Updates

• I now have a flickr account. I’m particularly proud of this photo.
  
• The Satyrian lyrics have been removed. Better edited versions are available on darklyrics. Even uncredited, it still feels good that they originated from me
• The quotes section has been removed. There are just too many good ones and my preferences change too often. Of those that were on that page, here are the ones that I still like:
  Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. (Lao Tzu)
  Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. (attributed to Albert Einstein)
  Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we ourselves possess. (J. R. R. Tolkien)
  Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better. (Albert Camus)
  Dreams permit each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives. (William Dement)
  There is no spoon. (The Matrix)
  Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. (Equilibrium) (actually W. B. Yeats)
  I believe if there’s any kind of God, it wouldn’t be in any of us, not you or me, but just this little space in between. If there’s any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it’s almost impossible to succeed, but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt. (Before Sunrise)

Paper Towns

John Green’s latest and greatest novel. After an inspiring debut and a less relatable second novel, Paper Towns was a very pleasant surprise. It is definitely the best young adult book I’ve read this year; and it will be interesting to see if another will take its place as the year unfolds.

In the first part, the book takes us on a dizzying to-do list of adventures (I tend to like novels that contain lists). It promises to be a page-turner with tons of fun and no  deep moral. But the second part makes a character disappear, veering away from such a prediction completely. There is a lot of meditation on understanding other people, and in particular, on misimagining others by seeing them as idea[l]s.

The hunt for clues left by the missing person continues almost until the end, making this another novel for whose answer-in-the-lack-of-answers ending I feared. Although the characters do finally reunite, the message Green sends out is not one that inspires comfort. Basically, he puts Maugham’s tower of brass into words intelligible to the impatient Google generation. True and complete understanding between people is impossible; you cannot be someone else.

The novel ends with a brilliant metaphor about human suffering and understanding.