Happy 2008 blah blah blah, countdown blah, party and drinks blah blah blah. Yeah, whatever. Too old for all this nonsense.
*bad mood*
I think I'll just curl up and read an old novel and maybe everything will pass me by.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Postcards and Food
Me is quite tired.
This has been a month for long-lost friends. I got a surprise email from a friend I've lost contact with for 4? years. I got a surprise email from an ultra-elusive friend whom I've not heard from for 2? years. And I got a surprise postcard from Oslo from a friend who replies to emails with postcards. Although he's German he keeps sending postcards from everywhere except Germany (eg. Cairo, Prague). It's kind of amusing, but damn, is he on a permanent holiday? (Like me?)
Why am I helping out for a concert just because this guy who only contacts me once a year asked me? (Btw, he also asked me if I wanted to play, and I firmly declined citing overall rustiness lolz.)
I think I should stop offering my services FOC. So this is the deal, guys, if you need any more help with applications, letters, presentations, emails, interviews (you know who I'm looking at), you'll have to feed me in exchange. I demand fair payment for my services! I don't really care what type of food you feed me as long as you feed me! Food is important to me! I will keep working as long as you keep feeding me! My loyal service can be bought with food! (Pls spread the word. I'm fairly serious about this. Unless of course, you wish to pay me in dollars/gold/stock options instead.)
This has been a month for long-lost friends. I got a surprise email from a friend I've lost contact with for 4? years. I got a surprise email from an ultra-elusive friend whom I've not heard from for 2? years. And I got a surprise postcard from Oslo from a friend who replies to emails with postcards. Although he's German he keeps sending postcards from everywhere except Germany (eg. Cairo, Prague). It's kind of amusing, but damn, is he on a permanent holiday? (Like me?)
Why am I helping out for a concert just because this guy who only contacts me once a year asked me? (Btw, he also asked me if I wanted to play, and I firmly declined citing overall rustiness lolz.)
I think I should stop offering my services FOC. So this is the deal, guys, if you need any more help with applications, letters, presentations, emails, interviews (you know who I'm looking at), you'll have to feed me in exchange. I demand fair payment for my services! I don't really care what type of food you feed me as long as you feed me! Food is important to me! I will keep working as long as you keep feeding me! My loyal service can be bought with food! (Pls spread the word. I'm fairly serious about this. Unless of course, you wish to pay me in dollars/gold/stock options instead.)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
shoulda known
I finished all the stuff I had to do today quite early, then all of a sudden there was nothing to do and my mind just couldn't wrap itself round the idea that there was nothing that needed to be done.
Granted, I've not been so busy that I have not been able to watch movies or shop. Far from it. But there's always something that is waiting to be done.
And then without warning, there was nothing.
So I wafted through the house like a lost spirit, feeling empty and listless, and finally settled down like a layer of dust in front of the tv. (How else could it end?)
I should have known it wouldn't last. *stress*
(Still holding up my side of the equation and hoping it'll make a difference.)
Granted, I've not been so busy that I have not been able to watch movies or shop. Far from it. But there's always something that is waiting to be done.
And then without warning, there was nothing.
So I wafted through the house like a lost spirit, feeling empty and listless, and finally settled down like a layer of dust in front of the tv. (How else could it end?)
I should have known it wouldn't last. *stress*
(Still holding up my side of the equation and hoping it'll make a difference.)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Leibniz (tbc)
Argh! I discovered another book on my table that just might be LSB's, and the explanation of Leibniz is A LOT clearer... So it appears that I had a number of mistakes in my previous post on Leibniz. Sigh.
Ok, I promise myself that soon (SOON) I'll write another one on Leibniz that I'm satisfied with.
Thank goodness most philosophers are dead, else I shall be obliged to kill them.
Ok, I promise myself that soon (SOON) I'll write another one on Leibniz that I'm satisfied with.
Thank goodness most philosophers are dead, else I shall be obliged to kill them.
Leibniz
Ok, I promised myself to write this after I read up on Descartes and Spinoza. However, I've delayed for several months now, and I think it's probably because some primal, intuitive part of me screamed 'Do Not Go There!'
Oh well, no more procrastinating!
From:
- Roger Scruton's A Short History of Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Wittgenstein, 2nd ed.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Leibniz
The starting point: Spinoza & the individual
- Recall Spinoza's argument that individuals are mere expressions of God (modes of the substance).
- Spinoza also argued that therefore, immortality for humans means "[surviving] in part, and [dispersing] in the infinite mind of God." (Scruton, 65)
- Leibniz thought that if individuals are mere expressions of God, then they are
not truly individuals, and immortality has no meaning if the human does not remain an individual.
- Problem: how to reconcile the notion of the 'individual' with the notion of the 'divine substance'?
Ok, now let's start with certain principles first:
Principle of Contradiction
- If something is self-contradictory, then it is false
- Anything that is the opposite of the false is true.
- The Principle of Contradiction identifies truths of reason.
- Truths of reason are necessary.
- A necessary truth/truth of reason is true in all possible worlds.
- A necessary truth/truth of reason is knowable a priori by finite minds.
