No, really, shhhhh
At 11am, an announcement went out over the PA at the British Library saying that, in accordance with the Royal British Legion's wishes, it would be observing a second two minutes' silence in remembrance of those who died in the wars - this happens whenever the anniversary of Armistice Day, 11 November, falls on days other than Sundays. I was in the Humanities Reading Room, where, for two minutes, all the silent people going silently about their research stayed extra silent. It was quite surreal. We could do a nine-hour silence in here.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:27 PM
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23 Comments:
Andrew,
I listen to your podcast, and enjoy it a great deal.
And I've been following with interest the debate that has been going on about the Ross-Sachs affair, and the way you were very critical of Ross's conduct, arguing that there are boundaries in comedy.
I'm also a keen reader of Chortle the comedy website, as I do like comedy, even comedy that pushes boundaries - I always like slightly dark and edgy comedy.
But there is an article on their site currently that compares doing stand up comedy to having brutal sex. It argues that "Stand-up is about fucking your entire audience in the throat, like they're 17 and it's their first-time. .... They have their mouths wide-open, and they're making these funny, helpless choking noises, and if you're lucky they have a bit of snot and loads of tears running down their faces. "
The full article is here:
http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2008/10/24/7663/women%3A_were_just_not_funny._period.
The thing that bothers me slightly is that it claims to be written by a women and yet it seems so plausible to me that its an assumed name. I see no reference to 'Jacinta Nandi-Pierschamm' anywhere else, and when I emailed the editor of chortle asking if the author really was a woman he told me that he took it 'on trust' that she was.
Am I going over the top by saying I think the comedy crosses the line slightly? Is stand up comedy like having sex with a 17 year old? I'm not sure that it is really.
Apologies if this is a bit off topic, its just that the article really stood out to me, and the debate around whether or not it is acceptable seemed to me to mirror the debate you entered into over Jonathan Ross, and I was keen to hear your view and your readers' view.
That's good. I laughed aloud. Now shhhhh!
While we're talking about the Jonathan Ross debacle (well, davejones is), his Saturday morning replacement Richard Allinson is so stultifyingly dull, so utterly bland and unfunny, that it's surely a ploy by the BBC to make us realise what we're missing. Bring him back, I say, the sooner the better.
I held of posting anything for 2 minutes!
Gosh, those two people must have been working VERY HARD, having not MOVED since you took the photo last week!
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Please don't leave anonymous comments. It states quite clearly that anonymous comments will not be published. Someone just left one about Diary Of A Call Girl, which I'm happy to publish, if you re-post with a name attached. It's just common courtesy, I feel.
I always thought the whole Ross/Brand group frothist hug was because there was not much going on that people could get annoyed about. Now that a muslim terrorist is in the white house can't they just let them back?
I don't seem to be able to delete comments. There's usually a little dustbin symbol underneath each one, but it's disappeared. Any clues?
I've just managed it, but it's not like it used to be. There's no dustbin symbol - I just moved my mouse where it should be and clicked, which is most unsatisfactory. Any Blogger nerds out there? (I've tried clearing my cache, by the way, which is what Blogger Help tells me to do.) These things are so important!
Dear anonymous (who just left me a message), I've no idea why Blogger wouldn't let you put your name. You could always type a name at the end of your post?
I do hope I have not inadvertantly kicked off a speight of anonymous posting. If so, you have my apologies Andrew.
Still not heard the "extra pod", will be sure to listen later.
As a PhD student, I spend quite a bit of time in libraries. The British Library is probably the quietest one out there, bereft, as it is, of meddlesome undergraduates laughing and chatting about how much they spewed last night. I'm in my uni's library right now the concept of "silence" is a novelty here.
They should have two minutes talking instead.
Haha, how strange. I was in the Brookes library today (a rare occurrence), and we all fell EXTRA silent. I thought I was the only one to realise how strange the situation was.
Sorry to get back on the topic of the blog, but working in a call centre, it was strange at 11. The floor I'm on is split into 2 halfs (well it would be 2), on my side we had the radio on and all stopped at 11, whilst the other side carried on regardless.
Working for a bank that is soon to be owned by the people I would have thought that more effort would have been made by those in their ivory towers to remember those that are no longer here.
I've worked in my current office for nearly twenty years. For the first 12-15 of those we didn't observe a minutes silence on Armistice Day. Then a few years ago, the tannoy would go off, and the minutes silence would be onserved.
Today, no announcement. I wonder why? Compassion fatigue? And why did we suddenly start observing it again in the first place?
To be perectly honest, I was relieved. I hate the way the minute's silence has become so commonplace over the last few years, especially at football matches. It has, I'm afraid, become meaningless. If you have the same minute's silence for millions of first world war dead as you do for a dead centre-forward from the 1957 cup winning side it all becomes a bit ridiculous, doesn't it?
John
Hey...what about a podcast from the British Library with you and Richard whispering and sniggering your way through one hour of mindless banter.
That would be a very surreal podcast.
I was in Bath at 11am today, and I heard gunfire. Naturally, I panicked and started running around screaming about terrorists taking over our city, and shouted at everyone in the street, telling them to prepare for war. I carried on doing this for a couple of minutes, and then heard yet more gunfire.
Then I realised it was to mark the start and end of the two-minute silence.
Aaaah John Cage would be proud...
Until recently I co-presented a radio programme in London, and last year to coincide with Armistice Day we played some tracks from Jonty Semper's album Kenotaphion, which is a disc of two minute silences recorded though the years, the earliest in 1929. Of course, as Cage realised years ago, there is no such thing as silence...
Hey Andrew, how come you don't ever have the codcast at YOUR house?
I work in a food factory and production was halted for the two minute silence, as it has been at all the previous plants I've worked at. I agree that it has become a bit common to hold a silence for everything but I do think the tradition on 11/11 should carry on.
They also held a silence at my sons school, "for all the army men who died" as my son put it(he's 4). He said he stayed quiet but his friend pulled funny faces throughout.
I am all for the two minutes silence. My grandad did 4 years on the Western Front and lived to tell the tale. The thing that has really, really started to get my goat is the poppy wearing by TV presenters/guests. Firstly, the first poppies now seem to start appearing at the end of the summer holidays (why?) and it now appears to be manadatory to wear one regardless of context or dress code (see poppies worn by X Factor contestants etc). It is making the poppy so ubiquitous that it is making it invisible and rather ridiculous. I have a direct connection to the conflict and I am just irritated by it. Let people do it if they mean it but don't force them into "remembrance" just because they are on TV. I wear my poppy on my suit but not when I change into my jeans when I get home...
Quite agree, Gunnerboy. I was expecting to be made to wear one both time I appeared on News 24, but there was no such coercion. (I think it's a BBC directive for onscreen staff only.) I choose not to wear one not because I don't care about those who lost their lives on the battlefield, but because I too resent the Diana Effect, where compassion and remembrance are only achievable by telling the world about it. Quiet remembrance seem more in keeping, to me.
Equally, I'm not one for wristbands or ribbons. There is a perhaps subconscious degree of one-upmanship about these public displays of compassion. I'm comfortable in my own thoughts.
Back to the two minute silence thing... isn't the point that you're supposed to stop what you're doing and think about it, rather than "going silently about their research staying extra silent"! Having said that, two minutes is quite a long time - didn't a one-minute silence used to be the standard? They do seem to be getting longer - at the last 9/11 momorial thing, there was a THREE-minute silence! Surely that's just too long.
Jon
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