Postmodern Critic

Sydney, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA


Joined May 11th 2006

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About Me
I'm a young independent intellectual living in Sydney, Australia, interested in meeting open-minded, progressive individuals who love life and are more interested in questions than answers! :o)

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Snippets From My Travel Diary

November 3rd 2009 08:46
2pm last Friday

Western music that I would normally dismiss as shallow or problematic has become something here in Lopburi, as the exposure to English is minimal. I find myself actually enjoying Love and Sex Magic by Justin Timberlake and Ciara, or whatever it's called, and (I'm a bit ashamed to admit this) I found myself dancing to Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl, the lyrics of which I find very problematic.

Apparently the Thai, previously uniformly slim, are gaining mor weight every year, as a group.

Looking up and around for signage, I was blessed to ecounter some first-rate Engrish: Below a picture of an escalator, the text read 'travellator', while a knife and fork appeared above a 'food park' label.

6:45pm

I just had a vegetarian pad Thai and KFC shrimp and cheese balls.
[...]
Twitter is becoming my favourite site to visit. It brings me a lot of joy. I'm not trying to be ingenious in analysing it just yet, though I will say that while I admire the skill that goes into succinct writing, I am yet to appreciate thinking repetitively in 140 character blocks/installments. This is why I do not Tweet very often myself, though I check the site daily. I read on CNN that Twitter users tend to be higher earners than users of Facebook, who are higher earners than users of MySpace.

[...]

If I had my own money, what would I do differently?

[...]

The KFC menu is much more visually creative than the Western ones I can recall. The Snack menu looks fragmented, while the two straight lines dividing the large block into three have been transformed into smooth, wavy lines on a 'specials' menu. A third menu uses overlapping squares -- all this shows Thai creativity is running high in whatever advertising agency KFC picked, with a fresh, innovative design making KFC even more appealing.

[Ed: Well, you know that Western fast food franchises are very expensive for the locals in Asia, and are seen 'special occasion' restaurants, right? The same with McDonalds and Pizza Hut imitations]

1pm Saturday

Lopburi rhymes with El Bulli (one of the world's best restraunts, in Spain) or strawberry - the r is so soft that it is more accurately an L sound. Farang (foeigner) is pronounced 'falang'.

I just handed my ticket to the collector - the Thais have a flexible approach to boarding/paying a vehicle, which I first noticed on the bus in Bangkok - you can either buy your ticket in advance, or pay once you're in the vehicle and it has taken off. I guess if you don't have the right amount of money you would get kicked off somewhere along the way and would have to retrace your steps as best as you know how! [This is what happened to me in Tay Ninh, Vietnam, and led to me spending a night in a Cao Dai temple, which was interesting.]

We had a discussion of my accent yesterday. The Irish guy thought I was Canadian or American, maybe with a hint of English; The Londoner thought I was either British or American, but not Australian. The Yorshire Brit thought I sounded British, and not even the slightest bit Australian. At least I didn't get South African this time.

Perhaps my accent is close to the standard Trans-Atlantic, and everyone recognises a bit of their own cultural nuances within it...

I've left everything behind to follow my dreams, wherever they may lead... Somewhat pseudo-independent, I am making my way to a new source of self-esteem.

Marriage is, ideally, a celebration of love. Love knowns no gender-on-gender confines.

When I buy a drink at a 7 Eleven, it gets placed, along with a straw, into a small plastic bag, convenient for carrying. It's bad for the environment, but such a comfort not to have to chill my fingers with the icy bottles.

In regards to leaving the fan on to blow over my body while I sleep, I had a dream that a ghost was stepping in and out of my personal space, which I associate with the fan automatically swivelling around the room.

I saw an ad for 'face massage'! Need to check it out...

I am an international traveller, and I have links to everyone, everwhere.

You learn from your setbacks.

I stayed in Lopburi for exactly one week, and the time went by so fast! I sympathise with Gary Arndt (the man who is traveling to every city/town/region of the world), who feels a need to move on from one place to another after a week.

[On Saraburi]

The Buddha statue is situated in the middle of a busy main road. It inspires thoughts of spirituality even during the time many people see as wasted, in between places, or irritating (I'm sure rush hour gets hectic here, even if it's nothing like Bangkok)... another example of how spirituality is practically interwoven into everyday life here in Thailand.

