That 'Soft Power' Bullshit

Can't even remember now where I was hearing it discussed, whether it was R4/X or some podcast...

Then, I come across this chart, and, hang on a minute, Austria ?  The country that should be, were it not for the historical existence of a certain empire, and the later genocide at the hands of one of its own sons, part of Deutschland ?  A country routinely confused by the world at large with a continent in the South Pacific ?  What cultural or other 'soft power' does the Österreich possess ?  I'll give you Wolfgang & Falco, granted, but then ?

And Singapore ?  Singapore has a culture ?  Of its own ?

And the UK at number one ?  What, because of the popularity of British themes in Japanese manga ? The UK is viewed by the majority of the world as some sort of heritage-themed resort for tourists.

And Canada, shit !  What, other than a handful of slang-words, traditional spellings, the Queen on plastic currency, and poutine, really defines Canadians as separate from Americans, eh ?

I just don't understand anything any more.*


* I just liked the way that sentence sounded in my head.

Persepolis

Couple clips from the film-version of Marjane Satrapi's brilliant graphic novels about her life growing up in Iran through the revolution and the war with Iraq.  Strange how ones willingness to just bomb a people consistently portrayed as two-dimensional cartoon villains can change when one gets a sense of the actual flesh-and-blood humans behind the propaganda.

Apparently, the film is available to watch for a fee on YouTube, if one wanted.  I don't know what the form-factor or quality would be like, or whether one would have a choice in English-speaking regions between the subtitled French soundtrack (watch that one unless you really really hate subtitles) or the 'celebrity' American soundtrack.  I'm assuming it's still available to buy on DVD or Blu-ray, and the original graphic novels are cool as well.

Israel in Colour by British Pathé

Interesting time-capsules in these videos, including in the way Israel was portrayed by British Pathé back in the 'fifties & 'sixties.  Keeping in mind that Israel during much of this period was more political ally of the UK & France than of the United States.  There's a more than somewhat touristy if not propagandistic tone to many of the videos, but always cool to see a window into the past.  And in colour no-less.  Hell, most British teevee was still in black-and-white till the seventies.

Last line of the last video, from '69: 'They hope for peace.  The tragedy is, can it be achieved ?'  Well...

Israelis: What do you think of Ireland and the Irish?

...from an interesting series w/Israelis & Palestinians.  Watched one video too many in the series to recommend it overall, but girls at 1.58 must not be missed.  And so Israelis (and the world) basically see the Irish as friendly red-headed likeable drunks.  Huh.

Googoosh: Yekrouzi / گوگوش : یه روزی پیدات میکنم

Wouldn't pretend to understand Persian or Arabic, but music is music, and it does seem a shame that the cultures of countries like Iran and Afghanistan lost so much of what they did in the cultural revolutions of the seventies and eighties.