Catching up on local news now that we’re back in Sweden–apparently we missed a protest in downtown Stockholm augmented by reindeer.
Reindeer-herding Sami have been hiking back and forth between winter and summer pastures since long before there were any “Sweden” or “Norway.” But now Norway has ruled that some Sami they’ve declared “Swedish” can no longer drive reindeer into Norway pastures that Norwegians say are “too far west.” (At least that’s what the Swedish news in English says.)
Whichever side is behaving wrongly on this should be very worried about getting coal in their Christmas stockings–I’m sure Santa Claus keeps careful watch of these reindeer!
November 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on New tell-all book: One phone-jammer’s revenge
Take one former Republican rising star, whose years spent “pushing the envelope” on campaign tactics have left him cynical–and very ready to talk. Allen Raymond spent three months in prison for phone-jamming crimes, telling the Boston Globe later that Republicans were now so “ultra-aggressive” and “ruthless” that he feared saying no to RNC-bigwig James Tobin could shut his consulting firm out of future business.
Add one former Page-Six gossip-bigwig, Ian Spiegelman. Gawker printed (I won’t even quote it) the blistering letter that got him fired from the New York Post. He’s said to describe himself as a “revenge fetishist.”
Across the wide ocean these days from my kin and crewmates, I was hoping to replace some Skyping with some skullduggery.
That is, we could team up online to chase treasure and glory in that thar new online Pirates of the Caribbean game. To demo how it works, I set up my account just last week.
I started with just “Besty”–not a misspelling so much as a family tease-name. She had battled her way up to level 3 by the time I added “Sven.” What a surprise! Low-level Sven has had more than 10 invitations (to friendship or crew); the more-skilled and longer-played Besty only got two. Invitations really help get to higher-level game play–I hadn’t realized how much Besty was missing out on.
Scurvy dogs! What part of “avatar” don’t pirates understand?
Starting in April … and only in northern Finland … there’s now one-year vocational course in elfing! (Will Orlando Bloom be teaching it? One can but dream.)
The funniest of these three ads for Åhlens department stores is the one in the middle. Sadly, my camera flash makes it hard to see.
On a sofa with lots of Åhlens pillows (“kuddar” in Swedish, and what a nice cuddly word for a pillow that sounds to English-speaking Betsy) a sweet white-haired grandma is beaming, her teenage grandson looks wide-eyed at the DVD she got at Åhlens to watch with him…a favorite “old” movie she loved once and now wants to share … “Basic Instinct.”
On Friday, during the play’s climactic scene, actor Felix Engström was giving his all to the evil-Nazi role of Herr Zeller. From a dog’s point of the view, Zeller’s aggressive threats have been going on since rehearsals, night after night after night after night…
Finally, Hetz the theatrical dog was moved to a heroic (dog) act, to save the Van Trapp family!
Poor Hetz was (of course) fired, and the actor Felix Engström now has an unusual trophy for convincing acting. Sadly that trophy arrived in the form of a dog bite.
October 14th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Mom Song sung to William Tell Overture, with lyrics
As Akma says, love the standing ovation at the end. But who could have resisted? Snip:
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside, don’t play rough, will you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don’t forget to share
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare
Get along! Don’t make me come down there
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced this morning that Al Gore will get 1/2 the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for “efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”
Washington insiders say that lawyers for President Bush have quietly filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court, seeking to have that decision overturned.
“I’m convinced already,” said a Supreme Court Justice who asked that his name not be used. “I just hope this moves fast enough so that in December we all get on Bush’s guest list for Stockholm, Norway! My wife says the Alps are lovely at that time of year.”
The Boston Globe didn’t miss last night’s show but I did–this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony over at Harvard. I helped write the slide show, even from here in Sweden, but I didn’t get to stand in the thrilling darkness of Sanders Theatre, as I did last year, clicking my handiwork on and trying not to get too distracted.
The Tech went to the Igs, but I could not. I missed the bottomless bowl of soup, the sword-swallowing doctors, the crowd chanting “Eat it!” at hesitant laureates whose Toscanini ice cream had been flavored with vanillin synthesized from cow dung.
If you’re in the Cambridge area, one big and free Ig event is still to come. On Saturday (1 p.m.) at MIT in 10-250 (that’s inside the Infinite Corridor, but still quite easy to find) will be the Ig Informal Lectures. Don’t be late, even that great big room fills up pretty fast.
