Farewell, my lovely!

Look! The Jesus from Swiebodzin is going away <3

 

The one where Sendai corrects the king of Prussia

I was going to sleep, but I’m still all smug about having written 25 pages today. 25 pages, guys(1).

Anyway, somewhere between page 16 and page 16 1/2 I took a break and read “Itineraries and travellers in the Middle Assyrian Period” by Betina Faist, from SAAB XV/2006, where I found the following edifying(2) quotes.

1) Having summed up various peculiarities of travel during the MA (Middle Assyrian) period, BF states:

“Finally, a brief mention is owed to aspects unattested so far. In the religious realm, we do not have any indications referring to pilgrimages to the important shrines.”

Tsk, tsk, Betina. Something obvious and self-evident in your culture doesn’t have to be obvious, self-evident, expected or even present at all in others. Take Introduction to Anthropology or something, plz.

2) Trying to tie-up things cutely — something I’m absolutely in favour of — Betina(3) quotes a 1755 letter of a Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, to his sister, Wilhelmine, who was very enthusiastic about her journey to Italy:

“…I have a very high regard of the beauty of Italy, her wonderful climate, her monuments, her past greatness as well as her modern buildings. …But I also believe the Italians to be great braggarts; they exaggerate the beauty and the value of their paintings, their statues, and a thousand things more. Everything is uno spavento, una maraviglia; big words that do not stir my ear more than would the noise of a turnspit [a kind of dog -Sendai]. …I believe if I saw Italy I should not always agree with the ciceroni, which would console me for my fatherland’s barrenness; otherwise, the comparison would be too humiliating for poor Germany…”

Aww, poor Germany.

(Done commiserating yet? Hurr hurr)

Anyway, what we have here is a typically occidental assumption that people actually mean what they say. The assumption is naturally based on the firm yet quaint conviction that people always do what they should do.

(Incidentally, this conviction also allows us to date the letter as having been written sometime before the French Revolution derp)

Anyway, it is perhaps useful to suggest to puzzled Frederick a better approach to understanding the confusingly enthusiastic Italian guides. Or, even, two approaches:

A) The guides are lying. They don’t in fact think that the Italian landscape is anything like anything they imagine a wonder to be; but they have to sell it somehow, hence the unscrupulous use of more florid turn of phrase. They do not in fact intend to communicate their honest opinion about anything at all, but rather say what they think a customer might want to hear.

B) From a pragmatic standpoint, calling something “a wonder” might mean much less to a native speaker of Italian than it would mean to a native speaker of German.

Both approaches would need testing, of  course.

This is all nerd jokes and useless pedantry, as  Frederick the Great’s couldn’t have possibly known anything about the 20th century developments in linguistics.

Betina, however, could have. Alas, directly following the Frederick the Great quote:

“Sources of that nature, relevant to the cultural aspect of travel, are completely absent from our material. Nevertheless, I can imagine Tukulti-Ninurta I reclined (sic) on his throne and musing in a similar way after having received the Egyptian delegation.”

Tsk, tsk, Betina. I recommend taking Introduction to Modern Linguistics.

Also: ah, the subtle difference between absolutism and enlightened absolutism hurr hurr de hurr(5).

Nonetheless, it was a very interesting read, not only because I immediately visualised Tukulti-Ninurta musing about his Vaterland.

Aw, it’s 3 am already, I can sleep n_n

(1) There are no words in any language I know for how smug I am. The smugness; it fills my entire room, oozes through windows, and gently slinks down onto the street; then rushes to left – towards the cathedral – or right – towards the Rhine, but then it gets worse still, but I can’t see anything, once it disappears behind the corner.

No words, srsly.

(2) I feel more edified than the cathedral today.

And the big one in Mainz, too.

(3) I’m terribly sorry (not), but the name “Betina” makes my wretched black little heart warm and gives me fuzzy feelings of malicious glee. I can’t not use the name. It is imperative that I use the name.

Betina, Betina, Betina~~~~~~~

I will not be stopped.

(5) For those of you who might be confused, a journey:

– in enlightened absolutism means going abroad and making a couple of sketches, preferably of ruins,

– in Tukulti-Ninurta’s “absolutism” would mean going abroad with an army and making a couple of conquests, preferably leaving behind only ruins.

