Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Couple of good movies
Murderball
This documentary follows over a period of time the lives of a set of guys involved in "Murderball", better known with the more marketable name of Wheelchair Rugby or Quad Rugby (Quad deriving from quadriplegic). As a rugby player I know what it takes to play the game so watching the quadriplegics playing it with such intensity was inspiring, moving, and an adrenaline rush for me. The label Murderball depicts most aptly the death metal (metal , literally) flavor of rugby this is. It's full contact - hard and uncompromising. Infact the vigor these guys emanate is enough for you to forget the disability aspect of their lives altogether. On the contrary that they are on wheels seems to be what makes them superioir to the other normal guys. These are tough nuts that need no pat on their backs or sissy sympathies towards their disabilities.
There are parts to the documentary that you would understand better if you are yourself an action junkie. Not one of those who sit around watching TV calling all the skateboarding, mountain biking, x-gaming kids idiots. It takes that to understand how the motocross racer disabled from an accident feels when made to understand that his body may no longer allow him to continue dirt biking. How it would feel to sit in a wheelchair and get wistful looking at the dirt bikes in your garage. How it would feel to see the family making *arrangements* - a handicap sign for your car, a modified loo - for you. And finally, how quad-rugby could bring back the promise of a real life back to a guy who lives and breathes the motorbreath.
Best to be seen and experienced.
Good night, and good luck
As I watch the news stations today covering the "AbhiAsh" wedding, I can't think of a more fitting discourse as in this movie - taken form the actual speech delivered by Ed Murrow - the character this film is based on. I'll word out the extracts verbatim here, they say it all...
About the content of television media he says thus,
"Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live."
And this, is his reply to those that believe that trivia and senseless entertainment is all that most public demands and real hard-hitting programming has no takers..
"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."
The current state of our media especially television really does need drastic changes. The news channels are currently the worst examples of crass commercialism and third-rate journalism.
I hope some of those dimwits watch this movie and get some sense driven into them. That the television can communicate with the unlettered is a huge opportunity for a country like ours. Perhaps the current lot of them is useless and we just need a fresh dose of young journalists to create the content that would indeed matter and make a difference to the lives of the people.
This documentary follows over a period of time the lives of a set of guys involved in "Murderball", better known with the more marketable name of Wheelchair Rugby or Quad Rugby (Quad deriving from quadriplegic). As a rugby player I know what it takes to play the game so watching the quadriplegics playing it with such intensity was inspiring, moving, and an adrenaline rush for me. The label Murderball depicts most aptly the death metal (metal , literally) flavor of rugby this is. It's full contact - hard and uncompromising. Infact the vigor these guys emanate is enough for you to forget the disability aspect of their lives altogether. On the contrary that they are on wheels seems to be what makes them superioir to the other normal guys. These are tough nuts that need no pat on their backs or sissy sympathies towards their disabilities.
There are parts to the documentary that you would understand better if you are yourself an action junkie. Not one of those who sit around watching TV calling all the skateboarding, mountain biking, x-gaming kids idiots. It takes that to understand how the motocross racer disabled from an accident feels when made to understand that his body may no longer allow him to continue dirt biking. How it would feel to sit in a wheelchair and get wistful looking at the dirt bikes in your garage. How it would feel to see the family making *arrangements* - a handicap sign for your car, a modified loo - for you. And finally, how quad-rugby could bring back the promise of a real life back to a guy who lives and breathes the motorbreath.
Best to be seen and experienced.
Good night, and good luck
As I watch the news stations today covering the "AbhiAsh" wedding, I can't think of a more fitting discourse as in this movie - taken form the actual speech delivered by Ed Murrow - the character this film is based on. I'll word out the extracts verbatim here, they say it all...
About the content of television media he says thus,
"Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live."
And this, is his reply to those that believe that trivia and senseless entertainment is all that most public demands and real hard-hitting programming has no takers..
"To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box."
The current state of our media especially television really does need drastic changes. The news channels are currently the worst examples of crass commercialism and third-rate journalism.
I hope some of those dimwits watch this movie and get some sense driven into them. That the television can communicate with the unlettered is a huge opportunity for a country like ours. Perhaps the current lot of them is useless and we just need a fresh dose of young journalists to create the content that would indeed matter and make a difference to the lives of the people.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
Wishlist...
