about being without you

(posts) Meshuggah's "Dancers To A Discordant System"

something about "The Birth of the Clinic" by Michel Foucault

In The Birth of the Clinic, Michel Foucault mines late 18th and early 19th century changes in medical practice (this, significantly, is around the time of the American and French Revolutions, following on the heels of the Enlightenment). These changes shaped modern medicine.

The discourse on human rights inspired by these revolutions led to an overall concern with society and health; and the move toward egalitarianism pushed physicians (and teaching physicians) out of the the aristocracy and reassigned them to general society.

The new imaginings of hard science dictated that we let truths reveal themselves to us. In The Birth of the Clinic, Foucault feels out what he calls the medical gaze--a way of seeing in which the physician allows the disease to reveal its own truth. The human body gives off signs, and the physician uses his knowledge and observations of the body to translate the reality of the disease.

The physician talks to the patient, observes him, examines him, orders tests and whatnot. Mysticism is abandoned for a discussion of the body; the physician relies less on bookish medical wisdom and instead reads the body. The physician's eye sees in space symptoms and physical signs.

The physician’s observations affect the gaze; the gaze affects the physician. Doctors systematically describe diseases using medical jargon. The physician's power is now his experience rather than his status. The gaze has scientific credibility. And we've successfully achieved truth in spite of the doctor's status, not because of it. (So we think.)

Joey

Probably baby kangaroos shouldn't be called "joeys." Only an "Australian" would come up with that name.

(posts) Danzig's "Am I Demon"

about relative success

You're saved if your father takes no interest in you. You're ruined if you wish he had.

about "St. George and the Godfather" by Norman Mailer

St. George and the Godfather unleashes Norman Mailer's critical mind on the characters participating in the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. That year, the Democrats nominated South Dakota Senator George McGovern, and the Republicans took President Richard M. Nixon.

Mailer describes a stiflingly boring political season, especially when compared to the Presidential races of the previous decade. He indulges his moods in this tract, veering from righteously indignant to contemplative, and all the while he keeps on his mind the ongoing, escalated bombings in South Asia. Mailer is an American original whose complicated, unconventional views can't be duplicated, even though the problems of politics and culture he describes repeat themselves over and over.

something about maturity and civilization

Molly Lambert at ESPN's more-than-sports site Grantland wrote a good article about the misogyny and enduring immaturity of hip hop musician and rap artist Eminem. She opens with a question: "What if maturity is a myth? It’s a question that plagues a lot of people as they get older and find that, while they may change physically, their brains feel exactly the same."

Though not the end of the article, her conclusion is this: "The really scary thing is that many men don’t grow up. They continue to take out their insecurities on those who are more vulnerable, physically or culturally."

This investigation of the question of maturity and the elusive (or ephemeral) nature of maturity is equally applicable to the concept of civilization, or being civilized.

about this symphony

The end wasn't satisfying. But there were parts in the middle that I enjoyed very much.















Note:

• "Music is life and, like it, inextinguishable."
• And only this symphony.

nothing (inf.)

I missed the exit and ended up having to loop around the collision course.

about "Travels in Siberia" Ian Frazier

Ian Frazier, humor contributor to The New Yorker, developed a Russia fetish traveling there and, in 2010, published Travels in Siberia. This hefty travel log relays all kinds of details about Frazier's experiences with his guides, with locals, the climate, terrain, and culture. As made clear by the title, this book focuses on his times in Siberia, the massive symbol that accounts for the bulk of Russian territory (about three quarters of it). The travel-log part that makes for most of the book plodded aimlessly, and the narrative's pace stalled; the best parts relate some fascinating history lessons.

"Into the Atmosphere" by Dusted

Karl Marx

nothing (inf.)

When my food arrived, I saw it had been peppered with pepper.

something about "Just One More Thing" by Peter Falk

In Just One More Thing, Peter Falk tells a few dozen stories from his life, but this is not a birth-to-death autobiography. He shares some tales from his youth and pre-acting days, and a half dozen or so more stories from "Columbo," but the bulk come from his movie shoots and travels. (A couple are throwaways, just recaps of his favorite plot points and bits of dialog.)

Like the famous television detective he played, Peter Falk is an original. If there are any takeaways, it's that playing "Columbo" may have made him world famous, but Falk has an enviable film resume. Of all American comedy films, "The In-Laws," with Falk and Alan Arkin, ranks pretty high. He also did solid work with his longtime friend, John Cassavetes.

If you are fond of "Columbo" and Peter Falk (or Falk's turn in "Wings of Desire"), Just One More Thing is a worthy read.

about Ken Burns' film "The Roosevelts"

Ken Burns' most recent entry in the American encyclopedia is "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History." This film constructs a narrative of Theodore and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Teddy, a Republican, served as 26th President of the United States, and Franklin, a Democrat, the 32nd. The documentary film begins with the birth of Theodore in 1858 and ends with the death of Eleanor in 1962. The production is superior, fueled with solid writing, crisp pacing, and sharp editing.

The film relies on loose eye-witness accounts from the Roosevelt's family and friends and the speculation and psychoanalysis of historical writers, such as Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, whose work sells because they dramatize history. The first episode inscribes an origin story for each future President. The narrative willingly indulges the Great Man theory, that idea that history is the result of the charisma, intelligence, and skill of the heroes and giants of the age. In the case of the Roosevelt Presidents as depicted in this documentary, both are born sickly and, merely by living, miraculously defy death. Describing baby Franklin in the arms of his mother, the narration quotes a family member who likens the pair to a Madonna with child. Rather than simply say that the family was proud of their kin, this testimony is treated as bearing some deeper insight and truth. In another segment, the narrative depicts Teddy's time in the badlands as a trial from which he emerged transformed, like Jesus returning from the desert.

(or posts) "Career Opportunities" by The Clash

Career Opportunities
 -by The Clash

The offered me the office, offered me the shop
They said I'd better take anything they'd got
Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

I hate the army and I hate the R.A.F.
I don't wanna go fighting in the tropical heat
I hate the civil service rules
And I won't open letter bombs for you

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

Bus driver; ambulance man; ticket inspector

They're gonna have to introduce conscription
They're gonna have to take away my prescription
If they wanna get me making toys
If they wanna get me, well, I got no choice

Careers
Careers
Careers

Ain't never gonna knock

and

I'm up close so you can't see

about what to say sometimes

I've been using the phrase "horse trading" a lot lately. I'm thinking of switching to "wife swapping" because, to my mind, they are pretty much the same thing.

about "The Course of French History" by Pierre Goubert

In this tidy one-volume history, Pierre Goubert fairly encapsulates the social, political, and economic evolution of France, from the blurry edges of the monarchy in 987 to the present (about 1980). More fluid and narratively organized than a textbook, but too sweeping to fit neatly with most modern nonfiction historical works, The Course of French History maintains enough momentum to avoid drying out, but never approaches being a page-turner. Goubert, who has done his research, tempers and delivers his own informed judgements passively. This volume suits anyone doing independent study of French, European, or even World History, giving you all the basics with just a taste of the details.


Note
Recounting the contents here would be pointless.