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2004-05-22 helgen! (utc+1)
Why I am so very weekend bonus!
[My mum has broadband now, so there's even more computer to fix what fun! But probably all my readers already know very well how to swear in the Engleesh, so I shall spare you considerable details.]
Toppstory on VG today is an exciting new Swedish word that the Norwegish people have just learnt:
Svensk TV felte en n�del�s dom over M�rtha Louises p�kledning under bryllupet i Madrid: Gr�slig! Det betyr p� norsk: Stygt! Smakl�st!
Swedish TV gave a ruthless judgement on [Norwegish prinsess M�rtha Louise's dress during the Madrig wedding: Gr�slig! Which means in Norwegish: Stygt[?]! Tasteless!
Funnily enough, gr�slig came up in Swedish class this week also, and the consensus there was along the lines of "terrible" or "horrible".
Personally, I am very fond of prinsess M-L of Norway, and I think it was very wise of her to pick a dress that would draw attention away from her hat.
Also, I read the (ridiculously short and spaciously typeset) Heidegger pamphlet on the train, in a mixture of English, German and Belgian premium lager ("Stella Artois") yum yum, and frankly I liked the lager better. The idea that this pompous oafish Nazi was one of the great philosophers goes a long way to explaining the appeal of the opposite view, for sure.
2004-05-21 tea (utc+1)
I was shocked - shocked I tell you! - to find that Oxfam wished me to
fork out 9.99 GBP for a copy of Martin "Heigh-ho!" Heidegger's What
is philosophy?, even if it is a 1956 parallel text edition. I
bought it anyway, though, because think of all the starving childrens
in Africa, and anyway I liked the end of the introduction:
Our translation is offered only as a guide to the reading of the
German text. Heidegger's thought cannot be reproduced in any other
language. We hope that in offering the translation we create the idea
that we are presenting a substitute for the German text; we present
only a vehicle for its comprehension.
And besides they use the "Being"/"being" translation for
"l'�tre"/"l'�tant", which is always good for a laugh:
Das Sein des Seienden beruht in der Seiendheit.
The Being of being rests in the Beingness.
You can get it out with a used tea-bag soaked in lemon juice, though,
isn't it?
Meanwhile Chris and the Timb'rites are shocked about the atrocities
currently being sponsored by the Sudanese government in Darfur.
Things there are very bad. Very very bad. Getting on for
Rwanda bad, and there isn't much worse than that can be got.
Sadly, however, applying the standard sub-Saharan atrocity discount (SSAD)
coefficient, this has slightly less moral urgency than a kitten stuck
up a tree in Ongar, Essex (poor little kitty!), and Western
governments and media are reacting accordingly.
Fashion is a cruel mistress, Varied Reader, and this is by no means
less true of geopolitics than it is of T-shirts.
[Permalink]
2004-05-21 12:11
I have moved office today, to a nice cool office, which involves much
packing and carrying and unpacking. (This is the approved order, from
which I have not deviated.)
I have with me a cassette course in Latvia, which I need to return to
the Library down the hill, and I have also an assortment of somethings
appropriate to a weekend trip to the ancestral residence in the
outskirts of the London, off to which I will be setting after work
today.
I am not, however, encumbered by any
fridge magnets of Kronprinsfleep of the Spain and his lovely
Letizia (I've seen the Hello! Knudellabr�llop photos, and she
and her dress and especially she in her dress were pretty stunning).
Des magnets � l'effigie du prince espagnol Felipe de Borbon et de sa
fianc�e Letizia Ortiz, dans un magasin de souvenirs mercredi �
Madrid. Le couple convolera samedi 22 mai dans la cath�drale de la
Almud�na � Madrid. Le mariage princier promet d'�tre tr�s rentable
pour l'Espagne, selon une �tude publi�e par la chambre de Commerce et
d'industrie de Madrid. �Le mariage du prince sera comme une vitrine de
la marque Espagne qui d�montrera, une fois de plus, que les mariages
royaux sont une excellente promotion pour la ville qui les accueille�,
rapportent les experts en tourisme.
Some magnets [there's a photo] of the likeness of Kronprinsfleep of
Borbon and his fianc�e Letizia Ortiz, in a souvenir shop in Madrid on
Wednesday. The couple will wed on Saturday 22 May in Almud�na
cathedral in Madrid. The princely marriage promises to be very
profitable for the Spain, according to some dreary breadheads. "It's
a great marketing opportunity, and as a marketing opportunity it's
great!" said a dreary breadhead. "If this doesn't put Spain on the
touriste map, nothing will. Sorry, what Olympic bid?"
