Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia :: Uncanny Networks Dialogues Virtual Intelligentsia

Uncanny Networks: Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia - Challenging Conceptions of Information Society This book is a collection of thirty-five interviews that examine the various political, ideological, and theoretical opinions of significant media and cultural theorists, critics, artists, and philosophers from the past decade, on the topic of the blurring of distinctions between cultural theory and information. The interviewer, Geert Lovink, is a media theorist, former editor of the new media arts magazine Mediamatic, founder of Nettime mailing lists, the cofounder of the online community server Digital City, and the author of Dark Fiber: Tracking Critical Internet Culture (MIT Press, 2002). According to the Foreword by Joel Slayton, the interview discourse can be roughly grouped into four overlapping ideas: 1) media theory and criticism; 2) sociology, economics, and cultural theory of digital computation, networks, and communications; 3) theoretical ontology relating to an architecture of media; and 4) new media art as information strategy. Topics discussed include cyberspace and the rise of nongovernmental organizations, digital aesthetics, corporate takeover of the Internet, sound art, virtual and urban spaces, navigating deep audio space, theory of the virtual class, European media philosophy, the storage of social movements, the Internet in Eastern Europe, hybrid identities, the mixing of old and new in India, Japanese techno tribes, and critical media studies in the Asia-Pacific, just to name a few. For Lovink, interviews are imaginative texts creating global networked discourses between and among professions, cultures, and social groups. Most of the interviews were done online, allowing the participants to write responses to questions that have both depth and breadth, given that time periods of weeks and months passed before the entire interview with each participant was completed. Many of the interviewees are well-known and unknown artists, critics, theorists, and philosophers worldwide who are building and designing the content, interfaces, and architectures of new media. After the Foreword, the book begins with an interesting self-interview of Geert Lovink himself. A quick snapshot of each interviewee and topics of discussion include: . Dietmar Kamper: disguised form of simulation and authenticity in cyberspace . Norbert Bolz: transformation of media theory into computational theory . Michael Heim: the implication of technological metaphysics . Slavoj Zizek: suspicion of multicultural, neutral, liberal attitudes surrounding nationalist madness . Arthur Kroker: virtual class as predatory capitalists and computer visionaries . Luchezar Boyadjiev: financial sector as the avant-garde in artistic media strategy . Gayatri Spivak: ethics of choice between telematic culture and the reality of a developing state

