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Showing posts from September, 2009

A Footnote to Mad Men

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To recap “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency”, episode six of the season: Sally had nightmares and believed her new baby brother was the reincarnation of Grandpa Gene. Betty tried to fix this by giving her a Barbie doll for a present, which she chucked out her bedroom window, only to have her father find it and place it back on her dresser while she was sleeping, causing one hell of a scream when she woke up. Messing up their Fourth of July two-day holiday, the British high mucky-mucks of parent company PPL came to visit Sterling Cooper, including one handsome young chap on the rise named—can you beat it?— Guy McKendrick, who it became clear was poised to become Don’s new boss. Still, everyone was impressed with the dapper Brit, including Joan, whose last day at SC this was. Lane, who McKendrick was to replace, was ordered by PPL to go to India. At the same time in a private meeting, Don once again encountered the old man from the country club, Connie, who, as a lot of fans gue

Oui, Joan Holloway, Tu Est Magnifique

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Below find the French translation of Cole Porter's hit from the musical, Can Can: La vie est la Qui vous prend par le bras Oh la la la C’est magnifique ! Des jours tous bleus Des baisers lumineux, Bss bss bss bss C’est magnifique ! Donner son coeur Avec un bouquet d’fleurs Oh la la la Mais c’est magnifique ! Et faire un jour Un mariage d’amour C’est magnifique ! Partir la-bas Lun’ de miel ? Cuba, Oh la la la C’est magnifique ! Sous ce climat, Les baisers sont comm’ ca ! Bss bss bss bss C’est magnifique ! Des nuits d’amour Qui dur’nt quarant’ cinq jours Oh la la la Mais c’est magnifique ! Revoir Paris Retrouver ses amis C’est magnifique ! Doner a deux Dans un nid d’amoureux Oh la la la C’est magnifique ! Dans un baiser Laisser l’poulet bruler Bss bss bss bss C'est magnifique ! Avoir deux coeurs Pour faire un seul bonheur Oh la la la Mais c’est magnifique ! S’aimer d’amour A Paris pour toujours C’est magnifique ! [ C'est M

Was It Only Seventy Years Ago?

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I sit in one of the dives On Fifty-second Street Uncertain and afraid As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Obsessing our private lives; The unmentionable odour of death Offends the September night. Accurate scholarship can Unearth the whole offence From Luther until now That has driven a culture mad, Find what occurred at Linz, What huge imago made A psychopathic god: I and the public know What all schoolchildren learn, Those to whom evil is done Do evil in return. Exiled Thucydides knew All that a speech can say About Democracy, And what dictators do, The elderly rubbish they talk To an apathetic grave; Analysed all in his book, The enlightenment driven away, The habit-forming pain, Mismanagement and grief: We must suffer them all again. Into this neutral air Where blind skyscrapers use Their full height to proclaim The strength of Collective Man,