Les Nuits Masquées

Islamisation

2009-11-16T00:34:00.006+10:00

Aghia Sofia, Istanbul

I saw Roland Emmerich's 2012 during the weekend and enjoyed it. Yet, while I laughed at some of the light humour in the dialogue, I couldn't help feeling nauseated thinking about what could follow if we believed our existence were ever threatened. The quijotic drive to protect those closest to us, the scrambling for the ever dwindling earth's resources, the desperate goal to survive at any cost - even at the cost of million others, could drive people to all sorts of cruel, selfish acts. Oh sure, there is still solidarity. I'm sure that humane virtue will be present too if the end was near. I hope so anyway.

But that's not the point of this blog post.

Found in Croatian website, Javno, (and which I rate R for mature, non-prejudiced, educated audiences)

http://www.javno.tv/en/index.php?id=20972w96aa5b7

This is an interesting, though sickening, propaganda video addressed to the conservative, non-Muslim Western population. It is loaded with statistical figures relating to:
- the dwindling and ever low birth rates in traditionally non-Muslim countries such as Germany, France, UK, The Netherlands and Canada.
- the comparatively high birth rates of Muslim immigrants in the respective non-Muslim states
- the estimated timeframes by which the Muslim population in non-Muslim states will surpass the current majority non-Muslim population
- the 'alarming' rise of Islam in the world

Certainly the figures are correct. And indeed, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.

So perhaps yes, in 50 years or so, the world will be highly Islamicised.

The commentator has made it his duty to inform his audience, that is, the current non-Muslim majority, that it will soon be outnumbered. And that its capacity to preserve its culture is threatened. And that it must take action!!

Action!!!

Like what? Another genocide, Nazi style?

Because without being either for or against any religion, I do not see myself reproducing urgently to avert the nefarious cultural change that the commentator assures us is threatening to 'suddenly' take place as a result of the growing Muslim population.

Whoever made the video is ranting about the importance of preserving culture but they forget one of the most important aspect of culture: gradual, systematic and mutual cultural exchange.

Mosque in Istanbul
The world will indeed be different in countless ways in 10, 20, 50 years. By the time Islamisation does take place, I may not even feel it. I might be slightly more worried about pollution, traffic, poverty, the exorbitant price of energy sources and housing shortages. Right now for example, and this may sound petty, I am worried about the excessive violence that arises from binge drinking in Australia and which leads to such hideous aggressions as glassing. Incidentally, a welcome 'cultural exchange' should Islamisation occur, could be, given traditional Muslim attitudes towards alcohol, that Australians end up curbing their binge drinking so that some of them behave less like animals and more like human beings. To be continued. Either way, alcohol fueled violence is one aspect of this binge drinking 'culture' that I hope will be well left behind.

Let's be honest, the propaganda video, behind all the factual bullshit, is essentially saying:
- Islam is BAD, Christianity ROCKS
- If Europe becomes more Islamicised, non-Muslims will become a minority
- Being a minority sucks for obvious economic reasons and we must make sure we remain in power

This video is pretending to care about culture while all along relying on understated stereotypical negative notions of Islam to stir fear in its viewers.
Oh, so boring.

Door to the Mezquita, Cordoba
There was a time in history when Muslims did rule most of Spain. It lasted 700 years. And that wasn't bad at all. In fact it was a golden age. Spain's culture has been enriched a thousand fold resulting from this period. For example the architectural splendour inherited from the Andalusian caliphates are, today, inseparable from Spain's cultural richness.

And by the way I don't think banning glass in bars and clubs is the solution to reducing violence.

Authenticism in Almodóvar's Todo Sobre Mi Madre

2009-11-13T01:55:00.001+10:00

What does it mean to be real? To be genuine? This essay describes how Todo Sobre Mi Madre’s characters, as actors or actresses, either on stage or in real life, contribute to a discourse on authenticity. It focuses on the binary opposition between acting and being real, or between contrasting environments, and posits that Todo Sobre Mi Madre often deconstructs these oppositions to arrive at Almodóvar’s meaning on true authenticity. Todo Sobre Mi Madre (1999) constructs a pluralistic discourse on authenticity which is grounded not only in Almodóvar’s life experience but also on his recurrent ideologies on sexual fluidity and identity.

Beyond Stereotypes
Todo Sobre Mi Madre argues that authenticity rests on a person’s diversity and on what Fouz-Hernández and Expósito term “avoidance of stereotypes” (160). For example, it highlights the binary oppositions inherent in Rosa’s character to present an argument about her authenticity. Rosa is a beautiful young woman who as stereotypes would have it, could easily thrive in a worldly existence. Instead, much like a Jesus figure, she engages in social work, caring for marginal individuals like transvestite prostitutes. As exemplified by her selfless devotion to others, Rosa is a diligent nun with a heart of gold. But she nevertheless secretly breaks her vows by engaging in illicit sexual exchanges until she eventually falls pregnant to no other than transvestite, Lola. To multiply contradictions, Rosa is also a martyr figure who, after courageously carrying her pregnancy full term even despite an atmosphere of maternal disapproval, dies tragically, leaving behind what in Franco’s days would be called a sinful, HIV ridden body. Rosa is therefore painted as a fluid character. Her multiple facets run contrary to expectations. For example, her naivety vis-a-vis Lola remains perplexing given her regular exposure to transgender prostitutes and therefore to the worldlier side of life.

Penelope Cruz as Rosa
What is to make of such complexity in a single individual if only that it informs the viewer of the multi-dimensional nature of authenticity? As the narrative would have it, Rosa is also the love child who, following her death, is fondly mourned by all. This elevates Rosa to saintly status on the grounds that she transcended both morality and sexuality. According to Almodóvar then, Rosa’s authenticity results from the diversity of her character and the deconstruction of dichotomies whether these imply naivety/worldliness, innocence/depth or even beauty/disease and finally, the ubiquitous saint/whore. On broader terms, this non-stereotypical authenticity mirrors El Deseo’s production values “to push the boundaries of genre” (Triana-Toribio 158).

Acting Out Inner Desires
Todo Sobre Mi Madre suggests that often, playing a role, far from alienating an individual from who they really are, can ultimately liberate them, drawing them to a closer understanding of their own desires or their true nature. As evidenced by close ups of Manuela watching A Street Car Named Desire, the aggrieved mother is deeply moved with Stella’s character. Manuela’s obsession with Stella is attributed to the parallels she recognises between the stage character and her own experience with Esteban’s father. Manuela’s performance as Stella therefore becomes only natural and it attracts positive feedback precisely because it is heartfelt. Performances are portrayed as tools for catharsis rather than for imposture.

During one stage scene, we watch the new Stella cry intensely from labor pains. The narrative’s focus on that moment of Manuela’s performance can be read as a suggestion that her pain on stage echoes her real life grief and her longing desire to give birth again to her son. In other words, it infers that her performance has become a vehicle for her unexpressed desire to regain her lost son. This is further evidenced by Manuela’s later eagerness to adopt the new little Esteban and take him with her to Madrid. Overall, Todo Sobre Mi Madre's performances can be read as therapeutic means of tapping into one’s true nature and desires. In what Garlinger cautiously refers to as “an identification with women on the part of a gay director” (Garlinger 120), this existence by proxy may well be familiar to Almodóvar. The director has often focused on women who are over represented in his films (D’Lugo, 29, 63). Just as Manuela identifies with Stella and vocalises through Stella, Todo Sobre Mi Madre's director may find personal expression and authenticity through the women in his films.

Resembling Your Dream of Yourself
According to Almodóvar, being true to your own self, having self-integrity is the key to true authenticity. On the surface, Agrado and Lola’s transgender behaviours could be read as shallow. That is, they both recall the stereotypical drag queens that assume their new sexuality through excess, show and appearance. This reading would agree with Spanish film scholars who have often attacked Almodóvar for what they saw in his films as “shallow character development” (D’Lugo 9). But as claimed by Agrado: “A woman is authentic only in so far as she resembles her dream of herself. Todo Sobre Mi Madre indicates that what makes a person real is not their body but their sentiment (Garlinger 123), what is inside of them. Agrado’s stage performance is a camp discourse but far from being a shallow parody of gay culture, it is a strong affirmation of the authenticity of gay sentiments and the authenticity of being gay.

The refreshing and honest Agrado
Agrado is saying that she has physically transformed herself not because she is essentially a fake but because what is inside of her longed to find form and expression. In his discourse on authenticity, Almodóvar also “draws attention to the construction of the body” (Fouz-Hernández & Expósito 159). By highlighting her highly engineered body, Agrado not only alludes to her own construction but also to the construction of all women. All women, not only the men who desire to be them, are more or less subject to highly demanding aesthetic rules. The efforts required to attain feminine ideals render women no less fabricated than the men who desire the female form. By equating her efforts to those of other women, Agrado becomes as authentic as any of them.

Todo Sobre Mi Madre's narrative also indicates that true authenticity is not achieved by merely projecting a cohesive self to others. Rosa’s mum is an example of a person who wishes to project an idea of herself to others and who in fact falls short of this image. As a morally self-righteous, cynical individual, Rosa’s mum scorns her daughter’s sexual affair and refuses to have anything to do with prostitutes or other marginal individuals. For example, she will not suffer a transvestite holding her grandchild, let alone endorse the reality that such a marginal figure is actually the child’s father.

Lola, Rosa and Manuela's common lover
Yet, for all her claims of propriety as mother and grandmother, Rosa’s mum is a deceitful individual. She is an artist who forges work and passes them as real. What makes her inauthentic is her inability to openly acknowledge her own fabrications: Rosa’s mum truly believes that she is a morally upright individual. Yet another way in which the narrative questions her authenticity is in her desire to hide that her grandson is HIV positive. This dissimulation of truth for safeguarding one’s reputation as a proper citizen of the world contrasts sharply with Agrado’s shameless revelation of her own construction. It renders Rosa’s mum inauthentic.

