Life through apertures at the speed of shutters.

In the hands of teenagers around me, the laptop is a RM3K digital photo album. It’s where they store all those pictures taken because them young ‘uns way of enjoying their moments is capturing and recording it to be enjoyed later and in anticipation of posting ‘em up for others like them to join in the merriment.

It’s not that the pictures need to be displayed so as to weed out the more desirable from the lesser ones. No, that narcissism starts much earlier. Thanks to the technology of digital photography, the selection is done instances after the photographs are taken. After every shot, the consensus will decide if the image is to what they always imagined they’d look. If not, they’re more than prepared to go through the rigmarole again, with their catalogue of semiotics for the necessary poses, expressions and gestures till their expectations are met. It’s kinda bizarre that people actually freeze themselves in order to be captured and frozen by fractions of seconds with the shutter; to freeze for a phenomena that would freeze you anyways. Why, in Asia they’ve even devised a sign to indicate when they’re ready to be captured -they portray the number two with their fingers to announce their readiness for the shutters. The degree of readiness is further indicated in direct proportion to the number of hands indicating the number two.

I don’t know about you, but i would have thought that with all this I would enjoy conversations with them young ‘uns more cos their stories have got pictures as well. But I find that what makes for narration and description are just captions, and the illustrations are so much of their persons that it obliterates all else around obscuring any sense of place. If there was a landmark, you couldn’t get to know much about it apart from the simple fact that they were there. If it was a picture postcard scenery you could not look further than them in in front of the lens hence obscuring the wonderous view around them. But you could probably have a hint at what food tastes like cos that gets a sapient-free picture; and it’s only because they are the prologue to images of being devoured in various states.

It seems like this will be the mode of communication with them for awhile. They’ll probably say that you can’t get to know them better than this where all is recorded and captured. Memories start early. They are setting up and pre-selecting for recollections and ruminations later. The enjoyment is not just in the now, but also set up for the later.

Everything is set up to be captured in order to be related through still life. But i’ve always felt that no one and nothing exists in the fraction of a second. Everyone and everything exists in the realm of continuous time. So how much of a person is in a photograph, except for a fleeting illusion cos a captured image cannot be much more. So are they simply just setting up illusions for others to perceive through those illusions? I only lament that I could not get to know the real them, and despair that when not being frozen in time, there might not be much of  real them behind the images.

Really saying something?

Case in point #1:

A talk by a city planner, supposedly on urban planning matters to post-sophomore architectural students, ends up being a longer than alloted monologue about how his professor from the past, whom he personally met from the airport and chauffeured around says that what he sees around our city is among the finest. Other issues raised were how other examples have been given similar accolades by seemingly qualified people whom he knew personally, some while being driven around by him as well.

Case in point #2:

An elderly and well-established local architect gives a presentation at a seminar on architectural issues related to Islamic civilisation which consists entirely of a slide show of his travels in younger days through middle eastern countries, with images of him and others looking like The Grateful Dead and all the anecdotes that came with the experience. Point consistently reminded throughout was how the younger folks in the seminar should follow his example, which we are to assume would cover the subjects pertaining to the seminar. Older folks in the audience nod smugly in agreement.

Case in point #3

A tutor displeased with his class for what he considers lackadaisical attitudes, proceeds to grill them for no less than 4 hours on improving the situation. In those 4 hours he has managed to cover the hardships of parental roles with off-springs in general, deftly segueing into their studies and eventual matrimony before being released into the real world. He highlighted the commitment of the university in giving the students the opportunity to study within their hallowed halls from out of hundreds of thousands of applicants, and the department’s relentless pursuit in extracting the necessary funds to carry out said nobility. Naturally this would follow with his own personal altruistic roles which includes the sacrifices he made braving the traffic day after day to be there at the expense of how his own flesh and blood would have to rely on other means of transportation while he stays committed to his task, as does his spouse in another part of the city.

