Marc | April 14, 2010
Well, once again one of the primary characteristics of fanatical fundamentalists, in the pejorative sense, has shown up. CBC announced that several of the radical Islamist groups in Somalia have banned music from being played on the radio stations there on the grounds that it is “un-Islamic”. As the story noted: Hosts at Mogadishu’s 14 [...]
Marc | November 26, 2009
I really don’t like rap at all, but one of my ex-students just sent me a link to an incredibly powerful rap video (hat tip to Lindsay Aranoff). The video speaks for itself. Do not watch it if you have a weak stomach.
Marc | September 15, 2008
“The question comes down to how we can as artists make the case to Canadians that the arts deserves healthy vigorous funding,” S. Randy Boyagoda, a novelist and a professor of literature based at Ryerson University, said on Thursday. Source CBC.ca Canada seems to have a love-hate relationship with the Arts. On the one hand, [...]
Marc | August 9, 2008
In case you are wondering why I put the term “theologian” in quotation marks, it’s simple: the quotation marks are used to indicate a verbal tonality, in this case, dripping sarcasm (the red text is used to indicate “Danger”). I use the term “theologian” to indicate a person who is, as Dawkins might say, “a [...]
Marc | August 6, 2008
Of all the areas I have studied, probably the furthest removed from the consensual reality (i.e. “normal culture”) of North America is that of Magic. Were many of my colleagues studied Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, in order to get a handle on how cultures conceptualized and formalized technologies of the mind, I was more [...]
Marc | July 23, 2008
A couple of days ago, Max Forte put up an excellent post on Trinidadian music taking an in-depth look at one particular performance piece and, if you haven’t read it yet, you really should. One line in particular has been rattling around in my brain every since I read it: Shadow and Sonia do not [...]
Marc | July 20, 2008
A friend of mine of at the SWC just posted a link through to a YouTube video of a song that used to be a favorite of mine back when I was singing in bars.
Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
In Harmonium » Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 3 on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2
MM on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
Backwards Observer on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2