In Search of Wagner: a preamble

I thought that we’d begin a new ‘Reading’ series, as I’ve not done one in a very long time. After the passing of Gary Banham and seeing the end of his ‘Inter Kant’ blog being updated, I thought about the influential way that his blogging style has been so informative to me, particularly his ongoing commentaries on Kant monographs; his commentaries on Parfit and Ethics, as well as his commentary on ‘A Theory of Justice’. If there’s one thing that exercises philosophical ability is the role of commentary and exegesis, which in turn may be a useful reference for our thoughts later on down the line.

 

I’m going to start on a book that was unknown and new to me. I did not truly realise the breadth of Theodor Adorno’s writing on music beyond individual essay vignettes. The book I wish to review in serial format is Theodor Adorno’s ‘In Search of Wagner’. In this piece I shall have some reflections propaedeutic. This piece primarily reflects on the introduction note written by Adorno and the Verso publication introduction which was written by Slavoj Žižek, which is notably interesting in its own right.

 

Why should we be interested in Wagner? 

 

Let’s start with the question: why should we be interested in this book? I’m no expert in Wagner studies or 19th Century musical history. Žižek’s introduction, and Adorno’s own introduction preface seem a little bit disingenuous to me. Both of them effectively acknowledge that the main subject of this book: the ideological baggage of composer Richard Wagner’s work in a way that prefigures the later cultural tropes and notions of the later 20th Century, particularly when located within the context of class. Adorno acknowledges in the preface how surviving copies of the original work were limited as a consequence of the Second World War, and so a few additional essays were added and some edits made. Adorno also acknowledges that his views had moved on slightly since the original time of writing, and so this book is in a strange way already outdated.

 

Why should we be interested in Wagner? Perhaps Žižek answers this in the most interesting way:

 

In 1995, at a conference on Wagner at Columbia University in New York, after the majority of participants had exceeded each other in the art of unmasking the anti-Semitic and proto-Fascist dimension of Wagner’s art, a member of the public asked a wonderful naive question: ‘So if you all are saying is true, if anti-Semitism is not just Wagner’s private idiosyncracy, but something which concerns the very core of his art, why, then, should we still listen to Wagner today, after the experience of the Holocaust? When we enjoy Wagner’s music, does this stigmatize us with complicity or acquiescence, at least, in the Holocaust? The embarrassed participants – with the honourable exception of one honest fanatical anti-Wagnerite who really meant it, proposing that we stop performing Wagner – replied with confused versions of ‘No, of course we did not mean that, Wagner wrote wonderful music…’ – a totally unconvincing compromise, even worse than the standard aestheticist answer: ‘Wagner as a private person had his defects, but he wrote music of incomparable beauty, and in his art, there is no trace of anti-semitism…’ [...] The battle for Wagner is not over: today, after the exhaustion of the critical-historicist and aestheticist paradigms, it is entering its decisive phase.

 

This thought reflects the uncomfortable tension. To acknowledge a composer whose sign of influence is significant even by those who would oppose him; a composer whose rich chromaticism has taken us musically into directions that we cannot turn back from; whether we like it or not, in terms of harmony; and a composer it seems, who has a deeply troubling set of ideas underlying his work. In Žižek’s essay, the Lacanian goes into detail of how characters such as Mime, or the cultural text of the Ring Cycle alludes to the 19th Century context of a discussion of what at the time had been described as ‘The Jewish Question’. The issue of Wagner’s anti-semitism is a very deep one. Considering that the oft-attributed quote of Adorno that ‘After the Holocaust, poetry is barbaric’, for me the Wagnarian themes of folk-culture revival, mysticism, sentimentality, the place of the bourgeoisie, and big narratives of ‘love’ and ‘death’ are not harmless and isolated cultural phenomena, they are ideological, and subjects for ethical and critical analysis.

 

If there is such a thing as being an Adornian, I would like to think that it is someone who takes a critical view at our mass culture, and sees the ideology that underpins it. Whether that is the misogynist and anti-authority narratives of NWA’s ‘A Bitch iz a Bitch’ or ‘Fuck tha police’, and not seeing these cultural items as anodyne. Culture reflects our sentiments and the better we can be aware of it, the more we can realise that the ways in which culture affects us when we are in our downtime forms of an influential force that affects our decisions which in turn affects consumption, environmental and social behaviours and perhaps even things as high up as ideology. We cannot take the ideologies underlying cultural texts sitting down, we must take it as seriously as say, a speech from a politician or a newspaper headline, as politically and ideologically significant.

