Jet Li's Fearless

I won’t say much about this film. It is just another fun-to-watch-Jet Li-kicks-butt movie. It is quite pleasing watching this rather small, soft-spoken, apparently gentle man moving like lightning and beating up all kinds of big tough guys.

Jet Li plays a real life master Huo Yuanjia (1868-1910), founder of the Jingwu Sports Federation, and someone who helped restore national pride to the Chinese during a time of foreign occupation. Chinese nationalism is quite strong in this movie.

The martial arts are much more realistic than in films like Hero or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. There’s much less flying around and other superhuman feats. However, the action isn’t entirely realistic, and there are still a few wire sequences.

Nobody moves like Jet Li. He is lightening fast yet precise. Powerful yet graceful. Super intense yet relaxed. Even someone like me who doesn’t know much about martial arts can see there’s some great skill here. He makes fight scenes from The Matrix and the Steven Seagal movies look pathetic. He is also more flowing and less mechanical than Jackie Chan (in my humble opinion).

There’s a message in this movie which is something like “The truly great are not those who can kick ass, but those who can show compassion and restraint.” I guess that’s a pretty good message, but won't satisfy someone who's looking for deep Eastern mystical or Buddhist stuff. But then again, the film doesn't claim to contain that anyway.

This movie will appeal to Jet Li fans, martial arts fans; action movie fans, and people interested in Chinese history and traditions.

http://www.fearlessthemovie.com/

Pan's Labrynth

Watching the trailer for Pan’s Labyrinth provides a glimpse of the imagery of the film, but it does not adequately convey the impact. I recommend seeing this film without any particular expectations. Take it in, enjoy, digest, and then respond.

The scene is a military camp set up in an old mill surrounded by a rebel army in a wooded area somewhere in Spain in the 1940’s. The protagonist is Ofelia, a young girl—oh, about 10 or 11 years old—whose mother is pregnant with the child of a sadistic, hard-hearted captain in Franco’s army. Nearby is the labyrinth which appears as an ancient stone structure overgrown with vegetation. It is within this labyrinth that Ofelia, who with the help of various fairies and a satyr, begins her fantastic journey as a reincarnated princess from an underworld kingdom. Her quest is to fulfill three tasks which upon their completion will enable her to return to immortality and a life without pain or sorrow.

Like Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, this film is about escaping into a realm of fantasy during very harsh and cruel times. The movie is allegorical in that it represents our use of dreams and fantasy to escape the harsh realities of this world.

This movie also makes a very strong comment about blind obedience. The soldiers blindly follow orders; the fascists try to define right and wrong as the willingness to obey or not. Without giving too much away, I will risk saying the Ofelia herself is put to a test to see whether she blindly obeys or listens to her innate sense of right and wrong.

It is also a movie that extols courage. Under the nose of “El Cap-i-tan” his doctor and one of his servants secretly aid the rebels at great risk to themselves. They both prove their bravery to the end (which I won’t reveal). Their courage is paralleled by Ofelia’s in her quest to accomplish the tasks assigned to her. Though her obstacles are merely child’s fantasies, they are quite scary. As she says to a rather gargantuous and potentially child-eating frog, “I’m not afraid of you!”

For me, the movie was well put together. Whatever combination of directing, set design, acting, post-production, and whatever it takes to make a film work, it worked well for me. After about 10 minutes into the film, I even forgot that I was watching Spanish-speaking actors and reading English subtitles. The film had a unique style which was interesting and different.

Like some other new-genre movies such as The Forgotten and Children of Men, special effects are used sparingly and effectively. It is not about “look at the cool things we can do with computers,” but rather about special effects that contribute to the overall look and story line.

Also, the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard since the soundtrack for The Mission. You can hear various tracks on the official web site http://www.panslabyrinth.com. Find the link Interact, and then the link Soundtrack.

I will not call this an “art film,” but it is in my opinion a work of art.

Maharaji in Dallas

Last weekend I saw Maharaji in Dallas. It is really special for me when I get to listen to Maharaji. This is not some kind of psychological thing. This is not a placebo. This is not a "faith" experience. This is rather an exploration into understanding. A certain understanding. The understanding of the preciousness of this time I have. Precious because there is so much experience to be had.

Maharaji spoke in a ballroom in the Hyatt Regency hotel near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. I saw him briefly in a hallway on his way to the event. He even looked at me for a moment before he stepped into the elevator. It was a really good feeling.

I don't want to give birth to any concepts about Maharaji. I don't want to try to create some kind of mystical hype or spiritual testimonials. This is not about anything mystical or spiritual.

However, Maharaji is very special. I find that I can be influenced by the presence of others. When I’m around lively people, I can become more lively. When I'm around angry people, I can become angrier. The same for jovial, depressed, cynical, optimistic, and so on. When I'm around Maharaji, I become more conscious.

There are many things to be conscious of. What Maharaji helps me to become conscious of is myself... what exists within me. Something that I can't put into words, but feels really good.

That's not a very good sales pitch, but that's OK because there's nothing for sale here. I'm also not doing a very good job preaching because there's nothing to preach. Plain and simple: life can be fun. Really fun. Every day.

Emptiness, mediocrity, and a mundane existence are no longer necessary. The joy and wonder of a child... a childlike heart... are possible... even for an old grouch like me. This is wonderful.

I hope I get to listen to Maharaji in person again soon. Until then, there's the CD's and DVD's. ;-)
http://wordsofpeace.org

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Serenity

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Obama for President?

(I had posted the following commentary on January 16, 2007, well before the primaries and Obama's fast rise in popularity.)

I saw Barack Obama and his wife on TV recently. Here are my personal observations.

First of all, he is likeable and charismatic. He speaks well, and he responds well to questions although some of his answers seem rehearsed. He is a skilled politician. He is an expert user of rhetoric. Of course, these are not the right reasons to vote for someone, but it is not a terrible thing that the candidate knows how to walk the walk and talk the talk of politics. The point is he could win.

But will he really be a good president? What would his positions be as opposed to his rhetoric? Will he be able to take on this awful state of the union that he would be inheriting? How will he address important issues like Iraq, corrupt war pofiteering, our carbon fuel dependency, and the many other issues?

I have learned in my lifetime not to put too much faith in politicians. There is no political "savior" that will make it all better. These guys are only human. They have personal ambitions. They have egos. Politicians have to be players and manipulators—it goes with the territory. Sadly, integrity and conscience can be big liabilities for politicians.

That all being said, I think it's possible to get reasonably intelligent people with basic conscience into decision making positions. I think that Senator Obama is one of those people.

Then there's the Hillary question. She's popular enough to win the Democratic primary. But, as many pundits have already pointed out, she may have a polarizing effect since she is so hated by those to the right. (I usually hate to repeat what the pundits say, but in this case I believe there's something to it.) It would be a drag on the country to have to deal with more constant, vicious attacks like the ones that were made on on the other Clinton.

Hillary Clinton's biggest liability is that she initially supported the war in Iraq. That's enough to discourage the very large anti-war constituency from even going to the polls. (That could go both ways, but it seems the anti-war numbers are growing.) Obama, on the other hand, has always opposed the war in Iraq. No waffling.

I know I haven't said anything really original here, but that's not the point. Some things are just obvious, and I think Obama is the obvious choice for president in 2008. And I hope he kicks McCain's butt!

http://www.barackobama.com

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Tax on Water

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is asking the government of Zambia to put a tax on water. Really! They're also asking them to put a tax on food in a country where 80% of the people live in abject poverty (source https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook). Oh yes, and they also want to tax agricultural supplies like seeds and fertilizer which are required by the very large population of low income subsidence farmers.

Zambian leaders are quick to jump and dance for the IMF to continue to receive large amounts of donor aid. Because of the IMF's demands, children in Zambia have to pay to go to school. The majority of Zambian children are not in school, mostly because they can't afford it. Even in the richest developed countries, elementary and secondary education is free. Also, very low income people in Zambia who do not even make enough to feed their families are required to pay income tax, again, because of IMF demands on the Zambian government.

