Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
My interview with Rosemarie Jackowski, a novel idea from The Mudge, and big news from Texas
Count me in on the novel, wonderful idea Mudge. And give my best to your mother Mickey, I´m delighted for her.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/26 at 05:28 AMi think i am in too
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/26 at 06:13 AMCongratulations about your mom, Mickey. Maybe we’ll celebrae with the bottomless vegan plate an NYU, sounds all too fitting! And if you bring a copy of 50 AR, I’ll bring an extra $10…
One more Expendable for the challenge! Always finding a new reason to be glad I check in here…
captch: provide, as in Mudge provide literary inspiration, Mickey hope, etc. on and on.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/26 at 06:17 AMWhat about a dedication at the beginning of the novel to Gore Vidal in honor of his 80th? Or an anti-dedication to non-radicals? What do people think?
Posted by Donald Sanskrit on from Hiroshima, Japan 10/26 at 07:25 AMI think that Donald Sanskrit is an awesome name. I hope I don’t get sued if I use that as a character in one novel or another.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/26 at 07:33 AMWell, Uncle Donnie made it up, so it’s all yours.
I’m in.
How do we start this thing?
Best wishes to your mother and family, Mick.
captcha : name (no kidding, as in aka Mr. Dong)
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 08:09 AMGreat interview of RMJ…
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 08:52 AMnew blog dudes, i am on the attack again
will leave you with a teaser…
“now i am more of a flag-burner than a flag-waver but....”
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/26 at 09:32 AMoops, address
http://thumpingthetub.blogspot.com
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/26 at 09:33 AMOwen, James, JOS, and Michael. So far, so good. Here’s the lowdown to get started: http://tinyurl.com/amcqr
James: It doesn’t appear likely I can make it to NYU tonight but do you think you guys will really make it there after the protest?
Michael: Good stuff at your blog. I wasn’t aware of the Scottish connection you detail.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 09:43 AMMichael, you have a lot good stuff on your site today.
Hi Owen, James, JOS, and Donald with the nice name....
Mickey, thank you again for your support during my time of challenge. Yep, I wish that your magic machine could warm things up and change the snow into sunshine. By now, everyone up here is suffering from a vitamin D deficiency. It is kind of interesting to see how the corporate media is sort of ignoring the 2000 mark in Iraq, but then they ignored the 100,000+ Iraqi deaths too. I really hope that everyone will refer everyone that they know to the Robert Fisk photos that Mickey linked at the bottom of the interview..... One day when I was a very little girl, and had just heard about the Holocaust, I asked my Mother why she had not stopped it. She said because many people did not know about it when it was happening. I was just a very little girl, about 5 years old then. Now there is no excuse for not stopping the killing. Now, no one has the comfort of deniability. Now, everybody knows or at least can know what is happening. Robert Fisk has made it very easy for everyone to be informed.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 09:57 AMMickey, I forgot to say, “GOOD VIBES” to Mom on the completion of the chemo.....and congrats to you and your Lady on the big 16 !!!!!!
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 10:04 AMI guess it depends whether my gluttony wins over my activist spirit… though a vegan buffet’s its own passive sort of activism, I guess. Man, you should see Seth pack it away, a real sight to behold.
God, I hope there’s not much cop trouble at times square today.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/26 at 10:04 AMYou know, Rosemarie, after reading your comment above, I’ve pasted the link to the Fisk photos in the main post. This way, even if visitors don’t have time to read everything, they can get right to the heart of the matter.
As for my invention, it’s really more like Star Trek...and we’d beam you directly to Mudge’s lavish villa for a dose of that decadent Lone Star State life.
So, RMJ, you writing a novel?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 10:06 AMJames, one of my primary concerns is that you guys will encounter cop trouble at the protest (which likely won’t start on time) and not make it to NYU. I’ll e-mail you later about this.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 10:08 AMWhat protest?
