My Author of The Month (February 2012)

Title: How Proust Can Change Your Life
Author: Alain de Botton
I read "How Proust Can Change Your Life": Another great book by swiss Alain de Botton way back in February. It's an exceptional talent that makes the most difficult issues understandable for the reader. The book introduces several dimensions of Proust's works and life; a blend of literary biography and psychology manual Focusing on some simple facts in his life. I understand the author has opted superficiality at times to underline some particular themes, it might affect some die hard fans of Proust but i presume this direction is wisely chosen by de Botton. Actually the book can be the optimum choice as an intro to Proust's world. 

Approximate Menace

Rivers of blood,

Drain thy heart

Beckoning the soul

to the heftiest  brawl

Weapons loaded

Yet heart stays calm

Palace, secluded

Approached by the prowl

Swords now naked

The clash's begun

pedram, May 2012

Quiet Carrington

The Life of David Gale

I watched Alan Parker’s “The Life of David Gale” on my vacation. It was an intriguing movie considering the plot and the convincing job by Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. Unfortunately I must mention some weak points which appeared as fumbles to me. In such a real and tense context (including issues like rape, murder and suicide), some over-dramatic and scenes coupled with ultra-moralist blah blah damaged the picture. The movie is not coy about the anti-death penalty message. Unfortunately this overdid hampered the outstanding dynamic of the movie. The main characters are well executed and presented, however the peripheral ones are poorly dramatized. One exception is  Constance Harraway (Laura Linney), Gale’s colleague and close friend, which is well portrayed. Gale/Harraway relationship evolves in a comprehensible manner and dramatically contribute to the whole story. Laura Linney handled the complex role of Constance excellently. The final third of the movie was shocking to me. It appears that all false inquests were part of a bigger plan; a series of self-intended acts  such as euthanasia or serving as an innocent convicted to execution, etc. All and all serve Gale and Harraway social/political plan to hit out at pro-death penalty officials. The result is a heart-wrenching drama.

pedram, April 2012

My Author of The Month (January 2012)

I read "Nietzsche and Philosophy" by french Gilles Deleuze. The key point is the novel and sharp interpretation of then-underrated and unknown german philosopher. The book is concise and fluent, handling the difficult issue masterfully. To me it was an expert synopsis of major themes in Nietzsche's works.
pedram, May 2012

France Peresidential Elections 2012: TV Debate

The Socialist François Hollande has emerged with the upper hand from a bruising TV duel with the rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy, as the two held their last rallies in the final 24 hours of campaigning before Sunday's presidential vote.

The first opinion poll for LH2 Yahoo showed French viewers of the live TV debate found Hollande to be the more serious candidate and also the nicest, most sincere and closest to their daily concerns. Sarkozy was seen to have been more dynamic and competent. Hollande was most convincing on the issues that worry voters the most: jobs, making ends meet as well as education, while Sarkozy was seen to be better on Europe, immigration and reducing France's debt.

Over 17 million French people watched the almost three-hour live TV presidential debate, more than watch an X Factor final in the UK, but fewer than tuned in to watch Sarkozy take on the Socialist Ségolène Royal in 2007.

Sarkozy is trailing Hollande by five to eight points in the polls and a classic televised battle of the personalities had been seen as his last chance to turn the election around and win over the large majority of France's 6.4m far-right voters he needs to have a chance at re-election.

Pollsters were sceptical that Sarkozy, who at times had seemed riled and on the defensive, would have done so. French presidential debates do not usually yield an outright winner, and some called this a draw.

But most commentators felt Hollande had won on points, delivering the most memorable lines, including repeating: "I, as president of the republic …" 16 times in a bid to gain in leadership stature. Newspaper columnists felt the debate would not produce an "earthquake" for the struggling Sarkozy, the most unpopular president to seek re-election in France. Hollande was seen to have cemented his advance.

He was given a further boost when the centrist François Bayrou, who took 9% of the vote in the first round, broke with his party's tradition and said he would vote for him. This was a blow to Sarkozy, who needs to secure as many Bayrou voters as possible.

