That's life of mid life crisis

OLD MAN   ----- YOUNG CAR

Time to switch to the loudest vroom vroom


YOUNG MAN----OLD CAR 

 

Go with the flow

By trying too hard,sometimes what we create is stilted but when we go with the flow,everything falls in place.

The flowers that I fret over,prune and fuss over never blooms but the pot that I ignore flourishes and blossoms profusely .

I've learnt never to place the water for cleaning the watercolour paint brushes in a plastic disposable cup next to my plastic cup of  dark Chinese tea. coz I gulped the wrong cup of liquid.Gross and yucks

Papa's Time Machine

I am excited by how the subgenre of sci fi steampunk has spread.

It's an amalgation of romanticised Victorian times context with mechanical inventions that defy the odds and recreate possible solutions.I'm reading Tales of steampunk in Southeast Asia that sees how local legends are given a makeover to include biogenetic engineering and etc.
Now creativity doesnt confine itself to geographical locations and the globalised mish mash of talents and creativity has seen in Shanghai the use of Japanese Bonraku style of puppetry that uses puppeteers dressed in black  manipulating near life sized puppets.Took Jun to watch one at KL Pac when it was still located at Bangsar .The puppet show had an environmentally friendly theme and at the end I was amazed at how the puppeteers manipulated a huge helicopter puppet -wow.So when I viewed the trailer on youtube of the chinese production of an adult themed puupet show based on bonraku style of life sized puppets, I wishh they would bring in such shows to enthrall the young and the not so young and the forever young at heart to view.The theme of the devastating effects of Alzeiheimer was explored in the Hong Kong movie Happiness as brilliantly acted by veteran actress Kara Hui and Maleonn in honouring his father's artistic talent created the puppet show Papa's Time Machine using steampunk as the vehicle to convey his story.The mechanical robots are expressive and imaginatively created with input from Hungarians and Germans.The music is evocative of its roots in traditional Chinese opera so globalisation works by melding the old with the new.It also brings to mind the animation by French comic artist JacquesTardi which has been made into a steampunk animated movie "April and the extraordinary world."Tardi is also  composing a graphic novel based on the memories of his father as a French prisoner of war during the second world war.
Although contexts whether political,social or historical differs,some themes are universal all over the world.It all starts from the humans emotions and identifiable with audience worldwide.

the new millenial

The young whether Europeans,Americans,Africans or  Asians are living in a globalised world in which there is no turning back the clock.They travel widely to all corners of the globe thanks to cheap flights and budget hotels.They study in foreign countries,are exposed to a wide range of cultures and are increasingly mobile in their work place or even career choice.They invent disruptive technologies that are shaking up the traditional industries from e commerce,entertainment or even finance.
        They are adventurous,brave to challenge the status quo ,some have freed themselves from traditional jobs,some have adopted a sustainable lifestyle,giving up on meat consumption and celebrate diversity.
       Our future lies in hands of the new millenials.

A Teller of Tales

“Like a child at the cinema, we get caught up in the illusion.

“Like a child at the cinema, we get caught up in the illusion. 

From this comes all of our vanity, ambition, and insecurity.

 We fall in love with the illusions we have created and develop excessive pride in our appearance, 

our possessions, and our accomplishments. 

It’s like wearing a mask and proudly thinking that the mask is really you.” 
 

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse,

 

Creative licence means that creativity is given free rein and does not need to mirror the exact reality 

on the ground but when "nationalists" authorities overseer the appropriateness of content deemed culturally appropriate,then it kills the content provider's free reign over the imagination.It prevents the arising of thought provoking issues and merely surrenders to the status quo of keeping the traditions

alive.But traditions need to evolve with the changing context and keep up with the times if it were to 

survive the onslaught of modernity.

The Japanese would be struggling with that conundrum but the transformation is already underway in how anime has allowed the creativity to blossom and even be adopted as a global phenomenon by

the young all over the world.So to "ban" the viewing of "Hema,hema can you hear me sing" is a futile exercise if the movie is released online and the young should be astute enough to discern between fiction and fact. Or  they aren't as they are captive to the soundbites and sensationalism of fake news.But still it's better to train a filter that is self critical than to set up a firewall that smacks of moral policing and 

by whose standards are we to judge who has better morals as judge not so that ye be not judged.Unless its so violently or sexually explicit,then warning on parental guidance should be issued but to allow screening of shallow stereotypes of syrupy coma inducing happily ever after movies or hair raising horror 

movies is to train the young to have an unrealistic expectation of Life that it is

entertaining and no more.No,movies should let us reflect on the flaws of our societies,rip aside the

hypocrisies behind the mask and an unexamined life is a life not

worth living.Even the Buddha exhorted come and see.

Do not believe just because someone said so. Kalama Sutta: The Buddha's Charter 

of Free Inquiry."It is proper for you, Kalamas, to doubt, to be uncertain;uncertainty has

 arisen in you about what is doubtful. Come, Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired 

by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture;

 nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards 

a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, 

Truth is in life. So take into account words of the wise, altho’  not passively —but, rather, 

through constant questioning and personal testing to identify those truths which you are able to

 demonstrate to yourself actually reduce your own stress or misery.  If you thus find something of 

value, effective in your own life, by all means, take it to heart …

Come … see for yourself …Ehipassiko!

