Visual Literacy & Art Meritocracy
In response to the previous paper, “The Myth of Meritocracy in Fine Arts”, Mike Durcak offers an alternative approach to the issue of art meritocracy. Read »
The Myth of Meritocracy in Fine Arts
The art world has a gentleman’s agreement about preserving the façade of meritocracy. They feel that it is necessary to be respectable. It is understandable since they are often criticized for not being more meritocratic. The general public and many artists themselves see meritocracy as an ideal system of rewarding artists. I argue that meritocracy is impossible in fine arts, and there is no reason, therefore, to pretend to honor meritocracy. If the artist is famous, and if his artwork commands a hefty price, there is no reason to question him further; he is a good artist. Read »
On the Ever Increasing Difficulty of Selling “And Then”
The other day, Robert Roth was lamenting about the increasing difficulty of selling his print magazine, “And Then”. I asked him what he thought the reason was. He then gave me this article to read which he had written back in 1998. After reading it, I was quite convinced that it is the Internet that diminished the interest in independent print publishing. In the early 90s, I remember seeing at local bookstores a lot of so-called “zines” which were printed using Xerox machines. No one publishes them anymore. Read »
Noam Chomsky—Extremist of the Left and Right
Noam Chomsky is doubly important: He is the world’s most famous and respected linguistic scientist in addition to being a well-known radical political writer. The Chicago Tribune describes Chomsky as “the most cited living author.” At the same time, he has been characterized as a writer whose work has been suppressed “because the gentlemen who own the major media don’t want you to know about Noam Chomsky.” It is paradoxical that such a well-known figure has trouble finding a publisher. The reason is that Chomsky’s name has been associated with the denial of one genocide and the minimization of another. Read »
Are Affluence, Intelligence and Sanity Limiting Factors for Population?
Where Have all the Babies Gone? Boris Kortiak explores this modern phenomenon, and gives advice to those who are waiting and waiting to have kids. Read »
How “Merry Christmas” Became “Happy Holidays”
I am not Jewish or Christian. I do not subscribe to any organized forms of religions. I am not an atheist either since I could not say, or would not say, for sure that God does not exist. In fact, I tend more towards the idea that God does exist. I do not favor or incline towards Judaism or Christianity. I find them both intriguing, but when it comes to the holiday season, I prefer Christmas over Hanukkah. And, as offensive as it may sound to Jewish people, I hold Hanukkah responsible for tainting Christmas. I hope my readers would understand that criticizing an aspect of Jewish culture does not constitute anti-Semitism. Read »
Conformity
We typically imagine a conformist to be conservative, someone who abides by the rules of the society, but in a society or community where rule-breaking is part of the norm, breaking rules would be a process of conformity. In this sense, conformity does not necessarily equal conservatism. That is, appearance is deceptive in discussing what conformity is. Read »
In Defense of Big Businesses
Living in the East Village, New York, I often come across people who have vendettas against big businesses, their most notable targets being Starbucks, K-Mart, and GAP. Many socialist types seem to be allergic to any businesses that are big. Big for them automatically means evil. They complain about big businesses wiping out small local businesses. They not only boycott big businesses, but also persuade others to do so by affixing stickers and flyers everywhere. In over 15 years of living here and listening to their arguments, none of them had any logic that convinced me the value of their arguments. Read »
Why Write?
Boris Kortiak writes about why he writes. He hopes to find the answer by writing. Well, it’s the same thing we do with our lives; we live to find out why we live. Read »
The Politics of Emotion
Expressing our emotions in our workplace is seen as unprofessional. This unspoken rule is enforced as a common sense, but has anyone ever proven that suppressing or curbing our emotions make our work environment more productive, or that expressing our emotions make it less productive? Why do we assume that it does? Read »
The Misery Ethic — An Essay on Gaman
I love Japan. But it isn’t all about cute teacups and bamboo placemats and good manners and steaming hot baths and the perfume of incense. When people ask me what Japan was like, I have trouble framing my answer, because it is so complicated. Read »
Understanding the Medium of Video Game
Throughout history, even before computers came into existence, human beings have wrestled with the notion of “real”. In the 60s, it was psychedelic drugs that inspired the question, “What is reality?” Now, it is the medium of computers armed with high-performance graphics processors that inspire the same question. Los Angeles based art cooperative C-Level seems to be keen on understanding the message of this modern medium. Read »
Getting Creative with SPAM
I received an email that appears to be a SPAM, but it took me a while to be sure of it. It is annoying but at the same time is amusing. Creativity can manifest positively or negatively. I just wonder: If someone is creative enough to come up with something as elaborate as this, why couldn’t he/she apply it more positively? Imagine what he could accomplish, but alas. This is my analysis of his creativity, whoever he is. Read »
Graph of Fame - Weblog Popularity
TruthLaidBear.com provides an interesting snapshot of how Internet traffic is distributed among Weblogs. Website traffic is a closely guarded secret for most businesses, and no one has an accurate picture of how Internet traffic is distributed. Only the site owners with access to the Web server logs have the truth of the traffic they receive, but since they do not have access to the logs of their competitors, they do not know how their numbers stack up against others. The number alone with nothing to compare against is just an arbitrary number, and means very little. What you want to know is where you are in the spectrum of popularity. Are you a nobody, an average Joe, or a superstar? Read »
“Lost in Translation” Is Lost With or Without Translation
Sofia Coppola’s latest film “Lost in Translation” seems to be a national hit. The vast majority of critics are giving thumbs up, but there are a few critics voicing interesting opinions to the contrary. For National Post (Canadian), Robert Fulford writes a compelling criticism called “The joke’s on them - Why can’t the protagonists of Lost in Translation see what’s around them?”. This paper is written in response to his views. Read »
Problems to Be Banished
There is a controversy developing at Freedom High School in Oakley, California where a 15-year-old student Lisa McClelland wants to start a Caucasian club. Her rationale is: Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians have clubs, why couldn’t white people have one? I have to agree with her. I find any type of organization based on race to be racist. Telling her that she could not have something that people of other races could, is even more racist. The reason why a white girl is not allowed to form a white club is because white race is perceived to be superior in our culture. By disallowing her to form a Caucasian club, we would inadvertently be reinforcing this perception. Read »
How to Tell a Real Japanese Restaurant
There has been a trend in New York for Chinese and Korean restaurateurs to open Japanese restaurants without knowing anything about Japanese cuisine. Here are some tips on how to distinguish the real ones from the fake posers. The paper also explores what it means to exploit a culture. Read »
Words of Love - Talking to Kids about Sex
Developing children into sexually healthy adults should be a natural progression, yet I find the path is rife with difficulty for both parent and child. Because the subject is so utterly personal, the first hurdle is getting past any inhibitions to discuss it. If we manage to get that far, then we must brace ourselves for the new adult image our children will reveal of themselves. Read »
Homunkulus
Standing on Sheridan Square I watched the World Trade Center on fire. Powerful symbols of global economic domination burning right in front of me. Should I be excited? Was I excited? Thousands of people working in those buildings. Was I horrified? I should be horrified. I was watching and not knowing what I was feeling. My emotions buried deep beneath my face, as my mind ran on a thousand tracks. Read »
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