糞雨論

日本の文化に於いて、季節の移り変わりは非常に重視されてきたのはよく知られていることです。そのこともまた日本語で反映されているので、天気や気象などの言葉はとても多いです。日本語を学んでいる西洋人はそれを充分に理解できないことがおおくて、「雹」や「氷雨」の微妙な差なども＊分からなくて文句でも言うことも頻繁にあります。

それ故に、日本人も西洋人も西洋の言語において天気や気象の言葉の豊かさをよく見落としてしまうことになります。実際、西洋の言語にも季節の移り変わりや自然の美しさにの敏感さが窺えます。けれども、日本と違って、それを表現することばは季節に合わせたものや、気象を描写するものなどではなく、人の気持ちに調和させられたことは普通です。

例えば、「雨」を考えてみましょう。日本語なら、「五月雨」、「春雨」、「時雨」、「小雨」などという雨の種類が存在します。期待通り、凡ては季節に合わせたものや雨の降り方を表すものです。

西洋語は異なっています。あめのこと、怒りや絶望の気持ちを込めて、「糞雨」といいます＊＊。

：：用例：

１．丁度出かけたところで降ってくる雨は「糞雨」という場合が多いです。

１A．出かけて、家から離れたところで、雨が降ってきたら、傘を持つのを忘れたと気づいたところでもまた、自分の運の悪さを罵って言いたくて、なかなか「糞雨」だけでどこかで不足することを感じて、よく何回も何回も「糞雨」と繰り返すことが多いです。

２．新しい絹のドレスを着て、雨が降り始めて、何度も何度も「糞雨」といわないと周りの西洋人は変だと思う可能性は高いと思います。

３．遠足しようと思って、目的地に着いて、雨が降ってきたら普通は「糞雨」といいます。

４．一週間ぐらい雨が続いて、もう我慢できないと思った途端に、やっと晴れてきますが、出かけたら、また雨に降られてしまうときは必ず「糞雨」といいます。

そういう風に、自分の現実に対しての気持ちを込めて、場面にことばを合わせて話すというのは西洋の掟です。

＊私なら、さっぱり分かりませんが。

＊＊　英：Fucking rain, bloody rain, bloody fucking rain,　波：Zasrany deszcz, pieprzony deszcz, cholerny deszcz等々、独：ｖerfluchteｒ Regen, verdammter Regen。他の言語にも十二分にありえますが。

Nazis in the sky!

It seems the production of Iron Sky has started progressing again, HELL YEAH.

I mean, guys. Killing Nazis! What’s not to like! < / bloodthirstiness >

kudos to Chrysanthemum for the info < 3

For the sake of inter-cultural communication! Two anti-pope vids :D

1)  The German one: Sag JA zum Papst:

via

2) The French one. The French one is tricky, because it shows you a penis, and a condom, and the penis and the condom together. This is why we have to note that it is NSFW. It’s also about AIDS. This is why its says things about people dying. On the upside, it’s got English subtitles: Des majorettes dans l’espace:

via

Gender fail at Olympics, unicorns, refrigeretor

1. Figure skating is such a girly sport. Where by ‘girly’  clearly some sort of inferiority is meant.

This means that men who are exceptionally good at such a ‘girly’ thing can’t be, like, real men or something, like Johnny Weir:

“This may not be politically correct,” Mailhot said during the segment, in which Weir … was shown sporting a semi-sheer, pink-and-black costume he designed himself.

“But do you think he lost points due to his costume and his body language?”

Goldberg replied that Weir’s feminine style may reflect badly on other male figure skaters.

“They’ll think all the boys who skate will end up like him,” he said. “It sets a bad example.” (source)

Let me just-

Bad example?

There’s nothing offensive, insulting, ironic, sarcastic or cynical that could make this statement more ridiculous, absurd and surrealistic than it already is.  Mailhot is so stupid he’s like a parody of himself.

Also:

“We should make him [Johnny Weir] pass a gender test at this point,” Goldberg said, and Mailhot then jokingly suggested Weir should compete in the women’s competition. (source)

As if his complete gender fail weren’t enough, Mailhot&  Goldberg  also had to be offensive to trans people. Is there some sort of award they give for that sort of idiotic, mindless, thickety thick clueless fuckwittedness? Because, I’d like to propose Mr Mailhot as a candidate.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world can enjoy Johnny Weir dancing to Lady Gaga’s  Poker Face:

Somehow, the Koreans seemed pretty enthusiastic.

