Derrida

o my friends, there is no friend

Filed under: random facts , derrida, friends, philosophy

Frank O’Hara & A Photograph

Yes, Frank O’Hara was featured in the last episode of Mad Men, season 2, and that’s how I first heard about him. Recently I acquired “Meditations in an Emergency” collection of poems, and to my delight, found that he’s an exceptionally talented poet. He mixes nuggets of pop culture with vivid images and aptly coiling phrases that project sly, sticky pictures in your head. If you follow the link at the beginning of the post, you will learn a lot more about him, and perhaps, be surprised. Frank O’Hara is not an obscure name in American literature, it is I who’s been an obscure mind in the dark about him! Bonus: he also loved Mayakovsky, and even wrote a poem to him.

Since I’m on a movie bend this week (and generally, too), I’m sharing his “To the Film Industry in Crisis”, below:

Not you, lean quarterlies and swarthy periodicals
with your studious incursions toward the pomposity of ants,
nor you, experimental theatre in which Emotive Fruition
is wedding Poetic Insight perpetually, nor you,
promenading Grand Opera, obvious as an ear (though you
are close to my heart), but you, Motion Picture Industry,
it’s you I love!

In times of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love.
And give credit where it’s due: not to my starched nurse, who taught me
how to be bad and not bad rather than good (and has lately availed
herself of this information), not to the Catholic Church
which is at best an oversolemn introduction to cosmic entertainment,
not to the American Legion, which hates everybody, but to you,
glorious Silver Screen, tragic Technicolor, amorous Cinemascope,
stretching Vistavision and startling Stereophonic Sound, with all
your heavenly dimensions and reverberations and iconoclasms! To
Richard Barthelmess as the “tol’able” boy barefoot and in pants,
Jeanette MacDonald of the flaming hair and lips and long, long neck,
Sue Carroll as she sits for eternity on the damaged fender of a car
and smiles, Ginger Rogers with her pageboy bob like a sausage
on her shuffling shoulders, peach-melba-voiced Fred Astaire of the feet,
Eric von Stroheim, the seducer of mountain-climbers’ gasping spouses,
the Tarzans, each and every one of you (I cannot bring myself to prefer
Johnny Weissmuller to Lex Barker, I cannot!), Mae West in a furry sled,
her bordello radiance and bland remarks, Rudolph Valentino of the moon,
its crushing passions, and moonlike, too, the gentle Norma Shearer,
Miriam Hopkins dropping her champagne glass off Joel McCrea’s yacht,
and crying into the dappled sea, Clark Gable rescuing Gene Tierney
from Russia and Allan Jones rescuing Kitty Carlisle from Harpo Marx,
Cornel Wilde coughing blood on the piano keys while Merle Oberon berates,
Marilyn Monroe in her little spike heels reeling through Niagara Falls,
Joseph Cotten puzzling and Orson Welles puzzled and Dolores del Rio
eating orchids for lunch and breaking mirrors, Gloria Swanson reclining,
and Jean Harlow reclining and wiggling, and Alice Faye reclining
and wiggling and singing, Myrna Loy being calm and wise, William Powell
in his stunning urbanity, Elizabeth Taylor blossoming, yes, to you
and to all you others, the great, the near-great, the featured, the extras
who pass quickly and return in dreams saying your one or two lines,
my love!
Long may you illumine space with your marvellous appearances, delays
and enunciations, and may the money of the world glitteringly cover you
as you rest after a long day under the kleig lights with your faces
in packs for our edification, the way the clouds come often at night
but the heavens operate on the star system. It is a divine precedent
you perpetuate! Roll on, reels of celluloid, as the great earth rolls on!

 

 

And to start the week on a friendly foot, here is a September picture of me, taken by Slava:

Filed under: Quotable , film, mad men, movies, photos, poem, poetry, pop culture, Quotable, self

Winter Slang. Real Talk.

The time has come and I bestow upon you an injection of new fun words to spice up thy drone speak. Shake it up, add festivities! Thanks, trendcentral!

Gen Pop
n. term used to describe the general population when “bridge and tunnel,” yuppies, tourists or “undesirable” individuals “intrude” upon an event, outing, club or local restaurant
“Did you see that girl on the dance floor wearing purple Uggs? Wow, the gen pop really takes over this place on Saturdays. Let’s go to a dive bar.”

G.O.M.L.
v. acronym for the phrase “Get on My Level;” said when one person both wants to imply that someone else can’t keep up and wants to urge them to catch up
“C’mon, pot bellies are totally in. G.O.M.L., and order some chili cheese fries.”