On Nationalism...
In terms of nationalism, the film suggests that authenticity within a person’s background is not lessened by the fluidity of their homes and their migration across different worlds. To illustrate this, Todo Sobre Mi Madre highlights several migrations across opposing worlds. There is Manuela, a downtrodden mother fleeing underground Barcelona to raise a child and establish a respected, professional status in Madrid. There is Manuela’s return to underground Barcelona to find her husband following Esteban’s death. It is followed by another journey to Madrid to raise a substitute son away from his prejudiced grandmother. These migrations illustrate the relative importance of each place in shaping Manuela’s character. Madrid sees Manuela evolve into a self-sufficient career women and mother but Barcelona is the setting where she finds joy and solidarity among friends. The underground world, both on and off the stage, also plays an important part in her personal development including her reconciliation with her husband. Madrid and Barcelona while representing opposite realms nevertheless both contribute to Manuela’s identity. The film’s argument is that people do not just originate from a single place or environment, nor can they claim a single socio economic background that will mark them for life but rather, people can in fact be shaped and evolve in largely disparate worlds each contributing to their character and their authenticity.

This argument on authentic identity across disparate worlds reflects Almodóvar’s journeys both in life and in cinema. Like Manuela, the director emerged from humble beginnings in a Manchegan village which saw him migrate to Caceres in La Mancha and then onto Madrid where he taught himself film making (D’Lugo 15). All these places have inflected upon the director’s way of seeing things and representing them on screen. For example, he claims “My sister had a fashion design shop in Extramadura, and that world stayed with me” (D’Lugo 5). Almodóvar’s migration as director is equally evoked. Where once the stringent moral laws of the 70s made Barcelona’s underground film festivals the few places where Almodóvar could screen his short films (D’ Lugo 15), today the director has arisen “from a marginal figure within a marginal film culture to international prominence” (D’Lugo 4).

Works Consulted:

Todo Sobre Mi Madre. Dir. Pedro Almodóvar, El Deseo S.A., 1999.

D’Lugo, Marvin. Pedro Almodóvar. Springfield, Ill: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Fouz-Hernández, Santiago and Expósito, Alfredo Martínez. Live Flesh: The Male Body in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. London, UK:I.B. Tauris, 2007.

Garlinger, Patrick Paul. All About Agrado, or the Sincerity of Camp in Almodóvar’s Todo Sobre Mi Madre. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 5.1(2004): 117-134.

Triana-Tiribio, Nuria. Journeys of El Deseo Between the Nation and the Transnational in Spanish Cinema. Studies in Hispanic Cinema, 4.3(2007): 151-163.

I wrote this essay as part of a European Film course.

Facebook - Your Meddling Relationship Advisor

2009-11-04T18:06:00.006+10:00

I previously mentioned the lack of diplomacy that Facebook showed in dealing with its Unfriending feature. But this is a little more serious.

Check this. Now Facebook has taken to telling me what to do with my friends. Yes, Mr Facebook here, thinks it knows what's best for me and my relationships.

Recently while viewing my Live Feed I accidentally glanced on the far right only to see a couple of Suggestions, each featuring a photo of one of my friends.
One of them said, "You haven't spoken in a while."
Mark that...
And just below that profound observation was the magic social healing suggestion: "Poke Her!"

???

Poke Her. As if that would solve anything. What an insight. I've poked people in my time so believe me, the Lack of Poking has never been a sign of social ineptness on my part! But now, to be bullied by a PHP application into Poking my friends, no, that's going a little too far.

Another friendly advice told me that I should Suggest some new friends to one of my friends. Facebook was concerned that: "She only has 17 friends".
Obviously Facebook thinks that 17 Friends is something to be ashamed of. Facebook wants everyone to be a social climber and value quantity over quality. Facebook, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Please do not become paranoid about this mysterious Facebook ability to meddle in your private affairs. You have to understand that by joining Facebook and therefore storing your private business in its servers, you take as much a risk as you do joining GMail or any other online service...But be reassured that no human is actively stalking you and monitoring your activities on the Evil-Facebook-Control panel while munching on popcorn.

Well except if you call an auditing programming algorithm a stalker...I've come from an IT background and that algorithm is not difficult to implement, it's just a matter of programmatically auditing particular Wall to Wall interactions between two users during a particular time and introducing rules that alert the Facebook user when those interaction rates are too low. So Facebook evidently has the knowledge to surmise who I interact with most and who I have neglected for a while.

But should it care? And is it really Facebook's business? And while meddling into my private affairs, should it really try to shove it's own narcissistic and superficial social values in my face?
Hell no.

I am not really outraged, only amused.

Because it could be worse.
I could be glancing to the far right and seeing the well meaning suggestion:
"Don't forget to reply to Tania and tell her about your new crush at work."
Now that would be amusing to me but it would drive most non-IT people up the wall. (Get it, the Wall? oh, well I thought it was funny.)

Because like Google Mail which uses content intelligence to display relevant advertisements while you view your emails, I gather that Facebook also has the capability to gather insight about the gist of your Messages...and whether you've replied to them or not!

Anyway I wanted to post this because I think it is very rude to meddle.

Picnic at Hanging Rock - Reviewing the Critiques and the Cult

2009-11-02T16:31:00.017+10:00

This essay examines the cultural and critical reception of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) over the last thirty years. The first part of the analysis draws upon O’Regan’s formations of value (111) together with the cultural and film making policies of the 1970s and 1980s to illustrate how these concerns have informed critical perceptions of Picnic at Hanging Rock. The second part examines new ways of seeing this film. By evaluating a number of critical and cultural sources, this essay explains how Picnic at Hanging Rock is now elevated to cult status in a way that mythologises Australian national identity. Finally, it highlights Picnic at Hanging Rock's uniqueness as an example of Lotman’s “fifth stage” (quoted in O’Regan 222) in cultural transfer.

In terms of O’Regan’s formations of value, there is a trend in 1970s critical reception of Picnic at Hanging Rock to reconfigure Australian film as a credible cinema and emerging artistic elite. This follows from a government driven desire to compete with dominant Hollywood mainstream by either devaluing US productions in terms of their popularity and lack of prestige or moving away from classical US narratives (O’Regan 115). A fine example of this formation of value is provided in McGuiness’ review of Picnic at Hanging Rock. Here, the emphasis is on aesthetics and cinematic sensitivity as a testament to the film’s quality (188). By comparing Weir to Swedish director Bo Widerberg, McGuinness implies that Australian film is capable of reaching European standards. This valorisation positions European cinema as an artistic and prestigious benchmark to aspire to. Meanwhile, it downplays the rival Hollywood cinema. Through repeated focus on the mysterious aspects of the film, McGuinness also highlights the elusive quality of the narrative which is a further departure from US cinematic values. By stressing Picnic at Hanging Rock's favourable reception in national audiences, (189) he evokes the discernment and taste that must evidently exist in Australian audiences and so too, within Australian culture.

Picnic as art and quality
By contrast, Tudor’s formation of value defines Picnic at Hanging Rock in much the same way as a Hollywood film. His formation of value distinguishes the film as a dominant mainstream production within the national cinema. His review criticises Weir’s heavy use of symbols and imagery at the cost of the narrative (212). He scorns the film for an over reliance on style which takes away from any presumed quality. The narrative’s open-endedness and the film’s aimless focus on the unresolved investigation are seen as deliberate. According to Tudor, the director seeks to mystify audiences for commercial value. In his view, the film’s success indicates that the filmmaker must have pandered to national audiences (212). The result is that Picnic at Hanging Rock is envisaged as a box office hit, sustained by a tenuous narrative and laden with bemusing art direction. Tudor expresses a value system that divides Australian national cinema into two types of films whose respective natures emulate either the Hollywood mainstream or the national cinema. In his view, Picnic at Hanging Rock employs “an overly close association with commercial values and the market.” (O’Regan 127)

Miranda, elusive and bemusive
Ian Hunter’s 1970 critical analysis is informed by a yet another formation of value. Hunter’s review is further underpinned by an ideological malaise and a refusal to see the film’s relevance with national reality. His antagonism reflects a national desire to define an Australian identity independent from British influence. Hunter reads Picnic at Hanging Rock as tying Australia to Victorian, class-based and religious ideologies whereby only the palest, most beautiful corseted females like Miranda, can gain entry into another world and where the “worship of beauty and nature in this scheme of things has its roots in the love of suffering and death” (Hunter 192). According to Hunter, perceiving the beauty of Hanging Rock equates to a love of death by sacrifice which is painfully akin to concepts of religious suffering and rigid Victorian discipline. Hunter also qualifies Picnic at Hanging Rock as pro-British and having “nothing to do with this country” (191). His formation of value effectively devalues national cinema because of its “regressive and conservative values” (O’Regan 131).

Picnic as 'conservative' and 'pro-British'
In the 1980s, the desire to qualify national cinema as consisting of worthy and recognisable ‘types’ of films that could directly compete with Hollywood genre films, led several critics to retrospectively ascribe a generic interpretation to Picnic at Hanging Rock. Even today the redefinition of Australian films in terms of their generic conventions is seen as advantageous (Moran & Vieth 2) and improves insight into the richness of Australian cinema. For example, McFarlane interprets Picnic at Hanging Rock as falling into the Horror genre. He associates the beauty of Hanging Rock with the “lurking horror” (62) of the girl’s unexplained disappearance. His conception of landscape as beautiful yet treacherous echoes Gibson’s argument (48) that Australian films have used mise-en-scene to give meaning to the landscape and that this meaning is usually tainted by European fear towards the indomitable Australian land.

The ominous Hanging Rock
A recent analysis of cinematic representations of missing children also lends a horror quality to Picnic at Hanging Rock if only to explain the film as a psychological apparatus that allowed Australians to replay and mourn the unsettling reality of their children’s disappearance in the bush (Wilson 8). Wilson states that films which explore these disturbing issues often “angelise” (10) their missing subjects. Similarly, Miranda is compared to a Boticelli angel by her teacher, Dianne de Poitiers. The film’s lack of resolution is a “mode of respect” (Wilson 4) when dealing with a difficult subject as emotionally horrifying as the death of innocents who have gone missing.

The last fifteen years, has seen more documentary film making and audience interest for docudramas that merge fact with fiction. It follows that Picnic at Hanging Rock has been culturally received as a mystery rather than as a period film (Ebert np). Underlying this cultural reception is a desire for audiences to become more involved in the text and to engage with a speculated truth. The late 1990s, saw a rising cultural focus on the possible true event behind the story. The film was increasingly envisaged as a fictionalised dramatisation of some fateful real event. No longer limiting itself to the open ended narrative which offers no solution regarding the college girls’ disappearance, the new mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock now resides in resolving whether or not its narrative is derived from fact. This is illustrated by the paraphernalia accompanying the film’s 2001 limited edition DVD. Production notes accompanying the DVD, highlighted a possible hidden truth behind the story. During shooting, producer Patricia Lovell is said to have reported “We are having trouble with time here. All our watches seem to be playing up. Mine stopped at 6.00 p.m” (“Picnic at Hanging Rock”). This lends credence to the uncanny magnetic effect that the Hanging Rock site has on the character’s watches or sense of time and suggests a factual background to the story.

