enter a world of reality.

there is one internet culture moment, and this is it

2008-07-09T06:23:00.003+03:00

(Nish! HAI THAR BB! The lolcats command that you get on AIM or THERE WILL BE DISEASEZ ON YOUR MAKEUPZZ or YOUR INTERNETZ WILL GET DISEAZED AND I WILL PERSONALLY KILL THEM BY POKING THE WIRES WITH SPORKS COVERED IN... hm, what's something really disgusting that you can eat... LEMON CURD! Don't ask, NISHHHHHHH, but I really hate lemon curd. Rosewater icing! NOW THAT I CAN EAT.)

(Mari! I WANT TO KEEP MY LIMBS, SO I WON'T TALK ABOUT GERARD, KAYKAY? See, see, seeeeeeeeeeee I'm getting smarter.)

(Bee! TELL BECCA HAI THAR BB FOR ME, KAYKAY! AND HAPPY BDAY! AND HAPPY BIRFDAY TO UUUUUUU! I wish I could be there - if it were up to me, I would be, nvr fear. I MISS HOMEEEEEEE. /sad)

(Becca! HARHARDIHAR YOU HATE THAT, EHH? Well, deal, bb. I KNO YOU HAVE MSN, SO GET UR BUTT OVER ON IT, KAYKAY? I'll get working if you dooooooo-oo. -bribing-)

(Leila! HOWDY PARDNER - enjoying the vacation? WELL U BETTER GET BACK HERE! I'm so loneelyyyy, I'm so loneeelyyyy. NOT RLY, JAYKAY! The voices in my head are company enough. BUT YOU KNOW THAT ALREADY, DONCHA?)

(Nish #2! OMG UR NAMES R SO SIMILAR! Anyway, is Cory back yet? CAUSE I WANNA HANG WITH HIM, LOWL. Cause ppl u can't see are the coolest.)

And there goes any shred of internet credibilty that I held. Oh, what the hell. SLEEP, I COMMAND YOU TO LET ME HAVE A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEEEEEEEEP TONIGHT! Or I will track you down and STICK MY FOUR INCH HEEL IN YOUR EYE. Or, if you don't have eyes, wherever it hurts. I'll be back tommrow with something a bit less... yeah, well, you know what I mean.

banners make me happy.

2008-06-18T18:03:00.005+03:00

Just thought I'd post a few banners that I've been working on. All of them are Harry Potter related (don't laugh! I ran out of things beside stock, and that's hard to come by while I still had a folder of HD-HP images that I downloaded after the fourth movie came out) and the last one is promoting my Lucius/Narcissa fanfic that is not on MNFF yet but will be. As soon as the account issues are sorted out... :D

one clicky.
Banner for The Three Broomsticks. First time blending.

two clicky.
Text placement getting better. First time only colorizing a part of the banner.

Song lyrics from Franz Ferdinand's "Fade Together".

three clicky.

And the little banner for my new plot bunny. Say hello, everyone (his name is Monroe).

This took two hours, and forty layers were used. Backgroud from PotO, Lucius from the movies, Narcissa model from Google Images (stored on my computer, sorry, I have no idea what link it was - if it was your image, then please let me know so I can credit you), texture from FEEL, I think.

Any graphics-related feedback?

partaaaaaaaay

2008-06-05T23:37:00.005+03:00

omg my feet hurt so much.

four inch wedges + three hours of running and dancing = paaaaaaain

omg that was so awsome!

3 cokes + 2 diet cokes + 1 diet 7up = insane and crazy dancing julia

i'm still going LOL.

the julia and michael (the girl) dance (OMG LOL THAT'S SO FUNNEH... OMG NOT RLY. that's the soda talking.) :

-huuuuuuuh hand motion x2-

-failed gangstaaa finger snap-

-macarena arm movement-

-cross chest with arms-

-circle while going crazeehhhh-

-four beats then stomp-

-waving hand motion-

-one wave motion-

-gun to head shot-

I'm off to go and soak my feet in the bidet now. Goodness knows that they need it. :D

i would self-title this, but i'm not sure what my name is

2008-05-28T18:25:00.008+03:00

Where are you from?