Cuddy
n. a word used to describe something shady or sneaky
“He’s still listed as single on Facebook, even though they have been dating for, like, three months. That’s so cuddy!”

Curl
v. a new way to crop your pants without cuffing; best for skinny jeans, curling is when you roll the bottoms of your pant legs very tightly two or three times, creating a delicate cinch above the ankle
“If you wanna show off the studs on your boots, you should curl your jeans.”

Guacamole (Personal favorite!)
n. money, cash, or funds
“If we’re going to that bar, I’m gonna need to stop at the ATM to grab some guacamole for drinks.”

Post-Zuckerberg
adj. term used to describe the era of Facebook ubiquity
“In the Post-Zuckerberg era, I never email anyone, well, except for my gram and when I’m trying to dig my way out of funemployment.”

 

PS. In other news, my left foot is infected and quite swollen and I wish I had minion to tug fruit and vegetables up the stairs. I’m extremely lethargic from all the antibiotics I’ve to take.

PPS. Previous thematic post: Summer Slang, August 12

Filed under: Quotable, random facts , culture, fun, funny words, marketing, pop culture, trends, word

Some Summer Slang For Ya

TrendCentral sent out a new set of hot wordizzles for us all, and I thought I’d share ze love.

Real Talk
n. This phrase is used to highlight that whatever is being said is the actual truth and not the rose-colored variety. One of the most famous users of this expression is v-logger Mr. Chi-City, who tends to drop the phrase every few seconds.
“Real talk, I was so hungover, I slept next to the toilet, real talk.”

Social Notworking
v. Checking your social networking pages while on the job.
“I got caught Facebook stalking by my boss today. I hope he doesn’t get mad I was social notworking.”

Gypster
n. A person who dresses like a hybrid of a gypsy and a hipster.
“There were hoards of gypsters at that Fleet Foxes concert afterparty in Echo Park last night.”

Shress
n. A tunic or shirt that is scandalously worn as a dress; the term has come into use because of the trend of girls leaving the house without a vital component – their pants. (And we’re not talking about mistaking leggings for pants; we mean the bare-legged girls that seem to be just wearing an oversized men’s shirt.)
“Can you believe she wore a shress to school? She looked like she just came from a slumber party.”

Epicocity
n. A word used to describe just how epic (i.e. awesome) something is.
“Did you see Tony jump out of the tree into the swimming pool? It was totally stupid but I gotta say the epicocity level was 10.”

DT
abbr. This strictly means “down to” and originated in the land of texting. Like other phrases that begin at the thumbs of teenage girls, DT has migrated into actual verbal conversations.
“Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?” “DTGS”

Berry
n. A term used to describe a member of the opposite sex.
“See them berries sipping on martinis? They look ripe for a picking.”

Here is the first part in the slang series

Filed under: random facts , culture, fun, funny words, marketing, pop culture, trends, word

Marshall McLuhan is immortal… or something

“The past went that-away. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend to always attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future. Suburbia lives imaginatively in Bonanza-land.”

…from The Medium is the Massage (1967). And it had to do with his communication theory. But that work touched upon so many other aspects.

Indeed, don’t we spend too much time going back, comparing, and repeating scenes from the past? Mostly, we humans tend to stick to the past as we tippy-toe into tomorrow. Constant analysis, checks, and verifications.

I got better at jumping forward without thinking much about the past. On one hand, that’s great as I jump into experiences with an open mind; on the other, that may suggest that I don’t take into account lessons from the past and run forward anyway.

In either case, without a proper cost-benefit analysis and a necessary dip into the past, one simply would not be able to make proper decisions. Past is past, you can’t completely give it up; you just can’t always check back with it, and compare memories (there are a lot of issues with this, but we’ll save that for another post) with the present and future possibilities.

I find it’s simply a constant struggle to embrace, welcome and cultivate self-taught acceptance and even love of change. Like swimming up the river, salmon-stylez.

Filed under: Quotable, memories , literature, media, memories, Quotable, quote, self

The Dying Man

I was 17 at the time, and because I fell in love for the first time, I read a lot of poetry. I love reading, period. I read Prozac Nation the year before and the suffering smart girl image stuck to me; luckily I’m affected with what I consider a Serially Positive Person syndrome, so I could never succumb to the all-encompassing depression, but you can understand the appeal. Anyway, I discovered Sylvia Plath, and the beauty of suffering, self-sacrifice and generally batshit crazy circumstances.

I will write about Sylvia Plath another day.

