| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9347 Registered: 05-2005 |
NYT interview with Bob Dylan. It’s powerful stuff. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/arts/ music/bob-dylan-rough-and-rowdy-ways.htm l?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20200614&ins tance_id=19334&nl=todaysheadlines®i_i d=33795071&segment_id=30879&user_id=cbe1 711fb1a9b330cf9b74a05c3e7b1b | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1996 Registered: 08-2006 |
With Douglas Brinkley, no less. The Times gets the big guns. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 498 Registered: 05-2005 |
William unmasked? https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/the-smi ths/who-was-william-it-was-really-nothin g-about/?fbclid=IwAR0p62GWoAqkikx3BsnP-z dT8i5St3PDO0SYOBFX3BC3WRKzDqHmnQCjWF4 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4405 Registered: 03-2005 |
Stuart I have a question for you. Giorgio Bassani consolidated his half dozen books about Ferrara's years during and emergence from fascism into a single large volume before he died. Which should I read, the original separate novels or the final consolidated one? Years ago a friend took me to see the film adaptation of "The Gardens of the Finzi Contini." It remains one of greatest films I've ever seen. Idiotically, it didn't occur to me at the time that it was based on a book. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1756 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, now, Randy, let me ponder that for a moment... (ie, hurriedly get in touch with someone who might be able to give you an informed answer). | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1757 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, after a wee survey, my first quick answer would have been to go for the individual William Weaver translations, since I have always regarded him as an excellent translator. But Jamie Mckendrick, who has tackled the complete consolidated version, also has a very good reputation. If you haven't already come across it, here's an article that might make interesting and useful reading! https://primolevicenter.org/printed-matt er/translating-giorgio-bassani/ | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4406 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thank you Stuart! I knew I could count on you. Your link is just the sort of thing I needed. I will probably go for the Norton edition of the final consolidated Novel of Ferrara. If I feel the need I might then later pick up a separate copy of "Finzi Contini." | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1765 Registered: 10-2006 |
An article saying that Prince's Sign o' the Times will finally get the whole rerelease remastered hullabaloo, with a mere 63 bonus tracks! https://variety.com/2020/music/news/prin ce-sign-o-the-times-deluxe-reissue-bonus -tracks-1234689805/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9388 Registered: 05-2005 |
This brilliant piece on the new Dylan album https://insidestory.org.au/are-we-there- yet/ | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 354 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great article Pádraig. Thanks for the link. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4424 Registered: 03-2005 |
I just finished David Malouf's "Remembering Babylon." Stuart, if you haven't read it yet I think this book will suit you well. Think of it as an alternative "My Antonia." The snowflakes in my paperweight haven't settled yet so I can't say very much but it's a fine depiction of pioneer life and perhaps the most challenging and unexpected frontier for many of the characters is their own mind. Grant must have read a lot of Malouf's books. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9435 Registered: 05-2005 |
Come Again, by English comedian Robert Webb. It’s a time travelling love story and an international crime mystery. I feel very shallow compared to all the intellectual stuff you guys are discussing. I like the book, though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9436 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ps, “ snowflakes in my paperweight“ - love it, Randy. I’m going to use that phrase and claim it as my own. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9439 Registered: 05-2005 |
The final ever edition of Q magazine. I was not a regular buyer of it over the years (it's been going since 1986 and I think I bought my first copy in 1989), but generally enjoyed it when I did. It took music seriously, but also found the ridiculousness in it. I'm sad to see it go. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9452 Registered: 05-2005 |
An interesting article on the quarter century history of MP3s, though the repeated use of the cliched phrase “in terms of” is jarring. https://thequietus.com/articles/28561-mp 3-vinyl-napster-music-industry | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9457 Registered: 05-2005 |
