What if every student was able to research professors before they registered for their classes, to avoid taking those teachers which may have lost their knack for teaching in the student’s eyes? That was the main goal of a project that I and three other teammates developed in my 451 business class at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Our idea basically consisted of a website that would allow, and eventually deem mandatory, students to go on and evaluate their professors on many different criterion at the end of each term. After many rounds of evaluations, a teacher would be rated on these different criterion and be given an average score on each topic, along with an overall rating that would be used at a glance to measure the professor’s effectiveness in the class room and their capabilities of teaching. In college, we as students are spending thousands upon thousands of dollars every quarter to take these crucial classes, it should be our right to choose the best teachers and refuse to take the proven sub-par ones.

As the year winds down, we still have a few releases on the horizon that are worth picking up.

DVD:

A Christmas Tale (2008) – Criterion sure knows how to give a movie the royal treatment and I have eagerly awaited this release.  A holiday gathering filled with loss, rivalry and love all built around an ailing mother who is struggling with cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant.  This will not be the uplifting Christmas film that you are looking for (watch Christmas Vacation) but it is a must watch movie that is very thick and rewarding.

Video Games:

Resident Evil Zero (Wii) – Yes this game is a little tedious with the constant switching back and forth between the two main characters, but if you like me and needing you Resident Evil fix to get you through the long wait for RE 6, this is a buy for you.  This was originally released for the Game Cube and was supposed to be a great next step for those who loved RE 4 and overall the game isn’t great it will do for the time being.

Music:

Tristeza – Fate Unfolds – It has been 3 long years without any sort of Tristeza release so I would have to say that I am a little geeked.  Spine and Sensory which was released in ‘99 was such a solid record, I will have to purchase the expanded reissue in preparation for their post-rock glory.  I hold out hope for the return of some solid instrumental post-rock, from the days before it was all watered down and boring.

Is it hard to obtain grants? Now that free government grants have been publicized, more of the argument is about whether or not government grants are easy to acquire. The truth of the matter is that there is a process for application and a commitment level involved in getting approval for any government funding. It is up to the person to fill out and submit an application and agree to what is described in each grant program. But, of course, the process is certainly worth it when you consider the fact that the money won't have to be repaid.

First time government grants buyers do not only get their application granted but they can save thousands of dollars on other fees and closing costs. When it comes to college education grants, it becomes a hot issue. The reason why the government is not fully accepting educational plans is that the cost of education has been rising faster.

Most people work for a living. They work because that is the backbone of what we each represent as people and to our self worth. Having a job or working for yourself says a lot about yourself. But sometimes economics throws us a curve ball in life and at times we need extra money that we just don't have. That's when the government can intervene and help us in a number of ways. The government has all kinds of projects and plans that they offer the general public. These projects can be in the form of grants.

Apply For a Government Grant

Corrine Jackson has a Thanksgiving meme up on her blog, which was suggested by a post by Kate at My Sphere Of Domesticity, which in turn was prompted by a meme post conceived by Amy Bai. There are other instances of it cropping up but… I could spend all day pointing you in the direction of the use of the particular meme, but it is only gonna be annoying, ‘kay? Go see what everyone else has to say, then come back here and keep reading. I had to participate…
Yes, I know there are people who have said they are writing one in the comments of those posts, but there are only so many hours in the day, right? Anyone who wants to be added to the list of participants of this particular meme can add a comment at the end of this post.

Thanksgiving. It’s a very American holiday, so what the Hell does a Brit care? I shouldn’t, but the idea of the holiday is one which is very appealing. I’m reminded mainly of the scene in Addams Family Values where Wednesday explains the concept of the holiday, but an Ambrose Bierce quote also comes to mind…

HATCHET, n.  A young axe, known among Indians as a Thomashawk.
  "O bury the hatchet, irascible Red,
  For peace is a blessing," the White Man said.
      The Savage concurred, and that weapon interred,
  With imposing rites, in the White Man's head.

There are other tangents I could go off on, but I’ll stick to the plan.

1. I’m thankful for the existence of the local Chinese takeaway, without which my Saturday evenings would be all the poorer. A lame thing to be so joyous about, but it has become a tradition to get a takeaway every week, even if I really should be trying to cut down on my spending.
2. I’m thankful that I’m allowed to ask any dumb writing question which crops up at the Absolute Write forums, and not feel like I’m missing a few brain cells. It really is an important refuge from the endless slew of problems-not-problems which I create for myself, and the folks there really know what they are doing. If you haven’t read through Uncle Jim’s amazing thread on the basics of writing you don’t know what you are missing…
3. I’m thankful that I don’t have to put up with the woeful quality of MP3’s thanks to Ogg Vodis. For someone who values quality audio it is a format that can never be too highly praised.
4. I’m thankful for the existence of published books by Stephenie Meyer and D*n Br*wn, which means that if (or, more hopefully, when) I get published, I won’t be plumbing a new depth of shallow and obnoxious writing.
5. I’m thankful that nobody has posted photographs of me at that party on their blogs or on image sharing sites. The rumors of a spare room, a bottle of cheap wine and an attractive exchange student are completely untrue. I didn’t do anything, and as long as the evidence doesn’t show up – which it hopefully won’t – nobody can prove a damn thing.
6. I’m thankful for the existence of so many libraries close to me. Even though there are plenty of online resources, nothing can compare to holding a reference book in my hands. Which is where I should bring up how important Project Gutenberg is for the online stuff, but y’all know that already, right?
7. I’m thankful for the releases of so many old and apparently obscure films on DVD. There have been major holes in my collection slowly filled thanks to both Criterion and the BFI bods. Maybe one day someone will turn up a copy of Vampire Over London so I can be proven correct that it does still exist somewhere… (seriously, if the wedding episode of Dark Shadows could be located, anything is possible)
8. I’m thankful for the existence of spellcheck on so many programs. Without the easy ability to check that I haven’t committed a grammatical error I would be lost most of the time. Now, if only the feature could be added to Photoshop I would be able to confidently release some of my comic-book pages without the worry that there are numerous errors sprinkled throughout the text.
9. I’m thankful for the pause button. Without the feature I would have missed the amusing vanity cards at the end of each episode of The Big Bang Theory, which shows that some television creators still value creativity. There was also a show back in the nineties which had pages of information shown frame by frame after each episode – GamesMaster? The idea was cool nonetheless.
10. I’m thankful for being able to write freely without persecution for my writing. I don’t live in Manchester, so the racist, homophobic, sexist and religiously intolerant police force can’t censor my works as they did David Britton. The freedoms we take for granted are still under threat by the morons currently in government, but they are too busy stealing money from the electorate to care about what writers are up to…

