Apocalypto is the story of a young Mayan tribesman, Jaguar Paw, whose village is destroyed and the villagers killed or taken captive by a party of fierce raiders led by the intimidating Zero Wolf and taunted by the cruel, menacing Middle Eye. Because of a recent plague and drought we discover that the men [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘critical theory’
July 5, 2008
The Fourth: A Few Thoughts on Being American
For the 6th year in a row, I’ve spent the Fourth of July, America’s Independence Day, outside the US. As you can imagine, it’s uneventful outside the 50 states. I almost forgot about it today until someone at work reminded me. I immediately went into an impromptu, semi-sarcastic, quasi-nostalgic, rendition of the [...]
June 30, 2008
Disney Sea
It’s my dirty little secret. I enjoy going to Disney Sea and Disneyland. I might even love it. And since living in Japan I’ve been there quite a few times. I blame T. She did it to me.
Even though I grew up in Southern California, I think I’d only been [...]
June 5, 2008
Soccer or Football?
Since the Euro 2008 Football Championship is coming up, I’m going to continue with the sports theme and write about the use of the words ‘soccer’ and ‘football’.
While living in the UK, I learned that British people hate the use of ‘soccer’ to describe their favorite sport. As a culturally sensitive person, I dutifully [...]
February 28, 2008
The Invisible Neighbor
I’ve used quite a few different textbooks to study Japanese and what’s worked best for me has been the popular Japanese for Busy People. The revised third edition is a huge improvement over the previous edition. It’s easy for self-teaching, clearly written, and builds the language, grounded in every day use. It’s [...]
January 31, 2008
Unpacking Marie Antoinette’s Luggage
If you live in Tokyo or if you plan to visit, this is what you have to do: Buy a Grutt Pass. For 2,000yen (or about $1 you can buy a booklet that gives you a discount or free entrance to 56 museums, zoos and aquariums. You’ve got two months to [...]
December 7, 2007
The True Size of the Earth
If, like me, you love maps, you’ll love a website called Worldmapper. Worldmapper is a collaboration between a British and an American university. They have created a series of cartographs, maps that represent statistical, rather than geographic, parameters. For instance, if each country’s size is based on its population, then you’d have [...]
November 7, 2007
Getting Lost in the Louvre
Most of the pictures from my Paris flickr set are pictures from the Louvre. One of my favorite finds there was this marble statue. The marble was delicately carved to allow the cape to be translucent. I also love the little flower details that are in the hair and on [...]
