Media

I am currently finishing up a paper that I would be giving at a conference, and my partner would be adding and revising it further. It is a paper on audience reception and new media and you can get the abstract here and then scroll down to page 37. You will find it. Of course, you are welcomed to look at all the other abstracts. (:

I am currently reading this book called Representing Women: Myths of Feminity in the Popular Media by Myra Macdonald and it has set me thinking as to how not only how the media portray women to be, but how the women like to portray themselves as. One of the easiest thermometer to use is to visit the various weblogs women (as in that we DO KNOW that they are women, and not men masquerading as one) have published, and read the kind of issues that focusses their attention. Or even how they present their more 'private' spheres for public consumption. I have also been surfing through various websites dedicated to women, both the commercial and semi-commercial sites, and it is interesting to note what they perceive as being matters of concern or import to their female audiences. This could be done by comparing with the sites specifically dedicated to men, or the cultural construction of the male persona. I am currently particularly interested in writing a paper, using feminist theories, to construct the media representation of beauty through the image they endorse with all its trappings (beauty paraphernalia or surgical reconstruction). This of course would require me to surf the net, look at women's magazines, watch ads, and look at ads everywhere (:. Since I am now working on a half finished paper, I might work on this later in August, or Sept.

Googolism, online networks (like Friendsters) and blogs provide a playground for the voyeur in us. It is so easy to stalk people nowadays, n'est-ce pas ?

Ugly Malaysian/Me

OK, need to rant here
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The Ugly Malaysians
1. Fraudulent
2. DIrty
3. Unethical behaviour in everything that they do
4. Parents who breed more ugly Malaysians
5. Getting themselves banned because they can't be trusted

What do Malaysians have to say about being the capital for fraud, illicit trafficking and endless stupidity? On the third count, I daren't say that I am any better, seeing that I am still around and not doing much about that,

The Naive Malaysians
1. Who think that life should be handed on a platter to them.
2. Who whinge and whine but basically refuse to do anything, even when given the opportunity to do so.
3. Who think that building the biggest roti canai or mooncake or penis (oops, I mean KL Tower) is equivalent to being world class.
3. Who think that Bangsar is the epitome of class and good food (this is targetted only at those who knows whom and who I mean).
4. Who think that the worst thing that can ever happen to them is to not get tickets to a big rave or a Britney Spears concert.
5. Who think that everyone is upper-middle class like themselves.
6. Who think everyone is as pedestrian as themselves.
7. Who think they are people to be reckoned with despite being citizens of a tiny country nobody gives two hoots about.
8. Who believe that Malaysia practises democracy.
9. Who wouldn't understand what am I going on about.


Peace

Can a literary critic be an expert on air safety?

I was looking for some works on Beauty by Elaine Scarry and came across this rather interesting article on how the English don has expended herself and her literary skills to decoding Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and air crashes. Read on
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001119mag-scarry.html

Intellectual Mumbo?

Some of you might be aware of this, but to those who are not. Check it out here at Alan Sokal's webpage

The reason why he managed to pull this stunt of so convincingly could be due to the fact that anything goes, as long as you can explain it well. Sort of like those so-called postmodern-dada art tht you see in the Modern Art Museums in the First World countries. One thing about third world countries like Malaysia, because of the fact that most people still value utilitarian concepts or have a strong desire to see something that need not require too much extrapolation (or 'quantum leap') of the mind, stuff like these wouldn't be popular here. Cept among the more pretentious lot, maybe?

Writing and other things

I need to work very hard on my writing. How to write in a style that denotes brevity, clarity and wit. How to grab your attention from the moment you read the first paragraph, the headlines, the subtitles. How to write enticing prose minus the purple, velvet,and the obtuse (obscure, perhaps?). I am thereby embarking on this journey to learn how to read AND write better. Perhaps teaching young teens how to do the same might be the best lesson for myself.

