'Gratitude' by Oliver Sacks

Kate told me about this book, which was mentioned in Financial Reveiw article by Norman Doidge. 

It's a very small book, consisting of four short essays, but, like Hitchens' book 'Mortality', it left me a profound sense of, well, "gratitude" in and of life. 

“It is the fate of every human being, to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.” 

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Robert Hughes at State Library

I went to State Library this morning. 

This is another great stuff by him. It's very sad that there aren't many writers who can write with such a gusto as he did. 

Christopher Hitchens quickly came to my mind. I do miss their polemics. 

 

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Max Meldrum at State Library

It's really a shame that this very important book by Meldrum, 'The Science of Apperances', is impossible to get. 

There's no way of borrowing one from local libraries, either. 

So, here I am. Delightful morning. 

 

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British Hairdressing Awards 30th Anniversary Book

Hairdressers Journal published this 200-page book to commemorate past 30 years history of this prestigious award.

It's inevitable to be selective, considering the timespan, but, I was expecting much more photos of the winners' works from the early days.

The focus is clearly on the latter part of its history, and that's fine, but, I really wanted to see more from the 80s and 90s.

Still, this is a great book to keep, and savour lots of iconic images that were created by hairdressers in the UK. They were and are a vanguard of this creative industry.

The photo is Artistic Team of The Year by Toni & Guy from 1989 to 2000.
Anthony's incredible creative output at its pinnacle.
He's the one who made me decide to go to London.

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'Karl Marx' by Peter Singer

When I used to live in Crouch End, north of London, I had a friend who was a fervent Marxist.
Once in a while, she took me to Highgate cemetery where Karl Marx was buried.
It's very close to where I was.

I used to enjoy engaging in a conversation with her. I knew a few things about Marxism, very basic philosophical development from capitalism to communism, but, not much.
She tried to teach me a lot about it, especially critique of capitalism, like, labour theory of value. That used to put me into a sleep.
The only thing that interested me at the time was Marx's criticism of religion. I thought it's great.

Also, I found the materialist conception of history is too simplistic.
Human nature, especially nasty one, can't easily be altered by the economic or material circumstances alone.

The society Marx rather naively envisaged, communism, is for me, no different from idealistic Utopia. It's unattainable in reality.
And state controlled economic system, which was meant to arise by abolishing inhumane capitalism, therefore bring happiness to us all, was nothing but complete failure.

And worst of all, it inevitably involves "dictatorship of proletariat", does it not?
Given how humans behave when they're in the saddle, this is a frightening thought.
Obviously, Marx would have been horrified to see what Stalin did in his name, but, it has to be said that its theory contains an element of suppression of personal freedom in exchange for the greater good.

That alone negates the validity of its otherwise fascinating thought experiments.

This book is very short, but, here, Peter Singer did a great job to explain some basic ideas of Marxism in plain and lucid words.
This is the only book I actually can say that I got some ideas of what the author was really saying about Marxism.

"Workers of all lands unite.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it"

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'The Trial of Henry Kissinger' by Christopher Hitchens

Since its inception in 2002, International Criminal Court has heard 18 cases in eight countries, all of which are countries in Africa.

There're growing outrage especially in Africa that ICC is "hunting only Africans".

The validity of this allegation aside, the breadth and its legal reach of ICC is hopelessly limited.

That's because it can't bring to justice anyone whose country is not a signatory to Rome Statue.

That includes the United States, China, Russia, Indonesia among others, the countries that have a long history of engaging in dubious, in many cases, appalling criminal statecraft.

In this seminal book, polemicist Hitchens reveals a formidable case against Kissinger for a crime against humanity and other illegal conducts during his role as a senior security advisor to Nixon, and as a Secretary of States.

Here he focuses on a limited number of instances that have irrefutable official evidence against Kissinger, that are now in public domain.

They include East Timor, Pakistan, Greece, Cyprus, Chile, Argentina, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam...

I regard this book and his effort to indict Kissinger in court, as one of Hitchens' greatest achievements, along with his support for Salman Rushdie during Iranian Fatwa saga.

Unlike many other public intellectuals, he was a man of action, not just a man of words.

His wish to see Kissinger in the dock before his untimely death was in vain, and in realty, we will never see it happen.

"The current state of suspended animation, however, cannot last.
If the courts and lawyers of this country will not do their duty, we shall watch as the victims and survivors of this man pursue justice and vindication in their own dignified and painstaking way, and at their own expense, and we shall be put to shame.”

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Vidal Sassoon and the Bauhaus

The last time I checked at Amazon USA, my most treasured book sells at staggering $400!

Everything we do in a salon, we owe a great deal to this man.
He sigle-handedly established modern haircutting.
"It took me nine years to get to the Five Point Cut", he used to say.

It's entirely based on three dimensional geometry, which was truly revolutionary.
As every hairstylist should know, the source of this philosophy came to him through his study of the Bauhaus.

Great thing about this book is, as far as I know, this is the only one that tried to explain these two artistic movement/methodology in a clear and lucid way to general public.

Starting from Sassoon's essay "My way to the Bauhaus", to a brief history of "The Bauhaus 1919 to 1933", "Vidal Sassoon and Modernism", and interviews with Tim Hartley, Annie Humphreys, Simon Ellis and Terence Donovan.

Another great thing about this book is, there is a plethora of styles created not just by Sassoon himself, but also, Roger Thompson, Christopher Brooker and others, with their own names credited.