Commentary on Macbeth soliloquy Essay

â€Å"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. â€Å" Soliloquy is a speech made by a character alone on the stage or thinks she/he is alone. Through soliloquy, the audience gains an honest and direct experience of that character’s mind. In this particular soliloquy, Macbeth expresses overwhelming despair. This soliloquy encompasses the entire experience of Macbeth’s kingship, short to the entire play. Imagery, time, dictions and repetition each have its constituency in shaping this important soliloquy. The passage reveals to the reader the despair and desolation of Macbeth just before the deciding battle with Macduff and Malcolm. Just before the soliloquy, Macbeth has been informed that Lady Macbeth is dead. The sudden departure of Lady Macbeth marks the lost of Macbeth’s only love and trusty as well as the ties to the world. By now, Macbeth is all alone, as most of the previously mentioned Thanes have taken side with Malcolm. After this soliloquy, Macbeth is informed that the Birnam wood is moving towards Dunsinae. This unexpected action by the English army confirms the witches’ prophecies and Macbeth’s fear. Macbeth realizes that perhaps the witches tricked him and reveals his sense of regret as he wishes to â€Å"undone the world.† Nevertheless, at the end of the scene Macbeth chooses to die as a solider. This soliloquy takes a sharp and abrupt change in atmosphere from the falsely over-confidence to despair and futility. In the previous dialogues, Macbeths mocks the incoming siege as â€Å"a siege to scorn.† Lady Macbeth’s sharp death cry fails even to disturb Macbeth in any way. Macbeth’s failure to respond to Lady Macbeth’s cry shows to the reader that Macbeth’s sense and emotion have become numb, as Macbeth says himself he no longer feels the â€Å"taste of fear.† The most probable cause that triggered the sudden outpour of grief and desolation by Macbeth can be attributed to the sudden departure of Lady Macbeth, as Macbeth finds himself all alone in this world. The vocabularies used in this soliloquy express deep depression and desperation: â€Å"creeps†, â€Å"to the last,† â€Å"fools,† and â€Å"dusty death.† Words like â€Å"shadow,† â€Å"no more,† â€Å"nothing† conveys the pointless Macbeth feels his career as a king and perhaps even his entire existence. Much of the dictions used in this soliloquy are extremely depressing. Every single line is reeked with Macbeth’s depression as Macbeth said life is but a pointless tale told by an â€Å"idiot†, referring to himself. Imagery is crucial to all Shakespearean plays. This extraction of Macbeth is no exception. Shakespearean imagery mainly uses comparison, which includes metaphor and simile. The purpose of imagery is to create vivid pictures that deepen the dramatic effects as well as give the audience the pleasure to imagine the particulars of the play. Darkness is an important imagery in Macbeth. As most of the scenes happen at night. But when taking into account that the murder of Duncan also happens at night, darkness seems to be the archetype of evil. However, in this particular passage, darkness represented by â€Å"life is but a walking shadow,† coupled with â€Å"brief candle† imply the briefness and insignificance of Macbeth’s life. Macbeth dismisses the light and desires for darkness in â€Å"out out, brief candle!† The image of a dead king’s dusty body presents the audience a vivid visual of how hopeless and abandoned Macbeth feels. Time is also important to this passage. Time as a whole in the play seems to play against Macbeth and this point is illustrated in this passage as well. In this extract, time and repetition goes hand in hand to create an emotional force to show how time goes against Macbeth. â€Å"Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow,† followed by â€Å"day to day,† to the â€Å"last syllable of recorded time.† Literarily, these featureless repetitions of time to the audience are boring. To Macbeth, these featureless repetitions are but a mere advance from a moment to another, utterly pointless and even torturous; to the audience it shows the extremities of Macbeth’s despair and desolation. By literal repetition of time, Shakespeare deepens the dramatic effect of the sense of despair and futility. Macbeth’s thought moves from tomorrow to yesterday to everything he has done is merely laying the passage to his â€Å"dusty death.† By the end of this passage, it can be said Macbeth actually welcomes and embraces death in order to liberate himself from this multitude of disastrous feelings. In the previous acts, the reader sees the struggles between Macbeth’s dark â€Å"desires† and conscience. However, in this extract the reader sees almost a liner development towards despair and futility. A big part of Macbeth’s tragedy is that Macbeth himself realizes and recognizes the emptiness of his life. In the latter half of the soliloquy, Macbeth juxtaposes his life to a â€Å"brief candle† and a poor actor on stage that â€Å"frets† and â€Å"struts† his â€Å"brief† hours upon the stage until he is heard â€Å"no more.† Clearly, Macbeth bears sardonic remarks about his brief career as the king and power. Macbeth’s sarcastic remarks go to a point where he loses self-respect and self-identity for a moment when he calls himself an â€Å"idiot† and his life â€Å"signifying nothing.† Many critics, including Mr. Taylor feel that this is the play’s most important soliloquy and certainly one of the most famous soliloquy from all Shakespeare’s plays. Although the purpose of every line in this extract is to create a sense of futility and despair, nevertheless, the extract’s strength lies with the successful accomplishment of drawing sympathy from the audience by engaging them in a direct link with Macbeth as he expresses the futility of human endeavors, thus, making the Shakespearean play, Macbeth a successful tragedy.

Case Study International Human Resource Management Essay

Case study Introduction The case study tells about the future profitable growth of the Padi- cepat a Malaysian company. The company has instant food, beverages and baking products business. In this company have different technologies for marketing strategies. Judgment is needed to identify the growth of the company so they look after the PBIT. In the time of 1990s they provide expansion opportunities Malaysian company pedi-cepat planned export offices in India, Singapore and Japan bit it fails. After the crisis, they expanded to Europe and the Middle East. Expand to Oceana for the better growth. This report focused the international human resource management to the padi- cepat company. Discussion Padi-cepat a Malaysian company faced lots of international human resource management challenges they are: National culture, expatriate adjustment, function and assignment failures, workforce diversity and labor relations, public infrastructure, health and lifestyle. 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