The Culture Enthusiast

I have this weird pattern when it comes to trilogies and I suspect most people do too. It seems impossible to like all three movies in the same way. I usually have no interest in the first movie, then I absolutely love and obsess about the second one, and when the third one comes out I end up having a luke warm reaction to it. It was like this with Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings, and X-Men. I'm pretty sure it will happen again with Batman.

I'm afraid I'll be totally indifferent to The Dark Knight Rises despite being super anxious to watch it. Seriously, if I didn't have a job that's all I would think about.

Unable to wait for the next Batman, I decided to give Batman Begins another chance. Maybe I could still save this trilogy before Gotham is ashes. So I watched it again. It turned out to be not so bad. There were many things that bombed in Begins that Christopher Nolan  improved on Dark Knight.

The first one was the miscasting. I believe there were three big miscasting in Batman Begins: Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul and Tom Wilkinson as Falcone.

Don't get me wrong, I like these three actors and think the last two are actually amazing ones. Let's start with Katie Holmes. I still see her as Joey, not as Batman's love interest. Heck, I don't even see her as an adult yet. I was surprised to learn Christian Bale and her are only four years apart  because she looks so much younger than him!

Fortunately, Maggie Gyllenhaall substitutes her in The Dark Knight. To be quite frank, I'm not so crazy about Maggie Gyllenhaall either, but I believe she did a much better job. At least she looks like a district attorney.

She even looks good next to Aaron Eckhart. Katie Holmes, in that movie about cigarettes, didn't.

Secondly, there's Liam Nesson. When you think of Liam Neeson the words classy, smooth, intellectual, scarves come to mind. The words criminal master mind and ninja do not come to mind.

During this second watch I paid more attention. I actually cared. So I could follow Bruce's background and motivation. But still - young heir goes to China to become a criminal and is picked up in prison by a secret ninja organization whose mastermind is called Ra's al Ghul. Talk about suspension of disbelief.

The last thing that bothered me was Scarecrow. When is he going to have his big break? He is given a fair amount of on-screen time in Batman Begins and only slightly appears in the beginning of The Dark Knight. Will he be on The Dark Knight Rises? Probably not, which is a shame because I would like to see his character become more developed. The scene where he goes all crazy - on his horse, mind you - and Joey, I mean Rachel, scares him away with an eletroshock weapon was just pathethic. This town does deserve a better class of criminals. Nolan (and of course Heath Ledger) sure gave it to us.

This is yet another point where The Dark Knight Rises worries me. Will we have great villains? No one will ever surpass Heath Ledger's Joker, but Bane just seems creepy and I can't really make out what he says sometimes. So, we have Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, a guy with a breathing mask and nothing to say and... Liam Neeson again.

However, I can rest assured that I learned how to like Batman Begins and overlook what bothers me about it - it gets better in the sequel. Morevoer, Nolan did something none of the previous Batman directors seemed to do: think of the Batman movies as whole.

When you watch both movies in sequence you can see the continuity of  supporting characters, of the plot, the development of Batman and Gotham. I would venture to say Nolan knew what he was doing when he began the first of his Batmans. If he didn't, he at least managed to make them cohesive.



Besides, Nolan made the movies not totally dark (Burton's Batmans) and not totally comic (Schumacher's Batmans). He used elements of our own current historic period. In Begins we have a terrorist organization who thinks Gotham has reached total decadence and, therefore, must be destroyed. In Dark Knight, we have Batman abusing people's privacy when he uses their cellphones to locate the Joker. In Rises there are traces of Occupy Wall Street and (the same?) terrorist organizations.

Maybe the last movie of the trilogy won't bomb. All we can do is wait for The Dark Night Rises and stop worrying about Liam Neeson.

Have you seen Batman Begins? Which is your favorite Batman?


Images via  1, 3, 6 

We are all writers here, right? Even if we don't consider ourselves starving artists we still write blog posts or college papers.

With that in mind, I'm introducing a new monthly feature called "Writer's corner". On the last Wednesday of the month I'll post tips on how to write better, interviews with authors, my personal experiences with writing and so on.

For the first Writer's corner, I'd like to begin with a great piece of advice given by author Ira Glass. I read this a couple of months ago and think it is one of the best things an aspiring writer could do (the highlights are mine):

What did you think about Glass' advice? Have you ever tried writing on a deadline?

Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Source

Later on, Jesus appears once more in the middle of the Apostles and this time Saint Thomas is present. Christ tells him to touch His side as he said he would. Embarassed, Saint Thomas refused. Jesus then takes Thomas' hand and puts in His side. In the end, Jesus says "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Saint Thomas answers: "My Lord and my God!"

A little bit of technique

Caravaggio might have had an infamous reputation as a bar brawler, but he sure knew his Bible. Notice Christ's expression. He is not angry or impatient. He looks compassionately at Thomas. 

