I don't remember when I last spent a day like this but I know when I've last seen one and already then would soo have preferred to join in.... falling asleep at 5.30 in the morning ... waking up at 9.30 but being saturday, figured no harm done in 'forcing' myself to more sleep ... up at lunchtime which automatically was interpreted as reason enough for a really large breakfast, accompanied by more episodes of my lattest obsession - then some more TV on the side of sports, then the briefest of moments filled with more apartment sprucing up ideas for the class-social-meeting here next week - but after a selection of posters to be put up I realized I don't have (enough) appropriate tape to be gentle to my work-intensive-walls thus project postponed for a few more episodes, later more tv over cooking potatoes and cleaning up the kitchen where in lieu of a dishwasher and due to only little cooking over the week (as there was not much more than breakfast food here until thursday night anyway) dishes had piled up since my red-wine-makes-blue-stains-on-the-kitchen-wall-risotto last monday. Then fried potatoes with green beens and tv for dinner and one more episode for a dessert of kiwi and yoghurt. Due to the amount of food some more evening sports alongside more TV. And now I am thinking to go to bed, but as my laptop is already here and my current reading material not at my bedside but in my bag by the door, I might chose TV over literature for night-entertainment....
With a non-day of such proportions, I am earnestly planning on 2 judith butler texts tomorrow, some laundry and I have to do some more grocery shopping, my fridge thinks, and might while being at it also look for power-strips for decorations and band-aids for my feet because last night I wore my new SF-bright-red sneakers about which it was already suggested to slowly break them in.... well the blisters I have probably once again prove that listening to friends and being less pig-headed could have advantages...
and then in the afternoon an abstracting meeting with classmates, I hope
1/31/2009
1/29/2009
another thursday exhaustion...
another thursday and the two hours in between are always too little... in the morning 10-12 visiting lecture in our american exceptionalism class by Prof. Ostendorf on Multiculturalism with actually really interesting insights - though most of them only really clarified / i.e. really revealed his position in the private meeting afterwards. then - due to that meeting - only 1 hour lunch break which to get soup at the american bagel shop around the corner is hardly enough because the really nice guy working there is even and considerably slower than the Hollerbusch in MQ was or any other bio-place - which seems to have slow movements in their job-descriptions - could ever be...
then the Fluck seminar which catapulted me right back to the beginning of the semester with the difference that by now I don't seem to care anymore to embarrass myself... because Fluck asked on our perception of the Don Pease text we read in terms or the state of exception and transnationalism and from his question it was clear we had a rather different reading experience. Which I voiced ... basically by introducing my interpretation and follow up questions with "We are talking about the essay on his take on Planetary Literature .. right??!?" But Fluck being patient as he is, let me stutter through my objections of the text before politely pointing out the many wrong taken turns in my reading and in the discussion gave a nice reading and then interpretation. And then we ended with the Lacan and Castoriadis positions on the imaginary and it was someone else's turn to make half an ass out of themselves... but in the end we left with rather enlightened ideas about concepts of the imaginary... we did not connect that (I mean Fluck did, but not apparent to me / us) connect that to the overall theme of the semester in which it very logically fits and adds to according to today's opening statement. But the great thing is, he is going to give an even better comprehensive summary at the beginning of next class and until then we also had time to think more and eventually it all makes sense ... at least as long as I listen... once I start to try and reproduce or apply things, I am still more than lost ... who would have thought identity issues could be so complicated and all our attempts to shed the discussion requesting more pressing questions we are forced to admit that all theoretical questions burn down to this key issue in some form or another....
then two hours for post-seminar-discussions with peers, and 3 conference organization meetings before the evening colloquium on Transgendered America ... which was interesting both in terms of the argument but even more in terms of the (rather bad) performance of the speaker in the Q&A ... because while - contrary to the scholars present - I and a colleague were willing to buy his argument, we would have argued and countered totally different ...
on the way home finally some grocery shopping... I love opening hours till 10 pm daily (incl. Sunday) ... so no more breakfast food for dinner as happend these past days with only fruit, jam, butter and one still untouched carrot in the fridge...
then the Fluck seminar which catapulted me right back to the beginning of the semester with the difference that by now I don't seem to care anymore to embarrass myself... because Fluck asked on our perception of the Don Pease text we read in terms or the state of exception and transnationalism and from his question it was clear we had a rather different reading experience. Which I voiced ... basically by introducing my interpretation and follow up questions with "We are talking about the essay on his take on Planetary Literature .. right??!?" But Fluck being patient as he is, let me stutter through my objections of the text before politely pointing out the many wrong taken turns in my reading and in the discussion gave a nice reading and then interpretation. And then we ended with the Lacan and Castoriadis positions on the imaginary and it was someone else's turn to make half an ass out of themselves... but in the end we left with rather enlightened ideas about concepts of the imaginary... we did not connect that (I mean Fluck did, but not apparent to me / us) connect that to the overall theme of the semester in which it very logically fits and adds to according to today's opening statement. But the great thing is, he is going to give an even better comprehensive summary at the beginning of next class and until then we also had time to think more and eventually it all makes sense ... at least as long as I listen... once I start to try and reproduce or apply things, I am still more than lost ... who would have thought identity issues could be so complicated and all our attempts to shed the discussion requesting more pressing questions we are forced to admit that all theoretical questions burn down to this key issue in some form or another....
