Yanks bearing gifts

[Rune]

Obama: A 25-DVD box set of classic American films

Brown gave Mr Obama a pen holder carved from the oak timbers of HMS Gannet - a Victorian ship which spearheaded the Royal Navy’s fight against slave trading.

He also gave the president a first edition set of Sir Winston Churchill’s biography by Sir Martin Gilbert.

To my special friend Gordon, 25 DVDs: Obama gives Brown a set of classic movies. Let’s hope he likes the Wizard of Oz

• it has not been reported if they are region encoded.

Ps. Gordon Brown is blind in the one eye and reduced sight in the other, so it’s not even sure he can watch that great Star Wars DVD movie.
Pps. Brown has a history of receiving tacky gifts from US presidents. In 2007 President Bush gave him a bomber jacket.

Clinton: loaded and overloaded

Russian media has been poking fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a “reset” button with an ironic misspelling.

Clinton’s gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at their meeting in Geneva on Friday evening was meant to underscore the Obama administration’s readiness to “to press the reset button” in ties with Moscow.

But instead of the Russian word for “reset” (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word meaning “overload” or “overcharged” (peregruzka).

Russian media teases Clinton over ‘reset’ button

• them funny furrin languages are awfully hard too.

[thelurkinghorror]

They couldn’t even bother to write it in Cyrillic?

[Mudshark]

Is it just me, or does the DVD set seem a little tacky?

[Ellef]

Brit Doper chiming in here: I think the DVD set thing is hilarious. Obama seems to be keen to show he’s up to date on new technology. There seemed to be a fuss over there when he announced he was going to use a Blackberry (aka The Devil’s Tamagotchi) in the White House, so perhaps this is just his way of showing he knows what a DVD player actually is.

I’d love to know what the DVDs were. I’d like to think it’s the entire run of Sex and the City, or something like that.

[Rayne_Man]

The DVDs might have been “George Bush’s Greatest Speeches”, so they both could have a good laugh.

[Kal]

I suspect a staffer got sent on an emergency trip to the nearest Walmart.

[cochrane]

I’m sure the DVD’s would have been lost on Ian Drury, the Mail reporter, too.

And he will hope that at a General Election the British public do not shun his imploration for another term in office by thinking at the ballot box of the famous line from another of the movies, Casblanca: ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’

Yeah. :dubious:

Are you sure it wasn’t, “What we’ve got here, is failure to communicate.”?

[Aquila_Be]

According to this Guardian article, The PMs office wouldn’t divulge details of the titles, but the Daily Mail did some sleauthing:

Downing Street refused to identify the titles that were included, but the [Daily Mail](Daily Mail story on the gift exchange includes a list of 25 DVDs the American Film Institute recently prepared)did a bit of independent sleuthing to find out.

The Titles are:

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singing In The Rain
6. Gone With The Wind
7. Lawrence Of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard Of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars: Episode IV
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On The Waterfront
20. It’s A Wonderful Life
21. China Town
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes Of Wrath
24. ET: The Extra Terrestrial
25. To Kill A Mocking Bird

I suspect the DVDs would probably all be coded for Region 1 (North America) so PM Brown wouldn’t be able to watch them even if he wasn’t nearly blind.

I’d estimate the collection must be worth at least $20.

[ShibbOleth]

It’s clear that the Obama White House needs a new protocol 'droid.

[Rune]

Yep. Wrong region.

Gordon Brown is frustrated by ‘Psycho’ in No 10

Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words “wrong region” came up on his screen.

…

Gordon Brown is frustrated by ‘Psycho’ in No 10

[mecaenas]

I foolishly assumed that there would be some kind of office of protocol attached to the White House or the Dept of State that would handle such things as thoughtful and culturally relevant gifts for high ranking dignitaries and heads of state etc.

A DVD boxed set? Some toy helicopters? And (previously from Bush) a bomber jacket? Wow. I’m embarrassed for you guys. Both parties really. I bet the poms wish they just brough across an old dog-eared copy of Harry Potter and maybe a jar of marmite and call it even.