Then comes the government’s role providing for the youth as they are the future of the nation to the extent that the nation has even paid for a foreign architect to design and foreign technology to build not just one, but two very tall buildings that we can be proud of. [Of course the foreign part was my own addition. The way he put it you'd believe we designed and built it ourselves.] I hope you can see where this is going cos i’d really like to move to another case point; but rest assured, not a peep about the actual problems the students were having with their tasks at hand which was the reason for the poor showing.

Case in point #4

A workshop for learner drivers included a seminar where the presenter goes on and on about how in developed countries similar schools would have very hi-tech facilities including furniture from world renown furniture house, Ikea [like that was a good thing].

Case in point #5

Elderly folks telling the young ‘uns about the hardships of life during wartime, the perils of foreign occupation, the misery of rationing, the lack of proper sanitation facilities, the joys of independence – was it so that them young ‘uns would appreciate the times they’re in and not take things for granted? Nope. It was so them young ‘uns will watch less TV, read more books and study much harder in school.

Case in point #6

Some politician on a TV forum where the topic was on how we should be moving forward with the times, declares out that rather than moving forward he’d like to look backward and went on and on about how things were in the past and proceeded to reminisce about it while the others in the panel, including the host, fell in as subordinates and nodded diligently till it was time for the final credits to roll.

MY POINT

I could barely fathom what was going on in all those characters minds as to how they could just go on talking about things actually irrelevant or barely contributing to the subjects at hand, if at all. One would expect that if not much was known of the subject matter then there wouldn’t be much to say; but they just went on and on, totally engrossed while digressing further and further till all that was left was to thank them for having taken the time out to talk, despite actually saying anything. The act of talking, never mind the lack of actual content.

The first case was just telling you what’s considered good by whom he considers good [like you should too] as if that was good enough. Whereas shouldn’t he be talking about what makes the good good, and the inverse for what’s bad?

The second case – I don’t know, I’m still figuring out that one.

The mystery in the third case is why the tutor would not delve into the actual causes of the students’ problems in order to help them out of it? If he already knew what that was, what could it be that warranted the 4 hour sermon of sorts?

Case in point #4 appears to be very insecure as it seems like he needs to impress the audience with what he knows [as if that is what it takes to impress them], in order to coax a sense of authority from them in order that they’ll listen to him.

Advise from the elderly in #5 should be taken for the intentions behind and never the form that they actually choose to carry it out.

Number 6 is a politician.

Simulation by Negation

Some examples in italics first. Pay particular attention to the first part of the sentence and the inconsistency of the later parts in relation to what was said in the first part.

“It’s not that I want to gossip, but do you know who she’s been seen with ever since she got those implants and the botox injections that must have been paid for by that man who dresses like a 70s pimp with the daughter who never waxes her facial hair ever since she’s been dumped by that wife-battering singer who must still be on mescaline when he was caught for bestiality with that bitch that looks Alsatian that is always licking ……”

“Of course I did it out of sincerity and expect absolutely nothing in return, but he could have at least remembered what i did and donated his kidney for me to sell when I was broke. It’s not like I was asking for anything in return.”

“You know I’m not the sort to poke my nose into other people’s business, but how much are you bringing back from work after taxes including bonuses and overtime, and what kind of rebates do you get?”

“I can’t stand people who stab others in the back like that brazen hussy who told me yesterday she’ll flatly refuse if you ever ask her to be your mistress because she knows you will ask by the way you look at her.”

“I never like to copy other people’s design but why must he use those curves cos I don’t know how to draw that form into my building.”

Isn’t it amazing how folks declare out how they are not of certain traits or behaviour, then in the same breath without batting an eye, proceed to show clear indications of that very same trait in themselves? It’s as if they know it’s wrong to be that way so they say it out loud first as if declaring it establishes that they are not like that; so when they actually do it after it’ll be okay because they know that they’re not like that -cos they just said they’re not.