With Picnic at Hanging Rock alluding to mystery, national identity was mythologised to its own advantage. The film’s limited edition DVD package was launched by none other than the film’s elusive Miranda, actress Anne Lambert. In a well scripted interview programmed by ABC Television (Murphy np), Anne Lambert alludes to Joan Lindsay’s strange behaviour during shooting, whereby the author proceeded to hug Anne and call her “Miranda”. There is no doubt that recent trends in cultural reception of Picnic at Hanging Rock welcome speculation as to whether Miranda existed and that the author may have known her. This reception serves a cultural purpose because it gives rise to a mystical Australianness replete with literature secrets and natural mysteries. Through this paradigm, it no longer matters that modern Australian circumstance remains elusive and continues to evade cinematic capture since that is after all, the very nature of the mysterious.

Miranda
While Picnic at Hanging Rock's enigma titillated national audiences, the film became seen as a cult film both locally and internationally (Denis np; Le Vern 1). This is due in some part to the mythologising of the Australian landscape. The Hanging Rock location became associated with eerie happenings arousing both curiosity and wonder while inciting tourist visits (Murphy np). One French movie reviewer goes as far as claiming “it is no coincidence that the disappearance takes place on an aboriginal site: this only amplifies the magic of the events; with those who disappear becoming virgins who are sacrificed to ancient gods ¹” (Le Vern 3). These terms enhance Picnic at Hanging Rock as an exotic “Other” to be consumed by those eager to discover the legends and secrets of a remote land.

But it is not only through myth that the film has gained world repute. The international success of director Peter Weir means that Picnic at Hanging Rock is often written about as part of an auteur’s trilogy of work along with The Cars that Ate Paris and The Last Wave. Rayner qualifies Weir’s work as evincing “a stylistic unity in which European and American concepts of auteurism emerge” (12). Weir has earned his mark of auteurship and his films, including Picnic at Hanging Rock are internationally recognised as works of art (Rayner 12).

If there is an Australian film that alludes to Australian cinema as a “disseminator of culture” (quoted in O’Regan 222), it would be Picnic at Hanging Rock. The film has been recognised as a possible inspiration or a model that can inspire Hollywood film. Several film reviews (Le Vern 1; Ebert np; “Death and the Maidens” np) dealing with Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides (1999) favourably allude to Picnic at Hanging Rock either as Coppola’s inspiration or as an audience point of reference. Both films are seen as dealing with a group of young girls' reaction to a repressive institution and their eventual death. Le Vern states that “those who have appreciated the melancholy of Sofia Coppola’s sugary requiem must imperatively discover its ancestor of 25 years” ².

Melancholy in Virgin Suicides
Accordingly, The Virgin Suicides becomes an imitative cinema based on an Australian film. Australian cinema is elevated as an originator of ideas and a forerunner of aesthetic value from which a Hollywood film can be modelled. This is a reversal of Lotman’s fourth stage because it is the Australian film, Picnic at Hanging Rock that becomes a model to be copied and extended elsewhere (O’Regan 221). After thirty years, Picnic at Hanging Rock has evolved from a second stage film concerned with looking into the past (O’Regan 19) to be recognised as an original source of world culture, or fifth stage cinema.

Footnotes:

¹Ce n'est pas hasardeux si la disparition a lieu sur un site aborigène: cela ne fait qu'amplifier la magie des évènements; les disparues devenant des vierges que l'on sacrifie aux anciens dieux.

²Ceux qui ont apprécié la mélancolie du requiem doucereux de Sofia Coppola doivent impérativement découvrir son ancêtre de vingt-cinq ans.

Works Consulted:

“Death and the Maidens”. BFI – Sight and Sound. April 2000. 28 August 2008
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/26/

Denis, Emmanuel. “Pique-Nique a Hanging Rock”. DeVilDead: Le Cinéma Fantastique en DVD. Undated. 4 September 2008 http://www.devildead.com/indexfilm.php3?FilmID=858

Ebert, Roger. “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Rogerebert.com. 2 August 1998. 2 Sep 2008
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980802/REVIEWS08/401010325/1023

Ebert, Roger. “The Virgin Suicides”. Rogerebert.com. 5 May 2000. 28 August 2008
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000505/REVIEWS/5050305/1023

Gibson, Ross. “Camera Natura: Landscape in Australian Feature Film.” Framework 22.3 (1983): 47-51.

Hunter, Ian. “Corsetway to Heaven: Looking Back to Hanging Rock: 1976”. An Australian Film Reader. Eds. Albert Moran and Tom O’Regan. Paddington, NSW: Currency Press, 1985. 190-93.

Le Vern, Romain. “Le Coin du Cinéphile: Pique-Nique a Hanging Rock”. DVDrama. Undated. 4 September 2008 http://www.dvdrama.com/news-27907-le-coin-du-cinephile-pique-nique-a-hanging-rock.php

McFarlane, Brian. “Horror and Suspense”. The New Australian Cinema. Ed. Murray, Scott. West Melbourne, VIC: Nelson, 1980.

McGuinness, P. P. “Peter Weir’s Hauntingly Beautiful Film Makes the Film World Sit Up:1975”. An Australian Film Reader. Eds. Albert Moran and Tom O’Regan. Paddington, NSW: Currency Press, 1985. 188-89.

Moran, Albert and Vieth, Errol. Film in Australia: An Introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Murphy, Justin. “No Picnic at Hanging Rock”. ABC Television. 8 August 2004. 28 August, 2008 http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rewind/txt/s1168554.htm (transcript)

O’Regan, Tom. Australian National Cinema. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.

Picnic at Hanging Rock. Dir. Peter Weir. Picnic Productions, 1975.

“Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Picnic at Hanging Rock Limited Edition. Undated. 2 Sep 2008. http://www.picnicathangingrock.info/weir/weir.html#prodnotes

Rayner, Jonathan. The Films of Peter Weir. London and New York: Cassell, 1998.

Rayner, Jonathan. Contemporary Australian Cinema. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.

The Virgin Suicides. Dir. Sofia Coppola. Paramount Home Videos, 1999.

Tudor, Andrew. “The Aussic Picture Show”. An Australian Film Reader. Eds Albert Moran and Tom O’Regan. Paddington, 1985. 211-14.

Wilson, Emma. Cinema’s Missing Children. London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2003.

I wrote this research article in 2008 as part of an Australian Cinema course.

Mr and Mrs Smith - Spectacle vs Aristotelian Action

2009-11-02T16:24:00.011+10:00

In this essay, I will examine Mr & Mrs Smith as an essentially anti-Aristotelian action film. I will argue that it favours spectacle at the expense of dramatic, Aristotelian action by highlighting its lack of concern for a morally challenging, ethically inspired, character-driven resolution (Leitch 112-113). I will illustrate how this anti-Aristotelian film engages its audiences primarily through spectacles of a sexual nature until it is forced to adopt staged violence to sustain further interest. Finally, drawing from the essential masculinity of female action figures (Leitch 117), I will explore the way Mrs Smith’s positioning in relation to Mr Smith successfully lends credence to her potency as action figure while her combined male-gendered and female-gendered traits create an element of surprise which contributes to the film’s spectacle.

The action in Mr & Mrs Smith is anti-Aristotelian because its characters are not concerned with making decisive actions that would morally distinguish them and which would shift events in the direction of a resolution. In Mr & Mrs Smith, disagreement is a prelude to physical violence rather than debate and as such, the film is “invested in the staging of conflict as spectacle rather than in its resolution” (Leitch 112). The ethical question posed quite early in the narrative is whether a husband or wife, each a professional assassin, would kill their spouse if hired to do so. This is a morally confronting question for two married individuals, one which, coupled with years of mutual secrets should lead to much painful decision making on behalf of each party or at least several heated discussions that would make for engaging dialogue. However as Leitch asserts, today’s action films have little to gain from presenting dialogue to their viewers (112). Instead, the issue of marital miscommunication is hushed to make way for exhibitions of the couple’s expertise as assassins and showcase their highly trained, skilled bodies. Thus follows a series of episodic, fast-paced, physically charged scenes where husband and wife flaunt their perfect bodies and attempt to outrun and outsmart each other.

Mr & Mrs Smith evidently sees spectacle as more important than resolution. The scenes immediately preceding and following the revelation of the couple’s double identity are executed through rapid editing, with repeated attention to stunts, technological know-how and verbal sparring. Apart from a scene where Mrs Smith angrily reviews her wedding video, there is no evidence of deep psychological introspection in either character and as such, their Aristotelian agency towards maturation and transformation is limited. The couple occasionally exchange bitter words which reveals their competitiveness and introduces a comic element but which nevertheless evinces a lack of depth or negotiation given the circumstances. Stunts seem to equate the bodily mastery over space as action, in an attempt to testify again and again for the Smith’s credibility as action figures (Leitch 115).

"Look what I can do!"
For example, Mrs Smith fearlessly escapes from her high tower by gliding across the city on a pulley, a feat which would be remarkable if it did not already recall her descent from the top of a hotel. The film also repeatedly showcases technology not only as “extensions of the body” (118) but also as testament to the film makers’ up-to-date-ness. This technological parade includes heat tracking binoculars, an array of monitors running complex applications, Mr Smith’s impressive guns and even some strategic product placement as Mrs Smith operates a Kodak camera.

In terms of spectacle, Mr & Mrs Smith is also underlined by an exciting, sadomasochistic economy with Mrs Smith being the dangerous, “unconventionally active and aggressive” woman and Mr Smith “as submissive and wanting” (Aaron 80). The suspenseful sexual tension combines with a destructive spectacle and rises to a peak as husband and wife physically trash each other and their house, reaching levels of excitement that eventually and violently consummate them, affording audiences with a pleasurable release. In what seems like a moral dilemma, Mr Smith challenges Mrs Smith to shoot him and for a second, her face distorts under the pain of the decision. But in fact, once the couple is reconciled, their decision not to kill each other, far from having arisen from some real transformation, is assumed to have resulted from the renewed spark in their sexual life. As if it were not enough, the indirect allusion to the actors’ off-screen relationship imbues this make-out scene with added voyeuristic pleasure. It is this sexually tinted spectacle that unravels at the expense of Aristotelian action.

