Saturday, April 29, 2006

a livid sigh of disgust

Today's soundtrack:
Live it out by Metric

I admit it. I'm procrastinating. But I'm also a little miffed. No, miffed isn't strong enough. Pissed? Hm, that has beer-drinking implications (although those implications aren't entirely unfounded). Livid. That's it. I'm livid.

The next logical question is, of course, "why"? Well, click here, here and here. Let's take these one by one, shall we?

The cutting of aid to Darfur is nothing short of disgusting. If I'm not mistaken, the daily caloric intake is now around the same level as the Jews during the Holocaust. 1050 per day. And that's only for those people getting aid in the camps. I have nothing else to say about this. I'm too disgusted with the apathy around this.

As for the Spanish version of the American national anthem, I'm amazed at the anger towards its publication. Okay, I get that we're used to this up here in the Great White North, but is it true that a Spanish version isn't as "true" as the original in English? I can't find the quote I heard on the CBC earlier today, but the jist of it was that for Bush (or the Shrub, as my nana calls him) the Spanish version isn't as good as the original and doesn't convey the same thing. No, I don't think he was talking about the translation itself, but the mere fact that it was no longer in English. Apparently, it has to be in English. Okay, let's follow this logic, shall we? Bush is a Christian, no? Well, okay, some would argue no, but for the sake of the argument, let's take the man at his word that he's a Christian. Now, to my knowledge, none of the Bible was written in English. Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew, but no English. One could argue, very successfully, that the Bible doesn't translate perfectly into English, that perhaps something is lost a bit in translation (I refer you to the horns v. halos translation problem of the Old Testament, which led to Michelangelo carving horns onto the head of Moses, making him somewhat demonic), but does that mean that the Bible doesn't convey a certain message, a certain feeling, in English? If Bush wants to make the argument that the anthem should only be sung in English because it was written in English, well then I suggest he brush up on his Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. As for the fact that the USA is an English-speaking country, I shake my head. Yes, the pilgrims landed and were greeted with a "hey there, partner!" by the local tribe. Bah!

Oh Small Dead Animals. Dear lord, where to begin?! D's been combing through site (relieving her procrastinationitis, I suspect) lately, so I thought I'd take a look. But damn. Not only have these people (the majority of the commentators on the site) breed, thus spreading their ignorance to the next generation, but they vote. Mars is looking good. Communist, you know.

Happy thought of the day comes from Juan from Starbucks. I went in to grab a Frap (yes, I am a corporate whore) and the cashier asked me what I was listening to on my iPod (yes, I know!). After finding out I was listening to Maná, and liked Juanes and Shakira, he told me about some Argentine band called Soda Estereo (now defunct). Planning on checking them out soon. Anyway, Juan from Starbucks is originally from Colombia, hence the knowledge of good Spanish rock bands. Add this random encounter to the beautiful sunny day (plus the first beer of the year on the roof of the Yard) I had today, and despite all the horrors in the world, I still found myself bopping and dancing on my way home tonight.

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