He aspires to accomplish most given his limitations, without lamenting their injustice.
He is surrounded by cinematic characters, eager to live up to their parts, out of courage or conformism.
Objects speak to him of others and of the civilization in which he is fortunate to have secured a part.
He writes his own dialogue (in black and white), inhabits his scenes, owning none, hopes for a plot, without expecting one.
31 March 2012
18 March 2012
"A General Theory of Love" by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon (2000)
One should be aware of one's "limbic brain"—without indulging it promiscuously. (An arbitrary attachment is more crippling than occasional solitude; it changes who one is. Because arbitrary attachments mutilate, individual freedom of movement is critical for private and social prosperity.)
Since brain plasticity declines with age, there is no second chance to become what one would like to become. The knowledge of what one would like to become is acquired by inferring one's desires and limitations from one's past choices, and deriving the implications of alternative courses of action (including altering malleable preferences).
Plato's ideals are approximations that emerge in the brain, often unconsciously. Hence, there is no paradox in the existence of a simple concept and the absence of its counterpart in practice.
The book is at its strongest when it reports empirical research.
Since brain plasticity declines with age, there is no second chance to become what one would like to become. The knowledge of what one would like to become is acquired by inferring one's desires and limitations from one's past choices, and deriving the implications of alternative courses of action (including altering malleable preferences).
Plato's ideals are approximations that emerge in the brain, often unconsciously. Hence, there is no paradox in the existence of a simple concept and the absence of its counterpart in practice.
The book is at its strongest when it reports empirical research.
Collaborators
(The National Theatre, 17 March 2012)
The play lacks the terror of uncertainty and thus lacks depth. The characters' Russianness is not integral to the play, but is accidental. Secondary characters are merely sketched, often caricatured to amuse.
The character of the protagonist is carefully developed. Improbable and unpredictable, Stalin (played by Simon Russell Beale) cannot be but inscrutable. Beale's portrayal is lighthearted enough to fit into the allegory, but also cunning enough to deceive.
The play would be improved if parts of it were set as a ballet. All scenes in Stalin's compound stay unchanged. The remaining scenes are rewritten wordless, kinetic. The most expressive scenes now are the most physical ones (e.g., the play within the play); they would accommodate the grotesque better if stripped of dialogue.
The play lacks the terror of uncertainty and thus lacks depth. The characters' Russianness is not integral to the play, but is accidental. Secondary characters are merely sketched, often caricatured to amuse.
The character of the protagonist is carefully developed. Improbable and unpredictable, Stalin (played by Simon Russell Beale) cannot be but inscrutable. Beale's portrayal is lighthearted enough to fit into the allegory, but also cunning enough to deceive.
The play would be improved if parts of it were set as a ballet. All scenes in Stalin's compound stay unchanged. The remaining scenes are rewritten wordless, kinetic. The most expressive scenes now are the most physical ones (e.g., the play within the play); they would accommodate the grotesque better if stripped of dialogue.
12 March 2012
Edith Piaf
(Ginger and Fred, 11 March 2012)
In a city's variety, there is hope, to which one tends to cling, irrationally, happily. A city may succeed even if it supplies only aesthetics; much of the rest can be imagined and realised individually.
The promise of a life is the chance---however improbable---of being called upon. This chance keeps one alert and alive. Because of the prospect of responding to this chance, one values liberty.
The greatest compliment is trust. It dresses lightly.
In a city's variety, there is hope, to which one tends to cling, irrationally, happily. A city may succeed even if it supplies only aesthetics; much of the rest can be imagined and realised individually.
The promise of a life is the chance---however improbable---of being called upon. This chance keeps one alert and alive. Because of the prospect of responding to this chance, one values liberty.
The greatest compliment is trust. It dresses lightly.
2 March 2012
Pina (2011)
Dignity is the art of accentuating the positive.
Freedom is in denying reputed constraints.
More is corrupted in translation than is lost in incomprehension.
Images of foreign lands corroborate the existence of external reality. Familiar lands, conjured up by imagination and controlled by routine, merge with the internal.
One does not dance about architecture for the same reason one does not use one's right hand to mime a story about one's left hand. Both dancing and architecture serve similar purposes. Both are elements of the extended phenotype revealing a carrier who through resistance asserts existence.
Freedom is in denying reputed constraints.
More is corrupted in translation than is lost in incomprehension.
Images of foreign lands corroborate the existence of external reality. Familiar lands, conjured up by imagination and controlled by routine, merge with the internal.
One does not dance about architecture for the same reason one does not use one's right hand to mime a story about one's left hand. Both dancing and architecture serve similar purposes. Both are elements of the extended phenotype revealing a carrier who through resistance asserts existence.
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