Identity politics - ie the obsession with race, se

Identity politics - ie the obsession with race, sexuality and gender in particular - have fragmented our response to the greater problems in society - ie climate change, inequality, and the role of technology in our lives.

I would venture to say such an approach has led to the state of affairs we find ourselves in. If I were to pursue a research question seriously, I would explore the link between inequality and identity politics. This is a relic of the baby boomer "culture wars" that needs to go.

It is far easier to rally people around push- button empathetic causes rather than amorphous and technical issues that require persistent and unglamorous work that would benefit all of us.

What we react to and want to change in our society can not only be motivated by empathy. We must equally use reason and not be afraid to think.








~ G

Mauvais Sang

This is the first truly badass French film I've ever seen. It's so fucking good. 

As If someone was somehow able 
to combine all of the French New Wave into a cocktail speedball and boom: you'd have this movie, which leaves you more breathless than Breathless itself. 

It's a movie that wears it's influences on its sleeve. Punk rock. America. Godard. Film noir. But it's much more than the sum of its parts. 

It's the kind of film that if you saw when you were 15, would change the course of your life forever. Makes you want to live just to burn. Burn away youth. Make love to everyone. Drive real fast. Crash cars. 

Yes, the film is pure energy. It's also, 
because it's a French film, nonchalantly profound. This is what makes it so special. It is unable to shake off its intelligence, even in the midst of its revelry. 

It's also 1986. Need I say more ? The style. The incessant dystopia like feeling pervading the soul. 

A virus is infecting the people. You only get it if you have sex without love. Brilliant. 

And there is a love story here. An intriguing one that makes you understand the power of love without consummation. Endless seduction is endless ecstasy. Very French. 

Finally, Juliette Binoche. The center. The starlet that keeps everyone else in orbit harmoniously. She takes this ecstatic film to a whole other level. With a performance for the ages. 

Watch this film with someone you want to run away with. Far, far away. 

~ G

No better sleep

There is sometimes that moment, during a very grand film even, often especially so, when sleepiness takes you. You try and resist, afraid to miss out, though you know if you let go, that there is no better repose than one in which a beautiful film lullabies you gently in a dark theater; nourishing the subconscious and sweetening your dreams. Like a baby not wanting to fall asleep while on the breast.

And then you awake. And a second wind takes you and the clarity and focus return you to the plot. Though you are disoriented, the renewed alertness makes it less distressing. You take in being lost with wonder and the discovery of looking at things as if for the first time. The film
is renewed, as are you.






~ G