Principle of Sufficient Reason
- We can find no truth without there being a sufficient reason why it is so and not otherwise, even though most of these reasons can't be known to us.
- The Principle of Sufficient Reason identifies truths of fact.
- Truths of fact are contingent.
- A contingent truth/truth of fact is only knowable a posteriori by finite minds, through experimentation and investigation.
- Only God knows contingent truths a priori.
- While acknowledging the existence of contingent truths, Leibniz still wanted to base these truths on reason, avoiding 'pure' contingency.
The Predicate-in-Subject Principle
- In every necessary or contingent truth, the concept of the predicate is included in that of the subject.
- In other words, one who understands the subject perfectly would also know that the predicate belongs to it.
Ok, now we move on.
Monads
- Entities are either composite or simple.
- Composite entities are divisible and extended.
- Simple entities are Monads.
- Monads:
- are indivisible (true substances)
- cannot be extended
- can be distinguished from each other by their predicates (properties)
- can't be created/destroyed by the natural course of things -- can only be created/destroyed by a miracle
- Every monad has a Complete Notion.
- A complete notion is a complete list of its predications.
- Each monad's complete notion is unique -- while it might share some of its predications with other monads, no monad shares a complete list of predications.
- A living force (vis viva) generates monads' perceptions.
- The living force also allows us to individuate monads even if we do not know their complete notions.
- An example of a monad is the human soul.
Leibniz "rejects the dualist position that the universe must therefore be bifurcated into two different kinds of substance, thinking substance, and material substance. Rather, it is his view that the world consists solely of one type of substance, though there are infinitely many substances of that type. These substances are partless, unextended entities, some of which are endowed with thought and consciousness, and others of which found the phenomenality of the corporeal world." (S1, para. 15, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-mind/)
God
- God is a monad.
- God is a perfect being.
- Therefore God's complete notion can contain no negative predications. (would violate Principle of Contradiction)
- God has to exist because the existent of contingent things cannot be found in other contingent things (first cause argument - God as an entity that 'carries the reason for existence within itself')
- This world is the best of all possible worlds - God being perfect, cannot create a world that not as good as it could have been.
Problem: Contingent vs Necessary Truths
- Consider the statement 'Caesar crossed the Rubicon'
- The complete notion of 'Caesar' includes the predicated 'crossed the Rubicon' (Predicate-in-Subject Principle)
- One who did not cross the Rubicon cannot be Caesar.
- 'Caesar crossed the Rubicon' is a necessary truth. (Principle of Contradiction)
- In that case, all statements that are not illogical satisfy the Principle of Contradiction, and become necessary truths.
- How do we distinguish between contingent and necessary truths then?
Leibniz:
- If Caesar's existence was a necessary truth, that Caesar crossed the Rubicon would be a necessary truth.
- But since Caesar's existence is contingent on God creating him, there is the possibility that Caesar might not have existed and therefore might not have crossed the Rubicon, and therefore, that Caesar crossed the Rubicon is not a necessary truth.
Leading to the next problem...
Problem: Divine Freedom
- Since God is by nature perfect, he has to create the best possible world.
- Therefore God has no freedom to create a world other than this world.
- If this is so, why should humans thank God for making a decision in which he has no choice?
The crux: 2 conceptions of freedom:
1. Freedom as being free from external interference - no one intervened in God's decision to create this world and therefore, God freely made this world.
2. Freedom as being free to choose one decision or the other - God would not have been able to choose a lesser world without retaining his complete perfection and therefore, God did not freely make this world.
The implications for Caesar: (this is my extrapolation, so pls pls pls tell me if something is wrong)
- That God created the best possible world is a necessary truth.
- This best possible world contained Caesar, so Caesar's existence is necessary.
- Since Caesar's existence is necessary, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon is necessary.
- Therefore we return to the same quagmire of distinguishing between necessary and contingent truths.
[Note: Leibniz's phrase that God's motives 'incline without necessitating' means that although God's nature makes his actions necessary, but this doesn't mean his actions are necessary (as opposed to contingent - see above Principle of Contradiction and Principle of Sufficient Reason).]
Living Organisms: Mind and Body
- A living organism is an aggregate of many monads.
- "For something to be a genuine unity, it must be a simple, indivisible entity. [ie. monads]" ( S1, para.11, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-mind/)
- Therefore while a living organism is an aggregate, it is a 'well-founded phenomena' in that it is constituted of monads (genuine entities).
- Leibniz believed that mind and body are separate, but also believed that they were created by the same sort of entity (different types of monads).
- Leibniz rejected Descartes' claim that the mind can influence the body, or that the body can influence the mind.
- Since an individual is an aggregate and not a true unity, and individual cannot have a perception/consciousness.
- Hence, Leibniz rejects any causal relations between mind and body.
- Leibniz recognizes that our minds and bodies seem inter-related.
- But he suggests that a state of mind is caused by a previous state of mind, and a state of body is caused by a previous state of body.
- Leibniz posits that at our creation, our monads (in both mind and body) were programmed to coordinate with each other.
- Hence, the appearance of causal relations between the mind and body is merely the result of God's Pre-Established Harmony of all monads.
