I’m going to cross that River to the Jersey side.
All photos by the author
“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this, he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.”
“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”
These are two tag lines from Christopher Nolan’s excellent Bio-pic, Oppenheimer, which I saw yesterday. Perhaps the best and most important film made in the last 100 years That is to say, ever! Must see in IMAX! Highest quality, both for sound and visuals. It was like being on acid without the acid. The acting was superb. Cillian Murphy was excellent as Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr. gave perhaps the best performance of his career. One should never forget two things. There are warring nations on Earth right now that have nuclear weapons capable of destroying the world and wiping out civilization. And the other thing is The United States is the only country in the world to drop an atomic bomb on another country. The targets were cities populated by civilians. It is debatable whether this heinous act saved lives or ended the war. But one thing for sure is that tens of thousands of people were instantaneously incinerated and thousands more died of radiation poisoning. This is a heavy burden to carry as an American and as Oppenheimer himself said, we have blood on our hands. Go see this movie!
Taiwan was Japan’s first colony. It occupied Taiwan for 50 years until it had to hand it back to China after WWII. Then it broke away from China in 1949 and declared itself an independent republic. China has never recognized its independence and still considers Taiwan to be part of China today. The US has a special relationship with Taiwan. From 1954 to 1979, the United States was a partner with Taiwan in a mutual defense treaty. The United States remains one of the main supporters of Taiwan and, has continued selling arms and providing military training to the Armed Forces. This situation continues to be an issue for the People’s Republic of China, which considers US involvement disruptive to the stability of the region.
Who packed your bag?
I packed my bag
Where was your uncle’s sister born?
Have you ever met an Arab?
-James Fenton
Any electronics in your bag?
Yes.
Take it out.
Take that phone holder off.
Take your shoes off.
I don’t have to take my shoes off.
Why?
I’m 75.
You’re 75?
Yes.
Ok. Step aside through here.
Any metal on you sir?
Yes, on my hat.
Step through the scanner.
Ding ding ding…
Rescan him.
Why do you have to rescan me?
Rescan him.
Any soreness here?
No.
OK. I’m going to pat you down.
Pat pat patty pat.
Thank you.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
-Ghost Dog
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is the fourth Murakami novel that I have read. The others are Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, and Hardboiled-Wonderland and the End of the World. I would be loath to say which one I liked the best. Probably Norwegian Wood is the greatest departure from the other three, but they all stand on their own and are all equally excellent in my view.
I love the way Murakami blends magical realism and naturalism into his novels and the way he sprinkles his writing with cultural references (mostly Western).
Wind-Up Bird is the chronicle of a man who first loses his cat and then loses his wife. It is partly a detective story as the main character searches for his cat and his missing wife. Along the way, we meet some fascinating characters and find ourselves at the bottom of a deep dark well contemplating the mysteries of the universe.
Some of the themes Murakami explores are Identity and journey to the self, polar opposites, the forgotten war, parallel universes, past and present; marriage and love, alienation, aloneness, and isolation; loyalty and trust, subconscious, and reality, and finally the power of fate.
This is a big long book and perhaps a little rambling, and at times incoherent, but it is pure Murakami and if you have a taste for his writing it is a joy to read.
For want of a bird
The sky was lost
For want of a nail
A shoe was lost
For want of a life
A knife was lost
For want of a toy
A child was lost
-Ghost Dog
Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never ending. Matters of great concern should be taken lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously. Among one’s affairs there should not be more than two or three matters of what one could call great concern.
-The Hagakure
Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has yet to come. Look deeply at life as it is in the very here and now. The wise person knows how to live in mindfulness day and night.
-Shakyamuni Buddha
Everything in this world is but a marionette show.
Brace yourselves for the monstrous marionettes you are about to see.
-Ubu Roi
Truth and illusion George. You don’t know the difference.
No, but we must carry on as though we do.
-Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Yab-Yum. Mother-father. Yin-yang. The mystical union of the active force (masculine) with wisdom (prajna or the feminine force). A fusion that is necessary to overcome the false duality of appearances in the striving toward spiritual enlightenment.
Ghost Dog 