There are few words and it's always the case...
August 29, 2008
You are so beautiful to me
August 28, 2008
Obama Speech
Suneko Kuro
My brother sang this song to me first. Now I like the way he sang even more than the actual song. (BTW- that means I'm missing home...)
August 27, 2008
An Irish Airman Foresees His Death
It was last week or so, I tried recording Gopal Prasad Rimal's Aama Ko Sapana (A Mother's Dream). But I found myself learning and relearning the mood of each word. I couldn't go beyond the first 'stanza'. There's so much variation. The switch from son to mother and back to the son was difficult at first. I haven't uploaded it. I have to work with more patience. That was the lesson.
In this video, brychar66 recites W.B. Yeats' An Irish Airman Foresees His Death. Certainly something we can relate to...
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
Sarangi
I wanted to listen to Nepali sarangi but found these Indian works. (Right now, it's poetry time.)
An extract taken from a documentry of Ustadji. Here he plays an alap in Raag darbari.
"Pt. Anant Kunte a well known sarangi player and one of the few living legends in Sarangi."
Ram Narayan: Misra Piloo (rag mala)
Ustaad Ranbir Singh playing a beautiful rendition of Raag Asa Kafi on the Taus.
Nepali Time- Resham Firiri
August 26, 2008
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr
To the Editor of the NYT (link):
As an Iraqi-American, I have enthusiastically supported Barack Obama’s candidacy for president, especially because of his fresh thinking on Iraq. But I am concerned about his selection of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his running mate.
In 2006, Mr. Biden and Leslie H. Gelb proposed a plan on Iraq that would split the country into three autonomous regions according to ethnic and religious lines, thus, in Mr. Biden’s words, “making oil the glue that binds the country together.”
Inherent in this plan is the fundamental flaw that has plagued the Bush administration’s endeavor in Iraq from the outset: lack of Iraqi popular support.
Indeed, even while there is ethnic and religious strife in Iraq, there is little evidence that a majority of the population of Iraq would support a plan to cut their country into three parts.
It is a sense of national identity and pride — not oil — that holds Iraq together. Destroying this would ensure more bloodshed and further victimize the Iraqi people.
An Obama-Biden administration would be better off if it abandoned the approaches of its predecessor — de-Bushification, if you will — and recognized that valuing the will of the Iraqi people would better serve all.
Jennifer R. Ridha
New York, Aug. 24, 2008
August 25, 2008
August 24, 2008
Time to paint dreams on big canvass
Studying foot! Practice makes a man perfect!
As if didn't know studying anatomy would help!
Memory I
"Technology is not the end in itself but a means to an end."
One of my Sunday skectches. Took another bad photograph and started doing photoshop. I wanted to paint it and experimenting with new tools can be not just fun but also a 'good habit'.
Stepping on the Sun
One of my "2-minute" sketches. I tried to copy the mood of Avneesh's award-winning black and white photograph. I wonder if it will ever reach my canvass in any form...
August 22, 2008
Pyscho Re-imagined
This is a funny romantic comedy take on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
They say- "The best Hitchcock movie trailers were the ones that had him personally pitch the plot to the audience!"
Citizen Kane- How to run a newspaper?
"You're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... 60 years."
The print of my Citizen Kane was bad and I couldn't see the film. This is a powerful clip from the film. 
"Everyone wants to understand art. Why don't we try to understand the song of a bird? Why do we love the night, the flowers, everything around us, without trying to understand them? But in the case of a painting, people think they have to understand. If only they would realize above all that an artist works of necessity, that he himself is only an insignificant part of the world, and that no more importance should be attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the world though we can't explain them; people who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree." — Picasso
A tribute to Vincent Van Gogh- Starry Starry Night
To be, or not to be: that's the question
Scenes from My Darling Clementine directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Walter Brennan, and others. -OzuKardozi
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?—To die,—to sleep,—
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die,—to sleep;—
To sleep: perchance to dream:—ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despis’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,—
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns,—puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
This soliloquy, probably the most famous speech in the English language, is spoken by Hamlet in Act III, scene I (58–90). His most logical and powerful examination of the theme of the moral legitimacy of suicide in an unbearably painful world, it touches on several of the other important themes of the play. Hamlet poses the problem of whether to commit suicide as a logical question: “To be, or not to be,” that is, to live or not to live. He then weighs the moral ramifications of living and dying. Is it nobler to suffer life, “[t]he slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” passively or to actively seek to end one’s suffering? He compares death to sleep and thinks of the end to suffering, pain, and uncertainty it might bring, “[t]he heartache, and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to.” Based on this metaphor, he decides that suicide is a desirable course of action, “a consummation / Devoutly to be wished.” But, as the religious word “devoutly” signifies, there is more to the question, namely, what will happen in the afterlife. Hamlet immediately realizes as much, and he reconfigures his metaphor of sleep to include the possibility of dreaming; he says that the dreams that may come in the sleep of death are daunting, that they “must give us pause.”
