Apocalypto

There are very few films which create a long lasting impression on you , regardless of how long back you saw it ,the movie always remain in your memory and keeps surfacing again and again , Apolcalypto is one of those movies . directed by the eccentric Mel Gibson , i call him eccentric because of his undying attitude towards filmaking . he makes his imagination comes to camera no matter how impossible it might be .his way of risk taking in making his thoughts come live gives jitters to the most seasoned performers .The cast of the film is new , with Rudy Youngblood , Dalia Hernandez , morris yellowhead as lead , and Raul Trujillo as their counterpart .
The plot is about a tribe in the Mayan empire , who lives in the forest and survives on agriculture and hunting , one day after a hunt , they come across rampaged people who were thrown out of their village by some thugs , they tell that a group of thugs are circulating around and they might be next , the tribe chieftain says to them that they can pass through the forest , both tribes exchange food and disperse , the chieftains son Jaguar paw gets insecure and tells his father to do something , the father replies not to fear and stay true to his heart , the night comes and they celebrate the festival of the dead .

Rudy youngblood and Dalia hernandez as jaguar paw and seven

Next morning the village is attacked , the thugs plunder and loot everywhere , they burn houses and fields , they beat men and women and tie them up , jaguar paw seeing this takes his pregnant wife and young son and flow them down in a circular pit with a rope , when he goes back to the village he is beaten and tied up , his father the chieftain is killed . coming morning the captives are taken to the forest were a poor girl prophesies that Mayan empire will end with a man running with jaguar , after walking for a day they reach the Mayan suburbs , the fields are dry and people are ransacked , they see slaves working on limestone , spitting blood . they soon reach the sacrificial place , the captives are made to lie on a stone and then their organs are disemboweled after the ritual their heads are axed , two of the captured are sacrificed , when the turn of jaguar paw comes , solar eclipse occurs , the priests declare that they have seated the thirst of their god Kukulkan , and there is no need of further sacrifices , the thug asks what they do of the remaining captives , dispose them was the answer .

Raul Trujillo as zero wolf

the captives are taken to a field , they are told that they would be free , if they survive the attack from behind and are made to run , thugs attack them from behind with arrows , spears , stones and bolts ., the rule was , who ever would cross the field would be free . Jaguar paw runs till the end but is hit by the spear , seeing this the finisher comes to kill him , but instead he kills the finisher , who turns out to be son of thugs captain . And so the chase begins from a distant land to Jaguar paws jungle , the chase has a lot of story in it , which include injured jaguar paw running tirelessly to the pit were his wife and son is , a snake bite , jaguar attack , falling from the cliff and poisonousness frog , in the end it starts raining heavily ,jaguar paw finishes all the thugs including the captain , the last two remaining chase jaguar paw till the sea shore were they find huge ships and people with strange attire ,a Spanish missionary , all three of them keep staring when jaguar paw escapes , the two remaining go to the ships to find out what they were . Jaguar paw comes to the pit full of water , he finds his wife and son and their new born child drowning , he takes out his family from the pit and moves towards the jungle ,his wife asks what these ships were and should they take thier help , jaguar paw turns and says , they should go to the forest for a new beginning . 

Apocalypto is one of those few movies which takes you into to the story and not for even a second you will feel that your watching a movie , it is one of those escapist films which takes you to another world and educates you about its culture , language , dresses , costume , religion , architecture etc .and you crave for more , after film ends , you come out of the movie hall thinking about it , the movie remains in your mind for a long time , Mel Gibson and Farhad Safinia has proven and shown their true talent , first with passion of Christ and now with apocalypto . We hope that they come up with Apocalypto 2 very soon with Spanish conquistadors .

the singles

The singles cover photo

The singles is a 1992 movie revolving around three couples, the story is in three segments each telling its own plot , the first one is about Matt Dunn who had several failed relationships and decides not to get into any in the future , but somewhere he comes across Debbie hunt who also had the same situation and prefers to remain single , they meet only as friends but eventually falls in love .

