Because Mark’s clearly still recovering:
An open thread where you can, at your weekend leisure, discuss whatever you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
» SUBSCRIBE to LP updates.
Paid your bills?
That’s good to see.
Hope all is well. We at the ‘News are ready to set sail on a bawdy Pirate cruise. You never know what will happen.
Just hope that the corn flour doesn’t run out.
Rifts
Thrid
Fourth methinks.
Ah, now that’s been clarified, Independence for Papua Niugini in 1975 was not Core Independence after all. It was just plain silly of me – and of all those bush-kanakas out in the villages – to think that PNG really was a sovereign independent nation capable of running its own affairs for the benefit of its own citizens.
It was so nice of Mr J W Howard and the boss-cocky of his party’s subsidiary to rectify our erroneous ideas. Thank you ever so much…….
What’s happening, LPers? Has the warm weather gotten you away from your computers and out and about?
I went for a nice walk this morning myself, as part of my new regime for fighting the dreaded Blogger’s Lardarse Syndrome. I was accompanied on my peregrinations by The Best of Warren Zevon, which kept me motoring along nicely.
I have just booked a family holiday which will include a week in Paris over Xmas. Obviously, we will be touring all the usual suspects (Louvre, Versailles, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame etc). But what about all those fabbo little places to eat hearty traditional fare that are what Paris is really all about? Anybody got any favourites to share?
Go the Eagles! (of Death Metal) – iif it had cow bells, it’d be sweet perfection.
Forget sitting down in a cosy cafe or a fancy restaurant, TigTog, nothing beats a streetside banana and chocolate crepe. Try Rue Mouffetard (I think.) If it comes of Notre Dame heading South, then you’re probably on the right street. Ok, I admit, as a dedicated backpacker, I may not have given France’s five star restaurants a completely fair go.
I s’pose it will be winter. Meh. Just rug up. Or go Ice-skating I wonder if Zevon liked Paris…
nothing beats a streetside banana and chocolate crepe
Mmmm, crepes au nutella et chantilly!
Bread from pretty well anywhere is awesome. There’s a cool market on Sundays near the Bastille, if you want to buy fresh produce.
When we were in Paris at the start of the year, we stayed in the Hotel Saint-Andres des Arts, and if you wander around the neighbourhood there’s plenty of little restaurants that will aggressively spruik for your custom, ranging from very cheap to reasonably pricey. (Passage Dauphine, perhaps? I can’t remember the name of the main strip, sorry…)
Thanks, Anna!
I’m normally meant to be the backup for Mark on these threads but I’m really sick at the moment and forgot last night and have been sleeping all day today… Aaarrrgghhh
We’re not looking for the five-star pretentious stuff, we’re just looking for those restaurants that’ve been going for yonks using great-grandmaman’s recipes. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find lots of them, but if anyone remembered a particular name and address of such a place I’d check it out.
We’ll be staying a bit more out of the heart of town than you were, Robert – we’ll be off in the 20th arrondissement. Still, it’s only a block to the Metro and then we’re anywhere in town, so who cares?
We’re definitely looking forward to the street cafes, Michael. My kids are unadventurous eaters, but even they’ll like chocolate crepes, I’m sure.
I hope you’re keepin up with your fluids, young Kimberella.
Just dropped in for a spot of shameless self promotion before the Grand Final. Carna Swans!
Never been to Paris.
Still, you should find the following phrase handy at the Boulangerie: pain chocolat. And if you’re passing a charuterie it’s worth picking up a few slices of jambon crue (not sure of the spelling on that one).
And never go below 12 francs a bottle when you’re buying vin ordinaire at the supermarche.
Auntie Tigtog…been listening to Warren Zevon a bit myself, lately.
You have a favorite?
“Werewolves” and “Keep Me In Your Heart” are mine.
Send lawyers, guns and money, AK – these werewolves are hard to fight off!
Carmalita
Accidently Like A Martyr
Hasten Down the Wind
The French Inhaler
Boom Boom Mancini
Oh, and …
My shit’s fucked up
Amanda..never you mind. No one noticed. If anyone did, it’ll never be spoken of again.
