beautiful
D A:
Thank you for sharing this post … but it all means nothing when you don’t have someone providing for you or are independently wealthy to enable you to be free to dedicate your time to exploring, reading, thinking, writing, creating. A person can’t last more than a few days without sufficient good food and uninterrupted night’s sleeps in a home, a safe place sheltered from the elements. I, too, have talent – but need to work at a job to provide for my body’s needs, as I have no one to save me from this waste, drudgery or “selling out” as some like to call it. There are countless more in the same circumstances. There is no shame in providing for oneself and not being a burden on someone else; countless have incredible inner strength borne of love, quietly demonstrated day after day, receiving no recognition or reward other than the little money paid in recompense for their labour. Certainly thriving in any social context can be wonderful (given an uncorrupted system/organization in which to devote one’s brilliance and energy) – but love – the greatest and purest art – is richer than anything this world can offer and, having no regard for the society that seduces into giving up its riches, the heart sustains life in ways nothing else ever can.
the greatest of our miseries
Blaise Pascal:
Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.
has he really given more than a moment’s thought
That willingness to float down the river of pseudolife is a problem common to all individuals, and is not reserved for the powerful or the weak or the doltish. “Individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, are the system.” To prove his point, Havel makes the main character in The Power of the Powerless a greengrocer — an innocent shopkeeper, who only wants to sell us fruit and vegetables! The greengrocer is a prototype of the average person who longs for meaning and allows his moral vacuum to be filled with easy, empty ideology.
The manager of a fruit-and-vegetable shop places in his window, among the onions and carrots, the slogan: “Workers of the world, unite!” Why does he do it? What is he trying to communicate to the world? Is he genuinely enthusiastic about the idea of unity among the workers of the world? Is his enthusiasm so great that he feels an irrepressible impulse to acquaint the public with his ideals? Has he really given more than a moment’s thought to how such a unification might occur and what it would mean?
flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudolife
In everyone there is some longing for humanity’s rightful dignity, for moral integrity, for free expression of being and a sense of transcendence over the world of existence. Yet, at the same time, each person is capable, to a greater or lesser degree, of coming to terms with living within the lie. Each person somehow succumbs to a profane trivialization of his inherent humanity, and to utilitarianism. In everyone there is some willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably along with it down the river of pseudolife.
whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength
Igor Stravinsky:
I shall go even further: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint, diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self of the chains that shackle the spirit.
on inequality
The bottom line is that increasing status and fairness gaps in society are creating daily danger responses for vast numbers of people. While those at the top feel pretty good, the rest feel very bad (remember that ‘bad’ is stronger than ‘good’). To mitigate this feeling, we eat more, drink more, do more foolish things and die younger. The increased cortisol that occurs when we experience threat reduces immune function, damages tissues and even inhibits memory formation. An increased threat response also reduces creativity, our ability to control impulses, and even, our overall ability to process new information.
the right response
If you do not know the answer to a question, the right response is not to make a number up, but to rethink and frame an alternative question that is capable of being answered.
We do great damage by claiming to know things that are not known, by asserting certainty in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, and by attaching a veneer of rationality to decisions that have in fact been made on other, rarely articulated, grounds.
1Q84 – Volume 1
“We might as well resign ourselves to the fact that we’re not going anywhere soon. All I’m saying is that there are emergency measures you can take if you have urgent business.”
“please remember: things are not what they seem.”
“And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. I’ve had that experience myself. But don’t let appearances fool you. There’s always only one reality.”
“There is always, as I said, only one reality,” the driver repeated slowly, as if underlining an important passage in a book.
“As far as I can tell, you don’t cut corners. You’re very modest when it comes to the act of writing. And why? Because you like to write. I value that in you. It’s the single most important quality for somebody who wants to be a writer.”
All he needed to satisfy him was his Mont Blanc pen, his blue ink, and standard manuscript sheets, each page lined with four hundred empty squares ready to accept four hundred characters.
I can wait another minute. The greater the rush, the more care one should take with the job.
If only her breasts were a little bigger, she thought with a twinge, she might have been truly perfect. A partial frown. But hell, you’ve gotta work with what you’ve got.
“In this whole, wide world, the only thing that treats me so kindly is math.”
