Don’t you just LOVE IT!

DREAMGIRLS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Dy7UZvqnA

RAGTIME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja9I6k8b8No

Stiu ca nu este corect “profund” ci “profound” , dar sa recunoastem ca se vede foarte urat.Am hotarat sa fac blogul pe acest wordpress.com , iar in caz ca va avea succes o sa il mut pe un host profesionist cu domeniu. Blogul va avea articole cu si despre jocuri,IT si impresii personale asupra acestora.

AVERTISMENT!!! : In acest blog se va discuta despre piraterie , dar nu se vor posta linkuri catre warez,hacking stuff.Fiecare comentariu va fi mai intai citit de catre mine si daca este in regula (adica nu contine limbaj vulgar,spam,linkuri catre warez/hack) va fi aprobat.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BLACK FRIDAY HERE I COME!!!!

“If I was a gay man dressed like a Smurf, I wouldn’t do it in here”

As is the case with most of the human race, once we consume alcohol we somehow assume that we become more intelligent and profound.

I can’t honestly claim to be any different, as those who know me best will surely testify. Having said that it doesn’t exclude me from being able to point out the absurdity of said ‘profoundness’ of other people when in an inebriated state, especially if the person in question happens to be a good friend of mine.

One evening after a couple of beers at one of our regular local haunts, my friend Richard came out with this bizarre piece of advice.

Not only is it bizarre in nature but also in context considering there was a distinct lack of Smurfs in the pub and in the conversation(s) that preceded it.

This piece of sage advice did lead me to wonder where it might ever be appropriate or accepted behaviour to dress up like a Smurf and why in particular it was something that a ‘gay man’ should definitely not attempt ‘in here’.

Answers on a Postcard.

Please know you have profoundly helped me grow to who I am today (I hope that’s not a bad thing!). I apologize off the bat for the bad grammar. This is a very stream of consciousness letter. I am thankful for so many people this is going to sound like an acceptance speech. If only I had an award to go with it!For some reason, I feel more thankful than ever. Going through a transformation of sorts puts everything in perspective. When I lost my job this past June, I would have never guessed I would have felt more alive and have met some of the most amazing people. I never dreamed I would be on television/radio and also have a blog, which has had to date over 15,000 hits. I am grateful for EVERYONE who visits day after day!

Thank you for following the journey.

If I could tell you one thing –change the world. Go out and make a difference. Stand up for what you believe in. Change someone’s life. We all have amazing stories to tell. Share them.

My blog wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without a few people. My publicist, George, whose idea it was to really go forward and create the blog. He always has a way of staying positive. A special thanks to ALL the people I have interviewed thus far: the wonderful Marti C., single-licious Melissa B, exceptional Jerry Mitchell, incredible forced to be reckoned with Frenchie Davis, life changing activities Ryan Janek Wolowski and Randy Wicker, and uber talents Richard and Dana. Elisa, Will, Angelo and Renee thank you for one point or another for being my camera bitch! There are many more people, so I apologize if I have forgotten you.

Liz S, you are an amazing woman who constantly gives me the chance to do what I love! You always astound me by the types of events you have me cover. Thank you for taking a chance with me!
Julie H. you have such an amazing heart. I never thought in a million years I would be on the Pat Field website! You have really made my year. You see things in me that I have overlooked. I can’t thank you enough for the dream come true it has been and will keep continuing!
Meagan H. – WE WILL GET KATHY!! You are such a joy to know and you never make my crazy idea is well…crazy! You are a great visionary at what you do!

My family has always been my rock. A special shout out to my relatives in PA, who are not only amazing, but I am so blessed to have reconnected with them on Facebook. Though sometimes we seem miles apart, BENNINGTONS know we are NEVER that far. Thanks guys for all the kick ass support!

My other “family” -my friends who have seen my light and my dark, I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to see each of you grow and become individuals who make me proud in the way you contribute and choices you make. Each of you has such a special gift. I truly love you all and you have been a place to look for advice, support and unconditional love. You have no clue how much I value all of you (though sometimes my sarcasm may make it seem otherwise)

My Old Tappan friends, it’s been a while but let me know when you’re around the NYC/NJ area. For me to see us all grown up seems a little freaky! It was only yesterday we were singing to Mr. Boscia’s music, seeing Mr. Rossi throw a desk, cutting class, going to the prom. Now some of you have your own families. Keep me in your heart, as I do with you.

Wagner College gave me amazing inspiration to find myself and meet professors and life-long friends who inspire me daily. There are many ways you can gain an education as I learned in my years at Wager!

Thanks to all the RENT friends I have made. Measure in love. We can always be grateful for Jonathan Larson’s lasting treasure. Thanks for all the RENT road trips!

Thank you, all the new friends I have made. I look forward to knowing you more and more (that DOES sound kind of creepy)

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WHO INSPIRE!

This year, remember those who are not as blessed and keep them in your thoughts and prayers. It’s important for us –as teachers, friends, parents, lovers, brothers, sisters,-you name it, to go out there and make a difference. Anything small can help. We can be the change.

Please have a safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving this year.

The best is yet to come,

Neal B
www.nealbinnyc.wordpress.com

The Magnificent 10 Crucial Dating Tips for Men is the top 10 dating tips that every man should know. If you want to be successful with women you need to get this audio book. This will improve any guys success in the dating game.

You will learn:

* Why certain men are really successful in the dating game and what you need to do in order to get more dates

* What is hindering you from having a great sex life and what you need to do to get back on track

* The real reason why women don’t like nice guys, and why you may not be as nice as you think you are

* Why getting a girls number isn’t enough and what you need to do before you get her number to increase your chances of seeing her again

* How to avoid being in the friend zone with every woman you would like to sleep with

* The type of behavior men display that women find awkward and how to avoid being that type of guy

* How to go on a number of dates and spend little to no money

* When to stop calling a woman and increase your chances of getting her to call you back

But wait there’s more…………..

