I will be attending the screening of the film that the shooting of which coincided with my recent bout of pneumonia and torn chest muscles on March 1st.

If you are interested… the trailer is available here.

Although i think the summary of the plot on the opening page won’t be getting them into any competitions, the trailer might well. It is definitely attention-grabbing.

You’ll note that their director, the infamous Jeff Chan whom i sincerely regret not throwing a carton of melted ice cream at, is the only one the cast who has included a bio of himself on the cast&crew section. Figures…

Rosamund E. Mack, Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. 255 pp $70.00.

Rosamund Mack prefaces Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600 by asserting that “my purpose is to link a wide range of art works and specialized scholarship to make this complex subject accessible to a broad audience” (ix). With a doctorate in Renaissance Art from Harvard and funding from The Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi among other organization and individuals, Mack lacked neither the credentials nor the support to undertake such a project.

Bazaar to Piazza is divided into ten chapters. In the introduction, Mack immediately engages the scholarly semantic preoccupation and defends her use of the term “Oriental.” She argues that the relative ignorance among Italians with regards to the regional and chronological origins of these imported artifacts make the imprecision of the adjective “Oriental” entirely appropriate for her discussion (1). Mack then succinctly articulates the four main points she is attempting to demonstrate using a numbered list and breaks down the contents of each of the subsequent chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief summary of the historical context that fostered the “cross-cultural artistic transfer” she documents. Subsequent chapters are organized chronologically based on the earliest evidence of this transfer: textiles, carpets, ceramics, glass, leatherwork and brass inlay. Chapter 9 uses the pictorial arts in order to demonstrate that the dynamic trade relationship had done little to expand the Italian understanding of the Islamic world. While Chapter 10 argues that this exchange created common tastes rather than being fostered by it. It is these last two chapters which most engage with the current debate in anthropology and history over conceptions and modes of analysis for the “Mediterranean” world.

From her introductory remarks, Mack makes explicit her preoccupation with market forces on industrial and cultural production. Chapter 4, focusing on the importation carpets and the symbols of status such luxurious and costly furnishings conferred on their owners, deals directly with the question of why the Italians never made serious efforts to produce this commodity on their own:

As measured by the remarkable quantity of painted representations, their fidelity to the originals, and relish for details and variations, however, Oriental carpets made too profound an impression of the Italian taste to allow a new industry much leeway for competition (93).

This situation is directly contrasted with the development of the Venetian glass trade within a context of established workshops using invention to benefit from both a market scarcity and poorer quality of merchandise after the destruction of the Damascene furnaces (113). The other decorative arts discussed are placed between these two extremes in order to demonstrate that practical forces, rather than a common heritage, encouraged the development of common aesthetic tastes among the peoples of the Mediterranean.

Bazaar to Piazza is a fine example of material history contributing to the study of the Mediterranean. Mack’s aim of making Islamic contributions to Renaissance decorative arts accessible to a wide-audience is largely accomplished by her simple, straightforward writing style and the appeal of the numerous colour figures conveniently located near their discussion in the text. Furthermore, when dealing with monetary value of the items, a perenially difficult topic, the author provides meaningful comparisons: According to contemporaneous inventories of their estates “Lorenzo [di Medici]’s best table carpet was worth more than two sculptures by Donatello owned by Luigi Martelli” (73). Although her notes are extensive, they are relegated to the end of the book where they do not distract or intimidate an unfamiliar reader. A glossary provides some necessary vocabulary. Unfortunately, the aesthetic feel of the book – glossy pages and wide borders – appears to have been put before the readability of the actual text printed in an eight-point font. The reader skimming pages for pretty pictures and focusing on the clear synopsis of each chapter’s arguments on its last pages would be all to likely to miss the anecdotal examples, such as the “detailed record of historical error, religious misassociation, and linguistic confusion” around the Alhambra vase in the Stockholm Nationalmuseum, that bring the people engaged in this exchange to life (53).

