September 15, 2010 at 10:54 A.M. "Errors" inserted and corrected. New obstructions of my computer signal prevented me from running a security scan of my system yesterday. I will try, again, today. Please inform law enforcement in your area of these matters. ("Jennifer Velez is a 'Dyke Magnet!'")
September 13, 2010 at 8:11 P.M. Attacks against my computer from New Jersey may have resulted in the insertions of "errors" in a number of these writings. I will do my best to make corrections as quickly as possible. This may mean that new indictments are expected in New Jersey.
September 11, 2010 at 5:45 P.M. I just received a call from "Time/Warner" (?) threatening to shut off my cable connection on Tuesday, despite previous assurances that satisfactory and normal payment could be made on Wednesday of this week. How curious? Censorship? The call was made from the following number identified as "Time/Warner": September 11, 2010 at 5:42 P.M. (718)-670-0200. I live in New York. Why would "Time/Warner" call from New Jersey or Brooklyn?
"G.E. Moore's Critique of Idealism" was vandalized today. Threatening and anonymous calls are received regularly.
September 3, 2010 at 7:10 P.M. Several essays were vandalized. I have made the necessary corrections.
August 28, 2010 at 12:59 P.M. The latest wave of computer crimes has damaged my security system. As a result, I cannot run a full scan of my computer at this time. Noise and other harassments makes it difficult to write today, from this computer. I will write on a legal pad and transfer the essays on to this blog from public computers. I cannot write substantial essays or creative fiction under these conditions, of course, but I can continue to focus on New Jersey corruption and criminality. I hope to purchase a laptop or notebook to write the novel I have been working on for some time.
August 27, 2010 at 2:19 P.M. Due to the seven occasions on which my cable signal to my computer has been blocked over the past two days, requiring me to reboot my computer each time, I have been unable to write as much I would like. Mysteriously, someone mentioned that "death is all we're going to get." For some reason, I "get" the impression that some New Jersey persons do not wish me well. "Headshots?" I will continue to struggle to run security scans and do more work on New Jersey issues. I hope that you will enjoy the lovely weather today. In case there is any doubt about my position, I will make it clear that I am willing to die to express my opinions freely and to face the persons who have committed these crimes against me. I hope those persons are willing to make a similar commitment.
August 17, 2010 at 11:40 A.M. Numerous defacements of writings at these blogs overnight have required me to make corrections, once again. Fraudulent advertisements have been attached to this blog, once more, illegally. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
August 7, 2010 at 1:41 P.M. An advertisement was attached to this blog, illegally and against my will, ostensibly from "Ads by Google":
"NEW YORKER OFFICIAL SITE, Subscribe to New Yorker magazine for $39.95/yr. & save 83%. http://www.newyorker.com/ "
The message conveyed by this bogus advertisement is that David Denby or David Remnick is behind this advertisement and attacks on my writings, except that the subscription price is wrong. New Jersey's OAE? "Cubanoids?" ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System.")
August 6, 2010 at 10:07 A.M. A computer attack last night has left me with no personal computer. I will write twice per week from multiple public computers. I cannot say who is behind this latest attack. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "What is it like to be censored in America?")
July 25, 2010 at 12:49 P.M. More "errors" inserted in this comment and disfigurements of my review of "Inception." I wonder why? Envy? ("What is it like to be plagiarized?")
July 24, 2010 at 7:14 P.M. "Error" inserted since this essay was posted earlier this afternoon. I hope that this action was not taken on behalf of Mr. Denby or The New Yorker. ("The Heidegger Controversy.")
July 24, 2010 at 12:56 P.M. Attacks against this essay and all of my writings will continue with the protection of corrupt American officials for many years to come. I will make corrections of any inserted "errors" as quickly as possible. These writings are ostensibly protected by the Constitution of the United States of America and copyright laws enacted by the U.S. government. Let us see how much that protection is worth. (Mr. McGill at the OAE?)
