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A Bugs life

Interestingly the Children film “A bugs life” completely inverts the original. The grasshoppers are shown to be the devilish ‘Mafia’ like, while the ants meek and innocent; The basic emotion aroused is to protect and save the ants from the Grasshoppers. It may not seem obvious at first but this new theme marks the neo-pro-active-christian-morality that runs under the hood of the modern neo-conservative American consciousness. But these are old wine in new bottles and some packed with atheist labels. One only has to translate the "Ethical egoism" of Ayn Rand or the latest avatar “Manliness” by Harvey C. Mansfield, with the moral lesson that the strong should protect the weak, Insha’Allah, It could also be written as 'The strong should rule the weak'. [...]

Latest Post

All about Earth, Insects, Ufo’s and Aliens

In the film “Starship Troopers”  Earth declares war on aliens, called Arachnids or "Bugs". In one scene small cute children are shown smashing bugs (cockroaches) as they belong to the same species as the Arachnids (as it is an all-out war and the very question of the species/race becomes the main defining factor) or may be the director is confused and wonders about their origin and as to from where they could have come in the first place (may be shaitan 'Satan' put them there). This is understandable as the west is predominantly defined by its religion which due to its inner law/dharma always ends up equating their own kind with Earth which become synonymous at some point (at the unconscious level of its lived reality) and thus everything else gets marked by alien and demonic evil and as the cockroaches are the front end in the Arachnids game plan to populate the universe with their own types, they are natural targets. All very very filmi […]

Featured Post

The Kite Runner

What's good about the film is the internationalization of our Bollywood archetypical film formulas: Two brothers (lost in Kumbh mela archetype) discovering their identity and topped over by an over the wall rescue from the sure jaws of death has always worked in our films; It is a happy feeling to know that the international audience is also enjoying what we have savored for all these years. And then the nauch of Basanti in Sholay where the villain Gabbar aka Aseef in this case makes Sohrab the son of Hassan dance to the infectious tunes of classical music to the point where the ghungroo breaks and shatters. [...]

A Thousand Splendid Suns

In several ways, the book dangerously misleads, and does so in its own seductive way. It charms you in as it slips through its liminal gap its US specific Neo-Imperial world picture. In doing so, it sets about to pass in the counterfeit by filling its page with such gross misrepresentations and all done on such grand and massive scale that one is left wondering at the actuating politikreal of the author; often one gets the feel that one is reading a new genre, the ‘new age’ American novel, like the ‘new age’ spirituality of Deepak Chopra, a chick-lit or rather a choc-lit verity of it; even eclipsing the sentimental high tide of ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’. [...]

