No doubt we were all amused this week by the back-and-forth between Sports Illustrated cover model Yumi Nu and Jordan Peterson.
Continue readingArchive for the Observation Category
‘Sorry, Not Beautiful.’
Posted in Observation with tags body image, diet, Exercise, Jordan Peterson, Naomi Wolff, plus size, Sports Illustrated, The Beauty Myth, Yumi Nu on June 22, 2022 by Jarrod Boyle
Thomas Hardy: Character is Fate in ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’
Posted in Fiction, Observation, Reading with tags Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Donald Farfrae, Michael Henchard, Narcissus, Phillip Pirrip, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy on May 31, 2022 by Jarrod Boyle
‘Character is fate, said Novalis, and Farfrae’s character was just the reverse of Henchard’s, who might not be inaptly described as Faust has been described – as a vehement gloomy being who had quitted the ways of vulgar men without light to guide him on a better way.’
Thomas Hardy,
The Mayor of Casterbridge,
P. 131
While reading The Mayor of Casterbridge this morning, I saw something that I did not like: myself.
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Stolen Focus: Recovering the Sense of Flow
Posted in Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags Bari Weiss, Honestly Podcast, Instagram, Johann Hari, Messenger, Stolen Focus on May 1, 2022 by Jarrod Boyle
I’ve been reading a bit about the effect of the smart phone on the attention span, and I must confess, I recognise a number of Johann Hari’s observations in my own behaviour.
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Brave New World: Beware the Philosopher
Posted in Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory, Reading with tags 1984, Aldous Huxley, Artificial intelligence, Brave New World, George Orwell, Yuval Noah Harari on December 26, 2021 by Jarrod Boyle
“I think Brave New World is the best science fiction book ever, definitely the most prescient. Huxley was writing in the early 1930’s with Stalin and Hitler around, but what he was envisioning was our present.
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The Dark Side of Unconditional Love
Posted in Observation with tags love, unconditional love on April 8, 2021 by Jarrod Boyle
Anyone who has been abused by a family member, or a partner, understands unconditional love.
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Flannery O’Connor Hates You
Posted in Observation, Pretensions toward cultural theory with tags Dante, Flannery O'Connor, Franz Kafka, Huberty Selby Junior, Inferno, The Ramones, Virgil on March 20, 2021 by Jarrod Boyle
I’d never read Flannery O’Connor until lockdown. I’d seen her listed as one of the outstanding writers of the twentieth century, specifically in terms of her short stories. I had time on my hands, so I bought her collected works.
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The Devils – A User’s Guide
Posted in Fiction, Observation, Reading with tags Dostoyevsky, Martin Scorsese, Pyramids, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The Devils on August 26, 2020 by Jarrod Boyle
What’s it about?
What amounts to a terrorist cell in mid-nineteenth century Russia and its effect on a small fictional town of Dostoyevsky’s invention.
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Hitler, By Joachim Fest
Posted in Biography, Observation with tags Adolf Hitler, Anna Karenina, Anthony Roberts, Ian Kershaw, Joachim C. Fest, National Socialist Party, Nazi, Scott Morrison, The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill: A Walk With Destiny on February 18, 2020 by Jarrod Boyle
Is ‘Joker’ the Best Film of 2019?
Posted in Film, Observation, Real Men with tags Anthony Lane, Arthur Fleck, Barack Obama, Batman, Breaking Bad: El Camino, Donald Trump, Gary Glitter, Gotham City, Hitler, Incel, Jesus Christ, Joachim Fest, Joker, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Rock and Roll Part 2, Sam Peckinpah, Sandy Hook School Shooting, Taxi Driver, The Art of the Deal, The King of Comedy, The New Yorker, The Wild Bunch, Thomas Wayne, Vice, Wim Wenders on December 26, 2019 by Jarrod Boyle
“Hitler, as the point of convergence for so many nostalgias, resentments and anxieties, became a historical figure.”
– Joachim Fest, Hitler
In the wake of the Sandy Hook School Shooting in 2012, President Obama gave a press conference during which he beseeched Americans to support the introduction of basic mental health screenings for gun buyers. Continue reading
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Death Symbols
Posted in Observation with tags Apocalypse Now, death symbols, Iraq war, The Things They carried, Vietnam, war on April 30, 2018 by Jarrod Boyle
Above: ‘Punisher’ emblem on RAAF Wedgetail surveillance plane.
“Such symbology… is always ill-considered and implicitly encourages the inculcation of an arrogant hubris.”
Lieutenant General Angus Cameron, chief of defence elect on his decision to ban the use of skulls, crossbones, The Punisher Logo, Grim Reaper and Spartan emblems amongst armed forces.
“We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!”
Colonel Walter Kurtz, Apocalypse Now.
Theme Park at its Darkest 