Sunday, November 14, 2010

This I support

Why I can't wait to see "Belle du Seigneur":

-Natalia Vodianova is the only model whose beauty I can look at as art, rather than as evidence that some people happen not to have much in the way of thighs. I'm not going to say Most Beautiful Woman Alive, because I stand by the idea that these proclamations ignore the likelihood that the best-looking of both sexes happen not to be employed in the fashion or entertainment industries, but she's without a doubt the most stunning woman paid for her looks.

-Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

-Equestrian fashion is my newish obsession. A pair of $17.50 (including shipping) eBay riding pants are on their way.

-Jews and intermarriage in French literature... in movie form! Hints of hope that my dissertation will not put people to sleep. Or that if it starred Rhys Meyers and Vodianova, people would pay attention.

8 comments:

eamonn said...

JRM. Exquisitely upper class Brit. pronunciation and manners yet likes to identify himself as Irish. Rough equivalent: Al Pacino identifying himself as Estonian American.

Why, no idea?

But the next person who on meeting me and discovering that I am Irish says " Like JRM !! ", as if I should be pleased, isn't going to get the response they expect

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

He's pretty. Where he comes from (Ireland, Estonia, Papua New Guinea) doesn't concern me.

I'm surprised, though, that anyone would say "like" anyone when finding out that someone they're meeting is Irish. Aren't a ton of famous people Irish? People much more famous than JRM? Any country where English is a native language and there are lots of people with conventional white good looks has its share of internationally-recognized celebrities. I mean, I get tired of hearing that my name is "like Phoebe on 'Friends,'" and having to spell out again and again that I was born well before that show first aired and thus not named after the flighty blonde from that sitcom. But there aren't all that many Phoebes, and the Friends one remains the best-known.

eamonn said...

I was just adding some info, nothing more

The idea exists that if one has ever been to Ireland even, say, for a week the appropriate thing to say when meeting an Irish person outside Ireland is to say, "I've been to Mallow/Termonfeckin/Dingle/Horseleap. Do you know it?/Do you know my cousin/friend who lives there?

Ireland is indeed small but not that small

A sub-genre of this discursive strategy is to immediately mention U2 or some half witted actor and say how much how much you love them.

On you travels do people ask you about Bob Jovi and look nonplussed when (if)you say you are not really into them?


Honorable exceptions exist. Many years back, entering Korea through the old Kimpo airport, the immigration guy looked at my passport, looked and me, beamed and said "Ahhhh!!! James Joyce, William Butler Yeats." Major Respect.

On a somewhat related note, as we went through security at Athens airport last May a cop saw my wife's passport and asked her what football team she supported.

Immediate cultural awareness point to him. Football is not only a guy thing here.

She said he'd never have heard of it because she's not from Buenos Aires. So he says "Where are you from"?

"Santa Fe"

he shoots right back "Unión or Colón?". Those are the big Santa Fe teams. Respect there too

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

OK. I'm still surprised that JRM is anyone's first thought when they hear "Ireland," but I'll take your word for it.

Andrew Stevens said...

Eamonn: JRM is genuinely Irish. Born in Dublin, grew up in Cork. His accent in interviews is quite noticeably Irish. He puts on the exquisitely upper class British accent for his acting roles (e.g. The Tudors).

eamonn said...

he spoke with an upper class british accent in that stupid woody allen film ( I know, that doesn't narrow it down much) one set in london, the one with scarlet whats her face. He played a character that was supposedly Irish and addressed by other characters as such

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

I liked Match Point! And I'd assume his accent would have been because he was supposed to be a social climber, although the subtleties of when an Irish person would put on a British accent are outside my realm of expertise.

Andrew Stevens said...

The character wasn't originally written as Irish. And, yes, he affected the accent he did because his character was a social climber and the character was made Irish in case Meyers couldn't disguise his real accent enough.

Meyers had his real accent in "Bend it Like Beckham," virtually the only role where he kept his original accent.