Many people think that organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank are benevolent organizations that are helping the poor in developing countries. I think that assumption needs to be seriously questioned, and these organizations need to be monitored more closely. If my perceptions are correct, these organizations could be some of the biggest contributors to human suffering on the planet, and if that's true they need to be stopped.

I lived in Zambia in 1993. By that time, the Zambian government had already received billions of dollars from the IMF and the World Bank. Yet there was no visible sign of this money being invested in the infrastructure. The roads were unbelievably dilapidated. The hospitals were disgusting deathtraps. The schools were filthy shacks where the children sat on dirt floors and didn't have books.

School House, Petauke, Zambia, 2007

However, ruling party members and their families lived in luxurious mansions (even by our standards), and mostly drove around in new S-600's. Their kids studied in Europe, and God only knows what other assets they owned. What's interesting is that there were no other visible sources of income for most of these ruling party types, but there was definitely someone draining the donor aid. That was 1993. Zambians that I know inform me that the situation has gotten even much worse.

These absurd demands of the IMF on donor recipients make me question their motives. Are they really trying to help the poor, or is there something else going on? I suppose that it's little more than conspiracy theory to suggest that IMF is concerned with the interests of Western big business and investment opportunities in Africa and elsewhere. Nevertheless, the sheer probability of these things happening warrants serious investigation.

At the very least, we should be concerned about the vast human suffering which may be caused by IMF economic policies in Zambia and other developing countries. We should stop naively assuming that the IMF is doing everything right. We should take a good look at their policies and motives.

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The Entertainers

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Database Developers Gone Bad

Some database developers, like many others in technical and engineering professions, like to do acrobatics. They like to show what they're capable of, and they want to impress. They frequently forgo simplicity and elegance to develop unnecessarily complicated systems that they think will make them look good.

To further complicate matters, many database developers are unqualified to begin with. The demand for database systems is out of control, and database development has become the career choice for many that are just plain unqualified. They're like surgeons who learn their trade in 3-day seminars. Worse, they’re like actors pretending to be surgeons. They give Golden Globe performances when interviewed by non-technical decision makers, they frequently attend meetings with VP-types, they are masters of the white board, and they often get big bonuses, promotions, and in the case of consultants, extended contracts. The only missing detail is that they don’t have a clue as to how to build a freaking production-quality database system.

Sadly, the users of these systems welcome them with enthusiastic masochism. They think they are are learning "technical" skills by working with cryptic naming conventions and wasting most of their time trying to sort out ridiculous data models. These users blame themselves for providing inconsistent and invalid query results to their clients. And then they beg for more.

This disease goes further up the food chain. Management "geniuses" (in quotes) think that they have something of great value if it takes a huge budget to develop it, a huge staff to maintain it, and nobody knows how the whole thing works. If by chance a competent developer should come along and build a simple, straightforward database system that costs less, is developed quickly, works transparently, and is easy to use, management think they are not getting their money's worth.

As if it wasn't enough that all this unnecessary complexity is embraced, but technical requirements that are actually necessary are frequently rejected. We are asked to justify requests for resources that are needed including time to write the damn code, while all the waste and spaghetti goes unquestioned. So weird!

The situation is far worse than any Dilbert cartoon. I have personally seen millions wasted developing absurdly convoluted and unsound systems when sensible and useful systems could have been developed at a fraction of the cost. The resulting database systems are unreliable, resource intensive, costly to maintain, and produce inconsistent results.

I haven’t read Superman comics since I was a kid, but Superman used to sometimes go to a planet called The Bizarro World. Everything on this planet was… well, bizarre. Things were the opposite of what one would expect. The planet was square instead of round. Tax collectors went around giving money to people instead of collecting it from them. People ate dinner in the morning and breakfast in the evening. Things were basically ass-backwards.

Now, as a mature adult, I have come to realize that I live on The Bizarro World. I guess I better wake up. Or is it fall asleep?