Blog

• “Time”
  July 1, 2009 at 5:54 I pulled this one from my notebook to share my thought on 'time' 'I wrote this piece, when I was still in my college, so its some 20+ years old. So you should forgive me if it sounds a bit cliché.' #Go to the blog page
• Getting started with Character Animation in Blender
  June 18, 2009 at 8:17 Allright, I have mainly used Blender for stills but lately I have been struggling with Animation. One of the books that got me started was the excellently written "Introducing Character Animation” by Tony Mullen. This book remains by far the best introduction to blenders otherwise complex Character Modelling and Animation tool set. Sadly, the book is dated and Blender has meanwhile undergone many innovations ...but still it is by far the best intro/access into the other wise deep and complex world of Blenders Character Animation jungle. #Go to the blog page
• Is the Dalai Lama ‘NOW” a Dhimmi?
  January 19, 2009 at 2:09 So has the Grand Lama finally subscribed to the Sacred law of Dhimmi or as the News Mongers proclaim by misquoting him. Well If the Press and the journalist are to be believed, he is, but then, the press has long lost its trust and it is one thing that we have grown up with suspicion. It is not surprising, how often words have beem manipulated out of their context to produce the necessary ‘Newsspeak’ effect. Journalist are found of sensationalizing even the most trivial of things and when its about Dalil-speak it has to be even more grand and earth shaking. So on the surface most of the article sound like this: “Non-violence cannot tackle terrorism says Dalai Lama” and “The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile left the audience stunned when he said ‘I love President George W Bush.’” #Go to the blog page
• Three Production tools to supplement Blender on Ubuntu.
  December 9, 2008 at 3:10 I have often been asked what are the tools that one can use along Blender to supplement ones 3d animation production pipeline especially tools related to scriptwriting, project planning etc. Well I primarily use three such tools and they are the best (and a good add on to OpenOffice is you happen to use one) The first [...] #Go to the blog page
• The forgetting of Gandhi’s Challenge to the project of Modernity
  December 5, 2008 at 9:21 The forgetting of Gandhi’s Challenge to the project of Modernity Incomplete essay which exist only as fragments and quotes, notes all scattered on the page so please bear with me as I hope to complete it someday, also, I will use Vinay Bhals article to have a intimate look into the problem of Modernity). [...] #Go to the blog page
• Gandhi and the Jihad
  November 29, 2008 at 11:55 Gandhi and the Jihad (Hind Swaraj or Swaraj a Amrica -A political Essay on the essence of our times) I write essays these days, I have stopped writing poetry and stories, Its difficult to write one, to write something one needs to understand the essence of the times we live in. (I was never a [...] #Go to the blog page
• Birdy Num Num and the Problem of Hindu Muslim violence.
  November 29, 2008 at 6:08 I received this Email and I sympathize with its cause. But at the same time I do feel that such goody gestures don’t get us any where. usually its only the 0.005 percent of the whole population that actually think in such idealistic birdy nam nam fashion, the rest of the majority. The 99.05 percent [...] #Go to the blog page
• Compiling Ultra fast Blender 3D on Ubuntu
  August 27, 2008 at 10:06 Well, here are the necessary steps to compile an ultra fast Blender-3D binary on Ubuntu 810. #Go to the blog page
• The curious case of Ken Haywood
  August 19, 2008 at 12:09 If any one is interested about sources, I forgot to mention that all information was taken from: The curious case of Ken Haywood Whether this information is true or fabricated, I have no Idea, Infact we will never have any Idea except that maliciousness sells like hot cake. It says editor@expressindia.com which made me laugh. The Article is filed under the name of Sagnik Chowdhury, Smita Nair & Johnson T A Just in case you are curious as I was. #Go to the blog page
• Hindi Vindi
  July 27, 2008 at 10:15 ...you can see from this RajivMudgalam instant brew brand of poem below, I am having quite a difficulty with chandrabindus and matras. #Go to the blog page
• What is it about our first Poem
  July 25, 2008 at 8:50 Yesterday, my 10 years old daughter Anagha presented me with her first poem, and it instantly took me down the memory lane. #Go to the blog page
• About ghost and ghost stories.
  July 24, 2008 at 6:20 As an Indian I had grown up on a steady diet of Kathasaritasagara and translations of it in the children mag 'Chandamama" and other various Hindi dailies, These stories were written with a touch of that typical grandma breath and it is these that I had grown up with, and over time, had learned to associate what a good cool Ghost stories is. #Go to the blog page
• Gandhi, Einstein and the Atomic Bomb
  June 16, 2008 at 12:09 Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948. The following year, when Nehru visited the United States, he related his conversation with Gandhi to Albert Einstein. With a twinkle in his eyes, the great scientist to Nehru's astonishment took a pad and pencil and wrote down a number of dates on one side, and events on the other, to indicate the parallel evolution of the nuclear technology and Gandhi's non-violent technique of satyagraha respectively, almost from decade to decade since the beginning of the twentieth century. It turned out that, by a strange coincidence, while Einstein and his fellow scientists were engaged in research that made the fission of atom possible, Gandhi was embarking on his experiments in peaceful non-violent resistance in South Africa and India; indeed, the 'Quit India' struggle almost coincided with the American project for the making of the atomic bomb." [...] #Go to the blog page
• Sardar and the Bomb
  June 15, 2008 at 5:46 Sardar and the Bomb and the what and why of Atomic energy. What is the cheapest source of power, naturally Hydroelectricity. The costliest -Atomic power. Gas turbines was hailed by corporate America as the best alternative and in came Enron and other giants  (some are history already). What Indians don’t know is that Atomic power is [...] #Go to the blog page
• Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
  June 15, 2008 at 5:44 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins is an intriguing book by a man who once was supposed to be a real world jackal. Jackal’s are special duty agents whose job is to ferment internal conflict and create situations leading to covert/overt overthrow of government. According to this insider, the Corporatocracy (corporate America), is [...] #Go to the blog page
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