Saint Thomas, on the other hand, has an expression of utter surprise and shock. I absolutely love this interpretation: "It could also be surprise at the realization that he, too, is also pierced. Indeed, St. Thomas appears to clutch his side as if he becomes aware of a wound at his side as well. And we who wince at this gritty depiction feel a wound at our side as well."1 

All the Apostles head's form a circle, giving movement to the painting: we look at one, then to the other, until we reach Christ's wounded chest.

Isn't the presence and expression of the other Apostles amazing? I mean, they had already seen Christ Ressurected, but it's like they took this opportunity to observe more. Human beings are naturally curious and the Apostles were facing Jesus - the one whose actions, if written down, could fill the whole world with books.2

A little bit of enthusiasm

I always felt sorry for Saint Thomas in this episode. At the same time, I feared I might have done the same thing if I were in his situation. Isn't his attitude even praised nowadays? 

But through Caravaggio's painting, we are reminded that Christ loves and cares about Thomas despite his incredulity. He even came back and made another apparition for his sake and for the sake of all doubting Thomas out there. 

Sources: 

1 Art in the Christian Tradition

2 John 21:25

Here's my acceptance speech (just kidding, these are the award rules).

1. Add the award to your blog. ok

2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you. ok

3. Mention 7 random things about yourself. (see the last part of this post)

4. List the rules. ok

5. Award 15 other bloggers (check below!)

6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog. (ok)

I'm so happy I have a chance to talk about some of my favorite bloggers. Here they are:

Pennsylvania 6-5000: This is my auntie's blog. (hello, nepotism). She's the only person in my family who has a blog so we can always discuss about that.

Dizzy Tea: It was through Dizzy Tea that I discovered Lost Letters, and, because of it, many sweet penpals, so I'll always be thankful to her! Ipek lives in Turkey and I'm always drooling at her fabulous pictures.

The Stone and the Star: When I first came to Clarissa's blog, I saw a tag Louis MacNeice and a post about one of my favorite poems "Archaic Torso of Apollo". Immediatelly I thought "kindred spirits". If you want to read and talk about poetry this is the blog for you. 

Novel Days: Britta's was one of the first book blogs I discovered and I love her book recomendations and her Top Ten lists. I'm only able to make Top five lists... ;( 

Quicker than a Kiss: This blog has versatile written all over it. Devyn manages to successfully mix life style posts with culture posts. Great sense of humour and energy.

My Spare Oom: I am Grace's number one fan! I've been following style blogs for over a year now, and never found one that focused on modesty. In her blog, she also shares bits and pieces of her life and faith. 

Rhyme and Reason: Like me, Isabelle talks about more than one cultural subject: music and literature. She posts great reviews about the musical scene. (I felt so cool typing "musical scene") 

I wish I were British: Well, I wish I were British too. And I wish I were a glamorous archeologist like Méloe. In her blog, you can read about many subjects like books and her cool archeological work.

Pixy: Talking about Englanders, as in people who live in England (how come this is not a real word? we have londoner, right?), there's Robyn and her super cool blog. She blogs about all things culture and is another keen list maker.

Fashion or Fiction: The name says it all. Kelly's blog features outfit and literature posts. How could we not love it?

Rie Reviews: Marie's book blog has lots of reviews, author interviews and all things connected with reading. Her series Bookish Wonders is great.

Sense and Sensibility: Just like my alter ego Marion Cotillard, Candie is French and therefore very chic. She blogs about culture and her life in... Paris!

Brighton Girl: What would we do without our beauty blogs? Catherine covers fashion, beauty products and recipes!

A Stash Addict: I'm learning how to knit and Danielle is a big pro. We can learn so much through her tutorials.

Sweetness itself: Erin's lifestyle blog is so inspirational. As she says, she wants to encourage women who want more out of life. She is very sweet herself and her blog is definitely encouraging many people towards Christian virtues.

And now,  my 7 random things:

1. I'm extremelly shy so sharing info about myself - like I'm doing right now - is a bit hard.

2. After seeing Indiana Jones I wanted to be an archeologist. Then after Apolo 11, I wanted to be an astronaut. Ironically, I never liked movies with teachers - except The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

3. When I was a child, I practiced judo for about a month. I stopped because my judo teacher broke his nose during a competition and I was afraid that could happen to me too.

4. I once saw an episode of Frasier where he said something like: "Niles, you hate Mahler! Besides Maris, who doesn't?" Somehow that called my attention, I decided to listen to Mahler and ended up loving it. You can watch the whole episode here - it's a pretty funny one.

6. We joke around at home that my sister is my CFO. Whenever I want her opinion about something in my blog, I use a line from the movie The Social Network: "Where are you? I need my CFO!". Usually,  after saying this, only my dog comes to the door.

