
Some of Australia's leading swimming and sporting officials are working behind the scenes to find a compromise that will allow Thorpe to compete in the 400m without disadvantaging the man who has qualified to swim, Craig Stevens.
A spokesman for the Australian Olympic Committee said there was a chance "it might play out that way".
"But it would be totally his [Stevens'] decision. We would not put him under any pressure," the spokesman said. [...]
Thorpe failed to qualify for the 400m in Athens after being disqualified for breaking in his heat on Saturday at Sydney Aquatic Centre.
Thorpe toppled into the water, seemingly taking his hopes of swimming in the event in Athens to a watery grave. It was claimed Thorpe had heard a noise and the starter had held the swimmers on the blocks for too long.
The heat was won by Grant Hackett with Craig Stevens second and both automatically qualified for the only two 400m places open to Australia.
But Stevens, 23, is now the centre of attention as speculation mounts that he could choose to surrender his place in the 400m to Thorpe in Athens and concentrate on his pet event the 1500m – provided he qualifies.
Continue reading "L'affaire Thorpe"
March 28, 2004
Yuck
Top doc backs picking your nose and eating it
Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor.
Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies.
He says society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking and encourage children to take it up.
Dr Bischinger said: "With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner.
"And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system.
"Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine.
"Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing through far more complicated methods, people who pick their nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system for free."
No comment.
American suspicions about French perfidiousness confirmed
French lawyer to defend Saddam
Another 24-hour spate of shootings and bombings has taken the lives of nine people in Iraq, as a French lawyer agreed to represent ousted president Saddam Hussein during an upcoming trial. [...]
In Paris, veteran French lawyer Jacques Verges, whose former clients include ex-Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie and the terrorist known as Carlos "the Jackal" Ramirez Sanchez, said he had been asked to defend Saddam Hussein.
Verges also said he feared for Saddam's life and warned that occupation forces must not be allowed to kill Saddam "to avoid a trial in which their own liability will become apparent". [...]
Verges' defence of Barbie at his 1987 trial helped bring France face-to-face with its ambiguous wartime past.
More recently he became vice-president of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic and represented the former Yugoslav leader in a suit before the European Court of Human Rights.
Oof. I know that even the indefensible are still entitled to a defence in court, but I can't imagine wanting to make a career out of it like Verges appears to have done...
Pope interferes in great Australian traditions
Pope John Paul II today urged Australian bishops to inspire Catholics to attend Mass on Sundays, a day he said should not be dominated by sport.
He told bishops to be fearless in their fight to combat secularism and stressed the importance of marriage and family life.
The Pope underlined the importance of Sunday Mass attendance, saying the day should not become subordinate to a "secular concept of weekend dominated by such things as entertainment and sport".
He said he was concerned at Australia's growing trend away from marriage in favour of living together and it was the job of bishops to ensure the values of marriage were upheld in society and the media. [...]
The Pope said the destructive attitude of secularism had found fertile ground in Australia, emphasising the need to get people back to church.
Dear Karol,
Go to hell.
Sincerely,
Hot Buttered Death
Chris Shiel goes down to the crossroads
The Back Pages maestro offers this initial appraisal of that book about Robert Johnson which I first posted about a couple of months back and promises more in that vein soon. This is a book I'm evidently going to have to read—never having entirely "got" Robert Johnson (nor, indeed, have I ever "got" blues in general), it sounds like it might offer me some enlightenment—although the price tag Chris quotes makes me think I'll be borrowing it from my local library if and when they get it in...
With friends like this, Mel Gibson doesn't need enemies
Shi'ite Cleric Urges Kuwait to Lift 'Passion' Ban
Kuwait should lift a ban on Mel Gibson'scontroversial film "The Passion of The Christ" as it exposes the role of Jews in his death, a top Shi'ite Muslim cleric said in remarks published on Saturday.
"We demand the Information Ministry to allow the film 'The Passion of The Christ', peace be upon Him, to expose the role of the Jews, the killers of prophets," said Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri. [...]
The Kuwaiti Information Ministry has banned the film from local cinemas, citing a blanket ban on all films that depict prophets. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet.
Money changes everything
Van Halen Ends Feud with Former Singer, Sets Tour
One of pop music's messiest feuds has come to an end with the return of vocalist Sammy Hagar to rock band Van Halen after an eight-year absence, the veteran group said on Friday.
Additionally, Van Halen will return to the road this summer for the first time in nearly six years, launching a tour of indoor North American arenas in Greensboro, North Carolina on June 11. [...]
