18) Star Trek Quotes

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Star Trek is about the brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Five memorable quotes from the movie:

1. "Because you needed each other. I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together, of a friendship that will define you both in ways you cannot yet realize." - Spock
This quote sounds similar to Aristotle's idea of a friend is another self. In another world, Spock and Kirk are close friends. They admire and respect each other in a deeper level than anyone else on the ship. Their friendship helps shape the star fleet and the universe.

2. "Put aside logic. Do what feels right." - Spock
One of the most powerful human's ability is their capability to think. Philosopher like Aristotle think that humans' highest function is the ability to think and evaluate the situation. No other species that we know can use reasoning and logic like humans.

3. "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Spock
According to Buddha's teaching, we must relinquish all desires if we want to be enlighten. Desires are impossible to get rid of. Everybody desires something in their life. But if you eliminate it, you will find the truth.

4. "I'm talking about food. REAL food!" - Scotty
What is real? How do you define real? According to Morpheus, "real" is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. Buddha tells us that you must cease to believe the false sense of reality and choosing to seek and accept the truth of your life and the world.

5. "Please enlighten me" - Kirk
Kirk sarcastically asked Spock to explain the test simulation and how he had cheated on it. He seek to be enlighten yet he did not accept Spock's answer. To be enlighten, you must wake up and accept the truth for it is and not what you want it to be. 

17) Friendships That Will Last A Lifetime

I will never forget the friendships that I have with these guys. It was a mere coincidence that we happened to have the exact same classes during freshmen year and later became best friends without knowing much about each other. It was weird how one bus ride can change the next four years of my life.

On that bus, I met these two people who have similar names and looked almost exactly alike. Their name were Amara and Amaris. I never officially met them even though our cousins are best friends and we went to the same summer camp for three years. I didn't even know they were twins. I thought it was just two best friends dressing similar to each other. One day early in July, we got on the same bus. I quickly introduced myself and said hi. I don't remember what we were talking about but we had a conversation all the way home. Till this day, we always argued who got on the bus first but I think it was me since they have really bad memories. It will always be one of those funny stories to tell people. One thing led to another and I met Alex. We were talking about schools that we have attended and it so happened that we went to the same elementary school. We talked about all kind of things from our mean fourth grade teacher to our school's play. The next thing we know all four of us became best friends. I don't remember how it happened but I'm glad that it did.

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A friend is another self. This idea comes from Aristotle.  It speaks of the close attraction that binds two individuals together in a warm and affectionate relationship. Aristotle tells us that we need friends to distribute our virtues and morals to and in return they will do the same.  Amara, Amaris, and Alex are my another self. They are like my brother and sisters that I wish I never had. We share bonds that could never be broken. 

16) The Matrix and Buddhism

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In the Sci-Fi movie of The Matrix directed by The Wachowski Brothers, computer hacker Thomas Anderson also known as Neo has lived a relatively ordinary life until he is contacted by the mysterious Morpheus who leads him into the real world. The real world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. The computers have created a false version of 20th century life, the Matrix, to keep the human slaves satisfied, while the AI machines draw power from the humans. Anderson, pursued constantly by the Agents, is hailed as "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth.

The Matrix suggests Buddha’s Four Noble Truths that life is suffering. Morpheus said:

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"It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. A prison for your mind."

For almost two hundred years, humans has been living blindly only with their senses but not with their mind. The human's mind is locked up inescapable from the control of the Matrix. In doing so, they are suffering because whenever you are not in control of yourself you are being persecuted. Buddhism gives us life lessons that connect to freeing the mind. In order to cleanse your mind, you first need to cleanse your soul from all personal wrong doings.

Buddhism teaches the four noble truths, which provides an accepted view to the nature of reality, uplifting yourself from all suffering. We suffer when we do not get what we want. In the movie, the human race is suffering under the rule of the machines that they once created. Neo suffers from his desire in finding the truth to his "life." The second noble truth teaches the cause of suffering. In short, suffering is caused by one’s attachment to their world. If the true nature of this world is suffering, then the cause of suffering must be our attachment to it. As long as he desires to seek the truth, he will always suffer. According to the Four Noble Truths, you will no longer suffer when you free yourself from all desires. In the end, he ultimately reaches understanding of the Four Noble Truths, by being able to stop bullets, allowing him to defeat the agents. Neo no longer suffers by realizing that he is in a false world and chooses to see the truth of the Matrix and of his reality.

15) Groundhog Day Five Stages of Grief

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In the philosophical comedy film of Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis, Phil Connors is a TV meteorologist who discovers that he is reliving February 2. Groundhog Day is about a selfish man forced to spend his time in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania because of a freakish blizzard. The day goes on exactly as it did before with only Phil aware of the endless time loop he is in. At first, he takes full advantage of the situation with no fear of the consequences. Eventually, he gets desperate and tries everything to end the time loop such as giving an offensive reports on the festival and having a police chase. He even tries to kill both himself and the town's groundhog. At the end, Phil accepts his fate and spends the day helping people like the homeless guy on the street. He wakes the next morning to find out that the time loop is broken. According to Kubler-Ross, people who suffers from terminal illness or any form of catastrophically will experience the five stages of grief. In the midst of losing his freedom to escape Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Phil went through the five stages of grief.

