Conflagrante · Delecto

I've replaced the RAF clip in the last post with a compilation that includes additional sketches of amazingness.
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I am just home for two hours having a small collapse in bed before burning dousing myself in glitter and heading out again. I did two shows in London and then met a friend from Phillips Exeter for coffee. We had a satisfying conversation about sociolinguistics and the politics of speaking Hebrew and then I dashed off to my train. Later tonight I'll be heading out to a restaurant show and then to a show at a club with my new dance troupe. This is my first day ever with 4 gigs in a row! Three of them are badly paid, but still, it adds up to good money and I feel like a rock star.

Courtesy of ExBoyfriend:

The one that starts at 1:56 is brilliant:
"You know my legs? You know how many legs I've always had and that?"
"Like, like two legs or some shit like that?"
"Yeah, I've only got one leg now."
"Random!"
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The sketch at 7:00 is probably the best:
"I can and will use force if necessary to extract information from you."
"You actually can't because that's against the the Geneva Conventions and shit. They can like, take you to court and fine you or something."

Veiled Threat
The Sultanas
Hipnotic
Hipnosis
Desert Fire
Zhagareet
Oasis Bellydance
Desert Stars
Flash Fire
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More help, guys? I quite like Hipnosis, Desert Fire, and Veiled Threat
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I keep thinking of more unsuitable puns. If I have a fire troupe at some point we're going to be Conflagrante Delecto. I call that name, it rocks. In fact, that is the new name of my burlesqueier fire shows as of now. In case you are not nerdy enough to notice, it's a double pun, as I change 'delicto' (misdeed) to 'delecto' (delight).

Bellydance troupe names, anyone? I've been asked to form a troupe with two semi-professional dancers to do some local gigs. I haven't met one of them, but the other is extremely business-minded and therefore a bellydance soulmate for me. She's asked us to brainstorm a name and logo. Help, internet? We'll be doing Arabian Nights shows at a Moroccan run club for a mixed Arab/non-Arab audience and the troupe consists of an American, an African and Kurd so we're not going to be calling ourselves anything regionally specific. I want something short and cute since this is a clubby entertainment gig rather than a serious art-thing. Mess of ideas:
Nomad
Nomadia
Malaika
Cardamon
I really like the phrase Gypsy Sugar but it's not really Mideasty enough. And Arabian Sugar sounds somehow dirty.
We should so be The Sheikh Charmers, hee hee
or The Turkish Delights!
or the Sexy Minorities
or I Swear I'm a Feminist
Veiled Threat
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Um, yes. Help.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/bike_war_paint_g7EizkFEZktV3IlNUJosQM
New York cyclists have clandestinely repainted bike lanes after the city removed them at the request of the Hasidic community. One of the primary reasons--likely THE primary reason--for the removal was the attire of female cyclists. Their appearance made it difficult for Hasidic men to avoid staring and thus breaking some Jewish law or other. No that anyone's citing the law. I just had a flick through the Pentateuch and unless it's the commandment about coveting your neighbor's wife I can't even guess the reasons behind the Hasidic objection.
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So members of a community have gotten the city to pander to their sensitivities by making it more difficult for non-Hasidic to travel through their neighborhood. There are now women who can't get to work efficiently by bike because some lustful asshole can't stand the sight of them. How dare the State of NY do this? It's infuriating.
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If any member of a religious community struggles with the sight of women in public he should stay in his own fucking house until he learns some focus and self control. He should order take-away food and work from home and send out his wife to do things around town. What he SHOULDN'T do is expect other people--let alone the city government--to accommodate his weak character by constructing a suitably nonthreatening non-challenging public environment for him.
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And how is religious behaviour even meaningful without temptation? If God says Thou Shalt Not Stare at Titties and there are no titties around to stare at, isn't that less virtuous than going out and about in Brooklyn and CHOOSING not to look? Or better yet, overcoming one's desire to look? Wouldn't a decently religious man have moved beyond the desire to stare?
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Its worth remembering that in Jewish folklore religious people often get through difficult situations by praying or meditating, not by making infantile and selfish requests of the state.

Palestinian song, from _The Making of a Human Bomb_:
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Muntasiba al-qamati amshi marfou'a al-hamati amshi
Upright I walk. Raising my head, I walk.
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Fi kaffi qasfatu zaytounin wa a'la katifi na'ishi, wa ana amshi, wa ana amshi, wa ana amshi, wa ana, wa ana, wa ana amshi
In my hand an olive branch and on my shoulder is my coffin, and I walk, and I walk, and I, and I, and I walk.
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Qalbi watanon abyadh, qalbi bustan, fih, fih al-awsaj, fih al-alrayhan
My heart is a white homeland. My heart is a field, in it is the awsaj, in it is the basil.
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That is the most beautiful thing I have read in a long time; I keep reading it over and over. If I were the impulsive type I'd get "qalbi watanon abyadh" as a tattoo.

