Blackhole In The Sun..

Did u watch the solar eclipse? Obviously you didn't.. Me neither. I wish I would have been on north pole or in china atleast..

Here is the (live) webcast of the solar ecplise from China. Check the one with 60 minutes & the commentary. Start around time 35:00 and enjoy next 10 minutes.

The celestial event of 132 seconds is so impressive that the mere video of it poped up a "wow" factor in me!! The corona is fabulous... Its like... black-hole with wings :)

Have u seen movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which mentions abt precise moment of planetary alignment, where all nine (?) planets line up perfectly... That must be the "greatest" view (really ??).. hssh.. but Angelina Jolie wastes time in the cave fighting with stupid people :)

Any way, any such nine(?) planetary alignment is never possible (stupid movies :D) so lets just enjoy our two neighbors aligned, atleast next time, on 22nd July 2009 from India.

Into the wild

Into the wild.. The movie..story of Chris McCandeless indeed appeals to me.. not literally, but philosophically.. A wild landscape without traces of civilization are spiritually necessary, but Happiness is only real when shared.. so there should be balance of both isolation and society/relationships in human life..

I want to experience this "wilderness" by myself.. philosophically.. but I guess I am too weak to start my search.. Someday I will !!

Eddie Vedder's music & words precisely reflects this philosophy in the soundtrack..
"Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you..."

Checkout the complete lyrics..

Also checkout the soundtrack.. Guitar piece is simply too good to touch your heart.. It won the Grammy !!

NY times review and "Chris's" character analysis is indeed thought provoking..

My Country, My Country

Oh my country, may you have a happy morning.
Reunite everyone; heal your wounds.
I yearn to see you smile some day,
When will sadness set you free?

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds,
Take them all under your wings.
You are their father; you are their mother,
Stay firm, no matter how your winds gust.

Jesus and Prophet Muhammad said,
Their unity is your weapon.
Love, peace, intellect and construction,
May God in the heavens bless your success, my country.

Oh my beloved Iraq; oh Iraq,
Oh my beloved, oh my beloved, oh my beloved Iraq.

- By Kadhum Al Sahir

Theses words itself depict the pain, chaos happened/happening in Iraq. Filmaker Laura Poitras, filmed a documentary "My Country, My Country" about so-called "democratic" elections in Iraq. The huge contrast in American perspective of Iraq and what Iraqi civilians really need, has made a painful footprint on my mind.

...and guess what.... After the release of this film, the filmmaker Laura Poitras was on the USA Department of homeland Security watch list.. as most dangerous candidate.... Hail so-called "freedom of expression".... !!

Overall, the documentary is just fabulous. It was nominated for Oscars. Every screen-shot in the documentary shows the dark side of "fruits of freedom" !!
The song mentioned above always plays in backgound. Along with the lyrics, the music itself depicts the pain of "My Country".

- Trailer
- Film synopsis
- "My Country" soundtrack

On the flip side, I feel that documentary depicts only the bad things happening because of American occupation of Iraq, but it never shows any thing good happened because of fall of Saddam's regime..

Any way, I hope "Oh my country, may you have a happy morning." !!

Osama...

Don't get confused with "Bin Laden".. I am talking about 2004 Golden Globe - Best Foreign Film Award Winner movie Osama.

Movie depicts Taliban regime and shows oddities, extremities in their behavior & teachings.. It is shown through eyes of an 12 year old girl. Just to have daily bread for her family, she has to work.. and for that she has to change into a "boy". The whole movie is her fight for survival in a "extremist male driven society".

The movie is realistic, practical and in turn pessimistic. Obviously there is a glimpse of hope at every turn, but finally it doesn't last long with reality.
Its a first movie directed fully in Afghanistan and is written through personal experiences. The direction of the movie, cinematography and acting of a 12 year old girl is just too good...

When I saw hindi movie "Kabul Express" i.e. bollywood's depiction of post Taliban regime, I was really disappointed.. Its surely a "bakawaas".. But "Osama" movie deserves its golden globe award.

I know very few of you will watch this movie, but at-least check out the movie trailer on yahoo.

Run Forrest Run...

Forrest Gump... I don't know what's there in this movie, but whenever it is aired on TV, I always watch it. I guess I have watched it more than 10 times till now.. Why?? Six Oscars and thirteen nominations says it all.

The movie is just fabulous. Its amazing philosophy.. perspective of an autistic person. The dialogs from the movie are just tooo deep..

- "For no particular reason", I started running that morning.
- Lieutenant Dan, You got "new legs".
- My mama said life is a "box of chocolates", you never know what you are gonna get next.
- We all do things, that sometimes just nonsense.
- Where the hell's this God of yours? It's funny Lieutenant Dan said that, 'cause right then God showed up.
- Whatever it means.

Hshhh you should read whole script :).. !!

The violin-piano piece at the end of the movie when feather files away in the sky..
is a masterpiece..

For no particular reason, I love this movie.. If you haven't watched it yet, keep in mind you are missing something..

A Common Man..

A common man with a dream .. can build a great empire.

"I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it." ... "Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."

Gulzar gives poetic charms to these words, while Rahman's high vocal pitch escalates it to a totally different level..

These words still linger on my lips.. my brain.. & my mind...

Jaage Hain Der Tak
Hamein Kuch Der Sone Do,
Thodi Se Raat Aur Hai
Subah To Hone Do.