(put this next part in bold or a different color)

This audio book not only has the the top 10 dating tips for men but it also has 2 bonus tips which are not in the original Magnificent 10 Ebook that will teach you:

* One simple thing that you can do to increase the chances of your dates coming to your house to have sex

ALSO

* An important characteristic that women find attractive in men that most men overlook and how you can be that type of guy

Most guys have trouble understanding and communicating with women. You’ve probably wondered why girls haven’t returned your phone calls, stood you up on dates, or said the phrase that every guy hates to hear “I LIKE YOU AS A FRIEND”.If you want to go out on lots of dates with beautiful women, seduce them, and have more dates than you can handle then you need to get The Magnificent 10 Crucial Dating Tips for Men Audio Book.

This book was originally priced $19.95 but now you can get if for only $9.99

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO GET YOUR COPY TODAY

Click here to get The Magnificent 10 Crucial Dating Tips for Men Audio Book

For more relationship advice visit www.mrlocario.com

Sitting in class on youth culture, staring at a panel of youth pastors discussing the churches response ot Youth culture, GenY.

The panel is:

• Eric Wayman, Small group/families pastor, Rock Harbor
• Tyler Carroll, Pastor of Student Ministries, Rock Harbor
• Jeremy Zach, Pastor to Students, Laguna Hills Evangelical Free church

Its interesting to see the different responses from the two churches, buch less the three pastors. Those from Rock Harbor are coming at the questions from a “how do we get in touch with a large group of people“, kind of like a business model of church leadership attempting to disciple people in a communal way, while Jeremy Zach is from a small church, dealing with issues of shepherding small groups of people – with a main focus on discipling people, and working against specific culture norms on a one on one basis.

Im loving watching and listening. It’s great.

Uncertainty is the opportunity for trust.

This lesson has take a variety of forms– major switch, financial difficulties, the removal of the spiritual life coordinator position, letting go of control in group projects… all of which have in common that lesson that plans can always go wrong and that my plans are not always the best in the end. Ultimately, even if my plan would have been more comfortable and might have made me more happy (ephemeral happiness being distinguished from enduring joy which entails peace and contentment), more growth results from those inky, stormy times in which I have to lay my head against the back of my strong Father who carries me as I blink back tears and the cold, stinging rain. At those times, I hear the whisper that Rob Bell articulated in a Nooma video, “We’re gonna make it, buddy. I love you…”

The following was in the lectionary, reminding me that in Christ I can ask myself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” -Heb 13:5-6

In chapel, the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley and a renowned author and speaker at many youth revivals, Francis Chan, brought up the point that we don’t fear starving when we think about whether we want to practice charity. It would be ridiculous to think that starving is a concern of us who are so well off. We do, however, hesitate out of concern for our standard of living. Sad isn’t it?

So let’s say it does happen. You give and give even as everyone around you criticizes you for being irresponsible and at the end of your life, you and your family starve to death. Then you come face to face with Jesus and you say, ‘Oops. I took your word literally when you said that anything you do for the least of these you did for me and when you said feeding those in need was feeding you, Jesus!’ But what a wonderful way to die!” -Francis Chan

Sad indeed that such a contrived thing as “standard of living” would obstruct my desire to love others in service to my loving Father and Jesus, to whom I owe my entire life. I was particularly struck by the profound strangeness of my current priorities during meditations for Great Books. This week’s meditation was strange. Usually meditations are relaxing and thought-provoking, but this one created more tension that I would have thought possible. My professor asked us to imagine us going to the hospital to receive a diagnoses from a doctor regarding whether or not we have a life-threatening illness. He instructed us to then imagine that the diagnosis was positive. We have only two months to live and we know the exact date of our death. How do we spend those two months.

My mind reeled and screamed incoherently about helping orphans in Romania (my Organizational Behavior professor started an orphanage there), going to Uganda, walking and speaking and feeding the homeless in Los Angeles… I would have nothing to lose.

But hey, none of what I have is really mine is it?

It really makes me question… What in the world am I doing with my life?

Nations are built not with bricks and stones but with the capacity to create and apply knowledge. The result of knowledge creation and application in manufacturing and management practices is well demonstrated by Japan. Today we are witness to many industrialized economies that are strengthening their manufacturing activities simply by adopting these techniques.

The distinguishing characteristics associated with Japanese manufacturing techniques include an emphasis on designing and redesigning processes to optimize efficiency and a strong commitment to quality.

The manufacturing techniques that Japanese companies practice provide a competitive advantage and outstanding economic performance. The key for success is an understanding of the broad context of manufacturing culture, infrastructure and environment. These sound manufacturing and business techniques created and adopted by leading Japanese manufacturers have turned out to be the secret of their market leadership in many industries.

Following are a few of these concepts, which can help in managing any business set-up in a better way:

• Kaizen is one such technique, which in Japanese means ‘improve.’ This is commonly recognized as practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen helps in eliminating waste.
• Another management Japanese technique is the 5-S. It is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organization. It has five elements: Seiri (sorting out useful and frequently used materials and tools from unwanted and rarely used things); Seiton (keeping things in the right place systematically so that searching or movement time is minimized); Seiso (keeping everything around you clean and in a neat manner); Seiketsu (standardizing the above principles in everyday life) and Shitsuke (inculcating good habits and practicing them continuously). The 5-S practice helps everyone in the organization to live a better life.
• Kanban and ‘Just in Time’ are two other practices in inventory management practices that were pioneered by the Japanese automobile manufacturers, such as Toyota. Quality improvement, on the other hand, is the result of lower proportion of component scrap since the components spend less time in the supply chain.
• Poka-yoke is a process improvement focused on training of workers for mastering the increasingly complicated tasks to selectively redesign the tasks so they could be more easily and reliably mastered. It involves designing a foolproof process to eliminate the chance of errors.
• Jidoka is a practice by means of which an individual worker runs several machines simultaneously. Japan thus designs such machines that eliminate both error and the need for constant supervision.
• Muda is another technique that reduces wasteful activity in service processes. It ensures process efficiency and effectiveness.
• Mura curiously combines rigidity and flexibility and thus teaches service process improvement.
• Reducing Muri means reducing physical strain. In services process improvement, Muri applies to convoluted and unnecessary routings, physical transfer, and distances paper files may have to travel for a process to complete.
• Genchi Gembutsu means going to the actual scene (genchi) and confirming the actual scene (gembutsu). Observation of service processes at the point where it is actually delivered may unearth a host of problems such as lack of training, unnecessary steps, or a number of other areas that would benefit from small but significant process improvement ideas.

