Praised by the Wise
"The modern conception of man's intellectual relationship to the universe was anticipated by the Buddhist doctrine that desire is the source of illusion. This is true not only of the man of science, but also the artist and the philosopher.
Perfect non-attachment demands of those who aspire to it, not only compassion and charity, but also the intelligence that perceives the general implications of particular acts, that sees the individual being within the system of social and cosmic relations of which he is but a part. In this respect, it seems to me, Buddhism shows itself decidedly superior to Christianity. In the Buddhist ethic, stupidity, or unawareness, ranks as one of the principal sins."
Aldous Huxley, English writer and intellectual
indulge II
g.spa again!
this time yewhan and i were joined by jianli, johnson, paul. somehow someone has to be missing every time we visit. this time it's kenyee.
our conquests:
2 x pig trotter vermicelli
3 x nasi lemak
4 x miso ramen
7 x carrot cake
10 x grilled chicken
fucking hell that's 26 main courses for 5 pax. we only did 15 for 4 pax the last time!
the more amazing thing was, although we talked a lot the last time, we were there 11am to 5pm; yesterday we were there 11am to 1030pm wtf! an extremely fulfilling session of talk cock and htht.
maybe we should check out nassim too.
The Fog of War: 11 lessons from the life of Robert S McNamara
observations of life through the lenses of warfare, by the former US Secretary of Defense
1. Empathize with your enemy
pause and understand where your enemy's coming from, and tailor solutions. the world would be a better place.
2. Rationality will not save us
even a dilemma involving the most rational of men can produce the most irrational of answers. accept that other factors can come into play. like luck.
3. There's something beyond one's self
values, morals, philosophy - these arent things we can claim to know or ever acquire. there are things out there we cannot control.
4. Maximize efficiency
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war
how much is enough and how much is too much? proportionality asks not just if a solution fits a problem, but analyses the trade-off if the solution is not implemented.
6. Get the data
people tend to assume or rest on their laurels. if someone bothers to harvest statistics, things will be much clearer and solutions will arrive.
7. Belief and seeing are often both wrong
beliefs are often in sync with preconceived notions. we are programmed to pick up only what we want to believe. seeing it only reinforces that, without necessarily being the facts of the matter.
8. Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning
when your friends dont agree with you, your reasoning, no matter how right it seems, may be deeply flawed.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil
can good be achieved through purely good means?
10. Never say never
11. You can't change human nature
there's no hindsight to speak of at the incidence of things. we can never understand all the complex variables of a situation, and we'll make mistakes. reason has its limits. being sorry should be the norm.
疯神无双 疯秘笈
信箱
顾名思义就是裝信的箱子
每戶人家门口通常都会裝设信箱
方便邮差投递信件
而工具箱就是放工具的箱子
宝藏箱就是放宝藏的箱子
那么逢年过节
大家都抢着要插头香
那其实就是放插头的箱子
i like motion pictures
ive noticed ive an inclination towards films that use a fun, summer, dumb kind of context to package messages far deeper than they explicitly market themselves. in other words, satirical allegories usually do it for me.
i wasnt too excited about The Invention of Lying when it came out in 2009, but although i admit its obvious flaws, i should've given the involvement of Ricky Gervais more credit. after all, the man's Britain's most prolific award-winning comic.
if there's one way to call it, my fave film critic Roger Ebert echoed my sentiments ably: "I saw the trailer for The Invention of Lying and expected to dislike it. [But it's] a much better movie than the trailer dares to admit."
the "remarkably radical" premise adds a slight yet monumental twist to contemporary society: no one lies cos no one knows how to, and everyone only speaks the truth. within this premise, Gervais peels off two layers of society to examine.
doctrines and love.
the key question to the first is, can doctrines exist without lies? most major religions as we know them started cos we listened to a couple of individuals. we believed them. but what justified the trust, and what still justifies it today? they said there are gods, but where such ideas come from remains fuzzy.
and so do many other things. heaven, hell, the afterlife... fuzzy, but they work fine as long as you have adequate faith. what are sins, how bad is bad, how evil can you go... of course it got a bit tricky for Gervais when the masses wonder why the gods do both good and bad to people. but the most telling came when someone asks how come these doctrinal information suddenly popped up millions of years into mankind's existence?
in a moving scene at the end, as Gervais' character attempts to steal the bride, everyone - and ultimately she - asks what does He want for her? cornered, and even though he yearns for her, Gervais chooses to walk away and not perpetuate his epic lie.
this brings me to the film's equal focus on the concept of love. at best, the romantic subplot is ordinary, often underdeveloped and strange. but it deftly scores several statements within the film's motto of honesty. here, romance almost always means verbalising your thoughts, which are often purely based on the superficial. but as Gervais' character learns to lie, he also learns to see beyond the external, able to imagine the inner beauty of his dream girl.
because love is not just solid facts. it is fiction, it is fantasy, it is a fairytale. it is faith in the irrational. in lying, Gervais understands love, and he tries to open her eyes to it.
