by Brian Bergen-Aurand Spending the last several years studying the thought of Emmanuel Levinas in relation to ethics and comedy has led me to Emma Willis’s 2014 Theatricality, Dark Tourism and Ethical Spectatorship: Absent Others, a book about ethics and tragedy written somewhat at the collision of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Rancière around questions of … Continue reading
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The mise-en-scène of the blind is always inscribed in a theater or theory of the hands. ~Jacques Derrida, Memoirs of the Blind It is a question of touch, of touching the screen or being touched by what one sees on screen, or both. It is a question of the relation between how … Continue reading
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The Myths of Blind Cinema Imagine film, or more precisely, the filmic experience in relation to three figures: Gyges, Butades, and Medusa (in contrast to Polyphemus). These three figures, or more precisely, the relations among these three figures raise for us the possibility of addressing the flimic experience in terms of a man … Continue reading
by Brian Bergen-Aurand The purpose of Aikido is to elevate ourselves from the world of matter to the world of spirit. Matter descends, spirit ascends. Aikido is a wonderful flower that blooms in our world and bears great spiritual fruit. Aikido should be the basis of our lives, and we should strive to establish true … Continue reading
Foreign Influence 