- Because all monads evolve in harmony with each other, each monad is like a mirror of the universe.
Perception and Appearance
- Monads cannot be extended, and therefore they do not occupy time or space.
- The physical objects appear to follow natural laws of time and space, but these natural laws don't operate at the 'genuine' level of monads.
- Therefore, the appearance of the world is organised and understood in ways that don't represent the underlying reality. (Scruton)
- But the world of appearance is a by-product of activities of monads (which act according to the pre-established harmony).
- Hence, the world of appearance is not just mere appearance. It is systematic appearance, the result of the harmonious activities of monads.
Back to the Beginning
- Leibniz tries to address the problem of the disappearance of individuals.
- He ends up saying that most of what looks like a unity (an individual) is not truly a unit but an aggregate.
________________________________________________
)#(@!*^%)#@!_$#
I'm not at all sure of any of the above. I nearly killed myself trying to get this far. I left out the stuff on whether there IS a best possible world, or whether there're worlds that are neither better nor worse nor equal to each other etc.
Anyone out there, please, if I've made an mistake or if you think anything can be clarified, please please please tell me.
Oh well, no more procrastinating!
From:
- Roger Scruton's A Short History of Modern Philosophy: From Descartes to Wittgenstein, 2nd ed.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Leibniz
The starting point: Spinoza & the individual
- Recall Spinoza's argument that individuals are mere expressions of God (modes of the substance).
- Spinoza also argued that therefore, immortality for humans means "[surviving] in part, and [dispersing] in the infinite mind of God." (Scruton, 65)
- Leibniz thought that if individuals are mere expressions of God, then they are
not truly individuals, and immortality has no meaning if the human does not remain an individual.
- Problem: how to reconcile the notion of the 'individual' with the notion of the 'divine substance'?
Ok, now let's start with certain principles first:
Principle of Contradiction
- If something is self-contradictory, then it is false
- Anything that is the opposite of the false is true.
- The Principle of Contradiction identifies truths of reason.
- Truths of reason are necessary.
- A necessary truth/truth of reason is true in all possible worlds.
- A necessary truth/truth of reason is knowable a priori by finite minds.
Principle of Sufficient Reason
- We can find no truth without there being a sufficient reason why it is so and not otherwise, even though most of these reasons can't be known to us.
- The Principle of Sufficient Reason identifies truths of fact.
- Truths of fact are contingent.
- A contingent truth/truth of fact is only knowable a posteriori by finite minds, through experimentation and investigation.
- Only God knows contingent truths a priori.
- While acknowledging the existence of contingent truths, Leibniz still wanted to base these truths on reason, avoiding 'pure' contingency.
The Predicate-in-Subject Principle
- In every necessary or contingent truth, the concept of the predicate is included in that of the subject.
- In other words, one who understands the subject perfectly would also know that the predicate belongs to it.
Ok, now we move on.
Monads
- Entities are either composite or simple.
- Composite entities are divisible and extended.
- Simple entities are Monads.
- Monads:
- are indivisible (true substances)
- cannot be extended
- can be distinguished from each other by their predicates (properties)
- can't be created/destroyed by the natural course of things -- can only be created/destroyed by a miracle
- Every monad has a Complete Notion.
- A complete notion is a complete list of its predications.
- Each monad's complete notion is unique -- while it might share some of its predications with other monads, no monad shares a complete list of predications.
- A living force (vis viva) generates monads' perceptions.
- The living force also allows us to individuate monads even if we do not know their complete notions.
- An example of a monad is the human soul.
Leibniz "rejects the dualist position that the universe must therefore be bifurcated into two different kinds of substance, thinking substance, and material substance. Rather, it is his view that the world consists solely of one type of substance, though there are infinitely many substances of that type. These substances are partless, unextended entities, some of which are endowed with thought and consciousness, and others of which found the phenomenality of the corporeal world." (S1, para. 15, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-mind/)
God
- God is a monad.
- God is a perfect being.
- Therefore God's complete notion can contain no negative predications. (would violate Principle of Contradiction)
- God has to exist because the existent of contingent things cannot be found in other contingent things (first cause argument - God as an entity that 'carries the reason for existence within itself')
- This world is the best of all possible worlds - God being perfect, cannot create a world that not as good as it could have been.
Problem: Contingent vs Necessary Truths
- Consider the statement 'Caesar crossed the Rubicon'
- The complete notion of 'Caesar' includes the predicated 'crossed the Rubicon' (Predicate-in-Subject Principle)
- One who did not cross the Rubicon cannot be Caesar.
- 'Caesar crossed the Rubicon' is a necessary truth. (Principle of Contradiction)
- In that case, all statements that are not illogical satisfy the Principle of Contradiction, and become necessary truths.
- How do we distinguish between contingent and necessary truths then?
Leibniz:
- If Caesar's existence was a necessary truth, that Caesar crossed the Rubicon would be a necessary truth.
- But since Caesar's existence is contingent on God creating him, there is the possibility that Caesar might not have existed and therefore might not have crossed the Rubicon, and therefore, that Caesar crossed the Rubicon is not a necessary truth.
Leading to the next problem...