 

Who should read this? 

 

I should say that the more I give Adorno a bit of charity and favour, the more I should be aware of the ways reading Adorno may be problematic. A side question to this is: how should we read ‘In Search of Wagner?’ This is a book of interest to critical theorists (which I’m not); maybe sociologists; and more likely Wagner scholars. Adorno writes in a way that is so expansive that one does need to have a good amount of familiarity with a variety of subjects before really engaging with him. It so happens that many of the subjects Adorno appeals to (such as early social theory, German Philosophy and the European tradition of classical music) are not unfamiliar staples to me. Reading Žižek’s introduction makes me understand slightly more the anecdotal ways in which he appeals to cultural references to explain something philosophical. Just as an interesting aside, I am completely astounded at the description of an Eastern European marriage custom to reflect the sexually confused nature of Wagner’s Siegfried character. I’m always amused by Žižek’s anecdotes even if one should be wary of how he uses them (we’ve discussed the topic of Žižek‘paraphrasing in a previous post).

 

In search of Wagner 

 

Žižek points out how long after the publication of these essays in ‘In Search of Wagner’, Adorno’s views slightly softened and he came to appreciate Wagner more. Perhaps there is a general philosophical question here which has come from times ancient: how can we be drawn to something that gives us such an adverse reaction? Back to the likes of Aristotle, Plato and Hume we go to the topic of how it is that we are drawn to tragedy and sad emotions in theatre. Or perhaps to reframe the question in less general terms: can we consider something like Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will to be a great work, knowing how it is an obvious propaganda tool for the Nationalist Socialists of the time.

 

Digging into the cultural dimensions of Wagner is fruitful enough. I must admit I didn’t really understand what Žižek was trying to say about Wagner’s sexually repressive attitudes as it bordered on psychoanalysis and perhaps a perspective too eccentric for me to understand.  When I read this book, I am in search of a view of musical history. I’ve spoken about my performing aspects of being a musician in the past, but in my practicing and performing, and more recent engagements, there is something of a connection between my musical mind and my cultural thoughts. Or I should say the former informs the latter in some ways.

 

Coda: Why read Adorno?

 

I am convinced of the genius of Theodor Adorno’s work. I hold that Adorno’s breadth of work and topics are so wide they cannot be constrained in the ways that they have been, by introductions to critical theory overviews that don’t go into depth, or speaking of the genius in the same breath of his inferior peers like Benjamin or Mercuse; without in some way undermining what is deep and unique about this thinker. I am curious about the internal contradiction I have: of this period of history I have followed an interest in movement of philosophy from Vienna completely different to the Frankfurters. I am also interested in the magician-like way in which Adorno escapes a definition: is Adorno a Marxist? Is Adorno a philosopher? Is Adorno a musicologist? Is Adorno a Sociologist? Is Adorno part of the Frankfurt School? I am interested in the fact that many people call Adorno elitist but also in the same breath admit they cannot understand many of the notions he appeals to. I am attracted to the fact that like Kant, Adorno was not exactly an easy writer to read. Questions like these are in the back of my mind in this exploration. I am in search of a method of doing philosophy. I thinking about what it could mean to be a musical philosopher. I am thinking about how being theoretically minded about culture may be of contemporary relevance. I am in search of Adorno.

Michael

Remembering LucasArts

On April 3rd, one of the consequences of Disney’s takeover of the Lucasfilm empire is that LucasArts, the publisher and developer of games, is going to be shut down. One of the most notable announcements related to this was that the Star Wars: 1313 game project will not continue, and was considered to be the great white hope for the future of Star Wars gaming.

 

Some people have spoken of the non-Star Wars games that Lucasarts was well known for, particularly the way that games such as Secret of Monkey Island or Sam and Max challenged our assumptions about games. I thought I’d give an highlight of the things I really loved about LucasArts that were definitive to my growing up. If LucasArts will no longer continue I will be sympathetic to the fact that some of the later games were sub-par, but I will miss what LucasArts meant for me during my formative years. I thought I’d talk about some of my highlights.

 

Dark Forces/Jedi Knight/the Kyle Katarn games 

 

Whenever one is having a night in with my crew, one of the staples alongside blues-based jamming, ordering unhealthy takeaway and watching bad action movies is to play a first person shooter. One of the cliches I say at this point is ‘guys I should let you know I have motion sickness, but I’m happy to watch you play’. This is the legacy of me playing Dark Forces!

