_MG_0896-1, originally uploaded by Brad Capote.

]]> http://adubato.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/stone-cold-steve-austin-kurt-angle-singing-to-vince-mcmahon-friday-november-27-2009/ Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:55:29 +0000 adubato http://adubato.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/stone-cold-steve-austin-kurt-angle-singing-to-vince-mcmahon-friday-november-27-2009/

Here is a hilarious backstage skit featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kurt Angle both singing to Vince McMahon.

Kurt Schwitters, geb. am 20.6.1887 in Hannover, gest. am 8.1.1948 in Ambleside/ England, lebte ganz mit, in und für seine Kunst (“Kunst ist ein sonderbares Ding, sie braucht den Künstler ganz”).
Wenn es denn Grenzen zwischen dem Menschen und dem Künstler Kurt Schwitters, zwischen dem Privatmann und seinen öffentlichen Auftritten gab, dann waren diese fließend. Seine Kunstauffassung, die Schwitters MERZ nannte, machte vor nichts halt, auch nicht vor ihm selbst.
Er schrieb von aller Wirklichkeit losgelöste, aber auch autobiografische Literatur; machte Briefe an Freunde zu fröhlich-versponnenen Dichtungen und unterzeichnete sie mit “Kurt Schwitters MERZ”, einfach “MERZ” oder “Bademerz auf Rügen. Ich beginne eine Flunder zu werden”. Und Kurt Schwitters vermerzte seine eigene Biografie.

İzmir’de n’oluyor?

Malum arkadaşlara oy vermiyorlar diye “gâvur” demişlerdi, şimdi de, malum arkadaşları kovaladılar filan diye “faşist” diyorlar…

Gâvur faşist yani!

E üç gün önce savaş gemisiyle gelen Amerikalı askerlere de yumurta attılar İzmir’de… Conilere yumurta atanlar da, “gâvur” ve “faşist” miydi? Yoksa “komünist” midir İzmir?

“Etnik gömlek” de giydiremezsin İzmir’e; 81 vilayetin, 81′inden de vatandaş yaşar orada… Bitlisli, Hakkârili, Diyarbakırlı, detaya girmeyeyim, 122 bin Mardin doğumlu yaşar mesela İzmir’de, biri benim Girit’ten savrulan anam… PKK’nın koyduğu bomba hariç, herhangi bir İzmirlinin Kürt, Alevi, Musevi, İtalyan olduğu için burnunun kanadığını görmedim.

Milletvekilleri desen, çoğu Egeli bile değildir; Erzurumlu, Ankaralı, Elazığlı, Bursalı, Gümüşhaneli, Mardinli, Erzincanlı, Malatyalı, Konyalı, Kayserili, İstanbullu, Diyarbakırlıdır… Büyükşehir Başkanı, Tokatlıdır.

Yani? Anlatayım…

Sene, 1954.

Türkiye’de genel seçimi hangi parti kazandı? Demokrat Parti… İzmir’de kim kazandı? Demokrat Parti… Var mı bir anormallik? Yok.

1957… Aynı.

1961.

Darbe oldu, Türkiye’de genel seçimi silme CHP kazandı…

İzmir’in galibi kim?

Adalet Partisi!

Bugün “darbeci” diye suçlanan İzmir, “darbeye karşı duran” şehirdi…

Teslim olmamıştı.

Sapma olmuştu…

Örtüşmemişti Türkiye’yle.

İşte buraya dikkat…

1965′in Türkiye genelindeki galibi kim? Adalet Partisi… İzmir, bir önceki seçimde ne dediyse, Türkiye’de de o oldu.

1969, Türkiye AP.

İzmir AP.

1973, Türkiye CHP.

İzmir CHP.

1977, Türkiye CHP.

İzmir CHP.

1983.

Darbe oldu, Türkiye’de genel seçimi silme ANAP kazandı… İzmir’de? Halkçı Parti!

Sapma olmuştu gene…

Ve, bu sapmanın İzmir için “özel bir durum”u vardı… Çünkü Turgut Özal, bir önceki seçimde İzmir’den, Milli Selamet Partisi’nden milletvekili adayı olmuştu. Türkiye, bu durumu hiç önemsemedi… İzmir ise, unutmadı, tedirgindi. Vermedi Özal’a oy… Sonradan, Özal’ın “milli görüş” çizgisinde biri olmadığı ortaya çıkınca, İzmirli rahatladı. ANAP’a da oy verdi.

