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Camp GottagrinWhere We Camp Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree... November 19 And the box office doesn't lie, sometimes...So long since last update, hope this is an entry worth all the waiting, as long as anyone IS waiting...  Blockbuster The Dark Knight (IMdb) were not supposed to be my kind of movie for its glorious success on box office, following Titanic, the most painful theatrical experience I've ever tasted, assured.
Having enjoyed 3 hrs of fast paced action, intensive story and stockpile of ethical dilemma, I must say it's a hell of entertainment. The acting of every man in this movie is unquestionable. But what goes here is more of the underlying message on the subject of justice and responsibility, rather than its style and expressive power. While this kind of movie should offer pure enjoyment, as it pretended to be, it is not true in this case. Unlike the logical and moral ambiguity and confusion a documentary may create, this movie brought clear voice of unquestionable determination, of exactly the idea of right and wrong. From the beginning till the end, Gotham is no heaven anyways, there were good men, and there were bad ones. But most of them carries a mixed nature. And that's where Joker set his eyes upon.
Talking about this new Joker, impersonated by Heath Ledger, RIP. As I said before, acting is not the theme here, although I've got tons of compliments for him, as he simply made the most scary villain of all time. Joker's vision of a hell on earth is so true and vivid: not a traditional hellish world which was habitable for inhuman beings like demons or aliens, but the inevitable conclusion of any efforts taken: a world of chaos, pure chaos, inhabitable for anyone, anything. He wants to speed up our destined journey to the final entropy, which is the real hell even demon fears. Joker showed us a perfect example of people whom despise any rules, regulations and values, whom seeks no logical goals but just "loves to see the world burn".
What fascinated me is, such people does exist, and occasionally phenomenal. Despite the damage they've made they were actually admired as heroes for not just a few times in the pathetic life span of our "civilized" society. They are cruel, smart, conscious and artistically insane, kidnapping our entire world as their personal canvas, which is prepared to be wiped out anytime for their "brand new" paintings, FYI, for which they usually don't really have a sketch beforehand. Does that ring a bell? Hitler, Mao... You'd be the judge. Unlike your basic average super villain, yet Joker's image is sharp and up close. For short, Joker in The Dark Knight makes other cartoon villains look like real jokers. He's the destructive face of human, a hell angel, the dark side of everyone.
Apparently, a creature of such power for destruction deserves a competent counterpart, and here in our case, it takes a team.
Harvey Dent, new DA of the city, the perfect image of political idealist - a modernized version Mr. Smith of Capla's congress hill - assisted by his 21st century's streetsmart. A man who has promised to give hope, to make changes, determined to carry his war with villainy and corruption onto his grave, or did he? Harvey's impulse of bringing some new air to this world could be found in everyone's early ages, and rarely be found after we've been "through it". At least, one thing he hasn't prepared: with his camera-loving charm and wit, he simply couldn't risk his image ruined. Or there might be more: he's not prepared to be misunderstood, to be prejudged, to be blame and cursed by those whom he tried best to protect, in a simplified tone, he seeks reward for his sacrifice, and that is his weakness, as well as everyone's. Harvey's weakness revealed when he discovered the impossibility of "being a decent man in an indecent time", it faded when he realized he couldn't face it. After that, just see how quickly he fell into a cynical that Joker wants, even if they do not take actions, as we've noticed, cynics are naturally Joker's helping hands. Harvey failed to fulfill his promises, to give people hope. On the contrary, he was at the brink to destroy them. His recursive journey from idealism to cynicism sounds quite familiar to anyone, two things can be concluded from the process: we, by our nature are good; and by nature, are weak. We're the sheep, we need the shepherd, although we hate to admit it.
Batman, in this movie, is the messiah.
"A grown man knows the world he lives in, and for the present, the world is Rome." I remember once Pontius Pilate said this to an ambitious young man in a great movie. People like Batman knows the world they lives in, and they know our limit: the only thing we could do is to make the best out of what we have right now. Do not seek impossible goals unless its possible. We are not suggesting you to give up your hope, in fact we just want to tell you that it is perhaps the only way to keep it. And what Batman did in this movie posed a perfect example.
