Life Is a Soap Bubble – Book Review

Image source: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81RkoK4vguL._SL1500_.jpg

Life Is a Soap Bubble: 100 Ways to Look at Life

by Osho

An outstandingly beautiful gem crafted by a life master!

Osho is such an indescribable individual. Life Is a Soap Bubble is a book consisting of 100 letters, originally written to his disciple Yoga Sohan, about the very life all of us are in. The wonderfully magical words in these letters will penetrate into the innermost part of your being, waking you up to the reality of life and priming you for the ultimate unleashing of your own potential. I couldn't agree more with llarod r hernaiz's words in their Amazon review of this fundamentally transformative book: "Osho has a special way to take you to the center." Suffused with the Indian mystic's timeless wisdom and incomparable poetry, Life Is a Soap Bubble by Osho is a must-read for those seeking to live their lives to the fullest.

Have you read Life Is a Soap Bubble? What is your opinion about this book? Share what you think in the comment section below!

Continue reading..

Quote #126

"Your quiddity is inimitable and irreplaceable, a fact that you should celebrate and bask in." - Klinsman Hinjaya

Continue reading..

Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely – Book Review

Image source: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81DaTgHgrnL._SL1500_.jpg

Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely: 3500 Most Beautiful English Vocabulary Words

by Robin Devoe

I've been trying to supercharge my vocabulary by consuming books on this subject. The year 2024 concluded with me finishing up Big & Fancy Words That Might Make You Smarter...er by Albert B. Squid, which presents one big and fancy word (as the title says) for every day of the year. In the middle of this year, I wrapped up my reading of the lexically luminiferous resource The Lexicologist's Handbook by Dane Cobain. Now here I am reviewing Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe, which, in a sense, is the ne plus ultra of all such I've read to date.

Why so? Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe lists English words that you would most likely not encounter in everyday life. Here is a selection of random expressions from the book: amaranthine, limerence, oneiric, catachthonian, mansuetude, quiddity, gourmandism, esprit d'escalier, plumigerous, hesternal, zeitgeist, redivivus, encincture, devenustate, and spizzerinctum. On the whole, the definitions are easy to understand, and I like the fact that the author also provides information about etymology, parts of speech, synonyms & antonyms, rarity, obsoleteness, etc., although this doesn't apply to every entry. A tiny number of entries show how to pronounce the words – I kind of wish each and every one had such information; natheless, I realize that it would probably be too massive an undertaking. Hence, I had to use other resources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), to grok this aspect of the vocabulary.

All of these notwithstanding, I have encountered a number of inaccuracies, without which the dictionary would be more outstanding. Here are several examples:

• In the entry for "nanization", "bonzai" should be "bonsai" – a mistake probably caused by the similarity between "bonsai" and "banzai" (another word of Japanese origin). (p. 86)
• As the definition is that of a verb, the word "scintillant" (adjective) should be "scintillate". (p. 118)
• In the entry for "spiracle", "anthropods" should be "arthropods". (p. 125)

All in all, Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely by Robin Devoe is an absolutely frabjous English resource! I am sempiternally grateful for its existence and wholeheartedly recommend this dictionary to any logophile, poet, or one who wants to delve deep into the English lexicon.

Have you read Dictionary of the Strange, Curious & Lovely? What would you say about this book? Share your opinion in the comment section below!

Continue reading..

Quote #125

"There are two kinds of people in this world: those who die doing what they love and those who don't." - Klinsman Hinjaya

Continue reading..

Quote #124

"The very essence of existence is going forward." - Klinsman Hinjaya

Continue reading..

Monster Rancher 2 DX: Favorite Monster Breeds Poll

What is your favorite monster breed in Monster Rancher 2 DX? The uber-powerful Golem? 🗿🪨 The pretty but lethal Pixie? 🧚🏻‍♀️ The extraordinarily smart Suezo? 👁️ Take the poll and find out which monster breeds are the most popular! 😄✨

Poll link: https://forms.gle/bA5E1ZDBVBXh4jq89

Here are the poll results (automatically updated):

Links:

• Pie chart poll results
• Bar chart poll results
• Poll data (Web page)
• Poll data (Google Sheets)

Credit to MonsterFenrick for giving me the idea of using Google Forms for this poll. 😊

Continue reading..