"This is what we get up to offscreen, as well!"
Mr & Mrs Smith remains anti-Aristotelian by concerning itself with the kinaesthetic performances and explosive spectacles that it provides, rather than with its “dramatic unity of action” (Leitch 105). If this were unified Aristotelian action, the Smiths would have combined forces and advanced against their common enemy since the start of the film. Instead, the couple is pitted against each other for a good part of the film. The happy revival of the Smith libido would presage the film’s conclusion were it not for the late introduction of the couple’s common enemy. Having staged yet another reason for more spectacle, where it is the duty of the couple to battle against a third party and protect each other and their marriage, the film does not hesitate to feature Mr and Mrs Smith in further mind blowing, explosive battle scenes. In light of the film’s narrative, the final battle scene in the store seems redundant. Yet it is the most explosive, the loudest and the most destructive on a large scale.

Oh no, the audience wants the set destroyed..what shall we do next?
Rather than succeeding by becoming more masculine, as Leitch would have it (117), Mrs Smith emerges as a potent adversary through her positioning in relation to the male action figure, Mr Smith. In addition, she provides an element surprise that not only disconcerts her male opponent but also challenges viewers’ expectations. Like many of her female hero counterparts, notably Alias and Charlies Angel, Mrs Smith retains her sexually alluring appearance (Coon 2). Mrs Smith’s surprise element resides in the implausibility of her characteristics. On appearance, she remains an icon of glamorous femininity: full, sensual lips; feminine curves; impossibly toned, thin limbs and glorious long hair. But as her dominatrix outfit semiotically suggests early on in the film, Mrs Smith is a powerful female. We have evidence that she is more technically proficient than her husband. When fighting him, she can deliver the punches equally well as take them. We also learn that unlike him, she has no qualms about using physical violence to extract information from a spy hence indicating that she is more aggressive in male-gendered terms. At work, she isn’t far from a bully. The high tower, all-female staff headquarters over which she rules, contrasts sharply with the flat structure in her husband’s rundown office. Far from showing mercy to her own sex, Mrs Smith derogatorily demands a cup of coffee as though to prove she can be more tyrannical than a man when dealing with women. Mr Smith is portrayed as more sentimental than his wife, more eager to make up, and a victim of her ruthless ways. He is seen as suffering from his wife’s cunning, especially when she takes away his backyard artillery stash. In terms of male-gendered personality and mental traits, the text elevates Mrs Smith vis-a-vis her husband. Her relative positioning justifies her credibility as a female locus of action. Yet Mrs Smith’s panoply of seductress remains intact as this is essential for audience pleasure and surprise.

The result is that the text paints Mrs Smith as an unlikely embodiment of seemingly incompatibly gendered features to surprise the viewer at least in the first half of the film. The unravelling of Mrs Smith’s hidden strengths is central to the spectacle. Mr Smith’s uncertainty concerning whether his wife would actually kill him and his foolish demeanour whenever she outsmarts him, contribute to the comical undertones of this spectacle as much as they evoke surprise about Mrs Smith.

This anti-Aristotelian film narrows action to spectacles of the body, technology and sexual intensity. It is prepared to stage violence at opportune moments even when the narrative has run its course. Mr and Mrs Smith are never morally or ethically engaged with their dilemma and fail to demonstrate agency in seeing through their marital problems. Aspects of their characters are only used to emphasise spectacle, with Mrs Smith, in particular, being positioned favourably as a feminine locus of action.

Works Consulted:

Aaron, Michele. Spectatorship: the Power of Looking On. London: Wallflower Press, 2007.

Coon, David Roger. “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: the Selling of Charlie’s Angels and Alias.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 33.1 (2005): 2-11.

King, Geoff. “Spectacle, Narrative, and the Spectacular Hollywood Blockbuster”. Movie Blockbusters. Ed. Julian Stringer. London & New York: Routledge, 2003. 114-126.

Leitch, Thomas. “Aristotle vs. the Action Film”. New Hollywood Violence. Ed. Steven Jay Schneider. Manchester: University Press, 2004. 103-125.

Mr & Mrs Smith. Dir. Doug Liman. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, 2005.

I wrote this critical article in 2007 as part of an Advanced Film Studies course. And by the way, I love a good spectacle.

The End

2009-10-29T20:21:00.003+10:00

Another one of my favourite songs from Emilie Jolie aside from La Chanson du Herisson. It is originally interpreted by Henri Salvador.

Chanson Finale ("Final Song" with my translation)

C'est un peu la fin de notre histoire
Mais surtout ne sors pas ton mouchoir
Dors petite fille dans ton grand lit
Nom Jolie et prénom Emilie
Dors, petite amie dans ton grand lit
Puisqu'il faut bien vivre sa vie

It's slighty the end of our story
But whatever you do, do not pull out your handkerchief
Sleep little girl in your big bed
Surname Jolie and Name, Emilie
Sleep little friend in your big bed
Since one must live one's life.

Nous on reviendra si tu le veux
On est là pour rendre les gens heureux
Même si on existe pas vraiment
Tu peux compter sur nous tout le temps
Dors petite amie dans ton grand lit
Puisqu'il faut bien vivre sa vie...

As for us, we will return if you want it
We are here to make people happy
Even if we do not really exist
You can count on us all the time
Sleep little friend in your big bed
Since one must live one's life...

Faites que le rêve dévore votre vie,
Afin que la vie ne décore pas votre rêve...

Let your dream consume your life,
Such that life may not consume your dream...

New York: The Novel by Edward Rutherfurd

2009-10-26T15:07:00.004+10:00

New York: The Novel, published by Random House

It will be out on 10 November, 2009.

I loved Rutherfurd's Russka and London. Both Edward Rutherfurd and James Michener rank as my top historical novelists. I look up to them and their work has inspired me greatly.

I love being swept away into the dramatic story of family generations, through their passions, conflicts, loves, struggles, genius and indirect relationships with historical figures. I enjoy reading about people's lives while witnessing their city's or country's development as if I were present at that time. It is a wonderful way to time travel and an entertaining way to learn about history.

Rutherfurd, educated in Cambridge and Stanford, is a master at weaving well researched historical fact with enthralling fiction. I just can't wait to get my hands on New York: The Novel. Only two weeks to go!

My top wish for Christmas.

Othello Revisited

2009-10-19T22:49:00.006+10:00

I was in contemplation today about murderers. People who murder other people's relationships. How I despise them.

Usually it arises out of envy or spite. Perhaps their own relationship is in shambles, perhaps they fight all the time with their partner, perhaps they are dissatisfied with their partner for whatever reason. And you, you might have something special and so beautiful. Unlike them, you may have a very happy relationship, perhaps one that has just begun and oh, how they resent that!

Their relationship is over and yours is just starting. They can't stand that.

These people, in the process of venting about their own relationship problems, will gladly talk in nuanced terms to you, contributing sweeping generalisations, albeit, ones they want very persuasive, about: "How All Men are Like This" or, "How All Women are a bit Crazy" or how "Men are All the Same" and my favourite, how "All Women Want the Same Thing" etc...

For such DUMB, petty and may I add, envious individuals, it is not enough that they have identified problems with themselves and their partner, no, they need to generalise these problems to the rest of the population. Suddenly it's your problem too, not just theirs. "Hey mate, All Women are Like This, don't fall in the same trap."
What a selfish, ignorant way to make themselves feel better.

Are they kidding? For many individuals, notably scientists, astrology may seem like bullshit because it reduces people's personalities to 12 star signs, but now it seems that I have to reduce people to just 2 gender categories? So funny!

And with their sweeping remarks, their labeling of genders and their dooming of relationships, including YOURS, there's that delight in creating doubt in the minds of others. Remember when Othello strangled his wife because his friend, Iago, planted seeds of doubt in his mind? Well those 'friends' exist.

You'd think people in happy relationships are strong enough to withstand the attacks of subversive messages about how their "relationship is doomed to fail" or that they should "Watch out for [Insert Generalised Gender Behaviour here]". You'd think most happy couples would simply shrug it off and kindly tell their friend to mind their own business. Or that they'd reply "Well, I'm very happy. We have the best of everything. I guess we're just lucky!!!" You'd be surprised. Sadly, naive, fragile people exist beyond Shakespearean realms.

And so do poisonous Iagos. The very people I despise.

Seriously, what the fuck?

Einstein and the Meaning of Success

2009-10-18T21:32:00.004+10:00

One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. - Albert Einstein

Good old Einstein. Well, he said it.

What is this perfectly ambiguous term we call success anyway? Success in different societies means so many different things. Having many children in some African and Middle Eastern cultures is a form of success. Having a high paying job, a large house and being able to travel regularly for leisure is a symbol of success in most Western societies. Smaller circles also have their own measures. Featuring as a lead in a high grossing film is the first sign of success in Hollywood. Getting a promotion is a sign of success in most organisations.

This idea of success is a pain in the ass. So often I think, it forces us to give away our lives and spend effort on things that we believe are prized by other people, in an attempt to impress them or even just to confirm to ourselves that our life has been well spent. These things we eventually acquire or give ourselves cancers and heart attacks acquiring may have nothing to do with what we truly want. But they are worth pursuing either because advertisers tell us that they are worthwhile, or because our family tell us nothing else will do or because we feel guilt in relation to those self-imposed goals that elude us, or shame in relation to other people, if we do not pursue these aims.

I've had plenty of success.
Well, that depends on what you mean by success.
I've had wealth. I've owned property. I've had boundless travel experiences. I've had a degree of power and responsibility in a well paid job. I've had a stable and happy marriage.
So I suppose in Western terms, I've had plenty of that thing called success.

But I'm learning. Slowly. I think success for me is moments. Moments when I feel free and my own person. Moments when I love or feel loved. Moments when I complete a gym workout and feel fucking awesome about myself. Moments when I find self-expression in an idiotic Facebook status or rave about my obscure ideas in an equally obscure blog called Les Nuits Masquées. Moments when I know I'm going to publish my novel, a creation of my very own that no one else could have written and that has been born of my own mind and no one else's. Moments when I enjoy tasting and experiencing new food. Success for me is being able to tell someone to piss off when they are obviously out of line rather than being servile to them and compromising my own integrity. Success is making my own choices.

