Tuesday, May 18, 2004
"I'd rather be a quack than a ducky..."
It's the Blackadder Random Quote Generator!
""I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a concrete elephant."
Every good home should have one.
""I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a concrete elephant."
Every good home should have one.
Revisionist Rubbish
This is disgusting:
"...we all know that Zionism is Fascism and the only "rules" of fighting Fascism are BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. So now let's go over what "by any means necessary means". By any means necessary, means by ANY MEANS necessary...
...Even those who stand solid on other key issues of the day, would have us fight Zionism, free of Human Bombs (even thought "Israeli" is not a civilian or ethnicity but status as Settler Colonialists, but rather cuff our right arm to our left leg and slap the Zionist Enemy effeminately while asking "Am I being too anti-semitic?". [sic sic sic, to all of it]
He goes on, after a lot of other rubbish bits of nonsense, to write:
You see you can not fight Zionism free of the need to cuff your right arm to you left leg, until you are willing to go head to head with the fact that "Jewish" suffering is largely irrational, illusionary, and most of all THE PRIMARY TACTIC FOR REALLY OPPRESSING AND EXPLOITING OTHERS.
So much for Indymedia being an "outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth." This writer can't even be accurate in his language, let alone his facts. The whole piece is a vile bit of Holocaust revisionism, which doesn't deserve any sort of airing, let alone publishing on a 'respected' server.
[Via 'The Unspeakable Truth']
"...we all know that Zionism is Fascism and the only "rules" of fighting Fascism are BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. So now let's go over what "by any means necessary means". By any means necessary, means by ANY MEANS necessary...
...Even those who stand solid on other key issues of the day, would have us fight Zionism, free of Human Bombs (even thought "Israeli" is not a civilian or ethnicity but status as Settler Colonialists, but rather cuff our right arm to our left leg and slap the Zionist Enemy effeminately while asking "Am I being too anti-semitic?". [sic sic sic, to all of it]
He goes on, after a lot of other rubbish bits of nonsense, to write:
You see you can not fight Zionism free of the need to cuff your right arm to you left leg, until you are willing to go head to head with the fact that "Jewish" suffering is largely irrational, illusionary, and most of all THE PRIMARY TACTIC FOR REALLY OPPRESSING AND EXPLOITING OTHERS.
So much for Indymedia being an "outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth." This writer can't even be accurate in his language, let alone his facts. The whole piece is a vile bit of Holocaust revisionism, which doesn't deserve any sort of airing, let alone publishing on a 'respected' server.
[Via 'The Unspeakable Truth']
Monday, May 17, 2004
Mural Discourse
There's a debate going on on the walls of Oxford at the moment as to whether the slogan "Love is Subversive" is something noble or simply the product of a nob. You decide.
Also interesting is the series of exclamations along New College walls - '?', '?!', '!!!?' This seems to be a case of 'invent-your-own graffiti'. Just fill it in with the proposition of your choice and you're set.
As to whether or not the gargoyles outside New College look like busty Stalins, we'll have to wait for photographic evidence...
Also interesting is the series of exclamations along New College walls - '?', '?!', '!!!?' This seems to be a case of 'invent-your-own graffiti'. Just fill it in with the proposition of your choice and you're set.
As to whether or not the gargoyles outside New College look like busty Stalins, we'll have to wait for photographic evidence...
Are you going to San Francisco Boston?
Happy news from Massachusetts.
I can't find a full picture gallery yet, but there are pictures illustrating articles here and here.
I can't find a full picture gallery yet, but there are pictures illustrating articles here and here.
Black as night in the nut hut
[Via Norm]
Which Beatles song are you?
"You are 'Help'... because you really need help! Go to the NUT HUT!"
Which Stones song are you?
"You are "Paint it Black." One part suffering, one part anger, one part creepy, you are the perfect amalgamation of rock and a spirit that just can't take it anymore. Then, of course, there are those people who think you're all about an acid trip. Whatever; use your imagination. You're clearly good at it."
Which Beatles song are you?
"You are 'Help'... because you really need help! Go to the NUT HUT!"
Which Stones song are you?
"You are "Paint it Black." One part suffering, one part anger, one part creepy, you are the perfect amalgamation of rock and a spirit that just can't take it anymore. Then, of course, there are those people who think you're all about an acid trip. Whatever; use your imagination. You're clearly good at it."
Toronto Blessing and the noble savage...