He then decides that the uncertainty of the afterlife, which is intimately related to the theme of the difficulty of attaining truth in a spiritually ambiguous world, is essentially what prevents all of humanity from committing suicide to end the pain of life. He outlines a long list of the miseries of experience, ranging from lovesickness to hard work to political oppression, and asks who would choose to bear those miseries if he could bring himself peace with a knife, “[w]hen he himself might his quietus make / With a bare bodkin?” He answers himself again, saying no one would choose to live, except that “the dread of something after death” makes people submit to the suffering of their lives rather than go to another state of existence which might be even more miserable. The dread of the afterlife, Hamlet concludes, leads to excessive moral sensitivity that makes action impossible: “conscience does make cowards of us all . . . thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.”
In this way, this speech connects many of the play’s main themes, including the idea of suicide and death, the difficulty of knowing the truth in a spiritually ambiguous universe, and the connection between thought and action. In addition to its crucial thematic content, this speech is important for what it reveals about the quality of Hamlet’s mind. His deeply passionate nature is complemented by a relentlessly logical intellect, which works furiously to find a solution to his misery. He has turned to religion and found it inadequate to help him either kill himself or resolve to kill Claudius. Here, he turns to a logical philosophical inquiry and finds it equally frustrating.
-SparkNotes
August 21, 2008
Nobody does revenge like a woman
Women can be more cruel than men in love. - Nietzsche
Milla Jovovich in . 45A woman victimised by her lover seeks revenge and freedom. This 2006 Canadian film written and directed by Gary Lennon is a story of the woman who doesn’t know how to deal with a man who loves her but does not trust her. Can men alone cheat on their partners? Most men consider themselves superior to their spouses. More than often domestic violence is an outcome of that superiority-complex. A man can save his wife from others, but who can save his wife from the man himself?
“Nobody does something for nothing” and the cost of her life and self-dignity is her body — lips, teeth, hips.
Certainly, a powerful film. Some screenshots.
August 20, 2008
Taj Mahal: In Agra last week
Wanted to make sure that we were really there!
Taj Mahal can be a great treat to eyes in summer. But when we went there, it was pouring.
These kids didn't fear the pelting. (And I followed them.)
The shaken shot that really came out nice.
The picture has an unusual glow that my eyes actually missed.
The foreigner was caught in the rain.
This picture tells all about my Agra experience. Earth
Beyond Human Nature
I can’t see anything beyond human nature. After watching Deepa Mehta’s Earth, I realised the stories of partition and pain don’t affect me anymore as if now I’ve also become immune to the human tragedy. I grew up with news of everyday killings, so Iraq and Afghanistan don’t generate any reaction except anger. When something of that sort happens in India, like the recent Ahmedabad bombings, I can’t help asking myself “Why?”. Isn’t it unfortunate that politics and people have become so synonymous?
A friend told me that happiness is also just a frame of mind — something which you can choose. So I choose to be happy these days. I’m seriously thinking of comedies and witticisms. There’s another friend who has gifted me optimism. There’s devil inside each of us. I’m also trying to kill the beast but I don’t think I need another reason (a person) to become a good person.
Sometimes you do something for love and you start loving everyone. Again, this seems to be some philosophy. Men think a lot. Who invented dhamma? Was it a man or a woman? Is there a difference between the two? I don’t know yet. But I know one thing for sure — good woman nature can do wonders in this cruel world. It can change every child’s heart and fill it with love.
But I can’t blame mothers of Hitler or Bush, since ordinary men are born diplomatic devils — maybe they are the result of marital rape or pleasure. Ordinary men are true Aryans and Christians, they are the truest of all Muslims and Hindus! They come in every color: secular, spiritual, agnostic or believer and so on. But I discard philosophy, I discard religion. I discard boundaries and I discard borders. Let’s discard everything that chains us. I want to concentrate on the good side of the human nature now and in future. But I wonder if the focus should be on the society or an individual? Maybe individual right now.
But how long does it take for us to change? All this ‘nonsense’ will come to an end someday. I am trying to give it a happy end. For a few people who detest me, there’s nothing but pity. I despise people in general. But find love, it will change your world, they say. If you believe in love, you won’t be able to hate or hurt anybody or anything. But where do you find such love? Around you. It’s similar to building bridge of chances for your beloved. It’s similar to keeping your fingers crossed — you don’t have to hunt for love, it’ll come to you.
