REMEMBERING JON.....
Labels: Hat Squad, League of Themselves, Online TV, Reali-TV, TV timeline, Video Weekend, Who's On TV, Zonks
A JAMIE LEE COURTESY
One thing I enjoy doing with the Tele-Folks Directory of the Toobworld Dynamic is expanding the backstory of TV characters (and in some cases, "foresee" what their futures may bring.) It would be preferable to have some "hard" evidence to back up the claims, found in other TV shows, but I'm not averse to making theoretical connections to other shows without visual evidence.
But at least this time, I have the visuals to make a convincing argument.....
Jamie Lee Curtis has begun a recurring role on 'NCIS' as Dr Samantha Ryan, who works in PsyOps at the Department of Defense. She had been at the Naval War College, probably as an instructor or a psychiatric consultant, at the same time Director Vance had been there.
This doesn't mean she attended the Naval War College near Newport, Rhode Island. But she might have been invited to attend in order to gain another master's degree once she was working for the military. But she would have attended college somewhere else in the country for her bachelor's degree in the 1970's.
And I'm going to suggest she did so in Los Angeles, perhaps at the Keck School of Medicine to study psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
And like most college students, she probably took a job on the side to pay her expenses.
Just for the (relative) freedom in setting up a work schedule that could accommodate her class schedule, Samantha may have taken a job as a waitress.
And if so, then we saw her on the job........
Jamie Lee Curtis has expressed an interest in becoming a regular on 'NCIS'. Along those lines, she might also then play the role of Dr. Samantha Ryan on an episode of 'NCIS: LA'. And if she does that, then she'd be eligible for membership in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, on a Birthday Honors scholarship, of course.
I'm dedicating this post to my Auntie Ellie, my Godmother, who's a big fan of 'NCIS'. And who let us come over to her cottage to watch 'Columbo' up at the Lake back during its first-run, because they could get NBC in Third Bay. (Back in those pre-cable days, we couldn't get the signal in First Bay.....)
While writing this up, it occurred to me that she's not the only one in her family who's acted with the late Peter Falk. Her Mom, Janet Leigh, was the guest star in the 'Columbo' episode "Forgotten Lady", and her Dad, Tony Curtis, worked with Falk in the movie "The Great Race".
Labels: By Any Other Name, Hall of Fame, La Triviata, Life During Prime-Time, Missing Links, O'Bservations, Online TV, Splainin 2 Do, Tele-Folks Directory, Video Weekend
AS SEEN ON TV: MELISANDRE
TV LOCATION:
Dragonstone, Westeros, Mondas
From the "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Melisandre, often called Melisandre of Asshai, is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. She is played by starring cast member Carice van Houten and débuts in the first episode of the second season. She is an eastern priestess of an eastern religion which is little-known in Westeros. She worships R'hllor the Lord of Light. She is living at the island stronghold of Dragonstone and has become a close advisor of Stannis Baratheon.
Labels: As Seen On TV, Book 'em, Online TV, Tele-Folks Directory, Video Weekend, Wikipediaphile
THE RETURN OF GERVAIS TOONS!
The best animated TV show currently on the air returns tonight on HBO!
At 9pm, the cartoon version of Ricky Gervais' podcasts, also starring Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, will mark its third season (I think?)
Here's a sneak peek at a topic of grave importance.
I chose that one because it made me think of the Honey Badger...
HBO, 9 PM. Be there!
Labels: Alternateevee, As Seen On TV, O'Bservations, Online TV, Sked Alert, Tooniverse
SHERLOCK HOLMES - "OVER THERE"
There are a lot of differences between the home dimension of 'Fringe' (which should be Earth Prime-Time, but only the end of the series will determine that for sure) and "Over There". And the latest difference would be the discovery that Sherlock Holmes is not known "Over There".
Sherlock Holmes in the real world is considered one of the most recognizable literary creations of all time. (I think Bilbo Baggins - or Hobbits in general - would be in the top three as well.) Holmes is a true multiversal - found in BookWorld, the Cineverse, Toobworld and most of its subsets like Skitlandia and the Tooniverse, WorldStage, and the worlds of radio/audio, comics, music, and many other manifestations of the universes of Fictionalia.
In Toobworld, Sherlock Holmes was a real man but the general public thinks of him as fictional. Even scientific genius Walter Bishop thought of him as being fictional. (But then he also believed that vampires weren't real, more fool he.)
This can be attributed to Dr. Watson and his writing about Holmes' exploits, which were published under the aegis of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the literary agent. Because he substituted fictional names for certain people and locations, may people thought everything about those stories were fictional. In his own way, Dr. Watson served as the precursor to that "UNREEL" division which would cover up the existence of James Bond, U.N.C.L.E., and the Time Lord known as the Doctor so that people would consider them to be fictional as well.
But "Over There", "Fauxlivia" never heard of Sherlock Holmes. And at first consideration, this might lead a viewer to think that he never existed. Even if considered as being fictional, one might think that Conan Doyle never got those stories published.
I believe Sherlock Holmes did exist "Over There", but that his exploits went uncelebrated in The Strand. Putting aside the notion that Conan Doyle didn't exist, because that only leads to Zonks, I think it's more likely that Dr. Watson didn't exist.
I shouldn't say that he didn't exist. Rather, he was taken out of the picture before he ever had the chance to team up with Holmes. Perhaps he was killed rather than wounded in the Afghan campaign. It could be that Stamford never knew Sherlock Holmes, so he couldn't introduce Dr. Watson to him. And without Watson there to chronicle his investigations, Holmes' prowess in deduction would go unnoticed, which is just the way Holmes would have preferred in order to keep the criminal element from learning about him. (He only let Watson write his stories as a favor to his friend for being there as his sounding board. But he never did like the way Watson told those stories, and frequently said so.)
I just don't know what effect this would have had on those aficionados of the Wold Newton Universe "Over There"........
Labels: Alternateevee, As Seen On TV, Book 'em, La Triviata, Life During Prime-Time, Splainin 2 Do, Tele-Folks Directory, Zonks
AS SEEN ON TV: SER DAVOS SEAWORTH
Today's ASOTV showcase may contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk
SER DAVOS SEAWORTH
Davos Seaworth is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played by starring cast member Liam Cunningham and débuts in the second season. It has been confirmed that he is one of the favorite characters of producer and showrunner David Benioff. Ser Davos Seaworth is a landed knight and a former smuggler in the service of Stannis Baratheon.
Ser Davos Seaworth is a landed knight and a former (and reformed) smuggler. His ship used to ply the Narrow Sea, smuggling goods from the Free Cities into the Seven Kingdoms and back again. During Robert's Rebellion, Davos relieved the siege of Storm's End by delivering smuggled onions into the castle, helping Stannis Baratheon's forces survive until the end of the war. For this service, Stannis forgave Davos his smuggling crimes and knighted him. He was disparagingly called 'the Onion Knight' for his services, but he has embraced this title proudly and adopted an onion on the sail of a ship as his sigil.
Stannis also took several fingers from Davos's right hand as punishment for his smuggling crimes. Davos submitted to this punishment willingly, judging it a fair exchange in return for improving his family's future prospects.
Davos is one of Stannis' most loyal and reliable vassals, but is treated with disdain by some of the other lords of Westeros for his low birth. Davos has several sons, including Matthos, who serves with him on his ship. Davos is left-handed.
Matthos & Davos Seaworth
Most of that information has not yet been revealed on the show, unless I'm not watching very carefully. (With the second episode, I was a bit distracted as I was visiting my sister......)
Labels: As Seen On TV, Book 'em, Game of the Name, Life During Prime-Time, O'Bservations, Tele-Folks Directory, Theories of Relateeveety
HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING DICK CLARK
Over the next few days, I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty of memorial tributes to Dick Clark, who passed away at the age of 82. Many of those will focus on his iconic status as a TV legend, his skill in front of and behind the cameras with 'American Bandstand' as the centerpiece. (But I think his duties ushering in the New Year with ABC's 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' will also be more of a factor than I think it probably should.)
Blog posts, newspaper and magazine columns.... The best I've seen so far, by the way, was a report by Jack Cafferty on CNN about how instrumental he was in the integration of TV during a tense and troubled time in our nation's history.
Dick Clark also contributed several citizens to Toobworld, mostly during the early part of his rise to national prominence - a couple of guest star shots on 'Burke's Law', a very prominent role in the final episode of 'Perry Mason' (and I think you can figure out what that means), and he is the televersion embodiment of an historical figure - circus impresario James A. Bailey (as seen in 'Branded'.)
But as his fame with 'American Bandstand' grew to epic proportions, his presence as a TV personality made it practically impossible for him to be seen as anybody else but Dick Clark, as happened to League of Themselves members Milton Berle, George Burns, and Bob Hope before him.
So I'm taking this opportunity to salute his fictional presence in Toobworld, that televersion of Dick Clark portrayed by the original.
2000 was the second year of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, and I declared it to be the "Year Of The Women" when it came to inductees. (Lucille Ball and some of her characters were going to take up the first third of the year anyway!) But there were two exceptions - in October we saluted Captain Kangaroo on the 45th anniversary of his TV show, and Dick Clark was feted in December. It seemed apt, with the 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' coming up at the end of the month - and as it was leading into 2001, the TRUE beginning of the new millennium, nobody but Dick Clark would do.
Inductees into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame must have three separate items on their "resume" in order to be eligible. More than a decade ago, Dick Clark had more than enough credits to qualify.
Take a gander at this list of credits in which Dick Clark played himself:
Just Shoot Me!