“When I’m writing a story, I use words to transform the surrounding scene into something more natural for me. In other words, I reconstruct it. That way, I can confirm without a doubt that this person known as ‘me’ exists in the world.”
“Look, nobody’s asking you how many kids you’ve got. Do I look like a census taker? Keep the details to yourself. All I’m asking is whether you can get it up when you’re in bed with a woman. Nothing else.”
“… everybody feels safe belonging not to the excluded minority but to the excluding majority. You think, Oh, I’m glad that’s not me. It’s basically the same in all periods in all societies. If you belong to the majority, you can avoid thinking about lots of troubling things.”
“Maybe I can look at it this way—the problem is not with me but with the world around me. It’s not that my consciousness or mind has given rise to some abnormality, but rather that some kind of incomprehensible power has caused the world around me to change.”
And so she carried this hypothesis forward:
It’s not me but the world that’s deranged.
Yes, that settles it.
“Establishment, antiestablishment: I didn’t care. Ultimately, it was just a clash of organizations, and I simply didn’t trust any kind of organization, big or small.”
“I’m sure you realize that there are plenty of people who are looking for exactly that kind of brain death. It makes life a lot easier. You don’t have to think about difficult things, just shut up and do what your superiors tell you to do.”
“There’s nothing odd about me. I’m just honest about my own feelings.”
“Everybody needs some kind of fantasy to go on living, don’t you think?”
“Forget about counting calories… Once you develop a knack for choosing the proper ingredients and eating in moderation, you don’t have to pay attention to numbers.”
“I am quite aware that your actions have been prompted by your pure feelings, and I understand perfectly well that, for that very reason, you do not wish to receive money for what you have done. But pure, unadulterated feelings are dangerous in their own way. It is no easy feat for a flesh-and-blood human being to go on living with such feelings. That is why it is necessary for you to fasten your feelings to the earth—firmly, like attaching an anchor to a balloon. The money is for that. To prevent you from feeling that you can do anything you want as long as it’s the right thing and your feelings are pure.”
“I’m a very ordinary human being. I just happen to like reading books. Especially history books.”
“Yes, it may sound irresponsible of me, but ‘I have no idea’ is the gist of this story. You throw a stone into a deep pond. Splash. The sound is big, and it reverberates throughout the surrounding area. What comes out of the pond after that? All we can do is stare at the pond, holding our breath.”
“Our prospects are not very bright, I would say. But there’s no turning back now, is there?”
If, as the dowager had said, we are nothing but gene carriers, why do so many of us have to lead such strangely shaped lives? Wouldn’t our genetic purpose—to transmit DNA—be served just as well if we lived simple lives, not bothering our heads with a lot of extraneous thoughts, devoted entirely to preserving life and procreating? Did it benefit the genes in any way for us to lead such intricately warped, even bizarre, lives?
“Married sex is something else… It’s charged to a separate account.”
“You don’t understand a woman’s feelings, do you? And you call yourself a novelist!”
The concept of duty always made Tengo cringe. He had lived his life thus far skillfully avoiding any position that entailed responsibility, and to do so, he was prepared to endure most forms of deprivation.
“Robbing people of their actual history is the same as robbing them of part of themselves. It’s a crime.”
Tengo simply did as she directed, hardly thinking, making neither choices nor judgments. She demanded only two things of him: good erections and well-timed ejaculations. “Don’t come yet,” she would command. “Hold on a little longer.” And he would pour all his energy into holding on. “Okay, now! Come now!” she would whisper by his ear, and he would let go at precisely that point with as intense an ejaculation as he could manage. Then she would praise him, caressing his cheek: “Oh, Tengo! You’re wonderful!” Tengo had an innate knack for precision in all realms, including correct punctuation and discovering the simplest possible formula necessary to solve a math problem.
“It’s like the Tibetan Wheel of the Passions. As the wheel turns, the values and feelings on the outer rim rise and fall, shining or sinking into darkness. But true love stays fastened to the axle and doesn’t move.”
