Bad translations #2
Cats: Uncategorized, translations|Tempted though I am, I won’t re-name this series Bad Trannies as it might not go down so well in translation. So, here is your second crop of Bad Translations.
In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9&11 am daily.
In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian orthodox Monastery: You are welcome to visit the cemetary where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.
In an Austrian hotel for skiers: Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.
On a menu in a Swiss restaurant: Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.
07 March 2007
Passing of a post-modern guru
The post-structural theorist, cultural critic, and photographer Jean Baudrillard died yesterday after a long illness. He was 77.
Baudrillard was a post-modern thinker who inspired the ideas behind the movie The Matrix. His thoughts about hyper-reality forged the notion of virtual reality and launched an entire sub-genre of science fiction.His simulacra theory speculated that people do not live in reality but in a world manufactured by mass media, the simulacrum. This lead him to pronounce that the first Gulf War was not real. It was produced as a sort of virtual video game for TV watchers in the west.
Two years ago he told the New York Times: “All our values are simulated! What is freedom at all? A choice between purchasing one or another car? This is only the simulation of freedom.”
His dense, translated-from-French prose were not always the easiest to read and some of the ideas seemed bizarre, but they were intoxicating, just as the ideas of Canadian thinker Marshall McLuhan were a generation before.
Baudrillard’s passing is marked here as he was an influence on this typist’s typing.
Lunar landing
It isn’t of course, but it has that look. What we have is more frost fractals on the window as the result of another cold snap. Intriguing how dramatic the change in patterns. It’s almost as though the frost lays itself down as a geological formation. See Frost Bite(s) for more fun with winter fractals.
06 March 2007
IMglish lessons #4 - ha ha ha
Here the list for laughing nomenclature in IMglish. Have to love a message with one of these
LMSO laughing my socks off
LOL laughing out loud
LSHMBB laughing so hard my belly is bouncing
LTM laugh to myself
LMAO laugh my a** off
ROTFL rolling on the floor laughing
Anymore laughing IMglishisms, anyone?
05 March 2007
Words that should be banned: racial realism
Jared Taylor is a racial realist. He believes that black people are genetically and intellectually inferior and are more sexually promiscuous than other races.
Taylor promotes the idea that races should be segregated from each other, blacks kept with blacks, hispanics with hispanics, whites with whites. Racial diversity and mixing, according to Taylor, leads to social conflict and disharmony. Segregation will enhance society, he believes. Taylor says he is not a white supremacist but rather a white separatist.
People in these organizations never call themselves racists. They are racial realists, race relations experts and racial separatists. They practice race realism, not racism. The cloak their racist values in the intellectual terminology used by groups seeking freedom from racial oppression.
Let’s ban the term racial realism. Let’s call a racist a racist. And while we’re at it, let’s keep Jared Taylor from spreading his wolf-dressed-in-lamb’s-clothing racist poison. Ban him from Halifax too.
04 March 2007
Favourite grey hair quote
There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.
- PG Wodehouse, British novelist
03 March 2007
A total eclipse of the … moon!
Caught this quite by chance tonight. Wondered why most of the full moon was covered in a red shadow on a clear night. As it turns out, this the red shadow is the earth’s shadow. It is the first lunar eclipse in three years. Amazing!1.6 sec, f4, 200mm, ASA 100, tripodnar eclipse
(Thanks to KLH for pointing it out.)
Below TagBagger captures the moon at the peak of its eclipse complete with surrounding stars. The photographic challenge here is to stop the moment but capture right amount of light, colour and crispness. His photo achieves this. (2.5 secs, f5.6, 300mm, ASA 1600).
Mall cowers under angry sky
This angry sky bullied its way into a sunny day casting a dark shadow over the mall. The stark contrasts of light and dark made for a dramtic afternoon that day. The photo entitled Geisha’s Lips was also shot on that day, an hour later.
02 March 2007
Slacker’s big flop
Slacker’s big splash turns into a big flop during the national swimming championships. Read here for more.
Picture features national championship swimmers pushing off the blocks.
01 March 2007
Frost on my windshield
Got up one bitterly cold morning and slept walked to the car. I turned the key and looked up to the most brilliant blue sky and this smattering of yellow frost on the windshield.