I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could - go off.
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on,
I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up,
I wish..
I wish...
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on,
I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up,
I wish..
I wish...
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Monsters of rock...
1991 was a time of turbulence in Russia - at the time USSR. Gorbachev was pushing reforms that were not welcomed by hardline communists including the KGB. The situation boiled over when in August '91 the hardliners attempted a coup against Gorbachev's government. During the coup when the KGB forces attempted to take control of parliamentary buildings, young Russians came out in their defense. The buildings were symbolic of the Russian peoples' right to freedom and democracy and the youth were not prepared to be mute spectators as KGB took control over them. In the ensuing clashes, many of the young defenders lost their lives. In the end, the coup failed and the sacrifice of the kids who died - choosing death to a life of subjugation and propaganda - etched into the hearts and minds of the Russian public the preciousness of their hard won democracy.
One month later, in the September of 1991, a one day rock concert was organised at a huge airfield Tushino, just outside Moscow. Though this was said to be part of the Monsters of Rock European tour, this particular concert was made special by the circumstances that had just preceded the event and for the fact that it was free - open to everyone. For the first time there were western bands, particularly American, playing in Russia to salute the spirit of the youth and what they had stood up for.
I laid my hands on the fantastic video coverage of the event. That this DVD is out of print makes it a collector's item for any music lover worth his salt.
The concert received around 500,000 in audience. But as though a shadow of the era that had just passed, truncheon weilding police are seen deployed at the concert to keep the crowd "in check". The show starts off with images of the police beating up the young rockers trying to have a good time; perhaps, because such an outward show of youthful celebration as displayed by the rockers was never witnessed in Moscow before that day. However as the concert proceeds, and as the music and vodka continues to flow, the police eventually throw away their batons, rip off their uniform coats and sway to the music right along with the crowd. Wow! now that's what I call a rock concert.
Musically, there's Pantera, Metallica, AC DC, the Black Crowes and a Russian band EST on the show. Being aware of what the guys in the crowd had been through , one can make out how all of the bands play their heart out for them making sure the crowd have the time of their life. Perhaps some of the best live acts from Metallica and AC DC are on this video.
High points for me are the performances of "Everybody must get stoned.." by the Crowes (the crowd getting stoned on the music, liquor and God knows what other shit), "Creeping Death" by Metallica (five hundred thousand humans chanting "Die") and I must say the whole set by AC DC - the final act of the show. If Maiden have Eddy, then AC DC have Rosie - she comes up as a backdrop blow up on "A whole lotta Rosie" and on "Highway to hell" complete with the devil horns. Now I know what "whole lotta Rosie" refers to - a whore with an ample body :). AC DC sets a standard of live performance I've hardly seen anyone, really, anyone match. On the song "For those about to rock, we salute you.." Brian Johnson builds up to an earth shattering 21 gun (firework) salute to the crowd and Angus Young simply lets himself loose on all the tracks pulling off some of the fastest ass kicking riffs. Loved it!
I spent the two hours or so headbanging away to the great music on this DVD - a wonderful catharsis for a shit week gone by. It continues to amaze me how powerful this kind of music is - filling in for that what people find incomplete in themselves or for what they lose to the toll that life takes.
Woodstock '69, Live Aid, The Rising; now I have one more added to the list - Monsters of Rock '91.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Krakatsunda
For the curious, this title of my blog comes from a Sanskrit word which means "Destroyer of cyclic existence". Why did I name my blog like that - I don't know, I just felt this was a wonderful Sanskrit word with an even more inspiring meaning.
I leave it to the readers to figure what my sign off name Vipashyin stands for. Yes, it is Sanskrit.
I leave it to the readers to figure what my sign off name Vipashyin stands for. Yes, it is Sanskrit.
300
I watched the movie 300 with much awe. It was not the special effects that put me in awe, it was the heart and courage of men of battle that took me in. The battle at Thermopylae pitched one man's courage against another. I have been reading more and more about the Spartan culture these days impressed by their ideas of dignity, bravery and their ferocious spirit of independence.