I had an extremely strange evening on Saturday, spent in the company of about four or five hundred born-again Christians in a service which was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I went along, a typical cynic, because I'd been told that the people they had visiting had healed members of the congregation the night before - of asthma, broken limbs, back problems and the like - and, having a very visible skin disease myself, wanted to prove it was rubbish if they tried to do the same thing again.
The visitors were John and Carol Arnott, founders of the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church in the 1980s, at which many people have supposedly been healed and the phenomenon of 'holy laughter' has found a big place. Since the phenomenon has spread, with visitors to the church returning home and bringing the same things with them, it's come to be known as the 'Toronto Blessing'. Needless to say, the movement has pretty dodgy foundations.
There were some incredibly weird things going on in the meeting. Hysterical laughter would spread across the room and then fade (I felt like laughing at points, but not like that). People would fall on the floor when John touched them and start barking like dogs, or screaming uncontrollably, and by the end at least half of the people there were lying on the floor 'soaking in the holy spirit' after he had blown on them. Carol was 'casting out' demons from one woman as I left - a woman I'd already seen in an hysterical fit on the floor earlier in the night. As well as all this there was 'prophesying', 'speaking in tongues', 'testimonials of healing' and a lot of other stuff which seemed almost normal by comparison. The meeting lasted nearly four hours.
I can only say that I felt it was simply mass hysteria, but it was cynically-induced mass hysteria and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. A lot was done to sustain the tension in the room and force people into a group mindset. When the talk began John would force people to stayed zoned in by repeatedly making people turn to their neighbours and pray with them, or shout statements at them such as 'Fire on you!' I'm also pretty sure some people were planted to start off the laughter each time it happened, as it always seemed to begin in the same place. All this kept the tension going for the final 'laying on of hands', which put most of the congregation to the floor.
I had hands lain on me and of course I didn't fall, which prompted John to call to the member of the ministry team behind me 'More spirit on this one! More!'. So then I had two hands pressed around my ears and a man chanting to me that the holy spirit should fill me. But with his hands on my ears I was losing my balance, swaying a fair bit, and determined not to fall. In the end he gave in and said 'you're doing just fine... you've got the spirit in you... you don't need to fall', at which point I broke the spell by turning round and nodding agreement.
But all this, the cynical tactics, the laughter, the screaming and everything else, is annoying me much less in retrospect than what I remember of John's talk. Because the talk was vile in many ways - he would sidetrack simply in order to have a rant about evolution, for instance. But what really got to me was the huge emphasis being placed on emotional and spiritual contact with the holy spirit, and the de-emphasis of rationality. We were told to really 'love' Jesus, to stop questioning things and instead to soak in the holy spirit. Then we were told how fast Christianity was spreading in Asia and Africa, and he returned at several points to the example of Nigeria.
We were told at one point that the people of Africa, and Nigeria in particular, were really open to spiritual teachings, that they accepted these things more easily than we did and we should do the same. Which to me basically interpreted as 'these people are closer to their own weird rituals than you are, so they're more open to ours'. And here's the rub. Because so much of the talk seemed to centre on this sort of assertion and because that assertion is deeply founded in the 'noble savage' racist mentality, fetishising what we were once told to despise. How can an entire movement justify itself in that way?
I haven't been able to stop thinking about the meeting during the past few days. I've always been one for moral grey lines, but I've never felt quite so much that I might acutally be in the presence of evil. How ironic that it should be at a 'Christian' event...
The visitors were John and Carol Arnott, founders of the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church in the 1980s, at which many people have supposedly been healed and the phenomenon of 'holy laughter' has found a big place. Since the phenomenon has spread, with visitors to the church returning home and bringing the same things with them, it's come to be known as the 'Toronto Blessing'. Needless to say, the movement has pretty dodgy foundations.
There were some incredibly weird things going on in the meeting. Hysterical laughter would spread across the room and then fade (I felt like laughing at points, but not like that). People would fall on the floor when John touched them and start barking like dogs, or screaming uncontrollably, and by the end at least half of the people there were lying on the floor 'soaking in the holy spirit' after he had blown on them. Carol was 'casting out' demons from one woman as I left - a woman I'd already seen in an hysterical fit on the floor earlier in the night. As well as all this there was 'prophesying', 'speaking in tongues', 'testimonials of healing' and a lot of other stuff which seemed almost normal by comparison. The meeting lasted nearly four hours.
I can only say that I felt it was simply mass hysteria, but it was cynically-induced mass hysteria and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. A lot was done to sustain the tension in the room and force people into a group mindset. When the talk began John would force people to stayed zoned in by repeatedly making people turn to their neighbours and pray with them, or shout statements at them such as 'Fire on you!' I'm also pretty sure some people were planted to start off the laughter each time it happened, as it always seemed to begin in the same place. All this kept the tension going for the final 'laying on of hands', which put most of the congregation to the floor.