1987, Türkiye ANAP.
İzmir’de de ANAP.
1991, Türkiye DYP.
İzmir’de de DYP.

1995.

Türkiye’den Refah çıktı.
İzmir’den DSP.
Sapma oldu.
Dikkat isterim…
1999, Türkiye DSP!

Tarih tekerrür etmiş, İzmir bir önceki seçimde ne dediyse, Türkiye’de de o olmuştu.

2002, Türkiye AKP.
İzmir’de CHP.
2007, Türkiye AKP.
İzmir’de CHP.
Duble sapma var.

Tarihimiz boyunca, ilk kez, bir sonraki seçimde İzmir’in dediği olmadı. Ama, olanı değil, olacağı gören İzmir, kararında ısrarlı… Şimdilik 2-2, demokrasi derbisi devam ediyor.

Demem o ki:

“Gâvur” sıfatı, yobazların kastettiği manada iltifattır İzmirliye, Levanten cennetidir, ırkçı değildir… Tablo yukarda, sağcı değildir, solcu değildir, darbeci değildir, hatta ahali tırsarken darbeye karşı durmuştur, çünkü, tatlı su demokratı değildir.

81 vilayetten toprağı İzmir’de yapıştıran “Atatürk çimentosu”dur… Ve, “Son günlerde n’oluyor orda” dersen, fiziki müdahaleyi tasvip etmek mümkün değil; ancak, her zamanki gibi “öngörü alarmı”nı çalıştırıyor, olacakları gösteriyor, “uyarıyor” İzmir.

Take a look at Kurt’s weekend hack to make a visualization of the Echo Nest artist similarity space.  Very nice.  Can’t wait for Kurt to make it interactive and show artist info. Neat!

picture by LiGado em Série/Flickr.com

Dear Show,

I really, really love you. I do. Your cast is both talented and diverse, you have lots of music that I love and you say that you’re all about breaking down stereotypes. Also, you have Puck. What’s not to love?

Except.

I am getting really, really tired of seeing you not actually break down these stereotypes at all. When you had Mercedes say, “I’m a strong, black woman… but that’s not all I am,” I practically cheered. That is a fantastic line, and exactly what I want to see. But that’s what you told me, not what I see.

Why are the kids from the “trouble-making” school mostly black? Did you seriously name that girl Aphasia? Aphasia, as in: “an acquired language disorder in which there is an impairment of any language modality… [which] may include difficulty in producing or comprehending spoken or written language.” Do you think it’s ironic and clever to give a character who doesn’t speak “proper English” a name that means a language disorder? Because I don’t.

And this “all women are crazy” theme you’ve got going on? I’m not a fan. I’m not sure why the female characters on this show have to be in competition with one another, and catty, and shrill, and deceitful, and so on. Last week, I was hugely uncomfortable by the whole Mr. Schue/Rachel storyline. Not just because I don’t like the teacher/student thing, or the fact that Rachel just jumped from Finn to Puck to Will, thus portraying the flighty teenage girl to perfection, but also because she really just seemed to be there to move his storyline forward. That seems to happen a lot. Where’s Ms. Pillsbury, if she’s not interacting with/thinking about/pining for Mr. Schue? Nowhere. Why doesn’t Rachel ever interact with the members of Glee who she isn’t interested in dating? (Except for Kurt, and this whole pitting the divas against each other thing is pretty lame, too). And when the women do interact, why is it never in a supportive way. Why is Santana calling her pregnant “friend” Tubbers and sexting Puck, who she only seems to want because Quinn wants him?

Show, sometimes you do beautiful, amazing things. Like the performance of “Imagine” tonight, which was touching and lovely. Or giving people who aren’t Rachel or Finn (Artie! Mercedes!! Tina!!!) solos. You have lessons like, you don’t need to be anything more than yourself to succeed. You have beautiful moments between parents and their kids, moments that feel real and how I wish life really was all at the same time (Kurt coming out to his dad, Finn telling his mom about Quinn’s pregnancy). You give otherwise unlikable characters moments that make them more 3D (Puck’s apology to Rachel, Sue’s—admittedly heavy-handed—interactions with her sister) and mostly likable characters a chance to mess up and then learn from their mistakes (Mr. Schue realizing they don’t need over-the-top hairography to shine). The scene where Quinn and Finn talk to her parents after they learn about her pregnancy? Heartbreaking, and so well-done.

