Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Literal or Figurative?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1-4

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63



One of the questions that keeps coming up among Christians, is whether one should read the Bible literally, or figuratively. Loosely speaking, the ultra-conservatives preach the former – hell, the great flood, the resurrection, etc., are all real; whereas Christians of the more modern ilk take greater liberties with the scriptures, such that bits in the Bible that are hard to imagine, to reconcile to our conventional understanding, or to stomach with contemporary sensibilities, are understood figuratively.

It is beyond my ability to quote many references, so let me leave this to the reader; but i shall like to offer an answer/perspective by bringing your attention to the verses quoted above. The Word is Christ. How then do we understand the Bible? For a friend, say, the more we know him, the more we're clear when he's being serious, when he's kidding, or when he's being ironic. In the same sense, the more we know God, the closer we walk to Him, the more we know when He should be understood in the literal sense, when it whould be figurative, when God is approving of something, when something is merely being described as a ppoint of information, etc.

Thus it is futile to adopt or construct a 'rule' via which to interpret the Word of God, but that our understanding should be God-centred, that is, based on communion and relationship with God. So literal or figurative? My answer, if you must, is neither.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Jiang Meiqi 江美琪


I feel I ought to say something about this matter; I owe her this much at least, for the pleasure she has given me through her soul-rending music -- I am talking about Jiang Meiqi, one of my favourite singers in Chinese Pop. She has a most beautiful voice, but for some reason, she's never quite hit big time, even if people generally have praise for her work.

Perhaps it's because she's not impossibly pretty -- at least in the conventional sense, which seems to be the necessary ingredient for pop starlets that the record industry wheels out like pretty confections on a conveyor belt.

But Jiang Meiqi is pretty. A bit on the tanned side, and she looks ordinary even; there's a certain willfulness in the shape of her jutting jaw and lips, and her nose is a little too large. But what an ensemble they form with her eyes, which are large, full of emotion, vulnerability and yet an utter absence of self-consciousness. A picture of perfection in imperfection, I would say. Of course, I'm biased. And from the looks of album sales and her non-existent career, this perception is largely my own.

Such a pity for me, really, cos I like her music lots -- such a melodic voice, with a clarity comparable to Kit Chan's (another singer I like) but warmer, rounder, impregnated with a greater sense of doubt, haplessness and longing. When I listen to her songs, my heart aches. And what more can one rightly ask of music? So I still kick myself to this day, for missing an interview with her when she was doing some school concert tour in Singapore a few years ago to promote her album. I was supposed to interview Jiang Meiqi for FHM -- I was a staff writer then. But I couldn't go because two weeks (I think) before the interview, I crashed a car, uprooting a lamp post, and when the day of the interview came, I was still nursing a terrific black eye, and one side of my lips was numb. No kissing required at interviews of course, but a black eye is no fitting conversation piece.

Oh well, zip back to the present, to 2008, on my birthday. And feeling a little rough for wear -- 38 years, firmly in mid-life crisis zone, no? -- I was looking for a nice CD to play, and chanced upon one of Jiang Meiqi's later albums. Not one of my favourites, which i bought a few years ago and put aside after playing once or twice. Much as I love Jiang's music, I have not played them for quite a while, partly because EMI is shit and their CDs tend to skip. But before long, with the CD spinning in the shitty Samsung deck, I was feeling that familiar ache again (I shall write about heartaches in a later post). The low and behold, uncannily enough, Track 5 came on, "Happy Birthday"!

Oh my. "Cheek to cheek, I just want to be close to you, I want to sing you a song... I whisper into your ears, 'May all your dreams come true,' because it's your birthday." Oh my. Thanks. From Singapore, and you won't know who I am, but Jiang Meiqi, I hope all your dreams come true, too. Live well.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Gintama



It's an ongoing series based on a popular manga, so on some days, i find myself in a state of withdrawal as I wait for the fan groups to work out the subtitles. Excellent stuff and so off-beat, with the funniest dialogue, and the subbers have done a brilliant job, including the wealth of contextual information and cultural references. In brief, it's centred on the life and adventures of the members of an odd-job agency (more like a surrogate family), who are more than what they'd care to admit, set in a Japan that melds sci-fi (alien oppressors, spaceships, thinking robots) and post-Samurai era where the carrying of swords have been banned except for the police and militia (sort of like Samurai X, or the period of the Meiji Restoration, where samurais were forbidden to bear their swords...). This is done wonderfully, and besides, it's such a wonderful metaphor for change, the hazy transition period between the classical age and a subsequent one taking shape at breakneck speed.

Cut it short, some memorable lines from the series:

"The land of samurai. it's been ages since our country was called that..." is how the narration begins

"An employee who can't use a register is as useless as a mom who can't make fried rice," Gintama picking his nose, riding a scooter.

"The fun's in the jourey, so let's see it to the end, just as a girl becomes a woman!" Gintama chasing a truck on his trusty scooter...

"I don't care if he's loin-cloth masked or an underwear thief; we can't let this man continue to sully women's innocence and mock the pride we men hold dear!" Konda, Shinsengumi commander briefing his men on catching the underwear thief.

"A girl in love is the same as a wild boar. she's only looking ahead."
"Idiots in their own idiotic way have their own idiotic worries!"

"For men, once your lower hair starts growing, you have to start taking care of yourself," Gintama on boys coming of age.

"Wandering in space with my father and becoming the greatest alien hunter in space is my dream."

"Apparently, it's good for your health to have moonlight shining onto your butt hole... Apparently, sun also works, but moonlight's even greater... Hattori-san apparently cured his hemorrhoids this way." Two henchmen chatting.

"Women are all born from compost bins. We're fighting against flies flying arund us." Referring to men.

"Your ass?! How can you care if someone touches your ass? Do you know why your ass is split in two? It's so that it'll still be fine even if one side is touched!"
"Not quite. Asses, you see, are the remaining proof that humans were once angels. They used to be wings."

"A life without gambling is like a suchi without wasabi!"

"Aah what shoud i do from here on in?
if you aren't the one who will love me?
Aah even though my heart is heavy
my body is still fine, so I'll laugh today too!" theme song lyrics...

"The future of Gintama is still undecided... undecided is only undecided and not what is decided upon." Sounds like Greek. And so ends the first year's episodes.

Yet more...
"Maybe, after you grow a little more... and you still remember about me... Come find me again. i'll be glad to do more things with you then."
"laugh a lot, cry a lot, and grow to become an adult. I'll be waiting." Gintama to a toddler who takes to him.

"Xxx civil servant, eat shit!" song lyrics in the anime.

"As expected of someone who squirts liquid medicine up his ass everyday, your aim is perfect." A ninja with a haemaroid problem is complimented

"Well then, if i shove you into this beam of light that contains all of Edo's energy, even your tiny soul would burn, right?" Gintama to a robot...