Dr Strange Movie Review

This is my second movie review on this blog and I was quite surprised that I would be recommending this movie to other people. When i first saw the trailer i had the preconception that it would be another boring movie made by marvel that was just to bridge the story that started with the other marvel characters and to make some dough for marvel. The movie was very subtly mind opening( I find myself more of an intuitive person so i am more intrigued by things that are mind blowing in a sense).
MOVIE: Doctor Stephen Strange( Benedict Cumberbatch) is a brilliant and unique surgeon that specializes in surgery that deals with the nervous systems. He has never failed any surgeries in his career, he has a perfect record not just because of his talent and knowledge but also because he never takes on a surgery which he thinks he will fail. He was driving on a cliff to a talk that he was supposed to give on medical science on a rainy night and he was talking on the phone at the same time, choosing which patient to take on next when he got into an accident as he lost control of his car for a moment. The impact of the car crash crushed both of his hands, damaging all the nerves in it, he went from being one of the most skilled surgeons in the world to a guy who can barely lift up a pen to write his own name. With his ego damaged, he was desperate, loaning money from banks to try different procedures to cure his hands so he could go back to being the surgeon he was. Western medicine, which he was so invested in his whole life, could do nothing to even make his hands a little better. Until one of his colleague told him about a man who had a spinal injury which was seemingly incurable( which was one of the patients he turned down to protect his perfect track record), was able to recover completely and was able to walk. Having no other options he went to find the guy who was compassionate enough to give him the location of the place which he sough treatment. It was a place in Nepal, and Stephen Strange used the last of his wealth and possessions to get a one way ticket there. When he first met his master, The Ancient One, he could not believe his eyes, it was a bald headed woman, who explained to him that she healed the man with a seemingly incurable spinal injury with spiritual practices. Confined by he limits he placed on himself, Stephen was in a rage, he could not believe what he flew all the way to Nepal for, until he was shown the infinite dimensions of the infinite universe that we're in and how much he didnt know about the world( my favorite scene;). From then onward began his training in the mystical arts and blah blah blah......

MORAL/ what i took from the movie: I saw Stephen Strange as an ordinary human being going through life, thinking that is all there is and that they know everything which is the mindset we all have but are afraid to admit. We like to have a sense of control over things, we have a desired outcome and an undesired outcome in everything, and our whole life we chase the desired and avoid the undesired, kind of life pleasure and pain, chase one avoid the other like Dr Strange refusing patients that he doubt he could perform a successful surgery on. Main point is, we do not like to fail and do not like surprises, especially nasty ones or ones we feel are negative.
However, life is all about failures, surprises and the unexpected and the unknown, these are the zest of life itself! I am a big fan of basketball, and i used to care a lot about winning so i did not play in the games which i think i would lose, but what makes the game fun is the competing and going against the odds, thats why we feel more alive when we take risks and gamble, because we do not know what will happen. If you do know about everything and anything then life would be one big bore i feel. So embrace the unknown as it is what makes life fun and thats why we play! :)
This is all just food for thought, think about it especially if you have never thought deep about anything before, it very very intriguing.

How to save the environment and NATURE! ( Alan Watts Documentary)

I would like to share this video to provide a sense of perspective of how to deal with the current environmental problems of the world. This is a brilliant and mind opening video by Alan Watts, whom I feel was a very evolved human being, and well ahead of his time as this video was shot in 1971!!
He made a point for us to break or see through the illusion that man is somehow a separate being from the entire universe, planet and nature, which is a very popular and common view especially among Christians.
This post is not to target any religion or to put down anyone but just to give some food for thought or a different lens to look at our current situation.

Just some perspective

Egos are very important to some of us, I know, I play basketball and I want to be the star player most of the time, and kind of dictate every move the team makes. But ultimately,  the ego or identity, is just an illusion. We're given names when we're born, that is not who we are, the name serves as a tool so we can easily identify one another. Same with position and "power" , there is no such thing in reality, you just playing a different role with different benefits and downsides.
I do not mean to quote any religion or philosophy or thinking but ultimately in reality, everything in the universe is one, the entire planet earth is one.
Take the human body for example, would you say the finger is also the human body? When the finger is attached to the body it's called human, but then when detached it's called finger? Even a single human cell is also the human body and has its part to play. Only when all the cells and nerves at the different parts of the body are working then it is possible for us to be alive, so our lives are basically already a miracle. The air we breathe in, isn't it also a part of us? The oxygen enters our blood stream and is used by all parts of the body!! So we may not really be a human living on earth in the universe, but rather the universe itself. We are to the universe as a cell is to a human body. So we should take care of ourselves as destroying the earth equals to self destruction. Just some perspective..feel free to have your own:)

Poster: Heaven or Hell?

Here's a little poster I made with the spare time i had during the weekends. I thought about how I could relate to Singaporeans in Singapore TODAY and NOW. As we all should be aware of now in Singapore, the temperature of the environment has drastically increased not only by numbers, from an average of 31 Degrees Celsius to 35 Degrees Celsius on a daily basis. It is almost unbearable especially for people(like myself) who perspire easily and a lot, which leads to BO and other nasty results. 

