And this is why I love international (life) experiences. Where else do you get a chance to meet people like that? :)I took the print screen without his permission.
Thursday, 5 September 2013
Interview
And this is why I love international (life) experiences. Where else do you get a chance to meet people like that? :)I took the print screen without his permission.
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Cloud Atlas - What is an ocean but a mutlitude of drops?
Quoting:
[...]
[…] I hear my father-in-law’s response: ‘Oho, fine, Whiggish sentiments, Adam. But don’t tell me about justice! Ride to Tennessee on an ass & convince the red-necks that they are merely white-washed negroes & their negroes are black-washed Whites! Sail to the Old World, tell ‘em their imperial slaves’ rights are as inalienable as the Queen of Belgium’s! Oh, you’ll grow hoarse, poor & grey in caucuses! You’ll be spat on, shot at, lynched, pacified with medals, spurned by blackwoodsmen! Crucified! Naïve, dreaming Adam. He who would do battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him! & only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!’
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas quotes -- pages 527-529.
My recent adventures have made me quite the
philosopher, especially at night, when I hear naught but the stream grinding
boulders into pebbles through an unhurried eternity. My thoughts flow thus.
Scholars discern motions in history & formulate these motions into rules
that govern the rises & falls of civilizations. My belief runs contrary,
however. To wit: history admits no rules; only outcomes.
What
precipitates outcomes? Vicious acts & virtuous acts.
What precipitates acts? Belief.
Belief is both prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind’s mirror, the world. If we believe humanity is a ladder of tribes, a colosseum of confrontation, exploitation & bestiality, such a humanity is surely brought into being, & history's Horroxes, Boerhaaves & Gooses shall prevail. You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What of it if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage & our legacy? Why fight the “natural” (oh, weaselly word!) order of things?
Why? Because of this: – one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.
Is this the entrophy written within our nature?
If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe that leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Tortuous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president’s pen or a vainglorious general’s sword.
A life spent shaping a world I want Jackson to inherit, not one I fear Jackson shall inherit, this strikes me as a life worth the living.”
Belief is both prize & battlefield, within the mind & in the mind’s mirror, the world. If we believe humanity is a ladder of tribes, a colosseum of confrontation, exploitation & bestiality, such a humanity is surely brought into being, & history's Horroxes, Boerhaaves & Gooses shall prevail. You & I, the moneyed, the privileged, the fortunate, shall not fare so badly in this world, provided our luck holds. What of it if our consciences itch? Why undermine the dominance of our race, our gunships, our heritage & our legacy? Why fight the “natural” (oh, weaselly word!) order of things?
Why? Because of this: – one fine day, a purely predatory world shall consume itself. Yes, the devil shall take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost. In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.
Is this the entrophy written within our nature?
If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth & claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe that leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass. I am not deceived. It is the hardest of worlds to make real. Tortuous advances won over generations can be lost by a single stroke of a myopic president’s pen or a vainglorious general’s sword.
A life spent shaping a world I want Jackson to inherit, not one I fear Jackson shall inherit, this strikes me as a life worth the living.”
[…] I hear my father-in-law’s response: ‘Oho, fine, Whiggish sentiments, Adam. But don’t tell me about justice! Ride to Tennessee on an ass & convince the red-necks that they are merely white-washed negroes & their negroes are black-washed Whites! Sail to the Old World, tell ‘em their imperial slaves’ rights are as inalienable as the Queen of Belgium’s! Oh, you’ll grow hoarse, poor & grey in caucuses! You’ll be spat on, shot at, lynched, pacified with medals, spurned by blackwoodsmen! Crucified! Naïve, dreaming Adam. He who would do battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him! & only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!’
Yet what is an ocean but a multitude of
drops?
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas quotes -- pages 527-529.
Got most of the quote above from this Goodreads page.
Monday, 29 July 2013
Bollywood, Improv Comedy Mumbai at Impro2013, Berlin
You can't do everything in one evening, right? So I went to see Bollywood only on the second day and I already heard from others, what's it was going to be like. Maybe it was a mind trick, resulting from vivid imagination somewhat spoiled by the report of others, but I thought I saw some fake-ness on behalf of the Mumbai cast (the rest were trying to support them, fuck it up or both:). I don't mind, I mean, they're not that experienced yet, I guess, since it is hard to play the same show two (three*) times two nights in a row. I know it's a format, but I personally think they let themselves surprise each-other too little. That creates the fun, doesn't it?
Suggestion for improvement: mix up the people who play the roles. The bollywood "archetype" roles can be the same, just shift the people. Then, or as a prelude, mix it even more: have the old ones play young characters, have women play men, etc. You know, keep it alive.
