text:
Conduit Gabriela is a natural intuitive, with a knack for bridging inner and outer worlds, bringing relevance to daily living. Her guidance is infused with pure love, in the service of health and wholeness. She has been steeping in the universal wisdom teachings of metaphysics, mysticism, Shamanism, Yoga, Zen, Transpersonal Psychology, Earth-based Spirituality and Energy Medicine for over 20 years.
In her own words...
For over 20 years I have worked with diverse populations, from youth to couples, women, community members, educators and corporate professionals in individual sessions, groups and retreats. Together, we cultivate trust in the creative process as a catalyst for transformation and access to authentic power. I love supporting people to meet their evolutionary edges and am passionate about serving the growth and awakening process.
My sessions and program design may integrate visual journaling, play, nature, authentic movement, inquiry, improvisation, poetry, voice, music, ritual, and energetic anatomy. Sessions are tailor made for your unique needs, to inspire restoration and spark insight. I love designing programs to engage creative expression, fuel positive behavioral changes, increase vitality and deepen awareness. My clients are often ready to make a leap in their personal/universal world view. Whether in crisis, curiosity, soul calling or in life transition, they sense that tapping their creative freedom is essential for transformation. My approach helps guide them home to themselves, to their body wisdom, seeing hearts, and to their unique expression as an immediate path to communion with all life Experience Gabriela Masala, M.A., is an energetic, creative facilitator and consultant. Her approach is holistic compassionate, and evolutionary. Gabriela creates a context for authentic expression, and sacred wisdom to come alive. Her diverse clients speak highly of her vitality, honesty and loving presence. She weaves program designs to catalyze client breakthroughs and maximize emergent intelligence. Gabriela is co-director of Source Consulting Group. Her organizational development consultation draws inspiration from her practice of Process Oriented World Work, developed by Arnold Mindell. Her studies in culture, evolutionary spirituality and consciousness movements have honed her ability to work with group field dynamics, effectively honoring individual growth while serving the health of the whole. Gabriela developed Ubuntu in The Workplace™, a groundwork for shifting systems/cultures by mapping interconnection and unity as components of sustainable, functional success. Gabriela is a lover of life, art, music, nature, humanity and cosmology. She is a long time practitioner of several schools of yoga, dance, martial, healing and expressive arts. She is a published author and recording artist. Gabriela serves on the advisory team to forward the work of Vanessa Stone, and The Amala Foundation, a global humanitarian organization. She is the choreographer/creative director for ZaBoomBa, Interactive Theatrical Production. Gabriela served on the founding staff of The Chopra Center for Well Being, on the Fitness and Movement Therapy teams for Canyon Ranch Health Resort, was the director of Yoga and Movement for the internationally acclaimed Shape Your Life(tm) Programs and cofounder of BodyVida, Expressive Arts and Movement.
Gabriela has been blessed by loving community throughout her life. With great gratitude, she honors all the inspiring family, mentors, teachers and teachings that surround her. She currently offers Group and Individual Consultations and guides special events, locally, nationally and abroad. ______________________________________________________________________ Learn about Gabriela's offerings here.
"My session with Gabriela brought me deep clarity about my next steps. She was a pure channel of information that supported and guided me to connect with my inner knowing and to take the actions that have me on my most authentic path of heart. Gabriela is insightful, joyous and expansive in her vision. My reading with Gabriela has changed my life in very rich and pragmatic ways. I am grateful!" Yarrow King, Movement Artist, Choreographer


text:
Hi, I'm Andrew. I founded a digital agency called Assanka in 2003, which was acquired by the Financial Times. I now live in Tokyo, Japan, and help our parent company Nikkei with digital transformation. I also co-organise the London Web Performance meetup group and am an elected member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group.
There is supposed to be a fancy visualisation here, but your browser doesn't support it, so here it is in text instead.
- –: BSc Information Systems, Brunel University
Achieved a first class honours in Information Systems, and additionally a distinction in the Brunel Diploma of Professional Development.
- –: Software engineer, Reapers, Zimbabwe
Hired for a two month contract to develop and deploy a mission-critical national inventory management and logistics system for an agricultural company in Zimbabwe, resilient to dubious telecommunications infrastructure and frequent power outages. Working with local suppliers and users across the country I designed and built a simple, inexpensive distributed system with no single point of failure.
- –: Intranet developer, UK Air Traffic Control
I worked at the UK's air traffic control service to upgrade Intranet based communications tools and improve workflow within geographically disparate business units and remote radar stations.
- –: Owner, Assanka
My software development consultancy, founded in 2003. We use web technologies in innovative ways. In 2005 we built the first UK property search site to use map based search. In 2006 we built one of the first real time live blogging sites, which we went on to win two Webby awards for in 2008. In 2011, we released the world's first major HTML5 newspaper site for the Financial Times.
- –: Technical Director, OnOneMap
Responsible for leading development of OnOneMap, a UK property search engine map using Google Maps and featuring around 600,000 property listings for sale and rent. We were acquired by dotHomes in September 2008 and I left after the acquisition.
- –: Director, FT Labs
The division of the FT born out of the acquisition of Assanka in January 2012, we focus on developing new way sof reading the FT using emerging web technologies.
- onwards: Consultant, Nikkei
- onwards: Organiser, London Web Performance
One of the main organisers of regular London Web Performance meetups.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I am failing to create a standalone application with my java external. I followed this info: http://www.cycling74.com/docs/max5/vignettes/core/standalone_platform_mac.html, but to no avail.
After copying the stated files, the max windows will only tell:
(mxj) Unable to resolve path of max.jar! mxj is rendered powerless. Unable to create JVM
any hints?
Try to just copy the entire C74:/java folder into yourapp.app/Contents/support/
no luck, same result. I copied the complete folder into
and, as stated in the docu
I just tried: – make a patch with mxj net.local – create the standalone – copy the C74:/java folder in TheApp.app/Contents/support/
so it looks like TheApp.app/Contents/support/java/*
Update: It works on my MacBook Pro – but the application doesnt even start on my MacPro (on which I failed to create the same application).
I have the same max version (5.1.4) installed on both machines.
Are the java and javac version also identical on your machines?
Log in to reply
Let us tell you about notable Max projects, obscure facts, and creative media artists of all kinds.


text:
The thing that stings about Woolfolk was that we could have had Asomugha instead. He went 3 picks later. FML
Neither of them were that good when healthy, so I don't give either of them a pass, or Floyd Reese for drafting them. Tank could hit but was piss poor in coverage, both before and after his knee injuries. If you wanted to make excuses for Tank, you could blame his injuries, but that wouldn't be true. Calico had terrible hands, which was something that couldn't be blamed on his injuries. I remember when he sucked so bad in the 2005 season opener, that he was benched for rookie Brandon Jones for the second game of the year. It's not a good situation when a rookie in his second NFL game is already better than a second-round draft pick in his third NFL season.
Vince wasn't the biggest bust. But he was the biggest disappointment personally for me. When a QB doesn't succeed it's magnified much more than when a CB is a bust. The team mortgages their future on a top 5 pick for QB. A CB is just a piece of the puzzle that is a whole defense.
I voted Chris Henry. It was really between him and Andre Woolfolk for me. They just took Henry because of his combine workout, I think he ran like a 4.3 in the 40 or something, but I don't think the dude was even the starter in college. IDK how he got taken with the 2nd pick, maybe it was a mistake. He did have a long touchdown run with one of his 1st carries though didn't he? I remember thinking "hey he might be good after all". Looking back I think he just accidentally stumbled into a hole and just took off bc his vision was absolutely terrible.
I voted Vince It all boils down to how he left. When I saw him play against USC, I KNEW he was going to be an amazing player. He took control of the the team and won that game. We selected him and he had an amazing rookie season and a few after. Yes, it was peppered with strange events, but I thought that was just him having trouble adjusting to NFL life and he would turn it around. It is fair to say Jeff did not trust him, but he had so much talent, just alittle patience and work would have went a long way with him. His pad throwing incident, and his locker room tantrum just killed everything about him. Who seriously says "I'm not walking out on the team, I am walking out on you"? That year was the biggest embarrassment for Tennessee football. We knew what we could possibly get with Pac-Man, and Woolfolk was not a quarterback. It is really hard for any player to put forth as much disappointment as Vince did.
Paul F*ing Williams!!! just reading that name pisses me off. Paul Williams was so awful that he even sucked in Madden! By far the player is dislike the most in Titans history. Not only because we drafted him, but year after year I kept seeing his name on the roster. What was Fisher thinking?!?!?! Cut him already already! But nope... he was still there, while so many other young receivers with potential were cut instead. :grrr:


text:
Shopping Cart $0.00 (0 Items)
Cart Summary
- There was an error
- It was successful
Habit Men's Softshell Jacket
Habit Men's Softshell Jacket - Stay warm, dry and protected from the elements with this durable perfromance softshell jacket from Habit Men's. Available in Black or Brown.
Habit Men's Softshell Jacket - Made from three-ply polyester/spandex performance softshell fabric with a water resistant polyurethane membrane for exceptional windproofing. The soft polyester fleece lining on this jacket makes it comfortable to wear next-to-skin.
- Durable, 3-Ply Polyester/Spandex Softshell
- 100% Windproof
- Water-Resistant Polyurethane Membrane
- Polyester Fleece Lining for Added Warmth
- 2 Hand Pockets with Zippered Closure
- Single Chest Pocket with Zippered Closure
- Adjustable Wrist Cuffs
- Adjustable Waist
- Style: SS1400
Customer Support
We are here to help if you need us, please contact Customer Support at:


text: John Mayer Recorded a Beyonce Cover And It Doesn't SuckMark Shrayber5/25/14 1:30pmFiled to: John Mayer36EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalinkJohn Mayer has just recorded his own version of Beyonce's "XO" and as much as I'd like to say it made my ears bleed as if I had used a q-tip incorrectly, it's actually quite good. Sure, Mayer doesn't have Beyonce's driving beat (or powerful vocals —I WILL SAY IT), but this version is soothing. It's what you'd listen to during the cocktail portion of the adult diner party you are throwing in your studio apartment. Or at least I would, if I ever invited people over. Reply36 repliesLeave a reply


text: All cadets receive Christmas, spring, and summer leave, along with the four-day Thanksgiving Break. Christmas leave is normally two weeks in length following the completion of first semester final examinations. Spring leave is about 10 days, including the weekends. Summer leave is about 3 or 4 weeks, depending upon the cadet's military leadership training assignment.When academics begin, "first class" cadets (seniors) get twice as many weekend leaves as "second class" cadets (juniors). A "plebe" (freshman) will have only a few weekend passes. Plebes also may leave West Point for extracurricular or cultural trips and athletic trips. There is also the traditional Plebe-Parent Weekend scheduled each spring.


