The Time Traveler's Wife

"The choices we’re working with here are a block universe, where past, present and future all coexist simultaneously and everything has already happened; chaos, where anything can happen and nothing can be predicted because we can’t know all the variables; and a Christian universe in which God made everything and it’s all here for a purpose but we have free will anyway."
--The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)

Speaking of Thomas Aquinas:
"He wanted order and reason, and God, too. He believed in both Aristotle and angels.”
--The Time Traveler's Wife (2003)

Free will = meaninglessness?
If everything happens for a reason, is there still free will?

Thought provoking. Which do you think it is? And, which do you WANT it to be?

Master of Puppets

"The rich don't have good taste, they pay people to have good taste for them."

"I would rather have an intelligent enemy, than a stupid friend."

--Both from Frida (2002)

"All writers, by the way they use the language, reveal something of their spirits, their habits, their capacities, and their biases." --E.B. White

I agree with this quote. I guess it is why I like psychoanalysing people's personalities from their blog writings. They may act phony in person, or even selectively choose what they write about on their blogs. But the way they write it says a lot about their personalities. Maybe not always, but I'd say more often than not.

Feel free to psychoanalyse me.

TY

River of Dreams

I just read Louis L'Amour's autobiography, Education of a Wandering Man(alright, I didn't finish it). Anyway, here are some quotes I find interesting and one day, would like to revisit them.

From the introduction by Daniel Boorstin:
"We are often told we are what we eat. In our world since the printing press it might be more accurate to say we are what we read."

And from the book:
"The idea of education has been so tied to schools, universities, professors that many assume there is no other way, but education is available to anyone within reach of a library, a post office, or even a newsstand."

"Often I hear people say they do not have time to read. That's absolute nonsense. In one year, I read twenty-five books while waiting for people."
One may say, if you are waiting for me, that would easily be more.

"What is comfort to some is cruel hardship to others."

"We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions."

"Adventure is nothing but a romantic name for trouble."

"Only one who has learned much can fully appreciate his ignorance."


Finally, to end it all, one from Charles Darwin:
"I discovered, though unconsciously and insensibly, that the pleasure of observing and reasoning was a much higher one than of skill and sport."


Portugal oh, Portugal!
TY

My Generation

A couple of interesting quotes from this article.

Referring to Gen Xers:
"a generation who would rather work to live than live to work. Or, in fact, get stoned, eat ice cream and not work at all."
Don't worry, Gen Ys are worse.

"The children of Generation X: sarcastic, bored and a bit spoilt, but nevertheless great at selling the idea of being "sarcastic, bored and bit spoilt" by publishing and publicising each other's work on websites."

It is an interesting article about inter-generational writers. It's not too long. Worth a read.


TY

The Weight

Some quotes by Thomas Edison.

"The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense."
O', where for art thou common sense?

"Restlessness and discontent are the necessities of progress."

The reason why most people don't read but when they do they can't stop:
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work."
It looks like hard work to get through a long article/book but the insights gained is insurmountable.

"There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labor of thinking."
Sigh. He's right.

"As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey"
Now, if only I study every time I'm worried.

"Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something."
I like this. I'm quite the anarchist.

White Riot

Chaos is a friend of mine.
- Bob Dylan

Chaos was the law of nature. Order was the dream of man.
- Henry Brooks Adams

Keep Talking

Now I'm on to An Ideal Husband, also a play by Oscar Wilde. I must say Lord Goring is awfully witty.

"I love talking about nothing. It is the only I know anything about."

"It is a very dangerous thing to listen. If one listens one maybe convinced; and a man who allows himself to be convinced by an argument is a thoroughly unreasonable person."

" I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself."

"It is always worth while asking a question, though it is not always worth while answering one.

"My doctor says I should not have any serious conversation after seven. It makes me talk in my sleep."

TY

Wave of Mutilation

And now here are quotes from A Woman of No Importance I find worthy. Also by Oscar Wilde.

"The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years. To hear them talk one would imagine they were in their first childhood. As far as civilisation goes they are in their second."

"Taking sides is the beginning of sincerity, and earnestness follows shortly afterwards, and then human beings become a bore."

"The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life."

"The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future."

"The world is simply divided into two classes -- those who believe the incredible, like the public -- and those who do the improbable."

"There is no secret of life."

"All thought is immoral. Its very essence is destruction."

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."


Ah, sometimes I wish I came up with these quotes!

TY

The Modern Age

"There are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life, fully, entirely, completely-or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands."
-Oscar Wilde(Lady Windermere's Fan)

The Scientist

If you believe in Intelligent Design, you were most probably made by Stupid Design.
- Me


Sometimes it is quite difficult to believe that so many people believe in things that are so difficult to believe in.