I had hands lain on me and of course I didn't fall, which prompted John to call to the member of the ministry team behind me 'More spirit on this one! More!'. So then I had two hands pressed around my ears and a man chanting to me that the holy spirit should fill me. But with his hands on my ears I was losing my balance, swaying a fair bit, and determined not to fall. In the end he gave in and said 'you're doing just fine... you've got the spirit in you... you don't need to fall', at which point I broke the spell by turning round and nodding agreement.
But all this, the cynical tactics, the laughter, the screaming and everything else, is annoying me much less in retrospect than what I remember of John's talk. Because the talk was vile in many ways - he would sidetrack simply in order to have a rant about evolution, for instance. But what really got to me was the huge emphasis being placed on emotional and spiritual contact with the holy spirit, and the de-emphasis of rationality. We were told to really 'love' Jesus, to stop questioning things and instead to soak in the holy spirit. Then we were told how fast Christianity was spreading in Asia and Africa, and he returned at several points to the example of Nigeria.
We were told at one point that the people of Africa, and Nigeria in particular, were really open to spiritual teachings, that they accepted these things more easily than we did and we should do the same. Which to me basically interpreted as 'these people are closer to their own weird rituals than you are, so they're more open to ours'. And here's the rub. Because so much of the talk seemed to centre on this sort of assertion and because that assertion is deeply founded in the 'noble savage' racist mentality, fetishising what we were once told to despise. How can an entire movement justify itself in that way?
I haven't been able to stop thinking about the meeting during the past few days. I've always been one for moral grey lines, but I've never felt quite so much that I might acutally be in the presence of evil. How ironic that it should be at a 'Christian' event...
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
For the terminally bored...
Run for your lives!
There are deadly people around! Today Michael Brooke notes that, having written about him only just this week, the producer Erik Smith has now died. Coincidence? Penguin-lovers everywhere think not! Anyone who's read Kurkov's 'Death & The Penguin' will know that what this 'coincidence' really means is that Michael is unwittingly involved in a mafia plot to knock off important people who might become difficult for the organisation later. Whatever you do, don't let Michael write about you now! It's as good as a death warrant!
N.B. For anyone interested in wacky Ukrainian writing of the sort mentioned above, here's a review of Kurkov's book, easily the best of the three translated into English, though it's sequel, 'Penguin Lost', is pretty decent too.
N.B. For anyone interested in wacky Ukrainian writing of the sort mentioned above, here's a review of Kurkov's book, easily the best of the three translated into English, though it's sequel, 'Penguin Lost', is pretty decent too.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Church of Fools
I'm very amused by the idea of an online church. The first two were launched today, and the Church of England has also appointed its first virtual pastor (there must be a blog title in that). In one way it's quite a good idea - it may appeal to people who are housebound, those in countries unsupportive of Christianity and to those who simply think their local vicar's a bastard.
But I think there'll be a big problem to overcome, which is just that it's such an obvious target for jokes - 'CofE goes cyber' headlines, and 'now they won't see if you fall asleep during the sermon' etc. More seriously, maybe one can find communion with others online as much as in real life, but something which increasing levels of depression and isolation in young people suggests is that such contact isn't a very good replacement for physical meeting. Maybe I'm just being reactionary and it's all a wonderful idea, but it does seem a little odd.
Odder still, though, is the Methodist version, which has gone a step further and created online 3D representations of its services. I vote to be the guy in the 666 sports shirt in this picture.
But I think there'll be a big problem to overcome, which is just that it's such an obvious target for jokes - 'CofE goes cyber' headlines, and 'now they won't see if you fall asleep during the sermon' etc. More seriously, maybe one can find communion with others online as much as in real life, but something which increasing levels of depression and isolation in young people suggests is that such contact isn't a very good replacement for physical meeting. Maybe I'm just being reactionary and it's all a wonderful idea, but it does seem a little odd.
Odder still, though, is the Methodist version, which has gone a step further and created online 3D representations of its services. I vote to be the guy in the 666 sports shirt in this picture.
Monday, May 10, 2004
No Beer Queers Unite
Further to the last post on this, the Queer Theory Discussion Group will be going ahead with its first meeting on Tuesday 18th May, 7.30pm in Lecture Rm A, Magdalen College. Drinks provided.
Discussion text available here (or through me, for those not on networks subscribed to JSTOR). The text may not be the best, but hopefully I won't be in full charge of choosing them in future, so they'll get better.