Problem: Divine Freedom
- Since God is by nature perfect, he has to create the best possible world.
- Therefore God has no freedom to create a world other than this world.
- If this is so, why should humans thank God for making a decision in which he has no choice?
The crux: 2 conceptions of freedom:
1. Freedom as being free from external interference - no one intervened in God's decision to create this world and therefore, God freely made this world.
2. Freedom as being free to choose one decision or the other - God would not have been able to choose a lesser world without retaining his complete perfection and therefore, God did not freely make this world.
The implications for Caesar: (this is my extrapolation, so pls pls pls tell me if something is wrong)
- That God created the best possible world is a necessary truth.
- This best possible world contained Caesar, so Caesar's existence is necessary.
- Since Caesar's existence is necessary, Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon is necessary.
- Therefore we return to the same quagmire of distinguishing between necessary and contingent truths.
[Note: Leibniz's phrase that God's motives 'incline without necessitating' means that although God's nature makes his actions necessary, but this doesn't mean his actions are necessary (as opposed to contingent - see above Principle of Contradiction and Principle of Sufficient Reason).]
Living Organisms: Mind and Body
- A living organism is an aggregate of many monads.
- "For something to be a genuine unity, it must be a simple, indivisible entity. [ie. monads]" ( S1, para.11, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibniz-mind/)
- Therefore while a living organism is an aggregate, it is a 'well-founded phenomena' in that it is constituted of monads (genuine entities).
- Leibniz believed that mind and body are separate, but also believed that they were created by the same sort of entity (different types of monads).
- Leibniz rejected Descartes' claim that the mind can influence the body, or that the body can influence the mind.
- Since an individual is an aggregate and not a true unity, and individual cannot have a perception/consciousness.
- Hence, Leibniz rejects any causal relations between mind and body.
- Leibniz recognizes that our minds and bodies seem inter-related.
- But he suggests that a state of mind is caused by a previous state of mind, and a state of body is caused by a previous state of body.
- Leibniz posits that at our creation, our monads (in both mind and body) were programmed to coordinate with each other.
- Hence, the appearance of causal relations between the mind and body is merely the result of God's Pre-Established Harmony of all monads.
- Because all monads evolve in harmony with each other, each monad is like a mirror of the universe.
Perception and Appearance
- Monads cannot be extended, and therefore they do not occupy time or space.
- The physical objects appear to follow natural laws of time and space, but these natural laws don't operate at the 'genuine' level of monads.
- Therefore, the appearance of the world is organised and understood in ways that don't represent the underlying reality. (Scruton)
- But the world of appearance is a by-product of activities of monads (which act according to the pre-established harmony).
- Hence, the world of appearance is not just mere appearance. It is systematic appearance, the result of the harmonious activities of monads.
Back to the Beginning
- Leibniz tries to address the problem of the disappearance of individuals.
- He ends up saying that most of what looks like a unity (an individual) is not truly a unit but an aggregate.
________________________________________________
)#(@!*^%)#@!_$#
I'm not at all sure of any of the above. I nearly killed myself trying to get this far. I left out the stuff on whether there IS a best possible world, or whether there're worlds that are neither better nor worse nor equal to each other etc.
Anyone out there, please, if I've made an mistake or if you think anything can be clarified, please please please tell me.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Suicide Club
Urgh lousy mood today.
LSB must not forget the equation! (I'll try my best to hold up my side of the equation.)
(Sorry, guys, for the corniness.)
Watched Suicide Club today, and not only am I feeling a little ill as a result, I'm also still blur about the whole movie.
Sometimes I'm wondering if arty movies are meant to have a clear, distinct message, or whether the atmosphere and the paranoia and confused fears created by the movie are more important than any message. If so, yep, got the paranoia & fear loud and clear.
And yes, I closed my eyes at all the gory parts.
Off for the weekend!
LSB must not forget the equation! (I'll try my best to hold up my side of the equation.)
(Sorry, guys, for the corniness.)
Watched Suicide Club today, and not only am I feeling a little ill as a result, I'm also still blur about the whole movie.
Sometimes I'm wondering if arty movies are meant to have a clear, distinct message, or whether the atmosphere and the paranoia and confused fears created by the movie are more important than any message. If so, yep, got the paranoia & fear loud and clear.
And yes, I closed my eyes at all the gory parts.
Off for the weekend!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Rubber and rain
Ok, I have to confess. The last weekend I bought 2 Fossil watches (sale! it was on sale!) and a bottle of Bulgari Black.
Never mind the watches first. I would like to gloat a bit over the Bulgari, because I'm 99.9% sure that you can't find it in any of the departmental stores or the Bulgari boutiques (yes, in my quest for elusive perfumes I've stepped into super atas boutiques). Where I got my bottle I shall refrain from disclosing. Suffice to say that the sales assistant had to dig deep within the cavernous depths of the cupboard and emerged with the bottle in unadorned cardboard packaging. Yes, it's THAT difficult to find in SG. (and if it was a breeze for any of you to find it, pls don't tell me.)
