— Michael Koppelman, quoted at The Rules of a Gentleman
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Why is it that as a society we think that mediocrity should be tolerated and even praised just so that people will “feel good about themselves”?
Although I had planned on visiting Little Tokyo last week in conjunction with my Anime Expo excursion, it didn’t turn out that way—mostly because I didn’t want to shlep around all my purchases. So, I went down today instead.
Last Saturday, I took the train to downtown LA and visited Anime Expo—something I haven’t done since the last time it was held in Long Beach. To tell the truth, I wasn’t feeling all that great and only ended up staying a couple of hours. It was a madhouse in the expo hall (I bought a one day, exhibits only pass) but I managed to get what I was most looking for: the limited edition set of Summer Wars Hanafuda cards from FUNimation.
But importantly, I discovered what has turned out to be a great new anime: Katanagatari – 刀語. With its truly unique style and fascinating story, I think it is destined to become one of my favorites.
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— Mike Cardinal in Spring Fever, Chapter 17, by P.G. Wodehouse
—Uesugi Kenshin, “The Dragon of Echigo” (1530-1578)
Poem written in anticipation of his own death—very Bushido…
This is an excellent essay by blogger Charlie Broadway. I tend to like quite a lot of his stuff, but this one’s even better as it isn’t replete with profanity.
His most trenchant observation is that we often equate ambition and goals and these two things really shouldn’t be the same. If you lower your ambition, it doesn’t mean you won’t be making (and accomplishing) goals. I think this is a very refreshing way of putting it.
It’s also very interesting the way in which he puts a Zen spin on it–and the way in which he explains Zen as being “less contradictory than paradoxical.” By doing less, you will often paradoxically end up with more. I especially liked this part:
We all experience these paradoxes. By living as a pauper, you become rich. By becoming less ambitious, you become more successful. By eliminating the unnecessary, life becomes fuller. By enduring the pain of exercise, you feel better. By having fewer goals, you achieve more. We live Zen more than we realize.
–Lao Tzu
journey, not destination 