Rethink of "The Story of O"

Some day ago a friend of mine told me that she found "The Story of O" disturbing after she read the storyline of the movie based on the novel. I first watched the movie and then read the novel when I was dating AN. It was some eight or ten years ago. It really doesn't matter about the exact time, but my point is: I was young and newly explored to sex ( thanks to AN) and I was exthusiastic about any sub-cultural notion of sex, including SM. That was the time when I was reading a lot of Simond Fraud and "The Second Sex".

"Isn't 'The Story of O' about SM?" My friend asked me on Google Chat. I admitted that and added, "It is more than that. It is about Feminism". "Feminism" is a very good excuse when you try to rationale your motivation for viewing erotic movies. Yet deeply in heart I am debating myself on the case of "O". Is it really a feminism? Now that I have given the movie a second thought, I find the main theme is about this idea of ownership, the power struggles between male and female, or that between O and Sir Stephen, in this case. In order to proof her love to Sir Stephen, O has to claimed to be the slave of Sir Stephen. In the name of love, O entered Russie to be trained into a sex slave and accepted group rapes and whippings all the time. In the name of love, she has accepted a permanent mark of "SH" ( Sir Stephen's initials) on her body and continued to be slaved by Sir Stephen. O was proud of what she was doing all the time because she believed that was the way for her to show her persistance of true love. In terms of her homosexual relationship with the model Jacline, O was simply acting as what her previous and her current male lover had done to her. In other words, she was acting patriarchal power upon the poor innocent Jacline. Sex desire has no doubt turned O into an attractive woman, yet is it self-liberation? Is O a feminist warrior or a stubborn victim?

I remembered in the book O was dumpted by Sir Stephen after he had lost his interest on her. Then O asked for his permission to commit suicide and Sir Stephen agreed. The movie, on the contrary, ended with O burnning Sir Stephen's hand by her smoking head. In terms of this, I reassure myself that the movie is a feminist one, but I still find it hard to justify the book though. I also wonder why a female writer would come up with such ending. I guess I need to reaccess to the book, or more important, do some background check on Pauline Réage. For now, the movie just reminds me one thing:

But Love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The follies that themselves commit. -- Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

A fascinating lecture presentation on data manipulation

Before I forgot, save the link of this fascinating lecture: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

The lecturer seems to be a German guy.

I specifically love his presentation on the China part, and, of course, his presentation on those bubble movements.

Key points that I see through this presentation: data are facts for you to manipulate. All matters are the perspectives that you hold.

One in five US gays HIV infected: study

This is a critical review on a Yahoo! Canada News report. The purpose is to see how data got distorted and manipulated to become a bias.
I use the same title of the news report as my blog's title today. Here is the link of the report: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100924/health/us_health_gays_aids
"One in five US gays HIV infected" -- How horrible it is! Yet if you dive underneath the texts, you will find a fascinating new story. To join me on this adventure, please try to answer the following questions based on the news report content ONLY:

1. Does "men who have sex with men" mean the men are gay? Can't they be bi-sexual? If you agree that they can be bi-sexual, based on this news report can you ensure that the HIV infectors mentioned here are not infected from hetero-sexual intercourse?

2. How about the geographics of these "one in five gay men living in 21 major US cities"? Based on the report, the study was based on a sampling of 8,000 gay men living in 21 major US cities, but it is unclear whether these 8,000 gay men are averagely scatterring around the 21 cities. Is it possible that the majority of that 19% "men having sex with men" who didn't realize their HIV infection are NYC residents? Which city(s) has(have) most such cases?

3. "It said the prevalence increased as education and income decreased, and awareness of HIV status was higher among gay men with greater education and income". How about a male prostitue who is gay, with lower education but high income (Based on my understanding on "A Call Girl's Secret Diary", the prostitution industry is definitely not a low-income job)?

Now, look back to the news title. Does it still sound horrible to you? You might find more interesting challenges on this simple news article. Be my guest!

If you still have some time to rest a bit, I would like to present you this last question:

What is the truth of a news report?

Cordelia :)

ROM: New Director = ?

Thoughts aroused by the Globe and Mail interview article " Janet Carding Settles in at the ROM" (James Bradshaw, Friday September 24, 2010. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/janet-carding-settles-in-at-the-rom/article1723815/)

So here is our new ROM director Ms. Janet Carding, a single mid-age female specialist on fundraising and science museum. Normally a new administration means new focuses. As an art history student and a temporary part-time staff at the ROM, I guess it is wise to pay attention to such new focuses -- to decide whether to stay or to move forward in the soon future. So this new director likes natural history and sciences, and she will focus on online experience, and continuing blockbuster shows. I regard the latter two as the globle museum development trends, but the first one is definitely not a good sign to me. Simply by thinking of the upcoming Water show, I can already foresee another kindergarden-like ROM. Ever since I am back from NYC, I suddenly realize that the ROM is in fact copying the American Museum of Natural History display style on its 2nd & 3rd floors. I am never fond of copycats, not to mention that the ROM, at this point is still a place that can make my blood running faster.

Seriously, I am not thrilling about this new Janet's statement. Maybe it is time to wake up... if not quitting....at least to realize that such "dynamic" is just not my thing. I can deal with young kids once a while, but definitely no more than 3 days.