Beyond Good and Evil (Part 7)

This particular section details the nature of virtue. Whilst reading it, I thought of a few of my own epigrams, to be displayed at the bottom. Thoughts much appreciated.

214: "It is probable that we, too, still have our virtues, although in all fairness they will not be the simpleminded and four-square virtues for which we hold our grandfathers in honor—and at arm's length."

217: "Blessed are the forgetful: for they get over their stupidities too."

219: "Moral judgments and condemnations constitute the favorite revenge of the spiritually limited against those less limited—also a sort of compensation for having been ill-favored by nature—finally an opportunity for acquiring spirit and becoming refined—malice spiritualized."

220: "...anyone who has really made sacrifices knows that he wanted and got something in return..."

227: "Our honesty, we free spirits—let us see to it that it does not become out vanity, our finery and pomp, our limit, our stupidity."

228: "May I be forgiven the discovery that all moral philosophy so far has been boring...

"Ultimately they all want English morality to be proved right—because this serves humanity best, or 'the general utility,' or 'the happiness of the greatest number'—no, the happiness of England."

The following occurred to me whilst reading:

• The truth is inevitable, notwithstanding the shape of its face.
• It is your right to believe what you wish and mine to convince you otherwise.
• The one who calls the world unchanging has only glimpsed its face; even the straight ocean horizon is made of waves.
• To the World-Deniers: If the Devil is the arch tempter, and God created an entire world of temptations, where do your loyalties lie?

Adam

*Spoilers contained below*

Adam has been on my list of movies to see for a while, considering it is the only one I have heard of to focus on the subject of Asperger's Syndrome. I approached it apprehensively, of course, having no idea how the film industry would treat the disorder, but I have to say, it did an excellent job.

I knew I would like this film from the moment it referenced The Little Prince at the very beginning. There were small, cringe-worthy moments where I saw my own life reflected in Adam's: the repetitive breakfasts, the obsessions with stars, the rather on-the-nose sexual conversations. Still, it interested me more to see such clear evidence of levels of Asperger's; his outbursts and panic attacks were clearly more intense than my own, yet perhaps they were just the external views of what takes place internally for me. But I digress.

Fox Searchlight does a consistently good job at finding films that portray romance without the sap, my current favorite being (500) Days of Summer. The romance between Adam and Elizabeth felt real to me. Adam gave Elizabeth the honesty she craved, while Elizabeth reciprocated with a feeling of normalcy. I enjoyed their interactions, despite the moments that made me cringe (mostly out of recognition), though I wonder if there is a deleted montage floating around on a cutting room floor that gives us a glimpse of Adam entering his new life in California, alone for the first time.

In any case, I enjoyed Adam and would recommend it. The acting is fine, the story is compelling, and the characters are memorable. It moved me. Four stars for emotion.

A Tent!

A tent! Mis padres were extra good to me this year for my birthday, and now that I have a tent to complete the backpack-sleeping bag trio, some trips are now called for! My sights are set on Sequoia National Park and San Miguel Island. Eventually, I hope to work up further north to Yosemite and Shasta. All it takes it time and money, which (Inshallah) I shall have at the same time some day. It's strange. No matter how little time I may spend sleeping in a tent or how uncomfortably I may do so, I cannot wake up un-refreshed after a night in a tent. Could be the wild drive finally satiated. In any case, adventures await!

Beyond Good and Evil (Part 6)

I'd never figured objectivity to be a negative trait, but when one puts it into perspective (see political correctness), it certainly can, when taken to extremes, make a populace into a bunch of sniveling, hyper-sensitive toads willing to shake their webbed fingers at anyone but dare not actually make a move.

207: "The objective man is indeed a mirror: he is accustomed to submit before whatever wants to be known, without any other pleasure than that found in knowing and 'mirroring;' he waits until something comes, and then spreads himself out tenderly lest light footsteps and the quick passage of spiritlike beings should be lost on his plane and skin...

"If love and hatred are wanted from him—I mean love and hatred as God, woman, and animal understand them—he will do what he can and give what he can. But one should not be surprised if it is not much—If just here he proves inauthentic, fragile, questionable, and worm-eaten. His love is forced, his hatred artificial and rather un tour de force, a little vanity and exaggeration. After all, he is genuine only insofar as he may be objective: only in his cheerful 'totalism' he is still 'nature' and 'natural.'"


208: "Paralysis of the will: where today does one not find this cripple sitting? And odten in such finery! How seductive the finery looks! This disease enjoys the most beautiful pomp- and lie-costumes; and most of what today displays itself in the showcases, for example, as 'objectivity,''being scientific,' 'l'art pour l'art,' 'pure knowledge, free of will,' is merely dressed-up skepticism and paralysis of the will..."


212: "More and more it seems to me that the philosopher being of necessity a man of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, has always found himself, and had to find himself, in contradiction to his today: his enemy was ever the ideal of today."

