image from dailymail.co.uk
Dear Friends,
There appears to be much excitement about “avatar” in the previous posting that I decided to write a posting on “Avatar” the movie.
I guess by now some of you or your kids might have been to the cinema a couple of times to enjoy the 3D Avatar. Good graphics and scenery. The main scenery was based on the mountain in Zhangjiajie (张家界) in Hunan Province in China. The officials there have decided to cash in by renaming the world heritage mountain “Avatar Halleluyah Mountain” !
The original name in Chinese is “南天一柱”, which can literally be translated as ”the Wonderest Column in The South”.
Some may say that “Avatar” is the reincarnation of “Pocahontas”.
Whichever, this is how I look at “Avatar” :
- Nature is a dedicate thing, touch one thing, all will be affected.
As per earlier posting, Snowflakes and Prajnaparamita , all things are a lot more closely connected than we thought, in time and space.
- Now and Here.
As in posting Experiencing “Now and Here”, if we really experience Now and Here, we touch the past and the future. That’s what Jake managed to achieve under the Tree of Souls, he heard the past and probably felt he future as well. Our modern societ is too “noisy”, we can’t tune in well to receive background signals. That’s the logic behind meditation, to fine-tune our “receivers”.
- Spacetime
In posting Walking with Empress Cixi (象), we are often at the right place but at the wrong time, or vice versa. Whether Avatar or the real body, after all, are just manisfestation of the same thing under different spacetime frame.
In fact often we are ”semi Avatar”, we wear different outfits, we play different roles under different circumstances.
The Universe is just like a giant spiderweb without boundaries. Imagine at each knot there is a star, and that each star is each one of us. This giant star-studded spiderweb floats in the Universe, more spectacular than anything we have ever seen.
Imagined this way, we can quite easily see the connectivity among the stars in the giant spiderweb. Even for those stars that are zillion of light-years from our own “star”. What happened to a distant star will definitely has an impact on our own star, just that we don’t feel it immediately if we are “noisy” ourselves. Staying quite, we will better feel the “pulse” far away.
That’s how xiaoyao2 experinced the Avatar. How about you?
Have fun.
Filed under: All
Vow, thanks for the lovely scenic pictures in the posting. Did not know they took the scenes from China.
Yes, China has many natural beautiful places but most of what we hear and read about China today is just manufacturing and economic growth and pollution.
The movie Avatar also showed an ugly side of us, that we have no respect for nature sometimes and would destroy it just to satisfy our own greed. But the movie also taught us that nature will survive and we will not. I thought it was a well made movie and people of all ages will enjoy it and learn a lesson from it.
In the begining man lived as equal with other beings on earth, it was simply equal co-existance.
As man acquired knowledge and started to learn to control things better (or we thought we can control things better), and especially after the industrial revolution, man simply viewed nature as resources to be exploited and consumed by man.
Maybe we should reviw our own attitudes on things. We like to own things, we like to own lands, properties etc.
Do we “own” them?
Does the Earth know we own them? Does it make any difference ?
We think we own them, we don’t.
We are all in the same melting pot, a vast spiderweb.
Be happy.
In Japan over the last week or so, there has been lots of commotion over the forced resignation of Sumo grand champion Asashoryu and the indignant attitude of the political grand old man Ozawa (of the ruling DPJ) who despite allegations of corruption, remained at the helm of the party.
Has this got anything to do with their animal zodiacs and the Tiger year???
Asashoryu, despite his many mischiefs was not forced out before but only now?
And tough old man Ozawa is sitting tight and despite all the allegations (with intent to bring him down, of course) , the investigation bureau was unable to indict him and therefore he is able to “escape” this time.
Tried 2 weekends to book tickets for the movie but in vain. Hopefully still running during the CNY week.
ZhangJiaJie sure sounds familiar when I first read your posting. Now, I remember.
My eldest son would be most excited to know that the movie was taken there, coz 2 yrs ago he went there on a youth winter camp and came back with this huge thick photography book + VCD of that amazing place.
That book+VCD was collecting dust since but now our
interests are renewed. Thanks.
Gung Xi Fa Cai to all blogmates !!
Happy Roaring Tiger Year to all !
It is scorching hot here these past week.
Typical CNY weather.
mf, come over to Japan. It was super cold these last two weeks!!
Enjoy your Chinese New Year holidays.
Hmm … Tiger year has not been as lucky for many people compared to cow year. This is obvious since the lunar calender begins on this year, and the stocks market. Looks like it’s going to be a difficult year to pass.
