Skepticum

I’d like to proudly present Sibiu, the 2007 Cultural Capital of Europe:

TV Ad #1

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGxCxxUOG0E]

TV Ad #2

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd7OXktc5b4]

A greatly underrated comedian today is Frank Caliendo. I love the man. Caliendo is one of the best impersonators out there. Here are some vidoes of him that use Bush, Seinfeld, DeNiro and… not to forget Madden as joke subjects:

THE FAVRE-GASMS* of JOHN MADDEN:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBW7ysPcbT0″]

A few Bushisms:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrzXt58zuN4]

A whole lot of impersonations:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtWEkcyCd6g]

*Favregasm is a term coined by Postifthen. The term is used to define the type of “football excitement” a-la John Madden.

Since when has “Excuse me” become a replacement for “get the fuck out of my way”?

The French, Romanian, Turks and English use “pardon”, Italians say “scusi”, Russians say “izvinite”, the Spanish say “con permiso,” Americans say “EX-CUSE ME!”

 ”Bless you!”

If you try to shout pardon, you just sound like you’re in distress. If you shout “scusi” it sounds like you’re asking a question, if you shout “izvinite” … you’re gonna be out of breath, if you shout “con permiso”… nah it doesn’t work shouting that.

“EX-CUSE ME” is a different story.

Some people don’t say it at all, others bark it at you.  It’s a beautiful word. You can say it as “cuse-me” and sound all cute, as “excuse me?” which is the replacement for clearing your throat, or as “EX-CUSE ME” with a very accented “CUSE”  and an aggressive “ME”.

Ok, so I’ll admit there are millions of nice Americans. However, the EX-CUSE ME folk can often be found riding the Chicago transit, or buying coffee at the same Starbucks as me. Those fellow Chicago-ans make me want to put an r in ‘cuse’ and CURSE!

I read a blog post today on the parallels between Saddam’s and Ceausescu’s trials and execution. As one who was in Romania during Ceausescu’s execution I have a few thoughts that I’d like to share.

I thought of the same parallel since I heard of Sadam’s execution last week. I’ve left Romania since but I can remember the video of the execution like today. My father recorded it and played it over and over again. He said he wanted to make sure they were dead…

The first thing I see the two having in common, is that both trials and executions were televised, and thus we received most of the information as filtered by the media.

Other similarities are obvious, both dictators (or rather all 3 of them as Elena Ceausescu had the same faith and behaved similarily) were in hiding and fleeing when they were caught, they were tried, found guilty, and executed. Both dictators (and Elena) were defiant, challenged the legality of the tribunals, and displayed traits of mental illness (evident in their cult of personality leadership).

Saddam and Ceausescu’s trials were also different. The Ceausescu couple was tried and killed by a secret military tribunal, in a trial that some consider to have a been a kangaroo trial. Ceausescu and his wife fled Bucharest on Dec. 22, 1989, were captured the same day and were executed on Dec. 25, 1989. The trial lasted a few days only and the details of the trial (or the uncensored parts of the trial) were made public after the Ceausescus’ execution.

Compared to the Ceausescus’ trial the Saddam trial was fairly public and appeared to follow an organized body of law. The trial also received international political and human rights observation, which was intended to improve the legality of the trial. I will not debate here the success of this observation in making this trial more “legal” but it is clear to me that the Saddam trial appears to have been more transparent.

It is possible that the Romanian military tribunal were afraid of international intervention, and where afraid the international community and human rights groups would intervene and stop Ceausescu’s trial and execution.

Another possible concern was that the Ceausescu followers many of which were in the military and secret services would be able to help them escape. According to some sources, during the days after his capture and before his execution his loyalists were aided by terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Syria and Libya, who were in Romania to receive training. As a result the military tribunal was hoping to end the conflict by ending Ceausescu’s life.

What’s more interesting is what happened after their execution, and where we will probably see similarities with Sadam’s execution again–Ceausescu’s speedy execution lead some to speculate that the 2 corpses in the film were those of doubles, and that the Ceausescus were removed from Romania and allowed to flee.

I also expect the controversy to continue as to the legality of the trials and the execution.

Another aspect is social, as capitalism started entering Romania the economic difficulties related to making ends meet in an open economy made many look back at the “Ceausescu times.” For years I heard the expression “it was better during the deceased’s times.” To this day (17 years later) the tombs of the Ceausescus are somewhat of a monument that their followers visit.

Now I laugh at the above-mentioned expression. It is almost as if those melancholic for the “times of the deceased” both hated/feared (people won’t say his name as if he were Voldermort) and loved him.

The Wikipedia entry gives a good review of Ceausescu’s regime.

See more on this from my more recent post here.