There are lots of reasons for me to love you. But show, you really have to work on these stereotypes. I get what you’re trying to do, this “being subversive” thing you want to have going on. It’s just not working. Mostly it doesn’t work in annoying, little ways. Sometimes it doesn’t work in big, race-fail and gender-fail ways. Either way, it’s not working. I watch you because you make me laugh, and sometimes get a little teary, and you have great songs and a really talented cast. But if I keep getting smacked in the face with sketchy race and gender portrayals, there might come a time when those things aren’t enough.

Think about it.

Love,
Stacy

I can relate to this video way too much… thought I would share it with you.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

The well-read and thoughtful reviewer Jenre posted her comments about “Snow on the Mountain” in her blog, and also at Jessewave. As always, she notes what works for her (quite a lot! Author’s heart goes pitty-pat!) and what doesn’t. (Author takes careful notes on what to do better next time.)

It’s not often that I give five stars to a book (as I have in this review over at Wave’s site), but in the case of Snow on the Mountain it is well deserved. I picked the book up and could hardly bear to put it down again. I finished the book immensely satisfied with the conclusion, but also sad that I’d finished with these two wonderful heroes. If you are looking for a book about two men who are perhaps both a bit naive and yet love each other very much; a book where the romance is balanced with exciting action sequences, with humourous situations and with tense and thrilling scenes; then this book is for you. Highly recommended with a grade of ‘Excellent’.

Read the review in its entirety on Jenre’s site or at Jessewave’s site.

if this life were a dream, how would you interpret it?
-harold klemp, living ECK master (loosely quoted)

x

the only difference between dreams and reality is
the only difference between dreams and reality.
god constructed one and we constructed the other
(and we are all god). 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxyour blinkers are out and
you’re giving false signals to hapless young men
in bars.  ever notice the coincidence and wonder if
you’re inadvertently flirting in reality’s only dream?

Well, lets just say the last few days have been eventful. Let me tell you.

The day after I wrote my last entry, what happened was we went out that evening for dinner and we saw a leaflet posted up for a festival taking place and Auditions for 2 days after, Father said no straight out. He hates us singing for the money. We were all gutted, but you know what happened?! When we got home, Mother gave the person a ring and they said its not a cash prize. She told Father and he said he’ll think about it. So we kept our fingers crossed he would say yes.

And the very next day…He said, YES! But he said if the prize is cash, we are not to accept it, as (according to Father) Rich people don’t like singing for the money. So we rung up and said he’d like us to audition for him. That same day! So at 3:00pm that day, we went to the place where the festival was getting held in about 5 weeks time, and as we sung, I watched his face at the same time. I could tell he wasn’t SO sure…So at the end of the song, I whispered to Mother “He isn’t sure.”, so we planned to do a 2 piece harmony, which we did and I watched his face, and I could tell he liked it. So when we finished the song, he said straight after to us “That was very good…”. Our faces lit up and he told us there on the spot “Your through to the contest.” . We were overjoyed! So that night we planned what we were going to sing. We planned to Harmonise ‘Do Re Mi’ and we chose our Exit song as ‘So long, farewell’. We are allowed to pick two songs.

The next day at school, we had to go straight to rehersal and we managed to arrange a 2 piece Do Re Mi harmony which came out nice, but it still needs ALOT of work. We changed our So Long Farewell routine a bit, that needs work too. We have lots to sort out for the festival, which is in 5 weeks time. About 1 week before it starts, we go for rehersal with the other people entering and get our order of appearance and all that. Its all fun! We have to reherse 3 times a week, once on a weekend and twice in the week.

Anyway, The good news was broke by some bad today after school. Father got a phone call From Uncle Max(good, right?) BUT he told us our house has been taken over….by some people from the army, And he has been in there apparently, he says all our stuff has been chucked out, apart from the beds and shelves. I was shocked to hear. He told me, Kurt, Louisa, Friedrich and Liesl and mother too. Marta and Gretl are too young to hear it, and it would upset worse than us. It was awful to hear. We’re vowed not to tell any of our friends, or anyone from the outside world about this, as they may turn on us. I’m am extremly upset about this, as this means we can’t return home to Austria after the war and live in that house again…! But we can still go back and visit when the war is over…! America is nice, just not as nice as Austria. Everyone agrees.

