The Aula Point of view
2002-2004 Archives
Waiting for the Barbarians
It is hard to know how to respond to John Ashcroft’s frequent terror alerts. I myself have taken to reading poetry. See what you think of this poem written in 1904 by Constantine P. Cavafy: Waiting for the Barbarians.
Jun 22, 2004 by Abbas
24h dot-com
Since 7 last night Central European time, artist-wiz Eric Wahlforss & co. have been building a dot-com from scrath as a “performance art/business project” at the Wizards of Oz conference in Berlin. The service is Dozomo, a web search engine aggregator. You can buy 1% of the stock for €10 using PayPal, and exactly 24hours from start time the company will be sold on eBay. As I write this there’s only 35 minutes left so potential VCs better hurry :)
Jun 12, 2004 by Jyri
Drunk Indian Elephants
Breaking news: Drunk Indian Elephants on Rampage.
Jan 23, 2004 by Husain
Top ten party schools listed
Breaking news: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the annual Princeton Review Top Ten Party School List is in! Apply now.
Jan 11, 2004 by Husain
Iraqi cocks
Iraqi cocks . Nuff’ said.
Dec 02, 2003 by Husain
Zagat's movie guide
We here at Aula are opiniated. We more or less maintain that our word is gospel, a function, perhaps, of our collective temperament, of certain supreme self-confindence, faith in our intelligence. Some may argue that out epistemology is a variety of cultural fascism (if not mild delusion). But we have no way of enforcing adherence. Niether, for instance, does NYT film critic A.O. Scott, somebody we often disagree with (but reluctantly respect). And therein lies the rub. Who, dear readers, fans, sycophants, would you consider when you watch a movie? Aunt Aula, A.O. Scott or Zagat’s? The folks at Zagat’s have recently introduced a movie guide that ranks “’Finding Nemo’…nothing less than the 19th-finest film of all time, not quite of the quality of ’The Third Man’ but just a wee bit better than ’Dr. Strangelove.’” Understandably, A.O. Scott is not excited by this development: “And who am I to argue? Or, rather, who am I supposed to argue with? If this book enshrines a grand tautology — that the movies a lot of people like tend to be really popular, and vice versa — it also rests on an unacknowledged paradox. Consider the operative words of the title, ’survey’ and ’guide.’ These terms are closely allied in map-making, perhaps, but not necessarily in criticism, if we can apply that name to the consumer-friendly pop sociology on which the Zagat empire is built.” We steadfastly believe that everybody is wrong (scroll to March 28th.) In fact, we’re mulling putting together a movie guide ourselves.
Nov 24, 2003 by Husain
Bloom County is back
Breaking news: Bloom County, the Ulysses of newspaper comic strips, is back! (Courtesy of one Asad N.)
Nov 21, 2003 by Husain
More on Russian sex relations
More on Russian sex relations (and something on our favorite American sex symbol.) (Courtesy of one Asad N.)
Nov 13, 2003 by Husain
Fridayspecial
F R I D A Y S P E C I A L (on Saturday): The prudish Russian are considering a ban on kissing in public. After all, kissing can be bad for you. The intrepid Norwegians, however, don’t care. Do you, boys and girls?
Nov 08, 2003 by Husain
En Niño is back!
Breaking news: El Niño is Back! (More here and here.)
Nov 07, 2003 by Husain
» The Aula Point of View (POV) began its life as the digest of the Aula member weblogs in 2002, edited by Abbas Raza and coeditors. The POV covers topics in literature, philosophy, politics, science, and of course gossip.
» The POV continues as 3quarksdaily.com. With original bloggers (Abbas Raza, Husain Naqvi, Marko Ahtisaari) and new faces (Robin Varghese, Morgan Meis, Azra Raza, J.M. Tyree, Ruth Kikin-Gil and others).
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