Saturday, January 25, 2003
Well, today me and Mike went to Richard's birthday party, which I had thought was last night! We went to a great vegetarian restaurant I hadn't been to before, as it is in the wilds of north west london, where I hardly ever venture :) Very nice though. Also nice to see Richard and Aruna and people who I hadn't seen for ages. Took some pictures which I'll put up later if I get around to it. Like the links I promised yesterday! I started to feel really Ill on the way home though which sucks. Maybe it was the huge amount of wine I drunk too early in the day though!
I read an interesting analysis of recent world events today, How to deal with America? The European dilemma. Can't say I subscribe to it's opinions completely and it's undermined by an unfortunate recourse to quoting Trotsky: I think some of it's projections are unrealistic but still, an interesting analysis!
There was a big tube crash today. No-one was hurt or anything but yet more proof of how fucked the system is!
I feel horrible now so I'm going to go fall asleep on the sofa and shiver! ¶ 11:44 PM
Friday, January 24, 2003
I just took the Political Compass test again - mainly out of boredom, but also to see if my political position had changed. I have moved to practically the most 'left' and the most 'libertarian' that you can get. I think this is mainly because I've become a lot more sure of my own opinions, which I suppose is a good and a bad thing!
I am going to add some links to this site at some point tonight. They'll all be to daily reading and/or essential information. I just think my site is looking a bit bare at the moment or something! I have no brain cells today. I went to the library and photocopied things and something happened and now I can't think! GRRR. ¶ 11:42 PM
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Well, this post is a follow up to my mention of my Marilyn Manson thing. Sometimes (read - almost whenever I mention that I like MM to my mates) I find that I have to justifying myself on this subject. So I am going to do this for once and for all here!
The first reason I like MM is that I can't possibly take him completely seriously. This is the origin of my pet name for him 'god of Cake' which refers (for those of you who don't know) to the fact that he called himself the god of fuck in a very famous song of his. The fact is, though, that cake gets mentioned more times than sex in his lyrics. In fact they're hardly ever about sex. His whole attitude is teetering on the point of the absurd. This is an extract from his journal today:
"Lietz, Cam-era, AKTION
I've been in the bored room this past month trying to explain the difference between a night club and a night stick to a pile of idiots, who for the life of them, could not see the connection betwixt the moustache of Dali and the "mustache" of Nietzsche. I have put the dirt back in my mouth and drank from the dead, regardless of what these powdered wig witch doctors prescribed. We will not be censored. "
But the thing is I can only believe this is on purpose - MM is clearly one of the most intelligent people in popular culture today. This is obvious enough from his really fascinating autobiography. You can tell this even from this little extract that reveals not a little self-satire, absurdism, surrealism, word play...
Then there's the
music (actually this comes first!). Like MM's persona and style, his music is playful. He mixes the best of heavy metal (noted for it's over seriousness!) with 80s pop. Some of his most famous songs - like 'Beautiful People' are examples of this. Not to mention his cover of 'Tainted Love'.
Then there's the fact that everyone hates him completely irrationally and finds him shocking even though he's just a modern KISS. How stupid is it to actually be shocked that a guy is wearing make-up and black? If you don't pass this basic test of understanding that these things don't equal 'evil' or 'fucked up ness' then you've got big problems with conformism!
