Friday, April 18, 2008

Liverpool

"Football got rich on the back of the 96," he said, referring to the grants of public money paid to clubs to improve their grounds. "The safe stadiums were built as a direct result of the recommendation of the Taylor Report. Football became a popular sport ... Sky TV stepped in and suddenly football became lucrative. Premiership clubs became a very attractive proposition for overseas investors. At their peril," he concluded, "do those overseas investors forget the heavy price that we paid."

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Philanthrocapitalism

"Philanthrocapitalism is a transposition of the corporate model into the charitable sector. Having made their fortunes in the market, new philanthropists see no reason why the same tight, business strictures cannot simply be applied to the non-profit domain. Instead of bureaucratic government initiatives or the cosy, self-satisfied ethos of established charities, philanthrocapitalists like Bill Clinton want to "repurpose business methods and business culture to solve the world's problems". This means, in the words of one philanthropic consultancy, "an entrepreneurial results-oriented framework, leverage, personal engagement and impatience". Indeed, the entire vocabulary of Silicon Valley is applied to social rather than corporate enterprise.

Of course, in our media culture of Dragon's Den and The Apprentice, commerce can do no wrong. But Edwards suggests that the bottom-line ethos of the business world is not necessarily in accordance with the demands of accountability, voice, and an engaged public sphere that effective charity requires."

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Monday, April 07, 2008

Dialogue

"How do you make characters talk?" "You don't," Penny said. "You listen to them."

John Lahr on August Wilson

Great Zico interview

"In the round of 16, against Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium, goalkeeper Volkan Demirel is preparing for the penalty shootout after two big mistakes that resulted in two goals. Zico ambles over and tells his keeper: 'Football is a great sport. It gives you the possibility of redemption in a matter of minutes. Forget what happened. You've got the chance to be the hero.' Demirel saves three penalties and Sevilla are defeated."

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Sunday, April 06, 2008

Me, getting ripped over at Savage Minds

This is not an argument about one tradition as a truer producer of anthropological knowledge than another. Of ‘us’ being better than ‘them’ or the powerless writing back to the powerful.

It is rather the claim that some voices are louder, and speak more often, than others.

That some ideas, concepts and bibliographies have more paradigmatic weight.

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