Sunday, June 11, 2006
ah finally back frm the hospital. it's been a long day. for the next few days or weeks, those trying to contact me may inadvertantly get through to an alien sounding woman on the other end telling you that i'm 'not available'. i apologies for it now because i have to turn off my handphone in the ward my grandmom is in.
oh yes and JUSTINE retains her throne at roland garros! BRAVO!! felicitations!
i had quite a nice day yesterday after spending the week taking care of my grandmother. went to old airport road to have lunch with victor jason and yong quan. hanmao didnt go because he had some talk i think. i wanted to eat this wanton noodles that came with nice designer looking porcelain bowls. i kept pointing at this guy eating it at the next table, who must have though i was gossiping about him or something. my friend apparently saw the wrong bowl and got be some other wanton noodles with an inferior looking bowl. spoilt my appetite! hahaha! kidding, it was quite ok actually. havent been out with those guys for a bit. always nice to meet up and joke around. hahaha!
rushed to orchard to meet gerri and roon for da vinci code (finally). got there a bit early so i decided to drop by kino to get my lonely planet guide to iceland. in the end, we got into the theatre about 2-5 mins late. didnt miss much according to weiquan whom we met quite coincidentally after the show at the life lobby. had sakae sushi for dinner and then back home. it sounds like a pretty normal day for many people i guess, but for me, these kinds of days are very few and far between now.
anyway, i thought da vinci code was quite a good movie. it certainly didnt feel like it was 2.5 hours. i recall shifting in my seats for all other movies of that length wondering how long more it was going to be before the end. but with da vinci code, it was over before i even realised it was. i guess some scenes were a bit cheesy, and sometimes the presentation/direction of the film was a bit, amaturish. but i think the movie should be watched in the way it was meant to be: a movie. i suppose it helps that i am not a religious person and so it doesnt really affect me much. but no doubt, the movie has recieved alot of flak for it's contensious content.
we see what we want to see. how true. religion is based solely on faith. faith in believing things that other people tell you or faith in explaining things that one cannot readily find an explanation for. religion cannot ever be based on any empricial evidence for that in itself defines what religion is in the first place. so often times, in the interpretation of events or symbols or even mere words, we are predisposed to adopt a certain stance based on our beliefs and our religion. so a devout christian would naturally say that the majority of the movie was but mere poppycock. whereas the atheist would be more likely to believe the contents of the movie. but a stance which i think i take is that i neither believe nor disbelieve. it could be true, it may not, that doesnt bother me. what is interesting to me, is that the bible is perhaps one of the most extensive documents that give us an insight to life in that era. like all other documents of history, the words contains therein are subject to ones own personal interpretation, for we choose the way we interpret words. the choice for the gospels to be included in the bible are acknoledged by the church themself to be chosen by man himself. as such, one cannot attach an overriding sense of accuracy to its content.
the thing that can and is commonly accepted is that chistianity was originally a religion outlawed by the romans. as such, the religion was practised by and large underground. this allowed many different forms of the religion to develop. what is generally accpeted today as mainstream christianity is just the form of chirstianity that has survived over the years. just like how the religion is practised in relatively different fashions in singapore compared to say france or italy or in africa or in argentina, the same stem of christianity was practised within the roman empire. as a result of this diversity, there often develops different explanations or interpretations which have at time resulted in conflict. the reason why this conflict always arises is because we as humans naturally do not enjoy being proven wrong. it is a perhaps a very primal instinct which maybe by some darwinian law has allowed us to thrive in our enviroment. we like to believe that we are right because it exerts a sense of superiority over other members of the species. just like when we are challenged for land, we will defend this belief with the same fevor and determination as that of fighting for one's territory. while try as i may to preach tolerance, i occasionally find it tough myself to abstain from defending my point of view, so i dont expect anyone with a religion to back down from defending it.
hmmm i'm so tired i cant even think straight anymore. been thinking about this the whole day today and wanted to pen it down but looks like i'll have to leave it to tomorrow. urrrgh.
{9:32 PM}
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