She says, ask yourself ask anyone

"Love Is A Place", Metric

Prompted by this discussion over at the Intrepid Classroom, I felt that a reply to that discussion wouldn't be quite enough: nor would I do the page any good with the long answer that I wanted to type (it'd probably stretch the page and go over a few as well).

Who am I? I doubt that I even have a complete scope of myself, and very few others (none is probably a more fitting word, however) do. But we create visions of ourselves, whether or not they are true to life or just wishes about who we wish were were, then we can create the illusion that we know ourselves like the back of our own hands.

As Leila said in the first reply to the discussion, "I am a student, sister, daughter, friend.....", and I agree, but none of those nouns can completely describe someone. Having multiple personalities is commonly seen as some sort of insanity, but everyone has more than one -- everyone. No one can say that they are one certain personality, one certain stereotype, because everyone breaks free of what people think of them every once in a while. And now, to stop rambling, I'm going to examine my own personality (and since I need to procrastinate and a perfect excuse to listen to music, it's perfect).

From the back of the room I saw her there

I said she wants to be alone and I shouldn't dare

But then she noticed me glance at her

I had no choice but to dance with her

"Out Of Control", She Wants Revenge

Lot #1: Paradox!Julia

I'm a paradox, really: I revel in being alone, but I hate having the house to myself. I couldn't care less, but I couldn't care more. I'm obsessive, but I'm noncommital. I'm a perfectionist, but half of the time I don't notice that something's wrong until it's almost too late. I couldn't care less what people think, but I cater to their expectations. I can't be controlled, but I can be influenced. I worry too much, but I don't worry enough. I love too much, but I don't love enough. I completely understand, but I'm completely lost.

I know exactly what I'm doing, but I have no idea. I'm strong, but I'm vunerable. I'm confident, but I'd rather hide. I'm loud, but I'm quiet. I'm a friend, but I'm an enemy. I am no one, but I am someone.

I have no idea, guys. I have no idea.

Your heart is charcoal.

Smoking black.

"Hush Hush", The Spill Canvas

Lot #2: Emo!Julia

As one of my friends has said in the past, I'm one of the happiest emos in the world -- probably the happiest. I don't have slashed wrists (though I did somehow manage to get a cut in the shape of a heart on my ankle, and that was emoooooo)

Did I say to much again?

I'm just a girl in a panic

If I tell you my truth

Am I getting through?

It just seems I should confess

Who am I to pretend

This is more than I can carry...

"This Time", Vanessa Carlton

INCOMPLETE

omg...

2008-05-25T15:45:00.001+03:00

iPODS AT LUNCH!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

/momentary lapse of composure

I'm okay. Really.

popularity or preference?

2008-05-16T14:49:00.013+03:00

After spending the past three days listening to over five new albums by several different artists, I started to wonder what exactly happens in both the music industry and in the minds of listeners or "fans" when it comes to choosing music? Do the labels or scouts approach bands or artists that they would actually listen to and be a "fan" of, or do they listen for what they think would sell?

My black 160GB iPod Classic has 722 songs on it, all of which are from albums that I have in-hand and imported into my library (apart from a few that I haven't been able to get my hands on), and all of those 722 songs -- when separated in album and artist -- are quite different to one another. There are styles ranging from thirties jazz, a pinch of R&B (which is soley comprised of Amy Winehouse's two albums), heavy metal, indie rock, british punk, rock, screamo, and a little electronica (which surprised even me, I really don't like most electronica music).

A few of the bands that I love at the moment I have a "history" with. Before my second move, my English teacer used to play selections from her favorite artists, which were Coldplay, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Nirvana, and Fiona Apple and then have us write about our feelings and thoughts about the songs as a "warm up" for our lessons. All but the latter artists have become a few of my favorite bands, and I think that it was these little exercises that led for me to almost require music when I'm writing now, and that my main source of inspiration is music.

The first time that I remember really having a "favorite band" was on the way back from one of my favorite fish restaurants, Denis (too bad it changed it's name...) and I just decided that Green Day was the best thing ever on the pretense of the only song that I had heard by them at the time, Boulevard of Broken Dreams. This is when I think that I was just choosing what to like through the "popular" identity (even if GD weren't popular in general circumstances at that point, they were at my school), even though I did like the music. After "converting" my friends to fans as well, and after around two years of just listening to one or two bands, I slowly branched out and started listening to different things like Evanescence and Snow Patrol. Both were popular at the time, and Chasing Cars still makes me sad. Maybe that's why I still like them today, when the interest in them has waned in the rest of the world.

