Because all he got was a set of DVDs.
And a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat.
...the famous line from another of the movies, Casblanca: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'
Um.
anything kinda trivial could become meaningful just b/c of who presented the thing
so if Obama presented the DVD set to people, it's like historical DVDs and one should be just glad, even if the receiver is the head of nation, just b/c it's diplomatic why it needs to be all precious stones and antiques or something very valuable moneywise
in our etiquette it's auspicious to receive anything looking upside, bowls, bags, shoes, anything
the downside looking items are not that favoured, like hats, for example, hats are even prohibited to give as a present
anything depicting wolves, horses, or four friendly animals (elephant, monkey, hare, dove) are very auspicious and uplifting spirits
I immediately thought of Ogged when I read this and how the hospitable Iranians would never make a mistake like this.
What movies would you give Gordon Brown just to annoy and humiliate him? The Patriot, Last of the Mohicans, Breaker Morant, Gallipoli, Gandhi, Braveheart, Children of Men, Clockwork Orange, O Lucky Man, Cyclops, every American WWII film set in Europe.
the anti-slave ship pen escaped my attention, i have no idea what i should think about that
I think that they've stopped calling themselves subjects and are now referred to as citizens. I remember Alistair Cooke talking about this on "Letter to America," about how irritated he was to hear someone make the mistake of referring to someone as a British citizen only to learn that that is now the correct terminology.
If he had knocked over all of the milk bottles, he could have chosen one of the good gifts.
Brown should be grateful. All Stephen Harper got was seasons 1-4 of Friends.
Boy, that really does sound tacky. Don't we have protocol people whose job it is to come up with historically or otherwise significant nifty presents for world leaders? Some social secretary out there should be fired.
I mean, there's no real reason for exchanging gifts at all, but if we're going to, we should be able to come up with something better.
re: 8
Yeah, ironic, just at the point that our government is running the 1984 playbook ...
Perhaps the protocol secretary was upgrading their collection to Blueray and was re-gifting.
Also, I think the reporter might be a blockhead.
Econ: Molly checked: the real Ian Drury passed away in 2000.
Don't we have protocol people whose job it is to come up with historically or otherwise significant nifty presents for world leaders? Some social secretary out there should be fired.
On the contrary - are we completely dismissing the possibility that this disrespect was intentional? After all, those British dumbfucks sent a bunch of troops to Iraq, for Chrissakes, as part of an effort that aided America's enemies and damaged the effort to control terrorism.
14: Counterpoint: being thrifty is responsible.
If Blaire were still PM, I'd say it was definitely intentional.
Seems to me like a fairly straightforward protocol fuckup of the sort you'd expect of a new administration. Next time he'll give them something cool, like maybe Alaska.
I assume when Obama deigns to visit goes to the UK, he'll bring more elaborate gifts. This sounds like they sent someone out to CVS while stalling before the Blairs left. Or maybe it's one of those box sets Amazon sells: 25 classics for only $9.99!
really, people are upset with the gift perceived cheap, how strange, there is a proverb one doesn't count teeth of a gift horse
16, 20: Right, for what it's worth, I read something somewhere recently suggesting that Obama's dissing of Brown in general is somewhat intentional. The idea being that Brown is perceived as filler, not up to the job, whatever that might be.
At the formal level, I'm sure these things are protocol, but at the pedestrian level, the guest brings a thank-you gift (flowers, a bottle of wine, etc.) as a show of gratitude for the hospitality shown by the host.
It's kind of weird, really, to think—again, at the pedestrian level—that the host would be expected to pony up beyond any food or lodging or sight-seeing or what-have-you.
good that he liked the pens, i just projected how we would think about some Manchu relics if those were presented to us, however positive meaning they would have had
It's kind of weird, really, to think--again, at the pedestrian level--that the host would be expected to pony up beyond any food or lodging or sight-seeing or what-have-you.
ogged would understand.
23: I suddenly realize that the last time I visited a long-distance friend, I didn't bring a gift. I believe I erred! Yet it was all I could do to cram my clothing into my carry-on luggage. Fuck. Yet I think this was all okay and understood ... and yet.