So, there ya have it. Join in (if you haven’t already), or post a link to your own interpretation of the meme below.

The Sword of Doom is one of my favorite samurai films.

“It’s a feature length… we don’t know.”

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm was a film recommended to me late one summer night in a bar. I accidentally got it from netflix one day, and have had it sitting around my room for about a week. I decided to finally watch it, and it is quite something. I don’t really know how to describe it.

It’s set up as a filmmaking experiment. The director is having various actors perform the same set of lines, in various ways, with very little or no direction. He is filming the actors. He has another camera man filming him and the actors. Then there is another camera filming him, the actors, and everything else going on in the making of the film. Sometimes the scene follows the flow of the dialogue that the two actors are performing, like a narrative film would. Other times, the director breaks in, like a documentary of the making of a film. Then, there are moments when the crew gets together without the director to try to figure out what is going on.

Every time you start to find narrative clarity, the film breaks down and turns into something entirely different. You honestly can’t tell how much of it is scripted/designed and what is real. It questions the reality and truth presented in all film — documentary or narrative — and the director’s role in the manipulation of that representation. The philosophy is a little strong, but as a huge film nerd, I found it’s self-reflexivity mind-bogglingly intriguing. I am still not quite sure what to make of it, though, and I don’t know if I ever will.

It seems like it was way ahead of it’s time, but at the same time fits right in with the whole 60’s hippy thing. It was made in 1968, but it wasn’t released until 2005, when it screened at the London Film Festival. Greaves made a sequel in 2005, and they were released by the Criterion Collection as a set. I am going to check that out as soon as I get the chance.

Rating: 9/10

Join Lyfeliek and Xcalybr for game talk and more from the midnight launch of Modern Warfare 2 in Washington, Pennsylvania! The second segment was lost to the podcast production ether, but The Gamesmen have still salvaged a great show for you! Topics discussed are EA layoffs, Dragon Age, interviews from people called to play MW2 early, the Activision Minute, your Twitter #TheGamesmenCheck submissions, and more!

• Intro Music Composed By gamertag “TheHoleyMoley”
• Featured Interlude Music- God of War
• Outro Music “Over Now” by Alice In Chains

If you want to lay claim to the Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time codes, PS3 NHL 10 codes, or the Uncharted 2 code, post below- first come, first served!

We appreciate the feedback, so keep it coming! Contact us at TheGamesmenRPG@gmail.com or simply comment below!

Direct Download | The Gamesmen On iTunes (01:42:43)

Monsieur Hulot takes in the modern world of cubicle farming in "Play Time".

(Jacques Tati, 1967)

November 12, 2009

by Joel Crary

I took a course in auteur theory at University that focused on four comedy writers and directors. The syllabus included Chaplin and Keaton, of course, as well as Jerry Lewis, all of whom I had heard of and seen before, all of whom have their rightful places in the annals of American film comedy. The fourth name was new to me: Jacques Tati, a French filmmaker, who had apparently directed and starred in some movies called “Mon Oncle”, “Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday” and “Play Time”. A lesser-known name thrown in for credibility’s sake, I probably thought. He had a foreign film Oscar under his belt. Good for him.

The Tati films astounded me with their narrative bravery. They weren’t comprised of jokes, per se. They didn’t feature Groucho Marx wagging his eyebrows and mustache, or Lewis crossing his eyes, or the dexterity of Keaton and Chaplin’s physical abilities and timing. Tati was much, much more subtle. On the Criterion release of “Play Time”, film historian Philip Kemp calls Tati’s work a “democratic” style of comedy. Several developments occur on the screen simultaneously, leaving it up to the viewer to decide what’s funny.

To the uninitiated, this is a daunting and seemingly meaningless task. It presupposes that watching a film is not purely a passive process, but an active one in which the viewer must pick and choose the parts they find of interest. Tati conducted his democratic experiments by offering a wide field of view in which to place his actors. In the case of “Play Time”, he shot in the enormous 70mm resolution, the same resolution used for epics such as “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Sound of Music”. A massacred 35mm print of the film was the only one largely available until the 2006 Criterion edition, which is the only version that should be seen. Since much of the film’s visual humour relies on an extremely large space to become apparent, it is lost without the original ratio left intact.

