Interesting

Keith Olbermann supposedly has free reign, but when he gets Cenk to tell it like it is, he has to cut him short. Media jackals, hey.

Thiis sums it up.... and the media is disgusting...

most of them..... This is worth watching.

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I finally figured it out....

Coronation Street takes place in Manchester England. The dialect is so thick, they offer subtitles on the screen if you watch it on the tee-vee machine. I'd first thought it was supposed to be in London somewhere.

Other than Scots, which is incomprehenisble, it rates third on my list of how not to speak the English language. My Manchester wasn't a borne of well-spoken English either, lots of broad vowels, and some Frenchisms thrown in if you were 'just speaking everyday stuff', but England? Oh wow. It takes a lot of fine tuning for the ear to 'get' it.

The two Manchesters have one thing in common, language-wise. They swallow most of their words, and it takes getting used to. In my Manchester, a common exchange would be, 'J'eetyet? No, d'jew?' You try that one out on someone who speaks English as a second language, and they say 'Wha?' In real English, it means 'Did you eat yet? No, did you?' In the mother ship Manchester, they are even more lazy, and swallow half the words that come out of their moufs.

Which is another thing. th becomes f if it is in the middle of a word. It's worse than rocket science. But once you crack it, and your ear adjusts, it starts to make some sense.

In Manchester, 'thank you' becomes 'ta'. But if it is in the Dales area and elsewhere, it becomes 'cheers'. Which I find oddly unsettling for some reason. Scots is up there at number one for the most incomprehensible English spoken on the planet. I had a neighbor who emigrated from Scotland, and in all the years I knew him, I did NOT understand two thirds of what he said, and he was garrulous. He scandalised the hell out of me when I was young, and he went out on a bender one evening wearing a jacket that was oh-ful. Sort of a baseball jacket in blue with bright yellow letters across the back. What I read, or thought I read was 'Ladies from Hell'. So I thought he was out looking for hookers, and his wife was the primest lady you could imagine. I know now that I mis-read it, and it must have been 'Laddies from Hell', which makes more sense. With the rolling 'r's and being a bit ribald, he was a very colorful person... and the burr? I was lost the minute he opened his mouf.

Oddly, my cousin Jeannie seemed to understand everything he said, and they seemed to take a shine to one another. We lived in the same brick dreary tenement block, so she was about four or five and would march over and pass his door next to ours and seemed to find him fun. Which resulted in the famous/infamous evening she spotted him on his porch from hers and yelled, 'Hey, Mr. Purdy! Ya gonna come over for dinna? My Mom is making chicken boobies!' (Way to go, cousin L...) He found that so hilarious, he nearly pissed himself.

But language isn't always universal. The second worst dialect is 'Jordy', which comes from the Newcastle area in the north of England. During my summer in Munich, I hung out a lot with three lovely girls from there. It was an excercise in frustration. I spent most of my time saying 'I beg your pardon? What do you mean?' 'Whatsamatta, you got a sneck on your netty?' 'Excuse me?' 'Do you have a lock on your toilet'... which was a way of saying you're bottled up and being anal retentive... They also had some problems.

'Can ya do me a favour tomorra... knock me up at half ten?' Upon which I looked at her sternly and said, 'Don't EVER say that to an American.' I knew what she meant, but she didn't know how it sounded. And fell apart when I told her how that would be perceived.

One of my favorite trips into town with them was on the subway into the center of Munich, and Pam was a show-off. So she spots this vicar in collar, and what you did if you were English to break the ice, one of the first questions after introducing yourself was the question that didn't make you a 'tourist'. So Pam had on her high English hoity toity posh accent, and said, 'And have you beeen to Dachau yet?' Whereupon her friend Sheila wasn't having any putting on airs stuff, elbowed her and said, 'ERE, whatcha talkin' like THAT for?' In pure cockney.

Gawwd, I wish I had had a camera with me just to record the look on the vicar's face. Luckily we got off at the next stop and hilarity ensued.

It's fun to be young. But Jordy is the second worst dialect in English that I know of.

So Manchester places third. Or 'fird'. Whatever.

It takes effort to train your ear, and it applies to any language. Get me with someone Swiss or Tyrolean... I get lost. Italian? Oh. My Gawwd. Just because you 'think' you speak the same language doesn't mean you do at all.

But I think I got the Manchester part down now so I know what's going on.

Just sayin'

Other stuff I did while I was inccomunicado....