25: So you're saying Obama should've given Brown cargo?
Honestly? I would personally rather receive the gifts given by the Obamas to the Browns than those given by the Browns to the Obamas. Ornamental fucking pen holder? Churchill biography?
30: Ornamental fucking pens are highly undervalued on this side of the pond. Let alone a device in which to stow them.
I suddenly realize that the last time I visited a long-distance friend, I didn't bring a gift.
Gracious hosts expect no gift beyond the pleasure of their guest's company and good friends keep no balance sheet of gifts given or received. But, if it bothers you enough, I suspect a warm letter noting how much you enjoyed the visit and the time spent would be as gratefully received now as a bottle of wine or knick knack would have been then.
30: When I first read the pen-holder sentence, I thought the writer was being snide. "Obama gave him 25 cool DVDs, and he got back... a pen holder. It's not until underneath those links that you find out that no, the pen holder was a supercool present or something.
32: good friends keep no balance sheet of gifts given or received.
Exactly, I would think. Some cultures do keep these balance sheets, though. In this case, I hope there's no imbalance, the warmth having been exchanged. I've already expressed my thanks.
30: They pen holder and the first edition book are both rare items worth a lot of money because of their pedigree. Rich people like to collect such things. They aren't particularly useful, and you probably don't even want to use them if you want to preserve their value.
The Obamas' gift is the sort of practical thing people give each other when they actually want to be helpful. The Daily Mail compared it to giving someone socks. I'm with you, di. I'd rather get the DVDs. Also, I could use a nice pair of socks.
The Top Shop is only an okay store--not super high quality, but I thought that the books sounded like a nice gift for the girls.
It would be interesting to know more about the DVDs. Are these like Criterion Collection or similarly nice editions? The article does say the set "was produced by the American Film Institute as a 'special request' for the White House last month". So I expect it's an unusually fancy, high-quality set of DVDs.
I thought that the books sounded like a nice gift for the girls.
When I saw them described as "children's books," my immediate thought was, "huh, nice for Sasha; potentially insulting for Malia." Malia's just a little older than Rory, who is officially at the stage of feeling she has grown out of the kid's section and into "young adult" literature. I suppose it sort of depends on the specific titles and the girls' specific tastes.
Also, British books are cool, but American movies are like socks?
The Criterion Collection is one of those things that just makes me want to buy things, regardless of what the product actually is. Certain lines of books are also like this; I'm a sucker for the packaging and the cool factor. I wouldn't mind getting 25 of those, and I don't really even watch movies at home.
Criterion Collection
The chair of my department does the commentary on several of those. Watching them is kind of weird when you know the person. (Not that many people probably watch the commentary.)
There's a very old Spitting Image sketch where (I think) Caspar Weinberger and maybe the British Home Secretary explain the (always-mentioned) "Special Relationship" between the two countries. Weinberger says "So, we get nuclear bases on your territory, your unconditional support during any foreign conflict, troop commitments whenever we ask and your monetary policy favors the dollar." The Home Secretary says, "And from this relationship we get ...?" "Nothing" says Weinberger. "That's why it's special."
41: Oh, that would be bizarre. I don't generally watch the commentary on films, but on the one and only Criterion collection film I own (the seminal Dazed and Confused) I have watched every single special feature repeatedly.
It's kind of weird, really, to think--again, at the pedestrian level--that the host would be expected to pony up beyond any food or lodging or sight-seeing or what-have-you.
Man, Zeus is so going to kill your ass.
I generally don't watch the commentaries if the commenters weren't involved in making the movie. But I quite frequently watch the commentaries when the director/writer/actors are the ones speaking.
Wait, we know that this is a one of a kind edition made by Obama's request by the AFI. Might AFI scholars have recorded special commentary tracks just for this gift? It is possible that this really is a uniquely cool box set.
In which case we just have an ordinary case of a newspaper (the daily mail) leaving out information to create a row where there really isn't one.