Praised by the Wise
"I found Buddhism fascinating. Their concept that you progress towards the Ineffable through a number of existences seemed to me much more intellectually satisfying than the Christian belief that you come just once and are cast into circumstances maybe of great wealth or of great moment, but that you come to God or don't come to God on the basis of that one life.
I was never on the point of embracing Buddhism but I found, and still find, it infinitely more satisfying than the Judeo-Christian philosophy."
Bob Hawke, Rhodes scholar and former Australian prime minister
adrian
Remember when we was on ice skates,
And I thought you were supposed to be great,
But I kept giving you lip,
And you kept trying to slip,
So I could catch ya.
That was our first date,
And after that, every day was great.
So now I want you to know,
That wherever you go,
Atlantic City or in the snow,
Don't worry about a thing,
'cause as long as I got this ring,
I'll always be there to catch ya.
疯神无双 疯秘笈
信箱
顾名思义就是裝信的箱子
每戶人家门口
通常都会裝设信箱
方便邮差投递信件
而工具箱就是放工具的箱子
宝藏箱就是放宝藏的箱子
那么逢年过节
大家都抢着要插头香
那其实就是放插头的箱子
if a theist praises an all-loving god for only helping some and not others, are they not implicitly acknowledging a god who struggles, sometimes unsuccessfully, against suffering?
疯神无双 疯秘笈
水蜜桃
日本的水蜜桃就叫做 MOMO
MOMOTARO 就是桃太郎的意思
MOMOKO 就是日文名字 桃子的意思
所以摸摸茶
其实就是水蜜桃茶的意思
如果爸爸今天说他要去摸摸茶
其实他是要去喝水蜜桃茶
千万不要误会
真的吗？
当然是骗你的啊
赶快去跟妈妈讲
2012 NBA All-Star
the score read 152-149, to the West, and like all good All-Star games there was a heart-stopping finale, but the script of the game was much more than that.
my take before the game was this year's Eastern starting five would be too strong for their counterparts. yes no one takes the All-Star game seriously, but it's not always you get such a disparity in resources.
granted, the West had Kobe, Durant and CP3, but the lineup was completed by Griffin and Bynum. one's a sophomore who's a starter by way of his incredible dunking abilities, but far from the finished product. the other might be probably the league's second-best centre now, but it's no longer a centre game.
the East however owned a list that read LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, 'Superman' and the superlative MVP Rose.
as it turned out, there were a whole bunch of dynamics to take into consideration. the West All-Stars turned the East turtles on their backs from the word 'go'. LeBron and Wade were obviously here to have fun; this occasion is for the spectacular, rendering Superman a fish out of water; Carmelo and Rose visibly lacked game fitness.
and, the key difference was the opposing team possessed Kobe and Durant, probably the two most effective and efficient scorers in NBA now. in between having fun and the mandatory alley-oops, they didnt forget to rack up their baskets.
and like i noted, starters. when it comes to the bench though, the West's more than matched their rivals. Bynum didnt last long and there were Dirk and Love, of starter quality, to deputise. the three guards warming the bench were none other than Westbrook, Parker and the still-effective Nash.
i'll skip the jokers, but the best the East's could offer were Deron, Bosh, Rondo and 'The Truth'. okay Bosh is a joker too, in my opinion. Pierce in all honesty barely made the cut for this year's All-Star, while Rondo is off form. and these two point guards got a lot of minutes in Rose's place.
by halftime, it was 88-69. the West's counter is a record for one half in an All-Star game.
luckily, the good ol' fellas ensured it wasnt a washout. LeBron and Wade took over in Q3, leaving everyone for dead (except Durant). suddenly, we're all reminded once again Miami should be winning titles, not playing second fiddle.
near the end of the game the East All-Stars had incredibly cut the 20+point deficit to a single, soaring on the back of LeBron's 36 points and Wade's triple-double (only the third in history).
even if you're a critic of the fancy that's the All-Star game, you gotta admit the closing seven minutes were the sport at its finest, convincing enough as a playoff game. Wade had broken Kobe's nose, while the players were actually playing defence, can you believe it.
and as expected, the major subplot of recent All-Star games surfaced again - Kobe vs LeBron. the veteran, in the spirit of fun, demanded to mark his rival, and began trash talking heavily, centring of course on the latter's apparent mental weakness.
16 seconds left, two points less, ball in East's hands. what should the play be?
instead, Deron took the last shot. not too surprising considering the New Jersey guard's three-point talents, but one cant help wonder what LeBron said to the coach and his teammates at the preceding timeout.
Deron scuffed the shot unbelievably, the next hundredths of seconds saw incredible hustling by the East players, and the ball was back in LeBron's hands, almost like an act of God.
what did King James do, with Kobe still in his face? a crazy crosscourt pass that was duly intercepted.
then the chance came knocking again. one second and one play left, three points the difference. and guess what, LeBron is out of bounds readying to throw it in.
