AVATAR

James Cameron’s mum had a dream of 12 feet-tall blue women and in course of time, The Na’vi were born. He wanted to create a movie that would make ‘Titanic’ look like a chick-flick…he wanted to unleash something huge that was choc-a-bloc with groundbreaking technology and exhilarating action, all neatly driving home an uncomfortable social-message………and Avatar was born.

The year is 2154, and in a distant planetary system we have an earth-like moon called PANDORA which houses the ecologically-conscious, blue-skinned humanoid race called ‘The Na’vi’. RDA corporation is mining Pandora in an attempt to lay their hands on the large deposits of a precious mineral called ‘Unobtanium’. Providing security and serving as merceneries are ex-marine forces led by the brutal human tank, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).

Since humans cannot survive unassisted in Pandora’s atmosphere, the only way to infiltrate Na’vi territory is to implant genetically engineered Human-Na’vi hybrids called ‘Avatars’ which are controlled by genetically matched human operators. Jack Sully(Sam Worthington) is one such operator. Taking the place of his dead twin-brother who was involved in the experiment, the paraplegic ex-marine is all bluster and raw-courage.

But an unfortunate accident as an Avatar leaves Sully alone and at the mercy of Pandora’s night-predators. Neytiri( Zoe Saldana), a female Na’vi saves his life and takes him back to her clan: Omaticaya-Mo’at. Jack in his Avatar learns the ways of The Na’vi, trains as a warrior under the tutelage of the haughty Neytiri and develops a growing respect for his eerily-beautiful surroundings. He falls in love with Neytiri and is soon initiated into the tribe.

Loyalties shift and the wiser Sully sees the folly of his employer’s ways. Attempts to convince the Colonel and the corporation fall on deaf-ears and open war is declared on the unsuspecting Na’vi. What ensues is kaleidoscopic chaos…destruction of a home, devastation of a race and the death of innocents.

It is now upto Jack Sully and his handful of supporters to turn tables on the system and bring some sanity to the proceedings…

Avatar scores on many points….it is like a plate of Turkish-delights for the fantasy/ sci-fi lover….the scenes are rich, bursting with colour and detail. The Nav’is are a gorgeous race …caring, socially adept and complete with the usual mixture of good and troublesome characters. Sigourney Weaver as the scientist Dr.Grace Augustine who heads the Avatar program pitches in with her reliably-brilliant performance. The military mutton-head Quaritch is custom-made for the role. He looks like a G.I.Joe villian who came to life and decided to wreck the maximum carnage in minimum time…or as he charmingly puts it “wrap it up…I want to be home for dinner”. Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez) reprises her tough-chick-with-a heart act and does a slap-up job of a security force pilot who is disgusted by the mindless-violence. Jack Sully, the newcomer, is truly likable….he starts off as a cocky-bloke (despite his infirmity), someone you would imagine chilling out at a bar surrounded by red-faced drinkers and gradually matures into a man with a mission…..a man who realizes the error of his callous ways and a man intent to bring about change.

The movie caters to all…the action-seekers, the fantasy-lovers, the technologically-inclined…and amidst all this, it strikes a socially relevant message. The movie couldn’t have released at a better time.

Go, watch and be amazed…(sorry, couldn't resist adding the last, cheesy bit)

Where the Sidewalk ends ~ Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

12 Key Zen Habits

Downloaded this bright and sparky poster from GoddessGuidebook.com...

FANTASY by George R.R.Martin

The following passage captures everything I feel about the Fantasy-Genre.



"The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake.


Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab.


Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end.


Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot.
Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines. Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?


We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.


They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to middle Earth."

A passage by Neil Gaiman (..from American Gods)

~I believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen - I believe that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women.



~I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass.



~I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste.



~I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like Martians in War of the Worlds.



~I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman.



~I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead)



~I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.



~I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system.



~I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it." — Neil Gaiman (American Gods)


~

The Tao of Pooh

...yet another HAPPINESS quote

For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy
getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with
family or friends, then the chances are that you're not going to be very happy.
If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new
job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that
person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand,
happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap,
then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.

~ Andy Rooney

'Nevertheless'

by

Catherine Widgery

The Old Cherokee's advice

"One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.`

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

~ Author (Unknown)

Sometimes you just need ol’fashioned advice to do the work of a much needed pick-me-up. Today it’s Emerson’s words that inspire…..

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air."

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer."

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true."

"Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes."

"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all
your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Food for Thought

This was a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which talks about strength of character, determination and how we can shape our destiny. While it could very well be a growing-up litany that a father imparts to his son......I was quite inspired by the words. Here goes....

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
And make allowance for their doubting, too;

If you can wait and not get tired of waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies;
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating;
And yet don’t look good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream, and not make dreams your master;
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you have spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you give your life to, broken,
And stoop, and build them up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold On!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch-
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you-but none to much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And-which is more-you’ll be a Man, my son!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Rudyard Kipling

.......and the donkey canters home!