The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Phil Connors goes through the five stages in Groundhog Day. After he realizes that he is stuck in the same day, he perceives there are no consequences to his actions. When Phil starts to relive the same day, he is in the denial stage. Phil thinks he is having a deja vu and asks Rita to slap him in the face to wake him up. But denying it isn't going to do anything so then he goes to the next stage which is anger. He realizes that he is actually reliving the same day and he starts to get mad. He punches the guy on the street and start doing crimes. He takes advantage of the women like Nancy. Then he gets to the next stage, bargaining. He starts to get tired of the day and just wants to leave it or get rid of it. Since Punxsutawney Phil is the main figure of Groundhog Day, he tries kidnapping it in hope that the time loop will end but unfortunately it does not. After he realizing that he couldn't get Rita, he starts to enter the depression stage. Phil He can’t take advantage of Rita because he has feelings about her and he doesn't want to hurt her. He tries committing suicide several times from electrocuting himself in the bathroom to jumping off a building. Finally, Phil enters the acceptance stage. He accepts his fate and decides to live the day like it never happened and just being normal. Phil begins to wonder how he might use his time in the town to serve others and make a better person of himself.

14) My Five Guilty Pleasures

We all do it once in a while. Some people do it all the time. They actually feel guilty when the deed is done. Can you guess what I'm talking about? If you're thinking of guilty pleasure, then you are right. A guilty pleasure is something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. My five guilty pleasures are sleeping in, listening to one song repeatedly, eating late night meals, browsing for sale items online, and watching TV marathons.

• Sleeping in is possibly the best of all guilty pleasures. The more responsibilities you take on, the more you appreciate sleeping in, even if it’s an extra half an hour. Sometimes a half hour nap turns into a three hour nap.
• Late night meals is the worst out of my guilty pleasures, but it makes me full and happy. Admit it, at some point in time, we've enjoyed a bite of chocolate cake or leftover Chinese food. I feel bad afterwards for doing it. 
• We all know this activity begins innocently, browsing for sale items, gifts for special occasions, and ends with an awesome delivery of unnecessary stuff. From one website to another, searching for the sales and the right item.  
• Is there a new song you can’t get out of your head? Be shameless and hit the repeat button because three minutes is just too short for a song so great. Driving in the car and the radio is playing a song that you are currently obsessed is probably the best feeling ever. Too bad the radio doesn't have a repeat button so you can listen to it over and over again. 
• The weekends are the best time for TV show marathons: We have all had those days when you lay in bed and watch an entire television series. Whether it is How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Vampire Diaries, or other classic re-runs. We can’t resist a marathon in our sweatpants and baggy sweaters.

I think I am still living in the Aesthetic stage of life. I like having fun even if it is momentary. These five guilty pleasures are the many ways that I fight against boredom. Being in the aesthetic stage isn't so bad. If it means sleeping in and watching shows all day in my pjs, then I won't mind one bit.

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What are some of your guilty pleasures?

13) The Persistence Of Memory

Why is it that people who have a few months to live do sort of crazy things like skydiving, bungee jumping, or mountain climbing? Is it because they are not afraid of death or is it because they accept the fact that death is near? Instead of hiding behind death, they’re using whatever time they have left to do anything they want. Since they know death is near, they are appreciative and are able to take advantage of it. This is similar to Jean Paul Sartre’s idea of death as liberating.

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The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali reflects the idea of Sartre in his painting. It is one of his most famous works of art. The painting is currently housed in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In the painting, it shows pocket watches, detached from their chains, melting slowly on rocks and branches of a tree with the ocean as a backdrop. Observing more closely, one part of the paintings is basked in sunlight while the other is shrouded in shadows. I think the sunlight represent life while the latter represents death. When you think of life, you think of rainbows and unicorns. On the other hand, when you think of death, skulls and rain cloud comes to mind. Also, there is an orange clock covered with ants. The ants attacking the clock indicate the anxiety associated with time. And what are the origins of our anxieties associated with time? Is it procrastinating on a project that is due in a few hours? Or is it not having completed or accomplished something before we die? Time is unchangeable. In this painting, time continues to flow even though the watches are melting. Therefore, the melting clocks represent the fact that everything slowly degrades with time. Whether we are aware of it or not, it is reasonable to believe that we all understand, even if only on a subconscious level that some day we are going to die. This understanding of the reality of death may change our behavior and not let us live our life the way we wanted to. During our daily lives, we're always rushed and busy, trying to get all of our work done on time. According to Sartre, as soon we accept death for what it is, we can finally have the freedom to live as we choose. It is something that everyone must accept in order to lead a fulfilling life. Like Sartre said, “we can each do any damn thing we want.”

Jean Paul Sartre’s philosophy on death reminds us to make every day count. It teaches us to not waste a single second doing nothing while we could be doing something. We become more grateful and determined to accomplish what we want before death so let’s live our lives to the fullest.

12) The Truman Show and Plato's Allegory Cave

In the social science fiction of The Truman Show by Peter Weir, Truman Burbank is an salesman who discovers his entire life is actually a TV show. The Truman Show is about a man lost in a false reality of illusory happiness. Truman begins in a very peaceful paradise of safety and comfort in which he is at one with his world and accepts everything as given. Then he realizes that he is being watched and sets out to sail. He fights off the storm bravely depict being tossed around and almost drowned. At the end, he reaches the open door that will lead him into a bland, new world unlike his own. His creator, Christof, tells him it is safe inside but he has the urge to live outside the world he is given. He rejects the fake reality of his world and takes a step out the dome so he will have a chance at an authentic, although a more difficult, life.

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Memorable quotes from the movie

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Something to think about 

Like in Plato's allegory cave, Truman could be said to be the prisoner that escaped the cave and reached enlightenment. The water not only symbolizes the chain that is preventing Truman from escaping the guards but maybe also the fear of the world beyond the cave. The fear of water that is instilled in Truman keeps him locked in a false self. It keeps him trapped on the island and away from the world outside. Lastly, Christof is the guard that is keeping an eye on the prisoners from Plato's cave. He created a false sense of reality and tried everything to keep him there.