text:
Marketing Information
Tt eSPORTS CHAO series is about accessorizing your lifestyle and enhancing the unique characters of yours. It's a bit of everything; from the way you dress, places you hang out, the choice of nightlife and your living philosophy. Chao is also a tribe with people imbuing a variety of artistic and street cultural elements in virtually everything, exactly what we are in the world full of acoustic and visual stimulations.
General Information
Product Type | Headphone |
Manufacturer Part Number | HT-DRA007OEYE |
Manufacturer Website Address | www.thermaltakeusa.com |
Manufacturer | Thermaltake Technology Co., Ltd |
Product Name | DRACCO Chao Headphone |
Product Line | DRACCO |
Product Series | Chao |
Brand Name | Tt eSPORTS |
Technical Information
Cable Length | 4.92 ft |
Plating | Gold Plated |
Sound Mode | Stereo |
Connectivity Technology | Wired |
Features | Foldable |
Minimum Frequency Response | 10 Hz |
Maximum Frequency Response | 22 kHz |
Earpiece Design | Over-the-head |
Earpiece Type | Binaural |
Driver Size | 1.97" |
Host Interface | Mini-phone |
Physical Characteristics
Color | Flare Yellow |
Form Factor | Ear-cup |
Limited Warranty | 2 Year |
This product is shipped only within Canada and Warranty valid for Canada only.
Computer Valley makes every effort to provide accurate specifications, descriptions, images and price on all products that are found on www.computervalley.ca
However for complete and updated descriptions, compatibilities, specifications and actual photo we recommend our clients to consult with manufacturer's websites or simply call us for proper clarifications. Computer Valley is not responsible and will not accept returns for items purchased that are not compatible with your system. Please ensure that you have verified compatibility and actual photo with your system by visiting the manufacturer's web site prior to purchase or give us a call to make sure what you are purchasing.
For more information, visit our Shipping and Return policy.
Computer Valley wants to provide you with the best and fastest possible service. We try to ship in stock orders placed before 2:00pm EST the same day. For in stock orders placed after 2:00pm EST they are usually shipped the next business day. However there are always exceptions. Please contact us prior to placing your order if you need your purchase by a certain date.
We ship by UPS, FEDEX, USPS, CANADA POST , PUROLATOR and LOOMIS from the nearest locations possible based on stock in hand.
Please note: Computer Valley reserves the rights to accept and cancel any order at anytime due to pricing error or any other reason. An email will be sent as a confirmation of the order status.


text:
Esther Stocker: Ohne titel (painting) / Tina Frank: Chronomops (video)
The Austrian Abstracts
22.09.-15.10.2006, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
The Austrian Abstracts is an exhibition of 27 Austrian-based artists, collected through their concerns with principles of abstraction while working in a wide range of media, from software to sculpture and painting. The show continues the investigation from the 2003 Abstraction Now at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna, with several of the artists appearing in both.
As the title implies, the Austrian art scene forms a nexus for the show. Even though the participating artists are from different countries, many of them are based in Vienna or have a special connection to Austria. However, the point of the exhibition is not to establish a patriotic position. Rather, it takes as its starting point a renewed interest in abstract art, which could be clearly observed in the Austrian scene of the last 10 years or more.
As the work in the exhibition demonstrates, the new interest in abstraction became evident in work with video and digital media. From the mid-1990's artists like Dextro, Lia, Tina Frank etc. began experimenting with code, creating mostly web-based works that dealt with generative systems. These works became popular with net audiences at the time, and were loosely seen as related to net.art even though they essentially were formal investigations. Gradually these works became recognized as a coherent movement, and many of the artists involved have since expanded beyond the web to work with installations etc.
This movement has been given the de facto title "Austrian Abstracts", deriving from a series of screening programs of digital experimental video that first gathered many of the artists in the current exhibition. Counting Abstraction Now, the show at Arti et Amicitiae is thus the third manifestation. Curator Norbert Pfaffenbichler has effectively become the chronicler of the movement, giving the works a framework in art history even as the artists themselves often refuse to comment on their conceptual aspirations.
Read also:
[...] We have posted about the Vienna scene and the Austrian Abstracts here on previous occasions, but the video work that was central to that movement has generally not been available for viewing online. Therefore, it's with great pleasure we see that Tina Frank has posted some early videos to Vimeo. Let's hope other artists follow her initiative, it would be nice to have an online archive of these early experiments somewhere. [...]
[...] Among this loosely affiliated diaspora were artists like Farmers Manual, Tina Frank, Monoscope, Pure, Lia and Dextro. The music label MEGO and the film label Sixpackfilm provided publishing outlets. Norbert Pfaffenbichler put together an overview of the scene in the exhibition Austrian Abstracts in 2006, which expanded on the previous exhibition Abstraction Now, focusing specifically on the activities of Austrian artists. [...]


text:
Distracted drivers: Anaheim police will be issuing citations this month to motorists caught texting or making calls on their cellphones without a hands-free device as part of a statewide campaign to crack down on distracted drivers. More than 450,000 scofflaws across California were cited in 2012 for using their cellphones while driving. The minimum fine is $159, with subsequent tickets costing at least $279.
Art Marroquin
714-704-3769 firstname.lastname@example.com
Redwood walk: Join a trained staff member from OC Parks for a free walk in Carbon Canyon's Redwoods on Saturday and Sunday mornings from April 6 through 28. Walks will be from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m. Location: Carbon Canyon Regional Park, 4442 Carbon Canyon Road. Parking is $5. Information: ocparks .com/carboncanyon or 714-973-3160.
Douglas Morino
714-704-3719 firstname.lastname@example.com
Parks and recreation: Several classes offered by the city's Recreation, Parks and Community Services Department start next week. Classes cover fitness, music, cooking and more, and are available for children, adults and seniors. Information and class sign up: buenapark.com.
Rebecca Kheel
714-704-3771 firstname.lastname@example.com
Business fair: The city will be hosting a free small business fair and resource expo from 9 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. on May 2 at the Cypress Community Center. Topics will include avoiding common sales and use tax problems, forms of ownership and record keeping for small businesses. Participants can register at boe.ca.gov /sutax/sbf.htm. Information: 888-847-9652.
Anders Howmann
714-704-3754 email@example.com
Taste of America: The Fullerton-based Museum of Teaching and Learning is partnering with the Heritage Museum of Orange County in hosting "Taste of America in the OC" at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Heritage Museum, 3101 W. Harvard St., Santa Ana. Several Fullerton restaurants are donating food and auction items. Tickets cost $50 and are available at www.motal.org. Proceeds will benefit programs at both museums. Questions: 714-814-4221.
Lou Ponsi
714-704-37 30 email@example.com
Car show: This Friday night's free car show on Main Street, from 4 to 8 p.m., will feature four bands beginning at 6 p.m. Information: 951-371-5833 and djrickstunesaloon .com.
Roxana Kopetman
714-796-7 829 email@example.com
Practice SAT: A practice SAT test will be given at the La Habra Branch Library from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Students must register in advance. The library is at 221 E. La Habra Blvd. Information: anna.mckay @occr.ocgov.com or 562-694-0078.
Douglas Morino
714-704-3719 firstname.lastname@example.com
Officers honored: Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored La Palma police Officers Scott Flynn and Matthew Marchand for their drunken-driving arrests at Tuesday's City Council meeting. In 2012, Flynn made 41 DUI arrests and Marchand made 20 DUI arrests. They were also recognized for their police work by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez's office. Information: 714-690-3370.
Daniel Langhorne
714-704-37 54 email@example.com
Author talk: Local author Ben Berkley will read and discuss his newest novel, "Against My Will," from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Placentia Library, 411 E. Chapman Ave. The novel is about a Holocaust survivor whose journal is later discovered by her granddaughter, who finds solace in it as she struggles through an abusive relationship. For more information, call the library at 714-528-1906.
Luke Harold
714-796-7963 firstname.lastname@example.com
Street work: Crews will be working through Friday on grinding and paving operations for the Citywide Street Rehabilitation Project on Cerritos Avenue between Magnolia Avenue and the east city limits. Through traffic and personal driveway access will be affected. Information: 714-890-4205.
Rebecca Kheel
714-704- 3771 email@example.com
Get skinny: The city is offering a "Become Slender with Hypnosis" class for adults beginning Monday. The four-week class runs Mondays from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Community Center, and the cost is $50 per person. Sign up online at westminster-ca.gov or at the Community Services and Recreation office. Information: 714-895-2860.
Roxana Kopetman
714-796-7829 email@example.com
Be prepared: Registration for the April/May Community Emergency Response Team program ends Friday. Yorba Linda, in partnership with the Orange County Sherriff's Department, Orange County Fire Authority and cities of Brea and Placentia, established the program to prepare residents for disasters. The class is a 20-hour commitment instructed by certified emergency management personnel, police and firefighters. Find a registration form at ci.yorba-linda.ca.us and submit it to Mark Aalders at maalders@yorba-linda .org.
Daniel Langhorne
714-704-3704 email@example.com
Most Popular
- Four people injured in fiery crash in front of a fire station in Westminster
- Longtime Irvine High water polo, swim coach Scott Hinman collapses at meet, dies
- Authorities charge 2 Irvine women in suspected U.S.-wide sex trafficking ring
- Laguna Beach to crack down on bad behavior at Thousand Steps and other nearby beaches
- Hit Korean boy band BTS is ready to take over Anaheim
User Agreement
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our Privacy Policy Policy & Terms of Use
Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to republish your name and comment in additional Register publications without any notification or payment.


