A Serious Man
05 March 2010
Last Saturday at the Hop, I watched A Serious Man—the sixth movie I’ve watched out of the ten nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was a good movie, simply said. I enjoyed the movie even more than Up in the Air—another dark comedy—which was well-written, but unfortunately plagued with obvious moral judgments of its protagonist’s lifestyle. The acting in A Serious Man was definitely the best of all the Best Picture nominees I’ve seen so far. A Serious Man is full of dark, almost absurd humor told on a subtle, even keel. You’ll find the plot quite familiar if you are familiar with the story of Job in the Bible. Larry, the protagonist, is a good, normal, serious man who’s suddenly plagued with troubles at home and at work.
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Let’s Talk about Vaginas
23 February 2010
We don’t like talking about it, and the more we avoid the word, the more power it has over us, to the point where it has become almost taboo: VAGINA.
Posted in UntamedComments (0)
Hol(e)y Truths?
23 February 2010
Once again, angry people are challenging the constitutionality of the federal “Hate Crimes Act.” This time it’s three Michigan ministers and the Michigan chapter president of the American Family Association who allege that the act threatens their right of free speech and religion—essentially, their right to viciously condemn homosexuality.
Posted in National/InternationalComments (0)
Fire Rahm Emanuel
22 February 2010
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called a bunch of liberal activists “retarded” for running ads against Democrats who opposed progressive aspects of healthcare, and the Wall Street Journal of all places, spilled the beans. Now Sarah Palin is upset because her son has Down Syndrome and she wants Rahm Emanuel fired—just this once, I agree with her.
Posted in National/InternationalComments (1)
Leaving Them Out in the Cold
19 February 2010
Dartmouth has been good to me. Sure, I have my gripes about dining plans going up by $200 almost every year—and the likely introduction of the Super-Size Mega Ultimate Green Plan. I have my gripes about the gummed up Blitz terminal keyboards in FoCo. It also annoys me how the registrar here requires that underclassmen stand in line in the chilly early morning to sign up for the classes of their choice. But, overall, these are minor qualms in the grand scheme of things.
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H-Po Lost… For Now
19 February 2010
If ever there were a case for pun making, the events of last week made it pretty convincingly. It was a Frat-zaster. The affront, the outrage, the carefully meted dialogue, mediation and reconciliation (whew, Winter Carnival, unhindered and affirmed)—there was a hint of twisted wonder in it, laying-bare of our values. If only the infamous Giaccone had been a sterner villain! A small spectacle would have become frenzied mobilization, an us-versus-them crusade of the first order.
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Invasion Al Jazeera
19 February 2010
American TV news is famously factious. In this country we have preserved the individual’s right to trust any, all or none of the many domestic, “serious” TV news channels like Fox, MSNBC, and CNN, among others. This gaggle of non-government-funded news reporting affirms, to a degree, our Americanness often at the cost of accuracy and of candid, level-headed discussion of world events. Having backed away from the forefront of international news reporting, today’s America has no unbiased, singularly multi-voiced channel for world news, and we are left then to listen around for one. Seek and ye shall find…
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Afghans Dancing to a Different Beat
19 February 2010
Close your eyes and picture Afghanistan; the one that the media has been obligated to describe to us for the past eight years as we bombed the nation. It’s unbearably hot, of course, like any other Middle Eastern country. Minarets are visible on every horizon. Everyone is Muslim and Arab. What other ethnicity is there in the Islamic world anyways?
Posted in Arts/EntertainmentComments (1)
Which Color is Missing?
19 February 2010
Diversity has been coming up a lot lately. The First Year Forum held a talk on race at Dartmouth recently. A week ago Beta had a student panel called “Branded” on the stereotypes that limit the Dartmouth experience, and my floor had a meeting about floor diversity. And of course, it’s Black History month. It seems like the discussion of diversity is everywhere and everyone has a unique opinion. But just what is diversity, and when have we achieved it?
Posted in National/InternationalComments (0)
Kudun’s Struggle Against China
19 February 2010
Martin Scorsese’s visually stunning film Kundun (1997) depicts the life story of the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, spanning from his discovery as the Buddha of Compassion in 1937 to his exile from Tibet in 1959 due to the violent Chinese invasion. New York Times’ film critic Stephan Holden writes, “[Kundun] unfolds like a sustained hallucination.”
Posted in Arts/EntertainmentComments (0)
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- Issue 11.3
- Protests in the Arab World
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day: 11.1
- Deepwater Horizon: 10.12
- Pride: 10.11
- Dead Aid; Rebuilding Thayer; The End of Blitz; Endangered Languages: 10.10
- It’s Everybody’s Issue: 10.9
- The Vagina Monologues: 10.8
- President Kim, You’re Missing the Point: Issue 10.7
- Disrespecting Our Dartmouth Family: Issue 10.6
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