Mr. Jealousy
Tangled Up in Blue (TV movie)
Dharma & Greg
Mission: Implausible
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Invasion of the Buddy Snatcher
Arli$$
The Price of Their Toys
(Seen on TV hosting the New Year's Eve special)
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
And the Sabrina Goes to...
A Girl's Gotta Love a Wedding
Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
The Drew Carey Show
Drew's the Other Man
I, Whoops, There It Is
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story (TV movie)
The One with the Monkey
Will You Marry Me? (TV movie)
Blossom - A Rockumentary
The People Next Door
The Return of Bruno (TV movie)
Police Squad!
Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)
The New Car
Star Quality
Shoot a Crooked Arrow
The Jack Benny Program
Dick Clark Show
The commercials he did for Havoline Motor Oil, Ballatore, Dairy Queen, Nabisco Shredded Wheat, and Office Depot would also count towards Dick Clark's televersion presence in Toobworld, as would a music video for the Muppets' cover of "She Drives Me Crazy".
Dick Clark also had a presence in the Tooniverse:
Treehouse of Horror X
(Although that would be set in an alternate Tooniverse....)
Space Pilot 3000
Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave: Part 1
The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special
The Origin of the Fantastic Four: Part 1
Differences in animation styles have no bearing in the Tooniverse. The characters in the Tooniverse should see each other as being the same despite having divergent artistic designs*, whereas the Trueniverse audience could differentiate between the varieties of artwork. Allowances have to be made, otherwise a splainin would have to be found as to why Dick Clark looks so "hulked" up when he hosted that telethon featuring the Fantastic Four!
(* There are exceptions, like the housemates in 'Drawn Together'.)
On 'Family Guy', Dick Clark was voiced by Joey Slotnick, but he's still part of the Tooniverse, not shunted off to some different dimension.
On the other hand, Dick Clark produced a TV show called 'American Dreams', which was centered around 'American Bandstand'. In that, the younger Dick Clark was portrayed by Paul D. Roberts. Since Dick Clark himself already held sway in Toobworld as his own televersion on 'American Bandstand', 'American Dreams' belongs in another TV dimension. (Which is just as well, since it had other Zonks - like Paris Hilton as Barbara Eden backstage at 'I Dream Of Jeannie'. My problem with 'American Dreams' Zonking Jeannie was bad enough, but such a leaden portrayal of the effervescenet Ms. Eden shouldn't be tolerated in Toobworld!)
And although he didn't actually appear in the three sketches, Dick Clark has a presence in Skitlandia, thanks to David Spade playing his appointment secretary on 'Saturday Night Live' (even making Jesus Christ wait in the reception area!)
Most of Dick Clark's fictionalized appearances as himself stemmed from his connection to the music biz and/or work behind the scenes in TV. For instance, when he interviewed Danny Partridge of 'The Partridge Family'.
But sometimes there were those moments which could only happen in Toobworld, and Clark must have been self-assured enough to just run with whatever idea they came up with.
There was the time that he showed up with dozens of other people for a wild party with Dharma Liberty Finkelstein Montgomery - which threatened to turn into an orgy. When he realized it was Dharma's husband Greg who met him at the door, Dick Clark eagerly schpritzed his mouth with Binaca - as if in anticipation of letting the good times roll.
And then we found out how Dick Clark was able to stay ahead of the game in the music biz.....
(That scene also went a long way in splainin how he was able to remain the "world's oldest teenager"!)
Most of the time Clark was to be found in the Toobworld versions of Los Angeles or New York City, and of course his home base of Philadelphia. But every so often he had to travel to other cities not found on the maps of the Trueniverse....
One last O'Bservation of Dick Clark's televersion.....
As he was best known for charting the trends in the musical tastes of America's youth, it made sense that he should make a cameo in the music video which Drew Carey made for "What Is Hip?"
Also on that couch were Flip Wilson and HR Pufnstuf, who was voiced by Len Weinrib. Both of them have since passed away, and now Dick Clark has joined them. (Daws Butler provided the voice for Bingo, also on the couch with Pufnstuf, but he died in 1988....)
Dick Clark may be gone now, but at least we know that in the Tooniverse, he will return by the year 2999.....
As Red Skelton would often say, Good night and may God bless......
Labels: As Seen On TV, Blipverts, Hall of Fame, Hat Squad, League of Themselves, Life During Prime-Time, Location Shot, O'Bservations, Online TV, Skitlandia, Tooniverse, TV Classique
"DOC MARTIN" VS. 'DOC MARTIN'
The weather hit record highs Monday - on my day off - and yet I stayed inside, mainly to keep an eye on my cat Nucky who had surgery to remove a growth between his withers. (I'm a little worried about him as he's apparently scratched a few of the sutures loose. And before you comment, a cone around his neck would only have rested on the sutures themselves, so he couldn't wear one of those.)
So to occupy my time, besides cleaning out a bit of the apartment and going through old pictures to find the worthy ones to scan, I watched a few shows to clean out my DVR. An episode of 'George Gently', "Portrait Of An Unknown Man" from the anthology series 'Crisis' (although it was listed on Antenna TV as 'Suspense Theater') with Clint Walker and Robert Duvall, "None So Blind" from 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' (which truly caught me by surprise), and a couple of episodes of 'Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal' (online for that) which I can use for a future ASOTV Gallery, literary edition.
I also finally watched the original movie of 'Doc Martin', only to find that although the basics were there that set the stage for the series, so much of it was different that it has to be relegated to an alternate TV dimension.
Only Martin Clunes was present from the TV series, and he was the biggest change of all. In the 'Doc Martin' series, he was Dr. Martin Ellingham. But in this TV movie, he was Dr. Martin Bamford. Dr. Bamford came to this Cornwall village (Port Isaac, not Portwenn) after he found out that his wife*, another doctor, had cheated on him with three of his best friends in the medical profession.
"Doc Martin" Bamford was not adverse to blood, was not surly, distant, nor suffering from OCD and maybe even Aspberger's, unlike 'Doc Martin' Ellingham. Overall, he was a good enough character for a one-shot TV movie, but nothing special upon which to hang a TV series. (At least not in this day and age. He might have been just fine back in the more episodic TV of the 1970's.)
The change in hairstyles is a give-away as well......
None of the Portwenn citizens were to be seen in this TV movie, not even Aunt Joan. Dr. Bamford's motivation for going there was just that he remembered the place from his youth and he liked it there. The only actor I recognized was Paul Brooke as Charley the pub owner, who also appears in the follow-up movie as well as the theatrical film that preceded this.
Yes, there's a theatrical movie called "Saving Grace" in which Dr. Martin Bamford is a secondary character; "Doc Martin" was a prequel as to how he got to Port Isaac. And "Doc Martin and The Legend Of The Cloutie" was a follow-up before the character and premise was revamped for the TV series.
As these were just TV movies and not a full-fledged series, I'm thinking the TV Movie Of The Week dimension - Earth Prime-Time/MOTW - would be the best place to house this Doc Martin. The movie of the week world is the one which has a totally different succession of U.S. Presidents, going back to the 1930's with the TV adaptation of "Of Thee I Sing" (which was visited by Sweet the Demon!)
But because of the connection to the Cineverse via "Saving Grace", it could also reside in the "Borderlands", which is where the overlap with the movie universe is for films that cannot be fully integrated into the main Toobworld. (Like "M*A*S*H" and "The King And I")
"Doc Martin" Bamford was a pleasant enough fellow, and after seeing so many seasons of 'Doc Martin' featuring Dr. Ellingham's irritating manner, it was refreshing to see Martin Clunes so light-hearted. But in the end, I'm glad Dr. Ellingham is the citizen of Toobworld and not Dr. Bamford......
*Her name was Petronella, but I wanted to call her "Citronella"......
Labels: Alternateevee, As Seen On TV, Big Screen TV, By Any Other Name, Life During Prime-Time, Location Shot, Tele-Folks Directory, TV Movies, World Toob
AS SEEN ON TV: SER JORAH MORMONT
SER JORAH MORMONT
Pentos, Vaes Dothrak, the Dothraki Sea,
Essos, Mondas
Ser Jorah Mormont is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played by starring cast member Iain Glen and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Ser Jorah is an exiled Westerosi lord living amongst the Dothraki, who know him as Jorah the Andal for his Westerosi origins, in Essos. He has sworn fealty to his fellow exile Daenerys Targaryen. He has developed strong and unrequited feelings for her.
Jorah Mormont is a knight from Westeros who has fled from his homeland and is living in exile in the Free Cities. He is the son of Jeor Mormont, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He is the former Lord of Bear Island of House Mormont (a vassal of House Stark), losing his status as a lord for disgracing his house by trying to sell poachers into slavery to pay his debts.
Labels: As Seen On TV, Book 'em, Tele-Folks Directory, Wikipediaphile
SWEET MISTER RAD
Robert Wronski, Jr. is a comrade in crossovers. He's a big supporter of the Toobworld Dynamic and a fellow fan of Farmer's Wold Newton Universe. And he is building his own world of crossovers called the TVCU - the Television Crossover Universe, but so much more is involved than just TV shows. (The link for the Television Crossover Universe is to the left, Myspace Invaders!)
Robert also moderates a shared forum in Facebook called The Crossovers Forum, which is constantly being replenished with great crossovers involving comic books, toys, novels, songs.... And that's where he posted the following suggestion:
Is Mr. Sweet also perhaps the glee club teacher in 'Community'? Or is there more than one musical demon, accounting for groups that are affected over a longer term period, like in 'Glee' and 'High School Musical'?
And apparently Regionals was invented by this demonic force.
The Greendale Glee Club teacher was responsible for the deaths of two different sets of Glee Clubs and had the power to turn the normal world into a musical.
In case you're not familiar with Mr. Sweet, he was an inter-dimensional demon (portrayed by Hinton Battle) seen in "Once More, With Feeling", the musical episode of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer".