Consider a scene in which two apartments are shown from the outside through large picture windows. The occupants each watch televisions that are installed on opposite sides of the same wall, but at certain angles the entire group of people looks to be in the same room. A man begins to disrobe or bends over and a woman in the next apartment appears to watch or recoil. It is necessary to see the edges of the frame in order for Tati’s ideas to be communicated. Understanding Tati’s concepts is one of the rewards of watching the film, even if it requires a little effort. Another reward is knowing that, by virtue of the democratic presentation, the film may never be viewed the same way twice.

The “characters” in Tati’s films, such as they are, hardly speak, including the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, who wanders between situations with his pipe and umbrella in place along with a trench coat and hat to complete the ensemble. These are the features of a cartoon character, akin to Chaplin’s bowler hat and mustache, Keaton’s porkpie hat or Harold Lloyd’s glasses. By “Play Time”, the world recognized Hulot, but Tati was tired of the persona and decided to have fun with it. As a result, a running gag involves a series of false Hulots who are meant to throw us off track.

The multiple Hulots gag is also a terrific reflection of “Play Time’s” thematic concerns of the world’s transformation into a processing plant of repetitive technologies and identities. Tati’s observations about the modern world remain thoroughly current. American tourists are shown acting excited over the American-ness of a modern home exposition, rather than the differences the city of Paris has to offer. Technologies and gadgetry are portrayed as complicated nuisances that suit no functional purpose. The elaborate glass environments were constructed by Tati at great personal cost to the filmmaker, who suffered such a financial loss in producing the film that he never made another.

“Play Time” takes place in a handful of locations, though the opulence of Paris is only shown briefly in the reflections of doors leading into cold and sterile office building environments. The tourists try to position passersby in front of a lone flower stand amidst the dull blues and greys of the immense concrete jungle in order to take pictures of the city that will feel more authentic. In one scene, Hulot attempts to find a man on an office floor littered with self-contained cubicles. He navigates the giant room like a maze as we watch at a camera angle positioned high above it all. He sits on chairs that take odd shapes and emit odd sounds under his weight, only to accidentally end up next door at an exhibitor who is selling the chairs for office use.

Then there is the sequence in the night club, which is so new and exclusive that its construction isn’t finished when the patrons start to arrive. One of my favourite gags involves a loose tile in the middle of the dance floor, which the staff remembers to step over exaggeratedly. Hulot accidentally shatters the front door, leaving the doorman to hold the handle and pretend that there is still a door in place. And a fiasco involving a collapsed bit of decorative trimming affords some patrons the opportunity to create an even smaller, more exclusive club near the kitchen.

If met with an open mind, “Play Time” is a thoroughly ideal viewing experience. Its wide expanses of activity are wondrous to behold and it plays as though we are spending time at these locations, watching the interesting people who pass by. The project may have ruined Tati financially, but he got to create exactly the type of film he wanted to create. “Play Time” is not so much a film as the quite literal projection of a funny and inventive imagination reacting to a society that would rather keep it cubically contained.

During the feudal days, knowedge of Latin and Greek was the criterion for recognising a gentleman, as a learned man. English was not considred a language. There was much opposition to translating bible into English.

Almost a similar approach was noticeable in India. Here Samskrutam was the language of the elite.  All dicussions and philosophical debates were in that language, including poetry, drama etc. The poet who first wrote his poetry in Malayalam was rediculed as a half poet! Malaayala had no grammar even. It was just a dialect. More than half of its words were borrowed from Tamil. When, the writers began using it, they added Samskrutam words liberally. Today, it is a mixture of both. English phrases were blindly translated into Samskrutised Malayalam. Konakam, a piece of cloth used as cover to hide private parts, became coupeenam.
Kodungallur Kunjukuttan Thampuran (K.T.), a close friend of my maternal grandfather, who was very intelligent and took interest in literature and arts, from whom I must have inherited  something in this direction, translated the whole MAHABHARATAM into simple Malayalam sans Samskrutam words. I strongly recommend this book to every Keralite, as our great epic is not only the greatest anti-war propaganda, but it is a source of wisdom.

They say, there is nothing that is not found in this book.
There is an anecdot about how K.T. was doing his translation.
Hearing about this great venture, the populr poet Vallathol, who established  Kalamandalam, at Cheruthuruti, Shoranur, near Bharatapuzha, went to see him. K.T., who was concentrating on a thick volume and dictating to three men well versed in the art of hearing, retaining in memory a whole stanza and writing down at lightning speed, as there is no short hand in my language. Vallathol thought he was dictating what he had already written in the book. When he came close, his surprise knew no bounds to see that K.T. WAS INDEED CONCENTATING ON THE SAMSKRUTAM TEXT AND DICTATING THE MALAYALAM VERSION !
As he cannot wait even for a moment, he engaged three men. He took no time in doing the tranlation into Malayalam. If his writers forgot something and wanted K.T. TO REPEAT A PARTIULAR STANZA, HE WOLD SAY A NEW  ONE !
Now, if some one is able to perform such a feat, he will find a mention in the guinnes BOOK OF RECORDS

Martin Scorsese was the head speaker at this year’s Blu-Con 2.0 symposium in Beverly Hills. And he seconded what those of us already hooked on Blu already know:

“Blu-ray is going to extend the lifetime of a movie… I have a daughter who’s 10, and she can’t tell the difference between old films and new films. [That makes me] very excited and optimistic as a filmmaker and a film lover.

BD’s potential to replicate the original theatrical experience is the best I’ve seen in forty years of [movie] collecting. Blu-ray offers the ability to see the film as it was intended.”