Watch movies of course, and news on the interweb thing. My superchannel is sort of wonky in that department. I can get every soap imagineable world-wide, but since it is called Soapaliens, well hey, you know what you're getting. And if they post movies, well, they'll be sort of odd, of course.

And they do all the competition shows, which are mostly boring, although it is fun to watch people mostly making an ass of themselves. I get it. As to soaps, there are some humungous differences in what they do world-wide. But it boils down to the same thing... dumbing down the public. And if you watch the message boards on The Bold and the Beautiful, it proves what I've been saying for over a decade now.

Peter got into it, we were still in the Mühlgasse, and I would come home and make lunch or supper, depending on my shift, and while making lunch, he was glued to 'The Forresters' as he called it.... although the german version is called 'Rich and Beautiful'. This piece of shit drove me crazy. And I could hear it in the kitchen while cooking, and yell a lot, because that show never moves. It's for analphabets. Repeat ten times, take a step forward. And I would say, 'Talk about dumbing you down, how can you WATCH that? It's degrading anyone with any sort of intelligence!'

It was just a blip on my radar screen, but irritating. Well, I never watched, but ten years later, Peter is still addicted to it, so I got in and know all the back-stories. It's the most painful 22 minutes of my day for wincing at dumb, but it gives us something to talk about...

I still can't figure how that show won a daytime Emmy last year, it is appallingly dumb.

But it is the comments boards on the site which really cement and prove my theory. Dumbing down. There are people who just use 'there' 'they're', my favourite today was someone using 'accept' when they meant 'except'... and forget about using who and whom in the right context. I had teachers who practically beat it into us. And it gets really weird when they use it to neuter what they are referring to, and use 'that' instead of who. Newscasters do this shit. I don't like them.

Yeah, semanitcs again.

So I saw some movies, as if that were something new. Lame. '2012' was up. Well, Roland Emmerich can do catastrophe films like no one else, but his endings are so patriotic sick he spoils them. My one 'jolly' was the scene where the Pope was praying, and there was a crowd outside. And I thought, 'leave it to the Italians to dress up really big for the apocalypse', before the Church virtually rolled over them.

I watched this horrible film called Hall Pass, which was about couples taking a break from their marriages. The men were buffoons, the wives nearly got it on, and then had to face they were getting older... If you are in depression, you needn't see it, it's a wrong thing to do.

And there was this film called 'Couple's Retreat'... with Vince Vaughan.

Here is what I get from the U'S media: Women are wise, except when they have melt-downs and go either self-destructive, or homicidal. Men... are wimps, Cooked spaghetti, they wimp out, are p-whipped concoctions, and have you noticed? The women always hang out and voice all their concerns, and can be really bitches, but they stick together. The Men... sort of just fold into jello molds and let themselves be played.

And if you get that reflected at you in everything on the tee-vee machine, it's like programming a nation....

Because I think nothing is further from the truth.

This was so funny, leave it to Colbert

And John Lithgow is just brilliant.

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This just tickled me...

because I felt just like that kid sulking at the left of the pictcha. Stress, much? Fambly much? Eeew. And who the hell cares... you could do a mess of titles for this one... if you were so inclined....

How to put this????

Imagine coming to another world, one where you can communicate, but know little about. And there are people who stun you with intellect, like T'homas Bernhard, or Hilde Spiel, or politicians who are so amazing in comparison to what you knew, you stay in the game in order to be a part of something.... and over decades, there are entertainers who become very beloved. First, something from the year after Austria became the second republic in 1956. A silly comedy, has something to do with twins, but typical for the times. I love the last moment of it.



Peter Alexander influenced generations of the tee-vee public. He had variety shows, he could sing well, did killer parodies of local legends, was never afraid to push the envelopes just a little bit..... I guess you could put him up as our version of Ed Sullivan, as far as the tee-vee shows went, just legendary. That is what he became.

But the main thing he projected was a quiet decency and sense of dignity. He was a very talented man, and passed on I just read. He was 84, and had a very productive life and was a good influence on people. And made them smile.

Oh my!

Glee is on tomorrow... And I don't know the context yet, but seems like Kurt is in for some heartbreak. And mashing up Beethoven with hip hop is sort of interesting. Cripes, can't Chris Colfer have at least ONE episode where he's happy????? Is it asking for the impossible? Sheesh.

Good vocals.

Well... here we go excitement over....