Breadheads, pah!
[Permalink]
2004-05-21 morning (utc+1)
Slavoj! Zizek!, Slovenian! Intellectual! Extraordinaire!
Heartthrob or headcase? Lacanian luminary or beardy basket-case?
Gentlepersons of gender or otherwise, I give you "Slaverin'" Slavoj Zizek!
On his methodology!
"Every three years I write a research proposal. Then I subdivide it
into three one-sentence paragraphs, which I call my yearly
projects. At the end of each year I change the research proposal's
future-tense verbs into the past tense and then call it my final
report," he explains.
With the Ljubljana Lacanians!
[The Ljubljana Lacanians] used [their publishing] outlets to
perpetrate several literary hoaxes. Articles in [their journal]
Problemi, were frequently written under pseudonyms or left
unsigned, in parodic imitation of Stalinist practice. Zizek once wrote
a pseudonymous review attacking one of his own books on Lacan. [...]
With the regime's aversion to Lacan on the rise, Zizek sensed a
wonderful opportunity for mischief; writing in a widely read academic
journal, Anthropos, under an assumed name, he published a
deliberately clumsy attack on an imaginary book that allegedly
detailed why Lacan's theories were wrong. The next day bookstores
across Ljubljana received requests for the title.
On His Analysis!
"It was my strict rule, my sole ethical principle, to lie
consistently: to invent all symptoms , fabricate all dreams," he
reports of his treatment. "It was obsessional neurosis in its absolute
purest form. Because you never knew how long it would last, I was
always prepared for at least two sessions. I have this incredible fear
of what I might discover if I really went into analysis. What if I
lost my frenetic theoretical desire? What if I turned into a common
person?"
On his kinks!
"For me, shopping is like masturbating in public," he says
(He has his wife do that. Speaking of whom:)
His (Second) Wife,Renata Salecl!
Her first book, Discipline as a Condition of Freedom (which was
recently staged as a ballet), was a Foucault-inspired analysis of
communist Yugoslavia. "Nobody believed in the rules, but they
nevertheless kept following them obediently, and I wanted to know
why," she explains.
On teaching in America (1)!
At the first meeting of each course, he announces that all students
will get an A and should write a final paper only if they want to. "I
terrorize them by creating a situation where they have no excuse for
giving me a paper unless they think it is really good. This scares
them so much, that out of forty students, I will get only a few
papers," he says. "And I get away with this because they attribute it
to my 'European eccentricity.'"
On teaching in America (2)!
"I understand I have to take questions during my lectures, since this
is America and everybody is allowed to talk about everything. But when
it comes to office hours, I have perfected a whole set of strategies
for how to block this," he says with a smirk. "The real trick,
however, is to minimize their access to me and simultaneously appear
to be even more democratic!" Initially, Zizek scheduled office hours
immediately before class so that students could not run on
indefinitely. Then he came up with the idea of requiring them to
submit a written question in advance, on the assumption that most
would be too lazy to do it (they were).
On his secret dream!
"Do not forget that with me everything is the opposite of what it
seems," he says. "Deep down I am very conservative; I just play at
this subversive stuff. My most secret dream is to write an
old-fashioned, multivolume theological tract on Lacanian theory in the
style of Aquinas. I would examine each of Lacan's theories in a
completely dogmatic way, considering the arguments for and against
each statement and then offering a commentary. I would be happiest if
I could be a monk in my cell, with nothing to do but write my Summa
Lacaniana."
On tea!
"We must have the most fanatically precise English tea," Zizek
insists, gesticulating dramatically in the style of a European
dictator. "Everything must be exactly the way the English do it:
clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, scones. It must be the most
radically English experience possible!"
(I love that bit.)
[Permalink]
2004-05-20 tea (utc+1)
I have a Pavlovian reaction to the phrase Library of Alexandria
which is largely uncontaminated by knowledge of its history. So my
first reaction on hearing that it had been discovered was to update my
mental file on the matter with the information that it had been lost.
And then
found, hurrah!
