stonebuddha

I love the Cocteau Twins as well as Japanese & Chinese pop/rock music precisely because the lyrics don't mean anything to me. This way the song can work by establishing a mood, as opposed to an unchanging message piece. As an added bonus, I don't get burned out as fast as I do with songs in English. Besides, the lyrics of most popular songs are all the same anyway – lost love, heartache, disappointment, etc. I've heard it all a million times already.

Glad you enjoyed the video. The song is "On Your Mark", sung in Japanese (not Cantonese) by the popular duo Chage & Aska. The lyrics don’t really have anything to do with the Hong Kong images. I chose it because: 1. It's one of my favorite songs of all time 2. It's sufficiently long to enable me to show enough images (about 110 or so) to convey the feeling of what it's like being in Hong Kong 3. I don’t understand Japanese and hence the lyrics will not cause any cognitive dissonance with the images. If you're interested in the lyrics: On Your Mark lyrics

Here's a short analysis from China Economic Review. Worth a read: http://blog.chinaeconomicreview.com/index....eId=21&blogId=2

Slave - I don't think I went near Victoria Park. The scene in the video was Hong Kong park in Central.

Recently, I went on a week long vacation to Hong Kong. What's impressive was the stunning architecture – a mixture of old and new adjacent to each other. You can see modern skyscrapers that would put anything in NY to shame, right next to old apartment buildings with peeling paint & laundry hanging out the window. For me this represents the best example of private property rights – if you own the land, you can build whatever you want. In America, you'd have socialist busy bodies in zoning committees refusing to grant a building permit, unless you promise to throw in a few million to rehabilitate the surrounding neighborhood as well. Or they would declare your property to be a "historical landmark", effectively banning you from any changes. In Hong Kong, useable land is scarce due to challenging mountainous terrain. The drive to build ever taller skyscrapers represents a triumph of engineering, industry, finance, & human will. For me, the sight of a metropolitan skyline is far more impressive than any "natural" wonder. For example, the Grand Canyon is shaped by the forces of water, wind, & other geological phenomena. It maybe beautiful to behold, but there was no intelligence, no purposeful behavior behind it. In contrast, a skyscraper during its lifetime - from conception to completion and beyond, represents the life of man. It involves years of planning, labor, and cooperation. It employs thousands of people who live, work, & sometimes die in its service. Why anyone would hold "pristine nature" in higher regard than a modern metropolis is mind boggling. With that in mind, I give you my 6.5 minute video tribute to Hong Kong. The original is DVD quality and the details are stunning on a 50 inch plasma, but for download purposes I give you a much smaller version. I would recommend you right click & save to your desktop before playing. Turn down the lights, turn up the sound, it's 58MB in total…enjoy! Hong Kong Video (6.5 Minutes)

I remember back during republican revolution there was talk by Newt Gingrich about defunding the national endowment for the arts. The Hollywood left had a fit and invited Newt to Hollywood for a meeting. Alec Baldwin was there, along with the usual suspects. Sure enough, after the meeting there was no more talk of ending the NEA. Now if a republican controlled congress isn't interested in getting rid of a useless organization like the NEA, what are the chances of getting rid of social security, medicare, prescription drug bill, etc? That was when I realized that there was very little difference between republicans & democrats.

Speaking as a former muslim from Indonesia (which has the highest % of muslims in the world) - Islam is extremely sufficating. When I was about 6 or 7, I read that it is forbidden to draw pictures of animals because after all, only Allah can create such creatures. It is therefore blashphemy for us lowly humans to emulate his creation. Don't even get me started on the overly irrational fear of pork, the endless washing/praying rituals, and the fasting insanity. Being a good Christian is a cake walk compared to being a good Muslim, in terms of the amount of work necessary.

Can't we air drop porn onto their lands? Great way to recycle old mags. In a battle between the intellect & raw sexuality, sex wins every time. I'm sure we can get some enterprising magazine publishers to help out.

This is one of the reasons why Islam will fail in the long run - its edicts go against human nature. Of course like socialism, it may take civilization down & kill millions along the way before it ultimately crashes & burns.

Bernanke's most famous comment: "The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation." The Fed Cannot Fix Itself

Speaking of Bogart movies, I would also highly recommend: To Have and Have Not Lauren Bacall is just burning hot in this one. My favorite Bogart film: In a Lonely Place The writing is incredibly sharp & witty.

