overcluttered mindspillsningFiled under: concurrencesKeeping the best in reserve
I don't want to eke out my life like a resource in short supply. The only selfish life is a timid one. To hold back, to withdraw, to keep the best in reserve both overvalues the self and undervalues what the self is. - Jeannette Winterson (via Emily)
Another Dosage1. Collective judgement, or the creepiness of groupthink: PNAS, May 2011 2. "Don't dismiss value of 'pure' liberal arts education": ST Forum, 31st May 2011 - Interestingly got me thinking of why I so readily decided to decline the offer of admission to Northwestern University when I got the offer from UCL, although I'm equally drawn to both. More on that another day.
3. HEH Apparently you can reduce pain by hugging yourself: Psychology Today, May 2011 - Cool, or what? Cue "Forever Alone" meme.
4. Desperately want to visit the Dali exhibition at the ArtScience Museum D: But I've resolved to leave that till after Italy because I need to save up.
5. Might be awkward breaking the news yo... but apparently having more women increases a research team's collective intelligence.
6. “The mind is a strange machine which can combine the materials offered to it in the most astonishing ways, but without material from the external world it is powerless, and unlike the sausage machine it must seize its material for itself, since events only become experiences through the interest we take in them; if they do not interest us, we are making nothing of them.
The man, therefore, whose attention is turned within finds nothing worthy of his notice, whereas the man whose attention is turned outward can find within, in those rare moments when he examines his soul, the most varied and interesting assortment of ingredients being dissected and recombined into beautiful and instructive patterns.” - Bertrand Russell
Never have I heard anything more divine“What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, ‘This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!’ Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, ‘Never have I heard anything more divine’?” - Friedrich Nietzsche Never have I heard anything more divine. This journey has been well worth every step. For the gems that were placed in my path for me to seize, for the most beautiful of people I have met, for being the one institution I pride myself so greatly to graduate from - thank you, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
There is so much to be grateful for. Though my chapter has now closed, my journey with Ngee Ann has yet to conclude - it will not, not until my youngest batch of juniors graduate and leave their lasting imprints on the next. I have been given so much by Ngee Ann, that much as I had served through Ambassadors and served through performing my best in my academics, I never feel it is enough. And so my commitment as I approach official graduation tomorrow is to keep this connection spirited and vital - my journey shan't end, for through all possible capacities, I commit myself to being an active serving alumni.
Labour of love? No doubt, but never has it been nor ever shall it be regrettably so. PotentialAlways more than just enough. Overdeliver.
Appreciation“One of my key principles as a critic is that I am never wrong about what I like, but I may be wrong about what I dislike. We very often confuse not being able to connect with art for it not being good. It’s hard to predict when something you didn’t care about at some point will suddenly speak to you.” - Matthew Perpetua Indeed. I was watching the film Norwegian Wood (2011) last night, and perhaps because of my love for Haruki Murakami, my expectations for the film adaptation were high. To say it was disappointing is not quite fair, but indeed I could not connect with the film. Given the artistry of Murakami, it is truly a challenge to bring that similar surrealism to film. The film was lengthy, and very much silent, as one should expect a Murakami derivative to be, but was bland in flavor.
Throughout the film, it never left me how the director Anh Hung Tran took some four years of pursuit before Murakami finally gave the nod for the film. Perhaps a Murakami should remain a Murakami.
Rarely does one find a piece of art so hard to translate across mediums. We see so often novels becoming screenplays, poems becoming music, plays becoming films; they meet with limited success, but they are often still able to do their jobs. Norwegian Wood, by contrast, still seems too much a fish out of water. That is how aptly Murakami has crafted with novel in literature, so much so that it remains the only medium powerful enough to convey its message.
But alas, perhaps it is really because I found no connection with what may otherwise be viewed an art in its own right.
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