He also added that Blu-ray has the potential, when mastered correctly, to offer:

“a film grain texture which I think is very important in recreating the film experience.”

He then went on to praise Criterion for their hi-def remastering of the brilliant and sumptuous 1948 Powell/Pressburger film THE RED SHOES, due for upcoming release on Blu-ray:

“It’s like experiencing the film for the first time again. It’s not just the details of the eyes or such; it creates a completely different experience.”

Scorsese talked about how a poor presentation can greatly alter a movie-watcher’s experience of a film:

“There are subtle things, like not being able to see the actor’s eyes. With Blu-ray, you don’t have that problem.”

As a Blu-ray collector and filmmaker myself, I can personally attest to just how incredible Blu-ray is. When used correctly. There are a few Blu-ray discs out there that don’t live up to the potential of the medium, but the majority of films I’ve watched and own are simply outstanding. It is genuinely a very different experience from watching standard DVD or, lord help us, video.

Criterion’s new release of Wim Wenders’ WINGS OF DESIRE is a revelation. I owned the previous DVD release and I can tell you right now that these are two very different film-watching experiences. Same goes for the newly remastered Blu-ray edition of the Hitchcock classic NORTH BY NORTHWEST, which was given a stunning new 8k transfer. The detail and texture now possible in the Blu-ray format has opened a door to allowing people of all ages to experience films, both new and old, in ways not possible since the time of a film’s original theatrical release. For anyone who loves film, or simply enjoys watching a movie now and again, Blu-ray is the only way to go. Unless you own a 35mm projector and a damn good print of your favorite film.

Cruel Gun Story (part of the marvelous Nikkatsu Noir set from Eclipse) is a pitch dark heist caper that builds to crescendos of violence that rival the nonstop mayhem of Dashiell Hammett’s demented, apocalyptic story Nightmare Town. Joe Shishido is the hard as nails ringleader of a group of misfits who commandeer a truck full of racetrack money. It seems to be a foolproof plan to get rich but things of course go terribly wrong …

http://www.criterion.com/

εκπληκτικό site για σινεφίλ.
για αγορές dvd, reviews, τρέχοντα νέα.
at your service.

 There are watchmen everywhere, are they of any use?
The fellow in the bank can’t prevent robbery. His gun may be useless. Is it loaded? Even otherwise, CAN HE FACE THREE ARMED MEN?

The watcmen in our housing society  is useful to some extent. But, how can he verify whether the vsitor is entering the correct address or name in the register?
In one society, thieves removed the engine from several cars in the night. When the owner tried to start the car, it remained impassive. Then he noticed that the engine is missing.

One night we were strolling in NAPP Township. In one corner, a watchman with a gun,  was sleeping soundly in his booth. What is he supposed to do, in case  a guy snathes his gun? Better give them toy guns.

VVVIPs are given police protection. Do you believe they can face terrorists with AK 47 guns? These policemen may better be utilised for maintaing their gardens at home. The tax payer’s money, my money, should not be misused for protecting an individual, however VVVVVVIP he  fit case for PIL.may be. What is equality before the law? Who decides his importance?
Gandhi never thought of protection. He refused it and faced the bullet? It means there is no criterion for deciding VIPness.

 This is a fit case for PIL.

My brothers , My sisters…

Fasting Ramadan isn’t just a kind of worship…

Fasting Ramadan is a cure for a lot of diseases it’s a renewal for the whole body and a renewal for your complete life…

Most of Muslims fast Ramadan yearly , but not all of them feel its sweetness…

Let’s start this faithful trip…

Beneath the secrets of fasting Ramadan and its medical and psychological benefits…

Download PowerPoint (280 Kb) Click here

——————–

By: Abduldaem Al-Kaheel

www.kaheel7.com/eng

References:

1.       Masoro, E.J., Shimokawa, I., Yu, B.P., Retardation of the Aging Process In Rats by Food Restriction, Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1990; pp. 337-52; Goodrick, C.L., Ingram, D.K., Reynolds, M.A., Freeman, J.R., Cider, N.L., Effects of Intermittent Feeding Upon Growth, Activity, and Lifespan In Rats Allowed Voluntary Exercise, Experimental Aging Research, 1983

2.       . Salloum, T. Fasting – Patient Guidelines Textbook of Natural Medicine, Bastyr University, Seattle WA. 1987.

3.       Carrington, Dr. Hereward, Fasting For Health And Long Life.

4.       http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/fast.htm

5.       http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/fast.htm

6.       http://www.fasting.com/solution.html

7.       The Sapporo Medical Journal, 1986; 55(2): 125-136

8.       http://www.healthy.net/scr/article.asp?ID=496#1

9.       http://www.althealth.co.uk/services/info/misc/fasting1.php

10.    http://www.medicomm.net/Consumer%20Site/am/fasting.htm

11.    http://www.fasting.com/index.html

There’s some interesting releases to DVD this week – the highly acclaimed documentary “Every Little Step”, Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration”, and a new box set of films by Criterion. Which release do I think you should set as a priority? Read ahead to find out.

And, if you’re currently on a NetFlix hiatus, i’ll also recommend one film to DVR this weekend. Here’s One to Rent, One to DVR for the week of 10/13/09 – exclusively on ForReel.net!

