michael lambe

Well, I was very pleased the other day to see that A DAY OF ROCKENING has come to the Eurovision Song Contest. Marvellous stuff from Finland there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY7F84bhNEg&search=lordi
Still don’t want to learn Finnish though.

However, Japanese isn’t nearly difficult enough by itself. I crave more linguistic pain and so being a well hard international type, I’ve started taking lessons in French and Korean too. “Why French and Korean?” I hear you cry. “Why not Spanish and Chinese? Those languages come in respectively at numbers 3 and 1 on the world languages top ten - (number 2 being English), don’t they? Think of the many millions of people you could reach with your sad Doctor Who obsession and your left-wing tendencies. “

You have a point. But, I know a lot of French and Korean people here for some reason, so it seems to make sense. I’ve had one lesson in French so far and three in Korean. Korean is hard. Very hard. However I’m pleased to announce: I can read Hangul! (The incredibly logical Korean phonetic script: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul) Yes! It’s true! I have no idea what it means, and it’s kind of hard to pronounce too… but I can read it! And it only took me an hour! Hurrah! But before I rush out into the night to gorge myself on bibimba and chijimi (check out this recipe by the way - hoohooo! it’s tasty! http://www.koreaneats.com/bibimbap.htm)… here are some more links.

This is brilliant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXal1GAA4A&search=Star%20Trek%20G4tv%20Spock%20Kirk%20crib%20long

This is an interview with the historian (and Eddie Veder fan) Howard Zinn: http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/tik0605/fredman

Here’s some more historical perspective: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-04/26chomsky.cfm

And here’s some ANGER: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-05/06pilger.cfm

And here’s a thought from brother Einstein:

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
One cannot help but be in awe
when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life,
of the marvelous structure of reality.
It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.
Never lose a holy curiosity.”