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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by Arwon |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35  Posts: 266/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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Originally posted by hhallahh The first word of the day is International Women's Day. (edited by Arwon on 03-11-05 01:30 AM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 267/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| In the first world, Int'l Women's Day should really be viewed more in terms of solidarity with, and awareness of, women and the problems they have in other parts of the world (lack of franchise, genital mutilation, inequality before the law, forced prostitution, forced abortions or lack of access to abortion, lack of power and independance to escape abusive and exploitative situations in general, a whole laundry list of issues). It also should be viewed in terms of celebrating and remembering how far we've come and, yes, that we're really not at complete equality yet (especially with stuff like discrimination against Maternity)... but mainly it should be more focussed on the very severe problems in other parts of the world. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 268/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| They cast Mos Def because he's frikken PERFECT for the role, the dude has acting credentials. Also, he's an ALIEN. Why should he be necessarily be a white Brit? He's from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelguese. Ford Prefect is supposed to be cool, calm, unflappable, and also be ever so slightly odd and unusual, and Mos Def can pull that off. Fuck skin colour. Every other casting choice is pretty much perfect, give them a break and see how he works out, eh? I for one am very excited to see how they pull it off. Hopefully the fanboys realise this isn't LoTR and there's not really any internal consistancy between any two HGTG projects... the radio show and the books and whathaveyou. Hell, Douglas Adams helped work on this screenplay before he died and wrote in some new concepts and characters and stuff, he doesn't care if it isn't canonical, what matters is that it's funny and a good story. Picking over tiny details is missing the point, and as long as they retain the spirit of the stories - the extreme eccentricity, the humour, the seriousness (as opposed to a slapstick over the top tone, a lot of the comedy is in that they're all playing it straight) of the story... I'll be very happy. Also: Best IMDB thread ever (edited by Arwon on 03-19-05 08:15 PM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 269/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| *engages "liberal doesn't mean centrist/centre-right individualists to Americans" filter* People get way too hysterical and uptight about OMFG BIAS, be it in the media or in academics. America seems to be particularly bad with this, and particularly eager to divide everyone into two diametrically opposed camps to the exclusion of all nuance and diversity. I suspect this is related to the American style of political discourse, which is much the same, full of hyperbole, florid rhetoric, and very black and white, us and them, views of the world. The impression that academia slants to the left is widespread in the western world, but it's only in America that people get so worked up about it. It's only in America where the existance of a persecution complex, based on which mainstream "camp" you're in, is a significant belief in the political punditry establishment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On a more philosophical level, I'm extremely skeptical of people who hold objectivity up as this great holy grail. First there's the obvious bloody point that gets overlooked, which is that there's no NEUTRAL perspective in, well, anything... so firstly it's impossible. If you doubt me about the lack of any absolute-neutral-universal-correct-objective viewpoint, do what I do and apply the "What would 12th Centruy Mongol horsemen think of all this?" test. There, see? The differences between the modern Left and the modern Right looks pretty small now, eh? So firstly the idea of Objectivity as a desirable ideal is IMPOSSIBLE. More than that though, it is actively degrading and handicapping to decent discourse. The idea that intellectual analysis of the world can ever be "objective" seems pretty futile and damaging... it obscures things. This applies to the media as well as academics - the situations of each are quite similar and I am going to use the media to make my point: The media (by which I mean TV news in America or Australia, and to a limited extent also newspapers), in their obsession with appearing "objective" has found itself totally neutered, unable to report with any insight or depth. The number of times mainstream media finds themselves totally outreported and outclassed by FUCKING SATIRE pretty much shows how bad "objectivity" (ie, reporting what everyone says, with no analysis or reference to history) can be at showing What Is Actually Happening in the world. The way Hunter S Thompson offers one of the more compelling records of life in the 1960s, shows that subjective, personal, even passionate views have their place, even if "subjectity" has become a bad word in the current objectivity obsessed climate. To me, holding up "objectivity" as a virtue in itself implies shallowness and simplicity, and I don't see why we hold it in such high virtue in either media or academics. Hell, taking it further, it implies the active imposition of an orthodox view on people that is anathema to free and vigorous discourse. Or in less fancy language: when people howl about bias and lack of objectivity in teh media or academics, it seems like they are going THIS IS RIGHT, THIS IS NEUTRAL AND OBJECTIVE, AND IF YOU DON'T AGREE YOU'RE BIASED and WRONG and BAD! Sure, they (the media, academics, radio talk show hosts, whatever) shouldn't make shit up, and the idea of the impartial dispassionate analyist has its place... but a little fucking subjective analysis is GOOD, too. As Hunter S Thompson pointed out, the objective media let Nixon sneak under their radar, you needed to get subjective to understand why he was so bad. ~~~~~~~~~ I'd like to also point out that the Right Wing think-tank set, the noise machine they have going, is its own "Ivory Tower" and that they're just as guilty of insular bias and absurdity as any university faculty. Let me put that in big letters. RIGHT WING INTELLECTUALS ARE IRRELEVANT IVORY TOWER ELITISTS TOO. ~~~~~~~~~ Finally, let me say I'm not an uncritical fan of academics despite the fact this post kinda makes me look like I am defending them. Many academics are dull, pedantic, petty, obsessive, remarkably lacking in common sense, etcetera. George Orwell has the right idea here... he was a big proponent of common sense, said the duty of intelligent and aware people is to sometimes restate the fucking obvious that's been forgotten, and also once said with great insight "there's some things only an intellectual will believe". However, the problems and quirks of 21st century Western academia has very little to do with anything so facile and transitory as "political bias". Political differences, especially between mainstream camps in a given society, really aren't that deep or fundamental. No, the problems in academia that I outlined above, are more like an inherent flaw in the structures... academics have these inherent problems and stupidness, just as politicians are pretty inherently amoral liars, union leaders are basically corrupt hacks, church officials are anti-human hypocrites, or whatever. It's just part of what they are, and these problems will exist long after the present spectrum of LIBRULS VERSUS CONSERVUTIVES has vanished into obscurity. PS: Also, wasn't Horowitz a howling cold-war revisonist? What's he doing attacking "liberals" now? Or has he changed his views since 1967? PPS: Just as a counterpoint to the usual idea that Universities are hotbeds of radical leftist sentiment... at my University in Sydney, the christian groups are far bigger, more numerous, and more aggressive in their evangelism, than any of the Socialst groups. I've barely even seen any Radical Left groups about the place at all. (edited by Arwon on 04-08-05 11:53 PM) (edited by Arwon on 04-08-05 11:54 PM) (edited by Arwon on 04-08-05 11:56 PM) (edited by Arwon on 04-08-05 11:57 PM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 270/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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Originally posted by HGanon The potential crisis IS the rising prices. Oil isn't going to just disappear overnight, it's going to go through an extended period of spiraling prices. Think 1973 gas crisis, but PERMANENT. The impacts of super-big rises in oil prices will be felt everywhere, every area of the economy, really. It is not just with fuel for vehicles, but also, for example, lubricants, and especially plastics. We're talking massively rising food prices (transport, fertilizer, ), and all sorts of things, on top of the problems of ever-scarcer energy resource, and also throw in the associated social turmoil that usually comes with economic crisises, too. I have no idea how bad things might or might not get, but I just wanted to point out that the problem here isn't just "oil running out" but is much more about "oil getting really fucking expensive quite fast, and having all sorts of unforseen impacts." |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 271/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| If that story is true as you report it, it's dumb. Did he actually do it during a scheduled lecture, or at some other time, in a free lecture hall or something? If the former students, through their student union, should have been complaining to the admin to get him to do his job. That's why we have student organisations (and the Student Unionism issue is a WHOLE other rant). But really, this just proves my argument. This sort of shit happens because that's how academics are, not because of OMG LEFTIST CONSPIRACY. It'd be far more productive for people to focus on actual education standards, and not go on political witchhunts and try and pretend they're a fucking persecuted minority. Look, people talk about politics at uni. Smart people tend to be interested in the world and want to express their views. People talk about all sorts of random non-academic things. My International Relations tutor talks about cars and football. Universities are the sort of places where random off-topic discussions WILL occur. So it follows from these things that politics WILL be discussed. Many academic disciplines are predisposed to certain views. For example, you'd be hard pressed to be an anthropologist WITHOUT being a moral relativist leftist hack. And of course it varies by subject. You'd be hard pressed to tell me economics or mathematics lecturers are all howling lefties, and history lecturers can hold just about any perspective... It just so happens that most people who attend or work at universities hold vaguely leftist views. If I can resort to ranting "they" style simplicity for a little while: What do "they" want, bloody political-based affirmative action? It seems to me they're essentially upset because most people around them in this one particular section of society disagree with them. As I said, it just so happens that at the moment, universities and leftish views sort of dovetail together. Cry cry, wank wank, go join the military if you wanna be surrounded by likeminded people. I really don't think "are these people being over-sensitive idiots?" is a point worth arguing. Neither is "do these people blow shit out of all proportion cos they're BITTER and love to be OUTRAGED?" The fact that they STILL think there's a conspiracy against them, when they just convincingly won a federal election, control Congress and the Executive, and the fact that want to make it a CRIME to be OMFG BIASED kind of speaks for itself. Honestly I think people need better things to do with their time. *"They" ranting hat off* Another random thought: America has so many universities, it has to expect that some of its lecturers will be idiots and hacks. Random anecdote: Here in Australia, the right-most faction of the National Union of Students, the Young Liberals (sort of like Young Repuiblicans, in that they're mostly obnoxious fucking dorks or bitter borderline fascists), also behave like a persecuted minority. They use this self-perception to justify acting like dickheads. Case in point: At the national Union conference this year there was an aboriginal speaker... the Young Liberal contingent stood up and started singing 'God Save The Queen' and the Australian National Anthem while he was talking, until they got kicked out. this is standard behaviour for the Young Liberal. I suppose my point is that, basically, these are the sorts of pointyheaded goons who're apparently, in your country, trying to make it a criminal offense to be both smarter than them and hold different views than they do. (edited by Arwon on 04-09-05 01:00 AM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 