I was given the complete first season of this series for Christmas, and since then I've been watching 2-3 episodes at a time every day or two. It's a shame the series didn't end with a bang, but hey at least the beginning and the middle were pretty special.
The most memorable episode, for me, has got to be the one about the highly incestuous hillbilly family, though I don't know if its in my collection or not.
I wonder whether the series would have made a good subject for the '..and philosophy' book series? The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have all been subjects of this series of philosophy essays (as well as the first Matrix movie and The Lord of the Rings books). Perhaps Mulder and Scully are not sufficiently complex characters. Or perhaps there are few moral dilemmas presented. Would it be harder to find philosophical issues in The X-Files than to The Simpsons?
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Ask a Philosopher
I came across this site a while ago, and forgot all about it until I got an email telling me that a question I'd asked had been answered. It's a really interesting site run by a couple of philosophical societies.
Basically you post a question about philosophy, then one or more philosophers post the answer. The archive of questions and answers is really fascinating, and only some of it is too esoteric for the lay person.
My question was - Is conscription morally right? If you want to know what the answer was, go to this page and do a search on 'violet'.
Basically you post a question about philosophy, then one or more philosophers post the answer. The archive of questions and answers is really fascinating, and only some of it is too esoteric for the lay person.
My question was - Is conscription morally right? If you want to know what the answer was, go to this page and do a search on 'violet'.
Monday, December 29, 2003
looking death in the eye
I went to see my sister-in-law's great aunt yesterday, who is almost 94, and in hospital with a tumour. I've only met her a dozen times, but I really didn't expect that I wouldn't recognise her when my mother and I were led into her ward.
It was embarressing actually, though probably not for Auntie B, who is quite deaf and wouldnt have heard us telling the nurse that the woman we came to see wasn't in the room (plus her vision is not great ).
But there was a huge extended family just opposite, there to visit another patient. They looked at us and watched as though in amusement and bemusement. After all, Auntie B is white and my mother and I are not. And just how well can we know her when we don't even recognise her?
Auntie B is a really cool person - never married, she was an artist, an individualist, and swam in the cold Wellington seas even into her eighties. And she liked my paintings.
By now, she will have gone south to stay in a nursing home in her home town. I will probably never see her again.
As we left the hospital, I almost told my mother that I didnt want to live that long if it meant getting that frail. But I didn't, because she herself in in her eightieth year and nowhere near as active as Auntie B was at the same age. My mother stresses the hell out of me, but I didn't want her to take it the wrong way.
It was embarressing actually, though probably not for Auntie B, who is quite deaf and wouldnt have heard us telling the nurse that the woman we came to see wasn't in the room (plus her vision is not great ).
But there was a huge extended family just opposite, there to visit another patient. They looked at us and watched as though in amusement and bemusement. After all, Auntie B is white and my mother and I are not. And just how well can we know her when we don't even recognise her?
Auntie B is a really cool person - never married, she was an artist, an individualist, and swam in the cold Wellington seas even into her eighties. And she liked my paintings.
By now, she will have gone south to stay in a nursing home in her home town. I will probably never see her again.
As we left the hospital, I almost told my mother that I didnt want to live that long if it meant getting that frail. But I didn't, because she herself in in her eightieth year and nowhere near as active as Auntie B was at the same age. My mother stresses the hell out of me, but I didn't want her to take it the wrong way.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
white t-shirts and red jeans in the wash. together
yep, I accidentally put my cheap red jeans in the washing machine with my boy's Italian red and white t-shirt.
He claims to be secure enough in his manhood to be okay with wearing pink, but unfortunately the pink tint isn't evenly spread on the t-shirt - its all blotchy.
I remembered buying a product when this happened to me years ago, when I was living in Edinburgh. that stuff worked really well.
So I got in the car and bought something similar from the pharmacy, called Dylon something-or-other. (The same company that makes fabric dye for people who want all their clothes to be exactly the same colour.)
