The days that we have seen...

Chimes at midnight / Falstaff (1965)

I am neither a student of Shakespeare nor one born in the circle of aristocrats but I have been informed that this is a compilation of Shakespeare's work taken bits and pieces here and there and altered slightly to give this Orson Welles' direction everlasting praise and awards. The fat comical character of Falstaff who appears in many of Shakespeare's plays is played by Orson Welles in this movie. He calls himself Sir John Faltroff but he seems to be just a petty thief who claims to be and to do more than he could.
Richard II dies (some say murdered by Duke Bollingbroke) and relatives of the heir, Mortimer, comes to claim the throne but is chased away by the Duke. The Duke proclaims himself as King Henry IV. There is much chaos in the land but his son, The Prince, is just too happy fooling around with his fat fraud friend  Falstaff and his friends of ill repute in a lodge.
After much deliberation, the Prince manages to fight the mutiny and take over the throne from his ailing father. He assumes the title King Henry V.
Upon hearing news of good friend's ascent to the throne, Falstaff visits the King who humiliates him and takes him to be someone from his bad dream and would like to life anew. He is imprisoned but is released  the following day. Disheartened, Falstaff dies shortly afterwards.
The story may not be much but the poetic English with word play and comedy which sounds melodiously music to their ears is the plus point of the film. Kudos should also go to the grueling war scene on horse backs.

N.B. I remember a time when RTM used to screen 'Merchant of Venice' and other classics just before the SPM (O-levels) examinations at the end of the year for the benefit of relevant students.

Listen, do you want to know a secret?

Tariq Ramadan, a liberal Islamist, once asked the Dalai Lama, "Why do you recite your chants at 4 o'clock in the morning?". The wise one replied, "It is for my self discipline!"
That, I think, my dear friend, lies the secret of mankind. The secret of all secrets is now out in the open. The rationale for people to do what they do as somewhat ritualistic, obsessive and compulsive like is actually to instill self discipline in one self. The purpose of prayer is not to request the Creator for wealth, health, happiness and protection for a pain free life and after life but rather to instill this human value so that he can think out rationally his next course of action so as to ensure he leads the path of least resistance. The quiet ambience in which one partakes his meditation and prayers must be the cornerstone for his to rationally think out his actions and act accordingly without rash.
The ritual of allocating one day in a week for spiritual work, faithfully doing seemingly repetitive actions several times a day, sitting in a literally in a spine and leg breaking postures are all for the sole purpose of self discipline.
"Self discipline for what?" you may ask....
Self discipline to do what you are suppose to do on earth - a butcher, baker or tin-can man. Whatever you may do to maintain that equilibrium on the big jigsaw puzzle that is a fragment of events of the butterfly effect of life.
But remember, too much of self discipline can also be self detrimental. As Buddha (before Enlightenment) was finding for the ultimate truth to relieve Man of the tortuous repetitive cycle of life, he discovered that meditation was the way to go. He dwelled into high level spiritual form of meditation where one can control autonomic nervous system of body where Hone can go into  a vegetative state without food and water for days. If not for a young girl who fed him forcibly, he would have been history without leaving a mark!

N.B. Did you know that the trace of Buddha had disappeared from face of India, no thanks to the attacking Hindu and Muslim kingdoms? It took archaeologists of the colonial masters from 1860 to 1890 to locate his birthplace as Lumbini and Kapilavastu where his father's Shakya kingdom palace used to be. They pinpointed it to be located in Nepal. 

Heading the path of destruction!

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)

At the height of the French revolution, 3 men dug the grave of Michel de Nostredame as legend had it that whoever drank from the skull of its occupant will able to predict the future. Upon opening the cast, they found the corpse holding a plaque with the number 1791 - that year they excavated the body! Nostradamus had predicted the year his body would be dug up. Unfortunately, the legend also said they would die - a stray bullet hit the digger!

From the time immemorial, human being have been thrilled by the idea of gazing into crystal ball and looking into future. And that is what Nostradamus is said to have done- looking into the flicker of light of a candle and foresaw events 400 years into the future. As this type of cryptic knowledge was taboo in his era, and he could be charged with liaison with witchcraft, he wrote his prophecies in anagrams, Latin and French.