This is a glimpse of manufacturing techniques that Japan has so intellectually created and so profoundly practiced in its manufacturing systems that even with no natural resources, it has acquired the status of one of the most industrialized nations. Can we learn from Japan?

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight.

IT happened a few years back, when I got a call from a family friend.

“Did you hear about Sam?” they said.

“No, Whats up?”

“She attempted suicide tonight…”

—

I hate to think about it, but this conversation is repeated often throughout our country, and sometimes the responses are not that welcoming. I was able to see my friend again- not everyone is able to do that.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. However, the phenomenon of depression and suicide is wreaking havoc on our nation. Im constantly amazed at how many people know someone who has committed or attempted suicide and, at the same time, how little its talked about or addressed- even in our churches and places of faith.

To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) is an organization and a movement that was started by a group of friends who helped a perfect stranger survive a few days of withdrawal before she was allowed to enter a detox program.  Heres another story of the hope given by this group:

“My name is Taylor and I am 22 years old. I have been an addict for the past six years of my life and have been looking at getting into rehab for awhile now. I should be checking in sometime this week I am just waiting for my federal aid to come in. I wanted to thank you guys for doing what you do and being there. I haven’t personally ever talked to anyone with your organization but my sister heard about it somehow. My sister is 18 years old and has never used a day in her life. Ever since I started using I haven’t been there for her and we kind of live two completely seperate lives. We haven’t gotten along. Today my sister picked me up from my house and said she had a surprise for me. We went and got love tattooed on our arms. She  has never had a tattoo so this was a big step for her. She started crying, I haven’t seen real emotion from my sister in a long long time. She told me what you guys were about and expressed what she has felt about my use and the way I have made her feel. I made a promise to her to stay clean, something I have never said to anyone. Every time I look down at my arm it will remind me of what a commitment my sister has made to me and to helping me stay clean. I just wanted to thank you guys for helping her understand and helping her accept me and not frown upon me. Your organization has really made an impact on both of our lives and I really wanted to express my gratitude.”

The rest of the TWLOHA story is below.

This is a fantastic movement and cause that has helped give hope to countless people through connecting them with others who struggle with the same problems, and getting them in touch with suicide and depression helplines, offering them tools to help cope and move past their helplessness.

Check them out at www.twloha.com.

by Abby Dryden

The loss of a child or partner increases the risk of heart attack by six times.  According to the findings of a Heart Foundation study. This  evidence suggests that  it could indeed possible to die of a broken heart.

The survey examined the physical changes suffered immediately after a profound loss. Thomas Buckley Principle Researcher found that grieving people were at “substantially higher risk” of heart problems.

Buckley said “We found higher blood pressure, increased heart rate, changes to immune system and clotting that would increase the risk of heart attack.”

Broken Heart (image brave bird)

The study used a group of 160 participants.  Half of those involved were morning the loss of a partner or child, it was noted that their risk of heart attack increased six-fold.

A flood of stress-hormones are likely to be the cause of the grief educed heart-ache. This condition has been observed in previous studies where it was also noted to affect women more readily than men.

This risk, which was evident in people from as young as 30 was reduced after six months and stabilised after two years. This may go some way to offer hope to all the broken-hearted.

A Feedback letter to the Course Administrators of the RKF International Screenwriting Course, lectured by Anjum Rajabali and K. Hariharan (with a dissertation on dialogue writing by Atul Tiwari). Conducted by Kamal Haasan. Not only a review of the lessons in the course, but also an in-depth analysis of the many discoveries and revolutions in screenwriting that I have come to understand through the span of 10 years:

I suppose the first step here would be to explain a little on where I am coming from so that my feedback on the Workshop will have a clearer perspective for you. The first screenwriting course I did was back in 1998, in Canberra University, Australia. I distinctly remember the lecturer expounding on the 3 Act Screenplay, but most especially I recall that being my first introduction to the Hero’s journey. Perhaps it was a lack of life experience and foresight, or perhaps it was the nature of the course itself, but I remember the Hero’s journey being a weak and finicky set of guidelines lacking in any real sense of depth. I quickly forgot all about it and moved on.

Now it has been 10 years, and I feel I have come full circle – once again revisiting the Hero’s Journey through Anjum Rajabali’s crystalline insight; and suddenly it is made clear to me at a point where I have the capacity to better understand it. You see, 10 years ago I had an inkling of why I wanted to be a storyteller… I dreamed about creating paradigm shifts through my stories and films; shifts in the way people thought and viewed the world. Since I myself had a small taste of this profound effect that a few films can have, I was determined that the craft was a worthwhile investment of the soul.

But the idea of investigating life and its meaning through storytelling was functionally lost on me. It existed only as an instinctive knowing that yes – this is possible! But on the whole, as much as I exasperated, I was unable to fuel insight and wisdom into my stories. For that, I suppose, I needed to live a little. To fall down, and rise up – and understand the profound miracle of what it means to rise up. I went in search of experience, and gave everything up – travelled a lot, lived as a hermit for a few years and threw myself into strange spiritual paradoxes that ordinarily passes you by. In effect, I was merely gathering material. Which inevitably comes to a point where you empty your cup and realise the material was within you all along. Even for that, you need to come full circle.

