Sunday, September 17, 2006
Back to the Middle Ages (at least the beer's good)
This has been quite a medieval weekend, in keeping with recent developments on the Huntington front. After all, it's not every day that 'our' Pope is accused by a top Muslim politician (Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkey's ruling AKP party) of having " una mentalita' oscurantista che viene dai tempi bui del Medio Evo". What's going on here? Isn't Islam meant to be the backward religion? And isn't secularism meant to be the terrible scourge of our times?
In Gent, I finally got to taste what is reputed to be the best beer in the world - the strong and aromatic Westvleteren which is brewed in the St. Sixtus Trappist Monastery in the North of Belgium. Later that evening, at my friend Steve 'Samba' Verhulst's flat, I spotted Amin Maalouf's Les croisades vues par les Arabes which starts with this quote from Saladin:
* A term used in the Arab world to denote the Francs and used more generally to denote Westerners.
If it weren't so late, I'd be tempted to pick up The Name of the Rose from the DVD shop down the road. That would round things off nicely.
A presto!
¶ 12:09 PM 
This has been quite a medieval weekend, in keeping with recent developments on the Huntington front. After all, it's not every day that 'our' Pope is accused by a top Muslim politician (Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkey's ruling AKP party) of having " una mentalita' oscurantista che viene dai tempi bui del Medio Evo". What's going on here? Isn't Islam meant to be the backward religion? And isn't secularism meant to be the terrible scourge of our times?
In Gent, I finally got to taste what is reputed to be the best beer in the world - the strong and aromatic Westvleteren which is brewed in the St. Sixtus Trappist Monastery in the North of Belgium. Later that evening, at my friend Steve 'Samba' Verhulst's flat, I spotted Amin Maalouf's Les croisades vues par les Arabes which starts with this quote from Saladin:
Regardez les Franj*! Voyez avec quel acharnement ils se battent pour leur religion, alors que nous, les musulmans, nous ne montrons aucune ardeur a mener la guerre sainte.
* A term used in the Arab world to denote the Francs and used more generally to denote Westerners.
If it weren't so late, I'd be tempted to pick up The Name of the Rose from the DVD shop down the road. That would round things off nicely.
A presto!
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