The Advocate

(Source.) There are times when I feel as if I cannot trust myself. There are times when I feel as if my own judgement is insufficient to conquer my doubts, the internalized fear that has been with me since childhood. There are times when I fall into the trap poignantly stated by William Butler Yeats, Bertrand Russell, and even Charles goddamn Bukowski. These times are often no more feverish than when confronted with antisemitism... Here is paraphrased excerpt from Irena Klepfisz's "Anti-Semitism in the Lesbian/Feminist Movement" (pgs. 49-51), offering a series of questions that "both Jewish and non-Jewish women might consider asking in trying to identify in themselves sources of shame, conflict, doubt, and anti-Semitism." (H/t to The Debate Link for their summary and sourcing.) 1. Do I have to check with other Jewish people in order to verify whether something is antisemitic? 2. Do I distrust my own judgement on this issue? 3. When I am certa

Manic. Pixie. Dream. Girl.  MPDG. The term was originally coined by film critic Nathan Rabin in response to Kirsten Dunst's character from Elizabethtown , circa 2005. The MPDG is "a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist." Of course, the notorious MPDG significantly predates 2005. Indeed, the first nigh-universally agreed upon MPDG is Katharine Hepburn's Susan Vance from the 1938 comedy Bringing Up Baby . Subsequent MPDG's include notables such as Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower, her daughter Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, Zooey Deschanel in... basically every character she plays, Rachel Bilson in Last Kiss, Audrey Tautou in Amelie, Ramona V. Flowers of the Scott Pilgrim comics, and (my personal favorite), Natalie Portman in Garden State. Key characteristics of the MPDG include: eccentricity, quirkiness, idiosyncrasies, full

(Attribution) I've lived a life that has provided me with a near-endless supply of anxiety-induced, paranoid, cinematic, catastrophic nightmares. The Dead Man's Hour  is typically when this happens, waking up in a state of sleep paralysis  -- or possession by a Dybbuk . Because of course . Scenes of madness, of improbable (if not impossible) tragedy. Unspeakable but, apparently, not unthinkable. Grotesque evil filling the folds of my grey matter like sewage water until I feel as if I'm drowning. I tell myself scary stories of loved ones dying, loved ones violated, sudden illnesses, protracted injustices, years of good people eating shit in sufferance while the avaricious spend long lives of cruel bigotry and blissful ignorance. They rotate and repeat, varying the cast of characters, but playing the same soundtrack of horror. I imagine myself fighting back, a desperate gesture of a futility, and then falling... falling... until the closing dark suffocates me and

  Raw. Savage. Dolorous. Bursting full of emotions turbulent and deep. Deeper than oceanic currents. Deeper than petrol-filled chasms. Deeper than the wilderness holler. Deeper than light and air and all host of metaphors that are not enough for me right now. I am choking for want of a way to adequately express what I feel. But, if I had to picked something right now, then let's just say my current mood is this. Fucking cheers, everyone.

[***Author's Note: all links posted here are necessary to fully understand and comprehend this material. Please read each linked piece in full in the order which it appears. Also, the author is aware that this post cannot, by the very nature of its subject matter, stand as a timeless and completely comprehensive account, or for inadvertent omissions or developments that change the content contained herein.***] Israel and Palestine. Oppressor and oppressed. Colonizer and colonized. Settlers and refugees. Murders and protectors. Both and neither. Two nations. Two peoples. Two religions. Too much horror and tragedy. Neither can live while the other survives they say, but neither will live if the other dies too. It's that simple -- and yet, actually, it's also not that simple. Indeed, if there is ever a truism when it comes to the Middle East, especially Israel and Palestine, it's that everything is always really simple and really complicated. Forget shades of grey! We

(Paramount Theater, Oakland, CA. © 2018 FRANCK BOHBOT) I have 7 movies (at least) that I feel have flown under the proverbial radar, sat on shelves underestimated, or otherwise not received their proper due from audiences and critics alike. These are movies that make me cry, make me laugh, become nervous, get excited, tremble in fear, and exult in the pain of love so bright it burns. But seriously, these are just awesome films that deserve some respect on their names! So, without further gilding of the lily, preamble, and adieu, I bring you...

It's important for me that anyone reading this to remember that this is a creative space I have created. It exists solely for the purpose of exploring myself, my art, my connections with the world and within myself. It's purpose is to constrain me within a specific medium in order to free me from the distractions that would see the amalgamation of thoughts swirling around my grey matter don't disappear into some subconscious escape-hatch. It's also important for me that anyone reading this to remember that I use a pseudonym in order to distance the Me that exists within this pocket dimension from the Me that exists outside it. I'm both those people, but the former is, only a very specific presentation of Me. The latter is Me with and without filters, the flesh and blood, the purposeful and the fallible. The former is Me as I am creating myself, exploring myself, swimming amid the breadths and depths of life in order to understand, to empower my artistic express