Year of the cockerel

The cockerel has come home to roost


The Canterbury's Tale is a saucy one.

Summary: The Tale of the Nun’s Priest

A poor, elderly widow lives a simple life in a cottage with her two daughters. Her few possessions include three sows, three cows, a sheep, and some chickens. One chicken, her rooster, is named Chanticleer, which in French means “sings clearly.” True to his name, Chanticleer’s “cock-a-doodle-doo” makes him the master of all roosters. He crows the hour more accurately than any church clock. His crest is redder than fine coral, his beak is black as jet, his nails whiter than lilies, and his feathers shine like burnished gold. Understandably, such an attractive cock would have to be the Don Juan of the barnyard. Chanticleer has many hen-wives, but he loves most truly a hen named Pertelote. She is as lovely as Chanticleer is magnificent.
As Chanticleer, Pertelote, and all of Chanticleer’s ancillary hen-wives are roosting one night, Chanticleer has a terrible nightmare about an orange houndlike beast who threatens to kill him while he is in the yard. Fearless Pertelote berates him for letting a dream get the better of him. She believes the dream to be the result of some physical malady, and she promises him that she will find some purgative herbs. She urges him once more not to dread something as fleeting and illusory as a dream. In order to convince her that his dream was important, he tells the stories of men who dreamed of murder and then discovered it. His point in telling these stories is to prove to Pertelote that “Mordre will out” (3052)—murder will reveal itself—even and especially in dreams. Chanticleer cites textual examples of famous dream interpretations to further support his thesis that dreams are portentous. He then praises Pertelote’s beauty and grace, and the aroused hero and heroine make love in barnyard fashion: “He fethered Pertelote twenty tyme, / And trad hire eke as ofte, er it was pryme [he clasped Pertelote with his wings twenty times, and copulated with her as often, before it was 6 a.m.” (3177–3178).
One day in May, Chanticleer has just declared his perfect happiness when a wave of sadness passes over him. That very night, a hungry fox stalks Chanticleer and his wives, watching their every move. The next day, Chanticleer notices the fox while watching a butterfly, and the fox confronts him with dissimulating courtesy, telling the rooster not to be afraid. Chanticleer relishes the fox’s flattery of his singing. He beats his wings with pride, stands on his toes, stretches his neck, closes his eyes, and crows loudly. The fox reaches out and grabs Chanticleer by the throat, and then slinks away with him back toward the woods. No one is around to witness what has happened. Once Pertelote finds out what has happened, she burns her feathers with grief, and a great wail arises from the henhouse.
The widow and her daughters hear the screeching and spy the fox running away with the rooster. The dogs follow, and pretty soon the whole barnyard joins in the hullabaloo. Chanticleer very cleverly suggests that the fox turn and boast to his pursuers. The fox opens his mouth to do so, and Chanticleer flies out of the fox’s mouth and into a high tree. The fox tries to flatter the bird into coming down, but Chanticleer has learned his lesson. He tells the fox that flattery will work for him no more. The moral of the story, concludes the Nun’s Priest, is never to trust a flatterer.

Summary: The Epilogue to the Nun’s Priest’s Tale

The Host tells the Nun’s Priest that he would have been an excellent rooster—for if he has as much courage as he has strength, he would need more than seven hens. The Host points out the Nun’s Priest’s strong muscles, his great neck, and his large breast, and compares him to a sparrow-hawk. He merrily wishes the Nun’s Priest good luck


What does a vain cock crow about?

His comb  which is never out of sight.

          

Why is price of petrol hiked up in Malaysia?

In Reuters it was stated that oil prices  fell on rising US output,so why are prices going up in Malaysia?

12:45 am, February 01, 2017

Reuters SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Oil prices fell on Tuesday as rising U.S. drilling activity offset efforts by OPEC and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.10 per barrel at 0516 GMT, down 13 cents from their last close.

Since their January peak, Brent has lost over 5.6 percent in value.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $52.41 a barrel, down 22 cents from their previous settlement, and WTI is down almost 3 percent since its January peak.

The falls reflect a sentiment that efforts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in order to end overproduction were not big enough to offset rising U.S. drilling.

U.S. investment bank Jefferies said that while “OPEC adherence to production targets has been strong,” growth in U.S. shale oil production was undermining OPEC’s efforts to balance global oil markets by bringing production levels in line with consumption.

“Higher prices will inevitably lead to growth in U.S. production, and activity levels are already picking up,” Jefferies said.

As a result, the bank said it is “not inclined to change our Brent price forecast — $57.75 per barrel in 2017, $71.75 per barrel in 2018.”

Following months of increased drilling, U.S. oil production has risen by 6.3 percent since July last year to almost 9 million bpd, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Goldman Sachs estimates that year-on-year U.S. oil “production will rise by 290,000 bpd in 2017” if a backlog on rigs that are still to become operational is accounted for.

With the differing outlook between global oil markets and that in the United States, traders said a renewed focus on the spread between Brent and WTI futures has emerged.

The Brent premium over WTI for March delivery is currently over $2.70 per barrel, reflecting a tighter global market as OPEC’s cuts bite and a more over-supplied U.S. as drilling continues to rise.

Yet by November this year, this Brent premium is down to just over $1 a barrel.Speech

Why has Ron 95 increased by 20 cents yesterday in Malaysia?