Human nature! Even Hitler loved someone, they wrote. Men tend to think too much, so I have to stop and better listen to my heart. And the million dollar question is — Why my choti's called ‘choti’ and her juda is ‘juda’? Can’t men have juda-s too?
I can’t see anything beyond human nature. After watching Deepa Mehta’s Earth, I realised the stories of partition and pain don’t affect me anymore as if now I’ve also become immune to the human tragedy. I grew up with news of everyday killings, so Iraq and Afghanistan don’t generate any reaction except anger. When something of that sort happens in India, like the recent Ahmedabad bombings, I can’t help asking myself “Why?”. Isn’t it unfortunate that politics and people have become so synonymous?
A friend told me that happiness is also just a frame of mind — something which you can choose. So I choose to be happy these days. I’m seriously thinking of comedies and witticisms. There’s another friend who has gifted me optimism. There’s devil inside each of us. I’m also trying to kill the beast but I don’t think I need another reason (a person) to become a good person.
Sometimes you do something for love and you start loving everyone. Again, this seems to be some philosophy. Men think a lot. Who invented dhamma? Was it a man or a woman? Is there a difference between the two? I don’t know yet. But I know one thing for sure — good woman nature can do wonders in this cruel world. It can change every child’s heart and fill it with love.
But I can’t blame mothers of Hitler or Bush, since ordinary men are born diplomatic devils — maybe they are the result of marital rape or pleasure. Ordinary men are true Aryans and Christians, they are the truest of all Muslims and Hindus! They come in every color: secular, spiritual, agnostic or believer and so on. But I discard philosophy, I discard religion. I discard boundaries and I discard borders. Let’s discard everything that chains us. I want to concentrate on the good side of the human nature now and in future. But I wonder if the focus should be on the society or an individual? Maybe individual right now.
But how long does it take for us to change? All this ‘nonsense’ will come to an end someday. I am trying to give it a happy end. For a few people who detest me, there’s nothing but pity. I despise people in general. But find love, it will change your world, they say. If you believe in love, you won’t be able to hate or hurt anybody or anything. But where do you find such love? Around you. It’s similar to building bridge of chances for your beloved. It’s similar to keeping your fingers crossed — you don’t have to hunt for love, it’ll come to you.
Human nature! Even Hitler loved someone, they wrote. Men tend to think too much, so I have to stop and better listen to my heart. And the million dollar question is — Why my choti's called ‘choti’ and her juda is ‘juda’? Can’t men have juda-s too?
My 'choti'
Her 'juda'
August 18, 2008
Find your authentic swing boy!
See, the trick is to find your swing! 
Today I watched The Legend of Bagger Vance again... It's based on Bhagwad Gita. And I LOVE this guy...
"Inside each and every one of us is one true authentic swing. Somethin' we was born with. Somethin' that's ours and ours alone. Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned. Somethin' that got to be remembered. Over time the world can, rob us of that swing. It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas. Some folk even forget what their swing was like..."
August 15, 2008
Finally PM Prachanda
There's a lesson to be learned from the Maoist-led war in Nepal. I want to see how Prachanda fulfills his dreams about the country. I want to see how Nepal transforms. I'd be really happy if he fulfills his promises. But there's much to be done besides politics.
It took some time for the Maoists to come to power and this is how democracy works. Slowly. I want to concentrate on my work. That’s how I can contribute to the development of my country. I need a break from their politics. Some truth has no other solution than acceptance. The Maoists are not different from any other parties on Earth, so let’s stop expecting too much from them. The world is what it is, no one can change it. (Well, we can discuss this...) But yes, we can talk and dream. We can fight to win. That is the story of every civilisation.
No big talks now! Work. Just work.
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography
Visions of Light (1992) is an American and Japanese documentary, directed by Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels. The film is also known as Visions of Light: the Art of Cinematography.
The film reveals the art of cinematography in films released since the conception of cinema at the turn of the 20th century.
Many filmmakers and cinematographers present their point-of-view and discuss why the art of cinematography is important within the craft of filmmaking.
- Wikipedia
What I cannot understand is why these people disable embedding? Downloading the film from the youtube is just a matter of a few clicks. Please share. Use the power that is Internet- DOWNLOAD. Here are the youtube links for Visions of Light (1992):
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Part IX
I'm writing this post because I couldn't find any page online for this film. Few old links are already dead. Enjoy!