Then there's the fact that he's obviously really right on (note recent appearance in 'Bowling for Columbine') even though I don't agree with his very-slightly-veering-to-the-right opinions (at least as they come up in his songs). Well, he is from the land of capital punishment, Bush and other scary things, so it's possible to forgive him for this! Then there's his charisma, which should need no explaination :)
On the train yesterday, Mike picked up a copy of Time magazine that someone had left on the seat. Not needing any more depressing reading after the other days nice little speech from our PM, I didn't read it, but Mike did. Well, he read me a bit of Christopher Caldwell's editorial on European objections to war in Iraq '...No, Europe Needs to Get Real'
I have no time to attack this on any sort of general grounds because it's argument doesn't really progress beyond 'we don't like it when Europe tells us off, they don't have any power to back up their objections'. What I find interesting about it is this bit:
"Europeans care more than we do about physical pleasure; they traffic in titillation (to judge from the nightly offerings on television or such bestsellers as The Sexual Life of Catherine M.) and are obsessed with their food (which is, by the way, no longer superior to ours). And if "heritage," Europe's age-old bragging point, is measured by family traditions and religious values, then Europeans no longer have a lock on it. To American eyes, it's tough to have family traditions in a region where so many choose to be childless (the fertility rate in E.U. countries is 1.47 births per woman), tough to have religious values when less than 20% of Europeans regularly attend church. "
I mean, I suppose it's not surprising for an American to come out with this sort of stuff - but I think it reveals interestingly how different our cultures are. What Caldwell is attacking I would defend as the best of European-ness (and god there's a lot not to feel so good about). It's only the exclusion of European opinion being in general much further to the left (although not enough for me!) of US opinion that I can feel. I know this is a vast generalisation, but it's in answer to just as big of one, although I suspect that Caldwell is less aware than I am about the absurdity of talking about 'Europe' in this context. We're healthily sexually liberated, we don't measure heritage in terms of religion or family values (god knows how Caldwell ever came to equate those two things!) - in fact European countries are extremely secular. The assumptions behind this position (that it's somehow a-moral to not have loads of children, not to go to church, to have sex - to talk about sex) are so weird to me I can't even respond to them with any degree of civility! I don't think that many europeans really 'brag' about their heritage, anyway. If I hear people talking about this it's measured more in terms of beautiful architecture, and an awareness of how a longer history has imprinted itself on our societies. Of course, I'm not defending European opinion entirely - for one thing it is in general unforgivably Euro-centric, and there are assumptions of superiority lurking beneath the surface of even the most educated and self-aware european I know. Well, that's just one girl's opinion :)
¶ 12:12 PM
Me and Mike went with Shannon to see 8 Mile yesterday - yes, for those of you reading this who didn't know, if it's a film, I'll probably see it. Really, I do go to too many movies. Not to mention what I see at home. So far this week I've seen 8 Mile at the cinema, and at home I've watched: the Fifth Element, Run Lola Run, All About My Mother, a few Columbo movies off TV (!), I started Eat Drink Man Woman, but I didn't get into it so I haven't finished it. When I thought of writing this list I didn''t realise I picked such a cultured week! Only the 8 Mile thing really shows the movie-depravity that is part of my daily (really!) life. No horror films (oh, I watched the DVD commentary to Day of the Dead over Mike's shoulder). No tacky action films.
8 Mile was actually pretty good. I had this secret desire to watch it, sort of like it was a period drama or something. I mean - it's also sort of crap - formulaic, all the rest. The way it presents Eminem's mother is pretty sympathetic considering. Well, I quite like him anyway - I don't know if it has something to do with his playing with the God of Cake, Marilyn Manson. I loovveee Marilyn... I'm listening to 'King Kill 33' right now ('and i am not sorry, and i am not sorry....'). Well, anyway, Eminem's music is pretty good. Went to see him play live last year and that sucked though. Why do people still actually play the London Arena? It sucks so much! Manson did to, now I think about it! The floor is completely flat, so if you're short like me you can't see anything. Luck that stilts played such a large role in Manson's gig!! ¶ 11:05 AM
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
I am really depressed now: not even the superficial pleasure of different colour hair can cheer me up!
I will post this long news report from the Guardian here because it is a comprehensive list of our PM's opinions on everything that is happening at the moment, and there is hardly one point in which I agree with him.
No way out for Saddam - Blair
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Tuesday January 21, 2003
Tony Blair today refused to rule out using nuclear weapons in a conflict against Iraq, as MPs grilled the prime minister for two and a half hours on the subject of Saddam Hussein.
The prime minister said Britain and the US would deal with the threat from Iraq by "any way necessary".
Appearing before the liaison committee, made up of select committee chairmen and women, Mr Blair told Iraq it could not play "hide and seek" with weapons inspectors and reiterated his belief that it was "highly desirable" to have a second UN resolution authorising military action.
The prime minister was speaking ahead of a mass peace "lobby" of parliament addressed by the Blur singer Damon Albarn and anti-war MPs.
Mr Albarn told protesters outside parliament: "I don't think Saddam Hussein is a threat to our country.
"I think he is a monster who is the creation of the West anyway, so if we are going to depose him we need to look at the elements in the West that created him."
Answering committee questions, Mr Blair refused to be bound by the need for further UN backing and insisted that sceptical public opinion could be won around to back a war.
He said the allies would respond "in any way we thought necessary" to any Iraqi threat to use weapons of mass destruction against their troops.