7. I love writing letters. When I was a child I used to write a lot of letters to politicians or local authorities. It always made me feel good to receive a letter adressing  me as "Misses". 

Well, that's it. On Monday, we (me, my CFO and my dog) will resume normal programming. Have a nice weekend!

Othello is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. An interesting topic for reflection is how can the audience side with Iago - the play's wicked villain - and dislike Othello.

I mean, think about it. Iago is not trustworthy. He makes Othello and Roderigo believe he is on their sides, when in reality he is manipulating both.

He doesn’t really act, he spends most of the time convincing people to act in a way that favors his objectives. He lies constantly. He is dubious in his answers and does not take full responsibility for his actions.

Even his motivations are not consistent. At one time it is because he wants Cassio’s position and because Othello has slept with his wife. Later on, it is because Cassio has also slept with his wife. 

Othello, on the other hand, has a high position in Venetian society due to his success in the army. When facing accusations, he seems very calm and in control. He manages to deliver a powerful and eloquent speech to convince the Duke and Brabantio about his fair play towards Desdemona. 

So, how is it possible for us to like Iago and dislike Othello? 

Firstly, on the universal sphere, encompassing viewers of any time or any place, the reason is that men are attracted to the devil. I subscribe to Martin Lings’ interpretation that Iago represents the devil and Othello represents the human soul. He says that “After Iago (…) there is no other single character of whom it can be said that allegorically he stands for the devil.” 

Lings comments on how Iago hates other people’s virtues and how his purpose is to separate him from Desdemona, who according to Lings, represents the Spirit. Not only does Othello refer to him as the devil when trying to kill him, but Iago’s only power is his lies. This is another characteristic of the devil - he has no real power over men, only the one of using lies to convince men to sin. 

As Martin Lings has put it “the devil is always at men’s elbow, bent on leading him astray.” We can see this is the way Iago interacts with all other characters of the play: he cunningly convinces Roderigo over and over to participate in his schemes, he lies to Othello and fabricate false evidence of Desdemona’s betrayal, he convinces Cassio to drink, Emilia to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief. 

So, Iago could be considered attractive in the same way that the devil could be considered attractive. Mankind, since the Original Sin, has felt drawn to the power of evil and to its own power of committing evil deeds. People even try to rationalize the wrong things they are doing the same way Iago does. We convince ourselves that our evil doings are correct.

On the documentary "Making Shakespeare", Germaine Greer states that “we could all be Iago”. Ok, but on a daily basis we are much closer to being Roderigo, the “fallen man as such, impotently and inescapably caught as he is in the devil’s clutches.” 

Secondly, if we look at modern audiences, the reason is that in our particular modern culture evil is considered attractive and it is portrayed in a good way. Many would see Iago as an ambitious character, a bold and courageous non conformist, who used creative methods to achieve what he set out to do. 

While analyzing nihilism in modern pop culture, Thomas Hibbs states that we consider evil “alluring and awesome” . Hollywood and the media cultivate “villains by raising them to the status of celebrities” and the media is fascinated with evil, creating “cult heroes out of murderers”. 

Modern audiences have grown accustomed to interesting evil villains and are suspicious of heroes and of any noble values. So, modern viewers can very easily like Iago and think Othello is a fool that fell prey to a smarter, superior man. 

In a universal sense, people are drawn to evil and characters that embody it. In modern culture, viewers are conditioned to seeing evil as attractive and glamorous and to regard good characters as morons.

Sources:
The Sacred Art of Shakespeare by Martin Lings. Vermont: Inner Traditions International, 1998. pp. 59
Shows about nothing.  Nihilism in Popular Culture from The Exorcist to Seinfeld. by Thomas Hibbs Dallas: Spence Publishing Company, 1999. pp. 110, 119-120


Have you read or watched Othello? What do you think Iago appeal is?

2. Despite painting so much, he still managed to create incredibly different portraits. His arch-rival, English painter Thomas Gainsborough, said of him: "Damn him! How various he is!"

4. He was one of the founders and the first president of the Royal Academy. In his last speech as president, in 1790, he dedicated his speech to his rival Thomas Gainsborough. You can read some of his discourses, where he advocates rigorous academic training and the study of old masters, here

5. He was an intellectual himself and had many friends who were writers and thinkers such as Edmund Burke, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith and Horace Walpole.

Source (3) The Story of Art by E. H. Gombrich p. 355-356

All images via WikiPaintings

What's your favorite painting by Reynolds? Do you like portraits?

Now seriously, 84 Charing Cross Road is a favorite here in the Culture Enthusiast's household.  It is a movie adaptation of a book by the same name. This book consists mostly of letters, so it's amazing that the movie turned out to be so interesting. 

