Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Susan & Charles

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

I have just finished reading Susan Sonntag’s Reborn (Journals & Notebooks 1947-1963) and Charles Bukowski’s Women. And I’ve never enjoyed a cocktail of books as much. Both completely different, both equally fantastic and both perfectly complementing each other.

Sontag is a must read for any young (female) intellectual. The book shows a woman who chooses to become an intellectual and who works on this project with incredible self-discipline and austerity. She is rational, she is constructing, she is determined. She is analyzing. She is a brain, wishing to be more of a heart/soul. She is voluntarily locked inside of her elitist world of US and European intellectuals. And very confused about her homosexuality and continuously intellectualizing sexuality. What touched me personally was seeing that all of us who write go through same fights and conversations with ourselves.  It is a never-ending feeling of guilt, of not working enough, of not being disciplined enough, of not being good enough:

“From now on I’m going to write every bloody thing that comes into my head.

A kind of foolish pride which comes from dieting on high culture for too long.

I have diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the type-writer.

I don’t care if it’s lousy. The only way to learn how to write is to write.

The excuse that what one is contemplating isn’t good enough.”

Bukowski on the other hand is ….. Bukowski. The opposite of Sontag. Locked in his own world of alcohol, drugs, sex and his own writing. Avoiding intellectuals and despising anything to do with them. She is a brain looking for her soul and he is a dick looking for his. While she is trying to grab the world around her and understand it and construct it, he is locking himself away from the world around him, trying not to understand but to feel it and destruct it. Unfortunately only sexually.

When I started reading Sonntag, I found it too boring so I put her away. Few weeks later I started reading Bukowski which I also found a bit… uninteresting. But then I discovered the mix: I literally mixed the two books while I was reading them, jumping from one to the other. They started speaking to each other, each picking a different part of my brain.

And this was exciting!

So now I ‘m wondering how to turn into a book-tender and always know which books to mix for the maximum effect….

Yes, that’s me…..

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Thank you to Oliver (who knows me so well) for the cartoon. For more, go to: www.geekculture.com

My Last 1 on S&C (I promise!)

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Hmmmm, I did it other way round and it miraculously worked: First I wrote my commentary on “Sex & the City 2” for 3 newspapers/magazines and 2 platforms – and then I went to see the movie. Last night. Ugh….

Although I was prepared for disappointment, it was much (much, much) worse then expected. I don’t have to say much (I already wrote my statements, and they perfectly fit) because everyone else is saying it. The most hurting part is that the movie is turned into one big advertisement.  The second most hurting part is that the series, which we loved for its realism (with a touch of magic) has turned into pure magic with no touch of realism whatsoever. The third most hurting thing is that the main characters haven’t gone though any character development or transformation (in 12 years). And we all know that the major point of any dramaturgical development is the main character’s development. None here. Charlotte is crying because she has two kids and when nanny is away, she gets a nervous break down. Taking care of your own two children is so enormously hard (even though you’re not working and have loads of money) that you even accept a porn-star nanny as long as she takes away the horrible burden of your own (2) kids from you. Samantha is 50-something and still fucking around. Miranda doesn’t like her job but likes working so she gets a new job. And Carrie…. If you didn’t hate Carrie during the series (I didn’t), you must start hating her now. Because now, all bad parts of her character come out. She’s self-obsessed, materialistic, egoistic and completely insensible of the needs and feelings of people around her. She repeats the most stupid mistake she made in the series – and this time, she even gets awarded for it! It was hard not to puke during the opening shopping scene. It was VERY hard not to puke during the karaoke scene. But IMPOSSIBLE during this one.

I really, really hope they don’t plan another film.

I’m sure all fans will pray together with me: “Sex and the City” – RIP!

Tajder in EMMA

Friday, May 28th, 2010

I am happy to announce that my commentary about “Sex and the City 2″ is going to be published in the next issue of EMMA, the most renown feministic magazine in German speaking countries.

As announced on the Website:

“Alice Schwarzer hat für die nächste EMMA einen Kommentar zur Sache von Ana Tajder in Wien bestellt – und das Resultat begeistert uns EMMAs alle sehr.”

Link to the EMMA article

“Sex and the City2″. Or “We’re all Stuck in the Dessert!”

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

“Sex and the City 2” is coming to European cinemas on Friday. I, as the ultimate S&C fan should be ecstatic. Well, I’m not. I passed by a cinema with a jumbo poster above the door featuring Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda (in a dessert?!) and I had a very strange feeling. It was a bit like looking at a corpse. A mixture of curiosity, disgust and sadness.