I bought Bulgari Black unsniffed. The main reason I did that was because I'd scoured the polished surfaces of departmental stores for hours to satisfy my curiosity about Bulgari Black, and now that I'd finally found it, I couldn't test it (shop policy). Come on, is it not obvious already? Could I have spent hours looking for the perfume only to find it and not be able to sniff it? Could I have done anything other than buy the damn bottle? (Are you following this?)
So purchase completed, I brought my bottle home and tried it. One sniff and I hated myself. There was a weird smell, and then there was vanilla. Vanilla. *pukes*
I tried it again a few days later, and fell head over heels in love with it. It smells of rubber and vanilla. But not just rubber and vanilla. It smells like Orchard Road during a storm. Does this make sense? It smells unmistakably of Christmas shopping, the cosmetics department and plastic bags, as well as of rain and umbrellas and traffic jams (I think that's the smoke & rubber part). Does anyone get me here?
Bulgari Black smells of metropolitan angst.
(Look, I'm very proud of above phrase. The words just popped up in my mind. So pls, all you smartasses, keep derisive comments to yourself.)
I've come to the conclusion that I can only wear Bulgari Black when I'm in town and it's rainy. It somehow feels weird to wear it while I'm at home. Conclusion: it's perfect for this season.
Never mind the watches first. I would like to gloat a bit over the Bulgari, because I'm 99.9% sure that you can't find it in any of the departmental stores or the Bulgari boutiques (yes, in my quest for elusive perfumes I've stepped into super atas boutiques). Where I got my bottle I shall refrain from disclosing. Suffice to say that the sales assistant had to dig deep within the cavernous depths of the cupboard and emerged with the bottle in unadorned cardboard packaging. Yes, it's THAT difficult to find in SG. (and if it was a breeze for any of you to find it, pls don't tell me.)
I bought Bulgari Black unsniffed. The main reason I did that was because I'd scoured the polished surfaces of departmental stores for hours to satisfy my curiosity about Bulgari Black, and now that I'd finally found it, I couldn't test it (shop policy). Come on, is it not obvious already? Could I have spent hours looking for the perfume only to find it and not be able to sniff it? Could I have done anything other than buy the damn bottle? (Are you following this?)
So purchase completed, I brought my bottle home and tried it. One sniff and I hated myself. There was a weird smell, and then there was vanilla. Vanilla. *pukes*
I tried it again a few days later, and fell head over heels in love with it. It smells of rubber and vanilla. But not just rubber and vanilla. It smells like Orchard Road during a storm. Does this make sense? It smells unmistakably of Christmas shopping, the cosmetics department and plastic bags, as well as of rain and umbrellas and traffic jams (I think that's the smoke & rubber part). Does anyone get me here?
Bulgari Black smells of metropolitan angst.
(Look, I'm very proud of above phrase. The words just popped up in my mind. So pls, all you smartasses, keep derisive comments to yourself.)
I've come to the conclusion that I can only wear Bulgari Black when I'm in town and it's rainy. It somehow feels weird to wear it while I'm at home. Conclusion: it's perfect for this season.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
My X-Men dreams
Human evolution is 'speeding up'
Humans have moved into the evolutionary fast lane and are becoming increasing different, a genetic study suggests.
*poutz* I want superpowers!!!!!!!! Greater immunity is just not as glamorous...
Humans have moved into the evolutionary fast lane and are becoming increasing different, a genetic study suggests.
"At the moment we are in an evolutionary interval. We are in between two storms. One storm has more or less blown itself out, the storm of farming.
"The question is whether we are going to stay in the calms or whether another great storm will start. And if there is one, I would say it is most certainly to do with epidemic disease."
*poutz* I want superpowers!!!!!!!! Greater immunity is just not as glamorous...
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Raise the red lantern - movies movies!
DAMN. I just watched Raise the Red Lantern and now I really understand why my friend was so shocked when I told her I hadn't watched it before. It's utterly breathtaking. Zhang Yimou's recent films really don't measure up. Damn. You absolutely have to watch it if you haven't yet. It's damn near perfect, really absolutely glorious.
I'm still recovering from the effects. This is undoubtedly one of the best films I've ever seen. It's hard to even think of a film that could compete with it.
Some of my recent release (ie. in the past few years) favourites include:
- Waitress
- Moliere
- Tony Takitani
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Pretty Persuasion
- the Helen Mirren one... The Queen, was it?
- the German film... Summer Storm (if anyone knows where to get the dvd for this, pls tell me. It's one of my favourites but no freaking shop in sg sells it.)
- Munich
- V for Vendetta
- Hotel Rwanda
I'm afraid none of these recent favourites can compare to Zhang Yimou's film. Well, perhaps Summer Storm. I really liked that one, perhaps partly because the dvd's so hard to get. And films like Brokeback & The Producers didn't even make my list. And no, neither did LOTR.
And as compared to the (IMO) best films of long ago...
- I seriously think Schindlers' List loses out.
- Ditto for Dr Strangelove.
- All about Eve loses out.
- (I'm sorry LSB, Duck Soup doesn't even make the list)
- All Quiet on the Western Front loses out.
- I'm afraid all the '30s, '40s & '50s musicals that I'm so fond of (don't ask. guilty pleasure.) lose out.