Kobe was disgusted. so were the millions watching the game. LeBron had chosen to retreat into his tiny hole again, refusing a coronation.
just like last year. just like at Cleveland. just like at the Beijing Olympics.
he throws it to teammate Wade - even more laughable, like an admission: "you're the more important Miami player."
it was a tough shot. baseline, three-point, turnaround, fadeaway, buzzer. but at least Wade tried, to win the game, to shut Kobe up.
MVP expectedly went to Durant, who also notched up 36 points.
other than the US national team, the All-Star game has to boast the most quality on one court. i hope such basketball continues.
also, a shoutout to Kobe, whose third-quarter breakaway dunk put him number one on All-Star points, overtaking MJ.
恩人
又二月二十八了
不过 这次不仅只掏起我们的回忆 不仅像往日只让我感性地回头
这一天 他也求婚了 你也订婚了
你要嫁人了
你曾答应白头相守 却又坚持初恋不可能长久
"the first will never be the last," you said.
你放开我手也快九年了 说要继续做好朋友 但从此成为了最熟悉的陌生人
从不舍 到心碎 从接受 到重生 到和谐 到平静
it was, and still is, the toughest time of my life.
that spring, i died.
and as if the season had spoken but i had missed it, i was later reborn, a different man.
分手后 时常想象这天的到来
也该说了 谢谢你的爱
感激你这段最痛 最有意义的爱情
thank you for a most heartbreaking, most meaningful chapter.
thank you for loving me.
you dont and will never know how much you changed me.
你不知道你在我生命的角色 有多少影响力 今天的我 有大半是你塑成的
你不只是个情人 也是个恩人
thanks for the lessons.
记得我们的约定 一定要幸福！
i like motion pictures
Hugo is, i can only say, precisely what the Academy loves.
it is cinematic magic, it has a heartfelt story and endearing characters, and most of all, it has an award-winning theme: an homage to filmmaking.
how can the Academy resist that?
i would suppose the only dilemma for judges is the small fact that its competition is The Artist, another moving examination of cinema.
(while watching, i couldnt help but wonder, if Hugo's an Oscar hit, the oft-neglected Harry Potter films surely are too.)
coming away, i feel Hugo's greatest edge is its scintillating comparison of life to machines. the film's set in a train station; little Hugo Cabret's a clockwork prodigy, in the footsteps of his father and uncle; Papa Georges run a toy shop; the film's about making movies. films that focus on life and people always work, and when you can expose the dichotomy they have with something as mechanical as mechanics, it just makes the audience applaud in fascination.
Hugo: "I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason too."
i must say, big budgets make things tick, and here it helped me like this film. but i dont adore it at all.
i like motion pictures
how do you care for an estranged wife in a coma?
how do you stop your daughter from hating her mum when you hate her too?
how do you face a father-in-law who believes you messed up and his cheating daughter is "faithful and devoted"?
how do you hide the truth when you meet the family of your wife's lover?
how do you handle a widely-favoured business deal but which helps your wife's secret lover make millions?
these are the kinds of questions Matt King, or George Clooney, has to answer in The Descendants, proof of the critically-acclaimed film's complexities.
with "family drama" written all over, what hit me most about this film is its exposition of the complexities of life. it seeks to debunk cliches often exploited in movies.
quoting my favourite Roger Ebert again: "This is so much more complex than most movie plots, where good and evil are neatly compartmented and can be sorted out at the end."
but im not wholly won over.
the screenplay's impressive, but bear in mind it's adapted. in truth, it's the kind of stuff American tv writers churn out regularly.
i must also concede the film is at times unbearable, and not in a hard-hitting way, but just in a corny way.
i like motion pictures
can see why Brad Pitt was so eager to produce this film and star in it. its story is Hollywood gold with a nice Oscar edge, plus an atypical protagonist whose biggest battle is with himself.
check, check and check.
Pitt is good, i wont say super. Jonah Hill is good too, though there's really nothing much he could go wrong with, in such a one-dimensional character. rather disappointed an actor as brilliant as Phillip Seymour Hoffman has such a limited role.
but my point in mentioning the acting in Moneyball is simply cos i was so impressed, something which should be attributed to the director.
if budding actors (or directors) want a lesson in natural acting, here it is. the people behind this film chose to forgo conventional, perfectly clear dialogue, instead plunging for grittier conversation, much like how real people talk.
note, it's not the content of the script, but the delivery.
what really sets a good film apart from an outstanding film, is whether it draws you in emotionally, not just for random kicks, but to make you ask questions. just when Moneyball was drawing to a close, i unexpectedly felt as sapped as Pitt's Billy Beane character.
and that won it for me.
in its editing and pacing, one can really see why Moneyball is Oscar material.
it's just different, as if from the word 'go', it was destined.