S&C used to be our Bible. What we watched on TV screens were our lives. Yes, we were just like them. And our stories were just like theirs. We were educated, had great jobs, paid for our own luxury, we looked good, had enormous fun and we shagged gorgeous men (Really! I was so offended when Playboy commented on my book: “Is it at all possible that all those men were that gorgeous?” Yes, they were!). We were completely independent. And mesmerised with our lives. We were experiencing the probably best phase of our lives. And S&C was an affirmation for it all.

This was 12 years ago. Many things have changed since then. Towards the end, the series wasn’t as true, cheeky, crispy and fun as it was it the beginning. The first S&C movie came to cinemas and, although we were glad to see our old friends, we were disappointed. And now the 2nd part? I’m not sure. I’m even wondering if we should go to see it. I’m afraid it will be everything but empowering.

First of all: Sex is not what it used to be. The S&C sex, that is. The S&C sex was about freeing a new form of female sexuality. Sexuality which was in the same time our weapon and our shield. Sexuality as the ultimate proof of the newly conquered independence in all aspects of our lives. Unfortunately, the sexuality we freed back then has quickly turned against us. The moment we turned female sexuality into a mean for achieving a goal, somebody else used it for their own purposes: To earn money. In no time, our society has became overly sexualised and pornographised. Fashion copies SM styles. Music spots look like soft porn. School kids are watching hard core on their phones. Media is bombarding us with the new image of a woman, a über-sexualised, über-natural sex doll. She is created by using styling, plastic surgery and Photoshop. She fills us (both women and men) with craving for unreachable, constructed “perfection” and makes us spend billions trying to buy it.  She is turning women into objects. Again. Our grandmothers and mothers fought against this – how did we, the S&C generation, allow it to happen?

And then there was shopping. They spent fortune shopping. And they had enormous fun shopping. So had we. Shopping was symbolising the connection between our financial independence and our newly freed sexuality. We were buying (with our own money) sexy stuff that made us feel great about ourselves. And that helped us manipulate the world which is known to be easily manipulated by attractive looks. But hen came the financial crisis. And made it very clear to us that we became hostages of our own consumption. We worked to consume, we identified with the consumed, and we searched for fulfilment where it couldn’t be found.  It all became painful when we realised that the consumerist attitude reflected on other aspects of our lives. We were consuming men, relationships, friendships. Ourselves. And then came the threat of an environmental catastrophe. It is not fun paying for stuff which you know will burry you one day. No, we don’t shop any more.

S&C showed us how fantastic a friendship can be. A constructed family. Four friends, all obsessed with themselves and their tightest circle. Four friends and their never-ending search. For love, for the perfect relationship, for THE man, for happiness… The search lasted for 12 years. And it goes on. It used to be cute. It’s not anymore. Because it is a product of the individualisation which is ruining our society. One of the biggest lessons we were supposed to learn from the financial crisis is that globalisation made us all interdependent. We cannot be solely focused on ourselves anymore. If Greece crashes, Europe crashes. Same is with women. We cannot live our emancipation alone. There are African women sold to our men as sex workers. Indian women are sewing our jeans for $16 a month. And there are many gorgeous East European girls who, of lack of alternative to support themselves, accept traditional gender roles. They are willing to trade their youth and beauty for financial security. Having a beautiful East European wife who keeps her mouth shut and is satisfied with a gift of designer shoes became sort of a trend: Viennese businessmen travel to East Europe searching for wives. Scared of losing their “competitive advantage”, many West European girls are giving up emancipation.

Yes, the world has drastically changed in the 12 years since S&C first became a symbol of our emancipation. The financial crisis revealed a deeper crisis – our whole system is in crisis. In order to survive, we have to rethink everything anew: The economic system, the values, the priorities. To be able to inspire us again, S&C would have to drastically change. And here an idea: Now that it is clear that we have reached the limits of the male world order, how about offering a new alternative? A female, solidary, cooperative, humanistic world order.

I know – it is too much to wish from a US TV-series-turned-film.

But please, allow me to dream.

(Not so) Bright Star

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Warning to all helpless romantics out there – if you plan to see “Bright Star”, Jane Campion’s film about John Keats and his love for his Fanny, do not expect too much. I was yet again fooled by a trailer. I must finally accept the fact that trailers are like wonderbras. You can only get disappointed.

It is sad that a woman who made “Piano”, one of the most poetic films of all times, made a movie about one of the greatest poets of all times – without poetry. The editing was clumsy, photography was average, and at times even bad, the scenes which were meant to be poetic were just touched upon and left hanging in the air. And she never managed entering Keats. What happened there? Was Keats’ grandness cramping Campion, so that she hasn’t managed to unfold her talent? Pity, pity.

But the movie struck me for another point (as all those costumed dramas do): Ah, glorious times when life was so intense! When a letter traveled for weeks and it was kissed and cherished and reread because it was the only contact to your lover. When you had to think well about what you will write or communicate because you only had a very limited chance to do it. When the other person was sacred and adored because he/she was unique. And the one you were to stick to for the rest of your life. Which made it easier to project positive feelings on him/her.