Here’s another example of someone in the media ignoring the tens of thousands of innocent iraqis killed by our soldiers. 2,000 deaths pale in comparision. Huffingtonpost:
“To borrow a phrase from that era, let me make myself perfectly clear: I’m not saying that Plamegate is the same as Watergate. I’m saying it’s worse. Much, much worse. No one died as a result of Watergate, but 2,000 American soldiers have now been killed and thousands more wounded to rid the world of an imminent threat that wasn’t.
Could there be anything bigger?”
She’s right that Watergate was nothing compared to this, but yes, the 100,000 or so excess deaths in Iraq due to our invasion and presence there is a whole lot fucking bigger.
captcha:large
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 10:10 AMMZ: WHOOPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! Send MamaZ a big ol’ bear hug from Mudge.
RMJ, from yesterday:
I think of things that can be only imaginary,
Because you make me rush to my unabridged dictionary.Nobody’s ever written me a poem before! That’s the best unmerited gift I’ve ever received, waaaaaay better than flowers since those’re nothin’ but the amputated sex organs of plants. (I find “ornamental” plants bothersome.)
War tax/reparations: I hadda go look up Diego Garcia. Whatinahell are you tellin’ me I make you feel intimidated for, lady? You not only knew Diego Garcia existed, but that it had things on it. ANY things. But my larger point is that the generational nature of borrowing money to wage war should be the strident focus of left-wing protest! “Do you want your great-grandchildren to pay for YOUR bombing of Iraqi children today?!” And yes, I believe we, each of us, bear individual and collective responsibility for each Iraqi civilian’s death. It’s the government we elected, even those of us who passionately campaigned, gave money to, and voted for persons and agendas that were defeated. We’re all citizens of, and beneficiaries of, this country’s rights and wrongs. On our heads, singly and severally, be the consequences and the responsibilities.
Still and all...I want to lead by example TOWARDS something I believe to be better for everyone everywhere, not away from something I hold to be inimical. To my way of thinking, that’s like heterosexuals (poor, deluded bastards) defining themselves as “not gay.”
Hve you decided what you’re going to call your novel, dear RMJ? Becuase I am certain as snow fallin’ in Vermont you’re gonna participate in NaNoWriMo.
Expendables all: I love the enthusiasm for this idea!! It’s a really tough thing to commit to and I truly hope each who participates will get all the frustrating, terrifying, beneficial exhaution and pride from participating that I have in the past. I hope y’all will use “the Expendable” in your screen names so we can communicate with each other!
Lawyers ho! Later on.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 11:20 AMMZ, I forgot...five hours-plus of play, a 7-5 win in 14 innings...the Black Sox from the upstart AL...gritgrit...deserve to win the Series.
Owwwwwwww, I just broke my jaw.
And for your Wikipedia page:
“Etheric researchers have confirmed that Zezima, a noted flirt and renowned raconteur, is in fact the reincarnation of Veronica Franco. If you don’t believe this, give him a fan and a glass of wine, aim him at a pretty girl, make sure his wife’s in another room, and hide and watch.”
Captch: known
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 11:25 AMCongratulations to your mom, Mickey - and to you, as well. Moms are precious, indeed, and not having one around anymore is a strangeness and loneliness which never quite goes away…
I’m happy for you both, and proud of you both.I also enjoyed your interview with our Matriarch, Mickey. Thanks to you and to Rosemarie.
TubThumper - keep on keeping on… Great work.
Hi to JOS & James… JOS, I think often of Puerto Rico, of late. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll look out and see my wife and I sitting quietly beneath a swaying palm tree. You’ll know it’s me if you see a guy with no face - just a huge smile surrounded by a nimbus of happy light…
I won’t be writing any fiction. I once studied poetry and writing with Galway Kinnell. I guess I learned a lot, though I’m not sure, as I generally squandered the whole experience. During those “fiction writing” years, I took all the miracles that came my way - there were so very many - and tossed them into a pot filled with arrogance and condescension and fear and an almost unimaginable restlessness, and stirred everything into a strangely diseased brew which infected and poisoned everything and everyone near me. Just thinking of writing fiction fills me with anxiety. So many wasted opportunities, so many mistakes, so much stupidity, so much guilt… You guyz go ahead. I’ll enjoy sitting down with the results. There’s a lot of talent and a lot of intelligence in this place - I’m sure some fine work will come out of this effort.
