Greg Hard's The Existentialist

Professor Laurie Jameson (Maureen Anderman), a middle-aged professor at a prestigious New England liberal arts college, meets an intelligent jock, a wrestler named Woodson Bull III (Graham Hamilton), who just likes to be called Third. When Third hands in his paper on King Lear, Laurie accuses him of plagiarism, saying that the paper was the work of a scholar, "not a wrestler." From there we are taken on a personal journey into the crisis of a woman who has an ailing father (Jonathan McMurtry), a sick friend (Robin Pearson Rose), and a daughter (Halley Feiffer) who, much to Laurie's dismay, is now an adult.

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The gruelingly long and insufferable 2007 has come to an end and what illumination has our study, as human beings of an intellectual capacity, actually provided? Have we stagnated in our purposeful works, our search for true purpose under the guise of existentialism? This year has illuminated nothing, as far as I am concerned, except our inability to perceive the big picture of life. - Anonymous

On that note, I will pose the question: is our Anonymous tipster correct? Was Tolstoy correct when he said (paraphrasing) that the only thing human beings were capable of knowing for certain was that life is meaningless? Let's start by defining meaning; you can't do it, can you? Of course not, given that comprehending meaning is impossible via an objective definition; my meaning is not your meaning, his meaning may not be her meaning, and so forth.

We must forge our own sense of purpose, of belonging and, ultimately, a definition of a meaningful existence. This is the challenge, however, that could be the lifelong pursuit of freethinking intellectuals (or pseudo-intellectuals, whichever you prefer). With this in mind, I will end by stating my 2008 resolutions:

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It's been a good year for award-winning playwright Ronan Noone. Brendan is the second play he has had produced this season at the Huntington Theatre Company. The first was the acclaimed The Atheist, which starred noted actor Campbell Scott.

Likewise, it has been a good season for the Huntington itself, given the reception of The Atheist and what I expect to be a similar reception for Brendan, not to mention Noone's growing notoriety as a new, young theatrical talent, with plays produced in Boston, New York, and London. While The Atheist and Brendan ran in succession, this served only to emphasize the vast differences between the two plays. They share, however, Noone's sharp wit.

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Recently the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited New York City and Columbia University and was met with harsh criticism from students and others who, despite living in a free America where political discourse should be encouraged, protested Columbia for letting him speak; they weren't just protesting the man and his connection to terrorism, they were protesting the university for permitting him to speak. Although they certainly have a right to protest - one more thing that makes this country free - what are the consequences of a civilian culture that discourages free communication?

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Experienced educational consultant and college admissions specialist Greg Hard answers questions submitted by the confused and baffled college students. Submit yours to editor@theexistentialist.org.

Full article after the jump.

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People who know me well know that I am an avid democrat; they also know I am not a supporter of Hilary Clinton. The reason for this has nothing to do with her positions, necessarily, but with the lack of fervor in which she attempts to solve the nation's plentiful bounty of issues. She is too moderate for me, in a time when we need to move toward a different extreme in health care that the unequal cesspool we are faced with today. That extreme is called by many socialized medicine, by others, universal health care. I call it a demonstration of human decency.

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Paris is a city full of history, culture, art, food and romance. Alive with the passions and dreams of millions, it is a city full of intrigue and opportunity.

A Scholar's Paris is an essay taking a more scholastic view of Parisian life, reflecting on the glistening city as a giant library from which intellectual ideas derive.

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Anthony Kronman's opinion piece in the September 16th The Boston Globe, entitled Why Are We Here?, is an indictment of traditional research oriented education in American universities as it relates to our detraction from humane education and philosophical inquiry, especially about important and fundamental questions about purpose and meaning.

While I agree with his overall assessment and his solution, I do think that his indictment of the "research ideal" to be in a harsher tone than I would use; the answer, of course, is to strike a pedagogical balance between the merits of research and the purpose of education.

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Here is a preview of coming feature articles on The Existentialist in the coming two weeks.

• Theatre Review: 4:48 Psychosis *
• Perspectives: Culture in Boston
• College Specialist: Questions from Confused Students (Volume 1)
• Essay: American Skepticism
• (Still) Culturally Relevant: Ingmar Bergman

* Will be posted on Blogcritics 24 hours before release on The Existentialist. All movie, theatre and art reviews written by Greg Hard are posted on Blogcritics 24 hours prior to publication.

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These types of movies have yet to wear on me — from Girl, Interrupted to Prozac Nation, the human psyche is a topic always worth exploring and one that has never become trite — until now.

Self-Medicated is about Andrew Erikson (Monty Lapica), an intelligent 17-year-old struggling with the loss of his father, who ends up spiraling into a web of beer drinking and marijuana use while rejecting a promising future; his mother Louise (Diane Venora), who is entangled in her own web of (prescribed) drug abuse, manages to sober up long enough to "save" her son by sending him to a corrupt psychiatric hospital for treatment.

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The Existentialist, the Internet's newest cultural information and society publication, is seeking freelance volunteer writers and editors for the following topics:

• Local Culture: New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia
• Movies and Offbeat, Independent Theater
• Political News Analysis
• Editorial/Opinion Pieces on Art, Society, Philosophy, Science and Technology
• Satire Pieces on... Just About Anything

Perks include:

• Increased recognition
• Shameless self-promotion of your own blog or project at the end of every original article you write
• Part of our "Thank You" monthly post, promoting any of your projects
• Hell, put us on your resume if you want

To apply and request your login information to begin publishing, contact: Editor AT TheExistentialist.org with examples of past work and anything else you feel is relevant.

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Spiked-Online has an enlightening review of a new book on free will, Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates our Mental World by Chris Frith.

Free will cannot be located in the brain, boiled down, and graphed. It's an active, lived process that includes the human ability to interrogate nature....

Full Review (Via Spiked) »

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Movies reviewed: Shoot 'em Up, Paris je' Taime, and Rush Hour 3.

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Yes, I know, I'm late; they've been out for weeks now, and I've had access to them for a week longer than most. However, it didn't seem prudent to analyze them immediately; after all, little actually changed and everyone knows they are flawed and meaningless. However you feel about the rankings, they are influential and many rankings do resemble reality; most, however, do not.

Some of my speculations were correct, and some weren't. None of the changes, in my view, were significant enough to warrant a thorough examination, but the entire list changed enough that I, in my infinite free time, need to discuss the important changes and how I feel about them. The full analysis after the jump.

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What is so wrong with America? Capitalism, for one; but why? Doesn't it make us a rich, profitable nation with opportunities a plenty? The answer, of course, is yes, it does. Although I may appear to be saying I am completely against capitalism, I am actually against it when applied to certain things, such as education and health care. Capitalism is only good when it doesn't cause a corrupt, hyper-consumerist, business oriented culture which is what we are currently driving towards.

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