"A single and same voice for the whole thousand-voiced multiple, a single and same Ocean for all the drops, a single clamour of Being for all beings: on condition that each being, each drop and each voice has reached the state of excess - in other words, the difference which displaces and disguises them and, in turning upon its mobile cusp, causes them to return." - Deleuze
"One breath away From Mother Oceania Your nimble feet make prints In my sand
Every boy is a snake is a lily Every pearl is a lynx is a girl
You have done Good for yourselves Since you left my wet embrace And crawled ashore" - Björk
"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by the means of language" - Wittgenstein
There is a strain of thought in philosophy, particularly in the continental tradition, that is radically anti-conceptual. Philosophy, for the most part, seems to be an uphill battle against concepts. Thinkers like Deleuze denounce the 'concept', seeing it as both untrue and dangerous. A philosopher can see an object as a set of properties such as height, mass, colour etc. One can then create a concept such as 'a table' (identity), so we can make it meaningful to say that this table is the same as that table. But for Deleuze, the world is not composed of objects with identity, nothing in reality is conceptual. One thing cannot share properties with another thing because all things are fundamentally different. The transcendent concept ignores the true immanent difference of the world.
This reminds me of something I learnt early on in my philosophical career: a striking argument against God which involves transcendence, immanence, love and alienation. The concept of God is as follows: he is an infinite being, he is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. God has no physical properties, he is not contained within time and he is a transcendental being. If this is so, then how is it possible to have a loving relationship with God? In our usual concept of love between people, there must be some kind of interaction, there must be change. If I love someone, it affects a change in my life in some way. If God is truly infinite, if he lives outside of time, then how is it possible for him to change? Does he love us infinitely? If so, then this can hardly be called 'love'.
For me, the table example and the God example show a big problem with any conceptual philosophy and this problem is alienation. A Marxist, for example, thinks that being paid money for our labour alienates us from our true species-essence. In a similar way, the concept alienates us from our immanence in the world, it causes us to forget that everything is 'difference'. When philosophers think of new theories, new concepts to describe the world, the further away we move from our immanent nature. For Deleuze, there is no identity, there is difference, no permenance, only a state of 'becoming'. And I think I agree with him.
Nov. 1st, 2006 @ 01:11 am
This is the Aphex Twin / Virgin Suicides thing I thought up a couple of days ago. Not sure if I should finish it. I got some stupid rendering errors with Adobe Premiere Pro which means I can't add transitions and I'm not sure whether to start over with a Ulead editor.
Sep. 1st, 2006 @ 08:59 am
one breath away from mother Oceania your nimble feet make prints in my sand
you have done good for yourselves since you left my wet embrace and crawled ashore
you show me continents, I see the islands you count the centuries, I blink my eyes
This song is written from the perspective of the ocean. It reminds me of why I love art. The ocean took a breath, and this is the measure of human progress. It makes me feel powerless. It's like the moment in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the ape throws the bone into the sky and it cuts to the image of the space station in orbit. Human passion, thought, society, politics, all these ideas are implied and expressed by the bone (or rather, the sign of tools being used for the first time). It's as if nothing more really needs to be said about the contemporary times that we live in and that we care so much about. The use of tools transforms our lives in deterministic and historical materialistic way. All there is to look to is the future.
Our lives are insignificant, and there is a certain comfort to feeling that.
Aug. 26th, 2005 @ 06:00 am
Alanis' redo of Jagged Little Pill is refreshing. Worth a download! Turin Brakes' album Jack In The Box has a great summer feel to it.
Robot Chicken, whose season is ending I believe, is a hilarious TV show. Steven Colbert from the Daily Show is getting funnier and funnier.
15, a Singaporean film, is very very cool. I haven't seen much in terms of good movies for a long time! The Wedding Crashers was funny. I crave more art films!
Well I just woke up and checked my LJ Friends and saw that people had posted entries in the LJ UK community about the bombings in London this morning. A bus ripped apart, and a total of six bombing sites with twenty confirmed dead at the moment. Our television with very poor reception tells us to stay inside (for the time being, I hope). I just got back into London yesterday with Li Lin, and Wesley's girlfriend and sister just got here from Canada. There are quite a lot of sirens I can hear going past Old Kent Road, I wonder how many people are actually injured?
Jul. 7th, 2005 @ 11:26 am
Your Logical Intelligence is Above Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Below Average
I am becoming constantly more amazed by how much human beings want to immerse themselves in culture and art. The daily life of a normal urbanite will include a number of artistic activities (mostly that of consuming). The simple act of 'watching TV' is so strange, you are just watching other people interact. Staring at this kind of behaviour in the street, however, is considered rude. This culture of performance is strange, but what is even stranger is the way that it is mass-marketed to such an extent that we don't really notice its existence.
I'm talking about waking up in the morning, flicking on some breakfast TV show, listening to your MP3 player on the way to work/school, reading a book on the way, using the internet - reading blogs, web comics, getting home watching some sitcoms or a drama, catching a movie with your friends, going out clubbing..
This fervent desire for more and more art (and perhaps more emotional contact) is juxtaposed with a weird image of families, housemates, lonely individuals, sitting in front of a television screen, eyes forward with not a word spoken to each other.
Jun. 12th, 2005 @ 08:59 am
Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Sensual - You are not particularly shy when it comes to your sexuality. You know what you like and do not feel inhibited. Shy - You are often timid around others, though you will open up when the right person comes along.
Your date match profile:
Liberal - You need a person who has liberal opinions and beliefs. You are engaged by political discussions and would find a liberal viewpoint refreshing in a date. Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about. Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.
I'm gonna shoot my baby I caught her messing around with another man hey Joe
the Nick Cave cover of this song is awesome - angry piano. I was discussing cover songs with a friend the other day here are some really good ones people might have missed:
- Frank Zappa - Happy Together uplifting, happy :)
- The String Cheese Incident - Take Five originally performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet this jazz standard has been transposed onto guitar and piano
- Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High a cover of Creedence Clearwater Survival
- Xiu Xiu - Ceremony a cover of this Joy Division song, off-key and emotional
- Tatu - How Soon Is Now? a Smiths cover, I heard that Morrisey actually approved of it. Personally I love it though some find it blasphemous
- The White Stripes - Death Letter if you ever see a live video of this Jack White does some really spectacular slide guitar with the distortion amped up (by Son House)
- Gary Jules - Mad World of Donnie Darko notoriety (a song by Tears For Fears listen to the original!)
- Tori Amos - Smells Like Teen Spirit controversial but I like this version
- Electric Six - Radio Ga Ga I like this too, but not remarkably different from the original
- Jeff Buckley / John Cale - Hallelujah a song by Leonard Cohen, pretty classic
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