30 October 2012
Tricky Linguistics
10 October 2012
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From Stephen Fry's America:
"If ever there was a silly name for a town it is surely that of Maryland's elegant and graceful capital city Annapolis. I hope Queen Anne, after whom it was named, wasn't too hacked off about it. What would have been wrong with Anneville? Oh, it sounds like a blacksmith's iron. Of course. Incidentally, one of the minor but interesting linguistic differences that one meets along the way in America is that they say 'named for' where we would say 'named after'. So they might say Annapolis was named for Queen Anne and Baltimore, Maryland's biggest town, was named for the English peer Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who, as it happened, married one Anne Arundell, after whom, or for whom, Annapolis was orignally named Anne's Town before, in a fit of sycophancy, the city fathers dedicated it to the then young Princess Anne, later of course the last of the Stewart monarchs. One might say all that and then be left both out of breath and holding the loose end of a conversational thread."
"If ever there was a silly name for a town it is surely that of Maryland's elegant and graceful capital city Annapolis. I hope Queen Anne, after whom it was named, wasn't too hacked off about it. What would have been wrong with Anneville? Oh, it sounds like a blacksmith's iron. Of course. Incidentally, one of the minor but interesting linguistic differences that one meets along the way in America is that they say 'named for' where we would say 'named after'. So they might say Annapolis was named for Queen Anne and Baltimore, Maryland's biggest town, was named for the English peer Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, who, as it happened, married one Anne Arundell, after whom, or for whom, Annapolis was orignally named Anne's Town before, in a fit of sycophancy, the city fathers dedicated it to the then young Princess Anne, later of course the last of the Stewart monarchs. One might say all that and then be left both out of breath and holding the loose end of a conversational thread."
Labels: Stephen Fry
30 September 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
The Footlights [comedy troupe] clubroom was a long, low room under the Union chamber and had a small stage with a lighting rig and a piano at one end and a sort of bar at the other. All along the walls hung framed posters of past revues and photographs of Footlighters. In their duffel coasts, black polo necks, tweed jackets or wind-cheaters, with studious black-rimmed spectacles perched on their noses and untipped cigarettes between their lips, they all seemed so much older than we were, so much cleverer, so much more talented and a world more sophisticated. They looked more like French left-bank intellectuals or avant-garde jazz musicians than members of a student comedy troupe. Peter Coo, Jonathan Miller, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden, John Cleese, David Frost, John Bird, John Fortune, Eleanor Bron, Miriam Margolyes, Douglas Adams, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Jonathan Lynn, Tim Brooke-Tayleor, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Griff Rhys Jones, Clive Anderson ...
'The tradition stops here,' Hugh [Laurie] and I would mutter as we looked up for inspiration and found our gaze meeting theirs. Such a tradition, such a rich history as the Footlights', was in part inspiration and encouragement but in part insurmountable obstacle and impossible burden.
The Footlights [comedy troupe] clubroom was a long, low room under the Union chamber and had a small stage with a lighting rig and a piano at one end and a sort of bar at the other. All along the walls hung framed posters of past revues and photographs of Footlighters. In their duffel coasts, black polo necks, tweed jackets or wind-cheaters, with studious black-rimmed spectacles perched on their noses and untipped cigarettes between their lips, they all seemed so much older than we were, so much cleverer, so much more talented and a world more sophisticated. They looked more like French left-bank intellectuals or avant-garde jazz musicians than members of a student comedy troupe. Peter Coo, Jonathan Miller, Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden, John Cleese, David Frost, John Bird, John Fortune, Eleanor Bron, Miriam Margolyes, Douglas Adams, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Jonathan Lynn, Tim Brooke-Tayleor, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Griff Rhys Jones, Clive Anderson ...
'The tradition stops here,' Hugh [Laurie] and I would mutter as we looked up for inspiration and found our gaze meeting theirs. Such a tradition, such a rich history as the Footlights', was in part inspiration and encouragement but in part insurmountable obstacle and impossible burden.
Labels: Stephen Fry
19 July 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
Early in the year I had called Hugh [Laurie] up excitedly. "I've just bought a Macintosh. Cost me a thousand pounds."
"What?"
Hugh enjoyed about a week of relaying the news of my fantastic expenditure on something as absurd and unworthy of outlay as a raincoat before he discovered that this Macintosh was a new type of computer.
Early in the year I had called Hugh [Laurie] up excitedly. "I've just bought a Macintosh. Cost me a thousand pounds."
"What?"
Hugh enjoyed about a week of relaying the news of my fantastic expenditure on something as absurd and unworthy of outlay as a raincoat before he discovered that this Macintosh was a new type of computer.
