Department of Profiting From the Good Fortunes of Others
Thanks to today's decision by the Supreme Court that U.S. citizens and foreign nationals seized as alleged terrorists can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts, I am five dollars richer!
This is a huge victory for civil-rights advocates. And a big blow to the Bush administration's claims that its treatment of "enemy combatants" falls outside the purview of U.S. law.
Isn't it nice to read good news?
Gratitude and props to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case before the court.
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Department of Maybe the Kids Aren't Really Alright After All
Or maybe everyone's just too busy listening to their iPods. Whatever the reason, this year's edition of the Lollapalooza Tour has been canceled due to poor ticket sales.
It isn't New Yorkers' fault, at least. Tickets for the two shows scheduled for Randalls Island, where the Pixies were slated to play, sold well enough.
Marc Geiger, of the William Morris Agency, who founded the tour in 1991 with Perry Ferrell of Jane's Addiction, blamed slow sales on a slow concert season in general this summer. But Seth Hurwitz, an independent promoter from Washington, DC, said that younger acts were doing well and the problem was the age of the acts in the Lollapalooza lineup.
PJ Harvey, Morrissey, Wilco, Modest Mouse, the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, and the Pixies, to listen to Hurwitz, have been relegated to the crowded dustbin of rock history.
Or maybe everyone's just too busy listening to their iPods. Whatever the reason, this year's edition of the Lollapalooza Tour has been canceled due to poor ticket sales.
It isn't New Yorkers' fault, at least. Tickets for the two shows scheduled for Randalls Island, where the Pixies were slated to play, sold well enough.
Marc Geiger, of the William Morris Agency, who founded the tour in 1991 with Perry Ferrell of Jane's Addiction, blamed slow sales on a slow concert season in general this summer. But Seth Hurwitz, an independent promoter from Washington, DC, said that younger acts were doing well and the problem was the age of the acts in the Lollapalooza lineup.
PJ Harvey, Morrissey, Wilco, Modest Mouse, the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, and the Pixies, to listen to Hurwitz, have been relegated to the crowded dustbin of rock history.
Department of Skewering Ex-Presidents by Blog
Bill Clinton Book My Life
See, for instance, the posting of June 20th.
Bill Clinton Book My Life
See, for instance, the posting of June 20th.
Department of Words With Borders
(a.k.a. Department of Sticky Subjects)
The BBC reports that a poll of 1,000 translators found the most untranslatable word in the world to be ilunga, from the Bantu language Tshiluba, spoken in the southeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What does ilunga mean? "A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time."
Coming in second was shlimazl, the Yiddish word for a person who is chronically unlucky.
This surprised me, as the Czechs have a word that means exactly the same thing: smolař. I sent an e-mail to the BBC yesterday, saying as much, as well as one to the translating firm that commissioned the poll.
The roots of the two words are entirely different, however. Shlimazl is a compound of the German schlimm ("bad") and the Yiddish mazl ("luck"). (As one site helpfully explains, by way of contrast: "The difference between a shlemiel and a schlemazl is described through the aphorism 'A shlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup; a shlemazl is the person the soup lands on.'")
Smolař, on the other hand, comes from the Czech word for "bad luck," smůla, literally "sap," i.e. the stuff that oozes out of tree trunks. "To have bad luck" in Czech is mít smůlu, and when someone is dogged by bad luck, Czechs say, smůla se mu lepí na páty, i.e., "sap sticks to his heels."
Here is the list of the 10 most-untranslatable words:
1) ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in southeastern Congo, and Zaire]
2) shlimazl [Yiddish for a chonically unlucky person]
3) radioukacz [Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain]
4) naa [Japanese word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasize statements or agree with someone]
5) altahmam [Arabic for a kind of deep sadness]
6) gezellig [Dutch for cosy]
7) saudade [Portuguese for a certain type of longing]
8) selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]
9) pochemuchka [Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions]
10) klloshar [Albanian for loser]
And, for the sake of completeness, here is the list of the 10 English words most difficult to translate:
1) plenipotentiary
2) gobbledegook
3) serendipity
4) poppycock
5) googly
6) Spam
7) whimsy
8) bumf
9) chuffed
10) kitsch
I think there are more debatable words in the lists above. The Dutch word gezellig, for instance, ranked number 6 and supposedly meaning "cozy," sounds no tougher a nut to crack than the Danish word hygge, which Danish friends of mine have assured me is one of the keys to understanding what Danes are all about (see The Danish Art of Hygge for more on the phenomenon).
(a.k.a. Department of Sticky Subjects)
The BBC reports that a poll of 1,000 translators found the most untranslatable word in the world to be ilunga, from the Bantu language Tshiluba, spoken in the southeastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What does ilunga mean? "A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time."
Coming in second was shlimazl, the Yiddish word for a person who is chronically unlucky.
This surprised me, as the Czechs have a word that means exactly the same thing: smolař. I sent an e-mail to the BBC yesterday, saying as much, as well as one to the translating firm that commissioned the poll.
The roots of the two words are entirely different, however. Shlimazl is a compound of the German schlimm ("bad") and the Yiddish mazl ("luck"). (As one site helpfully explains, by way of contrast: "The difference between a shlemiel and a schlemazl is described through the aphorism 'A shlemiel is somebody who often spills his soup; a shlemazl is the person the soup lands on.'")
