Wordpress Themes

As a matter of fact, I was inspired to write this post by an email message that my mom sent me about a month ago.

It’s a light joke. It goes something like this:

One day, a priest and a taxi driver died and was sent to the gates of heaven. After checking their names, the taxi driver was allowed to go in while the priest was dragged to hell. When the priest asked why, the angel said “Well, while you were giving sermon you made people sleep in the house of God while the taxi driver made passengers pray to God as he sped along the road.”

It’s something like that lah, of course it was phrased much better so that it appeared much funnier. Well, let’s go on with the topic.

Behind the humor, the joke clearly states that results triumph over intentions. No matter how good was the intention of the priest, he was still sent to hell because the results of his intentions were bad. In the mean time, no matter how bad was the intention of the taxi driver, putting the lives of his passenger in danger, the results of his intentions were unexpectedly good.

So is it fair to judge everything by results and not by a person’s intentions?

Actually, this issue is very much present is our society. However, as usual, not much thought has been given to it, people seem to be living happily with this issue without clarifying it.

So I’ll try to clarify this issue a little bit. Note: This post will not be about a moral answer, but a logical answer based on a moral question.

First, we must understand in this world, in this human world, almost everything is results based while in the religious context, everything is based on intentions. (Which is quite contradictory of the joke, but then again, it’s a joke.) In religion, we are taught to be kind to others, to do good deeds etc etc so that we can go to heaven. But I’m sure that most religions do not go like ‘If you don’t help 100 people, you will go to hell.” Right?

Well, this is clear proof that most religions are intentions-based. Which means that as long as your intentions are good, you will be in God’s favour.

Ok, let’s move on from religious issues as I think it’s too diversified that it’s better to consult your religious elders.

Let’s move to the worldly issues.

I’m sure that you will agree that this world is largely results-based. Insurance company set up quotas that employees have to meet, companies seek for your academic results before employing you and your classes are split according to your results. It’s all to clear that our world is results based.

Fair enough.

But wait for a second, it’s easy to see the world as results based, but what happens if we put intentions in the equation? What if, intentions exceed or fail to meet results? This is actually a deeper question that has been left in muddy waters. It’s a convoluted matter intertwined largely with morality and materialistic gain.

But then again, we’re living in a largely materialistic world. It doesn’t matter what are the intentions of the insurance worker or the student, that person still must reach his quota and the student must achieve excellent results to get employed. There’s hardly any compromise in it.

One of the few parts of the world we live in that clashes with morality is probably the justice system.

Here’s something to think about.

Let’s say there’s this person X and 5 bad murderers that somehow police can’t find enough evidence to convict them.

Scenario 1: X knows that the 5 bad murderers are murderers and he kills all of them to protect the society.

Scenario 2: X does not know that the 5 guys are murderers, he thought these 5 guys are just ordinary guys. X just wants to kill them to let their family suffer.

This is one of the many examples of when intentions clash with results.

I’m sure many would say that in Scenario 1, X should not be punished because he is doing the public a favour, safeguarding the public from these horrific murderers. But the problem is, if you use this argument, X should also be freed in scenario 2 because he has also done the society a favour.

If you say that X in scenario 2 should be jailed because he is killing unlawfully, a.k.a murdering, then X in scenario 1 should be jailed too, because he is murdering too, regardless of a good intention.

This is a big dilemma faced by the justice system today.

It seems that the best way is to prove  X’s intention, so that it can be decided if he has to be jailed or not. However, it’s dangerous to base a judgment on intentions, simply because intentions, real or fake, are hard to  prove.

Once again, the justice system is stuck.

This clash between intensions and results has caused a big clog in the justice system. Many cases are currently put on hold simply because the judge and the jury don’t know whether to base their judgment on intentions or results. It’s a never ending battle between the 2.

Naturally, you would then ask me:

“ So, after so many mumblings, what is the solution?”

And to think that you’re foolish enough to think that something thousands of people cannot solve, I can solve.

Honestly, I don’t have anything solid that can be used as a solution. I just gave you the example and concept as something for you to think about, to ponder. Maybe not think of the solution, maybe just think of the sheer complexity of the problem.

So we’re back to square one, intentions vs results.

Just like an ideology as perfect as communism (as claimed by Marxists), the ideology that everything should be based on intentions will be hit down hard by the flaws of the human species. Greed, pride, ignorance and especially untruthfulness will make the triumph of intentions impossible. So unfortunately, as capitalism triumphs in our world today, so will results. If you can’t perform, you’re out.

But then again, intentions can never be cut out from our lives totally. In fact, in my opinion it should be given more importance than before. This is simply because even if an ideology is too perfect to achieve doesn’t mean we cannot work hard to get near it right?

Thus, I cannot say that it is important to have good intentions, but I can say that it is good to have good intentions. There are something that doesn’t need to be important to be good, and we should strive to be good, rather than chasing everything that is important.

It’s good to also acknowledge the good intentions of others too. Just like if someone cooked something horrible for you, at least just say thanks and appreciate their effort right?