(I HATE PEOPLE WHO PREVENT ME FROM NOT CARING ABOUT THE OLYMPICS. MAILHOT WILL PAY ONE DAY)

2. The best game ever:

forevergeek.com where I got the cap says: so bad it's good. BAD??? BAD??? what a bunch of bitter, sad n00bs you all must be :(

My review will be very short and to the point: UNICORNS!!!!!!!1!!!!!

Also:

(via MRW <3<3<3)

3. Also, in Oppenheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, where I currently reside, it’s all Suddenly!Spring. BIZARRE VERY BIZARRE.

Dagon, getting lost, Dawkins, fish, fail.

1. YES I CAN HAS THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH FINALLY.

My book-sniffing skills turned out to be awesome after all(1)! I haven’t got the time today, so I’ve only read about 60 pages so far, but! Awesome!

I liked: the stuff about ultra-violet and primroses, and how Dawkins emphasises that creationism has a lot to do with complete and utter ignorance.

2. The “poor expats who can’t get used to live in their cruelly culturally different host country” meme is as robust as ever, but what about the ex-expats? I’m concerned!

This is because I spent 30 minutes being lost, because I forgot that “the first floor” means actually “second floor”. Or at least it would, if I were still in Japan.

Note to self: first floor is second, the real first floor is zero. Must concentrate moar.

Fail!

3. I have discovered the most ridiculous meme ever. How could I miss it before, I asked myself today, looking stupidly at pictures that will remain undisclosed for a couple of days, as I will be collecting evidence in the library.

Hint: fish and funny hats are involved.

Also, chariots.

(Well, a bit(2))

4. Apparently Claude Levi-Strauss died.

I… I have to say, I can’t really be upset, because until today I was sure he had died already.

So, in a way, when I went online, my worst fears were confirmed :( Thank you for fun times with Tristes Tropiques, Claude, and inspiring one of my favourite profs when he was young.

5. I have to confess: I’ve been having the urge to look for moar vaccine-deniers on the intertubes all the time lately(3). I’ll start posting when my hands will stop obeying me and continue typing on their own even when I sleep. SLEEEEP!

6. For all internet troll aficionados, a tragic news indeed: Tom Estes, the voluble pastor of the Hard Truth fame (?), seems to have deleted himself from the interwebs. I, for one, will be inconsolable for weeks to come, and I haven’t even broken the news to Dan yet :\ The last googlable post (a bit stale).  Google Cache to the rescue: he flounced ’cause “I’m no longer all that intrigued by Pharytales, or Helga’s Battle-ax, or the NotSoFreeThinker, and I think the reason for the that is because they are so repetitive in nature.  Basically what they do everyday is criticize rational Christians, and for a while it made me angry, then I found it amusing, but now it’s just tired.”

Tom also warns his faithful readers that he’s got two other blogs here and here. Stay tuned! Once an attention whore, always an attention whore.

(You can also follow his rants on Twitter:

NY Times’ Dowd is a super feminist, UNLESS it’s Obama is the one excluding women, than it’s okay. #tcot http://s.nyt.com/u/Waf

I laughed!)

Anyway, RIP, Hard Truth!

 

(1) Throw some ink at me. I could probably tell which genre it came from.

(2) The other bit is that I like the word “chariot”. Chariot!

(3) Shooting fish in a barrel much? And yet!

My new project: Fail For Posterity! (Polanski, Stalinska, Zanussi)

Dorota Stalinska says what she thinks about those pesky 13-year-old whores. Translation by Google, cleaned up by me so it’s at least marginally comprehensible.

(Sane commentary in Polish here. The following article was published by a completely mainstream Polish newspaper.  The interview was conducted on a completely mainstream Polish news station. Stalinska is a famous actress and often appears on TV)

Stalinska defends Polanski: 13-year olds are throwing themselves at men.
2009-09-29, last updated 2009-09-29 23:44
An emotional exchange took place today in the studio during the interview on TVN 24 about the Roman Polanski case. The director was defended by the actress Dorothy Stalinska, while PiS MEP Marek Migalski reiterated his view that he is surprised by the defense of Polanski.

