Morag's Eyrie

More crushes: Bidisha and Shere Hite..

Who is this Bidisha?  She's on Newsnight Review as I work on a conference paper... she is GORGEOUS!  A young British Asian woman novelist?  Short spiky hair and a nose-ring?  And saying all the coolest things: yes Philip Roth is a misogynistic sleazebag, thank you Bidisha, and yes, what's the point of documentaries about racism in society because... oh dammit, I can't recall how she said it but it was eloquent and I've never heard anyone say it on TV before: the realities of prejudice are so banal and so ingrained that films fail because everything they want to say is already out there!  And that everything about Asian youth made in Britain in the last 20 years has been made for white people.  Love her.  Must find something to read by her.

Speaking of catching interesting women on TV, I happened to catch the last five minutes of The Last Word the other night, where a very odd looking woman, slim, little, feminine, with frizzy blond curls, lots of makeup, slightly plastic-surgeried looking, frilly clothes, and yet the most cutting, intelligent and sharp things coming out of her mouth: to do with the Middle East and the war on terror (wish I'd caught what she was responding to exactly)- she talked about how feminism and the sexual revolution are not the same thing, the sexual revolution is in some ways another way of oppressing women, and the perception of the West in Muslim countries, and our view of women there, is somehow bound up with this blurring, this common de-railing of what feminism actually means... sorry I'm really incoherent tonight and have been writing too much!  Anyway, it was Shere Hite, and how cool they had her on a political discussion show- she's in the country promoting her new book, and there was a really patronising, dumb interview with her in today's Guardian- boo!

So- two books to read by amazing women... Bidisha (yes, just one name) and Shere Hite's latest.

OK- check it out this is one amazing young woman.

Shere Hite's website- absolutely awful web design, what a shame.  She's a Scorpio- no surprise there, then.

Jon Stewart having a pop at the US news media

I'm finally inspired to post- not that there hasn't been a lot going on lately, I just haven't had time. Who has time to blog? I don't understand how all those excellent bloggers that I read occasionally do it, as well as having a job and a life.

Anyway, I've been raving to a few friends about Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, now that I have Freeview and get it every night at 8.30pm (on More4 in the UK). Jon Stewart is gorgeous and very intelligent and funny; the Daily Show is like an American 'Have I Got News for You', but slightly more absurd, which is understandable because it is American politics and current events they are taking the piss out of. It verges on the crude and fratboy at times but at other times is just pure genius and there's something so refreshing about intelligent Americans satirising their own news media and government.

Now, Jon Stewart is going to be hosting the gayest Oscars in history (he is a straight Jewish guy who just had a baby daughter- I refer to Brokeback Mountain and the Capote film) and I can't wait.

For a taster that you can freely view online- here is 13 minutes of Jon on the American current events debate show Crossfire. It is rumoured that this clip precipitated the closure of the show shortly afterwards- instead of being funny he basically went on and seriously challenged and confronted these purveyors of sensationalist right/left shouting, saying the show bore the same relationship to debate as pro wrestling does to athletic competition. Please go look, it's inspiring- plus he looks so much cuter in a black v-neck jumper than in the suit he wears on the Daily Show.

Love you, Jon.

Fabulous Glasgow-based director is now producing a cool Cinema Show for BBC4

Did you ever see that fantastic, high-production-values Gaelic series on the BBC in 2002 called Gruth is Uachdar (Crowdie and Cream)? Sadly I only caught the last episode by chance (I hope they repeat it sometime) but I recall thinking "Gosh I didn't know they'd made another feature film in Gaelic" - purely because it looked so good- high production values, but just very cinematic, visually stunning and beautifully acted as well.

(There was a feature film in Gaelic a few years ago which I saw in New Zealand (twice) called As an Eilean (To the Island) - it wasn't that great but it was lovely to see and to hear - I remember this bit where there is an incomer to this tiny island who is taciturn and arty and wears black... the local Wee Free preacher-man goes to the local school teacher (normally they hate each other) and says "As one educated man to another, what do you think of that black devil?!?!"). I laughed a lot.

Anyway. The lovely Leodhasach Bill MacLeod directed Gruth is Uachdar, and now he's producing a new series on BBC4 called "The Cinema Show". The first episode was on Friday but I haven't watched it yet- had to get someone to tape it as I hadn't got it together to get Freeview in time.

Animated Cows in Advertising: What's the Deal?

OK, chillin on Easter Sunday in my PJs, watching the OC. Ad break. And I've just seen the second ad in the last year which involves animated cows, with big udders, and the cows have men's voices and are all blokey and everything.

The other one is the Boddington's cow, this is Anchor butter.

What's the deal? I mean seriously? Cows are female. Their udders are their boobs. They produce milk. So ... are ad agencies even thicker than we thought? Or is there some sinister reason? Can't think what it would be.

Elephants are Amazing

OK, I think normally it would be boring to use my blog to tell you what I just saw on the telly, but I also think that there's so much on telly these days that hey, if it's interesting, that's what blogs are for, right? Anyway, I'm sick of moaning about my problems, and I get the feeling most of my friends are having a tough January one way or another, so why not share something beautiful and amazing?

Cos, like, who watches telly during the 8pm mushbrain slot anyway? So maybe you didn't see this.

Well, I just happened upon this documentary about African elephants on BBC2, and it made me cry. There's this woman who has studied African elephants for about 30 years, and she has done a Jane Goodall type thing of following certain elephants through their lives over that period, so she knows them really well. In particular she has followed the family group led by the matriarch Echo, who is apparently in her 50s, quite old for an elephant. What an amazing person Echo is.

Story 1:
Echo had a baby girl elephant. They managed to film the birth even though it was at night, and she was attended by several other adult females, and you could see that they were "beside themselves" with excitement as the narrator said, singing in elephant language and dancing about. So, a beautiful and cheeky and rambunctious little elephant is born- and when she is 10 days old... get this... another elephant group comes along and gangs up on Echo and kidnaps the baby! Echo tries to fight them but she is brutally pushed away. She goes to her own group, gathers a bunch of them, and goes back, and they form a kind of line and rush the other group and rescue the baby. (Remember this is all females on both sides because elephant family groups are females and infant males only). I just cried when I saw all their big elephant bums with the little tails wiggling about (cos they filmed them from behind kind of bullrushing the other group) and then this absolutely tiny baby being rushed out like the U.S. president surrounded by mammoth bodyguards after an assassination attempt. Don't ask me why the whole thing made me cry it just did... but that was nothing compared with the next story.

Story 2:
This other elephant whose name I can't remember gave birth to a baby boy elephant. They usually stand up on their own within an hour. But he couldn't stand up- he was disabled- his front legs wouldn't straighten, so he could get his back end up, but was kind of kneeling on his front legs. His mother stayed with him and for ages tried to lift him up. You'd think, going by the traditional narrative we are told about nature, he would have ended up left alone and dead. But the mother, supported by her group, took care of him, and for many days he hobbled after the group on his knees. After a while (can't recall how long) he ended up able to stand and walk normally, eventually got bored and went off on his home like any elephant male.

I have another elephant story of my own, but I'll leave it for now.