Kill Bill

Cover of Kill Bill - Volume Two

Kill Bill is an action/Kung Fu moive, probably one of bloodiest movies ever made. Not particularly a Kung Fu or action movie fan, I was able to enjoy it from the beginning to the end.

The actress of leading role Uma Thurman is extremely charming. She is tall and strong, yet sexy and beautiful. But not only the charm of Uma Thurman, the incredible story of revenge, the extremely exaggerated yet professionally designed Kung Fu actions (however I don't buy any of those Pai Mei's sh*t), the believable passion stretched in between two professional killers, and finally, the unparalleled performance of Uma Thurman, both on Kung Fu technique and passionate personality, all of these, made this movie very interesting to me. As matter of fact, the end of movie was ridiculously touching.

I must to mention, the artificial visual effects made the violent scenes much less disturbing.

It was after I watched the two movies of "Kill Bill" (Vol. 1 & Vol.2) that I realized that Uma Thurman also played "June" in "Henry and June", one of my favorite movies adapted from Anais Nin's book. This certainly increased my fondness to this "violent" movie.

There will be a third volume coming out in 2014. I will make sure to watch it.

Absolute Truth

Image by SAND CREATION... BUONA DOMENICA A TUTTI via FlickrThe human's addiction in pursuing absolute truth and unconditionally dependence on dogma is motivated by his (her) feeling unacceptably inadequate in coping with the complication of reality.

Understand Hatred

Image by Nick in exsiliovia Flickr

Definition from Wikipedia: Hatred (or hate) is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects.

------------------------------------------

Like "Love", "hate" is a natural feeling which we all naturally possess. So there is nothing wrong with hatred itself.

"Love" and "hate" are two sides of one coin. One can love, one can also hate.

Any kinds of man-made disasters, such as wars, religion persecutions, miserable life experiences, etc., were not caused by "hatred", or at least "hatred" alone, but ignorance, narrow mind, selfishness, power abuse, etc.

A "hateful" person is not someone who doesn't love, but someone who only "love" him/herself. Because of this reason, a hateful person consider everyone else beside him/her as enemies, not as commensals (term?), or friends. This is how the life of a hateful person is full of hatred - because he/she is living in a "dangerous" environment everyday.

A hateful person can "love", but his/her "love" is rooted on possessiveness. This type of "love" may produce some temporary "happiness", but at the end it leads a person to miserable (even endless) sufferings.

A loving person can also "hate", but his/her hate is rooted on the love of life. This type of "hate" may riskly produce some sufferings, but it also creates chances to final justice and peace.

Like love can only do good when it grows in a loving heart, hate can only do harm when it grows in a hateful person.

Artists vs. Thinkers

Image by Catfunt via Flickr
Generally speaking, being an artist all you need is TALENT. Artistic talent is well respected through most time in history and almost anywhere around the world, because usually creative art does not jeopardize the social stability and people's narrow minds. So being an artist is not much about "courage", or "difficulty", but "capability".

Being an individual thinker is quite different - one not only need TALENT (the talent of creative thinking), but also courage. This is because almost at any time in history, or in any places in this world, creative thoughts and ideas would easily intimidate political powers and upset majority people who blindly defend orthodox ideology. So, even if an individual thinker did not live in a despotic country where his/her life might end up in jail, he/she would still very likely face more or less degree of mental isolation due to their different stands from social ideology.

For this reason, I admit that while I respect artistic talent, I do admire thinkers more.

P.S. This comparison is based on general features of these two "professions" (even though I believe neither one of them should be a "profession"). From a wider perspective, any creativities - intelligent or artistic - require "courage".

Passion vs Reason

Image by Peregrino Will Reign via FlickrPassion and reason do not function contradictorily, but complementarily.

What contradicts passion is apathy; what contradicts reason is irrationalism.

Intelligence vs. Wisdom

Image by Martin Neuhof | martin-neuhof.com via Flickr

Intelligence is an ability to know;

Wisdom is an ability to be happy.

"Positive Attitude"

Image by Gracey (pogwebsite) via Flickr

Nowadays the psychological fashion of "being positive" in many cases means simply "ignoring all 'negative" facts, or at least do not mention them at all. By this definition, I do think the best role model of "positive attitude" is news media in China.

Wealth

Image via Wikipedia

The most expensive treasure on this earth is spiritual freedom. So whoever is spiritually free, whoever is the richest "plutocrat" in the world.