The stuff is pretty expensive, just under $9 for just one use.
Anyway, it doesn't work. So don't bother wasting your money.
He claims to be secure enough in his manhood to be okay with wearing pink, but unfortunately the pink tint isn't evenly spread on the t-shirt - its all blotchy.
I remembered buying a product when this happened to me years ago, when I was living in Edinburgh. that stuff worked really well.
So I got in the car and bought something similar from the pharmacy, called Dylon something-or-other. (The same company that makes fabric dye for people who want all their clothes to be exactly the same colour.)
The stuff is pretty expensive, just under $9 for just one use.
Anyway, it doesn't work. So don't bother wasting your money.
Friday, December 26, 2003
not a tv Christmas
You know those Christmas family gatherings where the huge extended family gather to exchange large presents, drink eggnog, eat rich food and sing together? I used to wish my family had Christmases like that.
Christmas in my family was always a lot quieter, since it was just me, my brother and my mother. My brother and I are agnostic, so there's not a lot of carol-singing.
When it was just the 3 of us, we'd eat heaps of food, my brother and I would exchange presents, then we'd sit and watch tv for a couple of hours before going back to our respective homes. Boring but comfy.
This year the gathering included my partner, my brother's partner and their little son, so there was a chance for something a little closer to a "TV Christmas". Yeah, there was more conversation, and there were more presents, so it was, a little.
But of course when you've got little kids you don't get to stick around and socialise for hours and hours.
We'd all gone by 7, and we'd only been at my mother's house since 5.
Just as well I'm not a traditionalist.
Presents:
My guy got me a Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) action figure, and season one of The X-Files on DVD. (Dave usually gets me DVDs, just as my brother usually gives me CDs.) So not much different there, but then again I do love the first season of X-Files. I got Dave a Lord of the Rings - Two Towers chess set. The pieces include Ents, Frodo, Orcs etc so it looks good. I hope he finds someone to play chess with. Mum got an electric jug, which she asked for, and some foot bath stuff.
My brother and his lady got 2 seats at the flash Cinelounge movie theatre (plus the obligatory offer to babysit on the evening they use them), and they gave us ...... a DVD (Red Dwarf). So Thomas has graduated from CDs to DVDs - quite a small step in present-buying evolution I'd say.
My nephew got lots of toys of course, including this cute little electric guitar with built-in applause button.
Mum never gives presents except to non-family - must be a Chinese thing (unless it's a stingyness thing) - but she did do all the cooking so I'll have to let her off the hook.
Maybe New Year will be different....
Christmas in my family was always a lot quieter, since it was just me, my brother and my mother. My brother and I are agnostic, so there's not a lot of carol-singing.
When it was just the 3 of us, we'd eat heaps of food, my brother and I would exchange presents, then we'd sit and watch tv for a couple of hours before going back to our respective homes. Boring but comfy.
This year the gathering included my partner, my brother's partner and their little son, so there was a chance for something a little closer to a "TV Christmas". Yeah, there was more conversation, and there were more presents, so it was, a little.
But of course when you've got little kids you don't get to stick around and socialise for hours and hours.
We'd all gone by 7, and we'd only been at my mother's house since 5.
Just as well I'm not a traditionalist.
Presents:
My guy got me a Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) action figure, and season one of The X-Files on DVD. (Dave usually gets me DVDs, just as my brother usually gives me CDs.) So not much different there, but then again I do love the first season of X-Files. I got Dave a Lord of the Rings - Two Towers chess set. The pieces include Ents, Frodo, Orcs etc so it looks good. I hope he finds someone to play chess with. Mum got an electric jug, which she asked for, and some foot bath stuff.
My brother and his lady got 2 seats at the flash Cinelounge movie theatre (plus the obligatory offer to babysit on the evening they use them), and they gave us ...... a DVD (Red Dwarf). So Thomas has graduated from CDs to DVDs - quite a small step in present-buying evolution I'd say.
My nephew got lots of toys of course, including this cute little electric guitar with built-in applause button.