1Q84
“Our prospects are not very bright, I would say. But there’s no turning back now, is there?”
damned galling and impossibly sad
… it’s damned galling and impossibly sad that we still have among us the small, bitter people, the witch-hunters and the declaimers against reality.
they were shielded against the total facts of our existence
Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and from others. Their fear is only their inability to face what is real, and I can’t vent any anger against them. I only feel this appalling sadness. Somewhere, in their upbringing, they were shielded against the total facts of our existence. They were only taught to look one way when many ways exist.
ten works
ST:
Ten works not to be missed at the Dreams & Reality: Masterpieces Of Painting, Drawing And Photography exhibition
STARRY NIGHT, 1888-1889
By Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
Oil on canvas, 72.5x92cm
The 19th-century Dutch master enjoyed the starry night skies of the Midi region in southern France and he wanted to ‘paint the stars’. The banks of the river Rhone provided the perfect setting for this composition where the night light and its reflections allowed him to capture the elements of the sky, earth and water. The sky, painted in cobalt blue, dominates this. You can see the constellation of The Great Bear and the stars are painted in strokes with thick white highlights at their centre. These were believed to have been applied straight from the paint tube.
STUDY OF A FIGURE OUTDOORS: WOMAN WITH A PARASOL LOOKING TO THE RIGHT, 1886
By Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Oil on canvas, 131x88cm
Monet, who is famous for his paintings of water lilies, dedicated himself almost exclusively to landscapes from the mid-1870s. He returned to figure painting from 1886 to 1888. However, he was interested in a figure within a landscape. In the summer of 1886, he painted this picture, the model for which was his step-daughter Suzanne Hoschede. He enhanced the composition’s decorative character while heightening the impression of movement. Everything in this painting seems to quiver, with the figure enveloped in light and air.
THE BIRTH OF VENUS, 1863
By Alexandre Cabanel (1823-1889)
Oil on canvas, 130x225cm
The was one of the great successes of the 1863 Salon, where it was bought by Napoleon III. Typical of Cabanel’s style, this painting is regarded as a perfect example of popular and official artistic taste of the period. The mythological theme, though, is simply a pretext for the portrayal of a nude figure who, though idealised, is depicted in a suggestive pose complete with an alluring gaze.
WAR OR THE CAVALCADE OF DISCORD, 1894
By Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
Oil on canvas, 114x195cm
When French artist Rousseau presented this painting at the 1894 Salon des Independants, it received mixed reactions. Some criticised its heavy-handed appearance while others embraced its independent style. Taking inspiration from popular imagery, and Italian painter Uccello’s battle scenes, this expressive work looks at the futility of war. The painting is dominated by black and red, the colours of mourning and blood portraying the grief caused by any war.
M. AUGUSTE RODIN, 1906 (ORIGINAL NEGATIVE), 1911
By Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
Heliogravure from the original negative, 23.9×16.5cm
Steichen wanted to take portraits of the artists and writers of his time. He had dreamt of meeting the sculptor Rodin prior to his arrival in Paris in 1900, and his dream was realised a year later. This portrait appeared on German poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s pioneering monograph of the sculptor in 1908.
THE CARDPLAYERS, 1890-1895
By Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Oil on canvas, 47.5x57cm
Using local farmhands as models, the French painter is said to have drawn inspiration for this Provencal genre scene from a painting of the same theme by the Le Nain brothers that was in the museum in Aix. Depicting just two card players, Cezanne does not paint too many details in the surroundings. This lends the painting a timeless effect which is enhanced by the range of colours rendered with wide brushstrokes.
KATHERINE, 1905
By Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)
Heliogravure from the original negative, 20.7×16.8cm
Stieglitz, the son of a self-made man of German-Jewish origin who had settled in New York, trained in Europe where he witnessed the birth of the Pictorialist movement. This movement was composed of amateur photographers who considered themselves artists in the same way as the painters and sculptors around them. They rejected the point-and-shoot approach to photography and embraced labour-intensive processes which involved hand-coating artist papers with home-made emulsions and pigments, or making platinum prints, which yielded rich, tonally subtle images. Katherine is one of the many superb portraits produced by Stieglitz of his only child by his first wife, whom he married in 1893. Her soulful gaze inspires reflections about her troubled childhood.