Here's a thumbnail sketch of Sweet from the Buffy Wiki:
Sweet was the nickname of a powerful demon whose mere presence could cause the inhabitants of an area he visits [to] burst into song and dance, which would lead to some of the victims to spontaneously combust.
He also had certain reality-bending abilities, allowing him to change the color of his suit from red to blue, rip out his still singing mouth without harm, creating a door to the streets in the middle of The Bronze, and changing Dawn's outfit from a blue top and black pants to a tan top and blue skirt. He also had teleportation powers and could sense Willow Rosenberg's raw magical power.
In 2005, Sweet was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for October, because even though he only appeared in that one 'Buffy' episode, I think it would seem O'Bvious that he was working behind the scenes in several other shows - like 'Cop Rock' and 'Hull High' and perhaps even the British 'Pennies From Heaven'. (If there are Bollywood TV shows in India, I wouldn't put it past Sweet to be operating there as well.)
Demons have the power to alter their appearance, and as we see in the above description, Sweet the Demon not only could change the color of his suit, but he could rip his mouth out of his face with no harm done. So to be able to transform himself from a humanoid that resembled dancer Hinton Battle to a white-bread suburban Taran Killam look-a-like would have been child's play.
Cory Radisson, the glee club director of Greendale Community College, admitted that he was responsible for the deaths of the former club members on a bus - they probably were all singing and dancing onboard until spontaneous combustion set the bus on fire and over a cliff. And the next glee club ended up in a psychiatric unit.
Pretty demonic behavior if you ask me.....
And as for that name change from Sweet* to Cory Radisson?
Buffy:
"You got a name?"
"I've got a hundred."
Thanks for making me see that scene in a new light, Robert!
* The name of Sweet was never mentioned during the episode. However, there was a screen credit for the "Sweet Makeup", so fans called the demon Mr. Sweet. This is one time when an end credit does matter in Toobworld......
Labels: As Seen On TV, Blogmates, By Any Other Name, Hall of Fame, Life During Prime-Time, Missing Links, O'Bservations, Online TV, Recastaways, Tele-Folks Directory
AS SEEN ON TV: SANSA STARK
Winterfell & King's Landing, Westeros, Mondas
Sansa Stark is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. She is played by starring cast member Sophie Turner and débuts in the first episode of the first season. She is betrothed to King Joffrey Baratheon. She adopted the direwolf Lady but Lady was executed following a dispute between Joffrey and Sansa's sister Arya. She was initially thrilled at her betrothal but has since experienced Joffrey's cruelty and watched the execution of her father Eddard Stark on his orders. She is a captive of House Lannister in King's Landing.
Sansa Stark is the eldest daughter and second child of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. She has three brothers (Robb, Bran and Rickon), a half-brother (Jon Snow) and a younger sister (Arya). She is good at sewing and embroidering. She likes poetry and songs and dreams of being a good Queen like Cersei Lannister. She has the Tully coloring like most of her siblings. She is often seen in contrast with her sister, Arya Stark.
DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF WESEN
I've always been amused by how we can look at mice as heroes in cartoons, and yet we put out poison and set traps to kill them in real life. And that proved to be an example of life during prime-time in the series 'Grimm'....
The Mausehertz (or Mauzhertz) are a wesen species that resembled a rodent-human hybrid in its natural state. Monroe suggested that many of the early cartoonists were Mausehertz who used their talents in animation to sway public opinion to be favorable towards the mouse-folk. That's why we cheer on Jerry, Mighty Mouse, Speedy Gonzalez, Pixie & Dixie.....
And Mickey Mouse.
So this probably means that the televersion of Walt Disney was a Mausehertz.
Here are a couple of pictures of Walt Disney in which he looks somewhat mousey.....
For Earth Prime-Time, Walt Disney was in the League of Themselves, portraying his own televersion. The appearances to his credit of course include his hosting duties for 'The Wonderful World Of Color' in which he practiced his serlinguistic skills. There was at least one episode of 'The Jack Benny Show' and I think he may have appeared in the opening episode for 'The Mickey Mouse Club'.
As for the portrayal of Disney by Len Cariou in a TV biopic about Annette Funicello, that would be set in an alternate TV dimension, probably the one for the TV movies of the week.
Labels: As Seen On TV, Hall of Fame, La Triviata, League of Themselves, Life During Prime-Time, Missing Links, Splainin 2 Do, Tele-Folks Directory
AS SEEN ON TV: THE GREYJOY SIBLINGS
THEON AND YARA GREYJOY
Alfie Allen as Theon
Gemma Whalen as Yara
Theon - The Iron Islands, Winterfell
Yara - The Iron Islands
Both - Westeros, Mondas
Theon Greyjoy is a major character in 'Game of Thrones'. He is played by starring cast member Alfie Allen and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Theon Greyjoy is the heir of Lord Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands. He has been a hostage of House Stark since his father's failed uprising against King Robert Baratheon. Despite his status he is a close friend to Robb Stark.
Theon is the only surviving son of Lord Balon Greyjoy, the ruler of the Iron Islands. The Iron Islands rose in rebellion against the Iron Throne and were crushed in a war led by King Robert Baratheon and Lord Eddard Stark. The ironborn surrendered and Balon was allowed to remain lord paramount of the isles on the condition that Theon remain a hostage and ward of Eddard Stark. Despite his status as a hostage at Winterfell, Theon has been treated well by the Starks. He and Robb Stark are best friends. Theon is a skilled archer.
YARA GREYJOY
Yara Greyjoy is a recurring character in 'Game of Thrones'. She is played by guest star Gemma Whelan and debuts in the second episode of the second season. Yara Greyjoy is an ironborn, Theon Greyjoy's elder sister and his only surviving sibling. Yara was raised at the Greyjoy stronghold of Pyke. She is a fierce warrior and commands her own longship.
Yara is Theon Greyjoy's elder sister and his only surviving sibling; his two older brothers were killed during the Greyjoy Rebellion. Whilst Theon has been a ward and hostage of the Starks to guarantee his father's good behaviour, Yara has been raised at the Greyjoy stronghold of Pyke. She is a fierce warrior and commands her own longship, to the disquiet of some of the ironborn who hold that women should not fight or command men in battle.
With the introduction of Yara in the second episode of Season Two, we now have another difference between Toobworld and BookWorld:
In the books Yara is called Asha Greyjoy, but her name was changed in the TV series; possibly to prevent confusion with Osha.
Labels: As Seen On TV, Book 'em, By Any Other Name, Game of the Name, Life During Prime-Time, Online TV, Theories of Relateeveety
"GRIMM" FINDINGS: VIEW A LENZ DARKLY
I came late to 'Grimm'; I've only been watching for the last month or so - whenever "Three Coins And A Fuchsbau" first aired. I don't know why I resisted sampling it - the premise (so far) seems perfect for the expansion of Toobworld, with the many species of humanoid creatures known as wesen.
To make its mythos fully a part of Toobworld, we should be able to find other TV shows that unofficial examples of the 'Grimm' creatures, in much the same way we look for quantum leapers in other shows (usually to splain away recastaways.)
This doesn't mean we have to see these wesen in their native state. Within the episodes of 'Grimm', we don't see them transform unless they are among their own kind, or when they're in the presence of the "Grimm", Nick Burkhardt.
Pozz'ble candidates to be wesen-folk in other TV shows don't have to be part of the main cast. They could be recurring characters, or guest stars, or they could even be "atmosphere people" in the background (like my friend Ray Amell, whose characters could all be of the Mausehertz species.)
RAY AMELL & TWO STEWARDESSES FROM 'PAN AM'
(PROBABLY A MAUSEHERTZ?)
With that in mind, I'd like to suggest the first candidate to be a wesen in Toobworld, outside of 'Grimm':
MRS. LINDA CAVANAUGH
'LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT'
"GUILT"
The episode "Guilt" aired on NBC March 29, 2002. Here's the basic plot summary:
When ADA Cabot is faced with a reluctant witness in a child molestation case, she goes above and beyond the normal scope of duty in her search for evidence to convict the serial abuser. But her passion supercedes her compliance with the law as she misrepresents herself to Detectives Benson and Stabler to bring them into an illegal search of the traumatized boy's home -- jeopardizing not only her case, but the careers of all involved. SVU Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly is faced with the frustrating task of bringing Cabot in line to preserve the integrity of the Special Victims Unit.
(From TVRage and TV.com)
One only has to see the passion in Kay Lenz' performance as a grieving mother protecting her son's reputation as he lay in a coma. There is a feline fury in her face reminiscent of a mother lion guarding her cub.
I wish I could share a video of this scene, or at the very least a frame grab, but I only have this "captcha" of Ms. Lenz from a YouTube video about ADA Alex Cabot in that same episode. (The clip cuts away from Mrs. Cavanaugh after only a second to the next scene.)
So who do you think could be a wesen from 'Grimm', but found in another TV show?
Mr. French of 'Family Affair' (as a Jägerbär)?
Simka Gravas of 'Taxi' (as a Seltenvogel)?
Cosmo Kramer of 'Seinfeld' (as a Ziegevolk)?
I'd like to hear your suggestions!
Labels: As Seen On TV, By Any Other Name, La Triviata, Life During Prime-Time, Missing Links, Splainin 2 Do, Tele-Folks Directory, Wish-Craft
AS SEEN ON TV: RENLY BARATHEON
RENLY BARATHEON
Storm's End & King's Landing, Westeros, Mondas
From "Game Of Thrones Wiki":
Renly Baratheon is a recurring character in Game of Thrones. He is played by guest star Gethin Anthony and debuts in the third episode of the first season. Renly is a younger son of House Baratheon, who is the Lord of Storm's End and has served on the small council as Master of Laws. Following the death of his oldest brother King Robert Baratheon, Renly claims the Iron Throne for himself, contesting the claims of his nephew Joffrey Baratheon and his older brother Stannis Baratheon.