Tigtog! Now’s there’s the real shame to be had. How..I mean it, how, could I have left that out?
My theme song, really.
Yay for one point victory!
We were robbed!
Wottagame…wottaquarter…one point…one all now…there’s just nothing between them, is there? I woulda said the weagles had no show after thet Goodes goal, but they held on.
I don’t think that’s a long-term problem. History suggests that, pirates are only short term abstainers.
Hopefully, you will soon be well and we can hear again from your insightful mind.
What a game. Poor Swannies but the Eagles deserved their win. The last quarter was amazing and 97,000 at the MCG (or so I thought the crowd figure read). If the NRL game is just as good then you’ll be hearing no complaints about out of towners playing in grand finals.
Tigtog: “Obviously, we will be touring all the usual suspects (Louvre, Versailles, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame etc).”
I haven’t got a fantastique knowledge of fine eateries – chancing your luck in areas not overrun by tourists is a good bet. But on the culcha side, I do recommend going to the eerie Catacombs. Maybe not for younger member of the famille, but historic, atmospheric and weird nonetheless.
http://www.quovadimus.org/paris/cat/thumb.html
Tigtog, I recommend the following place; “Le domaine de Lintillac”. It was recommended to me by a Parisian friend and I went there on a recent weekend trip to Paris. Fantastic. Particlularly if you have a thing for duck and fois-gras. In fact that is pretty much all you can get there. It is all very well done, not too pricey, not fancy, just good traditional French bistro style. I recommend you try and book ahead if you can, it is popular.
The website is rather cheesey looking, but at least you get pictures of what the food looks like (for those who can’t read French).
http://www.domainedelintillac-paris.com/
Euros, gummo. Euros. Get with the times.
If you like crepes I also suggest you try a Roquefort cheese and walnut crepe. Very nice indeed.
Reasons I love Melbourne (#342): Just went down to the local for a cleansing ale or two, and two live bands were playing …
The first, a Dick Dale style beach garage band (the Beach Chromers); the second, a bouffant / minskirt all-girl grunge garage outfit (The Shimmys).
Wooo!
I’m enjoying the suggestions, folks, and adding them to my list: I’d just seen something about the catacombs, so I was already curious, but it’s good to get a non-TV recommendation. The kids are early teens, so it will hopefully just fascinate them.
We’re also going to Norway, where I plan to avoid lutefisk.
The catacombs in Paris are definitely worth a visit – though don’t go if human bones freak you out. (As a complete aside, if the odd skull doesn’t bother you then the Capuchin crypt in Rome is well worth a visit, for some of the most interesting interior decoration going around). You can also do a tour of the sewers which was also pretty interesting, and is good if you want a break from the more cultural side of Paris. And all the trad stuff to do in Paris, well it’s trad cause it’s all teriff (with the exception of Sacre Coeur, which is a horrible building but does have very nice views back over Paris).
I can’t actually remember any specific eateries in Paris (obviously the effect of too much vin rouge). I do reccommend going to a creperie and getting stuck into some of the local cider. Mmmmm.
Second the suggestion from Michael G- Rue Moufftard is a must see for the fact it is sooooo pretty and charming.
If it is to your taste Joe Goldenbergs in the Marais , does great east european food, it is near the Picasso musee.
Up all night ? try Polly Magoo’s on Rue Jacques but watch out for pickpockets as it is really crowded.
Sure am, Aunt tigtog! Thanks! And, wpd, I’m avoiding the usual pirate tipples…
We’re not looking for the five-star pretentious stuff, we’re just looking for those restaurants that’ve been going for yonks using great-grandmaman’s recipes
Oh I think you should, at least one, I mean you’re not travelling there in a tumbril and you’re no doubt going to the Centre Pompidou so why limit yourself? Admittedly some/all of them are on the cripplingly pricey side and somewhere like Arpege isn’t for everyone but a better value way of trying the best now Paris has to offer is to get a few of Pierre Herme’s famous macarons. All the foodies I know have spoken of it in gushy tones like it was a trip to Lourdes. I haven’t been to the Paris one but the one in Tokyo had the feel of a high priced cosmetics store and I managed to have as close to otherworldly delight as possible a dessert set for under $30 – and you won’t get many best in the world experiences as easily as that.