I want to call this thing, "contentment", not success.

Contentment for me is those moments when I wake up and recognise that the commonly known concept called success is an elusive, virtual reality. It's a commodity created to wade through existence and obtain some measure of self-satisfaction for our progress in this lifespan. It's true. We fabricate our own reality about what success means because we are doomed to the anxiety of existentialism. We need to fill our lives with some meaning. We need a benchmark without which we fall apart anguished by this overwhelming meaninglessness. Without which we believe we would feel useless. Who wants to 'just live'? No, that would be too frightening. Life must have a purpose. And the only way we know we have reached that purpose is to create a measure, the measure of success.

But life is not about success. It's about enjoyment. And Einstein was right.

Enjoy nature. Enjoy learning. Enjoy creating. Enjoy art. Enjoy helping others. Enjoy dancing. Enjoy sex. Enjoy food, love and healthy competition.

Success comes in those moments.

More More MOR in the Boudoir

2009-10-06T23:12:00.005+10:00

One of the gifts I received on my birthday was a gorgeous set of MOR cosmetics.

I hadn't heard of the MOR brand before and completely fell in love with the exquisite vintage-inspired packaging. But beyond the detailed attention to packaging, I think the products are of excellent quality and smell wonderfully enigmatic. Think, body butter in Onyx Current and lip balm in Lychee Flower.

MOR cosmetics make me feel like a film-noir femme fatale. They're the kind of female tricks you would slide in your silk (or fur?) clutch just before donning a pair of full length black gloves and smearing your lips with violent red lipstick.

Boudoir Envy

I was delighted to learn that MOR is an Australian cosmetics brand launched in 2001. You can be a fan of MOR on Facebook.

So that was one of the many highlight of my birthday this year. Remember this blogger is someone who has only just discovered how to use eyeliner so bear with me. Little discoveries will get me through this damn degree!

All About Eve

2009-10-06T18:00:00.010+10:00

This post is not really about Bette Davis nor her film. I just finished an essay on Almodovar's Todo Sobre Mi Madre and there are still a few camp textual references lingering in my mind. But if you read the post carefully, you may discover why it's all about Eve...

So where was I?

It was my 34th birthday last Friday. On that night, Shane took me to Eves on the River. It was the first time I had been there for dinner and I absolutely loved it. Our table overlooked the gorgeous Teneriffe river walk, the company was delightful as always, and to top it all off, I celebrated by getting drunk on cake. Yay me! Yes, be warned, a mass intake of glucose on a previously empty stomach will often drive Laura to inebriation. Here are a couple of souvenirs from our enchanting evening.

Eves on the River's Braised Beef Cheek

Due to an Aioli addiction, I opted for Fries and Aioli. I also had the Braised Beef Cheek with cauliflower & field mushroom Gratin. I'm a sucker for melt-in-your-mouth tender meats and was not disappointed with my delectable choice. The mushroom was soooo cute! It was as tight and thin as a nori sheet and lay compressed underneath the little bed of cauliflower. Oh, the novelty.

Shane chose the Lamb Shoulder Pie and pommes mousseline & pea puree. Everything was delicious.

Ok, so it's not quite Yatala Pies but still!

After dinner, two lovely waitresses paraded a huge chocolate cake topped with burning sparkles all the way to our table. They sang happy birthday for me and I beamed like a little girl. That sort of surprise has never happened to me before and I must admit that I found it very enjoyable!

Spoilt Brat

La Petite Fille du Troisieme by Christophe

2009-09-26T22:38:00.009+10:00

French singer, Christophe

Ah, Christophe, how I adore your dark side.

The song, "La Petite Fille du Troisieme" (The Little Girl from the Third Floor), is one of my favourites by French singer, Christophe. One could write a script, and yes, make a film from its lyrics.

There's a cold, chaotic effect brought upon by the redundant repetition of certain words in an almost clinical, orderly manner. Since the lyrics are in first person, the main character emerges as a meticulous observer with an almost cynical focus on other people's behavior. There's a scrutiny over details that most people overlook and it hints to the character's attitude and mental preoccupations. So then, it should come as no surprise if that I tell you that this song paints the story of a psychopath, a man who describes his future victims and who evinces a guiltless detachment from his crimes by engaging in culture and refinement, that is, by listening to ballet all day.
The plaintive, romantic quality of Christophe's voice only adds to the character's eeriness.

Veuillez installer Flash Player pour lire la vidéo

Christophe - La petite fille du 3 (1971) sélectionné dans Musique et Clips

La Petite Fille du Troisieme (The Little Girl from the Third Floor)

La petite fille du troisième a toujours
Oui elle a toujours, a toujours, a toujours, a toujours des problèmes
Quand je la vois le matin
Quand elle va prendre son train, oui son train, oui son train
Je prendrais bien sa p'tite main
Je vois tout, j'entends tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien (x2)

The little girl from the 3rd floor, always has
Yes, she always has, always has, always has, always has problems
When I see her in the morning
When she goes to catch her train, yes her train, yes her train
I would [gladly] take her little hand

I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything.
I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything.

La vieille dame du cinquième, elle se prend
Oui elle se prend, elle se prend (x2) pour une cartomancienne
Elle a dit au monsieur, au monsieur du huitième, du huitième (x2)
Qu'il allait mourir demain
Je vois tout, j'entends tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien (x2)

The old lady from the fifth floor, She takes herself
Yes, she takes herself, she takes herself, she takes herself for a fortune teller
She told the gentleman, the gentleman from the eighth floor, the eighth floor, the eighth floor
That he would die tomorrow

I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything.
I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything.

J'habite au rez-d'chaussée et je joue du ballet, du ballet, du ballet
A longueur de journée
Quand on vient me questionner sur la dame du cinquième
Sur la fille du troisième, je réponds sans hésiter :
Je vois tout, j'entends tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien
Je vois tout, j'entends tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien
Je vois tout, j'entends tout, je vois tout, tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien
J'écoute tout, je vois tout, j'entends tout, tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien
J'entends tout, tout tout tout, je vois tout, tout, mais je ne dis jamais rien, rien.

I live on the Ground floor
And I play ballet, ballet, ballet
All day long
When they come to question me about the lady from the fifth floor,
About the girl from the third floor, I reply without hesitation:
I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything.
I see everything, I hear everything
But I never say anything. (Repeat ad nauseum)

Where I've Been

2009-09-13T14:02:00.007+10:00

What I enjoy most about travelling is the 360 degree visual overload which I scramble to capture with those absurd digital contraptions that tourists so often carry along with them. Other aspects I love include cultural immersion which so often involves tasting glorious, yummy food, the history of different places, the wonderous architectures and the beautiful natural scenery. Travel, for me, is systematic invited change. Surprises. It's about the joy of discovering a life that I am not familiar with and that I can learn from and grow from, it's about experiencing different things, living other paradigms and appreciating human difference. I aspire to be in a perpetual state of wonder where I take nothing of the world for granted and where my senses are overwhelmed every single minute. I also travel to have fun and to explore the past.

This is a list of places I've travelled to or lived in. It's nowhere as extensive as some of my friends' lists including Ginny, Cathy and Jacqueline whose broad travel experiences I greatly admire. Overall it makes me happy to see what I've done so far.
I hope to see much more of the world in the future and return to a few places that I enjoyed. I'll update this list regularly in the years to come.

Africa

Senegal
Dakar
Kaolack
Popinguine

Pacific

Australia
Bondi
Brisbane
Broadbeach
Bronte
Burleigh Heads
Caloundra
Canberra
Coogee
Coolum Beach
Fraser Island
Hamilton Island
Hervey Bay
Maleny
Maroochydore
Melbourne
Mooloolaba
Palm Beach
Surfers Paradise
Sydney
Whitsunday Island

New Zealand
Auckland
Dunedin
Fox Glacier
Motueka
Mt Cook Village
Nelson
Paihia
Picton
Queenstown
Wanaka

Society Island (Fr)
Moorea

Asia

China
Badaling (Great Wall)
Baisha
Beijing
Kunming
Lijiang

Indonesia
Jakarata

Japan
Himeji
Kyoto
Nara
Tokyo

Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur

Singapore

Turkey
Istanbul

Europe

Austria
Vienna

Czech Republic
Prague

France
Aix-en-Provence
Ajaccio
Annecy
Avignon
Belfort
Bonifacio
Brest
Carcassonne
Carnac
Colmar
Dijon
Dinan
Etretat
Gordes
Honfleur
Lyon
Marseille
Mont-St-Michel
Montsegur
Nantes
Nimes
Paris
Perpignan
Quiberon
Rouen
Roussillon
Saint-Malo
Sartene
Vannes
Vanves
Versailles

Germany
Freiberg
Heidelberg
Schwartzwald (Black Forest)

Italy
Corniglia
Florence
Manarola
Milan
Monterosso al Mare
Riomaggiore
Rome
San Gimignano
Sardinia
Siena
Vernazza
Volterra

Slovakia
Bratislava

Spain
Barcelona
Cadaques
Cordoba
Figueres
Girona
Granada
Madrid
Ronda
Seville
Toledo

Switzerland
Geneva
Grindelwald
Interlaken
Jungrau
Lucerne

UK
Cambridge
London
Norwich
Peterborough

America

Canada
Banff
Calgary
Jasper
Vancouver
Lake Louise

USA
Los Angeles

Lie Detection Anyone?

2009-09-06T13:54:00.004+10:00

This is a short essay that I wrote as part of a final psychophysiology exam.
The question asked for the pros and cons of using psychophysiology for lie detection in relation to an article on psychophysiological modelling. It was only worth 5% and I got full marks for it.
This is one of my passions. I'm fascinated by Event Related Potentials (ERPs), Electroencephalography (EEG) for the measure of mirror neuron activity, Electromyography (EMG) in the measure of attitudes and in general, I have an interest in any physiological response to psychological events.
I'd love to be able to complete my Honours year in the field of social neuroscience but I'm worried about being away from the workplace for too long. Hopefully in the future...