The Thai seem to have a healthy advertising industry: It relies on bright colours and curvy lines. And I don't just mean the Thai alphabet.

[...]

It looks like we have entered the big city already, judging by the lollipop cabs. I feel more rewarded for being alert here in Bangkok than I did in Lopburi.
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Postmodern Travel Quotes

November 2nd 2009 15:05
"Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves--that go on slipping , like sand, through our fingers."

- Salman Rushdie

"Irregularity and unpredictability are important features of health. On the other hand, decreased variability and accentuated periodicities are associated with disease. Healthy system don't want homeostasis. They want chaos."

- John R. Van Eeenwyk

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."

- Benjamin Disraeli

"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within."

- Lillian Smith

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The perfect traveler must be a perfect contradiction. She should be open to almost everything that comes her way, but not too ready to be taken in. He should be worldly, shrewd, his feet firmly on the ground; but he must also have the capacity to give himself over to moments of real wonder. He or she must be curious, observant, spirited and kind—ready to spin a spell-binding tale of adventure and irony at the Explorers’ Club, and then throw it all over for a crazy romance in the South Seas."

- Pico Iyer

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Writing from the hospital...

November 1st 2009 12:32
Yesterday I spread out on comfortable green chair of my Hotel Radisson room and wrote pages and pages in my new notebook... as I turned off the light sometime round midnight I thought 'this is the life'! I am forever looking for a peaceful place to work, being that my Sydney home isn't what I would call such.

I am a big fan of moving in and out of spaces. Savouring every inch, every contour, every angle, every shade of the environment I find myself in... and then moving on to the next... it's no surprise that my dream of Robyn included such fascinating new spaces, colours and motifs. I am undergoing dramatic changes in my living environment, and reinventing what it means to exist from one day to the next. I note the way I am changing in relation to finding myself in new environments all the time. I don't want to be overloaded, but I also don't want to be understimulated either. Balance, peace and moderation are they key words, and which continent is better suited to getting in touch with my inner serenity?

If people are angry or disturbed here, they hide it well. I see smiles, mischievous expressions and a smooth countenance everywhere I look. This sometimes irked me, from time to time, in the past, but on this trp to Thailand I am just so grateful to be exploring new territory that I am awake to all the positive implications of 'face' and don't dedicate too much attention to the negatives.

SO why am I in the hospital? It happens to contain the closest internet point that is affordable. There's no-one here anyway on this Sunday night.

I think that sadism and masochism both spring from a fear of fully examining the other/self. If you are to confront your fears about sexuality and worthiness, social and private sense of control, and be willing to share your insecurities with another person who cares, you don't need to switch off any of your sensitivity. You become fully accepting of yourself and another, curious about how you can both grow, change and be transformed by the other's presence.

I also think that words that are derogatory to women such as whore should not be used by intellectuals, because (apart from the fact that they indulge in a culture of hysteria over womens' and mens' sexuality) they hurt the most impressionable, uneducated and run down members of our society. It's very sad to see when a woman (or man) feels somewhat validated through such labels, simply because they are being noticed and sexually desired in a way that is partially fulfilling to them.

I mean, if a man on the street yells something foul at me, passing by, I know that he has a problem, and his externalisation of his fears has nothing to do with me. Unfortunately, being that our society still has a long way to go before misogyny has next to no bearing on our interpersonal relations, not all the bystanders are going to interpret the event that way. Someone, somewhere, on that hypothetical busy street is going to think 'she deserved it'.

Don't worry, nothing like that has happened to me recently, and certainly not in Thailand. The men here have been almost invariably sweet and charming. From my limited knowledge of Buddhism and Thai society, it seems neither has resulted in a deeply rooted and significant hatred or fear of women today. I am aware that gender inequality is a problem everywhere, but I can't help but notice how the Thai men seem to be blissfully uninfatuated with machismo.