Then, after that, to cheer ourselves up, we cooked a nice meal together, apart from Father and the younger girls, we helped make Snitchzel, and baked cake for dessert. It actually took our minds off what happened in Austria, and we enjoyed it, and never thought about it after that! But I could tell Father still had it on his mind, he was acting as if he wasn’t bothered, but he was, I could clearly see it on his face. He tried to hide it though. But we didn’t talk about that, we just talked about the festival and all that. We are all very excited for that, and forthcoming rehersals too.

Anyway, I must go to sleep!! I must keep myself off those books at night…!

Brigitta xxx

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  As we Americans count our many blessings, I think it’s only fitting that we also pause to note just how blessed we are to have Glee in our lives.

Perhaps nothing sums up why the show makes us squeal with delight more than this glowing review by Slate’s Troy Patterson.  He writes:

At its best, Glee is not just entertaining but elating, dramatizing Breakfast Club-quality teen angst with the aid of tight production numbers covering new and classic popular songs. How can you fail to love a show featuring songs from great American writing teams including Bernstein-Sondheim, Kander-Ebb, Lerner-Loewe, Holland-Dozier-Holland, the dudes behind “The Thong Song,” and Steve Perry and his fellow power-balladeers in Journey? The cast covered “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” for the charismatic finale of the series pilot, a scene that will convert any reasonable person to the show’s effusive charm.”

So tell me, when it comes to the show, what are you most thankful – er, Glee-ful – about this year?  Take the time to answer my poll, below. NOTE: Write-in’s are welcome, and encouraged.  In fact, I’ll feature the best answers in an upcoming post.

So start counting those blessings!

What about Glee Are You Most Thankful For?

(polls)

We watched Todd White last night preach on our Identity in Christ. He spoke about 1 Corinthians 4:20 “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.” I am personally challenged by the word he brought since I know how much time I spend in preparation before speaking engagements, whether preaching, a funeral, wedding, or whatever. At times, I get so caught up in the exact word or phrase I am going to use that I cease to rely on the power of the Spirit working within me.

How would life be different if I spent that much time seeking the Lord for power before I went to the mall, WalMart, or anywhere else where the hurting and sick are? How would I rearrange my priorities to rely more on His power to operate through me than my own words could ever express? How much more exciting would life be if Christ confirmed Himself in me, instead of me trying to ‘prove’ to others that He lives in me?

Todd’s statement will ring in my head for several days I am sure… “Preach the gospel, and use word if necessary.” I have heard this statement before, but never with such a demand on the supernatural power of God to show up and change lives through miracles.

What about you?

A few nights ago, I had a dream about nuclear annihilation. Or at least it was a part of the dream. Anyhow, I woke up feeling guilty for Hiroshima. Like all the comforts I enjoy here in America are mine to enjoy because of some horrendous dark spot in our nation’s history. I was talking to my wife about how I need to get more familiar with WWII and figure out what actually went on and later that day, she picked up the first couple of discs of Ken Burns’s The War from the library.

I have to say, watching this documentary together has been a sobering experience thus far. The war was bad. For humanity. There were a lot of atrocious acts done by a lot of people. But they’ve also been sobering to the sense of discontentment that’s been hovering around me lately. Most often, in my life, the glass is half-empty, not half-full. I’m not sure why or when this started. Perhaps its a coping mechanism. Or perhaps it’s just sinful and heretical.

Practically speaking, I’m a Deist. In my day-to-day life, it’s easier for me to believe that God is a divine watchmaker, merely setting the world in motion, than for me to see him as intimately involved in everyday things. But the truth is, God is almighty, is active in our lives, and is good.

But on the other hand, I don’t think he’s content to just do everything for us, either. He’s given us the privilege of partnering with him in his redemptive work. We have a responsibility to work with God. But often, I find myself trying to delineate who’s in charge of what. Is it my responsibility to find us an apartment when our lease is up, or does God take care of that one?

Generally speaking, the dilemma can be looked at like this: There is a gap between where I am and where I want to be. I’m not content with where I am. I keep hearing Paul say, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” And with those words come an exhortation to actually be content.

It’ll be Thanksgiving in just a few days and I’m realizing my discontentment is getting in the way of being thankful. I want to be thankful because I want to live in truth. And since God is good and active and all powerful, being thankful is the truest way to be.

In truth, my life is actually really good; things are going well. God is taking care of me and my family. He is doing a good work in my life, redeeming me and sanctifying me. But he is also providing ways for me to do things it seems I was made to do. One might even argue that doing what we were made to do is actually what sanctification is all about.