Coming full circle, Anjum begins to explain the Hero’s journey like a flaming arrow going to the crux of storytelling itself: Mythology helps us understand interiority. I had pondered mythology like a lifeline, I had written compulsively to externalise internal thoughts… yet this insight was a vital link that I had hitherto not anticipated. It validated and made sense of years of rich material that I was waiting to put to use. Suddenly, under the very construct of Anjum’s musings on the Hero’s Journey, my mind cleared and everything seemed to fall into place – options were made available where none seemed possible. Perhaps it seems I am overstating, yet believe me, for one who is intensely passionate about going to the heart of any given thing, this was a revelation. Mythology was not merely good material for me – it has been the pulse of a mystical creation symbolically told. The idea that we can fathom our own existence by our stories was always present, the door was visible and closed – but I needed the key.

After that moment, the course became transformative. At this point let me retrack a bit to set the scene… The second course on screenwriting I did was in 2004 with an Australian writer/filmmaker named Leslie Oliver. He brought a unique insight to storytelling that I don’t think I will ever forget – not merely for the fact that it is so simple but also that it is so revealing. He explained that “character is story, story is character.” I know we speak often in screenwriting circles about the importance of character, but few go so far as to state this inexplicable link. Most of the time, we find a difference between our stories and our characters, but not with Leslie. His technique was to observe the obscure moments of life by which to fathom a character that invokes us to explore him or her, and in placing that character into a conflicting situation, we see them develop. He felt that nothing else is really needed except this, in order to tell a powerful story. He spoke about writing as akin to sculpting; what you are doing in effect is chipping away on a slab of stone to uncover the nightingale already waiting within it.

This was so far removed from my first course in Screenwriting, which was formulaic in comparison, that after the course with Leslie Oliver, I seemed to find most of the other available courses were expounding mainly on the dastardly “character arc”, and I lost interest in going to any more workshops. Of course I was developing stories along the way, and getting stuck with some. Festering – I should say, living with my stories for years, developing them slowly. Time passed. Much happened.

I felt a certain knack for creating a breathtaking symmetry in skeletal framework for my screenplays, and it wasn’t until recently that suddenly my entire understanding of storytelling was shattered by an American playwright/screenwriter named Billy Marshall-Stoneking. At the culmination of 2008, just as I was arranging to come to India, I stumbled across Stoneking’s advert for his screenwriting course. He spoke of mediumistic, tribal storytelling. Mediumistic?! Tribal?! These words resonated deeply, as quite a part of my life was engaged in mediumistic spirituality – where ethereal beings were simply “channelled” into the body (the owner of the body handing control for a few moments), whilst the visitor inhabited. And it rang true, the moment I read two otherwise unrelated words grouped side by side. Mediumistic storytelling. Billy was a man who had spent a large part of his life living with aboriginal tribes and assimilating a sense of universal storytelling through a powerfully primal form – from the very origins of tribal consciousness.

Yes, it made sense. I had passed across several writers who spoke of living with their characters, of their characters voices in their heads, of their characters existing in their own right. I had always found this very intangible, as I only heard one voice in my head. Mine. No one elses (or so I thought). So, the entire idea of having a conversation with someone other than myself in my mind was more than a little unfathomable. Yet I longed for that intimacy I had read authors speak of in interviews – that profound intimacy with their characters where they even speak to them. Until then the sort of intimacy I shared with my characters were more the fodder of potent emotions begging exploration, rather than voices. Yet that is semantics really. Where the emotions manifest as thoughts, or vice versa, is almost seamless.

I decided to be honest and emailed Billy, explaining to him that I’ve been through a whole load of courses on screenwriting and have hardly come across anything new these days, so I would very much appreciate it if he would be forthcoming with me whether he’s got anything new to say or not. Yes, I was blunt, but respectful. His reply was to enigmatically encourage me to come along. And, as curiosity always gets the better of me, I went along to see what he had to say – without judgement.

What transpired was my mind shut down – not in any negative sense, but in the profound realisation that every rule I seemed to have set myself about screenwriting flew out the window. Because Billy was speaking of “dramatic storytelling” in a freshness that invoked, provoked the listener to drop their ideology and approach screenwriting with utter vulnerability. Let me summarise the kind of thinking he directed at you to confound everything you thought you knew for a fact:
• The whole thing is about transforming: every scene should hold a transformation.
• Dramatic intelligence is the art of becoming present.
• The intersection of the origins of the characters with the origins of the writer is what brings freshness to a story.
• You’re dealing with dead people, and you’re trying to make them alive. You are also dead. You become alive by writing… They are dreaming you, and you are dreaming them.
• The fundamental question you must ask yourself: What is your character fighting for?
• Drama is really an exploration of frustrated desires. Drama is essentially about anxiety and overcoming anxiety.
• Who is it that you are speaking for? Or more intimately: who is speaking through you?
• The truth is revealed in the face of opposition.
• We must journey on as if we are blind – if we look down, we will fall.
• Write the story that terrifies you the most. Go into the mouth of Kali.
• The screenplay world and your world are inexplicably connected… And whatever you do in one world will impact the other.
• Art never explains. Every time you explain what you are trying to do, you are trying to avoid a fear!
• The one thing of no use to a dramatic storyteller is knowledge, because knowledge gets in the way.
• This is the art of the invisible! In what is not said. In what is not shown.
• There are characters that want to come out. That are imprisoned by the writer’s fears. We project our fears and that drops the potential the characters actually have.
• When we hit the wall, we have to drop our expectations, because the wall is a manifestation of our expectations.

It is this aspect of hitting the “wall”, that was the crux of his unique way of seeing this ancient artform. That, inevitably, in every story, the writer and his characters will reach a point of critical conflict where he is forced to live it through his characters – and at this point most writers take the cowards way out. They resort to some rationality, some formulaic way out of the insurmountable situation. And if they do, the story will lose all its power and worth. It is at this point – at this wall, that one must drop everything they think they know, and step into the unknown. Become intuitive rather than intellectual. I would say there is rarely a screenwriting course that approaches storytelling with such bravery. This bravery was deeply appealing, as I had always considered good writing as that rare gift of pouring the depths of your soul onto paper. It felt like a code of honour only wielded by the warrior-poets. For they will not succumb, even in their words.

