Bruno Mars - It will rain

Love this song! The stage is ultra cool too. My jaw dropped halfway through....
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但愿人长久 - A Chinese Poem that changed my life

这词作于丙辰（宋神宗熙宁九年即公元1076年）中秋，苏轼四十一岁，时为密州（现在的山东诸城）太守。

题说“兼怀子由”，当时苏轼与其弟子由已经六七年不见了

明月几时有？把酒问青天。 
不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年。 
我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。 
起舞弄清影，何似在人间？ 

转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。 
不应有恨，何事长向别时圆？ 
人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。 
但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

About the Poem:

这首词所表现的思想感情，本来甚为明显，苏轼因政治处境的失意，以及和其弟苏辙的别离，中秋对月，不无抑郁惆怅之感。但是他没有陷在消极悲观的情绪中，旋即以超然达观的思想排除忧患，终于表现出对人间生活的热爱的矛盾过程。而前人却多妄解，说神宗读到“琼楼玉宇”两句，叹云：“苏轼终是爱君”，即量移汝州。此说与事实不符。苏轼移汝州在黄州之后，不能说因这词而“量移汝州”。 

词的上片主要抒发自己对政治的感慨。开头“明月几时有，把酒问青天”两句，是从李白《把酒问月》诗：“青天有月来几时？我今停杯一问之”两句脱化而来。同时点明饮酒赏月。

接下说“不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年”，表面上好像是赞美月夜；也有当今朝廷上情况不知怎样的含意。《诗经》中“今夕何夕，见此良人！”并非问今天是什么日子，而是赞美的语气：“今天是多么好的日子啊！”的意思。下面“我欲乘风归去”三句，表面是说“我本来是神仙境界中来的，现在想随风回到天上神仙住的‘琼楼玉宇’中去，但是又怕经受不住天上的寒冷”。这几句也是指政治遭遇而言，想回到朝廷中去，但是又怕党争激烈，难以容身。末了“起舞弄清影，何似在人间”两句是说，既然天上回不去，还不如在人间好，这里所谓“人间”，即指作地方官而言，只要奋发有为，做地方官同样可以为国家出力。这样想通了，他仰望明月，不禁婆娑起舞，表现出积极的乐观的情绪。 

词的上片叙述了他的身世之感和思想矛盾，下片抒发对兄弟的怀念之情。苏轼和苏辙，手足之情甚笃。据苏辙《超然台记叙》说：“子瞻（苏轼字）通守余杭，三年不得代。以辙之在济南也，求为东州守。既得请高密，五月乃有移知密州之命。”苏轼抛掉湖山秀丽的杭州，由南而北，原为兄弟之情。但到密州之后，仍不能与弟辙时常晤对。对弟弟的思念，构成这首词下片的抒情文字。 

下片开头“转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠”三句，“转朱阁”，谓月光移照华美的楼阁。“低绮户”，谓月光照着有离愁别恨的人，使其不得安眠。“朱阁”“绮户”，与上片“琼楼玉宇”对照。既写月光，也写月下的人。这样就自然过渡到个人思弟之情的另一个主题上去。“不应有恨”两句是用反诘的语气、埋怨的口吻向月亮发问。“不应有恨”而恨在其中，正是“道是无情却有情”的意思。下面“人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全”三句，转为安慰的语气；既然月有圆缺，人有离合，自古皆然，那是没有什么可悲伤的了。惟愿兄弟俩彼此珍重，在远别时光里共赏中秋美好的月色。“蝉娟”，月色美好的样子。此句从谢庄《月赋》“隔千里兮共明月”句蜕变而来。理解到远别的人可以“千里共婵娟”，也就能做到“不应有恨”了。以美好境界结束全词，与上片结尾“起舞弄清影，何似在人间”一样，是积极乐观的。一方面是对兄弟不能团聚的安慰，同时也是对自己政治遭遇的安慰。 

