Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Sarcarsm and sincerity

I find it amusing how people use sarcarsm before giving a sincere response. Shooting a sarcarstic remark actually gives the other person an idea of your typical sarcarstic response and hence, he/she can generally identify how you'd reply sincerely. In some way, sarcarsm elevates the level of sincerity when you're giving genuine responses (when in fact, you don't really mean it altogether).

I think it's a pretty useful communication device especially when you don't feel like giving a frank answer. It's a little deceptive but I think it's a good way of staying away from offending someone ;) (Anyway, I don't really employ this method of communication much, this post is a product of observing other people)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Right.

As a child, I was raised and taught to abstain from anything or any form/depiction of evil that may eventually induce me to negative conduct. That's not to say that I didn't watch cartoons with villains but, ultimately good trumps all in those animated series. So that wasn't anything that involved moral dilemmas.

As idealism and images of a perfectly-run world of law and order get washed away with time and experience, beliefs in realism form a core of my principles; my eyes now see a world of grey. Religion tries to define what's black and what's white. Ironically, it makes things all the more grey. In attempting to draw a line, the line actually creates a new split and an additional school of thought; generating more confusion, conflict and endless debate.

I've been wondering why we shun the sight of evil when in fact, it grants us the ability to empathise with victims of evil. I don't mean that we should participate in all these acts of horror or allow ourselves to be influenced by them. Is it wrong to see how POWs get tortured? Wrong to witness the brutality of humanity? I say, if we get a grip of ourselves, disallow ourselves from being shaken by these images, we receive that very gift of empathy. We share the pain of these victims, we understand the state of their souls, we grow to care for others.

There may be other means of caring for others without having to undergo the traumatic experience of reliving the victim's story. You can say that you can love the person, love every single person in the whole world and so you'd care for everyone. Love everyone for who they are. But you won't truly know the circumstance of each individual. It's hard to see how you can artificially effect an emotion without having a proper stimulus. Yes, I'm a realist. I believe in opening one's eyes to see events or people who are forgotten in the illusion of utopia.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Chocolate records

As a self proclaimed chocoholic, I shall heed the advice of others to record my profound chocolate experiences. Each chocolate bears a different story of its origin- the effort placed into nurturing the cocoa beans, the climate, its location, the surrounding plantations, the processes undertaken by the chocolatier etc. And thus, each chocolate reveals a different taste to the senses, indeed, it takes more than just the sense of taste to capture the entire aroma and passion put into making that bar/piece of chocolate.

Let me describe how to taste a tiny cube of chocolate. Break one from the bar and it'll require an ounce of effort to do so. If not, there's probably a lack of cocoa butter- the expensive ingredient used to give chocolate bars their solid state and familiar to the cosmetics industry (used in lipsticks, make-up etc.). I tried Teuscher, a Swiss chocolate brand, and its 66% bar melted much more easily, leaving me to conclude and agree that the chocolate's composition is largely made of Swiss milk. When appreciating chocolate, one goes for the cocoa beans, not the side ingredients. So avoid swiss chocolate if you're a true blue chocoholic.

Upon the first contact with your tastebuds, you won't taste the cocoa. Instead, you taste the scent that the cocoa beans absorbed from their surrounding environment. For instance, cocoa beans grown in Jamaica have a lot of woody trees, so it captures a woody aroma that layers over the cocoa. Chocolate is prone to absorbing the surrounding smells, so avoid exposing the chocolate to the atmosphere to prolonged periods of time. As for me, I placed my secret stash of chocolates into a tupperware and they ended up tasting a little like the tupperware!

Slowly, the cocoa flavour seeps into your system. It could come in many forms. Sour(acidulous) or bitter or mellow or nutty or intense or it could be a combination. Amedei's my favourite as it has a different level of complexity above the other brands, I don't exactly know how to describe it but it isn't overwhelming. It reminds me of how the butler in the Remains of the Day described the countryside in Britain. It isn't full of grandiose or mind blowing but simply elegant, classy while easing gracefully through transitions, revealing another angle of each masterpiece.

After going through the process of appreciating the chocolate, the end note should be clean and palatable for good works of chocolate. Chocolate's the life. It was made for royalty. So be a king/queen/princess/prince and let that cocoa release those endorphins!


Sunday, August 2, 2009

Destiny

I was reading Invisible Cities by Marco Calvino in between lessons one day and sitting right beside me was one of my mates who happened to be reading Kurt Vonnegut novel. We checked each others' books out. Invisible Cities is a piece modern literature text filled with symbols and metaphors. Calvino used imaginery cities to conjure representations of life and its realities. There were certain themes which have managed to stay stuck in my mind. There was one city most sought after and desired. However, the people who seek for this city realise that although it was the city they were finding all their life, it no longer felt the same because the idealism in their youth had vanished. The goals we strive for in our youth are not the ones we wish for when we grow older. As a teenager, I wonder if our goals are for naught due to their ephemeral nature. To stick to a long term goal and reach it, only to realise that it isn't what we want anymore is a sad disappointment. It's tragic.

