1. What is “Blink” about?

It’s a book about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. Well, “Blink” is a book about those two seconds, because I think those instant conclusions that we reach are really powerful and really important and, occasionally, really good

http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html

I also get this book. Now I understand why that Arsenal Number 1 great keeper, Manuel Alumnia, always dived after the ball fly into the net.

Because he BLINK!

The word “Tipping Point”, for example, comes from the world of epidemiology. It’s the name given to that moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass. It’s the boiling point. It’s the moment on the graph when the line starts to shoot straight upwards. AIDS tipped in 1982, when it went from a rare disease affecting a few gay men to a worldwide epidemic. Crime in New York City tipped in the mid 1990’s, when the murder rate suddenly plummeted.

When I heard that phrase for the first time I remember thinking–wow. What if everything has a Tipping Point? Wouldn’t it be cool to try and look for Tipping Points in business, or in social policy, or in advertising or in any number of other nonmedical areas? – Interview with Gladwell -

http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html

I get this book. This book is about change. Yea. Like very simple. machiam not very important change, can lead to a series of changes, then become very big change like that. Machiam why apparently intelligent people can be Tottenham supporters also. Winning one small Carling cup trophy, the excitement generated by the current rabid fans reach fever pitch then suddenly a lot of other rabid fans, then they got a fan base for the next 20 years !

Toshiro Mifune! Saving the world with characteristic swagger and aplomb ! (scenes from Yojimbo, 1961)

From Wikipedia.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Trilogy

The Samurai Trilogy is a film trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi and Koji Tsuruta as Sasaki Kojirō. The films are based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa, about the famous duellist and author of The Book of Five Rings.

The three films are:

• Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
• Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
• Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

Together, they are a trilogy of epic proportions following the character growth of Musashi from brash – yet strong – young soldier to thoughtful and introspective samurai, culminating in Musashi’s duel with the greatest opponent he would ever face.

***

One of Musashi earlier battles, with the sickle and ball expert, Shisido Baiken!

Romance, Philosophy, Action rolled into one. This is one delicious read!

 The book begins with the early life of Miyamoto Musashi, born Shinmen Takezo, and we see how he turned from a loutish hooligan (remember Huo Yuan jia?) to a samurai always seeking to better himself in soul and spirit.

A few memorable fights were his clashes with the Yoshioka School where he emerged unscathed from an ambush by 80 men, and of course, the duel at Ganyru with his pretty boy nemesis, Sasaki Kojiro, he of the “swallow cut” fame. (he could cut off swallows in full flight, whatever purpose that serves…)

The tragic love story interweaved within this journey-of-englightenment tale is too overwrought for our times but make for amusing reading (oh cynical cynical me !)

Actually I read this book a long time ago. I remembered loving it despite having much of the details escaped me. Watching the Samurai Trilogy dvds (http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/42733/Samurai-1-Musashi-Miyamoto/overview) last weekend brought back the memorieis and I’m itching to re-read the book again.

Review with plot synopsis:

http://www.worldlanguage.com/Products/Musashi-by-Eiji-Yoshikawa-in-English-Literature-102505.htm

Forget Red Cliff. Forget Romance of Three Kingdoms whose tales we have heard ad infinitum.

Set in the 15 to 17th century Sengoku period (literally read as “Warring-states period” in chinese), this is Japan’s ROTK.

Read about how the great and brutal warrior Oda Nobunaga, attacked Mount Hiei and obliterated 1000 Buddhist (warrior) monks! (an historcal event that occurred in 1571, methinks)

Read about how Toyotomi Hideyoshi, of humble farmer descent, eventually succeeded his former lord (Nobunaga), rose above his peers,  and attempted to unify Japan!

Read about how Tokugawa Ieyasu eventually did that around 1600 after the great Battle of Sekigahara !

(my next book on, Musashi, about the legendary swordman Miyamoto Musashi, is set in the period after this great battle)

Its like…waiting for Wenger to buy established stars…

Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which the characters wait for someone named Godot, who never arrives. Godot’s absence, as well as many other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play’s premiere. Voted “the most significant English language play of the 20th century” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot (plot spelt out in detail)

*Book in good condition, well-wrapped, but with yellowed pages.*

Back to the cerebal stuff :p

Excerpts from the author’s foreword -

… I want to remind you that every entry in this book is at best an asymptotic shot at life, and at my life, not at yours. If my words affirm you, then savor them for the moment; but if they cause you to distrust your own experience, spit them out. You are the only authority on what is good for you…

This book is essentially a collection of gentle reflections and notes.  Even as I put this up for sale and re-reading it, a lot of the statements reasonates with me, just as it did 10 years ago when I discovered him. Book in good condition but with yellow spots.

“It makes no sense to hurry up, and so mess up, what i am doing now, in order to get started on what I plan to do next.

Everytime I am centered in the future, I suffer a temporary loss in this life.”

And the line that describes my current situation best…

“How I am working on a problem often indicates how i am keeping it a problem.”

Featuring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, Harold Lloyd, Ben Turpin, Mabel Normand, Harry Langdon, the Keystone Kops, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties, and more!

Another collectors’ item Over 18 hours of vintage comedy footage

This 10 volume, 5 dvds collection brings together the  Who’s Who of the silent comedy industry. Sort of like a 50 Best goals ever scored compliation. As always with such compliations, there are hits and misses but the overall standard is still high.

 Amazon is selling for USD60 (http://www.amazon.com/Slapstick-Encyclopedia/dp/B00005Y6YV) , and here I am, letting it go for S$30. It hurts, but less so than being broke. Heh.

An in-depth review of the dvd boxset can be found here: http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/s/slapstickencyclopedia.shtml