Archive for September, 2006
Thursday, September 28th, 2006
My Maternal Grandparents
Because I know how much my mother misses her father, especially today, I am posting this picture of my maternal grandparents.
No Comments » - Posted in Friends / Family by eric
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
International Organizations
Just how ridiculously inefficient and disfunctional are International Organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank? You can either read Albert Cohen’s novel Belle du Seigneur (which is about 1000 pages) to find out, or you can simply read this comic strip. Thanks to Fadi for the heads up.
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Noruwei no Mori
After having just finished reading Catch-22 on Sunday and two other excellent books this summer, I was desparately in search of something new to read. Last year, I finally got myself around to reading Stendhal’s The Red and the Black and absolutely loved it. Thus, on Sunday evening, I pulled out my copy of The […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
Zizou, Zizou, Zizou
It seems no one is talking about the polemics that centered around Zizou in this summer’s World Cup Final any more. Nevertheless, his absence is definitely noticed in the Bernabeu. Let’s remember Zizou with these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saf_1xOr12o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCl3U1baqxU&mode=related&search=
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Zizou by eric
Thursday, September 21st, 2006
Catch 22
I am finally reading Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. I love this dialogue between the overzealous and immature Nately and the elderly Italian man in a brothel as it puts many contemporary issues into perspective:
3 Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Sunday, September 17th, 2006
Walter Kaufmann: The Faith of the Heretic
I was introduced to Walter Kaufmann by my friend Julio while majoring in Philosophy at university (I believe I also majored in International Relations or some other useless field). Kaufmann was a top Nietzsche scholar and philosopher of religion, and I recall having read his following works: Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist; From Shakespeare to Existentialism; Critique of […]
5 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Saturday, September 16th, 2006
A Debilitating Weakness for Beauty
While writing a recent post, Beauty on the Beach (one of my poorest digressions to date), I was searching for interesting quotes on the nature of beauty as captions to the photos that would adorn the post. In the process, I realized that most commentators defined beauty as something that is relative, eternal, idealistic, and often fleeting. Interestingly, those are not […]
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Saturday, September 16th, 2006
Fiction, Non-Fiction, and the Eternal Return
As mentioned in a previous post, I have just finished reading one book and am in search of a new one. Since I began to work in FON, I have not had much time at all to read, but this summer I have read two very good books: “Another Country” by James Baldwin and “Alexander Hamilton” […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Saturday, September 16th, 2006
I have seen life in life, I have seen life in death, and I have seen death in life
Exactly one year ago, I received a phone call early in the morning. The caller was a friend of a friend telling me that he had bad news. He had never called me before, and yet I was not surprised nor did I panic. I simply listened. The news was that one of my closest friend’s brother […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Digressions, Friends / Family by eric
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006
September
It is September and I am a little sad. Well, I am not quite sure how I would define this sadness. It could be melancoly or end of summer-beginning-of-fall-nostalgic reflection (which gives the impression of sadness) or a strange sense of sorrow. I have always had a special relationship with fall, and after an exceptionally warm […]