All welcome (provided, you know, that you're an Oxford university member of some description, or reasonably good at pretending).
Discussion text available here (or through me, for those not on networks subscribed to JSTOR). The text may not be the best, but hopefully I won't be in full charge of choosing them in future, so they'll get better.
All welcome (provided, you know, that you're an Oxford university member of some description, or reasonably good at pretending).
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Song Answers
Since attention spans, particularly mine, are quite short, I'll post the meme answers up now. No one got more than 9, and the person who got that many had a bit of an in really by having had near constant access to my music collection for the past 3.5 years:
1. David Bowie - Sound & Vision
2. Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
3. Joan Baez (Bob Dylan) - Farewell Angelina
4. Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman
5. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
6. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
7. Suede - Breakdown
8. Joni Mitchell - Blue
9. The Doors - When The Music's Over
10. The Clash - What's My Name
11. U2 - Wake Up Dead Man
12. REM - Man On The Moon
13. Joy Division - Isolation
14. The Smiths - I Want The One I Can't Have
15. The Cure - Lullaby
16. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
17. The Specials - Ghost Town
18. The Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
19. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
20. Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come
Some of these were very hard, but I'm surprised no one got Simon & Garfunkel. Well done to all who tried.
1. David Bowie - Sound & Vision
2. Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
3. Joan Baez (Bob Dylan) - Farewell Angelina
4. Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman
5. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
6. The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
7. Suede - Breakdown
8. Joni Mitchell - Blue
9. The Doors - When The Music's Over
10. The Clash - What's My Name
11. U2 - Wake Up Dead Man
12. REM - Man On The Moon
13. Joy Division - Isolation
14. The Smiths - I Want The One I Can't Have
15. The Cure - Lullaby
16. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
17. The Specials - Ghost Town
18. The Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun
19. Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
20. Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come
Some of these were very hard, but I'm surprised no one got Simon & Garfunkel. Well done to all who tried.
Queer Theory
This is very much an Oxford University-based post, so apologies to everyone else.
I'm hoping to set up a Queer Theory discussion group in the university, serving as a focus point for queer study across the university and at all levels (to my knowledge, none such exists at the moment, though there are a number of people at all levels pursuing their own interests in the area independently).
The group would hopefully be interdisciplinary, but the focus would probably be on issues relatively well contained within a broad 'social science' bracket. There's some suggestion it might also work with recent and/or important texts as leaping pads for discussion. However, all details are extremely open for discussion at the moment. I have a lot of ideas myself, but am in no way interested in dictating a format which might prevent interested people from coming forward.
I'm hoping to have an initial meeting with interested parties before the end of 4th week, but I'm aware that with something like this it might take a while for potentially interested people to get involved. So if anyone reading this is interested, or knows anyone who might be interested, please put them/yourself in contact with me via either of the addresses in the sidebar.
Importantly, don't feel put off if you don't self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans etc. Unless members of the group were to decide otherwise, it seems perfectly reasonable for it to be open to all members of the university with a positive interest in the area.
I'm hoping to set up a Queer Theory discussion group in the university, serving as a focus point for queer study across the university and at all levels (to my knowledge, none such exists at the moment, though there are a number of people at all levels pursuing their own interests in the area independently).
The group would hopefully be interdisciplinary, but the focus would probably be on issues relatively well contained within a broad 'social science' bracket. There's some suggestion it might also work with recent and/or important texts as leaping pads for discussion. However, all details are extremely open for discussion at the moment. I have a lot of ideas myself, but am in no way interested in dictating a format which might prevent interested people from coming forward.
I'm hoping to have an initial meeting with interested parties before the end of 4th week, but I'm aware that with something like this it might take a while for potentially interested people to get involved. So if anyone reading this is interested, or knows anyone who might be interested, please put them/yourself in contact with me via either of the addresses in the sidebar.
Importantly, don't feel put off if you don't self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans etc. Unless members of the group were to decide otherwise, it seems perfectly reasonable for it to be open to all members of the university with a positive interest in the area.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Meme time
On your current playlist, hit shuffle and pick the first twenty songs on the list (no matter how cheesy or embarrassing), and write down your favourite line of the song. Try to avoid putting the song title in the line. Then have your friends comment and see if they know the songs.