This essay uses arguments set forward by Cacioppo, Tassinary and Berntson (2007) in relation to psychophysiological relationship to outline the pros and cons of the use of psychophysiological measures in lie detection. In psychophysiology, a polygraph is often used to measure the increase in arousal resulting from lying and eliciting changes in heart rate, blood volume, skin conductance and respiration.

Cacioppo et al. (2007) argue that simply knowing that manipulating a particular element in the psychological domain leads to a particular psychophysiological response does not enable one to infer anything about the former based on observations of the latter. If we look at this in the context of the Guilt Knowledge Test, a subject’s response to a question relating to the crime when the subject is guilty would represent the psychological domain. Meanwhile, any significant rise in the suspect’s skin conductance would represent the psychophysiological response. What Cacioppo et al. argue is that it is not possible to assume with complete certainty that other psychological reasons might not have led to the observed physiological response. In lie detection, the skin conductance changes assumed to characterise the suspect’s increased arousal when they recognise information only a guilty person would be expected to know, may be a psychophysiological outcome resulting from other psychological states. This is one disadvantage of using psychophysiological measures for lie detection. Notably, there is a many to one relationship characterising lie detection. It implies that responses measured by the polygraph could arise from any other psychological state rather than the assumed guilt state. It has been found that some people can manipulate their own breathing, press their toes on the floor or bite their tongue, thus affecting polygraph measures. For example, Honts, Hodes and Raskin (1985) tested the accuracy of the Control Question Test (CQT) and found that guilty persons in a mock-crime experiment could produce enhanced responses to control questions and therefore be classified as innocent.

Using psychophysiological measures for lie detection can be advantageous if the relationship between the suspect’s state and their psychophysiological response can be defined as one-to-one. In this form of relationship described by Cacioppo et al. (2007), only one physiological response predicts a psychological event within a given context. The psychophysiological response becomes known as a marker and its presence is so strictly associated with a particular condition that its presence is more accurately indicative of the presence of this condition. In other words, presence of this marker in lie detection increases the accuracy of the decision about whether or not the suspect is guilty. The measure of event related potentials (ERPs) for lie detection may be the closest thing to this form of relationship. One of these event related potentials, the P300, only occurs where a subject is presented with deviant or interesting information. In the lie detection paradigm, this late P300 ERP can manifest if the subject is presented with information that only a guilty person would recognise. According to Cacioppo et al.’s terms, the presence of the P300 can be construed as a strict marker for suspect recognition of crime related stimuli. In this context, the presence of a P300 in a suspect’s EEG recording can indicate that the stimulus presented was relevant to the guilty person. Conversely, absence of the P300 can indicate that the same stimulus presented was irrelevant to the therefore innocent person. A study by Farwell and Donchin (1991) which measured the P300 response in a fictional spy scenario found that there were no false positives or false negatives and that wherever a decision could be made based on the P300, it was accurate. In a second experiment, target stimuli related to a given person’s offence produced large P300s while stimuli not related to the offence produced only a very small or no P300 at all. Overall, the determinations of this second experiment were 100% correct. It can be concluded that use of ERP measures offers promising results in the accuracy of lie detection making psychophysiological measures advantageous as tools for lie detection.

Another disadvantage of using psychophysiological measures in lie detection is that often, a psychophysiological relationship may be established with a particular measure when in fact this relation is not concomitant. As explained by Cacioppo et al. (2007), a psychophysiological concomitant is where there exists a many-to-one relationship such that a psychophysiological measure correlates with a known psychological state. However, it can be argued that changes in skin conductance thought to manifest when a person is lying may in fact turn out to be non concomitant. Cacioppo et al. indicate that manipulation of the same psychological element in a situation may alter or eliminate the covariation between the psychological and physiological elements because the latter is evoked not only by variations in the psychological element but also by variations in one or more additional factors. In a lie detection scenario, this would be the equivalent of skin conductance changes arising from an additional factor such as fear or anxiety such that the psychological state (guilt/innocence) may be overridden by this additional factor. So where a suspect is feeling anxious about being found guilty when they are in fact innocent, other factors may be at play in evoking the psychophysiological response and this may render the measured response non concomitant.

References
Psychophysiological science: interdisciplinary approaches to classic questions about the mind.(2007). In J. T Cacioppo, L.G. Tassinary & G.G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology, 3rd Edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Emilie Jolie: Le Hérisson - English Translation

2009-09-01T16:15:00.006+10:00

From the age of three to four, I had a turntable with a red plastic case that I'd use to play records all day long. One of my earliest memories is a Philippe Chatel's children musical called "Emilie Jolie" that I'd listen to continuously until I knew the words by heart. I was not gifted with blonde locks and I did not have blue eyes like the lovely Emilie but as with many little French girls, I identified with her.

Emilie is basically this little girl who can't sleep at night because she finds herself all alone while her parents are out and she is terrified of the dark. I could readily identify with that. No sooner were the lights out that I had to fight the horrible products of an overactive imagination.

The narration is in third person with the narrator also directly interacting with Emilie as she flips through this book merging with each page's content into a magical universe. It's similar to Mary Poppins where the children enter into the park after leaping into one of the chalk drawings but in this case, Emilie is both inside the book and outside it, since she can still flip the pages. For each page, she meets fantastic characters each with a story and a personal song.

The first turning point of the story is the meeting with a witch.

"Il y a une sorciere dans cette histoire?" (Is there a witch in this story?) asks Emilie.
"Dans tous les comtes, il y a une sorciere et un prince charmant." (In every tale, there is a witch and a Prince charming) assures the narrator.

The witch's song is one of the highlights of the story. It is sung in the original musical by famous French singer, Françoise Hardy. She laments that she's been cruel and wicked, that being a witch has been to her detriment and she wishes someone could love her so that she could cease being a witch. Interesting psychology going on here and I can tell you that Emilie Jolie is a musical filled with double meanings so that adults along with children can both enjoy it. It's probably as deep as The Little Prince and when it ends, Philippe Chatel's last words have haunted me up to this day:

" Faites que le rêve dévore votre vie, Afin que la vie ne dévore pas votre rêve . "

basically,
Let your dream consume your life.
Such that life may not consume your dream...

It is a beautiful ending because it reminds the main character, Emilie along with every other child, to grow up honouring their dreams and their imagination. As a child, I did not understand the quote very well but as an adult today, I can see how easy it is to forget one's dreams and to let life, adult life with its adult concerns, its materialistic outlook and other "matters of consequence" take precedence over joyful fantasies. I'm determined not to let it.

Personally, I believe you can expect that level of depth from most French children's tales.

After the meeting with the witch there follows a quest to find a Prince Charming who will magically turn the witch into a kind, loving princess. Emilie Jolie must flip each page of her book and encounter one character after another asking each if they have at all seen Prince Charming. Of course none of them have but we are treated to their song nevertheless and learn a little bit about each one of them. Each character's song is well written and most are enjoyable.

My personal favourite as a child and also today, is "La Chanson du hérisson " (The Porcupine's song). Who has not met a porcupine? A depressed person who sees life through a negative lens and who only wants proof that they are worthy of love. It is easy to be rebuffed (prickled?) by their negativity and it often requires courage to overcome their rejecting ways and give them the proof they ache for. This is the lesson that this song teaches.

La Chanson du Hérisson - Lyrics by Philippe Chatel with my English translation

Refrain:
Oh, qu'est-ce qui pique, ce hérisson
Oh, qu'elle est triste sa chanson
Oh, qu'est-ce qui pique, ce hérisson
Oh, qu'elle est triste sa chanson
Chorus:
Oh, how he prickles, this porcupine,
Oh, how sad is his song.
Oh, how he prickles, this porcupine
Oh, how sad is his song.

C'est un hérisson qui piquait, qui piquait
Et qui voulait qu'on l'caresse, resse, resse
On l' caressait pas, pas, pas, pas, pas
Non pas parce qu'il piquait pas, mais mais parce qu'il piquait
It was a porcupine that prickled, that prickled
And who wanted to be caressed,ressed,ressed
Caressed he was not, not, not, not, not
Not because he didn't prickle, but because he prickled

(Repeat Chorus)

Le hérisson:
Quelle est la fée dans ce livre
Qui me donn'ra l'envie d'vivre
Quelle est la petite fille aux yeux bleus
Qui va m'rendre heureux
The Porcupine:
Who is the fairy in this book
Who'll give me the desire t'live
Who is the little girl with the blue eyes
Who'll make me happy

Emilie:
Moi, je ne vois que moi
Il n'y a que moi
Dans ce livre là
Moi, je ne vois que moi
Il n'y a que moi
Dans ce livre là,la
la la la...
Emilie:
Me, I see only me
There is only me
In this book
Me, I see only me
There is only me
In this book - I actually love this part because it has two meanings. In the first instance, Emilie is answering the porcupine's question, acknowledging that she is the only one who can help him. But at the same time, on a broader scale, she expresses her realisation that her book journey is solitary and that everything so far, has been a product of her imagination, or a reflection of herself. I love this.

Le conteur:
Emilie est allée caresser le hérisson !
Narrator:
Emilie has gone to caress the porcupine!

Emilie:
Elle n'est plus triste, cette chanson
J'ai caressé le hérisson
Emilie:
This song is no longer sad
I have caressed the porcupine

Chœurs:
Il n'est plus triste, le hérisson
Elle a caressé la chanson !
Chorus:
He is no longer sad, the porcupine
She has caressed the song! (a bit of kiddish humour there....)

Le conteur:
Mais non, le hérisson
Narrator:
No, [she means] the porcupine...

Chœurs:
Mais non, le hérisson !
Chorus:
No, the porcupine!

Here's the song, in case you want to sing along!

Aquarius

2009-08-31T18:20:00.006+10:00

Aquarius has so often been associated with knowledge, innovation, future technology and in recent times, computer science. For me the icon that comes to mind when I think of Aquarius is that fantastic figure, Astroboy. Quirky... Yes. That's another thing you can say about Aquarians!

My version of Aquarius may be more feminine than Astroboy but there are similarities between the two. I've placed her in a foreign planetary landscape denoting space travel and given her fiery red leather boots that even Astroboy would covet in lieu of his jet-propelled shoes.

This hot lady's boots are like the seven mile boots owned by the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. Aquarius can use them to leap up into space or travel wherever she chooses, leaping seven miles (or seven hundred miles!) with every step. There's really nowhere this pioneer will not go which is just as well because Aquarians enjoy travel and expanding their minds.