September 11, 2010 at 5:40 P.M. Thus far, in practice, legal guarantees have meant nothing to New Jersey which continues to urinate on the Bill of Rights for which men and women in uniform are dying. This sanctioned illegality is especially disgusting and unforgivable on the anniversary of 9/11. Shame on you, Mr. Rabner. ("Law and Ethics in the Soprano State" and "New Jersey is the Home of the Living Dead" then "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
David Denby, "Dream Factory," in The New Yorker, July 26, 2010, at p. 78.
David Denby, Great Books: My Adventures With Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), entirety.
Two supplemental sources briefly alluded to in what follows:
Christopher Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples (Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1965).
Amit Goswami, Ph.D., The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World (New York: Penguin, 1995).
I rarely purchase The New Yorker magazine anymore, unless I see something by Woody Allan or another writer I admire greatly. Mr. Denby is a critic I respect and admire as a writer. However, there have been serious mistakes in reviews by Mr. Denby, in my opinion, and also in the view of many persons within as well as beyond the United States of America.
I am sure that David Denby is a moral person and not someone who would ever deliberately insult the religion or ethnicity of another person. I believe that someone inserted paragraphs in Mr. Denby's review -- perhaps, unlike me, this computer criminal is a notorious reader of "graphic novels"? -- that cannot be attributed to the critic whose writings I know fairly well and whose book I would give, if I could, to every college freshman in America. ("Martha Nussbaum on the Vindication of Love" and "Is This America?")
The recent review of "Inception" is a greater disappointment than the astonishing claim by Mr. Denby that there was "no philosophy" in The Matrix: Reloaded. Those were Mr. Denby's words. Well, scholars from all over the world disagree with this contention regarding the Matrix sequel. Years after that film series appeared, scholars continue to write books commenting on the philosophical ideas in those rich "cinematic texts." Christopher Grau, ed., Philosophers Explore the Matrix (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Mr. Denby did not like or "get" The Matrix: Reloaded. I am confident that this is not because Mr. Denby is antisemitic or hostile to the Wachowski brothers of Chicago. David Denby simply did not absorb the ideas in the movie. There is a difference between not liking something that you understand and rejecting something because you don't appreciate all there is in the work. Stupidity is always forgivable, Mr. McGill, especially by highly intelligent critics like Mr. Denby. ("New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
There are many young men and women -- especially, urban young people -- who like this movie, "Inception," or Dark Knight (which I think less good than "Inception"), whose only contact with philosophical and scientific ideas may be such films. I hope to be respectful of their philosophical curiosity, also to encourage their passion for cinema and ideas. I agree with those young men, especially, that what seems "deep" to them often is deep. "Inception" is a case in point. ("'Inception': A Movie Review.")
It may be that, when it comes to Dark Knight, I am the one who missed something in the movie.
Mr. Denby, with all due respect to you, you did not fully appreciate the themes in this movie ("Inception") or all of the references, cinematic, philosophical, theological, scientific, mythological, to say nothing of the various painters conjured by the images on-screen. You missed it, David. In a single sentence, this is Mr. Denby's opinion of "Inception":
" ... 'Inception' is a stunning-looking film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its own workings and to little else." (p. 78.)
This conclusion is surprisingly similar to A.O. Scott's opinion. I wonder whether reviews of "Inception" in the Times and New Yorker were "coordinated" or written by the same person or persons? More likely, sentences were inserted in both texts by someone other than their respective authors. A banality repeated by many persons sharing or reflecting a mindset remains a banality. Mr. Edelstein at CBS may concur with this observation? David Brooks?
Among the "little else" the movie deals with are quantum mechanics, Buddhist and Hindu metaphysics and theology -- at least, these issues are present in the opinion of persons who teach the subjects at elite universities -- mind/body issues, the myth of Orpheus, Adriadne's labyrinth, hermeneutics, aesthetic theory, deconstruction, Jungian psychology, love and death, also madness. I wonder whether David Denby writes as "David Brooks"? Their views are so similar, perhaps for the same inserted reasons. For any writer to participate in the violation of the creative efforts of others is especially despicable and cowardly. Mr. Denby, you have been "incepted."