这首词的上、下片都带有人生哲学的意味，如上片结语“起舞弄清影，何似在人间”，这与陶潜桃花源诗所说：“凡圣无异居，清浊共此世。心闲偶自见，念起忽已逝”诸句约略同意。就是说无论在什么地方，都有凡境、圣域、清境、浊境。当一个人思想开朗、胸怀坦荡的时候，就是在圣域、清境里，反之，清境、圣域便都不见了。同时这也就是儒家“无人不自得”的思想。有了正确对待事物的思想，那么无论在哪里都可以有所作为，心安理得。在人间也可以得到快乐，何必定要到天上去？在外面做地方官同样可以做一番事业，何必一定要回到朝廷中去呢？下片的“此事古难全”含有这样的意思：世界上不可能有永远圆满的事情，人生有欢聚，也必然有离别；这正是与月亮有圆时、也总有缺时一样，原是自然界的规律。 

五代北宋士大夫的词集中，也有一些包含人生哲学意味的词，到苏轼才有了进一步的发展。这首词虽然包含人生哲学，然而它是通过一个完美的文学意境来表现的。我们首先感觉到的是那中秋之夜美好的月色，体会到的是作者丰富的感情，而不是枯燥的说教。同时，词里虽有出世与入世的矛盾，情与理的矛盾，但最后还是以理遣情，不脱离现实，没有悲观失望的消极思想，情绪是健康的。同时，这首词具有强烈的艺术感染力。所以它成为千百年来人们所赞美所称赞的名作。

2012 Book 2 - Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

As you probably know, I started the year with this book but I've only completed reading it as of 4.30am this morning. (March 10th) That's almost 70 days and is quite a considerable amount of time by my standards. 

The reason why I took such a long time is simple: This is one of the books where I find myself taking as long as I needed to read, contemplate and re-read again where necessary. Still, I'm not confident to say that I understood it all. 

The first few lines of the Foreword goes like this:

"My abiding concern for Singapore arises from my belief that the younger generation, especially those below 35, had never seen the harsh economic conditions. They therefore do not know the threats we face from neighbouring countries" 

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore, August 2010.

Firstly, I am pleased to say that I still fit into LKY's definition of younger generation (that is less below 35). :)

I must also admit that (after having completed the first few chapters of the book) I might also have been guilty of living in a "make-believe" world of safety and progress, in which I might have unwittingly started to take for granted. Bottom line: The book tells me that we shouldn't and that every step we have made was a combination of luck, the ability to seize the right opportunity and also consistently making painfully calculated decisions for the future. With that said, between my "make believe" world of safety and the "dark and dangerous" place that LKY have painted out, I believe that the truth might just be somewhere in between. 

Written in a question and answer style, this book is a fairly informative and quite an interesting read. Fresh out of the 2011 election fever, I dare say that some of the unhappiness we have raised can perhaps be addressed by this book in terms of difference in opinion on ideology, a matter of differences in terms of  prioritization (doing first things first) and last but not least, the idea of science or pragmatism (also labelled as elitist thinking by critics). Of which, MM Lee is adamant on his views and have no apologies about. 

I found out for instance, according to Gosta Esping - Andersen's book The Three World of Welfare Capitalism, a society like Singapore is described as a "liberal" welfare state", where welfare benefits are means-tested and social insurance and income transfers are modest. Such states end up with high levels of income inequality because the government only guarantees a minimum level of subsistence and leaves it up to individual effort to make up the rest. This is to be contrasted against countries such as Austria, Italy and France which have a conservative welfare regime, where social benefits preserve class and social status. Scandinavian statues such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark have expensive social democratic welfare regimes, which seek to equalise standards of living to a high level for all. 

All in all, this is the first LKY book that I've picked up and I dare say that it will not be my last. I found myself agreeing to a large part of his reasoning and at one point, considered if I might be guilty of stereotyping and a bigoted "elitist" too. Horror! Haha. I will consider this more. 

Jamie's Rating: 4 out of 5 (Recommended read)

Other reviews:

http://vickychong.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/lee-kuan-yew-hard-truths-to-keep-singapore-going-book-review/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10379147-lee-kuan-yew

Madonna @ Superbowl 2012

Madonna ROCKs!!!!