---------------------------------------

This article is actually kinda messy. To tell you the truth, when I started writing, I didn’t know how will it go, so I just went along with the flow, which turned out to not be a flow at all.

So yeah, pardon for the really rough article. It’s a good topic to talk about, I just lack the elaborations. The main contents are there though, it’s up to you to capture it.

Working, boring, thus a blog post using my phone.

It seems that the hot controversial topic now is the issue regarding Adam Lambert's AMA performance.

Ok, to spice things up.

What do I think about the performance? Honestly, I do think it's not appropriate at all.

Here's the interesting part; why?

First of all, we must understand what is 'appropriate' for mainstream entertainment. In fact, this post would focus more on this than Adam's performance.

What concerns me most is that current mainstream entertainment has become so hideous beyond recognition. We have simulated sex on stage watched by millions, offensive gestures famously and frequently done (Madonna is a good example) and clothes that are more suitable to be called naked than 'sexy'.

Usually, this wouldn't be much of a problem but when you push it hard, advertise it as something totally acceptable, as something almost everybody can watch, as a culture, then there would be a problem.

What the entertainment industry, or at least most of it is doing is that they're essentially changing the existing culture to something different.

How different?

Let's just put in free sex, drugs, gangsterism in. Admit it, the entertainment is clearly advocating these.

Now, some may argue that 'hey, it's the 21st century man, people have free will to do what they want!' yes, indeed people have free will, but if you read what i've written in my Free Will article, you would know that decisions can be influenced, especially easily if you keep promoting in every media possible.

This raises the question, is the culture of sex, drugs and violence any good? I think it's clear that it isn't. (I'm not saying a too consrrvative culture is any good either.) If you beg to differ, give me your reason, please make it a valid one, not the 21st century modern thinking thing again.

Now back to Adam's performance. First, we must understand that there are 3 parties in this incident. 1. Adam 2. The people 3. The music industry. It's obvious that Adam's performance is not appropriate at all. If he wants to promote the liberty of gays, he should've done it the right way. Joining gay rights organization, peaceful rally, talk with Oprah; as long as it's appropriate.

As for the music industry, they are to be blamed on allowing so many kind of inappropriate performances on TV, girl and girl, girl and boy. When they are promoting this jind of culture, they should be ready for some boy on boy action. Afterall, they brought this on themselves.

As for the people, they have every rights to be upset by that performance. It is, afterall, inappropriate. But if they're upset because of this performance but not upset about other performances done inappropriately, then they're just hypocrites, plain and simple.

Noticed that I didn't inckude gay haters? Well it's because i think they're mentally retarded and it isn't worth the time.

So yeah, hope you get my point. Sorry for typos and bad paragraphing, i'm using my phone to type this out.

Signing off, xcen.
Sent from my Sony Ericsson XPERIAT X1.

I just watched this movie and instantly I was wowed, really, truly WOWed!

Here’s my review. WARNING, THERE BE SPOLERS. PLEASE GO WATCH THE MOVIE FIRST!

First, you have to understand that this movie is 3 hours long, and I thought it was only 2 hours. The plot is simple, yet somehow it captivated me so much that I didn’t realize time flew. You can imagine that I can feel the draggyness of Titanic and Dark Knight but none was felt when I was watching Dogville.

This review is only suitable for people who have watched the whole film as I’m not going to summarize what happened in the film.

What captivated me so much is that it reveals so much about the true human nature. It tells us that all humans are selfish, uncharitable yet trying to think high of themselves, think that they are really that good. And when Grace came, it was the perfect opportunity to show how good they are.

How good they are that they are willing to accept her even though they demand that she show her innocence, demand that she work extra hours. Blame her for everything, exploit her in any way possible, simply because they are ‘good’ people who are willing to accept her.

All of them but apparently except for one, Tom. He is Grace’s main motivator and helper, apparently.

We have to understand the issue of Tom is almost an entirely different issue than the other villagers.

At the scene when Tom wanted to have sex with Grace because according to him, he had gone against everybody that he knows just to support her, it’s already clear that behind his ‘good’ actions, there are motives. This becomes clearer when he realized that Grace was right about him, he knew that he couldn’t extract anymore goodness than she could offer, by that time, we know that he’s just like any other villagers.

At the point when Grace’s father arrives, it’s not so much of symbolic meaning of the entire movie anymore, at least to me. It’s all about the pleasure of seeing those people who exploited her, raped her and betrayed her all suffer the consequences of their action. I don’t see any deep meaning there, just pure ‘dai sei’ feeling, if you get what I mean. I was literally saying like ‘Good good!! Yess!!!! Dai sei la they all!!!’ Yeah, so you get the idea.

I like the idea of using a stage for the movie. It creates an odd feeling at first, but slowly as you adjust to it, it brings more meaning to the movie. It shows that many people are aware of what’s happening, but nobody ever cares about it. Moreover, it emphasizes on the actors’, showing their colours, it’s all about the human nature in this movie. It’s definitely very fresh, and hard to pull off but the guys behind the film certainly did.

