Bbenzon
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. Intellectually, I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
MY BLOGS
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New Savanna
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 6945 )
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Escape from Flat Earth: J. Hillis Miller and the Evolution of a Critic’s Mind
I am, of course, speaking metaphorically, when I talk of a flat Earth, and, for that matter, when I talk of escape as well. By flat Earth I mean a set of defaul... Read more
Posted on 20 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Variations on a (mono)chromatic Theme
Once again: What does it mean to take a photo? This photograph, believe it or not, is a color photo. I took it in a snowstorm, and that pretty much eliminated... Read more
Posted on 20 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The State of Critical Play, a Blast from the Past
I was trolling through The Valve looking for an old post of mine (which I found) and came across this gem by Miriam Burstein, Critical. Read more
Posted on 19 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
David Brooks on Moral Injury
In the NYTimes: People generally don’t suffer high rates of PTSD after natural disasters. Instead, people suffer from PTSD after moral atrocities. Read more
Posted on 19 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Why I Like This Photo
It's certainly not a "pretty" photo. In fact, the dirty snow being caught in the blade of the snowplow is rather "ugly", no? But I like the contrast between... Read more
Posted on 19 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Tragedy
is the genre through which the playwright and his audience acknowledge and ‘take ownership’ of their unconscious. If Shakespeare hadn’t first written all of... Read more
Posted on 19 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Much Ado About Simulation (Characters as Props)
When I first started posting at The Valve I posted a series on the problem of literary character: Since they ARE fictions, why is it so difficult for us to... Read more
Posted on 18 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Adolph Reed on Selma, the Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Movement
Characteristically, Reed argues in detail and at length. The opening paragraph: Ava Du Vernay’s film Selma has generated yet another wave of mass mediated debat... Read more
Posted on 17 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Who's Being Exploited? Two Comics Masters from the 50s and 60s
There's an interesting running argument at Michael Barrier's joint about whether or not two comic book artists (mostly of) the 1950s were exploited. Read more
Posted on 17 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Analyze This: A Curious Pattern Across Characters in Three Shakespeare Plays
When I first started posting at The Valve I posted a series on the problem of literary character: Since they ARE fictions, why is it so difficult for us to... Read more
Posted on 17 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Public Intellectuals, Through Partisan Review to the Present
Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marl Greif discusses "public intellectuals" through the lens of The Partisan Review, the touchstone of discourse... Read more
Posted on 16 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Notes on Place and Narrative Order
In the course of my current Academica.edu session (about the nature of stories and the discipline of literary criticism) Per Aage Brandt brought my attention... Read more
Posted on 15 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Coupling and Human Community: Miscellaneous Notes on the Fundamental Physical...
Another working paper is available: AARN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2564998 Academia.edu: Read more
Posted on 14 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Psychedelics Are Being Revived
There was a raft of research on psychedelic drugs back in the 1960s, and then it stopped. But researchers are once again getting interested. The New Yorker has... Read more
Posted on 14 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Scientist Vs. Humanist: Dueling Strawmen
I can’t stand it. Woke up this morning, checked in at 3QD and saw a link to Sebastian Normandin, Scientism and Skepticism: A Reply to Steven Pinker. Here we go... Read more
Posted on 13 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Friday Fotos: Red Cabbage
These photographs were taking in the Lafayette Community Learning Garden in Jersey City, NJ, in 2012. Read more
Posted on 13 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Music Genre, Redux: More and More, Bottom Up
David Beer in Berfrois: Now that music genres have been unhitched from the centralised broadcast media, and now genre labels are not ordered through TV, weeklie... Read more
Posted on 13 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
A Note on Mutual Knowledge of and Commentary on Literary Texts
I've been running an Academia.edu Session on my old open letter to Steven Pinker about storytelling and literary criticism. Here's a note I've appended to it. Read more
Posted on 12 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Advice for Tiger Woods: Get Jivometric
As some of you may know, Tiger Woods, one of the finest golfers in the world, is having a rough time. He just shot his worst professional game ever and has take... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Stories Read Many Times Over Change Their Valence
In oral cultures the same stories are told time and again. For every individual there will always be a first time to hear any one story, but in time they all... Read more
Posted on 12 February 2015 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY