Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Comment

Comment on Valerie's Blog
Excellent explanation of the generation X, I think the same way when you said that this generation is looking for something to value their existence in the society. The carathers are completely immersed in the generation X era. Your wiew is right on the target. The analysis you did of the emotions and values of the caracters is very precise. The link you have made between the Debt Generation and the characters it truly show us how the new generations are devoting themselves to consumption without thinking about the consequences. Your text is a philosophical contemplation of our society. Very well done. Bravo!!!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Cheech

Can the fact that these characters suffer from some sort of depression, neurosis or anxiety in some way be attributed to being part of this generation?
First of all, many of the characters correspond to the today’s principles and values of society. For example Ron, the man who runs the escort service, has many worries in mind. He needs to have ready the pictures for the album, the concern about Jenny’s future with the escort agency, the meeting with the Chrysler guys and the fear of being ruined by Cheech. His head is in serious danger of exploding; he gets more stressed and he uses a book which instructs him to take periodically “spirit moments” throughout his day to take a break from his problems before being closer to burnout. He is victim of anxiety with his complex combination of negative emotions. This character can be associated to the today’s work labour. Adults of this generation are always saying that they have a lot of dilemmas to take care about and often, they are feel an enormous and devastating pressure from their financial obligations, work and family. The play shows how western societies are being anxious about their problems.
Nowadays young people belonging to the Debt Generation are spending much or all the money they make, very often on unnecessary luxuries. They tell themselves that they are young and they have a lot of time to worry about matters as getting married or retirement. In other terms they want to enjoy the pleasures of life before making “the important steps of life” like without worrying about the consequences of their acts. These young adults treat credit cards and lines of credit as a shortcut to the life style they wish to enjoy. They are playing with their own future. They said that they have a lot of time to save money, nevertheless the reality is different. In a blink of an eye, they will realize that they have wasted a lot of time and by the time that this will happen they are too old. Jenniffer belongs to this generation. While she is young, pretty and as long as she earns good profits from her clients, nothing makes her worry. This flamboyant girl will be very disillusioned when she finds out that time does not come back. She also lies about her second occupation. Her boyfriend thinks that she works as a real state agent; he does not know the true.
The play starts giving the audience a few clues, fills in a few more until the public is able to fill in all the blanks at the end. The text will sometimes cut abruptly from one time and place to another, with the actors having to turn emotionally between the scenes. The neon “contact dance” signs that are reproduced for the set decoration send an image of Ste-Catherine Street at night. The enormous digital clock placed in the middle of the set helps to understand that the action of the play is not linear. The play has a fractured timeline. Cheech is, despite its coarse setting (the sex trade and the underworld) an example of human tragedy behind the misfortune of escorts, inspired by Montreal after dark.
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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Google's Censorship

Is Google helping or hurting Chinese citizens by developing a search-engine that automatically censors searches?

Centralized power and the decentralized nature of the Internet do not fit together very well in the Far East. The Chinese Government feels obligated to employ strict control over all the information they can in order to suffocate any kind of potential opposition within Chinese society. China employs approximately 30,000 cyber-police to monitor the content of the Chinese Web.
Recently Google has entered to China under some questionable circumstances and faced some severe criticism for their actions in this country. This company has launched a heavily filtered version of their search engine to satisfy Chinese Government officials. Western companies are selling their souls for a piece of the Chinese market by contributing to human rights violations. Google's position is wrong. The censorship will lead to devastating effects on the Chinese society. Those people want to get out of Mao Tse Tung era; they don’t have in mind to go back. Everyone should be able to express themselves, it is the the liberty of speech and press. It is ineffective to try keeping under secret some kind of information. This reasoning contributes to the illiteracy of a nation pushing to an absence of a critical judgment. The giant search engine should think about his commercial responsibility.
I have a message for Google: Don't be evil.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

My Montreal

Without a doubt, to me, Montreal represents a magnificent combination of cultures. The first time that I walked through the Montreal’s streets I was amazed by the different museums and cultural centres such as the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the McCord Museum of Canadian History. I really like visiting these museums because it is an enjoyable way to improve my general knowledge of Canadian culture. Moreover, the city has two of the greatest basilicas around the world: the Notre-Dame Basilica which is a reproduction of the Notre-Dame Basilica in Paris, and Saint Joseph Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the biggest dome of its kind after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. By discovering the remarkable churches in the city, a person can observe their imposing architecture style. These styles vary from Notre-Dame’s elegance to the sophistication of the Oratory. As a result of the impressive number of churches that can be found around the city, Montreal is known as the city of a hundred belltowers. In addition, the structure of modern buildings and the magnitude of bridges show the huge development of the modern era. When I go to school in the mornings and I see the delightful panorama from the Jacques Cartier Bridge, I tell myself how fortunate I am to be in this wonderful city.