I absolutely enjoyed the acting of Nicole Kidman, the acting of the others were much better than other films too. Overall, I would say this has got to be the BEST movie FOR ME.

Here’s why.

It’s because this movie has what I’ve always seek for in a movie. A very deep meaning to the movie that can convince me enough to agree, good acting skills, captivating story, a surprising feel to the film (the gangster who was revealed to be her father WAS NOT the surprise.), an overall unique and intriguing experience.

Dogville, the best movie of all time for me. Unlike 500 Days of Summer and Moulin Rouge, Dogville is just the thing that satisfies my quench for such a great movie.

Oh yeah, suddenly I have this idea to have a post at every end of the year, providing links for the ‘Must Read’ category. It’ll be cool.

So watch for it in a month’s time. =)

What do I think about Apple?

Well to me, Apple is a joke. So is it to other tech junkies.

I mean, anything that Apples produces are restricted in terms of customizability. All it has is just a nicer Graphic User Interface, that’s all. To us tech junkies, it’s called boring.

That’s why we use Google (Android), Microsoft and Linux.

But to the other 99% of the population of earth, Apple is great. I would even recommend an iPhone to most of my (rich) friends simply because it’s idiot-proof. Literally.

So yeah, I hate Apple but still recommends it to non tech junkies. Geddit?

Signing off,
xcen.

First of all, pardon me if this post seems incomplete. I don’t really have the inspiration to write this right now but anyway, I have to write it.

Alright in this post I’ll be explaining about artistic values.

What is artistic value?

I’ll probably describe it as a unique creativity of a person in bringing out the best of a certain thing or field.

It is the unique creativity of Leonardo da Vinci that we appreciate the drawing of Mona Lisa so much, it is the unique creativity of Elton John that makes us enjoy his songs so much. Yes, these are very respectable artistic values that we appreciate very much.

However, here comes the problem. I’ll be going into the music field right now although the problem is not confined in this field only.

At least to me, songs are a form of art. In fact, it is one of the most unique art that is able to express feelings through beats and rhythms. It is so unique that sometimes, emotions can only be expressed through songs, and impossible through any other means. It doesn’t matter what kind of emotion, sadness, happiness, lust, you name it.

As much as I like to talk about how degrading are music nowadays, I'll try to keep it to a minimum. (I know you want me… You know I wantcha… Repeat it 500 times and voila, a song. I mean… SERIOUSLY?)

Instead, I’ll be talking about is it possible for a music to be artistic when the singer isn’t involved at all in writing the lyrics. As you would have already known, it is ridiculously common these days that singers do not sing their own songs. 99% of their lyrics were bought from writers and then they just sing it out, rather unemotionally.

Is the song artistic then?

First, we must identify the problem.

1. We must acknowledge that no matter how meaningful is the lyrics, it wouldn’t sound nice if the writer sings like a toad.

2. We must also acknowledge that no matter how talented is the singer vocally, it will be useless if the singer couldn’t write a single song.

Using common sense, it’s only reasonable to assume that to solve these 2 problems, all you need to do is ask the singer to sing the writer’s song. This way, you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone, right?

Well, no. When it comes to artistic values, common sense dictates nothing.

Let’s relate songs with paintings. The lyrics is like the idea a painter has, and the song is like the actual painting itself. The idea is useless without a talented painter’s hand, the painter’s hand is useless without the idea of a painting. Fairly similar.

When you are able to find someone that is able to have both of these talents, you’ll find a masterpiece. Just like how Mona Lisa is a masterpiece because of the idea AND the hands of Leonardo da Vinci.

Ok, now what happens if someone takes Leonardo’s ideas and paint the exact same Mona Lisa. Will it ever be as great as Leonardo’s? No.

Will it even be appreciated by art appreciators? They’ll probably just regard it as a copy cat.

Do you see the similarities? If a singer is just to sing what the writer writes, then the artistic value disappears into thin air.

Remember what I said about music, it is a unique art to express one’s emotions. The problem comes when you turn something artistic into something that sells. It isn’t supposed to sell. When you sell art, you are fulfilling demands of the public instead of your own expression of emotions.

So what if the writer sounds like a toad, as long as it is expressed artistically, then it will surely have an artistic value; even though nobody would buy it. But as I said, it isn’t supposed to sell.

I know this topic is open to a lot of debate since, as I said, artistic values do not base on common sense. So, I’ll just leave this topic open to more possibilities for the future.

----------------------------------------

Well, that went better than I thought, hope you enjoyed it. It’s been a long time since my last post, lol.

Signing off,
xcen.

You know just yesterday I had lots of things to write on this blog. But but but, I forgot all of them, how convenient.

I hate it when I’m just too lazy to jot down what I want to say on my phone.

I hate it even more that when something comes, and I want to jot it down, but I either don’t have my phone, or can’t use my phone. Happens all the time in church and err… In the bathroom. Yeah.

Don’t you think ‘hate’ is such an overused word?

Hmph,

Signing off,
xcen.