Labels: Stephen Fry
23 June 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
"Nobody seems to expect me to be shy, or believes me when I say that I am. I cannot blame them. I seem to move with such ease through the world. I was reminded of this only yesterday afternoon. I was a guest on the CBS programme The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Craig is the Scottish comedian who has now become, in the opinion of many, myself included, the best talk show host in America. He told me, as he began the interview, that back in the eighties, when he had been a regular on the British comedy circuit, he had always regarded me as almost unnaturally calm, sorted and in control, to the extent that he was in a kind of angry awe of me. I ought to be used to being told that, but yet again it brought me up short. Never, at any point in my life, can I remember feeling that I was any part of assured, controlled or at ease."
"Nobody seems to expect me to be shy, or believes me when I say that I am. I cannot blame them. I seem to move with such ease through the world. I was reminded of this only yesterday afternoon. I was a guest on the CBS programme The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Craig is the Scottish comedian who has now become, in the opinion of many, myself included, the best talk show host in America. He told me, as he began the interview, that back in the eighties, when he had been a regular on the British comedy circuit, he had always regarded me as almost unnaturally calm, sorted and in control, to the extent that he was in a kind of angry awe of me. I ought to be used to being told that, but yet again it brought me up short. Never, at any point in my life, can I remember feeling that I was any part of assured, controlled or at ease."
Labels: Stephen Fry
21 May 2011
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a very funny music "trivia" "game show". I really wish it would air on BBC-America.
In the meantime, we can enjoy the blessings of YouTube.
Here's an episode guest-starring Stephen Fry: part 1, part 2, part 3.
And here's an episode featuring Josh Groban -- I don't like his music, but he is always a hoot on talk shows! part 1, part 2, part 3.
Finally, here's the special Doctor Who episode, hosted by David "the 10th doctor" Tennant, and featuring Catherine Tate (Donna) and the guy whose name I don't remember that played Donna's grandfather: part 1, part 2, part 3.
In the meantime, we can enjoy the blessings of YouTube.
Here's an episode guest-starring Stephen Fry: part 1, part 2, part 3.
And here's an episode featuring Josh Groban -- I don't like his music, but he is always a hoot on talk shows! part 1, part 2, part 3.
Finally, here's the special Doctor Who episode, hosted by David "the 10th doctor" Tennant, and featuring Catherine Tate (Donna) and the guy whose name I don't remember that played Donna's grandfather: part 1, part 2, part 3.
Labels: Doctor Who, music, Stephen Fry, TV
13 April 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
[Stephen Fry can't sing.]
At John Schlesinger's funeral at a synagogue in St John's Wood some years ago the person I stood next to said to me encouragingly, "Come on, Stephen -- you're not singing. Have a go!"
"Believe me, Paul, you don't want me to," I said. Besides, I was having a much better time listening to him.
"No. Go on!"
So I joined in the chorus.
"You're right," Paul McCartney conceded. "You can't sing."
[Stephen Fry can't sing.]
At John Schlesinger's funeral at a synagogue in St John's Wood some years ago the person I stood next to said to me encouragingly, "Come on, Stephen -- you're not singing. Have a go!"
"Believe me, Paul, you don't want me to," I said. Besides, I was having a much better time listening to him.
"No. Go on!"
So I joined in the chorus.
"You're right," Paul McCartney conceded. "You can't sing."
Labels: Stephen Fry
13 March 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
Some months later a student who had been educated at a comprehensive in south-east London told me that for weeks he had been unable to understand what "say gid" meant. He kept hearing it everywhere: "Say gid! That's jarst say gid!" Eventually he realized that it was how the upper middle-class pronounce "So good, that's just so good."
Some months later a student who had been educated at a comprehensive in south-east London told me that for weeks he had been unable to understand what "say gid" meant. He kept hearing it everywhere: "Say gid! That's jarst say gid!" Eventually he realized that it was how the upper middle-class pronounce "So good, that's just so good."
Labels: Stephen Fry
08 February 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
[In a production of "Love's Labour's Lost"..]
I played the character with perhaps the best description in all of Shakespeare's dramatis personae: 'Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard.' Only I wasn't a fantastical Spaniard. For some reason, whenever I attempt Spanish it comes out as Russian or Italian, or a bastard hybrid of the two. I can manage a Mexican accent acceptably, so my Armado was an inexplicably fantastical Mexican.
[In a production of "Love's Labour's Lost"..]
I played the character with perhaps the best description in all of Shakespeare's dramatis personae: 'Don Adriano de Armado, a fantastical Spaniard.' Only I wasn't a fantastical Spaniard. For some reason, whenever I attempt Spanish it comes out as Russian or Italian, or a bastard hybrid of the two. I can manage a Mexican accent acceptably, so my Armado was an inexplicably fantastical Mexican.
Labels: Stephen Fry
16 January 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
Zanda mentioned Tilda Swinton, so...