The dead mourning the dead in a very moving tribute to John Hume by Séamus Mallon. RIP to both of them. Go n-éirí an bóthar leat. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/ irish-news/seamus-mallon-i-saw-john-hume -s-raw-courage-as-he-faced-troop-of-bloo dthirsty-paras-1.4321203?localLinksEnabl ed=false&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_mediu m=email&utm_content=Covid-19%3A+Cabinet+ looks+to+tighten+travel+restrictions+and +decide+on+pubs+reopening&utm_campaign=m orning_briefing_digest | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9485 Registered: 05-2005 |
An interesting tale of two feet. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/scien ce/foot-surveying-metrology-dennis.html? campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20200819&insta nce_id=21393&nl=todaysheadlines®i_id= 33795071&segment_id=36478&user_id=cbe171 1fb1a9b330cf9b74a05c3e7b1b | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9500 Registered: 05-2005 |
Proof, not that it was needed, that Van Morrison is a tool. https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music /van-morrison-fight-the-covid-19-pseudos cience-and-speak-up-1.4338343 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9519 Registered: 05-2005 |
A great story by a band I saw in Cork in 1991. Randy, this is written by the guy who played keyboards with Microdisney on their reformation shows. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9520 Registered: 05-2005 |
A link would help https://medium.com/@rhodrimarsden/the-wrong-and-winding-roa d-8185525ec972 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9524 Registered: 05-2005 |
Neil Kinnock on Joe Biden. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020 /sep/07/neil-kinnock-joe-biden-1987-scan dal | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1787 Registered: 10-2006 |
Thanks, Pádraig, it's a relief to read anything positive about Joe B these days. But I do wish the Dems had gone for someone younger and tougher with a bit of fire in their belly. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9525 Registered: 05-2005 |
I was surprised by this story. I’d always thought it was a black mark against Biden, but now 33 years on we learn that it was a nothing more than a very minor oversight. On such things, history sometimes turns. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9555 Registered: 05-2005 |
An article about Boris Johnson's attorney general, Suella Braverman. It's extraordinary stuff. And not it a good way. The Brexit morons will soon reap the destruction they sow. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/sep/12/when-even-the-attorney-gen eral-flouts-the-law-what-hope-does-brita in-have-suella-braverman | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9559 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ed Miliband skewers Boris Johnson over his Brexit lies. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/202 0/sep/14/ed-miliband-revels-in-the-humil iation-of-boris-and-his-word-salad | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9560 Registered: 05-2005 |
And Martin Rowson’s cartoon on Johnson and co. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/picture/2020/sep/14/martin-rowson-on-t he-uks-rule-of-six-and-internal-market-b ill | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9561 Registered: 05-2005 |
Some footage of Miliband’s fine speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SlRnU2a MmA | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4453 Registered: 03-2005 |
After reading 740 pages of Giorgio Bassani's excellent but sobering if not downright depressing "Novel of Ferrara" I needed to switch to something light: Tracey Thorn -- Another Planet. This is her amusing memoir of growing up in one of the new towns built on the edge of the London green belt. I'm not yet finished. So far, perhaps the biggest laugh I've gotten concerns her short-lived period of driving: "You're probably picturing me tootling along at forty on the motorway, or being overtaken by milk floats on residential roads -- a nuisance to all but a danger to nobody. I'll set you straight on that one. Nervous drivers don't drive too slow, they drive too fast. Like those who drink too quickly at the start of a party to calm the jitters, I would put my foot down in order to get the whole thing over with. Combined with an inability to judge distance or speed, and a desperate desire not to be a bore at junctions and roundabouts, my fear made me a menace, and when I finally crashed it was the sheer inevitability of it that wounded me." More generally she makes the (I think) valid suggestion that you might have to grow up somewhere frustratingly limited to be inspired to create something else. So far "Another Planet" is a very congenial page turner. I'm looking forward to her book about her friendship with Lindy Morrison. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9563 Registered: 05-2005 |
That quote made me smile, Randy. Tracey Thorn’s vocals never gave much indication of a sense of humour. (I probably missed all the gags in her words in the very limited time I’ve spent listening to Everything But The Girl.) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4454 Registered: 03-2005 |