text:
I just discovered this genius bag yesterday. It's an all-in-one activity mat and storage satchel. Perfect for little legos or other small toys the kids like to scatter all over the room. Must. Get.
Right now you can order them from Fab.com for a discounted price. Not a member? Use this link to join (FYI- I get a $25 credit when you make your first purchase)
(pictures from fab.com)


text:
be a slave to (something)
(redirected from was a slave to something)be a slave to (something)
To be unduly influenced by or care too much about something; to spend too much or time or energy on something. Jeremy is a total slave to fashion. He can't leave the house without making sure every part of his outfit matches perfectly. I wish Sarah would relax a bit more over the weekend. She's a total slave to her job.
See also: slave


text:
therapy: 1/17 of 17
Review: Aromatherapy Associates Aroma Radiance facial
Ruth Styles
2nd May, 2012
Aromatherapy Associates newest facial delivers an all-natural anti-ageing punch, reports a fresh-faced Ruth Styles more...Chery Lin Skin Therapy
Chery Lin Skin Therapy naturally treats your skin body and senses with 100% organic skincare that is fresh, nutritious and vibrant. With therapeutic plant extracts, it will smooth, calm and rejuvenate your skin beautifully and naturally.Tel: 07777 692146
Web: http://www.cherylin.co.uk
Email: email@example.com
Make mine a massage: how the power of touch can give you better health
Ruth Styles
6th March, 2012
Not just a luxury, massage can reduce stress, tension and immune system baddie, cortisol. But not everyone can afford a weekly back rub so the Ecologist joined the students at Neal's Yard Remedies to find out how to do it DIY style more...How to...beat the January energy slump naturally
Liz Parry
6th January, 2012
It's the afternoon and you can feel that familiar energy slump kicking in. Forget coffee or chocolate, try a healthier alternative, or give yoga, massage or aromatherapy a go instead more...Q&A: Geraldine Howard
Ruth Styles
19th October, 2011
Aromatherapy Associates founder, Geraldine Howard, discusses naturals, synthetics and why certification schemes need an overhaul with Ruth Styles more...Aromatherapy Associates launches London store
Ruth Styles
19th October, 2011
More than 30 years after it launched, Britain's leading aromatherapy brand finally has a store of its own. Ruth Styles reports more...How to beat stress naturally
Phoebe Doyle
19th July, 2011
Stressed? Tired? Don't turn to medical anti-depressants. As Phoebe Doyle discovered, natural stress-busters can be just as effective more...Homeless gardeners provide makeover for iconic Southbank building
Helena Drakakis
14th June, 2011
They used to sleep beneath London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Now a pioneering collaboration between the Southbank Centre and a housing association is giving a group of ex-homeless a chance to create a rooftop garden more...Review: Skin Nectar 'The Balancer' Radiance Oil
Ruth Styles
9th March, 2011
It smells gorgeous and is 100 percent organic but does Skin Nectar's Radiance Oil live up to its billing? Green Living editor, Ruth Styles, tried it out more...Top 10…essential oils
Venita Machnicki
25th February, 2011
Essential oils have long been a medicine cabinet mainstay. Venita Machnicki, aromatherapist and founder of organic beauty company, Skin Nectar, rounds up the most useful more...Soil Stained Survivors: how gardening is helping those caught up in the Balkan wars
Helen Babbs
22nd February, 2011
For over a decade, a pioneering project in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been transforming war torn lives through the power of plants. But now their money has run out. Helen Babbs meets the gardeners facing up to an insecure future more...Beat the Winter Beauty Blues
Karen Drake
1st February, 2011
Whether it's dry skin or chapped elbows, Sophyto founder, Karen Drake, has the solutions to your winter beauty woes more...
therapy: 1/17 of 17
Aromatherapy in your kitchen: part one - cooking with herbs
Pat Thomas
10th August, 2010
How to make your food your medicine and medicine your food, starting with six common herbs you can use in your recipes and everyday cooking more...Cancer drug: the other use for mistletoe
Laura Sevier
18th December, 2009
Mistletoe is not just for kissing under. In some European countries the plant is a respected and widely used treatment for cancer. Will it catch on in the UK? more...Medication nation
Mark White
16th December, 2005
Too fat, too thin, too sad, too happy... Whatever the problem Biotech is developing a vaccine or a pill to cure us. Mark White examines the consequences of a world where all our worries can be medicated away. more...Heaven-Scent
Kim Erickson
1st May, 2005
Conventional perfumes are cocktails of synthetic chemicals, many of which have been linked to cancers, birth defects and central nervous system disorders. Time to try something more natural more...Finding extra lattitude on the topic of cancer
Tina Cooke
14th June, 2000
Despite modern man's failure to defeat cancer, the established medical approach continues to dismiss alternative therapies. Sufferer Tina Cooke knows why. more...ECOLOGIST COOKIES
Using this website means you agree to us using simple cookies.


text:
Canon i850 Ink Cartridges
- Backed by our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
- FREE delivery on orders over $50, shipping within the contiguous U.S.
- Ships same day if order is placed before 4 PM PST
- Award-winning customer service you can count on
The compatible Canon i850 inkjet cartridges from LD Products are guaranteed to meet or exceed the print quality of the OEM Canon i850 inkjet cartridges. Purchasing our compatible Canon i850 ink cartridges is an excellent way to save money without sacrificing quality. Our Canon i850 compatible ink cartridges have a 'Two Year 100% Quality Satisfaction Guarantee'. The use of our compatible ink for the Canon i850 does not void your printer's warranty. OEM Inkjet Cartridges are also available for your Canon i850 printer
Canon i850 Ink
Compatible Canon BCI3e Series 15-Set Ink Cartidges: 6 Black & 3 each of Cyan / Magenta / Yellow
Compatible Canon BCI3e Series 5-Set Ink Cartidges: 2 Black & 1 each of Cyan / Magenta / Yellow
Compatible Canon BCI3eBk Black Ink Cartridge
Compatible Canon BCI3eC Cyan Ink Cartridge
Compatible Canon BCI3eM Magenta Ink Cartridge
Compatible Canon BCI3eY Yellow Ink Cartridge
OEM Canon BCI-3eBK (4479A003) Black Ink Cartridge
OEM Canon BCI-3eC (4480A003) Cyan Ink Cartridge
OEM Canon BCI-3eM (4481A003) Magenta Ink Cartridge
OEM Canon BCI-3eY (4482A003) Yellow Ink Cartridge
OEM Canon BC31e Printhead Ink Cartridge


text:
Max Payload: 15 lbs.
The Pocket Dolly™ Traveler v.2.0 is a great tool for getting simple, smooth dolly-esque shots without having to lug around heavy dolly equipment. Allowing 23" of fluid motion and weighing only 5 pounds, the Pocket Dolly™ Traveler is an even more portable way to enhance production value no matter where you are. The movement is crank controlled with a belt drive which provides for quiet and stable results. Works great mounted to a tripod or placed on any flat surface.
Note: The mounting screw for this item 3/8". For best results, we highly recommend pairing this item with a fluid head.


text:
Darren Star
Darren Star | |
Born | Darren Bennett Star July 25, 1961 Potomac, Maryland, U.S. |
Alma mater | UCLA |
Occupation | Film, television producer, director, writer |
Darren Bennett Star (born July 25, 1961) is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and Sex and the City.
Early life[edit]
Darren Star was born in Potomac, Maryland. His mother was a freelance writer and his father was an orthodontist.[1] He attended Winston Churchill High School and UCLA.[citation needed]
He created the television series Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place and was the creator and a writer for the HBO series Sex and the City.[2]
He also worked on CBS' Central Park West (1995), The WB's Grosse Pointe (2000), Fox's The $treet (2000), NBC's Miss Match (2003), Kitchen Confidential (2005), The CW's Runaway (2006) and ABC's Cashmere Mafia, which premiered in 2008.[citation needed] He was the producer of Sex and the City: The Movie, which was released in 2008 and its sequel, Sex and the City 2 which was released in 2010.[citation needed]
In 2002, he was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Outstanding Television Writer Award He sits on the Board of Directors of Project Angel Food.[3]
Personal life[edit]
Star is openly gay.[4] He is Jewish and has residences in New York City and Los Angeles.[5] His main residence is in Bel Air, Los Angeles.[6] It was originally designed by architect John Byers in the late 1930s, redesigned by James Dolena in 1960, and recently renovated by Mark Rios.[6]
- Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000)
- Melrose Place (1992–99)
- Central Park West (1995–96)
- Sex and the City (1998–2004)
- Grosse Pointe (2000–01)
- Miss Match (2003)
- Younger (2015–present)
- Doin' Time on Planet Earth (1988)
- If Looks Could Kill (1991)
- ^ Filmreference.com
- ^ "DARREN STAR, creator, 'Beverly Hills 90210'". New York Times. August 31, 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ Project Angel Food Board
- ^ Romesburg, Don (December 27, 1994). "Saint Savant?". The Advocate. Retrieved October 23, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Kupfer, Ruta (2008-12-02). "'Sex and the City' creator Darren Star: Hollywood looking to Israel for ideas". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
- ^ a b Mayer Rus, Darren Star's Bel Air Home, Architectural Digest, 2012
External links[edit]
- American male screenwriters
- American soap opera writers
- American television directors
- American television producers
- American television writers
- 1961 births
- Living people
- Gay writers
- Jewish American writers
- LGBT Jews
- LGBT screenwriters
- LGBT writers from the United States
- LGBT producers
- LGBT people from California
- LGBT people from Maryland
- Male television writers
- People from Bel Air, Los Angeles
- People from Potomac, Maryland
- Showrunners
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- Writers from Los Angeles
- 20th-century American writers
- 21st-century American writers


