Reader Tips

Reader Tips 25 Comments

Scopitones were jukebox-like machines, popular mostly in French bars and cafes for a few years in the early 1960s, that played specially-produced 16mm films of musical performers, typically pop stars. Attempts to expand the Scopitone market elsewhere met with little success, and soon the rather hefty machines, which were notoriously difficult to maintain and repair, disappeared into the hands of a few collectors.
Many of the clips, though, which were the early equivalent of MTV videos, are still around. Tonight’s amusement en route to the Tips is a Scopitone film featuring the musical stylings of a woman named Yvette Horner, a Serbian-born French accordionist who to date has sold over 30 million records. In the clip, her undeniable virtuosity combines with a lighter-than-air, inconsequential tune and oddly dream-like visuals to make for a interesting and peculiar little cultural artifact: here’s Yvette Horner performing En Glissant.
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25 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. “Guess what I heard…”
    “In late October 2008, a gaggle of liberal blogs spread the rumor that a Republican supporter of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s had shouted that Barack Obama was ‘a nigger’ during a campaign rally in Iowa. Video and first-hand accounts showed that the protester did not shout ‘he’s a nigger,’ but ‘he’s a redistributor’….”

  2. Here’s a brilliant column by Susan Jacoby. It touches upon a point that Dennis Prager makes all the time, which is that for the Left the most important Principle of all is Equality. And those who believe in Equality are not allowed to judge anyone else for anything. Nada. Never.
    This is precisely why you rarely, if ever, hear any official groups on the Left criticize Radical Islam or any of their barbaric practices.
    What I found amusing were 3 of the first 4 comments after the article. Each author claims to be a liberal but then goes on to state that Ms. Jacoby is full of nonsense. In point of fact, if you are willing to speak out about things like female genital mutilation then you are passing judgment on Islam and are thus not following the #1 tenet of Leftism. Which, by definition, makes you not a Leftist. I wonder what percentages of people who proudly declare themselves to be liberals / progressives / on the Left are really not when push comes to shove? But they prefer to think of themselves that way because it makes them feel better.

  3. Robert w – I think some clarification is needed. The left believes in cultural relativism, where all belief systems of OTHERS are considered similar in the sense that they cannot be evaluated. I doubt if the belief system of the left is mixed in with these other belief sets.
    But the left most certainly rejects the equality of individuals, for the left functions within a elitist structure. That is, there are the Rulers, the elites such as the academics, bureaucrats etc, who know what is right for those who are not in this realm of power. And, there are the peasants, the rabble, who are ignorant and prejudiced and must be told how to live their lives.

  4. Robert W and ET, it’s worse than that – I’ve been hanging out at the Huffington Post lately – and it’s weird reading the comments. Most people there think that the culture of the West is inferior – and that the “mysterious others” are superior, full of wisdom, and just practices.
    One of the moderators at the HP said someone sounded like a “right-wing Christian”. That was the worst insult she could think of, I guess.

  5. I’ve noticed in my online reader of the Calgary Herald that every article/story about with a positive bias about global warming and carbon footprints, etc, etc, are all written by Postmedia.
    I’ve also noticed that comments are rarely allowed on these articles.

  6. ET, you’re saying that the Left’s #1 Precept isn’t Equality? Please call Dennis Prager tomorrow and tell him that. I think he’d strongly disagree with you.
    The terms “Moral relativism” and “Cultural relativism” have long meant to me an underlying belief in Equality above all else.
    Erik: The antidote to hanging out at the HuffPo might be what I require every time I visit the Daily Kos or CBC News for more than 10 minutes at a time: A strong drink of alcohol!

  7. Things look like they’re going to get even more heated in America. 🙁
    I believe it was ET who astutely explained why it’s impossible for Obama to ever back down and be remotely conciliatory. History may very well remember him as the most divisive president ever.

