Bicontinental Boomer

April 6, 2014

FREEGLOT and LIPPENHEIMER

I know everyone is busy, and time is out of our hands.
Still some things are worth spending what little time we have left on. (Can't fix that sentence)
Here's a flash pitch for my two favorite blogs:

FREEGLOT AND LIPPENHEIMER

FREEGLOT
To be read and savored, quoted and shared.
I know Freeglot personally, but I don't know Lippenheimer at all.
I don't even know if that's his name at all, and if not how he chose it.

Freeglot is a brilliant linguist, a lover of language in all its strange permutations, and writes on everything, including language of course, travel, books, gender issues, the Netherlands where he lives, twentieth-century history and politics, pre-twentieth-century history and politics, and you name it.
His latest observational gem is Asparagomania
http://freeglot.wordpress.com/

LIPPENHEIMER
I stumbled onto his blog while preparing my Goldfinch piece. He'd already hit the ground running with "Bronzefinch, Maybe".
He's read just about everything and ranges from just plain intelligent and witty to wet-your-pants funny.
Try Sexy Chewing Gum Talent Scout.
http://lippenheimer.wordpress.com/

Both writers are so well-read you wonder if they have time to do things ordinary mortals do, such as cutting their toenails or dawdling in the bathroom.

March 7, 2014

The President at lunch - vive la différence!

Micheline Calmy-Rey (part 1)

It was a lunch and book launch.

Brother Jeff sent me an invitation to the Forum Suisse de Politique Internationale, a sort of lunch club with monthly speakers.
The date was February 28th, and the speaker was Micheline Calmy-Rey - the twice former president of Switzerland. So I cancelled gym that day.

One of the things I love about Switzerland, and one of the reasons celebrities love it here (besides certain tax advantages), is the utter naturalness that the Swiss have around celebrity.

People here do not gawk at stars, they are rarely sycophants. And there is seldom need for a (showy) security detail.
The Swiss may be less reactive as well as less passionate than the French (generalization), but there is virtue in this restraint.
A president or ex-president can circulate without hoo-ha, do what protocol requires, but still be an ordinary citizen. The president is elected from the Conseil Fédéral, who rotate the presidency - a full term is just one year. Not enough time to acquire illusions or delusions of power. A president represents, but in no way runs the country as such.

Calmy-Rey was was a conseillère on the Conseil Fédéral from 2003 to 2011, head of the department of foregin affairs, and president of the Swiss Confederation in both 2007 and 2011.
What is interesting about Calmy-Rey is her active, vocal involvement in foreign affairs, at times controversial at home and abroad. Despite being a woman, Switzerland's second woman president--Ruth Dreyfuss was the first - and a socialist, she successfully navigated the waters up in Berne.
(More about her politics in part 2).

The US president is a form of elected royalty. Americans love inaugurations -- the quasi-regal grandeur and the huge publicity. We tend to congratulate ourselves on how (US) democracy is such a success, on the fact that our presidents are not dictators (no they are not) and that we've somehow re-validated America. We vote therefore we are.
Americans love or hate the president, often changing opinion over the four years (or more). We sustain the belief that a president can truly make a difference, and are passionate, driven and more than a tad unrealistic in our view of what a newly elected official can do.
The Swiss president may be a calm diplomat for a neutral country, or as was Micheline Calmy-Rey and outspoken diplomat with a world vision -- the rotating Swiss presidency is a fine institution.

* La Suisse que je souhaite by Micheline Calmy Rey, Editions Favre S.A., Lausanne

February 28, 2014

NAILYMPICS?? I kid you not.

Keystone/AP/Alessandra Tarantino

A model presents her, um, paw....

http://www.20min.ch/ro/life/lifestyle/story/Romande-championne-du-monde-de-nail-art-30713696

The Swiss gold-medal winner Heidi Roch-Burch, of Fribourg, was celebrated in the local giveaway newsrag 20minutes. She won in the free-style category known as "French Twist".

The competitors had only three hours to decorate their model's nails at the Nailympics in Rome!
(btw there were 600 participants from 38 countries, in case you think it's limited to just the fanatic few).

