It didn't take long to notice that the Germans have no equivalent of the verb "to facebook".So I thought I'd coin one. "Facebookieren."It uses the conventional German trick of adding "-ieren" to pretty much any foreign word (cf. "abandonnieren", "kommandieren", "absorbieren") to make it from a noun into a verb Germanise it (or should that be "germanisieren" it). So far I've only succeeding in getting one other person to start using this word. Hopefully my success will improve.Does anyone have any further suggestions for some new German coinages?
Blog Page 2287
Facebookieren
Anarchists
Last Saturday, I went to my first ever anarchist non-party. That is not to say that it was an non-anarchist party as I went to one of those last Thursday.
On Thursday night, I was invited to this non-party by one of the Union debate speaker's groupies. He was quite short and he smelt like he lived in a squat so he seemed like an authentic anarchist. It was very kind of this person to invite us to his party because I had spent quite a while contradicting his ideas, but then, he must get that a lot. I told him that compromise between sixty million people didn't work, but he did not believe me.
I also lost my jumper that night and was asked to be on an internet socialist channel, which is both strange as surprising as it was in the context of Very Loose Women (Very Far From Political Issues).
Saturday night came then and I followed the instructions:
"following the clues by Debenhams, there is an anarchist flag, that is where the gathering will be."
I knocked on the door of the building by the flag and noticed a tiny plaque,
"St. Peter's College annexe accomodation."
So we thought, "it can't be here."
Intercom: I buzzed all the buttons.
Me: Hello?
Person: Fuck off.
Emma: What?
Me: Hi, we are here for a … sort of… gathering… with….people
Emma: Is there a party?
Person: Fuck off.
Another person pokes her head out the window: Fuck off.
There is a strident beep down the intercom, the door is not being buzzed open (I know 'cause I checked).
Then we walk away and the intercom is buzzed for ages.
We sneak inside. The stairwell is doodled on with markers and anarchist signs, the doors are propped open with fire extinguishers. It is all a bit of a pickle.
Me: Do you think this is the right place?
We hear the voice of the scary Fuck-Off Person and we run, run, run out the door, believing for an instant that the door is locked before Jenny manages to push it and we are free.
That is not all I have to say about anarchists.
There is an anarchist in Liege, he has long hair that is always in a pony-tail and wears sandles in winter. I know he is an anarchist because he gave a surprise speech at a film club.
And: I have lived in a squat for a week and also three days, but I cheated as I had access to a bathroom. I was not an anarchist when I lived there.
That is all I have to say about anarchists today.
Blues Athlete of the Week -Beth Wild
College: St Hilda's Clubs: Oxford University Hockey Club, Oxford University Women’s Cricket Club Year/Course: 3rd Year Geography Positions: Centre Forward, RHB, OB
How are you preparing for Hockey Varsity? Do you have fond memories of previous Varsity matches?
Varsity Hockey is in 8th week of this term, so at the moment we are trying not to get too focussed on it: we are in the last 16 of BUSA, due to play Northumbria on Wednesday of 5th, which is our current priority. After that we try to play Varsity like any other game, to ensure that we don't get caught up in the moment. I played in my first and second years and can, without hesitation, say that both days were incredible! The whole occasion is immense, and I managed to get Man of the Match last year, and a few goals in both games,so I will always remember them.
Have you started cricket training yet?
I was the first girl to be selected to the MCC cricket academy here, which runs all year, so yes I have been training throughout last term and this term -mainly technical stuff at the moment.
How are you preparing for Hockey Varsity? Do you have fond memories of previous Varsity matches?
Varsity Hockey is in 8th week of this term, so at the moment we are trying not to get too focussed on it: we are in the last 16 of BUSA, due to play Northumbria on Wednesday of 5th, which is our current priority. After that we try to play Varsity like any other game, to ensure that we don't get caught up in the moment. I played in my first and second years and can, without hesitation, say that both days were incredible! The whole occasion is immense, and I managed to get Man of the Match last year, and a few goals in both games,so I will always remember them.
Have you started cricket training yet?
I was the first girl to be selected to the MCC cricket academy here, which runs all year, so yes I have been training throughout last term and this term -mainly technical stuff at the moment.