 

Dark Forces was a shooter in a Star Wars setting, addressing stories that were sideways to the main films. I especially liked the original story, and how it created a new situation within a universe that I already knew and loved. Then came Jedi Knight (the Sequel) and this was one of the defining games of my early teens! I absolutely loved the multiplayer and it indulged my fantasy of having lightsaber battles in the most interesting of settings, over walkways with a massive pit underneath. I also was introduced to modding through Jedi Knight. Modding was one of the most awesome things about gaming in the late 90s in my view, plus I learned a few skills from the community. One of my first email addresses was from a server that hosted Jedi Knigth Mods (Massassitemple.net).

 

Then came the sequels to Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast and and Jedi Academy, which are games which had a big impact on my late teens. I absolutely loved the way that those games engaged my imagination, and gave me the satisfying indulgence of being part of a science fiction world. Although in that world most people were trying to kill my almost all of the time. That’s probably not a good life lesson.

 

Rebel Assault and Rebel Assault II 

 

Another couple of games I loved from LucasArts are by objective standards, pretty bad games. Rebel Assault and Rebel Assualt II were my first introductions to PC gaming. Most of my experience had been from console games. What marked the games as significant to me was the ways in which different modes of gaming were within the same game – from flying to first person shooting to differing arcade modes.

 

I loved the way I engaged with the game, and introducing family friends to the game. I would play Rebel Assault II repeatedly, even though I knew how this game on rails would turn out, there was the illusion of real agency in this game that had replayability. Also the 90s were a pretty dull time compared to today, so replaying games was something that was probably a bit more common.

 

X-Wing, Tie Fighter, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, X-Wing Alliance 

 

One of my family friends had a demo on a floppy disk of Tie Fighter. We played it endlessly for the longest time. I was introduced to the X-wing series of games through the later game: X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter. I loved the fact that Tie fighter and XvT was that you could play as the bad guys. I also liked the narratives present in X-Wing and Tie Fighter, and the ‘awards’ system and presence of secondary objectives. I loved learning about flying the spacecraft, where later on in XvT, and X-Wing Alliance, involved an extremely complicated system, like adjusting shields, laser power, targeting system and mapping.

 

The Star Wars flight simulators were a big part of my growing up. They were so monumental to me as say, my musical interests. They introduced a more abstract way of perceiving the world, thinking about memorising keyboard combinations and even the clunky 1990s joystick was a lot of fun. Back in the day, joysticks had this really awkward input plug that my modern laptop would have no hope of using. Ah, the days before USB!

 

I’ll miss the decline of LucasArts, not for what it is now, but for what it was. That’s how I’ll remember LucasArts.

 

Michael

Goodbye Google Reader

In my opinion I think there’s a direct relationship between the discovery of Google Reader and my emergence as a blogger through WordPress. I used Google Reader as a way of collating news, where before I would follow websites individually and constantly have lots of bookmarks.

 

As you might know. Google is shutting down Reader in a few months. I’m very sad. Google Reader is by no understatement, a big part of my life. I find out jobs through RSS feeds, I get podcasts, read news, philosophy blogs, find out about journal articles, watch videos and even follow comedy blogs like wtfpictureisunrelated. The centralisation of my internet browsing in a single place was a great innovation for me. I even made APIs to do things like link it to a mobile phone app, so that when I star a story it will be sent to my phone so I could read it on the train. I’m going to miss GReader and I’m not understating by saying it has been a big part of my modern life.

 

So now what shall I do? I have been reading a couple of ‘here are some alternatives’-type pieces. I might trial other RSS readers, I might separate my podcasts from blogs – get a podcatcher and then use another program for RSS reading. To be honest I feel kind of lost without GReader. That is the impact of a brand’s presence, and Google’s ubiquity. On the other hand I am not entitled to complain as Google Reader was basically a free service. I think the moral of GReader’s closure is that you really can have iconic brands and presence in the internet and social media age. Maybe one day people will be all hipster if they say: ‘I was around during Google Reader’ or ‘I was using it before it was cool’. One of the other things I didn’t realise is how so many other people use it in largely similar ways to me.

 

I just hope they don’t close down Evernote, then my life is seriously borked!

Remembering Gary Banham

Coming home last night, I found out through Philos-L that philosopher and prolific tweeter, Gary Banham (whom I also knew as @Kantian3), died earlier this week.

