Eddie Izzard

Tracey and I went to see Eddie Izzard on Friday night with a couple of friends who had never heard of him. It was, as you would expect, hilarious and he spent the 2 hours talking about his take on the history of the world, at the beginning of which, he announces he is an atheist. His disbelief in God is the backbone of the night as he explains the logical and scientific history of our planet as an evolutionist rather than a creationist.

He slags off latin as a pointless language that is way too complicated and describes how language was developed as a means of passing down skills from one generation to another. He suggests that everyone was good at Scrabble before words were invented.

if you get the chance to see him live, take it...regardless of the cost.

Birdsong

Sorry Mr Black, but I've read another one....try to keep up.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is set around the First World War and tells the story of a young man, Stephen Wraysford. The story begins in France prior to the start of the war and finds Stephen living with the family of a French man who is in the textile business. Stephen has been sent there by his British company to learn their business model and pick up a few tips. However, while he is living with the family he falls in love with the young wife and they embark on a love affair that leads to an elopement. Their affair ends suddenly and the story moves to the trenches of France during the war but the strands of this affair are picked up, in part, later in the story.

The book is interspersed with passages in which Stephen's granddaughter, Elizabeth is investigating his background in 1978 and the book passes back and forth in time.

This is an amazing story and gives you and sense of the horror that the soldiers had to face every day. The horror is not restricted to the attacks ("going over the top") although this is where the most horrific passages are described but the author paints a very grim picture of general life in the trenches in between pushes forward.

Some of the narrative takes place underground as Stephen's soldiers are sent to protect the miners who are digging tunnels under the German front lines in order to detonate massive bombs and here the story takes on a more claustrophobic angle.

This is a definite read.

Italian Lessons 2

Here's the next lesson. Two very imprtant phrases:

Che un paio di grandi manghi - what a large pair of mangos
Questo è certamente un grande cespuglio - that certainly is an impressive bush

A couple of vaguely horticultural phrases for you although I'm told to be careful who and how you express these sentiments.

David Gray

Tracey and I went to see David Gray with friends last week. He is a great song writer and his performance is very polished but there was absolutely no atmosphere at all. The audience remained seated throughout the majority of the show until he kicked into an old familiar song towards the end. The average age of the audience was a lot older than I imagine his British audience would be and this added to the Easter Road atmosphere. And they were all dolled up like they were going to a night club (a club for very old people who still think they are 25).

We are goig to see Eddie Izzard in the same venue this Friday so that should be fun. We are going with other friends who don't know him. I wonder if he'll come out in a dress....?

Heart of Darkness

This novella by Joseph Conrad is the classic that inspired Francis Ford Coppola's to make Apocalypse Now. In the film a US army officer is sent into the jungle of Vietnam in search of the renegade Colonel Kurtz whereas the original narrative revolves around the protagonists retelling of his journey into "the heart of darkness" that is the Congo in 1890s. His goes in search of an agent, Mr Kurtz, of a Belgian company that is exploiting the riches of Africa for profit (ivory mainly).

The story is set in the centre of European imperialism of Africa that saw widespread murder of Africans on a scale few understand and sees many European countries competing for the continent's wealth. The narrator, Marlow, joins a Belgian company and quickly hears about this legendary character who is responsible for sending more ivory to the coast than any other agent but when Marlow eventually finds Kurtz he discovers a man who has been horribly corrupted by his own perception of power and that he considers himself a self-proclaimed leader of the group of Africans that he has associated himself with. They treat him like a king, or even a deity, and he abuses them in return. Marlow is shocked by what he discovers and learns that this imperialism is nothing more that the rape and murder of an under-developed civilization (by Europe's standards) by a an imperial force that takes over with extreme force.

This horror story reflects Conrad's disapproval of imperialism that he built over years of working for European companies in Africa himself.

This is a very dark book (no pun intended) and one I didn't really enjoy. I was glad when it was finished. Thankfully it's very short.