Wearing green of another kind

Till 12th Dec.

高行建

Sunday

Went to the Singapore Arts Museum to view the Gao Xing Jian Exhibition titled “ 有我之境，无我之境”. It’s the first time that I have been SAM since it was converted from the History Museum.

Intended to take the train but drove there as it was raining. Almost skidded outside Raffles City due to the metal plates covering the road leading to Raffles City Carpark. Sadly I am here typing this.

Luckily the NTUC building besides SAM provides a cheap parking of $2 per entry.

Spend the whole day in the museum till 1700hrs.

As the exhibition focus on

“….Chinese ink painting influences and European (partic. French and German) philosophical and literary ideas that influenced Gao’s thinking. Through the paintings, Gao’s thinkings and perception towards art e,g, his views about abstraction and realism. The notion of Without-ism which Gao advocates that bring out the other aspects on the various isms (e.g. cubism, abstract expressionalism, conceptual art) that has been, and still in discussions today.”

My intention was to use his philosophical intent in his ink paintings to stimulate my own philosophical mind so that I can come closer to giving up on this world. Needless to say, it is a futile effort as experience shared is never the same as the actual experience itself. Guess I must eat more rice.

Besides this exhibition, there are also other artistic works on display that makes my $3 more than worthwhile.

I cannot comment on Gao’s technique as I’m not an artistic kind of person. But as a philosopher, I feel sad for this guy whose essence is only in Black, White and Grey.

The Tiger's Whip - Part of a previous performance art.

“Limit your art and your art will limit you” – Jim Leong (1978 - 2005, hopefully).

Chivalrous men and Dying in Desert

Friday Night

Saw the Korean Film ‘Musa (2001)’ aka 武士 on U last night. For an epic, it is still view-able to pass time while I’m solving a Sudoku puzzle.

I really dunno. Although desert is synonymous with being barren and therefore death, must people keep dying, trapped in a run-down fortress, with no respite. Especially the men who are consider themselves 武士 / Warriors as in the following :

龙门客栈，Legionnaire (Jean Claude Van Damme), Warriors of Heaven and Earth 2003 (天地英雄), and various cowboy-themed movies.

It is not a lot I suppose as it is quite a “冷门” theme as the story line is roughly the same.

Chivalry. A concept admired but little practiced by people. Associated with men due to historic baggage，i.e the stronger sex. Based on the underlying theme of self-sacrifice to higher cause or to protect the weak (aka women and children). A notion that supposedly can appeal to the goodness in people. In reality, Chivalry is very subjective and relative to whom it is applied. 孝，忠，义，爱 are likely to end up in conflict as seen in movies (i.e Romeo and Juliet, Infernal Affairs or some undercover-cop movie, Lost Memories 2005, Joint Security Area, Martial Arts Novels...). In a nutshell, it is never easy to manage people.

Never declare yourself as being chivalrous or a “ 好人”as it would constraint your options. Most important is to never hold the concept of chivalry in your mind as it will trap you in the pursuit of a “good name” and therefore be ruled by circumstances and worst, the opinions of others . To be chasing after a good name is akin to getting approval from people around you or chasing after the Sun. A bloody waste of time. Be mindful of being labeled as a “ 好人” as well as people who are labeled as such. If you want to do "good", do it because you want to, not because you have to.

Reminds me of this phrase from some Chinese movie which goes like this :

“ 宁肯认识真小人也不要识得伪君子”

Unfortunately, human emotions are multi-faceted which is why the following phrase is the most apt here :

“ 画人画皮难画骨，知人知面不知心。”

幸好世界不止是灰色的。

More is not enough

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter.

Life is not meant to be understood by understanding

In light of my previous post. Jay Chou wining the best new performer in golden horse awards kinda of make sense.

Post-note - This is not meant to be a positive comment.

A Tribute to an Entertainer

Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes aka Eddie Guerrero (9/10/1967 - 13/11/05)

Only just saw him on TV last Saturday night.

Pensive Sadness ….

Condolences…

9 days and counting

Less than 9 days to my reservist…. Still hav’t prepare anything… hmm…

Weighed myself.

2003 – 65 kg.
2005 – 67kg. (Not so bad)
BMI = 23.12 (Under Moderate Risk, healthy range is 18.5 – 22.9 )
Heart beat -75/min ( just felt like counting it )

Can’t wait, even though my IPPT will fail. Guess I should prepare for RT too… oh well...

The irony of Samsara

Imagine this scene: a layman sits in front of his house, eating a fish from the pond behind the house, holding his son in his lap. The dog is eating the fishbones and the man kicks the dog.

Not an extraordinary scene one would think, but Venerable Shariputra commented:

"He eats his father's flesh and kicks his mother away,The enemy he killed he dandles on his lap,The wife is gnawing at her husband's bones,Samsara can be such a farce."

What had happened?.

The man's father died and was reborn as a fish in the pool, the layman caught his father, the fish, killed it, and was now eating it. . The layman's mother was very attached to the house so she was reborn as the man's dog. The man's enemy had been killed for raping the man's wife; and because the enemy was so attached to her, he was reborn as her son. While he ate his father's meat, the dog - his mother - ate the fish bones, and so was beaten by her son. His own little son, his enemy, was sitting on his knee.

Karma? ha ha... can't expect anything less from life.

Why Mondays? Part 1

Yes is true. CDM especially those of UOB are either down for maintenance or repairs for almost every Monday from 7 to 8am. And if i'm not wrong, they are down for everyday at this time too...

If only my creativity is in this area

Browsing online, I found this website of a comic artist. His works are rather interesting. Must visit this 2 links : Island , The 10 commandments of Simon . Oh yes, you can also check out his link to other online comic artists. Inside, I have found this weird site that a weird person can visit. It is a collective dream diary authored by different people from around the world, and drawn as a comic strip by Jesse Reklaw. It is updated weekly. Cool.

Admittedly, I admire people who are musically or artistically inclined as I can’t sing, play musical instruments or even draw a circle to save my own life. I would like to think that i am more of the 伯乐 than the 千里马。

But there is always an artist in our hearts, somewhere. The problem is no one else understands our personal art. Even if people do see it, not many will recognize it for its intrinsic value to the artist himself as people are always thinking of what is it to them or that they 只专注于其形而不得其意. This will always be a problem as no one else on earth thinks alike much less trying to fathom the 意。所谓人心难测嘛。

Lover’s Concerto

Watched a korean show last night till around 0200hrs. It was titled “向左爱，向右爱” but actually its English tile would be Lover’s Concerto. But initially I watched the movie because Son Ye Jin was acting in it. Anyway here’s the link of a review that i like : Lover’s Concerto
And if want to know about most of the recent Korean movies that are out in the market, you check out this link, which is rather comprehensive, or so I think.

Phrase that might catch on

Lounge Lizard. (noun) – mainly describe men, (specifically middle age men), who like to hang out at Lounges. Dressed to impress people but mainly to boost their waning ego about their “attractiveness” or their losing libido.