вівторок, 27 квітня 2010 р.
Alice in Ordinaryland
I'd awarded the movie with The Greatest Disappointment 2010 prize. Carrol's Alice in Wonderland is one of my most liked books from the very childhood, and I was looking forward to watching the movie since it was first announced. It is pity to say, but... it would be better if I have missed it due to some trifling reason. It seems for me that the creators of the movie just did not understand the idea of the original story, trying to fit the book into the standard "successful motion picture" scheme. Carrol's "Alice" is not a yet another fairy tale from your bookshelf, it has its own very specific atmosphere built on top of quirks, English folklore, logical conclusions and puzzles. Unfortunately, the movie we got is free of all those -- yet another evidence of the fact that commercial grounds ruin the arts.
понеділок, 26 квітня 2010 р.
24th
Today is the 24th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The accident was a monstrous result of irresponsibility and incompetence (those features were typical for any soviet institution), and a cruel illustration of the damage that improper handling of nuclear power can cause.
At the same time, Chornobyl disaster was one of the most affecting black swans in my life. At the moment of the accident I was living together with my parents and a sister in Obninsk, Russia. My parents worked in local scientific research institute. Right after the explosion my father, as an expert in radiobiology, along with a group of other scientists was directed to Kyiv in order to investigate the damage and develop the plans on minimizing the consequences of the accident. He then have been proposed to stay in Kyiv on a permanent basis. A year later we have also moved to Kyiv, opening new page of our life in our new homeland.
At the same time, Chornobyl disaster was one of the most affecting black swans in my life. At the moment of the accident I was living together with my parents and a sister in Obninsk, Russia. My parents worked in local scientific research institute. Right after the explosion my father, as an expert in radiobiology, along with a group of other scientists was directed to Kyiv in order to investigate the damage and develop the plans on minimizing the consequences of the accident. He then have been proposed to stay in Kyiv on a permanent basis. A year later we have also moved to Kyiv, opening new page of our life in our new homeland.
неділя, 25 квітня 2010 р.
Porn: the most honest genre?
Many popular TV series and movies exploit baser human instincts, 'hiding' sexual relations, violence and humiliation (attractive for major part of people) behind the naughty 'real-life' scenes such as hospital or office work flows. Actually, substituting a hospital with, say, factory, and doctors with workers (keeping individual relations between them intact) will change nothing! And this means that the hospital is an unnecessary element of the scene...
It may sound a bit mind-blowing, but porn movies are thus the most 'honest' ones, having the highest entropy amongst other movie genres.
It may sound a bit mind-blowing, but porn movies are thus the most 'honest' ones, having the highest entropy amongst other movie genres.
пʼятниця, 23 квітня 2010 р.
середа, 21 квітня 2010 р.
Do you care about your autumn?
Youth is a good time to think about your gray hairs times. It is important to understand that even though you probably are an advanced one and earn quite good today, inevitable is the moment when you will be unable to do it anymore. The older you become, the less energy you have; besides, it is usually a problem to find a good job for older people because employers prefer to hire young and active ones instead. Having prepared to those times beforehand, you will protect yourself from a potential stress in future and will be able to adapt to your new way of life without too much difficulties.
Such pension-aimed strategy might consist of the following basic elements:
1) Maintain a kind of own “pension fund” by putting aside a certain fraction of your monthly income and investing the accumulated money into various assets. There is a huge number of investment instruments available, from public pension funds and bank deposits (for conservative people), to metals, shares and stocks (for geeks).
2) Prepare yourself for earning money in old ages. It is very likely that you would be unable to succeed on some full-time position (even if you get it). As for me, it is a good idea to concentrate on some self-employment activity such as flowers growing, wood decorating, painting, ship modeling, cage mastering etc. Having started with it now, you will acquire good skills for the moment when you really need it. As a reasonable option, one might wish to have a look at several activities involving different senses (it would be pity to end up with excellent piano tuning skills being totally deaf).
3) Take care about your health. The healthier you are, the less money you will spend to maintain your life, the more time and energy you will have to do what you really love.
And I am pretty sure that an old you will send many thanks to a young you :).
Such pension-aimed strategy might consist of the following basic elements:
1) Maintain a kind of own “pension fund” by putting aside a certain fraction of your monthly income and investing the accumulated money into various assets. There is a huge number of investment instruments available, from public pension funds and bank deposits (for conservative people), to metals, shares and stocks (for geeks).