Alexandria was a tiny fishing village on the Nile delta called
Rhakotis when Alexander the Great chose it as the site of the new
capital of his empire.
It became Egypt's capital in 320BC and soon became the most powerful
and influential city in the region. Its rulers built a massive
lighthouse at Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
and the famed [See? See?] Library of Alexandria.
It was at the university that Archimedes invented the screw-shaped
fluid pump still in use today, that Euclid invented the rules of
geometry and the astronomer Eratosthenes calculated the diameter of
Earth.
"Invented the rules of geometry" is a very odd way to summarise
Euclid's achievements, but this is after all the journalisme and
anyway the fabled lost Library of Alexandria! I could hardly be more
excited if I had known it was missing! Also at the BBC:
Ptolemy wrote the Almagest at Alexandria. It was the most influential
scientific book about the nature of the Universe for 1,500 years.
The library was later destroyed, possibly by Julius Caesar who had it
burned as part of his campaign to conquer the city.
Bad Caesar! No biscuit!
[Permalink]
2004-05-20 12:31
What I look for in a woman: An Abridgment:
IT WAS a sale that stunned the art world. When the daughter of a
billionaire press baron outbid an oil dynasty heiress for lot 56,
the �2 million pricetag for two gilded urns forged during the
reign of Louis XV could have been a steal. [...]
Taylor Thomson, the daughter of the Canadian press baron Lord
Thomson of Fleet, [...]
Ms Thomson had claimed she was not an experienced collector and relied
heavily on Christie's for advice. She says she believed she had
bought museum-quality pieces until a conversation with the leading
French dealer almost four years later.
(The BBC's picture
doesn't do her justice, being all squished and that, but the Torygraph
link will rot, and anyway it's the Torygraph, isn't it?)
Sigh. If it wasn't for the litigious streak...
�2. Kristi
himmelf�rdsdag
And, since 1924, Folknykterhetens dag (Temperance day), so no sneaky
�l-guzzling, Swedishes!
�3. �lstreik update!
The BBC has joined in:
With all production now at a halt, Norway cannot even import from
neighbours Sweden or Denmark, because its truck drivers are also on
strike. [...] Arild Oliversen, a union spokesman, told the
BBC's World Business Report that he expected to win, but that the
strike could take months.
If I were a wine-seller in a port town in Norway (ahh, Bergen!) I
would be a happy man today. Months!
[Permalink]
2004-05-20 morning! (utc+1)
A council by-election is being held today in my ward. I got the
ballot card a while back, but it was only last night I got around to
locating my polling station on the map. It was right in the fold of
my A to Z, and the street name only just begins in the square given in
the index, but my Will to Democracy is strong!
The address was further unencumbered by number, since it referred to
an industrial estate and industrial estates transcend the petty enumerative
impulses to which your limited perceptions are in thrall. The road
is long, but my Will to Democracy is strong!
The polling station opens between 0800 and 2100, local time, and
it is Swedish class tonight which also ends at 2100 and I often leave
for work before 0800, but my Will to Democracy is after all strong!
Having left the house at 0750, I proceed in a pollwardly direction (as
best as I can) with my polling card and A to Z to hand. At about 0757
I locate the polling station, and seeing persons loitering in a
capacity that looks voluntarily official, I saunter in, through the
lobby, and penetrate into the Sanctum Sanctorum. There is
democracy afoot, and I will that it should be thus! Strongly!
A man who clearly wishes it wasn't decides that it is
nonetheless his duty to very politely inform me that it is but 0758
and a bit, and would I please clear off and vacate the premises?
My Will to Democracy has overflowed, in its strength, the boundaries
of what is allowed or permissible!
I return to the outside, and loiter purposefully. Willfully! A
minute passes, and a bit of another minute. The prospect of being
told that it is still only 0759 and a bit by the Duly Appointed
Timepiece of Democracy lends resoluteness to my loitering. I
can wait until 0802 by my watch, if I have to: my Will to Democracy
is, after all, strong!
The man comes to the doorway, and waves to me the wave of destiny.
It! Is! Time! I brush past the woman seated outside, pausing only to
let her write down the number she wishes to write down from my polling
card. (There is a slight delay while she figures out which one that
is.) I sweep in, if not quite at the head of a Glorious Phalanx of
the Willfully Democratic (there are no other punters) then
at least a proud (and strong!) advance party.
I vote! My Will* will not be denied!
