<< SPECIAL NEWSPAPERS FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE ~ MAIN ~ DAMN BUTTERFLY BALLOTS >>
MELLOW FELLOW
Among Robert Fisk’s favourite songs: Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow”.
Mellow Yellow?
He been drinking from Red Ken’s toilet again?
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2006 10 19 at 03:26 PM • permalinkCan you get stoned (by Muslims) on bananas?
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 10 19 at 03:49 PM • permalinkI’m surprised “Crimson & Clover” is absent from the list, he seems like a dedicated Humphrey kind of supporter.
Posted by -keith in mtn. view on 2006 10 19 at 04:34 PM • permalinkI think Ball of Confusion is more his style.
Hurdy Gurdy Man would seem infinitely appropriate.
Posted by Simon Darkshade on 2006 10 19 at 05:06 PM • permalinkYou know, Pac, I have a theory. This is all once flaming crock of PC bounderism designed to impress us with how open-minded and sophisticated he is. The Israeli national anthem and Churchill, my ass. All that high-brow screechbox music. I think the only thing he’s being honest about is the Donovan. Unless that’s just his attempt to be “hip.”
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 06:35 PM • permalinkexcuse me “one flaming crock.” In fact, make that “one big fat steaming crock of flaming”
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 06:37 PM • permalinkIn fact, I just got IM’d by Farouk:
“ibn Fisk is Grate Jewnalist but music is to sucking in taste!”
I don’t even know what that is supposed to mean. I know Farouk can’t spell but I think he’s maybe also pissed about #8
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 06:41 PM • permalinkMy big question is, if this guy is so open-minded, where’s the Star Spangled Banner…let alone Rule Australia Fair of whatever it is, and God Save the Queen. He’s a bigot, plain and simple. An anti-non-Middle Eastern-trouble-spottist.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 06:55 PM • permalinkConfession: “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is one of my favorites. I was a real psychedelic rock nut back in my childhood (the disco seventies, if you want to know; it was my only refuge—I certainly couldn’t listen to country or salsa, Miami radio’s other offerings). I got real sick of “Mellow Yellow,” though.
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 10 19 at 07:00 PM • permalink#17, actually they should just put “It’s a Small World After All” just like they do at Disneyworld. If its good enough for paying Americans its good enough for freeloading terrorists.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pour myself a tumbler of sherry and hum along to a little “We Will Fight Them on the Beaches.” Winston, 1940 ... stirring!
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 07:47 PM • permalinkThat’s a weird collection of favourite music, or is it just what he’s listening to at present? I’m not sure what’s meant by “the opening” of Pachelbel’s canon - the whole point of it is the lovely build up, whilst the following gigue, though not as popular, shouldn’t be dismissed. I know a lot of classical music. Can’t say I’ve heard anything by Winston Churchill, nor am familiar with the Isreali National Anthem. I think some people just like listing esoterica for its own sake, in an attempt to appear individualistic. What the hell’s wrong with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak etc? I just find it strange people, professing to enjoy classical, ignore the giants.
I don’t want to sound overly pretentious but since I basically know fuck all about Classical music, I’m surprised I recognized virtually every one of those titles. There’s nothing obscure or personal about them.
It’s like Fisk read them off a playlist of World’s Most Popular Classics, now just $9.99 at Starbucks. It suggests to me that Fisk knows what I know about Classical—nothing—and Fisk knows only that Barber wrote the music for “Platoon”, Pachelbel wrote for “Ordinary People”, “Dies Irae” was used in “The Shining”, etc.
What a poseur.
PS—God only knows why I retain a soft spot for Donovan but everybody knows “Mellow Yellow” was, is, and always will be shite. “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is actually a better song if you had to be on a deserted island.
Do ANY of those people live in the 21st century?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 10 19 at 07:59 PM • permalinkTalking about songs dedicated to Fisk’s favourite place...
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 10 19 at 08:02 PM • permalinkWhere can I donate money to send Fiskie and these discs to said desert island?
Posted by Crispytoast on 2006 10 19 at 08:04 PM • permalinkReally O/T, but I think I’ve figured out what happened to Stoop Davy Dave , a/k/a Huck Foley.