For his personal sigil, Renly has altered the original color scheme of the Baratheon sigil. Instead of the black crowned stag on a yellow field, Renly's banner displays a golden crowned stag a a field of green, a nod to the color scheme of his main supporters, House Tyrell.
Renly is the son of Steffon Baratheon. Steffon was the Head of House Baratheon and Lord of Storm's End. Renly has two older brothers Robert and Stannis. Steffon died when the boys were young and Robert inherited his titles. Robert led a rebellion against King Aerys II Targaryen, deposing and replacing him as the King on the Iron Throne. He made Renly the Lord of Storm's End following his victory. Renly serves Robert as Master of Laws on the King's small council in King's Landing. He is fourth in line to the throne, behind his nephews Joffrey and Tommen and his older brother Stannis.
THE TITANIC IN THE TOOBWORLD TIMELINE
Within the world of the Toob, the sinking of the RMS Titanic must be considered a fixed point in Time. It has to happen, despite the best efforts of misguided time travelers, because the deaths of those 1500 people are important to the continuation of the timeline. Certain individuals in History, mostly the non-famous, have been rescued from a pre-ordained death (the family in the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Fires Of Pompeii", many characters encountered in 'Quantum Leap'), and the obliteration of their deaths have not had any ramifications on the timeline. But for whatever reason, the continued existence of these poor souls in History would.
Phineas Bogg:
The first thing we have to do is find out how much time we have.
Jeffrey Jones:
Are you crazy? We've got to stop this ship!
Jeffrey, look...
Over a thousand people are gonna die.
We can stop it. We can make it so it never happened.
That's not what's wrong.
How can you say that?
I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes history's cruel.
There's, there's wars, disasters, injustices,
but some of those things,
no matter how much you want them not to happen,
are supposed to happen.
But the Titanic...
Is a terrible tragedy, but it's going to happen.
It was in my guidebook; you learned it in school.
We can't change that. But we can find out why the Omni's red.
Maybe somebody's on board that isn't supposed to be.
Maybe we can save somebody important before it goes down.
No! We can save them all!
No, we can't.
('Voyagers!)
The Titanic of the main Toobworld is the one that appears in every TV series which features it. The differences in the recastaways of the historical figures is due to their presentation as being the viewpoint of the fictional characters who encounter them. (Even if those fictional characters appear in the shot, we are seeing what they see.)
The Titanic as seen in the three TV movies or mini-series - "Titanic", "S.O.S. Titanic", and the new "Titanic" - are each relegated to a different TV dimension, in much the same way as had been done for historical figures like Presidents Kennedy, Washington, and Lincoln.
BCnU.......
Labels: As Seen On TV, La Triviata, Life During Prime-Time, O'Bservations, Tele-Folks Directory, Tele-Quotes, TV timeline
TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY - PASSENGERS ON THE TITANIC
The sinking of the Titanic has been a fascination for the television medium since perhaps the medium began. (Definitely since before I was born - in May of 1955, 'You Are There' visited that fateful day in 1912.)
As we are seeing now with the collapse of the World Trade Center, fictional characters took their place among the real people in many different depictions of the Titanic's sinking. Here is a list of just some of them:
'UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS'
Lady Marjorie Bellamy
Lord Southwold
Marion Worsely
Miss Roberts
(Lady Marjorie's personal maid was the only survivor of the four)
'DOWNTON ABBEY'
Patrick Crawley
(The heir to the family fortune may have survived, but was believed dead)
'TIME TUNNEL'
Dr. Doug Phillips
Dr. Tony Newman
Althea Hall
(All survived)
'VOYAGERS!'
Phineas Bogg
Jeffrey Jones
Olivia Dunn (another Voyager)
Suzanne Brandes
the "Mona Lisa"
Haggerty and his two henchmen
(It appears they perished.)
'CAPTAINS AND THE KINGS'
Harry Zieff
Cara Leslie
(Mr. Zieff sacrificed his life to save that of Miss Leslie.)
'ONE STEP BEYOND'
Eric Farley
Grace Montgomery
(Eric perished, but managed to get his fiance Grace into a lifeboat.)
'NIGHT GALLERY'
(A 'Lone Survivor' is found in the North Atlantic, three years after the Titanic sank. He is in a lifeboat and dressed in woman's clothing. It becomes clear he is a soul trapped forever to pay for his cowardice. Although not named, this could be the soul of J. Bruce Ismay.....)
'SUPERNATURAL'
A new timeline was created when Balthazar changed history by preventing the ship from sinking. Fate then stepped in, killing everyone who should have died on that voyage.
The Ninth Incarnation of the Doctor (although his Fourth Incarnation denied it.)
(The Time Lord survived)
The Daniels Family never boarded as they were going to, due to the Doctor.
There may be more. What you should do is keep an eye on the blog "The Flaming Nose". (Link to the Left, me mateys!) My blogging buddette Lisa has several of these episodes linked in a series of posts so that you can see them for yourself. (But it gives nothing away to reveal that the ship still sinks at the end.)
Labels: As Seen On TV, Game of the Name, La Triviata, Linkin' Logs, Tele-Folks Directory, TV Movies, TV timeline, Who's On TV
AS SEEN ON TV BONUS: THE TITANIC
It was one hundred years ago exactly this weekend......
THE RMS TITANIC
AS DEPICTED BY:
"No Greater Love"
Alternate (TBD)
The sinking of the RMS Titanic occurred on the night of 14 April through to the morning of 15 April 1912 in the north Atlantic Ocean, four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at 23:40 (ship's time) on Sunday, 14 April 1912. She sank two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 (05:18 GMT) on Monday, 15 April, causing the deaths of over 1,500 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
Titanic had received several warnings of sea ice during 14 April but was travelling near her maximum speed when she collided with the iceberg. The ship suffered a glancing blow that buckled her starboard (right) side and opened five of her sixteen compartments to the sea. Titanic had been designed to stay afloat with four flooded compartments but not five, and the crew soon realised that the ship was going to sink. They used rocket flares and radio ("wireless") messages to attract help as the passengers were put into lifeboats. However, there were far too few lifeboats available and many were not filled to their capacity due to a poorly managed evacuation.
The ship broke up as she sank with over a thousand passengers and crew members still aboard. Almost all those who jumped or fell into the water died from hypothermia within minutes. RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene about an hour and a half after the sinking and had rescued the last of the survivors in the lifeboats by 09:15 on 15 April, little more than 24 hours after Titanic's crew had received their first warnings of drifting ice. The disaster caused widespread public outrage over the lack of lifeboats, lax shipping regulations, and the unequal treatment of the different passenger classes aboard the ship. Enquiries set up in the wake of the disaster recommended sweeping changes to maritime regulations. This led in 1914 to the establishment of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which still governs maritime safety today.
The Titanic is one of the members of the "Proto-Hall", the fore-runner to the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame......
Labels: As Seen On TV, Book 'em, Hall of Fame, Life During Prime-Time, Online TV, Recastaways, TV Movies, Twipped from the Headlines, Wikipediaphile
AS SEEN ON TV: HODOR


Term Limits America PAC Endorses Gary Glenn for Michigan Senate
Fairfax, VA—Term Limits America PAC (TLA-PAC) urged Michigan Republican primary voters to support Gary Glenn for U.S. Senate.
Philip Blumel, chairman of TLA-PAC called Glenn, “A leading proponent for term limits who will be a strong advocate for citizen run government when he gets to Washington, D.C.”
Glenn, unlike his opponents in the race, signed the U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge which reads, “I pledge that as a member of Congress I will cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits Amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit.”
The U.S. Term Limits Constitutional Amendment has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and the House of Representatives by Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ). This session of Congress marks the first time in nearly twenty years that a serious term limits bill has appeared in both Houses with co-sponsorship.
Blumel noted, “The dysfunction in Washington, D.C. has never been greater, and people have had enough of politics as usual. Gary Glenn will be a break from the cozy politics of the past that have led our nation astray.”
According to the last nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Public Opinion Dynamics for Fox News in September 2010, the issue enjoys wide bi-partisan support. The poll showed that 78 percent of Americans support congressional term limits, including 74 percent independents and 74 percent of the nation’s Democrats.
Blumel concluded, “America is in trouble. Career politicians, like Peter Hoekstra, have let the people down. It is time to limit their terms and return control of our nation to people who have actually had to create a job, earn an honest paycheck and pay a mortgage. It is time for a constitutional amendment limiting congressional terms, and the first step in getting one is electing a supporter of the issue in Gary Glenn.”
The term limits amendment bills would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate, and ratification by 38 states in order to become part of the Constitution.
Labels: Gary Glenn, Term Limits
Both Hoekstra and Durant in this race are against term limits. Term limits were a major rally cry at my first TEA Party in 2009 and still are to this day. With an approval rating of 11% you will still see 90% of Congress re-elected because they have been in there for over 20 years and have built up the war chests from lobby money by giving out pork barrel money paid for by our taxes. It's a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped. We do not need anymore career politicians, but servant leaders! Thank you Gary Glenn for standing for Term Limits!


