At 'Back on the Mat', a fellow yoga practitioner decides to save money by buying the cheapest mat on earth, during the practice, Ernest and his cerulean mat starts to disintegrate. Later large holes start to appear, and the surround area looked like a sea of blue foam.  There it is, a hole on the magic carpet, where one escapes into a parallel universe.  When he stood in perfect namaskara b on the other side, he sees his exact reflection, but mirror image when he was in his downward dog.  how strange he says, that is interesting, where am I?

Percy would have said that he is truly able to feel himself after his escape from reality, Ernest can watch from this vantage point, what really is happening to his life, systematically, one cannot distance enough from self to understand ourselves.  We repeat, regurgitate, relive other people's lives, based on the influence of our environment, the media and historicity.  Ernest has earned himself a space, between the good foam and the bad foam that already has scattered. Space for some peace to observe

Gadamer - prejudices - in the context of our historicity.  A positive prejudice instead of a negative one
Heidegger - dasein - historicity, snap shot of now, and potentiality of the future

we don't have a conciousness then use a language, conciousness is embedded language
theories of interpretation - hermaneutics - earlier authors - hurssel - hegal - heidegger
1) analysis/ hermeneutics of people we interview
2) hermeneutics of the world they are thrown into

Perspective of how each word mean to the speaker.
Theme of translation - time, culture, language, social setting -
  How language between the speaker and listener, the successful speaker is one who can transform the message in terms of how the listener will receive, or prefer to receive.
Designers - always looking to 'create' language.
"shake the dogmatism of life-praxi"
Gadamer -

Percy walker - it's only news to the castaway when he reads new about him being a castaway


Sorting it into pile - go outside of the situation and observe it, immersed in the situation. pheomonological environment - we have created with an institution strong plain of knowledge we call science. in scientific pile - useless, or plain wrong... come from a stand, position outside of the system.

Powerful words, insightful images, synthesized words from Ketna Patel on Facebook:

India Club presented yet another compelling talk by Dr Arun Shourie today. Some quotes: 

On Pakistan: 'Never disturb your enemy when he is committing suicide". 

On China's stance on India: "Murder with a borrowed knife". India's attitude should change from "Either Or" to " And Also". 

And for the world....."Power corrupts everyone". 

Conclusion: India is so busy arguing and juggling the paradoxes between capitalism, democracy and nepotism whilst China flies high because it is exercising organized PSYCHOLOGICAL warfare (imperial style) from a bird's eye view. For China, "India is a potential nuisance, and a great power dreamer". India....wake up!

 

 The French romanticizes Asia in a series of French TV shows starting in the 1950's up to 1980.  Done in collaboration with INA.

The first one, was a bit confusion, over exposed black and white footage that were just too bright.  It spoke about Singapore, the guerrilla war fare, the context of the political struggle of being taken over either by Indonesia or Malaysia.  The 'harmonious' co-existence of Chinese, Malay and Indians.  A Catholic Bishop spoke about the Muslim school system, the conflict, the propaganda, sitting under the shade in his grand colonial building, speaking perfect French. Footage of Kuala Lumpur before the Petrona Towers, dirt roads, planks leading to homes on stilts, women working as construction workers wearing huge bamboo hats with a long tubular cantalvered overhang made of cloth.

The film maker was fascinated by street life in Singapore.  His composition, though humorous, was childish.  For example, he took shots of himself drinking, then a local girl drinking.  The next scene, he is eating, a bunch of old men having rice and stuff, ends with a parrot eating a chillie pepper.  If I were filming, I would likely pick up the same.  Clothes hanging to dry on bamboo sticks, market scenes of exotic animals being sacrificed, people's mannerisms that are so unfamiliar and so fascinating.

Yves won a contest and documented Chinese street opera.  His technique was raw, and captured the essence of the art.  The research is deep, with an interview with the expert at Nanyang University Ly something.  His conversation with Claude Roy was too French.  The studio where the debate happened is made of awful blown up sofas, cinemafilming technique questionable as the camera focused at very close up a few pretty girls and mainly the back of other people's heads. Claude Roy went on and on about Chinese Opera and its linkage to the cultural revolution, little fact, a lot of unsubstantiated opinions that only he wanted to hear...


The last one was in color, Singapore has changed a lot but not that much in reality.  The clip ended with turning an happy island into a concrete fantasy.. how our values have changes?!

How does this experience add to my being?  I had to sleep over it and came up with:
Appreciating the past, allows revise my lens of the present and realize that the future brings nostalgia..