text:
Hailed as "a superb choir" (Gramophone), as well as "a choir to watch" (Fanfare), the Tudor Choir and its director Doug Fullington have received national and international attention as interpreters of Renaissance polyphony and early American music. Founded by Fullington in 1993, the Tudor Choir is a Seattle-based professional vocal chamber ensemble of 12 core singers; the group can expand to up to 40 members for works such as Thomas Tallis's monumental Spem in alium. The Tudor Choir is a resident ensemble at historic Blessed Sacrament Church in Seattle's University District.
Doug Fullington and the Tudor Choir have established themselves as leading interpreters of early American music. Their Shapenote Album (Loft) is widely regarded as the definitive professional recording of the shapenote genre and has been regularly broadcast on National Public Radio. Other recordings—Gentle Words: Shaker Songs arranged by Kevin Siegfried and An American Christmas, shapenote carols from New England and Appalachia (both Loft)—have reinforced this reputation. In 2006, the choir recorded another CD of Americana, Simple Gifts (Gothic).
The Tudor Choir has also received international recognition for its performances of Renaissance polyphony. Reviewing the choir's disc of Flemish polyphony, Jacob Clemens non Papa: Requiem and Motets (Loft), Gramophone magazine stated, "Let us hope this is the first of many recordings of this repertoire by this superb group." The choir's newest release is O splendor gloriae: Sacred Music of Tudor England (Scribe Records), featuring works by Taverner, Tallis, Byrd, and Sheppard.
The Tudor Choir has performed extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest, including concert appearances in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. The choir has been a Resident Ensemble at St. James Cathedral, Seattle; Artists-in-Residence at St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle; and a Resident Ensemble at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Medina. The Tudor Choir presented an annual concert series from 1993 through 2007, and has performed under guest conductors, includingPeter Phillips, Paul Hillier, Andrew Parrott, Stephen Cleobury and Martin Haselböck.The choir has made guest appearances with Mark Morris Dance Group, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Early Music Guild of Seattle.
The Tudor Choir has cultivated relationships with a number of world-renowned conductors and especially with Peter Phillips, director of the Tallis Scholars. Mr. Phillips has conducted the choir in a number of performances, including joint performances with members of the Tallis Scholars for the opening of the Tallis Scholars Summer School USA in Seattle, co-hosted by the Tudor Choir, since 2005. The choir has also sung under the direction of Stephen Cleobury (King's College, Cambridge), Martin Haselböck (Vienna), Paul Hillier (Hilliard Ensemble, Theatre of Voices) and Andrew Parrott (Taverner Choir).
Photo by Jesson Mata.
Doug Fullington is the founder and artistic director of the Tudor Choir. He is a specialist in the music of Tudor England and early American music. As a countertenor, he performs with the Tudor Choir under guest conductors and has sung with the London-based Tallis Scholars in England, France, and the United States.
Mr. Fullington has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Washington's School of Music as an auxiliary member of the faculty. He also coaches ensembles preparing for performances of early music and prepares editions of Tudor and other Renaissance vocal music for the Tudor Choir and other groups, such as the Tallis Scholars and the New York-based ensemble Vox.
As a dance historian, Mr. Fullington is a fluent reader of Stepanov notation, a classical ballet notation system developed in Russia and used in the Imperial Theater, St. Petersburg, between about 1894 and 1915. His articles on ballet and the Stepanov notations have been published in Ballet Review (New York), Dancing Times (London), Ballet Alert! and Dance View (both Washington, DC). He has reconstructed dances from Stepanov notations for Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Seattle; the Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow; and the Bavarian State Ballet, Munich. He is currently Assistant to the Artistic Director and Education Programs Manager at Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Dance Historian on the consulting staff of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, both in Seattle.
Photo by Marc von Borstel.


text:
Astrid Naviaux
Sales Associate
Residential Brokerage
Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274
View 6 Available Properties
Andrea Healey
Director Of Education
Residential Brokerage
Westlake Village, CA 91361
View 33 Available Properties
Violet Coturri Guerra
Gri, Crs, Sres, E-pro
Residential Brokerage
Burlingame, CA 94010
The largest sale/purchase of one's life is deserving of the ultimate customer service by an expert real estate professional who exemplifies integrity.
View 8 Available Properties
Karen "Karen T" Tracy
Sales Associate
Residential Brokerage
Pleasanton, CA 94588
View 6 Available Properties
Nathan "Nate" Levy
Assistant Manager
Residential Brokerage
La Jolla, CA 92037
View 19 Available Properties
Lynne Weiss
Previews Property Specialist
Residential Brokerage
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
View 10 Available Properties
Linda Moore
Residential Brokerage
Encinitas, CA 92024
As an Encinitas resident since 1977, I enjoy working with both BUYERS AND SELLERS. Visit my website at www.LindaSellsMoore.com
View 10 Available Properties
Shannon Hagan
Sales Associate
Residential Brokerage
Del Mar, CA 92014
Ethical. Exceptional. Enthusiastic. Energetic. Entertaining. "The 5 E's." Five enticing words describing the essence of Shannon Hagan as your Realtor.
View 11 Available Properties
Charles "Charlie" Bogue
Brokers of the Valley
Napa, CALIFORNIA 94558
Napa Valley is a unique place to live in the world. I welcome you to the area with video clips of life in the valley & 30 years of broker experience.
View 21 Available Properties


text:
I will be at the Podcast and Portable Media expo this weekend in Ontario, CA along with the rest of the RawVoice team. We will be at booth #413 so if your in California and want to visit and see how RawVoice and our flagship products (Blubrry and PodcasterNews) innovates podcasting, come check us out.
One thought on "Podcast and Portable Media Expo"
I'm back from the expo, and let me tell you how much fun it was. I met many podcasters and developers over the weekend. It was definitely a great time. If you're interested in finding photos, go onto flickr and do a search for 'blubrry' and you should find pictures from the expo and from the parties we had inn the hotel every night.


text:
Premium for Gasoline in San Francisco Strengthens a Third Day
Lynn DoanSpot gasoline in San Francisco gained against futures for a third day after a hydrocracker shutdown at Tesoro Corp.'s Golden Eagle refinery was seen cutting supplies in Northern California.
California-blend gasoline, or Carbob, inventories and blendstocks in the region dropped in the week ended Feb. 8 to the lowest level in a month, the state Energy Commission said Feb. 15. Stockpiles in the Los Angeles area, meanwhile, increased for the first time in four weeks.
The 170,000-barrel-a-day Golden Eagle refinery restarted the hydrocracker, which converts heavy hydrocarbons into lighter fuels such as high-octane gasoline, last week after at least seven days of unplanned repairs, a person with direct knowledge of the work said Feb. 12.
The premium for Carbob in San Francisco widened 0.5 cent to 7 cents a gallon against gasoline futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:57 p.m. East Coast time, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Prompt delivery fell 0.83 cent to $3.1912 a gallon.
The premium for Carbob in Los Angeles was unchanged at 31.5 cents a gallon against futures. Prompt delivery slipped 1.33 cents to $3.4362 a gallon.
BP Plc and Valero Energy Corp. are both performing repairs on the fluid catalytic crackers and alkylation units at their refineries in Southern California.
The spread between Los Angeles and San Francisco Carbob narrowed 0.5 cent to 24.5 cents a gallon, the smallest gap since Feb. 11. San Francisco Carbob traded a record 32.5 cents a gallon below Los Angeles on Jan. 14.
California Diesel
California-blend, or CARB, diesel in Los Angeles fell 0.75 cent against Nymex heating oil futures to a 10.25-cent-a-gallon premium, the first decline in five days. The same fuel in San Francisco slipped 0.5 cent versus futures to a premium of 11.5 cents a gallon, the lowest in a week.
In Portland, Oregon, the premium for low-sulfur diesel against futures was unchanged at 4.5 cents a gallon. Conventional, 84-octane gasoline also held against gasoline futures at a premium of 3 cents a gallon.
The spread between Portland 84-octane gasoline and Los Angeles Carbob was unchanged at 28.5 cents a gallon. Portland traded at a record discount of 75.5 cents a gallon versus Los Angeles on Oct. 4.
The 3-2-1 refinery crack spread of Alaskan North Slope crude, Carbob in Los Angeles and CARB diesel in Los Angeles narrowed for the first time in six days, losing $1.455 to $27.007 a barrel at 4:11 p.m. New York time.


