The title of this post is referring more to things I have been thinking than world events, as I have no hope of catching up with them at this point. I have a list of many posts and articles that I have been collecting to try and understand Tibet and China and just as long a list of posts on Iraq and what may be going on there (none of which I want to even look at since I just heard from my brother and he is, in fact, in the middle of it all). Though I will tell you that if you want to make yourself less confident that the human race is ever going to escape from the mire or that being American is something to be proud of you should go read something about John Yoo's famous little memo. (Before anybody goes on a tear, I do care a great deal about my country; that is why that issue is such a big deal to me, it seems to pervert so many of the ideals that the US was based on.)
There isn't much time to finish my thesis and the only time I feel remotely not stressed out about everything is when I go off to belly dance or do yoga. I was even denied the second of those for a week or so because I did a number on my shoulder trying to get into something called Turtle pose which left me in pain when I took a deep breath; Down Dog was not really an option. Luckily, I don't have to put weight on my shoulders to dance.
I was taken in by an April Fools joke over at xkcd that introduced me to Questionable Content and led to me blowing much of yesterday reading the entire comic archive rather than doing the work I am supposed to be doing, but I suppose I will survive and I have a new favorite web comic (and t-shirt; I love the phrase aerodynamically curvaceous). I also got into contact with the lovely mother of Vir, who has moved into her new house and then promptly left for the foothills of the Himalayas. She is trying to convince me that it is time to visit her once again, but that would involve me finding a job that would pay for the plane ticket. She also requested that I inform everyone that she sends her greetings.
I even got email from my adviser who actually gave me the title of a new book on my subject that looks interesting and then told me not to read it right now. In his defense, he seemed to be aware of the difficulty of that prospect.
There were a few interesting things that came out in the last few days that I did feel the need to comment on, mainly having to do with whiny people. There was an article in the Independent questioning where all the strong women have gone, and I hate this sort of thing because I do think there are serious problems with the way women are portrayed or have to portray themselves in our society, but the articles that discuss it invariably make women sound like idiots. The subtitle of this one has to do with the way women feel they have to downplay their own intelligence, which I would love to have a discussion about and which is a subject where there has actually been a fair amount of interesting research recently, but Johann Hari seems to view the studio system in the 30s and 40s as the epitome of female empowerment and she only mentions research in passing to support the idea that the fear of strong women is real. There are pervasive and disturbing tendencies to see strength in women as aggression, but I don't see how this article furthers the discussion at all.
Also, I love old movies as much as the next girl, but the complete and utter contempt for a reading public that is invoked by comparing Bette Davis in "Jezebel" and Cameron Diaz in "There's Something About Mary" as the exemplars of their times beggars belief. Isn't possible to have a serious discussion about this sort of stuff that doesn't automatically revert to the lowest common denominator mode of whining about how the current degenerate world is overwhelming X wonderful quality that existed in the past. This kind of unreflective nostalgia is the very same crap that drives much of the same social traditionalism that I am sure the author of this piece finds horrifying.
Sorry, rant is over, though I could go on for quite a while longer and I cannot promise there won't be more to come.
There isn't much time to finish my thesis and the only time I feel remotely not stressed out about everything is when I go off to belly dance or do yoga. I was even denied the second of those for a week or so because I did a number on my shoulder trying to get into something called Turtle pose which left me in pain when I took a deep breath; Down Dog was not really an option. Luckily, I don't have to put weight on my shoulders to dance.
I was taken in by an April Fools joke over at xkcd that introduced me to Questionable Content and led to me blowing much of yesterday reading the entire comic archive rather than doing the work I am supposed to be doing, but I suppose I will survive and I have a new favorite web comic (and t-shirt; I love the phrase aerodynamically curvaceous). I also got into contact with the lovely mother of Vir, who has moved into her new house and then promptly left for the foothills of the Himalayas. She is trying to convince me that it is time to visit her once again, but that would involve me finding a job that would pay for the plane ticket. She also requested that I inform everyone that she sends her greetings.
I even got email from my adviser who actually gave me the title of a new book on my subject that looks interesting and then told me not to read it right now. In his defense, he seemed to be aware of the difficulty of that prospect.
There were a few interesting things that came out in the last few days that I did feel the need to comment on, mainly having to do with whiny people. There was an article in the Independent questioning where all the strong women have gone, and I hate this sort of thing because I do think there are serious problems with the way women are portrayed or have to portray themselves in our society, but the articles that discuss it invariably make women sound like idiots. The subtitle of this one has to do with the way women feel they have to downplay their own intelligence, which I would love to have a discussion about and which is a subject where there has actually been a fair amount of interesting research recently, but Johann Hari seems to view the studio system in the 30s and 40s as the epitome of female empowerment and she only mentions research in passing to support the idea that the fear of strong women is real. There are pervasive and disturbing tendencies to see strength in women as aggression, but I don't see how this article furthers the discussion at all.
Also, I love old movies as much as the next girl, but the complete and utter contempt for a reading public that is invoked by comparing Bette Davis in "Jezebel" and Cameron Diaz in "There's Something About Mary" as the exemplars of their times beggars belief. Isn't possible to have a serious discussion about this sort of stuff that doesn't automatically revert to the lowest common denominator mode of whining about how the current degenerate world is overwhelming X wonderful quality that existed in the past. This kind of unreflective nostalgia is the very same crap that drives much of the same social traditionalism that I am sure the author of this piece finds horrifying.
Sorry, rant is over, though I could go on for quite a while longer and I cannot promise there won't be more to come.
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