from the Guardian.co.uk:
In return for a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of the one the White House desk is made from and a first edition of a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, the Mail is appalled that "Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country" gave Brown a box set of 25 DVDs selected by the American Film Institute. These, it says, include Raging Bull, Casablanca, Psycho and The Graduate. It is, the Mail says, "a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks" (photo: Jason Reed/Reuters)
At first I was like, cool! Pen holder carved from wood of a sister ship! And equally apalled: with Obma's gift. DVDs? I saw a lot of these films on sale at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood (going out of business in June of this year, God Bless her Soul) for $10 each. Obama gave the British Prime Minister a $250 gift - and they weren't even on blu-ray. wtf?
Reading the guardian, I discovered that people are looking really hard into the intent behind these gifts. Is Gordon Brown kissing up? Is Obama talking down to our ally? I've come up with a few questions of my own.
1) Does Brown get to keep the DVDs, or do they stay with the office of the Prime Minister?
2) When was the last time I used a pen holder?
3) Why didn't Obama really send a message to England with VHS tapes? Or laser discs? Or just give Brown a flashdrive with the movies downloaded off of Bittorrent? (in our economy, being cheap is not only forgivable, but respectable)
4) What movies would I include in this boxed set?
A: W. by Oliver Stone. To remind you guys to be grateful. The Patriot, with Mel Gibson, to remind you guys to be grateful. And Watchmen, because we have Dr. Manhattan, and you should be grateful we do. And Shakespeare in Love, to remind them that they came up with Shakespeare, who is overrated, and (my friend TomatoJT will love this...) who stole from Christopher Marlowe, as a reminder of how great the British might think they are culturally, because really, we can't make them feel grateful all the time, can we?
I like the British, really (they did give us Virgin, and Virgin Megastore, didn't they?). I like pretending I have their accents. And I know there is much more fun a person can make of our country than any other country - I get that. I just don't like the British news, who seem to be the ones kicking up dust over this.
A final note: a seven volume biography of Winston Churchill is neat, but isn't it a bit presumptuous that their great former leader (who as I recall lost his post war election) is worth that much unedited attention? I don't know if anyone is worth that much attention - it borders on Hero Worshipping, which is an ugly trait to have. Obama should've given them a seven volume biography on Miley Cyrus out of spite. As Bruce mentioned, "Miley" is the old Jewish term for "Messiah." She is the light of my life. Witch.
In return for a pen holder carved from the timbers of the sister ship of the one the White House desk is made from and a first edition of a seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, the Mail is appalled that "Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country" gave Brown a box set of 25 DVDs selected by the American Film Institute. These, it says, include Raging Bull, Casablanca, Psycho and The Graduate. It is, the Mail says, "a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks" (photo: Jason Reed/Reuters)
At first I was like, cool! Pen holder carved from wood of a sister ship! And equally apalled: with Obma's gift. DVDs? I saw a lot of these films on sale at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood (going out of business in June of this year, God Bless her Soul) for $10 each. Obama gave the British Prime Minister a $250 gift - and they weren't even on blu-ray. wtf?
Reading the guardian, I discovered that people are looking really hard into the intent behind these gifts. Is Gordon Brown kissing up? Is Obama talking down to our ally? I've come up with a few questions of my own.
1) Does Brown get to keep the DVDs, or do they stay with the office of the Prime Minister?
2) When was the last time I used a pen holder?
3) Why didn't Obama really send a message to England with VHS tapes? Or laser discs? Or just give Brown a flashdrive with the movies downloaded off of Bittorrent? (in our economy, being cheap is not only forgivable, but respectable)
4) What movies would I include in this boxed set?
A: W. by Oliver Stone. To remind you guys to be grateful. The Patriot, with Mel Gibson, to remind you guys to be grateful. And Watchmen, because we have Dr. Manhattan, and you should be grateful we do. And Shakespeare in Love, to remind them that they came up with Shakespeare, who is overrated, and (my friend TomatoJT will love this...) who stole from Christopher Marlowe, as a reminder of how great the British might think they are culturally, because really, we can't make them feel grateful all the time, can we?
I like the British, really (they did give us Virgin, and Virgin Megastore, didn't they?). I like pretending I have their accents. And I know there is much more fun a person can make of our country than any other country - I get that. I just don't like the British news, who seem to be the ones kicking up dust over this.
A final note: a seven volume biography of Winston Churchill is neat, but isn't it a bit presumptuous that their great former leader (who as I recall lost his post war election) is worth that much unedited attention? I don't know if anyone is worth that much attention - it borders on Hero Worshipping, which is an ugly trait to have. Obama should've given them a seven volume biography on Miley Cyrus out of spite. As Bruce mentioned, "Miley" is the old Jewish term for "Messiah." She is the light of my life. Witch.
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