When winter was dangerous, so you stayed inside, when a ball was a grand experience so you consciously enjoyed it, when a book was a rarity so it was precious.

We just have too much of everything. People, information, excitements, experiences, possibilities, things.  Too much of everything dilutes everything. Life is diluted, experiences are diluted. We are diluted.

Thank you, Mr. Keats.

Link to The Bright Star

“Who the Fuck is Alice?”, the Ending

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Because you my dear readers obviously have a strong urge to finish (or interpret) my Alice, here the ending:

The Rabbit was not just any rabbit. The Rabbit was a Special Operations cop and the way he looked, Alice was sure that he was capable of many, many very special operations.  The Rabbit took a watch out of his pocket and explained that, although he really liked Alice, he was going to bee too late. So they had a quickie or two or three and the Rabbit ran off. “There you go,” thought Alice, “rabbits are all the same. The only difference is their size.” At least the sex with the Rabbit calmed her hormones so she wasn’t feeling so agitated and stupid anymore. But the White Rabbit wouldn’t be the White Rabbit, and I wouldn’t be writing this story, hadn’t he taken Alice into Wonderland.

Alice was just trying to make her peace with the fact that she had just had a one-night stand when the Rabbit started sending her text messages, sweet like “ORANGE MARMELADE”. And then he called. And called again. He kept on contacting Alice from anywhere he went, and he went to many places. One day he was flying as the undercover terrorist fighter to New York, few days later he called from his caserne, then again from deporting illegal immigrants out of the country.  When not doing that, he was pumping up his muscles. A very different world from Alice’s. But the Rabbit gave her so much tender attention that she just kept following him. Deeper into the hole.

And then he started reappearing. Every now and then he would tell Alice how badly he wanted to see her and then he changed his schedule and called in sick and did whatever it took to come and see her.  He even started sending her presents. One day, after having heard how much she liked drinking Möet, he had sent another rabbit, just as tall and strong, handsome and dangerous, to deliver a diamond studded bottle of Möet to her door. “I know this Rabbit is just a brute and we have absolutely nothing in common, except for the same amount of hormones, but I think I’ll simply take this chance for a stroll through Wonderland.  I’m so fed of my life. I need some distraction.” Alice said to herself.

So when the Rabbit invited her to visit him at his Tea Party, she was glad to accept. She knew that the Wonderland was completely different from her life, so she wasn’t extremely shocked when she arrived. And Wonderland really was completely different. In Wonderland, floors were made of plastic. Brown plastic. Plastic curtains hung from windows. The walls were covered in wood. There was a huge crucifix threateningly hanging above the dinner table. There were photos of Catterpilars and Father Williamses and Queens of Hearts and sneezing babies and grinning cats. There were no two same plates or glasses or towels in Wonderland. Napkins haven’t existed in Wonderland.  But what was worse, so haven’t books, newspapers, magazines, CDs or DVDs. But there were toys. Many toys. Colorful crazy toys. Police stations, fire trucks, Mickey Mouse’s and Bob the Builders. And police badges and ornaments.

The inhabitants of Wonderland were different from any inhabitants Alice had ever met before. They functioned in a completely different way from what Alice was used to. They gave their babies to strangers to nurse them. They spoke roughly to their little boys and beat them when they sneezed and gave them lots of pepper. They never cared if their boys would ever be able to leave Wonderland. Their ideas of right and wrong, beautiful and ugly were very different from what Alice had known till then. They had one set of rules for themselves and another for others. They were great at uglification and they loved beheading other inhabitants.

“Well!” thought Alice to herself, “after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house! Down, down, down. Would this fall never come to an end! I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?”

But there were fantastic tea parties with fireworks and there was the magnificent landscape. Snow-covered mountains of joy and frozen lakes of tears and the most incredible palaces in all colors imaginable. And there was sex with the huge Rabbit. Sex under fireworks. Orgasms under earth shaking explosions of colors and sounds.

Unfortunately Alice got ill. Maybe it was the strangeness of Wonderland that made her ill. The Rabbit had to go fighting terrorists and other bad people so he tucked Alice safe in his pink bed and sent his friend the Hatter to bring her tea and medicine. The first day, Alice was too ill to suffer being stuck alone in Wonderland. So was she on the second day. But then, she started feeling lonely. And painfully uprooted. It hasn’t even helped that the Rabbit called every few hours to hear how she was and sent her dozens of messages each day. Actually, this made it even worse “What if the Rabbit was so nice that I couldn’t leave this place?” she wondered, “Whom would I turn into? Who in the world am I? Ah that’s the great puzzle! I’ll try if I know all the things I used to know. “