Other than that, I’d be picnicking on as much unpasteurised cheese, saucisson, and proper baguettes as I could get my hands on, with lots of lovely gappy French red wine.
Half your luck, I haven’t been there since I was 20 where I managed to attract the attention of an English girl with a bag of lettuce and some vinegar and then seduce her with a bottle of vin ordinaire on a park bench at night on the Seine. Can’t see myself getting away with that ever again.
Ewww Lutefisk.
Hmmm.. lutefisk.
I looked it up on Wikipedia and shrieked with laughter. Try reading this aloud to an unsuspecting partner:
“The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days (changed daily). The saturated stockfish is then soaked in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish will swell during this soaking, regaining a size even bigger than the original (undried) fish, but the protein content paradoxically decreases by more than 50 percent, causing its famous jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) has a pH value of 11–12, and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days (and nights) of soaking in cold water (also changed daily) is needed. Eventually, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked.
In Finland, the traditional reagent used is birch ash. It contains high amount of potassium carbonate and hydrocarbonate, giving the fish more mellow treatment than sodium hydroxide (lyestone). It is important not to incubate the fish too long in the lye, because saponification of the fish fats may occur, effectively rendering the fish fats into soap. The term for such spoiled fish in Finnish is saippuakala (soap fish).”
No-one told me about this before I went to Norway. Fortunately I was a touch impoverished so it didn’t matter.
Fiskepudding is a lot more modest, but also to be avoided, I reckon. The supermarket version is available as a grey solid in a tube, rather like cheap dog food. And it tastes like fish fritz (to use the South Australian analogy). Eastern staters might like to think of devon or austral.
At last, another reason to hate John Howard- bad breath and tooth decay in the lower and middle classes http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australian-teeth-worst-in-developed-world/2006/09/30/1159337390806.html
It has taken me a while to search for a little piece of paper with this link for food in Paris.
http://www.concierge.com/destination/paris/eating?mbid=google
I still haven’t figured out how to hide the linky bits but I hope it still works, if it doesn’t go to http://www.monum.fr
Robert – ah – anyway near Blvd St Germain or the Isle de la Cite or Isle St Louis for me! I don’t think I know the area of town you describe very well.
The Orangerie http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/ is open again, and it’s great to see Monet’s works under natural lighting. In the basement level, there’s a gallery showing the paintings that Paul Guillaume had (http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/homes/home_id24801_u1l2.htm). Very interesting – it was great to see two little models of rooms from his house in circa 1950 – his house was almost an art gallery!
So nice to see there are some other Zevon admirers out there. Favorite tracks – Send lawyers, guns and money. Roland the headless thompson gunner (great drinking songs!). Keep me in you heart. Just about all of The Wind. He was a wonderful artist, a great voice. Yet another asbestos victim.
Warren Z. also wrote this charming lyric (maybe my favorite of his), which was a big hit for Linda Ronstadt, though I’m not sure if Z. ever recorded it himself…
Well I put my head on the railroad track,
Waitin’ on the Double E.
But the train don’t come round here no more.
Poor poor pitiful me.
He did record it, but Ronstadt’s version is better. Z.’s version is a bit too fast, whereas Ronstadt swung it, and it needed that little bit of extra twang.
I missed my walk yesterday, but today I was accompanied by the soundtrack of the Rocky Horror Picture Show – most enjoyable. I used to have the original Australian stage show soundtrack on cassette – I wonder if that ever made it to digital format? Reg Livermore as Frankenfurter and Frank Thring as the Narrator – quite a different feel from the movie.
In Britain, Sunday night’s Panorama programme, titled Sex Crimes and the Vatican, told how Pope Benedict, while a cardinal in 2001, played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Catholic priests. He issued a secret edict instructing them to put the church’s interests ahead of those of children. The edict recommended that bishops encourage victims, instead of reporting abuse to the authorities, not to talk about it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1885466,00.html
The 2001 edict follows on from a hitherto secret 1962 edict from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith instructing bishops to investigate and conceal allegations of paedophilia and bestiality.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1766941,00.html
Hey hey ho ho
This pope has got to go.
