of all places, i read this in an inflight magazine. not exactly a bastion of literature and knowledge but good enough for me.
ALMOST happens to be the longest, commonly used word in English where all the the alphabets are ..........well in alphabetical order.
this will not change anyone's life in any way but that's not what we are here for are we?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
social conditioning 101
from the moment of birth, we are all subjected to various forms of social conditioning. a name is chosen and this is seared into our consciousness in the hope that at the very least we can be distinguished from the constant stream of humanity flowing out from vaginal passages all over the world (i feel sorry for all the people who carry the same name). as we begin to grasp at the faculty of speech, we are conditioned to speak our parents' tongue. we are dressed in a certain way and we listen to music that our elders play around the house.
in school we are told that certain things are important in life and that we should learn it well. we are also told that certain actions and words are good and some bad. we are told that some people are good and we should emulate them and some whom we must drive a stake through eg. hitler. in our teenage years we are informed by friends that we should look and dress a certain way and never to look like our parents. there are things that older people might frown on but will make you feel good.
the media will tell you that slim and young is socially acceptable while fat and old will not cut it. they will decide for you what is hot and what is not, what is beauty and what is butt-ugly. all this is the name of preservation of the human race, for the greater good. in order to survive as a species we have to follow certain pre-ordained standards. these standards have been in place since human history however they are highly malleable and change with time. remember when flares were in? nowadays it is retro and even slightly ridiculous. our perception also changes with the right amount of social conditioning.
i often imagine a man sitting on top of a snow capped mountain somewhere whose job it is to decide what the social norms should be during any given period of time. 'this year the rape-victim look will be the bee's knees!' he proclaims in a loud booming voice. minutes later young girls are seen parading the streets of some anonymous metropolitan city looking as if they have just escaped the grubby hands of some would be sexual deviant. concerned you run to them and inquire of their well being only to be thought of as a sexual deviant yourself. 'i saw this is in [-insert name of some trendy fashion magazine-]. its in,' she explains all the time staring at you with hands wrapped protectively around her ample bosoms. 'don't you read?' she asks with a pitying stare. with burning ears you hang your head and walk away.
in school we are told that certain things are important in life and that we should learn it well. we are also told that certain actions and words are good and some bad. we are told that some people are good and we should emulate them and some whom we must drive a stake through eg. hitler. in our teenage years we are informed by friends that we should look and dress a certain way and never to look like our parents. there are things that older people might frown on but will make you feel good.
the media will tell you that slim and young is socially acceptable while fat and old will not cut it. they will decide for you what is hot and what is not, what is beauty and what is butt-ugly. all this is the name of preservation of the human race, for the greater good. in order to survive as a species we have to follow certain pre-ordained standards. these standards have been in place since human history however they are highly malleable and change with time. remember when flares were in? nowadays it is retro and even slightly ridiculous. our perception also changes with the right amount of social conditioning.
i often imagine a man sitting on top of a snow capped mountain somewhere whose job it is to decide what the social norms should be during any given period of time. 'this year the rape-victim look will be the bee's knees!' he proclaims in a loud booming voice. minutes later young girls are seen parading the streets of some anonymous metropolitan city looking as if they have just escaped the grubby hands of some would be sexual deviant. concerned you run to them and inquire of their well being only to be thought of as a sexual deviant yourself. 'i saw this is in [-insert name of some trendy fashion magazine-]. its in,' she explains all the time staring at you with hands wrapped protectively around her ample bosoms. 'don't you read?' she asks with a pitying stare. with burning ears you hang your head and walk away.
where the performer is demystified
ok, ian curtis while fronting post-punk mancunian legends joy division hung himself in a fit of existential rage and despondency. in a stroke of wanton wastefulness his fate and that of his band was sealed. ironically his band attained a level of mysticism that they would never have dreamed of in a thousand lifetimes if he had towed the party line and gone over to america to conquer the college circuits.
combining the mannered monotony of curtis' vocal stylings and the bloodless throb of the rhythm section, they carved beautiful things out of great big slabs of darkness. sucked dry of american influences, they offered a tantalizing vision of a cold and grey european cityscape, sexy to the extreme despite of its minimalistic and grainy veneer. would they have been any less relevant if curtis had lived out a ripe old age of embarrassing world tours and liaisons with underage groupies?