RENT

Dusan Makavejev: Free Radical (1965, 1967, and 1968)
dir. Dusan Makavejev
Availability: DVD (10/13/09)

Why?: Here’s a bit of an odd recommendation seeing as how I haven’t seen any of the films. Having seen “WR: Mysteries of the Organism” just a few months ago, however, i’m anxious to delve deeper into the director’s body of work. Political, surreal, absurd. I’m not sure if I liked “WR”, and there’s a chance I might not like any of these three films, but i’m more than willing to devote my time to such an interesting filmmaker.

Criterion’s Eclipse line is wonderful in that, although they don’t contain the brand’s trademark lengthy supplements, they release these rather obscure titles that you won’t see anywhere else. Some of the most interesting sets in the line thus far are Hiroshi Shimizu and Larisa Shepitko, and it looks like Free Radical will once again surprise with exciting and new content.

This box set contains three films: Man is Not a Bird, Love Affair or The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator, and Innocence Unprotected.

DVR

The Virgin Spring (1960)
dir. Ingmar Bergman
Playing: Sunday, October 18th, 8:30 AM (eastern time) and Sunday, October 18th, 2:15 PM (eastern time) on IFC.

Why?: One of Bergman’s finest is “The Virgin Spring” – a haunting portrait of a father’s brutal revenge on his daughter’s murderers. The plot, involving a group of scoundrels killing a young girl and seeking refuge in her parents’ house, will be familiar if you’ve seen “Last House on the Left”. It goes without saying that this is a better film and, even without one tenth of the gore, manages to be even more chilling.

Of what i’ve seen of his work, this might be my favorite performance by the great Max von Sydow. At once, he is able to be both sympathetic and monstrous. “The Virgin Spring” never questions whether or not revenge is correct, but it explores a man taken to his limit.

On the Criterion Collection issue of this film, there’s an introduction by Ang Lee in which he states that “The Virgin Spring” was the film that made him want to be a filmmaker. If that’s not convincing enough praise, I don’t know what is.

Apologies for this period of inactivity over the past week-and-a-half. My grandmother, who I was helping to watch and care for, passed away last Sunday evening, and my mind has been far from Science-Fiction, the internet, blogs, and other such thoughts. Every time that I sat down for the purpose of Nostromo musing, I usually ended up zoning off to some lengthy Ancient Faith Radio (www.ancientfaith.com) program on the ascetic life of Father Seraphim Rose or whatnot.

Back when Nostromo first made the shift from a personal to a sci-fi related publication (though now I see the pendulum swing), I asked an old friend and band-mate for a list of suggested sci-fi titles. Some books and films, such as Kafka’s The Castle which I had read on my own several years ago, didn’t seem quite applicable. A couple, however, really sparked my interest: Sunshine and Solaris among them. Well, I finally tracked down a Criterion copy of the 1972 Soviet edition of Solaris (usually referred to as “the original”, though there was actually a 1968 Russian version made for television by a  different director) at the library last week. I’d seen it at Barnes & Noble a few months prior when picking up the only copy of Logan’s Run, but forty dollars is a lot to put into a film that I hadn’t seen–especially considering my negligible income. Noticing that the movie was over three-hours-long, I readied a bag of pop-corn, gathered various tea cups, and settled in for the long-haul. Something told me that it was going to be a bit grueling getting through Solaris, though inevitably worth the struggle in the end.

I won’t spoil the events of the film by detailing the event of the plot. The general idea is as follows: a scientist/cosmonaut is sent to a space-station in Orbit over the planet/extra-terrestrial-sea known as Solaris. After decades of mishaps, study, and casualties, the government is sending this man to determine whether to continue or abandon its mission. This scientist finds the orbital station in complete disarray and populated by various seemingly-hallucinated personalities not sent from earth. Among these individuals is the cosmonaut’s deceased wife Hari, who had poisoned herself some ten-years ago.

What follows is a confusing, mind-teasing reflection on religion and mortality, at least as far as I can tell. None of the various online sources that I’ve investigated detail this aspect of the film, but I can’t help but believe it to be the central locus of Solaris. Perhaps that’s because I’m a Christian, and this is a “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” sort of situation. Maybe my reading of this text has something to do with my own loss in recent past. Or perhaps my knowledge of Russian Orthodoxy and the Soviet rejection thereof also plays into things. Of course, the novel Solaris was actually authored by Stanislaw Lem, a Polish man who was raised Roman Catholic but evolved into an Atheist due to the cruel, difficult realities of life. Considering the author’s particular fascination with and publication of philosophical literature, we can safely assume that mankind’s relationship (or lack-thereof) with God can be read into Lem’s work. In fact, there are numerous hints within the mise-en-scene of the film to point the viewer in this direction. For instance, when Kris Kelvin investigates the cabin of his deceased colleague who killed himself before Kelvin’s arrival, he finds a gun resting on top an open text. The book shows a popular photograph of a famous Georgian Orthodox Church. Out of all the pages of all the books in the world, why a recognizable photograph of an ecclesiastical building? When Hari, the re-creation of Kris Kelvin’s dead wife, contemplates the copy of the painting The Two Hunters, does the camera not focus in on the otherwise insignificant images of distant Churches in the background? I am particularly interested in the single shot which includes an obvious print (rather than a mounted icon) of The Hospitality of Abraham often referenced as “The Old-Testament Trinity”. Is this merely an allusion to the director’s previous film Andei Rublev on the life of the monk who created this famous Russian Orthodox icon? Is there some important point to be made by the work being a flat-print rather than religious icon, which would be venerated with a votive candle? It seems that Christianity is being relegated to an important, though historical and past, place within the Russian collective personality. It is something of the culture. A memory. According to one of the surviving crew members on board the space-station: “We are all second-rate Dostoevskys”.