So she thought of her friends and family and books and music and paintings and theatres and newspapers and the why-thoughts and creativity. Then she discovered a radio and found her favorite radio station. This felt better than any medicine. It helped her remember her land. She kept on re-reading her copy of Elle and her book to keep herself sane. And, as she turned extremely desperate about being captivated alone in this strange land, she had the strangest of thoughts “A Chanel bag! I need a Chanel bag. The moment I return home, I’m going to buy myself a Chanel bag.” Alice had never before identified herself with something like a Chanel bag, but this thought felt strangely comforting. It reminded her that her world was still out there somewhere. A completely different world which, at its extreme, also included things such as Chanel bags. And then she managed to find a music channel on TV just as it played one of her favorite songs. The song transferred her to her land. And made her realize how much she liked home. How much she liked her life. How perfect her life was for her. How much she liked to write and to study and to go to book presentations and exhibitions, and yes, sometimes shopping. This sudden realization of the bliss and divine perfection of her world made her cry “You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” said Alice “a great girl like you,” (she might well say this), “to go on crying in this way! Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all around her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.

After crying her fear out and remembering who she was and realizing the perfection of her life, Alice felt much better. She was still slightly ill but she was looking forward to go home. Strangely, she was also a bit sad about leaving Wonderland, now completely covered in the magic of sparkling white snow.  “Now I understand Stockholm Syndrome,” she smiled at herself as she closed the door behind her.

She never heard from the Rabbit again. She called him and texted him but there was no reply. It was clear to Alice that he was gone forever and that this was OK because he only existed in Wonderland and she couldn’t. She only wished he was a rabbit enough to say goodbye.

After a week, the Rabbit finally sent her a text message: “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”  It was the last thing she had heard from him.

She didn’t care.

No Comment

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

“Who the Fuck is Alice?”, the Beginning

Monday, May 17th, 2010

This is the beginning of my new fairy-tale “Who the Fuck is Alice?”, based on Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland”:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her gay friend in the café, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped at the chat her friend was having on his iPhone, but it involved no straight man, „and what is the use of a chat,“ thought Alice, „without a straight man involved.“  So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could for her hormones made her feel very agitated and stupid), whether the pleasure of reading gossip magazines would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the papers, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; but when she realized that this Rabbit was tall, bursting with muscles and extremely hot, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen such a big rabbit, so she ran across the street after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop into a large black car parked on the side. In another moment in went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again…

Miss Tajder, Mrs. Geier and Mr. Dostoevsky

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

No clue what happened here.

A block. Fear?

Club 2 happened and I started writing for www.zib21.com where my posts were very well read but also heavily discussed. It is new to me that my writing and my opinions are being widely discussed. It is great. But also a bit frightening. It is like all those people are trying to get into your most intimate sphere, your brain. I’ll get used to it. I guess.

And before I start bitching about the topic that obsesses me for past days (all huge crisis happen when I’m ill and locked at home so I have enough time to get well informed. About how bad things really are) – GREECE, I want to concentrate on something more beautiful. Food for the soul.

In one of the past Spiegel (German weekly political magazine), there is an interview with a lady called Swetlana Geier. Mrs Geier is 87. When she was 65, she stared translating Dostoevsky’s 5 master pieces, so called “5 Elephants”. Those new translations are apparently so fantastic that they won numerous prizes. A film about Mr. Geier just got released: “Die Frau mit 5 Elefanten”. The film is currently playing in Austrian cinemas. Here some incredible passages from the interview:

About different rhythms of life

She is talking about “crime and Punishment” which is written in a very fats rhythm, in presto. In the last paragraph of the book, a word is being repeated: “postepenny”, gradually. A slow word. She says: “Life goes gradually. If one hasn’t learned anything else after having read this book, this was enough. Violence is fast and sudden. Life goes gradually.”

About the physicality of translating (or any other work)

Her German teacher taught her to lift her nose while translating. “You don’t translate like a caterpillar eating its way through a leaf. You translate the sentence from a flight of a bird. It is about the whole.“ (Isn’t everything?)

About the language

She is explaining why she is dictating her translations and not writing them down: “Language doesn’t depend on paper. Language lives in the air and it lives from the air. Even that what has been written by some human being at some point – even “Faust” by Goethe or a Pushkin text – originated in imagination. This is why I don’t want to primarily see a new text, but to say it.”

About time and the divine consciousness

“”Suddenly” means that a realization is limited. You don’t know that behind you there is a big spider walking above your head. We know only that what we see, and that what we don’t see happens to us suddenly. It is a dimension of a mundane human being dependent on his senses. We know little, we hear little, we divine nothing. But there is a consciousness that has no “suddenly”, the divine consciousness. And it is incredibly interesting, that in “Crime and Punishment”, which talks about the limited perception of humans, Dostoevsky uses the word “suddenly” so often.”