The Packers won the Bowl, and the B family will be over the moon. And today... actually yesterday, they finally resumed the second half of the second seasson of Glee so it's up on the internets to see. And cleverly revolved around an over-regional football game, and villainess Sue Sylvester losing the national cheerleader championships after seven straight seasons and attacking cameo guest star Katie Couric ending with 'I hate you, Diane Sawyer...' She had hilarious lines in there. They had some good numbers in it.... Where the glee club has to double as the half-time entertainment... nicely done number... The rival school had one that is sort of gay, but perfect....



Yup... cute... but the mash-up of Thriller with 'Off with their heads, dance till you're dead' was sort of awesome. Zombies. No clips up yet. Go figure YouTube.... I can't

Facebook

I don't know.... I was so infuriated by that film yesterday.... I deactivated my account, but WOW... the arseholes don't delete it. So you just stay on there in limbo or something.

I'm so glad I never put personal stuff 'out there'.

Bollocks to them. Don't need it.

Who needs that shit.

Can't they stop the stupid?????

Faux NEWS.... not. Can we all thro up now? Chris Hayes is smart and fun... Rachel once slipped and called him Lambchop.

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Protests

Interesting. Richard Engel's smile is enough to make me happy. That guy has so much courage, it's amazing.

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these two make news exciting...

and interesting. And don't leave you feeling dumb.

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Daytime Emmy Material....

General Horspital went over the top on Monday. Everyone knew that the kid got raped in jail, but he admitting it was the capper on Friday. Here you can see twelve minutes of good acting, and don't need to know any background. Laura Wright as Carly normally drives me up the walls, she's so good at being selfish, vindictive, and outright disgusting. And why don't I ever see anyone who looks like Steve Burton out in my neighborhood.... just wondering.

Right click for full screen on YouTube.

Radio Cairo Days.... Then and now II

Seven years in a seventeen square meter room, tiny nook to cook in, and the wc and shower out in the hall, and there wasn't much heat out there in winter, but you could turn the shower on to very hot.

The night I moved it, it was very late, early in the morning actually, but Habji sort of corralled me. He was from Cairo, and was wide awake and wanted to talk and talk, and I was exhaustedly tired. I learned he was a coptic christian.... (whatever that was, I thought at the time...) And he was friendly, but I thought he was sort of devious.

Well... before I knew it, his friends occupied the other two free rooms after the heroin addicts moved out, please don't ask, they scared the hell out of me one night.... (Don't freak, it was a bad part of town, hey...)

So the radios going all around that house were stations from Cairo. I went off to work twelve hours a day, they did what they did, and occasionally, we'd stop for a moment, and really discuss what rocked their world. They didn't want to be here, and were homesick, but they wanted to go back and have the education to help them advance.

They never bothered me.... I never bothered them.

B'ut when it came to the foreign policy of the US... it was always the same.

I'm beginning to get a sort of chuckle out of how perceptions have changed, and the elite nor most of the media in the US aren't really understanding it.

The most radical come from their own offspring, the best educated, and not all this fear mongering that the poor are going to rise up. Putting that via the total entertainment media, the news... it only makes people think of what they can't have.

Then: a Pakistani backing me against a wall. He fucking hated me, because I came from America, he despised me. He would be in a room, I would come in to see a friend, and he would S'TORM out in the most histrionic way possible to show his outrage. Wouldn't talk to me. Didn't blame him, but took it personally, I wanted to know why.

And that is when he said, 'Your country comes in and takes our treasures and rescources. They take all that is valuable. And give us fish.' 'You want to be a good country? 'TEACH us to fish.'

People have no relationship in their minds to what they manufacture, or where it might GET to, or what consequences it might have. They make things. Then owners sell them. The least consciensous of them sell them indiscriminately for the highest profit. That is the market we always hear about, right? And something someone made... has no relationship to them, right? It''s just a tear gas cannister, after all, and am surprised they don't have inscriptions like on the bombs the air force uses. Or the ones in WWII.

I wouldn't even be sure if the manufacturers know where their products are going. Price is right? You sell.

But there is a hitch....

The brand goes out into the world. Even people who aren't educated can be tear-gassed, and pick up a cannister, and see that it was manufactured in the US.

The world is fucked up, have said so for decades. People exploit, and some really horrible ones seem to want to set the world on fire again and again and again till it hurts... and if you've never been really out in the world... the elitist strategy SUCKS.

Then and now....