text:
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Sad Songs (Still) Say So Much
A while back on this blog, there was a great discussion about sad songs in response to one of my posts entitled "Sad Songs Say So Much." I've been thinking about that again recently for a couple of reasons. First, I'm about to resume broadcasting my show "Americana the Beautiful" on Rhodes Radio (after taking about a 2 month hiatus) and I'm planning an "All Sad Songs" themed show for my return. Second, I've been playing a lot of music myself recently-- it seems like I can't do anything these days without running into another guitar player (such is Memphis)-- and with all that extra playing, I've discovered several more truly great sad songs.
And, of course, I just really, really love sad songs... so this topic never gets old for me.
As you may remember from the last discussion, I lauded Professor Grady for his erudition in choosing Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as the saddest song EVER. There are a lot of songs that you should know how to play if you play guitar-- and I don't include "Free Bird" or "Stairway to Heaven" among them-- but I think that every guitar player should feel a moral obligation to learn "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." It's a classic. Here, just listen for yourself:
As I said in the earlier discussion, part of the reason that "Don't Think Twice" is so, so very sad is that it tries so, so very hard NOT to be sad. But that's only one kind of sad song. There are, of course, other kinds. For example, there are sad songs that are sad despite their lyrical content-- that is, the song can be "happy" or "hopeful" in terms of the story it tells and yet still sound very sad because, say, it's in a minor key... or it's sung by Nina Simone. I may be alone in this estimation, but I've always thought Nina Simone's recording of "Here Comes the Sun" (written by George Harrison, and originally from the Beatles album Abbey Road) counted as a sad song, despite the fact that the song continually repeats the refrain "it's all right" and, well, it's telling us "here comes the sun." Judge for yourself, though:
Anyway, today I want to recommend a sad song that cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered subtle. Unlike Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," this song doesn't try to mask it's sadness; and unlike Nina Simone's "Here Comes the Sun," no counter-intuitive moves are necessary to recognize it as a sad song. This song is about "being sad," about the utter wretchedness of being sad, and about the inadequacy of our primary biological response to being sad, that is, crying. Julie Miller's "I Can't Cry Hard Enough" isn't about nuanced sadness or reflective sadness or mediated sadness. The composition is simple and spare, her voice is vulnerable and pure, the lyrics are straightfoward and blunt, the narrative voice is utterly alone. It's one of those songs that desparately, and unsuccessfully, reaches for something transcendent, relaying the simple and sad truth of how, even if it were at all possible to be more sad, one could only encounter that possibility as an impossibility. It's just damn sad, plain and simple.
So, I'm putting "I Can't Cry Hard Enough" on my list of top-ten saddest songs EVER, because sometimes, you know, subtlety is overrated.
NOTE TO READERS: I hope that you are able to access all of these songs, but you may need to "allow pop-ups" to do so.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
American Politics, in a word...
Friday, June 27, 2008
Damn Your Eyes!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Coen Brothers' Coin-Flip: amor fati or fait accompli ?
What IS the coin flip meant to signify?
[Spoiler Alert: I will reveal semi-significant plot details in the following!]
In the first iteration of this coin-flip, which happens fairly early in the film and is really a character-establishing scene, Chigurh tests the fortitude of a boorish, maladroit, back-country gas station attendant with his coin. This scene is really one of the Coen brothers' finest-- Chigurh is as intense and determined as the gas station attendant is bumbling and hapless, producing the sort of uncomfortable contrast of emotional intensities in which one can't decide whether to laugh or cry at the spectacle of it. (The skill with which the Coens are able to produce these moments of uncomfortable, forced, nervous laughter in their audience is one of their greatest virtues as filmmakers.) Because we, the audience, don't yet understand Chigurh, we are allowed to believe that the first coin-flip is in good faith, that the wretched attendant has a real chance at a lucky call that will save his life. And, of course, this intuition is partly confirmed when the attendant does correctly call the flip and is spared.
If the film stopped there, or if the coin-flip weren't repeated later, I think that we would be led to belive that the character of Chigurh is attempting to impart the lesson of Nietzschean amor fati ("love of fate") to his target. After the attendant guesses correctly, Chigurh gives him the "lucky" coin, and then promptly chastises the attendant when he attempts to thoughtlessly stuff the coin in his pocket. The attendant, confused, asks where he "should" put the coin and Chigurh answers, cryptically:
"Anywhere not in your pocket. Or it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is."
So, on this first rendering of the coin-flip, we are permitted to indulge whatever pretense of a-morality we can muster. Here, Chigurh is merely the messenger and the executor of Fate, and the result of the coin-flip no more confirms the evil of his soul than it does the innocence of the attendant. The virtue lauded in this scene, such that it is, is only to be found in embracing (and loving) the non-knowledge with which we call "heads" or "tails" in a game of chance-- even and especially when we are ignorant of the stakes of the game.
However-- alas!-- there is another coin-flip at the end of the film, long after the audience has been permitted the luxury of making what seem like "justified" moral judgments about the characters. When Chigurh finally meets up with Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald)-- the wife of Chigurh's prey throughout the film and, in terms of the narrative, a total "innocent"-- we know by this time that Chigurh will no doubt kill her. But the Coens/McCarthy reproduce the coin-flip exchange again here... only this time, we know in advance that neither we nor Carla Jean can possibly "love" the "fate" that will soon be confirmed. Like the gas station attendant before her, Carla Jean wants to know the stakes of the game, which Chigurh refuses her, but unlike the gas station attendant, she refuses to play. Not only does she refuse to call the coin, but she refuses the very pretense of the flip, saying to Chigurh: "The coin don't have no say. It's just you."
To which Chigurh replies:"I got here the same way the coin did."
And so, it seems, we have moved from a story of amor fati to a story of fait accompli. The coin, which in the earlier scene seemed to represent a kind of subject-less agency, is now no more than a ruse, a distraction, an ornament. It determines nothing and it signifies nothing. Just like real people.
In the end, No Country for Old Men is a tale about the evils we do not, and can not, understand. In fact, we cannot even understand them enough to know whether or not they are, really, "evils." The west Texas country is an unforgiving, uncaring, and an unaffected place-- least of all forgiving of, caring for or affected by the suffering of we random individuals. The film and novel No Country for Old Men asks us to consider what might be if we encountered a human being just like the west Texas country. What would become of our ultimately makeshift and incomplete notions of morality then? Can we love that fate? Or, as the penultimate scene of the film suggests, is our response-ability to that-which-will-be, ultimately, beside the point?
If, in the end, we all "got here the same way the coin did," does that mean that there is no difference between ourselves and the coin? I wonder...
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
In Memoriam: Michel Foucault
"The work of an intellectual is not to mould the political will of others; it is, through the analyses that he does in his own field, to re-examine evidence and assumptions, to shake up habitual ways of working and thinking, to dissipate conventional familiarities, to re-evaluate rules and institutions and to participate in the formation of a political will (where he has his role as citizen to play)."
A Genuinely Original Thought About Race
As evindence, I refer you to the political philosophy blog Public Reason, where Simon Keller (Philosophy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) recently offered what I find to be a remarkably original "Thought About Racial Profiling." Keller begins by granting that the moral and political permissability of racial profiling is a judgment that can be yielded using both consequentialist reasoning (of the utilitarian sort) and contractualist reasoning (of the Rawlsian "original position"). That is to say, the logics of both consequentialism and contractualism lead one to the conclusion that it is in the greater interest of society as a whole--given certain statistical evidence about the relationship between racial identity and crime--to allow police to employ these statistical trends in the execution of law enforcement, to bring about a more just society.
So far, so good... but so far, not so original. However, Keller proceeds to tweak the proposed "policy" of racial profiling, suggesting that if one already advocates the conventional practice of racial profiling (in the interest of a more just society), then one ought to advocate even more strongly a "slightly modified version" that Keller wants to suggest. Here comes the curveball. Keller's slightly modified policy of racial profiling, in his own words, is as follows:
"Police pay extra attention to members of a certain race, but whenever an individual object of such attention is not arrested, she gets a payment as compensation.
This is a crude thought, but the idea is that if someone is pulled over partly because he is black, or searched at an airport partly because he is Arabic, then he gets - say - $100. Alternatively, we might have a blanket policy of tax rebates for - say - young black males, or they could receive cheaper college education, or some other institutionalized benefit, as compensation for being the innocent victims of a policy that is, on the whole, socially justified.
...I can't see that [this modification of racial profiling] would be especially difficult to implement, nor that it adds any extra level of stigmatization or racial tension that the standard policies wouldn't contain anyway."
Now, I think there are more than a few nuanced problems with simply conceding the permissability of "conventional" racial profiling to the consequentialists and the constractualists in the first place. (For example, doesn't the fact that we begin with a question about the moral/political permissability of racial profiling already illustrate our somewhat naive acceptance of a certain set of social-scientific "facts" that are themselves deserving of more critical judgment? I mean, shouldn't the first and most obvious question be: "does the practice of racial profiling produce--or at least reinforce--the racial profiles that are taken as the justification for this policy?") But my suspicion is that these nuances aren't lost to Keller, and that the point of his thought experiment is rather to demonstrate that there is a better and more just way of implementing the policy of racial profiling... IF racial profiling is really as justified as its advocates claim.
Which, of course, it may not be.
As Keller says in his conclusion, if you find his proposed policy obnoxious, then "isn't it obvious that whatever is wrong with [Keller's policy] is also wrong with racial profiling intrinsically?"
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Battle Royale
Monday, June 23, 2008
30% ? Really?
Some of the reporters are saying "30% of Americans admit to race bias" like this: "Oh. My. God. There are RACISTS in this country! This is NEWS! We must let the people know that this VERY WELL MAY affect the UPCOMING ELECTION! Man your stations, journalists!"
Others are reporting the same story like this: "Well, yeah, 30% of Americans SAY that they have race bias, but we all know the real deal here. Americans just know better than to ADMIT to race bias. I mean, like, duh."
I demand a recount.
ADDENDUM: I suppose things could be worse. Fellow blogger Petya recently posted on the first-ever Gay Pride Parade in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend, which is laboring under serious threats of violence from right-wingers there (who are calling for a repeat of similar violence that accompanied the parade in Belgrade). You can also read more news about this on Professor Grady's blog.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Bandidos Yanquis
Westerns are not usually described as "charming" films, nor are they generally funny... which is one of the reasons that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was such a ground-breaking film. In fact, the genre of "Western" only ever received two makeovers as far as I am concerned: first, with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and, second, with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. That just goes to show you how deeply engrained the tableau of the Western really is in the American psyche... like it or not.
I just want to comment on one theme in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which doesn't occur until about halfway through the film, that is, the idea that outlaws can never "go straight." Not because they don't want to, which Butch and Sundance most definitely did, and not because they are essentially "bad" people, which Butch and Sundance certainly weren't... but because the circumstances of our lives sometimes--nay, most of the time--determine the possibilities that we see available to us. (Full disclosure: my emphasis on this theme is in part a response to Chet's suggestion, in his comment on my There Will Be Blood review, that I believe that human beings are "autonomous subjects" that can be extracted from their "social and economic conditions." Let me go on record as saying that I don't believe that.) As much as I loathe to admit it in my own life, our past decisions (autonomous or otherwise) inevitably serve as pruning mechanisms to the tree of our future possibilities. Sometimes that pruning allows us a set of better and more productive possibilities than would have arisen without the pruning, and other times... well, other times it forces us to choose the "least worst" alternative.
It's true that, in the end, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid comes off as a martyrs' story. And even though the film ends in that sepia-toned freeze-frame (pictured below) of the two bandidos yanquis heading to their doom, with the nameless voice shouting Fuego!, we're still rooting for them to make it out some way, somehow. And, yet, but... we can't root for them, at least not as long as we remain in the frame of the traditional Western, where bad guys must always get their come-uppance. But unlike the Westerns before it, we were never asked in this film to identify with the lawman or the law... and that is what makes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid revolutionary in the cinematic sense.
Much to my own detriment, admittedly, I've never been one to hold "the lawman" or "the law" in high regard. I'm much more an advocate of, in Derrida's formulation, justice beyond or before the law. (And, to be honest, I'm much more a fan of the kind of complicated sense of "forgiveness" and "redemption" that serve as the implicit themes of Westerns generally, and the explicit themes of Westerns like Unforgiven.) My kind of limited regard for the law, I can attest, will definitely prune one's possibility-tree... and might even land one in jail for more than few hours, as it did to me several years back. But, whatever, I think my particular affection for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid comes from this love of the lovable outlaw, of whom I know and love many.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
[Side notes about the non-gangster AFI rankings: I totally agree with the #1 chices in the categories of epic (Lawrence of Arabia), courtroom drama (To Kill A Mockingbird), fantasy (Wizard of Oz), and western (The Searchers). I would have switched #3 (Rear Window) and #1 (Vertigo) in the "mystery" category, but I'm okay with any Jimmy Stewart/Alfred Hitchcock combination. I think that Pinocchio should have gotten #1 in animation, and The Philadelphia Story should've gotten #1 in romantic comedy. And in the most egregiously bad omission, I can't even believe that Chariots of Fire wasn't included in the top-10 "sports" movies! I am inclined to say that it should've been in a dead-heat contest for #1 with Rocky. I mean, Jerry Maguire in the top 10? Really?]
Anyway, back to Goodfellas.
To attempt to capture the sheer brilliance of Goodfellas is as formidable an undertaking as Liotta's attempt to explain to Pesci, in the most famous scene from the film, why Liotta thinks Pesci is a "funny guy." Scorsese's prowess when it comes to the ambiguity and plurality of meaning are almost legendary. His (in)famous shady rooms and dim lighting within the surreal world of "made" men cinematically translate his obsession with the games life comically, cruelly, and consistently plays with its participants. The central theme in Goodfellas is quite straightforward, that is, just at the times when you think you've got it all under control, you don't. This kind of subjective impotence in the face of a world that refuses to be domesticated is only magnified by that world's relentless demand on select men to make their home in the world as it is. Scorsese's men are tossed into the game like poker chips in a smoke-filled room, all the while believing that they are bellying up to the table to play for a chance to be "made." Yet, in Goodfellas, the dealing is always from the bottom of the deck.
