churchill's price

still looking for vol. 3 and 4 of churchill's history of the english-speaing peoples.
thank you ed for those 2 links to rare book dealers!
they want between 450 and 3,000 pounds. höhö.
the 2 volumes i have i bought in oxfam, an impulse buy for something like 5 quid. an outrageous price for a charity shop!
so my question is: who would give 2 out of 4 volumes away, or who was clever enough to buy an incomplete set of only 2 before me, when they could have had them all?
strange...

the lives of others

about time!!!
das leben der anderen (the lives of others), is starting on friday, 13 april (jinx jinx) in the uk.
less than a year behind the german release.
cannot wait because i haven't seen it yet, either!
the film is about east germany, the secret police (stasi), and how we all coped with life behind the iron curtain. message to all westerners: we had food, art, fun and our little private catastrophes that make up a normal life.
just that some of us were under more scrutiny than others.
much like today, then.
but i don't want to trivialise the horrid, ridiculous and outright sick actions of the paranoid regime we lived in.
and i definitely don't want to take away from the film, which i expect to be great. it has one of the best german actors in it (ulrich mühe), and deals with a sensitive issue without being a comedy. (germans tend to produce comedies when they deal with controversial subjects. we have to laugh off our embarrassment about showing emotions...)
and the film got an oscar this year as best foreign language film.
the academy never errs!
see you in the cinema.

die brücke

nein, ich meine nicht die künstlervereinigung (siehe bild), und auch nicht meine zähne (ohne bild).
die dresdner elbwiesen (von canaletto x-mal gemalt) sind bedroht, von einer mittenmang geplanten brücke.
wer dagegen ist, weil er dresdner ist und seine elbspaziergänge mag, oder eben was gegen brücken hat, der kann hier mit seiner unterschrift protestieren.
doch eile ist geboten, denn die endgültige entscheidung, falls sie nicht schon längst gefallen ist, steht kurz bevor!

ich meine:
wer eine brücke plant,
die völlig überteuert ist,
die er sich zu 90% vom land finanzieren lassen muß, während existierende brücken einsturzgefährdet sind,
die durch aberkennung des unesco-weltkulturerbe-status tourismuseinnahmen bedroht, obwohl das geld dringend gebraucht wird, für den brückenbau zum beispiel,
die ein paar kilometer weiter völlig unbedenklich und wesentlich billiger gebaut werden könnte,
die aus kostengründen keine straßenbahnschienen bekommt,
die extra flach geplant ist, um dem tourismus einen faulen kompromiß anzubieten,
die extraflach in einem hochwassergebiet liegen wird,
... der ist einfach dumm!

clear out

lost a lot of baggage today.
first i returned half the soas library (my essay is finished!).
then, in a moment of hyperactivity, i attacked the 3-year-old paper collection my wardrobe. it took up an entire shelf. after an hour of neat filing, but mainly of throwing out old documents, it still takes up an entire shelf, but all paper is tucked away in pockets, which are tucked away in folders... like russian dolls.
amongst the rarities i found are my deregistration from heidelberg, dating back to 2001.
a heizkostenabrechnungsbescheid from 2003. i discovered that i have legal insurance in germany that covers me in europe. bring on the lawyers!
of course there will be the inevitable unique irreplaceable document i threw out today. collateral damage.
my rubbish bin is bursting. if anyone wanted to steal my identity, tonight's the night!

essay ist fertig!

15 seiten, 3525 wörter. aber ich will ja nicht prahlen.
zur feier des tages gibt's einen schüttelreim von else:
auch der eunuch, der hodenlose
trägt von frey die lodenhose

pseudonyme

die ich gerade für xavier naidoo, sänger, deutschland, gefunden habe:

der knödelnde konfirmand (d oder t?)
die singende kirchenmilbe
der pseudoreligiöse wimmerhannes
das tanzende tabernakel

so gut ist der mann ja nun auch wieder nicht!

(autorin müßte eigentlich ein essay schreiben, verdrängt die arbeitswut aber lieber mit posting und sport)

the burkini

muslim adaptation to europe, part 2:
beachwear that covers all the bits it should cover, but that you can take for a swim.

ouch! getting up was tough this morning. did you miss the extra hour, too?
reward came with the sun pouring into my living room.
gorgeous!

wanted!

winston churchill *a history of the english-speaking peoples* vol. 3 and 4.
i want the cassell sixth edition of 1959 (or so), which looks similar to vol. 1 above.
can you help??

the burkintosh

who looks after muslim women's dress in the cold and rainy climes of northern europe? the islamic world is calling for the rain-proof burka! design ideas to www.burkintosh.sa.com

para las chicas!

my friend and pr guru merche from valencia sent me some pieces from her wonderful maitena comics collection.
wicked. funny. from argentina, where evidently women have the same overwhelming problems they have in london and munich, berlin, leipzsch...
here's one for you:

student union's war on error

welcome to the steadfast anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-whateverist student union at my uni, soas. here is their latest campaign:

Against the “English-only” policy

This Union Notes:
The SOAS Student Union Clubs and Societies Guide states: “All publicity must be in English. This is to ensure that the Equal Opportunities Policy is adhered to, as all students at SOAS have a good standard of English.”

This Union Believes:
That this “English-only” rule has nothing to do with “equal opportunities” and everything to do with enforcing the so-called “war on terror” on campus. All students and staff should be allowed to read and distribute material in any language regardless of whether it is translated. The “war on terror” is a classic “divide and rule” ploy, stigmatizing Muslims as an excuse for a sweeping reduction in the legal rights of the entire population and a racist, imperialist “war” of military adventures abroad. The “war on terror” targets immigrants, minorities and ultimately the working class.