The current state of cloning technology is very different than that presented in THE ISLAND or THE SIXTH DAY. The most likely scenario is that human organs would be grown from a few cells taken from your own body. The organ would then grow to maturity inside a pig or other artificial surrogate body (maybe inside a vat of nutrients). Then when it comes time for you to need a transplant, the pig is killed and a perfectly healthy organ (like a liver) is extracted and inserted into you with no rejection problems. At best, the scenario presented in THE ISLAND is based on ignorance. At worst, it's fear mongering. Fear of new technology, fear of playing God (whatever the hell that means). In THE ISLAND, they come up with the ridiculous explanation - That originally organs were grown inside beings in a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS) - no consciousness whatsoever. But they found that without consciousness, without purpose, the whole organism would die. That's just crap! Remember Terri Schiavo? She was kept alive for 15 years in a PVS. Her organs functioned normally just fine. For further reading, I refer you to: http://www.reason.com/hod/rb122702.shtml

Imagine that back in the 1960's, a movie was made about a dystopian future wherein a new medical procedure has transformed society. This controversial procedure involves a process where people with imperfect eyesight undergo laser surgery to achieve 20/20 vision. Who is behind this innovation? An evil corporation full of over the top, cartoonish bad guys straight out of a bad James Bond movie. But there's a problem, only the evil rich (is there any other kind?) can afford to undergo this outpatient treatment. This has the effect of creating a dual society - those with perfect vision vs those who are forced to wear glasses. Those with perfect eyesight are able to attract a better mate, earn more money, and are generally more successful. Those with glasses are the poor, the downtrodden, the scourge of society. In comes our heroes, who were born with perfect vision. But after seeing the injustice of how those less fortunate are treated by society, they break into the corporation and destroy all the machinery. The moral of the story is that human beings cannot and should not play GOD. Now imagine a new movie with the same premise, albeit a different plot, except that it's about cloning instead of lasik. Sounds ludicrous, but that's THE ISLAND in a nutshell. The evil corporation in THE ISLAND is called "Merrick". There are several shots where a person's head obscures the corporate logo in the background so that it reads "Merck". Subtlety - thy name is not Michael Bay. So cloning technology is bad because this will allow the rich to create identical copies of themselves - ultimately to be harvested for spare parts. Let's see…clones have existed for as long as humans have been around - except we call them identical twins. Do we see a situation in the real world where siblings are kept locked up in the basement for spare parts? Of course not. There have been cases where people voluntarily donated a kidney to a dying brother or sister. Should that be outlawed? After all, they're playing GOD! Ok, so the premise is badly flawed. But is the movie any fun? Only if you like gaping plot holes, characters who act in nonsensical ways, millisecond edits, numerous low angle, slow motion, 360 degree helicopter hero shots, and stuff blowing up without rhyme nor reason. The only good thing I can say about this movie is the cinematography and set design. It looks beautiful, as are the two leads, but it's ultimately empty.

The 18th century atheist Baron D'Holbach said it best: "No religious system can be founded otherwise than upon the nature of God and of man and upon the relations they bear to each other. But in order to judge of the reality of these relations, we must have some idea of the divine nature. But everybody tells us that the essence of God is incomprehensible to man. At the same time, they do not hesitate to assign attributes to this incomprehensible god and assure us that man cannot dispense with the knowledge of this god, so impossible to conceive of. The most important thing for man is that which is the most impossible for him to comprehend. If God is incomprehensible to man, it would seem rational never to think of him at all. But religion concludes that man is criminal if he ceases for a moment to revere Him." D'Holbach concludes, that "religion is the art of occupying limited minds with that which it is impossible to conceive or to comprehend."

The lesson here is that it's fine if a few prophets can perform magic like turning water into wine or parting the oceans, as long as it's done under the supervision of a Christian god. How dare Harry perform miracles without consent! We cannot allow a free market in magic. Licensing laws need to be passed to protect the public...

The problem with the concept of "god" is that it's hopelessly muddled and self contradictory. It's like asking, "Can there be such a thing as a square circle?" One does not need to search every corner of the universe to know that it cannot exist – by definition.

