Hidden Meanings 4/28/2006 12:47:00 PM

Some time ago, I accidentally found a book called “The Music and Art of Radiohead” (by now you’d probably notice that I like them :>). From its’ title, you might’ve easily guessed what the book is all about. Just to make it clear, the book is a collection of academic essays about, well, Radiohead’s music and art (lyrics, album cover art, music videos, etc). Regardless of the efforts put out to make the essays (and not to mention the credibility of their writers), the editor was aware that the artists themselves wouldn’t be too thrilled with the project. As he pointed out at the introductory part of the book, Radiohead weren’t too fond of the over-intellectualization of their work.

You can’t blame people for it, though. Trying to look out for something beneath the surface, the hidden meaning, or whatever you’d like to call them, is simply human nature. If that’s not the case, do you think Kurt Cobain (and a whole bunch of others) would commit suicide out of feeling that his life was meaningless?

On the other hand, people always give out their personal beliefs, values, opinions and even character, intentionally or not, when they communicate with others in various media. By putting Voldemort and his death eaters as the “bad guys” (although defining good and bad in Potterverse isn’t exactly that easy) in Harry Potter series, for example, J. K. Rowling showed her disapproval towards racism. I doubt it if she really intended to preach to her readers, though.

So, what’s wrong with looking for meanings over stuff since they’re always there and everywhere? Nothing’s wrong with it, except that sometimes people can become too serious over things. I suppose that’s the reason why Radiohead refused to play “Creep” for about ten years or so, because the fans (and critics) were way too serious about the songs. People hailed it as the teenage reject anthem of the decade, for God’s sake! I mean, Thom Yorke was probably just having a bad day when he wrote the lyrics. That’s all.

And if you think that’s bad enough, check out for people who go too far in analyzing “hidden meanings” behind things: they see something which doesn’t even exist. From the corps of Harry Potter fans, Harry-Hermione shipper (from the word “relationship”, if you’re wondering) is a perfect example. They still insist that there’s something behind Harry and Hermione’s interaction (romantic love, to be exact) even after Rowling stated in one of the interviews that Ron and Hermione were meant to be together (something that should’ve been noticed by anyone who had read all Harry Potter series). Harry-Hermione shipper even slammed Rowling for “abandoning the greatest love story of the century”. Imagine!

The conclusion, it’s okay to dwell over stuff, trying to find their hidden meanings. Most of the times, you could really find something beneath the surface or even get positive lessons from it. Just don’t get too sentimental.

Guess It! 4/20/2006 11:20:00 AM

These lines gives me the creeps I thought I’d share it with you guys.
And before I forget, no copyright infringement intended.

“After years of waiting
Nothing came
And you realized you’re looking in
Looking in the wrong place”

Guess where it comes from! And what do you think it means?

Pure Escapism 4/16/2006 08:46:00 AM

A 21 year old Japanese man died of heart attack after playing an online multiplayer game for ten days, non-stop. Shocking! In the last ten days of his life, this guy didn’t even care to have a meal or drink, answer the nature’s call, not even bother to stretch up a bit. I never play a multiplayer game. So, it’s only natural that I don’t understand the excitement of it. Why people are so keen on playing it 24/7, it’s just beyond my comprehension. On the other hand, I have a guess on why that guy chose to play multiplayer game instead of living the “real” life. Boredom, lack of social contact, the need to prove his worth; you name it. Basically, he probably wanted to escape his life.

We need to get away from life once in a while. For me, the method is one of the following: reading, listening to certain type of music, watching movies, day-dreaming, browsing the internet. As for the Japanese guy I mention earlier, his means of escape was multiplayer game. And for him, instead of escaping life every once in a while, his time was dominated by the act of escaping. There are two periods in my life when this is also the case for me.

First period was during my days in junior high. I was (and still am, I suppose) this nerdy type of person. You know, the type of girl that no one wants to associate with unless they need your help for homework or the test. I wouldn’t blame anybody but me, though; I have to admit that I took the largest part in creating that image. Needless to say, I practically didn’t have social life. In short, you can say that my life was boring. Of course, with that kind of situation, it’s only normal for me to find a way out. And it’s understandable that I liked being in escape rather than living my boring life.

Second period is today, or to be exact, the past one and a half years. And now, the reason is entirely different from it was in my junior high years. My college years had indeed been very dull. For the last four years, academic duties kept me away from doing anything else besides studying. I didn’t join any student’s organization or club. Actually, I joined one, but it was simply because I felt that I had to. Not because I wanted to. During that time, I didn’t even have the time to dream, to escape; I was too absorbed with school.

I was just fed up with everything that I decided to escape. I’ve spent the past one and a half years escaping by means of reading and watching movies as many as I could, taking classes “unrelated” to my major, hooking myself up to the internet everyday in search of various fun stuff (fanfiction, Harry Potter essays, virtual community, etc). In short, the reason behind my escape this time wasn’t caused by boredom or the lack of social contact (my social life is waaaay better now); it was because I felt trapped. I felt like I had to be content enough with what people thought was good enough; while in fact, I disagreed with that notion. So, I escaped.

When you’re on the run, it’s very difficult to snap yourself back to reality. Everything is so safe and comfortable when you’re escaping. Even writing this (blogging) is basically just another form of escape. In the same time, I hope by doing it, I would be able to confront my feelings, my insecurities; or in other words, keeping in touch with reality.

Everything’s not always in its’ right place. That’s why we all need to escape once in a while. But do remember that we couldn’t run away forever. It’s not easy, but I’ll work on it.

Believing the Unbelievable 4/10/2006 06:09:00 PM

I love “The X-Files”. I really do. Until today, it still haunts me that I missed the last episode. Sleepy-head! Regardless of that, being an X-Files fan doesn’t turn me into an alien freak. In fact, I’m not interested in extra-terrestrial life, not even intrigued by the possibility of it. Honestly, I find it quite unbelievable.