I can't wait for the Yoorpean elections. I think I might write to the
parties and ask for their manifestoes: my Will to Democracy is strong,
but it is also scrupulous.
* That would be my Will to Democracy. Do try to keep up,
won't you?
[Permalink]
2004-05-19 13:54
The Gettier problems, isn't it? Today we have Chris von
Timber bringing them up in the context of students' media acquired
habit of dismissing hypothetical questions are unworthy of
consideration. (Does a philosophy student who refuses to consider
hypothetical questions deserve to get a degree? Discuss.)
I first noticed this phenomenon a few years ago, when sitting-in on a
lecture my then-colleague Patrick Greenough. Patrick was running
through some Gettier
problems and had reached a familiar example involving a dog
cunningly disguised as a sheep in a field (a real sheep being just out
of sight behind a fold in the land).
The Gettier problems are designed to call into question the theory
that knowledge is "justified true belief". The one here involves a
person, P, seeing the dog in sheep's clothing and concluding that
there is a sheep in the field. So P's belief is justified (albeit by
misleading evidence) and true (although the confirming evidence is not
accessible to P). So does P know that there is a sheep in the field
or not?
We are not the first to think that the causal relationship between the
belief and the evidence which would demonstrate it to be true is in
question here, having been anticipated by one Alvin Goldman; we may be
the first to hold that we have thus reduced it to a problem we have
previously refused to consider soluble. ("Causality", indeed!)
In any case, working as a computer programmer in a maths department
has inspired in me (yes yes, non-causally) a profound loathing of
reasoned argument, so I will instead assail the alleged problem with
some nice sarcasm:
Although we don't know what knowledge is, we nonetheless imagine the
scenario from a position of omniscience: We know that the
sheep that is out of sight (of P) has not just died of
stupidity. (Note that despite the confusing, but traditional,
terminology a dead sheep is not in fact a sheep, stricto
sensu.) We know that the sheep hasn't just quantumed tunnelled to
Australia; that it is not a pseudo-sheep whose every molecule is
chirally-inverted and will thus not be able to breed with true sheep
(thus forfeiting membership of the species Sheepus sheepus of
which all sheeps are members. It is also unable to digest the
hypothetical grass and will soon die a tragic hypothetical death, how
sad); it is certainly not, we also know, the outward and visible signs
of sheephood unknowably shorn of sheep-in-itself; nor is it two or
more distinct but physically indistinguishable sheep being teleported
alternately into and out of position at a frequency above any we can
detect, let alone measure, by a prankster from a technologically more
advanced civilisation, or a projection - indistinguishable, to our
limited perceptions, from an ordinary sheep - into our universe of a
17-dimensional hypersheep by the infinitely inscrutable Medium Lobster. Nor are we
dealing here with a deduction from the propositions "There is a sheep
in the field or Q" and "not Q" in a calculus where we have
erroneously assumed the Law of
Excluded Middle holds, or the first (inevitable) failure of
our sheep-identification strategy since graduation from Mr Quine's
celebrated sheep spotting school. Nor, of course, is it a sheepoid
zombie that walks like a sheep, quacks like a sheep but is in fact
d�pourvu of the qualia necessary for truly agentive sheephood.
Isn't it great being omniscient, even if only hypothetically? We can
tell the difference between beliefs founded on compelling evidence
("justified" beliefs) and true knowledge and whereas P may think
he or she knows there's a sheep in the field (do I not know P's gender
or sex? Perhaps I simply do not care to reveal it!) we know better and
there is no better than that that can be known for we know
not only that which is true but why also why it is true!
We have deduced, in other words, that so-called "knowledge" based
solely on evidence and not backed up by omniscience is no substitute
for the real thing. Neo-scholastique, did I
say? Neo-scholastique, for sure.
(The 'Pedia says that "it would not be an overstatement to call the
Gettier problem the single most important problem in contemporary
Analytic epistemology", incidentally.)
[Permalink]
2004-05-19 morning (utc+1)
�1. �lstreik!
By ancient tradition, Norwegish brewers celebrate the start of the
summer drinking season by going on
strike:
Produksjon og utkj�ring av �l, mineralvann og kildevann ved 12
bryggerier og kildevannsprodusenter over hele landet stanser onsdag
morgen n�r 2.560 bryggeriansatte g�r ut i streik.