The Van Halen reunion brings the band back full circle to 1985, when Hagar first joined the foursome after original vocalist David Lee Roth quit for a patchy solo career. With Hagar on board and guitarist Eddie Van Halen wowing fans with his flashy riffs, the band maintained its hit streak with such tunes as "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Dreams."
Amid growing tensions, Hagar left Van Halen in early 1996 claiming that he was fired by his bandmates; they countered that he quit. He resurrected his solo career and even toured with Roth. Van Halen hired a new singer, Gary Cherone, and saw its fortunes plummet, ultimately losing its deal at Warner Bros. Records. The band has been inactive in recent years.
Amazing what an evident need for some ready cash can do, eh, and remarkable its abilities to bring estranged bandmates back together again. Admittedly it would've been more impressive if Roth was rejoining the band, though...
March 26, 2004
And the winner is...
Craig Ruddy's portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil has taken out this year's Archibald Prize.
The trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales also gave Danelle Bergstrom's Franco Belgioro-Nettis - 'larger than life' a Highly Commended - indicating this year's contest was a close-run race. [...]
David Gulpilil, two worlds portrays one of Australia's leading Aboriginal actors, who has achieved international fame in films such as Walkabout, The Last Wave, Storm Boy, Crocodile Dundee, Rabbit Proof Fence and The Tracker. Between films, Gulpilil, of the Mandalpingu Tribe, returns to Arnhem Land and his traditional lifestyle.
The work is in charcoal and graphite atop floral wallpaper - a William Morris design from the Florence Broadhurst Collection which is in the dining room at Kirribilli House.
"The bold, free spirited line work of the charcoal and graphite contrast with the structured and refined opulence of the colonial English wallpaper. I hope that the work represents the energy and spirituality that I experienced in his presence ... ," explained the artist.
Worthy winner, I think, although something about the thing still puzzles me. Maybe it's because Ruddy used what are basically drawing tools rather than painting tools, it looks more like a very large drawing than anything else. Still, a good choice.
Continue reading "And the winner is..."Take the Cubans bowling, take them bowling
"Go bowling" Chavez urges Cubans
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has added one more product to the crude oil he is sending to help strengthen ties with ally Fidel Castro -- bowling balls.
Speaking to medical students preparing to study in Havana, the leftist Chavez said on Wednesday he would send with them 500 sets of heavy wooden Venezuelan bowling balls so they can teach their Cuban counterparts one of the country's national pastimes.
"We are donating 500 games of Creole bowling. Go and teach the Cubans how to roll and strike, as they don't get it," the Chavez said, using the technical terms of the game.
Because when you're living under a repressive totalitarian regime, knowing how to play bowls is obviously a key survival skill.
Indeed
Romanian villagers decry police investigation into vampire slaying
Before Toma Petre's relatives pulled his body from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he hadn't been in the news much.
That's often the way here with vampires. Quiet lives, active deaths.
Sometimes a news story offers such a brilliant opening paragraph that you have no idea what else to say. This is one of them.
So?
Carmen Electra thinks about sex every 20 seconds
Former Baywatch star Carmen Electra says she thinks about sex every 20 seconds.
And? Men are supposed to think of sex every seven seconds. Think you're smart or something, Carmen?
John Quiggin will be thrilled to hear this
The Bill is to remain on television screens until 2010 after ITV signed it up for 480 more episodes.
The £200m recommission is ITV's biggest ever.
Director of programmes Nigel Pickard said the deal made sure the 20-year-old show couldn't be taken by rivals.
Five made a bid in 2000 for the drama, which has up to nine million viewers.
So that's another six years of TV John Quiggin won't be watching, then...
Relations between Christianity and Islam set back decades
Former archbishop lays into Islamic culture
Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has launched a trenchant attack on Islamic culture, saying it was authoritarian, inflexible and under-achieving.
Because the same thing could never be said of Christianity at any point in its history, of course.
Contrasting western democracy with Islamic societies, he said: "Throughout the Middle East and North Africa we find authoritarian regimes with deeply entrenched leadership, some of which rose to power at the point of a gun and are retained in power by massive investment in security forces.
"Whether they are military dictatorships or traditional sovereignties, each ruler seems committed to retaining power and privilege."
Again, this is something that's never happened in human history to non-Muslim nations?
Dr Carey said that, while Christianity and Judaism had a long history of often painful critical scholarship, Islamic theology was only now being challenged to become more open to examination.
"In the case of Islam, Mohammed, acknowledged by all in spite of his religious greatness to be an illiterate man, is said to have received God's word direct, word by word, from angels, and scribes recorded them later.