It’s the impression of having an attribute or a virtue without actually having it, but by simulation of it on declaring not hosting or being capable of the adverse of said attribute or virtue.

How delusional can you be?

Well, from experience, very – cos the people i know who do it have absolutely no idea they do it. And the times I’ve pointed it out to them, they vehemently deny it. It’s probably because when they say out loud what they’re not, they are just saying the words and unwittingly picturing the concepts of those words, but the act that comes next are detached from that mental picture. The only way to elaborate this further would need using one of the examples.

Take the first one. When declaring that she doesn’t gossip, the person has an instantaneous image of others whom she’s experienced as gossipers and she decides not to be like them. As she cannot see herself, she has never seen herself doing like those whom she pictures gossiping; in other words, she can’t know what she looks like when she gossips. Which means when she pictures people gossiping, she is not included in the picture. So after declaring out loud she doesn’t gossip and picturing those who do -which does not include her-, she proceeds to do it cos she can’t see herself doing it. It was the words with pictures that stuck with her, not the concept behind it. Could this be another example of hurrying a form to understand an abstract notion instead of understanding the notion in the abstract? – the form in this case are the mental images of people gossiping and the abstract notion is what the act of gossiping is really about.

So be cautioned. Since the simulation can create such delusions, what those examples did could also easily be done by you.

In the words of the 70s philosopher Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself

For Malaysian Electric Guitar zer0es

Music has a language which is the structure with which you form the music. Technique is the mechanism you utilise for fluency in expressing that language. The sound made is the product of how you use the technique to express the language. And how you use the technique to express the language to create the music is entirely up to you. It’s not up to Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai,  nor Eric Johnson or Eric Clapton. They, as with all the other guitarists worthy of being called a guitarist, have their own ways to express themselves with the electric guitar.

It’s not about practicing to levels of proficiency till you’re a copy of them; till you could go round haughtily claiming to the denizens that you can play as fast as Malmsteen, including the pouting lips and sucked in cheeks. Or bend and shake the notes like David Gilmour complete with pursed lips and puffed up cheeks. Or tap like EVH with grinning lips and smiling cheeks. You only need bona fide guitar heroes to broaden your vocabulary of how the music can be played. Theirs is their own expression. Just as yours should be your own.

If you want others to drool when you play note for note of what others could; if you want them to cream at the flurry of notes at the same speed, or even faster; if you could make all the facial expressions and do all the moves - than all you’re looking for is to be regarded as a good mimic. You’d be no different than a well-trained simian. Or local rap artists who prance around like they’re the bizkit just because they actually believe they sound black and from the projects. Ignore the apologists who say they’re using the form and expression of others but make it their own. Yeah, that’s not mimicry. That’s thievery.

So get your own sound. Forge your own expression. Find your own sense of fashion. Get out of the local mindset that only accepts something as good only when it’s able to mimic something that is already good before. When you got the language and discovered the technique, and stored a library of how it’s done -close your eyes, silence your mind, reach down deep inside and let it flow using the language to give it form and the technique to give it beauty. And only then would it be interesting to lend you an ear.

But if you’re merely playing like someone else with roving eyes to see whose watching and a grinning sneer that says, “Ain’t but a thang”, then join the queue at the next Idol line.

A’s are for Attainment not Achievement

I don’t much mind the initial objectives of the local education curriculum. It does seem to have the right intentions -primarily that of dispensing fundamental knowledge through the necessary base skills required to acquire them. But you’d need to look only in certain places to be of like opinion -and that would be within the given textbooks that are prerequisites for every learning year. Of course you’d have to charitably overlook the occasional errors in spelling and paging, the simplistic anecdotes and analogies, the choice of graphics, and the nationalistic cover with the sensationalist fonts. Past that and you’d find contents geared to enable the understanding of the fundamentals and mechanisms of what you are learning about. For instance, they attempt to convey the concept behind division through examples of sharing in daily life rather than simply laying out division tables to be memorised. History is laid out as sombre true stories rather than simply putting dates to names, places and events to be remembered; which is more wont of the supplementary or interactive books that seems to be preferred by the teaching protagonists.