Are you looking forward to getting back to Lord's? Does playing on the Nursery Ground impact the atmosphere?
I played Varsity cricket at Lord's in both my first and second years – it is a real privilege to play there, and I can't wait to get back out there this summer. I don't think playing on the nursery ground detracts from it at all -in fact I think it is much better, the boundaries are a more realistic size for the girls, and we usually get a bigger crowd than the lads, which makes an awesome atmosphere.
Do you follow women's or men's cricket?
I do follow women's cricket – I think it is the fastest growing women's sport behind football, which means that there is a lot more media coverage now than has previously been the case. I don't have a favourite women's player, but in the men's team I really admire Ali Cook from Essex.
Do you think you may play to a professional level?
I have played for the England Development side, and under 21s. Neither hockey nor women's cricket is a professional sport, but I would really like to take a year once I finish my degree to really focus on them both, and see which I can go furthest with – I don't really mind which. I am also running for Sports Federation President for next year: Hustings in Sixth week.
If you could choose one Varsity match to win, which would it be?
You can't ask me that! I would be very disappointed to lose either….
Does playing both sports to Blues level interfere with your degree much? How do you juggle your time?
It can be stressful at times playing two Blues sports, and trying to do well in my degree, but I find that I am most efficient when I am busy, and have a set time to get something done in. I try to prioritise work as much as possible, ultimately you do come to Oxford to get a good degree…
How do the two sports fit together?
I find that hockey and cricket compliment each other really well training wise, which saves some time. For instance, a lot of my cricket fitness work will come by playing hockey. Also, I am fortunate that hockey is a winter sport, and cricket is predominantly a summer sport, so I don't get too many clashes.
Do you play any college sport?
I play hockey for St Hilda's: we are reigning Cuppers champions, and are hoping to defend our title this year, but I don't have much time for anything else.
Who has the best banter on the teams?
I think I have to say Pope (Alice INDIA Cook, from Lincoln) from OUHC. She is pretty big time.
Exhibition Review: Helen Ganly: Journey into Light
What do a cake of the Radcliffe Camera, a stencil, a video of a river and a pile of notebooks have in common? – Helen Ganly Currently on show in the Lower Gallery of Modern Art Oxford, Helen Ganly’s exhibition Journey into Light experiments with media and form in an unusual way, and focuses largely on light and white. Upon entering, one is greeted by a fuzzy cine film documentation of a performance on the River San. Ganly used recycled paper from a previous exhibition to make origami boats in which she floated tea lights down the river. Filmed at dusk, all that one sees is a blurred figure with white hair sending flickering lights off down the river, the film zooming in and picking up the yellow of the lights and the white of her hair. The simplicity of the movement and colours seems refreshingly peaceful and calm, next to our frenetic lives. Oxford-based and a tutor at both The Ruskin and Oxford Brookes, Ganly was the first artist to be awarded the role of Artist-in-Residence at the Ashmolean, in 2000. The influence of her historic hometown will delight gallery visitors when they see her icing-coated Rad Cam, made of fruit cake. Though not exactly a typical medium, this is executed remarkably well. Like many of her works, Ganly has chosen to eliminate colour from the piece and focus on the details, depicting the building in solid white and articulating the fine architectural details in piping. It is probably the first time a cake has been exhibited at Modern Art Oxford, and, unsurprisingly, probably Ganly’s most famous piece (though it is in fact the second version; the first was eaten!). The nature of Ganly’s more transient pieces – the origami boats floating away, or Art in Situ when she tied tiny books to balloon strings and released them across mountains – makes documentation especially important. This is why she has chosen to exhibit her notebooks. Filled with notes, diagrams, and even occasionally pop-up forms of her work, they give a great sense of her artistic process. Ganly always carries a notebook with her, using it as a memory bank for events, ideas and forms. The notebook in use while she built The Radcliffe Camera as a Celebration Cake, 2006 is reproduced for visitors to read, allowing access to the process, and the knowledge that it is fruit cake. Finally, the last two sculptures represent buildings in a much more ephemeral way. Two tracing paper towers are constructed in circular columns,one with a light at the centre, the other with a stone. The contrast between the two brings home the importance of Ganly’s central theme: the Journey into Light. Her focus on white brings clarity and simplicity to each work, allowing one to focus on the shapes and construction, rather than colour and shade.
by Jenny Vass
Helen Ganly: Journey into Light is on show at Modern Art Oxford until 17th February.
by Jenny Vass
Helen Ganly: Journey into Light is on show at Modern Art Oxford until 17th February.