Pádraig, I think it's probably a function of reaching the age where you don't have anything to prove and can finally laugh at yourself. Here's a little nugget I just read. It's a diary entry: "Bought Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' and Subway Sect's 'Ambition'. Mum and dad got me a cassette case with their Green Shield stamps." I love that! She gets her two cool records, tapes actually I suppose. I'm guessing Green Shield stamps were something like S & H Green Stamps here in the States that my mom used to collect when I was a kid in the 1960s. When she accumulated enough of them she would exchange them for some helpful little household item like an ironing board. So here's the cool rebellious teenage girl scoring her new cassette carrying case via her parents' redemption of trading stamps. She was 16 at the time. Here's another great entry: "Huw gave me 3 Albert Camus books cos we both like him." That reminds me of when I read "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and "Ulysses." I think I was 18. I got the idea of reading them because Joan Baez quoted a passage from "Portrait" on her arty psychedelic "Baptism" album. There's no way I comprehended a tenth of either of those books. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9564 Registered: 05-2005 |
That sounds great, Randy. Yes, Green Shield stamps were exactly what you imagine them to be. We had them in Ireland too. I remember getting stuff through them, but I can't remember what. It was probably mostly things such as toasters and plates. It actually makes me a bit sad when I think of Green Shield stamps as it shows that back then even people who would not be considered poor, could not afford to just buy something as basic as a toaster. It had to be saved up for with stamps. But then again, household goods were a lot more expensive then because they were built to last and were not made in China. Green Shield stamps evolved into Argos in the early 1990s. I love the pretentiousness of a precocious 16-year-old pretending to get Albert Camus. I was damn pretentious, but that never stretched to reading Albert Camus. Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull was about as far as I went in that direction. Camus for lightweights who'd rather spend most of their spare cash on records. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9565 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh, and because I was listening to a Boston radio station earlier, I googled to see why US radio station names start with a W or K. And the universe provided me with a fascinating answer. It all comes down to the Bureau of Navigation, more than a century ago. Of course it does https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/2966 9/why-do-some-radio-stations-begin-k-and -others-w | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9570 Registered: 05-2005 |
The September issue of Mojo, which finally arrived in the mail today, two months after being posted from the UK. Damn you, Covid. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9575 Registered: 05-2005 |
Almost four years ago, Atlantic magazine outlined “How a Pandemic Might Play Out Under Trump”. It got a lot of predictions right. It also got some things completely wrong. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch ive/2016/12/outbreaks-trump-disease-epid emic-ebola/511127/?campaign_id=116&emc=e dit_pk_20200915&instance_id=22208&nl=pau l-krugman®i_id=33795071&segment_id=38 113&te=1&user_id=cbe1711fb1a9b330cf9b74a 05c3e7b1b | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9578 Registered: 05-2005 |
Fintan O’Toole puts the boot into Johnson and Brexiters, again. It’s an easy target, but he does it well. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/sep/10/boris-johnson-oven-ready-b rexit-cummings-withdrawal-agreement | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9585 Registered: 05-2005 |
Michael Stipe showing a great deal more sense and compassion than the anti- mask/conspiracy theory fools Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/sep/17/coronavirus-georgia-michae l-stipe-op-ed-failures | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9586 Registered: 05-2005 |
And the Daily Mash addresses Gallagher and Brown. https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/cele brity/the-clapped-out-mancunian-rock-sta rs-guide-to-covid-19-20200917200529 | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1374 Registered: 04-2005 |
And I'm supposed to be working but thanks to Pádraig I'm laughing at https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/medi a/guardian-accidentally-runs-story-that- doesnt-make-you-feel-like-topping-yourse lf-20200917200549 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9600 Registered: 05-2005 |
Van Morrison joins Gallagher and Brown in the Covid conspiracy stakes. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/s ep/18/van-morrison-fascist-bullies-anti- lockdown-covid-songs | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9616 Registered: 05-2005 |
Googling Cordrazine led me to this article on “the 50 most overlooked songs of the 90s”. https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-rea ds/features/the-50-most-overlooked-songs -of-the-90s/10267924 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9622 Registered: 05-2005 |