272/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| Oh come now, our Kylie did that awesome duet with Nick Cave, she ain't all bad. Jet and the Vines are awful and it is a travesty that they're probably the most well known current Aussie bands. The Living End have some success outside Australia, it's a pity everything since their debut has been pretty mediocre. Augie March SHOULD be huge everywhere, but continue to be utterly, tragically, lamentably ignored overseas just like in Australia. Well at least Pitchfork gave them an 8.2, which is not too shabby for a band OTHER PEOPLE HEARD BEFORE THEY DID. I think the Avalanches' Frontier Psychiatrist has some international fame. I dunno, there's not a lot of good Aussie music that isn't totally derivative and interchangable with American/British band X. And those that aren't, maybe MGF or the Whitlams or christ even bloody Frenzal Rhomb, for example, are usually so idiosynchratically Australian that they just don't make it outside our formiddably distant borders. So only a few pop divas and the occasional generic rock band, usually make it overseas with any widespread fame. (edited by Arwon on 04-15-05 02:05 AM) (edited by Arwon on 04-15-05 02:09 AM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 273/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| Why do the people on that site hate Spanish so much? Tis a pretty languge. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 274/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| I don't suppose it's worth pointing out that the Southwestern part of the country, the bit people are so keen to "preserve" as English-speaking, belonged to Spanish-speakers before y'all stole it? | |||
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 275/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| So given this transitory and contestable occupation of the continent, why should English get enshrined hegemony just because of an aberation where English speakers dominate the southwest? If the vernacular of a region is changing, surely the official organs should respect and respond to this rather than trying to impose THEIR ideas about language on the populace. (SPEAK LATIN, DAMN YOU! Or if you wanna more recent example, how about the enforcement of Russian in the minority regions of the USSR or enforcement of Castillian in Fascist Spain) Besides which, by the second generation, immigrants to any country usually pick up the dominant language, people get too worked up for nothing over ALIEN MIGRANTS NOT FITTING IN OMFG. And this new concern with enshrining English is basically a reflection of nationalist disease with immigration. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 276/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| So you're not suggesting citizenship should be made conditional on English skills or that people should be compelled to learn it? | |||
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 277/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| Peter Garrett is indeed still the Member for Kingsford Smith, and my local member of federal parliament. He did a special one-off gig with the band for the Tsnumai relief concert (at the Opera House I believe). Australian Labor Party profile page |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 278/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| That's one hell of a strawman. Did you build it yourself, with your MIGHTY MAN HANDS? | |||
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 279/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| Liberalism and Socialism are in many ways diametrically opposed philosophies and historically quite abtagonistic towards one another. Look up the Australian Liberal Party sometime. And also, the word socialism doesnt work as an insult to most people especially outside America, there are many Social Demoratic parties who are members of the socialist international and are quite mainstream. So OMG SOCIALISM doesn't work as a slur even if you weren't totally being wrong by conflating it with liberalism. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 280/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 281/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| It's a parody of the Department of Homeland Security's website and all those pictograms are from there. Really, if you wanna talk about intelligence insulting, look at the original. I mean, LOOK at those pictograms. But on the other hand, they're brilliant captioning fodder. (edited by Arwon on 05-16-05 09:02 PM) (edited by Arwon on 05-16-05 09:04 PM) |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 282/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| And you dealt with the fookin' poikies just fine? I'm in the Snatch camp, well and truly. Sneaky fuckin' Russians, the poikies, brilliant narration, and the Nemesis speech. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 283/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| Zaphod was totally George W Bush. I loved Magrathea and the factory floor... it was exactly how it appeared in my head and I giggled gleefully at it. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 284/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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| The prophecy, I think gets fulfilled, when Vader kills Palpatine and then dies. To me, it seems that both the Jedi and the Sith are unnatural and arbitrary perversions and distortions of the force - the Jedi as joyless Catholic conservative types and the sith as destructive egotists - the force is unbalanced by their conflict. In the end, Luke, who is neither Jedi nor Sith - who fights with both discipline and emotion - is the last one standing, and this is made possible by Vader's sacrifice. Annakin fulfils the prophecy but it costs him his life, his love, everything he held dear. |
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Arwon Zora Level: 35 Posts: 285/506 EXP: 278115 For next: 1821 Since: 03-15-04 From: Terra Australis Incognita Since last post: 5 hours Last activity: 10 min. |
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Originally posted by Darth LegiousOriginally posted by Arwon I think he is too influenced by passions and emotions to be called a true Jedi, who preach detachment and discipline and so forth. To me this puts him sort of in the middle - someone who uses the force in balance rather than denying aspects of it like the Sith and Jedi do. |
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| Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - - Posts by Arwon |