Someone just forwarded me this. apparently there is really an organization called Stop the Islamization of Europe. I love medieval things, but maybe not this particular idea. Fortunately others realize it's stupid.
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"Community urges Jews against mosque demo"


By Martin Bright, December 3, 2009
Leading Jewish organisations have called on members of the community not to attend a demonstration against the building of a new mosque in west London. The demonstration is intended to highlight the growing influence of Islam in Europe.
The Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust issued strongly-worded statements after the organisers, Stop the Islamisation of Europe, urged Jews to bring Israeli flags to the demonstration and march at Harrow Mosque on December 13.
The SIOE website states: “If you do not attend this demonstration then you are prepared to see Israel wiped off the map.
“Vile antisemitism is being preached in mosques across the world and almost certainly the one in your neighbourhood.”
But the CST called on the Jewish community not to be taken in by such crude Islamophobia.
It singled out an Islamophobic image of a mosque on the SIOE website. The minarets of the mosque are represented as spears dripping with blood and the whole image is superimposed by a skull wearing a helmet, with blood dripping from its mouth.
“A demonstration against Harrow Mosque under the banner ‘Stop the Islamisation of Europe’, is as stupid and offensive as a demonstration against Harrow Synagogue, under the banner ‘Stop the Zionisation of Europe’,” the CST said in its blog.
The Board of Deputies identified a worrying trend of anti-Islamic hatred in Britain and Europe.
“The Jewish community has consistently rejected the cynical attempts of these far-right groups to draw us into campaigns of hate against the peaceful majority of British Muslims,” said a spokesman.
“The desecration of Muslim graves in Manchester, the fact that the recent referendum on minarets in Switzerland has been welcomed by the far right and the planned protests outside a mosque in Harrow are all warnings we must heed.”
Local MP Tony McNulty has asked Home Secretary Alan Johnson to ban the SIOE protest. “I’d be happy for Jews to come to demonstrate against Stop the Islamisation of Europe.”
He said a previous demonstration on the anniversary of 9/11 had brought ethnic and religious communities in Harrow together in opposition to SIOE. Stephen Gash, joint founder of the anti-Islamic organisation said he was angry at the response to his call for Jews to join his demonstration.
“We asked Jews to come along to protest about how they are treated in Muslim countries and how Israel is misrepresented in the media. Certainly, the western media are obsessed with Israel at the expense of Muslim atrocities perpetrated against non-Muslims in Islamic countries.”
Asked whether his actions could be seen as provocative, he added: “It is not as provocative as flying planes into skyscrapers or blowing up buses. Muslims have got away with it very lightly if all that happens is some legal demonstrations outside mosques.”
Mr Gash said reports that fast food outlets were serving halal meat were deeply worrying. He said: “If we started to slip pork into their chowder, people would be up in arms, so why should people have halal meat foisted on them?”
A spokeswoman for British Muslims for Secular Democracy, which is organising a counter-demonstration, said: “I hope that people of all different faiths and none will join us in opposing SIOE. Tomorrow it could be a Hindu temple or a Jewish synagogue.”
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/24546/community-urges-jews-against-mosque-demo

I just glass-walked down a conference table in the Oxford Union while dressed like an eighteenth century French courtesan. This was captured on film by a photographer who used to shoot the Rolling Stones. There are also going to be some Through-the-Looking-Glass-esque photos of me crawling into a fireplace in a ballgown while looking all wide-eyed and curious. It has been such a good day! I will now prance over to B's in my white mascara and bouffant glitter hair and consume obscene quantities of curry.
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NB, Oxford People: The nature of the shoot should be considered fairly secret, lest Union folks become distressed at the idea of glass in the Morris Room...

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/200912685722239138.html
In this article, al-Jazeera describes the kidnapping and gang rape of a twelve-year-old girl and claims "Her story stands in contrast to Western claims that the lot of women in Afghanistan has improved since the US-led invasion." That's right: one woman's rape provides significant data on the impact the US-led invasion has had on women in Afghanistan. The interview does not make much of the fact that seven of the eight men were arrested and that President Karzai responded personally when he heard of the attack.
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Nor does al-Jazeera point out how, corrupt as the secular courts might be, they are the only place where such a case stands a chance. As the victim was raped out of sight of friends and family, it is extremely unlikely that she could have produced the four witnesses necessary to pursue a rape case in an sharia court such as the courts run by the Taliban.* Thus only since the overthrow of the Taliban does this woman even have a viable case.
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Al-Jazeera misses the opportunity to make two other important points: First, that it is heartening to see a woman and her family (or perhaps just the family, judging by the video) willing to talk publicly about rape in a way that removes all blame from the victim. The fact that the family are able and willing to seek attention and justice is very good indeed.
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Finally, although there is a mention of an increase in reported rapes, no one considers that this might be a good thing. Given the nature of the recent regime change, I read the increase in reported rapes as an indicator of increasing social liberalization (i.e. rape is a crime and should be handled by the authorities, who will--hopefully--help the victim) rather than evidence that rapes now occur more frequently.


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*Funny story about that, which I may have posted before: a lawyer just back from Afghanistan gave an of account of a case in which a rapist was unable to be convicted because four witnesses could not be provided and it was a Taliban court. The man was clearly guilty but left the court a free man. The woman's family took matters into their own hands and gang-raped the rapist, who then brought in a court case of his own. But didn't have four witnesses...While the situation in appalling, I appreciate the poetic justice.