(no subject)
I am the most paranoid person I know, and this could be because either I am in fact very paranoid and inherited it from my father, or I don't know many people. Both cases are plausible.
It doesn't help to read accounts of Japanese & Chinese military history or watch movies with twisted plots or CIA agents, which I've been doing a lot recently.
I watched Kurosawa's Ran a few weeks ago. It's really brilliant. It's possible Zhang Yimou got his color technique from Kurosawa (Ran & Z's stuff are very similar), which is pretty amazing because Kurosawa used to shoot in black & white. I wonder if they both got it from someone else. Anyway, the plot is based on King Lear except with sons instead of daughters and it's full of betrayal and warfare, just lovely. I mean, not lovely in a pretty mishmash sort of way, lovely in the way you end up kind of open-mouthed and leaning forward in your seat and stamping your feet in anger and affirmation. but warning: don't watch this if you're depressed-- King Lear isn't a tragedy for nothing.
we did a little bit with finite geometry in my discrete math class. this is really fun stuff. it's basically rings (algebraic) that you can draw (geometric) in a Euclidean plane, which ends up breaking a lot of rules valid in Euclidean geometry. Like, two parallel lines don't look parallel, or a unique point ends up appearing several times in a construction. it's a lot more fun than straight up algebra, and so far not quite as hard. also, a french architect (desargue) came up with one of the axioms. while I'm on the topic-- I think it's worth mentioning that I dreamed the other night that I was back doing math competitions with Steven Kennedy (who appeared pretty clearly in my dream), and I felt so rusty, but it didn't matter; it was all for the pleasure of thinking, and when I woke up it made me want to sign up for the Putnam, even though I know I'll be lucky to even solve one problem. It's too late this year, but I think I'll sign up next year just for the hell of it. What can I lose?
Last thing I want to touch on: I've been reading a lot about Hideyoshi, who is a self-made Japanese ruler in the years following the Onin War; he was born to nobodies and used to carry sandals for a samurai or something, and then rose up in the ranks in the power vacuum following civil war and finally gained power of all Japan, using the daimyo system to his advantage and revolutionizing the government structure. He even established his own "royal" name and made a royal family adopt him. Reminded me of Napoleon, who is still my great hero apart from Hemingway. I mean this guy's annoying and pretty stereotypically asian male and never became emperor, but Hideyoshi was all about legitimizing himself and creating his own myth. He lied about his history, claiming he was the illegitimate child of a noble or something like that, and then used his resourcefulness to climb ladders. Pretty impressive.
To a certain extent I feel the draw of that here among the cream of the rich & established, and sometimes I feel I want to write & create my own myth as well. I've never wanted to dream small, and stories about sandalbearers who became taikos are truly encouraging for someone who never fit the bill and wishes to join the 400.
It doesn't help to read accounts of Japanese & Chinese military history or watch movies with twisted plots or CIA agents, which I've been doing a lot recently.
I watched Kurosawa's Ran a few weeks ago. It's really brilliant. It's possible Zhang Yimou got his color technique from Kurosawa (Ran & Z's stuff are very similar), which is pretty amazing because Kurosawa used to shoot in black & white. I wonder if they both got it from someone else. Anyway, the plot is based on King Lear except with sons instead of daughters and it's full of betrayal and warfare, just lovely. I mean, not lovely in a pretty mishmash sort of way, lovely in the way you end up kind of open-mouthed and leaning forward in your seat and stamping your feet in anger and affirmation. but warning: don't watch this if you're depressed-- King Lear isn't a tragedy for nothing.
we did a little bit with finite geometry in my discrete math class. this is really fun stuff. it's basically rings (algebraic) that you can draw (geometric) in a Euclidean plane, which ends up breaking a lot of rules valid in Euclidean geometry. Like, two parallel lines don't look parallel, or a unique point ends up appearing several times in a construction. it's a lot more fun than straight up algebra, and so far not quite as hard. also, a french architect (desargue) came up with one of the axioms. while I'm on the topic-- I think it's worth mentioning that I dreamed the other night that I was back doing math competitions with Steven Kennedy (who appeared pretty clearly in my dream), and I felt so rusty, but it didn't matter; it was all for the pleasure of thinking, and when I woke up it made me want to sign up for the Putnam, even though I know I'll be lucky to even solve one problem. It's too late this year, but I think I'll sign up next year just for the hell of it. What can I lose?
Last thing I want to touch on: I've been reading a lot about Hideyoshi, who is a self-made Japanese ruler in the years following the Onin War; he was born to nobodies and used to carry sandals for a samurai or something, and then rose up in the ranks in the power vacuum following civil war and finally gained power of all Japan, using the daimyo system to his advantage and revolutionizing the government structure. He even established his own "royal" name and made a royal family adopt him. Reminded me of Napoleon, who is still my great hero apart from Hemingway. I mean this guy's annoying and pretty stereotypically asian male and never became emperor, but Hideyoshi was all about legitimizing himself and creating his own myth. He lied about his history, claiming he was the illegitimate child of a noble or something like that, and then used his resourcefulness to climb ladders. Pretty impressive.
To a certain extent I feel the draw of that here among the cream of the rich & established, and sometimes I feel I want to write & create my own myth as well. I've never wanted to dream small, and stories about sandalbearers who became taikos are truly encouraging for someone who never fit the bill and wishes to join the 400.