Invisible Cities details a fictional conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Polo, being an emissary was updating the Great Khan on the cities conquered and explored. Khan wondered why Polo didn't go through the usual report of food, troops etc. (because this book is literature!) so Polo would inevitably manage to steer the conversation topic away from that by mentioning something else, one being how the listeners' ears determines what he wants to hear. Yet in doing so, he states a true fact of life. The same story told varies as the people listening choose what they want to hear. Teachers, politicians, army generals and all other kinds of people will never be satisfied until their ears receive what they are contented with.

So enough with Invisible Cities. I laud the book for it's overwhelming variety of imaginery cities that the late author could have possibly conceived while including a thought provoking feature in each one. Admittedly so, I found it hard to understand everything that was brought across. I told my friend exactly that and he replied that you don't need to understand everything. Eventually, we landed on the topic of destiny. He shared how books like the watchmen and vonnegut ones are meaningful as they question critical themes in life. So he went- if we know our final destiny and no matter what we do, we end up at that final point, then what meaning is there to life? Or if I know that I am destined to do something wrong... will that make me a bad person? Did that make Peter the apostle a bad person when he denied Christ 3 times? To this, I let you decide for I still do not know the answer.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Movie Mania

Ever since I've enlisted into NS, I've watched movie after movie. There were X-Men: Origins of Wolverine, Star Trek, Watchmen, Rachel getting Married, Valkyrie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, Lezioni di cioccolato, Bride Wars, Princess Mononoke, Ghost in the Shell, Laputa, Departures (jap movie), the wind blows round, nobody to watch over me etc. After watching all these movies of different genres and studios, i've become pickier with my choice of movies. I've grown tired of hollywood films for their same old storylines- bad guy comes, good guy gets hurt, good guy gets saved (by some external help) and bad guy loses in the end.
So quite recently i've been acquiring (or least trying) a taste for foreign films. In no way am I attempting to promote foreign films as I do admit there have been misses for foreign movies (don't watch the absurd nobody to watch over me (jap movie)). Yet, foreign films come across as avant garde as they offer a different perspective and style to movies. "The wind blows round" (an italian movie I watched during the Italian film festival) introduces culture and how complexities can emerge from the simple farm communal life. It was about a French goat cheese farmer and his family and the trouble they faced in integrating into an Italian village in the pyrenees filled with an ageing population. Discrimination, gossip and even politics in this village stirred up contention in the tiny community. That picture drawn up is somewhat recognisable and reflected in society today although the background differs. Xenophobic Singaporeans and their fear of foreign talent and labour. We find it hard to come to terms with the value of their skills and expertise. And when there is trouble, it's only natural it'd be ascribed to the other people.

I appreciate Studio Ghibli films especially Princess Mononoke, my favourite Hayao Miyazaki animated movie. I like movies which feature characters with pros and cons, characters who are heroes to some and villains to others. Take lady eboshi as an example, a leader to the women in her town and a caretaker of the lepers but hated by the spirits of the forest (and princess mononoke) as she destroys the forest for the town's industry. That's reality. I've observed and learnt in the army that everyone's wants can never be met as people would have conflicting opinions. And would satisfying the majority be the right solution? That's what I like about noteworthy films, they raise those familiar questions of society.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Reality Check


Haven't updated since november but that doesn't mean my brain has since been rotting. I can safely say that the rotting of my brain will commence once i enlist. I hope it won't be too drastic because i shall do my best to enrich my life with random knowledge. Bought i book on Israel's history as i feel ignorant reading about recent news on the Gaza strip between Israel and the Hamas and not know the historical background. Only read 50 pages out of the 2000 over pages thus far and i've already been astounded by the resilience of the Israelis. These people were discriminated almost everywhere, attacked frequently by the Arabs, were not exactly living on fertile soil (they were tilling the land as farmers in Palestine) and yet, they found solace in recovering their Zion. It wasn't anything much compared to America at that time (and perhaps still isn't). Under the great leadership of a few influential men eg. Theodor Herzl and also from the philantrophy of the masses and the rich ones eg. Edmond De Rothschild, the home for Jews was formed under the British Mandate (I've only read until about the 1920s). I find the Jews to be a very gifted bunch of people as they tend to be highly intelligent, a classic example being Albert Einstein. I was told that the Jews are the main controllers of financial institutions and they own quite a large stake in banks. So as much as these people were dispersed and stateless for more than 2 millenia, it hasn't been to their detriment as they hold power and wealth all around the world. The Jews are just an amazing people.

I haven't been following the news closely but when the headlines flashed out "Indian Software boss quits, admits faking US$1 billion in profits", a thought came to my head. With the Madoff incident and now this, maybe a financial crisis is a blessing in disguise. It allows us to be aware of the threat of corruption from even the seemingly most reputable people or institutions. The system of checks and balances gets oiled when such cases are uncovered. So in future, hopefully no one falls prey to the such corrupt practises as such should be weeded out. These instances also reinforce my belief that it's hard to trust people out there in this world. I'm not being cynical but the world we live in is a dog eat dog world so it can't be helped feeling this way. 

It's time to go off to Tekong. My life as a souja boy begins.