Aquarius has just landed and is holding a pack of cards and a knife. Whatever for?

Well it's worth looking at other aspects of this sign. Aquarius is linked with anything new and avant-garde. Natives can be eccentric because they are true visionaries who are not limited by standards and commonalities. They can seem out of touch or aloof to others and their humour is sometimes offbeat. So that explains the knife and the cards which are an odd combination.

Yet there is another explanation...the Aquarian ability to see far into the future well before others can and to implement the new, denote their inherent clairvoyance. Aquarians can see trends before others can and are always one step ahead. This Aquarian lady is in fact a space travelling gypsy. Her fortune telling cards are symbolic of her clairvoyant qualities. Continuing with the gypsy theme, I've given Aquarius dark Iberian features and equipped her with a stabbing knife à la Carmen.

Notice she holds the knife high and points it away, towards the ground. Will she drop it like she does with the cards? Probably. Aquarians are true humanitarians. They usually show tolerance for others and have a deep understanding of the variety in human nature and cultures. I couldn't see my Aquarian lady using that knife.

My lovely gypsy is equipped to roam independently wherever she chooses. She likes to try anything new so I've dressed her up in an unusual fawn cowhide corset and miniskirt with dark red leather straps. That outfit is worthy of a Sergio Leone western don't you think? Overall it ties in perfectly with the Spanish gypsy theme since most of those Spaghetti westerns were filmed in Spain. But I digress...

Generation Gap

2009-08-25T15:49:00.009+10:00

I'm turning 34 this year. According to the Australian female life expectancy I have about 50 more years to go. I wonder what those 50 years have in store for me. I hope it's as exciting as what I've had so far!

I've just realised two things.

The first one is this. When my grandmother turned 34 in 1957, she would have been pregnant with her sixth child. What an incredible feat. Right now, I can hardly imagine myself having one child, let alone six of them! As it turned out, my grandmother had seven children.

My mum (5 years) and uncle (3) - Cambodia, 1954

The second thing I've realised is that when my father was 34, meaning I would have been about a year old, I believe he served a six months jail sentence in Dakar (Senegal). Judging from the appalling conditions in those African cells, this means he was in hell for 6 months. I understand also, that the reason I was sent to France as a baby was that my mum could not cope during this demanding period and my grandmother had to take care of me (for about two years) instead. It was a very difficult time for my parents. They never talk about it. I've been probing them with questions and there is an evasiveness which you can probably imagine. Personally, I think it's a remarkable story and that it deserves a blog post at some stage.

With my pending 34th year, I can not unfortunately claim to have had the experiences that my close relatives had. A Dakar prison cell is worlds away from my stable, secure existence. And my carefree lifestyle is miles apart from the responsibility that my grandmother inherited when she was so much younger than me.

This generation gap has me feeling a tad superficial.

The Search for Intelligence

2009-08-21T16:42:00.003+10:00

I'm not enthused by one of my psychology assignments.

It's worth 20% and requires me to read way too much research material. Only today, I've laboured through an agonising 125 pages across several empirical journals. Based on this material, I will then need to discuss in less than 2000 words, the validity of intelligence tests ('IQ tests') for measuring intelligence.

Boring.

I've already worked on something vaguely similar in first year.

I dearly wish I were given a more interesting topic.
There are so many more interesting aspects of the human mind/brain that need investigation. Empathy. Mirror Neurons... I am more interested in the social neurosciences so this cognitive stuff leaves me cold.

Who cares whether intelligence tests really do measure intelligence or not? Alright, I can appreciate that psychometric tests are often used in the organisational context, especially to recruit ideal resources. But I'm much more interested in the re-emerging focus on personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion etc...) and their effects on work performance rather than the sole contribution of intelligence. Oh, and what about creativity? Creativity is not well correlated with intelligence test results. Why couldn't my essay demand 2000 words on whether or not creativity tests are valid measures of creativity? It would be much more stimulating.

Those intelligence tests may or may not work but I really don't care.
I'd rather work for a humanistic boss than a highly intelligent psychopath anyday.

So this 20% is a killer.

Eyeliner

2009-08-20T19:19:00.007+10:00

It's strange being a woman and realising you haven't been to the hairdresser for 10 months and knowing that this 2008 hairdresser visit was also one year since the previous one...

I also took note that the one and only professional facial I've had in my entire life was a couple of years ago. It was a gift too...I wouldn't have thought of it.
That's not all, I don't do pedicures and manicures.

After applying SPF 15 moisturiser, I take less than 15 minutes to apply the little cosmetics I know of: primer, make-up, blush, lipgloss and very rarely, mascara. Truth is, I've only just learnt about primer this year.

And now I have reached a middle age crisis.
You see, this month, after years of shunning it, I've discovered eyeliner.
Yes, you read right. Eyeliner.
Being a regular contact lens wearer is one of the reason I avoided putting anything on my eyes.
So this eyeliner is quite a revolution for me!

Besides I think it's time I stop relying on my genes and actually start to groom myself.

I want to be made up to look like the gorgeous (and talented) Violet Vex. She recently completed a photo shoot with Mark Greenmantle to advertise for clothing store Voodoo Lulu in Fortitude Valley. Love the make up. Oh, and the clothes!

August Reckonings

2009-08-11T14:57:00.007+10:00

It appears that my July break during which I had planned so many activities has reached an unanticipated end. My Sydney trip was no sooner over that I was suddenly back at uni. How I would have liked to drag the July days and not sleep more than 4 hours per night in order to have more time for personal projects.

Time time time! WHO'S GOT THE TIME????

Disney's Mad Hatter - Try to beat that, Johnny!

In case you are wondering about this magic quote, it is ejaculated by the Mad Hatter in Disney's Alice in Wonderland. I always enjoy that part. For me, it's one of the highlights of surrealistic cinema. Anyway, the next thing you know, Mad Hatter grabs the White rabbit's clock which he promptly diagnoses as being out of tune and attempts to revive it with a healthy dose of condiments, spreading butter, jam and everything else that appears on the non-anniversary party table, well, everything except, and it must be clearly enunciated in case one should ever make that mistake: mustard!! So just remember that.

The report on the novel is that it's going splendidly. That is, I hate it. I've been reassured by a close writer/director/producer friend that this healthy hatred for a manuscript still in its early draft version is actually a very good sign.

Well let's be fair, I do enjoy reading the individual chapters but remain concerned about the momentum (or lack of) between each section. I also feel as though some sentences are far too long to convey action and build up interest. It's not complete and stands now at about 155000 words. I have, however, completed most of the research.

During the last bout of research, I found myself browsing through the Muslim architecture of Southern India during the 1400s. Meanwhile, the last chapter I completed related to the Tea Horse Trade at its peak, in particular, the trade route that linked the tea plantations of Pu'er (Yunnan, China) with Lhasa in Tibet, or Tubo as the Ming called it. As you can probably imagine, I've been around!

My plan is to write a little each week while I complete the last semester of my let's-call-it-what-it-really-is, Psychology degree.

So what else, have I been doing while my blog lay idle? Well the Tran Tien Genealogy is now complete and I'm also halfway through Aquarius. She is the fourth star chick from my Zodiac Girls series. This Mexican looking Gimp vamp shall be posted shortly. Please do not expect a woman carrying a pitcher. Aquarius is an AIR sign for heaven's sake. So no water thank you.

May I squeeze in an irrelevant-revelation?
I'm loving my current university subjects. One of them relates to the design of Psychometric Assessments. I'm learning how to design questionnaires to ensure that they are empirically valid in measuring the construct (e.g. introversion, risk-taking) that they purport to measure and that they are also reliable, that is, yielding consistent results for each participants over time. It follows that one of my great friends this semester is a Statistics application called SPSS. It's a lot of fun!

It must be said, SPSS is almost as fun as Matlab. I remember feeling a surge of excitement whenever I plugged in a formula on the Matlab command line while analysing the trajectory of a ballistic missile for one of my engineering assignments. Back then I really believed that I'd join Nasa and dabble in secret weapons. Little did I know that I actually had a conscience.

Anyway, that's my current SPSS passion. Many psychology students hate it, as much as they hate the Psychological Methodology aspect of the degree. Hang on, have you figured it out? Psychology is not at all about intuition is it? You have to use... wait for it...take a deep breath: maths! In fact, psychological findings are often very counter-intuitive so that without mathematical analysis it would not be possible to demonstrate that what we believe is "common sense" is actually wrong. Tell that to the next person who assures you that "human behavior is common sense and you don't need a scientist to figure it out."
Ahum, ok. Well having snubbed my nose at the infidels, and regained my integrity as a psychology student, I'd now like to re-align this post to what it was originally about...

What was it about?

Well, it's just this. Let's pretend my name is Mrs Smith.

I got a phone call from a Debbie from the Heart Foundation.
I picked up the phone and said hello.

Debbie: Mrs Smith??? Is that you??
Me: Yes. Speaking.
Debbie: Is that you Mrs Smith? (she says, in an alarmed voice bordering on rudeness) You sound really really young...you sound like one of those kids from the...
Me: Err...ok...(gee, why am I not surprised?)

etc... until I apologetically told her that I didn't have enough time to go fundraising in September and hung up.

Let's just say that I had a similar encounter almost 18 months ago when a police officer called to discuss the Police Youth Club. He was much more to the point. He asked to speak with my mother.

Yes, I know, I've already ranted about how young I look for a 33 year old. But this is much worse: I sound young too. Joy!

I'm not going to feign exasperation for having good genes but this voice thing better not work against me at job interviews! Imagine, it's like walking around with a "Don't Take Me Seriously" sign on my forehead. Debbie was sooooooo relaxed talking to me, I bet she'd have put on her best professional voice and donned on white gloves had she been speaking to a deep-throated gentleman on the phone.

Why are people so fake? If you change your speech mannerisms while talking to different people based on their age (social background?), one day you are bound to find embarrassment because of incorrect assumptions. Personally, I much prefer to be humble and respectful as often as I can rather than adopt a power stance based on who I talk to.
You never know who that stranger is. And actually, regardless of who that stranger is, it ought not to determine how respectfully you treat them.

Leo

2009-07-23T09:27:00.005+10:00

Queen Nadia

Happy Birthday to all Leos!