Don’t forget, Gene Simmons is an Israeli and Fisk already filled that quota with #8 ... by the way, anyone know the words to #8 ... I assume there’s some good swamp-draining, house-bulldozing, we-will-not-go-quietly-next-time action in there.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 08:41 PM • permalinkI’m guessing that charming Zionist ditty violates at least half a dozen UN General Assembly resolutions. I didn’t know Fisk felt that way!
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 08:51 PM • permalinkI’m a little surprised he doesn’t have “Kumbayah” or “If I had a Hammer” up there, balanced of course with a little Rob Zombie.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 09:00 PM • permalinkIf he’d chucked Ride of the Valkyries in to the mix, I could start to dig this Cat, man!
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 19 at 09:01 PM • permalinkY’know, I could respect this guy if he had some Ramones on that list. What kind of desert island doesn’t have Ramones?
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 09:14 PM • permalink#42 - “I’d wanna be sedated” on a desert island with Bobby Fisk too.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 19 at 09:33 PM • permalinkThis one is specially dedicated to Robert Fisk.
This could be the theme song to Bob’s next Middle East sojourn.
“I Wanna Be Sedated”
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go….
Just put me in a wheelchair and put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my brain
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin’ to do and no where to go-o-o I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can’t control my fingers I can’t control my toes
Oh no no no no no
Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go…
Just put me in a wheelchair…
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bamp-ba ba-ba-ba-bamp-ba I wanna be sedatedPosted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 19 at 09:45 PM • permalink#48 Tiger, Yeah that, or:
There’s no stoppin’ the cretins from hoppin’
You gotta keep it beatin’
For all the hoppin’ cretinsCretin! Cretin!
I’m gonna go for a whirl with my cretin girl
My feet won’t stop
Doin’ the Cretin HopCretin! Cretin!
1-2-3-4
Cretins wanna hop some more
4-5-6-7
All good cretins go to heaven[repeat all]
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 09:53 PM • permalink‘Among Robert Fisk’s favourite songs: Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow”.’
Why does that not surprise me?
Posted by Dave Surls on 2006 10 19 at 10:14 PM • permalinkHey Cid, I don’t know about Robert of Arabia but from what I heard about Lawrence he’d enjoy the company on the patriotic Crusader poster a couple of threads down.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 19 at 11:04 PM • permalink#24 The Dies Irae was until 1970 part of the Requiem Mass (`Day of wrath…’) and has been set by countless composers. The Shining used Penderecki’s setting (not Britten’s), also known as the Auschwitz Oratorio, which might have suited Fisk’s faux philo-Semitism, but Britten’s War Requiem was commissioned for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral replacing the medieval one bombed by the Nazis, so the choice associates more with the Churchill speech. The melody of the plain Gregorian chant is used frequently in film scores to suggest death.
Fisk’s choice of Britten’s Dies Irae movement from the War Requiem was just about his only interesting classical choice.
In some sense he was a poseur, but it’s a convention of the programme that people not interested in classical music pad the list with things like Pachelbel’s Canon to look musically rounded, and abstruse composers name Beatles songs for the same reason. What is unusual about Fisk’s list is that he makes no attempt to indicate the range of his interests in popular music, if that’s where his interests lie. It seems he is one of those rare people who hear no music.
DMINOR
not the correct key!
“the opening” of Pachelbel’s canon”
A canon is a simplified fuque in which all the parts are the same. he might as well have picked “Frere Jacques” which can easily be orchestrated in the same manner as “Pachebel’s Canon”.
That Fisk picks this over for example “the goldberg variations or the 48 prlide and fugues indicates how infatile his knowledge and understabding of music is.
This infantilism is indeed repeated in his understanding of the Problems of the ME.
And shows he is by no means a deep thinking intellectual.
And perhaps that is the reason he appeals so much to the surface leftists wjo love to deal in icons of simplicity.#36 Jules, one thing I can tell you is the English translation simply does not do justice to the Hebrew original.
Smetana’s “Moldau”—so that’s wht it sounded so familiar. Never knew that.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 19 at 11:41 PM • permalink#50 A “coral” group? Singing just on the porifera, no doubt.