  9. *
    since when is the guy with the knife… known as “the victim”?
    Of course, to balance out any statement supporting the
    police… the Star also has to get the obligatory
    outrageous soundbite from an enthusiastic, but
    anonymous bystander… who swears ol’ Reyal was
    very publicly executed.
    *

  10. My quote of the day comes from twitterville.
    Thanks to Ezra for RT this,
    “Media judges #GlennBeck followers by colour of their skin not the content of their character”

  14. Say No! to Islam.
    “It is axiomatic that our elites will declare this whole discussion “Islamophobic” — despite the contents being based almost entirely on Islam’s sacred texts and Tantawi’s own expressed words and actions. Fortunately, tens of millions of Americans are not playing our elites’ endless, self-destructive game of Wonderland croquet, and they understand the stark difference between Islamophobia and Islamo-reality — some 16,000 jihad terror attacks after 9/11.”
    …-
    “‘Islamophobia’ and Islamo-reality
    Count me among those daring to rationalize — and echo — the sentiments of 70% of my fellow Americans, who oppose the Ground Zero mosque/Islamic center edifice for ecumenism. But simply expressing legitimate, widespread concerns about this project has unleashed a torrent of obloquies emanating from distressingly ill-informed political and media cultural relativists, decrying “bigotry” and “intolerance.” Contrast this outpouring of self-righteous indignation by these elites about the purported “Islamophobia” of Americans opposing the mosque with their own egregious ignorance of, and/or silence about, the extensive writings, pronouncements, and living, hateful legacy of the late Muslim Pope, Sheik Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi.
    For over a thousand years, since its founding in 792 A.D., Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, has served as the academic shrine — much as Mecca is the religious shrine — of the global Muslim community. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi was Sunni Islam’s ” moderate” papal equivalent, Grand Imam of this Muslim Vatican, Al-Azhar, from 1996 until his recent death on March 10, 2010.
    Tantawi was born in 1928 in Selim Al-Sharqiya, Egypt. He graduated from Al-Azhar University’s Faculty of Religious Studies in 1958 and received his Ph.D. in 1966. Tantawi’s Ph.D. thesis, Banu Israil fi al-Quran wa-al-Sunnah (Jews in the Koran and the Traditions), was published in 1968-69 and republished in 1986. Two years after earning his Ph.D., Sheikh Tantawi began teaching at Al-Azhar. In 1980, he became the head of the Tafsir (Koranic Commentary) Department of the University of Medina, Saudi Arabia — a position he held until 1984. Sheikh Tantawi became Grand Mufti of Egypt in 1986, a position he was to hold for a decade before taking on his final post, first assumed in 1996 and serving for fourteen years, as the Grand Imam.
    Lengthy extracts translated into English from Tantawi’s 700-page magnum opus Banu Israil fi al-Quran wa-al-Sunnah,are provided in my compendium, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. This brief excerpt summarizes, in Tantawi’s own words, the salient features of the Koran’s normative Muslim Jew-hatred:
    “[The] Koran describes the Jews with their own particular degenerate characteristics, i.e., killing the prophets of Allah [Koran 2:61 / 3:112], corrupting His words by putting them in the wrong places, consuming the people’s wealth frivolously, refusal to distance themselves from the evil they do, and other ugly characteristics caused by their deep-rooted lasciviousness…only a minority of the Jews keep their word [Koranic citation, here] … [A]ll Jews are not the same. The good ones become Muslims [Koran 3:113], the bad ones do not.”
    Tantawi was apparently rewarded for this scholarly effort by being named Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University in 1996. These were the expressed “carefully researched” views on Jews held by the Muslim Pope — the former head of the most prestigious center of Muslim learning in Sunni Islam for fourteen years, which represents some 90% of the world’s Muslims. And Sheikh Tantawi never mollified such hatemongering beliefs while serving as the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar as his statements on “dialogue ” (January 1998) with Jews, the Jews as “enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs” (April 2002), and the legitimacy of homicide bombing of Jews (April 2002) made clear.
    The statements on dialogue Tantawi issued shortly after he met with the Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Israel Meir Lau, in Cairo on December 15, 1997, provided the late Grand Imam another opportunity to reaffirm his commitment to the views expressed about Jews in his Ph.D. thesis:” (more)
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2579937/posts
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/08/29/abp-gaining-traction/#comment-88339