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Sailing on the Charles

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Maharaji

There's a lot of stuff about Maharaji out there on the Internet. I suppose that people have the right to express their point of view, but frankly I think that some of the people making these comments are very misinformed. That being said, I'd like to express my own experience of Maharaji and what he teaches.

In addition to giving very clear explanations about the preciousness of this life, Maharaji has shown me techniques (he calls "the Knowledge") for going within to experience the source of life within. That may sound conceptual, but practicing this Knowledge brings me a real experience. An inner experience. Not thoughts. Not beliefs. Not concepts. An experience.

Furthermore, when I try to focus on that experience and grow in that experience, it gives me an incredibly good feeling. For lack of better words, I call it "contentment" or "peace. "

For me inspirational talk is not enough. I need something real. This inner experience is as real as could possibly be. I love this experience and the way it makes me feel. I hope to enjoy this for the rest of my life.

We can all talk and talk and talk, but only those who have that inner experience for themselves can understand what Maharaji is really teaching. Don't have a second-hand, third-hand or fourth-hand opinion. Get your own experience and decide for yourself.

http://www.wordsofpeace.org

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Children of Men

First of all, this movie should be seen at the very least for the amazing cinematography. See it on as big a screen as you can, and sit close to the screen. The scenes are not pretty--it's a grim, dirty and decrepid vision of the future. But the amazing camera work and excellent action sequences keep you spellbound. (Go to the restroom before the movie starts!)

Although this is a fast-paced action movie, it is also very thematic and full of political and social commentary. I doubt that any two viewers will be affected in the same way, but this movie will definitely stir up some conversation. Reviewers and bloggers are all over the map about this film's content and meaning.

One obvious theme is the symbiosis between repressive, fascist governments and ruthless terrorists posing as freedom fighters. As in most real wars, there are really no good guys except for maybe Theo (Clive Owen) who is a sort of anti-hero to start with.

An interesting paradox in the film is that there is an utter disregard for human life while at the same time there is a recognition of its ultimate preciousness. Both the government and terrorists exterminate human beings like insects, yet they all yield in awe to Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) and her baby representing the prospect for new life.

Although this is a futuristic, dystopic, cacotopian, Orwellian, anti-utopian, (and all that) sci-fi movie, it is excruciatingly realistic and believable. The characters could be people you see every day in real life. In fact, this is the first movie in which I see Michael Caine as the character he plays and not the actor. (He plays an old hippie pothead.) Adding to the realism are very believable wardrobe, sets, and special camera shots that simulate the movement of your head and eyes to follow the action rather than typical Hollywood-style cutting between scenes.

As grim and disturbing as this film is, it somehow does not depress. There is something noble about the characters' determination to continue through apparantly hopeless situations. Theo and Kee never seem to loose confidence in their ability to find a safe place for Kee's baby throughout what appears to be impossible antagonisms including terrorists hunting them down, SS-like soldiers, and extremely fierce battle scenes. That may sound like a typical James Bond movie, but it is done differently here. The situations are more realistic, and their quest is more about necessity than heroism and adrenalin rushes.

This movie is different. There is nothing to compare it to. You have to see it. You may not like it, but your senses will be stimulated and your intellect will be provoked.

http://www.childrenofmen.net/

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Rhino

Gorgeous animal!

Click on image to see full size.

First Day of 2007

First day of 2007
Means absolutely nothing
A circle has no beginning or end
The earth goes around the sun
We have arbitrarily picked a day
We call "the beginning"
Same old sorry-ass thing in Times Square
There's 6 billion people NOT in Times Square
There's a billion that don't have food
And don't give a flying you-know-what
About the so-called party
In Times Sqaure
Think of it rather
As another day of life
Another chance
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Another year passses by
Another child asks us why
Another flower will die
And so the year passes by

Another day will begin
Another vote will come in
Another bullet will fly
And so the day will pass by

The years march by in front of you
But do you care if the sky is still blue
Or only care if your private dreams come true?

And so the year has begun
Here we go 'round the sun
Maybe this time we'll know why
Another year passes by

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