45: I think the only other thing I've watched commentaries on is the Simpsons, because Matt Groening makes me laugh. And, I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the Dazed and Confused Criterion commentary is by the director, and it also contains interviews/behind the scenes footage during which you realize that Matthew McConaughey really is Wooderson. (And since the only reason I'm a fan of D & C is because of a certain group of friends that practically worship at the altar of Wooderson).
Imagine Brown's surprise when he turns on the commentary tracks and finds they're hours of recordings of Barack Obama saying things like "buy your own damn fries!" and "sorry-ass motherfucker".
troop commitments whenever we ask
In the category of ephemera-it-will-be-a-shame-for-future-generations-to-miss, a current headline and story lead from the NYT website:
6 Years In, Troops Glimpse Real Path Out of Iraq
In many parts of Iraq, the contours of a U.S. exit strategy have taken clearer shape than at any time before.
Reads like a million self-delusional Vietnam headlines, doesn't it?
It's odd (odd is not the word) to be in the position of so devoutly hoping that Obama pulls off what he is proposing and then some, and at the same time believing utterly that this war is not even half over.
46: It's hard to imagine scripting and recording something like that with a one-month turnaround.
It's probably because I have no sense of class or propriety, but I seriously cannot comprehend a serious diplomatic row over whether or not the box set was a nice enough gift.
a serious diplomatic row
If I have my British papers straight, the Daily Mail's prime interest and intended audience is neither "serious" nor "diplomatic," but rather "scandalous" and "intemperate."
The UKers ought to be along in a few hours to set us straight.
51.last: Depressing, is the word I believe you want.
53: Truly, Di, if you'd had the proper sense of propriety you would understand that the appropriate gift in a case like this would be a tie made out of Betsy Ross's original American flag.
Brown still did better than Blagojevich, for whom appreciation wasn't enough.
Truth be told, this kind of "I have no idea what you want or what you would like that meets the bounds of propriety and approximates the gravitas apparently called for! What the hell! Um, what would you like? Okay, so I'm going to just give you something, okay? I hope that's okay" is just great.
47: Criterion has commentary on old films from people who specialize in film, but weren't around for the film. I've never really been able to get into that sort of commentary. I think I own a Criterion version of The Third Man; I don't think it has commentary.
Memento's commentary track has multiple different endings, including one that turns into backwards speaking.
Apparently there's been a rash of diplomatic gift incidents:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090306/pl_nm/us_russia_usa_6
I blame ACORN.
A cake in the shape of a key. Foreigners like that.
So who does have the position formerly occupied by Jennifer Fitzgerald (under Bush I)?
59: I can't imagine that would be something I would enjoy listening to, though if it was written it might be something I'd read. But I'm strange about movie watching.
Yeah, in those cases, I think "just give me a transcript that shows the time markings so I can look up any scenes that sound interesting."
A cake in the shape of a key. Foreigners like that.
No doubt.
61.2: Under the current administration? Tacky, Charley. Under George W. Bush, maybe Condi Rice or that blonde-haired woman Karen something. Karen Hughes.
That whole "reset" being fucked up in translation to Russian as "overshot" thing sounded deeply weird to me, and the more the incident got repeated on NPR's top-of-the-hour coverage, the more I began to believe that it was some sort of triple-lutz underhanded message from Washington to Moscow. I mean, I'm sure it was just a garden-variety fuck-up, but Jesus.
However, I really liked Hilary Clinton's maniacal laughter upon the Russian representative's pointing out the error.
JM already got to it, but when I read this in 60's link:
They joked about the Russian misspelling of "reset" on the button before sitting down at an oval table with aides. "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" Clinton asked. "You got it wrong," said Lavrov, telling her "Peregruzka" meant "overcharge."
I thought "Our intelligence agencies are fucked." I mean, c'mon, I bet that the Obamas or the Clintons could at least find some friend who's a Russian native speaker between the two of them. What the hell?
Maybe "overcharge" or "overpower" got mistaken for "reset" as in circuit breakers? Who knows.
Did they make sure these DVDs were going to be playable outside of Region 1 on a PAL system before they gifted them? Are they assuming Brown has a chipped DVD player despite the wishes of the big studios that wanted region encoding in the first place?
