They say it’s not called alcoholism until graduation.

My question is, is it also valid for graduate studies or is it just when you are an undergrad student?

At any rate, on Sunday (postponed from Tuesday to Sunday, can you believe that?) I met with the friend with whom I am going to make a presentation on Deleuze and Guattari’s “November 28, 1947: How do you make yourself a body without organs” from A Thousand Plateaus. It’s pretty fun text and all. [I could put the Dogon Egg image but I like this rhizomes one better]. Anyway, we spent almost 7 hours reading paragraph by paragraph, or I should say, word by word - spending like half an hour on some of the paragraphs to discuss. It was a very useful way of reading a text to be honest (I should do it more often). But nonstop 7 hours is quite a lot for me. But anyway; we thought that doing the presentation the way we did the reading (gotta shrink it of course) would be fun.

Including the one tomorrow, I have two presentations to make, a seminar to be done early next week, and a couple of stuff to write in like five days. Not that it’s undoable or tiring - I would prefer some air.

Failing to reach the expectations is neither sad nor important.  What is bad is the realization that not much has changed in your life when you wake up the next morning, after you have reached your expectations.

How pathetic.

Merhaba!

Bir süredir planladığım ama tembellikten vakit bulamadığım yeni Türkçe blog’umu açtım. Lafı fazla uzatmayayım ve haybinkunduz! adlı Türkçe bloguma buradan buyrun diyeyim.

Hatta hazır bu işle uğraşıyorken, bir de RSS beslemelere üye olsanız ne güzel olur.

One of my instructors was abroad for two weeks (that was a month ago) and we had make up courses for three weeks. Three more hours for the course, every week. Sleeping a total of ten hours in three days, trying to read 200 pages (a week) of contemporary philosophy for a single course.  I am not complaining, pushing your limits is a good way to see what you can actually do if you have to.

I have also been making up for the non-consumed alcohol and cigarettes.  For some reason, I am very much into alcohol abuse, ah, and also cigarette abuse if there is such a thing. There are quite a lot of things I abuse actually. Maybe, not abuse but things that I exceed my limits.

And this post is written just to mark this day, for those who understand what I actually mean here.

A friend of mine has sent this to me, and I was like “oh my god, this is me!” Well, procrastinators look alike.

Track: Canzone di Laura Betti
Artist: Stefano Battaglia
Album: Re: Pasolini
Label: ECM

Track: Pasolini
Artist: Stefano Battaglia
Album: Re: Pasolini
Label: ECM

I am not really qualified to talk about Battaglia’s music. However, one thing I know is his compositions and musicianship is awesome. Re: Pasolini is his second ECM album released in 2007. This is an album composed (apart from the track “Cosa Sono le Nuvole”) by Stefano Battaglia. He was inspired, as he states and as the title of the album suggests, on the films, poetry of Pasolini, and the characters and actors in his movies. You might also want to hear one piece from Raccolto here and my short mumbling on the same-titled track.

“Canzone di Laura Betti” is the opening track of the double-disc album. Battaglia himself refers to “Canzone” as “a song inspired by the poet’s muse: a sorrowful Marlene, the mad woman who was always right, a real Garbo, a living fossil who wore an eternal changeless mask. She not only acted in movies directed by Rosselini, Bertolucci, Monicelli, Bellocchio, Fellini and of course, many of Pasolini’s own films, but was herself also a film director, poet and singer.” Simple cello parts performed by Aya Shimura, which are accompanied with incredible trumpets played by Michael Gassman and double-bass by Salvatore Maiore… And of course great pianos by Battaglia himself. Other musicians are Mirco Mariottini on clarinets and Roberto Dani on drums.

“Pasolini” is the closing track of the album and it got me struck and stuck. Battaglia himself writes:

This is a synthesis of two different compositions: only subsequently did I realize that they were consequentially linked like two interlocked hands. The first is a simple funeral chant, imbibed with that special sense of nostalgia which is often described as ‘melancholia generosissima’. The second was inspired by the affectionate feelings conjured up by photos of Pasolini playing football. This piece evokes both the tragic voice of an outcast yet simultaneously recalls Pasolini’s contagious vitality. It was the very first chapter on my work dedicated to Pasolini. I had no idea that it would become the first of over thirty.

I am not really a fan of hearing what an artist felt (like) when he or she composed/created something - as what matters is what I feel, and this fact is pretty much exploited by commercial music industry. But Battaglia very well explains what I sensed myself. Affectionate feelings and the tragic voice conjured up in pure emotional minimalism. Simple double-basses that merge with cellos, and the merciless piano… After the crescendo-like calm-rise of cello, the beautiful ending with the beautiful piano is just so sudden, so unfair.

As Salinger’s Holden says “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author who wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.” Just replace book and author with music and composer/performer - and that’s what I think of Stefano Battaglia.

I didn’t really have much rest during the semester break. Had to think on formulating a dissertation problem/title, had some work at the university, and other personal stuff that sucked the life out of me for a while (you know, when people make you say ‘enough of this crap!’). It also has to do with one week less break compared to my previous university. But at least this is fun, anyway.

I have been thinking on what courses to choose from those which are offered this semester. I also have been thinking on how to do my choices: courses that will aid my dissertation and my future academic carreer, or things that I enjoy to do. This doesn’t mean I took courses that will be a burden, but I wish I could take six courses and actually cope with them all. But this is sort of out of question for now.
Anyway, I am taking these courses this semester:

• Body Movement and Vision in Immersive and Interactive Media II
• Image Time and Motion II
• Mass Media and Visual Technologies
• Issues and Problems in Contemporary Art II

I don’t have syllabi for these courses yet. But roughly (and as far as I know), the first course is on computer aided art forms from a critical and theoretical point of view focusing on collaboration/collaborative digital arts mainly. Image Time and Motion II will be a continuation on the previous course I have taken on fall semester. It will be an extended course covering certain concepts (such as telepresence), .net art and digital media and art forms in general in the discussions of new media.

Mass Media and Visual Technologies will focus on the transformation of vision through time, especially with mass media and certain technologies that have appeared recently - with a point of view of media theories and philosophy in general. And lastly, Issues and Problems in Contemporary Art II will hopefully be a course that will deal with contemporary philosophy and theory focusing mainly on Deleuze and Guattari.

Looks cool, isn’t it? I am pretty happy with my courses this semester and already have ideas for some projects.

And they say machines cannot really have emotions. Bullshit!

Folks at iFixit has recently posted photos of a disassembled MacBook Air.  You can check out more photos at iFixit.  Looks cool, isn’t it?