When the time came for the Late Night Memoirs of a Fox to go on at the ADC, Emma, Kim, Paul, Hugh and I were in the show and Hugh added to the cast a tall, blonde, slender and extraordinarily talented girl called Tilda Swinton. She was not a part of Cambridge's comedy world, such as it was, but she was a magnificent actress, and her poise and presence made her the perfect judge in an American-courtroom sketch that Hugh and devised with some very slight assistance from me.
It is rather perfect to think of the pair of them playing American characters as students on the stage of the ADC. We would have called you mad if you had suggested that one day Hugh would go on to win Golden Globes for playing an American in a television series and that Tilda would win an Oscar for playing an American in a feature film.
When the time came for the Late Night Memoirs of a Fox to go on at the ADC, Emma, Kim, Paul, Hugh and I were in the show and Hugh added to the cast a tall, blonde, slender and extraordinarily talented girl called Tilda Swinton. She was not a part of Cambridge's comedy world, such as it was, but she was a magnificent actress, and her poise and presence made her the perfect judge in an American-courtroom sketch that Hugh and devised with some very slight assistance from me.
It is rather perfect to think of the pair of them playing American characters as students on the stage of the ADC. We would have called you mad if you had suggested that one day Hugh would go on to win Golden Globes for playing an American in a television series and that Tilda would win an Oscar for playing an American in a feature film.
Labels: Stephen Fry
13 January 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
The first production I went to see [when I was at Cambridge] was of Tom Stoppard's Travesties. [...] The production was co-directed by Brigid Larmour, now artistic director of the Watford Palace Theatre, and Annabelle Arden, who directs opera around the world. At the time they were very smart first-years who had hit the ground running. The others in the cast will forgive me, I hope, if I fail to recount their own admirable contributions to the success of he evening. Although it was a truly excellent production in and of itself, what stood out for me above all else was the performance of just one of the actresses. The girl who played Gwendolen stood out like a good deed in a naughty world.
She seemed, like Athene, to have arrived in the world fully armed. Her voice, her movement, her clarity, ease, poise, wit ... well, you had to be there. One of the best things any performer on stage can do, whether stand-up comic, torch singer, ballet dancer, character actor or tragedian, is to relax an audience. To let them know that everything is going to be all right and that they can lean back in their seats happy in the knowledge that the evening won't be a disaster. Of course, another of the best things a performer can do is provoke a feeling of excitement, danger, unpredictability and instability. To let the audience know that the evening might fail at any moment and that they need to lean forward in their seats and watch intently. If you can manage both at once then you are really something. This girl was really something. Medium height with a perfect English complexion, she was gravely beautiful, extraordinarily funny and commandingly assured beyond her years. Her name, the programme told me, was Emma Thompson.
The first production I went to see [when I was at Cambridge] was of Tom Stoppard's Travesties. [...] The production was co-directed by Brigid Larmour, now artistic director of the Watford Palace Theatre, and Annabelle Arden, who directs opera around the world. At the time they were very smart first-years who had hit the ground running. The others in the cast will forgive me, I hope, if I fail to recount their own admirable contributions to the success of he evening. Although it was a truly excellent production in and of itself, what stood out for me above all else was the performance of just one of the actresses. The girl who played Gwendolen stood out like a good deed in a naughty world.
She seemed, like Athene, to have arrived in the world fully armed. Her voice, her movement, her clarity, ease, poise, wit ... well, you had to be there. One of the best things any performer on stage can do, whether stand-up comic, torch singer, ballet dancer, character actor or tragedian, is to relax an audience. To let them know that everything is going to be all right and that they can lean back in their seats happy in the knowledge that the evening won't be a disaster. Of course, another of the best things a performer can do is provoke a feeling of excitement, danger, unpredictability and instability. To let the audience know that the evening might fail at any moment and that they need to lean forward in their seats and watch intently. If you can manage both at once then you are really something. This girl was really something. Medium height with a perfect English complexion, she was gravely beautiful, extraordinarily funny and commandingly assured beyond her years. Her name, the programme told me, was Emma Thompson.
Labels: Stephen Fry
09 January 2011
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From The Fry Chronicles:
In much of my life from 1977 to 1987 people appear who are known in the public world and to whom I cannot give convincing pseudonyms. If I told you, for example, that at university I met a man called Lew Horrie and that we embarked on a comic career together it might not take great insight or too much Googling on your part to know that I was writing about a real person.
In much of my life from 1977 to 1987 people appear who are known in the public world and to whom I cannot give convincing pseudonyms. If I told you, for example, that at university I met a man called Lew Horrie and that we embarked on a comic career together it might not take great insight or too much Googling on your part to know that I was writing about a real person.
Labels: Stephen Fry
05 December 2010
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From "Stephen Fry in America":
[With the Aspen ski patrol...]
