Best movies of 2012

Here are my best movies of 2012

5. Life of Pi  

i read the book long time back when i was in second year (2008). My design faculty recommended the book and coincidentally i was on a ship sailing around Laskshadweep islands. And recently was watching this movie, Life of Pi. But i still don't get which one's the true story of Pi, the one with Richard Parker or the other. 

4. Kahaani

 Vidya Balan once said that she is the only "khan" amongst the actresses and no wonder that she's damn right about what she said. Kahaani literally leaves one dumbstruck when at the end we are caught up in an unexpected twist to the whole journey of a pregnant woman  looking for her lost husband. 

 07. The Flowers of War

With Japan's invasion of China, the mercenary ( played by Christian Bale ) finds himself with a big and dangerous situation of saving the girls from the church from the Japanese soldiers. And a bunch of prostitutes interestingly add a flavor to the movie. Its a Chinese movie by the way.

02. Django unchained

 This one's a hardcore action from Quentin Tarantino with Jamie Fox, Chritoph Waltz and Leonardo in a lead role. The movie uncharacteristically is a action movie running over a soft romantic story of Jamie Fox and his lost wife. This movie also proves why one should watch hollywood movies by director unlike bollywood which goes by a lead actor.

01. Dark knight rises

Here's the best that i still can't get over with. Was in Delhi collecting my probation certificate that movie happened to be released in theater. The excitement and the environment that it created was so awesome that i also felt like clapping when the movie ended together with other moviegoers. The trilogy of batman ended in such a epic manner. Even such a simple fiction, Christopher Nolan directed in a such a awesome manner. Of course he's other movies like Inception, Prestige, Memento, were all good but this one's the greatest of all. 

 

So this is it, my favorite movies of 2012.  What are yours?

Chu-nyipa losar tashi delek

Losing community vitality

With internet age breaking into the every aspect of our life and the civilization, I am awestruck by the simple fact that we have changed the whole system of our community and life style. We are into what we proudly call as Social media during most part of our day apparently trying to construct the social web and also keeping in touch with our friends. World’s most of the population are into facebooking, tweeting and in various forms of media and the ones who are not into these are most probably deprived of internet facility. However the question that goes unanswered is that are these things really a form of social interaction which would make our life thrive if not better?

Few months back, I attended this symposium organized by Japanese architects. There was already a so much of outsider coming to Bhutan and reminding Bhutanese architects about traditional architecture of Bhutan that we have to listen from our peers about young architects not trying even to know about our culture and traditions which are deeply rooted in our architecture. They went and went basically trying to teach us the same thing which we have been looking at since we took keen interest in architecture. However amongst many Japanese architects who presented their works and case studies of Bhutanese architecture, what caught my conscience was when their team leader started his presentation.

He started his presentation by showing the picture of a great Japan tsunami 2011. He begin by saying that Japan is proud and boastful of their technologies which has earned the fame of being one of the best in the world which contributed in changing the whole pattern of civilization, however when there was big disaster, these technologies did not help- mobiles phones were off, electricity was not there, cars couldn’t ply because of the flood and debris collected over and the only thing that helped was people. People helped people.

It was such a big realization that it made me think over about how I don’t know my immediate neighbor even after staying in that same building for 6 months now let alone the whole tenants. And that I have not even tried to know them. We live in such a small community and yet we don’t know people around. I keep in touch with my friends in social media and all, but I have never bothered to ask the name of the person who stays in the next flat. What if such disasters occur some day, I won’t be able to ask for help to my friends who stay far away. Even when some of our friends unknowingly leave us latched inside the flat, we have to call our friend and wait for him to reach the house to open the door. It’s a pity that we are busy trying to catch our friends online but do not have a social interaction with people who are at immediate distance. We go for clubbing and partying, but we have never thought of enjoying a simple gathering over a dinner with friends and relatives.

Although the Japanese claimed of community vitality that which is still existent in Bhutan, I feel we are already in the losing phase. We are turning into unsocial aliens, not even animals because animals have a big sense of togetherness and that’s why we say flock of birds, herd of cattle, etc.

The price of building a community is expensive until we are in adversity.  

To be good, it must last

“To be good, it must last” was the phrase which caught my simple mind. It was during one of those days after I finished 12^th and was in a school representing my younger brother’s result day. The guest of honor was a district magistrate who while giving away the prizes to the students, who have out-stood others in the exam, made a very big statement to those young kids gathered in front of the school. I really do not know if students understood what he meant or not, but for me it kind of came as a very good food-for-thought.

How many things abruptly succumbs to a change of failure and suddenly good thing they once stood for is evaporated in a thin air? How many heroes end with a big tragedy when they meet their nemesis? How many of us are not able to keep up our good works or achievements? It’s as easy as to say that nothing lasts longer and that’s the beauty of everything in nature.

Today as I stand here looking at the same articles in a blog for about more than a month, I get a bizarre feeling whether the blog that I loved once so dearly is in dire need of my attention? And I get a guilty feeling of those days when I even forgot to check the blog, and I am here shamelessly trying to ask forgiveness for not being able to update and keep the life breathing healthily in it. And of course to those bloggers with whom me and my blog grew up, I am sorry to have not updated my blog and has left the space for this long.

Of course, in the stage where I have just begun my life, the dreams and the works occupy most of my time. And it’s become tough to keep the strings of other things in life uptight and updated.

Now I understand what the phrase meant and what magistrate then was trying to tell the young kids. To be good, or to earn the quality if being good, one must continue the good spirit of doing good things and never let the good things slip away. Just being good at one time and gradually losing the quality doesn't qualify to be good. 

Charlie Chaplin story

Let me share this wonderful parable told me by my friend, Navin Rai when we were together in college. It kind of shows how world is filled with wrong judgments made intentionally by few people fueled by pretext of acquaintances, family relationship and misuse of power and whether the ignorance and quality of the jurors also attributes the birth of such judgments which goes on to create the series of effects on the world is left to the judgment of my readers. 

Picture courtesy : http://4.bp.blogspot.com/

Charlie Chaplin, the famous man who we know for the laughter and comedy told through the pure silence once disguised and participated in a “Charlie Chaplin Look-alike” competition. Now for my readers, who are not aware of such competition, then allow me to enlighten you with what it meant by ‘look-alike’. You see, there are many of us who look like certain celebrities, and we are sometimes famously called by their names as well. So our Charlie here went to participate in one such competition where people who looked like him were competing for the title of a person who looks like him.

Funny enough, the result was astonishing. Charlie Chaplin stood third the “Charlie Chaplin Look-A-Like” competition.

Whether he disguised so much so that he completely looked different or whether like it happens in many places much to the dismay of an honest winner, or the jurors were corrupted, one can draw one’s own conclusion, but the message was so clear.

World is filled with many such wrong judgments.