The US governmental system has seen a progressive decline in the respect for the Legislative branch.  Seen as increasingly ineffectual, the legislature was designed as a place for laws to be written, vetted and rehashed before being signed into law by an executive.  The deliberative nature of this branch doesn't lend itself to easy narrative.  In the years since television and movies, it's no surprise that the office of the President gets a more rousing, central role to almost any and all movies.

It is, simply put, easier to relate to a single leader than a morass of conflicting impulses and agendas. 

The way the US public now behaves, frustrated with its legislature, angry at the gridlock - makes one wonder if perhaps a return to authoritarianism is not so far fetched?  Is it so hard to imagine a time when enough US citizens find the current impasse so enraging that revolution is in the winds?

Stability is an illusion.

The US has enjoyed an unprecedented quarter of a millennium.  It will be very interesting seeing what happens next.

"We are who we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut

Mirror Neurons - New York Times

Mirror Neurons - Wikipedia

Monkeys/Mirror Neurons, social behaviour - Science

Perhaps one of the most powerful learning tools that we have is mimicry.  Babies learn behaviour on contact with their parents, learning by absorbing behaviours and actions.  The cognition of the mimicry isn't a logical/conscious one, but rather quite innate and reflexive.  Mirror cells, I think, underlie much of the epiphenomenon of learning by modeling.  It's also part of the role of meditating and imagining success, thus practicing physical activities through "visualization" may also reflect this tendency/ability/aptitude.

So, it's not surprising that many have concluded, having observed this effect in themselves and in others, that examples are so critical.  Model good behaviour, and people have a template to follow. 

Vonnegut writes well, and imagines even better.  I think his quote is insightful in that the whole act of mimicry/pretend can be hazardous if what we pretend to be - or aspire to be - is flawed.  It's not so difficult to like certain aspects of a media star or a fictitious character... but emulating the parts that make them attractive may be only partially feasible... a personality is a melange and milieu of currents and countercurrents of learning, genetics and affectation.  Picking up unwanted bits may come part and parcel to admiration.

In a sense, our imaginary selves are what we aspire to be...  whose image do I want to bear?

As a Christian, that model is Christ, and the model to which I aspire.

The rainfall leaves the air cleaner, particulate matter swallowed by the raindrops, swept into the gutters and sea.  Hong Kong is hot, muggy and tired in the summer, but never does it rest.

On my way to breakfast, I stepped into a crowded subway car, full of an ocean of people.  There was no space to fall over, or even sway.  One stop away, at Admiralty, the ocean fell away, off to work, leaving a nearly empty train to Central.  I breathed a sigh of relief, relishing a single stop of space, and then stepped out into Central on the way to IFC.

Jazz was playing overhead.  Though I didn't recognize the piece, there were certain strains that reminded me of the Girl from Ipanema.  I smiled from ear to ear, and strode through the hallways like a mad fool.  It was beautiful.  I'd never heard Jazz in Central Station before; but it was grand.

I smiled all the way to the IFC, grinning like a village idiot.  I can't imagine the scene made much sense to any passer by.  Private joys and private laughter are often easy to miss or misunderstand.

Laksa, Macaroons, Art and calligraphy.  Hong Kong's art scene is more alive than I thought.  I enjoyed the gallery and the evolutions of traditional chinese painting.  Little hidden gems of renovated buildings were like gifts unwrapped.

It has been a beautiful day...

Dreams
 
We hold them tight, as if they might alight
Upon another moonbeam
 
Fleeing like wisps of vapour
Evanascent, shimmering fancies
 
We should take care not to embrace to tightly,
For we could smother them all unaware
 
That dreams grow best in sunlight,
With space to spread and flourish...
 
07.07.2011
 

I started watching Taipei Exchanges (第36個故事), and listening to the soundtrack, I thought of the classic:

The Shadow of Your Smile

One day we walked along the sand, one day in early spring
You held a piper inyourhand to mend its broken wing
Now I'll remember many a day and many a lonely mile
The echo of a piper's song, the shadow of her smile

The shadow of your smile, when you are gone
Will color all my dreams and light the dawn
Look into my eyes my love and see
All the lovely things you are to me

Our wistful little star was far too high
A teardrop kissed your lips and so did I
Now when I remember spring, all the joy that love can bring
I will be remembering the shadow of your smile

(Paul Francis Webster, Johnny Mandel)

There was once a time that I sought out sombre, pensive movies, such as the ones that Wong Kar Wai directs - ones full of 無奈感。 可是，我發現我最近沒辦法一直看。其實，人的生命已經夠痛苦了，何必滿天注意傷感的是？何必考慮難過的回憶？我小時候能看所有的可憐的故事。當時我覺得悲傷的情況很有意思，有一種藝術的精神。我不一定要以愉快的生命，可是我認爲，不用故意投入無奈的想法。

對嗎？

對吧。。。

As a note, I don't think that Taipei Exchange is a sad film - but it is pensive.

Singapore Dreaming ( 美满人生 ) is an example of hope and life in a dystopian world.  It made me really sombre, as I look at the haves and have-nots in the ultra materialistic modern Singaporean society.  Not easy to deal with...  Much of human ambition is not sustainable.

Afghanistan 2011 June - From the Economist

Does art imitate life, or life imitate art? 

