Catharsis

Today's discussion went well, although I feel sorry for the note-taker given how fluid things ended up being. It's good to know that there are like-minded people out there; some have even stronger views than mine. As for my thoughts on the Big Issue, I defer to Montaigne:

...it is greatly to be doubted whether any obvious good can come from changing any traditional law, whatever it may be, compared with the evil of changing it; for a polity is like a building made of diverse pieces interlocked together, joined in such a way that it is impossible to move one without the whole structure feeling it. ("On Habit")

It's time I stopped being so...accommodating and returned to something like my Dartmouth self, which has been itching to get out since I got back. Four years this June.

O! call back yesterday, bid time return. (Richard II)

The other day, the historian-critic in me revolted at the yoking together of Braveheart (the man, not the movie), Teddy R. (the president), and Strider. We have such simplistic conceptions of leadership. Has anyone down under read Machiavelli?

Hence it is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.

Alright alright, I should probably try to get some work done before meeting the parents tomorrow. Threat of communist subversion or superpower rivalry? What an unfair question!
Posted by kungfuzi at 6:41 pm | 0 comments

  I am that much more productive when the football goes badly, because I can't bear to read the match reports for a couple of days.
Posted by kungfuzi at 7:25 pm | 0 comments

  The Indonesian Revolution

Sneak preview of my lecture notes on decolonisation in Indonesia:

• Sukarno and the Republican leadership were responsible for holding the nationalist movement together, exerting both diplomatic and military pressure on the Dutch, and convincing the international community of their authority over the archipelago, as well as their anti-Communist credentials.

• In other words, the nationalists, strengthened by World War II, were able to overcome the problem of disunity and, in doing so, limit the obstructive influence of the Dutch and win over the US (which, as we know, initially favoured a more gradualist approach to decolonisation).

• Nonetheless, the nationalists were not solely responsible for decolonisation. The emerging conflict between the US and the Communist bloc lent greater weight to the nationalists’ crushing of the Madiun uprising. Also, the Dutch shot themselves in the foot by not acting decisively against the PKI, and instead looking to exploit the Madiun uprising to their own advantage. Dutch miscalculation, as much as nationalist assertion, weakened US perceptions of them.

• The US’ intervention was also important in determining the timing of independence. With the Dutch dependent on the US for financial support, the US’s threat to cut off all Marshall Plan aid in March 1949 forced the Dutch to back down immediately. Thus, although the nationalists had gained an advantage over the Dutch by then, the US accelerated the decolonisation process, which would otherwise probably have dragged on for much longer.

Posted by kungfuzi at 9:12 pm | 0 comments

  Richard III - three versions of "Now is the winter of our discontent"

This brings back fond memories of JC1 Lit with Adrian Thirkell. I had that speech memorised once -- snatches of it still come back to me from time to time. Richard III and Thirkell's loving exegesis of the opening soliloquy was probably what got me hooked on Lit. (His generous grading didn't hurt either, and the number of new words that I picked up from him was astonishing.)



Ron Cook rushes the speech and doesn't savour his words enough to my mind -- we don't quite catch the puns and wordplay. Also, "determin-ed"? Interestingly enough, he is enunciating it correctly according to the Longman edition (which I used for English 24), but incorrectly according to the Arden version (which I used in JC). Since "I am determined to prove a villain" is a standard line of pentameter, I see no reason for the extra syllable. It's such an important word too -- better say it properly.

Jonathan Slinger has someone else on the stage with him for a bit -- is that meant to be Edward? Not sure why he's there. In any case, his delivery is much livelier and full of menace, intelligence, and bitterness, which is the way it should be.

McKellen takes creative license with the text and has the rest of the cast listening appreciatively to the first part of the speech. It works quite well, actually, because Richard has two audiences in the play, and McKellen's opening scene establishes that brilliantly. The moment in the washroom when Richard, contemplating himself in the mirror, suddenly (or deliberately) becomes aware of us, the viewers at home, couldn't be done on stage half as effectively.
Posted by kungfuzi at 10:47 pm | 1 comments

  Rameau

My YouTube music collection is steadily growing. Here's an especially beautiful piece from Rameau - fast forward to around the 5:30 mark. That's when the theme from Casanova (Heath Ledger and Sienna Miller version -- so-so movie) starts.


Posted by kungfuzi at 10:24 pm | 0 comments