Unfortunately, in their excitement, 20minutes and lessentiel neglected to specify which nails had won! At first I thought it was the above talented talons, but I don't think so, as Ms Roch-Burch apparently won with a stiletto nail design (see example below).

Oh well, they're all spectacular in a sexy, spooky, slinky sort of way.
And other competitions are coming you way soon: The Swiss NailArt Trophy, then Dubai, then....?

http://www.lessentiel.lu/fr/lifestyle/dossier/beaute/story/Elle-est-la-championne-du-monde-du-nail-art-28935155

Heidi Roch-Burch

February 11, 2014

SWISS VOTE: THE CHEESE STANDS......ALONE

http://www.tdg.ch/dossiers/votations-9-fevrier-2014/dossier2.html?dossier_id=2517

Thank you Geneva -- you opposed the initiative by 60,9% !

In fact (see map) all of French speaking Switzerland opposed this disruptive initiative.

But all of Switzerland went to the polls on Sunday. And Switzerland approved the UDC's proposal "contre l'immigration de masse" .
"l'immigration de masse" evokes images of salivating hordes at the border, waiting to rush in to trample the pristine landscape and take over all the jobs, housing and welfare. And the voters who approved were scared.

The vote of approval is a powerful message with negative impact on a basically prosperous country. An overwhelming majority of Swiss economists, social experts, politicians and industralists have been against this xenophobic initiative.

It was a vote of emotions over logic, and apparent self-protection over dynamism.
Just like the vote back in 1992 not to join the European Economic Area.
Through extensive bilaterals as of 1999 (in effect as of 2002) Switzerland has been able to recoup some of the losses. Students could now be part of the superb European Erasmus exchange system, filmmaking and theater and countless other activities were not culturally and economically isolated.
A certain equilibrium has been achieved, and unemployment is a modest 4%. Foreigners are not exactly kicking the Swiss off the assembly-line.

A small for-instance: the HUG, the Geneva Cantonal University Hospital, employs a large number French nurses, doctors and aides. Because they need to. Staffing the hospital will be very problematic if the non-Swiss job-holders have their permits revoked. How does one handle those already holding work permits? Those who have been here three months, a year, four years? Or more? (I imagine it won't happen this way, as it could wreak havoc).

But no-one knows how this negative initiative will play out, and how it can or will be 'respected'. No one was prepared. On Monday politicians began meeting. All those bilaterals will have to be revisited. Back to square one?
What was driving this vote? It's not so simple; it's not necessarily extremist xenophobia.
Twenty-eight per cent of Switzerland is non-Swiss. That's hefty.
Gleaned from articulate letters quoted in "Le Monde":
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2014/02/10/avec-ce-vote-la-suisse-montre-qu-elle-existe-face-au-poids-lourd-europeen_4363520_3214.html

« Il fallait dire stop » par Alexia

"C'est parfait que la votation soit passée serrée ! Oui, il fallait dire stop à une accélération de l'immigration, mais ne pas laisser croire que nous étions des rétrogrades non plus. Concrètement, la vie s'est quand même globalement compliquée ces dernières années, avec une énorme pression en Suisse romande sur les loyers, une grande augmentation de la circulation avec l'arrivée de frontaliers, d'immigrés. Il faut prendre le temps d'intégrer correctement les nouveaux arrivants".

She says life has become more complex, rents are higher, traffic is denser. Let's take the time to properly integrate the new arrivals.

« Exister face au poids lourd européen » par Sebastien M. (Genève, employé de banque)

J'ai voté oui. J'y ai longuement réfléchi, ai pesé le pour et le contre, lu beaucoup d'avis contradictoires. Et je dois avouer qu'il n'y avait pas d'argumentation structurée au refus de ce texte. Le seul argument entendu (et rabâché) était : attention, l'Europe va sévir si le peuple suisse accepte l'initiative. Cela a attisé la défiance du peuple suisse face à une Europe se voulant hégémonique. Avec ce vote, il y a ce sentiment « d'exister » face au poids lourd qu'est l'Europe. Les conséquences ? On verra bien, mais il y a fort à parier qu'elles ne seront pas aussi catastrophiques que l'UE veut bien le faire croire...