Now... Listen closely to minutes 8:50 and 10:26

I really LIKE these two people together on the news, so yeah I admire them for their intelligence, seriousness in reporting, but the camaderie, and willingness to relate that they bond in their jobs.

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So if you are really interested in what goes on in the world.... do yourself a favour and listen to it all. Will continue 'upstairs'.

Low hangers

Oh wow, cowbells.... this is NOT what you want to know about a former president. And why in creation did anyone think it was worth recording? But it was funny.... somehow. Disregard the first part with all the Nancy Reagan stuff... it's at the end. Makes you wanna shudder. And I LOVED the burp... just sayin'.

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Freedom of Press, Freedom of Speech? Ya think..

Look, I KNOW Keith Olberman irritated a lot of people. I found an excerpt today on Scott's blog that I wish to quote. Am only doing it because his ads would probably offend some people, so it's cut and paste, but really supports my opinion. I will SO miss Countdown. I didn't agree with everything, I admired his humanistic activism, and the wonderful things he did, and his fearlessness in getting in people's faces when they were horribly wrong and more or less disgusting, the most recent being Arizona cutting off nearly 100 people waiting for organ transplants, and giving those people a face and a forum. He showed people who the REAL death panels are.

I think the following quote is fairly accurate for facts.

"So with Keith Olbermann’s by all accounts unceremonious firing last night by MSNBC there is one less liberal voice on the tee vee machine.

One less in a medium woefully bereft of liberal voices.

There are all sorts of conspiracy theories playing out over the blogosphere about why this happened — Comcast hates Olbermann and they told NBC to fire him as part of their unholy merger deal with Comcast.

Comcast is run by CEO and rabid republican Brian Roberts who is said to have long agitated to unload MSNBC’s biggest star from the networks highest rated show as part of a merger; the departure of Jeff Zucker as NBC prez removed the only layer of protection Keith had at the network; Keith was too difficult to deal with and they’d been looking to get rid of him for a while.

You choose. It’s probably a little of all of the above. Actually, its probably more of the first and second.

Love him or hate him there is simply no way that any honest, thinking person, either of the left or the right, can ever say that what Keith Olbermann said on the air was something he didn’t believe in.

You could see and feel the passion that he had for the positions that he took and advanced. And when he was wrong about something he corrected himself. Unlike pretty much everyone else in the public sphere who just assumes the viewing public is so deeply stupid and paying so little attention that there is no reason to correct one’s mistakes because . . . well, why fucking bother?

Apparently Keith is contractually obligated to remain off the television airwaves until 2012. Hopefully CNN will have the good sense to snap him up. Acquiring Olberman will go a long way toward rehabilitating their sadly diminished brand."

So yes, je suis d'accord. Genau meine Meinung. Agreed.

Oh, good....

Golden Globes were Sunday, my tee-vee connection is down, so was ticked off. I lurvs me awards shows, all the pretty people, and waiting for the gaffes. Glee received three. Best comedy/musical series, the incredible Jane Lynch, and the very young Chris Colfer. I believe he was in shock, but very good with his acceptance speech. Short, to the point, and on target.

what I forgot today....

For the first time in 38 years, I missed the New Year's Concert from the Golden Hall of the Vienna Music Association. It's always stunning, and it always ends the same way.... a da capo, then the sneakret national anthem, 'The Blue Danube Waltz'... they usually have world-renowned conductors, and the music is from the Strauss Dynasty. 99% of it, at least. It is shown all over the world, and it is a showcase of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. You can see it on PBS, if you have it on your system, I believe. It's been a staple of many a New Year lunch at my house, when things were good, and juggled the traditional Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, and fried potatoes for lunch. They were supposed to bring luck, or something. Maybe they did.... (shrug).

This year, they chose an Austrian conducter. He is 'cute', but can't judge from the clip... which someone took off a Czech tee-vee channel. The flowers in the hall are from San Remo, as always, and very beautiful, and it always ends with the 'Radetzky Marsch', which requires audience participation. This year's was ok. They kept cutting to a lady in red and a sort of Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot guy, and turns out it was the Sheikh of Quatar. The two people next to him were the President of Austria and his wife. The President has limited powers, but a check in the balance of power. The Chancellor is the person who would be equal to a US president. (It's confusing, I know, but the President is a mediator, and we have a good one.)

Judging from the ovations, I can assume the concert was very successful. So let's ring in the year with a march, hey.... right click for a full YouTube screen.