Hey - here’s a real sentence:
“He said that that ‘that’ that that man used was wrong.”
(Found this while reviewing the correct use of the word “that” versus use of the word “which.")PS - anyone heard from Keir, recently? It seems like a long time, to me. His blog has been “lifeless” since September 1…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/26 at 11:38 AMPSS- Hi Mudge! You continue to be a delight, ya know…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/26 at 11:42 AMHi again MZ’ers...You guys are the ones with the Novel writing talents. I will wait to read yours. I don’t see a novel in my future but I have another little tale to tell. Right after my arrest everyone was making a big fuss over me...I had really expected to be shunned, maybe stoned in the village square as in the classic tale “The Lottery” which was written up here about THIS community, but instead I was getting my 15 minutes of fame. A few suggested that I write my auto-biography. So, with more than a proper amount of vanity, I wrote the introduction, then got very bored with the project. I realized that it was a really boring undertaking because I already knew what had happened to me. It was not like researching a topic and learning new things. After the one page introduction, I ditched the project and have not thought about it since. I had given it a title, though, based on what my life was and still is like. The title for the book that will never be written was, “Even When you’re Famous You Still Have to Take Out the Garbage”. Thanks Mickey, for extending my 15 minutes a little longer.
MUDGE...”...each of us, bear individual and collective responsibility, for each Iraqi civilian’s death...” That is almost what Churchill says. See why you inspire me to write poetry from the hidden corners of my soul to you.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 12:11 PMJoe, that that sentence about that sounds like one that I could have written because I write like that. That that is one of my most used words is something that most will never know.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 12:24 PMgood stuff about your mother mickey
RMJ - i take it thats Ward and not Winston!
also “Then I was asked if I had any aliases or was known by any other name. I first answered, “No” but then corrected myself and said, “Yes, sometimes I am called ‘Mom.’”that line should be preserved in stone.
unfortunatley no chance of the fisk photos hitting mainstream media. gruesome as they are, i honestly think if people saw the consequences of their actions then the lingering support for the war would dry up almost immediately (apart from a few maniacs)
thanks for the compliments everyone. i will take them as encouragement to be more vociferous in future.
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/26 at 12:33 PMCongratulations on your Mom’s milestone, Mickey. It’s good of you to keep us all informed about her progress. We wish only the best outcome for her, and for your family.
Posted by bc on from 10/26 at 12:39 PMMichael...yes, definitely Ward, not Winston. I agree with you about the Fisk photos. Don’t you just wish that you could lock up all of the war mongers in a room filled with those photos.
Joe, your that that sentence reminded me of the one good thing that has come out of Washington in many years. I really like the Rummy quote below. I remember hearing him say this.
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”
Donald RumsfeldPosted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 12:40 PMThats great news Mickey. I hope all is well, and all the best to your family.
On Rosmary’s Rummy quote, which I adore - Slavoj Zizek adds this fourth variable which seals the totality of Rumsfeldian Postmodernism...."unknown knowns” as in things we know, but don’t know we know them. An example is how most people in capitalist societies go through their lives supressing all that is unpleasant by “not knowing” what they know.
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from Toronto 10/26 at 02:06 PMRMJ, a novel’s nothing more than a research paper that’s too interesting not to be fiction...think about it.
Joe. Shuddup and write Bharati in Chains. Your Mumbai experiences resonate when you just tell them...imagine if you get to spice it all up with the great one-liners you wish you’d said! You wish you’d heard, too!
All who feel anxiety about writing: No one looks at your work unless/until you want them to. Winning this event means finishing a work of at least 50,000 words in 30 days. No one’s looking for excellence, just for completion. That’s the prize...finishing something you’ve started!
So, fearful ones, cast off/face your worst fears and bang one out!!
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 02:10 PMThanks for the good wishes, one and all. It’s been a long 6 months but we can all exhale a bit. Your positive vibes during that time period were invaluable.
Joe, why not write a non-fiction novel? Please?