How does it go again crittended? “The frond of anemone is my frond?”
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 19 at 11:47 PM • permalinkA canon is a simplified fuque…
What, no foreplay?
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 19 at 11:49 PM • permalinkBeen waiting for Floss in M Major to chime in. Isn’t it delightful to learn that Fisk is a Zionist? Who knew? I think I’m going to see if I can’t track down that Beiruti tune he cited and get it synoptic with the Israeli one.
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 20 at 12:02 AM • permalinkHere we go. A tad ambiguous. God knows Beirut has plenty to cry about that has nothing to do with the hated Shlomos.
Beirut, Hal Zarafat? (Beirut, Have You Cried?)
Beirut, have your eyes cried
Tears that my loving heart would drink?
I am a part of you,
Would my tears heal the wounds that made you sink?
How many nights have we spent?
By ocean waves, the stars, as the birds would sing?
There’s only one lighthouse known to the world
The one that shines as your gate to the greatest treasures
Everyone came seeking your light
A smile in th world, knowledge to those who seek
Beirut, homeland of civilization and growth
Between you and hatred is a river of love from which we all drinkPosted by crittenden on 2006 10 20 at 12:07 AM • permalinkWow, Jules. Moving. Very moving. So moving everybody’s moving. Away.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 12:34 AM • permalinkI could see a pretty good Madonna musical coming out of this.
“Don’t cry for me, Beirut!”
“Don’t worry, we won’t!”
Posted by crittenden on 2006 10 20 at 01:03 AM • permalink“homeland of civilisation and growth”?
Steady on…originally know as FnKhw —Ancient Egyptian from which the Greek derived Φοινίκη (Phoiníkē, whence “Punic”)—they called themselves “kena’ani”, Canaanites; which cognomen became synonmous in the ancient world with “merchant”.
So, founders of the first “world economy” (I agree with Braudel, though he has his detractors), sure, I’ll give them that.
Even “Homeland of the Alphabet”— maybe.
I say “maybe” because, whilst the Phoenicians are credited with spreading the Phoenician alphabet throughout the Mediterranean world, said alphabet was a variant of the Semitic alphabet developed centuries earlier in the Sinai region.
As to the “world economy”, the Phoenicians’ legendary sailing abilities are not well attested before the invasions of the Sea Peoples around 1200 BC, which Sea Peoples would have merged with the local population to produce that which became known as Phoenicians, who he (Braudel) says gained these abilities rather suddenly at that time. Not the same people as Tel Amarna, not Ugarit, not even unique in developing agricultural techniques, tools and the trappings of civilisation—hell, in the 3rd millenia before the common era, everybody was doin’ it!
Again, it was only after the appearance of the Sea Peoples (of which the Plishtim, or Philistines, for which Palestine is so-named, were one) from the north that the powers that had previously dominated the area, notably the Egyptians and the Hittites, became weakened or destroyed; and in the resulting power vacuum a number of Phoenician cities established themselves as significant maritime powers.
Then they reached “Peak Murex” and it all fell apart, they became Melungeons.
Important? Yes. Influential? Yes. Culturally inventive or even persistent? Not even as much as your average Cretan.
Sorry.Michael J. Totten is gonna be soooo mad at me.
Shit, look at the time! Back to work…
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 01:26 AM • permalinkDid I get something wrong, davo, or are you simply referring to the canon’s D major key? Ah well, I have to agree with you that it does seem to be the de facto piece cited by people who don’t actually like - or understand - classical (which you seemed to be hinting at).
I note too his choice of literature, Le Morte d’Arthur. Not a bad read - glorious in patches, hard slogging in others - but ultimately, I believe, just another example of his transparent art wankerism.
Wit you well, Robert de Fiske, thou art a most ornery recreant! Wood that I could joust with thee; to shiver my lance to pieces in unseating thee wouldst make this worshipful poster passing glad.
Dminor
I only knew it was written in a major key, thank you for specifying D major or Re Majeur which is so close to your own sobriquet.
I have always believed that national anthem should be written in Major keys and up tempo and with rythm.
I guess that’s why i find the ‘marseilaise’ quite inspiring and the Australian anthem too slow -Waltzing Matilda would have been a more appropriate melody.