I like Warren’s “Searching For A Heart” but most fans would consider it cheesey
I just love Werewolves Of London, I think it had John McView and Mick Fleetwood working in the engineroom and it is brilliant right from the get go.
How horrific was that Australian Idol’s version the other day?
84% of Australians believe the Iraq “war has done nothing to deter terrorists.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1753426.htm
I would have said the same thing if they asked me. I think we are a long way from the stage when we are deterring them as well as a long way from establishing an acceptably robust democracy in Iraq and I also concede that Australia’s higher profile has made it an increased risk as per Mick Kealty. But I still support the war.
Funny all this chatter about food & eating establishments – NSW Court of Appeal have found against Mark Evans & the SMH in a judgement last week. He will now go before the NSW Supreme Court to face libel charges brought by a very aggrieved restauranteur who Evans reveiwed very unfavourably in 2003.
The restuarant later closed, with the owners claiming it all Evans’ fault, despite the fact that it had other poor reveiws. Which also links rather nicely with Lionel Shriver’s opening addres to the BrisVegas Writers’ Festival, & published in the Weekend Oz.
R-E-V-I-E-W. Sorry.
Some questions:
1. What level of commitment of resources represents the maximum commitment you would be prepared to make to this war? Presumably you are not prepared to write a blank cheque.
2. What are the minimum conditions on the ground in Iraq acceptable for declaring success and leaving Iraq?
3. What probability is there of achieving at least these minimal conditions?
4. Has that probability increased or decreased since Bush declared “Mission accomplished”?
I didn’t see the weekend Oz, Bernice, what was Shriver’s piece about?
Hi Katz, this is not the thread to go over such things but briefly my answers to those particular questions would not be as far from yours as you might imagine. Battles on land never go swimmingly. The fundamental difference between us is that I have lost whatever faith I have ever had in non military negotiations. I am coming sadly to terms with the idea that the last 60 years were a lot more peaceful than the next are going to be; and, the winner of whatever fight is here or coming is not going to be whoever is right but who has the biggest balls. Sad, but true.
OK – Shriver’s piece was, apparently an essay based upon her opening address to the BWF. (Am ruminating about a post on this, very very slowly I assure you).
Here’s the opening para:
“So tired is political correctness, both the phrase & the concept, that it’s now politically correct to despair of political correctness. But however shop-worn, this nuisance isn’t going away. ”
Its a bloody difficult piece to crit – Shriver makes some very good points about the manner in which creative work is, effectively, being censored by those who find it offensive, using cultural insensitivity as a weapon to bludgeon anything vaguely smelling of criticism or unfavourable analysis into terrified submission.
& yes she can argue that political correctness has come to mean that “… with freedom of speech & artistic license must come responsibility.” Which leads to self censorship & statements such as “We are not against freedom of speech, but there’s no right to offend.” All horribly problematic.
But she does, I think, stumble early in the piece, when questioning the inevitable outcome of racial vilification legislation – & attempts to extend it to cover religion in the UK. Arguing that
“If we’re classifying hatred as a crime, what’s the limit? Aren’t there various other emotions that are disagreeable, and that we might eliminate to make the world a better place? How about criminalsiing envy, greed or bile?”
Its not hate that is legislated against, but ACTS of hatred against other groups or inciting others to perpetuate ACTS of hatred – it has to be proven in the actual or shown in the potential. Thinking doesn’t leave such a trace for a court to find against.
Personally, i would suspect most novelists or journalists or commentators of being far more concerned about thrilling their market share, than walking on the tightrope of PC. Most folk seem to write work that will sell or gain access to a professional existence – I’d see this as a far more significant form of self censorship than PC.
& our problem here in Aust is that the current right wing idealogues are busily imposing their own version of PC upon us, be it by defining what is truly OZTRALIAN or furiously denouncing anyone offering an alternative. A problem too I’m sure in the US with its own version of the culture wars, so Shriver’s piece doesn’t sit as some isolated musing but falls into very fertile soil for appropriation by those she may have no intention of giving sustainance to.