Bruner Blog

How many of you can say you have a professional clown among your close friends? My dear pal Yvette Feuer (whom I’ve written about here before) is a talented actress, renowned in Hungary for her work in the theater. But for several years clowning has been one of her specialties.

One of her more ambitious projects has been Clowns Without Borders, a simply amazing organization that brings clowns from around the world together and sends them into trouble spots where children are in special need of a smile. Last summer she spent a few weeks touring in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia with CWB.

Anyway, the real point of this post is to call attention to a Clowing Workshop Yvette is hosting, Clowing 1,2,3 (details on her site). December 10th and 11th. All proceeds will go to funding a Clowing Without Borders trip to Katrina-ravaged Louisiana next spring.

Pass on the word to all clowns and would-be clowns your circle of friends!

A Hungarian friend just sent me this cynical article in Der Spiegel (in English) about the arrival of Hooters to Germany. The article and my friend’s point of view is it’s just another example of crass Americanism invading Europe and that due to cultural differences it’s likely to fail. To which, my response to my friend was this:

When’s the last time you were in Germany? I spent about two weeks there before I moved to Hungary (1990), and my impression was it had all the worst characteristics of Amerika — loud, boorish, affluent, arrogant, nationalistic, materialistic, willfully ignorant people — with quainter architecture and an uglier language. They’re the only national group more dreaded than the Americans throughout Europe when it comes to a reputation as obnoxious tourists (though English yobs run a close third).

When I was there, one of the young German guys I was hanging around with told me about an interview he’d read with Frank Zappa, where Zappa said he was always surprised how much Germans loved his song “Titties and Beer,” which of course was ironic from Zappa’s point of view. Apparently, Zappa said that invariably at every concert in Germany the crowd would relentless chant the title till he played the song. The guy I was with couldn’t understand Zappa’s confusion: “Those are the two things we German’s love most: titties and beer.”

I am sure Hooters will make a fortune in Germany.

Mark summarized this Washington Post article well enough, I’ll just quote him: “This is pretty scary. The police and the military have fundamentally different missions. The police protect citizens. The military attacks the enemy. When you start giving police powers to the military, citizens start looking like the enemy.”

The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.

The moves have taken place on several fronts. The White House is considering expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which was created three years ago. The proposal, made by a presidential commission, would transform CIFA from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts — including protecting military facilities from attack — to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage.

The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence. Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism or weapons of mass destruction.

Watching Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry,” and I had to pause it to transcribe this line. He’s visiting his sister, and they have this exchange:

Her: You have no values. Your whole life it’s nihilism, it’s cynicism, it’s sarcasm and orgasm.

Him: You know, in France I could run on that slogan and win.

One of my favorite people I’ve met in 2005 is Melina Hammer. I just felt like giving her a shout out.

In addition to being brilliant, charming, funny and gorgeous (and taken…sorry, boys), she is a tremendously talented artist, specializing in jewelry, sculpture, costumery and metalworking. I’m buying a custom ring from her for Adi for Christmas (don’t worry, I’m not ruining any surprises; she and Adi and I met yesterday to discuss details for the commissioned piece).

If any of you are looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for this holiday season, I urge you to visit her beautiful web site, designed by her beau, whom she lovingly refers to always as “my sweetie.” The site is elegantly all in Flash, so I can’t upload any of the photos of her work here to share, but check it out for yourself. You’ll be impressed, I promise.

I’m thrilled to see that this photo from my China trip has been selected for Gridskipper’s weekly photo contest! Yay for me! Best of all, it’s already the leading choice. But it’s early in the week yet. So feel free to vote early and vote often (and all you blogger buddies out there are expected to stump away for me). I really need to add “award-winning photographer” to my resume.

11/23 UPDATE:
YAAAAYYY!!! I’m a winner! I’m an award-winning photographer. Yaaaay! (Someone actually tried shamelessly to stuff the ballot box last night for the next-closest contestant, but Gridskipper’s editor wisely intervened and awarded me the prize, anyway.)

So, it took me a year and a half to get around to it, but here are photos from my trip to China. See the complete set on Flickr.

Mark forwards this:

George Bush has started an ill-timed and disastrous war under false pretenses by lying to the American people and to the Congress; he has run a budget surplus into a severe deficit; he has consistently and unconscionably favored the wealthy and corporations over the rights and needs of the population; he has destroyed trust and confidence in, and good will toward, the United States around the globe; he has ignored global warming, to the world’s detriment; he has wantonly broken our treaty obligations; he has condoned torture of prisoners; he has attempted to create a theocracy in the United States; he has appointed incompetent cronies to positions of vital national importance.

Would someone please give him a blow job so we can impeach him?

I don’t know the original source on that, but whoever you are, you said it!

I voted for my first Republican ever today. I have to admit that felt icky, like eating some leftover from the fridge that smells a bit off but you eat it anyway. But I like Bloomie. What can I say? I think he runs the city right.

Meanwhile, I voted a straight Democratic ticket for every other candidate.

And BTW, WFT with candidates like Robert Morgenthau for District Attorney who was both the Democratic and Republican candidate?

And more.