THE THIRSTYFISH ang uhaw na isda/assetata pesciolina

DFW, RIP

In journal on 14 September 2008 with no comments

Oh no. (just got wind of this via Luis)

The interesting thing is why we’re so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.

Dia-sporadic dispatch #2

In journal, quote, baby!, yummy links on 5 September 2008 with 1 comment

or Gems from the Council Library. Part 1.

from the story ‘To Effervesce’ by Charles Buchan
Diaspora City, London Anthology by the London Arts Board

excerpt from pp 70-71

D is for Dilution
Because, and this is my philosophy, a part of oneself dies abroad, and one is eternally in search of it. Or maybe it is like being the child of a divorce between one country and another, the stranger parent having got custody.
…The dilution is a gentle poisoning, oddly corroding what it is that one holds very dearly familiar in one’s mind until all that matters is a daily round of work, a drink with a diluted friend, and then sleep. Diaspora City

excerpt from p 72

E is for Effervescence
and this cold race, adoptive choice of many, with its confused tradition of superiority over, and accommodation of, other peoples, its determination always to maintain a frosty civility (as if forever semi-detached from the world at large,) this race will not permit itself, even inside this oppressive tube, a moment, one unrestrained moment: a collective dropping of the guard. Instead mouths frowning and brows knitting, everybody waits for a later privacy in which to peel off the accumulated layers of silt and mire, moral and actual, uncork themselves and effervesce, I see it in the faces of the men, and read it in what they choose not to reveal.

(note to self: add above to ‘alphabet as framing device’ story list.)

related links (many thanks to Al):

• ‘London: A World in One City’ map (PDF) from The Guardian + legend.

semi-related quote:

…the secret of London is finding some kind of humane and liveable niche in a city which is organised around the principle of binding the world backwards over a barrel and frisking it for cash….this is a city that offers the best of everything on condition that you think the worst of everyone
-Nick Currie. London eats the world, burps, pays

Dispatch from the kingdom of CCTVs

In journal on 5 September 2008 with 3 comments

Crime mapping: what the guys in the place where am temping were talking about yesterday. Seems we just moved into a borough with an average crime rate- 2 crime incidents for july. Interesting. A colleague lives in North Greenwich which has seen 9 crimes which registered as ‘high’. Another from Hackney finds that the ‘average’ crime rate in his hood is quite different from my mine -577 crimes committed in the month of July. That’s a normal rate, apparently. Whoa. (This reminds me of an American classmate who got mugged there in 2006. They beat him up and took his mobile and wallet but he said (not long after being released from the hospital,) “still, those thugs had great accents!”

notes from RSA Thursday: Privacy a Thing of the Past?

In journal on 20 June 2008 with no comments

proper summary from Media Standards Trust

Orientalism, at 30,

In journal on 14 June 2008 tagged culture, orientalism, post-colonial with 3 comments

…no longer stands at the cutting edge of scholarship, but its path-breaking contributions have matured and remain relevant in the post-9/11 world…. Beyond the academy, Said’s work has equipped us to challenge Orientalist thinking in the media and politics, especially in portrayals of a “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the west. (Think of all those Heathrow passengers today, removing their shoes and toothpaste tubes as defence against the faceless forces of Islamist terror.) We are also better able to recognise parallel prejudices in discourses about other regions, like China (authoritarian and anti-human rights) or Africa (ravaged by war and disease)….

…Binary oppositions don’t go far in explaining this intensively globalising world. Still, the implied challenge raised by Orientalism remains apt: scholarship must respond critically to power, not simply reinforce it.

(by Maya Jasanoff @ The Guardian | Comment is Free)

Meanwhile….
A. and I are back in multi-cultural London, having slight “Scandinavian-quality-of-life” withdrawal symptoms, looking for nice jobs, a new place to dwell, and decent broadband. It might take a while…. In other web tweakdoms, I’ve reconstructed mi mudra’s artist site with Joomla CMS which I am getting the hang of. Not too dynamic. But it will have to do. For now.