Tuesday, June 26, 2012

But you fall within a bell curve

I have misgivings about some of Minchin's humour. I really like his song "If I didn't have you", lyrics here and youtube here. I tend to like the ones about sciencey stuff, anti-prejudice and that seem pro-feminism.

I'm not so keen on the more aggressive anti-religion ones. He sang one about the Pope at Eden, which involved a lot of swearing.

I mean, I do agree with the sentiment that if the Pope colluded in or demanded cover-ups of paedophile priests, with the moving of them from parish to parish etc, and if there was a choice to try to protect the reputation of the church over the safety of children, then yeah, all the swear-words in the world are not enough for the Pope. Those men should have been handed over to the cops and prosecuted; whether the church gave them religious succour, allowed them to repent/receive absolution whatever from behind bars wouldn't trouble me, as long as they paid their debt to society in this life - and they were kept away from the vulnerable ever after.

But some of his other songs taking the piss out of religious beliefs did make me uneasy. "What would my friend think?" I thought. And "nothing good" was the answer.

I guess Minchin treads a line that is aggressive and alienating. I don't go hand-in-hand with him over that edge.

I do like this song 'though. I wish he'd done that one.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Warning Signs

I think the one on the left is more dramatic. The other could be anything without the wording.

Exit from Eden

I went to see Tim Minchin at the Eden Sessions at the Eden Project last night. It absolutely pissed down, but he was a great performer.

Tim Minchin played by a ray of light

On the way out, it was a massive bottle-neck of people barely moving up the paths to the exit, and we laughed about it being like a scene from a zombie film, shuffling along stiff-legged cos we were cold and soaked to the skin. "Brains, brains".

Some guys took up the theme behind us, making us laugh more. "We're shuffling along like penguins."  "Hey, I've an idea for a film with zombie penguins - it'd be like Happy Feet, only with disappointment..."

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Fun at the garden centre

We were wandering round, when we saw this poor woman. I think it's supposed to be a romantic depiction of her feeding birds, but it's more like a scene from 'The Birds'! Someone help her! (I'm too busy taking photographs).


I love this zombie, but don't love its price - and besides it would give the children nightmares. But when they grow up, I'm having zombies in the flower beds...




Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Mwhaha


So David Cameron is appealing to the hoi polloi by following the Homer Simpson school of parenting*?

We're in this together - as long as you get in the car quick enough, Nancy!


* Several episodes end with the children left behind somewhere.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Pressing the right buttons

I like this.


That's the way to do it


It struck me*, as I watched this traditional puppet show at a local Jubilee event, that Punch and Judy may be the precursor of such entertainment** as the Jeremy Kyle show.

* Just as it struck the policeman.
** I may have the wrong word here.

Thursday, June 07, 2012

'IT' is a compliment?

Sometimes people argue that their comments about women's appearances aren't objectifying or dehumanising the women concerned, but are actually complimentary. But if that was the case, why would the words 'that' and  'it' so often be employed?

As in, "It's not bad for forty!" This was a comment referring to a woman whose birthday it was, from SIK* who thought he was among friends, with another man, not realising I could hear.

It's quite disturbing to realise that out of earshot, I and any other woman could easily become 'it' to him, no matter how nice he can be to my face. I don't see how anyone can pretend using 'it' is not about objectifying someone.

It's a deliberate choice of language, isn't it? It's just not natural to use 'it' instead of 'she/her' unless it is for the purposes of these so-called compliments.

Possibly it's about 'in' groups and 'out' groups - SIK othering the woman with the birthday and trying to bond with the other man.


* Someone I Know

Monday, June 04, 2012

1984

Extraordinary really that it has taken me until now to read George Orwell's 1984. It was one of these books I have a mental block about, and never could bring myself to pick it up, despite having studied dystopia at college. I did enjoy it in the end, although I found the sections from 'the book' dragged.

One to tick off the list of virtuous ought-to-reads.