Nick Wilson
An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition
In this best-selling introductory textbook, Janet Holmes and Nick Wilson examine the role of language in a variety of social contexts, considering both how language works and how it can be used to signal and interpret various aspects of social identity. Divided into three sections, this book explains basic sociolinguistic concepts in the light of classic approaches as well as introducing more recent research. This fifth edition has been revised and updated throughout using key concepts and examples to guide the reader through this fascinating area, including: a new chapter on identity that reflects the latest research; a brand new companion website which is fully cross-referenced within this book, and which includes and video and audio materials, interactive activities and links to useful websites; updated and revised examples and exercises which include new material from Tanzania, Wales, Paraguay and Timor-Leste; fully updated further reading and references sections. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics is the essential introductory text for all students of sociolinguistics and a splendid point of reference for students of English language studies, linguistics and applied linguistics.


« The Glorious Gloria Explains It All
On Presidents, Apron Strings, and Second Shifts. »
October 16, 2012 by Shannon Kelley
The other day, in the midst of a meeting of my paper’s editorial staff, I found myself waving my Feminist card in a manner reminiscent of when I used to referee kids’ soccer games, and had to deploy the whistle-yellow-card combo. (More often than not, the recipients of said cards were not kids at all, but the grown-ups coaching them. But I digress.)
Anyway, back to the meeting: that week’s cover story was about the local congressional race, which is hotly disputed, and heavily watched, as recent redistricting means the seat is decidedly In Play. The longtime incumbent is a woman, a Democrat, in her 70s. And the race has been a slugfest. Thanks to the flow of cash from corporations — um, I mean people? — special interest groups, the national parties, and the campaigns themselves, one can hardly catch a post-season baseball game (go Giants!) without being subjected to a slimy back and forth of ads. (Is this what it’s like to live in a swing state? My deepest sympathies.) So, long story short: this particular cover story was about this race, and the cover design, in lieu of photographs, used an illustration — two toylike robot bodies throwing punches at each other, with caricatures for heads.
Stay with me: point coming soon.
We were discussing the story when an editor, a man I deeply respect and tend to agree with on most issues, said, “I have a problem with the cover. She looks so young! It’s like we’re showing favoritism.”
It was at this point, dear reader, that the whistle was deployed. “Would you say that about a man?” I asked — at which point a chorus of rabble-rabbles erupted, ultimately resulting in my never getting around to making my point. (I should add: I enjoy a hearty rabble-rabble session as much as the next editor. In fact, I brought it up precisely because I love a good rabble-rabble. You know, and because I did have a point.) The caricatures made both candidates look cuter, more cartoonlike, and yes, younger, than their real selves (such is the destiny of a caricature), but what bothered me was the implication that to make a woman look younger is to give her an advantage. Not an actress or model, mind you: a politician. (Nor, I suppose it’s worth saying, a woman in a political battle against another woman. Her challenger is a man.) That, for women, what trumps everything is appearance. That age can only be a disadvantage; that to look old is the worst handicap of all. And that, if one wants to help an older woman out, give her the proverbial leg up, the kindest thing one can do is to deploy Photoshop’s airbrush tool.
Now, I don’t think this editor was actually saying any of those things, but I do think that within his off-the-cuff remark was crystallized the message women are getting, at all times and from every conceivable direction. There is an entire industry devoted to the “fight” against aging. (As though there’s a chance of winning that battle. And when you consider the alternative–um, death–do you really want to?) And that industry is a big one. And it is aimed at women. (For aging men, marketers offer Viagra, and pretty much leave it at that.) And it is insidious. Because, for all the newfound opportunity and the plethora of options women now have open to us when it comes to answering the rather significant question of “What Do You Want To Do With Your Life?” (a bounty which, as we’ve written, is generationally new, leaving us without much in the way of roadmaps or role models), we are left to figure it all out against what amounts to a soundtrack of a ticking clock. (Ask any game show or action movie producer how to create suspense, and the tick-tock is it. In real life, instead of suspense, we get stress. Which, you know, leads to premature aging. But I digress. Again.) As I’ve written before, I believe it all comes together in a most counterintuitive way: our fear of aging is almost worse the younger we are. After all, when we’re told that our value does nothing but go down as our age creeps up, every day that passes is a marker on a road to invisibility. Irrelevance. Tick tock.
Is it any wonder preventative Botox is a thing?
A couple of weeks ago, I was hanging out with a friend of mine, who was talking about how she’s taken to pointing out men who are aging badly–“dumpy looking dudes,” I believe were the words she used–to her husband, because it irked her how much pressure women are under to look good and “age well,” and she wanted him to share in the misery. While I wouldn’t say that’s the best strategy I could conceive of, it’s certainly… a strategy. But I’m not sure a redistribution of the pressure to Anti-Age is the best we can do. What is the best we can do? I’m not sure. None of us wants to look old; and I have no doubt we all appreciate a photo–or drawing–of ourselves that makes us look younger than our years. But it’s worth thinking about why. And surely blowing the whistle every once in a while can’t hurt.
Posted in being judged, culture, feminism, the ticking clock, why women? | Tagged aging, agism, airbrushing, anti-aging industry, botox, feminism, feminist, political campaign season, politics, publishing, so many options, What do you want to do with your life?, youth | Leave a Comment


1 in 10 female high school students smoke cigarettes
By Lee Hyo-sik
One out of every 10 female high-school students smoke cigarettes habitually, ringing alarm bells at schools and with parents in search of an effective way to discourage young women from picking up the habit.
According to a study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHSA), Wednesday, the smoking rate among female high-school students stood at 10.2 percent in 2009, up from 2.4 percent in 1992. The rate of female middle school students rose to 5.1 percent from 2.8 percent over the same period.
Smokers are defined as those lighting up at least once a month. About 7.4 percent of adult women were found to smoke regularly in 2009, up from 5.1 percent in 1992.
“I am pretty positive that more young women smoke in reality than the official statistics indicate because many are reluctant to publically admit they are smokers. Also, an even larger proportion of female students now smoke cigarettes than in 2009,” a KIHSA fellow Suh Mee-kyung said.
Suh said female adolescents are easily influenced by outside factors, stressing that if they are encouraged by teachers, parents, friends and anti-smoking campaigners, they are more likely to quit before reaching adulthood.
“The government first needs to introduce a monitoring system to understand how and where young female students learn to smoke cigarettes, in order to draw up an effective anti-smoking policy. Additionally, it should be made much tougher than it currently is for them to purchase cigarettes,” the fellow said.
She added a nationwide full-fledged anti-smoking campaign should be launched to increase the awareness among adolescents of the cigarette’s negative effects on their health.
Meanwhile, the study found a strong correlation between female adolescents’ tendency to smoke and parents’ wealth, occupation and education. The lower the socioeconomic background of the parents, the more likely their children will smoke.
leehs@koreatimes.co.kr More articles by this reporter


Ellen Cheshire
Close Reading: Trainspotting
Last year saw the publication of Illuminate Publishing's textbook WJEC Eduqas Film Studies for A Level and AS for which I wrote a number chapters, inlcuding the Film Form section. I included a number of case studies - but this one didn't make the final cut, due to space restrictions.
By analysing a scene drawing on all its component elements: cinematography, mise-en-scène, sound, editing and performance you can discover further layers of meaning.
This might be of use/interest to those studying A Level film. Buy the text book here.
Trainspotting 00:16:29 – 00:17:25
d. Danny Boyle
The scene begins with an overhead shot of a busy bar, the camera moves up to a higher level and over the heads of the central characters in once continuous movement, which then zooms to a head and shoulder shot of Begbie (Carlyle). It is filmed from eye-level and is subjective, as though we, the viewer, are drawing in a chair to join them. Begbie placed in the centre of the frame to show that he is the most important character here.
The camera movements and editing combine to create constant movement, which mirrors Carlyle’s performance. His face is animated with large movements around this eyes and mouth, he is always moving his body and gesturing. He takes up more physical space than the others, with his right knee bent up and out over Tommy’s (McKidd) leg. The others are listening, no other character speaks in this scene. Their body movements are smaller and their micro expressions will betray many emotions from boredom to irritation to concern. There is also a manipulation of narrative time through the use of a flashback (a two-second shot of Begbie playing snooker).
The props are all carefully considered, here the table is littered with empty glasses, indicating that they’ve been drinking for some time. From this we can deduce that they are likely to be drunk, particularly Begbie who is talking loudly and dominating the conversation. The diegetic sound of the chatting of the drinkers that accompanied the overhead establishing shot of the pub, becomes quieter when we move into Begbie’s monologue.
As the group are placed close together, we assume they are friends and that the five men are the most important characters as they are all face-on, with the two women cramped at the edge of the frame in the shade, wearing dark colours. They are wearing similar styles of clothing (costumes), sporty casual, and they all seem to smoke, which brings them together socially.
As well as what we can see on screen, there are also off screen spaces to consider. Begbie’s story ends with him throwing an empty glass over his shoulder on to the crowd below, although we don’t see it land, we know from earlier that there is height distance from which the glass will cause damage, and people below who are likely to get hurt. This shot is held in freezeframe for four seconds, before cutting to another freezeframe of Tommy’s reaction, which again is held for four seconds. All diegetic sound stops, and the silence is filled with Renton’s (MacGregor) non-diegetic voice-over narration, which reminds us that we are being told this story from one character’s narrative viewpoint, and that Renton remains the central character.
Studying a scene for all the hidden ‘clues’ left by the filmmakers to add a further level of meaning, offers us a shorthand to what is happening beneath the surface, what has narratively preceded this scene, and what might be to come.
Leni Riefenstahl - documentary filmmaker or propagandist?
Jane Campion - 25th Anniversary
Early Women Filmmakers
#52FilmsByWomen - 4th Year
Alice in Wonderland: Adventures into the Uncanny - part 4
Marvellous Mira Nair
Perfect Night In
PR, Marketing & Fundraising
Writing & Research


Allison Bowsher - May 19
The seat next to Prince William was not left empty for Diana
‘The seat in front of the Queen is always left empty.’