In the meantime, though, what do I do with this yearning for things to be better? How do I yearn and still be thankful? How do I progress and be content?

I have a lot of work to do in answering these questions. Any help you guys can be would be greatly appreciated. I am learning a couple of things, though. First, I’m learning that it’s a matter of perspective. If I spend my energy looking for the ways that God is providing for me instead of concentrating on what’s missing, it is easier for me to be thankful, because God is actually good. Second, I’m learning I need to trust. A lot of my worrying about the future comes from me not believing that God will actually come through.

This Thanksgiving, and this Advent, I’m going to be working on trusting that God is good, that he is active and that he is in control. I’m going to try to be thankful for what he’s already done in my life, and I’m going to try to be thankful for what he will do, as well.

Have I mebtioned how much I love this show?

at first it seemed to be nothing but put crack!…but they’ve been weaving storylines, giving plots to minor characters (with the exception of the wonderful mercedes…come on, peep, recognise!) and just blowing me awy with its storylines – stories which don’t just sweep everything nicely with sparkles.

I fucking love this show so much it hurts.

And Kurt. I LOVE him. Gah. Chris Colfer is amazing. They all are.

I need more Glee. Hell, we all need some Gee in our lives.

Glee and the Limitations of Reality Competition Narrative

November 21st, 2009

Following along with this weekend’s Futures of Entertainment 4 Conference at MIT (through the Twitter Hashtag #foe4) has been a really unique experience in many ways, engaging with an academic community I’ve only seen from afar in the past, but there are times when the topics being discussed feel almost too familiar.

By nature of the number of reviews I write about particular shows, I usually end up attacking them from nearly every conceivable angle, but there’s something about Glee that seems to inspire more angles than seem physically possible. The show has created a lot of controversy with its struggle to find a clear sense of its identity from the narratological point of view, which is the angle we television critics have been considering most carefully, but as discussed both yesterday (in the context of its use of music/iTunes to create transmedia engagement) and today (in its engagement with culture) during the conference its brand strategy has never had the same identity crisis.

I want to pick up on something that Ivan Askwith said during the discussion of the series’ engagement with culture, as he argued the following:

I am going to investigate this further, as it implicitly argues that the series’ narrative struggles are the result of an attempt to engage with a manufactured narrative structure (that will in the Spring be the show’s lead-in), a fact which is both understandable (network synergy and business logic) and complicated by the needs of serialized drama over reality programming from a narrative point of view.

Now, we can easily see how Idol and Glee (from a cultural/business point of view) both use digital distribution and music sales in an effort to widen their cultural impact. However, I want to consider how Glee is using a similar narrative structure to Idol in terms of how it taps into different audience responses through similar methods. American Idol has, in my eyes, three main narrative threads:

• The comic embarrassment of the audition episodes.
• The triumph over adversity in the performance episodes.
• The bittersweet ending in the results episodes.

It is a show that for about a month makes you laugh, and then for a few months makes you become emotionally attached to various contestants only to then pull the rug out from all but one of them as they are sent home to the strains of a sad pop song (which, considering it is often a song by a former Idol success story, is sort of rubbing salt in the wound).

And to some extent, I can see how Glee is tapping into these sorts of emotions. It certainly has the humour aspect, as early episodes enjoyed the broad comedy of Rachel getting “slushied” and tapped into the relative embarrassment of Glee Club compared to other High School traditions. Then, the show used its musical performances to allow the audience to relate to these characters on a personal level, redeeming them from the social basement and allowing the audience to relate with them directly. And yet, because that bittersweet sense is part of the Idol charm, these characters don’t always get their way (sidelined by pregnancy, by a poor reputation, by the struggles of being stuck in a small town, by the lack of acceptance for homosexuality) and are forced to swallow bitter pills, albeit while keeping their head held high to move forward. This does, when you think about it, capture the journey of an American Idol contestant.

However, it also captures the problem with the reality television example: it’s designed to create an extremely simple narrative pattern, and the characters it develops are loose archetypes manipulated through video packages and a distinct lack of actual behaviour from the individuals. While Glee’s characters are dangerously archetypal, especially early in the season, they need to be able to react to more diverse situations in a less predictable, less manufactured world – while Glee may not be the most realistic show on television, it has establish real world problems and a sense of spontaneity. The challenge contestants face on American Idol is singing a different song each week, perhaps stepping outside their musical comfort zone; meanwhile, on Glee, these challenges take the form of things like teen pregnancy and the sense of being trapped in a small town, which requires a more dynamic sense of character.