If the TV slanging match was full of bile – Sarkozy called Hollande "a little slanderer" and Hollande told him "you'd be hard pressed to pass yourself off as a victim" – the political reaction afterwards was just as laden with invective.

Nadine Morano, a rightwing minister and Sarkozy ally, said the exchange with Hollande had been like "extracting pus". Sarkozy's special adviser called Hollande "grotesque". Jean-Marc Ayrault, tipped as a possible Socialist prime minister, said Sarkozy had been aggressive. Hollande said the nature of the debate had reflected the fracture, aggressiveness and tensions in society "after five years of Sarkozy".

But Sarkozy insisted that the election was on a knife-edge and all was to play for. "The opinion polls are lying. An election has never been this open … It's even more open after the debate," he told French radio.

He then gave a highly personal interview seemingly to show himself as more human and close to the people, saying he was so "rubbish" at technology that he didn't know how to work the three TV remote controls at home, and suggesting if his wife, Carla Bruni, wasn't with him he could barely operate the television.

At his final major rally in Toulon, he said the "left and its laxity" had "ruined" France.

Hollande, before giving his final open-air rally in Toulouse, was deliberately cautious about Sunday's vote, warning that nothing was won. Some observers have predicted the result could be closer than polls suggest.

Meanwhile, media fact-checkers were poring over the highly technical parts of the TV debate, when the candidates hurled statistics at each other. One French site calculated that Sarkozy mentioned a figure every 47 seconds and Hollande mentioned one every 1 minute, 36 seconds, although not all were accurate.

The final runoff vote takes place on Sunday.

@Guardian

by Angelique Chrisafis

My Album Of The Month (January 2012)

Artist/Band: The Foreshadowing
Album: Oionos
Year: 2010

Etymology: Oionos means vulture or bird of prey in greek mythology.  
The gothic/doom metal band hailing from lazio. Oionos is their second album and i found it quite accidentally. It's very well composed. The good production quality is the first point: vocals, guitar riffs, keyboard sound are all well delivered to the audience with high resolution. The album follows a certain theme in almost all tracks. The horror of war, inhumanity, immorality is vividly noticeable; as the title resembles the concept of apocalypse rules the atmosphere. It never gets boring with variable structure of melodies and orchestration. The metaphorical closing track contains historical part of Robert Oppenheimer's speech remarked after detonation of first atomic bomb; words extracted from Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". 
Guitar solos and vocals which are entirely clean, are so catchy. My favorite tracks are: Fallen Reign, Revelation 3:11, Lost humanity and the title track Oionos. 

My New Albums

Sun Kil Moon : Ghosts of The Great Highway (2003)  /Genre: Slowcore /52+19
Josh Groban : Closer (2003) /Genre: (Pop, Classical) /149
God Is An Astronaut : All Is Violent, All Is Bright /Genre: Post-Rock  /72
Alcest : Souvenir d'un Autre Monde Genre: Post-Rock  /81
The Prophecy : Revelations /Genre: Death/Doom Metal  /77
Electric Wizard : Let Us Prey Genre: Doom Metal  /56
Callisto : Providence /Genre: Post-Metal  /106
Jesu : Ascension(Incomplete) /Genre: Post-Rock, Industrial Rock  /37
Black Shape of Nexus : b.son /Genre: Post-Metal/Sludge Metal  /62
Neun Welten : Vergessene Pfade /Genre: Neofolk  /66
Wreck of Hesperus : Light Rotting Out (2011) Genre: Funeral Doom Metal  /67
Joe Pass : Sound of Synanon (1961) Genre: Jazz  /95
Low : I Could Live In Hope (1994) Genre: Slowcore /51
Scatter The Ashes : Devout/The Modern Hym /Genre: Post-Punk /41
Les Discretes : Septembre Et Ses Derniere Pensees /Genre: Post-Rock /81
Idaho : Alas /Genre: Slowcore/26
P.O.D : When Angels and Serpents Dance /Genre: Christian Metal /82
Pantheist : O'Solitude (2003) /Genre: Funeral Doom Metal /87
Tenhi : Kauan /Genre: Neofolk /47 
Tiamat : Panopticpn (2008) /Genre: Gothic Metal /108