Although Mack asserts that market forces are most accountable for the developments in the material culture of the three-hundred year period she is studying, she nevertheless does not rob the artists of their agency and innovation: “Given the precedents… and the strong ornamental composition of Gentile’s own style, there is no reason to look for a nonartistic motive for Gentile’s Islamic-style halos and textiles” (67). In this way, Mack’s work can be related to the Braudelian approach’s tripartite division of historical narratives as evenementielle, conjecture and long-durée. Furthermore, the author’s synopsis of Chapter 10, “Christian and Muslim peoples around the Mediterranean had acquired common tastes and, for practical reasons, accepted their need for industrial and artistic exchange,” aligns explicitly with Purcell’s and Horden’s contentions in The Corrupting Sea (14, emphasis added). Although a common Greco-Roman and Byzantine heritage explains the familiarity of the organization of Islamic ornamentation to the European eye, other developments were necessary to bridge the divide between pictorial/representational and ornamental motifs of European and Islamic art respectively (5).

On the whole, Bazaar to Piazza is a success if evaluated based on its purported goals. Although it addresses more contentious issues and debates regarding scholarly terminology, regional studies and individual agency, it is also accessible to a reader not yet versed in either the historiographical debates or the field of Islamic influences on Renaissance Art. It provides a vast array of other sources from which to expand the discussion and just enough colour, in both the literal and figurative sense, to keep their attention. Without being ground-breaking, Mack has contributed substantially to our understanding of the development of the decorative arts from 1250-1550.

Firstly… because you know you want to… try out a Medieval Mad Lib .

I went to see In Bruges earlier this week and loved it. The jarring contrast of beautiful, artsy shots of a city i am dying to visit with a slap-stick, action-filled, potty-mouthed cast and narrative was the definition of comedy. Well, if you espouse an explanation of laughter as an alleviation of tension when things are incongruent - which i do. Anyone who truly loves Boccaccio will love it. In fact, it might EVEN be Rabelaisian if you want to get fancy, but the scatological is less pronounced.

One of my fellow movie-goers turned to us in the car and said “They make movies for idiots now.” I hope they continue to make movies like this for idiots like me.

In honour of Valentine’s Day, i am sharing my thoughts on seduction…

I had an interesting conversation with a male friend last night about how to go about making the first move without scaring the girl away or just seeming like “friends.” This is obviously VERY problematic (for us all - but that’s another blog post involving three very attractive young men walking in my neighbourhood). I don’t believe the topic was the first move in a script that leads to actual sex, but actually, the first move in a script that creates a space wherein intimate interactions are possible. Does that differentiation make sense to anyone else? I argue that it is essential to create a space, via body language and conversation, wherein the possibility of intimacy has been opened up -  a little spark in the air, shall we say - that permits other actions to be interpreted as “appropriate” rather than shocking or creepy.

To be really crude… you put a saddle on a horse for a little while before you jump on.

So, the term script sounds - mechanical? devoid of feeling or connection? However, what is language but not signifiers with relatively pre-determined meaning? Nothing you say is genuinely devoid of pre-established associations - and that’s why language WORKS for communication. Scripts is an appropriate word for this kind of intimate relationship establishment because it refers to a more complex set of language (body or verbal) interactions that establish a context the other party can interpret appropriately without feeling like things are moving to fast. I think the key aspect of this script is ensuring that the other party feels that they can get out of the script without much difficulty - not that the “now or never” approach doesn’t have its merits too.

I personally espouse such old-fashioned, cliched moves as the hand on the knee, arm around the shoulder and, if you are debonair to pull it off, holding hands while crossing an intersection. In fact, the latter is actually my favourite (and if anyone thinks as a seasoned Montrealer i am ACTUALLY fearful of jaywalking alone, they have lost their minds). If a girl encourages you in any of these obviously “romantic” body language moves, (but give her a couple of minutes to break the atmosphere without hurting your feelings - SHE may actually think of you as just a friend and you don’t want to creep her out) then she is not going to FREAK OUT if you kiss her. She might decide that she doesn’t want to kiss you again afterwards, but there is nothing to be done about that.

The only time it is appropriate to ask if you may kiss a girl is on her doorstep when you are attempting to portray yourself as a gentleman. Girls are skittish about being walked home, (does he expect me to invite him in? SHOULD i invite him in? this last one being particularly dangerous - nothing will prevent a next date like a girl thinking that she HAS to sleep with you) so if you want to try this move - asking if you can kiss her good-night can be suave. Otherwise, remember that “assertiveness” is generally considered a masculine trait. No man loses face by having balls. A woman, on the other hand, who doesn’t act like a doormat is frequently called nasty names.

