Dorothy Parker

Very recently I've go acquainted with the works of Dorothy Parker. She was an accomplished writer/journalist/critic, best known for her witty, satirical articles in New York Times and Vanity Fair in times of such great authors as F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.

Here an excerpt from her review of an Oscar Wilde's Ideal Husband production (Vanity Fair, November 1918):  "Somehow, no matter how well done an Oscar Wilde play may be, I always am far more absorbed in the audience than in the drama. There is something about them that never fails to enthral me [...]. They walk slowly down the aisle and sink gracefully into their seats, trusting that all may note their presence, for the very fact of their being there is a proof of their erudition. From the moment of the curtain's rise they keep up a hum of approbation, a reassuring signal of their patronage and comprehension. "Oh, the lines, the line!" they sigh, one to another, quite as if they were the first to discover that this Oscar Wilde is really a very promising young writer; and they use the work "scintillating" as frequently and as proudly as if they had just coined it. Yet there is about their enjoyment a slightly strained quality, almost as if they were striving to do what should be expected of those of their intellect. It isn't he sort of enjoyment that just sits back and listens; it is almost if they felt they must be continually expressing their appreciation, to show that no epigrams get over their heads, to convince those about them of their cleverness and their impeccable taste in drama".

a cheer-up that hits the spot

Sometimes after spending a silly amount of hours in a University library (silly = more than 10) and writing up a perhaps not-so-silly report or dissertation our minds simply shut down. Personally I cherish these moments for one, slightly disturbing reason - because it gives me the unique sense of leaving my spectacular personality and stepping into the shoes of an average, McDonald-loving, crap-telly-watching individual. So in a way it's a harmless way of trying out a membership in the other, bigger part of the society without the threat of catching measles.
And in those moments simple things make me chuckle: forgetting to turn off a tap, singing a song to myself badly or doing a little tap dance in front of the local co-op. And upon arrival home and switching on my battered HP laptop - playing something from the silly-yet-wickedly-funny lot...

Today, my YouTube search recommends Christopher Walken and his Weapon of Choice :)

Enjoy!

PS. Try out "Christopher Walken as the Black Angel" as well :)

Wyprawa w duecie

Dziś tylko króciutko, a nawet krócej bo w nie własnych słowach. Coś co mnie zaciekawiło i zmusiło do myślenia...i planowania kolejnej podróży:

http://zwierciadlo.pl/2011/seks/wyprawa-dla-dwojga/3

Pozdrawiam,

S.

Going Steampunk

What steampunk is actually about? Well, there are a number of websites coming up with fancy definitions, all of which can be described as follows: it's all about revitalising the Victorian era with a futuristic element. I'm sure most of you heard about the ground-breaking books by Julius Verne, which in his time were revolutionary because they've introduced inventions and concepts which were ahead of his times: submarines, balloons, and more. Other authors who followed included H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), or Arthur Conan Doyle (The Lost World). Steampunk takes on board a lot of these concepts and adds a bit of a twist to make them attractive to modern audience. Sometimes including a bit of a fang and fur as well (e.g. Gail Carriger, The Parasol Protectorate series). However, a number of authors remained more down-to-earth concentrating more on "look-what-I-can-do-with-a-couple-of-screws-and-an-idea!".

As a natural consequence of steampunk books, we've ended up with a whole lot of film-makers focused on making money on those ideas. This resulted in a range of films, with an average quality somewhere between mediocre and not bad. If you've seen films like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Sean Connery, Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, or the trailer to the new version of The Three Musketeers, then, my friend, you were exposed to steampunk.

Of course, steampunk is not only represented by books and films. Let's nto forget about steampunk-inspired music, like for example the persona of Doctor Elemental and his steam-punkish hip-hop:

Does it seem like your cup of tea? Yes? No? Well, there was no harm in trying something new, was there. Of course now that you know it, you can't unknown it so sorry for any permanent damage :)

If you got hooked and want to know more I recommend a number of websites, a lot of which have taken steampunk and turned into a new way of life, e.g. The League of S.T.E.A.M., Steamed, and very informative - Steampunk.com and The Airship Ambassador.

Go STEAM!

About the universe and other things

My favourite comic book, aka PHD COMICS (go figure ;P) released a film about, well, the expanse of our knowledge about the universe, which if presented in the form of a pie chart looks roughly like that: there's this 5% that we know, 20% which is the dark matter (that we don't know much about anyway), and then there's this 75% that we have no clue about...And they went from there.

I hope you'll enjoy it :)

Dark Matters from PHD Comics on Vimeo.

Are we in danger?

There's a lot of interest recently in the potential dangers of social media. With the growing popularity of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Digg and other, the question that the world specialists in social studies, neuroscience and psychology has been asking themselves is: are we in a danger of loosing our connection to the "real world" and immerse entirely in the virtual reality, where everyone seems more attractive, more interesting, more social.

In his article for the Business Week, Vivek Wadhma, compares this flood of new technology with the popularisation of books at the turn of 18th century. Irrelevant? Or is it perhaps that every change in the society, in the way we live and interact with the outside world automatically makes us suspicious and distrustful? True, with the advent of social networking we spend considerably more time e-mailing, twitting, texting, fb-ing rather than talking to each other face-to-face. But isn't it like that with every new toy that after a period of initial excitement our interest declines rather rapidly? How many of you after trying 30 new applications on Facebook retreated in the end to using only a few really basic tools like Wall and Events section? And isn't it also true that the more we scrutinize and demonize the more interest it creates, hence that period of fascination and the number of people trying the "forbidden fruit" grows exponentially?

I'll leave it at that.

I hope you are enjoying the sun and don't forget - there's a whole wide world out there...

Miss B.

Why More is Less?

A question which might baffle some of you: why if we have more we have less in the same time? Doesn't it defy the logic of things? And more and less of what exactly?

Above question is a rising issue in the field of social and behavioural studies, looking at the psychology of a current society and how does it respond to the changes and opportunities it is given. I believe that it is especially interesting to observe such a phenomenon in the countries which experienced a drastic socio-political change, where the dawn of capitalism has been observed and celebrated not so far ago.

Below animation gives an interesting insight into the mechanics of changes that capitalism brought to these societies and what its driving force is. The latter being applicable to most if not all of the. so called, "modern" countries.

I hope you'll enjoy it.

A.

PS. Thank you Sole :)