So it came to be that when I was at the right place at the right time, and invited to attend the RKF International Screenwriting Workshop, I decided to come without any expectations. In several ways Billy had created more questions than answers, and I was unable to pick up the pieces myself. I was stuck as to understand how to push my story ideas forward because his course had demanded of me a complete relinquishing of myself. It had demanded me to set myself aside and let the characters write through me.

I succeeded, and through the workshop created stories where I was so utterly surprised by the outcome, and since my own transformation was honest, I could see its effect on the audience. But as for applying this methodology to stories I had already developed upto treatment stage, I was unable to find the balance. This is not to say that my previous stories were so manufactured that they needed to be discarded. Rather, I am an unrelenting perfectionist – and I wished to imbue my entire body of work with this newfound insight. I realised that I had been hearing the voices of my characters all along, yet my fear had been stifling them.

I think you may understand now why I opted to give this explanation of what brought me to the point of your workshop, as it does set the scene in revealing what transpired within me throughout the phenomenal six days.

Firstly, I did not expect for Anjum, Hariharan and the majority of speakers to extol this very same bravery from us in our writing. That took me by surprise, and it was then that I realised that I was right where I was supposed to be. To divulge step by step:

DAY 1: PREMISE/CHARACTERISATION.

I have believed for a long while now that the real meaning of “literacy” is not the assimilation of information, but rather – to learn the skill of questioning what is before you – not taking anything as a given, but discovering for yourself. For that to work, the uniqueness of the individual is imperative. It is this uniqueness that produces originality, and I had a deepening sense of relief to witness that Kamal Haasan and the lecturers were acutely aware of this and were giving it utmost importance.

For a long time now in screenwriting circles the premise had been taught to be the fundamental moral of the story – the core “message” of the film. Yet on day one of the RKFI Course, Anjum explained the premise to be something else entirely – although he acknowledged that it is often known to be a moral, he insisted that a premise is better known as the “lock” of the story. That is, the culminating incident to which the entire story is built up, and thus resolved.

At first, I didn’t see why this difference in definition was even necessary, but as I began to ponder the issue, and moreover, apply it to my own stories, it soon became crystalline that this particular use of premise is far more useful in the construction of a screenplay. Because we are then dealing with the crux of the story itself, its very backbone, and thereby are constantly aware of where we are going off on tangents, or staying true to the heart of the story. As opposed to a moral or theme, which may speak for subtext, but on the whole does not define the constructs and motivations of the characters.

It became apparent that this particular definition of premise is most elevating for a writer on his/her journey of discovering characters and the situation of conflict they find themselves in. It brings focus on the conflict in very specific terms – relatable only to the story being told – it enables the writer to be unique and fresh in the telling. Suddenly, the “premise” had a use in the process of writing, and was no longer a musing on the tale.

Hariharan then presented, in his analysis of characterisation, what appeared at first notice to be an opposing approach. Whilst Anjum was fused with conviction in the intuitive magic that exists within writing, and was presenting ways in which to allow such intuition to “reveal” itself to the writer, Hariharan seemed passionate about the mechanics – about construction in a surprisingly mathematical precision. I would guess that for most delegates at the course, this would have posed an element of choice – of deciding one way or another. It certainly did for me, as I felt at home with the fire of intuition that Anjum had spoken of, and had often dismissed the need to totally intellectualise or feign the mechanics of the writing process. I am certain others would have felt more at home with the mechanics, and perhaps even puzzled at the notion of giving so much importance to intuition.

Yet, I was sitting in the course with already a dilemma at the back of my mind. The one that Billy had created, by persuading me with fine fuzzy zen-like logic to do away with any sort of mechanical approach – which I had on the whole found next to impossible. No matter how intuitively culminated, there would always be a strong mechanics in the structure of my stories that I was unable to do away with.

Pondering the contradicting approaches of both Hariharan and Anjum, it eventually dawned on me that this is indeed a right brain/left brain issue. That is, the optimum function of an individual is when both are in balance, when creativity and logic are simultaneously active and complimentary to the other. Suddenly, Hariharan and Anjum did not seem so far apart, and in imagining how both can be applied to the process of writing, slowly a clarity began to settle upon me.

For this reason, I felt it remarkable that the course syllabus was formed to represent two (or more) seemingly opposing ideas as a tangible whole. This aspect of opposing ideas co-existing was a recurring theme throughout the course, and one of its crowning virtues – it oft reminded me of the tantric saying: “The truth can only ever be told in the contradictions. Or… in silence.”

If anything, it would have placed the attentive listener in the predicament of not walking away with set rules and constructs – but rather inspired an openness to the writing process itself. In a worldwide education system that is surely failing because of its spotlight upon memorising a panorama of rules (and soon forgetting them), I was kindled with a vigour to witness a better method of teaching.

DAY2: STRUCTURE.

The finely tuned exploration of how a dilemma is built to a critical mass – being the engrossing topic of the second day. A few of the things that really stood out for me and have instilled themselves implicitly are:
• Change can only happen in a person capable of change.
• The nature of heroism is unintentional – a man is provoked into heroic acts – and heroism is not in and of itself a grounding motive.
• Tragedies are where characters are unable to resolve their dilemma.
• Subplots throw light on hidden dimensions of the main plot.
• Theory of dialectics: The opposite of something exists within itself.

In essence, the fundamental lesson here was that there must be an internal conflict within every powerful scene or sequence, a conflict that reveals itself through subtext or subplots, all intimately linking back to the premise. At this point, the premise becomes infinitely pivotal – every moment of the film holds a premise, contributing to an underlying premise that drives energy to the entire story.

Ultimately bringing home the essential masterstroke of every piece of art – show, don’t tell.