here lies the question of whether the external packaging and baggage of a band can be separated from the actual creative output. i used to think that it can, but as age catches up with me and cynicism attains adulthood within, i begin to doubt it. perhaps it is the current atmosphere of the music industry (there i have said it) of quick cash-in and staged fame-chasing that has soured it for me. would the teeny-boppers buy justin timberlake's latest album if he wore a brown paper bag over his head? you are only as good as you look.
even taking on the role of an outsider, which joy division exemplified, is just that; a role. no one can truly be who they are when put on a stage under the sweltering heat of the limelight. the reason why someone gets on to a stage is to try to raise himself above everybody else, to break out from the everyday. look i am better than you! what matters is what they do with their time. and of course how they look.
combining the mannered monotony of curtis' vocal stylings and the bloodless throb of the rhythm section, they carved beautiful things out of great big slabs of darkness. sucked dry of american influences, they offered a tantalizing vision of a cold and grey european cityscape, sexy to the extreme despite of its minimalistic and grainy veneer. would they have been any less relevant if curtis had lived out a ripe old age of embarrassing world tours and liaisons with underage groupies?
here lies the question of whether the external packaging and baggage of a band can be separated from the actual creative output. i used to think that it can, but as age catches up with me and cynicism attains adulthood within, i begin to doubt it. perhaps it is the current atmosphere of the music industry (there i have said it) of quick cash-in and staged fame-chasing that has soured it for me. would the teeny-boppers buy justin timberlake's latest album if he wore a brown paper bag over his head? you are only as good as you look.
even taking on the role of an outsider, which joy division exemplified, is just that; a role. no one can truly be who they are when put on a stage under the sweltering heat of the limelight. the reason why someone gets on to a stage is to try to raise himself above everybody else, to break out from the everyday. look i am better than you! what matters is what they do with their time. and of course how they look.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
wong kar wai weekend fest
revisited 2 wong kar wai's movies this weekend. first up 'days of being wild' and later '2046'. for people who do not know, 'in the mood for love' completes the trilogy. the first one stars the late leslie cheung who plays a sociopath whose serial affairs hides a desperately lonely and nihilistic individual. his dalliance with a nightclub performer is the common thread that runs through the 2 movies. after leaving her to find his fortunes in the Philippines, she moves restlessly from one relationship to another looking for someone to replace her former lover.
she appears again in '2046' a few years after his departure and eventual demise at the hands of gangsters in the Philippines. she bumps into another man who claims to know her in the past. she drinks herself into a stupor in the night and is murdered by a jealous boyfriend who finds out that she has been cheating on him. the story then shifts to the man from her past who resembles leslie's character from the first movie albeit more compassionate and humane towards his conquests. he is a columnist who has fallen on hard times and now etches out a living writing erotica for the local newspaper. in between affairs he decides to try his hand at a sci-fi tale of people returning on a futuristic train from a place called '2046'. the train is manned by androids who resemble the people he interacts with in real life as well as women he has slept with.
the movie is peppered with references to his past movies and certain scenes even rehashes signature music from his previous outings. for instance there are 3 women sharing the same name in each of the movies in the above mentioned trilogy. the story lines are intentionally non-linear and intersect each other at crucial moments. a character who has died may turn up again at a later part of the movie throwing the audience a curve ball that they may not recover from. it is strictly make or break and some may be forgiven for scoffing at the movie and losing patience.
the only consistency is the breathtakingly beautiful cinematography and mood shots which says much more than what the script can. characters are often reflected on broken and dirtied mirrors. on many occasions half the screen is occupied by a blank wall and the remaining by the protagonists. the detailed settings, furnitures and ornaments are actors in their own right bringing to life a hong kong in the late '60s. the camera has a tendency to linger on a wordless actor's face for prolonged periods of time perhaps hoping to squeeze the humanity out of them. lighting is saturated and shadows are used for dramatic effect. believe me when i say that nothing will prepare you for a wong kar wai movie. in a world of big budget production trying to outdo each other with the number of explosions, car chases and mangled bodies, wong is a true maverick. putting list A asian actors and actresses into art house movies is his way of gently sabotaging the movie industry from within. he might not be a box office draw but his movies will stand the test of time and the fickleness of the human mind. he is truly an asian master and the world is richer for it.
