New Media and Memory: a review of “Adoration”

Sometimes it’s nice just to go to the cinema alone.  The fact that movie-watching in theaters is typically a social occasion makes me highly cognizant of my solitude — a sensitivity which, I think, enhances receptivity.  So, tonight I saw Atom Egoyan’s latest, “Adoration”, a film that I found quite striking for a number of cinematic and personal reasons.

The film details one teenage boy’s struggles to piece together the truth about his parents, one of whom may or may not have been a Palestinian terrorist.

The bad news is that the film is somewhat overwrought.  The characters’ interconnections, which are labyrinthine á la similar films “Babel” and “Crash”, are hard to believe.  Indeed, two of the characters make remarks essentially to this effect.

Second, the relationship at the center of the story, that of a star-crossed love of a Lebanese Palestinian violin restorer and a brilliant Canadian musician, is beatific to the point of sappiness.  However, the sentimentalism may be attributed to some of the character’s eulogizing memories — hence the title of the film, which also leads to the good news.

Michael Jackson is not a demi-god!

Not even deceased heads of states or founders of religions get memorials like this.  Ugh.

Michael Jackson Memorial in the game Second Life, on Michael Jackson Island (no kidding). Image courtesy of Valsadie, via Flickr.com.

John Mayer suffers the audience to listen to his subpar rendition of "Human Nature". Earlier, a gospel choir sang, "We're going to see the king," inducing hallucinations of nightmarish narcissism. Image from Flickr.com.

Other than the Jackson Family’s odd Nation-of-Islam-inspired uniforms and, of course, the golden casket, what bothered me the most was the perverse deification of the man.  As though the Christ-like images of the “King of Pop” broadcasted upon the stage weren’t gratuitous enough, that the King family would stoop so low as to proclaim that God Himself had sent Jacko to earth on a divine mission to entertain us all twisted my stomach into knots and made a mockery of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

A great talent?  Indisputably.   A pioneer for Black Americans?  Of course.  But he was also a symbol for much of what goes wrong in America’s minority and celebrity cultures.  Yet, even that speaks to the most tragic aspect of Michael Jackson: when the stage lights dimmed and the curtain closed, at the end of the performance, he was just a man, flawed and troubled — not a demi-god.

“My calamity is my providence…”

My Calamity is My providence.  Outwardly it is fire and vengeance, inwardly it is light and mercy.

- Bahá’ú’láh, Hidden Words, Arabic #51

I was thinking about this last night and today after what happened to Ben and I at the Belgian Consulate here in the Hague.  To make a long story short, I’m attempting to apply for the student visa (actually, something called the “authorization for provisional sojourn” which will allow me to upgrade to a student visa) not from my home country, but from here in the Netherlands, which flies in the face of standard Belgian procedure.  I was expecting that the Consulate would be very annoyed, even angry — totally understandable — but what I was not expecting was to have the gates of Hell opened.

The Resurrection of Michael Jackson: what if his death is history’s greatest publicity stunt?

This may be my most cynical blog post ever, not to mention the one most likely to inspire a tidal wave of hate mail roaring my way.  Here goes…

What if Michael Jackson isn’t really dead? What if, in fact, his purported demise is an enormous publicity stunt, and he’ll moonwalk out of his open casket on live television in front of billions of viewers?

There, I said it.  I said it!!! *hides behind a rock.

In truth, I believe the closing years of Michael Jackson’s life was a tragedy as immense as his sheer talent.  Each and everyone one of us who devoured all the news stories about “Wacko Jacko” are responsible, in some small way, for the Hell that so clearly became his existence at the end.

Nevertheless, if he’s faking his death, it would be a feat worthy of the gods!

New haircut, new neweurasia.net site, new Twitter account, new student visa, new editorial direction (?)

I am officially a let-down of a blogger. The last time I posted was May 16?! Ugh. Well, it has been a busy time.  Let’s review…

#1 I’ve gotten a haircut. Or, to be more precise, a trim. Behold:

Before: monastic Jesus.

After: sexy Jesus.

neweurasia is relaunching!

Up up and away!

Our website has been temporarily deactivated for the extent of this process. Contact Christopher Schwartz (schwartz@neweurasia.net) and Yelena Jetpyspayeva (yelena@neweurasia.net) for updates.

Сайт проекта neweurasia временно закрыт на реконструкцию. Уже совсем скоро Вы сможете видеть и читать его обновленную версию с новыми интересными возможностями. По любым вопросам, связанным с проектом, смело обращайтесь к Кристоферу Шварцу (schwartz@neweurasia.net) и Елене Джетпыспаевой (yelena@neweurasia.net). Мы будем рады ответить на них!

Ғафу етіңіз, «Жаңаеуразия» вебсайтында жаңалау жұмыстары жүргізілуде. Көп күттірмей сайт өзінің жаңа келбетімен көпшілікке қайта қызмет етпек. Қосымша мәліметтер үшін Кристофер Шварцқа (schwartz@neweurasia.net) немесе Елена Джетпыспаеваға (yelena@neweurasia.net) хабарласуыңызды сұраймыз.

