March 6th, 2010
On the Sixth Day, GOHD did many things. GOHD said “Be a bookshop for once”, as we did.
It was an eventful day of jamming, with a two Indian drums we own but don’t know the names of, a darbuka, a guitar, a violin, a viola, a keyboard, a mother rebana and baby rebana, and this marracas-like thing which has fire design all over it and should really be called mat-racas. Of course, there were a lot fewer people than there were instruments, so it’s not really as impressive as it seems.
For the first time, GOHD finally found appreciation for the rare copies of the Oriental Studies Conference papers. Yay!
Also, we met with counseller, healer and teacher Tan Hwee San, who has helped many people we know (and don’t know) get through difficult times. She holds a meditation session every Tuesday, and a host of services that she is trained in.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2010
It’s a wonder so few Singaporeans have heard of Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright. His books are found all over the National Libraries, where I first picked up his spectacular novel Heart of a Dog.
Right now, I’m reading his most famous work, Master and Margarita. It’s a typically Russian form of magic realism, you know, the type where the Devil makes an appearance, etcetra etcetra etcetra. It’s also morbidly funny, and will probably appeal to those who look for cult novels, although Bulgakov isn’t really in the “cult novel” genre. But there’s darkness and violence and all the jazz in the book, written in this extremely deadpan, cynical manner. And of course, it’s highly literary, since that’s just one would expect of one of the greatest Soviet writers in the Stalin era.
Posted in books | No Comments »
February 25th, 2010
GOHD has started offering language classes! Right now we have Chinese, Classical Chinese, Hindi, Sanskrit, Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Italian and French lessons!
Go to GOHD LANGUAGE PAGE
Posted in Uncategorized, events | No Comments »
February 25th, 2010
STRAITS RECORDS presents MAKING WAVES 2010!
Saturday, 27th February
(Door opens 5.30pm)
Line-up
+ Akta Angkasa (KL)
+ Silver Machine
+ Space Days
+ The Sallys
+ The Psalms
+ Moods
+ The Zozi
Sunday, 28th February
(Door opens 4pm)
Line-up
+ Overdose (China)
+ Always Last (KL)
+ Cesspit
+ Nazark
+ The Pinholes
+ Under The Velvet Sky
Tickets at the door:
$10 for 1 day. *$18 for both days.
*$15 if you show your student pass.
——————————-
Step by step DIRECTIONS from Farrer Park MRT!!!
Farrer Park MRT, exit G. Once up you will face City Square(on the opposite side of the road). Turn left(on Serangoon Road) and walk past Perumal Road. You will also passby a bus-stop, a Hindu temple and a petrol station. The venue is after the petrol station on the row of shophouses.
Posted in events | No Comments »
February 24th, 2010
About a month ago, I picked up What The Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula. It’s sold on Amazon, but BEWARE PEOPLE! This book is a FREE DISTRIBUTION copy circulated through the kind souls at Buddhist Societies all over the world and SHOULD NOT BE SOLD.
At least, I got it for free.
This month, however, I decided to go the other way and read What the Buddha Never Taught by Tim Ward. While What The Buddha Taught discusses Buddhist meditation, philosophy and precepts, Tim Ward’s other side describes his experience in Wat Nanachat, one of the venerable Ajahn Chah’s offspring monasteries.
So Tim Ward is this Canadian philosophy graduate guy, and the book is extremely apt in depicting the mind of all of us who have been corrupt by the flakey Western arts and humanities education. He experiences existential angst, and hears everything he has been read/taught thundering through his mind while he attempts to meditate. He questions everything, is cynical about the monkhood, and eventually leaves the monastery.
The book is an entertaining read - because Tim Ward is quite droll, and because stories of the monastery are always funny. But more than that, his account got me staring at all my afflictions (which he also suffers) in utter horror. There was this whole chunk in the book about an internal monologue, followed by a dialogue, concerning running away from yourself, suicide, etc etc. The standard philosophical arguments are made, but in simple language, unlike so many books out there. I saw just how incredibly stupid these debates come across as. I also saw just neurotic we are today, to the point that being made to sweep floors causes us so much hatred, anger and inner conflict.