Migalski on his blog attacked the defenders of Roman Polanski’s “There is no shame and logic in the desperate struggle of the artistic guilds for the freedom of their colleague, but I would like to ask our artists:  Would you use the same arguments, if your pal Romek (Polish diminutive for “Roman” <–Sendai A) first got drunk, and then had some rectal fun with your daughter? Are you fucked in the head*? ”

Dorota Stalinska, who also signed a petition in support of Polanski,  said on  TVN 24 that she is “shocked” by the language Mark Migalski uses**. – First, it was not rape, but an intercourse with a minor with her permission – said Stalinska. She added that after all, this lady denied that she was  raped, and the evidence was manipulated. – “We know that the 13-year-old girl may look like a 20-year-old – actress explained***”. According to her it is not that the girl who was raped, but Roman Polanski was seduced and provoked****.

Stalinska: 13-year olds are throwing themselves at men.

Dorota Stalinska puts the blame for the events 30 years ago on the then 13-year-old Samantha Geiner. – I’ve  a 20-year-old son. He could tell you what the 13-year-old girls behave like, and what provocations they’re capable of, and how they throw themselves not at 20, but 40-year-olds – Stalinska said.

She added that supports the words of Krzysztof Zanussi, who the day before in the “Kropka nad I” (A TV programme with five-minute interviews <– Sendai A)  called Geimer “an underage prostitute”. – 13-year-old girls alone provoke adult men. In Poland, and in the entire world. Zanussi’s right – said Stalinska in outrage*****.

Migalski: Defending Polanski is shameful

Mark Migalski did not try to hide his outrage at Dorothy Staliński’s statement. He repeated what he said in his blog, that any defense of Polanski is outrageous.

He stressed that even if  sexual relations of underaged girls with their “sponsors”  take place, we do not accept that.

He explained that the use of profanity is inappropriate to what Roman Polanski did, and how shameful it is that everybody’s defending him in Poland******.

*This are actual words of an actual Polish MEP. Really.

** YES. Because clearly the language is what was the problem here, all along. Typical denialist strategy: know that you’re losing, apply the MIND YOUR MANNERS pseudargument.

*** YES A WOMAN SAID THAT IN PULBIC. NO SHE DOESN’T RAPE CHILDREN AS FAR AS I KNOW.

**** Stalinska, Zanussi, Polanski choked with their penises and mauled by bears, mmmm. An especially gigantic dildo for Stalinska.

***** I’m not making this up, I swear.

***** In the original Google translation the end of this sentence was “today, arms in Poland”. Like a haiku.

Also, for the first time in my life, I agree with a wingnut.

trapped in Sendai *facepalm*

It’s been raining since yesterday.

You can see wee little droplets of water, but when you look closer, the itty wee droplets are actually  the small small spaces where it’s not pouring with rain, 1mmx1mmx1mm on average.

They started selling autumn bento sets in the supermarket, too.

秋風に
たなびく雲の
絶え間より
漏れ出づる月
の影のさやけさ

（左京大夫顕輔、新古今和歌集）

(Modern translation)

秋風に吹かれてたなびいている雲の切れ目から

漏れ出る月の光の明るく見えることよ

(MacCauley‘s English translation – poem number 79)

See, how clear and bright
Is the moon-light finding ways
‘Mong the riven clouds
That, with drifting autumn-wind,
Gracefully float o’er the sky!

My snarls, they’re sleepy today.

Anatomical models, sexist ads, creepy ads, creepy sexist spanking ads (LINKSPAM YAY)

creepy enough?

This is what I’ve got today!

1. This is why one has to read Dr. Isis from time to time, even when one can’t really read her everyday. By far, it’s been the sexiest spanking I’ve ever seen (what is even sexier: Dr. Isis’ smart braaains). Warning for fuckwitted sexist trolls in the comments.

2. Apparently, there are more creepy sexist ads on the BioEphemera (a cool blog, by the way, but, again, no time). There’s not enough DDD: in the world to express how utterly DDDDDD: I am.

3. Which leads us to  even more creepy, creepy ads, or, welcome to the fifties (well, mostly): 15 creepiest ads of all time at Retrocomedy, creepy ads at Weirdomatic (includes such gems as “Smoking is Believing”, and a manic boy eating worms tubifex worms spaghetti), the disturbing nipple-bra (EW), and Plan59, which has hundreds and hundreds of creepy vintage ads, which I don’t have the energy to rec one by one anymore.

4. And finally, to the point of the entry! BioEphemera has also an intriguing, but disturbing, and fascinating, but disturbing, and sort of awesome, but disturbing post about rather, well, artsy anatomic models of women, and pregnant women. This one has a removable foetus, apparently:

Removable foetuses! Yay!

Actually, I secretly think they are rather pretty.