Smolař, on the other hand, comes from the Czech word for "bad luck," smůla, literally "sap," i.e. the stuff that oozes out of tree trunks. "To have bad luck" in Czech is mít smůlu, and when someone is dogged by bad luck, Czechs say, smůla se mu lepí na páty, i.e., "sap sticks to his heels."
Here is the list of the 10 most-untranslatable words:
1) ilunga [Tshiluba word for a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time. Note: Tshiluba is a Bantu language spoken in southeastern Congo, and Zaire]
2) shlimazl [Yiddish for a chonically unlucky person]
3) radioukacz [Polish for a person who worked as a telegraphist for the resistance movements on the Soviet side of the Iron Curtain]
4) naa [Japanese word only used in the Kansai area of Japan, to emphasize statements or agree with someone]
5) altahmam [Arabic for a kind of deep sadness]
6) gezellig [Dutch for cosy]
7) saudade [Portuguese for a certain type of longing]
8) selathirupavar [Tamil for a certain type of truancy]
9) pochemuchka [Russian for a person who asks a lot of questions]
10) klloshar [Albanian for loser]
And, for the sake of completeness, here is the list of the 10 English words most difficult to translate:
1) plenipotentiary
2) gobbledegook
3) serendipity
4) poppycock
5) googly
6) Spam
7) whimsy
8) bumf
9) chuffed
10) kitsch
I think there are more debatable words in the lists above. The Dutch word gezellig, for instance, ranked number 6 and supposedly meaning "cozy," sounds no tougher a nut to crack than the Danish word hygge, which Danish friends of mine have assured me is one of the keys to understanding what Danes are all about (see The Danish Art of Hygge for more on the phenomenon).
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Some Things Never Change Department
From the NY Times:
Kim never was much for lyrics, was she?
From the NY Times:
The news everybody has been waiting to hear about the Pixies reunion has been confirmed: They have indeed recorded new music. The band's first new song in 13 years, "Bam Thwok," is available for download on Apple's iTunes Music Store. The song, recorded in March, was written by Kim Deal, the bassist, who said in a statement yesterday that her lyrics were inspired by a young person's notebook she found on the street. "This kid had written a short story, a paragraph really, about a party that took place in another universe, about people and monsters that were partying together," she said. "It's a song about loving everyone, showing good will to everyone." The chorus goes: "Love. Bang. Crash. Wakka, wakka, Bam Thwok."
Kim never was much for lyrics, was she?
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Department of Reasons to Read Your Neighborhood Paper
Introducing as evidence the following brief from the June 4–30 issue of Greenline: The North Brooklyn Community News (no online presence):
I love it.
Introducing as evidence the following brief from the June 4–30 issue of Greenline: The North Brooklyn Community News (no online presence):
HAIR BURNED ON STREET
Rabbis in Jerusalem issued a ban on human-hair wigs from India last month, causing hundreds of wigs to be burned on the street around midnight on May 16. Members of the Satmar community burned the wigs on Rodney Street after the ruling stating that the hair might have been used in Hindu ceremonies. The crowds were mostly calm, police charged at least one person with disorderly conduct.
I love it.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Unintentional Joke of the Day
A job listing on idealist.org (click on the link to get the joke):
Director
FIERCE! Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment
New York, New York United States
http://www.idealist.org/en/jobs/90360:105/113877:174
A job listing on idealist.org (click on the link to get the joke):
Director
FIERCE! Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment
New York, New York United States
http://www.idealist.org/en/jobs/90360:105/113877:174
Odbor produktivních předpon
In early May, I had an exchange with my friend Tomáš S. about how best to render the verb "to blog" in Czech.
The exchange was launched by one of Tomáš's signoffs in an e-mail to me, in which he wrote (excuse the lack of diacriticals in all quoted text, as for reasons that are all too clear to those who use Czech, most e-mails written in the language dispense with the pesky critters and I am too lazy a typist to bother adding them now):
StickFinger readers familiar with Czech lore (or at least the version of it known to us from the walls of Prague's pubs and taverns) will recognize the saying above as a takeoff on the omnipresent "Kde se pivo vari, tam se dobre dari," or "Where beer is brewed, life is good."
I replied:
Tomáš's insightful, enlightening, and entertaining response was as follows:
Toť vše.
In early May, I had an exchange with my friend Tomáš S. about how best to render the verb "to blog" in Czech.
The exchange was launched by one of Tomáš's signoffs in an e-mail to me, in which he wrote (excuse the lack of diacriticals in all quoted text, as for reasons that are all too clear to those who use Czech, most e-mails written in the language dispense with the pesky critters and I am too lazy a typist to bother adding them now):
Mej se fajn a bloguj zurive dal, nebo chces-li to versovane: kdo si obcas zablogari, tomu se pak dobre dari.
StickFinger readers familiar with Czech lore (or at least the version of it known to us from the walls of Prague's pubs and taverns) will recognize the saying above as a takeoff on the omnipresent "Kde se pivo vari, tam se dobre dari," or "Where beer is brewed, life is good."
I replied:
Neni to spis "zablogovat"? Nebo jak se vlastne rozhoduje, jestli vymyslene sloveso ma koncit v "arit" ci v "ovat"?