I thought I’d write a post on how I will remember Banham. I have the unusual distinction of coming to know him not through his philosophical publications in journals, or through universities either as a student or through lit searches. I think he found my blog after I was mentioning something about Black Metal, it came through that Banham was also interested in Kant and I discovered his blog ‘Inter-Kant’.

I think it says something of this day and age when philosophers take to twitter that people of intellectual interests can end up following each other and just as easily switch from discussing reading recommendations or puns based on Kant’s terminology, to retweeting current affairs stories or irreverent pictures.

I will miss seeing the constant stream up 140 character tweets from Banham, which ranged from the serious to the mundane to the ‘I’m not quite sure how to react to this’ -type of tweets. I will miss the extremely wide variety of things he would tweet about. Banham was quite a mover in terms of the International and UK Kantian community. Banham was the editor for the Open-Access journal Kant Studies Online. Banham made a lot of promotion for every article that came to the journal.

Perhaps what I will miss the most about Banham will be the the updates from the blog ‘Inter Kant’. Banham combines the great loves in my life – blogging and philosophy with a Kantian angle, in this blog. Many of Banham’s posts were a rolling commentary on texts such as Rawls’ ‘Theory of Justice’, or responding to critical issues in Kant Interpretation. There were other posts in which Banham made himself quite outspoken on the state of philosophy today. I always considered my blog as an inferior version of what Banham did: used blogging as a platform to discuss issues of Kantian philosophy and other things that may take my fancy (but mostly Kant stuff).

I will miss you Gary Banham, @Kantian3, or as your twitter profile describes: ‘Kantian philosopher and girlish Gay man!’. We at Noumenal Realm will miss you, we will remember you fondly.

Michael (on behalf of Noumenal Realm)

When the BBC disappoints, and Vice Magazine impresses me

Sometimes people speak of how alternative media such as blogs and less paper based news formats speak to the end of journalism and news media as we know it. Sometimes I wonder if the traditional media are doing it themselves.

As many of you might be aware, yesterday announced the passing of Venezuelan Leader Hugo Chavez. I found out mainly through Twitter. I was actually watching BBC news at the time, where the pressing stories in the first hour were the following stories which seem to be of public importance:

• Manchester United going out of the Champion’s league after defeat from Real Madrid and contestable referee decision (in fairness Britain is a country that celebrates football so sports news isn’t completely unmerited)
• Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, informally known in magazines as Wills and Kate, announce gender of their child – erm, so the BBC are quite big on deference, and its true that there is a lot of international public interest (for whatever reason) on this subject – but I would quite prefer this kind of news to be on E!
• Justin Bieber causes outrage by being 2 hours late to performance – parents demand apology – erm – this was seriously considered headline news for television.

It is for this reason that I normally think about looking at other news networks. Al Jazeera for instance, or RT. I’m a little bit tired, annoyed even, at the level of irrelevance at news stories sometimes. I grant that there are lots of things of public importance that are pretty depressing, like the economy, and all the issues that are related to the economy. However those are of great importance to an informed democracy.

Also a good news agenda should introduce stories that we don’t normally think about. With that in mind I have lately been admiring Vice magazine and their website. In  a sense I am desperately shocked that I would ever have to admit this, but I find that the reportage and breadth of topics addressed by Vice magazine to be very enlightening – Vice magazine are often known for a degree of cynicism, having very unusual and sometimes just gross stories, however they then come up with things like ‘calling out the Thigh Gap phenomenon‘ (warning – contains objectification) or their story on the invisible minority of gay Palestinians. I’m currently part of a blog where one of my jobs is to monitor news stories and report on interesting things, I always am in favour of linking to Vice stories, but the very informal writing style, and gratuitous use of words like ‘fuck’ make me think twice about the audience I want to link this to.

 

I have to face it. Vice Magazine are doing a great job, I consider them a good news source in a world where the Guardian puts forward transphobic articles and ignorant commentary from people who basically say ‘I told you so!!1′ about the 2008 GFC without too much awareness of that old thing called ‘post hoc ergo procter hoc’, or when the BBC think news about Justin Bieber and a guy who dresses like Batman is proportionally important. Many Vice reports are outright crass and in fairness the publication doesn’t make a reputation for being too serious. However it says a lot when something like Vice can be cutting edge when it comes to having their ears to the ground on social trends.