- I really liked No Man's Land, but no go there either.
- Paths of Glory again good, but not good enough.
The only film I can think of that can match Raise the Red Lantern would be One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, one of my favouritest of my favourites.
Then again, I desperately need to fill in the gaps. For example, Citizen Kane is long overdue, as is Clockwork Orange and Farewell My Concubine. I also think that I'm missing a good part of the 1990s & all of the 1980s... seriously, what was good from back then? Plus I've conveniently skipped some genres like horror & film noir (spare me...). Oh and I skipped The Godfather altogether. Can I do that? Am I missing something really good?
But damn. Raise the Red Lantern is a damn good film. Watch it. No number of expletives can adequately express how good it is. That's how good it is.
I'm still recovering from the effects. This is undoubtedly one of the best films I've ever seen. It's hard to even think of a film that could compete with it.
Some of my recent release (ie. in the past few years) favourites include:
- Waitress
- Moliere
- Tony Takitani
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Pretty Persuasion
- the Helen Mirren one... The Queen, was it?
- the German film... Summer Storm (if anyone knows where to get the dvd for this, pls tell me. It's one of my favourites but no freaking shop in sg sells it.)
- Munich
- V for Vendetta
- Hotel Rwanda
I'm afraid none of these recent favourites can compare to Zhang Yimou's film. Well, perhaps Summer Storm. I really liked that one, perhaps partly because the dvd's so hard to get. And films like Brokeback & The Producers didn't even make my list. And no, neither did LOTR.
And as compared to the (IMO) best films of long ago...
- I seriously think Schindlers' List loses out.
- Ditto for Dr Strangelove.
- All about Eve loses out.
- (I'm sorry LSB, Duck Soup doesn't even make the list)
- All Quiet on the Western Front loses out.
- I'm afraid all the '30s, '40s & '50s musicals that I'm so fond of (don't ask. guilty pleasure.) lose out.
- I really liked No Man's Land, but no go there either.
- Paths of Glory again good, but not good enough.
The only film I can think of that can match Raise the Red Lantern would be One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, one of my favouritest of my favourites.
Then again, I desperately need to fill in the gaps. For example, Citizen Kane is long overdue, as is Clockwork Orange and Farewell My Concubine. I also think that I'm missing a good part of the 1990s & all of the 1980s... seriously, what was good from back then? Plus I've conveniently skipped some genres like horror & film noir (spare me...). Oh and I skipped The Godfather altogether. Can I do that? Am I missing something really good?
But damn. Raise the Red Lantern is a damn good film. Watch it. No number of expletives can adequately express how good it is. That's how good it is.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
this interview
I'm having a horrible time with this particular interview... I can't make out half the words, and the transcript is literally littered with question marks.
But I'm developing a lot of affection for a person long dead as his brother talks about him. He's starting to become one of my heroes. This is quite horrendous, and LSB will probably laugh his head off at me. I also probably shouldn't admit such weirdness (on my part) in public.
And all the interviews have this very palpable sense of loss that is very saddening. It's strange to hear about events not so long ago, yet very distant. It also feels very weird to listen to these old men recount the past because they all seem to know each other, and it feels a bit as if I'm given a brief tour of a small, exclusive circle.
But it's all very saddening as they talk about what they should have done, and what wasn't fair, and what it was all like back then, recalling all those dear friends and colourful personalities who've now passed on. This is why I don't like history.
But I'm developing a lot of affection for a person long dead as his brother talks about him. He's starting to become one of my heroes. This is quite horrendous, and LSB will probably laugh his head off at me. I also probably shouldn't admit such weirdness (on my part) in public.
And all the interviews have this very palpable sense of loss that is very saddening. It's strange to hear about events not so long ago, yet very distant. It also feels very weird to listen to these old men recount the past because they all seem to know each other, and it feels a bit as if I'm given a brief tour of a small, exclusive circle.
But it's all very saddening as they talk about what they should have done, and what wasn't fair, and what it was all like back then, recalling all those dear friends and colourful personalities who've now passed on. This is why I don't like history.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
The onion rules
CIA: America May Have An Unknown Number Of Secret Admirers
WASHINGTON—In testimony before a special panel on domestic safety Tuesday, officials at the Central Intelligence Agency revealed that the U.S. may have anywhere between one and three unidentified secret admirers currently longing for the country.
"We face a new and disturbing reality: There are people out there who love us, and they're coming after us," said a blushing John Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence.Proposed Bill Would Bring 4,000 Troops Back To Life
The bill, H.R. 702, stipulates that immediately upon its passage into law, the 4,000 brave soldiers who have lost their lives in Iraq come marching triumphantly over the horizon, directly into the arms of their loved ones, looking the same as they did on the day they left home. Article II, Section 3 of the bill requires that each soldier be carrying one apple pie, to be consumed in full with family members as they sit around the dinner table and laugh and sing. A proviso in Article III states that everything will go back to the way it was before.
The first article is just funny, but the second hits especially hard.
Brief reviews
Twinings chamomile + spearmint tea -- Not my cup of tea (hehe). It's the first Twinings that I've tried and don't like. Ends up tasting like neither chamomile nor spearmint.