Of course, this point is made almost always in writing courses, yet to demonstrate the point also requires a lucidity that gives the student enough breath to recompose and integrate it into himself. For this, reason, I valued Anjum’s approach – he had carefully highlighted the underlying facet of conflict as in itself revealing the subtext. This essentially enables the aspiring writer to not find subtexts so mysterious. Which meant only intuition would decide the immaculate and fresh circumstances in which the characters find themselves.

Yet even this intuition is more guided by observing life, rather than observing film – it is a dance between the two – of translating those obscure moments that are so definitive of life into the language of film. So, the premise is more about deriving meaning out of existence, meaning on existence itself – that is the invariable link between life and film – every moment of every situation becomes meaningful in stories, and thereby gives meaning to life. Stories become sacred because they eradicate the pointlessness of existence. They become mythic because they remind the lost about the forgotten.

Everything became tangible here for me – it is essentially about dilemma, and surprisingly, a dilemma of the soul, making it an exploration of spirit – even if, in film, it seems simply like a character exploration. For why else is a character invoked into heroism, and into changing, if not to better himself into something intuitive. Why else is a writer invoked to forsake all knowledge and write with a divining sense of intuition, had it not been proved through the ages that only this kind of writing creates timeless art. More than about character, it was about the spirit within the character. For otherwise, intuition (and instinct) would not be so crucial. It would simply be another word receiving lip-service.

DAY 3: DIALOGUE & DECONSTRUCTION.

This was the central letdown in the course. Through all that Atul Tiwari was expounding, be it the history of dialogue writing, and especially examples of the best forms of dialogue – the one thing, the primary thing – that he neglected to divulge was the PROCESS of dialogue writing itself. I did ask a few questions pertaining to his writing process, but did not get an insightful response.

The main aspect of dialogue writing (especially in Indian films) is that quite often screenplay and dialogue are not written by the same people. Yet Anjum had spoken at length about the necessity to spend an intimate amount of time living and breathing your characters, imagining them living alongside you and better understanding their motivations and characteristics. So much investment is made upon the characters to understand the emotions that rule them.

Having bled with your characters, finally you emerge out of the dark night with a reckoning screenplay, and are about to collaborate with a dialogue writer. I have full faith in the specific mastery of dialogue writing – I understand that it is entirely a different skill to writing screenplay or understanding time and space pertaining to plot. It is for this very reason that I wanted to delve deeper into this skill of the dialogue writer, to see how he is so quickly able to assimilate the characters that the screenwriter has been developing for months, and furthermore to understand their vocabulary and style and manner of speech. Hopefully in future courses this aspect of dialogue writing would be explored for the students. A greater focus on process would be far more helpful, I feel, rather than a demonstration of the history and evolution of dialogue writing (unless this evolution also is made to tie in to the “process”).

I am glad however, that the lecturers chose to emphasise that one must think of the characters as having an “independent” personality – that you, in effect, are not creating these characters, but pushing them, reacting to them, and evolving and transforming with them. You are walking beside them, not manufacturing them out of lego pieces.

The revealing of how subtext is used in films was quite instructive. It was a divulging into the “non-active” power that exists in films. The power of the silence, the power of what is not said. Nothing offers as much window into reality and the exploration of real dilemmas as the use of “what is not shown.” As Eisenstein would put it; “the art of the invisible.”

Which inevitably lead to the deconstruction of the screenplay, lectured by Hariharan. Immediately beginning with the proposition: Consider time also as a character. I was astonished to witness the detail to which the 7 minute intro sequence of Satyajit Ray’s film was broken apart and analysed with piercing and remarkable judgement. Without exaggeration, I sat mesmerised, and secretly hoped that Hariharan would continue to analyse the entire film with this prowess of film language.

With illuminating precision, the nature of the objective/subjective link in film was explored, coaxing the eager student to grasp the rudiments of great storytelling.

DAY 4: HERO’S JOURNEY, PROCESS & INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS.

“A writer’s inspiration enters you through your fingertips.” – Anjum Rajabali.

There are things we instinctively know – things like the virtues: no one ever disagrees that to be a hypocrite is a vice, not a virtue. And that to be honourable is a virtue. These aren’t social rules, or political ones. It is intrinsic to our very being. That is the essence of instinctive knowing – where suddenly your tribal or cultural affiliations, or where you come from doesn’t make you so different to the rest of us, because there is an underlying unification in our consciousness.

However, as much as we have this knowing, we are for the most part unable to see the heart of it, see the fodder from which it comes, and how it manifests. For this very reason, for a long time I believed in the power of storytelling, yet was unable to find the words to express its imminent role in one’s identity. Because for the most part, people would rather convince themselves that stories are merely a squandering type of entertainment to escape boredom. This superficial idea is often so powerful a paradigm, that entertainment itself seems to have succumbed to this very definition, and attempted to do just that – quell boredom.

The thunderous roar of the warrior-poets, who would weave stories in the hearts of their countrymen to inspire courage, to dispel fear, and to mostly, urge them to discover themselves – all of this innate power of storytelling is often forgotten. So it was, that when Anjum divulged the apex of the hero’s journey as essentially the facing of oneself (as proposed by Joseph Campbell), everything fell into place like the difficulty of a jigsaw puzzle being finally resolved.

Suddenly I had means in which to speak of that which I have devoted my life to – storytelling itself – I had means in which to speak of its dominating influence within society without being vague, or sceptical. Since that day, I had shared the very same insight I had learnt to several acquaintances during dinner gatherings, and have witnessed the clarity and power that settled over them to understand the real nature of stories.

Mythology in itself is a misunderstood word. I remember a few years back deciding to read about Jesus not as a historical figure, but as a fictional character – and was surprised to find how much more power he had over me, how much more influence. I then tried the same with the ancient Puranas, and to date have rarely come across stories so rich. Does it matter if it is fact, or fiction? More to the point, is fiction, by definition, a mark of what is not real… or is it that which signifies everything we value to be real! Therein lies its power.