This film is a documentary where Orson Welles' contribution is only being its host (narrator). In fact, Welles is said not to believe in the supernatural and cryptic! He is, however, known to take in whatever ventures when his finances are low.

Nostradamus was born in a learned family of Jewish and Christian background. His father, a physician, gave him all knowledge in sciences while his mother gave him religious teaching. His first realization of his prophecy came when as a young boy, at random, kissed the robe of a lowly friar. Asked on his intentions, he said it was an honour to kiss the robe of a person who would be Pope. Sure enough, he did become Pope, but after Nostradamus'death.

Nostradamus entered medical school and was a renowned physician who earned his reputation as a famous when plague epidemic set in.  

After marriage, he is said to be attending a dinner party. The hostess tried to trick him by asking which of the two pigs would be slaughtered that night- the black or white one. Nostradamus replied that it would be the black. The hostess secretly told the chef to slaughter the white pig for the night. At the dinner table, to embarrass Nostradamus, the hostess called in the chef to tell which pig was for dinner. The chef relied that he meant to cook the white pig but it was soiled by dogs, hence he had to slaughter the black one instead!

The plague epidemic attacked once again. This time he lost his wife and two daughters. He became an introvert and dwelled into the unknown.

His prophecies, known as quatrains, wrote about many things related to his native country France - The French Revolution and the French monarchs, He mentioned about the three anti-Christ characters whom the scholars believe it could be Napolean, Hitler (even his name is mentioned as Hisler) and a mad leader with a blue turban from Persia who would lead to world annihilation.

He hinted in his poetic ways on a leader named Franco who would lead a revolution in Spain. Pasteur's name is also mentioned as an inventor. His prophecy hints of an English King (King Edward) who abdicates his throne for love.

He even talks about a revolution in a country which was not even existent during his time 2000 miles away -America. Of course, his New Cities is assumed to be referring to USA. He later tells about Abraham Lincoln's rise to fame and assassination by enemies. It is claimed that that Kennedy's assassination is explained in the quatrains. They claim that Lee Oswald is the fall guy and real shooter was in some bushes nearby. He even mentions of a psychic forewarning of the shooting! The prophecy predicted that the brother would reach JFK's status (soon both they would be equal in government). As Robert Kennedy had been assassinated by the time of production of this film (1981), they assumed that it would be Ted Kennedy for 1984. Obviously, it did not happen.

Nostradamus predicted flights, lunar travel and space exploration. He suggested iron fish (submarine) that could start a war and future man's obsession with fine tuning the art of destruction of war. The atom was outlined to end a war.
During World War II, many parties used Nostradamus prophecies for their own propaganda benefits - England, Germany and the US.
The fall of the Shah of Iran by a man from France was scripted - Ayatollah Khomenei was stationed in France before the 1978.
The documentary ends here with the message to learn from the past.

Well, what do you know, in the 21st century, we are still saying that the Twin Tower Incident is indeed mentioned in the prophecies. The problem with all prophecies and things like Vashtu Shastra and Feng Shui are, to me, sciences of retrospect. Only after a mishap do the masters come forward with advice of malady occurring because of non-conformity to their sciences. In hindsight, everybody is of course Albert Einstein. Guess, we never learned or maybe we cannot change what is destined to happen.

Unexplained!

20 Worlds greatest unresolved mysteries ever
None of them is not explained yet, here are some fact about each of them…(from doctorweird.com)

1. The mighty Incan Empire of South America

 The mighty Incan Empire of South America flourished between 1200 and 1535 AD. They developed drainage systems and canals to expand their crops, and built stone cities atop steep mountains — such as Machu Picchu (right) — without ever inventing the wheel. Despite their vast achievements, the Incan Empire with its 40,000 manned army was no match for 180 Spanish conquistadors armed with advanced weapons and smallpox.

