- Ljot Swanhild: Videospiele zocken und Konversation
And then Ljot woke up later that night, it was all just a dream, Ljot is nothing and will always be nothing, but that doesn’t mean its bad, there is no ego left, there are no friends left, it was my own choice and I am satisfied, there was nothing ever there in the first place.
- Meditations and Other Metaphysical Writings
Here’s a corrected and smoothed version of your text, keeping your meaning and tone intact:
This is the Penguin edition. It includes multiple works by Descartes: (0) an introduction that gives some background information, (1) Meditations on First Philosophy, (2) Objections and Replies, a text that gives replies to common objections against his Meditations, (3) Principles of Philosophy, basically a summarized version of (1), (4) Descartes’ correspondence, which is a collection of letters with people asking him questions regarding his work, and finally (5) comments on a certain manifesto, which is a rebuttal against the work of philosophers of his time who Descartes thought had misunderstood him.
I really like how the text is written. I don’t know how much that is due to this particular translation or Descartes himself, but it is very readable and I enjoy his stylistic choices. Content-wise, I like that he first questions all assumptions, basically tearing down the established worldview before starting again and trying to reconstruct it from the ground up. I like this approach.
Personally, I think this “tear down” is more interesting than the reconstruction, as quite early on I already had a bunch of problems with the reconstruction, so the later parts were less interesting because they depended on earlier parts I had already disagreed with.
I also think it’s really cool to include common objections people had against his work and then provide his direct replies. Often, philosophical works do not take objections this seriously.
Having the Principles of Philosophy as a quick summary of his work is also really nice. I think in general more works should have this structure: first the main philosophical work (i.e., the argument), then a section with common objections, and finally a summary. It makes everything very neat and approachable. The correspondence that Descartes had with Princess Elizabeth was also very cute to read, it gives an interesting view of the time: what people thought, what issues they had, and so on.
Finally, his comment on a manifesto was a really brutal takedown of his opponent. Descartes would have fit right into modern debate culture, in a positive way.
- Was hilft die Sorgen
Was helfen uns die schweren Sorgen,
was hilft uns unser Weh und Ach?
Was hilft es, dass wir alle Morgen
beseufzen unser Ungemach?
Wir machen unser Kreuz und Leid
nur größer durch die Traurigkeit. - Firworks (1997)
I appreciate how neat this movie is. It doesn’t try to do too much; it has a clear throughline and follows it all the way to the bitter end. It’s very tight, and that is particularly effective because of the uniqueness of the premise. It has one interesting setting and commits to exploring it fully without feeling the need to add much else. What’s especially interesting is how little the protagonist and his wife speak, no more than ten sentences throughout the entire movie. In that sense, it relies much more on atmosphere than dialogue. With this tightness also comes a certain straightforwardness. Aside from one point, the flowers in the paintings and the paintings in the bar scene, the symbolism and thematic exploration are fairly light. The film isn’t especially interested in abstract interpretation; it has a journey in mind and sees it through without unnecessary detours.
There also aren’t many action scenes, but when they do happen, they’re really good. They feel much rawer than the modern Hollywood fighting style, which often borrows from kung fu films and ends up looking more like choreography than actual violence. Here, the violence feels sudden, brutal, which fits the film much better.
The original title, Hana-bi, translates to “Fireworks,” though it can also be understood through its components: hana (“flower”) and bi (“fire” or “flame”). That contrast between beauty and violence lies at the heart of the film. The ever-present violence is juxtaposed with the flower paintings, reinforcing this central tension throughout.
The music is occasionally a bit goofy, but overall it’s excellent. It reminds me of the scores from Studio Ghibli films, which makes sense given they have the same composer. 7.5/10
- Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Of the genre of dumb comedy, i.e. lowbrow comedy with very blunt humor (other examples include the Leslie Nielsen movies), this is one of the better ones. 7/10
I2P