This is really an issue about private property not free speech. If I want to burn a flag which I own, it's my business. What if instead of burning a flag, I choose to shred it with a knife? What if I leave skidmarks on the American flag boxer shorts I own? What if I have a flag with only 49 stars? I see a niche market forming, any Hank Reardon entrepreneur types want to start up a company selling "close but not exact replicas of US flags"? Oh I forgot, private property no longer exists in Amerika, thanks to the supreme court.

MILLENIUM ACTRESS is my favorite anime. For those who haven't seen it the following is a spoiler free mini review. I can also recommend the PARANOIA AGENT tv series made by the same director (Satoshi Kon) available on DVD now. MILLENIUM ACTRESS A documentary filmmaker & his cameraman are assigned to interview a legendary, but reclusive actress (Chiyoko) - who dropped out of the limelight 30 years ago. Now in her 70's, the actress details her life and cinematic career through the turbulent decades of early to mid 20th century Japan. Without a doubt, one of the best movies I've seen in recent memory, certainly one of the best anime ever made - rivaling anything done by Miyazaki. I actually prefer this over Miyazaki's films - as they are sometimes too cute for me. The story of MILLENIUM ACTRESS is simple but told in a visually stunning way. Every scene transitions beautifully from one to the next as the line between Chiyoko's past and the present reality of the documentary intertwines and inevitably blurs into one seamless story. This is also a great homage with nods to Kurasawa, Zatoichi, Godzilla, and other staples of Japanese cinema. At once funny, sad, and emotionally uplifting, MILLENIUM ACTRESS is a timeless tale which any fan of good movies (anime or otherwise) should not miss.

I'd like to recommend the movie BARCELONA written & directed by Whit Stillman. This is a very witty story involving a couple of American expats living in Barcelona. That's all you need to know about the plot, I don't want to ruin it for you. The reason I think people on this board would enjoy it is because this is an unabashedly pro business movie. The protagonist is a salesman who loves his job and takes great pride in what he does. There's a great speech in which he extols the virtue of the business world. Laced with witty banter & some romance sprinkled throughout, I highly recommend it. Starring Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, Mira Sorvino, & Thomas Gibson. Enjoy! Barcelona details: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0109219/

For those who are not familiar with ABRE LOS OJOS (OPEN YOUR EYES), this is the original Spanish film (also starring Penelope Cruz) which was remade into VANILLA SKY. Since I've already seen the Tom Cruise version twice before I saw this, all the mystery & surprise are gone. However I still enjoyed it. What surprised me is that VANILLA SKY is essentially a shot by shot remake which even retains most of the original dialogue. Since both films are nearly identical with good acting all around, I would have to give VANILLA the edge, as it does have superior production values. Not to say that the original looks crappy, but it's not as visually gorgeous. If you had to pick only one version to see, then go VANILLA. As for the philosophy, the point seems to be that if you can't concentrate on shaping your world (whether it's the waking or dreaming world), then you're screwed. It's like that old saying, "Heaven or hell starts from where your feet stands."

For the regulars, perhaps this topic has been done to death. But remember, not everyone checks every single thread that exist. People come & go on these boards all the time. That's the nature of it. And yes, someday soon, someone will ask about what happened to Eddie Willers again.

Instead of Atlas Shrugged the movie, let's start with something more manageable: http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer93.html

The most important thing to understand about time is that it is NOT the driving engine behind causality. Things change not because time is moving forward, but because of the interaction of molecules, atoms, electrons, etc. There is no "ultimate clock" which is ticking away & regulating the universe. Time is just a measurement no different than the gradations on a ruler. You wouldn't say that a tree is getting taller BECAUSE it covers more gradations on said ruler. Instead you would say that the tree is getting taller because it is absorbing nutrients from the ground and its internal processes are elongating its limbs. So why would you say that a person is getting older because the second hand of a clock is moving?

Here's one of the best pieces I've ever read on the subject: http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp...rder=authorlast

I have no doubt Rand inspired/influenced Rothbard, just like Adam Smith, John Locke, Aristotle, et al influenced both. But that article wasn't about Rothbard's influences, it was a direct response to Karl Polanyi’s "The Great Transformation". Should Rothbard have just written the following? : "See Ayn Rand's argument on all this. Philosophy starts and ends with her, therefore I have nothing of value to add whatsoever." Unless it was pure plagiarism, there's nothing wrong with integrating whatever one learns from whatever sources and making it into your own.