This Union Resolves:
To remove the Student Union guideline that all publicity be in English. To steadfastly oppose all “English-only” policies.

spanking

interesting story from a german divorce court:
an abused wife has approached the court for a quickie divorce from her violent husband, something that would normally be granted on the grounds of domestic violence only. much to everyone's surprise, the judge (female) refused to shorten the one-year cooling off period with the following reason: both parties, i.e. the couple, are from morocco, which means the quran is applicable. she then quoted a sura from the book that condones castigation of wives by their husbands. therefore, the judge proceeded, the husband did not actually break the law of his home country (the law in the country of origin is usually considered by the courts in divorce rulings).

thing is: moroccan law does not condone domestic violence at all, as it's modelled on french civil law. independence of the judiciary on the one hand, foreign culture on the other... the case has provoked some outrage in the media, but not amongst fellow judges. this story also reveals massive arrogance on the judge's part - after all, what education does she have as an expert in german law (and a bad one as this case has shown) to just interpret the quran like that? in the muslim world, only a small elite of experts dares do that, after a lifetime of studying.

well, a good spanking may indeed be in order - for the judge!

derrida

dichotomies.
binary oppositions.
after my presentation on iran went ok earlier today, i am now out of excuses for not working on my 2 essays for april and may.
at least i have decided on the general outline of both essays. the anthropology essay on middle eastern peasants will make heavy use of derrida's binary oppositions with a twist. the twist being the hierarchy within the opposing pairs. urban - rural. west - east. modern - traditional. and so on...

which reminds me of my personal little anomaly: non-opposable thumbs.
the other one will be a long sorry lament of foreign aid to the middle east during 50 years of european foreign policy.
still awake, you intellectuals?

off to the assembly line now, my flatpacked new bookshelf (badly needed) was delivered today!

das eilige land

freunde der sonne! wo habt ihr sie heute versteckt??
für alle ex-new yorker, ex-leibzscher und auch augenblicks-leibzscher habe ich einen artikel über die unterschiede des lebens in NY und LE gefunden.
als ob's da gemeinsamkeiten gäbe!
die autorin, die else, spricht mir aus dem herzen, denn man muß nicht bis nach amerika gehen, um sich im osten fremd zu fühlen.
london reicht.
eigentlich muß man zum sichfremdfühlen, wie ich damals, leibzsch gar nicht verlassen. heimat ist da, wo man sich über die bürokratie ärgert, sagte mal ein opfer der englischen council tax. wenns danach ginge, fühle ich mich in london sehr zuhause.
aber erste wiederannäherungsversuche an LE werden von mir unternommen. oder ist niemandem aufgefallen, daß ich seit wochen wieder mit ß und ümläuten schreibe??

money...

got it!!

money

i want my money.
ever since i quit my job in february, i've been waiting for my last pay cheque.
now i'm torn between righteous outrage (it's really bad form to plainly refuse to pay your dues, even if the employee has left!) and frustration over the realisation that i worked for an obviously crooked company, though luckily it was only a year before i smelt the coffee and got out.
it's that sort of confrontational attitude that provides lawyers with work.
thank god i know some.
i want my money!

orientalism

academia is, as we expected, a battle ground of opinions and a bonfire of the vanities. and everyone is related.
i was in the audience of a lecture given by robert irwin today. he is one of the many and one of the major critics of edward said and his book, orientalism. irwin's book, for lust of knowing, settles scores with said's many errors; his denouncing leading orientalists for having an imperialist/racist/zionist agenda when really they had not, while at the same time ignoring other scholars if they did not fit said's agenda.
mamma mia! the outrage! considering that orientalism was written in 1978, and has managed to stay on the academic bestseller list eversince, one can only say chapeau to mr... sorry, professor said, who as a pupil in cairo, was beaten up by his school prefect who was to become omar sharif the hollywood star.
robert irwin, on the other hand, wrote his phd thesis at soas supervised by bernard lewis, declared zionist, favourite *middle east expert* of the neocons, and creator of the phrase *clash of civilisations* for the current conflicts between islamist groups and western institutions.
one big happy family! now waiting for a backlash said support book to be published very soon.

ps: my essay on leila khaled and samiha khalil, gender stereotypes and political nationalist violence got 66 points. now i'm the teacher's pet.

quote of a beautiful day

*the roads lie on their backs, enjoy the spring and smile* - charles bukowski

badminton

a wonderfully sunny day in london, and i took r., badminton rackets and shuttle cocks to paddington sports grounds. we played around the rose bushes and were watched by crowds, though the cringe factor must have been considerable. hand-eye coordination... what's that?
anyway, i had fun!

quote of the day

to commemorate international women's day:
*wrong life cannot be lived rightly* - adorno
(this reads so much more refined in the german original: *es gibt kein wahres leben im falschen*. there now)

in soho the other night

how the cookie crumbles

the news today:
size zero is unhealthy
germans find angela merkel sexier than britney spears (both way above size zero)
german women have a life style as if it was the 1950s, no careers and looking after the kids

funny these are all such female news. and tomorrow is international women's day. o how we celebrated that in socialist east germany! the female worker brigades were given flowers (mostly carnations or gerberas) by their male colleagues, some had medals pinned on them for excellence at work, lengthy speeches were given about how in socialism, every woman can freely develop her personality. in the evening the women went out for a do together, until it was time to go home to the family. those were crazy years, girls!!!

märzschafe

so nennt meine omi schon seit ich klein bin alle leute, die im märz geboren sind. was mein opi wohl dazu gesagt hat? der hatte nämlich im märz geburtstag.
dieser blog wurde übrigens auch im märz geboren, und ist daher nun genau ein jahr alt.
dann meckert mal schön, ihr märzschafe!