And I think to some degree the show is still dealing with this sort of archetypal character mode with characters like Kurt and Artie, who have been given token episodes to deal with their particular stereotype (Kurt as the gay teenager, Artie as the disabled teenager) that help the audience relate with them but rarely go beyond the traditional narrative structure of Idol. Take, for example, Kurt’s storyline in “Preggers” and in “Wheels”:

• Performs Single Ladies in his basement, providing humour (interpreted as embarrassment for some, perhaps, but mainly just entertainment).
• Overcomes his father’s disappointment to take part in football in his own way (involving song and dance), coming out to his father and having an emotional moment.
• Then, in “Wheels,” gives up a chance at a solo in Glee Club to avoid fighting up against gender/sexual stereotypes and raising uproar to spare his father the hardship.

First off, I want to be clear that this is actually one of the better examples of the show’s narrative structure, albeit one that does (with some finagling) fit into the traditional Idol mode. However, the issue here is that Kurt’s storyline can’t stop here: the show is going to keep going, and as a result Kurt’s storyline doesn’t just end with a bittersweet exit. Whereas Idol creates characters that will only occasionally be seen again (returning to perform their hits) or will evolve into a transmedia extension of the series’ brand (perpetuating the cultural influence further), Glee’s characters will remain in its universe, and will have to adapt to new challenges and (if the show is trying to fulfill standards of serialized narrative) grow in the process. While American Idol contestants need to become more than archetypes to find success after they leave the show, separating someone like Kelly Clarkson (who became an artist beyond her character on the show) from someone like Ruben Studdard (who, well, didn’t), Glee characters need to achieve this and maintain it within the context of the series itself, which is something that rarely ever happens on American Idol (See: Adam Lambert being so afraid to come out and becoming an archetype that didn’t fit into the show’s narrative).

As such, the comparison between the two forms demonstrates that this is only a short term solution, if it is being consciously or unconsciously put into action. The use of popular culture (the music, the references) in an effort to engage with viewers is a traditional Idol trick, and the way the show’s early narrative has been structured does follow the sort of reality show shorthand that Fox and 19 Entertainment have developed. However, while the show will continue to use popular culture to create transmedia extensions into the music industry, its narrative techniques will need to evolve beyond the Idol standard (especially with its supporting characters) in order to remain a sustainable narrative. The show won’t be able to dump its current cast for a new one (until the kids graduate, at which point the show’s narrative structure would need to adapt anyways and a new cast could be an option), which means that they will need to rely less on an Idol-esque cultural engagement and really tap into the dynamism available in this setting.

The show has a number of narrative issues, including some severe tonal shifting, but for me its character development (or, in some cases, its lack thereof) is the biggest sticking point. I think that Ivan’s example of the series tapping into the Idol model of “character” development is a good way of understanding the sort of shorthand the show has to this point employed, and also understand the limited shelf life the show has should it remain on that path.

Cultural Observations

• It will be interesting to see if the show, which has had a long break before starting filming the Back 9 in January, will adapt its focus for when it will be airing after American Idol full-time: it creates expectations for a much larger audience, and one wonders if the type of music selected, or potentially the types of stories told, will change as a result.
• It’s also interesting to note that the most inherently emotional episode of the series yet, “Wheels,” is the one that Ryan Murphy indicates is the show’s strategy moving forward. Does this mean that the show feels it has passed the “audition” stage of the series, and that perhaps we should be applying the Idol narrative to the season as a whole as opposed to individual characters?
• There’s no confirmation of this as of yet, but I wonder if there will be any pressure to create actual synergy between the two properties and bring in music/artists from Idol into the Glee universe. I know that “My Life Would Suck Without You” (Kelly Clarkson’s single) is being used in an upcoming episodes, but I would be curious if this happens more once the two shows are literally connected at the hip.
• And, on the flip side, I’d love to see Jane Lynch in character as Sue Sylvester as a special guest judge (replacing Kara, clearly) on Idol.
• It’s also interesting to note that Glee is airing after the results show, which plays into the bittersweet elements of the reality series, as opposed to the performance show, so if Glee continues in that vein it will actually prove more connective than one may have thought during the show’s pilot.

