Watch this. Amazing…
ACDC Vs Iron Man 2 – Architectural Projection Mapping on Rochester Castle from seeper on Vimeo.
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Sublime Battersea
Simply magic. T.S Eliot used to frequent this park don’t you know…
Confronting Theory Podcast
Just listened to a great podcast on the negative influence of Cultural Theory as taught in Universities today. Philip Bell argues that Cultural Theory sort of skims the surface of topics it touches like Science, Psychology and Philosophy and is therefore unable to see that many of it’s arguments are unfounded and even out of date. Like a student dozing off mid-lecture.
It’s not an original point of view, Eagleton has been damning the relativists for over thirty years which make me wonder why Bell is publishing a book on this only now. But it’s an age-old question: Is the jack of all trades truly master of none?
But Bell does have a point. Some of the Cultural Theorists are so bloody hard to read and understand, it’s almost as if they’ve lost touch with reality. I’ve spent hours trying to get my head around people like Derrida and Barthes and my conclusion is thus: If you can’t explain your point of view clearly, then it is, quite simply, a load of tosh.
Interesting stuff.
Random Dance Day: Faithless and Beats International
It’s only 9.20am and I’ve already been hit with two amazing tracks. One is a classic. How can the day get any better?
Warm Leatherette Video Fight!
So what is all this warm leatherette nonsense? Oh..I see.
Impressive.
Funky.
painful.
original.
For Whom The Bell Tolls: Hemmingway
So, as a bit of light reading I’ve just finished Hemmingway’s short ditty set against the idyllic and trouble free backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Never read him before so had to take a peek to see what all the fuss was about.
Initially, the book was quite a struggle, not only because my actual copy is a faded paperback from the 70s which is practically falling apart; I also inherited a version where some ingenious publisher had decided to squeeze as much text into a page as possible. Result = squinty eye syndrome and possible optician’s prescription.
Also, Hemmingway throws in some extremely odd terms and phrases to highlight the various idioms of the Spanish language. Other translators would have used more subtle methods so I’m not sure why Hemmingway does this. As Wikipedia says: ‘The Spanish expression of exasperation me cago en la leche repeatedly recurs throughout the novel, translated literally as "I obscenity in the milk." It’s a bumpy ride but you eventually get used to it.
Anyway, the book isn’t your typical Andy McNab shoot em’ up novel. As we follow the main protagonist through 400 pages, the actual war plays very much a supporting role to the main event – the detailed minutiae of Robert Jordan’s thoughts. Hemmingway’s narrative style is not stream of consciousness but it highlights the same age-old problem of knowing other people’s minds. Self-referential and ego-centric, the hero has more conversations with himself than with other people. Likewise, when we do hear conversations with other people, Hemmingway keeps the camera rolling so we get endless passages of seemingly trivial details. It’s as if Hemmingway has removed the all-seeing eye of the AUTHOR, reserving judgement – inviting the READER to develop their own opinion.
Not that it ignores war altogether. With much of the book devoted to long periods of characters waiting for the action to begin, when things do kick off it’s all the more tragic.
There you have it – the English lit essay that never saw light. For better some might say.
Kingston Breakfast Run
Woo! Results from the Kingston Breakfast run are in. Really happy with my time. I wasn’t expecting to run that fast, it’s just that I kept on running behind people that were faster than me so I had to try and catch-up. I’m almost a bit disappointed that I’m not doing the marathon this year. Well, there’s always 2011.