Mum never gives presents except to non-family - must be a Chinese thing (unless it's a stingyness thing) - but she did do all the cooking so I'll have to let her off the hook.
Maybe New Year will be different....
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
I've finally got around to updating my home page.
It's got some new images of recent and not-so-recent paintings, links to this blog and an updated 'About' page.
It's got some new images of recent and not-so-recent paintings, links to this blog and an updated 'About' page.
Monday, December 22, 2003
Today is the first day of my 2 week Christmas break. Yay!
It should have been last Friday, but then I had to work the next day, and yesterday didn’t count because it was Sunday and the weather was crappy and anyway I spent most of it being my aging mother’s taxi driver and grocery-carrier.
Today I got to meet a friend for lunch (a luxury, since I work in a different city from my friends), eat Nepalese food (is fish really endemic in Nepal?), sit in the sun at an outdoor café and talk, and walk around just because I felt like it and not because I had to go somewhere. Makes me nostalgic for the days when I’d taken a year off work and spent my time either painting, visiting galleries or reading in the library.
Here’s what I thought of The Return of the King -
Bloody exciting fight scenes, several tear-inducing sad scenes (especially the bit where a confused Frodo thinks Sam wants to take the ring off him) and a happy ending. But the lat 20 minutes were…dull. If they had chopped the last 20 minutes of the film off, it would have been perfect.
That’s not to say that I wouldn’t recommend the film to everyone. Its still really, really good. Especially for me because I’ve never read the books and desperately wanted to know what happens to all the characters.
Plus I got to check out the new seating in the refurbished Embassy theatre. Very nice.
It should have been last Friday, but then I had to work the next day, and yesterday didn’t count because it was Sunday and the weather was crappy and anyway I spent most of it being my aging mother’s taxi driver and grocery-carrier.
Today I got to meet a friend for lunch (a luxury, since I work in a different city from my friends), eat Nepalese food (is fish really endemic in Nepal?), sit in the sun at an outdoor café and talk, and walk around just because I felt like it and not because I had to go somewhere. Makes me nostalgic for the days when I’d taken a year off work and spent my time either painting, visiting galleries or reading in the library.
Here’s what I thought of The Return of the King -
Bloody exciting fight scenes, several tear-inducing sad scenes (especially the bit where a confused Frodo thinks Sam wants to take the ring off him) and a happy ending. But the lat 20 minutes were…dull. If they had chopped the last 20 minutes of the film off, it would have been perfect.
That’s not to say that I wouldn’t recommend the film to everyone. Its still really, really good. Especially for me because I’ve never read the books and desperately wanted to know what happens to all the characters.
Plus I got to check out the new seating in the refurbished Embassy theatre. Very nice.
Friday, December 19, 2003
On reading histories of the Chinese in New Zealand
Being a first generation Chinese New Zealander, I can’t claim to share the history of those Chinese whose ancestors came to New Zealand in the late 1800s to search for gold. But I can try to appreciate the hardships they went through. I found out a little of the Chinese history of Seattle and San Francisco when I was holidaying in those cities, and it seems to me that the experiences of Chinese all over the Western world must have been similar.
‘Unfolding History, Evolving Identity: The Chinese in New Zealand’ (Edited by Manying Ip) is the first book I’ve read on the subject of the Chinese in New Zealand, though there have been several books published in the last few decades.
The first section of the book describes the conditions of the Chinese gold-diggers, and the negative responses of white New Zealand. For example, white workers often complained of being over-run by Chinese, though the Chinese were vastly out-numbered, and fearful of their foreign, opium-smoking ways. Hell, the government even banned Chinese women from entering the country for a couple of decades in the early 1900s, in the hope of minimising Chinese population growth. Sound familiar?
Other essays focus on the experiences of the next generation of Chinese New Zealanders. By this time, the one-hundred-pound poll tax (which was, of course, applied only to Chinese immigrants) was abolished and local-born Chinese were expected to have assimilated into the majority British-based culture. Mind you, right up until the Seventies, New Zealand imposed a limit on the number of Asians allowed permanent residence in the country - the only ethnic group treated this way.
