Here’s a song you’ll be singing all day even though you can’t pronounce the words. It’s had something like 299 million hits in YouTube.
Yes, seriously.
It’s from South Korea and I found out about it because I was honored to get an invite to the Bali Writer’s festival next week and the organizing staff are performing it as part of their festival night celebrations.
Can’t wait!
The video’s coming up. BUT FIRST:
The absolute funniest book review ever written.
It’s about that FSOG book. It has real ire (she really doesn’t like the book!) and is interspersed with GIF’s and did I say … pain? This had me rolling on the floor laughing, not easy to do when you are reading from a laptop.
You must read this - BUT BEFORE YOU DO, MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HAVE A FULL BLADDER. (Warning: the language is pretty strong but if you’ve read FSOG it won’t bother you.)
Talking of reviews, take a look here. My fellow WANA’s have been very busy. Jennette Marie Powell has put their new releases under one umbrella. It is an unbelievably prolific group writing in a huge range of genres, take a look!
And here’s a lady I deeply respect and admire. It’s hard enough just to write; even harder to write about things you know will attract controversy and then face down your detractors even when you get death threats.
This is Sherry Jones talking about the book she wrote about one of Mohammed’s wives.
In light of what has been happening recently in the world, this is a timely reminder that in an honest writer courage is every bit as essential as creativity.
Because free speech is still just a dream in many parts of the world. Some people would like to intimidate us into not talking about certain things, whether they are personal or political.
I like what Piper Bayard had to say about this right here.
As Piper shows, this is a world in crisis; which is why I agree with Kristen Lamb’s excellent post - if Hemingway were alive today, yes he would blog. There are so many issues that need champions. Hemingway would have loved this technology; perhaps he might have called his site - For Whom the Net Blogs.
But back to that video. I was introduced to it through the Ubud Writers Festival. Here’s some shameless self promotion, an article a Bali journalist wrote about my participation in the Festival.
And before I finally show you the video, a warning: don’t try this at home. It could be dangerous.
And so here it is: ‘Gangnam Style.’ I’ve no idea what it’s about except that it appears to have something to do with horses. If you aren’t one of the 299 million who have seen this already, this is awesome!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0&w=560&h=315]
hehehe That’s weird shit, man. hehehe Almost inhaled my coffee.
Isn’t it fantastic? YouTube is the electronic magic mushroom of the age!
My family and I comprise about 15 views of those 299 million. The video is so random I get a kick out of it every time. I also love the fact that it’s not over-produced. One of my favorite parts is when Psy and two women are walking into blowing “snow” and one of the women is just trying not to swallow the stuff or get it in her eyes. LOL. That had to be done in one take.
Thanks so much for the shout out, Colin. I was just listening on the radio to a story about an artist in Tunisia who was arrested and her gallery trashed because some of the paintings were considered “un-Islamic.” America is constantly criticized by its own citizens and people around the world for not stepping into revolutions against despotic dictators, as if the whole world is just one despotic dictator away from Utopia. Unfortunately, the deposed just as often have uglier despots in line behind them, and then it’s “America helped that skumbag into power.” . . . But I stray. My point is that the “moderate Muslim” governments are already attacking that most critical of freedoms, Freedom of Speech. We must not condone their actions by attacking people in America for exercising that right of free speech, no matter how it offends Muslim sensibilities. Again, thanks for the shout out.
I’m off to read the review of FSOG.
I never noticed the girl reacting to the ‘snow’ till you mentioned it. You’re right, they probably filmed the whole thing in an afternoon. I love it.
Like you, I think that freedom of speech is a liberty that we take for granted. But it is actually under threat; the film that guy made sounds just stupid, but he has a right to make it and we start censoring people just to pander to extremist ‘sensibilities’ then we are back in the Dark Ages with the Inquisition. No, the sun revolves around the earth, doesn’t it Copernicus? Hope you enjoyed the review of FSOG though. It’s a lot of fun!!
Thanks for the shout-out! So much fun happenings, I love to share.
I heard about Gangnam from my daughter. I don’t know where I’ll get my pop culture education when she goes off to college. And I’ll check out that FS video when I get home - can’t wait to see if it’s as bad (or as funny) as the video reading of the worst fanfic ever!
That was a pretty scary time for me, when I had death threats and lots of hostility (from Islamophobes as well as Islamists) because of THE JEWEL OF MEDINA. But I still stand by the right to free speech. As Obama said, the proper response to speech that offends you is not violence, but more speech. I’ve been shocked to hear others blame the makers of the “Innocence of Muslims” video for the violence in the Middle East. I am all about love, not hate, but people who choose violence are responsible for their own actions. When we start blaming the creators for the responses to their creations, we take a dangerous step toward that state of solitary confinement known as censorship.
Absolutely with you all the way on this one, Sherry. I think you took a very courageous stand and you have my endless respect and admiration for doing it. When I listen to radical Muslims speak these days I hear the Inquisition. (And very clearly too - I’ve just finished researching a novel about the Church’s genocide of the Cathars in the south of France.) If you’d ever like to write more on this subject here, you’re always welcome.
Colin, thank you! And thank you for so actively promoting my post on Twitter and elsewhere. I do have a blog post that I’ve written — not yet published — about how free speech isn’t for violence and neither are writers, cartoonists, filmmakers or even Islamophonic bloggers — and how we tread a slippery slope when we start to even point the finger at them. Would you like me to send it to you for possible posting here? Kudos, by the way, for speaking out on this issue, and for all your support of fellow writers.
Please Sherry - send it colin underscore falconer underscore author at hotmail dot com. Would love to schedule it. It’s a very important subject. I’m at a writers festival in Bali at the moment - a Hindu island in a Moslem country where fanatics planted a bomb a decade ago, almost to the day, and killed over 200 people, including 88 of my countrymen and women. The festival was formed in response to that, and features writers form all over the world and all faiths. It promotes ideas and tolerance. So please send it and I’ll run some posts around this when I get back.