Movies 2020

List of all the movies I saw in 2020

Authors:
Source:
Published: 2020
Tags: collections
Rating: 5/5

June:
(DVD) Pride and Prejudice (3/5): another Jane Austin book turned into movie. Felt very similar to Sense and Sensibility, but not as good.

July:
(DVD) The Rainmaker (3/5): Matt Daemon as a young lawyer taking on giant insurance industry. Based on novel by John Grisham and Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Somehow did not feel as good as Erin Brokovich.
(Streaming) Allied (4/5): WWII Brad Pitt spy thriller. In retrospect, the plot was not very surprising, but the acting and cinematography really pulled me in.

Movies 2019

List of all the movies I watched in 2019

Authors:
Source: mwang25
Published: 2019
Tags: collections
Rating: 5/5

Feb:
(streaming) Bohemian Rhapsody: (3/5) first half was a little boring, second half and ending was better. Not able to tell what part of the movie was true and what was made up.
March:
(DVD) Passenders: (4/5) Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt wake up early on a long starship voyage. Story was interesting and enjoyable until the last part when the writers were forced to come up with some contrived emergency action sequence. Ridiculous happy ending.
June:
(DVD) Lego Movie 2: (3/5) Very slow and predictable start. Movie was saved by...[more]

Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

A very interesting book which approaches Buddhism from a secular, evolutionary, and psychological point of view. Talks a lot about meditation, but this meditation is more like cognitive behavioral therapy where one analyzes and tries to understands one's thoughts and feelings. Main point is we are controlled by our feelings which is strongly shaped by evolution. These feelings are not applicable to the modern world, and anyways we are smarter now and can react differently to these perceived threats. When we carefully examine our feelings (through meditation), we see the real truth and free ourselves from suffering, or more precisely, unsatisfactory-ness. The final main point is that after more examination, we lose the boundary of what is myself and what is others, leading to a world wide consciousness that can lead to world peace! (Started in Aug 2019, finished April 2020).

Authors: Robert Wright
Source: book
Published: May 2018
Tags: Buddhism, philosophy, psychology
Rating: 5/5

A Note to Readers
The Buddhism in...[more]

Interesting words and phrases (non-Japanese)

Fun and interesting words and phrases.

Authors:
Source: various
Published: 2018
Tags: collections
Rating: 5/5

This card is for English fun words and phrases. There is a separate card for fun Japanese words and phrases at mwang25:153

• bower: an attractive dwelling or retreat; a lady's private apartment in a medieval castle
• ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response): soft sounds that trigger pleasure in the listener. Sounds can be whispering, flipping through newspapers, etc. There are YouTube channels and Spotify playlists for it.
• Fatal Familial Insomnia: caused by Prions, proteins in the brain that eats away at the brain. Similar to mad-cow and Huntington's disease. ...[more]

The truth about horse racing deaths

Despite media coverage, the 30 horse deaths at Santa Anita racetrack this year (2019) is the lowest in recent history. 2018:37, 2017:54, 2016:57, 2015:39, etc.

Authors: Jeff Goertzen
Source: OC Register
Published: 06/28/2019
Tags: horse racing, local news
Rating: 5/5

Lots of bones in horse's legs. They start racing horses at a young age (3) when bones might not be strong enough. When one leg is injured, the horse will shift its weight onto the other legs, which causes injury to those legs. Seems like injuries and euthanization is very common and there is a vehicle that follows the horses on the racetrack to assess injuries and euthanize them quickly after...[more]