And lastly, several writers have contributed work on the most recent wave of Asian immigration to New Zealand in the 1990s - which coincides with the latest wave of anti-Asian immigration feeling…..
Here's the next book I read on the subject -
Thomas Tsu-wee Tan’s ‘Your Chinese Roots - the overseas Chinese Story’ is more focused on the Chinese in Singapore, which is where the author lives. This book is quite a bit older than Ip's. It is a more personal view, probably due to the fact that it is the work of one person. But it is very interesting for his explanations of aspects of Chinese culture, such as Taoism, Confucious, and (importantly), why the Chinese who went to places like the United States, Australia and New Zealand to search for gold, never intended to settle.
He also includes a section in which he gives meanings of Chinese surnames, which might be useful for genealogical purposes. I just have to find out what my surname looks like in Chinese….
Being a first generation Chinese New Zealander, I can’t claim to share the history of those Chinese whose ancestors came to New Zealand in the late 1800s to search for gold. But I can try to appreciate the hardships they went through. I found out a little of the Chinese history of Seattle and San Francisco when I was holidaying in those cities, and it seems to me that the experiences of Chinese all over the Western world must have been similar.
‘Unfolding History, Evolving Identity: The Chinese in New Zealand’ (Edited by Manying Ip) is the first book I’ve read on the subject of the Chinese in New Zealand, though there have been several books published in the last few decades.
The first section of the book describes the conditions of the Chinese gold-diggers, and the negative responses of white New Zealand. For example, white workers often complained of being over-run by Chinese, though the Chinese were vastly out-numbered, and fearful of their foreign, opium-smoking ways. Hell, the government even banned Chinese women from entering the country for a couple of decades in the early 1900s, in the hope of minimising Chinese population growth. Sound familiar?
Other essays focus on the experiences of the next generation of Chinese New Zealanders. By this time, the one-hundred-pound poll tax (which was, of course, applied only to Chinese immigrants) was abolished and local-born Chinese were expected to have assimilated into the majority British-based culture. Mind you, right up until the Seventies, New Zealand imposed a limit on the number of Asians allowed permanent residence in the country - the only ethnic group treated this way.
And lastly, several writers have contributed work on the most recent wave of Asian immigration to New Zealand in the 1990s - which coincides with the latest wave of anti-Asian immigration feeling…..
Here's the next book I read on the subject -
Thomas Tsu-wee Tan’s ‘Your Chinese Roots - the overseas Chinese Story’ is more focused on the Chinese in Singapore, which is where the author lives. This book is quite a bit older than Ip's. It is a more personal view, probably due to the fact that it is the work of one person. But it is very interesting for his explanations of aspects of Chinese culture, such as Taoism, Confucious, and (importantly), why the Chinese who went to places like the United States, Australia and New Zealand to search for gold, never intended to settle.
He also includes a section in which he gives meanings of Chinese surnames, which might be useful for genealogical purposes. I just have to find out what my surname looks like in Chinese….
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
In just 2 days time I get to see The Return of the King, the last instalment of the great Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was sooo disappointed to miss the world premiere – I mean, I live in Wellington, its almost ridiculous that I couldn’t be there to cheer on the crew and cast and soak up the Wellington-as-Hollywood excitement.
As luck would have it, not only was I working late that day, but I work far away enough for it to be impossible to get to where the action is.
I can’t even boast to having seen anyone famous strolling through the streets of my town, ‘cos I don’t go out any more (library assistants make just enough money to maintain shelter and nourishment, not enough to eat out).
I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of two books from the U.S. The first is a Buffy book called ‘Fighting the forces’ (another book of scholarly articles about the tv series). The other is ‘The lord of the rings and philosophy’, which is the LOTR equivalent to ‘Buffy the vampire slayer and philosophy’. Philosophy and popular culture – heaven!