Janet and cliff 

The second plot is about Janet and cliff , they stay in the same building , Janet is a architecture student and works part time in a coffee shop , cliff is an aspiring musician , but still his band is struggling to make an impact and is small act in the whole Seattle grunge scene , , Janet is head over heals on cliff but cliff is always in different colors not keenly interested in her , Janets away , after a few months cliff feels that how much Janet loved him and both of them reconcile . tries to get cliff towards her but he doesn't divulge , soon she realizes that cliff is not the one and move

Bridget Fonda in singles

The movie features many prominent grunge bands like pearl jam , sound garden , mud honey .etc

The third one is about Kylie who is in search of Mr right ,, , She makes a video about her preferences and tastes , and puts on the airtime , she waits for the outcome , but doesn't get any , eventually she meets her Mr right in the airport , who has a son .

The singles  a Romantic triangle set on a backdrop of Seattle grunge scenes featuring rocking bands like pearl jam , sound garden , mud honey etc . Those who grew up in the nineties can really associate with the movie .

The lizard king

Very few in the music world , got so much attention in so little time as Jim Morrison , a renegade poet , one of the most active in anti corporate slavery and iconic musician , he made a vital impact on rock and roll through his strong poetry , blending it with heavy guitars and drums , his music is described as cross between rock , blues and psychedelic . Morrison studied Film direction from UCLA but did not pursue it as a profession , instead he started writing poetry , Ray manzaric his fellow in UCLA came across his poetry and felt its potential in music , Jim and Ray were the first two founding members of the unnamed band , later denmore and Robby keigar also joined , they used to jam on a roof top which was lent to them by a friend , soon the group got an offer to play gig at whiskey a go go , a renowned bar and restaurant of its time . The manager wanted a name to announce , Jim came up with idea of Doors , from his favorite poem by William Blake "Doors of perception " . the band became popular and were invited to Ed Sullivan show , a very famous television piece that interviewed Beatles and Elvis Presley . The show were to air two of Doors songs , the producers insisted lyrics to be changed as it had some censorship content , but Jim refused to divulge , this made him a sort of rebel image in people of those times . The doors recorded a few of Albums , later that year they got a chance to tour Europe , after returning back to US ,Jim started to show a change in his personality and became a heavy drinker , he came late to the shows and was absent during the recordings , this made the band in chaos and they lost some their of live shows . Morrison tried to make a riot in one of the concerts for which he got arrested on stage , making him the one and only rock star to get arrested live on stage , the incident made him a Rock and Roll icon . 

the doors

With his wild lifestyle and heavy addiction to drugs and alcohol he started getting delusional and lost focus , he became more of a junky , roaming around in search of LSD and other drugs , he very rarely went to jam and was always drunk in the studio , bearing enough of his unprofessional attitude , the band members went their own way and the doors was abandoned for a few years , later doors reunited to record their last album L A women , after recordings and few shows , Jim decided to settle in Paris and pursue his poetry . A few months later Jim was found dead in his bath tub , cause of death was reported , due to drug overdose , but the true cause is still not known as postmortem was never done .

In popular culture Jim Morrison has made his Image as a Rocker poet , who did what he wanted without heeding much to society or cultural pressure , he was a Rebel , singer , songwriter and his wild stage performances made news after news , a groupie favorite , the doors had a bunch of strong followers who were present in every show . Jim's personal life was not much , but he had a girlfriend , and a string of affairs . its sad that he passed away so early at 27 , joining the 27 group of musicians , there came many musicians but never as JIM , alive and live in peoples heart , still his fans flock on his grave every year in Paris , remembering their Rebel icon .

Beautiful quote

Here is a beautiful quote which I came across reading a book from an unknown author, yes the author is unknown because, in early 19th and  late 20^th century controversial writers usually kept their name hidden, publishers would print their name or put a false name, so that no problem arise in the future, the unknown writer would be safe if any trouble incurs, and would also have a full payment. .

The saying goes something like this.

"I am what I am regardless of what anyone does, by using my own personal ability to focus thoughts I can achieve alignment with myself.

I remain regardless of what others do to me and act according to what I am, not react to what they are."