Tomáš's insightful, enlightening, and entertaining response was as follows:
Kdyz je to, jak rikas, vymysleny, tak je vetsinou jedna nejproduktivnejsi pripona (ta zavisi na zvukove podobe slovniho kmene, z nehoz to slovo odvozujes). Nekdy, neni-li to z hlediska ceske morfonologie jasny pripad, je moznych odvozovacich sufixu vic a volne si konkuruji dle nalady a citu mluvciho. Vzdy je to hodne liberalni, nebot se pohybujes v oblasti nekodifikovaneho a nelexikalizovaneho jazykoveho uzu.
Jo, mas pravdu, produktivnejsi (a bezpriznakovejsi, tj. neutralnejsi) je v tomhle pripade "blogovat", to citis dobre. "Blogarit" je ale taky mozny, a zni to trochu bizarneji a srandovneji (je v tom vzdalena zvukova asociace na lidova porekadla typu "kde se pivo vari, tam se dobre dari").
Takze: v bajecne a svobodne sfere dosud nelexikalizovaneho muzes pouzit skoro vse, co zvuk cestiny jeste unese a dovoli, odvaznosti se meze nekladou, ale pro nerodileho mluviho je to trochu riskantni podnikani; hrozi totiz, ze to nechtene prepiskne. Ale vzdycky to stoji za risk, myslim si. Jen se nesmis bat, ze to treba holt uplne nevyzni.
Kdyz na to tedy prijde, muzes klidne treba blogirovat. Nebo blogcit. Nebo blogickovat. Ci blogorit. A taky blogarovat. Nebo jen si tak trochu zablognout. A tak dal. To zkratka zalezi na kontextu.
Budes-li blogovat poctive a pilne po cely zivot a jeste pritom dostanes ten blaznivej napad, ze vstoupis do katolicke cirkve a zacnes sirit jeji nazory ve svem blogu, svaty stolec vatikansky te po smrti muze (budes-li mit stesti) prohlasit za Alexe Blogoslaveneho (cf. "blahoslaveny", tj. prvni stupen k svatosti).
Ale jelikoz uz tou dobou budes po smrti, uz pak bude nejspis pozde na to, abych ti k tomu osobne blogopral.
Toť vše.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Last Refuge of Scoundrels Department
Are stories about the PATRIOT Act considered national politics? Or by national politics, does Mr. Welch mean merely the actions of Dems and GOPers?
Assuming he means the latter and not the former, here is the latest important court case in the ongoing tussle over the USA PATRIOT Act, one of the most controversial measures adopted by the federal government in the wake of Sept. 11th.
The case concerns Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi graduate student at the University of Idaho who set up and operated Web sites that the U.S. government claims were used to "recruit terrorists, raise money and disseminate inflammatory rhetoric. They said the sites included religious edicts justifying suicide bombings and an invitation to contribute financially to the militant Palestinian organization Hamas."
"Al-Hussayen's attorneys argued that he had little to do with the creation of the material posted. And they said the material was protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and was not designed to raise money or recruit extremists."
So the jury ruled in favor of Al-Hussayen, but he's not out of the woods yet.
"Al-Hussayen faced up to 15 years for each of the three terrorism charges, 25 years on each visa-fraud charge and five years on each false-statement charge. He still faces deportation and will remain in custody until the government decides what to do next."
"Legal experts see the verdict as only an early victory in what they expect to be an extended battle against the federal government's use of the Patriot Act to pursue people on the basis of what they say, write, and disseminate."
The basic question here, of course, is whether you can be prosecuted for terrorism simply for passing along the speech of others. So far, justice remains on the side of free speech.
Chalk one up for the anti-PATRIOTS.
Are stories about the PATRIOT Act considered national politics? Or by national politics, does Mr. Welch mean merely the actions of Dems and GOPers?
Assuming he means the latter and not the former, here is the latest important court case in the ongoing tussle over the USA PATRIOT Act, one of the most controversial measures adopted by the federal government in the wake of Sept. 11th.
The case concerns Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi graduate student at the University of Idaho who set up and operated Web sites that the U.S. government claims were used to "recruit terrorists, raise money and disseminate inflammatory rhetoric. They said the sites included religious edicts justifying suicide bombings and an invitation to contribute financially to the militant Palestinian organization Hamas."
"Al-Hussayen's attorneys argued that he had little to do with the creation of the material posted. And they said the material was protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and was not designed to raise money or recruit extremists."
So the jury ruled in favor of Al-Hussayen, but he's not out of the woods yet.
"Al-Hussayen faced up to 15 years for each of the three terrorism charges, 25 years on each visa-fraud charge and five years on each false-statement charge. He still faces deportation and will remain in custody until the government decides what to do next."
"Legal experts see the verdict as only an early victory in what they expect to be an extended battle against the federal government's use of the Patriot Act to pursue people on the basis of what they say, write, and disseminate."
The basic question here, of course, is whether you can be prosecuted for terrorism simply for passing along the speech of others. So far, justice remains on the side of free speech.
Chalk one up for the anti-PATRIOTS.