The next thing to do is find some children to bury. This is easily done. A bunch of pert, intelligent and fabulously self-confident children bump into us and enquire about the cameras and sound equipment and, hey, wasn't I in that film V for Vendetta?
"I was, as it happens, yes," I tell them. "Perhaps you would like to be in this film?"
"Sure. What's the fee?" Their father is show-business agent in New York City.
[With the Aspen ski patrol...]
The next thing to do is find some children to bury. This is easily done. A bunch of pert, intelligent and fabulously self-confident children bump into us and enquire about the cameras and sound equipment and, hey, wasn't I in that film V for Vendetta?
"I was, as it happens, yes," I tell them. "Perhaps you would like to be in this film?"
"Sure. What's the fee?" Their father is show-business agent in New York City.
Labels: Stephen Fry
22 October 2010
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From Stephen Fry's America:
[He's in upstate New York, with a group of hunters.]
"Now, let's get you kitted up..." Tom holds up a plaid jacket and an enormous pair of woolen trousers.
Naturally. Of course. It wouldn't do for me to look dignified or sensible.
"This hat is a rather sudden orange, isn't it?" I complain, dropping a day-glo foraging cap on the table.
"Hunting orange, they call it. Other hunstmen know not to shoot you."
"Mm. yes." I pick up that cap again. "I like it. Goes with my complexion"
[He's in upstate New York, with a group of hunters.]
"Now, let's get you kitted up..." Tom holds up a plaid jacket and an enormous pair of woolen trousers.
Naturally. Of course. It wouldn't do for me to look dignified or sensible.
"This hat is a rather sudden orange, isn't it?" I complain, dropping a day-glo foraging cap on the table.
"Hunting orange, they call it. Other hunstmen know not to shoot you."
"Mm. yes." I pick up that cap again. "I like it. Goes with my complexion"
Labels: Stephen Fry
06 May 2010
Quote of the Day: Stephen Fry
From Stephen Fry in America:
I was always a little hazy about the Louisiana Purchase, mistakenly believing that it involved America buying the state of Louisiana. In fact it was the sale, in 1803, by France of its entire Louisiane territory, a massive swathe of mid-western America, including Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas, not to mention a healthy chunk of New Mexico, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. It cost the United States about twenty-three million dollars which added up in the end to about three cents an acre. Something of a bargain for doubling the size of the country. This was land occupied by American Indians. Naturally they were not informed about the sale.
I was always a little hazy about the Louisiana Purchase, mistakenly believing that it involved America buying the state of Louisiana. In fact it was the sale, in 1803, by France of its entire Louisiane territory, a massive swathe of mid-western America, including Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas, not to mention a healthy chunk of New Mexico, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. It cost the United States about twenty-three million dollars which added up in the end to about three cents an acre. Something of a bargain for doubling the size of the country. This was land occupied by American Indians. Naturally they were not informed about the sale.
Labels: history, Stephen Fry
08 July 2009
BMI
Here's some reasons why the BMI is stupid and useless.
Of course, Stephen Fry put it more succinctly: "Body Mass Index. Something horrid made up by doctors to make me feel ashamed."
Of course, Stephen Fry put it more succinctly: "Body Mass Index. Something horrid made up by doctors to make me feel ashamed."
Labels: health, Stephen Fry
21 November 2008
Fame
On his website, Stephen Fry has a "blessay" (blog-essay) about fame. It's fascinating to read what the world is like for the famous person.
Labels: Stephen Fry
18 October 2008
Stephen Fry in America
09 March 2008
Quote of the Week
My mom kindly brought me a copy of "Radio Times" back from England (Thanks Mom!). I asked her to buy it for me because it had an interview with the always awesome Stephen Fry. Here's a quote:
Straight actors can play gay people and they're congratulated on it. People say, "Ooh, how brave of you." But no-one says of a gay actor, if you play a heterosexual person, "How brave of you to kiss that woman, that must have been very difficult for you." It wouldn't be at all difficult for me to kiss a woman -- I'll kiss a frog if you like. And why should it be difficult for a man to kiss another man? It's difficult to ride bareback backwards while unicycling, but to kiss someone isn't difficult. It's just part of the insanely irrational way that the human mind works.
Straight actors can play gay people and they're congratulated on it. People say, "Ooh, how brave of you." But no-one says of a gay actor, if you play a heterosexual person, "How brave of you to kiss that woman, that must have been very difficult for you." It wouldn't be at all difficult for me to kiss a woman -- I'll kiss a frog if you like. And why should it be difficult for a man to kiss another man? It's difficult to ride bareback backwards while unicycling, but to kiss someone isn't difficult. It's just part of the insanely irrational way that the human mind works.
Labels: Stephen Fry
17 September 2007
Stephen Fry
Just when I think he couldn't get any cooler, I find out that Stephen Fry loves ABBA!
Labels: ABBA, Stephen Fry