BC and Jordy: Can I interest either of you in a little novel writing?
P.S. Another site posted Rosemarie’s interview:
http://tinyurl.com/an9x7Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 02:12 PMDick campaigns for torture:
As the victims plead for death:
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 02:13 PMSorry, Mudge. We must have been typing at the same time. I love your Wikipedia addition. Veronica Franco: http://www.veronicafranco.com.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 02:14 PMExcellent juxtaposition, JOS. If you don’t mind, I’ll repost it tomorrow.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 02:19 PMIts a novel idea. I’d be down.
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from 10/26 at 02:20 PMThanks Mick, it’s all yours.
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 02:21 PMMZ, I thought you’d like that comparison to La Franco.
Captcha: line (heeheehee)
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 02:25 PMOh boo, Jordy, booooo booooooo for that pun. I can see already who’s trouble in this group >wink<
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 02:30 PMI’m Jewish. I have Borscht Belt humor pumping through my veins.
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from 10/26 at 02:39 PMUh-oh, Jordy has joined the Expendables. I’m expecting a Marxist novel about the cinema...with a Canadian flavor, of course. Am I close?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 02:39 PMSorry, Mickey. As you must have noted by now, I’m not a real chatty sort of individual. I’m one of the “lurkers” as you say. I’m not big on looking at (or listening to, for that matter) my own words, but I get tremendous satisfaction from coming here daily to read the posts. I’ve learned a lot from all the expendables. There’s a real feeling of family - with all that implies. This is truly a wonderful place to spend time. That’s about my word limit for the month, I’m afraid. I’m looking forward to reading the novels. I hope RMJ and Joe reconsider.
Posted by bc on from 10/26 at 02:41 PMBC: I consider it a minor victory to have provoked two comments from you in one day. It’s great to know that folks like you are here on a regular basis. Thanks.
Jordy: May Borscht Belt humor never die.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 02:42 PMHi all you MZ’ers and you, Mickey! Great interview with Rosemarie Jackowski - RMJ, you ROCK! And so good to hear the news regarding your mum Mickey - hope things continue to go well.
Have a good morning/afternoon all ...Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/26 at 02:58 PMWell I’m working on a semi-Marxist non-novel about the cinema, so if I’m involved in a collaborative writing effort, it may have to with the concept of a quintuple agent. . In other words, someone who works for country a by spying on country b but is really working for country c which wants information on country a, but is turned by country b to spy on country d, and is turned to spy on country a
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from 10/26 at 03:04 PMWill you be writing a novel, Helga?
Jordy: You do understand that each of us is writing her or his own novel, right?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 03:19 PMi once saw a documentary about d.w. griffith the guy who made birth of a nation, obviously they discussed birth of a nation, so they interviewed lillian gish, and she was saying that griffith liked the blacks because he made them the heroes. i guess she’s dead now so to the ghost of lillian gish among other fallacies, those were white folks in black face. i think she was in all or most of griffith’s movies. they use that movie as a recruiting piece for the kkk. and it’s one of the top 100 films according to the AFI. triumph of the will didn’t the nazis use that as a recruiting film? if they use both those for recruiting there should be a sharp
decline not only is it racist garbage but those movies are atrociously bad. woodrow wilson had a special screening of birth of a nation at the white house he praised the film. http://tinyurl.com/bl5a2
this quote from wilson is used in the film: “The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation...until at last there had sprung into existence a great ku klux klan, a veritable
empire of the South, to protect the Southern country."-woodrow wilson
didn’t wilson win the nobel peace prize?glad to hear about your mother. raising a virtual glass in a cybertoast.
Mother Stands For Comfort by Kate Bush
She knows that I’ve been doing something wrong,
But she won’t say anything.
She thinks that I was with my friends yesterday,
But she won’t mind me lying,
BecauseMother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.It breaks the cage, and fear escapes and takes possession,
Just like a crowd rioting inside.
(Make me do this, make me do that, make me do this, make me do that...)
Am I the cat that takes the bird?
To her the hunted, not the hunter.Mother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.
Mother hides the madman.
Mother will stay mum.