After reading this  I pondered over it for a while , thinking it to be so true , it dashingly says about your self-confidence and how you should not let others get through it .

stigmata

stigmata is a an inflicted injury on a persons body usually in extreme religious condition , the first stigmata was reported on saint Francis of Assisi , who was very active in worldly pleasures but gave up all , after he had a dream of god . st Francis left his trade and family to settle in desert , He fasted for forty days , prayed intensely and suffered from serious self mutilations , with extreme hunger and thirst , visions started coming to him , one day near a river he saw an angel with wings who had same injuries as Jesus , he was amazed and went to his cave to pray , after some time he himself had those injuries , this made him very adhere to faith and the sufferings Jesus had . His way of stigma seems to be in most of the religious conventions of extreme believes , after ST Francis many claimed to have seen angels , and started getting blood all over their hands , palms , head , feet and in severe cases in stomach claiming it to be stigmata . The movie more or less revolves around the same theme , directed by Rupert Wainwright ,starring Patricia arquette as an atheist hair dresser named Frankie , who gets a rosary from his mother as a gift , the rosary belonged to Padre Almeda , who was a renowned priest known for his devotion to god and stigmatic effects all over his body . with his spiritual depth and religious understanding he gets a huge following , After few years father Almeda passes away , the people in his funeral are amazed to see the statue of Virgin Mary bleeding from eyes and hands , one of the spectators is father Andrew Kienan who is a scientist , always in search of miracles and giving a scientific explanation to it ,but this bleeding of statue could not get him to any conclusion , father Kienan takes photos and mail them to Vatican , but the higher priests removes him from the project , saying its of no significance . Meanwhile Frankie starts getting stigmatic effects , one by one all over her body , one day while going in a train she suffers from a severe stigmatic attack , witnessed by many , one of whom was father donning a Jesuit priest , he takes out the CCTV footage of the incident and sends it to Rome , Andrew Kienan is assigned for this new project , he meets Frankie and asks her few questions , the next day he goes to her apartment were he finds her writing something on the wall in Aramaic , an ancient language used in the time of Jesus ,Andrew calls for a translator , the translation says that its gospel of Thomas , one of the first recorded speeches of Jesus , the texts says that you don't need any priest or church to find god , god is every where its just the right connection that you need to make . As soon as Vatican comes to know of this revelation , they demand for the texts and remove Kienan from the project , telling him to join father donning . The high priest from the Vatican takes Frankie to the main church , and performs exorcism , after some effort the spirit of father Almeda speaks through Frankie , about the true gospel and how the Vatican is cheating the whole Christendom by keeping it hidden , he says that the monopoly of church over the believers is the biggest sin the church and clergies are committing . Almeda says that he is determined to break that monopoly by even overcoming death , hearing Almeda the priest tries to strangle Frankie telling that the gospel will never be out no matter what . Meanwhile Andrew comes and stops the priest and pushes him away from Frankie , he drags him out of the room , the room catches fire all around and Father Almeda shouting that he will not leave unless his work is done , Kienan in polite manner tells Almeda that he will let the world know about the true gospel and carry his left over mission till its completed , Almeda leaves Frankie in peace , and she is finally relieved from all the pains . in the end we see Kienan taking out an old document from church compound which is probably the translation of the gospel done by Father Alameda . The movie is well directed by wainwright , with fast paced camera work , graphics simulated scenes , very rock oriented music in background and remarkable acting done by Patricia arquette , its a definitely a watch for Gothic and shady movie goers .

OCTOBER 9

A Martin Scorsese classic

                                               
                           
       The last temptations of Christ, title taken from Novel of Nikos Kazantzakis,  

Of the same name , is one of those movies which examines the human and divine nature of Christ , it shows Christ as human as any one of us but he was selected by god , and so he had to prove that he was not among the common mortal’s , but more of a prophet , with this story the movie explores Jesus struggling with his desires of lust , power , fear , hatred ,depression ,death etc. . Directed perfectly by Martin Scorsese, and haunting music by peter Gabriel, the movie takes you in a journey back in time when there was no technology, much of the work was done manually and people were mostly unread. Jerusalem 2000 years ago was a place of prophets declaring their truth with god , angels regularly visiting them , miracles happening every were , people switching sides and confused Romans sending armies Haywire around the city to suppress it . All this made Jerusalem a hot bed of controversies and still today it remains to be so. 

The movie was shot entirely in morocco, the old cast was replaced with a new one, as there were protests regarding the movies controversial story, and the shooting was canceled, only to be started a few years later, with a new cast.

Barbara Hershey as mary Magdalena 

Director Martin Scorsese wanted to make a movie on Jesus for a very long time, but was unable to get a good script, Barbara Hershey gave him the book by Kazantzakis to read and Scorsese found a movie in it. He and Paul Schrader developed the script from novel and the casting was finalized with William Defoe as Christ, Harvey kettle as Judas Iscariot, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene. Shooting started in October 1987 and ended at 25 December of the same year.

