You are currently viewing the archives for February, 2006
February 27th, 2006 §
A priest in Montreal intends to improvise a Passion Play on Jesus and finds a group of young actors to perform the play. The group of actors putting on an interpretive Passion Play begin to experience a meshing of their characters and their private lives as the production takes form against the growing opposition of the Catholic church. Gradually as they start performing the play and getting into the skin of the characters, the life of Jesus and his men is juxtaposed. The young actors begin to awaken to the fact that Jesus was a strong man, a believer is his vision, and they should go about spreading the word of Jesus just like he himself did back in time. However with suppression from the Catholic church, the enactment of the play finds hurdles and the young actors lead to a state of ambiguity. Eventually the protagonist dies when a cross falls over him — a symbolic modern-day crucifiction of the youth.
Does this story line remind you of anything? Well, its the plot outline from a Canadian French film titled “Jésus de Montréal” (1989) directed and written by Denys Arcand. The film got nominated for an Oscar and won at Cannes.
Affiliating to my previous article on Rang De Basanti, I’m sure that by now RDB is a blockbuster in the country and it has good reason for that. Its a fine watch. Although its uncanny for it to be inspired by Jésus de Montréal. However, this prolific inspiration is eloquent in RDB. It does justice to the theme behind the dramatism. “‘Aag hai mujhmen kahi (There is a fire somewhere within me)” is what former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said to film director Rakeysh Mehra after watching RDB. But as a good friend of mine suggested to me a few days back, the movie won’t have a substantial echo, because we are STILL cowards!
Lately, the song Roobaroo from the movie has just grown on me – a song that’s ardent and alive. It rocks!
aandhiyon se jaghad rahi hai lau meri
ab mashaalon si bhad rahi hai lau meri
naamo nishaan rahe na rahe
ye kaaravaan rahe na rahe
ujaale mein pee gaya
roshan huaa jee gaya
kyon sehte rahe
roobaroo roshni …
Roobaroo means “face to face”. What you see in the social mirror.
February 26th, 2006 §
So much of what we are can be traced back to random mutation and non-random selection.
It is absolutely fascinating and yet so very humbling.
[Art by NWJones]
February 25th, 2006 §
Jerry once gave a nifty piece of advice to George. He said …
If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.
It seems to be a new idea for anyone to follow the opposite of their instincts. I have come to believe that its coherent, just that we are too appalled to take the risk – a step in the other direction, maybe the opposite direction. Maybe that’s probable. When there are just two sides to a coin, the simplicity of the decision becomes complex. Relatively, the Theory of Probability is a representation of probabilistic concepts in formal terms — that is, in terms that can be considered separately from their meaning. And a significant application of probability theory to everyday life is that of risk assessment. Keep the problem and the meaning separate, and you will derive the wrong instinct to do the right thing.
By the way, the reference to Jerry and George came from the Seinfeld TV show (from the episode: The Opposite). Atleast it worked well for George …
George comes to the realization that he should try to do the opposite of everything, so he does, his luck changes and everything begins to go his way including getting a girlfriend, a job with the Yankees and moving out of his parents’ house.
February 25th, 2006 §
Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.
Badmash Comic vs Sidhuism (i.e. Navjot Sidhu utterances)
February 25th, 2006 §
A few days back I got an e-mail from SSW (Sydney based .NET and SQL Consultants), enquiring if I’d be interested in reviewing their Code Auditor product, which is a Regular Expressions based software tool to audit source code. It seems like an interesting product and I’m waiting to get my hands in dirt with it (i.e. test it).
While going through the SSW website I came across an interesting series of articles titled SSW Rules to Better …, which lists a series of “how to” and “best guidelines” on a number of IT-related aspects. A must read!
The SSW Rules to Better Interfaces article features an analogy tip (of sorts) titled “See the fly?” …
See the fly? An example of excellent usability! Dutch manufacturers realized that a fly painted on the porcelain of a urinal nearly always became a “target” for men using the facility. And the fly is positioned in precisely the right place for minimal spillage or splashback. Clever people those Dutch!
Who said that writing software code is like poetry?
