London 2009 - Day 15 - Overheard
Overheard in London:
I dare anybody who is getting on the tube to talk to each other!
Man who was “in his cups” getting onto eastbound Victoria line at Kings Cross - St. Pancras station.
And then this:
It’s the first time I’ve got cast with my original accent. I’ll have to remember how I talk!
Actor in lobby of Pleasance Theatre, North Road, wating for seating for Dying For It.
Ta!
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The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I heard an interview with Matt Beynon Rees on NPR the other day and I am intrigued by his Palestinian detective, Omar Yussef. I like to read well written books about places I may never see. The Yacobian Building was a favorite of mine (and a fave film, too). I look forward to getting to this book and the sequels.
I have just finished the book and I must say I liked it a lot. Rees paints a lush and detailed canvas of Palestine. Bleak yet captivating. His character development is spot-on and his attention to detail is fantastic.
Matt Beynon Rees is the former Jerusalem bureau chief for Time magazine and it shows in his detailed perspective on the political realities of the Middle East. His prose range from the protean to the stunning. Here is a favorite passage of mine:
Yet the gunmen thrived, they whose accomplishments and talents were of the basest nature, they who would have been obliterated had there been law and order and honor in the town. Perhaps Bethlehem was there town after all, and it was Omar Yussef who was the outlaw interloper here, peddling contraband decency and running a clandestine trade in morality.
If you are at all interested in this part of the world, then this book should be on your list.
View all my reviews.
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Pawn had dinner tonight with sister HG and an unexpectedly large number of book titles were spontaneously birthed as a result. Here are three of them (copyright © 2008, all rights reserved):
Luminary Misfits
A Nasty Tussle in June
Jesus Has Two Mommies
I won’t go into all of the back stories or plot lines of these titles. But there you have it.
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Just read this in Gail Collin’s column over at The Gray Lady and thought it precious. In regards to the “scandal” of Jim Johnson, and the vetting of vetters:
When Johnson quit on Wednesday, the McCain headquarters issued a statement saying that the fact that he had been selected in the first place raised “serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment.” This does not seem like a great avenue of attack for a campaign in which a large chunk of the top staff was recently dismissed for being lobbyists.
Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate the cases, the McCain spokesman said: “America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.” Under a McCain presidency, the bleeding would presumably go on for weeks and weeks before the inevitable occurred.
Although McCain has, so far, not demonstrated that he can manage anything more challenging than a backyard barbecue, that still does not make the Johnson story look any better.
Op-Ed Columnist - Gail Collins - Barack’s Bad Day - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com
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“My dear neighbors! Please keep on being curious and a bit tiresome, as you have been so far,” Merita Arslani wrote in the Jutarnji list daily.
Woman’s dead body lies in flat for 35 years - CNN.com
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“If he had been any prettier we would have to call it Florence of Arabia”
Noël Coward referring to Peter O’Toole — As recalled by Peter O’Toole on Charlie Rose, 24 March 2008
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London Journal - Day 12 - A Hard Night’s Day
After the theatre (more on that later) I went down to Windsor Palace for a spot. The 6 Nation’s match was on, England vs France. You can only imagine what this meant for pubs across the great country who had the foresight to invest in HDTV!
In the Windsor Palace I found a plush leather seat in the corner with no view whatsoever of the telly. It isn’t that I didn’t want to watch, I gladly would have. My father played rugby, and I can figure it out within a minute or two of watching, generally.
Suddenly, after much cheering, the crowd dissipated, and I got a seat at the bar. I captured the night’s scores in the margins of my Telegraph: England 24 - France 13. Wales 40 - Italy 8, Ireland 34 - Scotland 13. So, other than Scotland’s ignominious defeat, Great Britain had a damn good day. This was not lost on the 16 year old French bartendress at the Windsor Palace. She cursed under her breath and kept slinging ale at the sotted masses.
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It’s no good there being queues for toilet!
-lad in queue for toilet, Victoria Station
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Sometimes you just have to strike with a hot iron, like you’re cauterizing a wound… cauterizing a fucking wound on your soul.
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Pawn’s old buddy Dave has some interesting comments to make about Congressman WIlliam Jefferson’s indictment over at the 100 Word Rant:
They found 90 thousand bucks in Bill Jefferson’s freezer. That’s slightly less than Bob Byrd’s maid normally finds between the sofa cushions. A 90 grand tip would be an insult to Dubya after giving some Halliburton exec’s wingtips one of his forked-tongue shoeshines. All Congressmen are traditionally assumed to be utterly corruptible, so why go after the gentleman from Louisiana? Let’s just say the reason starts with “n” and rhymes with “we grow.” While I have yet to peruse the entire 16-count indictment against “Dollar Bill” Jefferson, I’m pretty sure I’ll find the word uppity in there somewhere.
100 word rant: these things snowball
You tell ‘em, Dave!
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