Archive for September, 2007

Dracula’s Castle

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

The Braun Castle, a castle that Vlad the Impaler is said to have spent the night in, is a huge tourist attraction and is currently the subject of a legal dispute (concerning ownership) between a New Yorker and the state of Romania.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7004758.stm

The nature of the dispute (besides involving millions of dollars at stake) is a conflict between the man claiming ownership due to his (patri)lineage to the original owners of the castle and ministers in Romania, who consider the castle which attracts about half a million tourists a year to be a “prized asset.” Why the hell is a castle that was visited ONCE by one of the most brutal dictators ever to have lived the object of such hyped up symbolic value? And why is this dispute happening now, when the original owners were evicted back in World War 2?

A Female President

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Last night, the Daily Show had a segment asking if America is ready for a female president. We’ve only discussed this briefly in class, but Dr. Brooks has mentioned Hillary Clinton being a likely candidate for the presidency because she is rather “manly” or at least un-womanly: she comes off as cold and authoritative, she’s tried to separate herself from her family in the media, and she’s not exactly the definition of nurturing. The start of her career was even in a symbolic role (First Lady) with no actual political duties.

Well, the Daily Show sent out Samantha Bee to “investigate,” and she used it as a chance to parody Sex and the City, which you can watch at this link:

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=103031&ml_collection=&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

First of all, it’s kind of striking that she found a woman who wouldn’t vote for a female president because she wants an authoritative leader, not a nurturer. Which explains why stubbornness beat flip-flopping in 2004. She wants someone with “manly confidence,” and not someone who would take care of people.
The Sex and the City parody allows for the use of print technology as well, even allowing for a closeup of words being written on Bee’s laptop. Granted, it’s a digital device, but isn’t the point of the segment that only manly (symbolic, digital) women are acceptable?
Also, I thought it was interesting how interrelated women and sex were in the segment. Not only is the segment based on Sex and the City, but it featured a cameo by one of the characters, who even uses her signature weapon, the double-entendre. Then we have the discussion of Jimmy Carter’s “man-musk” causing Bee to get pregnant merely by looking at him. Finally, Samantha Bee was splashed with liquid on her face twice, which the description refers to as a facial…which I’ll leave to either good friends or urbandictionary.com to help explain. And the bus advertisement had a sign saying she puts out. Even further, the references to women feeding babies or menstruating (in order to have babies) or even Margaret Thatcher (another manly woman leader) caught pantieless underscore the role of women (according to the segment): reproduction and maternity.

Mostly I just thought it was hilarious.

–Brandon

Superbad

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

I saw some connections to our class through the movie Superbad, which was, in a word, superbad. The premise is two outcast/nerd boys are about to graduate from high school and want to have sex before getting to college. That is literally the premise of the movie (I wouldn’t make up something that bad). Now, the opening scene is of one boy picking up the other to go to school. The boy’s attractive mother comes out to the car and leans over, in a very low-cut shirt, to thank the boy for picking up her son. After they drive away, the boy says to her son something to the effect of “I’m so jealous you got to suck on those.”
Basically, a modern movie about sex begins with a MILF scene.

Secondly, the same boy from above that was checking out his friend’s mom, has what he calls a “problem”: (warning: the clip is really vulgar)

http://www.movieweb.com/video/V07H189fimwEPQ

The boy’s problem was he would draw PENises as a young schoolboy. This shows a connection between writing and the reproductive organ of the father. I interpreted it as he was stuck between phases, as he uses images to represent something very masculine and paternal. This is, of course, open to any criticism or interpretations!

Thoughts about “Magic”

Monday, September 17th, 2007

I was reading article in the NYT this morning about Microsoft and it reminded me of something I wanted you to think about. Have you ever noticed that everything involved in the computer industry — the newest phase of the symbolic — can be divided into two categories…ahem… HARDware and SOFTware.

Now the word in Biblical Hebrew for “penis” is spelled “A-R-M.” Biblical Hebrew does not indicate vowels in writing, so the word is actually pronounced ARUME. The word for “Magic” in Biblical Hebrew is spelled — you guessed it — “A-R-M” and is pronounced AROME. As such, they are basically the same word distinguished by a vowel in pronunciation and spelled the same in wriitng. Kinda like son/sun and Betray-us and Petraeus.

By the way, Petreaus is a Latinate form of the word…ahem…”Peter.” That’s right, “Bush” is relying on his General “Peter” to lead us in the war effort.

Now the basic meaning of “magic” is the ability to change something from one state to another — you know, “now you see it, now you don’t,” all usually accomplished by the touch of a “wand.” The only example of Magic in the Hebrew Bible appears when Moses goes before Pharoh in Egypt and in an attempt to impress him with God’s power performs a magic “trick” for him in which he throws down his “staff” — a long HARD stick — and it becomes a serpent, a long SOFT stick.

Thus the similarity in Biblical Hebrew between the words for Penis and Magic. The penis IS magic: it changes states from soft to hard and hard to soft.

Oh and one more thing on this: the word used to describe the serpent who tempts Eve into eating the “apple” in the Garden of Eden Story — in English it’s usually translated as “Crafty,” but in Hebrew, you guessed it, it’s AROME, i.e. Magical. After all, someone who is “crafty,” is someone who decieves you.

According to Wikipedia, the term “MILF” refers to “A (putative) mother found sexually attractive,” and was first coined in the 1999 film, American Pie, in the phrase: “Dude, that chick’s a MILF!” 1999 also happens to be the year in which the film, The Matrix (the word is Latin for “womb”), appeared.

Certainly the word “matrix” pertains to the Maternal/Imaginary, but so in fact does the title of American Pie, because the title is an abbreviation of the phrase, “As American as Mom and apple pie.”

One last thing: Here’s what Wikipedia says about MILF:
MILF is an acronym that can stand for:
Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim separatist rebel group
MILF, “Mother (or Mom) I’d Like to Fuck”
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, an attraction at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom

That pretty much sums up our world currently: Islamic Terrorism, the desire for the maternal/imaginary, and the “Magic” Kingdom.

As for Monsters, Inc, well the oldest and most common example of a monster is of course the DRAGON.

More Popcorn Please

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Opening this weekend is also a new film entitled Dragon Wars.
Here’s some info about it: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/d_war/

Pass The Popcorn Please

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

I would strongly suggest that you see Eastern Promises, the new film by David Cronenberg, and starring Naomi Watts. For more info on this film, you can look it up on Rotten Tomatoes, a movie link I’ve added to this site under the Blogroll

I just heard an interview with Cronenberg who said that the film is mostly about language, and that it is very Biblical. Hmmmmmm…..

Valley Girls

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Have you ever considered the rather strange “coincidence” that Silicon Valley emerged as the center of the computer industry — thus the center of the symbolic — (because silicon became the primary material used in the production of memory and processing chips) at precisely the same moment that silicon began to be used widely as the primary material for breast implants?

Currently the hot new technology for memory storage — but not for long, as a new technology is on the verge of being introduced — is called “Flash.” That word has frequently been associated with analog cameras, and of course the act of suddenly revealing one’s body to another who has not solicited such a revelation, as in “That creepy guy flashed me.”

Let’s get this party started

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Welcome to the MagicThought blog site for English Honors 390. I’d like all of us to join this site and begin to catalogue and document things in the day to day that strike us as pertinent to uncovering the mysterious workings of the cultural unconscious. Thus the underground tunnel.