 

Sinistre

Things that have kept me busy lately (Early 2013)

I have an apology from Sinistre, he can’t post this week’s blog as its not finished yet.

Sinistre told me that he was writing a blog on ‘geri-action’ movies and was doing a ‘triple review’ of the films ‘Bullet to the Head’, ‘Die Hard 5′ and ‘The Last Stand’ However he has missed the deadline for which it should have been ready, which means I have to give a placeholder blog post on an impromptu short notice basis.

Perhaps I will update you on my life at the moment. I find it so cliche and generic to say that I’ve been busy. The Jesuits used to say always keep busy, but don’t look like you are busy. Unfortunately I am failing to look like I am not busy. I’ve been involved with Transition Town Tooting’s Community Garden project, in particular with a project to network and connect with other community green projects. This has been interesting and I have completed my first visit to Sutton Community Farm. I also created and run the social media for Tooting Community Garden. I am effectively a blogger for Tooting Community Garden as well as Noumenal Realm.

I have also taken up a blogging post with yet another collaboration. As well as working, having job interviews and constantly applying for jobs (CV available on request!), I have also taught myself how to play the Ocarina, and I bought a keyboard instrument called a ‘Melodica’. I have also started a musical collaboration with a few school friends of mine, and through them I am rediscovering my joy of performing as an ensemble musician, plus I am being introduced to appreciate Jazz from one of my ensemble buddies. 

I am also really tired all the time because as a little bit of a lifestyle change which has slowly taken part over the past couple of years but really intensified in more recent months, I am doing a lot of weight training and fitness classes. I know I am surprised too! I think it goes hand in hand with being a fan of comics and nerdy stuff like action films and RPGs that I want to ‘level up’ my fitness in real life. I’ve been using a lot of my spoons lately, but I’d also like to think that I’m having a life where I’m making an impact on other people and enriching my local community, as well as having a bit of fun and a laugh along the way.

As real life stuff has gotten in the way I have had less space to blog about dark and philosophical topics. It’s funny that lately many of my good friends have been busy with other real life things as well which has been a barrier to keeping in regular contact, but each time I’ve heard from them they often start with the phrase ‘maybe its just me getting older but…’.

I was hoping that Antisophie and the gang would pick up the slack, but they seem busy too!I hope that by updating you on my personal life I can highlight how it has given me less time to run Noumenal Realm, as well as keep up the regular posting schedule.

 

Hopefully normal blogging will resume next week

Michael

The Spoon Theory revisited

A few years ago I read an essay which is quite influential, about a person’s explanation for dealing with chronic fatigue. It is endearingly referred to as ‘The Spoon Theory’, I recommend reading it. Go on, I’ll wait.

I’ve thought about this idea of the Spoon theory, having a limited but quantifiable amount of energy, or attention or time to dedicate to all the things you want to do. Some days you can do more, others you might do less, on more other days still you might do less. Much of my life seems to be fragmented across so many different circles and interests. There’s my training partner friend who I have lately been doing a lot of weight training with; there’s my badminton buddies (which includes my brother) who lately fill my phone with irrelevant Whatsapp messages (which I check about every 6 hours and find 200 messages); there’s the garden group that I’m involved with and that’s just off the top of my head of the kinds of things taking my time at the moment.

Whatever people consider as their spoons, there’s only so much one can handle in a day. I’ve been thinking about this in a large variety of contexts.

Reading

I read quite a bit, however I’m about 3 weeks behind on my comics and the pile builds up. I like to read in my spare time, and at the moment academic reading and blog writing is not a paying job (my CV is available on request by the way!). I have a lot of books that I have planned to read and often the pile grows even more whenever Librivox releases a new volume of Hume’s History of England, or when the next bit of Aquinas’ Summa Theologica comes out. I estimate that I’ll probably read all the things I have currently listed by the time I’m in my late 40s. Which is a little bit depressing. Then there are days when I’m just too tired to read. Learning is about finding out about old knowledge, and keeping your ear to the ground about new patterns and things going on. I’m struggling to do both, and the Theory of Spoons is very relevant to me. I do miss the old days when I would sit and read Kant for 10 hours straight and write 20,000 words in notes. It’s nice to idealise the past. Especially when it involved longer hair.