then two hours for post-seminar-discussions with peers, and 3 conference organization meetings before the evening colloquium on Transgendered America ... which was interesting both in terms of the argument but even more in terms of the (rather bad) performance of the speaker in the Q&A ... because while - contrary to the scholars present - I and a colleague were willing to buy his argument, we would have argued and countered totally different ...
on the way home finally some grocery shopping... I love opening hours till 10 pm daily (incl. Sunday) ... so no more breakfast food for dinner as happend these past days with only fruit, jam, butter and one still untouched carrot in the fridge...
1/28/2009
filmtermin in wien
am 1. Feb um 13 uhr unbedingt wohlfühlkino einplanen - der neue SRK Schnulzinger *cho chweet* kommt im Filmcasino: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi! Go watch!
on absence...
How do we deal with absence? If one of us leaves, is he or she the one responsible to stay in contact, meaning personal one to one contact or is that a mutual responsibility? Is it easier for the one gone into a new life to deal with absence as the void is less visible or is leaving not also isolation oneself? And once you have become used to an absence and it continues to be felt only in nostalgia of how it once used to be but is not an actual emptiness in everyday life, can you reestablish contact? And can it feel natural or is it forced? Should you force yourself and/or another into it because you once felt so perfect together and could not fathom being alone, if the continued exchange is not happening by itself out of a shared need? Do some relationships only have meaning in close proximity and is this a bad thing? Is it not also natural and can it not also mean that even while you might be out of one another's life, if and when you meet up again it feels as if none of you had ever left? Are we not just trained to mourn absence and conditioned to think in our narcism that everyone who does not care for us daily AND lets us know that she or he does, is not a part of us or our life anymore? In times of despair one usually realizes the many wonderful people out there ready to catch you.
1/26/2009
Radical Imaginary
Can anyone please explain Castoriadis' idea of the radical imaginary to me - and in a more down to earth and graspable way than Wolfgan Iser did? Just spent an hour reading that chapter and have absolutely no clue what I read and what either Iser or Castoriadis possibly mean...
An Oscar for Amitabh Bachchan
On New Year's Day in San Francisco I was fortunate enough to see Slumdog Millionaire with Carola. And although there was an annoying couple sitting beside us ... she was heavily pregnant and very indignant towards any noise producing form of utterance including laughs and breathing, let alone whispered comments ... and I suspect that even our restricting ourselves to the 'vah re vah' gesture of appreciation did not sit with her too well ... and then again, apart from the fact that the dialogues were in Hindi which she likely did not understand and had to be satisfied with whatever the subtitles offered, she missed a lot of the movie anyway - about 4-7 levels of meaning - due to her not being well-versed in Hindi film culture. But enough of voicing my still lingering annoyance - the more important thing is: Go Watch That Movie!!
It is really great film, as even the Western and more specifically US film fraternity has in the meantime acknowledged. The movie received, I think, four Golden Globes - one for the terrific music by A. R. Rahman, a much deserved acknowledgement of his genius - several Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actor's Guild Award, the Producer's Award and is currently nominated for 10 Academy Awards. The director, of course is not Indian, but then again, that gives the movie the option to run in the main categories in the first place. It is also currently in the top 5. And if you watch it, let me tell you, that the most appalling scene in the first half is shot on real location, but the substance is peanut butter and chocolate....
However, my real point is that if this movie should get an Oscar, it is actually an award for Amitabh Bachchans lifetime achievements. I admit, I still have to read the novel on which it is based, but the filmic adaptation is very much a homage to the veteran and still very active megastar in Hindi movies. He is not only evoked on screen as the super hero of the slum kids, and as the host of the first season of the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' - 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' (the second season, by the way, was hosted by SRK) but the whole movie setup was also very much a reliving of the 1970s and 1980s movies he made so famous - the 'Angry Young Man' movies, full on with redemption of the 'good at heart but crook by circumstances character' just before he dies to save the really good guy who then gets reunited with his love interest. If this sounds cheesy, it is only due to the one-line-summary. Go watch the movie and then go home and watch Sholay, or Zanjeer, or Coolie ...