Mercifully, I live 17,371 kilometres from where I went to school, so this isn’t going to happen to me. Still funny though. Five twats from school you'll awkwardly bump into in the supermarket https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/soci ety/five-twats-from-school-youll-awkward ly-bump-into-in-the-supermarket-20200925 200840 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9630 Registered: 05-2005 |
A New York Times story headlined Joe Biden's stutter is his superpower. This link is from a syndicating paper in case the NYT one is behind a paywall. https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/opin ion/times-commentary/story/2020/sep/25/e gan-joe-bidens-stutter-hsuperpower/53292 5/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9637 Registered: 05-2005 |
Trump and his taxes. It’s a beautiful thing. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020 /09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?action =click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 120 Registered: 03-2015 |
Finishing up reading "The Big Midweek: Life Inside The Fall" by Steve Hanley. Before that I read "The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise" by Brix Smith Smart. Loving "The Big Midweek" (one of the best rock memoirs I have read), but it is good to read both books and get two views of the same gig or same MES incident. Only half of Brix's book deals with The Fall, but you get some chapters set in Chicago (Hyde Park, S. Ellis Ave., Lab School, Wax Trax! Records, and Cabaret Metro where she met MES after a concert in April of 1983), LA, Bennington College in the 80's, and dating Nigel Kennedy (I once saw him play a concert with his Polish jazz quartet and some very rock 'n' roll on-stage behavior). Next up will be another Fall book because I know there some more out there. There are some similarities with The Go-Betweens: signing with Rough Trade and then having The Smiths being the only important band for them; signing then with Beggars Banquet; constant touring with no financial reward; problems with the same producer (Craig Leon); and acquiring a more commercial sound as the 80's progressed, but then that happened to most bands during that decade. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9641 Registered: 05-2005 |
A new AC/DC album is coming, according to this report https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/did -ac-dc-send-out-the-signal-there-s-a-new -album-coming-20200929-p5608d.html and I’m looking forward to it. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2010 Registered: 08-2006 |
That Times series on Trump's finances keeps getting more explosive. And what a damning indictment of the American tax system. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9643 Registered: 05-2005 |
Well said, Rob. I read the first part of the NYT report on Sunday in utter astonishment; not only at the extent of Trump’s mendacity, but at a monstrously opaque tax code that became worse, not better, under Obama. If your fellow Chicagoan Al Capone was alive today, the tax fraud that was his comeuppance would all have been legal. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9644 Registered: 05-2005 |
Eight and a half hours until the first debate; I imagine there will be another September surprise from the NYT before then. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4463 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've been avoiding virtually all articles about the election and about Trump. I did skim the NYT's original overture to its bombshell. Yes, the idea that Trump paid only $750 for two consecutive years really goes up my nose. And before that he managed to secure a ginormous refund after one of the few times he paid some proper tax. But he was probably a crappy businessman who's lost a lot of money on a lot of his investments so it might not be entirely bogus. He's such a crook untangling his rubbish could take as long as Jarndyce v. Jarndyce. For whatever it is worth, the LA Times included this little nugget about the tax system in its initial summary of the story: "By contrast, the average U.S. taxpayer in the top 0.001% of earners paid about $25 million annually over the same period." Unfortunately the writer didn't include a citation to the source for that statement but if it is true at least it means that the tax system isn't quite as horrible as the Trump example suggests. Because if the Trump example is typical I think we should eject all of these wealthy people from the country, certainly including folks like Peter Thiel. It costs a lot to protect and build infrastructure for the use of these billionaires. If they don't contribute, then bye-bye! And don't even try that silly shibboleth about "job creators." They aren't and they don't. I still haven't decided whether I'm going to watch the "debate." | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 465 Registered: 02-2007 |
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart. A brilliant novel that has been short listed for the Booker prize. A brutal and raw story of the love of a boy for his alcoholic mother in early 80's Glasgow. Surrounded by neglect, abuse, bullying, poverty and the toxic culture of most of the adults in this story, Shuggie is searching for his own identity. Sounds terrible, but scratch the surface and you will find love and hope hidden here. One of the best novels I have read in years. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9660 Registered: 05-2005 |
