Peacock day at the Arboretum

Dredd (Movie, 2012)

By far one of the most underrated comic book movies ever made, Dredd (by Karl Urban), takes a character that was made silly by Sylvester Stallone, and makes him dark, edgy and awesome. Too bad that he never showed all his face in the whole movie.

The city looks dirty, sad, and depressing. On top of that, this is a brutally violent sci-fi action film with amazing special effects, gadgets, tactical combat, shocking violence and fearless grit that has strong female roles. 

The Darkest Hour (Movie, 2011)

A standard alien-invasion leading to evasion and eventual rebellion/retaliation. The aliens have come to earth to drain its resources. The real problem I had with the movie is the ending. Wonder if there is a sequel coming?

Evelyn Espinosa's last day with us at ECC, Arcadia Public Library

 Mango Mousse: yummy....

My dear comrades of English Conversation Class:
Justine Shen, Evelyn Espinosa, Darlene Bradley

One more: Mei Ling Ouyang

Congratulations to your new career challenge, Evelyn!

Shoka Shimputai

何謂離四句，絕百非

「龍樹菩薩釋曰」，前面這幾句話，《大智度論》這幾句話，龍樹菩薩解釋，「是中不離四­句者為縛，離四句者為解。」，這就是大乘教裡常講的「四句百非」，離四句，絕百非。四­句是什麼？這四句都是執著，第一個是「有」，執著有，第二個執著「無」，第三個執著「­亦有亦無」，第四個執著「非有非無」，就這四句。這四句裡面，有，「有」中有四句，有­中有、有中無、有中亦有亦無、有中非有非無。那就變成十六句，有、無、亦有亦無、非有­非無，一個裡頭有四句，四四一十六；過去十六、現在十六、未來十六，四十八句；已起的­，已經起的四十八句，未起的也有四十八句，就變成九十六句；九十六句裡面加上根本四句­，就變成一百句。這一百句都是名相、都是假名，沒有實質的東西。

-- 淨空法師專集網

四句百非

作者：佛學辭典 来源：淨宗學院 发布时间：2010年12月18日

    帶起根本四句。共成百句。皆無實義。故云非也。

    問。經言離四句。絕百非。其意何居。答。但舉一對。便成四句。如有無、一異、斷常等。且有無四句者。若云有。是增益謗。若云無。是損減謗。若云亦有亦無。是相違謗。若云非有非無。是戲論謗。既俱有過。故須離之。根本四句既爾。枝末四句乃至百句皆非。故須絕之。有無既爾。斷常一異等四句例知。然此中根本四句。是外道見。枝末四句等。三乘亦未全離。唯佛究盡。故云離云絕也。

離四句絕百非，也就是一切的否定。那四句也在金剛經上，也不在金剛經上，就是「空」「有」「即空即有」「非空非有」，這四句。世界上的事情、道理，都是相對的，正，反，不正不反，即正即反。所以說，離四句絕百非，才是真正受持了金剛經的要義，四句偈的道理，就是這個要義。

恭錄自南懷瑾老師《金剛經說甚麼》

生花二株生

The full name of it is Futakabu-Ike (two-group arrangement) because there are O-Kabu (男株) and Me-Kabu (女株) differentiation.

This time we practice Gyodo-ike (魚道生) due to the grass type ingredients (Water Plant - sui, miza-mono), i.e., Lasper and Godetia.

雛菊 (愛無間)

阿姆斯特丹的郊外就像一張明信片，正面是那一片片雛菊綻放的美麗與寧靜，而背面就如同那個叫惠瑛的姑娘的感情生活一樣蒼白。 《雛菊》能在韓國取得超高的票房，很大程度上要得益於導演選擇了全智賢，她很適合這個角色，有點抑鬱，有點孤單，有點清純，有點平凡，分明就是個藝術家，25歲還沒有初戀，卻可以開自己的畫展。

電影本身有些溫，不如我事先預想的有張力，在想像中，這樣一個關於“錯愛”的故事應該可以有更強烈的情感衝擊。

我期望看到一部刺激的懸疑小說，劉偉強給了我一篇閒散的抒情散文。

畫面挺美，但所有的章節像華麗的碎片各自為營，沒有一根有力的線索把它們緊緊編織在一起。全智賢演的女主角掛掉之後居然毫無創意地放了長長一首歌，然後是不斷的閃回鏡頭（我還以為影片到這裡就結束了），截頭去尾它完全就是個獨立成章的MV--閃回不是不可以，但是也花太久的時間了，這不是拖拖拉拉的電視劇，觀眾在影院裡的時間是寶貴的，提供給大家看的畫面應該有足夠的信息量和新意，如此多的重播鏡頭有點太應付事了吧。

Stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

For those of you too young to know what I mean, play the video below. For those of you old enough to know what I mean, play the video below just for the fun of a good song!

Green Tara Puja w. Lama Jampa

We have the honor to follow Lama Jampa to practice Green Tara puja at Jack & Jill Chen's house in Eastvale. Thanks to Marvin Liu's coordination for this auspicious event. Unfortunately, we only took half day retreat.

臥虎藏龍2青冥寶劍 (Sword of Destiny)

無論作為續集，還是單獨的電影，都是失敗的。乏味、無趣、老氣橫秋的樣子. 拋開動作場面，和前作相比說是天上地下的差距也絲毫不誇張，沒了寫意多了玄幻，沒了酣暢淋漓的文戲多了不明所以的打戲，只有楊紫瓊一人還在苦苦撐著。這種中美合拍片（還是續集）的真實企圖其實已經顯而易見了.

Spotlight (Movie, 2015)

In Boston, the Catholic church and certain city officials were intent on covering up the child sexual abuse scandal.  

Some may say that it is shown too late, but now, 13 years later, the central figure, Cardinal Law, who was actively participating in the covering of children molestation, escaped from Boston and still enjoys comfortable life living in Palazzo della Cacelleria in Vatican. It proves that catholic church instead of cleaning their own rubbish is waiting for eternal punishment. 

Free Style for Mother's Day

Today's special arrangement is for dedication to Mom. Therefore, all three hearts are presented there.

Corsage made for Mom and Mei Ling Ouyang

Mom is happy with the corsage I made for her at her Lions Manor Apartment.

I also made one for my dear volunteer friend Mei Ling Ouyang at Arcadia Public Library.

In Flanders Fields Poem

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Inspiration for “In Flanders Fields”

Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 1st Brigade Canadian Field Artillery. ⁽¹⁾

During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2^nd May, 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae.

As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”.

Field poppies growing near Connaught British Military cemetery on the old Western Front battlefields.

Poppies have become a symbol of remembering soldiers who died in wars.