Taraf’ın ortaya çıkardığı ‘Kafes Eylem Planı’nda yer alan planlar insanı dehşete düşürüyor. Peki cuntacılar bunu yapacak cüreti nerden buluyor? Ahmet Altan’a göre suç bizde…

Ahmet Altan / Taraf

Karşınızdaki gücü azımsamayın.

Ordunun içinde hâlâ “suikast” planları yapan, bu suikastlar için silahlar hazırlayan, hükümeti devirmek için her yolu mubah sayan, her türlü felakete yol açabilecek birileri var.

Bizim dün yayımlayıp bugün de devamını verdiğimiz plan, benim bugüne dek gördüklerim arasında en vahşi olanıydı belki de.

Koç Müzesi’nde “çocukları” havaya uçurmayı düşünebilecek kadar çıldırmış birilerinden söz ediyoruz.

Ama beni korkutan sadece onlar değil.

Beni asıl korkutan, bu tür planların, örgütlenmelerin çevresindeki koruma kalkanı.

Dün sabah, kaç televizyonda bu dehşet planıyla ilgili haber gördünüz?

Kaç internet sitesine girdi bu haber?

Kaç siyasetçi açıklama yaptı?

Kaç parti bu meselenin üstüne gitti?

Kaç hukukçu, kaç “baro” bu planı lanetledi?

Hâlâ medyada “Ergenekon” örgütlenmesini küçümsemeye çalışan yazılar yazılıyor, hâlâ bu darbe ve suikast planlarının ciddiyetini törpülemeye uğraşan makaleler yayımlanıyor.

Cüppeleriyle sokaklarda yürüyen “barolar” bu hazırlıkları görmezden geliyor.

Bütün tabloyu, bu ürkütücü “koalisyonu” birarada görmelisiniz.

CHP’li Onur Öymen’in açıklamasını unutmayın.

Suçlu suçsuz ayırımı yapılmadan, kadın, erkek, çoluk çocuk, yaşlı demeden öldürülen Kürt Alevilere Dersim’de uygulanan “cezanın” bugün de Kürtlere uygulanabilecek bir model olduğunu düşünüyor CHP yönetimi.

Bu suikast ve darbe planını hazırlayanlar, onların vahşetini görmezden gelen medya, “katliam” önerileri yapan CHP…

Bunların, eğer galip gelirlerse, Kürtlere ne yapacakları açıkça görülüyor.

Dindarlar, bu tür planlar başarıya ulaşırsa zaten “suçlu” ilan edilip cezalandırılacaklar.

Solcular, liberaller, demokratlar, bu çevreler tarafından çoktan “hain” ilan edilip “cezalandırılacaklar” listesine dahil edildi.

CHP’ye ve orduya sığınmaya çalışan Aleviler, çoktan ordu tarafından “andıçlandı”, uğradıkları katliamlar hâlâ onaylanıyor.

Bütün bunlar niye olabiliyor peki?

Bir tek nedeni var.

“Kurbanların”, cellatlarına değil birbirlerine “düşman” olmasından.

Cuntacılar, darbeciler, onların siyasetçileri, onların medyası, onların hukukçuları galip gelemeyecek, bu çok açık, ama kolayca pes etmeyecekleri de çok açık.

“Kafes” planının hazırlanma tarihi Mart 2009.

Daha birkaç ay önce bu insanlar, Ergenekoncuları kurtarmayı, hükümeti devirmeyi, insanları öldürmeyi planlayabiliyor.

Bunu yapacak cüreti, “kurbanların” dağınıklığından alıyorlar.

Hedefteki herkes birbirine muhtaç bu ülkede.

Aleviler, dindarlar, Kürtler, solcular, liberaller, demokratlar birbirine muhtaç.

Bu “ezilen”, hedefe konulan grupların önce “zihnen” birleşmesi gerekiyor.

Küçük hesapların, eskimiş öfkelerin zamanı değil.

Herkesin şunu anlaması lazım.

Başkasının hakkını vermeyen, kendi hakkını alamaz.

Sünniler, Alevileri korumadıkları sürece kendileri de korumasız kalır.

Aleviler, Sünnilerin haklarını savunmadıkça “Dersim’i” öven konuşmalarla aşağılanır, andıçlara konu olur.

Kürtler, dindarlarla, Alevilerle, demokratlarla elele vermedikçe, “onları çoluk çocuk” yok etmeyi öneren “Dersim” konuşmalarını dinlerler.