Then came the second move, and although a couple of my friends had already uprooted and moved it was still different without them. I kept getting reccomendations for music and I kept on listening to them, such as the Dutch band KANE and Within Temptation, the latter of which was a huge influence on my writing, making me lean to darker and more sullen way of writing what has an option to be dark and sullen. At this point, this is when I start to love music and actively seek it out: I'd tune into BBC Radio One and just write down the names of songs and artists that I liked the sound of: The Hoosiers and Scouting for Girls were solidified as amazing bands in this way. When I was actually in the UK, I'd tune in and I found a diamond amongst the rough in an hour, and that was the band The Fratellis (and, in extention, via Winston's Zen, The Pigeon Detectives).

One time, I went on an "emo lyrics community" and I found a few lines from The Spill Canvas's "Lullaby" (sorry for the crappy video -- and the lines were If you need anything, just say the word/I mean anything/Rest assured, if you start to doze/I'll tuck you in/Plant my lips where your necklace is close) and, even though it took me three months to run the lyrics through Google to get the song and the artist, but I'm glad I did: The Spill Canvas is one of my favorite bands *ever* (but The Raconteurs are catching up with them LOL) .

Even more bands were just found by looking through Wikipedia's list of alternative rock bands (some things that turned up: Black Lab [the art on the homepage could be considered explicit, just thought I'd warn you], The Almost, The Calling, Bubbles & Cheesecake) and just clicking on "related videos" when testing out new artists that I was interested in on YouTube (The Kooks, The Decemberists, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Cake, and Editors were found this way). My mother comes up with some good artists as well, funnily enough: I found Amy Winehouse through her -- she woke me up one morning singing "Rehab", that was my first Amy song, sadly... Frank's just such a better album... -- and she reccomened Lily Allen, Oasis, T.Rex, Keane, and The Eagles to me.

Not only have people reccomened bands and other artists to me, but movies have as well: T.Rex and The Clash were used the the soundtrack for Billy Elliot (which is an ah-mah-zing movie) and Samuel Barnett's cover of "Bewitched, Beloved, and Bewildered", which was used in the movie The History Boys, led me to Ella Fitzgerald's cover, which made me love Ella's music.

Now my almost sheer obsession with music and finding new people and bands to listen to has led to a reawakening in me wanting to play the violin again, and to learn to play the guitar, piano, banjo (my air banjo is ah-mazing, fyi), and the drums. Somehow, the fact that the songs, lyrics, and the actual music is so close to my heart, I don't think that I could bear the fact if the music industry just started catering to the wants of fans who wanted dance/electronica all the time.

There are a few bands that are just *odd* but are still amazing, and win awards even though they aren't the most popular genrea: for example, Klaxons... they scare me a little, but they do have music that's fantastic. I used to have their CD on repeat in the car for months last year, and I've only just imported it onto my iPod and it's such a strange feeling listening to the songs that I still know all the words to. It's like seeing an old friend again after a long time apart...

Okay, now to stop with the sheer volume of links and back to things that are a little less random. I choose music because I like it, and if I don't, then I won't listen to it, even if it's popular. I don't see how people can base their musical taste only on what's popular -- I find it terribly hard to even get through one song that I don't like. If you like the popular music because you think it's good music, then fine, but just because it's popular? That's just really annoying.

And, since I'm linking to this post for the Intrepid Classroom Ning, here are some discussion questions (and please, leave me a comment here as well as on the Ning if you have the time):

I think that music doesn't actually have an effect on people's social standing, but people seem to have this preconcieved notion that it does. Sometimes -- most often when I'm talking to people who I don't know *that* well, but I know them -- I think that if I mention a band or an artist that I like, they seem to weigh whether or not to say that they like them too just to have something to talk about, even if they don't know them or hate them so much they could die.

Chart-toppers or numbering music by their popularity seems to have labelled music as something that is either popular or not, and that can really start to annoy me, especially when I consider the fact that maybe think that I like bands, such as Panic! At The Disco, just because their new album has just topped charts.