Department of Sifting Through the Sickness
There's a lot of sick s*** going down in the world these days -- when is there not? -- but just in case you missed it, this story, I think, ranks right up there on the sicko charts. Here's the background:
Specialist Sean Baker, a member of the Kentucky National Guard, served as a military policeman in the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay. During a training drill in January 2003, he played the role of an uncooperative prisoner and was beaten so badly by four American soldiers that he suffered a traumatic brain injury and seizures. He said the soldiers only stopped beating him when they realized he might be American. When Baker told his story to a reporter, the military lied in an effort to undermine Baker’s credibility.
Now the Army has finally admitted at least part of the truth.
There's a lot of sick s*** going down in the world these days -- when is there not? -- but just in case you missed it, this story, I think, ranks right up there on the sicko charts. Here's the background:
Specialist Sean Baker, a member of the Kentucky National Guard, served as a military policeman in the U.S. detention camp at Guantánamo Bay. During a training drill in January 2003, he played the role of an uncooperative prisoner and was beaten so badly by four American soldiers that he suffered a traumatic brain injury and seizures. He said the soldiers only stopped beating him when they realized he might be American. When Baker told his story to a reporter, the military lied in an effort to undermine Baker’s credibility.
Now the Army has finally admitted at least part of the truth.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Dougiegyro Department
Ex-Prognosisite and open-source champion Doug Arellanes issued his latest DJ mix in mid-May. Pardon my procrastination in making it available. Here is the 4-1-1 on it, in the words of the man himself:
Ex-Prognosisite and open-source champion Doug Arellanes issued his latest DJ mix in mid-May. Pardon my procrastination in making it available. Here is the 4-1-1 on it, in the words of the man himself:
Heyas,
Seeing as it's been a little while since I put together a new mix, I'm happy to announce my newest mix, in honor of my new Friday night gig at Scott MacMillan's Tulip Lounge here in beautiful downtown Kafkaville. It's a smoothed-out bossa-neo thing, suitable for easy listening, e-z listening or sleazy listening.
But if you should so desire to turn it up, it'll work for that too.
The new Friday night gig, called "Sofistica: A night for grownups" should be good. I was thinking about it, and while I like to go out to clubs, I find myself put off more and more by the latest DJ Bing Bing (or fill in the blank for the latest teen sensation) music being played. Hence the thought of "a night for grownups."
Anyway, here are the links to the new mix:
http://www.arellanes.com/mixes/sofistica (the page)
http://www.arellanes.com/mixes/sofistica.zip (individual files packed into a 61MB zip, suitable for burning to CD, but pozor! Make sure you set the space between songs to '0' seconds)
http://www.arellanes.com/mixes/sofistica.mp3 (the entire mix as a single MP3. It's uploading and should be there in about 30 min.)
http://www.arellanes.com/mixes/sofistica.pdf (the CD cover)
And while you're at it, if you haven't checked out the other mixes I've put together:
http://www.arellanes.com/solstice: The Solstice Party, or what I would do if given a party truck and a sound system for Santa Barbara's Solstice Parade;
http://www.arellanes.com/zizkoteca: Žižkoteca: Latin electronica, straight outta Žižkov;
http://www.arellanes.com/mixes/cityofgott: Žižkoteca 2: City of Gott: A Brazilian party.
Hope all is well with you guys,
dougie
Dishonor Department
George Cerny is the recipient of a dishonorable mention for his comment on my previous posting, in which he revealed that he ascertained the source of the Czech mystery quote by Googling it.
The honorable mention is thus still there for the taking.
George Cerny is the recipient of a dishonorable mention for his comment on my previous posting, in which he revealed that he ascertained the source of the Czech mystery quote by Googling it.
The honorable mention is thus still there for the taking.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Department of Czech Authorization
This is a test of whether or not Bookman Old Style will display Czech characters on this blog. Honorable mention goes to the first StickFinger reader who can identify the source of the quotation above.
(Update: Great! It works.)
Byli jsme lidi Tajemství. A čekali jsme. Potom se David zbláznil. Možná praskla hlava zrovna jemu, protože byla tou nejlepší hlavou, která vysílala signály a tak poháněla celou partu, celé společenství dopředu. To jsme si říkali, že je to dopředu, někam, ale brzy jsme všichni ztratili pojem o tom, kam se ženem.
This is a test of whether or not Bookman Old Style will display Czech characters on this blog. Honorable mention goes to the first StickFinger reader who can identify the source of the quotation above.
(Update: Great! It works.)
Resolution Department
In a recent interview, ex-Prognosisite Matt Welch, to whose wisdom I am willing to attest under oath, suggested that most bloggers would do well to steer clear of national politics.
I have taken Matt's words to heart, and henceforth I resolve to do my best to heed his advice. International politics, of course, are a different story. And when national politics infringe directly on my personal life, I shall feel free to blog about them at will.
In a recent interview, ex-Prognosisite Matt Welch, to whose wisdom I am willing to attest under oath, suggested that most bloggers would do well to steer clear of national politics.
I have taken Matt's words to heart, and henceforth I resolve to do my best to heed his advice. International politics, of course, are a different story. And when national politics infringe directly on my personal life, I shall feel free to blog about them at will.
Working for the Clampdown Department
Fairlane Town Center, a mall in Dearborn, Michigan, as of June 1st, requires anyone younger than 18 to leave the mall after 5 p.m. unless they are "supervised" by someone 21 or older:
Another mall in the area, Eastland Mall in Harper Woods, will launch a similar policy June 15th:
*****
Ridiculous. As if there weren't a lack of public space for kids to hang out in already. Suburban America is near-devoid of the stuff. Malls, as awful as they are, at least serve that one important, noncommercial purpose. The kids are right to laugh at the idea that they might go to the Boys and Girls Club instead.