Actually, now that I think about it, it would be nice if there was some sort of female equivalent, or incarnation, of Buddha... but then all the world's religions are phallocentric. Religion is on my mind because I learnt today that the Thai flag is composed of three colours, white, red and blue, representing the nation, religion and the king (monarchy) (not in that order). I also learnt that every man is supposed to become a monk at age 20, something which helps ensure a great afterlife for his parents! I find it incredible that religion is so deeply embedded in Thai culture as that.
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Dreaming in Thailand

October 31st 2009 04:19
Over the last few days I've been leaving my fan on at night, and have had dreams of being in 7 Elevens with my mum, perpetually poised between exiting and staying, of preparing for a rollercoaster ride (or was it a slide) at a high altitude...

Last night I turned the fan of for hope of more peaceful dreams, and I'm happy to report that I dreamt of Robyn Carlsson (the pop singer) again, staging a show on an elaborate stage. It was toned lilac and purple, and the walls of her home/theatre were totally adorned with ornamental patterns, from tip to toe. She seemed to live in a townhouse, which was a light blue-purple, and I waited for her in front of it. She grinned and talked with me, socialising, glowing, agonising a bit. She was shorter than me, and very committed to guiding all her guests through a creative artistic experience. Just by being there I was changing the dynamic of the scene, and she loved it. There were three other audience members, whom I couldn't see clearly. She ended up suspended in the middle of the wall, peeking through a rectangular hole in it, like there was a carpeted tile missing from the wall. The wlal itself was the colour you might get if you mix cherry and plum, with light (dirty) pink on top - there was an elephant with wings in every section. She then appeared to point them out and their relation to each other - how every one was different. I didn't want her to do this. I would have preferred if she hadn't shown them to me as all having intricate relations with each other. For some reason this act seemed laborious and unnecessary. The wall was great as it was


[ Click here to read more ]
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In The Mood For A Formative Experience

October 29th 2009 15:15
I have been feeling quite hazy - floating in my own little universe into which sometimes the odd English teacher pops in to say Hello. But mostly my spoken communication consists of the only two Thai utterances I know, Sawatdeeka and Kopkunka (or something) - Hello and Thank You respectively.

A Thai boy named Ben just draped himself over the back of the chair next to mine in the internet cafe. He's hot and unhappy with his mental state, judging by his mimes. The boy next to me is playing at shooting people


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Monkeying Around in Lopburi

October 26th 2009 06:13
Greetings,

Well, I'm sitting in a pink internet cafe whih has a lovely tiled ceiling and beautiful-looking dangling lights, each in a different colour. My internet connection costs 15 baht per hour, or about 50 cents (US). A few buildings away, I'm washing my darks without detergent... I probably would have realised I needed detergent for best results if I had been given more time to figure out how the machine worked, but the Thai girls that were helping me get change simply pressed 'go' before I had time to do much thinking. I hope the laundry turns out alright, despite the conditions not being ideal... [ Click here to read more ]
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Ongoing Movement

October 25th 2009 07:39
Artemis Jones says:

[W]herever I go, here I am...and "here" will be Big Sur the coming week, a trip to the under-upper-world and maybe back again...but seeing as I'm never going anywhere but "here," where is there to return to, anyway, (Alice


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Time to leave Bangkok... but to where?

October 24th 2009 04:28
In Thailand's capital, no street is too small to be crammed with commerce. Which is great if you are determined to shop yourself silly, but I'm more interested in seeing places I've never seen before and discovering interesting new cultural quirks and the creative texts they have been responsible for.

So I'm determined to get out as soon as possible, but I'm not completely sure which direction to go to. I could make my way towards any of the following


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Today Charlee, the owner of the guesthouse in Bangkok I'm staying in (if you haven't been following), received a guest - an (Western) Australian author named Brian Dunne who is living in Myanmar. Brian insisted that life for him as an author had always paid off financially - he is the author of several books, amongst them books of poetry. Brian has fascinating tales of travelling all over South-East Asia, including getting kicked out of Laos, falling into a sewer in Cambodia and being flown to Sydney for treatment, and, perhaps most surprising of all, his decision to bestow upon his baby girl the name of 'Suu Kyi', which could be interpreted as emulation of Myanmar's rightful leader, still under house arrest (not that he indicated this was the case, just in case you're reading this, Myanmar government officials!). Brian is aware that no-one has named their baby so of late, because nobody wants to draw attention to themselves and possibly be viewed as being opposed to the government. He claims that if the authorities kick him out he will embarass them, and doesn't appear too worried, especially as he is not Burmese.