The first, and perhaps most obvious, directorial influence in the film is Scorsese's decision to give his audience an inside point of view. By placing us shoulder-to-shoulder with Liotta for almost the entirety of the film, the audience is provided a real sense of involvement in the mafia scene. The overarching narrative being told by Liotta directly to the audience provides us a semblance of inclusion, even participatory influence, and directs all the events at the viewer. Scorsese gives his audience a passenger seat on the fast track of an up-and-coming insider from the very start, and when Liotta begins to lose control and move out of the inside, we are alienated along with him. Most of the camera angles are tight shots, giving the audience the sense of an intimate, "family" surrounding, and encouraging all of the feelings that family engenders, including both familiarity and precariousness. Scorsese emphasizes the point of view of subjective control by aligning the audience with Liotta, and as Liotta's world becomes more disjointed and chaotic (as he begins to lose control, or be controlled) the audience's take on the action also begins to lose its coherence and rigid linear direction. Liotta moves from a slick insider, barely noticeable as he cruises in and out of the circles of made men, to a progressively more clumsy and conspicuous outsider, unable to blend into the shadows, glaringly out of place and out of control, until finally he seems the parody of the man he was. In the last scene, Liotta is standing anonymously, ridiculously, in a fenced-in suburban lawn. And, in the end, we're standing there with him.
The more technical of Scorsese's directorial influences on point of view are masterfully evident in his use of the Steadicam and the freeze-frame. Extremely long and meticulously planned Steadicam shots in both the wedding scene and the Copa Cabana scene determine the audience's involvement in the foreign world of the mafia. As the camera weaves in and out of tables at the wedding and the Copa Cabana, we are given a real sense of family and the enormous ramifications that entails. Scorsese puts us right into the subjective experience of backdoor handshakes, business deals sealed with a kiss on the cheek, and the endless stream of introductions and connections that weave together the fabric of a community based on exclusive interiority. The Steadicam shots intimate a sense of control, as if moving in and out of a system with the agility of one who knows which palms to grease, which backs to scratch, which guys to whack. For a good part of the movie, Scorsese lets us be "goodfellas," too. We get to walk where they walk, see what they see, know what they know. Yet, the Steadicam also produces a certain amount of uneasiness, a sense that the world of the goodfellas has an invisible control that is finally impenetrable.
Scorsese uses the freeze-frame for just such little epiphanies. There is no time to stop and think in the mafia world, but with the privilege of hindsight, and the medium of the narrative film, the freeze-frame arrests the progression of events and affords us a subjective commentary that may have well come straight from the director's mouth. The freeze frames in Goodfellas are Scorsese's opportunity to say: "Wait. Stop here. This is really important." They are the moments of ultimate intimacy between artist and audience, when the film is no longer speaking to us through the art of the story, but is rather speaking directly to us. Scorsese plays on the theme of control throughout Goodfellas, saying at times to us "you may be part of the story now" and at other times "you are completely outside while I stop and tell you this story." As with Liotta, Scorsese allows his audience to be close, even intimate, with the mysterious mafia world. He allows us to feel as if we are swelling our autonomy within this world, gaining control of our lives, making our own choices. But Scorsese never, ever, permits us to be taken in completely, never accepted, never inside, never "made." In the end the audience is again fenced-in to the narrative of a freeze-frame, just as Liotta is fenced-in his final suburban failure. Or, even worse, we are shot in the back by a naive belief in our own control, as Pesci ends up face down in his own blood, just on the verge of being made.
One last thing: it would be an injustice to overlook Scorsese's prodigious ability to perfectly place characters with actors. Liotta gives us the obsessively ambitious and flawlessly cool insider, as well as the cracked-up and falling-apart outsider. Pesci is the quintessential Scorsese-Italian: fast-talking, shady-dealing, story-telling, and temper-blowing. Deniro consecutively turns the same line over in dozens of different ways as he has done many times for Scorsese before, and as ingeniously as ever. Scorsese wants us to smell, hear, feel, taste goodfellas. And he gives us this Italian/Irish/New Yorker sensory blitz without missing one glass of wine, one pasta-filled plate, one grotesquely whacked traitor, or one gaudy pinky ring. As his characters play out their parts in the high stakes game, Scorsese involves his audience in such a way as to almost make the viewer another character. He stamps Goodfellas with his directorial mark by not only revealing once again the fascinating and opaquely intriguing world of La Casa Nostra, but doing so in such a way that the camera's involvement very realistically and concretely becomes the audience's involvement. The viewer is not only shown the illusory sense of control that Scorsese's story is attempting to convey, but is actually given that illusory control. In the end, one gets the feeling that the power and control of made men eludes both Scorsese and his characters (and us), and Scorsese uses his film as a commentary on his ultimate failure to enter a world that so passionately intrigues him. His camera is as much the control for Scorsese's involvement in what I would call "intimate distance" as it is his medium to communicate the paradox of intimate distance to us. It is Scorsese's alter-world, this world of made men and money and control, much like the alter-world Liotta set up for himself in the film with his mistress. As Deniro says of Liotta's arrangement:
"This... This is what this is. We all know what this is."
As ambiguous as it may be, it is the perfect encapsulation of the Scorsese project.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
There Will Be Blood is a bad Taxi Driver
I didn't get it.
First, let me acknowledge that I do get why Daniel Day-Lewis won the award for best actor. His performance would have been totally compelling even if it were excised from a coherent narrative milieu and plopped down on the screen sans context... which, in my estimation, it pretty much was in Paul Thomas Anderson's film. Basically, I think There Will Be Blood did badly almost everything that Scorcese's Taxi Driver did well (with the obvious exception of first-rate performances by both leading men). In fact, the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that Taxi Driver and There Will Be Blood are just better and worse cinematic renderings of the same phenomenon, that is, the manner in which individual and collective decadence slowly comes to drive a person mad, and how the relentless monotony of that slow decay eventually erupts in meaningless violence that is (desperately, ironically) intended to reinstitute some kind of meaning.
Both protagonists, Travis (Taxi Driver) and Plainview (There Will Be Blood), are loners steeped in a world of moral blankness, compulsively executing the demands of a profession that does not allow its practitioners the luxuries of a stable home, a conventional family, or any other of the various kinds of "roots" that ground and validate human existence. Both the taxi driver and the oil man look down on the world around them with a kind of forced moral high-mindedness, indulging its inhabitants and its ways when necessary, but never making themselves at home in it. They both attempt to authenticate their otherwise empty lives by attaching themselves to a child who, for both, represents the vulnerability and innocence that has yet to be sullied by the cruel world they know. But they both inadvertently defile that innocence and exploit that vulnerability, and they both hate themselves for it.
Scorcese and Anderson establish the spiritual isolation of their protagonists through slow, sometimes monotonous, pacing and a constant reinforcing of the milieu in which their loners are alone. For Anderson, this means plenty of long-shots of the sweeping, but barren, Texas countryside and the relentless drumming of larger-than-life oil pipes, two environmental "characters" that are meant to be indifferent to and to dwarf the individual. For Scorcese, this means tight, almost claustrophobic, shots of New York City at night, porno houses, tiny efficiency apartments, crowded political rallies, and the inside of a taxicab—all situated in the world of junkies and johns and red-eyed taxi drivers whose tacit refusal to sleep only makes the surrounding decadence seem more relentless.
And, of course, Taxi Driver and There Will Be Blood are both revenge films. Travis and Plainview are both angry, self-righteous, slowly simmering powder-kegs of ressentiment, fueled by their pretension of a kind of Everyman morality. The explosion of violence at the end of both films is ultimately a parody of revenge, though, since the bloodshed is only superficially for the sake of an Other (the child). Really, this violence is the failed exorcism of a heart of darkness, and it makes no difference at all in the world. There will be blood, for sure, but for the sake of nothing, accomplishing nothing.
So, how does Scorcese pull this off in a way that Anderson doesn't? I think it's because Scorsese gives us a point of view in Taxi Driver—mainly through the voiceover narration of Travis—which not only serves as a thread through which we can trace the arc of the story, but also provides the audience a first-person point of entry into the stratum of undifferentiated sense-data (what Husserl would call the not-yet-explicated Sinn) that serves as the antagonist and eventually drives the protagonist mad. Anderson, on the other hand, opts for the (mere) intimation of a story, concentrating all of his effort instead on the intensification of a character who is never adequately developed. Watching There Will Be Blood gave me the feeling that someone must have made an error or two in post-production, that somewhere there are a lot of missing but critical scenes that got left on the editing room floor. Hence, the film is too much "impression" and not enough "substance," too much raw Sinn and not enough Bedeutung or Austruck. The result is that Daniel Day-Lewis' compelling performance is suspended in thin air—groundless and senseless—a lot like his character, but not in a good way.
Monday, June 16, 2008
I'm Voting Republican
[NOTE FROM DOCTOR J: I really, really hope it's obvious that I'm not actually voting Republican.]
Saturday, June 14, 2008
International human rights v. Multinational corporate money
Why? Because the Court couldn't constitute the 6-judge quorum required to hear any case. Justices Breyer, Alito, Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts ALL recused themselves, leaving only the remaining 5 justices to hear the case. Why did they recuse themselves? Because they ALL own stock in, are related to the managers of, or have some other financial stake in the companies that are defendants in the suits (including, among others, Ford Motor Co., Credit Suisse, Hewlett-Packard, BP, Exxon-Mobil, IBM, and Colgate-Palmolive, Inc). As it turns out, the inability of the Supreme Court to cobble together a quorum was good news for the South African plaintiffs since, in situations like this, the decision of the lower court is effectively upheld. (However, it should also be noted that Congress passed a law in 2006 that permits federal judges to sell shares of stock and reinvest the proceeds in mutual funds or other investments without capital gains tax penalty so that the judges could avoid having to recuse themselves in these cases. Chief Justice Roberts has already done this twice in order to get back into cases from which he initially stepped aside.) So, despite the protests of the Bush Administration, the South African goverment and, of course, the multinational companies involved, the $400 billion dollar tort case will go forward... for now.
Are there any lessons to be taken from this story? Of course there are...
(1) Human Rights Watch lists the status of the Alien Tort Claims Act under the things it's "watching" in the United States, since ATCA is one of the few toools we have to prosecute human rights abusers. Along with the folks over at Human Rights Watch, I also want to urge readers of this blog to actively work to defend ATCA.
(2) While you're working to defend ATCA, keep an eye out for the Supreme Court justices' questionable recusals. There's been very little coverage of this case in the media, which is disheartening, since this case is a crystal-clear demonstration of the mutual contamination of multinational corporate interest, domestic and international "justice" trends, and U.S. foreign-policy paranoia. Of course, Supreme Court justices should avoid involvement in corporations that are regularly involved in lawsuits-- but if they aren't inclined to do so independently, even after being thrown a great big tax carrot from Congress, then maybe we should look for some way to compel them to avoid these kinds of conflicts of interest.
(3) Although, as a rule, this is not the direction I am inclined to pursue first-- maybe we should take a lesson from Lester Freamon of The Wire and "follow the money" in our efforts to defend human rights. The $400 billion that the South African plaintiffs are seeking in the case discussed here my be a "blue sky" figure, but my guess is that it makes the corporations who may have to pay it sit up and take notice. If we can't win human rights cases in the U.S. on principle, then we can at least make it very, very expensive.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Speaking of scary movies, today is also the day that auteur M. Night Shyamalan is scheduled to release his newest and scariest (and first R-rated) film, The Happening. I've seen a lot of hype about this film over the past few weeks and I think it looks like one of the most interesting things that have shown up in the theaters in a long while. But I won't go see it. Because I don't see scary movies. Because they scare me.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, almost all aimed at mediating the 'scariness" of the film. I won't ever go see a scary movie on the big screen, but I will occasionally watch a scary movie at home under the following conditions: (1) it's been described to me as "not that scary" by someone whom I trust, (2) I already know pretty much everything about what goes on in the film, especially in the "scary parts," (3) I get to watch it in my own home, on a television, in the afternoon, preferably a sunny afternoon, and (4) I get to hold the remote (so I can pause or stop it whenever I want).
So, under these conditions, I've actually seen all of Shyamalan's other films and I really liked almost all of them. I think his films are smart and philosophical, and that he is a real master of his craft. But I also will concede that Shyamalalan's previous films (none of which were R-rated) weren't "that" scary. My aversion to scary movies has basically two roots—Poltergeist and Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte—both of which absolutely terrified me and which explain my severe anxiety around clowns or psychotic-old-women-who-look-like-Bette-Davis even to the present day. I don't think I actually believe in ghosts or evil spirits, and I'm pretty sure I don't believe that either ghosts or evil spirits are able to inhabit otherwise inanimate objects (like clown dolls, televisions, or trees, just to use the Poltergeist example)... but I do believe in all the scary and evil things that human beings do, especially if they're psychotic and look like the older Bette Davis after being spurned by her community and locked away in an antebellum mansion for too long. And I also believe that it's entirely possible that one of them is hiding under my bed.
From everything I've heard about it, this is what Shyamalan's The Happening captures so well--that is, all the unlikely and improbable things that are so scary because, however unlikely or improbable they may be, they're also possible--and this is why everyone is reporting that The Happening is a genuinely scary movie. So, if you're one of those people who isn't "really" scared by scary movies, I hope you go see it and then tell me all about it.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Ranking the "Stars"
As I've said before, I'm neither an enthusiastic advocate nor a staunch opponent of rankings per se... though I'm certainly more in favor of ranking programs than I am of ranking individual philosophers. But, what actually perplexes me about this story is the criterion that was used. How can anyone possibly know who received the most job offers from leading departments in any given year?
This is a genuine question. I really don't know. My assumption was that job offers (especially ones that are eventually declined) were, for the most part, kept confidential. Can anyone explain?
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
You think your job is tough?
The producers of Deadliest Catch also put out another show over on the History Channel about another one of the world's top ten deadliest professions. It's called Ice Road Truckers, and it follows the men who drive equipment up to natural gas factories located 100 miles or more north of the Arctic Circle. Here's the catch, though: the only way to get the equipment up there is to wait until the oceans, lakes and rivers freeze (at least 20 inches thick) and then create trucking roads over the ice. There's only about a two-month window when the ice roads are traversable, and no one knows exactly when the ice roads will finally give way, ending the delivery season. In case you were wondering, this is what happens when the ice road gives way:
