The Ground Beneath His Feet: Photo of the Day #34

Swedish Barn: Photo of the Day #33

Shot this picturesque barn on the mid-afternoon drive back from Uppsala, where we went for a quick 'n' dirty trip to take care of pressing business. I had to get a sticker and stamp for my passport and pick up a book that Ira had ordered for me via interlibrary loan from the Uppsala U. library.

Hubcap House: Alternative Photo of the Day?

While I do like the red barn photo, I may have to make this photo - a house by the highway with loads of hubcaps cluttering up the front yard - the photo of the day. It was harder to shoot and is more unusual. While the red barn is picturesque, it is so scenic that it almost seems cliched. This photo, by contrast, raises more questions and offers proof that not all Swedes go for sleek, minimalist, modern design. While such a sight might be unremarkable on the roads of rural America, the white-trash aesthetic is less common here. You've gotta admire the layout...

"24": Shameless Pro-torture Propaganda

Ira was a regular "24" watcher for a couple of seasons. I think she had (has?) a crush on Keifer Sutherland. I always found the show to be a complete waste of time. If its cartoonish villains and one-man-saving-the-world spy scenarios you're after, I'll take a Bond flick any day (preferably Roger Moore, who brought a welcome campiness to the role). Bond films are funnier, the stunts are better, and the ladies are, well, all right... Shaken not stirred, thank you very much.

By contrast, "24" takes itself far too seriously, Jack Bauer is too square, and most significantly, the show's pro-torture propaganda disgusts me. In Jack Bauer and the Ethics of Urgency, Slavoj Zizek identifies the problematic aspects of the show, e.g. the tragic dignity it confers upon the torturer's perverse self-instrumentalization and the shameless way it openly condones torture.

Here's Zizek:
Therein also resides the lie of "24": The presumption that it is not only possible to retain human dignity in accomplishing acts of terror, but that when an honest person accomplishes such acts as a heavy duty, this confers on him an additional tragic-ethic grandeur. But what if such a distance is possible? What if we do have people who commit terrible acts as part of their job, while, in private, they remain loving husbands, good parents and caring friends? As Arendt knew, far from redeeming them, the very fact that they are able to retain their normality while committing such acts is the ultimate confirmation of their moral catastrophe.

Beer O'Clock f. Leffe Brune: Photo of the Day #32

A tasty Belgian brown ale - Leffe Brune - after a long haul of writing. Ira bought a new used table in the dining room, which looks great but isn't functional as a desk, so I've been displaced to the kitchen, which isn't a bad place to work...I do get a bit nervous having food and beverage around my Mac. Flashbacks of Scott dowsing his PowerBook in OJ, which I didn't actually see, but can imagine, all too vividly.