Helene Hanff, played by Anne Bancroft - one of my favorite actresses, is a freelance writer who loves reading, specially reading classics in beautiful old editions. She's pratically me.

The only differences between us are: a) her effortless vintage style  and b) her typewriter - with it she can be much angrier. As she writes, she sips water with lemon and smokes - and also talks to the camera.

After scavanging all New York's book stores for cheap editions of English books, she finds an ad of Marks and Co. - a British book store who specializes in out of print books. She sends them a letter filled with her humour and personality. When she receives her first order and realizes the books are not only incredibly charming but also, after the currency conversion, very cheap, she begins ordering books non-stop.

This is a great scene: she is late, so she is leaving her house in a hurry, she even politelly dismiss her friend over the phone, but when she sees that her parcel has arrived, she hurries back upstairs to open it. I just love her excitement. I also get this excited when I receive parcels or letters from my penpals. I used to think excitement was seeing that little (1) on my Gmail account. No, mail rush is the real deal.

Then she keeps ordering books and this turns into a friendship. The contrast between the funny Helene Hanff (I have a feeling that Anne Bancroft, being married to Mel Brooks and all, might be a little bit like Helene) and the dry and reserved Frank Doel (Anthony Hopkins) is very interesting.

It makes us wonder: how could these two have become friends? Can this happen between perfect strangers who never met? 

Unlike other movies about relationships (About a boy, I'm looking at you), 84 Charing Cross Road manages to be funny and charming but not cheesy or cliché - for starters there are almost no children involved and also no singing.

Let me just make a brief warning. I said this movie was funny. Lately, whenever I make a joke, my sister just politely laughs. When I ask if that's not funny, she answers: "Well, it's 'Paula' funny."

After showing this picture to my sister, she said: "Yeah, it's classic 'Paula' funny." 

Basically, 84 Charing Cross Road is not only for the letter-writing lover, but for the writing lover, the used-books lover, the English-literature lover, the London lover, and the vintage fashion lover. 

Plus, if you are looking for dynamite book recomendations, you can read anything Helene reads. 

Have you seen this movie or read the book? I've read on Imdb a lot of talk about platonic love - did you feel they were in love with each other?
For another movie on letter-writing you can check The Shop Around the Corner!

Deep down, I always knew literature was quite important, not only for me or for professors but for everybody. Eventually I had to come up with an answer to give my friends who studied engineering. As a matter of fact, people from "practical" fields such as engineers, doctors, lawyers could always make us, insecure English majors, feel useless. 

It amazed me to find engineers who actually appreciate literature and understand its importance while at the same time I heard literature professors saying the subject they teach had no real importance whatsoever.

With time, I've learn to find a couple of answers to why we should all study literature or at least read books. (By the way, I'm an advocate of reading good books and not necessarily a lot of books.) But these answers always came from other writers or thinkers.

The other day as I was reading Jane Austen's Persuasion I could find a more personal answer. The characters in this book are much less lovable than in other books such as Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Bottom line: it's difficult - if not impossible - to like them.

There's this one character, Mary, who is just so full of herself. She is so proud and thinks she is so much better than everyone else. And it's not charming pride, like Mr. Darcy's. It is ugly, mediocre and harmful pride.

Now, it's difficult for me to say this but, I saw a little bit of my own thoughts and behaviour in Mary. However, this is Ok. Because I could see that since what Mary does is uncalled for, lame and selfish - if my actions are similar to hers, they are also uncalled for, lame and selfish. With literature, or at least with good literature, we can see what we do as it really is. It's a wake up call. 

This self examination can be done through a lot of different ways, not only literature. But sometimes, even if we are confronted with our own mistakes, we still feel that we are right. It's very difficult to admit that we are wrong, or selfish, or proud. 

Inside our own heads we can always come up with some sort of excuse or justification for acting the way we do. But once you see someone doing the same things you do, suddenly it's not so pretty anymore. There is no excuse for the way Mary acts.

It's a little shocking, but it can produce changes. And I mean, life altering changes.

To tell you the truth, I was quite happy to figure out a more personal explanation to the importance of literature. Maybe if our college professors fail to provide us with a good answer, it's up to us - literature students and lovers, or as my Semantics professor said "language people" - to answer why literature matters. 

What about you? What does literature mean to you?

Lately I've been so in love with collages. I didn't use to like this medium before, probably because I was so suspicious of modern art in general, which led me to be suspicious of contemporary art too. But the more I see collages the more I feel inspired to try making my own!

I've recently discovered the work of Nicola Starr, a Canada based artist who has a series of collages inspired by the book The Catcher in the Rye. I love this book and the collages are amazing. Although their starting point is the book, they can also be appreciated without having read it.