"Andrea Dworkin believes "Coitus is punishment." 

FALSE. This line is said by a fictional character in her novel Ice and Fire. The character is paraphrasing Franz Kafka.
...
Andrea Dworkin believes that all intercourse is rape. 

FALSE. She has never said this. She sets the record straight in a 1995 interview with British novelist Michael Moorcock."

7/4/01 - The problems of dubbing, part two:

"...the now abandoned tactic, employed until the ’60s or ’70s in Spanish dubbing, of beaming in a totally unexplained mystery voice to read signs, wanted posters, and those newspaper headlines that used to come spinning toward the camera.

Our heroes would approach a fence , and we'd see a close-up of the notice, ENTRY PROHIBITED BY ORDER OF THE SHERIFF. Suddenly, a disembodied voice is heard. "Prohibido el paso por orden del sherif." We expect everybody in the scene to start looking around to see if God is translating the signs for them."

"Agatha Christie probably would have gone nuts had she ever seen the dubbed adaptation of one of her most dramatic novels featuring what can only be described as a thoroughly sedated male Russian voice. He reaches the depths of sleepiness at the moment when a character rushes into a room screaming, "Here's your nut case, running around with a gun and threatening to kill father!" Calmly, the Russian voice drones, "Tam vash pirog c orekhami, strelyat' sobirayetcya" (There is your pie with nut filling, getting ready to shoot")."

"Now, her individual film stills routinely bring $50,000 to $150,000 at auction. It's hard to believe that at her first show at Metro Pictures, these were originally priced at a mere $100."

This one reminds me of 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' (the first version of course) although Cindy Sherman is no Lana Turner:

7/4/01 - A gratuitous pig link, Pig Brother.

7/4/01 - The Splinters weblog points to two pages on Philip Larkin, the Philip Larkin Society and an article by James Fenton in the New York Review of Books:

"Larkin’s poems do sometimes start off aggressively ugly and then pull a beautiful stunt, as this one [Money] is going to do. But it seems crass of the poet to suggest (if he is talking about himself) that if he’d only spent more on, as it were, fast cars, he would have had fabulous blondes crawling all over them. And he could have. But somehow he didn’t."

7/4/01 - Tom Baker's been on the jelly babies again: (via Lake Effect)

"Hello there. My name is Tom Baker. I don't know why that is, it just is, so there you go. It's a funny old world and you're very welcome.

Just between ourselves - and please, not a word to anyone - this is the new look official web site, available now via your computer. I do hope you approve. It gives me great pleasure to think that you do. We who live to please must please to live.

Remember, not a word to anyone. This is our little secret...."

6/4/01 - Corpses for sale. (via blogjam)

6/4/01 - More public school life:

6/4/01 - Methylsalicylate has nicely summarised Thursday's gig.  But here's a link to an Airport Girl
mp3 so you can hear their CockerGedgeness.

6/4/01 - The Guardian tries to identify the April Fool stories in the British press: (via The Nutlog)

"Not unnaturally, I also doubted the veracity of the "How We Met" column in the Independent's Review section. It seems unlikely that Ann Widdecombe and Eminem should have become bosom chums, constantly calling each other to discuss rap lyrics and Tory penal policy. But as Eminem says, "We both believe you do what's right and, anyone gets in your way, cut them down like dogs." Is it really any stranger than Margaret Thatcher and Lulu?"

"Like a lot of overpaid smartasses, Mr. Lane has been beating on Julia for a long time, and remains smugly unrepentant. "No amount of retrospection," he sneers, "will transform Mystic Pizza into Three Sisters, although the plots are not that different, and none of us can say what would have happened if Chekhov had recovered from tuberculosis and gone into the pepperoni business.""

"beautiful Lory 
Ingredienti 
2/parti Vermut bianco 
2/parti tequila 
1/ parte limoncello 
Preparazione nello shacker 
servito coppetta da coktail doppia"

"Any boy whose father was discovered to vote Labour used to have to eat 'Thatcher's muff' - a used filter from the prefect's coffee machine - before being trussed to a disused fridge and having his pubes and eyebrows shaved."

"PORTNOY’S NOT COMPLAINING!

60-something DJM, writer, seeks buxom shiksa goddess under 30 for long discussions about self, constipation. Just looking for fun, but possible tragic romance. Must agree that: Bellow is overrated; Updike is goofy-looking. Let me show you that I can still prick, even if the Bloom is off the rose.

YOU’RE ON THE LIST!

SWF, attractive publicist of indeterminate age, seeks financially secure WM, age 25-85, for film premieres, love and a bite to eat afterwards. What? IS IT TOO MUCH FOR ME TO ASK TO GET A HOT MEAL AND A CLOTH NAPKIN AFTER A THREE-HOUR-LONG MOVIE? Must enjoy: shouting, side-by-side Botox treatments, Hamptons screenings and hurling chairs at journalists."

5/4/01 - I haven't featured Keith Harris and Orville for a while but in the mean time here's a memoir on Rod Hull and Emu: (via TVBarn)

"In the seventies, he returned to Britain and became a popular entertainer, his reputation soaring after a command performance for the Queen Mother.

As is customary, the stars of the show lined up after to be received by Her Majesty and Rod had the Emu puppet, as usual, cradled under the fake right arm.  When Emu was presented to Queen Elizabeth, the bird lunged at her, snatching a bouquet of flowers from her hands and ripping them to pieces.  Onlookers gasped in shock and the British equivalent of the Secret Service rushed forward and went for their weapons.

What rescued Rod from doing his act thereafter in the Tower of London — or wherever they send those who assail the Queen — was that she laughed.  A lot.  Her Royal Highness thought it was the funniest thing she'd seen in years."

"I told Rod it had been hilarious.  Without a trace of ego — and maybe even a touch of regret — he said, "It always is...for about five minutes.  Afraid it doesn't go much farther than that.""

"To people hosting sites on UserLand servers -- we're doing the Spring 2001 Cleanup. In order to get performance back up, we're removing empty sites."

5/4/01 - At last meat and caffeine in one handy meal: (via Der Schockwellenreiter)

"So finals are coming up, or that big deliverable has been pushed up by 2 weeks? Sure there are plenty of caffeinated beverages out there, but what do you reach for when you're just not thirsty?

Our NEW Caffeinated Meatloaf "

"Andre's husband Mervin -- president of the local town council at the time -- issued the Yanks a ticket for littering. It remains unpaid, 21 years later."

5/4/01 - The rugby-playing proctologist branches out:

"A newspaper advertisement, put out by the Wellington Cancer Society, features his illegal use of the finger to make men think about prostate cancer."

"In a bid to sustain a meat diet during the beef and lamb crisis, Britain is turning towards a new source of protein - Australia's national icon "Skippy"."

"Fans of the best-selling novel Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding will soon be able to commune with their heroine by mobile phone text message."

"Bridget can text others every day to report on the progress of her bikini diet or other urgent matters." 

"To celebrate the launch of bol.com's New Sci-Fi section Fantastic Journeys , we're giving you the chance to win a life-sized Dalek!

At over 5 FEET tall, this Dalek has fully rotating arms and an extendable plunger for and is even on wheels!

Be master of your home or office!"