Slumdog Millionaire is of course also a very contemporary movie - and please take note of the terrific police inspector played by Irrfan Khan (who will come to the screens in February again as Billu Barber with SRK) ... he is one of Indias currently best Charakterdarsteller! I have yet to see a bad performance by him.
So you go watch, I get the novel, then watch the film again and should I ever find the time these coming month will look into the option of refining my above claim into an essay for the Journal of South Asian Popular Culture ... and we all know that this will never happen.... because, writing blogs like this, is also just one way of my not really favorite but definitely dominant form of time pass: procrastination
It is really great film, as even the Western and more specifically US film fraternity has in the meantime acknowledged. The movie received, I think, four Golden Globes - one for the terrific music by A. R. Rahman, a much deserved acknowledgement of his genius - several Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actor's Guild Award, the Producer's Award and is currently nominated for 10 Academy Awards. The director, of course is not Indian, but then again, that gives the movie the option to run in the main categories in the first place. It is also currently in the top 5. And if you watch it, let me tell you, that the most appalling scene in the first half is shot on real location, but the substance is peanut butter and chocolate....
However, my real point is that if this movie should get an Oscar, it is actually an award for Amitabh Bachchans lifetime achievements. I admit, I still have to read the novel on which it is based, but the filmic adaptation is very much a homage to the veteran and still very active megastar in Hindi movies. He is not only evoked on screen as the super hero of the slum kids, and as the host of the first season of the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' - 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' (the second season, by the way, was hosted by SRK) but the whole movie setup was also very much a reliving of the 1970s and 1980s movies he made so famous - the 'Angry Young Man' movies, full on with redemption of the 'good at heart but crook by circumstances character' just before he dies to save the really good guy who then gets reunited with his love interest. If this sounds cheesy, it is only due to the one-line-summary. Go watch the movie and then go home and watch Sholay, or Zanjeer, or Coolie ...
Slumdog Millionaire is of course also a very contemporary movie - and please take note of the terrific police inspector played by Irrfan Khan (who will come to the screens in February again as Billu Barber with SRK) ... he is one of Indias currently best Charakterdarsteller! I have yet to see a bad performance by him.
So you go watch, I get the novel, then watch the film again and should I ever find the time these coming month will look into the option of refining my above claim into an essay for the Journal of South Asian Popular Culture ... and we all know that this will never happen.... because, writing blogs like this, is also just one way of my not really favorite but definitely dominant form of time pass: procrastination
1/24/2009
Dreifache Kanalreinigung
Ich war gestern beim weltbesten Zahnarzt ... und das will was heißen, weil ich war eigentlich schon in wien bei der weltbesten und verständnisvollsten Zahnärztin gewesen .... nicht nur dass der typ all meine spombanadln ertrug ... er begrüßte mich mit den worten: Sie sehen eh ganz entspannt aus. Worauf ich: Naja, ich hatte mir nälmich überlegt, dass sie mich ja eigentlich gar nicht brauchen, oder? Er etwas verdutzt: Naja... ich: also ich mein ich hab ja eh nix zu sagen bei der geplanten aktion also dachte ich ich mach einfach nur den mund weit auf und hör laute musik und lass sie machen. Er: Ach so meinen Sie, ja solange sie da bleiben während ich ihren Zahn operiere geht das in Ordnung
und hat dann super in zeichensprache mit mir kommuniziert, obowhl ich den mp3 player nachdem er fertig gebohrt hatte, längst ausgeschaltet hatte - war süss
Und dann hat er mir drei Zahnkanäle gereinigt und von totem nerven und zeugsmaterial (das da seit so einem jahr immer wieder ein Fisterl macht und füllt und leert und kreislauf und ekelig...) gereinigt und jetzt mit medizin gefüllt und zugemacht und in 3 wochen nochmal. Aber sowas von ohne schmerzen und fast schon lustig, dass ich tatsächlich noch meine Zahnarztabneigung verlieren könnte.... wenn das mal nicht zu einem muster wird und ich im neuen leben hier bis Ablauf der 3 jahre plötzlich einen Hansi-Kanarienvogel hüte...
und hat dann super in zeichensprache mit mir kommuniziert, obowhl ich den mp3 player nachdem er fertig gebohrt hatte, längst ausgeschaltet hatte - war süss
Und dann hat er mir drei Zahnkanäle gereinigt und von totem nerven und zeugsmaterial (das da seit so einem jahr immer wieder ein Fisterl macht und füllt und leert und kreislauf und ekelig...) gereinigt und jetzt mit medizin gefüllt und zugemacht und in 3 wochen nochmal. Aber sowas von ohne schmerzen und fast schon lustig, dass ich tatsächlich noch meine Zahnarztabneigung verlieren könnte.... wenn das mal nicht zu einem muster wird und ich im neuen leben hier bis Ablauf der 3 jahre plötzlich einen Hansi-Kanarienvogel hüte...
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