Fun activities

One of the things I learned from Spoon theory is that sometimes you need to keep your spoons for other things. This involves saying no to some opportunities. Sometimes I get book reviews or I’m asked to look at manuscripts or essays (also, my fees are available on request!) but I must turn them down as I have other things that have earmarked my time. Sometimes I hear about gigs that I would really love to go to, or a new activity that I’d like to do. In the background of the metaphorical spoons in my not so metaphorical hand, I must think about balancing my resolution to try new things and expand myself, against what i can find I am able to do in terms of my time, and my energy. The spoons have been helpful to me, although in this context it is within a wider context.

Adopting new behaviours

In the past I’ve talked a little about my scheduling system, and how I’ve set it in a way where I review behaviours and whether they are useful to keep patterns or to amend or delete how I do things. One thing that often surprises me is how many people think that I am ahead of the curve in terms of technology, apps or certain trends. In honesty I really am not, and I consider myself a bit of a luddite.

I’ve had numerous conversations with people about the kinds of apps we use as part of our everyday life, and whether they are for things like leisure or more helpful tools that keep records, remind one of impending meetings or how much they want to run today. One of the most general responses I’ve heard is that they only have a certain amount of attention and things like mobile phone apps, or another social networking website oriented around their interest in say, making ships in bottles is just not for them right now because all of their time is already full up with commitments from elsewhere.

We are in an age where so many things can demand our time, whether its serious, career relevant, personally fulfilling or frivolous. I’m reminded of Adorno’s essay on hobbies and how the notion of the hobby is disparaging and effectively supports the status quo. There’s so many fun and important things to do but such little time and ability. I realise the tension between adopting new behaviours or trying out new things when there are so many other objects in our inventory of life to deal with. It also makes it all the more special when we break routine. I am beginning to realise the role of the spoons when developing new habits or trying something new, as well as how our ‘spoons’ can be a barrier.

Concluding

On reflection I find the spoon metaphor very useful. It does a lot of work and the more I’ve thought about it in my life the more it has been useful in framing my time management and activities, as well as my limitations. To put it in terms of David Lewis’ Modal Realism thesis: it does a lot of work to justify its worth as a theory.

Highlights and lowlights of the Star Wars universe

Some of you may have heard the news earlier this week that Disney bought the rights to Lucas Films and effectively the Star Wars franchise. When I saw this announcement it came to me as no surprise, as Disney already own Marvel and owning another franchise is good business sense, especially one with a continual income. However what came to a surprise to me was that they may create a new set of films, which are not based on the Expanded Universe (EU) plotlines but something entirely new.

My first thought was: how are you going to get the old actors together? Mark Hamill would make a very old Luke Skywalker and Harrison Ford would probably demand a ridiculous salary, how hard would it be to get Carrie Fisher back into acting after her effective retirement from health concerns? At an educated guess, the next films could be made as full CGI, or about a different set of characters entirely. There has been some success at both of these within the Star Wars Franchise.

Many people feel that this decision on the part of Disney is a threat to the precious memories of what Star Wars represented to them, or that this is a move that goes into obvious exploitation for consumers. Well, if you have seen the game Star Wars Kinect, or the Mr. Potato Head or Transformer crossover toys, or even the Lego Star Wars games (which themselves form a trilogy), you might think the Star Wars Franchise has already jumped the shark when it comes to naked profit motivation.

So for this post instead of taking you down that argument of ‘is the Disney deal a bad or good thing?’ I thought I would talk about five highlights and five low-lights of the Star Wars Franchise. I will not include the Trilogies, their special Editions or the 1999-2005 Trilogy in these lists.