That sounds great, David. Glasgow is one of my favourite places in the world, but to this day there is terrible poverty there. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9663 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've tried to avoid reading about US polling as much as possible because the numbers were so badly wrong four years ago. But the election is now just a month away, so I had a look here https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/presid ential-polls-trump-biden | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9667 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hope Hicks, a White House adviser who travelled with Trump on Air Force One on Wednesday, tests positive for coronavirus. Well, well, well. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/01/ us/trump-vs-biden?action=click&module=To p%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9669 Registered: 05-2005 |
And what goes around, comes around https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/01/polit ics/hope-hicks-positive-coronavirus/inde x.html | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4470 Registered: 03-2005 |
Marina Hyde's latest column. I used to think she was too snarky but she's gradually become my personal favorite political columnist. Of course the news keeps racing ahead of her on this one. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/oct/02/trump-joked-covid-presiden t-diagnosis-maga-virus | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9674 Registered: 05-2005 |
This, from the LA Times: When Reagan was shot, country rallied around, but he hadn’t spent months downplaying assassins https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2 020-10-02/when-reagan-shot-country-ralli ed-he-hadnt-spent-months-downplaying-ass assins | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9680 Registered: 05-2005 |
Biden's national lead over Trump jumps to 14 points https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-th e-press/biden-s-national-lead-over-trump -jumps-14-points-after-n1242018 This poll was taken before Trump decided to expose his Secret Service detail to Covid in a batshit crazy drive-by waving. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9683 Registered: 05-2005 |
This is a good article on Trump, despite the writer using the phrase “learning moment”. I remember when the word lesson covered that. It was about three weeks ago, before I noticed “learnings” and “learning moments” has suddenly replaced “lessons” as the latest bullshit expression used by people who think bad grammar makes them smarter. Still, decent article apart from that. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ only-the-trump-team-could-spin-this-into -even-riskier-messaging-about-the-virus/ 2020/10/04/30415bf4-0655-11eb-859b-f9c27 abe638d_story.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9692 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, have you seen the latest from Marina Hyde? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/oct/06/donald-trump-coronavirus-b alcony-drugs | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4472 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yes, Pádraig! I was just going to post a link to it. Great minds, etc. This whole bizarre episode is outstripping any fiction. Following on Marina's column, someday there is going to a hell of a movie made out of this "presidency." It might not be Oliver Stone but whoever does it, it'll be one for the ages. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9694 Registered: 05-2005 |
I was thinking something similar myself last night - what kind of crazy film will the (hopefully) end days of the Trump administration one day make. I’m just surprised we haven’t seen more Trump backers jumping ship like the rats they are. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9703 Registered: 05-2005 |
“Swamp creatures” now? https://www.donaldjtrump.com/media/trump -campaign-statement-on-unilateral-decisi on-of-the-commission-on-presidential-deb ates/ It would make a great name for a neo-garage band, though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9707 Registered: 05-2005 |
This is a very interesting first-person account of what dexamethasone does to you https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/cul ture-commentary/trump-dexemethasone-ster oid-covid-andrew-leahey-1071822/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9709 Registered: 05-2005 |
Is This Anything?, Jerry Seinfeld's first book in a quarter century. I saw him interviewed by Stephen Colbert yesterday, ordered the book and it arrived today. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9717 Registered: 05-2005 |
Further revelations about Trump’s tax affairs in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020 /10/09/us/donald-trump-taxes-las-vegas.h tml?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pg type=Homepage | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9718 Registered: 05-2005 |