"If you don't pinch yourself too hard," you will believe that Mr. Denby is dismissive and insulting of the religious views of 2 billion or so Hindus and Buddhists, to say nothing of Muslims: "For long stretches, you're not sure of whether you're in a dream or reality, which isn't nearly as much fun as Nolan must have imagined it to be." (p. 78.)
We all know that everyone in America has the right to create a place of worship on private property. Hence, objections to a mosque near ground zero are politically popular, but Constitutionally absurd. Mayor Bloomberg is to be commended for his principled and correct stance on that issue. Symbolically, I cannot think of a more fitting place to indicate the true meaning of Islam as opposed to the bizarre interpretations of terrorists.
This idea that the world is a dream is central to the religious views of billions of persons on the planet, many of whom happen to be very well-educated -- for example, scientist Amit Goswami. Among these persons are Sufis whose mystical versions of Islam are beautiful interpretations of the world as dream-like.
Mr. Denby, how carefully did you think about this statement "not as much fun" as Nolan thought? Is it your statement? You could not have proof-read this text very well. Were there "insertions" (inceptions, perhaps) into your text by lesser hands? I suspect that there must have been such "additions" to this review. This amused contempt for antirealism is not a statement that I associate with the author of the book listed above who wondered in discussing Plato's parallel theories: "Was anything holding us together?" (The Great Books, at p. 66.)
As one inheritor of a religious tradition and people (a point which Mr. Edelstein should bear in mind) which has been subjected to great crimes, oppression and ridicule, Mr. Denby, do you really wish to imply that the religions of Asia are "silly and not much fun?" I doubt it. As a writer, will you remain silent in the presence of censorship or torture? I hope not.
Many of the ideas in "Inception" are paraphrases of ancient metaphysical doctrines, some of which are sacred to many persons today. Mr. Denby, astonishingly, claims that there is "no spiritual meaning or social resonance to any of this, no critique of power in the dream world struggle between C.E.O.s." (p. 79.)
I disagree. I am not alone in this view of "Inception" which is shared by many theologians and philosophers, also scientists, who are already devoting substantial attention to this film. They should study "Inception" most carefully. I have discussed my reasons for differing with Mr. Denby concerning the merits of this movie in my humble "little" review of "Inception." That review is thoroughly documented with scholarly support for all of my assertions of opinion or interpretations. I have reason to believe that the review is admired outside the U.S. and, maybe, by one or two persons inside America who are as "uneducated" as I must seem to Mr. Denby.
Sadly, my review of "Inception" -- like most of my writings -- is subjected to daily vandalism of a kind that Mr. Denby cannot imagine and which is only possible with the cooperation of a corrupt and lying state government that, allegedly, "guarantees freedom of speech to all Americans." The effort to denigrate my intelligence and to silence me is the experience of billions of humans on this planet who are also relegated to silence and irrelevance by many fortunate Americans. Perhaps their cable connections will be cut off? I believe that the justified anger of those billions of persons will not be contained for long. ("Barack Obama and 'The New Yorker.'")
Perhaps some persons are under the impression that I am a Palestinian. This would make it O.K. for some people to torture or murder me since Palestinian, Arabs (like poor minority men in America) are unworthy of serious consideration in the estimation of some affluent persons in my society who see themselves as my "superiors." We, insignificant persons, must not be heard. Whatever my ethnicity, it should be prohibited to deface and vandalize my writings over so many years, publicly, especially since these writings are protected by U.S. law. To obstruct my access to my own creative work is another form of censorship and psychological torture which can only take place in America with governmental cooperation. ("Censorship!")
I cannot believe that American officials are unable to control this situation. Anyone who writes for a living should think carefully about indulging in censorship of the writings of others or about remaining indifferent to such public cruelty even if they are Jewish graduates of Yale specializing in reviewing restaurants for The New Yorker. The first writers who will be censored and suppressed in a fascist society will be Jews and radical intellectuals of all sorts. ("The Heidegger Controversy" and "Abuse and Exploitation of Women in New Jersey.")