Highlights

1. Heir to the Empire – This book by Timothy Zahn began a lore and an opportunity to create new stories within the Star Wars Universe. It is certainly true that this wasn’t the first attempt of a story outside of the films (see Splinter of the Minds Eye, Droids tv series), but this was notable in that it had a degree of original development from an already established story to create characters who stood on their own beyond the films, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and corrupted clone Jedi Joorus C’Boath.  Also from a personal perspective, this book among other star wars novels, such as the Truce at Bakura inspired my love of reading when I was a child and teenager.
2. Shadows of the Empire – This was a novel by Steve Perry, which became a video game, the game even had a soundtrack, a couple of comics, and created characters (Xizor, Dash Rendar) that were very notable and totally different to the already established Star Wars film characters. Back in 1996, Shadows was described as a multi-media (such a dated phrase!) experience, which in terms of consumption presented lots of ways that people could spend money to enjoy Star Wars. The story was essentially a side-ways look at the events going on in between Episode V and VI, with an original story which involved underground crime lords, genuine sexual tension (to think I read it at 10 years old!) and exciting moments of action. I still have fond memories of playing the game.
3. Dark Empire I and II – My favourite Star Wars Character is Palpatine, and when I heard about the 2nd trilogy during the mid 1990s I always imagined there would be some scene where I would finally get to see how truly powerful and skilled with a lightsaber he would be. I was quite satisfied by Iain McDiarmid’s performance in Revenge of the Sith, however it couldn’t really compare with the depiction of Palpatine as a youthful clone who defeated Luke Skywalker in the comic series Dark Empire I and II (with a third part Empire’s End). In this story, Palpatine inexplicably comes back to life after his demise in the Death Star II, and not only does he come back with a bang, he seduces Skywalker to the Dark Side of the force, starts a massive planetary conflict with the ‘World Devastators’ and it looked very bad for the good guys! Dark Horse did an amazing job in the 1990s with the stories that they made within the folklore of the Star Wars films. An honourable mention goes to the comic series Crimson Empire I and II, which I heard has a recent third part.
4. Star Wars: Clone Wars (not to be confused with: Star Wars: The Clone Wars). This 2003-2005 animated series consisted of episodes which lasted from about 3 minutes to 20 minutes in length, they were little vignette pieces that introduced the period of time between Episode II and III, depicting the Clone Wars. What I really loved about this series was the artwork by Gendy Tartakovsky, who also worked on Dexter’s Lab (another 1990s staple of my youth [ahh, nostalgia! I’m so sad to be a grown up]). Tartakovsky’s series explored the war from different perspectives, and for the first time we really take the view of the faceless Clone Troopers (who eventually become the Stormtroopers of the original trilogy). Some of the episodes I remember with much fondness, such as the introduction of the elite ARC troopers, the introduction of Durge the invincible bounty hunter and the kidnap of Chancellor Palpatine in the second season, which truly shows both the duplicity of Palpatine’s character as well as the genuine fright that the Jedi had of General Greivous. The second series of Tartakovsky’s series truly captured the darkness of the Clone Wars, in terms of the inevitable betrayal of the clones against the Jedi, and Anakin Skywalker’s flirtation with the dark side.
5. Holonet News. Back in 2001 or so there was an alternate reality narrative depicting what was essentially the news channels that existed in the Star Wars universe, presented as if it were a website presenting news. This had a lot of parallels to the media of the time, where online news was but an emerging thing: the Star Wars universe pointed out the ways in which we consume media through their alternate reality, there were big political stories; cover-ups that were obvious; weather reports and bizarre news, as we have bizarre news stories that get popularity. Eventually the news network was shut down because of the Clone Wars (coinciding with the release of Episode 2) and showed one of those blanket ‘we are experiencing technical difficulties’-type placards instead of regular holonet news. The most notable thing about it was the insignia of the ‘Grand Republic’ that was brandished on the ‘technical difficulties’ page: It was the Imperial insignia! In a way this was a political statement of its time, and not just this, but it showed the ways in which viral campaigns (before that was even a term) can be used to garner attention and be artistic as well.

Low-lights

1. Star Wars Holiday Special – if you don’t know what this is, please don’t look it up. It is an example of how not to do expanded universe.
2. Star Wars product placements. Recently Lucasfilm has allowed advertisers such as Comet, Vodafone and maybe some others, to use Star Wars characters and intellectual property as a prop for advertising their products, and to me that really undermines the kind of value I would attribute to someone like Yoda, the wise sage who appears world weary in Empire Strikes Back; to be advertising about 3G Tariffs and free texts is the meaning of ‘sell-out’ to me.
3. Star Wars ‘crossover’ moments: Call me a purist, but I can’t take Darth Vader as Mr. Potato head very seriously. Darth Vader is a character who was once a good man consumed by his own hatred and desire to find immortality, and his suit is a metaphorical and literal symbol of his own imprisonment by his rage. I don’t think a baked potato really captures those aspects too well. Also, its a bit of a morbid thing to advertise to children, however it does make me realise that Darth Vader not as a potato is a bit of a morbid thing to market to children anyway.  There are other instances of crossover: Star Wars characters dancing to disco classics and 2010s pop hits. Can you imagine Lando Calrissian dancing to songs in the carbon freezing chamber where he betrayed his friends and compromised his personal values to save his commercial ventures to find ultimately that the deal he made had been altered? When you put these SW characters in different situations it takes away from what they represented. There’s sort of a parallel here with how so many Christians when I was on pilgrimage at Fatima, purchased anything that had images of Jesus or Mary on it, and it bordered on the Obscene.
4. Star Wars: Rebel Assault  (Series). I have mixed feelings about this one. There are aspects of the gameplay which in a technical sense I very much enjoyed. Rebel Assault had great graphics for its time, and Rebel Assault II was a very playable game, even though it was a rail shooter. I have fond memories of playing it as a game. As a story? It was damned awful! Awful Awful Awful. It didn’t keep to the canon, basically erasing the presence of Luke Skywalker (and Star Wars is nothing without him, even Darth Vader is defined by his relation to Luke Skywalker). In a way the story makes no sense within the canon so should just be ignored.
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Mainly the sequel). I liked some of this game, but it went on for too long. There was a lot that was good about the game and I accept this is a contraversial ‘low-light’. It had a really interesting story, a great gaming interface and a lot of potential, but that was the problem. This game had a lot of potential and hype that it didn’t live up to. The sequel also tried too hard. The first game was too long for me, and ironically the second game was too short. Okay, so maybe I picked this as a fifth choice because Super Bombad racing was too obvious. I loved the DLC but it didnt give enough for a modern game.