Ok.
Lets revisit the key elements of White Tiger Year :
1. Strong Metal,
2. Heat,
3. Windiness.
Metal is, by definition, feel heavy. It drops by action of gravity. Similarly, for the Lungs, when we exhale, it is a bit like collapsing under gravity, the muscles simply relax.
Metal is, getting hot when there is heat, getting cold when temperature drops.
This sounds pretty stupid, but this is exactly the characteristics of Metal.
And this will be the characteristics of White Tiger.
For the purposes of Cosmic Forces, White Tiger forces commence from around Jan 22, 2010, though there is still influences from tail end of Yellow Cow Year, which is donimated by Wetness and Cold in its last Major Forces. (Pls refer to posting on the Yellow Cow Year).
Hope this clarifies.
A Happy and Prosperous White Tiger Year to all who visit my blogs.
Hi All Friends,
I’m now in San Francisco in Courtyard Marriot Hotel, Fremont. Just came up from LA today. Tomorrow will be visiting San Francisco golden gate, harbour, Chinatown & river cruise.
There is no sign of CNY here! No decorations & nobody wishing Happy CNY. We had to remind ourselves about it, otherwise it could have crept by without us noticing.
Thanks for all your greetings! Yes, I would like to wish all of you a Blessed Chinese New Year too! May you consciously be positive & happy, as described by Xiaoyao2, that these feelings will be further eccentuated due to the character of Metal year.
Cheers for a great metalic year ahead! It’s gonna be a solid blessed year!
CT, I’m also watching the stock closely, hoping that it will continue to fall below 2,000 pts for STI, so that I can buy in. I’m still totally stock free. Have invested in property instead, having bought a new property recently, this time, it’s a condo in Spore.
The day after tomorrow, we’ll be visiting Yosemite. This afternoon we visited Hearst Castle & that is my dream home, maybe in heaven. Hehehe….
Hi Xiaoyao2, CH, MF & CT,
Are you all back in Msia for the CNY celebrations?
YL, after all these years, we think that the best way to feel CNY is to visit Buddhist temple during the first day of CNY. There we can see crowds of Asian/Chinese e.g. Vietnamese, HK, Taiwanese, SEA, … many dressed in traditional clothes. We will feel like the temple in Asia during CNY…. Btw Fremont is not San Francisco. It’s in Alameda county, similar as Oakland. Enjoy your stay and have a good trip.
Strictly speaking, Chinese New Year is not “new year”, it marks the arrival of Spring and another mini-cycle of life. It is the begining of 4 Seasons. We can have 4 seasons in a day, a year and a longer cycle.
Have fun.
This morning, we went to San Francisco Chinatown for breakfast. Managed to hear real fire crackers let off nearby. No other signs of CNY, no decorations or another signs.
Now got to sleep, coz got to leave for Yosemite at 4.45am, the next day. Not much time to sleep.
Had a very good visit to San Francisco Golden Bridge, Fishermen Wharf, Palace of Fine Arts, City Hall, Sloping street & oldest catholic church today.
No big way Chinese New Year here, nothing in terms of celebration except if you go to chinatown and then we see some lion dance and some red decorations; mainly to keep the tourists and the Japanese who visit chinatown “happy”.
The Japanese do “celebrate” the lunar new year in a quiet way (more a recognition), as xy2 pointed out, it marks the beginning of spring, so many in the farming industry (yes Japan is still very much an agricultural nation) still read the lunar calendar for the seasons and the dates for planting and harvesting (as pointed out time and again by xy2).
Talking about CNY, you have to talk about “Laisee”.
It is unfortunate that “Laisee” is no longer what it was.
“Laisee” is supposed to be a 2 way expression:
1. The younger generation pay respect to the elders, wish them well in all respects, including care for the elderly,
2. Whereas the older folks will reciprocate by taking take of the younger generation should they need advice or helps.
“Laisee” is a just a token to reminds us of the relationship, or as in one of the comments in one of the postings quite some time ago, it is about “父慈子孝”.
Think all this is “lost in translation”.
Even in modern China these days, “Laisee” has to be big, more of a status type of things.
Separately I noticed that many people in Mlysia is taking holidays overseas over CNY.
CNY is special, hope it remains that way rather than jt another break.