History was made….erm, yesterday! (* I know this post is a day late, but what with the flu, and the phlegm and the other nasties surrounding me, I just couldn’t get down to making a decent entry!*)

Barack Obama is now the 44TH president-elect of the United States of America . The first African-American President. Charismatic, intelligent, articulate and bursting with hope, Obama seems to have pushed all the right buttons. And when he made that now-googled-to-death acceptance speech……the swirling masses smiled, cried, cheered and repeated in hushed reverence : Yes, We Can!. A picture-perfect moment, something that will truly, setting all clichés aside go down as one of the most defining moments in history.

Reams of newsprint were dedicated to this event and our good ol’ Times of India was splattered with some choice headers:
- Mubarack Obama
-Dark Knight in White House
-Sultan of the Swing-States
and my personal favourite:
- Out of the bushes, Into the baracks!

This and many more all busy with opinions on the new messiah….wondering whether he will have feet of clay... whether all the promises are kept…whether he WILL restore world order….…and whether this is indeed a true beginning!!

All I can say is that for me, I am happy to witness History in the Making....and the truly fantastic campaign that led up to this moment! Cheers, Mr.President!

Giving Peace a Chance....

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, and also Non-Violence Day…it was inspiring to read Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s editorial in the Times Of India. While how much of it is practicable, is up to each one of us. Here are a few which I particularly liked:

“Every reader has seeds of fear, anger, violence and despair, and also seeds of hope, compassion, love and forgiveness. As journalists, you must not water the wrong seeds. You have the job of selectively watering the right seeds. You must attempt to tell the truth and yet not water the seeds of hate. It’s not what’s in the story, but how you tell it that’s important” (On being asked by the TOI on what they should do on a day like this)

“You don’t have to run into the future, you have enough conditions to be happy right here and now….the kingdom of god is available for you. But are you available for the kingdom?”

“I am made of so many non-me elements – my parents, the food I eat, the education I received, knowledge gained from others. Take away all the ‘non-me’, and there is no ‘me’ left.”

“We cannot often choose our circumstances, but we can choose how we respond to them: that is our real freedom.”

O Holy Night.....

A beautiful picture....overdue but still, a perfect moment nevertheless.....

Second.......third and many more helpings to come!!!

I did my second reading of “Second Helpings” by Megan McCafferty (please excuse the unintentional pun!).....and let me just that this could very well be the tome at which all YA Novel-Authors, wannabe writers and bursting-with-beans teens/adults with an overactive/hyperactive/mile-a-minute imagination should prostrate themselves……and pay homage to this magnificent book!!

I can’t write a review which would do justice, so am just going to leave you the link where people with more than mere mush for brains could give you their opinion!!

Editorial Reviews : Second Helpings

Air-Tel Ad......Breaking Barriers.

A simple and beautiful ad with a fantastic message. I especially liked the passage accompanying the print ad, which goes.....

Barriers break
when people talk

The simple act of talking can bring the world together.
In the future,
countries will no longer be divided by languages but shall be united in
dialogue.
Familes will come together in lively conversations,
And people
will be set free by reason, understanding and speech.
Simply put, the world
will be a better place, if only
we talk to each other.

Passage from "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia)"

A passage from "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia ~~~ C.S.Lewis)" triggered a sense of déjà vu.

Sometimes, somewhere a certain element acts a catalyst.....triggering a long forgotten but fond memory. It infuses you with a warm and comforting feeling. The mention of the word alone can wash away the cobwebs of the mind and cloak you in a blanket of security and comfort.

Just out of grasp, but never too far away......

The children hear Aslan's name for the first time and the following paragraph explains the varied emotions experienced by the four:

And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan
was anymore than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words
everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a
dream that someone says something which you don't understand but in the dream it
feels as if it has some enormous meaning - either a terrifying one which turns
the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into
words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and
are always wishing that you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At
the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in its inside.
Edmund felt a sense of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and
adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of
music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake
up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the
beginning of summer.

THE BURIED LIFE

100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE.....that’s the quest undertaken by four quirky young men.

Certain things have to be experienced and achieved, but life has an uncanny way of taking over and wishes and desires often get pushed to the back-burner. Given the penultimate deadline……these four guys have decided to turn their dreams into a reality.

Armed with an RV and a dog-eared list of 100 things to do before they die....Ben, Dave, Jonnie and Duncan are scouring the length and breadth of North America crafting a memorable documentary. Along the way, they ask people one question: "What do you want to do before you die?" and encourage others to go after their own lists too.

The inspiration for the documentary title “The Buried Life” came from a poem of the same name written by Mattew Arnold in 1852.

The lines were:

But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;

From the insane to the socially responsible……their list traverses a whole range of unfulfilled wishes and aspirations. Some are easy as hell and others….downright impossible. But the journey has been incredible and inspirational.





Check out their BLOG and doodle out your own list……..goin’ after it with altleast half- the conviction and fun that these guys are having!!!