"Thus believers are told, because they have come direct from Allah, they are not to be questioned or revised.
"In the first few centuries of the Islamic era, Islamic theologians sought to meet the challenge this implied, but during the past 500 years critical scholarship has declined, leading to strong resistance to modernity."
Because, again, Christianity offered no resistance to modernity and has no history of banning and burning its perceived heretics? Islam has problems but please let's not pretend it's alone in this, your lordship. I'm sure you feel uncomfortable criticising your former employer and all that, but blithely pretending we don't have historical faults of our own won't get us far.
"It will do us little good if the West simply believes the answer is to put an end to Osama bin Laden. Rather we must put an end to conditions, distortions and misinformation that create Osama bin Laden and his many emulators."
No dispute there, at least.
China enters new golden age of openness in communication and freedom of speech and information
All Typepad Sites Banned in China (Story Filed For Independent Media)
All typepad.com and blogs.com hosted sites are banned in China starting this morning, a week after China has agreed to amend its constitution to respect human rights. This is another move by the Central government to curb free speech and freedom of information on the Internet. This is the first time in two years that China has blocked access to foreign servers that host personal sites.
Last week saw two hosting services within China, blogbus and blogscn banned. After shutting down forums and message boards within the country, it’s now using blocking software to stop information from leaking into the county via personal sites, an increasingly vibrant China internet community, and a place where users are slipping in banned information.
The sad irony is, of course, this story comes from a Typepad site, so no one in China will be able to read it. Although I dare say the Chinese government will be doing their best to make sure they can't read about it anywhere else either.
Gun nuts cream pants
James Bond would be impressed.
A hand gun that speaks several languages, broadcasts the conversation to the police, fires lethal and non-lethal bullets and is activated only by the grip of the registered owner.
The Guinness Book of Records has declared the gun, officially known as a Variable lethality enforcement (Vle) weapon, the world's most intelligent firearm.
It has also named the Vle's big brother, which is 36 times its size and has a potential firing rate of one million rounds a minute, as the world's fastest.
Tex, if you're reading, you're the only person I know who's into these things. What's the difference between lethal and non-lethal bullets? Cos I'd have thought the actual part of the body the bullet struck would be the determining factor. Do you live if you get shot in the heart with a non-lethal bullet? Do you die if you get shot in the leg with a lethal one? I don't get it.
March 25, 2004
Interesting choice of words
Moroccan Jewish leader condemns killing
A leader of Morocco’s Jewish community has condemned what he describes as the “arrogant” killing by Israel of Hamas founder Shaikh Ahmad Yasin, calling it “an act of bestiality”.
What did they do to kill this guy, then? Hire a hippopotamus to fuck him to death?
About bloody time
The Catallaxy collective have finally gone over to Movable Type and can now be found here.
Woo, traffic!
Hello to everyone—and there would appear to be very large numbers of you—visiting via the link from Gawker (thanks to whom for which; all I need is for Instapundit to notice me and I can die a happy man... actually no, I probably wouldn't). Hope you like the rest of what's on offer here.
March 24, 2004
Hollywood screenwriters chalk up victory
Directors' 'Film By' Shift Approved by Studios
Hollywood's studios have approved an overhaul of the Directors Guild of America's (DGA) controversial "film by" credit, a tag whose liberal usage has long annoyed the town's screenwriters, the two sides said Tuesday.
Under the new rules, a first-time director cannot receive a possessory credit unless he or she brought the property that was the basis of the film to the studio and was substantially involved in its development.
In another concessionary move, the DGA abandoned a 20-year-old rule that allowed directors to get an automatic "film by" credit on outdoor advertising when there were six or more personal credits. That requirement was originally intended to discourage the proliferation of credits, but just the opposite eventually happened.
The studios also will be given nonbinding guidelines suggesting criteria for awarding credits, including whether a director has a marketable name, has a signature style of filmmaking, has completed at least three feature-length films or has earned the possessory credit in the past.
The DGA's basic agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios and producers in contract negotiations, has been amended with a side letter containing the proposals, which were announced by the guild last month.
The DGA took the initiative on the issue in part to ease tensions with the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has opposed the credit because of the collaborative nature of productions. WGA West officials declined comment on the issue Tuesday.
"It ameliorates what has become a very rancorous problem and once again makes the 'film by' credit meaningful," an AMPTP spokesperson said.
Because there's nothing more meaningful when it comes to an inherently collaborative artform than ascribing sole creative credit to one individual, is there.