三阳开泰，万事如意。
xy2,
Unfortunately, due to the pressures of modern day living, Chinese New Year, Christmas and all other festivals that come with a holiday are now treated as time for vacation instead of family gathering!
Even in China, we are talking about millions of Chinese leaving China for an overseas trip (and Japan and HK and the rest of SE Asia are trying to cash out on this).
Another reason some people go for an overseas trip is because many would prefer not to have to deal with the many obligations that come with the festival (NY etc), including not having to give out ang pau or laisee, maybe.
One family I know who is rather wealthy and prominent in society decided that they will go away every year during the CNY so they do not have to have an open house and deal with who is going to be invited and who not or later on the rumor of who got left out of their invitation list!
But xy2 is right, it is time for family gathering, not going away.
Hi everyone,
CNY celebrations is definitely a family celebration for us.
Every year, on the eve, my hubby and the kids will write Chinese Calligraphy of 对联 ( a pair of 5 or 7 characters auspicious sayings ) on red paper to don our entrance and walls. It is a family tradition that we started since married.
Of course, reunion dinner is a must. A family photo on CNY is also a tradition.
First day, will be visiting relatives. 2nd day visiting temple and having fun checking on our luck for the year ( Omikuji wo hiku ). 3rd day onwards, hosting gatherings for friends.
Oh yes, finally managed to watch Avatar 3D. A very clever story – such brilliant creativity. Perfect message to all.
Best time to drive around KL with no jam at all. The Pavilion ( KL’s latest hip classy mall ) is decorated with Spring blooms such as Sakura trees lining the streets. Beautiful feeling.
CNY celebrations and preparations can be quite a hassle, but that’s the whole point right. Just once a year.
Mf, the people who built Pavilion love Japan; they come here often enough. Hence the sakuras lining the streets near/in Pavilion.
Pavilion is kind of a strange place.
Right at the heart of Golden Triangle, quite a fair bit of Middle East investors and even some German funds.
Of course they all bought at the peak in 07/08.
That’s my impression.
BTW, Geng-yin is heavy metal, which acts quicker under gravity.
Be careful in physical balancing acts, don’t think too much trivial stuff while doing even simple balancing acts such as walking, cycling, etc, especially for older folks.
Heavy metal is hard to move. So, should we stay put and not move than trying to go against it?
Metal temperature changes quickly. Does it mean there could be more market fluctuation and mood swing this year?
Metal, heavy as it is, moves just as well.
Lungs carry characteristics of Metal.
We breath in effortlessly, take a “deep breadth” if we need to, then relax, the rib cage sags and we breath out.
In fact, shall we say, if the muscle does not relax and let the gravity do the tricks, we will not able to breath out, or we will have to breath out more forcefully, which will be distracting.
H1 is warmer and H2 is colder, metal only exaggerates the changes.
Hi All,
I feel the CNY mood by reading all your postings. Today is my last day in US, tomorrow flying home at 11.40am at LAX. Such a tiring trip. Quite glad that it finally comes to an end.
Next time, never go for holidays during the CNY! We are swarmed with Mainland Chinese every where! They spoke loudly & almost fight in the bus. They rushed & pushed, cut queues, etc… Exhausting!
The US tour agent was Mainland Chinese, tour guide also Chinese, speaking English with an awkward slang, making it difficult to understand, so many buses of Chinese flooding same place. Imagine the toilet & food queues! Imagine the queues at the factory outlet, cashier counters.
I was horrified to find a huge group of Chinese flooding the Coach bag shop & the shop had to close it’s doors, to prevent a stampede. They grabbed bags & some of them in the queues had more than 5 bags on one arm. How did they become so rich? Oooh…maybe they buy & sell to their friends & relatives back in China!
They carry branded bags & wear branded clothes but their mannerism is still the same for some.
Had a really good time at Las Vegas, Grand Canyon(helicopter ride) & factory outlet. Yosemite was a let down coz we reached there in the morning before the souvenir shop was open & only had about 2 hrs there, before being rushed back to LA.
The one place, I would want to go back again is Las Vegas & Grand Canyon. Maybe not Yosemite, coz it’s just viewing some rocks which are in abundance in Grand Canyon.
The coming journey on Northwet Airlines was good only from Spore to Tokyo. From Tokyo to LA was really bad. My section of chairs had all the buttons on the chair arm rest, not functioning. We got no night lights for reading, no head set sound, so see silent movies on the big screen in front & can’t call for assistance.