Most of "Sassoon" styles we see on internet or in print are summarily credited with Vidal Sassoon the person, but that's not true. It's an egregious error or sloppy journalism that nobody seems to care these days.
At least, this confusion stems from the fact that "Vidal Sassoon" was the salon name as well.
This book pays due credit to the person who actually created a particular style shown.
That's a noble thing to do, and I really like that.

If you're in this industry, you should study the Bauhaus, its philosophy and method.
For example, if you're a stylist, you should know the theory of geometry by Wassily Kandinsky.
If you're a colourist, you should know the colour theory by Johannes Itten.
Both of them were teachers at the Bauhaus at some point.

Not only that, everybody should study history of art, design, and should practise drawing, painting and photography.

That will sharpen your sense of seeing, make you far much more creative, and will definitely change the way you cut hair in a salon.

Then, cutting hair will no longer be a job or a career.
It will become your 'lifestyle'.

"Mary Quant once remarked that I 'was the first hairdresser to cut hair as though it were a material.'
I like to hear this about my work because I believe it is really key to understanding the material properties of hair.
Hair is a material in motion.
As the body moves, beautifully cut hair will swing with its movement and become a sensual part of that movement.
A great cut will give hair life and bounce as opposed to making it stiff and rigid."

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Letters to a Young Contrarian

I can't remember how many times I read this small book by Christopher Hitchens.

It was published in 2001 as part of a 'Art of Mentoring' series.

As the title suggested, each chapter offers some advice as a form of letter, addressed to mainly young readers.

There are topics on philosophy, ideology, religion, social justice....

It's very easy to read, but, as is always the case, Hitchens' writing style is very sharp and lucid.

Another great legacy he left behind for us all.

I will always treasure his writings.

He finishes the book by quoting George Konrad, a Hungarian dissident.

“Have a lived life instead of a career. Put yourself in the safekeeping of good taste. Lived freedom will compensate you for a few losses…If you don’t like the style of others, cultivate your own. Get to know the tricks of reproduction, be a self-publisher even in conversation, and then the joy of working can fill your days.”

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Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon finally started to ship this device to Australia.

I've been waiting for this since they introduced it last year.

I ordered it on Tuesday night, and it arrived today. Pretty impressive!

The reason I didn't choose iPad Mini was battery life and its display.

So far, I'm liking this very much. It doesn't have Apple's elegance, but, for reading books, I think this one is great.

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The Monarchy - A Critique of Britain's Favourite Fetish

It's been almost a year since Christopher Hitchens passed away.

I have a vast collection of his appearances on TV and radio, savouring his formidable rhetoric and argumentation again and again.

I still miss his voice.

I just read this small book again.
Although the size is small, the case against Monarchy is rock solid, and as always, powerfully convincing.

"A people that began to think as citizens rather than subjects might transcend underdevelopment on their own. Inalienable human right is unique in that it needs no superhuman guarantee; no 'fount' except itself. Only servility requires the realm (suggestive word) of illusion. Illusions, of course, cannot be abolished. But they can and must be outgrown."

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'Mortality' by Christopher Hitchens

This small book, which is just published, is sadly the last one by this polemicist extraordinaire.

It's a collection of essays, first published for Vanity Fair, while he was 'living dyingly'.

For someone who has been following him for a long time, it pains me to think he is no more.

As he puts it in the book, he can write as if he's talking to me. He's a writer, journalist, and a public intellectual, who makes me think. I love that.

And, what a formidable debater he was! I miss his voice, dearly. And his fantastic sense of humour.

He was also a man of courage, best demonstrated as a strong defender of Salman Rushdie, when he was hit by Fatwa.
When most of the intellectuals and governments were strangely against the author, rather than Ayatollah, he stood by him, not because Rushdie was his friend, but because he saw it as a full frontal attack by the religious on the thing he always valued the most, 'Freedom of Speech'.

Here, he looks at his own mortality closely in the eye, and all those words are, as always, lucid and beautiful.

'..... taking me from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady'

I've seen lots of his lectures and debates, but, this one is the most memorable.
Considering he was facing his imminent death, this closing argument is the most touching, and beautifully summarises his work of lifetime.

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Vidal Sassoon

I finally managed to watch this documentary a couple of weeks ago.
It's a well crafted film about the man who liberated women all over the world from the shackles of weekly roller setting at hair salons.

I first saw his "Five Point cut" on hair magazine when I was a student at hairdressing school in Japan.
I was instantly enamoured of the sheer beauty of the cut.
Since then, the name Vidal Sassoon and his creative philosophy has been always with me.

He obviously started the revolution, but, of course, Sassoon cut has been a collective team effort, led by successive artistic directors, particularly Roger Thompson and Christopher Brooker at the early stages of the development, two of the giants who deserve far much more recognition in my opinion.

I'd like to see some in-depth documentary about not Vidal Sassoon as a person, this film did a great job, but as an institution that has been influencing hair stylists all over the world.

I also read his autobiography. It's a great read. Now I understand how Vidal Sassoon was sold to Regis Corporation. It's a saddest moment in the history of our industry.

'Vidal Sassoon and the Bauhaus' is a real treasure.
It's a well-known fact that Sassoon's design philosophy was based on Bauhaus, and this book introduces us to these two design institutions.
There's a plethora of fabulous haircuts, it's an awe inspiring experience to have a look at them.
Such a creative tour de force.
I really like this one.

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