What we usually think is that the big companies who use majority of the resources are the ones who contribute to all the pollution that leads the global warming effect that we all have the pleasure of experiencing right now, however, we fail to acknowledge and are ignorant to the fact that we are the consumers of all these products and services, be it electricity, food, daily necessities etc. Therefore I feel that every individual has a huge impact on the environment, and our everyday choices are the ultimate factor in determining the rate of global warming and pollution. I want us to start here, now, thinking about how we can improve the environment around us instead of "the world out there". It's not difficult to find a recycle bin, nor to go vegan just once a week, or to just practice energy saving measures in our very own home. Every microscopic action counts, if every individual really focuses on saving electricity and recycling, the effect would be overwhelming positive, do not underestimate the combined effort of individuals. 

Remember that our choices determines the environment we live our everyday lives in, therefore we create our own fate, we all have a choice! To create "Heaven or Hell" on our home Planet Earth:)

Reflection on movie: Finding Dory

                                                            Finding Dory Trailer

If you have not considered watching Finding Dory, I hope this will change your opinion. Most people have a preconception that this will be a kids movie based on the first move, Finding Nemo. However, I feel that it is not only a movie for all, but for those interested in protection of marine life, and 70% of us which is the sea and all the life within. By the way, isn't it coincidental, we are just like the earth, made up of 70% water( correct me if I'm wrong ).

Finding Dory is a movie about Dory, who is a fish which suffers from short term memory loss, she would forget many things, even what she's saying a moment ago. This has led her to be rather annoying to her friends and even herself as she beats herself up sometimes for being forgetful. All is well at the coral reef where she and her clownfish friends nemo and his father lives(i forgot his name), until one day, during one of nemo's class where they were talking about parents, Dory hada sudden recollection of her parents, who stayed with her despite her short term memory, they played with her, even came up with ways to help her remember things like the way to her home as she may wander off sometimes. Dory then decides to go find her parents with nemo and crew, the rest of the story, you have to watch the movie to find out, I am no spoiler;)

What has this to do with environment? In a part of the movie, where Dory traced her memory back to a water park where she thinks her parents might me, the movie highlights how badly the marine life are treated at the water park despite claims of protecting the wildlife. The shallow pools where we are allowed to touch the corals and starfishes are actually harming these delicate sea creatures as they can be very sensitive and vulnerable with so many fingers touching and some unaware kids pressing these sensitive creatures like it was a toy. The animation also shows the condition that the captured fish are kept in, no different from an ordinary fish shop, all the sick fish cramped together and then sent off to various locations as a showpiece instead of being released.

I think we humans are ignorant of our own actions, we literally want profit from every single thing and end up destroying all life on earth and ironically leading to our own death. Using marine life as tourist attractions and entertainment while claiming to be putting them in a better environment? I dont know about you but we are ultimately lying to ourselves in the end.

I strongly recommend this movie to all to raise awareness of this issue to all and hopefully we can understand and sympathise these marine life and that we are literally robbing their "families".

Reflection on Newspaper cutting: Pebble pinching perturbs Taiwan

Pebble pinching perturbs Taiwan, Thursday, 24th March 2016

This is a rather interesting article as to why it has anything to do with the environment at all. Not only are the Taiwan authorities confiscating pebbles collected by the tourist, most probably for momentos, but they are also imposing a fine of as high as NT50,000(S$21,000).

The reason that tourists are not allowed to collect stones from seascape areas in Taiwan is because the authorities fear that it might cause the erosion of the beaches in Taiwan and slowly erode the shore.
" Taking one or two doesn't seem like a lot, but our scenery will slowly disappear the more it happens," said Miss Lin Wei-Ling, Deputy Director of the East Coast National Scenic Area Administration.

Signs have been put up all over the seascape areas of Taiwan but they also focused on educating the public, using media such as this article itself to make the public aware, some visitors have also sent back rocks they have taken after knowing its illegal and harming the shoreline.

This is the sort of issue that seems minor but could have a major impact on the environment, thus thumbs up to Taiwan for educating the public on the issue and imposing a harsh fine to prevent people for further committing such acts.

Relfection on Newspaper cutting: Australia to pump $1 billion into clean energy

Australia to pump $1 billion into clean energy, Thursday, 24th March 2016

Australia Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said that they will a A$1 billion(S $1.03 billion) clean energy innovation fund. This is reportedly to combat climate change, and his response to the people of his country who criticised the former prime minister for failing to support renewable energy . The money will be used bit by bit annually in clean energy technologies.

I feel that this is has both good and bad like all things, good as it serves as an example to other countries, which creates a beneficial kind of competition, like Singtel vs M1 kind of competition, other countries may also invest more in clean energy technologies to show that their country is not falling behind and that is what we need to reduce our heavy reliance on fossil fuels which increase the rate of global warming.
The downside, however is countries seeking to gain something from these clean energy technologies, or seeking profit of some kind, in this case is the Australian prime minister seeking approval from his people and this gives the upcoming generation an inappropriate impression and influence as countries do things for profit and popularity instead of trying to solve a worldwide problem. Clean energy technology might also be altered by manufacturers so that more can be sold for profit instead of being reliable.