Archive for July, 2007

Irina Palm – Russian names are romantic.

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

The trailer for this movie was promising (see below for the link). A woman needs money and starts to … prostitute herself? Kind of. She masturbates men, who put their (obviously male) genitals through a hole in the wall. She sits on the other side. And seems to be doing a very good job. Her neighbors are not that enchanted. Little surprise here.
The story might sound somewhat blunt, but there is no bluntness in this movie. It is told in a very subtle way. The camera is respectful, the actors are, too. In this movie, it becomes tangible to us that the world of prostition is a world of delicate balances. Between pimps and prostitutes, between family and work, between collegialism and competition, between love and loathing. A really excellent movie. Since it has been running in the cinema for several weeks by now it might be difficult to find a theater that is still showing the film. If you can find one, go and watch it there. If not, keep it high on your list of movies to rent for couch-watching.
IMDb entry | Trailer

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Norge, jeg kommer.

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

The semester is finally over, giving me time to spread the good news that have been brightening up my days for a while: beginning in September I will be a guest researcher at the TIK senter in Oslo. The TIK is a research institute that is part of the University of Oslo, mostly focusing on science and technology studies, the field that is commonly called by its acronym STS. This in itself would already fit my training and research agenda nicely – since my class with Tom Gieryn at Indiana University Bloomington and even more so since I worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for the history of science in Berlin, science and technology studies inform my theoretical and empirical work. However, the TIK senter fits my agenda even better, because there are several people who are involved in studies or beginning research projects on climate change and its relation to society. I am looking forward very much to participating in this setting for last third of the year.
As you may know, this is only one part of the story. I am also delighted by the fact that I can stay there because Kerstin and I will be able to actually live together again for the first time in about four years. If that isn’t fabulous, then I don’t know what is. And both of us will be working at the same place, for the University of Oslo, our offices only a two minute stroll away. Grand. I even have a glimmer of hope that I will be able to get rid of my diverse back related problems during my stay. Domus Athletica, Sognsvann and, depending on the weather, a bit of nordic skiing during the last weeks… that should help.

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Dancing the evidence.

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

Last week I had to leave the post-graduate college’s summer school Technologies and their Environments: The Circulation of Materials, People, and Knowledge at the St. Jakobsberg monastery early – to my regret, because there were quite a few people who were as charming as they were clever. However, the lure was big enough to make me leave: I was accepted as a participant who can show a video presentation for the conference InEvidence, hosted by CRASSH and the German department of Cambridge University. The conference was a big success – many excellent presentations by both big names and people working on their PhDs, and, in addition, we also had some art going on, in particular the very impressive and well done performance of the duo Martin Nachbar & Jochen Roller with mnemonic nonstop. A cartographic duet. The atmosphere between the participants was very relaxed and open, too.
The only drawback was the density of the program – the pauses were short. Too short for people to actually be able to take enough time to watch the video presentations that were offered. Therefore I decided to upload the video that I showed during the conference. It is called subtle. Evident. Encountering the materiality of the Potsdamer Platz. The video is almost 12 minutes long, the file 180 MB big and formatted as .mp4. It can be played using recent versions of QuickTime Player, VLC, Real Player and probably also a few others. I hope you enjoy watching it.

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Live Free or Die Hard – as good as it could be.

Friday, July 6th, 2007

Well, it was a surprise invitation: Kerstin and I were asked if we want to come along and watch Die Hard 4.0 in Oslo. We decided to come along – and both of us decided that it was a good decision. The cinema was huge (the Colosseum in Oslo), filled to the last row, and very much adequate to the effects in the movie which were also: huge. Other than that, the script was fast-paced, did not have any leaks, and the acting was fitting. Bruce Willis may be an evil right-wing conservative, but being that makes him a perfect fit for this role, and Justin Long is a good counter-character. So if you are in for pure entertainment with a lot of action: go for it, because much to my surprise this movie is an equal to the first Die Hard.
IMDb entry | Trailer

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