November 2006 - Postmodern Critic

Postmodern Critic

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Vimu Subscription

Postmodern Critic Forums

metAmuse (1)

Spotlight Posts

PoMo Links

The Journal, Part 1

Alluring Incongruity

Introducing Epiphanie Bloom

[ more ]

Postmodern Critic - November 2006

Introducing Epiphanie Bloom

November 20th 2006 01:35

Full name: Epiphanie Bloom (I changed it when I was twenty)

Birthday: 12th November, 1983

Birthplace: Tripoli, Libya

Original Cultural Background: Bulgarian

Citizenship & Current Geographic Location: Australia (Sydney)

Favourite films: Fight Club, Moulin Rouge, The Matrix, American Beauty, Keeping the Faith, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mulholland Drive, Frida
Other films I adore for one reason or another: Wonder Boys, Lost In Translation, Girl, Interrupted, Jarhead, Donnie Darko

Favourite TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sex and the City, Angel

Favourite film critics: Manohla Dargis (New York Times), Stephanie Zacharek (Salon.com), David Edelstein (NPR.org)

Manohla

Favourite directors:

David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac)

Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead)

Joss Whedon (Buffy & Angel TV series)

Favourite actors:

Edward Norton (in 'Keeping the Faith')

Naomi Watts

Jake Gyllenhaal (in a 'Goodlooking Revolutionaries Wanted' T-shirt)

Viggo Mortensen

Scarlett Johansson

Favourite writers: Rob Breszny, Italo Clavino, Charlie Kaufman, Diego Guiterrez ('Normal Again' - Buffy), Tom Stoppard, Joss Whedon ('Restless', 'Once More, With Feeling' - Buffy), Oscar Wilde

Favourite Music: No Doubt,

No Doubt - Return of Saturn

Garbage,

Garbage

Evanescence, Sugababes, Killing Heidi, Christina Aguilera,

Stripped

Kylie, Robyn

Myers-Brigg personality type: iNFp

Astrological sign: Scorpio (w/ Aquarius moon and Libra ascendant)

from www.russellgrant.com

I speak: English, broken Bulgarian and School Certificate level Japanese

Places I've seen:

Australia: Adelaide, Berry, Brisbane, Canberra, Frasier Island, Leura, Katoomba, Kiama, Melbourne, Newcastle, Noosa Heads, Surfer’s Paradise, Sydney, Woollongong, Ulladulla
Bulgaria: Sofia, Samokov
Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Poipet, Siem Reap
Canada: Vancouver
China: Guangzhou, Hong Kong (HK Island, Kowloon, Lantau, New Territories), Macao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Zhuhai
France: Nice, Paris
Germany: Frankfurt
Greece: Aegina Island, Athens, Santorini
Italy: Amalfi, Caserta, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Napoli, Pisa, Pompeii, Positano, Rome, San Remo, Sant'Agnello, Sorrento, Venice
Japan: Kamakura, Tokyo
Monaco: Monte-Carlo
New Zealand: Wellington
Poland: Opole, Warsaw
Singapore
Spain: Barcelona
Thailand: Aranyaprathet, Ayathuya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Sukhothai
Turkey: Istanbul
USA: Anaheim (CA), Berkeley (CA), Buffalo (NY), Flourtown (PA), Honolulu (HW), Las Vegas (NV), Los Altos (CA), Los Angeles (CA), Mountain View (CA), Palo Alto (CA), Philadelphia (PA), San Jose (CA), San Francisco (CA), Santa Cruz (CA), Springfield (PA), Stanford (CA)
Vietnam: Dalat, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Saigon, Tay Ninh

Something unusual about me: I will marry the first Californian that asks. Why? Just ask me.

My email: epiphaniebloom@gmail.com

I am on Facebook and MySpace - search for 'Epiphanie Bloom'.

Feel free to introduce yourself here using this format, or any other.

121

Vote

Comments (4)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Moby's Curious Views On Gay Ppl

November 16th 2006 16:09

According to contactmusic.com, techno musician Moby would only be too happy if his children turned out to be gay:

The heterosexual music-maker is so appalled by macho male culture he hopes his future children will be gay because "they are less likely to get into a fight and less likely to date rape people". The PLAY hitmaker says, "I'm straight but I've grown up around gay people and gay clubs. They are superior to straight people. If you have a gay child you're more inclined to be a prouder parent."

Now I often go on and on about how much more lively, interesting, articulate and intelligent non-heterosexuals tend to be, but I don't think your sexual preference has that much impact upon your development. I think non-H ppl tend to be less conformist and more open-minded due to having experienced prejudice and having to think very carefully about social constructions and identifying with a so-called minority group (I personally think everyone is bisexual). It's remarkable how liberating not having your interests validated by the general public can become, with the right kind of support, and the kind of social awareness, perceptiveness and personal development it can result in.
Yet heterosexuals can be just as enlightened on the topic of making one's way through life as their non-H counterparts, if they so choose. There's no need to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation, because I think it's what you make of your sexuality that counts, and while some people may not think Moby's comment is a big deal due to the much more common shtick that straight people are superior to gays, I think a mere reversal of this bigoted rhetoric does no service to gay rights... we need to learn to accept people of all orientations and not generalise about them.
Sometime in the future heterosexuality will seem just as kooky/commonplace as homosexuality, and the visibility of different sexual orientations will mean that girls who are into boys or vice versa will be questioning their preferences as much as everybody else. This environment will give everyone equal potential for realising themselves to the best of their ability, as no one sexual preference will be perceived as a default setting. I look forward to this celebration of individuality, and let's face it, you can live in that kind of world today if you surround yourself with the right kind of people - reality is a state of mind.