He says the only argument against the initiative was that Europe would "sévir" -- sort of rise up against little Switzerland. Now he says the country has the feeling it "exists", facing up (a sort of David and Goliath) to Europe's heavy hegemony. He doesn't think it'll be as catastrophic as the EU wants us to believe. Hope he's right.
People have reacted to the spectacular and very rapid change in contemporary life, and have voted to slow it down in a particular way.
It's a retro vote, but also a vote of perplexity and pain.

This all reminds me of the old children's song "The Farmer in the Dell":

Children circle round, hands joined, and one child plays the farmer, who then takes a wife, who takes a child etc.

The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Heigh-ho the derry-oh
The farmer in the dell!

The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
etc.
The wife takes the child
etc.
The child takes the dog,
etc.
dog takes cat, cat takes rat, rat take cheese, and...

The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Heigh-ho the derry-oh
The cheese stands alone.

The other characters then rejoin the circle and one child--the cheese chosen by the rat--is left in the middle......turning round and round alone as the song ends.

February 7, 2014

HEY JAY Z ......... DON'T RIP OFF AN OLD SWISS MAN

Flagrant - not even a word of apology or acknowledgment.
Listen to these two recordings on YouTube. They're not long, but you don't need long to realize Jay Z has done more than borrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxsnaamt6gI Bruno Spoerri's "On the way"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Sboc05DhA Jay Z 's "Versus"

Clare O'Dea writes on January 28th 2014:

'Veteran Swiss jazz and electronic musician Bruno Spoerri has accused Jay Z, one of the United States’ most successful hip hop artists, of illegally using a 1978 music sample in the rapper’s latest album Magna Carta Holy Grail.

'"In a way I’m flattered that a relatively young rapper takes a sample from an old man, a sample that is about 35 years old,” 78-year-old Spoerri told swissinfo.ch, speaking from his home in Zurich.

“On the other hand I’m furious because it would have been so simple to clear the sample. All it would have needed was a call or an email to the company and I think it would have been relatively cheap.”

...........The 1978 track On the Way was composed by Spoerri for the film Lilith. Financially, the two musicians are at opposite ends of the music spectrum.

In 2012, Forbes estimated the net worth of Jay Z – real name Shawn Carter – from music and other businesses at $500 million (CHF450 million). Jay Z and Justin Timberlake won a Grammy award on January 26 for their collaboration on another track from Magna Carta Holy Grail.

Spoerri, who still performs once or twice a month, says what matters most to him is an apology.'

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/Jay_Z_accused_of_stealing_Swiss_music_sample.html?cid=37830970

Bruno Spoerri is a serious working musician, the first electronic music composer in Switzerland, a sax player, and he deserves proper recognition!

SRF 3/Carmen Köppel

Getty Images

Philip Seymour Hoffman

A great actor. Young, gifted, addicted and now, unhappily, dead.
About three years ago some friends and I walked into the Elephant & Castle in the Village for a Saturday or Sunday morning brunch and talk. We were seated within sneezing distance. The intensity we'd seen on-screen was still apparent: he exuded a life force (and not because we were gawking fans). He was also a bit on edge as his friend / assistant reported on various appointments, messages, projects: his Obligation Brunch.
How we were smitten in his presence. What a loss.

This brief footage and commentary sums up what made him such a tremendous actor:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/feb/03/philip-seymour-hoffman-video-appreciation

January 28, 2014

Roger, Rafi and Stan -- Footwear for Champions

We are bi-pedal -- using (usually) two feet to move us over dirt, grass, sand, rock, wood, in addition to concrete, tile, carpeting, linoleum with all its successors, astro-turf and other man-made surfaces.

We create footwear to seduce or serve, possibly both.
Footwear wears out, people buy more footwear, people demand better and better footwear.
Twenty-first century athletes have a huge selection.

Our tennis heroes Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka have opted for red and pink shades for this year's Australian Open, and their shoes are getting their own little blog.
Nadal and Federer have their shoes custom-made for them (check out Rafa's name-tags), but apparently Wawrinka hasn't walked this way (yet). Good old working tennis shoes. Yonex's star is rising.

RAFA'S SHOES

Custom-finished Nike pinks

aka Lunar Ballistec(!)