To the public, Batman along with his action was never fully received. They blame him to be a hard one whom devoted to his self-righteous actions, hypocritical, selfish, ready to fulfill his goal by no respect of means. But that's just how you look in a hopeless rebel against the corruption of the world; the effortless effort to add some negative entropy to this world. As quoted from the movie:
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain."
Some people believe the world could be better, some fighting hard to prevent it from getting worse, and Batman is the type of person whom doing everything possible to slow down its process of decay. He sees the world in a dark way; he deals with it the hard way; he makes the difficult choices, not between good and bad, just like those idealists would have imagined, but between worse and worst -- a burden unbearable for average guys; and best of all, he will endure all the blames, misunderstanding, among which vicious attacks to do his tasks. A man whom sacrifice himself for his belief.
As long as the world is a dangerous place, as it has always been, we'll need someone whom has a clear mind, be vigilant to any new thoughts, movements, proposals as well as emotional impulse. While it is not a task for ordinary people, to do this, like what was said in the prequel of Dark Knight, you have to make yourself a God. Being a watchful protector is to smells any chance, seek for any way to, not turn the table, but maintain the balance. What has been done is out of no personal interest, this is pure sacrifice. Comparing to the charm of intelligent Jokers, post-moderner, cynics, anarchists, all of whom lurking in their aesthetic selfish arrogant heavenly hell, attempts to bring new things to our world, a man always trying to turn you down is surely unwelcome by anyone. But Batman choose to do this, because he knows how easily the world could be destroyed, and how important we must cherish what we already have.
A great summation of the plot is made by my companion: Truth and Goodness just don't mix. At times, one must fabricate beautiful lies so everything could go on.
"Sometimes truth is not good enough,
sometimes people deserve more, sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." But what is Goodness, anyway? IMHO, It's only about the decisions you made, and a reasonable cause, maybe. Let's take a look at the story once more. It's not only a story about how people fight the evils out there, but also how to battle them within. Every man here was fighting their own desire, making a perfect sidenote for the main theme. For Harvey, it's his image, his reputation and fame; for Lucius, it's unlimited intelligence; and lastly, for Batman, it's his retirement, to live as a normal person, Bruce Wayne, just as Russell on Marcus Aurelius. Winning or losing, efforts taken, they are all heroes. And anyone, even prison inmates, can have their chance.
Chance, chance is the most important thing to an ordinary person. That's why Joker bets on every one, assuming that people only as good as the world allowed to be. Make the rightful moral decision at rightful time is always the toughest task to fulfill, as critical as they are, anyone can be blamed for any decision they made, a fortiori a man faces them as frequently as Batman. Every decision is about losing something to gain something else, people tend to escape from decisions yet to blame those who did it for overlapping, but, like I always said:
"Someone has to do something.（总得有人做点什么。）" Batman's action might not changing the situation of Gotham, neither did he ensure our happiness, he's just offering us chances to make Gotham better. Ultimately, Batman knows the future is in our hands, not his, and for there will be a new dawn, he is always willing to be the nightwatcher. Something were told in Slavoj Zizek "The True Hollywood Left":
http://www.lacan.com/zizhollywood.htm What Bush and Batman Have in Common, by ANDREW KLAVAN on wsj.com,
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121694247343482821.html with its Chinese translation here (which is done well): http://www.douban.com/review/1463323/ May 13 ALive from the Scene I'm not entitled to claim as an earthquake survivor, am I? Back in my coastal homecity I've made several encounters with small-scale shaking and what happend this afternoon (yesturday) really doesn't surprise too much, anyhow, this could be the major cause that I'm the first one in my cell that realized the nature of such shaking. Awaken from sleeping, my experience and depressed attitude whipsered sheltering at current location would be a better choice comparing to joining the flow of the autonomous evacuation ongoing at that time. I have to admit now hesitation could get me killed if things went really nasty. Advices from officials evidenced that we would never make it out of running, just like those lost ones in the cataclysm. The confusion and total panic of the crowd took me back into the 2008 movie Cloverfield, and what was happening in the campus made me, somehow, exited. For a period I was keenly expecting military control and helicopter landing here. In the end the machine of my dream was replaced by a four-seated, electric-powered patrol vehicle of the campus security force, disappointed, if you ask. The seriousness and destructive result of the incident serves as an aftershock for me. Exactly the same feeling after Sept. 11, 2001. The bedtime (yes, I returned to our building) of this day I was praying for the rest