No, that's not me. I do not have a Leo Sun. However my Rising Sign, Moon and Venus were all in Leo at birth. If you are like me and have a strong Leo presence in your birth chart, you may pay heed to this description as well. Rising Sign Leo describes how people see me. Moon in Leo indicates how I react emotionally and Venus in Leo tells me how I behave in love and relationships.

A bit of sunshine never hurt anyone and that's precisely the sort of warmth that Leos are known for, with their enthusiasm and exuberance, everyone wants to bask in the glow of the Leo's sun.

I've placed this character in a desert landscape because it conveys heat and warmth. Leo is fondly placing her arm over her beloved camel, denoting Leo natives' capacity for demonstrative affection. The splendid red outfit works well to grab attention, something Leos don't mind at all.

As for that fierce camel, it's an animal that suitably conveys the pride and dignity that the natives emanate in all they do. Meanwhile, camels also evoke endurance. There is a loyal streak in all well-treated camels, a loyal streak which is grossly undermined. So overall, the camel is a strong symbol of the devoted Leo native and their enduring love.

To add to the regal quality of this character I've made her a haughty queen. Her name is Queen Nadia. This strong lady is on a desert adventure and apart from her Fire sign comrade, daredevil Aries, no one quite matches her thirst for excitement and for the execution of grand projects.

You will notice that Queen Nadia has a sword which only continues my obscene pattern of phallic symbols and doesn't really signify anything in terms of her astral representation except perhaps that you should never cross a Leo.

She's a little bit arrogant in this photo, good for her. She's quite frankly telling you that if you don't measure up, she won't have time for you. Only the best will do for this lady thank you very much.

Tran Tien Muu

2009-07-13T10:43:00.001+10:00

Tran Tien Muu was Tran Tien-Dan's first son.

After obtaining solid results in his studies, he began a mandarin career under the reign on emperor Dong-Khanh who preceded Thanh Thai. He was promoted to Minister of the Interior (the equivalent of the Home Secretary).

In 1891 in the second year of Thanh-Thai's reign, the Director of the Minister's cabinet put forward a petition in his favour in which he praised Tran Tien Muu's qualities of integrity and loyalty and suggested that he be promoted.

In 1894, emperor Thanh-Thai named him Tri-Huyen of Quang-Tri.

The year after, he occupied the same role but this time in Quang-Nam. In 1900, he occupied the same role but this time for the Nghe-An Province.

In 1905, he temporarily became Tri-Phu of An-Son. Then in 1907, emperor Tuy-Tan also gave him the same role.

In the beginning of 1910, emperor Duy-Tan conferred him the title "THI GIANG HOC SY" and ten months later, he names him Chief of the Nghe-An Province. He occupied this position for one year before dying of a brief illness. At his death, he was given the cult name "DOAN LANG TRAN TIEN-MUU".

His wife TA THI-THIEU (1866 - 1939) was the eldest daughter of TA PHOC-BANH, Senior Mandarin of Public Works. She gave Tran Tien Muu ten children.

Six sons including,

TRAN TIEN-DU (1887 - 1907)
-Remained single and died at 20 years of age
TRAN TIEN-THUYEN (1889 - 1928)
-Mandarin in Chief
TRAN TIEN-TRU (1890 - ?)
-Mandarin of Primary Education
TRAN TIEN-THUOC (1892-1967)
-Director of Primary Education in the Province of Quang-Nam
Chief Archivist of the Royal Library of Hue
Father of Phuong Lan my grandmother
TRAN TIEN-NGUYEN-VY (1898 - ?)
-Doctor - Deputee at the National Assembly
TRAN TIEN-TAP (1903 - ? )

Four daughters including,
THI-TUAN (1894 - ?)

Back to Tran Genealogy Index

Le Monde est Stone - English Translation

2009-07-11T22:03:00.003+10:00

I've loved this song since I was 11.
Garou sings it pretty well. But I can't find the female vocals I liked...and no it wasn't Celine Dion's version.
Le Monde est Stone - sung by Garou

Interesting angle on the Garou video clip. I never interpreted the song as relating to a reaction to world conflict and the devastating effect of war. Although it's probably very suited I suppose. Personally, I saw it more as a person's inner struggle to deal with their different outlook on existence, their sense of alienation and feeling out of touch with everything that other people prize. I read it more as a sort of nihilist outlook compounded by a dread for life, a thirst for feeling, perhaps underlined by the accusative "the world is stone", the world is rock hard and unfeeling perhaps. Also read it as having an existentialist theme and a message about the profound meaninglessness of everything. That sort of thing.

One great song that I still very much love.
So here are the publically available French lyrics with my own English translation.

Le Monde est Stone / The World is Stone

J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir

I've a head about to burst
I'd like only to sleep
To stretch myself on the asphalt
And let myself die

Stone
Le monde est stone
Je cherche le soleil
Au milieu de la nuit
J'sais pas si c'est la Terre
Qui tourne à l'envers
Ou bien si c'est moi
Qui m'fait du cinéma
Qui m'fait mon cinéma

Stone
The world is stone
I'm looking for the sun
In the middle of the night
Dunno if it's the Earth
That's spinning in reverse
Or if it's me
Making myself some cinema (expression, actually means: dramatising things)
Making myself my own cinema

J'ai plus envie d'me battre
J'ai plus envie d'courir
Comme tous ces automates
Qui bâtissent des empires
Que le vent peut détruire
Comme des châteaux de cartes

I no longer want to fight,
I no longer want to run,
Like all those automatons
Who build empires
That the wind can destroy
Like castles made of cards

Stone
Le monde est stone
Je cherche le soleil
Au milieu de la nuit

Stone
The world is stone
I'm looking for the sun
In the middle of the night

Laissez moi me débattre
Venez pas m'secourir
Venez plutôt m'abattre
Pour m'empêcher d'souffrir
J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir

Let me struggle (Note: talking to many people)
Don't come and rescue me
But rather, come finish me off
To prevent me from suffering
I've a head about to burst
I'd like only to sleep
To stretch myself on the asphalt
And let myself die.

Tran Tien Dan

2009-07-11T15:05:00.000+10:00

Regent Tran Tien-Thanh's first son, Tran Tien Dan was born in 1850. He was the third child of the regent's first wife, Luong Thi-Thuy.

Tran Tien Dan never learnt about his father's assassination.

His died at the age of 31 in 1881, two years before Regent Tran Tien-Thanh was killed by Thuyet's guards.

Tran Tien-Dan was described as intelligent and of good character. But he was not attracted to a career as a mandarin. This is attributed to the fact that when he began to embark on a career, his country, Vietnam was going through a difficult period. He therefore chose to take care of family matters which his dad, too occupied by affairs of state, had been obliged to neglect.

Tran Tien-Dan's many responsibilities included: maintaining the family house, improving the state of paddyfields and of the other land areas as they were acquired along the years.

He also occupied himself with collecting the consent of family members for the relocation of graves belonging to paternal relatives so that rather than being scattered in various places, they could be gathered around the ancestral tomb of "Thi-To".

Tran Tien Dan married Cung-Huy Thi-Nghi-Nhan (1849 - 1900). She was the fifth daughter of the Judicial Mandarin Cung The-Du who originated from Thanh-hoa. She gave him twelve children.

Five sons:
Tran Tien-Muu -(1868 - 1911)
He became Chief of the Nghe-An Province
Tran Tien Soan
Tran Tien Thuc (1875 - 1925)
Tran Tien Nhuong (1877 - 1917)

Seven daughters, including:
Thi-Yen
Thi-Hy
Thi-Tu - who born in 1879, was honored at the age of 14 to join the Harem of Emperor Thanh-Thai who was of the same age.
At the court, she was renamed Tai Nhan. Several years later, she was authorised to regain the familial home to take care of her mother. I wonder whether this return to the family home had anything to do with Emperor Thanh-Thai being forced to abdicate from the throne after the French declared him insane. Later on, in 1916, Thanh-Thai was sent to exile in the Reunion Island together with his son. Thanh-Thai's own story is fascinating.
Meanwhile, his consort, Tai Nhan had belonged to the Emperor and for this reason could not belong to any other Vietnamese. At the age of 20, she ended up marrying Au Phu Quan, a Chinese businessman from Hainam Island.

Tran Tien Dan was buried in Hue and received the cult name:
TUE GIAN TRAN TIEN-DAN

In the ninth and last year of his reign, the unpopular emperor KHAI-DINH, incidentally also a drug addict, conferred him the title:
PHUNG TIEN DAI-PHU HAN-LAM VIEN THI GIANG

Back to Tran Genealogy Index

Scorpio

2009-06-29T21:30:00.005+10:00

An obsessive, passionate creature looming in the darkness. That's how I saw Scorpio when I first drew her. In her right hand, she holds a cup filled with some dark potion, a poisonous brew no doubt, and you can see that I've added an ominous vapor emanating from the golden cup. That is some lethal drink. This woman means business.

A couple of touches are inspired from her traditional animal, the Scorpion. One of these is a sharp hook, in lieu of pincers, that she uses to scrape at her enemies. Because you should know that Scorpios do remember everything and they will eventually get even whenever it matters. Another scorpion symbol, is a sharp set of blades that dangles from the braid in her auburn hair. It's a sort of weapon, a reminder that Scorpio can defend itself well.

Actually her pendant is also a hook...or is it a crescent Moon? I like to think it's a Moon considering the Moon's influence on mood and that Scorpio is very emotional. But the hook/moon ambiguity highlights the fact that you never really know what Scorpios are feeling, or whether they are feeling it at all, so good are they at hiding their inner emotional turmoil.

The galaxies were not in the picture when I drew this years ago. I added them because to me Scorpio is not all about dark forces and malefic will, that's an absurd stereotype. I think there's a spiritual force in Scorpio that transcends time and space and motivates the native to achieve and focus for years to arrive at their goal. Often this motivation is very intrinsic and does not depend on external rewards or material gain. I think for this reason, Scorpios can be truly spiritual in that they are moved by deep forces within.
So I have her floating like a sort of celestial body removed from all material attachments.

Strangely, no phallic symbol for this one. I've noticed that my other Zodiac girls are sporting swords, orbs, horns and other longish, tubular objects. I don't know why I omitted sexuality symbols in my Scorpio characterisation. After all, isn't Scorpio also about sexual energy? To compensate, I used a lot of black and purples because these colors have been associated with deviancy, the underworld and sexuality. Very appropriate don't you think?