Angela Volkov
Bio
Humour, pop psych, poetry, short stories, and pontificating on everything and anything
Stories (26)
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Culture Shock on a Small Scale. Top Story - June 2021.
Rather than a culture of uncaring apathy, Japan is a culture of unobtrusive care. —Angela Volkov ‘Well, this is dismal,’ I thought, sitting on the edge of my narrow new bed, ‘six months in here’. It certainly felt like a prison sentence; at fifteen square metres, the apartment was only slightly larger than a holding cell at the Old Melbourne Gaol (that's 'jail' to you Yanks).
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in Wander
The Devil We Invent: The "Monster of Florence" Was Merely a Man
Glutting ourselves on misery The problem with the true crime genre is that it's rife with manufactured mystery so that its merchants of misery can wring a few bucks out of a tragedy. When we rake through witness statements and freeze-frame interviews, we aren't treating the loss of life with respect. Instead, we are reducing murder to an intellectual puzzle at best and tasteless entertainment at worst. We merchants and consumers of misery ought to be ashamed.
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in Criminal
Hiding Behind Masks: How to Survive Interactive Theatre in One Piece
Put on your masks. I repeat: there has been a tuberculosis outbreak, put on your masks! And so, in the reception room of the funeral parlour, amid closed caskets and surrounded by three dozen or so other flummoxed folks, my friend and I obediently put on our paper face masks. You know, your typical Thursday night.
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in Geeks
Explore Your Subconscious with the Ganzfeld Effect: A Tutorial
Perfectly normal hallucinations Psychosis is thought to be a continuum, encompassing benign levels of perceptual aberrations, magical thinking and a tendency to see hidden meaning in innocuous stimuli (the face of Jesus in your toast), and, at the extreme end, the ravages of full-blown psychosis as experienced in schizophrenia (Lenzenweger, 2018).
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in FYI
All My Favourite Poisons
As a child, I wanted to be a chemist. These days, the sole vestige of my interest in chemistry is my slightly disquieting obsession with poison. A friend visiting my apartment for the first time declined my offer of a glass of water stating, ‘You have four books on poisons’. Wrong. I have five books on poisons.
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in FYI
Asking for the Boston Crab, and Other Bad Jiu-Jitsu Ideas
My father once drove past a karate studio, outside they had hung a banner which read, “Black belt guaranteed!” Black belt most certainly not guaranteed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). The average time to become a black belt seems to be thirteen to fifteen years for the average hobbyist, but life and injury often intervene.
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in Unbalanced
Nostalgia, Narcissism, and the Only Thing I Want from Science Fiction
Wishing to ensconce myself in nostalgia and thereby transport myself into a better frame of mind, I sought out Stargate SG-1, a childhood favourite. However, I quickly realised very few episodes could scratch my particular itch. Imagine creating a show centred around an intergalactic portal to alien worlds — a nifty-looking rotary phone festooned with constellations— and then squandering it for various B-grade plots.
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in Geeks
Culturally Appropriate: Steal These Traditions to Improve Your Life
Christmas in Japan: when is appropriation merely appreciation? The world knows no greater evil than a White girl in a cheongsam-inspired prom dress or a non-Dutch person in Dutch braids (also known as Boxer braids and often worn by people who aren’t pugilists). I, too, have been the victim of cultural appropriation while in Japan during the holiday season, forced to endure “Christmas” sponge cakes smothered with strawberries, fried chicken vendors on every street corner, and what appeared to be the conflation of the good Colonel with Jolly Old Saint Nick. (Japanese people eat KFC to celebrate Christmas — go figure!)
By Angela Volkov5 years ago in FYI