Of course Mahler’s Adagietto, one of my all favourites is written in C sharp minor, only a semitone away from you!
Great melodies seem to trancribe well between major and minor
Have you ever tried playing waltzing matilda as a minor blues in Ray Charles style?Well, that went nicely with a brandy and cigar. Such good conversation here at Tim’s. Always learn something. It’s the incongruity of the erudition juxtaposed with the name of Fisk that is a bit intoxicating, without even the need for a brandy and cigar.
Altogether, I’m thoroughly sotted. Besotted. Love to share this lovely nectar. Cigar’s not bad either.
Paco, I suspect you are right about Huck Foley. I miss him, though.
Sorry, Andrea, for wandering all over the landscape. Won’t happen again, I promise.
Mental Floss
a most amazing rendition of Smetana’s Vitava(moldau) on yamaha MU-80 synthesiser and ALSO the Mahler Adagietto!
Virtual Philharmonic Orchestra
Quite amazing! the strings are superb!
MP3 FORMAT FROM MIDI.
I have worked with midi orchestrations , it is extremely difficult to reproduce orchestral quality.Saltydog with brandy and a cigar - we should have had that in the photo post, methinks.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 10 20 at 02:19 AM • permalinkUh oh. Might need a jacket and tie for this party.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 10 20 at 02:22 AM • permalinkAnyone who can listen to the two versions of Pachalbel’s Canon available here and dismiss them as Infantile… has some significant differences from me.
Oh and Mental Floss, always with the facts again! Thanks, you taught me (yet again) a few details I didn’t know, and my sincere thanks for that. Long may you continue, and may your tribe increase!
Though I’d dispute some of your conclusions regarding transitory Phoenician influence, especially west of the Pillars of Hercules. They weren’t innovators, but they spread science and culture further than you give them credit for.
#58 Andrew R.—
As I said, I know virtually nothing re Classical and thus was surprised that Fisk’s choices seemed so pedestrian and likely culled from film scores.
And I agree with you that Fisk seems to ‘hear no music’.
I’m reminded of our tone deaf US President (1869-1877), Ulysses S Grant, who was asked what he thought of a band’s performance. President Grant admitted that he only knew two songs. “One of them is ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other one isn’t.”
# 77 Zoe, influence and range thereof, yes, no doubt, undisputed, uh-huh, yup—the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenician fleet sent forth by the Egyptian pharoah Neco and all that —yes; but “Home of Civilization”?
They’ve got a lot of ba’als to think of claiming that, even in song.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 03:54 AM • permalinkI have it on absolutely personal personableness, that saltydog is wearing a fetching thong ensemble in the shade of Crusader Blue…not metallic or threatening in an anti-Islamic way, in any way-shape-or-form…
Especially, it does not resemble a great Crusader Mace in form.
Although,it possibly does resemble a Crusader Mace in function.The entire repertoire is decadent and western and sooooooo salty.
#83, MF,
“Home of Civilization”?
They’ve got a lot of ba’als to think of claiming that, even in song.
There seem to be many places in the area that like to claim the title “Home of Civilization”. I always want to ask what the hell they’ve done lately. Not just that, but I’d like to know why they didn’t do anything with what they had. I wouldn’t brag about being the cradle of civilization (if that’s what they mean by “home”) if I hadn’t managed to further civilization within the thousands of years since the beginning. Seems to me they’ve acted more like the grave of civilization.
Hummmm?
#68 MentalFloss -
Steady on…originally know as FnKhw—Ancient Egyptian from which the Greek derived Φοινίκη (Phoiníkē, whence “Punic”)—they called themselves “kena’ani”, Canaanites; which cognomen became synonmous in the ancient world with “merchant”.
Phoenicians. Ferengi. Coincidence? I think not.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 10 20 at 05:18 AM • permalinkThere seem to be many places in the area that like to claim the title “Home of Civilization”. I always want to ask what the hell they’ve done lately.
