h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It certainly does. Singing in the rain is fun. Im actually related to Gene Kelly.

How's that?

Moriarty was English, it's true. But the story in which he appears, "The Adventure of the Final Problem", was steeped in foreign intrigue, a Scandinavian royal scandal, Watson working for the French government, the final tragedy in the Swiss Alps.

But even though Moriarty is supposedly English, he too has a foreign flavour about him. When Holmes briefs Watson about this cunning fiend, he mentions the Professor had published a thesis on mathmematics "which has had a European vogue." Holmes even refers to him as "a Napoleon of crime." Moriarty may be born English, but he obviously possesses the mind of an inscrutable European.

Since when is England not European?

Good point.

As to Gene Kelly, He is my Grandmother's sister's second cousin.

Aah, I was expecting this one.

While, to the rest of the world, Britain or England appears to be part of Europe, the British have the very strong mindset that they are apart from it, that they are different. It might have something to do with being an island nation, or as they like to quote historical, "We've never been invaded for a thousand years!". Or not, I don't know the real reason why.

But in the last two British elections, questions over Europe (esp. Single Currency, Economic Union, the European Parliament, a Federal European Republic, etc) have all been key issues. In the last election, a party was formed on the sole platform of instituting a national referendum on whether Britain should join Europe in the Euro and Economic Union (the Referendum party thought it shouldn't). There are even political divisions, called Pro-European and Anti-European based on the above questions.

At almost every turn Britain seems to take a divergent path from the rest of Europe, if for nothing more than sheer obstinacy. And recent history shows that Britain is more likely to side with American stances than European.

Ask a Brit about the points are given, and they'll tell you whether Britain is part of Europe or not.

Vampire fan, huh? Ever read any Laurell K. Hamilton? She's absolutely terrific.

"If I Pay Thee Not in Gold." Good one. Glad to find some Anthony fans--nobody seems to like him where I live.

Well, by the same token, have you ever seen a James Bond movie that took place entirely in England?

~Irving

Ummm, not sure whether that was related to my last post about UK vs Europe, or previous posts about Holmes & Xenophobia.

But about the Bond movies, I can't remember ANY Bond film that even visits England, other than going to MI6 HQ. Unless you count "Living Daylights" which visited Gibraltar (British territory) at the beginning. Nor can I recall any British villains...

It's difficult to identify Bond as a truly British commodity these days. Cubby Broccoli was American as is his daughter Barbara. Two of the Bond actor are definitely not British, and a further two were born in countries that have now chosen to devolve from the UK. Only one is actually English.

He doesn't even drive a British car any more. Mind you, most of the British car industry is owned by BMW or Volkswagen, so maybe that's not so easy to fix.

Speaking of Bond, I've just added a new journal entry on Bond actors here: http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=20617&thread=31932

Sorry about the confusion. I spent about five minutes trying to figure out what I actually meant to say about the Sherlock thing, and I eventually parred it down to that, which made sense at the time, but ended up not. What I meant was that Sherlock Holmes was involved in really important crimes, international ones, of the sort that could be equivalent to what James Bond is now. He was a super sleuth the way Bond is a super spy, both reside in London, but the adventures of both take them through circles outside of London. Exotic locations. That sort of thing. I don't think it's really Xenophobia. Doyle doesn't actually seem to insult any cultur as a whole. Criminals DO come from different countries, and in fact they make for exciting stories.

See? That was the sort of paragraph I had before, but I trimmed it way down to what made sense in my head but not out of my own context...

Actually now that I think about it, Elliot Carver in "Tomorrow Never Dies" may well have been English. So there you are.

Which would just bring us around to Moriarty being English as well...

Just to make to make this business of clarification fair and equitable, for my part I never meant to say that Doyle was actively or consciously trying to insult other cultures. But the predominance of foreign-related scenarios creates a certain... inference. An inference that deserves discussion and comment. It's more of a naive bigotry (cultural insensitivity, you might say) common for his time and society (even early social anthropologists were prone to it) rather than a malicious hatred. Remember that in "The Five Orange Pips" he writes with some disdain of the KKK.

Even so, if Doyle were writing today, his first story, "A Study in Scarlet", would cause great controversy and be slammed by the Mormon Anti-Defamation League (if such a thing exists).

Mind you, Jonathon Pryce is Welsh, so...

Erm, how about the big boat chase on the thames that takes place in the new bond film, OK, so he's just left HQ, but thats England. And As a scot, I think most of these Brit references, are really very English!! Think, in America people have the same accent for miles, in Britain, the next village over the hill could have a completely different dialect to yours, of course these are now being lost, but Blighty is in general a very wierd place. England even more so! And As for musicals, I've seen Les Miserables 4 times, musicals are a bit of a passion for your waitress!
(wanders off vacantly singing Maybe this time from Cabaret)

ah well, my two cents:
Lupa, I love Anthony! Read all he ever wrote!
Helena, me too - we just study a charleston to the music of Cabaret for carneval .

What good is sitting alone in your room... ow who put that table there!! Vacant Glaze over eyes... tee heee...
( I really should take my brain off the hook more often, its fun having people underestimate you!)

I just finished Luminous by Greg Egan, I was wondering if anyone else has read anything by him? I know Lupa has, but I had never heard of Egan before she told me about him...and Luminous turns out to be close to the best I've ever read. Scientific, fictional and philosophical, all in the same book. Warmly recommended to everyone.

Oh, and I'd love a donut, if there are any left.

There were none to begin with. I've just been typing the letter "O" and frying it. People seem to like it, though...

~Irving