2) Prepare yourself for earning money in old ages. It is very likely that you would be unable to succeed on some full-time position (even if you get it). As for me, it is a good idea to concentrate on some self-employment activity such as flowers growing, wood decorating, painting, ship modeling, cage mastering etc. Having started with it now, you will acquire good skills for the moment when you really need it. As a reasonable option, one might wish to have a look at several activities involving different senses (it would be pity to end up with excellent piano tuning skills being totally deaf).
3) Take care about your health. The healthier you are, the less money you will spend to maintain your life, the more time and energy you will have to do what you really love.
And I am pretty sure that an old you will send many thanks to a young you :).
понеділок, 19 квітня 2010 р.
We live with the history we’ve inherited. There is no too much sense in thinking about what history we’d had if something that happened in the past did not happen, or, vice versa, something that did not happen actually did. At the same time, some of the past events are so shocking that it is really pity that we cannot go back and observe the alternative branches of the history. The fatal crash that has taken the lives of political elite of Poland reminded me about another tragic accident happened more than 50 years ago (there are very little common between those cases; perhaps, the only common aspect of both ones is airplane crash).
On February 3, 1959 a small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft carrying 3 passengers on board took off from the Mason City local airport, Iowa. In several minutes after take-off, forced to fly in extremely poor weather conditions, it crashed in about five miles northwest from the airport. All the passengers and the pilot were killed. The passengers were young rock and roll musicians, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.
Who knows, what kind of music would we have listened today if the Bonanza landed successfully at the destination point of Moorhead, Minnesota? Buddy Holly was truly one of the most talented and creative musicians of his times. Musician from the very childhood, having created such well-known rock and roll masterpieces as 'Words of Love', 'Peggy Sue' and 'That’ll be the Day' by the age of 22, Holly had every single chance to have a huge impact on the music of 50ths and 60ths. Actually, he did have it - his songs significantly influenced the creativity of such artists as the Beatles (who performed a number of his works at miscellaneous live shows; 'Words of Love' has even been officially released on their Beatles for Sale album), the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many others. However, that was only the beginning of Holly’s career, and it is hard to imagine the value he could contribute to the popular music if he survived.
Despite the relatively small number of songs released, Buddy Holly is still one of my favorite performers. I propose you to get back to 1958 and enjoy Holly’s never-dying rock and roll hit. The grand piano solo is incredible!
On February 3, 1959 a small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft carrying 3 passengers on board took off from the Mason City local airport, Iowa. In several minutes after take-off, forced to fly in extremely poor weather conditions, it crashed in about five miles northwest from the airport. All the passengers and the pilot were killed. The passengers were young rock and roll musicians, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson.
Who knows, what kind of music would we have listened today if the Bonanza landed successfully at the destination point of Moorhead, Minnesota? Buddy Holly was truly one of the most talented and creative musicians of his times. Musician from the very childhood, having created such well-known rock and roll masterpieces as 'Words of Love', 'Peggy Sue' and 'That’ll be the Day' by the age of 22, Holly had every single chance to have a huge impact on the music of 50ths and 60ths. Actually, he did have it - his songs significantly influenced the creativity of such artists as the Beatles (who performed a number of his works at miscellaneous live shows; 'Words of Love' has even been officially released on their Beatles for Sale album), the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many others. However, that was only the beginning of Holly’s career, and it is hard to imagine the value he could contribute to the popular music if he survived.
Despite the relatively small number of songs released, Buddy Holly is still one of my favorite performers. I propose you to get back to 1958 and enjoy Holly’s never-dying rock and roll hit. The grand piano solo is incredible!
пʼятниця, 16 квітня 2010 р.
Entertaining physics for those who are willing to achieve their goals
There are two general forces acting on a man moving towards his goal, acceleration force and braking force. The sum of them defines the overall progress speed and the time needed to achieve the goal. If the acceleration force is big enough to overcome the braking force, you have a good chance to win. However, if the latter is greater (in absolute value) than the former one, the goal will never be reached.
The value of the acceleration force is generally defined by our mental characteristics, such as knowledge, confidence, perseverance, patience, belief and others. The effect of temperament-driven capabilities like our energy, leadership and friendliness depend on particular goal and may also be significant.
The value of braking force is constituted by many more factors. The simplest of them are miscellaneous objective restrictions, such as laws, expensiveness, absence of bus communication etc. Those factors are rather obvious and can be either bypassed or at least considered when planning the goal. The second source of factors are people around us. Some of them are skeptical, the others are envious, the thirds are just incompetent in the field of your goal; in either case, most of them will not miss a chance to show you that your goal is wrong, unreachable or does not worth reaching at all. The third, and the sneakiest source of factors is... our mind; to be exact, its parts which are usually referred to as fears, complexes and doubts. It is incomprehensible how big can be the contribution of our own mind to the task of preventing us from reaching the goal.
