{"id":2464,"date":"2019-04-20T02:40:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T02:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=2464"},"modified":"2019-05-17T07:03:40","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T07:03:40","slug":"editors-picks-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=2464","title":{"rendered":"Editor’s Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Svetlana Alexievich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It has taken 22 years to publish the uncensored edition of Svetlana Alexievich’s “The Unwomanly Face of War<\/em>“, a chronicle of testimonies of the Soviet women who participated in World War II. Though the book was completed in 1983, the Russian censorship condemned the author’s pessimistic approach towards their ‘heroic women’. According to them, Svetlana has humiliated women with a primitive naturalism, portrayed them as ordinary women instead of decorating them as war heroes and made their historic victory look terrible. They wanted her to tell the story of what all dream about, not the filth of war. But to her, the history of the war has been replaced by the history of the victory. She looks for ‘small great human beings’ who are trampled upon with a torn-off soul. She does not want to collect evidences, tapes, etc., and simply record them. She wants to delve deeper into human nature, into the darkness, into the sub-conscious, into the mystery of war and track down the human spirit wherever suffering makes a small man into a great man.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The book documents the experiences of these extraordinary women from all ranks, varied positions, doing all kinds of work amidst war, from a laundress to a radio operator; from a medical volunteer to a commander of anti-aircraft guns. Few married at the front and few worried about losing their femininity while returning to their homes\/husbands. They tremble while speaking; burst into tears in silence. Their youth is lost in pain, and their present is nothing but memories of the past. Whatever they recall, howsoever they put, to them: “war is first of all murder and then hard work”. According to Svetlana, the Russian literature has written more about suffering than love and literary tools are insufficient to fully describe the nightmares of current-day events. So, in her own words, she wants to be ‘a historian of the soul’ in order to portray the tremors of eternity.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the greatest thinkers of our time, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, expresses his thoughts of wisdom in a compressed form in this book, “The Bed of Procrustes<\/em>” – the third installment in the Incerto<\/em> series, preceded by Fooled by<\/em> Randomness<\/em> and The Black Swan<\/em>. Procrustes is the name of a man from Greek mythology who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection either by chopping off the tall ones’ legs with a sharp hatchet or by stretching the short. Taleb makes a clarification that “his use of metaphor of the Procrustes bed is not just about putting something in the wrong box but it is mostly the inverse operation of changing the wrong variable”. The (philosophical) aphorisms listed in the book deal with the known as well as the unknown. The sole purpose of the writer is to alter the perspective of how things are seen and abruptly showcase our failure in recognizing the reality.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Nassim Nicholas Taleb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taleb suggests to read not more than four aphorisms in one sitting and a random selection would be preferable. So, here is my random picks for the day.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Your reputation is harmed the most by what you say to defend it.<\/li>\n
  2. You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits.<\/li>\n
  3. To value a person, consider the difference between how impressive he or she was at the first encounter and the most recent one.<\/li>\n
  4. What counts is not what people say about you, it is how much energy they spend in saying it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The final season of Game of Thrones premiered on 14th April, 2019. Its first episode is full of reunions and awkward catch-ups, especially the last one. The teaser of second episode has also been released and it seems that the great war is about to start. Looking forward to keep up the momentum and awaiting an amazing experience, as it has never disappointed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It has taken 22 years to publish the uncensored edition of Svetlana Alexievich’s “The Unwomanly Face of War“, a chronicle of testimonies of the Soviet women who participated in World War II. Though the book was completed in 1983, the Russian censorship condemned the author’s pessimistic approach towards their ‘heroic women’. According to them, Svetlana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21,9],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-2464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","category-english","tag-47"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1302,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=1302","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":0},"title":"Editor’s Picks","author":"\u0b95\u0bcb\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bb2\u0bcd \u0baa\u0bbf\u0bb0\u0b9a\u0bbe\u0ba4\u0bcd","date":"15.12.18","format":false,"excerpt":"16th Chennai International Film Festival has commenced on 13th December, 2018. The film schedule looks fleeky and is opinionated to be the best list thus far. 70% of the films screened in IFFK and to be screened in CIFF are deliberately borrowed from the choices opted by IFFI Goan committee.