In the hands of the latter, the subjects are reduced to notes and data to be recited, remembered and regurgitated at exams. In the event of those 3 r’s failing when the time comes, there’s also the actuarial science of question spotting based on the empirical analysis of cycles and probabilities.

To further ensure those 3 r’s are properly instilled, there’s always tuition with more exclusive notes and tutors with better answering tips and techniques or higher q-spotting acumen. These are centres or personnel with reputations forged by the ratio of A’s to students over the years. Of course, tuitions are also indispensable for those requiring remembering by repetition. If you are not confident of your memory retention faculties, fret not, there are centres that chest-thumpingly boast to being able to boost it for you solely for exams.

What are exams then? Assessments of one’s comprehension, absorption and assimilation of the knowledge required to facilitate or enhance one’s role/survival for a life of fate unknown? Or more of a challenge to overcome where victory paves the way for a life of determinate goals; where casualties are doomed to forever fall to the wayside. With the kind of accolades and the amount of adulation and fawning, plus national media coverage, the latter seems more like it.

But isn’t it merely a simulacrum of what the true objective should actually be? No question it’s about the hardworking, but more for toiling to cover as much as possible in order to remember as hard as possible rather than to understand to the point of applicability. Intelligence? Isn’t it more to do with memory retention, which folks confuse with actual intelligence?

So maybe we should remove the false accolades and adulation which upholds such illusions so that future generations would not be fooled by it and may actually strive with due diligence for actual intelligence.

Could we?

Most likely not. They’d be up in arms and throw fits and tantrums over even the suggestion of removing such incentives and rewards. Don’t even think about it. No way would the parents/guardians ever allow such a travesty to even be considered. After all, that’s the route they came through.

Desperately Seeking Susan Storm

To anyone out there who’s a fan of the Fantastic Four even before it hit the big screen, like it has in recent years – why did it have to be Jessica Alba to play Susan Storm?

In the comics Susan was a Caucasian blonde. [I was going to include 'buxom' but i can't be sure if that's from actual childhood memory or pubescent fantasy.] Jessica Alba to my perception through the media, is not in her natural state Caucasian nor is she a blonde, and hardly what i would call buxom [if memory serves me the way i'd like it to]. So why her?

Does she also not look ridiculous all dark-skinned but with hair so obviously blonde out of a bottle? Or did her skin tan as she got her powers? I wouldn’t know coz when i saw her on the promotionals, i just got so put off from wanting to watch the movies. And never in the comics was there any suggestion that her and Johnny were only half siblings. Despite being The Human Torch, Johnny Storm might not be the brightest spark in the team but surely he’s smart enough to know that with Alba’s skin tone Susan could not be his biological sister. Unless it’s been an accepted fact that one of the Storms procreated interracially.

But no no, no – no such nonsense was even suggested in the comics. So why the Alba chick? To appease the Hispanic market? To allow for tanned or naturally darker skinned girls with dyed blonde hair to identify with the characters more? Or was it some hair dye company that wanted to get their product across to dark skinned lasses that blonde could be the way to look coz it says so in the movies? Or was it simply the sponsorers who would only go away quietly if they used Alba coz she seems to be popular in some way unfathomable to me?

The only reason i’m ranting about it this late is coz i just had to watch the Rise of the Silver Surfer. I’ve known all along that when the right technology came along, SS would be the coolest to bring to the big screen. And sure enough, it was. As for JA, i’m only glad i did not watch it in the cinemas coz then i would not have been able to fast forward whenever she came on. But those scenes where they had to have Susan with the Silver Surfer, she was so wrong for the part. It was just all wrong. Only right thing would probably be that she’s the one with the power of invisibility, of which she should have used more throughout the movie.