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  • Hope in the Modern World

    Hope in the Modern World

    Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The impact of the explosion blew Sadako out of her bedroom window and she very nearly died. Though she survived the blast, the radiation eventually gave her leukemia and doctors insisted that she wouldn’t live longer than a year. Sadako’s story so…

  • Reflections on Technology and Self

    Reflections on Technology and Self

    “‘You engage in an exchange of emails or instant messages or Facebook updates. Is the unknown respondent another person, or is it a bot? Is it someone, or is it a computer program passing as a person? You want to know. Based only on the conversation, can you judge whether the other is human or…

  • Oldboy Interpretation

    Oldboy Interpretation

    “My Name, Oh Dae-Su, means getting through one day at a time. That’s what “Oh Dae-Su” means. But, God… Why can’t I get through today?” Oh Dae-Su What you are about to read is my interpretation of the movie Oldboy. If you haven’t watched it yet then please do, it’s one of the best movies…

  • We Are All One Family: Religion and its Role in Society

    We Are All One Family: Religion and its Role in Society

    “The ocean of suffering is immense, but if you turn around, you can see land” – Thich Nhat Hanh There are something like eighteen billion cells in the brain alone. There are no two brains alike; there are no two hands alike; there are no two human beings alike. You can take your guidance and…

  • I Spit on Your Grave Film Analysis

    I Spit on Your Grave Film Analysis

    This essay examines the exploitation film I Spit on Your Grave (1978) and its recent remake (2010), and how both these films make strong comments about the culture which they were released in and the context which they were interpreted. The original film was visually enhanced and re-released on Blu-Ray this year, and therefore, along with its remake stands as a…

  • The Silent Noise of Networks

    The Silent Noise of Networks

    Last week’s article on MySpace fans burnt me out a bit, so it was nice to read this week’s article, in comparison it was a lungful of fresh air. The article by Kate Crawford (2010) titled ‘Noise, Now: Listening to Networks’, happens to be one of the shortest readings of the semester, with only 5 or 6…

  • Unravelling Myspace Character Personas

    Unravelling Myspace Character Personas

    This week’s (technically last week’s) reading, titled ‘Rereading Fandom: Myspace Character personas and Narrative Identification’ by Paul Booth (2008) reads like an article carefully constructed by an android trying to dissect the nuances of human identity, due to its own lack of and longing for one. The article explores, or rather examines in excruciatingly painful…

  • GTA San Andreas and the Pedagogy of Racism

    GTA San Andreas and the Pedagogy of Racism

    This week we were given a choice between seven articles centered on the theme of othering, or the process of identifying those that are different from the mainstream. Glancing through the list of articles I noticed one had Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in the title, and considering I used to play the game (and almost…

  • Sex Sells: The Male Gaze in Advertising

    Sex Sells: The Male Gaze in Advertising

    This week’s reading by Debra Merskin (2006, p. 202), asks the question that is clearly on everyone’s mind: ‘Where Are the Clothes?’ The text explores the sexualisation and pornographication (my spell check agrees that this is a made up word) of modern advertising, and its secret agenda to ‘maintain the sexual subordination of women’ and keep us men thinking…