Thereby, having the above statement, it is easy to formulate the tactics for reaching the goal in effective way. Basically, all we need to do is increase the acceleration force and decrease the braking force in every possible way. The first part involves improvement of our mental skills, comprehensive intellectual development, as well as constant and deep self-motivation. Much harder is to overcome the braking force, as this often requires us to fight our mind with itself. But... Doesn’t your goal worth it?
The value of the acceleration force is generally defined by our mental characteristics, such as knowledge, confidence, perseverance, patience, belief and others. The effect of temperament-driven capabilities like our energy, leadership and friendliness depend on particular goal and may also be significant.
The value of braking force is constituted by many more factors. The simplest of them are miscellaneous objective restrictions, such as laws, expensiveness, absence of bus communication etc. Those factors are rather obvious and can be either bypassed or at least considered when planning the goal. The second source of factors are people around us. Some of them are skeptical, the others are envious, the thirds are just incompetent in the field of your goal; in either case, most of them will not miss a chance to show you that your goal is wrong, unreachable or does not worth reaching at all. The third, and the sneakiest source of factors is... our mind; to be exact, its parts which are usually referred to as fears, complexes and doubts. It is incomprehensible how big can be the contribution of our own mind to the task of preventing us from reaching the goal.
Thereby, having the above statement, it is easy to formulate the tactics for reaching the goal in effective way. Basically, all we need to do is increase the acceleration force and decrease the braking force in every possible way. The first part involves improvement of our mental skills, comprehensive intellectual development, as well as constant and deep self-motivation. Much harder is to overcome the braking force, as this often requires us to fight our mind with itself. But... Doesn’t your goal worth it?
середа, 14 квітня 2010 р.
понеділок, 12 квітня 2010 р.
Do you remember your dreams at the age of ten? Are you still at the mercy of those dreams today? If no, why have you abandoned them? Have you considered them a momentary infatuation, or they were just too hard to accomplish (so closing the eyes was easier)? If yes, how much of your time are you dedicating to making them closer today?
субота, 10 квітня 2010 р.
Those who get used to blame circumstances in their defeats instead of trying to find the reason in themselves will never reach the top of the hill. Sometimes extraordinary efforts are needed to admit your own mistakes, however, you can be sure that you will never let those mistakes affect your life again. It is necessary to understand that mistake is not just something that has been done in wrong way, but also something that has not been done at all. You cannot stop the storm, but you can prepare to it by building a shelter. Not building a shelter in time is obviously a mistake that can lead to grave consequences.
Yet, there still do exist circumstances that we are not able to get through. Those ones hit us with all their power and cruelty, occasionally horrifying us with their ruthlessness. However, the life stopped by such an accident is always worth living. Just because of knowing that you were so strong, so active, so vital, that the life has been forced to use its most powerful and dishonest weapon against you.
Yet, there still do exist circumstances that we are not able to get through. Those ones hit us with all their power and cruelty, occasionally horrifying us with their ruthlessness. However, the life stopped by such an accident is always worth living. Just because of knowing that you were so strong, so active, so vital, that the life has been forced to use its most powerful and dishonest weapon against you.
пʼятниця, 9 квітня 2010 р.
The Markermen
When you are asked about the people who influenced your life at most, what would you answer? A common answer we can hear from our friends and relatives is something like 'Edgar Poe changed my life drastically' or 'I learned how to make relations with people after reading Dale Carnegie's book, which has turned my world upside down' or even 'The example of Oprah Winfrey's success kicked my ass, so I threw away my TV and got a good job'.
It is obvious that our life is largely led by the great people and the ideas they put to our minds (not sure whether the great word is in the right place, but let's call them that way; another word that came to my mind, famous, is definitely worse). Their books, biographies, operas and movies, or just real life examples they give affect on the way we think and act deeply.
Besides the answers above, you will surely get responses like 'my father made a real man from me' or 'my mother taught me to respect people around me'. The other social group that forms our minds are close people, such as relatives and friends. It's them who puts common values to our hearts and heads, who builds our nature and widens (or, sometimes, restricts) our horizons.
One interesting thing I have noticed recently is that there does exist a third group. I found out that some 'ordinary' people influence our lives significantly; their contribution to our minds and lifeflows is sometimes even bigger than the one made by our parents and favourite writers. They seem to follow us for some period of our life, helping us in bad times and supporting or even leading us in good times. I have generalized all such people under the markermen term.
