Aspirational Nationalism

1. Does anyone know what this means?

2. I may be an immigrant, and English may be — technically — my second language, but I dare say I wield English far more deftly than any number of English-as-first-language speakers. But it’s been a week or so since I came across the term “Aspirational Nationalism“, and I still don’t quite understand what it means.

3. Could it refer to a country that is aspiring to become a nation? Or perhaps a nation’s people aspiring towards unity? Or, a nation of people aspiring to become wealthier, regardless of who they have to step on; thus united by their servitude to capitalist whoredom?

4. Not since Kim Beazley dropped “Boondoggle” from his impressively vast vernacular* (which, if I remember correctly, was to describe another Howard government pork barrel promise) has a phrase so confused the general public. Though “boondoggle” is at least a word — a proper, recognised word — and not some political-PR-department-constructed wet dream:

5. “But what they might mean bolted together in this way is a mystery, although there is a certain iron clang to the construction which suggests it might sound better in German.”

6. As always, well said Mr Carlton.

* - Pardon the pun.

I Heart Holga

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Beach Scene, Rainbow Beach, Hikari City, Yamaguchi.

1. How can this not be the coolest camera in the world?

2. More here.

The Cult of the Amateur

“One inviolable tenet of this twin-track libertarian ethos, according to Keen, is a misplaced faith in the integrity of the amateur - the citizen journalist, the self-published author, the mash-up musician - and a generic distrust of expertise.” SMH

1. I’ve never heard of Andrew Keen, nor do I know very much about him, but he has recently written a book called “The Cult of the Amateur: How today’s internet is killing our culture and assaulting our economy”. The above quote was from an SMH article discussing the various points and pitfalls of his argument. It’s a long article, but I think that quote sums up Keen’s main argument, and it’s one that I agree with, though probably not as much as he does. Some people seem to place an awful lot of trust in something that was written in an authoritative voice on a semi-popular blog, or on Wikipedia, which to me seems quite bizarre since you have no idea who that person really is. Anyway, read the article and make up your own mind.

…we wonder if the foreigners could say a few words.

1. Huh?

2. So I was at the 62nd Anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima for most of today, starting with the Memorial Ceremony this morning. We walked about all day, and we wanted to go and hear the survivors speak about their experiences, with the promise of English TranslationTM. So we went to the place that we thought was it, and we found the promised English TranslatorTM, and after a bunch of people gave their short speeches, it seemed like we were in the wrong place. Then, the bombshell:

“…we wonder if the foreigners could say a few words.”

3. Again, huh?

4. It turned out that we were in fact at a meeting of a Japanese Anti-Nuclear group’s public meeting to ratify a draft “Statement of Action”, and the previous speeches were of members who were talking about why they joined the movement. After a bit of buck-passing, I decided to grab the microphone, being no stranger to impromptu speeches (I prefer to go impromptu where possible; guess I am more than a bit lazy after all), and said a few words.

5. So I guess that’s how I accidentally spoke at a Japanese Political Rally. Not something you do everyday.

One of the reasons why July was a very tight month for me

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1. Aren’t they pretty?