The airline compensated terribly by giving us vouchers for a USD25 discount off their published rates, for the next trip on Northwest Airlines with expiry by Sept 2010! As if that would encourage us to take their airline again!
However, the savings on the flight tickets was worth it, for taking the helicopter & boat rides at Grand Canyon. It cost USD179 per person!
Hi YL, Byt the time you read this you should be back in S’pore, home sweet home. Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip.
The mainland Chinese, yeah, they are everywhere. We dislike their manners but we want their money. The whole of Japan was gearing up for the busloads of tourists form China during this Chinese New Year holidays just to earn a few extra Chinese dollars (or yen, depending on how you look at it).
If they were grabbing Coach bags there in LA, they were buying electrical goods like hot pots an rice cookers by the truck loads from Japan.
Yes, as you pointed out, they are loud and thinks money can buy them everything. I had a similar situation at my clinic one day. A Chinese client came in and he spoke loudly over the mobile phone in my waiting room. A Japanese older gentleman walked in and he immediately complained to my receptionist about it. The poor girl did not know what to say, after all, they were both clients. And I can tell you this Chinese gentleman was a “somebody” in China, someone whose name appears in the papers back home and who has been educated overseas and not some uneducated peasant.
I guess it takes a while for the “software” to catch up. They got the hardware in but it will take another 20-30 years for the software to catch up. Meanwhile we will all look the other way simply because they have pockets full of dollars to throw around. At least in Japan, without the Chinese, more shops and restaurants and hot spring inns can expect to close.
We were skiing in Niseko back in December. The most expensive hotels and apartments were taken up by mainland Chinese and yes! Singaporeans!! We locals went cheap, just stayed in a cheap lodge by the slopes!
Then the Chinese are here to splash, the most expensive Kobe beefs and sushis are also eaten up by the Chinese while the Japanese hope to collect a few extra dollars.
This phenomenon is not unlike the Japanese 20 years ago during their bubble days. They used to go to Hawaii and LA and even Singapore and bought their Louis Vuittons and Guccis by the truckloads. It used to be that the LV shop at the Peninsula Hotel in HK would not bother to entertain anyone other than the Japanese! And yes, they would close their doors if a certain number of customers went into their store, so there was perpetually a queue outside LV in HK. I guess these days it is not for the Japanese tourists but the Chinese then!
We will see. This phenomenon will continue for a good 5-10 years before luxury goods start to get more abundant in mainland China.
To add to my earlier comments, and this is my personal opinion. I think China (and similarly Russia) who once had great civilization lost her “soul” during the dark periods of communist rule. In China you had the cultural revolution, which destroyed a lot of the culture of China and with it her “soul”.
Today if you ask me, Taiwan and some parts of SE Asia retains more “chineseness” than the mainland China.
Many of the young people see “money” as their god and as the satisfying factor, and they will be lost for a while. Chasing big money is now the in thing in China, so materialism will rise. It will take China another 20-30 years to regain its “soul”.
In the hey days, rich Japanese company execs would fly over Manhattan and point to the buildings they wanted to buy, they couldn’t have enough.
10 years later, these buildings became the “tombstones” of these super-rich investors and the American happily bought them back., the most famous being the RockerF Building.
now is the Chinese turn, and they will do it even more loudly than the Japanese because that’s the way it is.
Time will tell.
White Tiger is contractive, sit tight.
The Chinese ARE already buying BIG time!
Every week there is a new group of investors in Japan looking for investment opportunities!
These days we “invade” with money, another form of imperialism?
“I came, I saw, I conquered”
Interesting, interesting.
Meanwhile, if they will drop a few extra dollars (or yen) at my doorstep, I am happy to pick them up
YL, as I said earlier, Yosemite is not a place for 2 hr sight seeing. To appreciate, one need to stay there and have recreational activities there, e.g. cycling on the well maintained bike trails around the valley surrounded by rockies, canoeing/boating/floating on tubes along the tranquil rivers, get intimidated by one of the highest waterfall or one of the most beautiful bridal fall at north america, enjoy the wild flowers at a natural meadow or swampy area under the rockies. It’s a photographers paradise. Anywhere you shoot will be like calendar. Anyway, sure that China have some of those best in the world, but probably you can’t have much natural activities there, undisturbed, or not so accessible.
in contrary, Grand Canyon is definitely a magnificent 2 hr sight seeing area but probably you won’t stay there for more than a day. We went to Grand Canyon once, but more than 5 times (can’t remember how many times) to yosemite.