Book Depository Decision Delayed
A bid by Oxford University to build a £29m book depository will now be decided
in early May, pending a planning inquiry. Permission for the depository, which could store up to eight million volumes, was refused in November. City councillors rejected the application on several factors, including the potential
landscape intrusion and the failure to meet energy efficiency standards. Colin Cook, Labour city councillor, said: "The inquiry will give both sides the chance
to go through the arguments in greater detail.” By Clare Barnard
German quote of the week
Thanks to the big screen in the Frankfurt underground for this:
Der Utopist sieht das Paradies, der Realist das Paradies plus Schlange
— Friedrich Hebbel
Or in translation:
The utopian sees Paradise; the realist sees Paradise plus a
queueserpent
UPDATE: Many, many thanks to Stefan in the comments for pointing out my inaccuracy and lack of cultural knowledge. I assumed it was about having to queue up outside heaven, but it seems it's actually about a serpent (a reference to Eden, I guess?). I have to say, I prefer my version…
Here’s one lot who’ll be smiling about the Guevara story
I should welcome Billy as the latest entrant to the Cherwell24 blogging community. His funereal post on how McCain’s going to be six feet under before he's even finished in the White House made us rather depressed, but here’s something about the younger generation to get us a in a bit more of an optimistic mood.
Those of you who don’t waste all the day reading blogs (ahem) might not have seen this. Barack Obama’s campaign HQ is ‘decorated’ with a nice poster of the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.
What’s this got to do with the topic of this blog? Good question. Hold on.
Yesterday I took the trip up to Marburg (nice university town) to interview an activist from Die Linke, the hardline socialists who’ve just won their first rural West German state seats. The party are holding a congress in May to mark the 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that student activism (especially on the far left) was born. You’ll hear more about the interview in due course, but I’ll mention one thing a few things now.
He denied the aim of the “1968-Kongress” was to glorify 1968 (the name’s just a coincidence, I assume), and when I asked him if his party were in fact communists, he gave a five-minute response about there being loads of different strands of thought in his party. You can usually tell more about a politician from what questions he or she doesn’t answer than from any actual responses, so I took it as a “yeah, kind of”. And did he condone the German anti-capitalist terrorists of the 1970s? No, they were wrong, he said.
At least they’ve got Obama’s support, I guess.
Cherwell 24 is not responsible for the content of external links
John McCain must die
It’s a very simply calculation really. You just go to www.deathclock.com type in Mr McCain’s date of birth (29th August 1936), his sex , BMI and smoking status and there you go. McCain has 73,222, 861 seconds to live.
This is no better argument against voting for John McCain. He’s 72. He’s way too old. Should he win in November he’ll become the oldest President ever to be inaugurated. That’s not a good thing. They’re going to have to remove all the stairs from the White House so he doesn’t have a heart attack walking up them. Surely the States can’t elect a President who’s going to die halfway through his first term?
Let’s imagine what could be taking place on 10th June 2010 (with research from The West Wing). What if there are a group of rebels surrounding the American embassy in Haiti? Or a nuclear submarine has gone silent in North Korean waters? Or the President’s personal physician gets blown up on the way to do African missionary work? What if he collapses in the Situation Room and falls on the red button?
It seems amazing that none of the other candidates have picked up on this. Sure it would be a PR disaster for any of the serious front runners but can’t one of the mentals – Ron Paul for example – pick up on this? Instead of his obsession with the gold standard in every debate (or at least the one’s where he sneaks past security – here ) he can promise that, if elected, he would be, you know, actually alive at the end of his first term. Regardless of political leanings I think we can all agree that the ability to breathe is a pretty crucial quality in any candidate.