What I love about both of these shows, really, is that they are bona fide existential dramas. The "characters" are characters, but not "characters," and certainly not caricatures. They're real men living real lives, reflecting on the meaning and mortality of human existence in ways that are not manufactured or pretentious, but nonethless profound. I've considered several times showing clips of these shows in my Existentialism class this fall, if only to reinforce to my students the fact that all existential questions are not necessarily asked in college classrooms or Parisian cafes. In fact, the most important ones are not asked in either of those places.
One last thing: Many years ago I saw a documentary (with the provocative title Hands on a Hardbody) about a contest that is held in Longview, Texas every year in which people compete for a "hardbody" pickup truck. The contestants each place one of his or her hands on the truck and the last one standing with his or her hand on the truck wins. Seem simple, no? No. The contest literally goes on for days, and the competitors only get very short breaks (10 minutes, I think) every few hours to go to the bathroom. They can't sit down, they can't "lean" on the truck, and most importantly, they can't let their hand slip from the truck for even a second. After the first 24 hours or so, people's legs are numb, their bodies are in pain, they're sleep-deprived and some of them are starting to lose their minds a little. But many, if not all, of them really, really need that truck.
Watching the contest is like watching a sped-up microcosmic representation of the evolution (and devolution) of the human condition. It is, as one of the contestants reports in the film, a "genuine human drama." Unfortunately, the film is prohibitively expensive, so I haven't yet been able to show it in class--and, because of the title, I've been too embarrased to ask my library to purchase it--but if you ever have the fortune of getting your hands on it (heh, heh), I highly recommend it. Like Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, I think that Hands on a Hardbody perfectly captures the fragility, finitude, and weakness of human beings that I, for one, find absolutely profound.
Monday, June 09, 2008
How We Got Here
In other election-related news, check out the dubious decision on the part of supposedly left-leaning German magazine Die Tageszeitung editors to run a picture of the White House with the headline "Onkel Baracks Hütte" ("Uncle Barack's Cabin"). Wessen dumme Entscheidung war das?
Mama, trains, trucks, prison, gettin' drunk... and Obama
Well a friend of mine named Steve Goodman wrote this song, and he told me it was the perfect country and western song. I wrote him back a letter and I told him it was NOT the perfect country and western song, because he hadn't said anything at all about mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk. Well, he sat down and wrote another verse to this song and he sent it to me, and after reading it I realized that my friend had written the perfect country and western song. And I felt obliged to include it on this album. The last verse goes like this here....
If you know the song, you know that the last verse includes all of the requirements. Goodman even throws in a couple of extras, like "rain" and a tragic death. (It's the death of "Mama," of course, who gets run over by a "damned old train.") All in all, it's pretty hard to argue with Coe's assessment of the song as the "perfect country and western song." Here, just click play below and listen to it yourself...
What I love about this little exchange between Goodman and Coe is that they acknowledge, first, there is something like a Formula to country music and, second, sometimes the fact that a song is completely formulaic is what makes it great. Of course, Goodman's song isn't completely formulaic, inasmuch as it also (implicitly) involves a reflection on the "Formula." But it's that very small tweaking of the Formula, without departing from the Formula in any dramatic way, that I think defines not only great country music, but more generally great "pop" music. (I'm using "pop" in the broadest possible way here. So I mean to refer to "popular" music of all genres, but especially the genres that have historically resonated the most with the (American) populace—country, rhythm & blues, rock n' roll.) If you've never tried to write one of these songs yourself, let me tell you, it's really, really hard to do.. which it doesn't seem like it should be, since there's practically a blueprint for how to do it. Yet, oddly enough, what makes it so hard to write one of these songs is the very existence of the Formula. If you depart too much from the Formula, then you cut the legs out from under the song and it can't stand up on its own. If you stick to the Formula too closely, you end up with something either completely boring or completely plagiarized. You can only allow yourself a limited number of tweaks, and even the tweaks need to be, in their own way, formulaic.
I actually think that the same applies to political campaigns. There is a Formula for constructing a platform and a message and a political persona that will resonate with the American populace and, although it can be tweaked, it cannot be circumvented or disregarded. I don't point this out as a way of advocating some kind of "pandering" politics, but only to say that I see an interesting parallel between the story of "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" and the Obama phenomenon. That is, Obama and his message are, in their own way, very formulaic... including even his emphasis on change (because, after all, it's a change "we can believe in.") If Obama were a country song, we could replace "mama, trucks, trains, prison and gettin' drunk" with another set of completely elemental and equally formulaic political criteria, like "integrity, vision, change, more change, and not gettin' drunk." Just like a country song, he is in effect saying "come over here, listen to me, you'll recognize what I'm saying because it's stuff you already know, stuff you already think is important, stuff that sounds familiar because it's the stuff you sit around your supper table and talk about, stuff about your life." And, unlike HRC, he's singing that pop song very well, because people are listening. The other parallel that I see is that Obama, like the Coe/Goodman song, is also reflective about the extent to which his allegiance to the Formula (and our insistence on that allegiance) is itself something that needs a subtle highlighting. So, there is a kind of critical reflection on the Formula that is built into the otherwise formulaic packaging of his message—it's subtle, but it's brilliant, and it is very, very hard to do. Obama is not just giving us "Change," because that would be too ham-handed. He's giving us "change we can believe in"—a tweaking of the Formula that is repetition with a difference. A difference that makes a difference.
But, you know, I'm sure I'm not the only person drawing this obvious parallel between Obama and David Allen Coe. (She says while chuckling to herself...)
Friday, June 06, 2008
Naturalistic Fallacy, Schmaturalistic Schmallacy
Yeah, that's right, it's another installment in my weak humanism series. 'Cause there's something about being atop this particular soapbox that I find just so damn edifying.
There may be some concern that I am, like my be-turbaned friend to the left, trying to derive the "ought" of human rights from the "is" of human weakness. And, the truth is, I am. Frankly, I just don't believe in the value of David Hume's (in)famous "guillotine," which seeks to completely sever the "ought" from the "is", the prescription from the description. My guess is that most of the participants in this discussion so far don't ascribe to Hume's Guillotine either, so the real issues here involve differences in (1) how we are describing the "is", and (2) how we are getting from that "is" to an "ought." (Although I feel semi-confident that we have a general consensus on what the "ought" is, so to speak, that may still be up in the air.)
With regard to (1), I am obviously the most strongly influenced by Foucault and Derrida, both of whom I think give us way more in the way of descriptions than prescriptions. Of course, as has been pointed out to me almost every time I have a conversation about this with someone familiar with contemporary philosophy, neither Foucault nor Derrida had any (explicit) interest in preserving the old idea of the "human" or resuscitating the old idea of "humanism" in any way. In fact, they were both openly hostile to such projects. So I'm treading on thin ice, I know, whenever I try to move from Foucaultian or Derridean descriptions to some sort of humanist prescriptions. I'm treading on very thin ice...wearing a tuxedo, cape and turban... and trying to pull a bug-eyed philosophical rabbit out of my hat.
That said, I still maintain that this "weak humanism" project is the "ought" that ought to be derived from the "is" that Foucalt and Derrida say that "is" is.
That is in part because I assume that we don't want to say something as ridiculous as "Foucault and Derrida were merely interested in describing x. Full stop." Such a position would have a hard time accounting for the stubbornly persistent moments of quasi-prescription in their work, not to mention their personal lives. But it's also because I think our job, as their philosophical successors, is to figure out what we "ought" to do with the insights we've inherited, in the world as it "is." One of the things that worries me is the possibility of an overly-reductive reading of postmodern/poststructuralist critiques of "the Enlightenment," the canon, the metaphysics of presence, et cetera—ones that, I think, ultimately end up sanctioning complicity while people suffer and die.
In his book, Postcolonialism, Robert Young wrote: "In any system of force there will always be sites of force that are, precisely, forced, and therefore allow for pressure and intervention." As a deconstructionista, I am always looking for those "forced-force" sites and always trying to see how much pressure and intervention they permit... because that is where I think the move from the "is" to the "ought" is possible, even necessary. As should be evident in this discussion by now, I think the fact that critics of "humanism" have difficulty rejecting the moral validity of "human rights" is one of those sites—perhaps the most important ones.
From ressentiment to rights?
First, one of Dr. Trott's objections. Dr. Trott objects to my emphasis on the "weakness" of humanity (s'il en y a) because she worries that stressing the fragility and finitude of human beings amounts to claiming that, in her words, "rights follow from victimhood... [thus making] rights the product of ressentiment." I must admit at the outset that I am, as a rule, always suspicious of arguments that devalue the first-hand accounts of victims or (in what amounts to the same thing) assume that there is no qualitative political, ethical and social difference between the lived-experience of victims and that of victimizers. This is probably an issue for another post, but I think that this suspicion of "victims" and the "rhetoric of victimization" is a broad cultural consequence of the neo-liberal insistence on a cadre of virtues that are ultimately incompatible with community: privatization, solipsism, de-contextualized "personal" responsibility, et al. For the record, I don't think that Dr. Trott herself ascribes to those values, nor do I think she is a "neo-liberal," which is why I find it all the more interesting to hear this objection coming from her.
I suppose that what I want to say to is that, well, in a way, rights DO follow from (real or potential) victimization... at least a lot of political and legal rights do. That's not to say, of course, that there aren't important and legitimate a priori arguments for human dignity (which I think are necessary for a sustainable humanism) and the rights that obtain to dignified human beings. However, I think we need to remember that when rights have been inscribed into the law or into constitutions, it has historically been a consequence of those rights having already been withheld, denied, or abrogated first. Why do we secure, in law, the right to a person's freedom of conscience? Because, for centuries, human beings lived under the oppressive authority of monarchs and priests, and consequently were victims of various types of violence that did not respect the dignities that should be afforded to rational, autonomous, and free agents. I think most of the time, political and legal rights are secured along exactly these lines, that is, following victimization, though I know that some are secured as a kind of preemptive strike against just that sort of vicitimization.
So, the next question to ask is: does this mean that the need to inscribe these rights into law, presumably in order to circumvent the possibility of further "victimization," is a need motivated by ressentiment? That's a harder question, and I suppose that how one answers it depends a lot on how much one signs on to the Nietzsche-via-Delueze distinction between active and reactive spirit. It seems to be conventional wisdom these days that when one suffers an offense, the "natural" result is to react with bitterness, contempt, retribution or ressentiment. And on this line of thinking, ressentiment is unambiguously bad, since what we should be doing instead is "creating our own values" out of the sheer force of a strong will, or some other such Nietzschean nonsense. I don't think that ressentiment is the only "reaction" to victimization. In my view, there are a host of potential advantages—moral, epistemological, social and political—that only arise in situations in which one has come face-to-face with one's vulnerability and in which that vulnerability has been exploited. (Charles Mills makes this point in an essay on the "epistemological advantage" of non-whites, qua "subpersons," in his essay "Alternative Epistemologies" in the book Blackness Visible. And I also think that this is what Sartre was getting at in his Critique of Dialectical Reason when he emphasized the need to see the world "from the point of view of the least advantaged.")
A more familiar and oft-cited example of what I'm talking about can be seen in the nonviolent resistance movements. One could argue, and people like Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall have argued as much, that those movements introduced a genuinely novel mode of political action (not reaction) into human affairs—and that possibility could have only arisen as such in the minds of those who had been brutally victimized, dehumanized, by a system of power that relied on violence. To reach back into my bag-of-one-trick, I think you can say the same thing about a lot of what one sees in the political action of truth commissions throughout the latter part of the 20th C. So, here are examples where groups of people who (at least in part) identified their common element in weaknesses, and who had already been "victims," found a way to leverage that experience into productive and progressive political action.
That's not to say, of course, that we don't always need to remain on the watch against the base and counterproductive expressions of ressentiment as Nietzsche articulated them. It's just to say that I'm not ready to reject outright the possibility that we may, in fact, get a better polis when we reckon with the wisdom and unique insight of victims. Or, to put it more directly, if you gave me a choice between cohabitating a State created by those who had never intimately known their own weakness, and those who drafted their laws on the basis of the evils that they already know men (and women) do, I'd choose the latter.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Weak Humanism Redux
[NOTE: Please direct comments to the original post, not this one.]
Tightening the Democratic Belt
The thing is, I think we've got a LOT of "sloughing off" to do. All of those slings and arrows that Obama and HRC threw at each other over the last few months have landed on the other's person like blobs of adipose tissue. The DNP pretty much hung out every last bit of its dirty laundry during the primaries, and all the extra sound and fury has made us bloated, distended, distracted. I think we may have inadvertently gotten a little fat and lazy during the primaries and, as we know from elections past, we're going to have to bring our leanest, meanest A-Game if we want to have any hopes of beating John McCain and the Bush League in the fall.
So, for these reasons, I really hope that Obama and HRC "make up"-- though, for the record, I think it's a bad idea for them to share a ticket. And although I'm not sure this is possible in this election year, I wish we could really, really slim-down the Democratic message. Something like: It's the war, stupid. (Except, of course, that it's also the economy, stupid. And the environment, stupid. And don't forget about health care, stupid. Alas.)
My point, I guess, is that I think we need to remain cognizant of the very real possibility that we could still be a big, fat loser come November. It's time to shape up.
ADDENDUM: Please take time to read the comments of Paul Zeleza on the "political wonder" of Obama. Zeleza, by the way, is one of the most brilliant people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. (Full disclosure: Zeleza was on my dissertation committe, but as far as I know, he's not compensating me for promoting him.)
Monday, June 02, 2008
Healthy Blogging
It is my hope that the combination of the Scientific American article and my own mini-tributes here is enough to keep all of you blogging regularly. With the blogosphere, it's a small world after all.


