Ramblings of a Pseudo-Intellectual: Part Tres

By Andrew Chung
July 04, 2006

Uno, dos...and tres. Here we are once again. It's been awhile since I've last rambled. And I'm sure I've tortured you all with the sheer anticipation.

I wanted to address the name, The Pseudo-Intellectual. I've never actually explained it, and I'm sure most of you don't get it. I thought it was just a peculiar but very descriptive term for all of us. Knowledge by nature is limitless - many may say they have a lot of it, many may say they don't, and many may pretend they do (or don't). But the thought of measuring your own or another's knowledge (even if it is in our heads) is outlandish. What's the point really? It's immeasurable. Sure many may seem very knowledgeable by the sole fact that they constantly demonstrate it to others out of their own masturbatory tendencies. And many may seem very naive from their absolute lack of common knowledge. But the point is that making an attempt to prove your knowledge for its own sake or being afraid of getting caught with having very little, is all self-defeating. It becomes a matter of ego. And because it has become such a significant element of the ego, most have lost any genuine thirst for it. Which sadly brings the human race back centuries. The days of Da Vinci, Newton, and Aristotle have long been over - all because of ego. But then again ego is really the root of all our problems. I'll leave that conversation for another day though.

In comparison with infinity, we don't know much of anything really, even if your name's Albert Einstein. Once we grasp that fact, maybe we'll actually seek knowledge. Knowing - is knowing ourselves. Thus, labeling the column The Pseudo-Intellectual is magnificently appropriate for a column that provocatively discusses arts and culture - in either a naive or insightful fashion. And magnificently self-deprecating too. And self-deprecation is always, always funny.

Ahem. Now that that's out of the way.

I've just finished reading Chuck Palahniuk's Choke. It's a remarkable book. I'd go as far as saying it's the best book he has written (though I've yet to get through Invisible Monsters and Haunted). And yes, even better than Fight Club.

"We spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. Sane or insane. Saints or sex addicts. Heroes or victims. Letting history tell us how good or bad we are.

Letting our past decide our future.

Or we can decide for ourselves.

And maybe it's our job to invent something better."

Its premise simply involves a sex addict that pretends to choke on food in restaurants to give spectators the opportunity to 'save' him. It comes from his frustrating desire to be loved and needed. From there the book moves on to a heavy theme of existentialism filled with twists, satirical dark humour, and evocative writing. If you read any of Palahniuk's books, I'd suggest this one.

I watched Deepa Mehta's Fire for the first time over the weekend. The film blew me away. I had very little expectations though I've heard so much praise about her elements trilogy in which this film is the first.

It is a picture about lesbianism in a rigid Indian religious culture where no such term exists to define it. At its surface the concept appears almost gimmicky a la the gay cowboys from Brokeback Mountain. However unlike Brokeback Mountain, Fire has little to do with homosexuality, or even love. It is a film about desire and guiltlessly pursuing one's own needs and wants in life. In a stern eastern culture that encourages selflessness, such an idea is ludicrous, thus the film is a captivating meditation on the clashing of eastern and western cultural values. The fact that I am of western origin by birth and eastern origin by family history, this struggle of cultural values is something that I must manage on a daily basis. Which is why the movie probably affected me so much. I would highly recommend checking out this film for anyone from the same background. But of course it still remains a movie that all can deeply understand as its themes of shamelessly pursuing one's own happiness are universal.

The last great comic I've read is the fourth collected volume of Vertigo's Fables, The March of the Wooden Soldiers. It's an insanely imaginative book. The idea behind the series is that all the characters from the fables that we grew up reading about (i.e. Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, etc.) are actually real. They are simply of a different 'dimension.' However they have fled their homelands to New York City on our earth from the mysterious conqueror, The Adversary. In this volume they must fend off an impending attack by an army of wooden soldiers sent by The Adversary. The book is chock full of surprises, political intrigue, and fantastic idiosyncratic characters.

So where's the music, you ask? I have to admit I have been quite out of the loop with music. I have been listening to Red Hot Chili Pepper's Stadium Arcadium and Keane's Under The Iron Sea, but not nearly enough to provide any insight on them. So if any of you have any recommendations feel free to let us know at the message board.

I'll be leaving this city in almost two months. It's exciting and scary at the same time. Leaving a place that you've been your entire life. Being away from family and friends, and not knowing whether you'll know them the same way again. Yet still anxiously anticipating the building of new relationships. Everything here is a flame vanishing in the wind.

Hold on to every moment with the ones you love as if it's going to be your last.