Arts&Media

Wonder Wednesday

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How could this not be an Everything, Everywhere, All at Once appreciation post?   Whatever meaning the Oscars may or may not have, it won big, and deservedly so.  It is an astounding, excellent, inventive, powerful, heartfelt, inspiring, insightful, transformational, and a storytelling tour de force.  A real display of passion by all those involved, that, with what might be considered modest means in today’s movie-making complex, shows what’s possible when authenticity is unleashed and aligned.  10000% fabulous.

And while it’s only gotten one philosophy highlight here so far, there will be more to come once I can put it into words…

Until then, if you haven’t seen it, I highly, highly, recommend it, and then watching it again, and again, and again. I certainly have.

— fanart poster by Daria Kalashnikova

Philosophy Tuesday

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“I suppose it’s an invitation.  Won’t you be my neighbour?  It’s an invitation for somebody to be close to you.  You know I think everybody longs to be loved, and longs to know that he or she is lovable.  And consequently, the greatest thing we can do is to help somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.”

— Fred (aka Mr) Rogers

(Pairs wonderfully with this quote also from Mr Rogers and the follow-up post.  And it’s always worth a revisit to his testimony before congress.)

Philosophy Tuesday

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“It emphasizes the fact that you can’t rely on the applause of the wider world to tell you whether you’ve lived well or not. Public acclaim may be nice to have, but ultimately, it’s not worth very much. It’s treacherous, fickle, it’s usually wrong… you’ve got to take a lonely private view of what is success and failure for you. I think that is what it’s saying. You’ve got to try and find a meaning that’s within yourself…”

— Kazuo Ishiguro on NPR

(I love this, not only for the bit about the creative arts, but that creation and art the most personal to us, the art of living our everyday life.  Who, in that context, is our audience?  Who are we seeking applause from? What actions have a big ‘in order to‘ in them to seek that applause? What default and inherited contexts are we living in, what unquestioned ‘truths’ about what makes for a good life for us?  Where are we being passive and seeking external validation?  We can examine all of these and set any aside that do not enliven and empower ourselves and those around us, and seek our meaning and answers from within, rather than from without.)

Philosophy Tuesday

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Slowly, my practice changed.

I kissed the hem of each new day

and breathed, as gently

as you press a pear to see

if it is ripe, as slowly

as you separate your hand

from the back of a sleeping child.

And I praised this life,

a late-March garden

where new growth stands

on the bones of the old.

… from the poem Barbarous World by Ginny Hoyle

Architecture Monday

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A double bandstand, one facing east at ground level looking onto the city, one facing west and elevated looking onto the local volcano.  Both nestled within in a simple barrel-vault made of rough and vibrant local stone.  A space for community, for music learning and performance, and for theatre and gatherings.  A gem of a design.

Kithara Music Kiosk by TO Architects

Wonder Wednesday

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These are mesmerizing x-ray-like illustrations of the major train stations in Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Tokyo central)… all the more incredible as they were done in ballpoint pen!

It also calls to mind how amazing the those rail stations are, with multiple services and intricate schedules (as illustrated here just a few weeks ago) and how they’ve interwoven themselves with the urban fabric as they’ve grown, and in doing so integrated themselves into the city, becoming mini cities in their own right.

Wild, wonderful work by Tomoyuki Tanaka

Wonder Wednesday

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This music might not be everyone’s cup of tea (and not sure if if other of its type would entice me either) but I have really dug this track for years!

(It’s certainly got the complex layering that I love so much in music, especially where each layer is brought in one at a time, then played in various overlapping ways, then stripped back down to the simplest bit at the tail end of the song…)