TY

The Legend of Xanadu

When you have to choose between the truth and the legend, print the legend.
-John Ford

Light My Fire

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias.”
- Oscar Wilde(The Soul of Man Under Socialism)


I have nothing much to write about lately. Don't see it changing anytime soon either, especially since I have so many things I've yet to do and can't seem to get around to doing them. When the deadlines loom, I'll just have to savour the whoosing sound they make as they fly by(Adams, Douglas).

But I love the quotes section of this blog. Such as nice place to keep all the quotes I love together. So it is very likely that in the coming weeks I'll be posting only quotes here.


Currently reading: The Double Helix by J.D. Watson
If you love DNAs, it's a rather captivating book about how they arrive at the structure of DNA as we know it now.


Here's to Utopia.
TY

Astronomy Domine

If we want our species to survive in the long term, human beings cannot afford to stop reaching for the stars.
-Peter Doherty, Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology 1996

Dead Souls

"He's competing with the sun for the center of the universe." -- Jay from Lords of Dogtown

She's Hot

They say if a woman's on fire, you have to roll her around and cover her with your body. - Anonymous


Genius.


TY

Far Gone And Out

I suspect this will be a long post. Haven't written in a while after all. The main theme for this post would be my view of humanity and my new approach to life.

You remember the scandal about that Singaporean MP's daughter's blogpost? Nevermind if you don't, here's a blog post about it, to fill you in on the details.

Anyway, that clearly shows the stupidity of the higher classes. Firstly, It's amazing how she criticises the poor dude on his English, yet aptly enough, she has no idea how to use capital letters. Not for names, not for the first letter of sentences. Smart kid. Secondly, I wonder if the girl knows that her dad is a member of PAP, a socialist party. She advocated for Darwinism so openly I wonder if she even knows anything about politics. Yet, happily enough, she dares touch on the topic of politics. Kids from Raffles Junior College aren't exactly very bright after all are they? The only thing she seems to be an elite at is making a fool of herself.

Well now for the best part, her dad defended her and her far right capitalist view. It's forgivable if the kid doesn't know PAP is a socialist party, but the dad? The person in the party himself? Genius. Absolute genius. And guess what? Wikipedia tells me her dad is from Raffle Institution, the top school in Singapore. Oh and Imperial College too. Top school, top univeristy. Not very smart though. Not bright at all. To top it all off, he wasn't fired or forced to resign, which allows me to conclude that Singaporeans have very different definition to "smart" than I do. Apparently everybody shared his views. The Socialist International should really revoke PAP's membership.

Fuck hypocrites.

I don't even know why there were so much debate about elitism after that incident. They don't look or sound very "elite" to me. Not the slightest bit. My dumbfuck mind can point out their stupidity in 2 seconds. If that's elite, I must be Einstein's reincarnation. Dumbfuckism would have been more appropriate. Since dumbfucks think they're superior.

Comes to show how society these days, are defined by the rich and powerful(not smart). They define what is "normal" and what is "elite". To paraphrase Gregory House "You see, skinny, socially privilege people, gets to draw this neat little circle, where everyone inside is normal. Everyone outside the circle should broken, beaten and reset, so that they can be brought into the circle. Failing that, they should be institutionalised. Or worse, pitied."

If you don't get where I'm coming from, read The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger and Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. The latter is also a major motion picture now. Watch it if you don't want to read it.

All this has made me give up on humanity. Humanity is dominated by selfish, ignorant, power hungry, STUPID and egotistic people. And I see no way back for it. It is going downhill, and it is irreversible. I am now officially a misanthrope. But no, I am not going to commit suicide, instead, I am going to embrace HEDONISM.

So to all my hedonistic friends out there, I'm sure there are plenty, this is to you(and now me, too).
“My doctor says that I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes.”
-Douglas Adams

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll, don't care about anything else you think you know.


TY

Back From The Dead

People are such hypocrites.
-George Orwell


He knew that decades ago. I am merely a descendant.


TY

The REAL Slim Shady

Grab your left, make your right one jealous.
-Eminem

I am pretty sure the political connotations in that quote was intentionally meant by Em.
Ah, another reason to love Em, he's a leftist too, not surprising though.

Now, you can stay at the train station with your cigarettes and beer, but I have to go save the cheerleader, save the world.


TY

Losing My Religion

I never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. It is an absurd attitude to take towards life. We are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices. I never take any notice of what common people say, and I never interfere with what charming people do.
- Oscar Wilde

"We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities." - Oscar Wilde


TY

Charmless Man

Genius lasts longer than beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over educate ourselves. -- Oscar Wilde

Don't get me wrong, a hot chick is still good on the eye. A good break from books.

I'm only on page 15 of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and I already love this man. Don't get me wrong here too, not in Wilde's own homosexual way, but rather, in love with his wits.


TY