Conceptually, I think that art exerts an outsized influence on our ability to conceptualize things.  Our political dialogue is often reduced to themes and catchphrases that resonate with the masses, rather than the nuanced, complex relationships that actually occur.  "Global warming?  I don't believe it."  "We have to stop global warming!"  The nuanced version of the discussion requires an understanding of what the data shows and doesn't show, as well as balancing the issues of energy intensity in our production/labour in relationship to our current standards of living, the disparity in energy use and intensity across the planet, and the fact that most people are unruly and don't follow rules.  But that discussion doesn't work in sound bites... and frankly is beyond the interest of much of the electorate to judge by the quality of most inter-locution that I've seen.

How often have you heard, "it's just like in that movie!"

Movies capture some sliver of experience and rarefy them to an essence and put them on screen.  We remember the depiction of the feeling, enjoying its narrative power, feeling its resonance in our experience - or perhaps in our hoped for experiences.  Afghanistan's endgame doesn't make for a good movie.  Not the right ending, anyway.  I suspect that people would have preferred a version where operatives went in, took out Bin-Laden, and left into the sunset in helicopters.  The issues of ongoing regional instability, the political backlash abroad, the darker implications of the US's enjoyment of assassination... these left off screen.

But the hard facts are that this isn't a movie.  Better examples are post-conquest lands during Roman occupation.  Setting up regional governments isn't easy - can be costly, and can take centuries.  We want the version that fits in a 90 minute movie block.  The birth and death of nations is not synonymous with the birth and death of a culture.  We can change a government, but changing the culture and character of a population is whole other thing.

Whether we should or should not do such a thing is another question.  But my issue with the movie-centric view of the world is that we look too easily for "simple" articulations for things that are immeasurably more complex.

Think it through, then decide.

I wish government was easier.

It may surprise some that much of the ruling elite of China are from engineering backgrounds.  Whether this is an accident of the educational system, of period, or by design, I think it has many implications for the ethos of government.  By contrast, the US is lead almost exclusively by lawyers, with a very different understanding of how things work.

http://www.economist.com/node/13517524

It's difficult to draw conclusions, but I think that, in general, engineers have to operate in an environment where they work with an understanding where certain principles are in fact, inviolable; gravity, the hardness/ductability/conduction/specific heat of a material is fixed.  Learning to work around those constants with innovative techniques is critical to engineering better solutions.  Obviously, you can come up with new materials as well.  The framework within which lawyers work is the framework of people, who operate in relation to principles of behaviour, conscience, ethic and the like, which are much more motivational.  Laws sketch out a proxy for morality, and are or are not immutable depending on one's perspective.  If you believe that laws accurately reflect truth, then good laws are fixed points of principle, a la a Constitution.

I suspect that the leadership in many countries look at laws as a means to an end, rather than a guiding principle in and of themselves.

At any rate, one's training generally leaves a rather indelible mark on one's perspective.

So -

What ethos drive:

Economists, financiers, military, medicine, entertainment, journalism... etc?

The Cleveland sky is gray; a deep gray tinged with indigo-black, clouds hanging, laden with unborn raindrops, ready to spill to the earth.  Their brethren have already poured with reckless abandon, spending their brief lives in a torrent of windy waves.  The news warns of flash flooding, and my car plays Yo-Yo Ma's renditions of Astor Piazzolla.

Argentine Tango's soul, re-interpreted in cello.  The strains are heavy with tension and meaning.  It seems an appropriate partner to the wending roads home.  

There are things I do love about Cleveland.

Tango, if I recall, is best done with a partner...  

Driving down Fairmount Rd on a sunny spring afternoon in Cleveland was actually magical.  It's a mite bit terrifying to admit this, but it's true.  65 degrees, warm sunny rays shining through powder blue skies with wisps of fluffy clouds high into the stratosphere.  The foliage was light green and perfect, without any frayed edges from ravenous insects.  The road is one of the best kept in Cleveland, free of potholes and garish signs.  On either side, fresh flowers bloom on tree, bush, and shrub - from tulips to dogwood.  Colours explode in small tufts, peeking out from between the vibrant verdant leafy branches.

If a smile doesn't light upon your face, something must be wrong with you.

The architecture only adds to the wonder, as the stone work rises stalwartly from amongst the colours and textures of spring.  Francophillic white manses and Germanic fortresses; Northern European mini-castles, and neoclassical manors - staid, timeless architecture greets you making vistas, one by one.

-------

A quick word back to Inception.

Was in a discussion today about ideas, and how dangerous they are... I think that one of the key aspects of Inception is exactly that concept - that an idea that diCaprio's character implanted was the eventual destruction of his marriage.  In the context of a more normative relationship, sometimes one partner or another feels that - "something is missing."  What is it? 

Sometimes, it's undefined and undefinable.  Sometimes, it's derived from an impression from fiction - say ... a Korean Drama?  Or a period Romance?  

Literature can be liberating - it can also carry cyanide.  Ingest and digest - integrate an idea into your identity - and if it's an idea that cannot bear fruit, it might just become an idea that imprisons you.  

Even as an idealist and very much a dreamer, it's pretty apparent to me that an unattainable idea becomes an immortal enemy to the "real", imperfect things that populate our actual life.  It can be an echo that constantly whispers off screen that "something's not quite right."  Ideas are powerful, and can also be dangerous.

They can be fire; witness revolutions around the world that fail to revitalize society, but rather merely bring chaos.  

But without ideas, progress is difficult as well... for there is no better tomorrow without the dream of one.  

It's a balance that cannot be navigated algorithmically.

Proverbs 29:18

"Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law." (NASB)

"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." (KJV)