As luck would have it, not only was I working late that day, but I work far away enough for it to be impossible to get to where the action is.
I can’t even boast to having seen anyone famous strolling through the streets of my town, ‘cos I don’t go out any more (library assistants make just enough money to maintain shelter and nourishment, not enough to eat out).
I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of two books from the U.S. The first is a Buffy book called ‘Fighting the forces’ (another book of scholarly articles about the tv series). The other is ‘The lord of the rings and philosophy’, which is the LOTR equivalent to ‘Buffy the vampire slayer and philosophy’. Philosophy and popular culture – heaven!
Sunday, December 14, 2003
I'm not hugely into poetry, but I do like some - like Coleridge's 'Kubla Khan' and some of Ruth Dallas' sonnets. 'The Guardian', the UK newspaper, has this cute thing on it's website where you answer some questions and the program behind it determines your mood and displays an appropriate poem. Here it is.
That article about Philip K. Dick mentioned in the previous entry - I found the link in the Library Journal - maybe not something you'd read if you weren't a librarian, but now you know it could be worth a look.
Philip K. Dick is the genius SF writer behind great movies like 'Blade Runner' and 'Total Recall'. Here's an interesting article about the man.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
If you're bored and stuck behind your computer, unable to get on with some really grunty work, you might find something amusing here. Two of the sites it links to I particularly enjoyed are:
1. the answers to the question 'why did the chicken cross the road' (as might have been answered by various famous and infamous people)
2. A little questionnaire in which you are invited to decide which of 2 options is worse, from a long list (for example, which is worse - walking in on someone in the toilet or having someone walk in on you in the toilet?).
It's all so silly....
1. the answers to the question 'why did the chicken cross the road' (as might have been answered by various famous and infamous people)
2. A little questionnaire in which you are invited to decide which of 2 options is worse, from a long list (for example, which is worse - walking in on someone in the toilet or having someone walk in on you in the toilet?).
It's all so silly....
Friday, December 05, 2003
Hey, what hapened?! First long blog I type, and I lose half of it when I try to post it?!
Here it is again...
'As I mentioned in my first blog, I so enjoyed 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy:fear and trembling in Sunnydale' (Edited by James B. South), that I thought I'd try reading up more on philosophy.
I got 'Philosophy for Dummies', by Tom Morris, out of the library - its part of the '..for Dummies' series, if you hadn't guessed. It covers all the big questions - what do we know, what is the meaning of life, is there a god etc - in a way which is reasonably easy to understand and fairly entertaining to read. But the author does seem awfully keen to convince the gentle reader that there is a god. Maybe its just because I'm a literal-minded, pragmatic agnostic with a science background and I just don't want to hear about some divine being.
In contrast to Morris' book, I've so far found the arguments in 'The philosopher at the end of the universe: philosophy explained through science fiction films' by Mark Rowlands much easier to agree with. Perhaps thats really quite appropriate.
Like Morris, Rowlands also makes use of tongue-in-cheek humour to lighten the reading. Of course, Rowlands'
.....Okay I've totally forgotten how that sentence continued.
Rowlands, like Morris, covers the basic Philosophy 101 material - the difference is in his reference to SF movies. I get the feeling hewould have enjoyed the X-Men movies (boo). The book is very readable though and obviously if you can link philosophy with some favourite pop culture element then thats a real plus.
Which brings me back to 'Buffy the vampire slayer and philosphy' - the writers who contributed to this collection of essays have assumed somefoundation knowledge of philosophy, so they're free to explore someless well-trodden paths. Like asking whether Buffy and the Scoobies are fascists....
The latter is still my favourite - I wish all 'serious' academic subjectscould be so fun
Here it is again...
'As I mentioned in my first blog, I so enjoyed 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy:fear and trembling in Sunnydale' (Edited by James B. South), that I thought I'd try reading up more on philosophy.
