from the slogan of the Incheon Free English City Program
Smile with English!
The city of Incheon, South Korea has a program to encourage the English language for purely pragmatic reasons. In their haste to catch up to the global trade markets of Hong Kong and Singapore, the boosters overlooked that smiling has no language, and that it is not possible to speak English and smile at the same time. Shouldn't a language-oriented slogan be proofread extra carefully?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Outdating Automobile Society
from a TV interview with Frank Chu
...they are top secret by the CIA behind closed doors in Washington, outdating the automobile society, and outdating those international airlines...
At 2:20, Frank Chu summarizes his famous "12 Galaxies." These parallel worlds either "predate" cars and air traffic, or they "superannuate" them. If we take Chu as a media critic, he is describing a handcrafted world where people travel on foot and exchange secret information--some prelapsarian essence harnessed for evil by the government.
It seems reductive to slice Chu's thinking this thin. He is a feast of contradiction. The Bay Area protestor/performance artist appears without fail at every media circus with his indecipherable picket signs. He believes that he is an "unpaid movie star," the subject of a reality TV program called "The Richest Family." Chu blames Bill Clinton, and is on a "crusade for the first ever impeachment of a non-acting president."
...they are top secret by the CIA behind closed doors in Washington, outdating the automobile society, and outdating those international airlines...
At 2:20, Frank Chu summarizes his famous "12 Galaxies." These parallel worlds either "predate" cars and air traffic, or they "superannuate" them. If we take Chu as a media critic, he is describing a handcrafted world where people travel on foot and exchange secret information--some prelapsarian essence harnessed for evil by the government.
It seems reductive to slice Chu's thinking this thin. He is a feast of contradiction. The Bay Area protestor/performance artist appears without fail at every media circus with his indecipherable picket signs. He believes that he is an "unpaid movie star," the subject of a reality TV program called "The Richest Family." Chu blames Bill Clinton, and is on a "crusade for the first ever impeachment of a non-acting president."
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Man Must Wak
from a storefront sign in downtown Oakland
MAN MUST WAK
Those of us unfamiliar with Nigerian pidgin can be forgiven for conflating that third word with "walk," "work," "wake," or even "whack." After all, man must do all these things. Thanks to Iroro O., though, we know that "wak" means "eat" or "get his grub on."
MAN MUST WAK
Those of us unfamiliar with Nigerian pidgin can be forgiven for conflating that third word with "walk," "work," "wake," or even "whack." After all, man must do all these things. Thanks to Iroro O., though, we know that "wak" means "eat" or "get his grub on."
Deforestation For The Trees
from the New Yorker
So committed is [Colin] Beavan to his claim of zero impact that he can’t—or won’t—see the deforestation for the trees.
Elizabeth Kolbert criticizes the gimmicks of self-important authors. "No Impact Man" quixotically seeks to abstain from environmental damage. But to Kolbert his quest is myopic, and she deftly flips a shopworn metaphor into an ecological call-to-arms.
Not seeing "the forest for the trees" describes a way of not noticing how separate incidents are part of a pattern. The challenge of the environmentalist is to seize upon a harmful pattern and condemn it ASAP, before more damage is done. So although it is impossible to "see deforestation," that is the figurative task of the environmental movement.
So committed is [Colin] Beavan to his claim of zero impact that he can’t—or won’t—see the deforestation for the trees.
Elizabeth Kolbert criticizes the gimmicks of self-important authors. "No Impact Man" quixotically seeks to abstain from environmental damage. But to Kolbert his quest is myopic, and she deftly flips a shopworn metaphor into an ecological call-to-arms.
Not seeing "the forest for the trees" describes a way of not noticing how separate incidents are part of a pattern. The challenge of the environmentalist is to seize upon a harmful pattern and condemn it ASAP, before more damage is done. So although it is impossible to "see deforestation," that is the figurative task of the environmental movement.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Handle What's Between Your Ears
from Robert Palmer's "Hey Julia," Sneaking Sally Down the Alley
Hey, hey Julia, you're acting so peculiar
I know I'd never fool you in a million years
A horn section you resemble and your figure makes me tremble
And I sure would like to handle what's between your ears
It's that moment in a conversation when you're excited by someone not for their physicality but for their mind. But would you really want to sink your hands into Julia's gray matter, even if she reminded you of a horn section?
Hey, hey Julia, you're acting so peculiar
I know I'd never fool you in a million years
A horn section you resemble and your figure makes me tremble
And I sure would like to handle what's between your ears
It's that moment in a conversation when you're excited by someone not for their physicality but for their mind. But would you really want to sink your hands into Julia's gray matter, even if she reminded you of a horn section?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Coloured Views
from the Economist
Having Barack Obama in the White House may cause more people to pull their children out of public schools, predicts Mr Farris. Views of the government are coloured by views of the president, he says, even though the president has little control over education.
Our anonymous British summarizer ever so subtly suggests that racist paranoia is an impetus behind the rise of home schooling in these United States.
Having Barack Obama in the White House may cause more people to pull their children out of public schools, predicts Mr Farris. Views of the government are coloured by views of the president, he says, even though the president has little control over education.
Our anonymous British summarizer ever so subtly suggests that racist paranoia is an impetus behind the rise of home schooling in these United States.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tattered-Sounding Applause
from "The String Theory," by David Foster Wallace, Esquire
The applause of a tiny crowd is so small and sad and tattered-sounding that it’d almost be better if people didn’t clap at all.
Wallace was at his best when he confined himself to reportage. His very strong nonfiction relies on simple declarative sentences like this one with its funny, sad, unique observation. A "tatter" of course is a worn-out piece of cloth that has come to represent all things forlorn. The sound of tatters can be the same sound as insufficient clapping. Bravo, Dave. RIP.
