Cess Media 230

Media 230

* MA Media Studies (Film)

* Favorite book/novel: "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith. It is a wildly insightful character study that reeks of a hereditary oppression. It hovers as a spectre of intergenerational diaspora, as well as its consequential quests for transcendence.

* Favorite film: "City of God" It's been over a decade since I first and last saw this film about the gang wars in Rio de Janeiro. To this day, a part of me still shakes from the cycle of violence that is perpetuated not just by its obvious gunmen but the forces of hegemony. In the end, the main character who is supposedly the symbol of hope makes the choice to be under the thumb of the same system that killed his hood family.

* Favorite media practitioner: Joan Didion belongs to the pioneers of new journalism. She writes a side of truth that persists precisely because it is quite as enchanting as storytelling. After inspiring women's movements with bold statements, and hard hitting journalism, Didion has earned the right to write a self-indulgent memoir. Instead, she builds one from a place of unimaginable loss and failure. Didion is celebrated not just for her milestones in journalism, but for her unapologetic writings about the ways we find ourselves and what selves can actually invite change in society. She shared these in A Year of Magical Thinking, and her enthralling essays. The one I find most notable is, On Self-respect.

* Favorite song: "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell. This song is more poetic than it's given credit for. It declares the subject having experiences from varying perspectives (sides) yet ends each of these verses with a humbling rhetoric (I really don't know life/love at all)

* Favorite internet site: Brainpickings.org - It started out as a newsletter for writings about books. It'sbecome more of a journal, like a friend that engages readers in critical and soulful thinking. It ranges from articles that we are scared to talk about such as lonliness, to philosophical readings on how to argue with those whose politics/beliefs we don't agree in.

* Favorite meal: Gising gising precisely because it lives up to its name. My tastes might seem boring. I like mildly spicy gata, and I genuinely enjoy eating greens. Hence, gising gising.

* Hobbies: Writing, reading, photography, watching videos about tiny apartments