I wouldn't know what to do with the pen holder. Just another damned thing to find a place for.
Incidentally, Yahoo has been running this headline for a while today:
• Britain's clown shortage: New visa rules hit Circus performers
As an anthology of American film, it isn't that great. Four of the 25 were made by English directors, and there's no Allen, Cassavetes, Coen brothers or Malick. Still, a feast of cinematic awesomeness. Meanwhile, Brown's gift is all like, hey, remember slavery? Christ what an asshole.
I'm with Di, Blume, and Jesus McQ. The gift Obama gave was cool and not a protocol violation. Film is a major vector of American culture and plays a central role in the post-industrial economy (which Britain under New Labour also strives mightily and self-consciously to promote).
I hope Cameron sends brown the URL of the film wiki where the timestamps of all the naughty bits are documented.
So who does have the position formerly occupied by Jennifer Fitzgerald (under Bush I)?
Michelle, mostly.
For the sake of context, it should be pointed out that the Daily Mail (publisher of this story) is a notoriously, rabidly right-wing newspaper. It holds about the same place in the British left imagination as The O'Reilly Factor does in the American one. More or less everyone who doesn't read it thinks the journalism is terrible; everyone who reads it seems to be somehow oblivious to this fact. You can get a wonderful sense of the ire it provokes on everything2. So whoever said the reporter is a "blockhead" is right, but probably being overly polite.
I haven't read the DM article but have looked at some others (Guardian, Times, Mirror). The DVDs and helicopters are good gifts, but a bit generic, surely? He could have a stash of them to hand out to every leader & family. The things the Browns brought, though not particularly exciting (a desk tidy?), did at least show that they'd thought about who they were giving them to (a desk tidy that matches your historic desk is rather more interesting).
You people. JPKF was deputy chief of protocol at the State Department. The exact person picking out presents, I'd imagine.
Protocol is now handled by C3PO
pen holder it was, how strange, i don't understand how i read skipping like that
the other day i tried to read lying and realized it's impossible to read if the eyes are 90 degrees to the text, i thought it should be easy, like reading vertical writing, but not so, have to hold the head aligned to the lines
with books people change automatically the direction of holding the book
with notebooks either you hold your head only vertical so that the eyes are horizontal along the lines or have to keep the notebook on its side
great to learn strike tag thanks to accidental reading of the title of the post
as a risen brit i am enjoying the low-key potlatch element in this gift exchange -- viz that OBVIOUSLY you give ceremonial gifts in order to make the other one feel pwned
i'm pretty sure there's a chapter in one of stephen potter's gamesmanship called "giftmanship"
Or maybe it's one of those box sets Amazon sells: 25 classics for only $9.99!
Those are awesome, and it's 50 "classics". I have the sci-fi one. It includes such awesomely shite movies as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, The Wild Women of Wongo, and Horrors of Spider Island.
The Horror one claims to have some pretty decent films - Night of the Living Dead, Nosferatu, Metropolis - but I'm sure the transfers are crappy.
NO, no. It was an intentional snub, but not because of anything Brown did or didn't do. You see, Michelle -- vicious Lady Macbeth that she is -- forced Barack to insult them, since she hates white people, especially the ones in the UK, progenitors of white global hegemony and the slave trade.
(For the new among y'all, JPKF is a family friend of 60+ years running.)
Carp's family did this? That explains things.
Film is a major vector of American culture and plays a central role in the post-industrial economy (which Britain under New Labour also strives mightily and self-consciously to promote).
'Ok, well, sorry about the movies. Ya'll want an aircraft carrier? We got a coupla spares.'
max
['And some planes. We probably need to unload some anyways.']
so, the lesson is do like us, give something symbolic/ spiritual apolitically
we give as a present a fast horse and the high guests usually leave the horse where it lives in the pastures and with its original owner, nobody will ride it again, true, it's the highest honor and still it's left there where it belonged
if one will wish to take the horse with him/ her, people would be glad that the guest liked the present so much, but probably people also would pity the horse perhaps, how the horse will feel faraway
Doing some searching this morning, I am finding very little on previous gifts given to foreign leaders by US Presidents (a lot on what they have received; Bush got an Abs Exerciser from the Prime Minister of Singapore). Although Gordon Brown did receive an utterly unwearable personalized leather "bomber jacket" from Bush not too long ago , which he chose not to keep. (Brit politicos apparently choose whether to "buy" the gifts they wish to keep, so ultimately we'll know whether Brown kept this one—maybe he'll watch them all real fast and then choose not to.)