The applause of a tiny crowd is so small and sad and tattered-sounding that it’d almost be better if people didn’t clap at all.
Wallace was at his best when he confined himself to reportage. His very strong nonfiction relies on simple declarative sentences like this one with its funny, sad, unique observation. A "tatter" of course is a worn-out piece of cloth that has come to represent all things forlorn. The sound of tatters can be the same sound as insufficient clapping. Bravo, Dave. RIP.
Seeing With Their Heart
from Vin Scully's Los Angeles Dodgers broadcast, August 17
For a split second the crowd was seeing things with their heart.
The fans gave a whoop when their man hit a high fly ball that was eventually caught. Scully turned this beautiful phrase, which is evidence of why he is the only baseball announcer who calls both play-by-play and color commentary by himself. All the souls in Dodger Stadium share one "heart," and this heart is capable of conjuring the pictures that it wants to see.
For a split second the crowd was seeing things with their heart.
The fans gave a whoop when their man hit a high fly ball that was eventually caught. Scully turned this beautiful phrase, which is evidence of why he is the only baseball announcer who calls both play-by-play and color commentary by himself. All the souls in Dodger Stadium share one "heart," and this heart is capable of conjuring the pictures that it wants to see.
Mushrooming Cancer
from Al Jazeera
Hussein Shobokshi, a Saudi columnist, said the US, which has been worried about al-Qaeda activity in Yemen, "did not pay attention to what was happening in Yemen or at the same time what's developing in Somalia...the region as a whole is looking at a mushrooming cancer in both these countries, and things are slowly but surely getting out of hand."
Shobokshi's usage of the verb "to mushroom" is correct, but it is confusing to think of cancer as fungal, and possibly also misleading to think of Shia militiamen as forming a geopolitical "cancer."
It's probably not helpful to suggest that if this portobello metastasizes, then Gazprom could control the world's most valuable oil supplies. Then, things would definitely be "out of hand."
Hussein Shobokshi, a Saudi columnist, said the US, which has been worried about al-Qaeda activity in Yemen, "did not pay attention to what was happening in Yemen or at the same time what's developing in Somalia...the region as a whole is looking at a mushrooming cancer in both these countries, and things are slowly but surely getting out of hand."
Shobokshi's usage of the verb "to mushroom" is correct, but it is confusing to think of cancer as fungal, and possibly also misleading to think of Shia militiamen as forming a geopolitical "cancer."
It's probably not helpful to suggest that if this portobello metastasizes, then Gazprom could control the world's most valuable oil supplies. Then, things would definitely be "out of hand."
Illuminate the Cadence
from "The Dead" by James Joyce
The voice, made plaintive by distance and by the singer's hoarseness, faintly illuminated the cadence of the air with words expressing grief.
This lovely Joyce passage is a synesthetic description of singing. "Illuminated" would suggest visual clarification, not audial. Then, "cadence" shows up, which is a musical term meaning "rhythm" that seems to disagree with "the air," unless we take the musical definition of "air," which is a synonym for "tune."
The jumble of terms and meanings echoes the skipped heartbeat that occurs when we hear great music.
Thanks to Arthur Phillips for wrestling with this sentence before me.
The voice, made plaintive by distance and by the singer's hoarseness, faintly illuminated the cadence of the air with words expressing grief.
This lovely Joyce passage is a synesthetic description of singing. "Illuminated" would suggest visual clarification, not audial. Then, "cadence" shows up, which is a musical term meaning "rhythm" that seems to disagree with "the air," unless we take the musical definition of "air," which is a synonym for "tune."
The jumble of terms and meanings echoes the skipped heartbeat that occurs when we hear great music.
Thanks to Arthur Phillips for wrestling with this sentence before me.
Intendances
from Steven C. Stewart's Forward to movie (Crispin Glover's film It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE)
I have never killed anyone and never intend too. However, I have taken many intendances from my own life and built the story around them.
Stewart is a severely handicapped screenwriter who here parses the problem of the origin of artistic creation. It is not clear if he meant "intentions" or "incidence." So it is thus unclear if the basis of the film is real events, or Stewart's mere wishes. But instead of confusing his meaning, the portmanteau artfully describes how fiction can be based on a writer's life.
I have never killed anyone and never intend too. However, I have taken many intendances from my own life and built the story around them.
Stewart is a severely handicapped screenwriter who here parses the problem of the origin of artistic creation. It is not clear if he meant "intentions" or "incidence." So it is thus unclear if the basis of the film is real events, or Stewart's mere wishes. But instead of confusing his meaning, the portmanteau artfully describes how fiction can be based on a writer's life.
2+2=3
from The Economist
[Raul Castro] was blunt about Cuba's economic problems...he blamed “our own shortcomings” for the fact that “often two plus two results in three.”
It's possible that Castro only meant that it's difficult to manage the budget of a Caribbean nation, but this utterance looks to me like a clever and literary riff on state communism. It's a sardonic reference to Orwell's 1984, where the main character is forced by a totalitarian government to agree that two and two make five.
"2+2=5" has become a worn-out trope, visible all over pop culture, signifying something about either looming mind control or resistance to logical thinking. Castro revives the cliché and rhetorically pronounces the end of international socialism.
[Raul Castro] was blunt about Cuba's economic problems...he blamed “our own shortcomings” for the fact that “often two plus two results in three.”
It's possible that Castro only meant that it's difficult to manage the budget of a Caribbean nation, but this utterance looks to me like a clever and literary riff on state communism. It's a sardonic reference to Orwell's 1984, where the main character is forced by a totalitarian government to agree that two and two make five.
"2+2=5" has become a worn-out trope, visible all over pop culture, signifying something about either looming mind control or resistance to logical thinking. Castro revives the cliché and rhetorically pronounces the end of international socialism.
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