I need to get rid of this stockpile of tabs I’ve been accumulating, so here you go:
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Found this website about Lynch a while ago, and thought it was worth sharing. Not the best-written site, but the analysis is still critically-oriented and seems, for the most part, theoretically informed by auteur theory and psychoanalysis. I haven’t read the whole site, but from what I’ve read, I find the author’s specific interpretations of films a bit narrow. Still, it’s about Lynch, and it’s theoretically based, so I might as well share it.
Speaking of psychoanalysis, here’s an entertaining video regarding Kristeva’s theory of abjection, as explicated in her Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (Note: I used an Amazon link to present this text, but don’t but it from Amazon. Fuck Amazon for booting Wikileaks, as well as for its subtle censorship of LGBTQ literature last year). I haven’t read Powers of Horror yet, but I’m really looking forward to eventually getting around to it: the basics of the theory, which I’ve cursorily gathered from her book’s first chapter, “Approaching Abjection,” have played an integral part of my theoretical approach in many of the essay I wrote while working on my B.A., as well as in my recent analysis of Earl Sweatshirt’s “Earl” video. I particularly enjoy the way he drinks the milk at the end: it seems a fitting illustration of that delicate balance that theory-nerds know all too well, the balance between theory and praxis.
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Too much of a Calvin and Hobbes fan not to post this. This illustrator, Tim (user name “ninjaink” on Deviantart.com) , definitely draws from Bill Watterson, and I find this and his other works to be wonderful, too much Calvin-and-Hobbes-style to not post. Not only do his works draw from Calvin and Hobbes immensely, but a hodgepodge of other illustrators, mediums, and genres as well. Good postmodern fun. Compare, for example, the above picture to the Watterson original, if you have it/can find it, from which the above is taken nearly frame-for-frame (in the original, Calvin takes off his clothes pretending to be Tarzan, leaving them at Susie’s house, and walks home with Hobbes in the last frame instead). Good stuff indeed.
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"Meanwhile... Eeyore questions his luck after finding a new tail and unexpected consequences."
Some political graffiti/artwork. I’m not a fan of all of these pieces, e.g., the pro-Obama ones (I had high hopes when Obama was elected, and I’m glad he won rather than McCain; but, nonetheless, he has proved himself to be just another centrist and bureaucrat…). Still, some of these are quite intriguing, and my recently developed fascination with political graffiti makes this too intriguing not to post. My faves include (as labeled on the website): “Searching,” “Brian Haw,” “Vote for Nobody” (love this one), “Change Not Coins,” “Society,” and “Laser Guided Democracy.” Features a few from Banksy.
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This is beautiful. I only wish there was more of this here in the States. I find the use of paint-bombs, as opposed to, say, molotovs, particularly interesting. Consider the following:
“Never attack the system in terms of relations of force. That is the (revolutionary) imagination the system itself forces upon you — the system which survives only by constantly drawing those attacking it into fighting on the ground of reality, which is always its own. But shift the struggle into the symbolic sphere, where the rule is that of challenge, reversion and outbidding. So that death can only be met by equal or greater death. Defy the system by a gift to which it cannot respond except by its own death and its own collapse” (Baudrillard, 17).
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This site is in the process of transcribing all of Kafka’s diary entries from 1910-1923 onto a tumblr. Kafka and Tumblr: I’d say it speaks for itself. Via Sara at Cervinae.
Note: Sara hasn’t been posting to her blog too much lately, but you can also check her out at her Tumblr, on which she has been plenty busy posting awesome stuff.
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Works cited:
Baudrillard, Jean. The Sprit of Terrorism. Brooklyn, Verso: 2003, Print.
Until I can think of a cleverer name for tab dumps (or rather, until I learn the blogging convention well enough to begin experimenting with and reinventing it, in such a way that would call for a new term) I’m just going to call them Weekend Week-Enders. Ideally I’ll post something like this weekly so it’ll be available for Sunday perusing.
This week we have:
1) Occultism and “The Magus.” [Cf. to my last post.]
2) Robocop Gone Theoretical
3) A Bizarre New Webtoon
4) Some Postmodern Art
5) New York’s Asian Film Festival
6) A Statistical Survey from the ABA’s Commission on Domestic Violence [Trigger Warning.]
7) An Intriguing (Terrifying?) New Concept in Computer Science
8 ) Zach Anner, Whom You Should Read About Below and Then Go Vote for (today is the last day to vote!)
9) A Wu-Tang Cinema Classic in the Making
10) Song(s) of the week: “So Bored” and “To The Dregs,” by Wavves
11) BONUS (i.e., some extra, random stuff)
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Modern Occultist Peter J. Carroll explains the significance of “The Magus” in modern occultism, focusing on distinctions between “The Apotheosis Magus” and “The Nemesis Magus,” as well as distinctions between “The Magus” and “The Hierophant.” Also discusses Crowley a bit. Very intriguing in juxtaposition with Nietzsche’s analysis of the philosophical tradition and the role of the “philosopher of the future.” Also intriguing in juxtaposition with the trajectory of 20th century (particularly French) Continental philosophy. Also extremely relevant to my last blog post.
The WB just released this new webtoon, Chadam. The voice performances are jarringly bad, and the story is generally a bit predictable (and of course you have to sit through advertisements to watch…). Still, the mise en scène is entertaining, and (considered in terms of the narrative) toys with German Expressionist conventions in an interesting way. You might like this if you like:
– Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari
– La Cité des Enfants Perdus
– Dark City
– Doug TenNapel
– Francis Bacon
– The Maxx
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Cool postmodern art recommended by Sara over at Cervinae. The use of collage, pastiche, fragmentation, and found objects echo strongly of: Warhol’s simulacral vision of consumer culture; Dali’s neoclassical surrealism; Duchamp, and Dada more generally. I dig his use of the grotesque, his deconstruction of cultural hierarchy, his sense of satire, and his sense of juxtaposition. Faves include “Selected Reading (Nausea) [above],” “Light Reading,” the “Scrambled” pieces, and his junk food containers with celebrity features.
