Incoherent Scribblings

I am going to start this post with blondelibrarian’s official “No Offense Intended” disclaimer. Additionally, I would like to say that:

I have been stunned at Mother Nature’s Wrath and recognize the intensity of the devastation. I feel terrible about what happened to those people and seeing the pictures of that area have brought tears to my eyes more than once. This post is in no way meant to belittle anything anyone affected by the tsunami is going through.

* * * * *

On the day of the tsunami, A. came into the bedroom to report the news. Usually, he (or I, depending on who read the news first) says, “It’s just the usual mess,” and we go on with our day. But that morning, he told me it was an “unusual mess” and that there had been an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

At that time much damage was being reported on the island of “Fuck It.” When I looked at him quizzically, he said, “Well, I think that is how it is pronounced.” Sometime later, we sat down to watch the news on CNN International. (When big news happens, we watch CNN International instead of German TV, not because of the quality of the reporting, but so that A. doesn’t have to explain every other word to me while the news is happening.) We kept reading the scroll bar at the bottom and A. said, “Notice how the (CNN Int’l) anchors aren’t saying the name of that island. They are afraid they will get in trouble.” And it was true. We watched for at least 15 minutes and no one said the word “Phuket.” Finally, there was a live report and the name was pronounced like “Poo Ket” instead of “Fuck It” and suddenly we noticed the CNN International anchors were referring to Phuket with no hesitation.

What amazed and saddened me though is that even in the face of such terrible destruction, it seemed to me that the CNN news anchors were more concerned about violating the FCC’s outdated take on what is or is not profane than reporting the name of the island.

I’m sure you can say that since they didn’t know how to pronounce it the name of the island they didn’t want to confuse anyone, and I agree to a certain extent, but I also wonder how many people watching the news that day were calling the island of Phuket “Fuck It” instead of “Poo Ket.”

When I was studying in Paris ten years ago, I had a little clock-radio that I listened to in my no-frills dorm room. I had a Discman (I was on the cutting edge back then!), but I have always liked listening to the radio and it really improved my language skills to listen to those French DJs.

The station I listened to was a random pop station that, for the most part, played awful music. However, they also played a whole lot of French pop music. I didn’t think about it at the time, but a couple of months ago I read that The Voice of America was encountering problems in France because of a rule that a certain percentage (around 50%) of every broadcast must be in French.

I didn’t follow up on the story, but today I read that some German politicians want to introduce a bill that would require something like that here. (article) Apparently, only about 10% of music played on the radio here in Germany is actually in German.

I don’t doubt it. I don’t listen to the radio much these days, but when I was listening to Bayern 3 (I have a crappy clock-radio that barely gets any station) a few months ago, I very seldom heard a song in German… mostly they just played crappy American pop or hip-hop.

I think that is too bad. I have discovered some pretty decent German bands that sing in German and think it would be doing everyone a favor if more bands like these had success here in Germany.

I mean seriously… I read that one of the biggest music personalities ever imported from the US to Germany is David Hasselhof!! Now, if that fact isn’t just screaming out for some native musicians to have some success here then I don’t know what is!

This has to be the best headline I have seen in a long while:

Man Shoots Wife, Mistakes Her for Monkey
“A Malaysian man shot and killed his wife after he mistook her for a monkey picking fruit in a tree behind their house…” (courtesy Reuters, not The Onion!)

The bear is Berlin’s emblem, it covers the city insignias, monuments and countless souvenirs. However, apparently the bear no longer wants to be Berlin’s mascot… (article)

According to this article, when three uniformed Marines came to the front door to tell Carlos Arredondo that his son Alexander had been killed in Iraq, Mr. Arredondo walked into the garage, picking up a propane tank, a can of gasoline and a lighting device. He then smashed the Marines’ van’s window, got inside and set it ablaze, despite attempts by the Marines to stop him. According to police captain Tony Rhode, Arrendondo “… snapped, to say the least.”