William Defoe  as Christ 

It took about 8 months in post-production and the film was released in august 1988. It screened at Venice international festival were it received mixed response. The right wing Christians organizations boycotted the movie, in Paris a group of left wing supporters attacked a theater and burned it , thirteen were seriously injured and two were in critical condition . This attempted violence made all theaters remove the movie , last temptation was banned severely in Turkey , Mexico , Chile and Argentina , as of 2010 the movie is still not publicly screened in phillipness and Singapore . 

Other than controversies the movie was taken as the most well directed and well shot, music given by peter Gabriel made him a well-known music director , Scorsese got the best director award , Hershey got the nomination of best supporting actress . The movie got into the list of top 100 banned movies of all time, and it still remains a subject of controversy.

day dreaming

 God made this world a unique place, you are surrounded by many faces and different personalities. Some of them may be of your liking and others not. These personalities carry, many variations to them, bad ones with good intentions, and good ones with greed, dishonesty and selfishness.  Individuals who are torn apart with hardships and poverty   , others swimming in the pool of wealth, comfort and luxury, mostly acquired by wrong means. And many who are right, or wrong or in between.

                                        

I am writing this piece for  those individuals who  are  are well read , talented , good looking , belonging to a nice background but somewhere they do not know the purpose of their existence on this earth . There are huge number of people who have this syndrome. Even though they are very creative they are unable to make a connection with the people around them. We find this category all around the world, the person writing this is also part of it.

This breed is mostly in solitude, because people don’t understand them, or they don’t understand people. For them public life is very uncommon, drenched  in depression, negative thoughts, and diminishing future , they think the talent they have got is of no use , because when they show it  they don’t get  appreciation , or even response . They are constantly made realize that, if they go with their creativity they will end up on streets.

On the other hand if their talent is appreciated and given the right direction, they can be of immense creativity, and high intellectuality .they can run like a wild horse perusing their talent  and honing it , because they now believe  that  it’s getting to the right place  and people are knowing about it . They have the feeling that, now life is worth living .these people are so full of spirit in their good days that they can move earth and sky for what they want  but All this may go nowhere when some circumstances occur and they have to quit. 

                                       

      

Now since he is far away from the work he liked, and no longer exercising his talents, he takes to depression and loneliness, the world seems to be a burden ,its pleasure and musings no longer attract him, this detachment leads  to various addictions and bad lifestyle. In his thoughts he might think himself as the person he so dearly wanted to be, but since reality does not offer him that, he may be only living that in his fantasies and imaginations. Most failed artists take their professions in their fantasies, and imagine of being what they want, which they are not in reality. And they know that no one or no circumstances can take that position away from him and he can be exactly what he wants to be.It is a serious syndrome.

This syndrome is called  DAYDREAMING , a  detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and substituted with a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. This if for some time is healthy because a little day dreaming might bring positive ness and make you enthusiastic. , but if it’s going on endlessly, then you might be in a problem. Dreaming without end in bright daylight about something which you could not achieve in the real world is a serious issue. These vague fantasies may be harmful as they slowly cuts you away from the present.. This may cause trouble not only to you, but also your companions and caretakers who wants your subdued activities away and bring you back to the real world.What is the remedy.

 

The remedy for this is very simple , let the person do what he wants , he might become  poor  , will not have a good life , or might be in a pool of debts , whatever might be his situation , he would still be happy as he is perusing his talent , it’s a matter of time that his art will be recognized and he will get  all those things he didn’t have .Only the professional degrees like Doctor , Engineer ,chartered accountant or a nine to five job , don’t give money , being an artist  also do .

  

tech threat

It’s cold and dark evening outside, slightly drizzling, people cozying up on their beds and sofas, some in their deep sleep, some intensely fidgeting on their phones and laptops. The older ones who are still awake are in front of TV screens seeing the show with strange facial gestures. 

                     

The rarest of the views these days is a book in the hands of someone deeply engrossed in the story. Books are a rare category these days, nobody reads, or people think its old fashioned. Who wants to read when we have Internet and google, getting the whole information at a finger touch , no body wants to go and lift a copy to know something , this has happened  because information is so easily available to anybody , at any time.,

reading and books  have lost its worth. Gone are the days when someone use to buy a book and every one use to read it one after another. Or everybody use to contribute equally for their favorite author’s latest release. 

