My favorite British headline of recent weeks:
Mystery ‘Euro-whiff’ blamed on Germans.
Posts Categorized: Misc
The Flight of the Emperors
The British take April Fools’ Day very seriously; almost every newspaper has at least one hoax story.
This year, my favorite print hoax was from the Sun, which was no doubt inspired by the media frenzy surrounding Carla Bruni, the glamorous wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during their recent visit to London. According to the Sun’s April 1 report:
FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy is to have pioneering stretch surgery in a bid to make him taller.
Found: One Screwdriver
I thought this photo was pretty funny.
Could You Be British? Part II
And now, the answers…
1. Where would you hear the following accents: Geordie; Scouse; Cockney?
“Well-known dialects in England are Geordie (Tyneside), Scouse (Liverpool) and Cockney (London).”
2. What are the nations of the United Kingdom, from most populous to least–and who are their patron saints?
England (St. George); Scotland (St. Andrew); Wales (St. David); and Northern Ireland
Could You Be British?
Now that Lauren and I have been in the UK for five years, we’ve decided to apply for an “indefinite leave to remain” — the UK equivalent of a green card. (NOTE TO OUR PARENTS: Yes, we do still plan on moving back to the States at some point. Honest.)
Of course, Her Majesty can’t let in just any riffraff. Before she will grant us leave, we have to take a test on life in the UK–the same test taken by people hoping to become British citizens. For those of you who want to test your Britishness, here are some questions based on the official government study guide. I’ll post the answers in a day or two; in the meantime, if you want to play at home, you can post your guesses in the comment section. (Googling your answers is most definitely not cricket.)
Jewno
As he has been in year’s past, my-friend-the-Daily-Show-writer Rob Kutner is involved in a charity sketch show in honor of the Jewish holiday of Purim. And as in year’s past, I’ve written a sketch for it.
This year, guests include also-from-the-Daily-Show Aasif Manvi, and a special video appearance by Lewis Black. If you’re in New York, on Saturday, March 22, I highly recommend you stop by the Shushan Channel. You may want to buy your tickets now; it tends to sell out.
And speaking of relationships
My friend and former Dennis Miller Live co-worker Leah–one of the funniest people I know–is a regular contributor to a site called The Mad As Hell Club. I thought her latest entry made a nice counterpart to Mike’s Guide To Dating A Nice Dude.
Mike’s Rules for Dating Nice Dudes
I can attest that my brother-in-law Mike is a genuine Nice Guy.
And fortunately for you Nice Gals who wonder how you can meet and date a Nice Guy, Mike has written Mike’s Rules for Dating Nice Dudes. It deserves to be one of those blog posts that ends up getting linked to and passed around endlessly, and it probably will be, so read it now and you can tell everybody you read it before it was famous.
Headline News
The Brits are following the US presidential elections with intense interest. Here, for example, is how The London Paper covered the Super Tuesday results last week:
If you look closely, you’ll note that Hillary and Barack were deemed sufficiently important to push full coverage of the Spice Girls reunion off the front page; greater honour cannot England grant. (Admittedly, troubled singer Amy Winehouse got a much larger front-page photo than any American candidate, but until Barack and Hillary have spouses in jail on charges of assault and trial fixing, they’re going to have to settle for second place.)
Last Restaurant Standing
One of our favorite British TV shows of last year was The Restaurant, a sort of foody version of The Apprentice. In place of Donald Trump was the vastly more-likable French chef Raymond Blanc.
Alas, our American friends have been unable to see the show–until now. It’s airing on BBC America under the name Last Restaurant Standing, starting on February 12.
If you get BBC America, I highly recommend it.