In fact I have always been a believer that there indeed are two kinds of people - those that uphold their principles and dignity above anything else and would literally make it as the basis of their life while there are the others for whom material gain is all that matters or they are just happy to exist from one day to another. The world of the battles was the world of honour, respect and dignity - a world run by warriors. The world of today is run by businessmen and politicians, mostly spineless creatures.
Sometimes I wonder if today we really are better off than before. Taking for instance the case of India, values of the aryans - their patronage of knowledge, art, spirituality and valour are mostly forgotten. Mahabharata and Ramayan are nothing but odes to men who stood up for what they believed was their Dharma and took on overwhelming odds to come out victors as much due to their valour in the battlefield as to their deep belief in doing what was right. Unfortunately, these aspects of the epics have been forgotten and such human values as those enshrined in them are almost lost.
It is the world of back stabbing, self gain and exploitation now. If you just imagine that somehow we were to be returned to those times of the past where men had to stand up in battles for their families and clans you would not take long to realise that the breed of businessmen and politicians currently in power would be the first ones fleeing a battlefield because there would be little by way of their physical condition, bravery and inner uprightness that could keep them holding their ground.
Not too far back in history, considering that I started off with the battle of Thermopylae, 480 BC, right here in India we had Shivaji and his fearless warriors that we can look back to. In almost similar circumstances as the battle of Thermopylae, in the year 1660, Baji Prabhu Deshpande a brave sardar of the Marathas, held up a huge army sent by Adil Shah at the Pavan Khind pass to allow Shivaji to retreat to the Vishalgaad fort where he could regroup his men to set up an attack in return. Baji Prabhu Deshpande took on an army of 10,000 with 150 men. He fought with such bravery that it's now one of the greatest testaments to Maratha courage. He held off the whole army with his men and even with fatal injuries kept fighting, giving up his life only after he heard the canons at the Vishalgaad fort go off, signalling the successful escape of Shivaji.
For men of such constitution I don't think any corrupting influences exist. It's men like these and their values that we have lost. And probably, in the process much more that we can not comprehend.
My belief in warrior culture has just been re-enforced.
Baji Prabhu Deshpande
In fact I have always been a believer that there indeed are two kinds of people - those that uphold their principles and dignity above anything else and would literally make it as the basis of their life while there are the others for whom material gain is all that matters or they are just happy to exist from one day to another. The world of the battles was the world of honour, respect and dignity - a world run by warriors. The world of today is run by businessmen and politicians, mostly spineless creatures.
Sometimes I wonder if today we really are better off than before. Taking for instance the case of India, values of the aryans - their patronage of knowledge, art, spirituality and valour are mostly forgotten. Mahabharata and Ramayan are nothing but odes to men who stood up for what they believed was their Dharma and took on overwhelming odds to come out victors as much due to their valour in the battlefield as to their deep belief in doing what was right. Unfortunately, these aspects of the epics have been forgotten and such human values as those enshrined in them are almost lost.
It is the world of back stabbing, self gain and exploitation now. If you just imagine that somehow we were to be returned to those times of the past where men had to stand up in battles for their families and clans you would not take long to realise that the breed of businessmen and politicians currently in power would be the first ones fleeing a battlefield because there would be little by way of their physical condition, bravery and inner uprightness that could keep them holding their ground.
Not too far back in history, considering that I started off with the battle of Thermopylae, 480 BC, right here in India we had Shivaji and his fearless warriors that we can look back to. In almost similar circumstances as the battle of Thermopylae, in the year 1660, Baji Prabhu Deshpande a brave sardar of the Marathas, held up a huge army sent by Adil Shah at the Pavan Khind pass to allow Shivaji to retreat to the Vishalgaad fort where he could regroup his men to set up an attack in return. Baji Prabhu Deshpande took on an army of 10,000 with 150 men. He fought with such bravery that it's now one of the greatest testaments to Maratha courage. He held off the whole army with his men and even with fatal injuries kept fighting, giving up his life only after he heard the canons at the Vishalgaad fort go off, signalling the successful escape of Shivaji.
For men of such constitution I don't think any corrupting influences exist. It's men like these and their values that we have lost. And probably, in the process much more that we can not comprehend.
My belief in warrior culture has just been re-enforced.
Baji Prabhu Deshpande
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