July 21, 2010
Inception
Is this a dream or is this reality? The internets have already started concocting and trying to explain the movie Inception. On one side, you have people claiming that the ending is just a dream while on the other, the ending is real. There’s a theory out there that the whole thing is just a dream. Nolan’s dream. Cobb and all the characters are related to different movie production roles and the movie itself shows how movies are like dreams. Yet is that important? Does it matter whether it’s a dream or not?
At the end of the film, Cobb finds catharsis when he finally sees the faces of his children. Cobb finds peace whether the film is just a dream or reality. That begs the question, would one rather live happily in a dream or live in reality? Similar to another film I’ve seen earlier this year, Shutter Island. Shutter Island asks the question – would you rather die as a (dream) hero or live as a (reality) monster? What if the world I live in now is just a dream. Maybe an idea planted in my head.
I lean towards Inception’s ending being real. One, it’s simpler to understand that the end was reality. Second, Nolan might be wanting to make people doubt the reality of the ending by planting an idea that the whole film might be a dream. That makes the whole movie the inception itself. The movie, the idea of a dream, planted in our minds like a seed and it steadily grows. Look at the number of people (including me) who have already been enslaved by reading theories and trying to think what actually happened. The seed has been planted. Look at how it grows.
This life can be a dream or reality but same with the movie, does it matter? I don’t believe so. I enjoy every exciting happy moment and struggle through every painful and sorrowful events. I love my life. What if love is a dream? Does that matter? No. The only thing that matters is that I’m happy. Who cares whether it’s real or fake. I live my life growing up and living it.
Let’s take it further to metaphysics and religion. Does it matter there is an afterlife? How about purpose? What if life is meaningless? In my world view, it doesn’t matter. I still enjoy and hate living equally whether or not I live without purpose.
July 8, 2010
Purrfect
Is there such a thing as perfection? A perfect score? A perfect person?
Everyone strives for perfection. Everyone wants things to be perfect. People will always aim for that perfection but end up depressed. These people will be blinded by unattainable greed and be striving for the really impossible. Isn’t that a pessimistic thought? Certainly not, only fools dream they can achieve the impossible and when these idiots fail, they become miserable. Real optimists would strive for difficult but reasonable goals.
Am I perfect? Certainly not. There are things I want to improve in myself and slowly I’m moving towards my goal yet I feel great cause I’m doing everything I can to be everything I can. Is Aiza, the girl I love, perfect? Certainly not. She certainly has flaws but everything about her brings me to new levels of happiness and energy. As a couple, are we perfect?
A diamond is a piece of carbon. A really hard piece of carbon that looks like a crystalline rock when you get it from the earth. It takes a jeweler to actually cut and shape that piece of rock to become a pricey diamond. So our relationship is similar to this. We’re still a bit rough on the edges, flawed and stuff needs to be cut. Yet day by day, we sparkle and grow in value exponentially. Will we be the perfect diamond? Nope but our value will be so high and love so strong we last a lifetime. Now that’s perfection.
July 2, 2010
FML: How stupid can you get?
It was Sunday night. I was going home after attending my cousin’s wedding reception. Walking up to the car, I started searching for my keys in the pocket. I brought along a lot of other junk like an MP3 player and earphones which bulked up my pockets a lot. I also had my wallet, a small notebook, my mobile phone and a handkerchief. Well my keys was with the pocket with the phone so I placed my phone on the roof of the car as I searched for my keys. I found my keys, opened the door. I took of my suit I was wearing cause it was unbelievably hot in the parking lot. After getting comfy, I drove off home. I forgot my phone on the roof. FML.
Amazingly, my phone clung on after driving to several interchanges and several turns. I think I noticed something drop off to the side of the car much later but didn’t really think it was anything. I only realized I left my phone on the roof when I was just a couple of minutes away from home and turning back would take another half hour. I found out about the travels of my roof clinging phone on the next day when my girl friend told me someone texted her that he had the phone and I had to go to his area (slums) to pick it up. No way am I going to the slums. I might pay more than the phone is worth.
This is what happens when you’re stupid. How stupider can I get?
July 1, 2010
Pushing The Way Forward
We live in a toxic, harsh and difficult world. Epidemics hit several parts of the globe and millions of people get infected by various diseases every single day. There are several millions of unemployed people in each country and finding any decent form of employment is getting harder everyday. Marraiges get dissolved where only about a third of all marraiges last through their second year.
Yet despite the difficulty, we will succeed. Would you think we would survive as a race if we just lie down and waited to die? We will overcome the problems of the world because we are stronger and smarter. We may not know when we might be fired from our jobs or when we might get infected with a life ending disease but we can control how we react and handle these things.
We could not have reached the moon if we thought it was not possible. We could not have made towers which touched the sky. We could not have machines that can compute several thousands of equations in seconds. We encountered a problem and we overcame it…
Invictus by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
June 3, 2010
Relationships that Last
What makes a relationship really last? People say it’s giving in to each others needs and wants. I guess that’s correct. It isn’t a relationship if it’s one sided. Some others say it’s natural compatibility, you got to like similar things but also have some differences that match. I think I got lucky with my first and my current relationships that I found someone that had a really good match with me and my second relationship delivered the shock that trying to keep an incompatible relationship is stressful. I think trust comes in as the third. Even if you’re both compatible and give each other what they want, it only takes 1 small doubt to break the bridge. When that bridge is broken, it might take years to rebuild it again. Finally, couples definitely need to communicate. Everyone has increasing wants and there might be some little thing that both sides don’t agree on. Talking to each other solves problems. Even if there’s a want, an incompatibility or a trust issue, talking opens the gateway to understanding.