UPDATE: Contrary to wide reporting, the empty seat next to Prince William was not in honour of the Princes’ late mother, Diana. Daily Mail reporter Rebecca English cleared things up with the statement, “Btw – I’ve seen some reports about the spare seat by Prince William in the chapel as having being left in memory of Princess Diana. It wasn’t empty for that reason. The seat in front of the Queen is always left empty.”
So there you have it. It was lovely while we all believed it.
EARLIER: Saturday’s wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was truly a joyful celebration. The happy couple spent most of the one-hour ceremony stealing glances at one another and exchanging private smiles and words of love. Even with all the pomp and circumstance, Harry and Meghan’s wedding was full of moments of genuine affection for one another and all those who came to celebrate with them, as well as those they’ve lost. In one of the most touching aspects of the wedding, Harry and Meghan chose to honour the late Princess Diana by leaving a seat open at the front of the church. Oh yeah, we’re definitely crying now.
Eagle eyed wedding viewers may have noticed that the front row included an empty seat next to Prince William. This wasn’t a mistake, but in fact a placeholder for Harry and William’s mother; where she would be sitting if she were still alive today.
Harry and William were both incredibly close to their mother, a woman who was celebrated for helping to push the British monarchy into the 20th Century. Diana was beloved worldwide for bringing a relatability to the Royal Family through her charitable work and natural charisma and empathy when speaking with the public. She set the standard and it’s a high one.
When thinking of Diana’s untimely death, one of the first images to come to mind is that of Prince Harry and Prince William walking solemnly behind their mother’s casket as it was driven through London.
Saturday’s image of the boys, now married men, smiling and looking happy is a welcome sight for those who mourned Diana along with the Royal Family. It’s difficult to not be choked up thinking about how excited Diana would be to see both her sons marry for love.
Not only do the brothers’ smiling faces cause us to shed some happy tears, but seeing Diana’s longtime friend Sir Elton John also in attendance and continuing to support Harry and William makes us feel even more like Diana’s presence was felt on Harry’s big day.
Not having your parent on your wedding day–or really any day–is incredibly painful, but seeing the empty seat for Diana truly touched us, in all the right ways.
Missed anything, or just want to relive it all again? Watch the one-hour etalk prime-time special “etalk Presents – Harry & Meghan: Happily Ever After,” recapping the highlights and unforgettable moments of the historic day, airing Saturday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO.
Tags: Meghan Markle prince harry Princess Diana royal wedding trending


Eliciting Altruism
Difficulty: Moderate | Frequency: 1x/month	|	Duration: Variable
Research suggests that humans have a strong propensity for kindness and generosity, and that kindness improves the health and happiness of the giver, not only of the receiver. We’ll often be kind to others even at a cost or risk to ourselves—the definition of altruism. But we don't always act on our altruistic instincts—barriers can get in the way.
Fortunately, studies have also identified ways to overcome these barriers to altruism. Here are three research-based strategies for eliciting altruism from yourself or others.
How long this practice takes you will vary depending on which strategy you choose, but make it a goal to follow one of these strategies at least once a month.
Below are three different strategies that are effective at encouraging kindness and generosity. You can try them individually or in combination with one another. Click on the link at the end of each strategy for more detailed instructions on how to perform it.
There are many different creative ways that you can put these principles into practice. We encourage you to share your experience with them in the Comments & Reviews section below.
Create reminders of connectedness. Research suggests that when people are reminded of human connection, they behave more altruistically, even when those reminders of connection are very subtle. Something as simple as a quote evoking shared goals, words like “community,” or a picture conveying warmth or friendships—they can all have an impact. Take a moment to look around your home, office, or classroom and consider how you could add words, images, or objects that communicate connection. For more on this technique, see the Reminders of Connectedness practice.
Put a human face on a problem. Research shows that humans are more likely to want to help others if they see them as individuals, not just abstract statistics. To motivate people to give their time or resources to a cause, like aiding in disaster relief, present them with a personal story of a single, identifiable victim, ideally accompanied by a photo. This will help them feel a greater sense of personal connection and concern, especially if they are of a similar age to the victim or have other things in common. It is important not to overwhelm others with too many stories or facts—they can have the paradoxical effect of impeding the urge to give. For more on this technique, see the practice about Putting a Human Face on Suffering.
Encourage identification with “out-group” members. One of the greatest barriers to altruism is that of group difference: We feel much less obligated to help someone if he or she doesn’t seem to be a member of our “in-group”—we may even feel hostile toward members of an “out-group.” But research suggests that who we see as part of our “in-group” can be malleable. That’s why a key to promoting altruism is emphasizing similarities that cut across group boundaries. On the broadest level, this could mean remembering that regardless of our political, cultural, or religious affiliations, we are all human beings and share common human experiences. For more on this technique, see the Shared Identity practice.
Evidence It That Works
Pavey, L., Greitemeyer, T., & Sparks, P. (2011). Highlighting relatedness promotes prosocial motives and behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(7), 905-917.
People who read words associated with human connectedness were more interested in volunteering for a charity and were more likely to donate money to a charity; similarly, people who wrote about a time they felt a close bond with someone else expressed greater intentions to help others in general.
Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2003). Helping the victim or helping a victim: Altruism and identifiability. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 26(1), 5–16.
People were more willing to compensate individuals who had lost money when the identities of those individuals were revealed, and they donated more to a charity when they knew that their donation would benefit a specific family that had been selected from a list.
Levine, M., Prosser, A., Evans, D., & Reicher, S. (2005). Identity and emergency intervention: How social group membership and inclusiveness of group boundaries shape helping behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(4), 443-453.
People were more likely to help a fallen jogger when the jogger was a fellow fan of the same soccer team than when the jogger was a fan of a rival team (as indicated by their shirt). But when people were reminded of a shared identity with the fallen rival (being a soccer fan), they were more likely to help that person than they were to help a non-fan.
Although people generally want and try to be altruistic, other concerns—such as feelings of competition or allegiance to an “in-group”—sometimes stand in the way. Reminding people to think about social connectedness, see victims as real people rather than abstract statistics, and feel a sense of common humanity can help them overcome some of the obstacles to altruism and allow feelings of care and compassion to shine through. These techniques can all trigger the caretaking impulses that seem to be part of humans’ evolutionary heritage.
This practice is part of Greater Good in Action, a clearinghouse of the best research-tested methods for increasing happiness, resilience, kindness, and connection, created by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and HopeLab.


Dessert and a Side of Cynicism (New York reflectio...
The Door (portion Mishpatim)
Leap Before You Look (portion Yitro)
The Narrative of the Night (Portion Bo)
Dessert and a Side of Cynicism (New York reflections)
I spent most of this week in New York. I went to accompany Rosa on the first leg of her journey to Jerusalem, where she is now starting a semester of high school on NFTY’s Eisendrath International Exchange (EIE) program. I will be writing more on this in the weeks to come; it’s a fabulous adventure for her, and for me, a taste of life as an empty-nester. But that is a much longer story for another day.
After the big farewell at JFK airport, I spent the rest of my time in New York wandering the city, enjoying its abundant sights and unique vitality, and the company of my cousin Liz, who hosted me. She has a beautiful apartment on the Upper East Side and is currently covering the crime beat for the New York Times, so I got to see quite another side of the city through her eyes.
Today, though, I want to write about two things: dessert and rock opera.
First, dessert.
For lunch on Wednesday, I went to a superb sushi place in a hard-to-find basement near the UN building. The meal was terrific, but the most memorable part of the experience began when the server asked if I wanted dessert. I’d spent much of the morning walking—probably three or four miles—in bitterly cold temperatures, so I figured I had earned the right to finish with something rich and sweet.
The server mentioned a special, not on the menu, and strongly endorsed it. I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was (it had a long Japanese name), but I decided to give it a try. After such a tasty meal, I thought I couldn’t go wrong with her recommendation.
Well, as soon she brought my order out, I realized that I had unwittingly entered into a different world, a haute cuisine realm of dessert, that I had recently read about in an Adam Gopnik piece in the food issue of the New Yorker. Gopnik describes new trends in desserts, originating with several young chefs in Spain but now making their way to America (OK, not the Boise part of America, but New York and LA). The gist of his piece: according to these pioneering Spanish chefs, dessert has, for far too long, been limited to butter and chocolate and cream and sugar and eggs—in other words, sweets. Today, finally, edgy and radical pastry chefs are experimenting with different tastes and textures.
Now it was my turn to experience that experiment because my “special” dessert at Sakagura turned out to be a cup of piquant chili-inflected, sake-flavored sorbet surrounded by mounds of transparent peppery, semi-sweet gelatinous stuff. Last month, when I read about this trend, it struck me as silly. I thought to myself, “This foodie fad will never come to Boise—and I won’t miss it” (unlike many New York culinary tends that I do, indeed, miss). Well, it turns out first hand experience confirms my initial instincts. All in all, I must say, following a gorgeous lunch with a rice-wine and hot pepper flavored sorbet with mucous-like accompaniment does not really seem like such a good idea. I’m glad I got to try it, but let’s face it: there is a reason that, for centuries, people have loved things like cheesecake and torte and chocolate ice cream and cupcakes and crème brulee.
The lesson I draw from this: while the courage to take risks is generally a laudable thing, not all change is good. Some things—classic desserts among them—are just fine as they are and need not be tampered with, thank you. I am an unrepentant liberal—in my Judaism and in my politics and even in my food choices (I am a pescetarian who is very thankful for advances in healthy eating—my grandfather’s steady diet of high-fat Ashkenazi Jewish food probably contributed to his dying of a stroke at the age of 69). But there are occasions when the conservatives are right, and the best thing we can do is conserve venerable traditions. I want change that I can believe in—but I also like a nice piece of pie every now and then.