Production and distribution of �l, mineral water and spring water from
12 breweries and springwaterproducers across the whole country will
halt on Wednesday morning when 2,560 brewery workers go on strike.
I'm all for labour relations and negociated settlements and all that,
but surely this is a case if ever there was one for imposing martial
law? Or at the very least using army personnel and vehicles to brew
and distribute �l, like they used to do with ambulances in the UK when
they were striking. (Mineral and/or spring water we do not classify
as basic human needs.)
�2. Robo-Knudella
Perhaps there are republicain(e)s behind this claim that the lovely
new kronprinsess Knudella of Danmark is in fact a robot:
You should have seen us watching the wedding on Friday. It was coffee
and lamingtons until the cows came home, I can tell you. We were
particularly thrilled when we realised that the arm-waving controls
had crossed with the wardrobe selection chips so that when the arm was
waving, the wedding dress didn't ride up into the armpit.
Lamingtons, you ask or enquire? "Lamingtons
are sponge, cut up into squares, sometimes with jam and cream but
always rolled in chocolate and dessicated coconut", and they have a
good claim to be the glorious National Cake of Australia, yum yum.
[via Upside-Down Anna Louise, tack]
�3. It'll all be
over by Christmas, isn't it?
Folk hamstrer s�r-frim�rket af kronprinseparret, men det er der slet
ikke grund til det, for Post Danmark lover, der er frim�rker med de
nygifte i hvert fald indtil jul.
Persons are hoarding the special stamps of the kronprinspar, but there
really isn't any need to, since Post Danmark promises that there'll be
stamps featuring the newly weds at least until Twinkletree ("Christmas").
Hoard �l, Danish persons - look what happened in Norway!
Commemorative �l if you like, but stock those cellars and stock them
not lower than the brim.
[Permalink]
2004-05-18 17:17
I do not especially believe in causality*, but what could I possibly
offer as an explanation of this? What could be made of any statement
of the form "I do not believe in causality because..."?
* Except when I do, but that is beyond the scope of this post.
[Permalink]
2004-05-18 15:05
What costume, you ask or enquire, shall the poor girl wear to all
tomorrow's parties? Well, not this
hand-me-down dress from who knows where, for sure:
Fra Kristi Himmelfartsdag udstilles kronprinsesse Marys brudekjole i
Amalienborgmuseet sammen med de tre foreg�ende kronprinsessers
brudekjoler: Dronningen Margrethe II, Dronning Ingrid og Dronning
Alexandrine.
From Ascension day ("Christ's Heavenjourneyday") [whenever that is] kronprinsess Knudella's
wedding frock will be displayed at Amelieborg museum together with the
three previous kronprinsess's bridal frocks: Queen Margrethe II, Queen
Ingrid and Queen Alexandrine [complete with fully-articulated
caesura!].
That's some pretty fancy detritus, for sure, but there's
common-or-garden
detritus aplenty, also, if not galore:
Hele dagen har vi samlet genstande ind: flag, kroner, balloner -
k�bt tr�jer med Bevar Kongehuset, koalabj�rne m.v. Mellem kl. 18 og 19
indsamlede vi affald fra pladsen foran Frue Kirke og p� R�dhuspladsen
i K�benhavn, ligesom vi har fulgt oprydningen af byens gader og
str�der samt tv-folkenes nedpakning af udstyr.
All day we collected up items: flags, crowns [do they mean silly hats,
or do they actually mean kroner the money?], balloons - bought jumpers
with Keep the Royals!, koala bears m.v.[? I hate inscrutable
'Wegian abbvs]. Between 18 and 19 o'clocks we collected rubbish from
the square in front of Frue Kirke [where the wedding was] and the
Townhallsquare in Shoppingharbour. We also followed the up-cleaning
of the town's streets and lanes as well as the TV-persons packing up
of their kit.
Ephemera for ever!, isn't it?
[linkage via Citoyenne B.]
[Permalink]
2004-05-18 samwidge (utc+1)
�1. Balkong!
P� mammas arm debuterte prinsesse Ingrid Alexandra p� slottsbalkongen
17. mai. N� venter mange �r med vinking for v�r fremtidige dronning.
In mummy's arms kronkronprinsess Ingrid made her debut on the castle
balkong on [Norway's national day] 17 May. Many years of waving lie
ahead of the future queen.