Fairlane Town Center, a mall in Dearborn, Michigan, as of June 1st, requires anyone younger than 18 to leave the mall after 5 p.m. unless they are "supervised" by someone 21 or older:
[Mall general manager Cathy] O'Malley said the policy is crucial for maintaining decorum and safety, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings when as many as 2,600 teens go to the food court and other sections of the mall. Often unruly, the teens have started fights, yelled obscenities and blocked adults from entering stores, O'Malley said.
Under the new policy, security police -- who have the power to make arrests -- will head to Fairlane entrances at 5 p.m. to stop people who look 17 or younger from entering the mall unsupervised. Additional security police will patrol the parking lot to make sure the young people actually leave.
Another mall in the area, Eastland Mall in Harper Woods, will launch a similar policy June 15th:
"The biggest reason for this is for comfort and safety and to offer a welcoming environment," said Denise DeSantis, director of marketing at Eastland Mall.
"Kids are great. They are wonderful. It's just when you get a large, large group unsupervised, it's a recipe to consider. They can be preyed upon, and they can act inappropriately. Their silly mistakes can turn into arrest records," she said.
*****
Ridiculous. As if there weren't a lack of public space for kids to hang out in already. Suburban America is near-devoid of the stuff. Malls, as awful as they are, at least serve that one important, noncommercial purpose. The kids are right to laugh at the idea that they might go to the Boys and Girls Club instead.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Department of Too Little, Too Late
If I hadn't been messing around with my template, I might've gotten around to posting this in time for it to actually be useful to somebody, but all the same:
A plug for my buddy Zach's performance tonight, in Kassette, with Dei Lewis, at a new place in Billyburg called Cash Checking, at N3 and Kent. (Correction: The bar is called Checks Cashed; it's a check-cashing joint converted into a bar. Tray hip.)
Supposedly, they're going on at around midnight. I was out pretty late last night, so I don't really want to drink tonight, but maybe I'll stroll by later on, just to check em out.
Here's a funny picture of Zach (that's Dei on the left):
If I hadn't been messing around with my template, I might've gotten around to posting this in time for it to actually be useful to somebody, but all the same:
A plug for my buddy Zach's performance tonight, in Kassette, with Dei Lewis, at a new place in Billyburg called Cash Checking, at N3 and Kent. (Correction: The bar is called Checks Cashed; it's a check-cashing joint converted into a bar. Tray hip.)
Supposedly, they're going on at around midnight. I was out pretty late last night, so I don't really want to drink tonight, but maybe I'll stroll by later on, just to check em out.
Here's a funny picture of Zach (that's Dei on the left):
Department of Rushing to Judgment
As many times as I've said it before, I have to say it again: Google is amazing.
I'm taking part in a translation symposium next Tuesday night at a place called the Culture Project, on Bleecker Street in Manhattan. The symposium is being held in conjunction with the U.S. premiere of a play called Night Sings Its Songs, by the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, and consists of two "sessions." The description of Session B, the one I'm sitting in on, is as follows:
"Here we will discuss the role and the responsibility of the translator. In this climate of increasing political and cultural isolation, how has the role of the translator changed? What is the responsibility of the translator? What is the responsibility of the theatrical community to bring translations to light in America today?"
Of course these sorts of academically posed questions always seem silly at first glance. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of interesting points to be made in relation to them.
My main concern was, as always, how much work would it entail for me; i.e., would I have to prepare something in advance? Happily, I learned, I do not, and so I gladly accepted.
Now, I have no idea what the other panelists will be talking about — Marie, the organizer, told me their names, but of course I recognized none of them — but from what we talked about on the phone I thought it might be useful at some point to bring up just how few translations we get in this country each year.
I remembered a tiff, post-9/11, regarding how many, or rather how few, books are translated into Arabic each year, and a response from Edward Said pointing out how even *fewer* books are translated into English each year. (No suprise to those of us who work in the field.)
Well, I remembered wrong. Or not exactly. But the point is, all I did was Google the words "edward said number of books translated into arabic" and right away, the third link I got was this one, from what appears to be a blog titled Language Hat.
Lo and behold, a posting from Nov. 26, 2002, contains a letter that appeared in the November 2002 issue of Harper's magazine from Esther Allen, who is a translator and serves as chair of the PEN American Center's Translation Committee. She wrote the following:
So my memory was a little off-track, but thanks to Google, it was no problem setting it straight.
And, oh yes: We are foundering in lamentable isolation and stagnation. So rush ye not into judgment of the seemingly translation-deprived Arabic-speaking world.
As many times as I've said it before, I have to say it again: Google is amazing.
I'm taking part in a translation symposium next Tuesday night at a place called the Culture Project, on Bleecker Street in Manhattan. The symposium is being held in conjunction with the U.S. premiere of a play called Night Sings Its Songs, by the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, and consists of two "sessions." The description of Session B, the one I'm sitting in on, is as follows:
"Here we will discuss the role and the responsibility of the translator. In this climate of increasing political and cultural isolation, how has the role of the translator changed? What is the responsibility of the translator? What is the responsibility of the theatrical community to bring translations to light in America today?"