Tags: books, buddhism books, what the buddha never taught
Posted in Philosophy, books, buddhism | No Comments »
February 20th, 2010
Ah. The time has come for me to write about Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, the first book in G.I. Gurdjieff’s All and Everything series.
I don’t know much about G.I. Gurdjieff, the Greek-Armenian mystic with some of the most outrageous propositions ever made by any human being. I hear that he is quite certain that the sun is blue and that we’re controlled by the moon, or something like that; apologies to any Gurdjieff followers for my utter and complete ignorance.
Frankly, I couldn’t get through Beelzebub at all, I might as well have been reading Greek. Supposedly, it was intended to be that way. It’s about Beelzebub’s tour of the world, I think. But the Gurdjieff system itself is so puzzling that I am left wordless and cannot even begin to comprehend anything.
I read the disciple Ouspensky’s A New Model of the Universe (which I have yet to upload), which is by far easier to read, if not understand. Still, baffled. Baffled. Baffled.
I wonder, though, why Beelzebub has been sitting on the shelves for so long, and nobody has expressed any interest in purchasing it. If I were a customer, I would buy it only because it’s like owning stardust or a meteorite or an egg that reproduces itself and forms chickens without any chickens in the picture.
This post, I guess, is a challenge I’m posing to anyone to explain that book to me without my brains exploding into blue-black rays of nothingness.
Tags: beelzebub, gurdjieff
Posted in Mysticism, books | 1 Comment »
February 19th, 2010
The postman woke me up once again. He presented me with 4 boxes of new books. I glared at him. But the books are amazing. I don’t know whether to be grouchy or excited.
I never dreamt that postmen would become such influential figures in my life.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
February 17th, 2010
Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis is one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read.
A new translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Awakening Osiris literally sends chills down my spine and, for some reason, makes me extremely emotional. I can’t really describe why, but it strikes me as so profound and exquisite that it is one of my most treasured books at GOHD.
Hail Thoth, architect of truth, give me words of power that when I speak the life of a man I may give his story meaning. I stand before the masters who know the histories of the dead, who decide which tales to hear again, who judge the books of lives as either empty or full, who are themselves authors of truth.
My time is a reflection on the surface of water.
-Awakening Osiris, Normandi Ellis
Posted in Mysticism, books | No Comments »
February 14th, 2010
I was reading The Art of Walt Disney, which brought back many memories from my childhood and teenage years. Looking at the illustrations of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, especially made me go all awwwwww…..…..
The Art of Walt Disney talks about the music in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which is actually known as Fantasia. We once had to study it in GREAT detail in school…this movie is really bizarre - it’s almost like an animated musical/opera, based on the music of Stravinsky/Beethoven, etc. It’s alright for really fun, pretty animation and artistry, etc, but it’s a little questionable if you’re looking for entertainment. But it’s amazing how beautiful the illustrations are, especially considering this was 1940. The book is really interesting also because it doesn’t just talk about the art in Disney films, but also the whole business of it, and how it was affected by the events that happened. For example, animators suddenly die and everybody goes in panic.
Anyway, I really like the illustrations in the old Disney films, which leaves me slightly indignant at the movie Avatar. Yes yes, I know people spent years developing the 3D technology and all, but if you’re going to make such a big deal out of it, please, oh PLEASE, the least you could do is come up wit a better script and plot. And I’m sure showing 3D aliens making out is going to have consequences. Maybe blow up AVATARS for people with different tastes.
Posted in books, movies | No Comments »
February 7th, 2010
Looking at the How To Reuse Books entry on WikiHow made my heart stop. Beware, people, of the BOOK GENOCIDE.
Holey Book??
A book BAG? Impractical, TACKY, and what are they THINKING?
My book is NOT an internet chatroom, thank you very much. And as if there isn’t enough BAD ART out there already.
Tags: bad ideas
Posted in books | No Comments »