Avatar

I haven't been blown off my seat in a long time in a cinema. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was probably the last time. But that was a breeze.

Avatar was a fucking hurricane.

Everything that could make a movie fantastic was there, it was epic and it was sweepingly beautiful; the love, the characters and the world of Pandora. A fable of creature and nature. Despite following what appears to be a similar formula of many past movies, this one was different; a gargantuan effort was put into it and it shows. The action builds up, the characters bond, the situation falls greater into disarray and sentiments change. [SPOILER]But I must put special emphasis on the last point of sentiments; this I think touched people most, the protagonist's gradual realisation. You see it in his eyes, feel it in his voice and it lingers in your mind...can you abandon the Na'vi tribe?[spoilerEND]

The Split

It seemed like a good idea to me to use wordpress.com as a blogging platform alongside this one - The Wired will be used primarily for internet and animation related posts.

http://neon5.wordpress.com will be a different category altogether and will take on philosophical musings (Confucianism in particular) as well as the more insightful of journal entries.

Hopefully this will reduce the peculiar posts that I occasionally type.

edit: adaemonium.blogspot.com has been changed, n5on.blogspot.com is the updated address.

The Misery of Toradora!

This parodied image made me laugh, if you've seen the opening of Toradora! you will understand why.

:(

Execution

Upon watching the end of Boston and Legal season 1, I was deeply moved by the very last scene in which a man struggles against guards seconds before being put to death. Alan Shaw who attempted to prevent the death penalty is sat down a few metres away, with a face that could only be described as aghast with horror.

He sees the darkness in people's hearts. And his visit to Texas only deepened his despair in humanity.

If you put emotions aside, the death penalty has no positive results. The criminals can either die or be locked up. There is no threat to society either way. And problematically, miscarriages of justice do happen.
It just shows. USA is the country of 'freedom and prosperity'. Yet some states in America think it's okay for the government to kill off undesirable criminals. Hang on? Did I say undesirable? Sounds similar to the eugenic policies of a certain German political party that was stamped out (mostly by America coincidentally) in 1945. Anyway I'm not really bashing America. Texans and Californians...silly silly people.

Just been playing Silent Hill 3. I think it may become a favourite, I'm getting more abrupt scares than I did with SH-The Room. For instance, when I walked into a room of headless mannequins apart from one with the head attached, I turned a corner and suddenly heard a squeak and a large thump following it. Quickly looking back, I found the previously intact mannequin beheaded with blood around the torso and the neck. A freaky moment with my hairs standing on end -yes...this is the thrill I wanted from Silent Hill!

Norinaga Motoori

Then what is good and evil in the realm of human psychology and ethics according to the Tale of Genji? Generally speaking, those who know the meaning of the sorrow of human existence, i.e., those who are in sympathy and in harmony with human sentiments, are regarded as good; and those who are not aware of the poignancy of human existence, i.e., those who are not in sympathy and not in harmony with human sentiments, are regarded as bad.

-Tusnoda, deBary and Keene, Sources of Japanese Tradition, p.533

The purpose of the Tale of Genji may be likened to the man who, loving the lotus flower, must collect and store muddy and foul water in order to plant and cultivate the flower. The impure mud of illicit love affairs described in the Tale is there not for the purpose of being admired but for the purpose of nurturing the flower of the awareness of the sorrow of the human existence. Prince Genji's conduct is like the lotus flower which is happy and fragrant but which has its roots in filthy muddy water. But the Tale does not dwell on the impurity of the water; it dwells on those who are sympathetically kind and who are aware of the sorrow of human existence, and it holds these feelings to be the basis of the good man.

-Ibid, p.534-535

Solitary Entity

I'm still realising new aspects of me I didn't notice before, aspects that I can trace so far back in time. And with these discoveries I get closer to being content with myself, knowing how I behave, knowing what I truly need. It's odd; maturity is merely growing into your own characteristic behaviour rather than developing into what you dream of being. And this is not to say that you cannot achieve your dreams, they can be achieved if you prepare them through your own behaviour.

You are a solitary entity

This is the voice in my head, 'Boy called Crow' style. I'm already talking to you from my head but people will mostly agree that there is often a dialogue of two in self contemplation. Back to the point however, this is an aspect I just discovered recently. I knew it was there but I didn't realise it was so entrenched in my personality. Perhaps it can be moved with time and experience? But presently, it is there and I'm embracing it. It has carved me into what I am.

Lonely soul.

I can trace it back all the way to my memorable childhood. My hearing loss made it difficult to understand the situation and the world to me was a playground. The boys in my neighbourhood were merely playmates, I never connected to them. I created numerous scenarios with my toys and lego, developing an appreciation for the workings of the world rather than the workings of the people around me. And now I'm doing a physics degree.
As I entered my teens, I started Warhammer 40,000. This is a tabletop game in which you'd expect to be playing with others. But in the end I just painted my models. Painted and painted. My skills rose and I was almost on par with the models in stores. After a couple of years, I drifted off Warhammer and put most of my time into gaming on my pretty new PS2.

Then one night, I was searching on google images. I came across an image of a tightly clad, android looking girl. That night was the night when I discovered Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
So anime replaced PS2.

In the end, solitary activity is a part of me. To be loved for both my solitary and outward airs...it is beyond my expectations, but at the same time, I hope.

You are you.