Central Asian Uncle Sam contest extension (with tips)

The contest announced last week to make Uncle Sam a Central Asian is being extended to this Sunday, May 17, midnight (GMT).

• Please focus on trying to put a Central Asian “spin” on the image.  Focus on the religious and ethnic heritage of the region.
• Please do not include any text in your image. neweurasia will provide our own slogans to accompany it.
• Send it to me as a jpg file.

Also, here are some tips:

• If you want to go for the “traditionally Soviet” style, check out this image and this image.  These are Soviet recruitment posters from the Second World War.
• If you want to go for something more religious, remember, although Islam is the dominant faith tradition of the region, it is not the only one.  Consider Russian Orthodoxy and Bukharan Judaism.
• If you want to go ethnic heritage, then you have a huge array of options, from the Mongolian to the Afghan to the Turkic.  (Personally, I would love to see Uncle Sam in a woolen Afghan cap!)
• And if you’re feeling lazy, slap a turban on Uncle Sam and see how he looks.

Good luck!

Contest announcement: Russianize this famous American icon

To all graphic artists:

The neweurasia network is launching a new recruitment and advertisement drive.  We need the image of America’s most famous icon, Uncle Sam, to be “Russianized”, “Sovietized”, or “Islamified”.

The winning image will first appear on the new neweurasia website.  It will then appear on pdfs and posters that we will be spreading throughout the online and offline worlds.

Deadline:
- Midnight (GMT) this Sunday!

Prize:
- €50 / ≈$70
- “Uncle Sam image by…” credit on all reproductions

Keep in mind that hundreds of thousands of people will see this image and associate it with both neweurasia and your name.  So use your imagination — but be quick!

Additional rules:
- Please do not include any text in your image.
- Send it to me as a jpg file.

Good luck!

Chris Schwartz
Managing Editor, English
Mobile: +31 6 191 51733
Skype: cschwartz2

World Press Freedom Day

Today is World Press Freedom Day, an annual day of advocacy for the freedom of the press, as well as commemoration for journalists who are suffering restriction and imprisonment, or have made the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of the free flow of information.  “As they investigate sensitive issues, unveil disturbing truths and question policies, journalists find themselves in the firing line of those directly or indirectly exposed by their reports,” writes the World Association of Newspapers.

In the lead-up to the event, four members of Reporters Sans Frontiers have have been on a hunger strike since this past Tuesday in support of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States.  The day before, in Paris, the RSF also staged an event for the two Asian-American journalists currently being held by the North Koran government. “The detention of Saberi, Lee and Ling on arbitrary charges demonstrates more than ever the importance of World Press Freedom Day,” writes the RSF.

Obviously, if journalists from the world’s leading power aren’t safe, then imagine the insecurity faced by journalists and their support staff throughout the world.  For example, according to a source who wishes to remain anonymous, Radio Free Europe’s Afghanistan service, Radio Azadi, routinely receives threats from the Taliban.  Last year, two of its reporters were kidnapped by the insurgent group, but were later freed.  As of this past Wednesday, group has threatened a suicide bombing against Radio Azadi’s main bureau in Kabul.

Freedom of the press saves lives. “Azadi has a real impact in the country,” the source writes in an e-mail  “A would-be suicide bomber once called them and said, ‘Thanks to your programs, I have decided not to explode myself.’  Can you imagine?”

Read the full post @ neweurasia…

Camera broken, but Rembrant, Vermeer, MC Escher still shine

Well, it seems the memory card of my antique Olympus D-380 has finally croaked.  Below are the last photos I was able to take before the untimely demise.  Pictured is the Binnenhof, the “within (binnen) enclosure/fortress (hof)” which serves as the seat of parliament.  The building, magisterial in countenance yet pointy with iron chimneys, dates back to the 18th Century.  It’s quite possibly situated upon the “haag” (enclosing hedge) for which the city is named. Click on the photos to read other bloggers’ impressions of the building, as well as to see more photos.

Inside the courtyard is a plaque with a moving inscription memorializing the deaths of 54 Dutch intelligence agents who fought against the Nazi attack upon the building.  It reads,

Zij sprongen in de dood voor onze vrijheid.

They leapt into death for our freedom.

Much to my joy, I was able to decipher this entirely on my own!  I’ve thrown myself into the language here and I’m pleased to report that it’s been really enlightening me as to the what the Germanic languages have in common.  The grammar is very simple and flexible, and Dutch expressions seem to have retained a faint dynamism long since lost in English, as exampled by the inscription.

I’ve been on a tour of the museums here.  Thursday I went to the Mauritshuis where I saw the works of Rembrant and Vermeer, and let me tell you, in person you see why these men are called the “Masters”.  Friday I went to the MC Escher museum, which, for the boy in me, was a dream come true.  I saw some heretofore unpublished prints, including an early work of his entitled, “Paradise” (”Paradijs“).  Today I’m going to the municipal historical museum.  Would you believe that these are all within a few blocks of each other?!

By the way, the internet in my apartment is really spotty.  If you don’t hear from me for a day or two, don’t worry.  Hopefully the Apocalypse in the form of the Mexican Swine Flu hasn’t killed off me and the rest of the Netherlands.