Teletubbies and other gay people

Finally, there's a remake of the old discussion: Is Tinky Winky gay?, triggered out by Eva Sowinksa, spokesperson for children's rights in Poland - after she realized Tinky Winky carried - oh my God! - a handbag, which makes him a) gay and b) if that were the case a harmful role model for other children.

It was also in Poland where they wanted to sack teachers because of homosexuality.

Let's take a look at the scandalous entertainment:



Related topic: The Life ball, Europe's largest AIDS charity event and the only one that takes place in a political building, the City Hall of Vienna, was a huge success. 4000 paying visitors, 40000 watching the beautiful costumes. Last year's ball brought more than 1 million Euros.

Putin in Vienna

Pre-impressions of a presidential visit.

President Putin is coming to Vienna on May 23. More than 1000 Austrian policemen und -women will guard him. Plus 40 of his own people.
He will lay wreaths to the monument of the Soviet Soldier.
He will meet our Secretary of State and our Chancellor.
He will be accompanied by Russian industrialists. Austria's business community has a very positive attitude towards Russia. The President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl said: "Austria knows the Russian soul and has a high opinion of Russia and its people. Russia and Austria are linked by mutual liking and mutual interests in the economy, culture and tourism."
They will talk about cooperations in the machine building and chemical industries. (We are already deep into business as regards oil and gas (=gaz.) Maybe too deep?

The Secretary of State wants to find "clear words", the Chancellor intends to talk about "everything", including human rights.

There will be traffic jams and roadblocks in the inner city area. The Green Party organized a rally today stating "No to Putin's democrature". Three demonstrations are announced for tomorrow.

During the Samara summit, Putin cancelled the interviews with the Austrian press because of "unfriendly coverage". I wonder if there will be any interviews at all.

I love cheddar

Latest page with cultstatus on the internet:
a live broadcast of a round slab of English cheddar cheese. Slowly maturing. So far more than 1.2 million hits.

I'd rather eat it than watch it ..

50 years of Larry King

Since I'm ill and therefore housebound , I watched the 50 years of Larry King in Broadcasting on CNN.

It was like a summary of contemporary history and culture, bringing back my own personal connotations.

I liked the interview with Marlon Brando (when Brando rang up Larry King he said: "Hi, I'm Marlon". And Larry King said: "Marlon who?"). Actually, several parts of it can be seen on Youtube.

Orhan Pamuk in Germany

Signandsight refers to Willi Winklers article (in German) in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (German daily) on the start of Orhan Pamuk's German tour in Hamburg.

"A language in which the word for 'agency' (müdürlügü) is hardly less poetical than that for nightingale (bülbül), is a treasury for a poet. Masterfully and at breakneck speed, the poet Pamuk reads a monstrous sentence comprising (moderator Hubert Spiegel counted) 155 lines, interrupted only once by applause from the roughly 20 percent of the audience who understood Turkish. Then Michael Krüger read the same passage in German with his striking voice, and the Turkish singsong proved to be an endless string of poetical scenes which for Pamuk all make up his home town of Istanbul, the city of his childhood in the fifties, the city where he grew up, the city of the 'sick man on the Bosporus' as the waning Ottoman Empire was known to Europe at the end of the 19th century."

I read "Istanbul. Memories of a City" a few months ago and enjoyed it very much, especially the parts when he reasons with his mother. Right now I'm reading "The New Life" which I got as an Easter present.

There's a great review of Pamuk's "The Black Book" by Richard Marcus.