�2. Of kronprinsessor and weddings
Ha, fooled you! It's kronprinsess Vickan of Sweden and her
not-especially forbidden love for a simple peasant gym-owner. But
will they
wed
and if so when will the nuptuations be trumpeted from, as is no less
than they deserve, from the rooftops? An anonymised friend is alleged
to think the cards are thing which it is on in reporting Vickan's
post-Knudellabr�llop mood:
- Hon har sj�lv skrattat och sagt att det �r hennes tur nu,
ber�ttar v�nnen.
She herself laughed and said it's her turn now, the friend tells or
narrates.
But is Daniel ready for a role as Sweden's Prinshenrik? As Danmark's
Prinshenrik, the prins Henrik (hence the name), could tell him, it's no
bed of roses living a life of state-funded luxury without any
significant responsibilities. (Bless him.)
�3. Wedding
wovels:
Princess Mary [Knudella]'s polished vowels, long pauses and Nordic
lilt are in stark contrast to the fast, nasal patter of her
Tasmania-dwelling sisters. But Australians should not be hurt or
surprised by the transformation. It's a common phenomenon linguists
dub "communication accommodation".
Cynthia Gallois, director of the Centre for Social Research in
Communication at the University of Queensland, said the change
reflected Mary's strong desire to be embraced by the Danes. And an
Aussie flavour to her native tongue might return as she becomes more
proficient in the notoriously difficult Danish language, rather than
having to be understood in English.
I'm sure many persons wishing to be embraced by Danes will be relieved
that the lack of an Australian accent is not in itself a handicap such
as to thwart the fulfillment of this desire. What educational bladets
there are if you know where to look, for sure!
[via
David; other stories via Anna Louise, tak.]
[Permalink]
2004-05-18 morning (utc+1)
�1. Phew!
Se og H�r vil komme i salg som normalt tirsdag til tross for
trykkeristreiken. Kjendisbladet ble mandag og natt til tirsdag trykket
i all hemmelighet i Sverige.
Se og H�r will go on sale as normal on Thursday, despite the
printing strike. The celebritybladet has been secretly printed in
Sweden on Monday and will be nightly till Thursday.
Norwegish Se og H�r is one of the things it offends us greatly
that we cannot readily obtain in the UK, along with Danish Se og
H�r and Svensk Damtidning, but we would not wish for the
Norwegish also to be deprived of their many celebrity gossips.
In particular, this is the Dansk Kronprinsparbryllup edition, and
would therefore be especially disastrous to miss.
�2. Hurra!
I was bequeathed a pile of back-issues of Svensk Damtidning
last week at Swedish class, hoorah! With this and a slim volume of
Husserl, my grasp of Swedish can surely not come on other than apace.
�3. Hur st�r kursen? ("What is the exchange rate?")
2,6
mio. s� Mary og Frederik sige ja ("2.6 million saw Knudella and
Kronprinsfred say yes.")
That's a lot in Danishes, is it?
�4. Why I am so very geolinguistique
I acquired at the weekend a Spanish/Catalan phrasebook that was
clearly originally designed to tie in with the Barcelona olympics
and was subsequently subjected to a fairly desultory Englishing.
Whence:
I'm going to watch the opening ceremony on television.
Jo mirar� per la televisi� la cerim�nia inaugural.
Yo ver�/mirar� la ceremonia inaugural en la televisi�n.
There are only slightly injured persons.
Nom�s lic ha ferits lleus.
S�lo hay heridos leves.
Without being indiscreet, are you married?
Si non �s una indescrecci�, vost� e's casat/casada?
Si non es una indescreci�n, �esta usted casado/casada?
I like beer/ale.
M'agrada la cervesa.
Me gusta la cerveza.
All of which is vair vair nice, but we have saved the best for last:
Do you speak English, French or German?
Parla angl�s, franc�s o alemany?
�Habla usted ingl�s, franc�s o alem�n?
That just cracks me up. Hoorah for the Cataloonies, for sure.
[Permalink]
2004-05-17 tea (utc+1)
Did permatanned prinsess Madeleine steal
the show at Knudella's party?
Det var solbr�nda lillasyster Madeleine som bl�ndade g�sterna.