Mother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.
Mother hides the madman.
Mother will stay mum.Posted by tm on from shrovetide fair 10/26 at 03:26 PMI guess I missed that about everyone doing their own novel. I’m not much for fiction, or haven’t been in a long time....and my plate is pretty full with two books in the works - but I’ll see what I can do.
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from 10/26 at 03:49 PMWriting a novel requires commitment, perseverance, patience, and talent. That lets me out on all 4 counts. I could no sooner write a good novel than I could play jazz as cool as Garner.
I am off now to the scene of the crime to practice “the politics of comfort” as Churchill would say. I will head on down to the protest, mostly to support my friends and fellow dissenters. I know that it won’t do any real good, but what can I say. Habits are hard to break. Has anyone else got any dissenting going on in their neighborhood tonight?Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/26 at 03:53 PMMudge, I see (over at NaNoWriMO) that your favorite novelist is Nabokov. You two have (or in his case, had) a similar writing style and vocabularies the size of dictionaries. He is one of my favorites also.
Mick, I have yet to read a Bukowski novel, but will as soon as possible. I love his poetry.
I’m already writing my 50,000 word novel. I’ll have a nice headstart when the time comes.
This is a GREAT excercise. Write and write and write, finish the 50,000 in 30 days, then edit it for an actual attempt at publication. I’m excited!
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 03:54 PMOops..I just realized that that’s a no no:
Do I have to start my novel from scratch on November 1?
Yes.This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into NaNoWriMo all but guarantees a miserable month. You’ll simply care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes NaNoWriMo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you’ll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.
(NaNoWriMo.com, FAQ’s)
Posted by JOS on from La Isla Del Encanta 10/26 at 04:01 PMHey RMJ, anyone who does what you’re doing in this world gets to make her own rules without guilt or interference. So I (chin quiver) accept (soft sniff) your decision to (muffled groan of spiritual agony) live your life and spend your time (wrenching sob) as you see fit (major hankie usage, red-eyed teary gaze at his idol).
Jordy, good heavens! Borscht-belt Marxist film maven humor, and you say fiction isn’t your thing?! Such a waste, such a waste. Keep this thought in mind, s’il-vous plait: “[Novelists] are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” I’d loooooooove to read anything you write, so please apprise of progress on the two projects presntly underway?
JOS, good lord! I gaze in awed woder at the Mondanock that is Nabokov’s ouevre...I aspire to learn, before I die, a tiny fraction of his artifice as I can’t aspire to his level of art. As to the pre-start, I know it’s not in the SPIRIT of NaNoWriMo...and it stands to reason you’d like to stick to the rules...but what they offer is a place to accomplish something. You do it on the honor system. ‘Nuff said.
“Vocabularies the size of dictionaries?” Is that a compliment or a slam, I can’t really tell. I have worried most all my life about that glazed look people get when I’m off and runnin’ on a topic. It’s often due to lack of interest in my special-favorite topics...but almost as often it’s that I might as well be speaking Serbo-Croatian while discussing astrophysics, so I try to simplify simplify as we are exhorted to do....
Yeah Helga...come on in, the water’s freezing! I mean, fine! And in case you’re smack up against a wall at any time, there are local Australian NaNoWriMo support groups...can we tempt you?
Captcha: among
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 04:56 PMMudge -
I’m practicallyt finished but still haven’t sold a book that is a guide to Antiwar Cinema. You can find an interview that MickeyZ did with me about it at Znet and Press Action, and a link to my original article about it.
I’m also just starting to write a book on Jewish identity and the Left, with autobiographical overtones.
You can find some of my older articles (I haven’t written any long online pieces) at jordycummings.blogdrive.com - I blog at least four or five times a week at purepolemics.blogdrive.com
Posted by Jordy Cummings on from 10/26 at 05:06 PMTM: “didn’t wilson win the nobel peace prize?”
Repulsively, yes. That whole League of Nations/Treaty of Versailles thing. His racism? So typical of the day it made not the shallowest crease in any white cranium, and whatever else they may be the Swedes are pretty durn white.