You see, they were the home of civilization. But then civilization grew up and moved out on its own.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 10 20 at 05:30 AM • permalink#83 #85 #88
The phrase Cradle of Civilisation reminds me of that phrase you see on tourism brochures “Gateway to…(the barrier reef or Ozarks or some-such) that actually means “undesirable locality with some connection to…”
I guess in this context Cradle means “an undesirable locality that once had a connection to…”
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 10 20 at 07:02 AM • permalink#39 El Cid
The second fatality in Australia happened the same way. A 12 year old boy fishing with family in a boat in 1989 I think.
The first fatality was in 1945. I think there’s information here.Dies Irae would seem appropriate given the Indie’s constant “Armageddon Is Upon Us” whining.
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2006 10 20 at 08:04 AM • permalinkCrap. Late to the party again….
#48 & 49 - another Ramones gem for our man Fiskie:
“Bobby was a punk.”
Posted by Tex Lovera on 2006 10 20 at 09:11 AM • permalinkSo after a cup of java this morning, he opens the door to Tim Blair Blog room and what does he find? A Mensa gathering.
Having been ‘sized’ up, by the Mensa gatherers, ‘they’, collectively made a judgment that THE paltry 130 IQ range intruder, just wouldn’t ‘fit’.
But you see, the intruder, considered ‘paltry’, had already closed the door and headed to the elegant bar, in search of Ladies, showing a tad of cleavage and ‘breathing in’ the aroma of L’Esprit de Courvoisier….lol.
92 kae
Having been raised on and around the Gulf of Mexico for a goodly portion of my life, I learned quickly, that the Gulf was excellent for, hearing it, breathing it in, watching the waves of differing degrees (considering weather conditions) and leaving the rays and sharks for others to study up close and personal…:).
An insipid person, an insipid song, an insipid soft drink marketed in an insipid decade.
Concinnity!
Posted by Rittenhouse on 2006 10 20 at 09:31 AM • permalinkkae : re #97 : Classical Gas? Mason Williams? Oh wow, that takes me back, and is also one of my favourite pieces, along with nearly anything by Mike Oldfield. Tubular Bells I, II, and III, and “Songs of Distant Earth”.
But I still think the Tornados’ Telstar takes some beating. Maybe because I’m a Rocket Scientist, with some of my work in orbit now. Or maybe I became a Rocket Scientist because I’m a child of the Space Age. The first one, anyway. I hope to live to see the second, and maybe even contribute a bit. Never give up, never give in.
This is sort of o/t from Fisk’s noncompelling list of favorites.
I’ve known for a long time that Hatikvah owed something to Smetana’s Moldau, but I will always associate the Moldau (the music, not the river) with a Disney cartoon I saw when I was very, very small. Something about an idyllic rural scene, then a storm building, clouds turning into valkyrie’s horses, an old-fashioned wind mill, a bird’s nest built in a gear-hole and full of chicks that are threatened by the turning of the wind mill, but miraculously saved because the corresponding gear-tooth is missing, and then clearing skies. I have no idea what the cartoon was called, possibly it was part of Fantasia, but I have never forgotten the music (the Moldau - one of my favorites for this very reason), even though it has to be more than fifty years since I saw the cartoon. If Disney did nothing else, he used his cartoons to introduce Americans to classical music most of us had never heard before. At least it contributed to my lifelong love of all things symphonic.
Texas Bob
Ya see, I knew there was a reason I liked you El Cid. I lived on Galveston Bay for 8 years, and spent most of my teen years on Surfside and Galveston Island. Gulf Coast livin at its finest!
Was that you waving (as in hand/arm) back?...:).
Central Gulf, St.Pete Beach, earlier life. Panama City Beach, in my second go around. Stuck in the mountains for now, BUT I am digging a tunnel.
The salt air is pulling on me…well the oysters, pompano, grouper, shrimp, etc, etc. too. They make the beer taste so much better.
Oh, Texas Bob
Lived a few doors down from (very few) this elegance on St. Pete Beach.
Of course, when MY abode was cleaned of beer cans and the Margarita glasses were put into their proper place, something called cabinets, the place wasn’t bad…lol.
Hence the nic that you did see on my email addy…Don CeSar.
El Cid, they have a couple of spelling problems (“health conscience couple”??) but my, the Don Cesar is lovely.