So here is my basic, rough reading of the movie. I haven’t had enough time to iron out the details, and I could well be incorrect. The Ocean of Solaris is God or an incarnation of concept of religion. The islands in this ocean, which recreate memories and nostalgic landscapes past, represent the Kingdom of Heaven. The space-station seems to be a metaphor for the Soviet/Russian nation, which has been ravaged by its preoccupation with the divine. Should the mission discontinue? Haven’t the Russian people lost enough lives and resources into this thing which only dredges up phantoms and painful resurrections? Would it not be better to let the dead simply die and remain cosigned to oblivion? Should they even consider attacking this spacial phenomenon with nuclear weapons and radiation, like some sort of cancerous growth? Well Kris Kelvin cannot let go of the past and delusions of heaven. He finds himself trapped in a memory not-quite-right, where rain pours into tea-cups and no one seems to notice. His decision to continue relating to God proves his own demise. Ironically enough, it is his opting for the notion of heaven which traps our main character in a strange and soggy hell. The two hunters in the famous painting trudge home with downcast hounds, unsuccessful save the unimpressive form of a single fox. Still, what awaits them in the valley beneath appears sublime and calming, a future which continues to teem with life.

I hope that I have not revealed too much of the plot in my attempt to sort out Solaris. It’s definitely worth watching, if you have the time and opportunity. It is much easier to locate the 2002 remake, which I have yet to see. If anything, there’s a lot of amazing cinematography going on in this movie. Great shots and images. I love the silence of the first few moments of the movie while Kelvin investigates the familiar Russian wilderness. Just before I watched Solaris, I ordered a massive collection of accounts from the lives of Christian martyrs who suffered under the Soviet Atheistic regime. This movie, as far as I’m concerned, will serve as an interesting and vivid prelude to that book.

Hopefully, I’ll have something more for you guys in the near future. This post was pretty long though. Congrats for making it all the way through!

Well, if this isn’t a great way to start a week I don’t know what is. Pre-visual footage of what looks like a modern version of classic Mega Drive/Genesis racing title Road Rash has flooded across the internet, sparking rumours that EA are gearing up to do a modern remake.

If true, this could be something special indeed; just check out that brutal dismount near the start of the video. That guy is either now dead or in a coma.

Burnout developer Criterion would have been a perfect fit for this although details of any third-party involvement are yet to surface. Admittedly, I used to jump on the EA gripe-train a few years ago, bemoaning the developer’s position as an unstoppable corporate juggernaut, but I have to throw my hands up and applaud them for really turning things around and getting their heads back in the game as of late.

You may have made a loss on Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge, but you’ve re-kindled the interest of many gamers. Kudos. Now, where’s that modern revamp of Desert Strike? Make it happen ladies and gentlemen!

Juliette speaks, but cannot speak the unsaid in "2 or 3 Things I Know About Her".

(Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

October 8, 2009

by Joel Crary

“2 or 3 Things I Know About Her” is my favourite film from Jean-Luc Godard, a director who propped my eyes wide open to the possibilities of the film medium. This is a film that pitches and swirls with philosophical ideas on what it means to see, hear, speak, think and love – not to necessarily direct those actions toward one object or person in particular, but simply to perform them. Like most films, it contains dialogue between characters, but here that dialogue is punctuated with observations on what the characters are really thinking and feeling.

To the uninitiated, this can be disorienting. Watch the interplay between Godard’s whispering narrator and the detailed shot of coffee whirling and settling inside a cup. With words as a guide, the entire universe rests at our fingertips. A burst bubble signifies the end of civilization, all in a quiet moment spent in a café during lunch hour before the spectre of work returns to abscond with our humanity. A man and woman sit and converse about the nature of conversing. They tell small lies because their culture has conditioned them to believe it counts as conversation. “Too bad it’s raining,” a woman offers flatly, inaccurately.

Why bother speaking at all? The separation between our words, what we are trying to convey, our physical effort to speak and the listener are chasms in width. Godard shows that we are surrounded by images. We inhabit them and make attempts to turn ourselves into them to feel even more at home. He scans the skyline of late 60’s suburban Paris and turns up buildings that look like kennels, housing thousands of the middle class attempting to lead the “normal life”.

This isn’t the Paris westerners know from television ads, travelogues and blockbuster films, nor even the Paris I saw when backpacking through Europe this past summer. There is not a shred of that kind of opulence for the middle class, only the same buttoned-down existence shared among an economically defined segment of people who don’t know any better. There’s a war going on in Vietnam, but who cares when one needs to meet a hair appointment? These people have no concept of distance when the workplace, the salon, the store, the service station and the café are so close by. Isn’t it odd to imagine another place existing?

The Criterion edition of “2 or 3 Things” contains a riveting supplemental feature of Godard talking to Jean Saint-Geours, then a government official for France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. The two men shift position in a studio control room discussing what the French economy has made of its citizens. Godard argues that it has turned them into prostitutes, while Saint-Geours argues that advertising culture is necessary for economic advancement. Both are correct, but not arguing on the same wavelength.

Inspired by a letter Godard had read from a “shooting star”, a Parisian middle-class woman who prostituted herself to help pay her bills and raise her children, “2 or 3 Things” is the story of a day in the life of Juliette Janson (Marina Vlady). She has a husband and two children. She lives in one of thousands of grey project apartments and washes her dishes with the latest dish soap formula. Over the course of a day she visits her husband at work, runs errands, buys a Coke, shops for clothing. She questions the nature of being aloud and no one hears because no one understands. She is also a prostitute, but her profession seems a natural condition of the normal life Godard presents. At the expense of the economy and the glorification of capitalism, we exchange our desires for prescriptions, our love for products, our sanity for the insanity of never speaking out.