Will you movel along with the Expendables this Novel-vember?
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 05:09 PMJordy, have you tried Howard Aster at Mosaic Press? He’s a likely candidate for the book. Whatever you do DON’T mention my name though...he hates me since I called him out on something he did to my brother/client’s book POWDERBURNS. Howard’s a great publisher, though, and fiercely Canadian.
Aster might also like “a book on Jewish identity and the Left, with autobiographical overtones” though I myownself think “Soft Skull” when I hear the description.
I’ll go look at the blogs, thanks for letting me know they exist.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 05:19 PM[chant]JOS is a puppy, JOS is a puppy[/chant]
So for you, the moonshot’s history, the Watergate trials terra incognita, “where were you, and what were you doing?” is meaningless, cars with fins relics not desiderata, LPs obsolescent instead of cool, oh my GOD.
I viewed your NaNoWriMo profile (there are only 3 “the Expendable” profiles, hint hint) and got a peek at your age. Oh my. Oh dear. >sigh<
More baseball shortly, must needs make dinner for myself and puppies. Not you, of course, real dog-type puppies.
Posted by Mudge on from Dear, dead Austin 10/26 at 06:09 PMHas anyone else registered? TM? You in?
Join the (captcha word) party…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 06:44 PMWhy not me? I’m hungry.
32 is young to some, old to others. For me, it’s just about right. No offense given on the dictionary comment, only admration. Though reading your comments sometimes switches my mind back and forth (and up and down and left and right) more often than while reading VN’s Pale Fire. (another compliment)
Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 10/26 at 06:48 PMOwen/Michael - your guys already agreed...just add “the Expendable” so we can find you and we’ll write a bunch of nonsense together.
Mick, I did think we were doing this together as one novel at first. What kind of a nightmare novel would that be?
I have to say, I am fearful that I will not come near to 50,000...I’m pretty busy. But I can’t imagine how you will find the time (or anyone else, for that matter). Good luck! And may the best BSer win!
Posted by JOS on from Puerto Rico 10/26 at 06:53 PMHmm...Michael suggested that, too, JOS. For some reason, the thought hadn’t immediately occurred to me. The logistics could be nightmarish, yes, but I’m up for anything. I say it’s Mudge’s call. He started this brushfire.
What say you, O Cranky One?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 06:56 PMMichael, that´s interesing on your blog about the Arab connection. The Irish in the 15-16th centuries had the nickname the Egyptians, the Irish language is most similar to Libyan (a lot of people here assume it´s a dialect of English but I´d always felt it came from further east what with all those sandy Arab glottals in the tongue), and people with trained ears cannot tell the difference between Irish sean-nós (oldstyle) and Libyan oldstyle singing. There is a dance called mummer in the south of the country which derives from Mohammed and many Arabs call any fourleaved plant a shamrukh, from the Middle East also we get the harp, bagpipes, the word ´nun´, rosary beads (still used in Egypt) plus the colours used in the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow are made with Middle Eastern insects. The round towers you find all over Ireland are of Phoenician origin, though we were told in the brainfarm school they were built that way for practical reasons, to hide villagers and valuables from marauding Vikings - like they would have been put off by a crummy thin tower after sailing all that way. Great guy called LA Waddell wrote in Phoenician Origins of Britons:
“I had recognised that the various ancient scripts found at or near the old settlements of the Phoenicians, and (those known as) Cyrian, Karisn, Aramaic or Syrian, Lykian, Lydian, Corinthian, Ionian, Cretan or “Minoan”, Pelasgian, Phryigian, Cappadocian, Cilician, Theban, Libyan, Celto-Iberian, Gothic runes etc., were all really local variations of the standard Aryan Hitto-Sumerian writing of the Aryan Phoenician mariners, those ancient pioneer spreaders of the Hittite civilisation along the shores of the Mediterranean and out beyond the pillars of Hercules (between Spain and N Africa) to the British Isles.”
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/26 at 06:57 PMI´d assumed it was all the one novel too. I´d be up for that too, I´ve collaborated before and it can be dern fruitful, but it´s Mudge´s call.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/26 at 07:01 PMJOS - Fear Not! You have wisdom beyond your years.