2. Ancient Pyramids in Giza , Egypt

Khafre (l.) and Khufu (r.) are two of the three ancient Pyramids in Giza, Egypt . Khufu is the biggest, consisting of more than 2 million stones with some weighing 9 tons. The Pyramids, built as elaborate tombs for divine kings, date back to 2,550 BC. Modern Egyptologists believe that the Pyramids are made from stones dragged from quarries and, despite ancient Greek testimony, were built predominantly by skilled craftsmen rather than slave labor.

 3. The Mayan Temple

According to the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, made famous by the ancient Mayan people, December 2012 marks the ending of the current baktun cycle. This little bit of information has many archeologists spooked. Some believe the Mayans were warning of a coming apocalypse, while others insist it’s simply a mathematical misconception.

4. The Legend of El Dorado

 The Legend of El Dorado originates from the Muisca, who lived in the modern country of Colombia from 1000 to 1538 AD. In a ritual ceremony for their goddess, the tribal chief would cover himself in gold dust and jump into a lake as an offering. This spawned the legend of a lost golden city, which led Spanish conquistadors on a wild goose chase to nowhere.

5. Easter Island 

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is remotely located 2,000 miles off the coast of Tahiti . The original settlers of the island were Polynesians who migrated to the far-off land between 400 and 600 BC. They built many shrines and statues, called moai, from stones quarried throughout the island including a volcano site. Researchers still question exactly how the large stones were moved.

6. The Bermuda Triangle

 The Bermuda Triangle — located in the Atlantic between Bermuda , Florida and Puerto Rico — is a thief, stealing planes and boats right out of existence. The area got its name after Sgt. Howell Thompson (l.), along with 27 Navy airmen, vanished from the devilish spot during a routine flight in 1945. Rumors persist on a supernatural explanation, but many specialists blame hurricanes, a heavy Gulf Stream and human error.

7. The Nazca Lines

 The Nazca Lines cover more than 190 square miles in the southern deserts of Peru . The mysterious shapes etched into the land rival football fields and predate the Incan Empire. The ‘Las Manos’ figure (above) is 2,000 years old. Little is know about why the Nazca people constructed such vast pieces of sand art, some believe they are extraterrestrial in nature, while others claim they may have carried and pointed to sources of water.

8. Aliens  

Area 51, located on Groom Lake in southern Nevada (c.), was founded in 1955 by the U.S. Air Force to develop and test new aircrafts – such as the U-2 Spy Plane, A-12 Blackbird and F-117 Stealth Fighter. The secretive nature of the military base, combined with its classified aircraft research, helped conspiracy theorists imagine an installation filled with time-travel experimentation, UFO coverups and alien autopsies.

9. Sphinx of Giza , Egypt

Another Egyptian wonder, the Sphinx of Giza has the body of a lion and the head of a Pharaoh, believed by most to be that of king Khafre. It was carved from soft limestone, and has been slowly falling apart over the years. A popular theory of the missing nose claims Napoleon’s soldiers shot it off with a cannon in 1798, but early sketches discovered of the Sphinx without a nose predate Napoleon’s rampage.

10. The Loch Ness Monster

 According to Scottish folklore, a mystical creature called a water horse lures small children to a watery grave by tricking them to ride on its sticky back. The Loch Ness Monster became an English wonder in 1933, after witness accounts made newspaper headlines. No hard evidence of the creature has ever been recorded with several pictures, including the one above, being proven as hoaxes.

 11. The Fountain of Youth

Don Juan Ponce de Leon completed Spain’s claim on America in 1509, and soon after was made governor of Puerto Rico . Six years later, following Indian rumors, he traveled north to the island of Bimini in search of the Fountain of Youth. Bimini turned out to be the peninsula of Florida, and the fountain remained hidden until July 2006, when famed magician David Copperfield claimed the waters on his $50 million Exumas Island (c.) had healing properties.

12. Chupacabra

 Phylis Canion holds the head of what she is calling a Chupacabra at her home in Cuero, Tex. The strange-looking animal, first reported in Puerto Rico in 1995, apparently has a taste for chicken and goat blood. Although many pictures like the above might prove its existence, biologists assure none such creature exists.

