Musings of an Idiot

Samurai and Journalism

Finished reading Frank Miller’s Ronin and it was an alright book – interesting concept mixing samurai with modern technology in an increasingly mutating world. The story has solid resemblances to I,Robot – the movie which was based on Isaac Asimov’s book of the same name. So don’t know who had influence on whom: Asimov over Miller or Miller over Hollywood studios. Ronin never touches the heights and depths of ‘Dark Knight Returns’ but one can definitely see the courage and willingness of Frank Miller to break norms and explore complex story telling structures. The thing I did not like about Ronin was the artwork – personal preferences but I would have preferred it to be more visible instead of the blurring lines and colors. I am now back to reading ‘V for Vendetta’ which is really astonishing on what it has achieved in main stream comics. Apparently the movie script sucks and Alan Moore has asked to be disassociated with the movie completely – just like he did with ‘League of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen’.. to read more about what’s going wrong with the movie script you can click HERE {I did not read the complete article as I did not want to spoil my book reading}.

Watched ‘Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s war on journalism’ yesterday evening and it was again a revealing look at how this is indeed a time of cultural demolition as well as unipolarity of world politics – it is a different kind of war. The documentary is shocking and will shake out even the most cynical people out of their illusion about fairness of corporate induced journalism. Have to say that the capitalist society is controlling the way the world is progressing but I can sense a decay of the capitalist environment and it is morphing into something more dangerous and lethal. Something, which is permeating our very lives without us even realizing it and when it hits us all it will be too late and most people will accept whatever is imposed without even questioning it {at least the majority of us will, as usual}. I think human beings, by nature, thrive on chaos and follow the herd mentality because it allows them to feel secure in their own pigeon-holed view of the world. Taking a risk is a huge ask and it means breaking away from following a norm and that frightens most people because we do seek peer and societal approval. But how will we save our own world when we are looking too inwards and leave the running of the world to just a group of people – conceited or otherwise? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To think that our individual actions can not have any impact on the way society looks at things is a self-depreciating hole we have made for ourselves. Everything counts and I hope we will someday {sooner than later} realize that we as individuals have a place in the world and can affect it.

I think my little finger is definitely broken and I have been trying not to put any stress on it. The only thing I can do in the gym right now is either do cross-training or running – no weights or exercises till the finger heals. I hope that it heals itself enough for the semi-finals. Yes…our team did get into the semi-finals of the netball tournament. I was talking to Lance yesterday and he told me the news that because we won our last game we edged out the fourth team for a semi-final spot on a point difference. Yeah…… it is exciting – from the bottom of the table sometime back to a spot in the semi-finals. The semis are not till the next weekend, so it gives ample time for the finger to heal. I think it is fantastic that we got through and I am pretty sure that the whole team will be thrilled by the news and can’t wait to go into the semi-finals.

School is going on as hectic as usual. This week and the next week are weeks from hell and if the post production team doesn’t stay on top of things, things can come crashing down and I must say that the team is performing really well and things are going smoothly. The Queen’s birthday weekend is coming up which means a three day weekend – will give an extra day off to catch breath before another busy week starts. Sorting out stuff for term-3 in terms of specialist lectures and also making sure that the learning curve keeps on track for everyone. Next Saturday we also have the laser tag competition between camera operators and editors – can’t wait to see how that one shapes up.

Lance and me will be submitting ‘Memories’ to another five to six international festivals and then keep fingers crossed that it gets in. I think we might make it into the Microcinema festival because it is a movie made on a micro budget and also because it got a good review from microcinemascene.com. On a completely opposite note – I might get myself a bicycle to commute to work and back {which is only 4-5 KM’s one way}as I need to get my learner’s driving license – which will make ineligible to drive without a supervisor in the car {a bit of a bummer but I do need to get my NZ driving license sorted out}. So let’s see how that shapes up as it will not only get me into a better physical condition but will also mean that I will be on track to get my restricted license in 6 months time.

Anyway – I think I will take leave for now. Hope you have a great weekend.
Cheers,
Amit

posted by Amit @ 8:55 PM