VARIATIONS IN VIOLET AND GREEN, 1871
By James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Oil on canvas, 61×35.5cm
The influence of Japanese prints, which had arrived in Europe from the mid-19th century, helped Whistler move away from his traditional training. This painting features the characteristic Oriental flattened perspective, with water dominating the middle section. Whistler concentrates on light effects late in the evening which are captured through rapid strokes of colour.
SEMIRAMIS BUILDING BABYLON, 1861
By Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Oil on paper on canvas, 26.5×40.5cm
In his early years, French impressionist Degas aspired to be a history painter. This painting depicts a mythological scene featuring Semiramis, a legendary queen of Assyria. Determined to surpass her predecessor, she summoned architects and workers from all over to build the city of Babylon. In accordance with the Neoclassical academic tradition, the figures were drawn separately, first nude, then draped with care.
From the 1850s until about 1862, Degas worked on a large version of this piece. Just a few aspects differentiate this detailed oil work from the final version.
A BOX AT THE THEATRE DES ITALIENS, 1875-1878
By Eva Gonzales (1849-1883), oil on canvas, 98x130cm
The inspiration for this painting came from Gonzales’ teacher Edouard Manet and his painting The Balcony (1869), focusing on the isolation of the characters. But Gonzales, a key female Impressionist painter, demonstrates her own style and approach in her abundant use of black and the light touch that gives life to the gossamer covering the young woman’s neckline and arms.
About the Impressionists
* Impressionism is one of the most important artistic movements of the 19th century and the first of the Modern Movements.
* It developed in France between 1867 and 1886. The artists who made up the Impressionist school shared a similar approach to art.
* Key Impressionist artists include famous names such as Claude Monet, Pierre Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro.
* These artists placed great emphasis on capturing reality through the effects of light and colour.
* The Impressionist aesthetic was different from the traditional school of art which emphasised subjects and themes. For the Impressionists, the subject did not matter as much as the artist’s manipulation of colour, tone and texture.
* In the 1860s and 1870s, the Impressionists painted aspects of modern life as they saw it. They captured its energy, its exhilaration, its possibilities for leisure and its exploitation of nature and people.
* In their search for the ultimate way to represent reality on canvas, the Impressionists developed techniques and beliefs which paved the way for Post-Impressionism.
* Major post-Impressionist exponents included Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne.
* These artists preferred and highlighted geometric forms which led to the development of early modernism and abstract expressionism.
murakami told me with obvious delight
NYT:
People have published cookbooks based on the meals described in his novels and assembled endless online playlists of the music his characters listen to. Murakami told me, with obvious delight, that a company in Korea has organized “Kafka on the Shore” tour groups in Western Japan, and that his Polish translator is putting together a “1Q84”-themed travel guide to Tokyo.
the walking dead are destined to reign
an anonymous person posted a comment on one of my entries. you know what? i really love zombies…
bravo, anonymous, bravo!
Anonymous said, on October 19, 2011 at 10:10 am:
Let us open the cover and look at Joseph’s Inner Circle.
1. The church did not confirm if the amount went to its leader, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince, but told The Straits Times that its policy is to ‘recognise and reward key contributors to the church and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar of our church’s growth and revenue’.
http://thechurchofjesuschrist.us/2009/03/income-fit-for-a-king-joseph-prince-and-the-pastors-pay/
When asking for donations at the pulpit, the self-claimed Prince tells his zombies all glory goes to God. When rewarding themselves, all glory goes to him. Haha So obvious but his worshipers can’t see.
2. http://www.josephprince.org/partner/
Prince has four enticing categories of “partners” to bestow on those sharing their wealth with him. Least of all is the fourth class, “Destined to Reign Partner,” for a monthly “gift” of $10 or more, or a one-time gift of $200. For this gift, one receives a personalized blue membership card.
Then there is the “Grace and Favor Partner.” As this third class partner, one must “give” $50 a month or more, or a one-time gift of$500. Instead of just a blue personalized partner’s card, you get a purple one! I wonder why purple is so much better, or is it simply to distinguish? We shall see.
I wonder…doesn’t the “Destined to Reign Partner” have God’s “grace and favor,” or will he or she have to cough up and financially upgrade themselves eventually to this category, or go without grace and favor? (What mischievous devil dreamed up these category titles based on financial contribution, anyway?)