Post written by Michael, but the list came from conversations with Antisophie, Sinistre and Sinistre*

On Watching the The Olympics (or Olympians and gender)

As with most other people, I think I am feeling a bit deflated following the close of the Olympic games. For me there were many things that I found exciting about it, the attention paid to a wide variety of sports, which included the ones many people generally are familiar with such as Football, Boxing and Tennis. There were, however, other activities which gained exposure such as Judo, Hockey Weightlifting and the various track events such as Modern Pentathlon, which despite the name is distinctly 19th Century.

I think that one positive that I found about the games is not so much the winners but the taking part. This apparently was the first Olympiad in which all countries had male and female entrants. I find that even though this event was supposedly apolitical, there is a small-p political in the participation of women. It was a real stand of defiance for a country like Saudi Arabia to put female competitors forward.

There are lots of things that can be said about the inequalities of Team GB and the lack of support of female olympians have had compared to their male counterparts. I would like to think that if there is such a thing as a legacy for the Olympic events in 2012, it would be to raise the profile of female sportspersons and atheletes both nationally and internationally and to raise awareness about the perception of physical fitness and sporting participation for women and young girls.

I kind of like how the cynics about the event had been less visible in the media. This may be a purposeful omission. The most critical and cynical thing I’ve mostly found on Twitter were comments about how the performers in the opening and closing ceremony were not their cup of tea as musical genres. It is yet to be seen what will come of ‘regeneration’ or legacy. But a little patriotism cannot be a bad thing. While it was pointed out that many of the olympians of Team GB had come from a largely private school stratification; there are instances of culturally and ethnically diverse olympians celebrated for their medal winning achievements. The face of Britain may well be a man or woman doing the ‘mobot’.

A couple of final remarks about the past couple of weeks. It has been noted that particularly with the track events (i.e. the ones with Usain Bolt), a great amount of showboating was involved when winning. There is no doubt that these are amazing athletes with entertaining personalities to match, but I suspect that male priviledge would not allow a similar kind of awe or aspect of showboating for female olympians, instead they were often described as ‘emotional’ or humbled by their achievements. There’s a real difference in gender when performing a victory that the accepted behaviour for a man is to work the applause of a crowd while for a woman, the humble and stoic smile is more apt for the presumed role.

In short, I saw a little bit of progress about the genders over the past couple of weeks, but until male athletes are better represented on search engines by objectifying search results, I don’t think there will be an equality of the sexes just yet. So for me, watching the olympics has given me a quite and humbling sense of awe about the progress of female olympians for the female sex. But not a showboating response

Antisophie

Links: ‘Valuing the Humanities’ discussion, and Munk debate with Blair/Hitchens

In answering a query made by a previous comment, I submit two links pertinent to the Munk Debate on religion. The motion advanced was: religion is a force for good in the world. Promoting the case was Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and against, Christopher Hitchens. Here is the official Munk foundation webpage and here is a podcast from CBC with what I think is an editorial. The latter is open access and the former asks for a fee to download or stream the full debate.

Another link to put up here. Michael made a post last week concerning the ‘Valuing the Humanities’ panel discussion. The British Philosophical Association has uploaded a downloadable mp3 here with the full discussion.

Antisophie