Golden Compass -- No harm watching, but don't go with great expectations. Never read book but book's probably much better.
Givenchy Very Irresistible EDP (for women) -- Don't like it. Maybe I don't do roses. Maybe I don't do sweet. Come to think of it, I don't like dessert wines cos they're too sweet, and I only like bitter-ish chocolate.
Korean restaurant at JEC -- Not bad, but Pepper Lunch is better. LSB thinks otherwise.
Hairbands -- Better than tiaras. I didn't use to wear them cos a friend once commented I look very '80s' wearing them, but now I've gotten over that emotional trauma. Yay!
Golden Compass -- No harm watching, but don't go with great expectations. Never read book but book's probably much better.
Givenchy Very Irresistible EDP (for women) -- Don't like it. Maybe I don't do roses. Maybe I don't do sweet. Come to think of it, I don't like dessert wines cos they're too sweet, and I only like bitter-ish chocolate.
Korean restaurant at JEC -- Not bad, but Pepper Lunch is better. LSB thinks otherwise.
Hairbands -- Better than tiaras. I didn't use to wear them cos a friend once commented I look very '80s' wearing them, but now I've gotten over that emotional trauma. Yay!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Me Singing A Whole New World Disney's Aladdin
OMG I'm endlessly fascinated by how he can do this. Now he sounds like a guy, next moment he's got a girl diva voice. WTF... that's pretty damn amazing. And he sounds damn good too. (same guy as Part of Your World video below)
Marie Digby - Stupid For You (Original Song)
I might just have a girl crush on this person.
It's not so much that her vocals are fantastic. Not really. In this video it seems as if she can't really reach the high notes. Some of her other vocals (see the rest of her videos) are better, some are worse. It's just the whole set-up, the flowers, the cute incident with the dog, she's got a nice laugh, shitloads of talent (I like the word shitloads, don't I?), and looks quite chio.
Ok I'm really distracted and tired and I need to do work!!!!!!!
perfumes
Some of you might know I've recently gone into a perfume-crazy phase.
My problem is everyone seems to hate the perfumes I really like, so I don't really want to buy those darlings because I'm sensitive to peer pressure and could never wear them out. :( (Also, I don't have the money.)
Admittedly even I think I might wither under the onslaught of some of my favourites, like Sisley's Eau du Soir.
For all my raving, currently I have only a bottle of SJP's Lovely, and a few samples (Estee Lauder's [edit: I mean Elizabeth Arden - both are Mum's perfumes to my nose & I always get confused :P] Mediterranean, Lanvin's Rumeur).
I also sometimes steal Bvlgari Pour Homme, which I bought for my dad. Maybe I should go for more masculine perfumes?
So my current daily fare is Lovely, and while I like the scent and don't regret buying it, sometimes the fragrance just lacks a bit of something for me. It's a very comforting, pleasant fragrance (even then my sisters complain about the initial spicy scent) but still I'm looking for something... else. I've the same problem with Rumeur & Mediterranean. They're all easy to wear and nice to smell but... it's just that something else.
I think I'd very much like a bottle of Prada's Infusion d'Iris, if Santa would be so kind. I tested it one day, and my entire family recoiled in horror (why? I just don't understand it...). I didn't like it that much at first, but now I can't seem to forget it.
I also want to try out perfumes with incense notes. (I know! I'm strange! Enough already!) I've always (strangely) liked the smell of incense... Incense and smoke.
As well as tea-inspired/tea-based perfumes. L'Occitane has a white tea EDT that I quite like, and I would buy, except that they only come in big-ass bottles and cost about SGD80 each. Plus I suspect that it'll meet the same fate as my big-ass bottle of Lovely - nice to smell but lacks... something. I'd like a tea fragrance that's slightly bitter and not as sweet.
There're also certain types of perfumes that I really dislike. In a moment of folly I bought Anna Sui's Dolly Girl (it was on sale! and my first ever buy!), and it gave me such a headache that I promptly dumped the whole bottle on my sis. (That was a mistake too, cos she actually uses it, and I hate how our room smells when she sprays it.) I've already figured out which notes these are. They're the bright fruity notes... the citrusy ones, all grapefruit and stuff, plus a good dose of something horrendously sweet (I haven't figured out this part yet. Maybe it's just sugar). They're the olfactory version of someone (usually myself) screeching very loudly on the highest registers of the violin.
I also don't like perfumes that are overly vanilla-ish (ok, my nose isn't particularly discerning, so I think it should be the vanilla that does this, but it could be something else in the perfume altogether). The ones that are cloyingly sweet in a vanilla-ish kind of way. eg. Givenchy's Ange ou Demon.
And I don't like the 'fresh' perfumes... The ones that are all 'Aqua' this and that. Like Davidoff's Cool Water. I don't know why I don't like these. They just smell a bit like those SGD3.90 deodorants in Chamelon or something. Not good.
So on the eve of my french exam I'm sitting around meditating on perfumes. Urgh.