I got nothing to say about the Fiskerino’s musical choices, such as they are. I do want to ask Mental Floss whether he’s heard the theory the Phoenicians made it all the way to America, and what he thinks about it…anyone else with an opinion is welcome…
Drinking Russian tea and looking at the impending rainishness…
Texas Bob
I now know where my next Stateside vacation will be. Excellent tip, thanks!
Hey my good man, no problem..Hell I’ll even toss in the full amount in the Texas Bob Beer Fund…now up to a staggering, $28.93 (and surely to grow)...lol.
ushie
but my, the Don Cesar is lovely
Yeah it is…it was then as well, somehow it got a tad more ‘classy’, once I left the area. I don’t understand that…;).
El Cid, anyone sensible would stay right away from stingy/poisony/bity/kicky animals. But the stingraysin one of these cases had jumped into/over the boat, like that chap in the US this week. I hope he’s OK.
#102
Zoe
Oh, I stuck to guitar stuff, but I like Telstar (I have it in my collection), it came out when I was a kid and I think they flogged it to death on the radio. I was nearly going to mention it. I took it to work so one of the ‘kids’ could listen to it, but she didn’t like it. I just dunno why!RebeccaH, here you go. 1937 Academy Award (short subject) winner.
Posted by Old Grouch on 2006 10 20 at 06:39 PM • permalink110 kae
I honestly don’t know. The Don is owned by a large organization, Loews…so they just may have one. BUT I do not see one listed in their destinations.
Loews did not own The Don at the time I prowled those beaches, at least to my knowledge, to many beer cans and Margarita glasses in the way…lol….:).
# 107 Tell me, ushie, do you follow the Russian custom of holding a sugar cube in your teeth and sipping the tea (from a glass) through it?
Apologies for the delay, but mustering resources for this post has taken some time. Yes, ushie, I have heard the theory and find much in it that is credible. An entire thread could be devoted to this topic, so I will only waffle on for a para or two.
Ushie, a number of classical texts bolster the theory you mention above. For example, in the first century BC, Diodorus of Sicily wrote ” ... in the deep off Africa is an island of considerable size ... fruitful, much of it mountainous ... Through it flow navigable rivers. ... The Phoenicians had discovered it by accident after having planted many colonies throughout Africa.”
This may well be a reference to the Azores, or even the Americas.
Numismatics hold the most significant clue thus far. Carthaginian and Cyrenian coins which were found in 1749 on one of the Azores’ islands (I can’t remember which) show on the obverse a fascinating pattern, first thought to be symbols or letters.
I have found links to images of the coin in question, infra.
Detail of a gold coin shows what many now believe is a map of the Mediterranean area, surrounded by Europe, Britain, Africa, and (at left) the Americas. The image appears on coins minted in Carthage between 350 and 320 BC and found, as described, in the Azores.
Definitive proof? Not really, but if it is a map, it is certainly the first to show the Americas, and also the oldest map period.
I have lots more, but this thread may die its natural death soon. If no more posts comment on this offering, I will desist.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 07:12 PM • permalinkHold on, here’s a MUCH better detail of the portion of the coin in question:
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 07:16 PM • permalink#111, Old Grouch, thank you, thank you, thank you! That was a wonderful link, and now I know things about that cartoon that I never knew. It was made before I was born but still playing in theaters by the time I was old enough to remember it, and how gratifying that it won an Academy Award. But nowhere do they mention the music. Am I correct in believing it was the Moldau?
Salty, you are always in the forefront of my mind when I post here. I read every word of every comment you post.
Such is my respect for you (and the sense of measured, confident consideration and thought that are the hallmarks of your posts) that I hesitate to “gild the lily”—so to speak—by supplementing them with my own musings.
I was going to comment on your “Hmmmmm?” in #85 with “Absolutely! I couldn’t have said it better myself!”, but got caught up with justifying my remarks to Zoe and providing my humble opinion to ushie’s query.
Your post in #89 is right on the mark. For a fact, the “stiff-necked” tribe to which you refer could never be characterised as lacking in “chutzpah”—yet nowhere is any mention made in any scroll manuscript or text, whether ancient or modern, laying out any self-aggrandising claims of “birthing” or even acting as a midwife to the birth of civilisation.