  15. The French had a lot of good ideas that they abandoned after poor execution, actually, Liberty they abandoned after quite competent execution, but anyway. They really did have an internet like thingy, they invented a giant hopping machine that I guess was an attempt at an aircraft…

  16. Another reason why DDT will never make a return in my lifetime: While Googling to find a way to get rid of a fruit fly infestation, not one but three of the top sites had listed a humane way or a catch & release method. When did killing flies become a crime? It is bad enough that you have to search high and low to find anything to kill bugs (Raid) or stifle the dandelion infestation but now you have to catch & release flies…

  17. Texas, leave a small containers of vinegar near the sink drains in your house. It works, it takes about four days for the flys to disappear.

  18. Gloria’s bias is showing:
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/jack-laytons-refusal-to-crack-whip-bodes-ill-for-gun-registry/article1689993/
    That jack isn’t whipping his caucus on a non-fiscal bill is a strike for democracy and heeding the voice of the local electorates. The leader who should be pilloried is Iggy for doing the totalitarian opposite.
    Ms Galloway – likes the true, biased MSMer that she is prefers seeing the advancement of her agenda to democracy.

  22. Liberty is not for sale.
    Live free or die.
    Say Yes! to Liberty.
    Say No! to left-liberalism.
    “One person came up to me recently and said that freedom is an American value,” said Lawton. “That’s not true. It’s an attitude I want to change.”
    Say Yes! to Andrew Lawton.
    “Andrew Lawton wants to bring that spirit to Canada.”
    Yoohoo! Liberal Ziffy/McGuinty.
    We are here.
    What are you going to do about it?
    …-
    “Is the Tea Party Canada-bound?
    Are Canadians getting fed up with government regulations, rules and taxes? The man behind an attempt to start a Tea Party movement in Canada hopes so.
    This past weekend hundreds of thousands of Americans flocked to Washington for a rally about taking back their country. They came to hear speakers such as Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and although not explicitly a Tea Party event, the crowd drew many from the movement that calls for government to get government off the backs of hard working people.
    Andrew Lawton wants to bring that spirit to Canada.
    Lawton, a conservative-leaning activist from London, Ont., is one of the organizers behind an online attempt to start a Tea Party movement in Canada.
    Starting with a Facebook group, Lawton says there are plans for rallies this fall in Ottawa and Quebec City. Other cities may be added.” (more)
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/08/30/15188571.html
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/08/30/freedom-is-our-achilles-heel/#comment-88395

  23. “Is the Tea Party Canada-bound?
    Are Canadians getting fed up with government regulations, rules and taxes? The man behind an attempt to start a Tea Party movement in Canada hopes so.
    This past weekend hundreds of thousands of Americans flocked to Washington for a rally about taking back their country. They came to hear speakers such as Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and although not explicitly a Tea Party event, the crowd drew many from the movement that calls for government to get government off the backs of hard working people.
    Andrew Lawton wants to bring that spirit to Canada.
    Lawton, a conservative-leaning activist from London, Ont., is one of the organizers behind an online attempt to start a Tea Party movement in Canada.
    Starting with a Facebook group, Lawton says there are plans for rallies this fall in Ottawa and Quebec City. Other cities may be added.” (more)
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/08/30/15188571.html
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/2010/08/30/freedom-is-our-achilles-heel/#comment-88395

  24. “And, there are the peasants, the rabble, who are ignorant and prejudiced and must be told how to live their lives.”
    ?
    isn’t this what the right does all the time?
    just check the background of any right wing dictatorship like Somoza or Marcos or Pinochet.

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