Markermen usually act implicitly and unintentionally. They drop a meaningless phrase which attracts our curiosity to some idea or thing that later fills a significant space in our life; they give us wrong advices that makes us go in a wrong way which appears to be the only right one in the end; they accidentally spill a cup of coffee on our jacket -- just to push us to meet our future wife while washing out that arabica from the jacket in the restroom. What is doubly is that they are likely to never guess about the consequences of their words or actions.
A meticulous reader might object that all of those are just accidents in global sense (i.e. a fallen brick and not a markerman might have suggested a revolutionary idea; I might have read a wrong-right advice in a newspaper or journal; it could be my fault to spill the coffee on the shirt). He would be right in the sense that our life is highly influenced by a sequence of random events in general. However, my idea is slightly different. My experience shows that markermen are unlikely to 'fire' only once. All the markermen that influenced my life did that several times (often with a large time gap though). That's why I cannot consider that as 'pure' accidents, thinking of markermen as of a kind of 'dedicated', personal angels.
Cinematography provides several good examples of such people. A classic example of a multi-target markerman is Forrest Gump. Wilson is a markerman of House. François Perrin is a markerman of Campana in La chèvre (Knock on Wood in English).
It is obvious that our life is largely led by the great people and the ideas they put to our minds (not sure whether the great word is in the right place, but let's call them that way; another word that came to my mind, famous, is definitely worse). Their books, biographies, operas and movies, or just real life examples they give affect on the way we think and act deeply.
Besides the answers above, you will surely get responses like 'my father made a real man from me' or 'my mother taught me to respect people around me'. The other social group that forms our minds are close people, such as relatives and friends. It's them who puts common values to our hearts and heads, who builds our nature and widens (or, sometimes, restricts) our horizons.
One interesting thing I have noticed recently is that there does exist a third group. I found out that some 'ordinary' people influence our lives significantly; their contribution to our minds and lifeflows is sometimes even bigger than the one made by our parents and favourite writers. They seem to follow us for some period of our life, helping us in bad times and supporting or even leading us in good times. I have generalized all such people under the markermen term.
Markermen usually act implicitly and unintentionally. They drop a meaningless phrase which attracts our curiosity to some idea or thing that later fills a significant space in our life; they give us wrong advices that makes us go in a wrong way which appears to be the only right one in the end; they accidentally spill a cup of coffee on our jacket -- just to push us to meet our future wife while washing out that arabica from the jacket in the restroom. What is doubly is that they are likely to never guess about the consequences of their words or actions.
A meticulous reader might object that all of those are just accidents in global sense (i.e. a fallen brick and not a markerman might have suggested a revolutionary idea; I might have read a wrong-right advice in a newspaper or journal; it could be my fault to spill the coffee on the shirt). He would be right in the sense that our life is highly influenced by a sequence of random events in general. However, my idea is slightly different. My experience shows that markermen are unlikely to 'fire' only once. All the markermen that influenced my life did that several times (often with a large time gap though). That's why I cannot consider that as 'pure' accidents, thinking of markermen as of a kind of 'dedicated', personal angels.
Cinematography provides several good examples of such people. A classic example of a multi-target markerman is Forrest Gump. Wilson is a markerman of House. François Perrin is a markerman of Campana in La chèvre (Knock on Wood in English).
вівторок, 6 квітня 2010 р.
Preface
I have just found out that more than two years have passed since I created this blog aiming to use it for training in writing, recording interesting ideas and figuring out the thoughts. As the blog is named 'thoughts in spare time', I have to choose today whether there have been no thoughts or no spare time for those two years ;).
In this very first message I would like to expose my thanks to everyone who visits this blog in future (and that would be really great if some of the things written here will be useful or help you bring some sunshine and goodness to your life). This blog does not aim to concern some particular idea or ideas; it would presumably contain my thoughts on different aspects of life. I have no intention of collecting dozens of readers; it is likely that the blog will never reach top 1000000 on Blogger. As a matter of fact, this one is just a scrap of paper lying on the cafe table.
...and do not say that I did not warn you! :)
In this very first message I would like to expose my thanks to everyone who visits this blog in future (and that would be really great if some of the things written here will be useful or help you bring some sunshine and goodness to your life). This blog does not aim to concern some particular idea or ideas; it would presumably contain my thoughts on different aspects of life. I have no intention of collecting dozens of readers; it is likely that the blog will never reach top 1000000 on Blogger. As a matter of fact, this one is just a scrap of paper lying on the cafe table.
...and do not say that I did not warn you! :)
Підписатися на:
Дописи (Atom)