Anyway, that was all a slightly elaborate way of introducing my current obsession – and obsession is the correct word – with the American primary season. America does politics in a way that Peter Snow can only dream about. It’s like a reality tv contest where you can win a place in the White House. In fact, scrap the like, it is a reality tv contest, and it’s an awesome one because the prize is the most important job in the world. Over several months we meet the characters: here’s the religious one, here’s the dynamic youthful one, here’s the grandfather, here’s the power woman. Then we watch as they’re whittled down over a series of elaborate tasks. Just like Big Brother you get those moments where one of the contestants has let their guard down and cries (take a bow Hillary) or says something stupid (Mr Richardson).
And watching at home you get to pick your team and root for them through a series of sporting contests: ridiculous debates in front of Air Force One (Regan built a library big enough to fit a jumbo jet – here ), and attack ads against other candidates. These attack ads are particularly fun. Take a look at this one for example where John McCain emerges from behind Hillary like some kind of bizarre alien lifeform on the Sci-Fi channel, poised to attack (here ).
So pick your team, buy a t-shirt and break out the razzmataz because we’re going to be paying pretty close attention to the US Presidential race right here along with a whole host of other exciting* topics. (*not legally binding)
I should probably introduce myself as Cherwell 24’s newest blogger at this point but to be honest I’ve left it too late to do it now and it’s only going to be awkward. A simply hello will have to suffice. Hello. And, since we’re at the end, Goodbye.
Single Review: David Ford, "I’m Alright Now"
February 14th sees the release of “I’m Alright Now”, the newest single from English singer-songwriter David Ford. Thematically, the single sits between the somewhat petulant “Go to Hell” and the chorus-intensive emotional ballad “I don’t care what you call me”. The first few seconds of the song are promising, with cautious violins gradually giving way to guitar and drums. Unfortunately, the listener is reminded within a few more seconds that David Ford is not a particularly gifted lyricist. This would not pose a great problem were it not for the fact that Ford’s songs, due to their heavily melodic nature and the artist’s promise of "brutally honest” self-condemnation, rely largely on the quality of the lyrics.
In “I’m Alright Now”, David Ford indulges his propensity for starting small and building up to a rhapsodic climax. The verses serve as respite from the intensity of the choruses, which invite the listener to “sing along when [their] heart’s finished bleeding”. This song, on the first listening, is relatively disappointing. On the second listening, it seems marginally more palatable as the listener presumably knows what to expect. Post-third listening, it quickly seems tedious and melodramatic. To sum it up, Ford’s “I did things of which I am not proud” seems quite appropriate as a sentiment, considering the quality of this single relative to the artist’s obvious potential and considerable intelligence.
by Nick Maxfield
Maggini String Quartet at the Hollywell Music room, 10th February 2008
The Maggini String Quartet gave a solid performance of a diverse and challenging programme at the Holywell Music Room, as part of the Oxford Chamber Music Society’s 2008 concert series.
The first piece, Haydn’s String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20 No. 5, was briefly was described by the quartet’s cellist Michal Kaznowski as a ‘contrast of light and dark’. The performers enhanced the frequent trade-off of major and minor keys with rich dynamic contrasts throughout all four movements. Balance amongst the players was perhaps a little uneven at times, with the lower strings sometimes obscuring first violinist Lorraine McAslan’s mellow sound.
The highlight of the concert was John Ireland’s Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet, for which the Maggini quartet were joined by clarinettist Robert Plane and hornist David Pyatt. The influence of Brahms’s clarinet quintet and horn trio shows throughout Ireland’s opus, with the rich and sonorous blending of string, wind and brass making the listener yearn for more chamber music with such instrumentation. The quartet will be recording this work for Naxos later this year, hopefully raising awareness of this composer’s fascinating early work.
The final piece on the program was Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, op. 44, no. 2, cited in the program as being ‘one of our literature’s greatest quartets’. Violist Martin Outram offered a strong and rich opening melody. The fiery fourth movement demonstrated the quartet’s outstanding technical skill, especially in virtuosic fast passages at the exhilarating climax. The quartet’s encore, William Alwyn’s ‘Novelette’, brought an enjoyable afternoon to a close.
The Oxford Chamber Music Society presents its next concert on 2 March with the Duke Quartet performing works by Steve Reich, Bartók and Ravel. Anyone under 23 years old can obtain a free ticket on the day through the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust upon presentation of ID.
by Aaron Mertz