I am very moved by this story of Paul Heaton making a large donation to the staff of Q magazine which was forced to close due to the coronavirus. Make sure you watch the video embedded in it too. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/o ct/10/paul-heaton-thanked-by-q-magazine- staff-for-selfless-donation-beautiful-so uth | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2013 Registered: 08-2006 |
That Paul Heaton story is pretty cool. Given his relatively low profile in the States I'm always amazed to hear he's a "star" in the UK. The story about him offering up his future album royalties to the UK government gobsmacked me. I was like, "he has that much money?" I love him but he's what I would call an "alternative" act in the U.S. However much money he has, I guarantee not much it came from this side of the pond. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4476 Registered: 03-2005 |
I confess I hadn't checked out that link until your post Rob. I didn't recognize the name Paul Heaton. But I loved the two Housemartins albums from the time of their release. They founded their sound on vocal harmonies, when nearly nobody was doing that. I was disappointed by the first Beautiful South album and never investigated any later ones, thinking "oh well, that's the end of that." I remember that the Housemartins had the distinction of being a Christian socialist band. That was (and is) something that ought to make perfect sense but here in the U.S. would make most people's brains explode. This act by Heaton fits perfectly with that. Presumably, he feels that he already has enough. While it represented a depressing descent into MOR when the Hollies did it in 1969, by the Housemartins "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" sounds just right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Pq_lIk xRw If more people in the U.S. claiming to be Christians actually were Christians I'd probably have a very different set of attitudes. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9725 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, The Beautiful South were huge in the UK, Ireland and western Europe for most of the 90s. They made so many great pop singles. Randy, I always preferred The Beautiful South to The Housemartins. The latter were always a bit to straight up pop for me, while TBS always had an edge, lyrically if not musically. I may be doing The Housemartins a disservice as I've just not listened to them anywhere near as much as I've enjoyed The Beautiful South over the years. Give Welcome To The Beautiful South another go. 31 years should give you some perspective on it. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2014 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Blue Is the Colour" is a personal fave. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9730 Registered: 05-2005 |
Midnight Oil win Sydney Peace Foundation's gold medal for human rights https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/o ct/14/midnight-oil-win-sydney-peace-foun dations-gold-medal-for-human-rights | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9731 Registered: 05-2005 |
And also, Biden leads Trump by 17 points as election race enters final stage https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020 /oct/13/election-poll-biden-leads-trump- 17-points | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1380 Registered: 04-2005 |
Never trust the polls Pádraig ! I'm just stunned that in a democracy (in the richest country on earth !) that people have to queue for 11 hours to be able to vote, as they are currently doing in the state of Georgia. In the UK or in France I've never spent more than 5 minutes waiting to vote. And this in California ? Honestly the States is in need of independent observers for these elections. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020 /oct/12/republicans-election-2020-unauth orized-ballot-boxes | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9733 Registered: 05-2005 |
I won't trust the outcome until the count is done, Andrew. And yes, it is truly astonishing that there are massive queues to vote. I've queued to vote in Australia, but I think 15 minutes was the most, and generally it's just a case of walking in and voting. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9752 Registered: 05-2005 |
Trump calls Fauci “a disaster”. Unbelievable, but all too believable. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live /2020/oct/19/donald-trump-joe-biden-coro navirus-covid-19-us-election-live-update s?page=with:block-5f8db0ed8f08d277d177db 0a#block-5f8db0ed8f08d277d177db0a | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4483 Registered: 03-2005 |