Asked if that might include a warning to Saddam that non-conventional weapons - such as nuclear bombs - could be used against him in the event of such an attack, Mr Blair said: "It is best to say that we are aware of the potential of that threat and we would deal with it in any way that we thought necessary.
"But I don't think it is wise for me to get into speculating as to exactly what we are doing about it."
Mr Blair's comments on Iraq where soon echoed by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, speaking in the Commons.
He warned Saddam Hussein "to end his games of hide and seek" and called on the international community to maintain pressure on Iraq until it complied "fully, actively and positively with all its international obligations".
Special relationship
Under fierce questioning on his relationship with the US - and President Bush in particular - Mr Blair said the transatlantic alliance was "a very, very powerful force for the values that we believe in".
"America, for all its faults, is a force for good in the world."
UN mandate
Mr Blair repeated his view that it would be "highly desirable" to have a second UN resolution before attacking Iraq, that it was unlikely such a resolution would be vetoed - but stressed if that did happen action would follow in any case.
He said he did not believe Russia, China or France would use their security council veto if action was necessary.
"It is in my view unthinkable, in circumstances where we have agreed - and this is the spirit of the earlier resolution - that if there are findings by the inspectors that amount to a breach, then we authorise action."
The prime minister made his view clear that the public would back action even without a second resolution.
He said: "Of course it's better if we can go down the UN route but we mustn't give a signal to Saddam that there's a way out of this.
"There is no other way out for Saddam, out of this issue, other than disarming of weapons of mass destruction."
Mr Blair also played down differences among EU countries over the issue saying: "Some do support what we are doing, actually. And it isn't true to say every European country is in a different place from Britain."
He said Spain and Italy were examples of supportive countries.
Mr Blair admitted there was only "loose linkage" between al-Qaida and the Iraqi regime, but warned that tolerating inspections was not the same as actively cooperating with disarmament.
"What we believe, and I think the recent finds by the inspectors would bear this out, is that they are being dispersed into different parts of the country."
Missile defence
He defended possible British involvement with the US missile defence system - dubbed "son of star wars", saying: "I have an open mind as to what missile defence can deliver us. "I think it's important that if we do play a part in missile defence that this country gets some benefit from it.
"The questions I would have would be to do with the technology and so forth, and whether any upgrade in any facilities here would enhance our own security."
Fire dispute
On the fire strike, Mr Blair said he was confident that British troops' effectiveness would not be diminished by the need to make 19,000 of them available to provide emergency green goddess cover during any industrial action by firefighters.
Middle East
Mr Blair accepted that the west might be accused of "double standards" in responding so vigorously to Iraqi breaches of UN resolutions while not taking such tough action against Israeli breaches.
But he insisted that the crisis over Iraq was a separate issue which should be dealt with "in its own terms".
The inability to make progress on the Middle East peace process was "a shadow hanging over relations between the Arab and Muslim world and the west", he said.
"I would also say that al-Qaida and other terrorist groups are only using the Palestinian issue. Theirs is not a sincere desire to help the Palestinians at all. Indeed, terrorism is one of the things holding back a resolution of the Palestinian issue," he added.
Progress on the peace process would be difficult until the Israeli elections were over, he maintained.
Mr Blair told the committee that it would be a "great thing" if Saddam were to quit Iraq ahead of military action.
"Of course you wouldn't instinctively oppose it [Saddam going into exile]. But having said all that, I don't know that that is what is going to happen.
Post-conflict Iraq
On the aftermath of a possible conflict, Mr Blair stressed that he did not want to see Iraq disintegrate along ethnic lines.
"The territorial integrity of Iraq is sacrosanct. There must be no changing of that whatever."
Asked whether eventually there might be a peacekeeping role for British forces, Mr Blair said: "It depends on the circumstances. What I would say, however, is that you cannot engage in military conflict and ignore the aftermath.
"In other words, if we get to the stage of military conflict, we have also got to have a very proper worked-out plan as to what happens afterwards."
A lot of work had been done on techniques of identifying allies on the battlefield, in order to prevent a repeat of the "friendly fire" incidents of the Gulf war, which saw several British soldiers killed by Americans, Mr Blair said.
Research had also taken place into how best to protect troops against possible biological weapons, following the complaints from thousands of Gulf war veterans that their health had been badly damaged by the vaccines they were given.
But Mr Blair acknowledged that no definitive explanation for Gulf war syndrome had been found.