Of course these sorts of academically posed questions always seem silly at first glance. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of interesting points to be made in relation to them.
My main concern was, as always, how much work would it entail for me; i.e., would I have to prepare something in advance? Happily, I learned, I do not, and so I gladly accepted.
Now, I have no idea what the other panelists will be talking about — Marie, the organizer, told me their names, but of course I recognized none of them — but from what we talked about on the phone I thought it might be useful at some point to bring up just how few translations we get in this country each year.
I remembered a tiff, post-9/11, regarding how many, or rather how few, books are translated into Arabic each year, and a response from Edward Said pointing out how even *fewer* books are translated into English each year. (No suprise to those of us who work in the field.)
Well, I remembered wrong. Or not exactly. But the point is, all I did was Google the words "edward said number of books translated into arabic" and right away, the third link I got was this one, from what appears to be a blog titled Language Hat.
Lo and behold, a posting from Nov. 26, 2002, contains a letter that appeared in the November 2002 issue of Harper's magazine from Esther Allen, who is a translator and serves as chair of the PEN American Center's Translation Committee. She wrote the following:
In his reply to Edward Said in the September Letters section, Paul Kennedy alludes to the worrisome news about the cultural stagnation of the Arab world that U.S. pundits have been clucking their tongues over all summer: according to a recent United Nations Development Programme report, the entire Arab world, with a population of 280 million, translates only about 330 books per year.
Gratifying as it has been to see so many of our nation's spokespeople in agreement that the number of translations is a key indicator of a region's cultural vibrancy, I can't help noting, at the same time, a certain grim hilarity. Here in the United States, at the cosmopolitan heart of the universe, with a population of 285 million and a publishing industry that churns out well over 100,000 books per year, we publish — well, what do you know — about 330 books in translation per year. (That figure excludes only technical and scientific treatises.)
The PEN Translation Committee receives about 175 to 225 submissions each year for its PEN Book-of-the-Month-Club Translation Prize, and they actively seek out every translation published in the country. Annotated Books Received, a publication of the American Literary Translators Association, lists about 400 books per year, including a grand total of thirteen books translated from Arabic in the last four years. "Literary" translation, I hasten to add, refers in this context not only to fiction and poetry but to history, journalism, biography, criticism, every category of book written for a general audience, and several categories — e.g., literary theory, philosophy — that are not.
This has been the case for decades; if there ever was a Golden Age of Translation in the United States of America, no one seems to know when it occurred. Yet the trend has never given rise to a UNDP report or any general voicings of dismay in the columns of the national print media. But now that we seem to be reaching such a stirring consensus on the importance of translation as an indicator of cultural well-being, I, for one, am very curious to see what our leaders will do to combat the lamentable isolation and stagnation in which we are foundering.
So my memory was a little off-track, but thanks to Google, it was no problem setting it straight.
And, oh yes: We are foundering in lamentable isolation and stagnation. So rush ye not into judgment of the seemingly translation-deprived Arabic-speaking world.
Housekeeping Department
So, as you can see, I've got myself a new template now. Problem is, I picked it too impatiently and so failed to notice that it didn't have a Links section. I didn't actually lose my links, since I went back and got them off of a cached version of my blog with the old template. But now I have to go and put them all back in, one by one, which is sure to be a tedious process.
Mea culpa.
So, as you can see, I've got myself a new template now. Problem is, I picked it too impatiently and so failed to notice that it didn't have a Links section. I didn't actually lose my links, since I went back and got them off of a cached version of my blog with the old template. But now I have to go and put them all back in, one by one, which is sure to be a tedious process.
Mea culpa.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
New Blogs on the Block Department
My good friend Zach Layton, whose musical ventures include De-Regulator and Kassette, has decided to join the blogosphere with a site titled "bpatcher: routing, filtering, patching, listening."
Zach's got an enormous knowledge of music, and most of what he listens to, I've never even heard of before. Give it a look-see, and if you like it, just tell em StickFinger sent you.
(Looking at Zach's blog makes me think it's about time I got myself a new template.)
My good friend Zach Layton, whose musical ventures include De-Regulator and Kassette, has decided to join the blogosphere with a site titled "bpatcher: routing, filtering, patching, listening."
Zach's got an enormous knowledge of music, and most of what he listens to, I've never even heard of before. Give it a look-see, and if you like it, just tell em StickFinger sent you.
(Looking at Zach's blog makes me think it's about time I got myself a new template.)
Department of Sad News and Bargain-Basement Books
The sad news, which I should have broken to StickFinger readers long ago, is that Robert Wechsler's Catbird Press has gone out of business. Rob will keep in print the books he's published so far, but will not be issuing new titles anymore.
Why is this sad? Because Catbird was the only publishing house in the United States that specialized, to any real degree, in Czech lit.
The story of Catbird Press, in Rob's own words:
To Rob I am personally thankful for his decision to publish my translation of Jáchym Topol's mind-bending post-1989 masterwork, City Sister Silver, a surefire scheme for losing money if ever there was one. (To be fair, the novel was highly acclaimed in all the right places and held its own in sales. But that's another story.)