Going on the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, Godard gives us many shots of infrastructure being constructed, daring us to see meaning in them, going so far as to rob the shots of sound. The end achieved is a complete revelation of words having no sort of honest worth. They may as well be sounds emitting from a jackhammer, crudely and noisily. Consider a scene in which two men sit in a café leafing through books, pulling out sentences at random. We assume that one of the men is writing them down, trying to string together meaning. He orders a dish called “Mystery”, only to be informed by the waiter that there is no mystery. It shocks him into a catatonic state.

The mystery Godard is after, I think, has to do with why people fill their lives with conversations that never communicate ideas. Of course, we want to be near other people. We want to feel as though we can connect with another human being. But what is connection? How different is it from the feeling we have when choosing a brand of cereal in the grocery store? We talk to one another under the impression that if we don’t talk, we are alone. But of course we’re alone. We’re individuals. We work to survive, to own things, to be happy, but rarely do we work out of our own inclinations. Godard considers that a prostitution of the mind. We kid ourselves into thinking our lives are real when they’re simply facades that stretch on until our deaths.

“2 or 3 Things I Know About Her” is endlessly rich in thought-provoking dialogue and imagery. The relationship between the two is where Godard has always excelled as a filmmaker. My first experience of the film came in an American cinema class, of all things – a screening of the scene in which Juliette visits her husband at work. As the characters go about their lives, the whispering narrator carries on, pontificating about all of the things not seen, the words not said, the definitions that cannot possibly be given to every moment that transpires. Films create the illusion that this is possible. Godard admitted the illusion and shot holes in it, frame by frame.

The entire universe seen in a coffee cup:

I’m a week late, but here’s some news I enjoyed (selected from my del.icio.us feed, as usual), which is film related:

• There are a lot of interesting horror films coming out soon. Splice is one of them, you can see a sneak preview here. It looks truly strange. It comes out in November and it’s got Adrien Brody. Also, a film called Corpsey featured at this year’s DOCFEST, looks great.
• Best article on Twitch this month? Definitely, “Where are My Bleepy Crunchies.” A suggestion of the top five films integrated with electronic music. Number one is Pi, but I haven’t seen several of the others and they look superb.
• The new Fantastic Mr. Fox trailer gives the film just about as much “future of film” hype as I’ve heard about Avatar. Anyway, I think it looks sweet (a look at Wes Anderson behind the scenes in the previous link).
• Contenders for Best Picture of 2012, already? Yup.
• I saw two films this week in the theater: Jennifer’s Body, and Zombieland. Both really enjoyable, though I certainly favored the latter (which I’m biased toward because of the cameo [BR], which I won’t spoil in case you haven’t seen it yet, and the genre [I'm a big Zombie fan]). What I haven’t seen yet, and would really like to see is The Informant. Mainly due to, besides the good trailers and promotional materials, an episode of This American Life, that I’d strongly recommend.
• Herzog is hosting a series of lectures/seminars in L.A. about film making. I’d go, except it cost about $1500. It’s titled Herzog Rogue Film School. Speaking of Herzog, a reviewer at TIFF for Twitch has the first look at his collaboration with D Lynch.
• Thom Yorke went out of his way this past month to promote a film called The Age of Stupid. I’d link to the blog article from DeadAirSpace, but it doesn’t have permalinks…
• The villain has been selected for M Gondry’s rendition of The Green Hornet: Christopher Waltz. You may remember him from such great roles as, the best villain ever in Inglorious Basterds (this link is to Tarantino interviews which you may find interesting).
• Other Movies: Reviews for The Road look pretty favorable. Videocracy looks fascinating, though I bet it’s too late to have any useful analysis of the media publicity overhaul by the Obama Administration (could you imagine George Bush on Twitter?). Year of the Carnivore looks like a good indie romantic comedy. More info on Korine’s presumably-fucked-up-as-usual musical: Trash Humpers. The final trailer for [rec]2, hope it doesn’t “ruin the mythology” to quote Tarantino. Terry Gilliam’s got a film (Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus) that immediately makes me think of “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”, but doesn’t co-star Natalie Portman, to my knowledge. Can’t find anything else about this film, but Я looks awesome (from the 15 seconds I’ve seen). Criterion collection releases a box set of Japanese Noir? You bet! And, they are re-making Plan 9, and I can’t understand why even in the slightest (wish they’d give up on the Barbarella re-make, too)
• One-liners from TIFF, Thanks Vulture.
• I discovered possibly the best food related film I’ve seen all year: Disappearing Manhattan from the always entertaining Anthony Bordain.
• The Best Cut in Cinema. Duh, from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In parallel, the greatest long takes in cinema history. Also, 100 years of Visual Effects (ignore the shitty music).
• Time Travel in popular Film and TV (Primer would be impossible to quantify on this map).

Asalamu Alaykum

When I was new in the Religion of Islam I  had some questions regarding  guidance

Asking for guidance

The following article gives a lot of answers to questions regarding guidance. I hope you will  find it of benefit. Xenia

Praise be to Allaah.

Allaah has created man and given him reason, and He has sent down to him Revelation and sent to him Messengers to call him to the truth and warn him against falsehood. Then He has left him to make his own choice.