Are older bands classic or just "lame" (an opinion question, but do please back it up!)?

Do you feel that music is more powerful when used as a fundrasier, or as an alarm bell or anthem?

And, just for fun: what are your favorite bands/artists? What bands/artists are you investigating at the moment?

And, since I'm on a high from downloading the new Hoosiers album, here are the artists that I'm checking out at the moment: Manic Street Preachers, Bright Eyes (love their song "Four Winds"), Tilly and the Wall, more of Queens of the Stone Age since I love Era Vulgaris, The Artillery, The Kills, The Bank Holidays, Mindless Self Indulgence, Metro Station, Dashboard Confessional, Nine Inch Nails, Something Corporate, Weezer, Say Anything, Brand New, Cauterize, Escape the Fate, The Used, The Courteeners, The Charlatans, Jet, Arcade Fire, Stars, Reliant K, The Cardigans, Stone Sour, The Postal Service, Incubus, The Enemy, The Cure, Bullet For My Valentine, Funeral For a Friend, Finch, The Academy Is..., The Last Shadow Puppets, and All Time Low. Any feedback or suggestions?

le pretender and other political visions

2008-05-01T16:30:00.017+03:00

Two posts in a day? Julia *must* be bored.

Naw, only joking. Prompted by this post over at Intrepid Classroom, I’ll be (from now on) posting any “homework” assignments on this blog simply because I find the HTML coding on comments almost *nonexistent* and posting links straight into text annoys me to the point where I actually want to close the browser.

(And just as a random thought: how many people buy CDs and import them onto their iTunes library? To me, there's just something nice about having a CD in hand... I only buy songs off iTunes in full CDs, and that's only when I can't get my hands on a physical copy where I live.)

And I have the perfect set of lyrics just begging to be used. Say hello to Foo Fighter's "The Pretender"!

Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began

This section really seems to identify with the issues surrounding both past, present, and future issues with the media and exactly how much power they have over us. Although they may not have the ultimate goal for national (or maybe even global) control and domination, they still have a very large percentage of the poopulation under their wing so much that we start to believe everything that they say (such as the recent reports that Amy Winehouse was splitting from her hubby, Blaaaaaaake Incarcerated or other stories like that) and that the public is slowly becoming more and more obsessed with stopping their children from being kidnapped (presumably concerned through the almost obsessive coverage of the Madeleine McCann abduction), seeing the "horrors" of the world (from seeing them themselves on the news about epidemics or starvation) and other general things that they alledgedly shouldn't have to worry about: childhood obseity, the war and the politics, the November 2008 election.

I personally find the debates and the election buzz fascinating -- why, only last night I was up until almost two o'clock in the morning watching a documentary covering all of Hillary Clinton's life as part of a sort of 'make an informed decision' from CNN (and plus, I never knew that she isn't actually blonde -- I suppose the eyebrows should have given it away. That was the biggest shocker, LOL). I can't imagine what life would be like if I wasn't allowed access to all the resources where I learn the best lessons.

Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones go marching in... again
The need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?

Scandals and secrets are constantly being uprooted and presented to the public. These secrets, whether they be a romance between a British singer and her manager's son for nine months while her husband is in prison (yes, it's another Amy Winehouse note, but that's all I can think of for the moment), and then to add on to it the fact that the new boyfriend wasn't such a teetotaler after pictures of him drinking heavily were uncovered, then at the other end of the spectrum we have Obama's preacher, Jeremiah Wright, and the footage of his controversial sermon, they are there and these hidden facts also seem to be a heavyweight on the reputation of both celebrities and more "respectible" (in many people's eyes) members of the community.

These secrets tend to be responsible for more than just mere misunderstandings, then "kiss-and-say-sorry" solutions. These can ruin people -- and make others. And it's all just the luck of the draw.

[...]

What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender!
What if I say that I'll never surrender?

OMG I LOVE THE CHORUS. /end random outburst

The chorus just seems like what we all want to say sometimes, whether we're upper class, or middle class, or low class, or upper-middle-low-upper-middle class. And why should social class even matter (sorry, I got my hands on a fascinating book [a.k.a encyclopedia] about European Social History from 1350 to 2000 which focused on Social Classes, Social Unrest, and Social Problems)?