He told the committee: "The problem with Gulf War Syndrome is that it has never been clear exactly what it amounts to. If we were able to do that it would be a lot easier."
Asked if he was confident troops would be protected against adverse reactions to vaccines, Mr Blair said: "I am confident we will do everything we reasonably can."
North Korea
The prime minister was also asked why Iraq was such a high priority, compared with North Korea.
Mr Blair said: "This is a serious issue. If we don't deal with it now, and take a stand on it now, and it has come to a focal point around Iraq, then is North Korea going to believe us if we say this is what you must do to come into line with the international community?
"Are any of these other countries who are trying to acquire this weaponry going to believe us if, when we come to the point of decision on Iraq, we face the challenge and then we duck it?"
¶ 11:31 PM
Well, I finally dyed my hair. By the time I was telling the hairdresser what I wanted I'd bottled out of what I thought I was getting done yesterday: black with purple bits as a bit extreme. Here is me a few weeks ago when it snowed:
Here is me this afternoon:
I spent the whole day listening to RATM today - I'd forgotten how good there website it, even though there's not much new stuff up there. The only new stuff seems to be about Audioslave. I have to say, whoever came up with that idea was a fool. Rage without Zach, not to mention any kind of political message, combined with Chris Cornell, master of grungy songs about girls - possibly with one of the best voices ever, but totally unsuited to the Rage sound! Who the fuck thought of that?!
Come back rage, just for one more gig, it would make me very happy :(
¶ 5:33 PM
Protest against the war by sending a letter to the UN courtesy of Greenpeace.
Everyone remember that tomorrow is Call Dow Day as well!
Dow Chemical seems to think it can safely ignore the suffering of thousands of people in Bhopal who live with the contamination caused by the factory its Union Carbide subsidiary abandoned following the worst industrial accident in history. Despite receiving over 15,000 emails and many thousands of postcards and letters urging it to clean up Bhopal the company still insists the abandoned factory is not its problem. That is why we need your help to call Dow on Wednesday and tell them to clean up Bhopal now!
Dow has an free phone ethics line open 24 hours a day to deal with any ethical concerns you may have about the company.
The free phone number and further details will appear on the Greenpeace front page here:
http://www.greenpeace.org/
on Wednesday morning Central European time.
¶ 9:05 AM
Monday, January 20, 2003
Look how annoyed my mates are getting with this digital camera business :)
hehe. ¶ 11:13 PM
Hundreds of thousands protest US war drive vs. Iraq
And yet... UK to send 26,000 troops to Gulf
¶ 10:47 PM
Duncan finally sent out his pics from his and Anu's wedding along with a really sweet Duncan-ish account of the whole thing. Here it is!
the day started with champagne breakfast with russell and nathan. then got a
little tense when the taxis were late and we are stood outside on icerink
street in cold with no coats with anu's bouquet which the somewhat paranoid
florist had told us should not be exposed to the cold for more than two minutes
(the proposition of five bringing a concerned tension to her face) but we
managed to hijack a couple more and hit the magistrates only to find anu was
still in a nearby bar with her father anyhow...
oh and during the morning I decided to change my name to Juvonen! Anu didn't
want to change her name not cos mine sucks but as a feminist stance so we
either stayed the same as before or I chose to do rubbish hyphonation or I
turned things on their head...
after a swift few words from a finnish judge who managed to remain stoney faced
as anu and I laughed through most of the ceremony. then we got cateracts from
about 167 camera flashes which my pupils are still dilated from.
we then cut cake drank champagne ate food gave speeches - i managed not to
screw it up and anu had not planned one but gave an impromptu one which was
heartbreakingly sincere and made all the boys (dads me and uncle) preplanned
efforts look 2d... also she had a little comic aid from little vilja who you
can see climbing into her wedding throne as she started her speech and tried to
lift her dress.
then we hit a little bar and some of anu's frinds had written a song for us and
just before our planned pre-pumpkin hour exit at 12 anu's dress strap died
(don't buy yr wedding dress from Zara girls) tho she was saved by her shawl and
we beat a glorious exit
xxxxxx duncan and anu
¶ 7:06 PM
Well, I've had a thoroughly boring time this weekend with all this writing of essays! I've been cheering myself up tonight watching Todo sobre mi madre which is reaally good :)
Well, I've pretty much finished my essay about Derrida now, and only have 1 million things I've meant to have done not 1 million + 1! Tommorow I will be in more of a mood to say something interesting to the world.