Monthly Archives: July 2012

New Media Aesthetics — Is It Any Good? (Lev Manovich)

Posted on July 19, 2012 by zjb

I’m still loving The Language of New Media, but does it work aesthetically? Do new media provide a model for the kind of deep, rich forms of aesthetic experience? I’m not optimistic. Lev Manovich asks the right question, but I … Continue reading →

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Zohar Warrior Princess II — Religion & Graphic Art

Posted on July 18, 2012 by zjb

For a more contemporary visualization of Shekhinah in graphic art, this looks pretty good. Many thanks to “CMW” for recommending Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III, and Mick Gray’s Promethea. The interest in this series in Kabbalah via the hermetic tradition is … Continue reading →

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Religion and Religious Illusion in the Language of New Media — “Metarealism & Auto-Critique (Lev Manovich)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by zjb

Manovich calls it meta-realism, and it descibes spot-on what liberal and progressive varieties of contemporary religion look like in a digitally enhanced environments, and what it means to be religious without being dogmatic or dead certain about the theological contents … Continue reading →

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Shekhinah-Mother (Leaky Body) (Zohar)

Posted on July 17, 2012 by zjb

So here She is again, Shekhinah in one of her more fearsome appearances in the Zohar. To the best of my knowledge, none of the other sephirot come close to this kind of ferocity. King-Sun-Tiferet tends to be more stand-offish. … Continue reading →

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Discovering “The Language of New Media” (Lev Manovich)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by zjb

Really, I’m not being facetious. Now I understand everything,  about the way we all live now and construct our worlds, visually and mentally in the age of new media. Everyone should read Lev Manovich’s The Language of New Media, including … Continue reading →

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Shekhinah Warrior Princess – Zohar Video Game

Posted on July 16, 2012 by zjb

I don’t think anything prepared me, as a newcomer to the Zohar, for the violence of Her image. No doleful mourning lass, behold Shekhinah aka Matronita, Zoharic techno Goddess! I’m sure the boy(s) writing and editing the Zohar must have found … Continue reading →

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Counter-History & American Aura (Philip Roth & The Plot against America)

Posted on July 15, 2012 by zjb

I didn’t want to read Roth’s Plot Against America when it fist came out in 2004. There was all this talk around the Iraq War and the “war against Terror” about American turning fascist. Add to this all this creeping … Continue reading →

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“Religion” OR “Judaism” (Writing Over Universal)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by zjb

Let’s make a deal, when I want to say something about Judaism, I’ll call it “religion,” because it’s a big world out there, and I don’t don’t don’t want to be parochial. Just understand that what I say about “religion” … Continue reading →

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President Putin and Prime Minister Lieberman Sign Historic Agreement

Posted on July 12, 2012 by zjb

(AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Mininster Avigdor Lieberman sign historic agreement to create a Russian naval base in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon. After losing their port of call in Tartus, Syria with the fall of the … Continue reading →

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Tipping Point (5 Minutes Past Midnight in Israel-Palestine)

Posted on July 12, 2012 by zjb

For a long time, I wondered at what point the Israeli occupation of the territories would have reached the tipping point beyond which there is no way back from the creation of a single, bi-national state with a Palestinian majority … Continue reading →

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