Latest on Fri, 06:13 am
Newsflash: Europeana has been launched today!
For everyone who may be interested in European paintings, books, films and archives: you may find it here. It is major project based in the Royal Library in The Hague.
From the announcement on the site I quote:
direct access to some 2 million digital objects, including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and archival papers.
The interface will be multilingual. Initially, this may mean that it is available in French, English and German, but the intention is to develop the number of languages available following the launch.
Promote Promiscuity
Whatever you may think, I don’t hate economists. Read this like “I did not have sex with that woman”.
No, actually even some of my best friends are economists. Though I candidly confess that sometimes I have a hard time to keep on loving them. But hey, tensions do inevitably occur in every sound relationship. And on other occasions some of them just thrill me. Especially those who are involved with economy light. Taking their science for what is it: disastrous but not too serious. Maybe they themselves don’t agree with me ( about being economists light). But I think people like S. Levitt who (with help of co-author Dubner) wrote ‘Freakonomics‘, are great. Or Steven E. Landsburg.
Last weekend I treated myself on his book “More sex is safer sex” as an antidote against those intolerable assholes who, in papers and on TV, even now still stick to their gospel of Friedmanian free market economy.  I can forgive and forget however in case it’s someone like Landsburg, who at least not only writes in an easy and digestible way about economy, but first and foremost is sharp, witty and funny. The book consists of a number of original essays on a wide variety of topics which you hardly find in economical textbooks.
To make clear why I enjoyed it, here is the case he makes for eventually making sex safer by promoting more extra and premarital sex by decent people.
The Njai
The njai is one of the heroines in a pretty famous novel. She, njai Ontosoroh, concubine of a Dutchman, and their daughter Annelies, represent a complex and dangerous world to Minke, the leading character in Pramoedia Ananta Toer’s novel “Bumi Manusis”. Ontosoroh proves to be an extraordinary strong and independent woman. Yet as an Indonesian in a colonial society she stays a second rate citizen who even is denied custody of her own daughter after her man dies.
That was fiction.
Now Reggie Baay has published a non fiction book about the njai. It turns out to be a fascinating and moving, but also a very disconcerting account. It confirms the quintessence of Ontosoroh’s condition: the poignant sorrow of the huge inequality, in relationships which were absolutely unbalanced and which implied the women were almost without rights. Plus the immense social isolation they had to endure. Because often they were looked upon with contempt by the people of their village and excluded from the white community in which the man lived.
Baay’s book is a historical study of these usually temporary and sometimes lifetime partners of Dutch officials, planters and military men in Indonesia’s colonial times. The author himself is the grandson of a njai, about whom he knew next to nothing until very recently. Even his father had no reminiscences of this mother and grandmother, who had been send away before her son was four. And who was not allowed to even have any contact with him for the rest of her life. Her existence was kind of erased from the family history. Which started at the moment she was replaced by a Caucasian woman with whom the man legitimately married. Read More
Sit and Smile
A very simple way to reach the state of happiness. Just sit in silence and smile, even your liver should be able to smile. Then you will reach the ectasy of happiness. At least this is what Ketut Liyer, the spiritual guide of Elizabeth Gilbert taught her to in her spiritual journey to pursue happiness in Bali. Great advice!! Sit in Silence and Smile. Have you ever tried it ?
This piece of advice comes from Elizabeth Gilbert latest book: Eat, Pray, Love. Another story of her travelling pilgrimage around three “I” countries; Italy (for pure indulgence in pleasure–therefore Italy chapters called as Eat), India (to learn the devotion to God-this is the Pray chapters), and Indonesia (to learn how to balance these two–yeah baby this is the LOVE chapter). Yes yes…another book…as if we haven’t got the chance to see any films…so this time why not write about a book…especially with such a mystic title: Eat, Pray, Love.
I was a skeptic at the beginning. It must be some kind of another self-finding-help-book that targets women in their 30′s and all their misery (if there’s any). It is so obvious from the title: EAT, PRAY, LOVE. Must be some kind of book full with advice on how to balance your life blabla yabyab nabnab. So I start reading it with skeptism. Hate the first three chapters. Some mambo jambo about her difficulties in getting divorced, being needy, being sad, talking to God, at some points a thought crossed my mind, “who CARES?!”. So I fast forward to the area that I found more interesting…her journey in Indonesia (well we need to stress here that in this blog we like everything about Indonesia so yes this part of this book better be really interesting to read and should be unique).
And here..things are getting interesting. I hoped to be dissappointed and find she’s some young writer that tries to judge how Balinese society lead their lifes. Luckily my assumption was not true at all. She’s actually able to write the piece with some airy-light-tone but with some good sense in it about her journey in Bali. It is seriously all about her own journey. How she choose to act on different things everyday. No judgemental attitude whatsoever. Just a “plain” spiritual journey of Ms. Gilbert. Her spiritual journey and learning points that came from the discussions and events that she shared with Ketut Liyer, the healer/Balinese spiritual teacher, Wayan-fellow healer/tough Balinese woman, and some other characters that taught her what is the meaning to live your life to the fullest (no empty hole in your heart). Read More
Clips and Books
Clips have become a sophisticated industry and some are even shining examples of art. But clips and books are still a quite unusual combination. Till today I wasn’t aware of this rather fresh and promising development: to use clips to promote books. In a way that’s similar to the one it’s used for pop music. Not a dull interview with the author, but a pretty exiting or intriguing teaser of a few minutes. Like this one:
Though “The Outcast” by Sadie Jones may or may not stand out as a novel ( I didn’t read the book myself. One of the reviews even casts a huge amount of doubt on the quality of the novel), the clip at least arouses interest. It may not be at the a same level as “Thriller” (by the way: congratulations to Michael Jackson, who celebrated his fitieth birthday yesterday), yet it is one of the first times the publishing branch uses this medium to successfully boost the sales figures. Which, generally speaking is very good news, because literature is having a hard time and can do with some extra help.