30. november 2004

Ski babe reveals all Crosscountry skiing is hardly the world's largest or most popular sport, but in Norway it is massive. Our best footballers may make more money and get their share of veneration, but our best cross country skiiers become living legends praised long after they've put their skis in the attic. Norway is an interesting mix of puritan and progressive, and messing with national icons in the wrong way can get you badly punished. Thus, it will be interesting to see what reaction the 22 year old female cross country skiier Ingvild Engesland receives from spreading nude in the Norwegian soft-porn both-genders-friendly magazine Lek ("Play"). Until this, few had heard of Miss Engesland. She has some very promising results in junior level skiing, including a decent fifth place in the U21 World Championship, but is yet to have had her real breakthrough. Unless, of course, you count the headlines today about her nude posing. Largest newspaper VG is all over her, so to say, showing a page from the magazine, and TV2 Nettavisen printed two pictures that would give the FCC heart attack (tasteful, but not work safe, folks, even if these are public newspapers!) So far, the reaction from other sports people has been muted. We're probably going to get reactions tomorrow from the feminist side, forgetting for a moment who supposedly owns the female body. That said, I can't put to rest the thought that many young women, thinking nothing about spreading nude now, may live to regret it 10 or 20 years down the line when a simple googling (or whatever search engine we have then) reveals their charms to their future employer, children or mother-in-law. What we do outside the private space today will be instantly accessible for anyone in the world for, as far as we know, the foreseeable future. (All right, I normally try to keep certain standards on this blog, but I'm a guy and she's a hottie so bear with me here, ok? And, no, I will not put the more explicit pictures on my blog. It is my policy to keep this page, at least, clean. It's only a click away for the curious. Serious blogging will commence soon.) Update: And now she regrets posing nude. Didn't realise anyone would notice. Poor girl. If she thought that body could go unnoticed, she doesn't know much about men. Or journalists. Update 2: I suspect those who find this entry through Google et al are really after more revealing pictures of Ingvild Engesland (not even remotely work safe!). Some guy has stolen all the porn pictures from Lek, and it's safe to say that Miss Engesland doesn't have any secrets anymore. Not at all. 11:37:03 PM    comment []  trackback []

The Devils' Advocates It again falls to David Aaronovitch to be the voice of reason, not to say sanity, in The Guardian, Ukraine coverage has been notably pro-reformist all over Europe, but there is a distinct voice of government and Putin apologists that opposes conventional wisdom. Naturally, in a democracy it is healthy with opposition. There is no doubt room for more nuance, as is the fashionable term, than the typical press accounts glorifying Yushchenko and demonising Yanukovich. This is the reason many, me included, first and foremost support transparent elections and stable democracy for Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe. Now, it appears most Ukrainians want Viktor Yushchenko for president. If he should prove a disappointment, the strength of democracy is that the people can kick him out next round. Respect for dissent, however, doesn't mean it can't be instructive to look at the people who constantly find themselves defending dictatures and even genocides across the world. One of these people is John Laughland. In the Guardian and on the BBC, he has been a Putin and Yanukovich advocate. And unlikely many who take that position, Laughland is hardly on the left. Aaronovitch traces his trail through support for Milosevic, badly veiled conspiracy theories about 9/11-01, support for the Hutu mass murderers in Rwanda and loud praise for North Korea. Somewhere along the fringes, the far left and the far right find a lot of common ground. PS: Blogger Crooked Timber looked at John Laughland some months ago. 9:53:59 PM    comment []  trackback []

Justices give Barnett a hard time If we are to believe this report from the NYT's Linda Greenhouse, it doesn't look too good for Randy Barnett, medical marijuana and states' rights in the Supreme Court. PS: Transcript and comment. I thought Barnett made a strong argument, but what do I know about law. 8:20:08 PM    comment []  trackback []

What if we called a protest and nobody turned up? Expectations about massive and potentially violent demonstrations against George W. Bush on his visit to Canada have not, to put it mildly, been met: The first demonstration -- of Palestinians and sympathisers of the Palestinian cause opposed to Washington's support of Israel -- attracted less than 40 demonstrators. According to a quick head count by journalists, the protest attracted 39 demonstrators, 42 journalists and television crew members and three police officers. A second, ostensibly larger, demonstration scheduled for the midst of the evening rush hour -- was called by a group calling itself Students Against Bush. Nobody turned up. Further protests however were expected on Tuesday. Ho-hum. 7:54:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

Ukraine MPs don't pass no-confidence vote Ukraine's parliament narrowly failed to pass a no-confidence motion against Yanukovych' government. The session was interrupted by protesters. The motion would, like a previous decision to annull the election, have no legal effect. That, on the other hand, will a much anticipated decision by the Supreme Court. Earlier today, Yanukovych offered reformist Yushchenko a position as prime minister in his cabinet as a compromise solution. It was turned down. It does show, however, that the government thinks it has a weak hand. 6:08:13 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 18.12.2004; 20:00:09.