So there you go - I look and look for the most interesting Australians in Sydney, and whilst I have found some which are very cool, it seems that the most adventurous, free-thinking and ambitious Australians are weaving trails all over the world, re-energising the cultures they find themselves in and experiencing vast personal growth


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Day 2 (or is it 3?) in Bangkok

October 22nd 2009 09:13
Bangkok is more frenzied yet more calm than Sydney... it's an amazing paradox - people have more stressful physical conditions (pollution, heat, traffic, economic hardship, working hours) to work with, yet they manage to exude calm at almost all times. Walking back to my accommodation yesterday, I was on a street busier than many in Sydney, yet the people weren't walking as fast as Sydneysiders do - theirs was a gradual progression. Even as the traffic raged on and encroached the pedestrians space in the form of tuk-tuks, morocycles and cars clambering onto the sidewalk, the people kept their cool and drifted, unfazed, on.


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Recent Comments

Just a note:

Suu Kyi means 'the winner' in Burmese.

Anotehr things I learnt from Brian is that Myanmar is a fusion of cultures - many different ethnicities co-exist peacefully. He described it as a 'melting pot', with some people lookign visibly different.

I'm at the Praram hospital as I write this, on the 1st of November.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on ThoughtZone: Fair and Balanced

November 1st 2009 05:17
I am indeed - I will keep Postmodern Critic up to date with tales of my travels.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on The Best Thing About Blogging...

October 30th 2009 15:34
Thanks for the postmodern-friendly wisdom.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on The Most Trusted Journalist In America

October 30th 2009 15:26
I also would have voted for Anderson Cooper if he had been listed. Out of the people in that poll, I would have voted for Jon Stewart, but only because I am most familiar with him - and because by taking the media on as a satirist he also reproduces the function of the typical journalist - to inform. The basic elements of communicating 'truth' to the audience is inevitably part of this repertoire.

I like this poll, I must say.

Maybe what it says is that Americans have a good sense of humour and like the 'wild card' option as opposed to the journalists who all go about telling the truth in the same way. It shows that people value creativity, and what is more creative than being tickled into laugher?

But I can see where you're coming from as well.

Hmmm.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on On Things That Infuriate Me

October 30th 2009 14:57
I think this law is a sign that Mali is changing... if it doesn't get through this time, it will the next time... it's only a matter of time as the world becomes more globalised and womens' rights issues become more important to everyone everywhere. Let's look at Mali as one of teh countries with the longest way to go, and keep fighting for womens' rights where and when we can. Slowly, we are making big changes.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on ThoughtZone: Fair and Balanced

October 30th 2009 14:08
Lol, both those photos are awesome on their own, but they are so much better together!

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Time to leave Bangkok... but to where?

October 26th 2009 02:58
Hey Ruby!

I plan to avoid informing of them of going to India for as long as possible (I decided to make tracks back to Bangkok and fly from there to Kolkata or Delhi), but they will either find out when we talk on the phone and there is a different two letter country code preceding my number, or when they ask to see my photos... Hopefully I can just email them and then they won't know until I've left, although I do want to be in India for a while... Fingers crossed for the best!

Btw, I think you would really enjoy reading this.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Time to leave Bangkok... but to where?

October 24th 2009 13:40
Greetings from Lopburi, Amy!

Thanks for your advice; I decided to go to Lopburi, Chiang Mai, Pai, catch a flight from Chiang Mai to Manadalay in Myanmar, work my way down to Yangon through Bagan, and then I might consider doing India... but only if I have a fellow traveller in tow!

My parents have promised I can go to Scandinavia next winter if I 'behave' myself on this trip, so I am torn... I don't want to do anything to stuff that up, but my natural instinct is to explore as much as possible. We'll see.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Fight Club Musical

October 15th 2009 15:54
O. M. G.
I love that idea and I hope they do it, but that's the most surprising news I've heard for a long time!
Thanks for sharing.

Comment by Postmodern Critic
on Some Thoughts On Coming Out Week

October 14th 2009 13:26
Your beliefs have made a difference to me, Janet.

And they no doubt have an impact on those around you as well - even if you don't talk about this subject with everyone, you impart a sense of your values everywhere you go, and I believe a lot of people are drawn to an attitude like yours, and in some cases without realising it.

Thanks for your comment.