I got 'Philosophy for Dummies', by Tom Morris, out of the library - its part of the '..for Dummies' series, if you hadn't guessed. It covers all the big questions - what do we know, what is the meaning of life, is there a god etc - in a way which is reasonably easy to understand and fairly entertaining to read. But the author does seem awfully keen to convince the gentle reader that there is a god. Maybe its just because I'm a literal-minded, pragmatic agnostic with a science background and I just don't want to hear about some divine being.
In contrast to Morris' book, I've so far found the arguments in 'The philosopher at the end of the universe: philosophy explained through science fiction films' by Mark Rowlands much easier to agree with. Perhaps thats really quite appropriate.
Like Morris, Rowlands also makes use of tongue-in-cheek humour to lighten the reading. Of course, Rowlands'
.....Okay I've totally forgotten how that sentence continued.
Rowlands, like Morris, covers the basic Philosophy 101 material - the difference is in his reference to SF movies. I get the feeling hewould have enjoyed the X-Men movies (boo). The book is very readable though and obviously if you can link philosophy with some favourite pop culture element then thats a real plus.
Which brings me back to 'Buffy the vampire slayer and philosphy' - the writers who contributed to this collection of essays have assumed somefoundation knowledge of philosophy, so they're free to explore someless well-trodden paths. Like asking whether Buffy and the Scoobies are fascists....
The latter is still my favourite - I wish all 'serious' academic subjectscould be so fun
As I mentioned in my first blog, I so enjoyed 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy:fear and trembling in Sunnydale' (Edited by James B. South), that I thought I'd try reading up more on philosophy.
I got 'Philosophy for Dummies', by Tom Morris, out of the library - its part of the '..for Dummies' series, if you hadn't guessed. It covers all the big questions - what do we know, what is the meaning of life, is there a god etc - in a way which is reasonably easy to understand and fairly entertaining to read. But the author does seem awfully keen to convince the gentle reader that there is a god. Maybe its just because I'm a literal-minded, pragmatic agnostic with a science background and I just don't want to hear about some divine being.
In contrast to Morris' book, I've so far found the arguments in 'The philosopher at the end of the universe: philosophy explained through science fiction films' by Mark Rowlands much easier to agree with. Perhaps thats really quite appropriate.
Like Morris, Rowlands also makes use of tongue-in-cheek humour to lighten the reading. Of course, Rowlands'���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
I got 'Philosophy for Dummies', by Tom Morris, out of the library - its part of the '..for Dummies' series, if you hadn't guessed. It covers all the big questions - what do we know, what is the meaning of life, is there a god etc - in a way which is reasonably easy to understand and fairly entertaining to read. But the author does seem awfully keen to convince the gentle reader that there is a god. Maybe its just because I'm a literal-minded, pragmatic agnostic with a science background and I just don't want to hear about some divine being.
In contrast to Morris' book, I've so far found the arguments in 'The philosopher at the end of the universe: philosophy explained through science fiction films' by Mark Rowlands much easier to agree with. Perhaps thats really quite appropriate.
Like Morris, Rowlands also makes use of tongue-in-cheek humour to lighten the reading. Of course, Rowlands'���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
I found this site which specialises in urban legends. Out of the several I found using the Yahoo search engine, this was the most entertaining....
I hadn't thought about it before, but urban legends really can be the mythology of the present, reflecting the concerns of the society which spawned them.
I've just about finished a first-year level paper in the Humanities (I did a science degree way back, and my major was zoology which I still believe to be the closest you can get to an arts major while not doing an arts degree - except probably for psychology). This site is interesting. Its got stuff about the classics, philosophy and literature.
I hadn't thought about it before, but urban legends really can be the mythology of the present, reflecting the concerns of the society which spawned them.
I've just about finished a first-year level paper in the Humanities (I did a science degree way back, and my major was zoology which I still believe to be the closest you can get to an arts major while not doing an arts degree - except probably for psychology). This site is interesting. Its got stuff about the classics, philosophy and literature.
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