I'm going to bend the rules, because as we've established, I'm a fan of obsolete technology, and have no computer sound system. So here's twenty cryptic lines picked at random:
1. Blue, blue, electric blue, that's the colour of my room
2. I'm wishing Lord that I was stoned
3. The sky is on fire
4. Subtly disturbing like normal behaviour
5. I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
6. I need excitement, oh I need it bad
7. Does he only come in a Volvo?
8. Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
9. Cancel my subscription to the resurrection
10. What the hell is wrong with me?
11. I'm alone in this world - and a fucked up world it is too.
12. See you in heaven if you make the list.
13. I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through, I'm ashamed of the person I am
14. On the day that your mentality catches up with your biology
15. Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight
16. Silence like a cancer grows.
17. Government leaving the youth on the shelf
18. I'm high as a kite, I just might stop to check you out
19. This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife.
20. I'm gonna get my share of what's mine.
The next thing to do is compose a coherent storyline from these...
I'm going to bend the rules, because as we've established, I'm a fan of obsolete technology, and have no computer sound system. So here's twenty cryptic lines picked at random:
1. Blue, blue, electric blue, that's the colour of my room
2. I'm wishing Lord that I was stoned
3. The sky is on fire
4. Subtly disturbing like normal behaviour
5. I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
6. I need excitement, oh I need it bad
7. Does he only come in a Volvo?
8. Everybody's saying that hell's the hippest way to go
9. Cancel my subscription to the resurrection
10. What the hell is wrong with me?
11. I'm alone in this world - and a fucked up world it is too.
12. See you in heaven if you make the list.
13. I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through, I'm ashamed of the person I am
14. On the day that your mentality catches up with your biology
15. Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight
16. Silence like a cancer grows.
17. Government leaving the youth on the shelf
18. I'm high as a kite, I just might stop to check you out
19. This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife.
20. I'm gonna get my share of what's mine.
The next thing to do is compose a coherent storyline from these...
Macdonalds owns the letter 'M'
The design studio Plazm has been distributing a free font known as Capitalis Pirata for the last few years, composed entirely of company logos and corporate iconography. Unfortunately, its publicisation in a magazine recently has led to Macdonalds issuing a 'cease and desist' letter, demanding it withdraw the letter 'M' from the alphabet, as its customers might become confused when seeing the 'Golden Arches' elsewhere.
Mmm...
Mmm...
The Dreaded Lurgy!
Being an almost lifelong Goon Show fan (my friends say they can really tell, those who've heard of them), the word 'lurgy' has always had a prominent place in my vocabulary. But I hadn't imagined the word would actually have made it to the big time until tonight. From the OED:
Usu. in phr. the dreaded lurgy [bold in OED too]. A fictitious, highly infectious disease invented (?) and made a byword by the Radio Goons (GOON 4).
For the possibility that the word is not invented, cf. fever-lurgy, dial. var. of FEVER-LURDEN, and E.D.D. s.v. lurgies, lurgy adj. & n.
1954 Radio Times 9 Nov. 20/3 The Goon Show... Poor Arnold Fringe is suddenly stricken with the Dreaded Lurgi... Within a few days Lurgi has claimed nine thousand victims. 1969 I. & P. OPIE Children's Games ii. 75 (heading) The dreaded lurgy. 1971 It 15-29 July 5/3 The youth of Australia have been saved once more from the dreaded lurgy, marijuana. 1974 H. MACINNES Climb to Lost World ix. 149, I was beginning to feel weak and knew that I had caught the dreaded swamp lurgy.
In less common usage, I'd guess from the stares I get when using them, are the phrases: 'He's fallen in the water!', 'What time is it Eccles?' and 'Ying Tong Iddle I Po!'
But I'm sure their time will come...
Usu. in phr. the dreaded lurgy [bold in OED too]. A fictitious, highly infectious disease invented (?) and made a byword by the Radio Goons (GOON 4).
For the possibility that the word is not invented, cf. fever-lurgy, dial. var. of FEVER-LURDEN, and E.D.D. s.v. lurgies, lurgy adj. & n.
1954 Radio Times 9 Nov. 20/3 The Goon Show... Poor Arnold Fringe is suddenly stricken with the Dreaded Lurgi... Within a few days Lurgi has claimed nine thousand victims. 1969 I. & P. OPIE Children's Games ii. 75 (heading) The dreaded lurgy. 1971 It 15-29 July 5/3 The youth of Australia have been saved once more from the dreaded lurgy, marijuana. 1974 H. MACINNES Climb to Lost World ix. 149, I was beginning to feel weak and knew that I had caught the dreaded swamp lurgy.
In less common usage, I'd guess from the stares I get when using them, are the phrases: 'He's fallen in the water!', 'What time is it Eccles?' and 'Ying Tong Iddle I Po!'
But I'm sure their time will come...