and for those missing. I know this would be a sleepless night, even though my evaluation made myself believe that it will be all right. "If that's not enough, just let God decide everybody's fate in his mysterious way.", I'm ok with this thought. Plus, the full-scale termination of classes offered me some warmth out of fear. I don't know why but feeling the urge to make this entry to this long-abandoned space. Perhaps a celebrate for life? You can take it that way. This is me ALive from Southwest University, Chongqing, my dear readers. PS: It's a selfish move to take the earthquake as a test of her loyalty, it's bad, really bad. Would you forgive me please, Guo? July 08 Miscellaneous QuotesOne Liner Whoever isn't a socialist before the age of 20 has no heart; whoever is a socialist after the age of 20 has no brain. --Winston Churchill In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me...By that time there was no one to speak up for anyone. --Reverend Martin Niemoller They say abortion is murder. What do they think they did to that police officer? --College student Maegan Walker on anti-abortion activists who may have bombed Birmingham's New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic, killing an off-duty policeman You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad. --Aldous Huxley I came to carry out the struggle, not to kill people. Even now, and you can look at me: am I a savage person? My conscience is clear. --Former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who was responsible for the killing of at least 1 million Cambodians The greatest evil today is indifference. To know and not to act is a way of consenting to these injustices. The planet has become a very small place. What happens to other countries affects us. --Elie Wiesel We too often live as if the present were merely our means to the future. So we never live, but we hope to live. --Pascal It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by then I was too famous. --Robert Benchley I was born modest; not all over, but in spots. --Mark Twain Last-Words This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. --Western Union internal memo, 1876 The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular? --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s Who the heck wants to hear actors talk? --H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927 Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895 So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.' --Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. --Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929 Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre Everything that can be invented has been invented. --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction. --Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872 No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris. --Orville Wright April 17 ApologyDue to the constant hard work for my postgranduate entry, which is still claiming an undecided future, this website hasn't been updated for a while. Several projects for new article had been abandoned or postponed. An unidentified tale about scientist E. Rutherford has his remarkable comment about his hard-working student said that he doesn't spare enough time to think. I'm sure not every professor would agree with him since some of them just need an high-end workhorse and some students don't know how think. Anyways, this is not what I want to be. The website will be revived any time, I will keep you informed. January 03 Largest Cathedral in Reigion Under Construction, Han Cun Village, TianjinTranslated/Edit from original post on: Han Cun Village, an average Chinese rural area located in Wuqing County, Tianjin, has a more than 400-year catholic history, never been lacking of believers even in the worst times. Here village life is heavily influenced by catholic tradition, which also offered them more tolerance and helping established a more equal society comparing to other rural areas inherit the Confucian ideology. The first cathedral in Han Cun built approximately 100 yrs ago, occupying 850 square meters, was destroyed in...not war, but the Great Cultrue Revolution(figures). Later in 1988, pastor Zhang Yonshan(张永善) initiated a project considering a smaller church house, of about 715 squre meters, to be built, all by volunteer. The project was completed as planned but soon people discovered some critical flaws on the design due to the lack of fund. In the year of 2004, the building were finally declared unsafe, and was torn down in March the exact year. Soon a completely new project were launched in the hope of building a new cathedral covering an area in which more than 3,000 believers live and work, making it the regional largest. Since farmers in Tianjin have a relatively lot better condition comparing to other areas in China(No. 3 in 2005), the church find it not so difficult to get a constant finnancial injection, and the actual construction was begun no later than November of the year. However, since the donations, with an estimate of CNY 8,000,000, cannot come in once. The completion date is still unknown in mid-2005 (where the pictures were taken). Still, the church body is loosely under the jurisdiction of Tianjin diocese of Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, commonly refered as the 'official church', but consider its self-sustain nature and popularity, we can assume the pastors have gained some significant