“The words are not good for the secret meaning, everything always becomes a bit different, as soon as it is put into words, gets distorted a bit, a bit silly—yes, and this is also very good, and I like it a lot, I also very much agree with this, that this what is one man’s treasure and wisdom always sounds like foolishness to another person.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
A couple of months ago, I was quite amazed when two friends, husband and wife, were singing praises on the TV series The Tudors. This was a TV series by Showtime Productions more than ten years ago. It is now being re-shown on cable TV. My friends were so impressed by the series and thought everything in… Continue reading Historical Fiction on TV: Tudors & ROME
(These Film Studies Notes are my one-page notes on various articles or books on Film Studies / Media Studies which might interest students and teachers of Film or Media Studies.) In his academic article The Power of a Research Tradition: Prospects for Progress in the Study of Film Style, David Bordwell reviewed the historical study… Continue reading The Power of a Research Tradition
Marxism has profoundly affected Film Studies and even film-making. Some of the earliest film theorists and filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein were Communists. The Russian formalists like Dziga Vertov and Vsevolod Pudovkin pushed for “innovative forms matching revolutionary content”. The rise of mass society coupled with advances in technology gave thinkers like Kracauer, Benjamin and Brecht… Continue reading Film Studies Notes: MARXISM and FILM
Has anybody not heard or read or seen (on TV or film) the tales of Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Tom Thumb, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin? These are just a few of the stories that were brought to the hearts and minds of countless children the… Continue reading DVD Pick: Grimm’s Fairy Tales
(Note: I wrote this on Jan. 9, 2010. To update it, there's a Post Script at the end) Some writers have categorized generations of people according to the year of their birth. Lost Generation (1883–1900) Greatest (or GI) Generation (1901–1924) Silent Generation (1925–1942) Baby Boomer (1943–1960) Generation X (1961–1981) Generation Y (1982–2001) Generation Z (2001–)… Continue reading Generations
It's graduation time in the Philippines and my FB newsfeeds are full of photos of young people in their graduation regalia. They remind me of my own graduation more than a dozen years ago (MA in Media Studies) . So, I’m putting up my photo, too with the UP Newsletter’s full-page feature on me! From… Continue reading Studying Communication & Media Studies
Postprandial Musings, 2.0 