Marina Hyde on a no-deal Brexit: "In recent weeks, the government has announced exciting plans for “inland border sites” in places such as Warrington, Birmingham and Epping Forest. There will be no place too landlocked to be left out of lorry tailbacks and additional layers of red tape – previously the preserve of coastal elites – suggesting the government’s levelling up agenda is already deeply and meaningfully under way." Having deposited my US election ballot in the local official collection box set up by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters more than a week ago, I'm indulging in some escapism by reading about the pratfalls of the other floundering nation within the anglosphere. Misery loves company, I suppose. Andrew, the Republican Party has a history of election abuse in California. It was their brilliant idea to place intimidating armed guards as "poll watchers" at election sites in latino neighborhoods in Orange County in 1988. This action was one of the moves by the Republicans that made them unpalatable to very nearly the entire--rapidly growing--latino segment of the California electorate and has turned the state into a reliable Democratic stronghold. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9762 Registered: 05-2005 |
I read Marina Hyde’s piece earlier and thought of you, Randy, as you’ve mentioned you’re a fan. Thanks for explaining what the turning point in California was. I didn’t know that. I should have asked you. I figured it had to be something other than the beautiful people in Hollywood and their liberal ways. There just aren’t enough of them to turn a whole state reliably blue (apart from the occasional governator). | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4484 Registered: 03-2005 |
Padraig, it was quite the political achievement by the Republicans. California was actually a classic swing state. Except for the inner San Francisco Bay area, California is not really all that liberal a state. The massive Los Angeles County area has always been a mishmash of political attitudes. After all, this was one of the main centers of the aerospace industry. (It's since moved away.) We've flip-flopped between the Democrats and Republicans as a normal thing. But establishing themselves as the party of racists in a state that is vividly ethnically diverse was a breathtakingly short-sighted thing for the Republicans to do. The only reason they got the Governator was because they used a celebrity as a candidate. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4485 Registered: 03-2005 |
Sorry, Pádraig. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9763 Registered: 05-2005 |
No need to apologise for Padraig/Pádraig! But, thanks anyway! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9764 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rudy Giuliani reportedly filmed in a compromising position in the new Borat film. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oc t/21/rudy-giuliani-faces-questions-after -compromising-scene-in-new-borat-film | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 514 Registered: 05-2005 |
Charlie Hebdo. Each weeks. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1382 Registered: 04-2005 |
Trou, I watched Macron's speech last night. Maybe the guy is just a very good actor, but it is impossible to imagine Trump or Johnson delivering a speech like that. I'm with Charlie Hedbo in the sense that all religions should be up for ridicule. It's time that the human race faced up to its own responsibilities and stopped believing in these contrived ideologies. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9766 Registered: 05-2005 |
An interesting piece on the study of conspiracy theories. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/opini on/q-anon-conspiracy.html?campaign_id=2& emc=edit_th_20201022&instance_id=23358&n l=todaysheadlines®i_id=33795071&segme nt_id=41839&user_id=cbe1711fb1a9b330cf9b 74a05c3e7b1b | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9777 Registered: 05-2005 |
Trump, Trumpism and the kakistocracy. https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-ameri ca/the-end-of-democracy-if-trump-loses-t rumpism-still-wins-20201023-p5683g.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9780 Registered: 05-2005 |
We’re endlessly told why populism works. Now see how it might fail https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/2020/oct/24/were-endlessly-told-why-po pulism-works-now-see-how-it-might-fail | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9789 Registered: 05-2005 |
Changing times in Georgia. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/26/us/po litics/georgia-battleground-state.html?a ction=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype= Homepage | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4490 Registered: 03-2005 |
While I wrote my post about Bestia Bebe's second album the Los Angeles Dodgers won the (North American) World Series for Major League Baseball for the first time in 32 years. Let's hope it's an omen. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9793 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Guardian's editorial on the US election is the most cogent argument I've seen on why voting for Biden is vital for the US and the world. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre e/ng-interactive/2020/oct/27/the-guardia n-view-on-the-2020-us-elections-its-time -to-dump-trump-americas-only-hope-is-joe -biden | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9799 Registered: 05-2005 |
The final ever edition of Q magazine, which has finally arrived in Sydney newsagents. I didn't buy it all that often, but invariably enjoyed it when I did. I'm sad to see it go. |