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Editor's Picks"","block_context":{"text":"Editor's Picks","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/abstract-film-festival-poster-color-illustration-62084324-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/abstract-film-festival-poster-color-illustration-62084324-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/abstract-film-festival-poster-color-illustration-62084324-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/abstract-film-festival-poster-color-illustration-62084324-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6830,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=6830","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":1},"title":"Why we love war?","author":"David Loy","date":"25.01.21","format":false,"excerpt":"War is hell, and today more than ever. Although high-tech weapons make it a videogame for some, those same weapons make it unbelievably destructive for many more. Whatever valor was once associated with hand-to-hand combat has long since disappeared due to gunpowder, and the massive slaughters of the twentieth century\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English"","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/54d411862e2d1_-_2717016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/54d411862e2d1_-_2717016.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/54d411862e2d1_-_2717016.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/54d411862e2d1_-_2717016.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1018,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=1018","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":2},"title":"Editor’s Picks","author":"\u0b95\u0bcb\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bb2\u0bcd \u0baa\u0bbf\u0bb0\u0b9a\u0bbe\u0ba4\u0bcd","date":"14.11.18","format":false,"excerpt":"IFFI Goa 2018 commences on 20th November and Israel will be the country of Focus for this year. I went through the titles listed in \u2018Country Focus\u2019 section and neither the titles nor the name of the directors rang a bell. One good thing about Goa film festival is, most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Editor's Picks"","block_context":{"text":"Editor's Picks","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/marc_aura_0.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1921,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=1921","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":3},"title":"Editor’s Picks","author":"\u0b95\u0bcb\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bb2\u0bcd \u0baa\u0bbf\u0bb0\u0b9a\u0bbe\u0ba4\u0bcd","date":"17.02.19","format":false,"excerpt":"Director Lee Chang-Dong is one of the most reputed Korean Filmmakers of his generation. His last film, Poetry, was released eight years ago. He has made his comeback by adapting a short novel written by Haruki Murakami titled \u2018Barn Burning\u2019. In this Palme d\u2019Or competent, Burning (2018), he offers us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Editor's Picks"","block_context":{"text":"Editor's Picks","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/carousel1b.bbce62ef.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":359,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=359","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":4},"title":"Mightier than the Sword, Films of Helma Sanders-Brahms","author":"\u0b95\u0bcb\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bb2\u0bcd \u0baa\u0bbf\u0bb0\u0b9a\u0bbe\u0ba4\u0bcd","date":"13.08.18","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018Salo\u2019 fame Italian director Paolo Pasolini was filming a dream sequence. A stud of horses drive into the sea against the harsh wind. Their hooves, smacking the waves, are glittering in the sunlight. As they gallop into the ocean of green, gathering all of their bounding energy into one, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English"","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/http___com.ft_.imagepublish.upp-prod-us.s3.amazonaws.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/http___com.ft_.imagepublish.upp-prod-us.s3.amazonaws.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/http___com.ft_.imagepublish.upp-prod-us.s3.amazonaws.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/http___com.ft_.imagepublish.upp-prod-us.s3.amazonaws.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":666,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=666","url_meta":{"origin":2464,"position":5},"title":"Revolution through the Lenses – Luc\u00eda (1968) – Gokul Prasad","author":"\u0b95\u0bcb\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bb2\u0bcd \u0baa\u0bbf\u0bb0\u0b9a\u0bbe\u0ba4\u0bcd","date":"12.10.18","format":false,"excerpt":"One would stumble upon reading Humberto Sol\u00e1s\u2019 interviews. Although this emblematic figure of Cuban cinema is influenced by the aesthetics of Italian Neo-realism, he affirms that \u201cEuropean society seems to be drained, and culturally crippled.\u201d He also dares to opinionate that the films of Vittorio De Sica are nothing but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "English"","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10_2_Lucia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10_2_Lucia.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10_2_Lucia.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/10_2_Lucia.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/78d02878-6dba-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2464"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2522,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2464\/revisions\/2522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}