Hotseat! Grill a MoFo: Tyler1

Welcome, Tyler1, to the show that is all about you

Your first quintuple of queries:

1. Since you list 2001 as your favorite film, have you ever had a 'touch the monolith' moment? If so, what was it?
2. Did you have a specific reason to learn to speak Chinese? If so, why?
3. I see you list mathematics as an interest. Do you believe that, given sophisticated enough understanding, art can be broken down into mathematical equations? Please explain your answer.
4. What was the first name of the first person you kissed in a romantic way? Did you initiate it or did the other person?
5. Do you have recurring dreams/nightmares? If so, please tell us about them.

Let's see what we dig up

I suppose I could rephrase the question then. Since mathematics appears to be the only valid way that we currently have to describe the universe, and since we as humans are subjugates of the universe (albeit arguably), then do you think that the range of human capability can be described mathematically as we attempt to do with the universe?


My wife was just 20 when I married her (I was 21). May have started young with this sort of thing. Thanks for your candor though.

If I were to ask you to interpret this, what would your answer be?

What criteria do you use to appraise films? Did you have a mentor or are you self-taught? Do you expect to change your opinions much as you age?

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

What criteria do you use to appraise films?

1) The aesthetic or artistic merit. Creativity.
2) The emotional impact it left on me.
3) The entertainment.
4) The rewatchability factor.

Criteria 3 and 4 are not as important as the first two. Sometimes I leave it all to gut instinct, but I try to be as objective as possible.

Did you have a mentor or are you self-taught?

I grew up on Kung-fu movies, or old Hong Kong movies. Stuff like Infernal Affairs, Hero, Mr. Vampire, the films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I didn't know a lot of films by Jet Li then. I was only interested in the fighting parts or slapstick comedy only

At 13 I picked up on movies out of interest. But I just didnt want to watch any random movie so I looked up the AFI list for help. I began watching movies like Pulp Fiction, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, etc. Then I discovered my first arthouse movie the same year by accident actually. It was 'The 400 Blows'. After that it was 'Diabolique', and various other criterion titles. Lists like TSPDT and Sight & Sound made me check out the classics and foreign movies.

So yes, I am self-taught.

Do you expect to change your opinions much as you age?

Not really because I evaluate the films I watch by the same criteria. If anything, my appreciation of the art-house would grow. Of course I still rely on movie lists and word-of-mouth.

Interesting. How do you determine a film's aesthetic or artistic merit and how does it separate itself from entertainment? Is it a question of subject matter/themes or is it more about technique? (or gut reaction?)

Since mathematics (and Science) appears to be the only valid way that we currently have to describe the universe, and since we as humans are subjugates of the universe (albeit arguably), then do you think that the range of human capability can be described mathematically as we attempt to comprehend the universe?


The method of logical deduction has always been the way we humans attempt to explain the universe. So far we have done a relatively good job at explaining how things are the way they appear to be using the scientific method. In fact, one can fit all the physical equations onto a sheet of paper. You see, the universe is of such order. Its beauty being derived from obeying laws, laws that can be comprehended by the human mind. It didnt have to be this way; the universe could've been chaotic, unpredictable. I imagine if there was a god, he would be fine-tuning the universe, turning the knobs and setting the physical laws to be just the way we see them to be. Insofar as to how the human mind works by deduction, we can thus measure our capabilities in terms of rational thinking such as mathematics.

Even if there are multiverses, they should also be governed by their own set of rules. It's just that we don't know what these are simply because we are confined to our own. Descartes proclaimed 'I am thinking, therefore I am existing'. A deceiver can't deceive me of my existence, for if he were I wouldn't exist. And the fact that we are able to be here giving meaning to the universe could therefore imply that we can measure our capabilities based on our own meanings/laws*.

*I am of course ignoring sentience because till date humans haven't been able to quantify sentience.

Do you think music can provide truths in the same way as mathematics? Only certain music? A galactic opinion perhaps?

