The Prestidigitator

A brilliantly directed short film. Of course, I could use without the Catholic overtones, but it’s still a very interesting morality tale.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QrKnhOJ-R80]

Apparently, this is part of a project created by Lucas Crandles and Hayden James Weston, two Australians who make short films and one day hope to direct a feature film.

http://www.darkheartproductions.com/

Time, time, time, see whats become of me
While I looked around
For my possibilities
I was so hard to please
But look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter 

                                  -Simon & Garfunkel

After years (!) of careful thinking and research (and mind numbing monotony), the list of probable candidates for  the honor of being The Prestidigitator’s Idea of the Perfect Woman has come down to three beautiful and not to mention intelligent individuals…er…women.

1. Cate Blanchett:  She blew my mind away with her performances in Elizabeth and even films like The Life Aquatic but what clinched it was an interview of hers I saw last week on Aussie TV. Not only does she seem to be intelligent and well read but  also showed a great deal of depth whilst deliberating on topics ranging from death to philosophy. Most other actresses are (face it) vain and um…not that intellectually stimulating but Cate Blanchett comes across as the very antithesis.

2. Natalie Portman: Well…no surprise here. She has that unique characteristic what many (not me) would call ‘twinkle in the eye‘. She has a certain sense of intelligence and ‘bubbliness’ that you would be hard pressed to find in actresses of her generation. To boot, she also has a degree in psychology from Harvard (proving she is as smart as she looks) and she actually submitted a paper titled “Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence“! Beat that!

3. Marge Simpson: Proving that the perfect woman need not be three dimensional, Marge Simpson is the everyday woman with a tinge of attitude. Yes, she is patient, a great painter, has high morals etc.. But she also has that unpredictability that you just wouldn’t find in any other woman in suburbia. And…she has blue hair.

Congratulations, Ladies! 

I recently found out that there’s a cinema in Melbourne (Cinema Nova) that plays offbeat films; so I decided to catch the french flick Paris, je t’aime which I’d been dying to see ever since I heard about it. Also, the lovely Ms Portman has a part in it.

Now, friends and family will vouch the fact that I’m terrible at directions. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I find it extremely challenging to read a map. I printed a map off the net and set out (on foot) to find 380, Lygon St. I walked for over an hour to find the place only to realise I’d walked in exactly the opposite direction.

Dejected but still determined, I walked all the way back to find that they needed an ID proof of my age! They actually didn’t believe I was over 18. I tried arguing saying that in spite of my boyish looks (and charms) I was almost 23. No luck. They still wanted to see my passport which I had conveniently left back at the hotel.

I know I was supposed to be upset, but somehow the fact that people actually thought I was barely 18 made me smile. I was getting tired of being told that I was too stiff and serious all the time. Take that!

I rewarded myself with a Thundercats T Shirt. It’s amazing how much a cartoon from my childhood still manages to excite me every time I see the insignia.

Nostalgia can work wonders.

This piece of news is perhaps the best I’ve heard in a while; mostly because it’s just plain hilarious.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/06_2007/cia-helped-in-toppling-communist-govt-in-kerala-43293.html

Ellsworth Bunker, an American diplomat has revealed that the CIA financed Congress led agitations against the Communist government when EMS came into power back in 1957 in Kerala. That’s right. The CIA actually thought the Kerala Government would pose a threat to it’s national interests. They actually thought Kerala would turn India into a threat like China or the Soviet Union. Instead of doling out so much cash on trying to silence the government, all they had to do was come down and talk to the average Malayalee! We’re not that threatening, are we?

If you sense a condescending and cynical tone to the above post, that’s because I’m a true Malayalee.

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
- Steven Weinberg

What a great quote to start the day!

Written by Darren Aronofsky

Illustrated by Kent Williams

Life isn’t life without death. 

In 2002, Darren Aronofsky wanted to make a film on immortality and love but ran into production problems. Unperturbed, he decided to go on but in a different medium; the graphic novel. (Yet, he would later be able to turn an altered version of his story into a film.)

This is perhaps the fourth or fifth time I’ve read it. I don’t know what it was (maybe the loneliness, maybe the spoilt cheese sandwich), but the book struck me like never before. It isn’t just the artwork or the writing, but the idea behind it itself is something I constantly ponder about.

The story has 3 sub plots that are intrinsically connected yet two of them are disconnected from reality as such. Basically, there are three timelines (1532 AD, 1997 and sometime in the future) and all of them have one man (the same man) trying to grasp the mortality of his lover and the fragility of life.

Thomas (1997) is a doctor trying to find a cure for his terminally ill wife, Izzi. In spite of the fact that she has embraced her impending death, Thomas finds it impossible to let go. He wallows in denial but the obvious does happen. This happens somewhere in the middle sandwiched between two other parallel plots.

In 1532, Spain is being threatened by the Church to let go of land that may very well be the home of the Tree of Life. Tomas the Conquistador (paramour of the Spanish queen Isabella) sets out to find this tree only to be met by Mayan savages.

Meanwhile somewhere in the far future (2463 AD), Thomas floats through space accompanied by the tree headed for the nebula Xibalba. He hopes to derive the energy of a dying star to revive the dying tree.

Yes, this is some pretty convoluted and trippy stuff but everything comes together for a satisfying (not so happy) conclusion. The book explores death and the fear of it that keeps one from living life itself.

The art work by Kent Williams is breathtaking to say the least. Water colors are used lavishly and the art itself morphs constantly to accentuate the story. From what I could notice, there were 3 distinct styles.

The writing is different from Darren Arronofsky’s films. It lacks the inherent cynicism of his films (Pi and Requiem for a Dream) and this book is filled with hope and metaphysical themes. I definitely liked the book better than the film but I think I may want to catch the film again.

10/10

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/politics/06_2007/pratibha-patil-congs-best-candidate-last-option-42930.html

Apparently, Pratibha Patil is touted to be the next Indian President. I’ve been away from Indian news for little over a week and out of nowhere comes a new candidate.

I agree it’s a nice change from listening to people go on about how Kalam was a great president and how he should return and all, but face it, its isn’t going to happen. Also, this is the first time I’ve heard of Ms Patil. Who exactly is she? All I know is that she’s an ardent fan of the Gandhi clan. But then again, I doubt visiting schools and giving speeches is going to require any experience.

Maybe by next year, Hillary and Pratibha can be best friends.

Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in Citizen Kane by the time he was 25.

At 22, Ian Thorpe became the only person to medal in the 100-200-400 combination in Olympic history.

Ramanujan compiled over 3500 theorems before he died at 33.

What did you do?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0343737

Why is it that people like us choose to serve for nickels a day in a profession that makes us constantly look over our shoulders for whose watching us?

Loosely based on real events that occurred before and during the Cold War, this film is perhaps one of the best accounts of the early days of the CIA. Edward Wilson (a very emotionless Matt Damon) hides secrets as a young boy and as he grows, he turns keeping secrets into a profession. From Yale, he is recruited by the Skull and Bones Society and then into the FBI where he works as a counter intelligence operative. Soon he becomes one of the elite few who have a hand in setting up the CIA. The film masterfully explores how secrets take their toll on a person and his family.

One of the things that I loved about the film was the pacing. From a slow start, it gradually turns into a very engrossing thriller. It’s amazing how an actor such as Robert De Niro has mastered the art of direction as well. You immediately know that this is one of those pet projects into which a lot of work has gone.

I almost didn’t watch this because of the lukewarm critical reaction and I think the reason it wasn’t received as well as it should have was because of its length. We are a generation plagued by short attention spans.

A great history lesson; a flawed yet amazing film. 8.5/10