People have their own reasons for not believing in certain things. Sometimes, it’s because the thing just doesn’t make sense to them, because it’s irrational such in the case of medical doctors who disregard the practice of acupuncture. Sometimes, it’s because of a more personal reason, because they simply refuse to believe in it, because it just doesn’t fit into their mind frame. For Roman Catholic of the Middle Ages, the sun being the center of the solar system (people don’t refer to it as solar system at that time though, you know what I mean ;>) was unbelievable simply because the savior of humankind was born on earth, so it was logical (for them) to assume that earth was the center of the universe, instead of the sun. The heliocentric theory was unfitting to their beliefs; therefore they chose not to believe in it.

Of course, everyone has the right to believe or not to believe in something. The problem is, when our disbelief makes us disrespectful toward others. Interestingly, it’s the ones who claimed to be more modern or more educated who often to show that kind of attitude. Some time ago, I checked out Wikipedia to look up information about acupuncture. I found statement regarding the practice of acupuncture from a private watchdog group in the US, the National Council Against Health Fraud. Here is one of it, which I think quite “disturbing”.

“Its’ (acupunctures’) theory and practice are based on primitive and fanciful concepts of health and disease that bear no relationship to present scientific knowledge.” (Reference: Sampson W and others. Acupuncture: The position paper of the National Council Against Health Fraud. Clinical Journal of Pain 7:162-166, 1991.)

The rest of their statement was acceptable, acupuncture is unadvisable because clinical trials has proven it ineffective. It’s understandable. But saying that it’s based on primitive concept, yada, yada, yada... I must admit, I HATE the word “primitive” because it implies a sense of superiority while in fact, no one is more superior than others.

Concerning the issue of the unbelievable, the wisest thing to do, in my opinion, is by applying the principles of safety, efficacy, and quality. If believing in the unbelievable doesn’t endanger you (safety), if it effectively fulfill your expectations (efficacy), and if it even goes beyond your expectations of them (quality); then please do. If receiving acupuncture treatment doesn’t worsen your health condition and even make you feel better, there’s nothing wrong with it.

In response of the same thing, people may react differently, though. You must be extra careful with that. If believing in extra-terrestrial life turns you into a astrophysicist who intensively doing astronomical research, I have no objection to that. But if the belief drives you to join an alien worshipping sect which followers are ready to perform mass suicide anytime soon, I suggest you find yourself a shrink immediately.

In the end, please open up your mind and always remember that even the most unbelievable has a chance to become the believable. If our ancestors were told that we’d be able to fly, they might’ve laughed at the notion. But look how it is now! Or to sum it all up, just remember the wise words of Fox Mulder, “The truth is out there.”

Destiny's Child ? 4/02/2006 07:04:00 PM

What makes a human, human? The answer may vary, depending on the perspective used to answer it. From a religious point of view, the answer might be the ability to distinguish right from wrong. A cultural anthropologist would probably say that it’s our capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically, which makes us different from other living beings. But if you look at it from biological perspective, our genes are the ones responsible for making us human.

Making definition is best left to the experts, but from what I’ve learned in Biochemistry class (;>), gene is defined as the basic unit of heredity. Genes are passed from generation to generation: parents to their children, and so on. Genes control the biochemical process in our body, their roles include producing enzymes that enabled the metabolism to determining our physical appearance such as the color of our eyes. Each species has different genes. That’s why human children looked like human, not like other species.

If destiny had a physical representation, it would probably take in the form as gene. Destiny is often considered as something that has been foreordained. Therefore, you can’t change them. That’s exactly the case for gene. For example, if the gene that controlled the production of insulin was damaged, the person would definitely suffer from diabetes; it can’t be changed.

You’re born with certain genes, inherited from your parents. You can’t change them. Even in the case of genetic engineering. In the case of the diabetic, for example, the damaged gene isn’t modified. Instead, the disease is “cured” by inserting the correct gene inside the body; not by correcting the damaged one. To make long things short, our genes had been determined before we’re born, just like “destiny” that had been foreordained.

Unfortunately, things aren’t as simple as that. It would be very naive to conclude that genes are the only ones responsible for all aspects in our life. Consider the case of someone who had an obesity problem. He happened to have unbalanced diet and never exercised. Would you blame it on his genes? I would surely not.

If something doesn’t work out right, we have nobody to blame but ourselves because our act in the past may bring unpleasant consequences at present. In other words, you get what you give. Thus, the term “free-will” and “free-act”.

Battle of thoughts between the fatalists (those who believe that destiny was foreordained) and their rival (those who believe in “free-will”, please kindly inform me if you know what they’re called :>) has been going on for years, even centuries. No need to worry though, because I don’t intend to join the faction and participate in their debate. Instead, I have a slightly different idea about the topic of human “destiny”.

Studying Pharmacy in college for the last four years, I’ve learned that regardless our fast-growing knowledge in health and medication, a lot of things remain as mysteries. It’s amazing how the cause of many diseases remain unknown. Hypertension, for example. I’ve just found out that ninety percents of hypertension cases are idiopathic, or in other words, have unidentifiable/unknown cause. Someone could be living a healthy life, not doing any “risky business”, but still catch the disease. There’s a good chance to find a hypertension patient with that kind of profile. It basically proves that life isn’t always going as planned, no matter how hard we try. On the other hand, submitting ourselves completely to the hands of "destiny" would be an irresponsible act indeed.

The conclusion is, trying as hard as we can is a must, but we should always realize that the end result doesn’t always correspond to the effort we’ve been working on. We’re all probably just destiny’s children, but the destiny has not been foreordained