I want to tell you about my discovery of The Dying Man. This poem was written by Theodore Roethke in memory of W.B. Yeats. It consisted of five parts, and it was one of the strongest poems I ever read. I can not remember the circumstances that brought me to this poem – whether we studied it in English 12 class, or whether I owe its acquaintance to the undegrad English classes at UBC. Whatever it was, I remembered my favorite line, which I would love to even take to afterlife with me: “The loose air sent me running like a child– I love the world; I want more than the world…”

The whole part IV, “The Exulting”, is an emotional tour de force, an in-depth look at the soul that’s thirsty for life, is full of childlike wonder and does not ever want to cease its being. Here is part IV in full:

Once I delighted in a single tree;
The loose air sent me running like a child–
I love the world; I want more than the world,
Or after-image of the inner eye.
Flesh cries to flesh; and bone cries out to bone;
I die into this life, alone yet not alone.

Was it a god his suffering renewed?–
I saw my father shrinking in his skin;
He turned his face; there was another man
Walking the edge, loquacious, unafraid.
He quivered like a bird in birdless air,
Yet dared to fix his vision anywhere.

Fish feed on fish according to their need:
My enemies renew me, and my blood
Beats slower in my careless solitude.
I bare a wound, and dare myself to bleed.
I think a bird, and it begins to fly.
By dying daily, I have come to be.

All exultation is a dangerous thing.
I see you, love, I see you in a dream;
I hear a noise of bees, a trellis hum,
And that slow humming rises into song.
A breath is but a breath: I have the earth;
I shall undo all dying by my death.

PS.  Jellyfish photo is mine. (c)

Filed under: Quotable , development, literature, poem, poetry, youth

My Mom Asked Me to Pick Only One Word

from this list:

Positive Energy;
creativity;
healing;
wealth;
protection;
love;
intelligence;
strength;
health;
serenity;
growth;
motivation;
harmony;
knowledge;
courage

And this is what I said:

I think growth.

I mean I would pick several ones, but growth is not possible without motivation, strength, intelligence, courage. Knowledge can be equated to growth, so can wealth (like Growing your bank account); creativity is a form of growth, and so is love. I am already full of positive energy, and seek harmony in my relationships; that comes naturally and I don’t see it as something that’s a pinnacle of my essence.

So GROWTH. I’m all about it.

Filed under: random facts , changes, choices, improvements, self

Canadian Street Naming

Canadian cities oftentimes include street names that cover provinces, trees, (always) Broadway and various British historical figures. During my last trip to Vancouver, when I was looking up a way to get to my friend’s place, I found this curious little item: between Main and Cambie streets there are a bunch of successive streets named after Canadian provinces. From East to West they go: Quebec Street, Ontario Street, Manitoba, Columbia (presumably British Columbia), Alberta Street and Yukon. Everything is swell and sound until we realize that Alberta and (British) Columbia should’ve switched places. Someone must have done poorly in geography class, or simply tried to be cheeky. Either way, a fun fact about Vancouver.

Filed under: random facts , canada, cities, fun, fun facts, vancouver

Mario Entertainment

I enjoy Mario video game, loved playing it back in the day, despite the fact that I never finished it! Never! Maybe it’s the Bowzer’s communist spirit that got to me. Who knows. But the Japanese recently did a live pupper/actor show. They were quite agile and animated, gotta love that:

And what about Mario inspired by a first person shooter?

Back to work, all!

Filed under: random facts , fun, games, memories, video

Literary Escapades

“Equal parts biting satire on neo-Russian consumerism, drug-fuelled muckabout, sci-fi adventure, love story, literary in-joke and mystico-shamanic treatise on the nature of enlightenment. Disruptive, transporting and very funny, it’s one of his best.” – The Daily Telegraph

I started reading Victor Pelevin’s (more about the author) “The Sacred Book of the Werewolf” (NY Times review, read if you don’t speak Russian). I wolfed down 330 pages in two days, and I am sad to say that the book will be over today by 1pm PST. Not only is the main character a red-haired fox-woman (who looks like me on the cover of my edition), there is also an irresistible wolf, and myriad other crazy events all over Moscow and the north, from ketamine-taking guards to howling at the skull of a cow to discover oil, from thousand year old foxes hunting occult-loving English aristocrats to silver bullets. I suppose by an apt stretch of imagination, I can say it’s the 21st century Bulgakov on LSD. Something like that. The book is engrossing not only because of its characters, but also because of a healthy dose of political discussions, social issues in Russia and in the capitalist pigsty, as well as a handful of Eastern influences. Pelevin at Amazon, take a look please.

