Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Kuala Lumpur is a level from Wipeout. You know, that PlayStation racing game with the flying cars? Look, my life is games, so new places evoke memories from my history with them, but the comparisons are rarely so apt. Kuala Lumpur is that future. Since the turn of the century, it has exploded with the concrete, steel, and glass dreams of the worlds…

Penang is a tropical island forming the western tip of Malaysia. If Chiang Mai is my introductory class on southeast Asia, Penang is a crash course on the rest of the continent. Due in part to its location, part to colonialism, and part to its opium-trading pirate adolescence, the island is bursting with cultures from every corner of the continent. Indian Tamil and Telugu,…

The ninety day Thailand adventure is almost over. This is it, the last post before we pack our bags for Malaysia’s sunny coast. In a recent phone call, my grandmother asked what impression Thailand will leave on me. That was a difficult question to answer, but on day eighty-six, it deserves more thought. Chiang Mai is as enigmatic as it was when…

Another distant crack worms its way to my ear, past the engulfing revelers and continual boomclaps of towering speakers. Peering above the crowd, I can’t identify the source in the night, only the endless flock of lanterns — dots of pale orange dawdling upward into navy. With five minutes left in 2015, the cracks in the dark are becoming more frequent, the overflowing anticipation of the new year.…