Isn’t it so that the wisdom within the myths are more valuable than the question of whether it really happened? As Campbell repeats again and again, myths exists to show us solutions to our own dilemmas. Science itself is more an assertion of what has not been “proved” wrong, rather than what has been proved right. To the discriminating eye, there are no facts, and fictions become far more magical – magic itself becomes the reality. This is why writers give up the world, this is why they bleed, why they want to relinquish their own souls in order to discover themselves through their stories.

Just as the character discovers himself at the culmination of the hero’s journey, the writer is being transformed alongside him. But only if he is approaching it in an intuitive process! Which is why Anjum was insistent on this specific kind of writing, as was Billy. The hero’s journey, ultimately, is the visual representation of an otherwise invisible struggle of self discovery. Of facing your own fears. These things, quite often, happen in darkness, it happens often without anyone close to you ever discovering what you are going through. Yet with these stories, the world can intimately relate to you, because it is what they themselves are experiencing. This is why they revisit the majestic cinema!

Coming full circle – on this day, the pieces fell into place, and all the contradictions of storytelling that I had learnt became a potent oneness of expression.

The afternoon of the fourth day amassed a step-by-step analysis of how to create stories for the film industry. A tasteful and grounded counterpart to the deeply invigorating morning.

DAY 5 – DAY 6 –

I think what was very validating for the students was watching the guest lecturers speak about screenwriting within the same constructs and with the same approach as what was impressed upon us within the first four days. Especially since the guest lecturers/filmmakers were totally unaware of what transpired in the last four days in the course, the very fact that their own sharing and experiences corroborated with what was taught affirmed that we were not dealing with theories here, but applications.

Although the fifth and sixth day was an amalgamation of some brilliant minds within the international film fraternity, there is one issue that I wish you to consider: The writers/filmmakers who spoke to us did not seem so tuned-in to the kind of information we really wanted from them. It was not loaded with the essential wisdom a budding screenwriter desperately needs. It lacked the tightness of the first four days. Every now and then the celebrities would make a statement that was amazingly illuminating, but for the most part they seemed to talk in tangents. I think the purpose of having seminars in the last two days was to very specifically study the guest speakers’ process and development with screenwriting. Sometimes though I got the feeling the guest lecturers forgot this.

Perhaps if the prominent writers had it in their mind to speak to “themselves as beginners”, and to tell themselves the kind of things they would have wanted to know, it could improve the course immensely. Instead, for quite a substantial amount of the two days, what we received was a history of what these writers/filmmakers have been through… or worse, some industrial trivia that was no help whatsoever. Reflecting back on the mistake by Atul Tiwari in describing the history of dialogue writing, perhaps it is easier for a person who is unprepared to describe the history of things without ever going to the heart of it. I do request that you find some solutions to avoid this in future.

I must add here that this does not apply to the entirety of the last two days. Jean Claude Carriere, for example, seemed enamoured with naught else but the intricate process of screenwriting, and spoke lucidly about the mechanisms in which to understand it. Aside from that, each of the speakers every now and then delivered some striking wisdom that either affirmed or violently contradicted what was taught to us in the first four days. Either way, I took them both to be valid, because by then I had understood that the confusion that comes from contradictions is more helpful than harmful.

By the end of it all, I remember still being a little puzzled about what was said about dialogue writing, so I approached Rituparno Ghosh (his film from the night before, Dosar, still fresh on my mind), and questioned him about his prowess in writing such fresh dialogue.

I said, “How do you write your dialogues?”

He replied, “After a point, my characters write the dialogues.”

That seemed to summarise it all, and I have meditated upon that insight ever since.

Some unforgettable statements from the course:

“Mythology is the need to contextualise oneself. Mythology deals with denials and the understanding of denials.” – Shekhar Kapur.

“Scriptwriting is about how to catch the desire of the audience and how to hold that desire. What is credible is whatever the spectator desires.” – Olivier Lorelle.

“The rules of scriptwriting is nothing but a shortcut to a point of choicelessness.” – Shekhar Kapur.

“Language is a miserably inadequate medium to express the richness of emotions, and that is what makes its inadequacy a fantastic subtext.” – Balu Mahendra.

“Your local audience is your global audience. If you win the hearts of the locals, they can take you to the global.” – Bharat Bala.

“You have to enter the dark cave and come out of it all wounded to understand why you are writing the screenplay.” – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

One word that cannot describe this course is: exhausting! Yes, it was an intensive plethora of hours spent, listening to discourses until evening, then analysing a movie during the night, and yet I felt more alive and invigorated, ready and anticipating the next day. Infact, after the movie, groups of us who were of like minds (and even staunchly opposing minds), would gather together to debate what we had learnt during the day – sometimes until 2am – before we decided to rest. And somehow wake up, ready to absorb all over again.

My deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to a sure-footed step into redefining the standards of storytelling. I found Kamal Haasan, in person, to be wiser than I had realised, and his remark comes to mind, “when mediocrity is set as the standard, then to be a genius means very little.” I feel that several great minds felt a calling to improve things – and feel blessed to have been at the right place at the right time to take part in it. To bring meaningfulness back to storytelling has been my dream also, and feel extremely liberated to be offered the chance to dream it with others.

Thank you.

Vajra Krishna.

If you practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats. – Richard Bach.

Sanity Catch revolves dimensionally around free-will – in its tangibly raw, real, hectically tragic yet simultaneously liberating essence. A positive message is often more powerful when it touches base with the damningly dirty, primal nature of man, when it trancends a dreamscape to engage the observer with situations that hold for them a moral rigidity. It is where the question of free-will – often considered a pseudoscience – truly arrises, coupled with a dash of spirit.

The objective of the film is not to provoke thought. The objective is to still the mind and touch the soul. Where nothing needs be spoken. Where a deep seed of insight within the subconscious of the observer is sprinkled with perspective.

When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait to get to college where there would be girls everywhere. For some reason I had the idea that these girls would be all over me and they would all be really hot. So when I got to orientation I had some pretty high expectations.  I was severely disappointed when I found out that although there were some beautiful young women, they weren’t all models.