My problem is everyone seems to hate the perfumes I really like, so I don't really want to buy those darlings because I'm sensitive to peer pressure and could never wear them out. :( (Also, I don't have the money.)
Admittedly even I think I might wither under the onslaught of some of my favourites, like Sisley's Eau du Soir.
For all my raving, currently I have only a bottle of SJP's Lovely, and a few samples (Estee Lauder's [edit: I mean Elizabeth Arden - both are Mum's perfumes to my nose & I always get confused :P] Mediterranean, Lanvin's Rumeur).
I also sometimes steal Bvlgari Pour Homme, which I bought for my dad. Maybe I should go for more masculine perfumes?
So my current daily fare is Lovely, and while I like the scent and don't regret buying it, sometimes the fragrance just lacks a bit of something for me. It's a very comforting, pleasant fragrance (even then my sisters complain about the initial spicy scent) but still I'm looking for something... else. I've the same problem with Rumeur & Mediterranean. They're all easy to wear and nice to smell but... it's just that something else.
I think I'd very much like a bottle of Prada's Infusion d'Iris, if Santa would be so kind. I tested it one day, and my entire family recoiled in horror (why? I just don't understand it...). I didn't like it that much at first, but now I can't seem to forget it.
I also want to try out perfumes with incense notes. (I know! I'm strange! Enough already!) I've always (strangely) liked the smell of incense... Incense and smoke.
As well as tea-inspired/tea-based perfumes. L'Occitane has a white tea EDT that I quite like, and I would buy, except that they only come in big-ass bottles and cost about SGD80 each. Plus I suspect that it'll meet the same fate as my big-ass bottle of Lovely - nice to smell but lacks... something. I'd like a tea fragrance that's slightly bitter and not as sweet.
There're also certain types of perfumes that I really dislike. In a moment of folly I bought Anna Sui's Dolly Girl (it was on sale! and my first ever buy!), and it gave me such a headache that I promptly dumped the whole bottle on my sis. (That was a mistake too, cos she actually uses it, and I hate how our room smells when she sprays it.) I've already figured out which notes these are. They're the bright fruity notes... the citrusy ones, all grapefruit and stuff, plus a good dose of something horrendously sweet (I haven't figured out this part yet. Maybe it's just sugar). They're the olfactory version of someone (usually myself) screeching very loudly on the highest registers of the violin.
I also don't like perfumes that are overly vanilla-ish (ok, my nose isn't particularly discerning, so I think it should be the vanilla that does this, but it could be something else in the perfume altogether). The ones that are cloyingly sweet in a vanilla-ish kind of way. eg. Givenchy's Ange ou Demon.
And I don't like the 'fresh' perfumes... The ones that are all 'Aqua' this and that. Like Davidoff's Cool Water. I don't know why I don't like these. They just smell a bit like those SGD3.90 deodorants in Chamelon or something. Not good.
So on the eve of my french exam I'm sitting around meditating on perfumes. Urgh.
Monday, December 03, 2007
someone's blog
This has got to be one of the most beautiful blogs I've seen in a long time.
(And trust me, I see many blogs.)
(And trust me, I see many blogs.)
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Fred Astaire
I stumbled on this quite by accident (I wasn't surfing youtube! I swear! Certainly not for darling Fred!), and fell right back into love again. All that tapping just messes up my heart beat and gets me all hot and bothered... sigh...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Hilarity
Ok, I just had to blog this. I was following links and ended up at the Students' Honor Association, BYU, which is apparently a private religious university in the States (where else?).
*giggles* Ok... just check them out. Just check them out man. *waves you along while giggling*
Has pornography got you feeling cornered? Has it? If it has, just stare for 30secs at this entirely non-erotic anti-pornography poster. Seriously man, if you're going to have a poster about pornography, at least have scantily dressed women on them. How else are you going to get anyone's attention?
Oh wait. Perhaps you could tell people that PORNOGRAPHY with its sleezy filth, swoops over the earth like a horrible, engulfing tide. What delicious poetry! They've got some serious literary talent there, don't they?
And remember, you must keep a close watch on your roommates at all times. Do not be caught off guard. If your roommates should show signs of degeneration, Do Not Panic. Instead, approach cautiously and inform them in a calm and firm manner that you are obliged to Keep Them In Check, and that they are to cease their bad activities immediately. Or else you'll tell teacher. Cross your heart.
*giggles* Ok... just check them out. Just check them out man. *waves you along while giggling*
Has pornography got you feeling cornered? Has it? If it has, just stare for 30secs at this entirely non-erotic anti-pornography poster. Seriously man, if you're going to have a poster about pornography, at least have scantily dressed women on them. How else are you going to get anyone's attention?
Oh wait. Perhaps you could tell people that PORNOGRAPHY with its sleezy filth, swoops over the earth like a horrible, engulfing tide. What delicious poetry! They've got some serious literary talent there, don't they?
And remember, you must keep a close watch on your roommates at all times. Do not be caught off guard. If your roommates should show signs of degeneration, Do Not Panic. Instead, approach cautiously and inform them in a calm and firm manner that you are obliged to Keep Them In Check, and that they are to cease their bad activities immediately. Or else you'll tell teacher. Cross your heart.
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