In a piece published today on Britské listy, a Czech-language site run out of Glasgow by transplanted Czech Jan Culik (billed as: "the daily about everything that isn't talked about much in the Czech Republic"), Rob reflects on his experiences as a publisher of Czech lit.
As Rob told it to me back — when was that? a year ago? — the problem is he can't guarantee his authors he can get their books into stores anymore. Distributors being as mammoth as they are, a direct consequence of the mammothness of the booksellers they distribute to, a small house like Catbird Press, when it sends a batch of, say, 200 books into the chain, has no idea in which stores, in which cities, they'll wash up. That's fine when you blanket the nation with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, but it's hell for a book that doesn't have a marketing juggernaut plowing a path on its behalf.
Another interesting point Rob made, which makes sense to me, is that while the Internet has been good for the individual reader (i.e., the consumer), it is a nightmare for the small publishing house. I can find any book I want, anytime. But how does a book with a print run of 3,500 copies find its way to those few thousand people it is intended for?
*****
If you are a budget-minded shopper and have been impatiently waiting to hear about the bargain-basement books, here is the deal: Rob is offering copies of Catapult, by Vladimir Paral; City Sister Silver, by Topol; Fingers Pointing Somewhere Else, by Daniela Fischerova; The Four Sonyas, again by Paral; and Lovers and Murderers, also by Paral, for a paltry three to five bucks a pop.
Order by phone at (203) 230-2391, e-mail orders@catbirdpress.com, fax (203) 286-1091, or write Catbird Press, 16 Windsor Road, North Haven, CT 06472-3015.
The sad news, which I should have broken to StickFinger readers long ago, is that Robert Wechsler's Catbird Press has gone out of business. Rob will keep in print the books he's published so far, but will not be issuing new titles anymore.
Why is this sad? Because Catbird was the only publishing house in the United States that specialized, to any real degree, in Czech lit.
The story of Catbird Press, in Rob's own words:
"Catbird Press was founded in 1987 by Robert Wechsler for the purpose of publishing two kinds of books he knew a lot about: Czech literature and sophisticated prose humor in the classic American tradition (we call it 'humor for grownups'). To these specialties were added American fiction, starting in 1991, and British fiction, starting in 1999; two books to help people do good better (charitable giving and helping public schools); and Wechsler's own book on literary translation (1998). As of June 2002, Catbird Press has published 49 titles, about 4 a year, nearly all of which are still in print. We publish our Czech literature under the Garrigue Books imprint; see below for an explanation of this name."
To Rob I am personally thankful for his decision to publish my translation of Jáchym Topol's mind-bending post-1989 masterwork, City Sister Silver, a surefire scheme for losing money if ever there was one. (To be fair, the novel was highly acclaimed in all the right places and held its own in sales. But that's another story.)
In a piece published today on Britské listy, a Czech-language site run out of Glasgow by transplanted Czech Jan Culik (billed as: "the daily about everything that isn't talked about much in the Czech Republic"), Rob reflects on his experiences as a publisher of Czech lit.
As Rob told it to me back — when was that? a year ago? — the problem is he can't guarantee his authors he can get their books into stores anymore. Distributors being as mammoth as they are, a direct consequence of the mammothness of the booksellers they distribute to, a small house like Catbird Press, when it sends a batch of, say, 200 books into the chain, has no idea in which stores, in which cities, they'll wash up. That's fine when you blanket the nation with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, but it's hell for a book that doesn't have a marketing juggernaut plowing a path on its behalf.
Another interesting point Rob made, which makes sense to me, is that while the Internet has been good for the individual reader (i.e., the consumer), it is a nightmare for the small publishing house. I can find any book I want, anytime. But how does a book with a print run of 3,500 copies find its way to those few thousand people it is intended for?
*****
If you are a budget-minded shopper and have been impatiently waiting to hear about the bargain-basement books, here is the deal: Rob is offering copies of Catapult, by Vladimir Paral; City Sister Silver, by Topol; Fingers Pointing Somewhere Else, by Daniela Fischerova; The Four Sonyas, again by Paral; and Lovers and Murderers, also by Paral, for a paltry three to five bucks a pop.
Order by phone at (203) 230-2391, e-mail orders@catbirdpress.com, fax (203) 286-1091, or write Catbird Press, 16 Windsor Road, North Haven, CT 06472-3015.
Friday, June 04, 2004
Department of Not Getting "Nuanced Out"
This incredibly scary interview with President Bush, from the weekly Christianity Today (thanks, Emily), contains many breathtaking moments.
One is when Bush says that although he is sorry for "those people who were humiliated" at Abu Ghraib, "I never apologized to the Arab world."
Another is this exchange, which follows the comment above:
Q: Do you believe there is anything inherently evil in the way some practice Islam that stands in the way of the pursuit of democracy and freedom?
A: I think what we're dealing with are people — extreme, radical people — who've got a deep desire to spread an ideology that is anti-women, anti-free thought, anti-art and science, you know, that couch their language in religious terms. But that doesn't make them religious people. I think they conveniently use religion to kill. The religion I know is not one that encourages killing. I think that they want to drive us out of parts of the world so they're better able to have a base from which to operate. I think it's very much more like an . . . "ism" than a group with territorial ambition.
Q: More like a what?