To be a second class partner with Mr. Prince, you can go for the “Gospel Revolution Partner” opportunity. Send in $200 or more a month, or a one-time gift of $2,000, and now you are a veritable angel on God’s behalf (it’s all in the wallet, people). And guess what? You’ll have a gold card, not just a cheapie blue, or semi-cheapie purple one!
However, if you’re poor, like perhaps Peter, Andrew, James, and John, who were ignorant fishermen, or John the Immerser, who came from the wilderness with camel’s hair and leather girdle, or Paul the apostle, who forsook all to minister unto the Lord, you’ll just have to forego being a “Gospel Revolution Partner.” No Gospel glory or gold card for you!
Finally, if you wish to “fulfill your destiny,” you must up your “gift” from $200 a month or more (notice the consistent “or more”), to amonthly gift of $500 or more, or send your Prince a one-time “gift” of $5,000. Simple enough. Not enough money, no inside relationship with Mr. Prince. Isn’t that just like Jesus, Who laid down His life, paying in blood for the poorest, without expecting a financial contribution?
Seeing it isn’t enough to be “destined to reign,” or have “grace and favor,” or even to be a “Gospel Revolution Partner,” what you must do, if you don’t have enough money saved or coming in, is go to the bank and take out a loan, or pull out your credit card, or sell your car and send JP the required amount. Rob your grandmother, if you must. After all, great will be your reward in Heaven!
You will not only have “grace and favor” or be a “Gospel Revolution Partner,” or be merely “destined to reign,” YOU WILL REIGN! Why? Because now you will be a partner in “Joseph’s Inner Circle”!!
Zombies, you certainly have missed this part of his teachings.
today at takashimaya
the lady who nearly toppled over at ngee ann city, i think her new nose is too heavy.
your feedback please?
before i ask for your feedback on my blog, i have to understand why i ask for it in the first place.
is it because:
1. i want to connect with you?
2. i want you to praise me?
3. i want to write/post more popular entries to get more hits?
4. i want to be a better/more popular blogger?
do i write for you or do i write for me?
there’s a little of each in truth.
change your life in four lines
1. Start very small.
2. Do only one change at a time.
3. Be present and enjoy the activity (don’t focus on results).
4. Be grateful for every step you take.
endless
Philip Roth:
For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they’ve got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.
Novels in Three Lines by Félix Fénéon
utterly fascinating. before you laugh, remember these stories are real.
A certain madwoman arrested downtown falsely claimed to be nurse Elise Bachmann. The latter is perfectly sane.
In political disagreements, M. Bégouen, journalist, and M. Bepmale, MP, had called one another “thief” and “liar.” They have reconciled.
In a café on Rue Fontaine, Vautour, Lenoir, and Atanis exchanged a few bullets regarding their wives, who were not present.
No more briar pipes. Their makers, in Saint-Claude, have stopped work until they are paid better.
“If my candidate loses, I will kill myself,” M. Bellavoine, of Fresquienne, Seine-Inférieure, had declared. He killed himself.
While thundering for the Republic, a 300-year-old cannon exploded in Chatou, but no one was hurt.
Scheid, of Dunkirk, fired three times at his wife. Since he missed every shot, he decided to aim at his mother-in-law, and connected.
Linchpin by Seth Godin
The problem is that our culture has engaged in a Faustian bargain, in which we trade our genius and artistry for apparent stability.
For hundreds of years, the population has been seduced, scammed, and brainwashed into fitting in, following instructions, and exchanging a day’s work for a day’s pay. That era has come to an end and just in time.
David Mamet: “Do not internalize the industrial model. You are not one of the myriad of interchangeable pieces, but a unique human being, and if you’ve got something to say, say it, and think well of yourself while you’re learning to say it better.”
Those are the only two choices. Win by being more ordinary, more standard, and cheaper. Or win by being faster, more remarkable, and more human.
Most white-collar workers wear white collars, but they’re still working in the factory. They push a pencil or process an application or type on a keyboard instead of operating a drill press. The only grease they have to get off their clothes at the end of the day is the grease from the take-out food at lunch. But it’s factory work. It’s factory work because it’s planned, controlled, and measured.
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