I’m doing something deeply wrong in my life because it is abnormal that one should have so much grading. I now even have a teaching assistant but still, there is a mountain of grading.

My students definitely are from a different generation. I have failed at explaining why “Ben-Beley” is not a typical European name. This name was used in an Enlightenment-era work of literature, and it is crucial for the understanding of the text that Ben-Beley is an outsider to Spain.

So we watched Gone Girl last night. It’s definitely watchable and a good way to pass time. Of course, the actors were completely wooden and the extreme luxury of the interiors made zero sense within the plot. The 39-year-old protagonist was, for some reason, made 4 years younger. The screenplay was written by the book’s author, so it’s hardly a mistake.

In the movie, Amy’s rage is even more baseless than in the book. She is dehumanized and presented as a complete psychotic in the movie. Still, the audience identified with her. When Nick hit Amy at the end of the movie, there was a collective gasp in the audience. If you watch the movie, you will see that there is a much more hardcore scene of violence that didn’t elicit such an emotional response.

I overheard two young women saying that “this is like the best movie ever” at the end of the show. I’d been worried that Hollywood would attach a happy ending to the film but what I didn’t realize is that the audience sees the ending as already very happy. The women in the audience seemed completely identified with Amy. As I suspected, this is definitely a cultural phenomenon.

Can somebody explain to me the point of using “zie” and “hir” when telling stories from one’s life? For instance, when you write something like this:

I went outside and saw a neighbor. Zie was walking hir dog. Zie always walks the dog early in the morning. Hir dog is huge and scary but zie keeps taking hir dog everywhere.

The text becomes very hard to read, especially when we are talking about a page-long story. But if people are doing this, there must be a point. I (somewhat, to a point, although not even then) understand the use of these zies when attempting to avoid the repetitive “he or she.” But in a story like this, why not just pick a pronoun randomly and stick to it? 

I just reread a story 4 times and still have no idea what happened. All I know is that the “zies” make me want to sneeze.

Just read in a pop history book that the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War were all Anti-Semites because they were controlled by Stalin who was persecuting Jews. Of course, Stalin only started persecuting Jews in 1949, ten years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, but who cares about these little details when you need to make a point?

Where did the myth that Jews are invariably rich and good at making money come from?

Capital needs freedom to move around. It doesn’t thrive when there are constraints on its movement. In the Middle Ages, the Jewish community was a diasporic one. Most Jewish families had relatives or friends in other countries, regions, or even continents. As a result, it was easier for Jews to transfer money and help capital move around.

Today, anybody can move money easily, yet the myth remains in existence

At least once a week, I read yet another article bemoaning the dearth of movies about female characters and attributing this phenomenon to sexism. I find such articles puzzling because:

1. People who make a couple’s entertainment choices are overwhelmingly women. Couples where this is not the case tend not to watch Hollywood movies.

2. Women are overwhelmingly heterosexual.

I don’t know why everybody finds it so shocking that heterosexual women prefer to spend 3 hours staring at cute guys. This is Hollywood, so there can never be any acting to speak of. The plots will be weak, the characters will be plastic and cartoonish. Is it any surprise that the viewers choose at least to stare at what peaks their sensuality?

I’m a raging feminist but I’d never seek out a movie with a female protagonist. Why would I? To watch a plastic cyborg with zero relevance to my life for 3 hours? That would be a weird way to spend time. And this is precisely the reason why novels have been so dedicated to female characters since the XVIIITH century: they have an overwhelmingly female audience. People want to stare at what they find attractive and hear about themselves.

Unemployment in the US has dropped to 5.9%. This means the recession is completely over.

If your first reaction to this news is “yes but”, please start paying attention to your emotional well-being. Unlike the country, you are not on a good path.

In case you do experience a mood (i.e. an inexplicable emotional state), this is what you need to know:

– There is a reason for what you are feeling.

– You can’t see this reason because you don’t think you can afford to know what causes these feelings.

– The feelings you don’t want to acknowledge will keep erupting in the form of moods, trying to get recognized.

– The longer you avoid this recognition, the more likely you are to get really sad or really sick.