A: An "ism," like Communism, that knows no boundaries, as opposed to a power that takes land for gold or land for oil or whatever it might be. I don't see their ambition as territorial. I see their ambition as seeking safe haven. And I know they want to create power vacuums into which they are able to flow.
Q: To what final end? The expansion of Islam?
A: No, I think the expansion of their view of Islam, which would be I guess a fanatical version that — you know, you're trying to lure me down a road [where] . . . I'm incapable of winning the debate. But I'm smart enough to understand when I'm about to get nuanced out. No, I think they have a perverted view of what religion should be, and it is not based upon peace and love and compassion — quite the opposite. These are people that will kill at the drop of a hat, and they will kill anybody, which means there are no rules. And that is not, at least, my view of religion. And I don't think it's the view of any other scholar's view of religion either.
*****
Honestly, I can't believe this man is the president of the United States.
This incredibly scary interview with President Bush, from the weekly Christianity Today (thanks, Emily), contains many breathtaking moments.
One is when Bush says that although he is sorry for "those people who were humiliated" at Abu Ghraib, "I never apologized to the Arab world."
Another is this exchange, which follows the comment above:
Q: Do you believe there is anything inherently evil in the way some practice Islam that stands in the way of the pursuit of democracy and freedom?
A: I think what we're dealing with are people — extreme, radical people — who've got a deep desire to spread an ideology that is anti-women, anti-free thought, anti-art and science, you know, that couch their language in religious terms. But that doesn't make them religious people. I think they conveniently use religion to kill. The religion I know is not one that encourages killing. I think that they want to drive us out of parts of the world so they're better able to have a base from which to operate. I think it's very much more like an . . . "ism" than a group with territorial ambition.
Q: More like a what?
A: An "ism," like Communism, that knows no boundaries, as opposed to a power that takes land for gold or land for oil or whatever it might be. I don't see their ambition as territorial. I see their ambition as seeking safe haven. And I know they want to create power vacuums into which they are able to flow.
Q: To what final end? The expansion of Islam?
A: No, I think the expansion of their view of Islam, which would be I guess a fanatical version that — you know, you're trying to lure me down a road [where] . . . I'm incapable of winning the debate. But I'm smart enough to understand when I'm about to get nuanced out. No, I think they have a perverted view of what religion should be, and it is not based upon peace and love and compassion — quite the opposite. These are people that will kill at the drop of a hat, and they will kill anybody, which means there are no rules. And that is not, at least, my view of religion. And I don't think it's the view of any other scholar's view of religion either.
*****
Honestly, I can't believe this man is the president of the United States.
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Department of Nagging Doubts
Stephen Hayes, in the current issue of the Weekly Standard, argues that the connections between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al-Qaeda are multiple and well-documented.
I'm not sure yet what to make of his argument, but if the case was really that solid, how come no one in Bush's administration made it? I think the jury's still out on this one.
Stephen Hayes, in the current issue of the Weekly Standard, argues that the connections between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al-Qaeda are multiple and well-documented.
I'm not sure yet what to make of his argument, but if the case was really that solid, how come no one in Bush's administration made it? I think the jury's still out on this one.
Department of Life Imitating Art Imitating Life
After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner received a black eye and a bloodied brow from an unknown assailant who objected to the art.
Two days after the painting went up in the gallery front window, someone threw eggs and dumped trash on the doorstep. Lori Haigh, the gallery's owner, said she didn't think to connect it to the black-and-white interpretation of the events in Baghdad until people started leaving nasty messages and threats on her business answering machine.
"I think you need to get your gallery out of this neighborhood before you get hurt," one caller said.
Even after she removed the painting from the window, the criticism continued thanks to news coverage about the gallery's troubles. The answering machine recorded new calls from people accusing her of being a coward for taking the picture down. Last weekend, a man walked into the gallery, pretended to scrutinize the art work for a moment, then marched up to Haigh's desk and spat directly in her face.
On Thursday, someone knocked on the door of the gallery, then punched Haigh in the face when she stepped outside.
Among the expressions of support Haigh has received since shuttering the gallery, her favorite is an e-mail whose writer said, "I'm sure that a few and dangerous minds don't understand that they have only mimicked the same perversity this painting had expressed."
*****
If you'd like to read the whole story, published on Saturday by AP, click here.
After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner received a black eye and a bloodied brow from an unknown assailant who objected to the art.
Two days after the painting went up in the gallery front window, someone threw eggs and dumped trash on the doorstep. Lori Haigh, the gallery's owner, said she didn't think to connect it to the black-and-white interpretation of the events in Baghdad until people started leaving nasty messages and threats on her business answering machine.
"I think you need to get your gallery out of this neighborhood before you get hurt," one caller said.
Even after she removed the painting from the window, the criticism continued thanks to news coverage about the gallery's troubles. The answering machine recorded new calls from people accusing her of being a coward for taking the picture down. Last weekend, a man walked into the gallery, pretended to scrutinize the art work for a moment, then marched up to Haigh's desk and spat directly in her face.
On Thursday, someone knocked on the door of the gallery, then punched Haigh in the face when she stepped outside.
Among the expressions of support Haigh has received since shuttering the gallery, her favorite is an e-mail whose writer said, "I'm sure that a few and dangerous minds don't understand that they have only mimicked the same perversity this painting had expressed."
*****
If you'd like to read the whole story, published on Saturday by AP, click here.
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