Aadhe Adhure Khwaab Jo
Pure Na Ho Sake,
Ek Baar Phir Se Neend Mein
Woh Khwaab Bone Do.

Memory of the Camps

I watched a documentary Memory of The Camps, aired on PBS Frontline.

Its about the time when allied forces rescued concentration camps from Nazi rule.. Its really disturbing... Press reaction says everything... "... will undoubtedly become the definitive cinematic record of the hell on earth that Hitler created" - Boston Globe

Iranian president Ahmadinejad calls Holocaust as a myth. Isn't it absurd that Iran holds a conference to validate the reality of holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day only ?

.. we will never learn anything from history and if we don't then..

Some survey says 41% Britons believe that another Holocaust can happen in UK..

DON.. The Remake

"DON - The Chase Begins Again" movie dekhana mushkil hi nahi na-mumkin hey !!

The remake attempt of original Amitabh movie DON has ended up in total disaster. It is a "typical bollywood movie".

< definition > "Typical bollywood movie" implies that you can safely ignore it or if you are in "insomnia" then watching this movie guarantees 100% "hypersomnia" < / definition >

Being "Farhan Akhtar" movie, I surely had some hopes, but it seems like he is also following "copy-cat" philosophy of great "Annu Malik". Screen shots from Matrix, FaceOff, Fast & Furious are sprinkled everywhere !!

Watching Shahrukh Khan for 2hrs-45mins is a lifetime punishment. I never understood why the hell everybody compares him with Amitabh. Shahrukh's "monkey" face and overacting is just unbeatable . Amitabh can never reach to that level. I am talking abt "Angry-Young-Man" not the "White-Beard-Black-Hair-Senile".

Whoever is the "cast director" of the movie has done unbelievable job .. Karina's "Ye mera dil" dance, Priyanka's "Marshal Arts", Pawan Malhotra's "Naarang" and not but least "Shahrukh's "ddddd don" are (literally) breath taking. Boman Irani shouldn't have played villain role. He is better with his comic roles.

Same is the case with "art director". There is a shot in the movie where Jasjeet enters into Petronas Tower to meet Vardhan. When he enters the room, it seems like the room is "under-construction". .. Excuse me.. I thought that the room is in "Petronas Tower"..

I guess the only interesting thing in the movie is "tweaks to the original plot". Especially Sharukh's transition from "Don.. then Vijay.. then "So-called-Don" Vijay.. then "So-called-Vijay" Don is funny.

I just got lifetime membership of "I-Hate-Shahrukh" community on Orkut !!!

Life Is To Whistle..

"Life is what happens to you... while you are busy doing other things"

Spanish/Cuban movie "Life Is To Whistle" depicts same philosophy in very vivid manner. Three "Strangers" are passionate about "Things" (Sex/Ballet, Music/Mother's love and Social work). While trying to pursue their happiness (things), they end up sacrificing some "other important things" (Sex, Love, Love).. While busy in analyzing what choice to make, their life takes them to their "another subconscious happiness".... and all of them are happy...

The End.. No hold on.. thats not the end of the movie... In reality, though these "strangers" feel that they have found out about their "another subconscious happiness"... actually they haven't.. !!!

Totally bizarrreee... The movie is highly philosophical... I think "excessively" philosophical.., most of the screen-shots and dialogs are metaphorical.. but still has some "okay" directional streaks !!

So what ? It has received multiple awards in various film festivals.. "Best Foreign Spanish Language Film Award", "Special Jury Award"..

Any way, I guess I have to watch "another" movie now.. just to wipe out those metaphors from my brain.. just to have better sleep :) !!

Paper Clips..

Symbol represents the philosophy behind a particular act. Symbol represents objectives of specific institute or community. Once you understand the thought stream hidden behind a symbol, you will never look at that symbol the same way, you used to do before.. Symbols make us think !!

Same thing has happened to me, since I watched the documentary Paper Clips.

Paper Clips is a Holocaust project carried out by eighth graders from a small town in Tennessee. School teachers told the students abt Holocaust, Hitler and death of 6 million Jews (overall 11 million) in concentration camps. The number 6 million was somewhat difficult for students to understand, so they came up with an idea of collecting paper clips as a representative for every life lost in the concentration camp.. The reason for using the symbol "Paper clip" was because Norwegian patriots used to protest against the king by wearing paper clips. The clips were meant to denote "we are bound together".

So these students started writing to various celebrities, authors, politicians etc and they received responses in terms of paper clips.. When students started counting these paper clips one by one, they began to understand the enormity of holocaust. Initially the project was focused for students, but over the period it absorbed the whole community. In fact the news about the project reached all over the world. People started contributing to project by sending "a paper clip" as representative for their closer ones, who died in concentration camp..

Few concentration camp survivors visited this school to spend some time with these students and share their memories. It gave whole new insight into the "Cold", "Calculated", "Extermination" of Jews by Nazis in concentration camps.

Overall, students received 24 million paper clips. As a memorial, the school hosted 11 million paper clips in a railcar, which was being used during WW-II to carry Jews/prisoners to concentration camp.

Initially the project started with an objective of "Understanding Holocaust", but finally it turned out to be a project of "Love, Humanity and Freedom".

A Paper Clip.. A Symbol.. !!