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Cinema Strikes back reports on the New York Asian Film Festival 2010 here. The Blood of Rebirth sounds like it might be a good one.
I’m considering printing this out and carrying around a copy with me to share with “Anti-Feminists” and other people who want to tell me that patriarchy isn’t a problem. Perhaps if you all did the same…? As for me, the next person who tells me we don’t need Feminism(s) just as much now as ever is going to get a big fucking earful of numbers…
[And note what these stats also suggest: that the end of violence against women—or violence more generally—can truly be achieved only if the endeavor is understood in terms of the interconnectedness of race, class, and gender involved in the oppression of women– or of any other often marginalized group, for that matter. That is, this report is useful not only for understanding the more violent aspects of patriarchy, but also for considering how racism and poverty (i.e., class oppression) compound the difficulties that women face in society today.
Examples:
“The number one killer of African-American women ages 15 to 34 is homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner.” NUMBER 1, FOLKS.
“Studies consistently show that at least 50 to 60 percent of women receiving public benefits have experienced physical abuse by an intimate partner at some point during their adult lives, compared to 22 percent of the general population; some studies indicate rates as high as 82 percent.” HALF TO 80 PERCENT, FOLKS.]
[Of course it doesn’t say that. But all I can think of is digital-to-organic-transmissible diseases and nanotechnologies precipitating a new era of control-society style biopolitics.]
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On an actually lighter note, I came a cross Zach Anner’s story via Jezebel during the week. I like this dude a lot. Of course, there’s always the question of whether the media’s involvement in his success could create a precedent for its future exploitation of disability as a schadenfreude spectacle-commodity—with shows as mind-numbingly simulatory (and strategic) as I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant* (Discovery), and as offensive as More to Love (Fox), are we really so far off from The Real World: Living with Down Syndrome?— but I won’t be a stick-in-the-mud. Overall, I like that his humor** often attempts to subvert ableist conceptions of disability, and I think his success would be a tremendous step in fighting the marginalization of people with disabilities in society. I think his proposed show may have great symbolic potential, and I hope the immense support he’s received from the web will continue. I wish him tons of success, and I urge you all to VOTE HERE TODAY.
[* I actually watched a part of a webisode of this before using it as an example due to its “sensitive” (for the media, this is spelled “s-e-n-s-a-t-I-o-n-a-l”) nature. But it was exactly as I suspected it would be. I don’t want to diminish the show’s potential for the dissemination of useful, important information regarding pregnancy and childbirth– I actually know a person who became pregnant while on birth control due to antibiotic usage, which the voiceover informs at one point can occur. However, I’m highly troubled by Discovery passing off simulated recreations that scream hyperreality as if they were part of a “non-fictional” or “educational” show (which is how I would imagine many viewers regard the Discovery channel and its sibling channels, TLC and Animal Planet: as actual purveyors of “truth”). Note in the linked clip, for example: the repeated use of music and voiceover to create a perpetual series of cliffhangers; the role of fear in structuring the role of cell phones and narcotics within the narrative; the almost(?) strategic placement of race within the simulation. While I hesitate to make a snap judgment about the show without reviewing it further, the small clip I watched, I feel, was enough to warrant incredulous scrutiny, if not suspicion or distrust.]
[**One little qualification here: Overall, I think this dude is hilarious; he had me consistently chuckling more than a little. In watching the second video on Jezebel‘s post, however, I was a little put off by the subtle heterosexism and sexism in his humor. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to detract from what he’s doing. I think he’s funny and I want to see him succeed. I guess what troubled me more was that Jezebel made absolutely no mention of it… I just started following Jezebel, and so far I like it. I can understand if they’re not mentioning it because they don’t want to jeopardize his winning the contest. But if it’s because they just really like “Awesome Cerebral Palsy Guy” so much… well, in that case, perhaps their coverage might raise an important question about whether the will to combat one form of marginalization can, at times, allow us to overlook or even disseminate another form (and what’s more, to do so even when the latter is a form of system against which one is particularly devoted to fighting).]
I have just can’t get enough of this stuff. I know a few people who’ve heard leaked copies of Wavves’ soon-to-be released album, King of the Beach, and from what I hear it’s awesome.
“So Bored”
“To The Dregs”
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BONUS:
– Larval Subjects offers an extremely insightful commentary on Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Theory, and Practice. I wonder how this discussion of theory and praxis might be carried over to the context of activism…
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– What’s awesome about this: it features SO MANY of my favorite films.
What’s horrible about this:
a) it seems to reflect an extremely sexist sense of humor on the part of the compiler;
b) it illustrates again and again the ubiquity of androcentrism in cinema (especially in comedy);
c) it shows how femininity consistently functions in the discourse of the insult as a signifier for inferiority and inherent degradation (whether the insult is explicitly sexist (e.g., insulting one’s mother), metaphorical yet explicitly sexist (insulting a man by calling him a “bitch”), or made even more subtle by rhetorical effects like metonymy [referring to one thing using another closely related thing] (e.g., calling someone a “douchebag”*) or synecdoche (using a part to refer to a whole or a specific for something general (or vice versa), (e.g., calling someone a “cunt” or an “pussy”));
d) it features SO MANY of my favorite films…
*I’m just using “douchebag” as an explanatory example. Personally I think we should reclaim “douchebag” and “douche” as legitimate insults, since they actually suck.
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– And finally, the Derridean explanatory example par excellence:
scribble, scribble, scribble... 