• Dominic Boyer, Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University (author of No More Fossils, Energopolitics: Winds and Power in the Anthropocene, and Understanding Media: A Popular Philosophy).
• Stacey Balkan, Associate Professor in the Department of English at Florida Atlantic University (author of Rogues in the Postcolony: Narrating Extraction and Itinerancy in India and Solarities: Seeking Energy Justice).
• Frederic Caille, Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc (author of L'invention de l'énergie solaire and La figure du sauveteur: Naissance du citoyen secoureur en France, 1780-1914).
• Swaralipi Nandi, Associate Professor of English at Loyola Academy (co-editor of Oil Fictions: World Literature and Our Contemporary Petrosphere, The Postnational Fantasy: Essays on Postcolonialism, Cosmopolitics, and Science Fiction, and Spectacles of Blood: A Study of Violence and Masculinity in Postcolonial Films).
• Imre Szeman, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Toronto Scarborough (author of Futures of the Sun: The Struggle over Renewable Life, Zones of Instability: Literature, Postcolonialism, and the Nation, and Energy Culture: Art and Theory on Oil and Beyond).
• Brianna Anderson, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Texas in El Paso (creator of The Environmental Comics Digital Database).

I too will be in Dresden for this meeting of minds, which I am very much looking forward to and immensely humbled by.

#journal #TSG #event

Public talk at Medrar in Cairo tomorrow.

Hopefully dentist doesn't fuck me up today. But whatever he does it'll surely be better than the don't-put-anything-in-mouth stage of gum-pain I'm currently in.

#event #Cairo

Where: Writespace – 1907 Sabine st, Houston, TX 77007 Date: Feb. 8 Time: 1-4 pm

Sign up.

#event

3 days until PAGES FOR PALESTINE at Basket Books in Houston, organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace in partnership with Houston Zine Fest (who also provided the event graphic).

#journal #event

#journal #event

I don't remember the first time I watched LA JETEE, but I do remember almost every single frame. It helps, I'm sure, that it is a film comprised entirely of stills. In fact, it's one of the reasons LA JETEE is regarded a landmark of storytelling. It is able to explore themes of war, post-apocalypse, scientific experimentation, and time-travel all through a series of still black and white photographs shot in 1962! The technique wouldn't have mattered of course had the actual narrative not been so compelling. Indeed, if you were to take the narration as stand alone text, even that would've been a revolutionary piece of text that would still hold to this day, as is the case for any compelling true work of art created anytime.

This Saturday, September 18, I get to virtually sit down with film aficionado supreme Walter Chaw to discuss Chris Marker's LA JETEE and also another film: Lluis Quilez's GRAFFITI (2015).

The latter I discovered only recently by complete chance. While browsing Kanopy's listing of Science Fiction films (a bit of an obsession of mine), GRAFFITI stood out to me as an oddity of a title for what we understand to be science fiction. Upon watching it, I certainly wasn't disappointed. In fact, I readily consider it to be one of the smartest films ever made. I do love that it's one of the few films (if not the only one?) that utilizes graffiti (another obsession of mine) as both a communication tool and window into the psyche, which is the best a worthwhile graffito could ever accomplish. The fact that it all takes place in a frozen-over post apocalypse? * chef's kiss *

“Attendance” to our virtual discussion is free, but registration is required: here.

Chatting with Walter about all things sci-fi (or all things in general really) is always engaging and illuminating, and I'm really excited to be able to dive into two these great gems with him and see what other fascinating facets we may uncover.

Talk takes place at: 10:30am PST / 12:30pm CST / 1:30pm EST

#journal #event