toward the future/ from the past

1) The main limination was the inherent inability of a play to convey the thoughts and actions of characters without dialogue. Plays are grounded in the discourse between the characters, and I thought some of the scenes I wanted to portray insufficient with just using dialogue and some exaggerated actions. Sometimes I wanted to create suspense by having one character sneak up on somebody, but the fact that you can see the whole stage on a play severely limited this. There were also times when I wanted to limit what the audience saw (like in movies), but this is near impossible on a stage. At times, I also wanted to focus in on some small events, but that wasn't possible due to the absense of a camera. This absense of focus on an event made me worry that the audience wouldn't notice - I guess I could have exaggerated the event, but that would defeat the purpose it being a "seemingly small event". There is also the obvious limit on special effects, but that was never too much of a problem for me - I never intended my play to have much "eye candy". However, despite these limitations, I found the task of overcoming these challenges fun and exciting, whilst still trying to maintain faithfulness to my initial ideas.

2) My initial idea for a personal essay would be to write about my experiences from living in three quite different countries: England, China, and the U.S (the latter being drastically more different than the others). I will probably focus on the societal differences - contrasting the strict traditional chinese views of my parents to the liberal ideals experienced here in the U.S. I'm not sure how far I can go with this essay, but I'll see. I probably won't stick to this idea - it's starting to seem a little limited in options....i don't kno...I'll see how it goes.

3) This is reverse pshychology - if I tell children to do something, then they will have some "compelling desire" to do the opposite (it's been proven true by some psychologist with lots of big credentials). Thus, this is my advice: do lots of drugs, have lots of sex right now, and drink a lot of alcohol. Whilst you are having sex, make sure not to use protection. Also, being a pimp is good for you health and hygiene - it promotes a healthy heart. Do not watch any disney cartoons, as they will corrupt your mind. Make sure to nuke the world and the moon whilst you're at it. An ethic of violence is far more productive than peace - Terrorism is awesome! Also, make sure you don't feed poor third world countries, make sure jews don't ever get a country, and be sure to promote more violence in the middle east (give iran some good old nukes).

Luigi Pirandello

1) I think theme is an important aspect of literature. However, since I am a very literal kind of person, I often don't like to read things that don't have a very explicit theme. This is why I don't like books such as "invisible man" by ralph ellison. I find it deliberately confusing to the point that I feel the author doesn't even know what he's talking about. But still, theme is an important part of literature. I think writers are charged to expose some flaw within our society. However, I do also feel fine about stories not necessarily need much of a theme to be interesting to read. Some examples are the Harry Potter books. I honestly believe that the author didn't originally have any explicit theme in mind when writing the first few books - although JK Rowling maybe did manage to weave some kind of theme into the later books.

2) I honestly don't think that I can write a "great" piece of literature. But, I think that all great pieces of literature discuss topics that are never "outdated". An example is Shakespeare's plays. They talk about tragedy, and lust for power and other crazy stuff, and these themes are still prevalent in writing today.

3) my goal for a long lasting impact would be to start a religion: called YUJIE-ISM. As a writer, I could make this possible, since I would have the ability to "bible" kind of book that would be the heart of this new religion. The purpose of the religion is to make everyone be like me - AWESOME!!!!!!

stuff i think about

1) I sometimes think about things.....sometimes. Anyway, the most recent thing i was pondering about was happiness. After watching the "pursuit of happiness", I think I realized that happiness is only derived from the journey. Its true that the the successful end brings you momentary euphoria, but it's your journey towards success that impacts you the most.
Soon after the success, you often begin to feel indifferent about it, and in my case, you start to want more. However, this never the case with the memories you have from the journey. When you think back, you often feel proud - the memories are kind of bitter sweet. You feel glad that you were able to live through them, but also you probably wouldn't want to relive them again. All of my comments above were probably just rambling. I find it hard to describe my thoughts after watching the movie.

2) Sid the sloth from the movie "ice age" is the most dynamic person/thing I know. He was able to make fire when the crew was making their way though a blizzard storm. And, through his ingenuity, he was able to make a fire to keep the baby warm - all done without setting his tail on fire..... I especially admire his snowboard/skiing skills that he employed to outrun the tigers. I think Sid is very inspirational. He is the sticky nasty stuff that you can't quite get rid of, that holds the whole group together.

3) the piece art that has inspired me is actually the song "imagine" by john lennon. I like the sense of hope he tries to express. It makes me feel hopeful when I feel sad, or I think something is hopeless. I admire Lennon's ability to still be hopeful, even when he points out all of the flaws he finds with the world.