from the backpages of robert zimmerman
The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face
from 'Visions of Johanna' by Bob Dylan
in my opinion this has got to be one of the best sentences ever thought up by man. it is unique, timeless and self-sufficiently meaningless. besides conveying meaning in the interest of communication, ingenious use of words can transcend meaning and evoke an image in the mind of otherworldly beauty. something that hints at an alternative and hopefully better world, tantalizing only because it is unachievable.
electricity is something that we cannot see but holds great sway over us. it creates and can destroy. what is the first thing that comes to mind with the word 'ghost'? fear. this lends a menacing undertone to the line. this woman must be undoubtedly stunning to look at and at the same time holds a fearsome power over the author. she possesses an ironclad will and an indomitable spirit which she flaunts with great aplomb. she is beauty and power personified.
from 'Visions of Johanna' by Bob Dylan
in my opinion this has got to be one of the best sentences ever thought up by man. it is unique, timeless and self-sufficiently meaningless. besides conveying meaning in the interest of communication, ingenious use of words can transcend meaning and evoke an image in the mind of otherworldly beauty. something that hints at an alternative and hopefully better world, tantalizing only because it is unachievable.
electricity is something that we cannot see but holds great sway over us. it creates and can destroy. what is the first thing that comes to mind with the word 'ghost'? fear. this lends a menacing undertone to the line. this woman must be undoubtedly stunning to look at and at the same time holds a fearsome power over the author. she possesses an ironclad will and an indomitable spirit which she flaunts with great aplomb. she is beauty and power personified.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
mojave
about 7 years ago i found myself thousands of miles away from home looking out across the wide expanse of the mojave desert. every where i looked there was just sand, rocks, desert fauna and sky. i realised then that it was the very first time i have seen such a wide open space without a single man made structure in sight.for the most part of my life i have lived on an island and during my student days in a cosmopolitan city. nothing in my past experience had prepared me for the physical sense of space that i was swimming in. travelling in a bus a few hours later, i suddenly noticed that there were actually people making their homes amidst the barren landscape. dotted across the sands were little wooden structures with largely redundant fences marking out imaginary boundaries. i imagine territories are pretty much a vague concept around these parts although looking at the maps available i realise that 4 states actually saw fit to mark their borders across this hostile but beautiful land.
i wonder how it would be to get lost in this arid land without hope of getting to civilisation. would it be the perfect end?
Friday, November 03, 2006
wingdings hoax
as a follow up to my last entry, i did some research on the net and found out that the last bit of the email is probably not accurate as the two planes that smashed into the twin towers bore the flight numbers 11 ( N334AA) and 175 ( N612UA) respectively. there was never any flight Q33NY which came remotely close to crashing into anything. the desired effect in wingdings for this fictitious number is
this article on wingdings prophecies has the details.
planned?
just got this in my mailbox. an interesting coincidence or are we seeing part of a divine plan?
Read to the bottom. Try it out. I did. I got goose bumps.
IF YOU'RE A CRITICAL PERSON STILL READ ON AS IT'S ACTUALLY VERY INTERESTING! !
This is actually really freaky!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 +1 + 1 = 11
Sheer coincidence. .?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 +5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 =11.
3) The Madridbombing took place on 3/11/2004 . 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
Now this is where things get totally eerie: The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book: "For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace." That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. unconvinced about all of this Still ..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers .
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS
NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK…………
Read to the bottom. Try it out. I did. I got goose bumps.
IF YOU'RE A CRITICAL PERSON STILL READ ON AS IT'S ACTUALLY VERY INTERESTING! !
This is actually really freaky!! (mainly the end part, but read it all first)
1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.
3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.
4) George W Bush has 11 letters.
This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:
1) New York is the 11th state.
2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.
3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11
4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers , was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 =11
6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 +1 + 1 = 11
Sheer coincidence. .?! Read on and make up your own mind:
1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 +5 + 4 = 11.
2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 =11.
3) The Madridbombing took place on 3/11/2004 . 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.
4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.
Now this is where things get totally eerie: The most recognized symbol for the US , after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book: "For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace." That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran. unconvinced about all of this Still ..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end:
Open Microsoft Word and do the following:
1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers .
2. Highlight the Q33 NY.
3. Change the font size to 48.
4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS
NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK…………
shatterday
years ago i watched an episode of the 1985 reincarnation of 'the twilight zone' which told of a man (played by a young bruce willis) who accidentally calls his own home number by mistake but then finds another version of himself picking up the phone. i still can remember the title as if it was yesterday - SHATTERDAY
the episode actually counts down to the final day of the title starting from someday, duesday, woundsday, freeday and shatterday. each day sees the alternative version of the guy going about righting the wrongs that the other half have committed in his lifetime and on shatterday the original protagonist disappears and we are left with the much improved alter ego.
if only we could renew ourselves this way. like a snake moulting to accomodate growth and maturation. rewriting all the wrong decisions that we have made thus far. changing lives for the better as we go along.
the episode actually counts down to the final day of the title starting from someday, duesday, woundsday, freeday and shatterday. each day sees the alternative version of the guy going about righting the wrongs that the other half have committed in his lifetime and on shatterday the original protagonist disappears and we are left with the much improved alter ego.
if only we could renew ourselves this way. like a snake moulting to accomodate growth and maturation. rewriting all the wrong decisions that we have made thus far. changing lives for the better as we go along.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
hypochondriasis is a 15 letter word
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
Main Entry: hypochondriac
Function: noun
: an individual affected with hypochondria or hypochondriasis - a person can be said to be a hypochondriac when his or her preoccupation with health or disease is so intense that it disrupts normal living habits —People
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
i know someone who can be best described as a hypochondriac. living a privileged life off the fat of his family's enormous fortune, he has never put in an honest day's work. the quest for self-improvement via financial gains has never figured in his earthly existence. lacking this focus, his mind naturally wanders and for the past few years he has been beguiling doctors all over town with a series of vague, ill-defined bodily annoyances which he terms 'big problems' . he never seems to be in too much of distress and yet he talks about nothing else. he has had recurrent throat infections for which he has been treated with an avalanche of antibiotics. he admitted that he has sent his phlegm in for microscopic examinations at least 50 times and each time they find some innocuous micro-organism, he will be duly prescribed antibiotics. he swallows these religiously but every few months his symptoms will recur and the cycle repeats itself.
he has a long history of mysterious chest symptoms for which he has undergone numerous threadmill tests. not surprisingly the tests have amounted to squat except to line the pocket of the attending doctor. to his credit someone did finally find some kidney stones and he went for a procedure to get rid of them. at the end of the treatment he collected tiny fragments the stones in his urine and demanded that the doctor run tests to see what minerals the stones were made out of! he is convinced that this piece of information will unlock the secrets of the universe and hence it is as significant as the holy grail.
god knows that i have tried to feel sorry for him but this is usually replaced in a split second by mirth and a keen sense of the ridiculous. if via some divine intervention he happens to read this, here is my advice : don't be so preoccupied with dying that you forget to live! (i actually read this quote from an old copy of reader's digest - oh the shame!).
Main Entry: hypochondriac
Function: noun
: an individual affected with hypochondria or hypochondriasis - a person can be said to be a hypochondriac when his or her preoccupation with health or disease is so intense that it disrupts normal living habits —People
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
i know someone who can be best described as a hypochondriac. living a privileged life off the fat of his family's enormous fortune, he has never put in an honest day's work. the quest for self-improvement via financial gains has never figured in his earthly existence. lacking this focus, his mind naturally wanders and for the past few years he has been beguiling doctors all over town with a series of vague, ill-defined bodily annoyances which he terms 'big problems' . he never seems to be in too much of distress and yet he talks about nothing else. he has had recurrent throat infections for which he has been treated with an avalanche of antibiotics. he admitted that he has sent his phlegm in for microscopic examinations at least 50 times and each time they find some innocuous micro-organism, he will be duly prescribed antibiotics. he swallows these religiously but every few months his symptoms will recur and the cycle repeats itself.
he has a long history of mysterious chest symptoms for which he has undergone numerous threadmill tests. not surprisingly the tests have amounted to squat except to line the pocket of the attending doctor. to his credit someone did finally find some kidney stones and he went for a procedure to get rid of them. at the end of the treatment he collected tiny fragments the stones in his urine and demanded that the doctor run tests to see what minerals the stones were made out of! he is convinced that this piece of information will unlock the secrets of the universe and hence it is as significant as the holy grail.
god knows that i have tried to feel sorry for him but this is usually replaced in a split second by mirth and a keen sense of the ridiculous. if via some divine intervention he happens to read this, here is my advice : don't be so preoccupied with dying that you forget to live! (i actually read this quote from an old copy of reader's digest - oh the shame!).
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