It has started raining outside now, the streets deserted, and just the shadows of those street lamps on the road, dark clouds above showering water. Street dogs and cats taking shelter in abandoned cars and scooters, preventing themselves from getting wet. The whole area change’s into a pleasant Atmosphere , very few realizing it’s the first rain of this season , we don’t keep the tracks of the seasons anymore  because we are not interested , no matter what happens outside we only care for ourselves , only care for how many likes we have got on our photo or how many views we got on the video , but we never care to move our head  from our screens and see what really is going on the  streets , or around us , if we do we would  know the true value of  things  . The point here I am making is  technology is amazing, you can do anything imaginable on it, it has made world into a different place altogether, but we should not get addicted to it.  using it to certain extent is good , but if you are obsessed , then you got a trouble  , you might know that  how many  youngsters have bone problems and  ear issues , hearing irregularities , skin tensions , eyes defects , spondyloses and many other forms of dysfunctions . why is this happening, because we don’t have certain limitations to our usage, we don’t follow a time table, we don’t realize what our body is saying, what we do is bluntly stick to one thing , that is laptop or mobile phone without checking how much time we spend on it, which is completely UN healthy .make a track on how much time you spend on your technology, if your time is exceeding then be hard enough to stop yourself ,  self-controlle  is the best remedy. 

I was talking a few paras above about how the technology had lost its value, because  it is so easily available, and effortlessly used.I remember how in school we use to scroll a number of books in libraries and bookstores for a particular project, taking down rough notes from tons of books that we had borrowed, and then doing number of edits before it would go into the final project. All this would take excruciating amount of time and effort, and we would be exhausted by it, but in the end when the project was submitted we would feel like, an Achievement, a gainful and knowledgeable experience by reading and going through all that material. I don’t think kids in this time would know what it was to make a project or assignment before technology became so common. It was hard, but we enjoyed it. 

The phones were not so common in those days, only phone in my school was in the principal’s office, and later another phone was added at the reception .At my house there was only one landline phone on which everyone use to call  , all my friends , my brothers friends , my dad’s and sisters friends, all use call on the same phone , so everyone knew each other’s friends and acquaintances . the good point was that the parents knew the whereabouts of their kids and what where their activities, there was a sort of transparency of what everyone in the family was doing .The only mode through which you would contact your friend was through phone or physically meet him, other than this you couldn’t get in touch with him , unlike today were there are dozens of apps through which you can be connected.

  

Today every single kid from primary school  to collage have their own set of gadgets.The kids are much more materialistic , they demand with loud gestures all the brands gadgets and accessories  they want , they fake their own personality , try to imitate  their demi heroes  and  have no idea why they are doing  this .  If you ask them why they are following a particular icon, they stare at you blankly, and after some time they reply, because everyone is following, this means, they don’t have their own opinion and taste for something they are so much into. These urbane beings mostly found around multiplexes, girls and women’s collages and hostels, and inside the cinema hall cuddling with someone, if they get a call, they don’t show the courtesy of going outside , but talk loudly in the hall itself, giving a damn about the movie, or others who are watching it , they come in a group of seven or nine , and all of them  busy in their smart phones , who’s light flashes all over the dark hall disrupting  the view of the  movie  for  people who are sitting behind  them , they don’t realize that there are few serious people who come to cinema halls genuinely for watching movies not philandering or derailing away or to see them cozying up with their female friends .i for once on a crowded Saturday night  heard a very loud  slapping noise in the dark hall and realized someone had got a lesson on his cheek  for his miss behavior  , the sound was so loud that it resonated the whole space , many people turning their eyes away  from the screen to see what happened .

You would be thinking that I might be someone old, who's giving a lecture on  how to behave and  do self control , but I am of your age and your time, born just a few years before you. I don't mean to preach and give sermons  but since i have observed all these occurrences many times , i wanted to address it with full impact .

In the end I just want to say that, technology in its aspects is extremely great and perfectly useful but too much use of it might be harmful, you may not realize that it might cause a long term health issue. It also keeps you physically disconnected from family and friends, just realize how many other creative things you could do, or finish something that was pending for a long time. Instead of just whiling away your time liking photos and commenting on them .

Secondly , the so called urbane dudes  springing around with their fake behavior and accents , who try to brag  about their gadgets and vehicles and their degrees , showing them in front of people who  don’t  show much interest in them , we now want to make it clear  that we don’t give a damn on anything you possess .