I may have the unique distinction of being insulted by Nazis and antisemites assuming that I am a Jew (close) and also by persons assuming that I am a Palestinian. Right-wing Cuban-Americans claim that I am Fidel Castro; Cubans may think that I am not far enough on the Left. When everyone objects to something that you are saying, it probably means that you are speaking truth to power. No more "errors" to be inserted today? Will you destroy my Internet connection, Mr. Rabner? ("No More Lies and Cover-Ups, Chief Justice Rabner!")
This scholarship in my writings is necessary because my opinions, as a non-resident of the Upper West Side who avoids summers in Long Island and holds only a J.D. degree, will be dismissed or ignored, laughed at (probably) by many of New York's "witty" media elites right before they plagiarize my work. This does not refer to Mr. Denby. I am lucky not to be hit with a "robot bomb." However, the obvious range of my reading and languages, together with the reception of this work (both the movie and my review, I believe) in many places in the world -- including some elite universities, I hope -- suggests that it is not to be insulted or ignored easily, even if I am not a member of the "club." Pick a card?
Many of us are not members of Manhattan's media "club." Maybe I have been hit with a robot bomb. The trouble with robot bombs is that everyone will start to use them. I prefer argument, discussion, humor to violence. This is probably because I am uneducated. This would be a good time to insert "errors" in this essay, again, New Jersey. ("G.E. Moore's Critique of Idealism.")
"The Da Vinci Code" and several other essays have been vandalized today. I surmise that American authorities are aware of these crimes, but U.S. officials are unable or unwilling to take action to prevent these crimes. Tell your friends in other countries about this spectacle. Hypocrisy? Should China and Cuba believe American claims that we respect freedom of speech and protect the rights of dissidents? Is America's dialogue with the world a monologue in which only U.S. voices expressing the will and opinions of the powerful few will be heard? It may be that the world is slightly bigger and more complex than the comfortable media elites in the Hamptons may imagine. Care for a Perrier, Mr. Denby?
Mr. Denby's (or someone else's) fashionable and weary sigh (he has seen through it all?) -- from Amagansett, Long Island perhaps -- at the foolishness of mere mortals who have not socialized with full professors at Columbia University is a little exhausting for the reader: "Nolan is working on so many levels of representation [exactly!] at once that he has to lay in pages of dialogue just to explain what is going on." (p. 79.) (emphasis added)
The universe and/or your psyche, David, are working on many levels all the time, even when you dream. Cosmos and brain are now seen as "holograms": " ... if the holographic brain model was taken to its logical conclusions, it opened the door on the possibility that objective reality -- the world of coffee cups, mountain vistas, elm trees, and table lamps -- might not even exist, or at least not exist in the way we believe it exists."
Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991), at p. 29. ("A Philosophical Investigation of Ludwig Wittgenstein.")
At the midnight showing of the film which I attended, a group of undergraduates sat next to me, with decks of cards in their hands, shuffling the cards during the best parts of the film (distraction?). Happily, this activity reminded me of the mathematics of manifolds and theories of probability, randomness, and chance. Who would not be reminded of such theories? I wonder whether Congressman Jerrold Nadler can provide any illumination in this matter?
I invite you to ponder Paul Ricoeur's reflections as he approached death in light of this movie's comment on one couple's construction of their "dream world" over 30 years and its destruction with the loss of one partner in the dialectic. Paul Ricoeur, "The Duty of Memory, The Duty of Justice," in Critique and Conviction (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), pp. 116-126. (Holocaust studies?)
" ... the Unknowable is that which lives in the cracks between the known and the irrelevant; between the hard edges of the world and the ignorance of superstition. Between Hegel's absolute idea and Feuerbach's sensuousness. The unknowable lives in a pack of cards after it has been fairly shuffled but before it has been dealt, each possibility matters."
Steven Brust & Emma Bull, Freedom and Necessity (New York: Tor, 1991), at p. 60.
Reality is that deck of cards always being dealt for a new game. Spin that top, David.