Michael & Owen - this is fascinating stuff. It shouldn’t be so surprising, though, I suppose. Hasn’t science more or less established that humans originated somewhere in Africa, and that the earliest civilizations occurred in the Middle East / North Africa? If that’s true, all of us can trace our ancestry back to the Middle East, then, perhaps, somewhat southward.
In other words, aren’t we all Africans, regardless of skin color?Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/26 at 08:36 PMi’m not writing a novel cause cause cause cause i don’t wanna. they say you can’t write one word 50,000 times but can you write “a 50,000 word novel in 30 days”? or how about like ravel’s bolero it’s just two melodies repeated over and over so could you write two paragraphs over and over using different script and font sizes each time?
Posted by tm on from shrovetide fair 10/26 at 08:48 PMMaybe if this was a team effort, we might be able to lure in more participants (like TM, RMJ, and Joe). Again, I’m down for anything but I truly believe Mudge gets to decide.
Night all.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/26 at 09:38 PMHoly Crap I’m in such a food coma Mickey; glad the 1st isn’t til next week… good night.
captcha: hold, as in I"m holding in too much NYU vegan buffet food. damn weird what an oracle Captcha turn out to be.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 10/26 at 09:41 PMMickey, have you and/or your mom read “World Without Cancer” buy G. Edward Griffin?
It is WELL worth reading for facts and fallacies regarding cancer and it’s treatment.All the best, Jim
Posted by Jim on from 10/27 at 02:28 AMjoe - if u go far back enough we are all africans and emigrants and immigrants.
someone suggested to me that there is another way to look at it and that is that (i am doing that ‘that’ thing now!)none of us are immigrants. we all live on same planet etc.
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/27 at 04:54 AMowen - never looked at that book but its in the library here so i might take a look.
the burran (i think thats what its called - the big round drum thing like an oversized tambourine without the little cymbals that gets played with a two ended stick) is defintely of mid-east origin but is used in scot and ireland all the time too.
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/27 at 04:59 AMWe call the drum a bodhrán, pronounced boughrawn. As for African immigrants, what´s unusual about this case is it´s much more recent than the traditional times given for an African exodus, so much so associations like nicknames stuck until 400 years ago and that LA Waddell (rare among Egyptologists in that he could actually read Sumerian), in tearing an enormous hole in the official history by proving that Egyptian, Sumerian and Indus Valley cultures were the same empire ruled by the same leader managed to get his reputation and work buried in the last seventy years.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/27 at 05:22 AMP.S. i´m in the novel thing - nice titles guys.
Posted by Owen on from Barcelona 10/27 at 05:24 AMknew it was something like that. i was spelling it phonetically going on the scots pronunciation.
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/27 at 05:30 AMMorning, all. Jim, I have not read that book but will look for it now.
Owen and Michael, odd coincidence: I was at a party on Saturday night and the host (my wife’s best friend) has this odd looking drum hanging on her wall. We ask about it, she takes it down, and proceeds to introduce us to, yes, the bodhrán.
Time to move on to today’s post. See you all there (my capthcha word).
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/27 at 05:33 AMcorrection - all sticks r two-ended - i meant two ended drumstick
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/27 at 07:24 AMYou’ll be mighty glad you read it, Mickey, and I can guarantee you’ll also be mighty pissed!
First published in ‘74 and revised second edition in ‘97.
Speaking of bodhrans, I’m of Irish descent and while in an Oz country town a couple of years ago I went, out of curiousity, to see a concert of Celtic music performed by a touring Spanish band - “Spaniards playing Celtic music?”, I thought.
Turns out that they were not only Spanish but also Celts; there’s lots of ‘em there apparently!
And BTW, the music was bloody fantastic and the bodhran player was the best I’ve heard!Posted by Jim on from 10/27 at 07:39 AM
Next entry: It's hard to top yesterday's post...but, hey, only a mediocre blogger is always at his best
Previous entry: Rosa Parks (1913-2005)...plus: steroids, boredom, and secrets to share
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