13. The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant is described in the Bible as a wooden casket, gold plated, made for carrying the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The casket was carried throughout the desert and remained in the Israelite Temple until its destruction by the hand of the Babylonian Empire. Its whereabouts are still unknown, but Hollywood made its own version for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark. ’

14. The Stonehenge

 The Stonehenge landscape of Salisbury Plain , England , has become a tourist hotspot. But before foreigners with windbreakers and cameras showed up, the area may have been a burial ground and ceremonial den dating back 5,000 years.

15. The Iron Pillar of Delhi

 The Iron Pillar of Delhi is a 1,600-year-old, 22 feet high pillar located in the Qutb complex in India . The pillar, made from 98% wrought iron, has been astounding scientists by its ability to resist corrosion after all these years.

16. Stone Spheres in Costa Rica

Discovered in the early 1940s in Costa Rica during excavations by the United Fruit Company, these perfectly formed stone spheres date from 600 AD to the 16th century. Their makers and purpose still unconfirmed, many believe them to be some religious effigy made to worship the sun.

17. Mothman

A humanoid with insect wings and crimson eyes, known as the Mothman, terrorized Point Pleasant , W.Va. , during the late 1960s. No solid evidence exists of the creature, except for a handful of witness reports documented in paranormal-journalist John A Keel’s ‘Mothman Prophecies’.

18. Jersey Devil

According to legend, 250 years ago a Jersey woman by the name of Mrs. Leeds cried out in despair during her 13th pregnancy, ‘Let it be the Devil!’ After childbirth, the baby was revealed to be a kangaroo-like creature with wings, and flew away to cause all sorts of Jersey Devil mischief. Today the Jersey Devil can be seen getting fans riled up during local hockey games.

19. The Tunguska Explosion of Russia

The Tunguska Explosion in Russia occurred around 7:14 a.m. on June 30, 1908. To this date, the exact cause of the explosion – which leveled 80 million trees over 830 square miles – remains a heated debate. Most believe it to be caused by a meteoroid fragment, others insist either a black hole or UFO origin.

20. The Lost City of Atlantis

 The Lost City of Atlantis was introduced to the West 2,400 years ago by Plato, who claimed it to be the island home of an advanced society. Legend says it was sunk by an earthquake, with later interpretations as an underwater kingdom protected by mermaids. Its whereabouts still a mystery, recent underwater evidence suggests it was once apart of a larger landmass in Cyprus off the Mediterranean but the only true Atlantis exists in the Bahamas as a grand casino and resort hotel.

Washing dirty linen in public?

Just the day, whilst on the treadmill, to beat boredom, I was just gazing the programme on the telly. They were showing a talk show called 'Jeremy Kyle Show'.

Jeremy Kyle Show

It is a trashy tabloid like a talk show, of the dysfunctional working class and usually fat people being paid to talk about their intimate problems in the open demanding something like a street justice from the audience who are just there because they probably have no job. The host of the show is, of course, Jeremy Kyle as the title suggests, an ex-insurance salesman, who tries to give his more than 2cents (maybe penny as it is a British show) to his guests, accompanied by the applause of the audience which sounds like a drum roll before a punch dialogue. (tarararara.....dish!!!)....Like in 'How I met your mother' when Barney says it, "Legend........wait for it........dary!"
It is produced along the same line of 'Jerry Springer Show' in the US.

The same theme of thriving in displaying thrashy problematic families with problems of infidelity, violence, drugs, sex and low self-esteem and trying to offer instant justice and solution.
But hey wait! Aren't most teenagers these days in the Facebook era doing the same thing? First, they will proudly exhibit their relationship as being in a relationship. They will publicly display their affection by telling their feelings and pictures. Felicitations will pour in from 4 corners of the world, of how they are lucky and a pair made in heaven blah, blah... After some time, interest will start to wane, the status will be changed to 'it is complicated'.

Just as fast, queries will pour in from concerned netizens and FB'ers. Both parties will try to tell their side of the story and try to obtain cyber sympathy and cyber justice. Now, how different is this from the shows above?