What if we did say that we're not like the others and want to make a change? How would we handle that? With force and violence, which seems to be a popular option nowadays, with riots and protests and assassinations still quite common? Or would we try music, peaceful talking... or do we have to face the fact that that may not get us *anywhere*? It's questions to think about, anyway, even if we do or don't have to answers to them.

Some other albums/bands that I reccomend checking out if you want to see some more "politial" or worldly crisis songs or songs: Within Temptation (especially the album The Heart Of Everything, in which Sharon del Adel [vocals] describes as being inspired and about war... I reccomened "Our Solemn Hour" to start with, or "The Howling"); Muse (start with "Time is Running Out" or "Hysteria"); and...

I know I'm going to lose some people when I mention one of the most well-known "emo" bands out there: My Chemical Romance. And I am sick of people calling them rotton emos who have nothing better to do than to slit their wrists and scream into microphones: if any one of these people could get past the guitar and drums and listen to the lyrics or the stories behind the songs, then maybe they could give them a chance. *cough* blame my friend Mary for this, she introduced them to me after I introduced them to her but lost interest and she became obsessed... it's a long short story. But MCR = my guilty pleasure in music. Plus, who can't love a band whose lyrics include "My cellmate's a killer/They made me do push-ups in track!"? *cough*

From their album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, the song "The Ghost of You" in itself isn't really that political or meaningful for people who don't really care, but the video is fascinating. The slower parts of the song are filmed with a backdrop of a party for soliders on leave, presumably during WWII. During the chorus and the last, heavier part of the song, they switch to the landing on the beach on D-Day, of which the video really seems to tug on heartstrings with the lines "At the end of the world/Or the last thing I see/You are never coming home/Never coming home". If anyone is interested in seeing the video (there's a wonderful part with dancing + a wave... just watch, I can't do it justice), it can be found here.

And for a last fling of an artist and song, check out Vanessa Carlton's "Heroes and Theives" -- it's a wonderful song, however a different style from the ones I've listed already, and it's really a song that makes you think about who we label as a "hero" and who we label as a "theif" and whether there is really anything that much different about them anymore.

The first thing that comes to mind when someone poses the question “what musicians have had a profound effect on you politically?”, I almost immediately think of a statement made by Brandon Flowers, the lead singer of The Killers, directed at Green Day a couple of years back. He stated that he believed that the band, using the track American Idiot and the fact that they filmed the music videos for songs from their Bullet in a Bible CD in the United Kingdom as proof, was anti-American.

From Flowers: “I just thought it was really cheap," he explained. "To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song – those kids aren’t taking it the same way that he meant it. And he [Billie Joe Armstrong] knew it.”

He then went on to say that their song and album of the same name, Sam’s Town, was a much better representation of America. Personally, I don’t really form opinions of countries and governments from songs, but their lyrics do leave rather interesting thoughts. Again, I prefer The Killers’ music, but that really has nothing to do with the almost “political” slant that Flowers had.

I actually think that they shouldn’t have been trying to “top” Green Day for America’s theme song or soundtrack. But, come to think of it, Green Day's portrayal of America isn't too far off the mark: the lyrics "Now everyone do the propaganda/And sing along to the age of paranoia" seem to tell the story of America over the time and through the wars, with propaganda posters flying left and right. Paranoia, over almost anything and everything from cotton wool kids to censorship, which I have spoken about extensively on this post, seems to be at an all-time high. Another line, "One nation controlled by the media", is also quite true (to an extent). According to the linked article about cotton wool kids, the suspicion is that the overuse and exploitation of the media has made people overly paranoid.

Basically, Flowers' claiming that American Idiot wasn't an accurate illustration of America was, while slightly innapropriate to be screaming "I don't wanna be an American idiot" to audiences in Europe and other countries, not a completely innacurate illustration of American society. If anything, Sam's Town seems to try to project a perfect image of America while slotting away the nastier bits.*

*These last two paragraphs are coming from someone who lived for years in America and now cannot wait to get her feet back on the country's soil, not an Anti-American. Just a disclaimer that I don't mean to offend and this is just an unbiased look at the country's status, whether it be historical or present-day, through music.

source.

if my life was a movie...