Despite the fact that not every girl was a ten, I did find one at orientation that I liked.  Or at least I liked her for awhile…

Her name was — I’m not gonna say her name.  It did start with a ‘J’ though.  So I’m gonna call her J.  I met this girl J at orientation really randomly.  I think she was talking on the phone and then I decided to talk to her while she was on the phone because I thought it would be funny.  She thought it was funny too.  And so we hit it off.  We talked a lot and then we hung out and stuff and it was cool.  I was thinking to myself how cool it was that I had met a girl on like day one.  She was flirtatious and hot and pretty.  JACKPOT!

As J and I got to talking, she told me something that sort of changed the way I looked at her.  She told me that she was on parole.  I was totally shocked that this little angel was a vicious, baseball bat wielding, crackhead attacking assaulter.  I mean seriously, I didn’t expect this girl to be a crazy person.  The weird thing was even after I found out about her little escapade with the law I kept talking to her.  What was i thinking?? Oh yeah, she was hot.  That’s what I was thinking.  Well maybe that wasn’t my exact thought at the time, but I was willing to give this girl the benefit of the doubt because she did honestly seem like a good person.

Finally after a few hours of hanging out, it was bed time.  So I used some pimp line to get J’s phone number.  I don’t remember what it was, but it worked.  As I lay in my bed that night, I texted her and we continued our conversations we had started earlier that day.  She told me that she was gonna sleep in her friend John’s room because she didn’t like her roommate.  This didn’t bother me because J wasn’t like my girlfriend or anything so what would have I been able to say anyways?  So I finally said good night because I had to pick my classes the next day.

I saw J the next morning at the class picking thing.  What she told me made me want to have nothing to do with her.  I first saw her and she didn’t look good.  She had bags under her eyes and her makeup looked terrible.  She also sounded really hoarse when I talked to her.  She had told her boyfriend (she had a boyfriend and didn’t tell me!!! wow!) that she spent the night in John’s room and had been arguing and screaming with her boyfriend all night.  Her boyfriend had then collected all her belongings that she had left at his house — which apparently was a lot of stuff– and had piled it together so that he could pour lighter fluid on it and set it on fire.  I didn’t know what to say at all.  All I know is I made sure I didn’t have any classes with this girl because she was bad news.

That was my first experience with college girls…

WIT – 5 years on – Web In Travel celebrated its 5th birthday and even though it was my first WIT, I came away with the understanding that the conference has depth and sincerity that can only be achieved through trust.

Stage for WIT 2009

On arrival, I was handed a program guide and tucked inside was a list of what must be the who’s who of the online travel industry that were attending.

One of the Many Panels of Experts

I am now going to proceed and summarise my WIT 2009 journey in the best way I know – the social media way = keywords.

Enlightening, profound, humorous, creative, conflicting, old ways, new ways, homemade cookies, social media, engagement, search, entrepreneurship, mentors, students, Twitter, status, community, art, opinions, fear, deals, Facebook, style, value, graffiti, empathy, monitor, react, pre-emptive, classic, roses, luxury, budget, holistic, experience, destinations, in your face, google, to serve, passion, tough love, did I say Facebook?

NEW: Twitter Roost @ WIT

Special mention needs to be made relating to the events discussion I witnessed, even with prompting by distinguished moderator – there seemed to be no obvious understanding or relevance or decisive recognition of how social media might have an enormous impact on the events business. I can only direct those in the events business to a review of an event I was involved in that clearly shows how events can deliver superior results if you engage a community online in somewhere like Facebook.

David Meerman Scott speaks Tattoos – http://www.webinknow.com/2009/01/how-an-active-facebook-group-drove-15000-people-to-the-singapore-tattoo-show.html

[Yeoh Siew Hoon our Host]

My congrats to Yeoh Siew Hoon (SHY) and her team on Web In Travel 2009. Happy 5th Birthday. – APLINK.

Willy Foo - facebook guy... leads the crew

All images courtesy of Willy Foo – to see the entire set visit:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=166745&id=719891275

sometimes you just sit
and the world becomes better
call it profound poo

I’m in the law school cafeteria, thinking about how grateful I am that I got up when I did, although I didn’t want to endure the line, to order a burrito. I just held the burrito in my hands, feeling how plump and hot it was, bursting with scrambled eggs, diced tomatoes, olives, “shrooms” as the chef called it, spinach and lettuce… something perfect for this rainy day. As I felt the heat permeate my fingers and the steam on my nose, I thought the following stream of thought:

People become pregnant with life. Life is pregnant with possibility. We are pregnant with possibility.

This passage comes from a book I borrowed from Hannah about how women are made by God to be captivating. It illustrates a mindset and understanding that I hold within myself every time I stay alone in my room studying on my laptop with the lights off, when I circle the cafeteria only to eat alone on the periphery or outside or when I step through campus, as if I were floating, yet with the feeling that each step is made by a leaden foot and a numb mind. Wrong thoughts crawl through my head, insidiously making themselves seem like a balm or a passing mood. God, I know you’re here, but I feel so alone. Jesus, I know you want to carry my burdens, but thank you, I think I can do this myself. It’s not that I’m anti-social. Far from it. But sometimes, I end up so overwhelmed with all the things I have to do or the standards that I set up for myself that I fear reaching out because I might make a mistake. Yet I know that hiding is never a permanent solution, that it can actually become something cold and frigid, a so-called answer I inflict on myself, too scared of not deserving heaven to wrench myself from the frozen lake that is my personal hell.

Sometimes the idea of living as a hermit appeals to all of us. No demands, no needs, no pain, no disappointments. But that is because we have been hurt, are worn out. In our heart of hearts, that place where we are most ourselves, we don’t want to run away for very long. Our lives were meant to be lived with others. As echoes of the Trinity, we remember something. Made in the image of a perfect relationship, we are relational to the core of our beings and filled with a desire for transcendent purpose. We long to be an irreplaceable part of a shared adventure.

-John and Stasi Eldredge, Captivating