Satyajit Ray Interview
A rare Satyajit Ray interview... I've seen the Apu trilogy but now I want to see that again. After watching this interview I feel I've missed a few (many) things...
Few more links:
100 Years of Japanese Cinema
Alfred Hitchcock- Some short interview excerpts
And this guy (OzuKardozi) has really cool stuffs....
August 14, 2008
If You Love, Love Openly
HerTwenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.
Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting upon a private meeting.
Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written to her, she said: "If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now."
- Zen Koans
The 400 Blows and other things
Adolescence
Francois Truffaut said, “I make films that I would like to have seen when I was a young man.” I consider myself lucky that I watch films that are films I would like to make. But I have to come up with something original and entertaining. I am trying to watch different kind of films. But right now that’s not enough. I try to write. I try to observe people around me. Stories of struggle and success don’t intrigue me- it’s just work, work and work.
I watched the concluding scene of The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups) repeatedly. Antoine’s escape is meaningful and also the most beautiful part of Traffuat’s most personal work. Some wrong slaps can change life for good! Shashilal K. Nair’s Ek Chhotisi Love Story is one Hindi film that was really a bold bolt! I want to see work about adolescence. Maybe that’s the reason I like Satyajit Ray’s Aparajito so much. I have not seen many films but I have seen many good films and like I said- films that I would like to make.
I have two fascinating sci-fi ideas that can be worked upon. It will be great fun! I had thought of starting another story of a boy’s journey after high school to college. But I don’t want it to be run-of-the-mill because while developing the idea I realised it had more commercial appeal than artistic. Here is Speilberg’s advice when asked about being conflicted whether to make more artistic films, or more commercial films: “All the time, but when you have a story that is very commercial and simple, you have to find the art. You have to take the other elements of the film and make them as good as possible, and doing that will uplift the film.” That is convincing.
I have become a kid again. I used to read a lot about great men then with great interest and curiosity. Only now the men are filmmakers. One who started to loathe history has started to love it again. It’s not because contemporary filmmakers don’t fascinate me but I want to know the masters of the medium first. I have my own way of doing things and I have my own ideas and for that I don’t have to look any further. But I want to improve and learn as much as possible. I am not a typecast but there are some good old ways of doing things. “Some day I'll make a film that critics will like. When I have money to waste.” There’s a right time for everything. Right now, money would only ruin me.
August 13, 2008
‘The journey should be also beautiful.’
Three things
"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."
Some thoughtful writings on this Zen saying:
Kill the Buddha
Killing the Buddha
When It’s Time to Kill the Buddha
I was reading The New Yorker where I came across a review of a 1958 Japanese film ‘Enjo’ (Conflagration) directed by Kon Ichikawa and Yukio Mishima’s novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion on which the film is based. But this excerpt is from somewhere else:
Buddhist acolyte Raizo Ichikawa (Japan’s James Dean in a change of pace character part), afflicted with a stutter and obsessed with beauty, is continually repelled by the corruption of the world — exemplified by his cynical club-footed friend Nakadai (“a bravura performance” – Dennis Washburn) — until he is finally impelled to destroy the thing he loves best. Adaptation of Yukio Mishima’s novel Temple of the Golden Pavillion, based on a real incident. Striking b&w Scope photography by the great Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Yojimbo) makes it a visual feast. Aka Enjo and Flame of Torment (!). Approx. 99 min.Obviously, now I ‘have’ to watch it. I finally watched The 400 Blows today and loved it… I can watch this film over again... I may just be twenty something but human condition has been there for thousands of years. (Now that reminds me I have not seen The Human Condition trilogy... But time ain't the only constraint!) I have realised that I am not the only one. That I have to kill my Buddhas if I also want to become one. I have to go through everything human- like Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. The world is as it is, let’s accept it, and live on:
"Ichikawa's mature style emerged with this brilliant adaptation of Mishima's novel. A visual tour de force, the picture's widescreen cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa, Japan's greatest cameraman, is miraculous."
– Elliott Stein, Village Voice (link)
"Zen Master Seung Sahn says that in this life we must all kill three things: First we must kill our parents. Second, we must kill the Buddha. And lastly, we must kill him!"
August 12, 2008
The Power of Nightmares
"The films compare the rise of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and claiming similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister organised force of destruction, specifically in the form of al-Qaeda, is a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries—and particularly American Neo-Conservatives—in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies."
-Wikipedia
Watch/download the film: Youtube.
Well, click skip the ad page to download this film through rapidshare links. You can google for torrents too...
August 11, 2008
Prem Sanga Haare
Yes, just loved the part 'aaja prem sanga haare'....
August 8, 2008
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