Yes, the Hebrews moved on to become slaves of a “great civilisation”, then wanderers and recipients of the Decalogue, then Israelites and social commentators through prophets and judegs, then Jews and innovators in so many fields—from physics to (G-d forbid) politics, now Israelis again and still contributing in a measure which belies their number.
In that epic journey, they not only brought every skerrick of civlisation they ever possessed right along with them and adapted even the most obscure and archaic to modernity, they managed to add many strong and durable threads to the warp and woof that is the tapestry of human experience that will, I am sure last “Ein Sof”.
I apologise for seeming neglectful. Please believe me when I say it is more out of respect than lack of appreciation.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 20 at 11:22 PM • permalink120 kae
I wonder if they were owned by the same chain or whatever at some stage, that’s why they are similar.
Could be, dear lady. As they look strikingly similar. After a few, in what was then called Le Bistro (OK, it was a bar) but a damn nice one.
Excellent hor de’voures, my sustenance in those days.
Closest I got to that place was the Market. We stayed at the Outrigger, near the Post Office, I think. Looked back up in that direction, though.
When I was in Hawaii in ‘91 we caught The Bus. We had to ask the driver if he would tell us where to get off. As we alighted (at the stop near the entrance to Diamond Head), we thanked the bus driver, saying “Thank you driver”.
He was shocked.
He said “Where you from, again? Oztralia?”I have a friend in Florida who has always wanted me to visit. She’s in Tampa.
#122, Mental Floss,
Oh geez-whiz, MF, thanks for the compliments and the respect.Now I feel like a crude troll or sumtin! I do so admire, and I’m a little jealous, of your scholarship. I’m a bit of a catch-all of what I see and read, but I would have loved to be a true scholar of history. I especially envy your facility with language. I do well to get English right. I lived the first 13 years of my life with native speakers of Japanese and all I can remember is how to say “Hello”, “yes”, and count to three. Oh, and after the rest of my life-time spent variously in Miami, Dallas (and other small Texas towns), and now San Diego, I can say “no comprende” in Spanish. My baby brother picks up every language he hears and speaks like a native in no time (little show-off), but I just don’t have the ear. So you be my hero.
#14 I’m pissed about number 8!
How can you enjoy the national anthem of a country you’d rather did not exist?
Hmm, if you enjoy the anthem of a country you think is illegitimate, does it mean that the country is legitimate anyway? Are anthems, in fact, a form of official documentation given the increasingly bipolar status of the UN?
Posted by carpefraise on 2006 10 21 at 04:16 PM • permalink#131 carpefraise provides in his pointed question a suitable Coda to this thread.
Not just in music, but also in such discourse as we here engage, Codas are necessary.
In the climax of the main body of a thread or a particularly effortful passage, often an expanded “phrase” that wanders from the main “melody” or theme, a momentum is created by working an idea through to its structural conclusions.
After all this momentum is created, a Coda is required to “look back” on the main body, allow listeners (in this medium, readers) to take it all in, and create a sense of balance.
Thank you , carpefraise for the Coda, and thanks to all of whose kind words, insight and unvarnished opinions have reawakened and revitalised my mind. Without you, and this site of Tim’s, I would still be languishing in that slough of despond I created for myself by opting out of my avocation in favour of a stultifyingly unrewarding vocation.
CODA
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 10 21 at 05:06 PM • permalinkRebeccaH, I think you’re right about the music being Smetana’s Moldau, but I couldn’t find any confirming reference, and it’s been 40 years or so since I last saw The Old Mill, too! Disney released it on DVD in 2001, but it’s now out-of-print!. Check your library.
One reason studios used classical music was that it was in public domain (out of copyright), meaning they didn’t have to pay music rights to use it. But classical themes had been frequently used to accompany silent films, so it was a natural to continue using them in the sound era. (The reason the Warner cartoons used pop tunes is because Leon Schlesinger’s group had free access to the Warner music library… in fact, early on the cartoons in the Merrie Melodies series were contractually required to include “at least one full chorus of a Warner Brothers song.”)
Posted by Old Grouch on 2006 10 21 at 07:51 PM • permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Look at #8.
That’s a shocker.
He’s liable to get beat up by Muslims again.