Welsh Cinema of the Grotesque, Theatre of the Absurd, or Both?

"Put together an ageing petty criminal, his Mam and two teenage tearaways and what have you got?"
Why, it's BBC High Hopes: Grotesque, Absurd, Surreal and full of fictive truth.

In 1972 we had a crusty black junk dealer in the L.A. Watts ghetto, played by Red Foxx, called Sanford & Son, which was a re-make of the British Steptoe & Son. Now Welsh comic writer and actor Boyd Clack has created the bizarre, surreal world of High Hopes.

The post-Industrial Welsh Valleys are chronically impoverished and trapped in parallel cycles of systemic malaise (bureaucratic grotesque) and familial dysfunction (familial grotesque). This is the setting for Boyd's quirky flirt with the every-day weirdo's in his comedies -- Similar to the lovable but bizarre folks who populate the BBC comedy 'Shameless.'

Boyd gives us so many manifestations of the filmic grotesque in one show that the mind boggles! The psychological grotesque can be found in his agoraphobic, criminal protagonist. The nervous, chapel, church lady mother is another exaggerated (but true) rendering of the naive, gracious, accommodating, co-dependent and passive-aggressively dominant Mam.

Boyd's parody of the local Heddlu/Police is like Peter Sellers' kooky Pink Panther Inspecteur Couseau, but these bumbling Welsh arbitrators of law & order are inherently wise, folkloric geniuses!

Please see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/highhopes/ and tell me what you think . . .

Should we be orienting our colleagues to OAI Standards?

Is there a supportable rationale for expanding the systematic orientation of colleagues and research students, to incorporate OAE standards into their document preparation routines?

Since labelling and keywords can make or break, does each University have a vested interest, in seeing their colleagues succeed in this interplay between content and search engines?

There seems to be little real conversation between the database authors, and the eventual archive contributors.

Would you agree, and what can we do about it in practical terms?

Please see: http://www.openarchives.org/

New Satire from Ed Current

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Maurice Ravel, Diatonic Scales and Chromatics of the Leitmotif

Cardinality equals variety and structure implies multiplicity, are true of all collections with Myhill's property or maximal evenness.

So here's a riddle: What do Michael McDonald, Gabriel Faure' and Proust all have in common?

If you guessed inverted diatonic scales, with a slow arc toward the final cadence -- Bingo! Just don't forget to diminish the fifth in C major, okay you guys?

And for those of you who guessed that 'relationship between gigues and compound metre' -- you also got it right!

Sorry if we lost a few of you. Just remember, in duple meter, the dotted quarter note creates the constant tension (deliliously done, when the harmonica does that jumpy staccato jabbing thing, often abused as a screechy descant above lilting blues tunes).

Pam Fod Angen .Cym ? Why Do We Need .Cym?

Oherwydd bod yr iaith Gymraeg a’r diwylliant Gymraeg yn gymuned y credwn ni y dylai cael ei chydnabod a’i dyrchafu drwy gael ei Parth Lefel Uchaf noddedig (sponsored Top Level Domain - PLU) ar y Rhyngrwyd. Gyda PLU noddedig .cym byddai’r cyrff, cwmnïau a’r bobl hynny sydd am fynegi eu hunain yn yr iaith Gymraeg neu/ac am hyrwyddo diwylliant Gymraeg yn gallu cofrestri a chael eu hadnabod yn glir.

Because the Welsh language and culture is a community that we believe should be identified and enhanced by having its own sponsored TLD on the Internet. Under a .CYM sponsored TLD those organisations, companies and people that express themselves in the Welsh language and/or wish to encourage Welsh culture will be able to be registered and will be clearly identifiable.

Clichiwch yma: http://www.dotcym.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2&lang=cy
Click here: http://www.dotcym.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2&lang=en

CYFRWNG 2007 CONFERENCE "Devolution + the Development of Media in Wales"

University of Wales Swansea
13-15 April 2007

The Cyfrwng conference is an opportunity for academics, students and media practitioners to discuss key issues facing the media in Wales. Cyfrwng 2007 is hosted by the University of Wales Swansea and the conference will address debates surrounding devolution and the media, including the relationship between the media and the Assembly, developments in the task of reporting politics in Wales, issues of regulation, changes in the commissioning process, and changes in national theatres. Keynote speakers confirmed for this conference include:

Huw Edwards, BBC News
Rhys Evans, Deputy Head of News & Current Affairs BBC Wales
Lowri Gwilym, S4C Commissioning Editor, General Factual
Clare Hudson, BBC Wales Head of Programmes (English)
Elis Owen, ITV Wales Controller of Programmes
John Geraint, Green Bay
Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas, The National Assembly for Wales Presiding Officer
Leighton Andrews, AM Rhondda
Professor Steve Blandford, University of Glamorgan
Paul Jones, Teledu Apollo
Ed Thomas, Fiction Factory
Angharad Jones, S4C Commissioning Editor, Drama and Films
Peter Edwards, Film Agency for Wales Professor Hazel Walford Davies
Gareth Miles
Michael Bogdanov, Theatre Wales Company
Professor Dai Smith, University of Wales Swansea
Martin Shipton, Western Mail
Spencer Feeney, South Wales Evening Post
Patrick Hannan, BBC Wales
Aled Price, Y Byd
Mary Traynor, University of Glamorgan
Julie Barton
Andrew Jones, GTFM
Rhodri Williams, Ofcom

For further information, contact: http://www.cyfrwng.com/
[Wales]
[Welsh]
[BBC]
[S4C]
[ITV]
[OFCOM]

Hollywood Goes Gnostic -- Signifiers of Myth or Mythos?

"A common theme in the new genre is the existence of a manufactured world, a virtual reality in which the participants don't realize they are trapped. "

"But what does all of this arcane and outdated theology have to do with the movies? Over the last decade, movies have frequently dealt with apocalyptic themes- but now that the millennium has turned without the fiery destruction of the universe, moviemakers are exploring more subtle theological ideas. Recent technological and scientific advances have led people everywhere to question our perception of reality, and our movies have followed suit. Recent films exploring virtual worlds and false perceptions of reality include Vanilla Sky, the Matrix, The Truman Show, Pleasantville, and the Thirteenth floor."

Very interesting discussionof Gnosticism and Hollywood, here:
http://altreligion.about.com/library/weekly/aa072302a.htm
[Religious Grotesque]