Maybe I am just too conscious about my privacy and try to keep my problems to myself. Perhaps also, I do not like to portray myself as weak and defeatist. Anyway, this world and its people have their own plethora of problems too, so why bother?

La vita è bella

Life is beautiful  (Italian) 1997
Yet another award winning international movie to assess. Italians, like Indians, appear to like to talk a lot. The length of conversation seem too long compared to the brevity of the subtitles, anyway. And the dexterity of their hand movement tries very hard to keep up with the speed of their speech.

This film is another one of the movies that tries to reminisce that Holocaust and gained sympathy all the way to the Oscar (4 awards and 4 nominations) and Cannes (best movie).
Roberto Benigni acted (won Oscar) and directed this flick. He made it an all family affair by casting his wife as the heroine.
It is a simple story which can be divided into two halves. In the first half, set in a pre-World War 2 Italy, Guido, a Jewish, is shown to be a joker by nature, waiter at a restaurant, tries to set up a bookstore and falls hopelessly in love with a non-Jewish school teacher, Dora. Even though the family arranges for Dora to marry a civil servant, Guido managed to literally sweep her of her feet during her engagement party!
Then comes the second half of the film. It is war time, the couple have a 4 year old boy and Jews are prosecuted. Guido, his son, Giosue and many others are transported by train to a concentration camp. Dora, in spite of being non-Jewish, volunteers to board the train.
Father and son build a bond here in the concentration camp while Dora is imprisoned in the  ladies' quarters.
Guido, through his natural talent in making a seemingly hopeless situation simple, keep entertaining his son and keeping his spirits up. He kept telling him that they were all engaged in a game and they were all players in all. The first prize winner would receive a real life tank! In spite of all the hardship, he told him that he was the current leader in the game. Guido, also appeared happy to his son in spite of the misery he was going through. Towards the end of the film, Guido was being marched off to be persecuted. Knowing that his son would be watching him, Guido actually walks in a comical way when the soldier was walking behind him with a rifle! Son still thinks it is all but a game. Just as we hear the shot that killed Guido, the war also ends. An Allied tank slides in to camp. Giosue is happy as he thinks that he is indeed the winner of the game!
He gets a ride on the machine and mother and son is soon reunited....

One of the pioneers of film noir

Double Indemnity (1944)
Nominated for 7 Oscars in 1945 but a winner of none, this pioneer film noir, directed by Bill Wilder won many praises from many revered directors like Alfred Hitchcock. It also raised many eyebrows for its conniving topic.

Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray, one of the highest grossing actor then), an insurance agent stops at a customer's house (Mr Dietrichson) to remind him about his lapsed policy. The client's drop-dead gorgeous wife, Phyllis, (Barbara Stanwyck, the highest earning lady in America at that time) shows up, and our hero falls foolishly all over her. One thing leads to other, and our femme fatale tells him all about her sob story and miserable life as a second wife to her husband and his daughter from his first wife. The couple duped the husband to sign a life assurance policy without his knowledge with plans to kill off the husband and claim the money. The clause in the contract stated that the claim is doubled if the death is accidental - hence the title!

A train trip was planned, and the murder was done, and the body was left by the track. They thought they had committed the perfect crime, but Walter's boss (Barton Keys, Edward Robinson) from the Claims Department smells a rat.
Along the way, we discover that Phyllis may have a hand in the death of the first Mrs Dietrichman and may have an illicit affair with her daughter's boyfriend. Walter now realises that he has been taken for a royal ride. Walter kills Phyllis and confesses to murder on Keys' Dictaphone (pre-tape recorder device). The film actually starts here, through a series of flashbacks and voice-overs in a sombre tone, which film noir is famous for.

Dictaphonic confession

The review was mixed at its release. Some viewed the whole idea of manipulation and killing for money distasteful whilst other hailed it as an excellent thriller. Some even said that if only the main actors were more appealing, it would have done much better (apparently referring Phyllis' lousy wig!). The seven Oscar nominations including for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director.

A darn good movie, worth the watch.