analepsis

True Africa

apciv — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:45:11 +0000

From Kai Krause, a map representing the true size of Africa, a continent that is routinely misrepresented on standard Mercator projection maps:

Eurovision 2013

apciv — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:43:24 +0000

I liked Anouk’s “Birds” (Netherlands):

And Greece’s entry was fun. “Alcohol is Free” reminded me a bit of Cafe Tacuba’s “Ingrata“:

Turnitin (HUM303/415/425/470)

apciv — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:33:14 +0000

Turnitin.com should be available to everyone now. If you have difficulty uploading your paper let me know.

Other Fugitives and Other Strangers (HUM470)

apciv — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:57:15 +0000

Other Fugitives and Other Strangers

BY RIGOBERTO GONZÁLEZ

The nightclub’s neon light glows red with anxiety

as I wait on the turning lane. Cars blur past,

their headlights white as charcoal.

I trust each driver not to swerve. I trust each stranger

not to kill me and let me cross

the shadow of his smoky path.

Trust is all I have for patrons at the bar:

one man offers me a line, one man buys the kamikaze,

another drinks it. Yet another wraps his arm

around my waist. I trust him not to harm my body

as much as he expects his body to remain unharmed.

One man asks me to the dance floor, one asks me

to a second drink, another asks me home.

I dance, I drink, I follow.

I can trust a man without clothes.

Naked he conceals no weapons, no threat

but the blood in his erection. His bed unfamiliar,

only temporarily. Pillows without loyalty

absorb the weight of any man, betray

the scent of the men who came before.

I trust a stranger’s tongue to tell me

nothing valuable. It makes no promises

of truth or lies, it doesn’t swear commitments.

The stranger’s hands take their time exploring.

Undisguised, they do not turn to claws or pretend

artistic skill to draw configurations on my flesh. They

are only human hands with fingertips

unsentimental with discoveries, without nostalgia

for what they leave behind. I trust this stranger

not to stay inside me once he enters me.

I trust him to release me from the blame

of pleasure. The pain I exit with no greater

than the loneliness that takes me to the bar.

He says good night, I give him back

those words, taking nothing with me that is his.

The front door shuts behind me, the gravel

driveway ushers me away. The rearview mirror

loses sight of threshold, house, sidewalk, street.

Driving by the nightclub I pass a car

impatient on the turning lane. My hands are cold

and itch to swerve the wheel, to brand

his fender with the fury of my headlights.

But I let this stranger live

to struggle through the heat and sweat

of false affections, anonymous and

borrowed like the glass that washed my prints

to hold another patron’s drink.

Baader-Meinhof.com (HUM425)

apciv — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:31:14 +0000

This could help: http://www.baader-meinhof.com/

Terror Tuesdays (HUM425)

apciv — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:54:41 +0000

Yes, it was a tangent, but you might be interested in a short review of Jeremy Scahill’s Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield:

‘Not long after he was elected president, Barack Obama arranged what senior US officials called “Terror Tuesdays”.

‘On the agenda were “kill lists” — names of individuals whose perceived threat to America’s security made them targets for assassination by unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

‘The kill lists, scrutinised personally by Obama at the weekly meetings, were soon expanded to become what US journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of Dirty Wars, calls a form of “pre-crime” justice where individuals are considered fair game if they met certain life patterns of suspected terrorists.’

see “Drone Strikes” at the UK Guardian

The book has also been adapted as a documentary:

SFSU Email

apciv — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:32:57 +0000

SFSU’s email server has been down for most of the day. This means I’m unable to respond to emails concerning paper topics. Hopefully this situation will be rectified soon.

Narrative Analysis

apciv — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:55:48 +0000

This quick primer on narrative analysis by davesgud could be useful in thinking about your papers. Though some of the terminology used differs from ours, there is a degree of overlap. (ex. HUM425: “code” as an element of semiotic analysis. HUM303/ HUM415: “character” as the basis of analysis.)

Living in the End Times (HUM415)

apciv — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:36:39 +0000

The short doc. I mentioned in class. Zizek on “living in the end times.”

Trollin

apciv — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:49:38 +0000

Ready to get trolled by corporate media my millennial friends? Here you go:

I ripped the image from wonkette.com. Read the article: it’s funny and informative.

http://wonkette.com/515689/point-counterpoint-are-millennials-lazy-entitled-narcissists#more-515689