Boy, there's a shock
Hollywood Studios Suffer Budget Blowout
In his final appearance at the movie theater industry's annual ShoWest convention Tuesday, Hollywood's top lobbyist revealed that the average cost of making and marketing a movie for the major studios he represents passed $100 million for the first time last year.
Negative costs per film climbed to $63.8 million, an 8.6% increase over 2002, outgoing Motion Picture Assn. of America (MPAA) president and CEO Jack Valenti said in his annual report to conference attendees.
And the cost of prints and advertising soared to $39.05 million, a 27.5% increase over 2002, which the MPAA attributed to significant increases in the cost of television advertising.
The combined increase of 15% marked the steepest annual increase in production and marketing outlays since 1997, when the average figure increased by 27%.
Coining a new metaphor, Valenti attributed the spiraling costs to "the cost tapeworm wiggling so energetically in film production, nibbling, chewing, eating the fiscal molecules of the business." He called on studio executives to make budget discipline "a fervid priority."
Next: irritably teeth-gritting studio execs ask Jack Valenti, since he's so smart, how the hell to convince those obscenely overpaid movie stars to, you know, accept less money. If they didn't insist on $10-20m per film you might find budgets dropping somewhat...
If we can't, neither can you
From 'I do' to 'you can't': county bans all weddings
In a new twist in the battle over same-sex marriage roiling the United States, a county in Oregon has banned all marriages - gay and heterosexual - until the state decides who can and who cannot wed.
The last marriage licences were handed out in Benton County at 4pm local time today, with officials in the county of 79,000 people expected from tomorrow to tell couples applying for licences to go elsewhere until the gay marriage debate is settled.
"It may seem odd," Benton County Commissioner Linda Modrell told Reuters in a telephone interview, but "we need to treat everyone in our county equally." [...]
Rebekah Kassell, a spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon, a pro-gay marriage group, told Reuters; "It is certainly a different way for county commissioners to respect their constitutional obligation to apply the law equally to everyone.
"We appreciate that they are willing to say they are not going to participate in discrimination."
The temptation to throw one's hands up and ask, again, "what the fuck is WRONG with these people?" is nonetheless great. This really is too silly for words.
Oh how the world needed to know this
Spanish singer ENRIQUE IGLESIAS has dismantled his hunky image - he's confessed to having a small penis.
The HERO star - boyfriend of gorgeous Russian tennis player ANNA KOURNIKOVA - made the shocking admission when asked whether he would ever pose naked on one of his album covers.
He candidly answered, "Maybe I have not got the biggest penis in the world. Maybe if you had the biggest penis in the world, you would sell records.
"But I don't. I could actually have the smallest penis in the world out there."
Well it's not quite directly admitting to being hung like a baby carrot, but even so...
The long swift sword of Francis
A local historian has found the long-lost relic of one of the more dramatic, bizarre and comical incidents in Australian history - the cavalry officer's sword used by Francis de Groot to crash the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Andrew Moore, associate professor of history at the University of Western Sydney, located the sword on a farm in Ireland. The National Museum of Australia plans to bring it back home.
Professor Moore made the discovery after giving a paper at University College Dublin, on Irish-Australian history, in which he mentioned the sword. "A man from the audience approached me after the talk and said his name was Frank de Groot," Professor Moore said yesterday. "He said, 'I can solve the mystery of the sword. I have it'."
Frank de Groot is the nephew of Francis, also known as Frank, de Groot. The historian accompanied the nephew to his farm in County Wicklow, where the Irishman indicated he was amenable to having the sword returned to Australia.
"The sword is being valued," Martin Portus, of the National Museum, said yesterday. "We are fairly confident of buying it." [...]
De Groot was a Dublin-born antique dealer and manufacturer of fine furniture. He refitted the retailer David Jones, was an associate of Sir Samuel Hordern and made a ceremonial chair for the governor-general Sir Isaac Isaacs.
But his most remembered claim to fame came 72 years ago last Friday, on March 19, 1932. He worked his way on horseback into the official party at the opening of the bridge.
The NSW premier, Jack Lang, was to cut the ribbon, but de Groot got there first, slashing it with his sword and declaring the bridge open "in the name of the decent and respectable people of NSW".
De Groot was a member of the New Guard, an organisation Professor Moore calls Australia's "rather premature manifestation of inter-war fascism". It opposed Lang's Labor government. [...]
Professor Moore said that, although a fascist, de Groot "did democracy a good turn". The New Guard had wanted to stage a coup and kidnap Lang. De Groot had deflected even more fanatical members from more militant action.
"Because it assumed a comical flavour, the long-term effect of the incident was to diminish the reality of the dangers of right-wing extremism in Australia," Professor Moore said.
