Another Post From the Bowels of Paper-Writing Hell

For those of you who are just here for the cute cat pictures, here’s some candy for you:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1Qna-Ni3o]

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I am in the midst of paper-writing hell. As though I haven’t already suffered enough? In some ways it’s a lesser circle of hell than my thesis was, because I don’t feel the same kind of pressure, but these are critical papers, and, as Advisor made clear, critical thinking is not exactly my forte (yes, there is a pity pool in hell, and I reserve the right to splash in it as needed, at least for a little bit longer). I am trying to answer this question for my first paper:

In his discussion of “The Central Region,” P. Adams Sitney argues that–despite the autonomy the film grants the image–Snow’s film is, ultimately, a metaphor for consciousness. Making use of Ricoeur’s account of the fundamental aporia between cosmic time and phenomenological time (the time of consciousness), discuss the plausibility of Sitney’s claim. In what way(s) is the specificity of film implicated here?

Michael Snow’s “The Central Region” is 190 minutes–that’s over THREE HOURS, folks–of a pre-programmed camera sweeping over the bare landscape of Quebec’s La Region Centrale. The camera motions are choreographed with excruciating, baroque motions: it begins with the camera pointed straight at the ground, wherein it begins a slow spiral (and I mean SLOW–it takes a full 33 minutes) into the horizon. This is only one of about sixteen different “dances,” all of which are equally painful to watch. The film is accompanied only by a series of beeps that sounds a bit like a phone ringing in the distance, and which made me quite anxious. After about the first hour I stopped anticipating a narrative–really, any narrative would have sufficed–and just surrendered to the pain.

Second paper topic:

Compare Heidegger’s notion about the entanglement between art, artist and artwork with Adorno’s later essay about the art and the arts, which answers Heidegger.

I actually really enjoy Heidegger’s essay “The Origin of the Work of Art,” which describes that entanglement, but I’m much less confident about Adorno. And my ego’s pretty bruised and doesn’t really want to tackle any more essays about art. As sad as I’ve been about the end of grad school, that light at the end of the tunnel is looking better and better.

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current book: see above
current music: I made a little mix that I kind of love. It starts with DJ Shadow’s “Building Steam With a Grain of Salt” and ends with Calexico’s cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and includes two gems by the recently-discovered (by me) Isabelle Antena. I normally never put the same artist twice on the same mix, but she’s worth it.
current socks: now that it’s officially flip-flop weather, I’m not sure what to fill this space with. any suggestions?

south of the loop

Another Post From the Bowels of Paper-Writing Hell