Now, on to Rock Opera. . .
Later that same evening, I went to the 7pm show of American Idiot at the St. James Theater. I’m not normally a big Broadway musical fan, but this was something different—a rock opera based on the eponymous smash hit album by the band Green Day. I love that record, and have been a big Green Day fan for many years. Best of all, the band’s guitar player, singer/songwriter, and kohl-eyed charismatic front man, Billie Joe Armstrong is playing lead role in the show this month. He is “St. Jimmy,” a malevolent modern pied piper dispensing drugs and sexual favors—and his rock star verve infuses the show.
American Idiot is esentially a rock opera in the style of The Who’s Tommy or even the later play, Rent—which is to say, almost all music with very little dialogue. That is fine by me. The plot tells the story of three budding anarchist kids, who are deeply disaffected by the culture of their suburban parents in the aftermath of the election of George W. Bush and 9/11. The narrative is, by all accounts, a bit thin in places, but the show is fantastically staged and explodes with energy.
Mostly, as I watched it and then reflected on it afterwards, it struck me that American Idiot is this generation’s equivalent of Hair. Both are anti-war, coming of age stories filled with sex and drugs and rock and roll. But an abyss stands between these two plays, and that abyss reflects the enormous changes that have occurred in the four decades that have passed between them.
In Hair, sex is liberating, and drugs open and expand the mind. In the much bleaker American Idiot, sex leads to teen pregnancy and a kind of dead end life, while drugs bring death and disaster. But the biggest difference lies in the contrasting endings of the shows. Hair is about the power of youth to change the world, and it concludes with an enormous gathering of anti-war protesters singing: “Let the sun shine in. . .” (as a high school student, I dressed up in “hippy clothes” and hung out at the Mall in Washington, DC for the filming of the movie version of that scene). Today, Hair seems—sometimes it is—naïve and simplistic. And yet, in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the young protestors really did help stop the war.
By contrast, in American Idiot, there is no concerted political action—just anarchy, anger, and cynicism. Kids rage against the system, but they are, ultimately, helpless. Sex and drugs consume them, and the play ends with the heroes—anti-heroes, really—returning home jaded and broken. Hair is an optimistic play about the power of youth, while American Idiot is a deeply pessimistic parade of the wounded, of young people coming to see themselves are powerless in the face of grim conformist forces. Hair, for all of its youthful hubris, is about changing the world; American Idiot, for all of its edginess, is about being crushed by it.
And yet. . .after watching American Idiot, I left the theater feeling exuberant and startlingly alive. Somehow, the force and vitality of the music, with its thrashing chords, booming bass and drums, and exuberant hooks touched me deeper and lingered longer than the despair of the lyrics and the plot. It struck me that in this manner, rock opera is very much like classical opera, in which the plots are similarly tragic—and secondary. In American Idiot, as in Aida or Madame Butterfly, the music is the thing. I don’t like classical opera at all—I find the style of the singing pretentious and, ultimately, highly irritating (much as classical opera fans would loathe the power chords and distortion of American Idiot). But the two art forms have, I think, more in common than one would suppose at first glance.
And in this, they are like prayer. Rabbis spend inordinate amounts of time debating over tiny disparities in the liturgy, pinning great importance on subtle variations of phrasing. Meanwhile, the people in the pews could care less. They mostly don’t understand the Hebrew anyway, and they find the English translation boring. What moves them is the music—and I’m with them. Words speak to the rational brain but music goes deeper; we feel it in our bodies and it moves our souls.
The music is the thing.
For a great clip from the Broadway show version of American Idiot, see:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGkclalr4fU
The opening section of our Torah portion, Mishpatim, raises some serious challenges for contemporary readers. Last week, we marked the pivotal moment in our people’s history, as we received the Torah at Mount Sinai. What a let down, then—at least at first glance—to pick up just a few lines later with legislation dealing with the treatment of slaves. True, the bondage described here is not the same as that which we endured in Egypt (or that African-Americans suffered in this country), as much as a kind of indentured servitude in which people find themselves obliged to sell their labor for a fixed time to repay their debts. Even so, the opening of the parashah is not what we expect from Torah, and it can be jarring to modern sensibilities.
What, then, do we make of this section? My own inclination is to recognize and celebrate the fact that, on a literal level, these verses point to a notable case of genuine moral progress—and then to re-read the passage metaphorically in search of meaning for today.
Our section starts with Exodus 21:15, which deals with the end of the slave’s prescribed period of servitude: If the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life.
This raises an obvious question: why would someone voluntarily choose to remain a slave? Perhaps the prospect of freedom is just too frightening. As miserable as bondage may be, some may choose it over the heavy burden of autonomy, which entails accepting responsibility for one’s own choices. The Israelites of the wilderness generation fall victim to exactly this fear: terrified by their hard-won liberty, they spend forty years whining to Moses about their desire to return to Egypt.
In light of this, Rashi’s commentary on the beginning of our parashah is fascinating:
Why are those who decide to stay branded in the ear? Because it was the ear that heard God declare at Sinai, “I have brought you out of the house of bondage.”
To which a later commentator, K’li Yakar, adds: And why a doorpost? Because a door was opened for him to go free and he refused to go.”
Who among us has never succumbed to such fear, and thus turned away from a door into great possibilities? All too often, we choose the cage that we know, the prison that has become comfortably familiar, over passing through the portal to unmapped promised lands. Our challenge is to muster the courage to move forward into the unknown. This is terribly difficult, but if we learn from our past and listen, with our ears, for the encouragement of the Holy One, we can enjoy freedom’s fruits.
Let me conclude with a poem by Adrienne Rich, which can also be found in our siddur, Mishkan Tefilah:
Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.
If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.
Things look at you doubly
and you must look back
and let them happen.
If you do not go through
to live worthily
to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely
but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?
The door itself
makes no promises.
It is only a door.
While reading this week’s Torah portion, Yitro, I recalled a recent article by Rush Limbaugh entitled, “The Answer is Conservatism.” The entire piece is, as one would expect, highly critical of President Obama and congressional Democrats, but it was one small detail in his attack on the president’s health care legislation that struck me in light of the parashah. Mr. Limbaugh mocks former Speaker Nancy Pelosi for saying, last March, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” For Rush Limbaugh, this is the height of absurdity.
But is it, really? The notion that we can make important decisions without fully understanding their ramifications is deeply rooted in the Torah; indeed, it is at the heart of our tradition. In Yitro, we reach the climactic moment in our people’s history: the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. As Moses prepares the Israelites for that historic event, he asks them if they are read to commit to following God’s teaching. In an exceptional instance of supreme faith, the people respond in unison: “Na’aseh v’nishmah—We will do it and then we will understand it.” As all of the classic commentators note, the doing comes first. We freely take on the obligations of Torah before we can really comprehend what those obligations entail. We sign the contract without reading the fine print. We pass the bill so that we can find out what is in it.
I suspect that while this modus operandi may, at first, strike us as unusual and even problematic, upon reflection we find that in our own lives, this is how it works with nearly every major decision that we make. Selecting a college, getting married (or not), having (or not having) children, taking (or leaving) a job, moving to a new house or city, choosing to have (or to forego) a major medical procedure—in each of these cases, and in countless others, we make crucial life choices without really grasping their long term consequences. No matter how much we plan, or how much research we do before we act, we simply cannot know what we are really getting ourselves into. Our course at Sinai, Na’aseh v’nishmah—to act, and only afterwards, gradually, come to understand the full implications of our actions—remains the only way to move forward in our personal, professional, and communal lives. In the end, there is no path that does not demand significant leaps of faith.
Our portion, Yitro, reminds us that most of the time, when we proceed with integrity, our leaps will land us on solid ground. While we may wish that this reminder might relieve us of all of our fear at critical junctions, this is, alas, simply not the case. Sometimes, our challenge is to find a way to make the leap despite the fear. But one thing is certain: the only alternative to that frightful leap is a life of utter paralysis. If we cannot muster the courage to act on faith, we end up failing to act at all. To trust in God, in compassionate community, in family and friends, and in ourselves is the only way to grow.
I conclude with two modern takes on Na’aseh v’nishmah. First, an excerpt from W. H. Auden’s magnificent poem, “Leap Before You Look”:
The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.
A solitude ten thousand fathoms deep
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear;
Although I love you, you will have to leap;
Our dream of safety has to disappear.
And for an inspiring rock and roll slant from one of my favorite teachers, Bruce Springsteen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouWEZPkbznQ
This week’s portion, Bo, takes us into the heart of darkness. It opens with the eighth plague—swarms of locusts that darkened the land. Then Egypt is engulfed in a “thick darkness” so palpable that it renders the Egyptians incapable of movement for three days. All of this dark terror builds up to the final plague when, at the stroke of midnight, God strikes down the firstborn in every Egyptian household. At last, as all of Egypt wails in the darkness, Pharaoh “summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, ‘Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you!’”
The darkness of Bo is inseparable from devastation and death. It is, therefore, a source of intense trepidation, not only for the Egyptians, but also for our Israelite ancestors—and for us. When, on the journeys of our lives, we find ourselves cast into dim places, we tend to reach desperately for light. The descent of darkness shatters our illusions of control and reminds us of our own mortality.
Yet Parashat Bo reminds us that darkness is also the incubator of hope, the place where redemption is born. In Egypt, the Jewish people become a nation. We are conceived in the darkness of bondage and delivered in the middle of God’s eternal night of vigil. This ancient poem from the Passover Haggadah recounts our story of miracles fashioned amidst the darkness: Unto God let praise be brought / For the wonders God has wrought / At the solemn hour of midnight.