N�r den yngsta prinsessan gjorde entr� utbr�t ett vilt jubel bland
fotograferna. Madeleine s�g smickrad ut, log lite generat och
viskade till Victoria innan tjejerna glatt gick vidare. En dansk
tv-kommentator kunde inte h�lla sig: - Hon �r s� vacker, s� sk�n,
helt underbar, utbrast han entusiastiskt i direkts�ndning.
It was sun-tanned prinsess Madeleine who dazzled the guests.
When the youngest prinsess made her entrance a wild jubilation
out-broke among fotographers. Madeleine looked flattered,
smiled slightly embarrassedly and whispered to [kronprinsess] Victoria
before walking on. A Danish TV-commentator couldn't restrain himself:
"She is so beautiful, so lovely, quite wonderful", he burst out
enthusiastically on the direct sendning.
I don't know if Danmarkland has an equivalent to the UKish knighthood,
but if there is I can think of one Danish TV-commentateur who won't
be getting one any time soon.
In the interests of balance, then, we should also mention
Aftonbladet's frock
review gave Madde a mere three (out of five), compared to
Knudella's four. (The only fives, incidentally, went to the Spanish
kronprinsess-to-be, who's getting hitched next weekend and queen
Sylvia of Sweden.)
[Permalink]
2004-05-17 samwidge (utc+1)
�1. Sn� kidding!
Gl�m v�rmen - ingen sommar i sikte.
I Dalarna och V�rmland kan det till och med sn�a i helgen.
- Det h�r �r inte normalt, s�ger SMHI.
Forget the warm - there's no summer in sight.
In Dalarna ("the dales") and V�rmland it might even sn� at the
weekend.
"This isn't normal", says SMHI [the Met Office].
If there's any unseasonal sn�kaos, we will of course keep you
informed.
�2. Yurovizhn Debrief
Knut Anders S�rum fikk bare tre (svenske) peng i Istanbul. Sveriges
Lena Philipsson gikk nesten til topps og endte p� femte. S�rum mener
han vet hvorfor Sverige fikk s� mange flere poeng.
Jeg liker Lena som artist men hun hadde kort kjole og gned seg mot
mikrofonstativet. Da har man tydeligvis st�rre sjanse for � vinne. Og
det er ingenting jeg kan gj�re, sier S�rum til den svenske avisen
Aftonbladet.
[Norwegish contestant] Knut Anders S�rum got just three (Swedish)
points in Istanbul. Sweden's Lena Ph almost reached the top and
finished fifth. S�rum says he knows why Sweden got so many more
points.
I like Lena as an artiste but she had a short skirt on and rubbed
herself against the microfon stand. That certainly improves your
chances of winning. And there is nothing I can do, said S�rum to the
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Tragically, Knut Anders S�rum has a rare medical condition that makes
him allergic to microfon stands, and especially rubbing against them.
�3. 17 mai!
We are all proudly parading through the streets in our tradional
Norwegish folk costumery at this bladet, except in so far as we are
not.
And while we wait for the SMHI's sn� to turn up, what could be nicer
to cool off with than some Norwegish sn�friskparfait?
Parfait!
[Permalink]
2004-05-17 09:37
�1. Balkong!
Da parret endelig kom frem p� balkonen p� Amalienborg, blev de hyldet
af flere end 20.000 mennesker. Der blev vinket med b�de det danske og
det australske flag.
When the couple finally came out onto the balcony at Amelienborg,
they were greated by more than 20 000 persons waving both Danish and
Australian flags.
Now there's just the happily ever after, isn't it?
�2. Yurovizhn
Not, I feel, a vintage year - the centre of gravity of the contestants
was further east than in the past, and there was plenty of codd
exoticism in many of the alleged songs. Under the circumstances it
was fair enough to award it to the scantily clad gyratrice
representing the Ukraine, even if she did forget to bring a song.
�3. Foopball
Perhaps, Varied Reader, you do not especially follow the English
premiere league foopball competition, although this hardly seems
likely. If not, you may not have heard that the London club Chelsea
has been acquired by a Russian billionaire (about whom they can't prove
a thing) and lavishly stocked with the most expensive mercenaries
world foopball has to offer.
This kind of cynically rootless cosmopolitanism is of course a deep
insult to the traditional (and very glorious) proletarian roots of the
beautiful game, and is therefore to be vigorously applauded.
I have, as you will surely have anticipated, become a Chelsea
supporter, and I have every intention of being a fair-weather one.
[Permalink]
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