autonomies on at least church affairs. The church is also running a musical school teachs violin for free, teachers from city musical academy(officially Tianjin Conservatory of Music) comes in weekends to offer some professional instructions. The Cathedral Under Construction Temporary Place for Religion Activities Located in Pastor's Courtyard Daily Life of Han Cun Villager The Musical Classroom Plus, the MSN picture management is the worst I've ever seen. November 12 The Accumulation of RedundancyA recent report from official Chinese Xinhua News Agency shows that Chinese blog user has reached a skyrocketing 34 million and still on the rise, with the majority using it to record their mood, and minority for making a voice, include the two of mine. Also, and article with the headline of "Chinese Network Users are the Most Unrestricted in the World", has quoted a claim from a news official of PRC central government declares "Blogs has not been opened(sic) in British" and "people use Internet in Korea(not DPRK) must present their real name(sic)", side notes in same article added that British ban are due to legal process and privacy protection, though no fact were presented to support any of these claims. I've always considered such reports are preparations of consensus which is leading to a full scale use of Real-Name Registration and online surveillance, since such things does in operation. And according to some materials I've read the major project might include biotech recognize and A.I. trace and analyze, which means, neither such surveillance would cause any harm to you, nor you would aware its existence, until, of course, someone decides to do something. Negative comments often criticize that it is impossible to surveillance since there is unlimited possibility within the process of the flow of information via network, but I can prove them wrong. Just see my links on the left of this page, the close down and block up of such sites would become more often with the number of registered blog still on the rise, what kind of blog would make this happen? I can presume those are the "record your mood" type that fill the blanks. Some theory says that you must create positive and redundant informations as well as mow down unwanted informations to gain a full control of medium, they've got the point. You know, I've always thinking that the prediction of Telescreen is the only thing to make 1984 a Sci-Fi, not a historical prophecy. October 26 We are the problem, not AmericaVery few ever heard from pacifists among muslim, this article presents an example in the hope of balancing your view. Saudi Columnist: 'We Have Bred Monsters ... We Are the Problem and Not America' On November 30, 2003, Dr. Muhammad Talal Al-Rasheed, columnist for the English language daily The Saudi Gazette, wrote an article titled "Senseless Violence, Senseless Death." The article is in reaction to the murder of Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rasheed of Hail by 'Islamists' in Algeria. The following are excerpts from the article:(1) "...A few days back Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rasheed of Hail was murdered in Algeria while on a camping trip. He was 40 years old and his son, Nawaf, 13 years old, was with him. At the time of this writing, we only know that the father was killed, while the son s condition is to be verified. "It is easy to get on one s soap box and pontificate; to tell humanity that we suffer from terrorism too. That is too easy though; and perhaps too intellectually cowardly. Talal was a well-known poet in Saudi Arabia. He comes from a family that ruled Arabia long enough to be recorded in history. He was and will always be a beacon of Art, whatever that word means. "Those who killed him are those who want the word silenced. The young man left it open whether he was with this or that, but he was adamant to tell all and sundry that to be is to talk and exchange. I grieve, I must admit, and am beyond reason because of the trauma of it all, but I do maintain a semblance of reason to see where all of this is leading. "We have bred monsters. We alone are responsible for it. I have written as much before my personal tragedy and will continue to do so for as long as it takes. We are the problem and not America or the penguins of the North Pole or those who live in caves in Afghanistan. We are it, and those who cannot see this are the ones to blame. "Castrated as we are, we look to America. Why? Because they went into Iraq and made a difference. Better or worse is another point. Once America has demonstrated its willingness to do something, the moral imperative is that it should not stop at the first station along the road. The majority of us are sick and tired of this carnage and President Bush, wrong on just about everything else, is right on this one. Does he have the (courage) to finish the job? I wonder. "I don t think this will be published in the Arab News, as it should be. If not, I understand their point of view and their perpetual selectiveness. But one thing is sure, we are here to stay even if it takes giving our best to the madness of religion and the wrong of fanaticism. Nothing, but nothing, is worth the life of an innocent... may the Americans add Talal to their list of loved ones lost to the same indiscriminate madness that took 3,000 on a certain day in September." Endnote: ********************* MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) |
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