2008-05-01T15:32:00.004+03:00

Because it's almost the end of the week, I've just been part of an audience for singing teachers (including one inpersonating Elvis), witnessing a rather scary (to me, a person who *hates* High School Musical) dance routine from the movie and I'm just in a good mood, I'm posting a well-known "game" from over at LJ: If Your Life Was A Movie, What Would The Soundtrack Be?

Here's how it works:
1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every section, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie.

I linked to lyrics, if anyone wants them. But I highly doubt that.

OPENING CREDITS: "Atrophy" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
WAKING UP: "Aquarius" by Within Temptation
FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL: "The Truth" by The Spill Canvas
FALLING IN LOVE: "(There Is) No Greater Love" by Amy Winehouse (oh, so fitting. LOL)
FIGHT SONG: "I'm Designer" by Queens of the Stone Age
BREAKING UP: "Low Fidelity" by The Spill Canvas (OH THE IRONY!!!11oneone!!eleventyone!)
PROM: "She's So Lovely" by Scouting for Girls
LIFE: "Chasing Pavements" by Adele
MENTAL BREAKDOWN: "The View From The Afternoon" by Arctic Monkeys
DRIVING: "For The Girl" by the Fratellis
FLASHBACK: "Our Lady of Sorrows" by My Chemical Romance
WEDDING: "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" by My Chemical Romance*
BIRTH OF A CHILD: "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance**
FINAL BATTLE: "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
DEATH SCENE: "Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly" by His Infernal Majesty (now known as HIM)
FUNERAL SONG: "Succexy" by Metric (ZOMG! LOLZ! LMAO!)
END CREDIT: "Midnight Show" by The Killers (yay one of my favorite songs ever!)

*Hmmm, that shouldn't happen... shuffle settings are to no same album. Then again, they *are* different albums, just same artist... but it's alright, it's a funny wedding song.
**WTH?!?! Three times in a row?! -headdesk- But it is a rather good child song, lol. OH! AND LOOK! A SONG FROM EACH ABLUM! That worked out well. XD

hai there lolcatz! (aka, i fail at titles)

2008-04-15T14:51:00.011+03:00

The keyboards on desktop computers are so... loud.

So this is what it has come to: my laptop has decided to kill the wireless internet connection for the umpteenth time, the Mac won't pick up a signal either, so I'm reduced to typing my "first post" for my blog on a rather old, rather rickety, and rather unstable desktop that has withstood several spills of water to orange juice, a trip halfway across the world, seven years of service, and much more than a handful of viruses.

But a first post is a first post, and they have to be done sooner or later, somehow.

Personally, I despise first posts. They're often disjointed, awkward and consist of nothing more than a whole lot of fluff and a one sentence meaning: this is my blog and I sure hope you keep reading. But rather than just jumping into the unknown, I think it's better to start with that disjointed pile of wasted time and effort (plus, I have time to waste).

This isn't going to be some blog with some teenage girl droning on about how life at school is or how mean some of her friends are. I've not got time for that, and let's face it: who would actually care? Instead, this is going to be a blog where I write about my opinions, the books I've read and the subjects that they bring up, new albums/music (watch out for an analysis of Panic! At The Disco's [yes, I know that there's actually no exclamation point anymore, but I liked it better this way] new album Pretty. Odd.), post my literary work, and to enjoy myself doing all that I have just said.

And, to stop myself from being hypocrital as well as cynical (which happens quite often), I'm going to close this post with a little bit of information that should be appearing in the near future. Though I'm not expecting anything from it (no comments, no readers, no expecation = no disappointment), I think I need to lay everything down so that I know what I'm aiming for.

Critical analysis of Panic! At The Disco's new album, Pretty. Odd.
Commentary on "Carrie" by Stephen King
Essay on Geogre Orwell (made up from notes from 1984 and Animal Farm as well as his semi-autobiographical novel Down and Out in Paris and London).
Commentary on "The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy.
Commentary on "Reading Lolita in Tehran", an autobiography by Azar Nafisi.
Commenrary on the essays and ideas from "A Devil's Chaplain" by Richard Dawkins.