*On the same note, I am sorry to say that the re-enactment after the second Bollywood show at the Impro Berlin's own resident theatre (when everybody arrived from the Bollywood show arrived, thus the Bollywood part 3) was just lame. I mean, was OK, but .. I've just seen it. And so have, in a way, the people from the previous night.
I wonder how many people that leaves, that were genuinely seeing it for the first time?
To be true, i just read a different review of the show on Impro2013's page and it does paint a vivid and colourful picture in my head. In retrospective (the above was written in March earlier this year), the show was quite OK, but with the fake-ness, resulting, I judge, from too little role variation, still lingers in my head.
Links: Impro Comedy Mumbai; Impro Berlin Festival; Gorillas.
Suggestion for improvement: mix up the people who play the roles. The bollywood "archetype" roles can be the same, just shift the people. Then, or as a prelude, mix it even more: have the old ones play young characters, have women play men, etc. You know, keep it alive.
*On the same note, I am sorry to say that the re-enactment after the second Bollywood show at the Impro Berlin's own resident theatre (when everybody arrived from the Bollywood show arrived, thus the Bollywood part 3) was just lame. I mean, was OK, but .. I've just seen it. And so have, in a way, the people from the previous night.
I wonder how many people that leaves, that were genuinely seeing it for the first time?
To be true, i just read a different review of the show on Impro2013's page and it does paint a vivid and colourful picture in my head. In retrospective (the above was written in March earlier this year), the show was quite OK, but with the fake-ness, resulting, I judge, from too little role variation, still lingers in my head.
Links: Impro Comedy Mumbai; Impro Berlin Festival; Gorillas.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Best university in the Land
And this is where I study. Meh, yeah, it's pretty cool. The education, not the lusciousness of the town, I mean:)
The best university in the Netherlands is based in Wageningen, say students. The National Student Survey 2013 shows that the students of Wageningen University are more satisfied with their education than students from other universities.
http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Students-Wageningen-best-Dutch-university.htm
The best university in the Netherlands is based in Wageningen, say students. The National Student Survey 2013 shows that the students of Wageningen University are more satisfied with their education than students from other universities.
http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Students-Wageningen-best-Dutch-university.htm
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Windmill Windup and Pull Competition
This one's for you, Herbie!
One more Windmill Windup, one more crazy weekend and most fun and enjoyable days you can find in a long while. (Though, to be honest, with the frisbee community, it's hard not to have fun!) Check out some crazy pics on the Windmill website, or alternatively, Rene Westenberg's photos, here.
One more Windmill Windup, one more crazy weekend and most fun and enjoyable days you can find in a long while. (Though, to be honest, with the frisbee community, it's hard not to have fun!) Check out some crazy pics on the Windmill website, or alternatively, Rene Westenberg's photos, here.
And, an attempt at posting the pull competition winner's pull just here below (video via
Monday, 3 June 2013
My favourite magazine ... Resource to be found online
From topics on climate change, youth employment and policy issues in the EU, to coursework, professors and local Green Office initiatives, Resource has it all.
It a printed and online edition of the university newspaper and to be honest, I am not sure if it is run only by students or also by paid professionals. The diversity of articles is enormous.
Now... access to resource ... anywhere, anytime? Yes, please!
No probs: just change the last (two) digits of the link below (i.e., for March's edition, type: "...0714.pdf") and voilla!
And don't mention it.
http://documents.plant.wur.nl/resource/EResource0719.pdf
It a printed and online edition of the university newspaper and to be honest, I am not sure if it is run only by students or also by paid professionals. The diversity of articles is enormous.Now... access to resource ... anywhere, anytime? Yes, please!
No probs: just change the last (two) digits of the link below (i.e., for March's edition, type: "...0714.pdf") and voilla!
And don't mention it.
http://documents.plant.wur.nl/resource/EResource0719.pdf
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Google Translate says eat flavor corpse
Er...
this is why language is more than just the sum of its parts. (As are many things in life, true. (Or rather, life itself.))
About a month ago I tried to converse in Dutch way more than I do now (I was taking a course and now ... well, lets just say May and Queensday and many, too many holidays, feestdagen have taken their toll on me).
And at one point, I wanted to wish someone a nice meal. I thought to check before I write it, since I wasn't sure about the -e. Well, you can see the result below. :)
this is why language is more than just the sum of its parts. (As are many things in life, true. (Or rather, life itself.))
About a month ago I tried to converse in Dutch way more than I do now (I was taking a course and now ... well, lets just say May and Queensday and many, too many holidays, feestdagen have taken their toll on me).
And at one point, I wanted to wish someone a nice meal. I thought to check before I write it, since I wasn't sure about the -e. Well, you can see the result below. :)
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