A gift of Naipaul from Books Actually

I discovered my favorite Singapore bookshop while walking around the Amoy Street area during the lunchtime break of a course I attended in mid april this year. The shop is question is one of a row of restored shop houses along Ann Siang Road, up and then halfway down a hill from Amoy Street.
Books Actually is a little piece of heaven for storybook lovers. The decor, smell and selection seem just right, and one feels compelled to purchase something because of the feeling that it would be a great crime to leave without a new book, casually underarm, protected by a simple paper bag.

You can find them at 5, Ann Siang Road. (Wikipedia has an entry on Ann Siang Hill here)


View Books Actually, 5 Ann Siang Road in a larger map

And purchase I did. A collection of snippets of VS Naipaul's writing. Taking prominent place in the collection were the prologue and first chapter of "A House for Mr Biswas". This was a book I first read as a literature text in Secondary school, and later again as an adult in my early 30s. I thought I had gained so much more from my second reading, but now, revisiting the book with the widened eyes and narrowed heart of a 47 year old, I find myself astounded by the depth and beauty of Naipaul's storytelling. Perhaps some of my own story had somehow gotten mixed up into the pages, disguising itself and possessing the seemingly simple sentence structures Naipaul employed in his story of a most unheroic hero, an everyman who was as unremarkable as can be, yet special, unique and admirable in his clumsy striving for his place in the world. It was painful to read. And beautiful too.

God sends me important lessons when my life most calls for them.

From the Wookipedia's Palpatine archive:

Emperor: "You want this, don't you? The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it! Give into your anger! With each passing moment, you make yourself more my servant."

Luke: "No."

Emperor: "It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now...mine."

Sarah Palin as Anne Elk?

While doing research for the book I'm working on, I came across a great quote from Mahatma Gandhi that I wanted to use for my Gmail account's signature block.

I was then faced with the matter of giving up the current quote I'm using - an obscure bit of dialog from Monty Python's Anne Elk (Theory of Brontosauruses) Sketch.

After a good amount of deliberation, I've found myself itching to watch the sketch and went over to YouTube and ran a search. I came across this video......

.....and what caught my eye was the note the uploader posted. The note asserted that the way Sarah Palin performed in her television interviews while on the campaign trail were remarkably similar to John Cleese's Anne Elk character. I'm extremely disappointed that I did not make the link myself, but this is just so true.

To quote Anne Elk herself, "How very true, my word yes".

A closing thought - could Michael Palin somehow be related to Sarah?

Brilliant Film: Okuribito (Departures)

What a brilliant film! Slow moving and zen like - but full of thoughtfulness, grace, ceremony and respect. Most of the dialog in the film is spoken in soft tones, the scenes bathed in gentle light, and the cello playing in mellow tones.

The way in which Daigo (the apprentice) and his boss/master approach the dead - gently massaging, kneading, using a careful eye to apply make-up and a respectful technique to cleanse and dress their "client" in japanese costume finery, all in full view of the mourning family members - makes one think of a beautiful and heartfelt performance. It is a solo performance, requiring technical skill and a heart for the art. It is a performance that coaxes beauty from what society attaches mostly negative feelings to.

The english title of the film is Departures (link to website here). And there are many of these in the film that are not just about death:

• The departure of Daigo's cherished dream of being a professional cellist in an orchestra.
• The departure of Daigo and Mika to the former's rural hometown from the big city.
• The departure from the idea of a "normal" and socially acceptable professional life
• Told in flashback, the departure of his father when Daigo was 6
• The departure of Mika when she is not able to accept her husband's chosen profession.

There are departures from places, ideas, relationships ...... and physical bodies.

But each departure is accompanied by an arrival. It is impossible for it to be not so. To say more would give too much of the plot away, and I've already said too much as it is.

Departure is associated with loss and/or abandonment. Even if one loses the body, the spirit still lives on. Perhaps one does not lose his body. He gives it up, leaves it behind. But still has what's important with him. Daigo no longer has his orchestra job and his expensive cello, but he still has his playing skill and the child sized cello of his youth - and play it he does, in the home he grew up in, in his office at a company christmas party of 3, and in the open fields under the open sky with the mountains in the background. Performances that bring beauty forth from the substance (wood and string) and essence (the composer's creation, the performer's will)

Life and Death. Passages. Gatekeepers. Substance and Essence. Body and Spirit. All nicely captured in the role of the Okuribito - "a person who sees off".

Director Yojiro Takita has done a superlative job, melding many different elements - visual, characterization, script, music, the rural backdrop into a beautiful meditation, a rounded and thought provoking performance that leaves one feeling and thinking well after the ending credits fade off the screen. The soundtrack should make excellent listening on an overcast day.

Today, Easter Sunday 2009, marks the end of Lent. There's an excellent Op-Ed piece in the NYT by James Carroll, in which he writes about Lent. It's worth a read, and this section from the editorial rolled nicely into my thoughts that were still very tangled with the film:

The season begins with the word “Remember,” uttered as a blot of ashes is smudged on the forehead. Remembering the transience of life — ashes to ashes, dust to dust — remains the essence of the observance.

Substance.
Essence.
The Creation of Beauty.

Our lives are not "Things". Our lives are "Performances" to be experienced. With the technical & physical aspects, and just as importantly, the invisible spark of creation, imagination, passion and will.

In Anthony DeMello's book, "the Song of the Bird", he speaks of creation as a dance, performed by God. You cannot keep a dance in a bottle. It does not exist apart from the dancer, but it is not the dancer. It is to be experienced, not owned or bought or kept. It is to be Remembered.

A Creation of Beauty.
Essence.
Substance.

Giant Coconut Crabs

I have this fascination for giant aquatic creatures.

So imagine my delight when I came across this picture of a coconut crab. It's taken from a the hoax-slayer site, which makes a judgement that the picture/story is real. Comments at the end of the page from people who have seen and eaten the crabs corroborate the story.

Do a google image search for "coconut crab" and you'll see more photos of this large beastie - one of which is clinging to the trunk of a man, and another to the trunk of a tree. Or you can just click here for the google image page.

There's a good amount of detail in this wikipedia entry.

After giant squids (see this post) and giant crabs, what's next on the menu?

Edward Weston

I was reminded of an earlier post where I mentioned a possible coming holiday to Monterey and surrounds when I read a recent article on the New York Times' website:

In Point Lobos, Where Edward Weston Saw the World Anew

Edward Weston and Ansel Adams left us photographs of the Californian landscape that are so stunningly beautiful and awe inspiring that they are the stuff of legend.

All the more now do I feel the urge to spend a good couple of weeks enjoying long walks along the coast near Monterey and on the trails in the heights of Yosemite. Mountains and Sea. Gunong dan Laut.

At the Bishan Library this afternoon, I came across a DVD for loan - a PBS documentary on Ansel Adams. This was mere hours after I'd read the Weston piece in NYT, so I happily borrowed it without hesitation. In the small print on the back cover was notice that part of the funds that made the film possible had been donated by Hewlett Packard. I can't recall if it was Bill or Dave who was an avid wildlife photographer - I suspect it was Dave Packard (his daughters were behind his donations that made the Monterey Bay Aquarium possible - the idea just seems to fit).

"The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh."

Edward Weston

Comic Book Resoures Feature - Re-Reading the Watchmen

Came across a really enjoyable series on the Comic Book Resources Site.

A couple of comic fans (Atom! and Carr who are comic shop owners in real life) discuss each of the 12 issues of the Watchmen. It's really enjoyable to read. Recommended.

Here's the page with links for all 12 parts of the discussion.