The Jay Chou Poem

The magical counter-clockwise clock transports me back to the past

I gaze with wonderment at the King of Mandopop being born with a grand piano, his nimble fingers dancing on its black and white keys

The coruscant golden armor

The circumambient enchanting melody

The eight dimensions are so enthralling that I find it hard to speak

Every moment is always the era

No matter how split I am

You are always the train's destination

The incomparable virtuosity and feat

I ride all the way north to rejoice in the sheer music-cum-magic spectacle

Your fantasy is olamic

How could one resist the canorous beauty of Opus 12?

All you create are undoubtedly the greatest works of art

From old Shanghai to modern Istanbul, from the Coral Sea to the 'Pink Ocean'

Any biont is obliged to step aside in your territory

The bucolic view of rice and terrace fields on a sunny day

Hearkens back to class 3-2, where I excitedly savor Grandpa's tea and Turkish ice cream

Then I am reminded of how sweet your smile is

Of how I do not care whether or not it is the end of the world

Making a love confession has never been this easy

The hair-raising atmosphere of William Castle

Does not deter the fearless dragon rider

Dashing through the formidable tornado as fast as the four seasons train

With a pair of steel nunchucks on his back and a razor-sharp double blade at his side

Hero Chou proves not to be a coward in the slightest, slaying half-beast humans without a step back

Silence

The time machine has obviously come to a halt

Soon afterwards I can hear the rhythm of the rain and the occasional drop of maple leaves

Is it time for a lulling bedtime story?

I flip my romantic handphone open and read the ataraxic handwritten past in my diary of love

In Chapter Seven, I fall abysmally into a dream

Thereupon, I find myself under a fun fair rainbow, thanking Yeh Hui Mei profusely in one breath

No sooner has it concluded than Jay utters from far away, "Long time no see!"

I say I won't cry but tears of scattered emotion instantly stream down my face

Please do not say goodbye, but give me the time of one song, and I will turn it into the longest movie

---

This poem contains 62 references to Jay Chou's songs and 10 references to his albums. Below is the version with links to the corresponding songs and albums on Jay Chou's official YouTube channel. In the cases where a song reference coincides with an album reference, the link to the song, instead of to the album, is used.

The magical counter-clockwise clock transports me back to the past

I gaze with wonderment at the King of Mandopop being born with a grand piano, his nimble fingers dancing on its black and white keys

The coruscant golden armor

The circumambient enchanting melody

The eight dimensions are so enthralling that I find it hard to speak

Every moment is always the era

No matter how split I am

You are always the train's destination

The incomparable virtuosity and feat

I ride all the way north to rejoice in the sheer music-cum-magic spectacle

Your fantasy is olamic

How could one resist the canorous beauty of Opus 12?

All you create are undoubtedly the greatest works of art

From old Shanghai to modern Istanbul, from the Coral Sea to the 'Pink Ocean'

Any biont is obliged to step aside in your territory

The bucolic view of rice and terrace fields on a sunny day

Hearkens back to class 3-2, where I excitedly savor Grandpa's tea and Turkish ice cream

Then I am reminded of how sweet your smile is

Of how I do not care whether or not it is the end of the world

Making a love confession has never been this easy

The hair-raising atmosphere of William Castle

Does not deter the fearless dragon rider

Dashing through the formidable tornado as fast as the four seasons train

With a pair of steel nunchucks on his back and a razor-sharp double blade at his side

Hero Chou proves not to be a coward in the slightest, slaying half-beast humans without a step back

Silence

The time machine has obviously come to a halt

Soon afterwards I can hear the rhythm of the rain and the occasional drop of maple leaves

Is it time for a lulling bedtime story?

I flip my romantic handphone open and read the ataraxic handwritten past in my diary of love

In Chapter Seven, I fall abysmally into a dream

Thereupon, I find myself under a fun fair rainbow, thanking Yeh Hui Mei profusely in one breath

No sooner has it concluded than Jay utters from far away, "Long time no see!"

I say I won't cry but tears of scattered emotion instantly stream down my face

Please do not say goodbye, but give me the time of one song, and I will turn it into the longest movie

Continue reading..