Bütün Sünniler kendi kendilerine sorsunlar, “neden Alevilerin ibadet etme hakkını savunmuyoruz”, diye.

Alevilerin “cemevlerinde” ibadet etmesinin size ne zararı var?

Neden Alevi çocuklarına “zorla” din dersi okutuyorsunuz?

Bütün Aleviler de kendilerine sorsunlar, neden türbanlıların “zorla” başlarının açılmasına karşı çıkmıyoruz diye?

Genç bir kızın başının “zorla” açılmasına itiraz etmezseniz, kendi çocuğunuza “zorla” din dersi verilmesine nasıl itiraz edeceksiniz?

Kürtler, “barış yolunu açacak” demokratik girişimlere gerektiğince yardımcı olup olmadıklarını sorsunlar kendilerine.

“Kim daha çok taviz verdi” hesaplarının zamanı mı, bir sorsunlar.

Bütün ezilenler kendilerine sorsunlar, birbirinizi ezmek için, gidip sizi ezenlerle işbirliği mi yapacaksınız, onlar sizinle işbirliği yapmaz.

Sizin, sizden başka koruyucunuz yok.

Birbirinize muhtaçsınız.

Bu korkunç planlar, bu korkunç açıklamalar, bu medya, bu hukukçular size gerçeği göstermeye yetmiyor mu?

Zihninizdeki “duvarları” yıkmazsanız, birbirinize dost olmazsanız, güçlerinizi birleştirmezseniz, “hedef” olacaksınız.

Özgürleşeceksek, birlikte özgürleşeceğiz.

Esir kalacaksak, birlikte kalacağız.

Kararı da hep birlikte siz vereceksiniz.

So I started elementry school today and I did ok. Let me tell you about my day:

We arrived at school at 8:30am for school to start at 9:00am..Well  Friedrich is in higher school(or Hauptschule as we call it in Austria) and Louisa and Kurt, Middle school as they call it in the USA. Liesl is in college. Gretl isn’t in school. Marta is in 2nd grade, I’m in 5th grade, Kurt is in 6th grade, Louisa is in 8th grade and Friedrich is in 9th grade. The middle school and elementry school are joined up so we see Kurt and Louisa only at lunch.

Anyway, Once I got settled into my class, I discovered the first lesson was english(on my timetable written in German), good start, and it is not easy when your first starting. So I got out my German-english dictionary and wrote down translations and meanings in my english book. I wrote the meanings in German, but the words in English(even though, in Austria I was taught it and can speak it well). Then came maths, quite easy, then break, Marta and me sat together and we stuck side by side outside, as it was first day. She seemed to like school too.

After break, it was art lessons, I am a pretty creative girl and people say I’m a good artist, so that was no problem for me. We had to draw a picture of a winter scene, which was fun. I inspiried mine on Austrian mountains, and drew the Untersberg mountain, which is viewable from where we lived in Salzburg. I even drew the lake infront of our house(so basically drew the view from my house). The lesson was a double lesson and after that was lunch. After we ate, me Louisa and Marta met up. Kurt found an Austrian boy in his class and stayed with him, so he has a friend. Louisa said she got on ok, but she is the one out of us who can’t understand no english, and said she struggled a bit(she forgot what she’d learnt of english from mother and school). Marta got on ok, it seems like also.

The rest of the day went ok, the last two lessons were Biology and music. Musci was good fun, we sang and played instruments. We even sang a song in Spanish too-I didn’t quite pronounce the words right, but Its a nice tune and song. We got no homework.

I got home and because it gets dark early and cold these days, we all sat in the living room, once we’d changed out of our school uniforms, infront of the log fire. Father was at work so Mother sat with us. We got home at 4:00pm, and it was almost dark. At around 5:00pm, Father came home and we had dinner-an Austrian meal! Oh how I miss Austria. We had it like we used to, with candles on the table and all. And a dessert too, Liesl(as a nice treat) made us Sachertorte wiuth cream on the side, like we had it. We had water to drink, while father and mother had wine.  After that we just did our own thing, by that time it was 7:00pm and I curled up with a book on the sofa. The book was a book on Austrian history, I always read books like that, but for some reason, I just enjoy any book! I’m a bookworm.

Then, we all(children) decided to go up to bed at about 8:30pm as we’d had a long day. But i couldn’t sleep so I decided to write this, and now I am feeling tired. I’m going now!

Brigitta xxxx

_MG_2027-1, originally uploaded by Brad Capote.

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