text:
Get WDDOA Alerts on your Cell Phone, Pager or by Email Now you can get fast breaking Field Status Updates and General Info Alerts on your Cell Phone, Pager or by Email. Just complete the form below for each address you want to add.
Email/Cell/Pager Address: (ie email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com)
Click here to Remove Existing Address
For wireless addresses enter your 10 digit phone number without any special characters or spaces in the number.
WHAT IS MY ADDRESS To determine the correct address for your cell phone, send a text message from your phone to an email account you have access to. Look at the sender address in the email to see your cell phones address.
Good: email@example.com
Bad: (512)firstname.lastname@example.com (contains special characters)
Bad: firstname.lastname@example.com (does not contain area code)


text:
Forum: The Pet Place
Post about your pets and their issues here!
Post about your pets and their issues here!
Forum Information and Options |
Moderators of this Forum |
Thread Display Options |
I don't think anyone can just be that stupid. It takes a village to do stupid on that scale.
All three are/were salaried for the job they do, either by the Weather channel, some other weather outfit or a university research project.
The FDA allows an average of 30 or more insect fragments and one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams of peanut butter.
The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals. We are all familiar with a Herd of cows, a Flock of chickens, a School of fish and a...
How many politicians does it take to change a light bulb? It takes two. One to assure the public that everything possible is being done, while the other screws it into a water faucet.