What do you think?

Vote

Comments (9)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

New 'Unknowns' in the White House

November 9th 2006 06:37

Donald Rumsfeld is famous for saying the following:
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

While this quote (which is a paraphrasing of another) indicates a commendable penchant for curiosity and a sound philosophical grounding, Donald Rumsfeld's decisions on Iraq have been limited in their visionary nature. Is Bob Gates the best that Bush could have done at this time? He's perceived to be a non-ideological, pragmatic character and likely to be more receptive to advice from others than his predecessor.

Sculpting The Future?

While the replacement is a sign of Bush's reluctant willingness to engage with his new Democrat-infused office, this rate of change only reminds me of what could be if more progressive people were in charge of the future of the country.
Champions of the avant-garde have already had to deal with about 2190 daily slaps in the face since 2000, when US and world history took a dramatic turn for the conservative, extremist and hard-line. I console myself only by anticipating a revolution when Bush's term comes to a close.
Bob Gates' appointment has prompted many major news networks to report on the 'uncertainty' that currently surrounds creating a new strategy for the Iraq handover, and this is a welcome reminder that uncertainty should be a welcome component in any arena. We've suffered too long at the hands of people who seek to suppress its healing powers and relevance.
I hope this change of rhetoric remains present through the next two years, as dealing with uncertainty is the only way to move forward.
What do you think the recent changes in the US government mean for people seeking an end to absolutist agendas in government? Can we expect the leadership to be more tolerant towards 'unknowns', or are any changes bound to be insubstantial and superficial? Do you think a revolution is coming circa 2008?

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Should Saddam Be Sentenced to Death? What About Osama?

November 6th 2006 10:52

I find capital punishment immensely disturbing, as I don't think anyone deserves to be killed. Not even Saddam, or Osama Bin Laden. A life in prison would allow Saddam the opportunity find new patterns, adopt new paradigms and even somehow redeem himself, but the Iraqi court has taken away his ability to change by handing down this cruel form of punishment.
It is very worrying that Iraq, an emerging democracy in which every present action will inform the kind of future it can weave for itself, has selected to endorse the practice of hanging its citizens; and yet America, one of the world's most successful democracies, is setting a very bad example by operating under the same laws. Bush has termed the trial's verdict as a 'milestone' in Iraqi democracy, which makes me shudder.

Red nations enforce CP, blue have abolished it

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (4)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Traveling Softly One Winter's Night: Part 4

November 4th 2006 03:58

The Italo Calvino / William Weaver text continues:
All this simply means that, having rapidly glanced over the titles of the volumes displayed in the bookshop, you have turned toward a stack of If on a winter's night a traveler fresh off the press, you have grasped a copy, and you have carried it to the cashier so that your right to own it can be established.
You cast another bewildered look at the books around you (or, rather: it was the books that looked at you, with the bewildered gaze of dogs who, from their cages in the city pound, see a former companion go off on the leash of his master, come to rescue him), and out you went

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

The Tiger and the Snow Film Review

November 4th 2006 03:48

pic from http://www.a-film.nl/film/poster/RELx550 /00001202.jpg

The effervescent Roberto Benigni is back in fine comedic form as a teacher of poetry in Rome who is willing to follow the woman he is in love with to Iraq and back in order to nurse her to good health after she has been affected by a roadside blast

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Traveling Softly One Winter's Night: Part 3

November 3rd 2006 01:15

Italo Calvino and William Weaver's version of If On A Winter's Night A Traveler:
In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop pas the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that amongst them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody Has Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:
the Books You've Been Planning To Read For Ages

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Traveling Softly One Winter's Night: Part 2

November 3rd 2006 01:00

The Italo Calvino / William Weaver text (If On A Winter's Night A Traveler):
Well, what are you waiting for? Stretch your legs, go ahead and put your feet on a cushion, on two cushions, on the arms of the sofa, on the wings of the chair, on the coffee table, on the desk, on the piano, on the globe. Take your shoes off first. If you want to, put your feet up; if not, put them back. Now don't stand there with your shoes in one hand and the book in the other.
Adjust the light so you won't strain your eyes. Do it now, because once you're absorbed in reading there will be no budging you. Make sure the page isn't in shadow, a clotting of black letters on a gray background, uniform as a pack of mice; but be careful that the light cast on it isn't too strong, doesn't glare on the cruel white of the paper, gnawing at the shadows of the letters as in a southern noonday. Try to foresee now everything that might make you interrupt your reading. Cigarettes within reach, if you smoke, and the ashtray. Anything else? Do you have to pee? All right, you know best

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Care For A List Of Democratic Nations?

November 1st 2006 05:05

The countries are colour coded by continent-
Australasia/Oceania, North America, Central America & The Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: postmoderncritic - Category: No Category

Email this Post to a Friend

Thames Town, English Simulacrum: Relocating The Theme Park Motifs Of Shanghai

November 1st 2006 00:51

Shanghai's unique urban aesthetic has inspired endless comparisons to a theme park, and as the city engulfs the outlying land and relocates 10,000 citizens to Song Jiang, a commuter city, it's taking on an ambitious new project with Thames Town, a recreation of a West English settlement that spans a square kilometre of authentic-looking British housing.
Thames Town is currently under construction thanks to Atkins, who are responsible for projects such as the Jumeira Beach Resort and the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and they're fucssing on using materials exclusive to the Brit style of architecture that they're basing their creation on, like timber, clay tiles and even cobble stones.