"Narnia" in different languages

Albanian: Narnijë

Arabic: Narniyat

Czech: Narznija

English: Narny

Danish/ Norwegian: Nårnige

Esperanto: Narnio

Finnish: Näärniiää

French: le Nargne

Gaelic: Náchairnhiadh

German: Närnien

Greek: Narneia

Hebrew: Narniah

Hungarian: Nãrnyörszãg

Indonesian: Narniyah

Italian: Nargnia

Latin: Narnia

Polish: Narnija

Portuguese: Narnha

Romanian: Nearnea

Russian: Narniya

Sindharin: Narnië

Spanish: Narña

Turkish: Narniyet

In thuh SECOND season

The impending release of the animated 2008 film Star Wars Episode VII: The Clone Wars [*] fills us with great joy, not only because it uses Lucas' characters and universe while carefully keeping him away from any involvement with writing the script or dialogue, but also because, at last, the circle that joins the Lucasverse with the Larsonverse is now complete.

[*] Not to be confused with Star Wars: Clone Wars, the 2003 animated TV series. With no "The". Just plain "Clone Wars" after the colon. This series was produced by a Russian. Whose native language lacks a definite article. Remember how the gorilla in Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes remake took great offence when Lee Adama called the apes "monkeys"? Well, in the original French that Pierre Boulle [**] wrote in, singes means both.

[**] And speaking of Pierre Boulle and Star Wars...

"Dear Mr President: There are too many States these days. Please eliminate at least five. Yours truly, Abraham J Simpson."

'... Robert Miller, 72, who lives in a government subsidized room in
Bedford, said the Constitution should be amended so it will "not let
any colored people run for the White House." He seemed unsure about
his voting record in recent elections, but vividly recalled voting
for Dwight Eisenhower in 1956...'

"Racial attitudes pose challenge for Obama"
Charles Babington, Associated Press
Yahoo! News (Monday 9 June 2008)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_race;_ylt=AlCFJffgs7MkcArNwYZyYxis0NUE

The Smurf Movie is coming!

I nominate Daniel Craig to play Azreel...

We've been half-expecting this for a few years (ever since the whole Smurfette argument in Donnie Darko) but now news has finally reached us that a live action/animated outing for The Smurfs is coming our way soon.

Variety reports that Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation are bringing those blue-faced forest dwellers to life after obtaining the rights for the characters from their Belgian creators a few years back.

The Smurfs (or Les Schtroumpfs as they're known in France) have already made their cinematic debut in animated form following the Saturday-morning cartoon which ran from 1981 to 1990, but the new movie is set to be a wholly 3-D CG affair.

No word on cast or script details yet but we'll keep our ears to the ground for you.

- Glen Ferris, "The Smurfs Movie Is Go: Boys (and girl) in blue on big screen", Variety (11 June 2008)

"Britons [is] too busy to peel oranges"

Every second "William" [*] story I read as a child had him exclaiming
"Cor! A blimin' orange!", in a Ron Weasley voice, whenever he scored
one of these rare wartime treats. Since I was growing up in
south-east Queensland - where farmers put free buckets of excess,
ripe fruit and vegies out by the roadside so passing motorists can
help themselves - this made 1940s Britain seem even more an alien planet.

[*] For those who don't know the "William" books by Richmal
Crompton... imagine Bart Simpson crossed with Agatha Christie and
written by the author of Biggles, and you're in the general ballpark.

Note this vivid comment from the Wikipedia entry
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_William_series):

>"As was often the case with popular radio shows, there was a big
>push to put it on the stage, where audiences could get to actually
>put a face to the famous voices, and the actors could get to earn
>decent money after the frugal pay checks offered by the BBC -
>William was paid 4 guineas a show, standard pay for juveniles back
>then, one line or star, didn't matter."

You can almost hear this contributor thinking "A shoe box! In the
middle of the road!!!" as he writes this...

>"Britons too busy to peel oranges"
>
>Tue Jun 3, 2008 11:27am EDT
>
>By Avril Ormsby
>
>http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL0328894220080603?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews LONDON (Reuters) - Britons are too busy to eat oranges in their lunch breaks nowadays and are opting instead for "easy to peel" fruit like satsumas, according to a survey. For the third year in a row, orange consumption has fallen. It was down 2 percent at some 600 million compared with the previous year, market researchers TNS said. Although still popular with the health-conscious over-45s seeking their 5-a-day fruit and veg intake, oranges are being replaced by the smaller and more manageable satsumas and tangerines among young adults. Both are easier to carry in lunch boxes, quicker to peel and less messy to eat. Consumption of satsumas rose 35 percent over the past year to about 460 million and the number of tangerines jumped 60 percent to about 62 million. "Satsumas are the key growth area," a TNS spokeswoman said. "Seven in every 10 times oranges are consumed for health reasons," she added. But while adults cannot find the time for oranges, they do encourage children to have them. Consumption among children is about 15 percent up. (Editing by Steve Addison)