April 2005 Archives
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April 10, 2005

Good Will Hunting

How can people such good movies?

I just watched Good Will Hunting today, and it has become my instant favorite. Good Will Hunting

There are many scenes, dialogues, and principally insights about human life which will take a long time to get erased from my memory.

April 6, 2005

Thoughts, ideas, thoughts about ideas

When we discuss about ideas, we dont discuss "only the ideas". There is a lot of invisible baggage that is controlling the whole discussion.

For example, we dont talk about an idea because we are so concerned about it that we dont care for our own well being... our own life...our own life path...We talk about it, because talking about that idea fits in our life path. And the life path is that which is more important here.

When we talk with somebody, we dont talk because we are so interested in talking about whatever we are talking about... but we only talk because it fits into our path.

I do not mean to say that this is wrong... because, in fact, the better our ability to find what our path is and to find what activites and people help us traverse it more capably, the better our ability to enrich our life, and thus a better ability to be happy and content.

The problem is that our going in that path does not help the resolution of the idea or the point of discussion. Since ideas are separate from our lives, they live in an abstract, mathematical world, where biology, humans, psychology dont mean much. We can almost say that ideas exists in a parallel world. To explore them, we dont need people who can live bettter, but we need people who can separate themselves from themselves...who can rise above themselves into a world of logical connections and logical being.

Whether it is important is another matter. But thats the point itself -- in the world of ideas - the importance of anything is not measured in terms of importance to us, but, essentially, in that world, importance in regular terms is almost irrelevant.

This dichotomy between the biological existence and origins of the thinker, and the abstract existence of the thoughts, manifests itself in myriad situations.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

April 5, 2005

review of Chevy Malibu Maxx

I just wrote this review about Chevy Malibu Maxx on http://consumerreports.org website --

Pros: Great ride, handling, steering, comfort, feature-full, very well designed, Great engine, Innovative Maxx concept, great value. Did I mention rear space?
Cons: wind noise; little vague feeling in steering and suspension (which I love actually, but others may not)

Driving experience
There is no match in this price range. I simply love this car -- in fact, I drive the longer routes, so that I can spend more time in it.

The car handles very well, the steering is easy(the variable assist electric steering gives you comfortable and easy control of the steering), ride is quick and very comfortable, the engine hardly makes any sound, car is VERY smooth, a Joyous ride (try it once).

The only caveat -- moderate wind noise at high speeds. I hate the wind noise. (but I also dont think that all other cars have lower wind noise)

Comfort & convenience
Again, among the best in the price range. The seats are spacious, there is lot of legroom, shoulder room, headroom. The rear is the killer. I have the MAXX, wherein the rear seat comfort is unheard of -- with sliding and reclining back seats, and 41 inches of best-in-class rear legroom. The front seat also folds, which will be quite useful occasionally. The power adjustable pedals, powerseats, lumbar support, manual transmission support, REMOTE START, very convenient front instrument panels (supports lot of customization and information on the front panel -- for example, you can see the current economy mpg, avg speed; the radio/cdplayer had RDS which allows us to see more data, and to search for particular genres of music on radio, etc), rear wiper, VERY GOOD SAFETY CRASH RATINGS, quite good mileage 21/30 for a V6, delayed lock, etc -- all these features I really love the car for.

Comments
In this price range -- around 20k -- I think this is the best car to buy right now. I test drove and analyzed a lot of cars - camry, accord, civic, corolla, mazda3, impala, stratus, and others. But I think chevy malibu (maxx) stands out.

This malibu IS DRAMATICALLY BETTER than the older Malibu model sold until 2003.

The Maxx concept is particularly the feature you might want to buy this car for -- since this innovative concept is not available in other mid-size sedans (and this is not a Wagon too!)

Whether you have kids or not -- if you drive your friends in your Malibu Maxx once, they will always want *you* to take them for ride! :)

Dont take my words for it -- test drive one and find out. This vehicle grows upon us as time passes, until the time comes when you cant live without it. Incidentally I got to drive this car for a couple of months as a rental car, and then just couldnt buy any other car.

April 3, 2005

relationships and happiness

I think, to be happy, you need to be able to form mature, fulfilling relationships with people.

Relationships can come in various forms. You can be a brother/sister, a father/mother, a son/daughter, a friend/girlfriend/boyfriend, a wife/husband, a colleague, a compatriot, a classmate, a mentor, a mentoree, a disciple, a preacher, a young person with new ideas, an old person with time-tested wisdom, a coproponent of a cause, a cofollower of a cause, a coseeker of fun, a person who has just passed that way, a trouble-alleviator, a happiness inducer, an old time friend, a new friend on probation, a person of the opposite sex, a provider of support and help, a provider of memes, a person to grow together with, a person to form a community with, a fellow human following humanity, and many other ways.

With any person, you can form a relationship in some form.

And when you are able to form many fulfilling relationships with many people, you will probably be "happy".

character

Even to maintain a particular character or personality, you need to exhibit lots of ego.

Because you need to say -- "I *want* to do this way, and not that."

Thinking/Feeling 2, psychology, religion

In fact, I have found that I have been subconsciously so sad about loosing my feeling side, that, with my new thinking side, I try to "simulate" or "virtually create" a feeling side, an action which gives dual results, thought mostly a negative in the long run.

Is, just being too thinking alright?

Basically, when I read Eric Berne's "What do you say after you say Hello", I probably went deep into the thinking side. I would kind of recommend the book, because it will broaden your perspective of the world a lot, but at times I have been so frustrated with this kind of broadening that I almost was of the opinion that all books by Eric Berne existing in the world should be burned immediately. :)

Eric Berne was an enlightened person - I think more intellectually enlightened than many founders of religion like Jesus, Buddha, and others. Maybe other people also were. (like Freud? I dont know)

I think, basically psychological study ultimately boils down to a spiritual study of a human, if pursued in specific directions. Like, for example, nowadays, people are developing the field of "positive psychology" -- studying happiness and other positive emotions in humans, rather than the usual focus of psychology on mental disorders. [The emphasis on negative emotions by psychology can be seen in this quote by Sigmund Freud -- "The first human being who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization." ] Now, this positive psychology will probably in the long run, with the clockworklike organized fashion that western study proceeds, result into recommendations which are similar to spiritual recommendations that religions produce...

In fact, the culmination of the discipline of positive psychology might probably be a formulation of a new philosophical, spiritual, cultural religion/society itself - who knows. :)

Btw, most women/girls are the epitome of the "Feeling" person, I think.

[UPDATE: I am orignally an INFP, though converted over time to INTP, but still hold both personalities]

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