"Hot Lips Trimble"

The nation is in a lather over captain for this year's Corpus Christi, Oxford, finalists Gail Trimble. What a phenomenon!

'If form is any guide, when Corpus Christi take on Manchester University in the final, Trimble, 26, will wipe the floor with them, ruthlessly amassing starters-for-ten and cowing the competition with what contestant described as a form of "intellectual blitzkrieg". '

Men have labeled her 'hot lips Trimble', women have dismissed her performance as a 'cocky smirk'. The 'female Stephen Fry', believes 'I don't think I would have been treated in the same way were I were a man. Part of it has to do with the fact that I am the captain, who is always giving the answers.' 

'That One'

This website called ThatOne08 is another addition to the wordplay parade that is stomping right across the USA election campaign. If I wasn't so tired I think I'd like to hold forth on McCain's creepy reference to Barak Obama. I can't recall anyone, even somebody trying to be really rude, call another person  'that one'. 

Do you W or Dubya -

Ok . A kind of follow on from the Palin 'Verbage' track of thought. I was reading the Vanity Fair Online daily gossip - it pointed me to this ABC blog about how Sarah's statements about the 'Troopershed' scandal are straightforward lies. One of the comments at the bottom talks about the letter 'W' in relation to the Republican party. Well this is pretty funny as 'W' has become synonymous with the George W. Bush administration because 'W' is what differenciates George's name from his father, former President Bush. " The letter has become such a popular symbol it's now a word in its own right. The urban dictionary (irritatingly on the button for linguistic development) has an entry for 'dubya' which is meant to be the phonetic spelling of 'W' pronounced in a Texan (the state of Bush) accent. This is what entry 7 of the urban dictionary defines 'dubya' as  - 'If the 23rd letter of the alphabet is "dubya", you might be a redneck.'

The iconic statement of 'W' during the Bush presidency was even endorsed by the election campaign back in '04. Again I'm going to accompany this with an image from the New York Historical Society. This is a campaign hankie. And as you can see, it only uses 'W'. Spelling out the man's full name is no longer deemed necessary. He is simply 'W', or 'dubya'. So I suppose 'W' is positive and 'dubya' is negative. This is reinforced by the context of use: DubyaSpeak.com  for example is a website that claims 'We record the damage'. 

It is ironic that 'talking proper' is historically considered a bastilion of conservative values,  but is now what the republicans use to critique 'overly intellectual' democrats. George W. Bush, like Sarah Palin is reinventing American semantics. Their distinct lexiographic style only reinforces how the political weight of phraseology plays such a big part in this election. But what I'm saying is nothing new. Roman Jacobson's theory of communicative functions famously applied to 'I like Ike'. It's the best example of why 'Closing Statements: Linguistics and Poetics' remains a jolly worthwhile read. 

The small town gag: screwball vs. Palin

It was a stroke of broadcasting genius to have  G.W.Bush 'bail out' speech of yesterday followed by a showing of 'The Great McGinty ' (1940). Preston Sturges screwball cum political satire is a fantastic election themed flick.  I remember watching it during my revision and it did not disappoint upon second viewing. In the opening scene, where he's a bartender in Mexico, McGinty says 'I was the governor of a state, baby'. Hannah came in with the quip 'Just like Sara Palin' which couldn't have been more spot on. Watch the scene from 'McGinty', and then read this quotation from Palin's vice-president nomination speech, because the vibe is so unwittingly similar: 

"I have had the privilege of living most of my live in a small town. I was just your average hocky mum, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better. When I ran for city council I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown." 

 Sometimes, the face of a corrupt and morally bankrupt organization is an anyone who hasn't got a clear (or any real) clue as to 'what-is-going-on'. 

It's a brilliant film, and doesn't seem like an awkward first attempt, despite the fact that it was Sturges's first big motion picture. Yesterday my parcel of Max Ophuls DVDs arrived, which has only lead to my endless longing to spend the day in bed watching them. Dad Amazon Primed them over, after I'd made an unsubtle hint with a 'New Yorker' review of them, which was so nice of him. The covers are exquisite. As Ophuls was Sturges favorite director I feel the segway is far neater then I could ever have contrived. 'What to watch in Manhattan' is another must do list. 

Bush vs. Project Runway

- more day to day observations against the back drop of the Palin fandango and the Bush administration 'bail out'. Went downtown to sup with the Handrew on heirloom tomatoes. This was our final taste bud hurrah to the last fresh food from the summer. After all, we have just had an equinox. What Andrew said about Bush's speech last night was spot on (of course). All the major network channels give him the prime time spot, because they have to, because he asked for it. Though I don't mean to be sarke, when I say the speech can't have come even close to the anticipation of 'Project Runway'.  Perhaps telly watchers across the states are so used to his sub-par performance, they've given up. Bush plays political theatre in a way that would make Elizabeth Ist blush for shame, Russian tsars titter and emperors weep.  'Project Runway' reports on ambition, love and loss in a consumer world with frankly far superior production, research, and aplomb. It's no good blaming the 'celebrity culture' around American politicians. They have simply slid closer towards more classic images of monarchy, commonly associated with latterday Europe. Elizabeth Ist (though I can't vouch this applies to the 2nd), again,  positively cultivated the monarch\idol attitude towards the governing body. While contemporary theatre (which is some of the best available in the Western world), certainly jibed, heckled and hissed at her performance, there was never a sense that it was inappropriate for the two to be intertwined. Perhaps Bush should invite 'Project Runway' to his 'court', in a belated attempt to engage with the peoples over which he rules. At the very least, his television team might get some better speech tips. 

Many fairly, nay practically all, calm headed financial commentators are saying the state of America's fiscal affairs are as bad as it's been not simply in the 80s, but the 20s: all ye mark how the bell tolls, recession on that scale is imminent. Despite this somewhat tangible climate, Bush took only 15 mins to address the nation on the matter. He looked terrified: apparantley as frightened as he looked just after 9\11. (Incidently, yesterday was one of those '9\11' days when the light is so shockingly beautiful, with a breeze light and crisp, and a cloudless baby blue sky: perfect temperature, iconic 'New York in the Fall' weather. But of course now such a sensation is charged with weary tension. Something you couldn't even dream up, like a plane crashing into a skyscraper, happened on a day just like it. So hence, '9\11 weather'. The perfect irony being how pretty it is.) You could even hear a tremor of the voice as he paused for breath. He's the leader of the western world, and he's terrified.

 I think that was most clearly expressed by the television.  Afterwards, barely anyone on the telly spent any time reviewing the speech at all. Perhaps there was nothing else you could say. Of course his message was fairly clear:  it's fucked. it's over. Yet what signalled this more than anything Bush's nerves betrayed, was his impotency to pack a punch over American primetime.  Wait - I'm forgetting myself: Fox News spend a considerable ammount of time talking about how McCain was right to suspend his campain in the light of the 'bail out'. As a strategy which screems nothing but weakness and selfish stupidity, they only vindicated how dreadfully incompetent the McCain jambouree really is. As always, they used phrases which don't actually mean anything. It seems more fun trying to import semantic sense onto Fox News than admit the general moral tragedy that is what they are actually trying to say. The faces on this channel consisted of  two types of commentator: stupid, arrogant old men and stupid, arrogant young broads. Just like the republican party presidential candidates. Some of them spoke so badly I doubt they'd qualify for sports commentary let alone 'live' analysis of the american election. 

Before the speech came on, we watched a repeat of the daily show, which had a fantastic skit about the current debacle. Running on the lines of 'is there anything left that this administration can de-achieve'.  The punchline was superb. "George doesn't want to be the worst president [beat] but the last"