The next book I will be tackling is Dostoevsky’s “Demons”. I cannot wait. Reading Russian literature, as well as reading anything in Russian, makes me so much more susceptible to learning and taking the work seriously. It’s funny, whenever I read something in English, I take it half-heartedly, as if it was a comical thing, reading in English. To me, English is such a technical language that I cannot believe I can enjoy Jane Eyre in the original (I read it in Russian). Hence reading marketing texts and Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy is very educational, but only in English.

Russian language is so poetic. I find the best poetry is written in that language, as well as the most obscure linguistic acrobatics are possible in that language. Love it. Reading Russian literature makes me feel so much more alive, much more… thinking. I think I understood that this April when I was reading Dostoevsky’s Humiliated and Insulted and really felt the author’s love for the less fortunate people in this world, as well as his healtfelt kindness for them. Same way with reading Pelevin these past couple of days, I felt sadder for my mother land, for my fellow Russians trapped in there, for this dirty world in general. Sigh.

Filed under: Quotable , books, dostoevsky, learning, literature, pelevin, review, russia

social blues

You probably already knows this, but if not – here is the Merriam-Webster’s 2008 word of the year: bailout. Har har har! I find it hilalalarious and incredibly sad to hearsee (my made-up word circa 2005) the Western world thinking dreary things since they are looking up the definitions; think of all individuals that already know the word. Here is the rest of the gang:

vet
socialism
maverick
bipartisan
trepidation
precipice
rogue
misogyny
turmoil

AFP has a more detailed story with explanations of what and why.

Filed under: random facts , 2008, funny words, lists, society, the world eh

My Life in a Literary Nutshell

What I do:

Confessions of an Advertising Man

What I have done:

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

What I’d like to do:

A Moveable Feast

Filed under: Quotable, moving up , advertising, books, hemingway, literature, memories, ogilvy, self

Master & Margarita

“One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the Master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margarita, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing literally to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of inexhaustible energy, humor, and philosophical depth.

The novel’’s vision of Soviet life in the 1930s is so ferociously accurate that it could not be published during its author’’s lifetime and appeared only in a censored edition in the 1960s. Its truths are so enduring that its language has become part of the common Russian speech.”

Get it at Amazon or Chapters Indigo

Filed under: Quotable , hot, imaginings, joy, literature, memories, recommendation, russia

Daily Meditation

Thought for October 2:

“The greatest achievement is selflessness. The greatest worth is self-mastery. The greatest quality is seeking to serve others. The greatest precept is continual awareness. The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything. The greatest action is not conforming with the world’s ways. The greatest magic is transmuting the passions. The greatest generosity is non-attachment. The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind. The greatest patience is humility. The greatest effort is not concerned with results. The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go. The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.” – Atisha

Filed under: Quotable, simple life , light, meditation, self

Expanding Horizons

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

During September some bolts have been twisting and turning in my head and heart, as a result of which I have been actively looking to expand my horizons. I’ve got the energy of a billion bears. I am increasingly interested in activities at Ryerson University, which I’ve never experienced before (or at UBC), and so I applied to the Ryerson University Finance Society case competition which is going to be happening all day on November 7. It’s not the prize – $4,000 for winning team plus some lucrative internships, – that’s motivating, but the fact that I want to do it.

I am also going to write an article for Ryerson Marketing Association – I’ve been thinking about a lot of recent developments, and will definitely write something interesting. I have an increasing interest in getting to know my fellow classmates more, which I never cared for before, heh. I’ve also been developing relationships with my professors, who are all super awesome people. Lucky me this semester.

To quote VHS or Beta’s “You Got Me” (download Baby Daddy’s remix), “Everything’s better off this way” Oh yeah, I’m researching shooting ranges near Toronto, as well as looking for archery lessons. I’ve got a good eye, better put it to use.

Hot Product Alert: Last week I went to Sephora in search of an amazing shower gel, and KORRES natural products caught my eye. Their products are “skin-compatible, environment-friendly, joyful and effective”. I grabbed the wonderful jasmine shower gel, and oh, wasn’t I impressed!! Korres is fabulous! Their claims are all true. I suggest you check this Greek skin product line out. (I’m trying out the Sunflower and Vitamin F shampoo for coloured hair really soon and can’t wait!)

Filed under: Quotable, moving up , aristotle, autumn, changes, guns, hot, mp3, product, productivity, ryerson, self, shooting, toronto, trends, UBC, university, vhs or beta