Perhaps you should book local tours instead of those all mixed with Asian tourists. Best yet, you should plan your own itenary, and where to stay
the tour agency only sends you to motel out of no where or commercial area at their convenience, and freeways that’s for transportation only
xy2, how do you tell that white tiger is “contractive”? I have read from various reference on this tiger year but this is the only one that says “contractive”
Hi All,
I’m back & have been stucked these few days doing mth end payroll & payables authorization. Only had mild jet lag. It has been my best US trip, with regards to health. I didn’t have the usually stuck nose, cold, rashes & severe jet lag in US.
Seems like, the older we get, the stronger we are. Body felt great, compared to younger days, whereby I often felt muscle aches, flu, rashes, etc… esp travelling long journeys in airplanes. Hope it will always be this good for the rest of the remaining yrs!
Yes CT, I should have planned my own holiday & get a local tour instead. Really terrible to drive for half day to Yosemite & spent 2 hrs & then spent another half day driving back. Sigh….
Yes CH, the Chinese has sufferred till they lost their souls. It will take a few generations to get it back. You are right, the Chinese are everywhere & I also felt that US has been conquered by them already unknowingly. China buy US treasury notes, store US $ & occupy their lands. They work in every type of profession. US is already under Chinese ‘occupation’.
As CH wrote that the Chinese buy items by the truckload, I’m quite sure, they have strong backings. Maybe, they were asked to buy, so that they can resell for some money to their relatives & friends. Or, some business people asked them to buy, so that they can sell & make a handsome profit. Chinese are very enterprising!
Xiaoyao2, I’m begining to see that this yr is ‘contractive’. We are consolidating our business, trimming excesses & settling into our new ventures. Will be a good reflective yr to enjoy!
YL,
I really do not know if the Chinese are buying for re-sale of buying because they were asked to buy by their friends and relatives. I guess it is half and half.
I remember during the heydays of the Japanese bubble, one Japanese would travel and will come home with 10 LVs or Guccis- one for mom, one for eldest sister , one for sister-in-law, one for auntie number 1 and do on. They were do deprived of such merchandise then, so much so that when one person travels, they get requests form everyone else in the village.
Tell you a story. Someone I know was in Paris a 5 years ago. He said he was standing a short distance from the LV store in Paris waiting for his friends to finish shopping. He was quite uninterested in LVs or other branded stuff. Out of the blue came an ordinary looking Chinese woman who spoke to him in Mandarin: “Sir, would you mind going into the LV store and get me three of these wallets? They won’t let me buy anymore because I had purchased quite a few of these wallets! ” She shoved him Euro 600 and showed him the sample of the wallet she wanted. He thought for a moment and then said, “Well, why not?”
He walked in, purchased the wallets and handed the change back to the woman. Later he thought, vow these people are so desperate and so loaded. Had I been a bad person, I could have walked out the back door with the money (Euro 600 is not little, almost USD1000). Shows how desperate and how loaded the Chinese are. To this day, he does not know why the woman needed 3 identical wallets. For sale, for the aunties and siblings and friends who requested them?? No clue.
Well, the Chinese are driving the economy everywhere. In Japan, everyone wants a piece of the Chinese market pie. They are boisterous and loud, but then who cares. We need them to help out the economy, it is dying. Without the Chinese , it will be completely dead!
There are a lot of cash in China right now.
They don’t buy to resell, they buy as gifts to their relatives, friends and all sorts to people that needed to be taken care of.
The french hate seeing people carrying LVs on the bus or i the subways, but they love the Asian monies, without which all these branded stuffs would hv gone kaput already.
Every dog has its day, only when and where.
Not forever either.
Have fun and enjoy Chinese Valentine Day tomorrow.
xy2, thanks for reminder on Chinese Valentine’s Day!
Good excuse to celebrate if you (or your Valentine) missed the last one on Feb 14th.
Yes, it was not long ago that the greenback was the currency that the world wanted to see. Then it was the yen. Now it is the yuan!
Avatar and now Alice in Wonderland will be out (or already out in other parts of the world?) in 3D.
There are reports in medical journals now that 3D movies can be too REAL for some individuals and this has can have a kind of dizziness effect not dissimilar to “car sickness” or “sea sickness” in such individuals. Watch out when you bring your kids to such movies. They might just throw up!!
Hi xiaoyao2,
If my bazi lack metal element like geng and xin, does that mean i will have lung and throat problems?