From today onwards, I am going to dedicate myself to the life of honing and polishing the art of writing good prose and poems. Content, style and technique would be the three areas I will be keeping a sharp eye on. Hence, I am joining a writing workshop.

I was planning to go Brazil next month. I managed to get a bit of money to pay for my trip from the organisers but the management of the place I work in refuse to give me any kind of funding, even though I am representing them, not just as a participant, but as a speaker! Nevermind then, their lost. So, I am not going anymore for this round. Maybe the next time, when I am travelling the world. Decided to spend the next 5 months completing a paper, polishing another, write a few reviews,work on my dissertation and read as much poetry as I could.

I think I will be going to Australia instead. For the upcoming Melbourne Arts Festival.

I think I neeed to go to the gym again. Haven't been at it for a month.

I discovered a useful resource for writers-to-be at PlacesForWriters that I would like to share with all of you. This is also for the more experienced and jaded among you.

Btw, after October 17, I am going to be jobless. So if anyone would like to offer me a job that commensurates with my interest and experience, please email me. I prefer temporary positions, though full time ones are also accepted. I am however, only available for employment, in November.

Weblogs and poetry

Today, while discussing a project with my partner, we spoke of a world that is not created by imaginings, but by solid, tangible bric-a-brac and realism. In that, we branched off our discussion into weblogs (Sparked by a glance at a newspaper with a feature on blogs) and the voyeuer's playground. From my own surfing of blogs, I noticed that blogs with photos, artworks and even personal, pedestrian details of the writer's life generate a huge following from friends and strangers alike. One could of course argue that the blog circles are inbred and revolve around a community of people who specialise in patting each other on the back, or taking turns in writing comments on each other's blog, which is true with at least 70% of the blogs you see around, there are many worthy ones started out by individuals that have attracted the attention of new readers and popular following for their content and aesthetics, as opposed to rantings by kids (and adults) about their life, their activities (which are often repetitiously similar) with friends, their incessant partying, getting laid, shopping, bingeing (on food and alcohol) etc etc. Weblogs have been touted as the latest lifestyle gateway, with thousands of them popping all over cyberspace, started by individuals who often have little idea as to what they want to blog, and thus left blank or abandoned after a few inane postings. The question is, should one blog even when one has nothing new to add other than attracting the attention of would-be-stalkers and voyeurs or bored inviduals who surf through easy-to-read blogs out of lack of things to do (or imagination), or should it be limited to individuals who are empowered and who have something actually worth sharing. But then, who is to determine such lines anyway? Arguably, reading weblogs of these many varied individuals sometimes offer a disturbing insight into the cultural, political and ethical precepts of the global, affluent community (they are the ones with the luxury to blog).

On a different note, I read a rather insightful article (interview actually) on an artistic development of a poet which I would like to share with you. While it might not hit you the same way as it did me, it would still make insightful reads to those wanna-be poets out there like myself.
Interview with James Reidel

I was just looking through two Malaysian books (in between reading up on cognitive science, something which I will discuss in later blogs). One is a bibliography of Malaysian Literature in English compiled by Malachi Edwin Vethamani. Unfortunately, this book merely documents a bibliography of works produced by Malaysians in the last century and hence did not add in new works by younger and newer writers. It is also a sad tribute to the state of publishing in Malaysia, especially of English Language publishing, with very few quality works, and most of which have never reached an international audience, with the exception of a notable few like Shirley Lim. Even then, she was never quite a household name. The other book is Petals of Hibiscus, edited by Mohammad A. Quayam, Rosli Talif, and Noritah Omar. While it considers itself to provide a representative anthology of Malaysian Literature in English, which it did succeed in doing to the fair degree, it suffers almost similar fate as the previous bibliographic compilation, which is a lack of quality writings. Despite a stable of talented writers, something is keeping the Malaysian writers from moving into greater limelight and even maturity in their works. Even the few gems here and there speak of a potential that has never quite been reached.


If anyone (especially Malaysian writers) have any thoughts on these, do post your comments. We could perhaps even start a new thread of discussion.