“And say: ‘The truth is from your Lord.’ Then whosoever wills, let him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve

[al-Kahf 18:29 – interpretation of the meaning]

Allaah commanded His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to convey the truth to all of mankind. Then they have the choice to do as they wish. If a person obeys, he benefits himself, and if he disobeys, he harms himself, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say: ‘O you mankind! Now truth (i.e. the Qur’aan and Prophet Muhammad), has come to you from your Lord. So whosoever receives guidance, he does so for the good of his own self; and whosoever goes astray, he does so to his own loss; and I am not (set) over you as a Wakeel (disposer of affairs to oblige you for guidance)’”[Yoonus 10:108]

Islam is the religion of the natural state of man (fitrah), the religion of reason and thought. Allaah has distinguished the truth from falsehood. He has enjoined all that is good and forbidden all that is evil. He has permitted good things and forbidden evil things. There is no compulsion in religion because the benefits or harms come back upon the created being, not upon the Creator. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taaghoot (false gods) and believes in Allaah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break”

[al-Baqarah 2:256]

And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Whosoever does righteous good deed, it is for (the benefit of) his ownself; and whosoever does evil, it is against his ownself. And your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves”[Fussilat 41:46]

Guidance is in the hand of Allaah. If Allaah willed, He could guide all of mankind, for there is nothing that He cannot do on this earth or in the heavens. Nothing happens in His Dominion except that which He wills.

“Say: ‘With Allaah is the perfect proof and argument, (i.e. the Oneness of Allaah, the sending of His Messengers and His Holy Books, to mankind); had He so willed, He would indeed have guided you all’”[al-An’aam 6:149 – interpretation of the meaning]

The Holy Qur'an as a Guidance to Humanity

But in His Wisdom, Allaah has created us with the ability to choose, and He has sent down to us guidance and the Criterion. So whoever obeys Allaah and His Messenger will enter Paradise and whoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger will enter Hell, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, proofs have come to you from your Lord, so whosoever sees, will do so for (the good of) his ownself, and whosoever blinds himself, will do so to his own harm, and I (Muhammad) am not a watcher over you”[al-An’aam 6:104]

The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has no part in guidance; all that he and the Muslims have to do is to explain and convey the message, and show them guidance but they cannot force people to follow it, as Allaah said to His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) (interpretation of the meaning):

“And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed, all of them together. So, will you (O Muhammad) then compel mankind, until they become believers”[Yoonus 10:99]

And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And the duty of the Messenger is only to convey (the Message) plainly”[al-‘Ankaboot 29:18]

Guidance to the truth is in the hand of Allaah alone and no human being has any share in that, as Allaah said to His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, you (O Muhammad) guide not whom you like, but Allaah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided[al-Qasas 28:56]

Allaah guides whomsoever He wills and sends astray whomsoever He wills. He has told us that He guides those who obey Him and turn to Him, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“While as for those who accept guidance, He increases their guidance and bestows on them their piety”[Muhammad 47:17]

But whoever disobeys Allaah and turns away from Him, Allaah will not guide him, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Truly, Allaah guides not him who is a liar, and a disbeliever”

[al-Zumar 39:3]

Allaah is Omniscient and knows what has happened and is happening and what is yet to come. Allaah knows the believers and the disbelievers, and what they will do, and He knows what their fate will be in the Hereafter. He has written all that in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz (the Preserved Tablet), as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And all things We have recorded in a Book”[al-Naba’ 78:29]

Allaah has created man with the ability to choose, and He has created him able to do both, either believer or disbelieve, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, We showed him the way, whether he be grateful or ungrateful”[al-Insaan 76:3]

Man has the choice in terms of his reason only; if he loses his reason by which he is able to distinguish between the alternatives of good and evil, truth and falsehood, then he is not accountable. Hence according to Islamic sharee’ah, the pen is lifted from the insane person (i.e., he is not accountable) until he recovers his senses, and from the child until he reaches the age of understanding, and from the sleeper until he wakes up. None of these people are accountable until they gain or recover the reason by which they may distinguish between the alternatives of faith and disbelief, truth and falsehood, and so on.

Whatever direction a person takes, there will be reward and punishment, If he obeys, there will be Paradise:

“Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself (i.e. obeys and performs all that Allaah ordered, by following the true Faith of Islamic Monotheism and by doing righteous good deeds”

[al-Shams 91:9 – interpretation of the meaning]

and if he disobeys, there will be Hell:

“And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself (i.e. disobeys what Allaah has ordered by rejecting the true Faith of Islamic Monotheism or by following polytheism, or by doing every kind of evil wicked deeds” [al-Shams 91:10 – interpretation of the meaning]

The choice of one of these two ways is something about which a person will be questioned by the Lord of the Worlds. Hence it is clear that faith or disbelief, obedience or disobedience, is the matter of personal choice. Allaah has made reward and punishment dependent upon this choice:

“Whosoever does righteous good deed, it is for (the benefit of) his ownself; and whosoever does evil, it is against his ownself. And your Lord is not at all unjust to (His) slaves”[Fussilat 41:46]

Whoever loves Allaah and His Messenger and desires good in this world and in the Hereafter, let him enter Islam, and whoever turns away from that and is content with this world and has no interest in the Hereafter and does not submit, then his abode will be Hell. The individual is the one who will benefit or harm himself. There is no compulsion to choose either.  Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Verily, this (Verses of the Qur’aan) is an admonition, so whosoever wills, let him take a Path to his Lord (Allaah)” [al-Insaan 76:29]

Source: Islam qa