Blade Runner

I've been putting off watching Blade Runner for months. Technically, it's been in my queue for over three years, but we'll say months. Why have I put it off so long? Rumors of three hours of snail-paced plot certainly factored in. Nonetheless, I vowed to view this acclaimed science fiction film before my birthday, and a mere one hour and fifty-seven minutes later, I have this to say:

Yes, the pace was slow. Yes, I found myself confused at times and unable to figure out what exactly our hero was doing, who he was chasing, and why exactly these villains were such a threat. Then, memories of Chinatown, not so subtly referenced, and all its ambiguity popped into my head. Despite all its plodding, Blade Runner did give me some valuable hints into how to make complex characters: Deckard's piano, the spider outside the window in Rachel's memory, and Sebastian's Methuselah's Syndrome prohibiting him from going into space.

Of course, let's not forget the set design. The opening vistas of Los Angeles, nine years hence, with the accompanying synthesized soundtrack, and the eerie spotlights that penetrated every corner of the character's lives prove nothing short of majestic. In short, visually, it was a treat.

Ultimately, I give it three stars, based on whether I'd be in a hurry to watch it again. The production value is great, and the soundtrack may be worth downloading, but there are other slow movies that I've found more engrossing, with characters that I cared about more, and a plot that kept me intrigued. Check it out just to say you've seen it. It may come in handy one day, should you ever find yourself at the mercy of a swarm of angry sci-fi nerds.

Beyond Good and Evil (Part 5)

Further quotes that led me to think. Damn them and their intellectualism!


186: “And incidentally: a pessimist, one who denies God and the world but comes to a stop before morality—who affirms morality and plays the flute—the laede neminem morality— what? Is that really—a pessimist?”


189: “Industrious races find it very troublesome to endure leisure; it was a masterpiece of English instinct to make the Sabbath so holy and so boring that the English began unconsciously to lust again for their work- and week-day.”


192: “Just as little as a reader today reads all of the individual words (let alone syllables) on a page—rather he picks about five words at random out of twenty and ‘guesses’ at the meaning that probably belongs to these five words—just as little do we see a tree exactly and completely with reference to leaves, twigs, color, and form; it is so very much easier for us simply to improvise some approximation of a tree. Even in the midst of the strangest experiences we still do the same: we make up the major part of the experience and can scarcely be forced not to contemplate some event as its ‘inventors.’ All this means: basically and from time immemorial we are—accustomed to lying. Or to put it more virtuously and hypocritically, in short, more pleasantly: one is much more of an artist than one knows."


193: "What we experience in dreams—assuming that we experience is often—belongs in the end just as much to the over-all economy of our soul as anything experienced 'actually': we are richer or poorer on account of it, have one need more or less, and finally are led a little by the habits of our dreams even in broad daylight and in the most cheerful moments of our wide-awake spirit."


194: "Among helpful and charitable people one almost regularly encounters that clumsy ruse which first doctors the person to be helped—as if, for example, he 'deserved' help, required just their help, and would prove to be profoundly grateful for all help, faithful and submissive. With these fancies they dispose of the needy as of possessions, being charitable and helpful people from a desire for possessions. One finds them jealous if one crosses or anticipates them when they want to help.

"Involuntarily, parents turn children into something similar to themselves—they call that 'education.' Deep in her heart, no mother doubts that the child she has borne is her property; no father contests his right to subject it to his concepts and valuations."


199:: "Inasmuch as at all times, as long as there have been human beings, there have also been herds of men (clans, communities, tribes, peoples, states, churches) and always a great many people who obeyed, compared with the small number of those commanding— considering, then, that nothing has been exercised and cultivated better and longer among men so far than obedience—it may fairly be assumed that the need for it is now so innate in the average man, as a kind of formal conscience that commands: "thou shalt unconditionally do something, unconditionally not do something else," in short, "thou shalt." This need seeks to satisfy itself and to fill its form with some content. According to its strength, impatience, and tension, it seizes upon things as a rude appetite, rather indiscriminately, and accepts whatever is shouted into its ears by someone who issues commands—parents, teachers, laws, class prejudices, public opinions."

The Muppet Movie

I'm not sure whether it's a sin to have waited this long in my life to see The Muppet Movie, or Muppets: The Beginning. Nonetheless, it delivered on its entertainment claims. Completely lighthearted and whimsical, it delivered a solid hour and thirty-five minutes of eye-winking humor, adventure, and catchy songs.

While I was amazed at how the retouching and remastering kept the movie looking fresh and modern, I was rather underwhelmed with it as a whole. The characters seemed to be constantly explaining themselves and their actions (though I loved the use of the screenplay in the actual movie), and I had a hard time tracking their adventure. Maybe I've just seen too much of Miss Piggy, but I feel like she's made much more outlandish appearances in movies than in this one, minus one memorable moment when she squares off against Mel Brooks:
In any case, the highlights for me were the cameos and the songs, though the whole movie was definitely entertaining. I give it three stars, mostly because I think I can move on to other Muppet movies, but it has plenty of its own redeeming qualities, including its most eye-popping moment:

Big Bird