The Explorers Club
No CVII - The life and revolutionary color photography of Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863-1944).








This episode of "The Explorers Club" was suggested by Alistair, personal friend of yours truly and longtime reader of The Secret Base, without whose suggestion I might very well have remained sadly ignorant of Mr. Prokudin-Gorsky and his astonishing work. Just the latest in a long line of examples of how my life would be poorer if I did not know Alistair.

And as long as we're thinking about all the Russias...

Vote For Kodos: Obamboozled
Barring an extraordinary happenstance, Senator Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.) will be the next Secretary of State, America's principal ambassador to the rest of the world, despite her clear and undeniable Constitutional ineligibility for the office (Article I, Section 6 of the pesky U.S. Constitution). A few months hence, during the protracted and bitter fight for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Senator Clinton butchered the pronunciation of the surname of the duly elected President of the Russian Federation, Dmitri Medvedev (pictured below). She said, "Mev... Med... uh... Mevedevuh... whatever." And then she smiled. I am loathe to criticize Mrs. Clinton for stumbling over President Medvedev's name. Pronouncing Russian names, both first and last, can be a bear, pun fully intended. To this day I cannot correctly pronounce the name of my old college chum Olga, Secret Base codename: From Russia With Love. (You think you know how to pronounce "Olga," just as I did, but you don't, not "properly" anyway.)

However, there is one important aspect of Secretary-designate Clinton's behavior that gives me pause: she was defeated by Medvedev's name, fair enough, but then she added a dismissive "whatever" and smiled. Broadly. "Whatever." It is one thing to muddle through a Russian surname, and it is another thing altogether to enjoy doing so and then stop to be impressed at your own wit, especially when said wit consists of that old standard middle school comeback, "whatever." I am not troubled that the woman can't pronounce President Medvedev's name, I am troubled that she thinks pronouncing his name is a trivial matter, a source of amusement. This is the manner in which President-elect Obama intends to present America's case to the world, with a Secretary of State who says "whatever" to unfamiliar and difficult-to-pronounce surnames? Yes, yes, this will no doubt "win back" America's prestige and standing around the globe.

Addendum, 12:19 A.M.: Wait, I just got it, we're fighting fire with fire! If people are going to believe the Ugly American stereotype, then, by thunder, we're going to give them the Ugly American. It's just crazy enough to work?





The Russian Federation's pocket-sized president sez, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

I am gravely concerned about Senator Clinton's basic lack on competence on the international stage, and that's without even mentioning her baffling inability to discern whether she and her then-teenaged daughter were or were not taking direct fire from Bosnian Serb snipers. Oh yeah, I'm just bursting with confidence, Mr. President-elect.

The Victors: Project OSPREY
Michigan 91-60 Eastern Michigan.
7-2, 0-0 Big Ten

I admit to having not watched the game, but that doesn't make me a faithless cur. We've entered the weird doldrums of the college basketball season, after the tournaments that pit quality non-conferences foes against one another and before conference play begins in earnest. I am tremendously glad for Coach Beilein's comments that the valiant Wolverines, for all the impressiveness of the victories over U.C.L.A. and Duke, do not deserve to be ranked (which we are not). Three more games against opponents we dare not take lightly, and then Wisconsin on New Year's Eve to open the Big Ten schedule. I believe in the valiant Wolverines, I believe in John Beilein, and, most encouragingly, I believe our boys believe in the Beilein way.

Go Blue!

The Rebel Black Dot Christmas Songs of the Day
The Ninjas, "Codename: Christmas" from Platypus (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 13 Dezember
Mu330, "I've Got This Neighbor" from Winter Wonderland (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Almost two years ago to the day, my roommate at B.T.W. South selected "I've Got This Neighbor" as the then-B.T.W. South Song of the Day. Funny story: Wayback Machinelink. Also, checkout that wayback post's comments. Bog, I miss The Guy's whimsical wit and wisdom.

Freitag, 12 Dezember
Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Donnerstag, 11 Dezember
Barenaked Ladies, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" from Barenaked For the Holidays (T.L.A.M.)

In Soviet Russia, name mispronounces you?