Current Acting US Chief of Protocol is Gladys Boluda, a holdover Deputy from the Bush administration. Ha, sabotage! Here she is greeting Brown who seems to be having a bad trouser leg day.
Reading this description (near the bottom of the page) of the gift exchange ceremony between the Bushes and the English "Majesties" highlights to me that whole thing really is low-key passive aggressive potlatch ceremony. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
I once represented a fellow being pursued by the government for various civil things, and talking settlement amongst lawyers on our side, one of our co-counsel observed that the client's wife had a valuable Arabian horse.
"If we want to inflict real pain on [bureaucrats], we could give them the horse."
It was quite gracious of the Brits to carve up one of Her Majesty's Ships for our office furniture. If everyone else knew their place as well...
87 -- Figures. Should we forward a nomination to the President? I'm sure the Mineshaft has someone who's really exactly right for the job.
91 -- Good idea. Just make sure she makes the guests we don't like take the horses with them.
ha, i will give and keep the present simultaneously
that greedy coz
Next time he'll give them something cool, like maybe Alaska
Now this is a good idea. Then Brown can give it to the Merkel next time he visits Berlin. And she can pass it on to the Croatians, who can give it to the Armenians, who can donate it to Mozambique...
Please, everybody, as Rob says above, the Daily Mail is to Brit journalism as O'Reilly is to American television. It always has been: "The book noted that one newspaper claimed that the Germans (during WW1) were dropping poisoned Black Forest Gateaux out of aeroplanes on top of primary schools. I think we can guess which newspaper that was."
We could give them London Bridge Back.
Nah, nowhere to put it. The new one's better anyway. We'll hold out for tract of tundra.
73, reporter is a "blockhead" is right, but probably being overly polite.
My comment also premised that the reporter may have had an noteworthy earlier life, and, alas, as 15 notes, death.
I'd be amused if the pen holder turned out to be bugged, a bit like that wooden eagle the Russians gave once.
Ornamental fucking pen holder?
The whole flap is beyond trivial, but, c'mon, something made from the Gannet is very cool.
79: i'm pretty sure there's a chapter in one of stephen potter's gamesmanship called "giftmanship"
I kept thinking you were referring to Berne's Games People Play -- which everyone should peruse at some point -- but, right, the Potter actually predates that. I have his Lifemanship around here, mostly because these are classics, but I haven't read it. Puts a bad taste in my mouth.
Ornamental fucking pen holder?
An ornamental pen holder made from the wood of a Victorian anti-slave ship. So, a very cool item, and it does seem like a more special gift than the DVD set.
The gift-giving is ritual, of course, but so is much of what happens between heads of state (and/or heads of govt) on these visits, and the ritual does matter. I don't think this is a huge deal, and I don't think anyone (a social secretary or what have you) should lose his/her job over it. But I do think the social secretary (or whoever chooses these things) has to try harder next time.
The "slave" theme also came up in a gift from Blair to George W. Bush. Tony Blair bought Bush a beige porcelain Wedgwood bowl, with the words "Am I not a Man and a Brother?" engraved in the centre. The phrase was famously coined by the anti-slave movement of the early-19th century.
Maybe we could send the Brits the remains of some of their murderous Hessian illegal combatants.
Given the cultural and economic anguish the American film industry has caused the British, most particularly the film industry, since the beginning of film, it's not the most tactful gift in all the lands.
(Not that many people probably watch the commentary.)
I love the commentaries. The commentary on Ozu's Tokyo Story, for example, is so good I watched the film over again immediately after watching the commentary to soak in the nuances he explained. I don't know anything about the technical aspects of film, and sometimes the commenter enables me to understand the film on a deeper level.