It is natural to fear the dark. Nightfall is frightening. Still, if we, like our forebears, wish to grow from our experiences, we must learn to embrace the liberating power of darkness. In her book, When the Heart Waits, Sue Monk Kidd urges us to think of the divine dark that descends upon us all as a womb rather than a tomb. She asks: "Could it be that seeking real light comes only by dwelling for a time in the dark? How sad when we don’t incubate the new life pressing to birth inside us. How sad when we cut it short, forcing unformed answers and refusing to hold the tensions of pain. Everything incubates in darkness. Whenever new life grows, darkness is crucial to the process. . . . So why have we made God into a rescuer rather than a midwife?"
Parashat Bo challenges us to imagine God as a midwife, to embrace our night vision. The poet Theodore Roethke writes: “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” In their Egyptian midnight, our terrified ancestors caught their first glimpse of freedom. In our own midnights, we, too, begin to see—but only if we find the faith to hold our ground despite our fear, to wait patiently in the shadows rather than running prematurely for the light.
The Aramaic term for blindness is sagi nahor—literally, “too much light.” Thus does the sacred language of our Talmud reveal a fundamental truth: in order to grow, we need the darkness no less than the daylight. And our tradition has always recognized that just as our Jewish months begin on the darkest nights, under the new moon, so too can our Jewish souls find sustenance in the shadows—if only we can muster the courage to tarry there.
Three months after the Exodus described in Parashat Bo, the Israelites arrive at Mount Sinai. There, too, they encounter thick darkness, in the form of the “dense cloud” that falls upon the mountain. Torah tells us that this is precisely where God is to be found. Moses bravely enters that divine darkness, twice. He returns bearing the tablets inscribed with God’s black fire.
Out of the darkness—through the darkness—comes both liberation and law. Without the night and all of its terrors, there can be no Torah. This is the legacy of Parashat Bo.


TOP STORIES / World / Asia
Attack on body and soul: How do women survive acid attacks?
Five years ago, Nusrat lost her face, her courage and her old life when her husband spilled acid over her. All that remains is endless pain. But the incident has also led to a newly found freedom.
Nusrat was brutally attacked twice: first by her husband who poured acid on her and then - while she was fleeing the room - by her brother-in-law who poured some more. "My clothes dropped off my body and my body was burning," said the young Pakistani woman who stayed in hospital for five months and whose face bears the scars of the incident to this day. "My in-laws often show pictures to my children telling them their mother has turned into a monster," she said.
Every year at least 1500 people become victims of acid attacks worldwide - both women and men - according to aid organizations. But the estimated number of unrecorded cases is probably much higher. In Uganda, for example, 45 percent of the victims are male. The reason for this is often that people are envious of the success, wife or business of others.
However, the fact that women become victims is often linked to relationships or family disputes. "I married into a large family," said Nusrat. "In turn, my brother was engaged to my sister-in-law." But then Nusrat helped her brother get married to the woman he really wanted to marry, instead of her sister-in-law. "That's why I was attacked."
Where women are less worthy
Ann-Christine Woehrl's pictures can be seen in the Munich Museum of Ethnology until January 11, 2015
The German photographer Ann-Christine Woehrl has documented stories like Nusrat's. The 39-year old has visited and portrayed both acid attack and burn victims in countries where women are not always regarded as equals such as India, Pakistan, Uganda, Nepal, Bangladesh and Cambodia, among others. Woehrl's pictures and the stories of the women portrayed are currently being displayed at the Munich Museum for Ethnology.
But there is also Neehari's story. After failing to light a match 49 times, she suceeded in her very last attempt, causing a large part of her body to go up in flames. Her husband had mentally and physically abused her. "He was a sadistic psychopath. One morning he gave me 100 rupees as payment for the night. I was so sad and I couldn't bear it anymore," she said.
And then there is the story of Flavia from Uganda. The 25-year old still doesn't know who attacked her five years ago. "Most people think that it was my ex-boyfriend. But I have no proof. I just want to ask the person: What have I done to you?," she said.
Acid causes skin tissue to melt, often exposing the bones below the flesh, sometimes even dissolving the bone and permanently damaging organs such as nose and ears. Many of the victims become blind. 13 out of 100 patients don't survive an acid attack. And those who survive suffer from never-ending pain as acid continuously disintegrates the cells.
"There is a strength concealed behind the women who first seemed to be weakened by and invisible to society," said the photographer.
12 cents for a life
As a weapon, acid also has symbolic effect as it disfigures its victims. Moreover, it is easily available: in many countries it can be purchased for just a few cents in local shops. "In Bangladesh a bottle costs around 12 cents," said Astrid Bracht from the human rights organization Terre des Femmes.
Ever since the sale of acid in Bangladesh was restricted by law in 2002, the number of attacks has gone down significantly. However, 26 cases have been reported this year alone, according to the aid organization Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF).
'No fear in my heart'
Flavia, who survived an acid attack five years ago, is now enjoying salsa
Woehrl's exhibition is not as depressing as it may sound. "There is a strength concealed behind the women who first seemed to be weakened by and invisible to society," said the photographer. Many of the victims told Woehrl they felt much stronger, much more themselves. Before they had been treated as a belonging, now they are willing to challenge this view. "I think they have managed to free themselves from the different attributes imposed on women in these societies. "It is unbelievable to see how they are making progress."
Flavia, for example, initially isolated herself and stayed home for several years. But then, a friend took her out one evening to dance salsa. "Initially I was hiding from the others, and just kept observing the situation. But after some time I met new people, who danced with me - and I became really good." Today, Flavia hardly has time for a pause because others like to dance with her so much.
After fighting against her body and the stigma, Nusrat is now fighting for her future - with the support of her children who also console her. In the meantime, Nusrat has met other acid attack victims via ASF. "Some of them were burned so badly that they can't see or move their hands or eat by themselves anymore," she said. "I am so grateful as I am able to eat and see the world. I can take care of myself. The life God has given me is so wonderful." Today Nusrat is working in a beauty salon and says she doesn't feel "any fear in my heart anymore."
The exhibition "Un/sichtbar" (in/visible) at the Munich Museum of Ethnology is open until January 11, 2015. Edition Lammhuber published the book by the same title.
Opinion: Crimes against women put India in the dock
It is hard to imagine worse news coming out of India. In the space of just a few days three young women were raped and murdered under unspeakable circumstances. But speak about them we must, writes DW's Grahame Lucas. (03.06.2014)
Pakistan's acid attack survivors 'Smile Again'
With no help from the government, survivors of acid attacks in Pakistan struggle to find new meanings in their lives. A beauty salon in Lahore is treating these women, while also encouraging them to smile again. (02.01.2014)
For Indian women the battle's only just begun
Despite stricter regulation on violence against women, public outrage over sexual crimes is still palpable in India. The stringent laws passed over the year haven't yet proved to be an active deterrent. (18.12.2013)
'Rejection doesn't mean you scar a woman's face'
India's top court has ruled authorities should regulate the sale of acid, which is often used in attacks on women. But that's not enough, says Suneet Shukla, a campaigner with Stop Acid Attacks. Society needs to change. (01.08.2013)
Munich Museum for Ethnology
http://www.acidsurvivors.org/
Acid Survivors Foundation
Author Monika Griebeler / re
Related Subjects Women's rights, Human Rights, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Women's Day, Pakistan
Keywords women, human rights, acid attack, Ann-Christine Woehrl, Indiia, Bangladesch, Pakistan, Uganda, exhibition, photografy
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DW News Asia with Biresh Banerjee, 17 January 2020 17.01.2020
The great big Indian wedding trims down thanks to a slowing Indian economy. In neighboring Nepal, child marriages remain a growing concern. And we meet the Hong Kong teachers accused of inciting their students to protest.
Japanese minister wants to set an example by taking paternity leave 17.01.2020
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A Talk by Vikas Swarup, A Diplomat Who Writes
Vikas Swarup was born in Allahabad (India) in a family of lawyers. He attended Allahabad University and studied History, Psychology and Philosophy. He also made his mark as a champion debater, winning National level competitions. After graduating with distinction, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986, motivated by an interest in international relations and a desire to explore different cultures.
In his diplomatic career, Vikas has been posted to various countries such as Turkey (1987-1990), the United States (1993-1997) Ethiopia (1997-2000), the United Kingdom (2000-2003) and South Africa (2006-2009). He served as Consul General of India in Osaka-Kobe, Japan from 2009 to 2013. Currently, he is posted in New Delhi as Joint Secretary (United Nations – Political).
Vikas’s first novel Q&A was published in 2005 by Doubleday/Random House (UK & Commonwealth), Harper Collins (Canada) and Scribner (US)- it has since been published in 43 languages. It was short listed for the Best First Book by the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and won South Africa’s Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 2006 as well as the Paris Book Fair’s Reader’s Prize, the Prix Grand Public, in 2007. It was voted the Most Influential Book of 2008 in Taiwan, and winner of the Best Travel Read (Fiction) at the Heathrow Travel Product Award 2009.The film version of Q&A, titled ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, directed by Danny Boyle, took the world by storm, winning more than 70 awards including four Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs and a staggering 8 Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. Vikas has since written two more bestselling novels, Six Suspects (2008) and The Accidental Apprentice (2013) which have been translated into multiple languages and are due to be made into films.
Vikas is the recipient of the US-India Business Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award for “Contributing to the Cultural Ties that Bind” in 2009. He is also the recipient of a degree of Doctor of Literature & Philosophy (honoris causa) from the University of South Africa (UNISA), the largest university in South Africa and one of the largest distance education institutions in the world.