If only i could figure out the other end of the scenario… Or turn into a guy. that would be great.

I encourage my female readers to chime in with their two cents here. and if your a male reader who seems himself in this post, well, good for you - you likely made a lasting impression.

It only just occurred to me that, perhaps, not everyone lives like this. Apparently it shouldn’t be an everyday event for me to lose something - and yet it happens anyways.

Although lighters and hair elastics are the prime root of my particular brand of notoriety, they also stand in for an entire of paradigm of small items necessary to the maintenance of my daily sanity levels.

Both are items i always intend to have ON my person. Either in a pocket, a bag or a coat - even as a fashion accessory; what ponytail-wearer hasn’t sported the stylish elastic band as a bracelet? I buy them in large bunches. Packages of at least six. They are a perennial COSTCO shopping list item.

The first one out of the package i have on me for days without losing it. Then one day, something unforeseen happens, snow for example, and i change coats knowing perfectly well where i left it. Or, i do the dishes and leave it on the window-sill and then leave the house unexpectedly. The second one out of the package is purposefully left somewhere useful - to be picked up from some convenient location when said unforeseen events occur. One day, it gets left in the coat, purse or pocket. Then i will go through the entire pack in about three days. Then they will rotate from place to place for about another week. Then, i am inevitably asked to lend one - and don’t get it back. The lending has foiled my perfect balance - there is now a absence in the rotating regime of lighters and hair elastics. From that moment on, i will be hunting frantically, attempting to reorganize the system. My constant searching will further create disorder and i will begin to lose other items - favourite pencils, pens and erasers, electronic cords that i find while searching, hankerchiefs, nail files, lip glosses and then mittens dropped behind me as i search in my pockets.

Until i have a nervous breakdown and tidy up finding five of the six (after having bought a new pack when out one day of the original hair elastic or lighter) and continue the cycle - but this time with more stuff.

i sit here this morning contemplating the antics of my drunken self at the Centre for Medieval Studies semi-formal last night and have come to the conclusion that in my drunken state i am apparently a better person than i am sober. I made conscious efforts to not hurt people in the long run, instead of my usual - whatever, they’ll cope - attitude. If only i could transpose this lessened ego-centrism into my daily life. Why do i seem to get enjoyment from watching people’s little straw houses get blown over? I am both sadist and masochist.

I am also perpetuating unequal gender roles by my very existence. I want a man. I find myself surrounded by boys on a regular basis and though i love boys - boys are toys and i don’t actually want to play with my food before i eat it. LOL. Where is the person who is stronger than i to lean on? Men are ASSERTIVE. I genuinely worry now about what effect an extended exposure to me will have on some of these sweet little things - and i know that’s thinking i am much more important in their lives than i am - but it still crops up in my head as i talk to them and stare into the gulf that separates our experiences of people and the world.

At least according to Greg i am real. I think i am real fucking caught up in my own schemes, but for once i think i might actually take the compliment. I would like to be nicer. I would like to care more appropriately. I would like to be able to commiserate with people on the level at which they have experienced something. I would not, however, like to be content with a boy.

Damn you Dad for setting such a high standard.

Oh, and i am also not politically correct - but you knew that already.

A slight oversight on my part - bringing only Camus’ La Peste to read on the bus as “break” reading from my school reading - the introduction to the Decameron when i am, myself, suffering from a bout of sinus cold. Loverly. just loverly.

To: The Hon. Tony Clement, Federal Minister of Health
We the undersigned respectfully request that the new ban of organ donations by sexually active gay men, based solely on their sexual orientation, be repealed. Thank you.

Pétition pour abroger l’interdiction du don d’organes par les hommes gais sexuellement actifs

À l’Honorable Tony Clement, ministre de la santé :

Nous, soussignés, demandons respectueusement que l’interdiction du don d’organes par les hommes gais sexuellement actifs, basée uniquement sur leur orientation sexuelle, soit abrogée
Merci
Sincerely,

The Undersigned

To sign the petition, please visit Repeal the Ban.