Dean Whitbread

usefully imaginative since 1984 
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June 17, 2010
 

WTF? English Swearing for Koreans

Language is power. Using the wrong language can be very dangerous, as we know. But, using the right language at the right moment can save your life, or your liberty.

This calm and thorough explanation of common profanity is exactly the kind of teaching western schools need.

Please join the Campaign for Real Swearing: http://realswearing.org (Facebook)

(Via Eric Rice)

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Filed under  //   language   learning   power   profanity   swearing   teaching  

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June 15, 2010
 

Lessons in Vuvuzela

(download)

There are more notes to the stadium-filling vuvuzela than just the drone, and more ways to play it than the full-volume blast which all sane-minded adults dread, and children of all ages love.

Tip: Radio commentary has much less vuvuzela - television audio contains a higher proportion of ambient noise. Choice of audio is a red button option in the UK.

(via Guardian)

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June 9, 2010
 

I Like

I like this tune by The Divine Comedy. I like it a lot. I like the repetition. I like the wit. I like the melody. I like the rhymes. I like the use of the word "sexy". I like the unashamed romanticism.

Well done, Mr Hannon!

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June 5, 2010
 

Please Come

Please come to my party
The one that's in my head
Where lovelet waves are lapping
And everyone is fed

Please come to my disco
The one that's in my feet
Where shimmies, grinds and pirhouettes
Spill out onto the street

Please come to my picnic, we'll eat
Falafels in the park
Champagne, liqueur and strawberries
Play frisbies in the dark

Please come to my private view
A major retrospective
Where critics rush to fawn and gush
Irrational perspectives

Please come to my screening
The movie of my life
Where girlfriends past remember me
Fondly to my wife

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Filed under  //   poem  

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June 4, 2010
 

No Humanitarian Crisis? Israel's PR Machine

While boats battle to get through the siege of Gaza, Gazans can eat out in fancy restaurants and have no need of aid. That's what Israel has been telling journalists, at least.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros picks apart the media campaign.

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May 31, 2010
 

Israel Massacres Civilians Delivering Aid to Gaza

This is a most appalling massacre. Unarmed civilians delivering aid to Gaza, part of a small flotilla in international waters, shot dead. At time of writing, ten are believed to have died, with Israel's predictable PR machine claiming their forces were attacked.

I'm finding this incredibly depressing.

I'm disgusted by how many intelligent people are looking away. That is precisely what the Israeli regime wants the world to do - look away, while it removes the inconvenience of the indigenous people of Palestine from the land they occupy. If they have to kill some citizens of other nations as they carry this out, they think it is their fault for getting in the way.

The well-organised pro-Israeli lobby is out in force, and although this is a measure of the extremely negative international public reaction to this event, I think they will find it hard to dissemble this one. Parliamentarians from many countries were aboard that boat and they will bear witness.

I read a tweet that said, this is Israel's Sharpeville. Maybe. If we want to apply the lessons of South African apartheid then we also need to boycott this cruel, hypocritical and ruthless rogue state, and keep the pressure up until they start to abide by international standards of law, and morality.

http://www.bigcampaign.org/

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Filed under  //   aid   civilians   flotilla   Gaza   massacre   Palestine  

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May 30, 2010
 

Leaving London Bridge by Train

A photo sequence made with iPhone shots taken every second or two.. an old-fashioned slide show. Watch out for Tower Bridge behind all the modern trackside buildings.

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May 27, 2010
 

Full Moon, May 2010

Through trees...

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May 16, 2010
 

Holloway Sky

London, Islington, looking north from the Artists and Miscreants Club.

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May 13, 2010
 

National Trust Sounds Project

National Trust: The Album. Beautiful - and free.

One of the world's most respected musicians has created an album with the Trust, comprising of British natural sounds including birdsong, crashing waves and wind breezing through a country garden.

Jarvis Cocker, best known as the former front man for the band Pulp, has worked with us to produce a soundtrack of some of our places across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. 

The 33-minute recording titled National Trust: The Album takes the listener on an audio journey around Britain from the sounds of lapping of waves against the shores of Brownsea Island in Dorset to birdsong at Belton House in Lincolnshire and the sounds of gardeners at work at Powis Castle in Powys.

(Hat tip to RobdaBank)

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Filed under  //   audio   free  

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