Do you think music can provide truths in the same way as mathematics? Only certain music? A galactic opinion perhaps?

Music can be truthful when it relates the human experience, justified solely by individual emotion and not reason. What's a galactic opinion?

I guess I mean moreso can it prove anything besides how someone feels. By galactic opinion I mean something beyond the usual "opinion" that can be proven to be true instead of merely subjective, so basically a correct opinion.

@wt

I see. Well, if theres anything truthful music can show us its how creative we've become at manipulating others. I mean the experience that one can get from listening to music is almost comparable to a religious person attending mass and experiencing his personal revelation, whatever that means.

@mark

Originality might be dead since all films are somehow influenced by one another. A simple indicator for originality would be how unique the film is presented, and that can only be determined by watching other films of similar themes/ideas followed by vigorous comparison. No movie should be judged solely on its own merits but must be compared with others that preceded it. That's a most objective way for critiquing films. The way an idea is presented, or how it is carried forward to the viewer, should not be straightforward but subtle, always leaving room for interpretation. Something like Derrida's idea of Deconstruction whereby a text or work of art can be peeled off in layers to reveal more meanings than what it was originally intended, regardless of the subject matter.

I'm curious what math classes you've taken. Or is your interest more informal/extracurricular? Do you have a favorite area?

Are you in college (university)?

Favorite books? Authors? How would you describe your literary tastes (science fiction, non-fiction etc. go into as much detail as you can.)

I haven't read much philosophy. The only two intro-ish books that come to mind are Ray Monk's excellent biography of Wittgenstein (The Duty of Genius), and Keith Devlin's 'Goodbye, Descartes: The End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind', which very broadly covers the history of propositional logic from Aristotle through modern AI research and linguistics. Both can be read very easily without any prior background. I don't know any general intros to all philosophy, though.

What's your favourite sport?
Favourite athlete?
What's the film that made you realize films can be more to you than just entertainment? Why?
What's the greatest accomplishment of your life so far?
What do you do for a living?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
If you could have dinner with one director, who would it be? Why?

What's your favourite sport?

Tennis.

Favourite athlete?

None.

What's the film that made you realize films can be more to you than just entertainment? Why?

The 400 Blows (1959). I believe that's not only my very first black & white film I've seen but also my first arthouse film. Watching it for the first time made me realise how the truth could be so enlightening; how transient moments of the quotidian could be so ennobling.

What's the greatest accomplishment of your life so far?

Losing my religion.

What do you do for a living?

Nothing.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Doing something to earn a living, which is unfortunate because I have so many things that I want to learn.

If you could have dinner with one director, who would it be? Why?

David Lynch. He has a brilliantly twisted mind and I would love to have a discussion with him about the depraved.

I now feel that I am better equipped to answer these questions:

I'm curious what math classes you've taken. Or is your interest more informal/extracurricular? Do you have a favorite area?

I studied math for my A's. Because I also did physics, I became more passionate for both subjects after becoming moderately interested in astronomy. In university, my area of study shifted to biochemistry, albeit I still took math classes.

Are you in college (university)?

Yes, majoring in Biomedical Engineering. Now I intend to branch out to biogenetic research after my four years in university.

Favorite books? Authors? How would you describe your literary tastes (science fiction, non-fiction etc. go into as much detail as you can.)

Favorite books (in no order of preference) -

The Man Without Qualities (Musil)
Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (García Márquez)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Murakami)
Swann's Way (Proust)
Pedro Paramo (Rulfo)
The Book of Disquiet (Pessoa)
Street of Crocodiles (Schulz)
Labyrinths (Borges)
The Rings of Saturn (Sebald)

My main literary interests are the classics and non-fiction. I have enjoyed some science fiction novels like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, but I am no big fan of the genre. The same goes for fantasy and romance. For poetry I really like Pablo Neruda, T.S. Eliot and Goethe. My favourite philosophy book is Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception - reading it is an absolute intellectual revelation. In all, my literary tastes are nowhere as diverse as my cinematic tastes.