Women on the rise – men are going down

Douglas Adams wrote about days when “spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women” (I’m skipping a part about “real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri”). Yes, the ways of life back in time often seem to be more real than current state of affairs – especially from a perspective of years. But Douglas Adams, who sadly is no longer with us, did not predict a women-dominated society though – at least to my knowledge.

A totalitarian women’s regime has been pictured in “Sexmisssion” (Polish: “Seksmisja”) – Polish famous and cultish – at least in Poland – comedy science fiction action movie from 1984. The story is about (if you are going to watch it – attention: spoilers ahead!) two males subjected to a hibernation experiment who wake up in a post-nuclear female society – because men died out, and in fact they are not wanted anymore – men are considered to be an extinct, aggressive, prone to violence and self-distraction, less intelligent, primitive subspecies – women believe they are better off without men (and that Copernicus was a woman).

And surprise, surprise: todays’ experts predict demise of men and rise of women!  In the world when physical strength is not really needed and aggression and violence is condemned men have to find themselves in the new (for them) empathetic world of soft interpersonal and communication skills, where differences of opinions are no longer fiercely fought out but softly discussed with mutual understanding. And the hell, even women start to earn more than their husbands! Girls even do better at schools! Times are changing – as a man I have to admit it sadly. Listen to two TED talks: Philip Zimbardo: The demise of guys?  and Hanna Rosin: New data on the rise of women.

MG

Truth

The main point I want to make here is that the truth is not always the most important thing. In fact people often pretend that something is true (e.g. Santa Clause) in order to do good things for bad or untrue reasons. It comes to my mind the quote from Terry Pratchett’s “Hogfather”. By the way, it is amazing how many deep ideas found their place in this short peace of text:

“Death: Humans need fantasy to *be* human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.
Susan: With tooth fairies? Hogfathers?
Death: Yes. As practice, you have to start out learning to believe the little lies.
Susan: So we can believe the big ones?
Death: Yes. Justice, mercy, duty. That sort of thing.
Susan: They're not the same at all.
Death: You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder, and sieve it through the finest sieve, and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. And yet, you try to act as if there is some ideal order in the world. As if there is some, some rightness in the universe, by which it may be judged.
Susan: But people have got to believe that, or what's the point?
Death: You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?”

We have here the problem of truth and fantasy, what it means to be a human, evolution, a metaphor from the Bible, moral duties, the role of beliefs and some physics.

Usually, people try to confirm their experience with their convictions they hold dear as long as they can, but sometimes changes in their lives force them to changes in their belief systems. When looking for the truth we may find different answers than we were looking for. After all, truth is a dangerous thing.

What is wrong with those people (zombies)?

Watching zombie movies quite often you can spot the following pattern:  after craziness of an initial outbreak a group of survivors make to a relatively safe shelter where there is some food – a mall, a huge superstore, etc. They barricade themselves in and then the action slows and our focus is on interactions between the group members. At this point usually we can tell who has been bitten and not taken care of – so we just have to wait, or, more commonly or anyway, the survivors do something really stupid – to push, as I can imagine,  the action forward. Quite often and without a good enough justification they want to leave the safe place they are in – usually by getting into a lorry or something like that in order to go somewhere.  Then something goes wrong – sometimes they just drive too fast or somebody previously bitten transforms into a zombie, anyway – most of them die in the process.

There is also something wrong with zombies. Classical zombies tend to be dumb and really slow sometimes limping for no reason. Besides, if the infection spreads through just biting it does not explain the fast rate of the process. Energetic, agile, aggressive and intelligent zombies are quite rare – like those in the “I am the legend”. 

MG

Gina Carano deals impact

Watch how muscular, tough and/but attractive Gina Carano deals brutal blows as a lead role in “Haywire”, a new action thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh. As far as I can judge just after watching 2.35 minutes long trailer (Click here to watch), the film looks quite promising. It appears Gina has what it takes: attractiveness, an interesting voice, acting skills, and of course last but not least, she has impressive fighting background. 

Certainly, the fact of Carano being a former #3-ranked in Women’s Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) adds to the realism of fighting scenes. It does not mean every fighting always has to look realistic to serve its purpose – watch how brutally and hilariously Jessica Alba dispatches several gangsters in the “Machete” – but then it was a pastiche, a parody. Nobody expects that Jessica Alba would be able to knock out somebody for real. Similarly, watching Angelina Jolie as Laura Croft may be entertaining but I doubt anybody could inagine Angelina fighting for real. No such problem with Gina Carano. The fighter and now actress once said: "Everyone has their own niche in life; I just seem to gravitate towards physical violence." Certainly, nobody who saw her fighting would doubt about her ability to kick ass.

Moving from kicking people’s asses to more important issues: If Gina Carano would be successful as a worldwide known actress what impact she may have in the male dominated society? I am not referring to teaching girls how to fight or about promoting sport – although Carano may be able to do for women’s mixed martial arts the same what Arnold Schwarzenegger did for bodybuilding. Carano’s consistent image of a successful and confident badass woman can facilitate some positive changes maybe even around the world. Maybe it will be not a direct corelation but some people, some girls might get inspired. After all, Gina Carano breaks some traditional norms of what is expected from women in the society. Her example may inspire and help women to fight for their rights. 

MG

The last Harry Potter is not pagan after all

Attention: Spoilers ahead!

After watching “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” I came to the conclusion that the last Harry Potter is not a pagan book - assuming the movie follows the book closely. It looks like J.K Rowling followed C.S. Lewis with at least one of the main Christian themes: sacrificial death and resurrection. 

In the New Testament it happens to Jesus, in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” it happens to Aslan, in “Deathly Hallows” part 2 it happens to Harry Potter himself. Let’s add those deaths happen not accidentally – they are fulfilment of spiritual rules of the game, of old prophecies; they were pre-planned necessity.

To defeat Voldemort who symbolises evil and death Harry Potter must die. Only through this ordeal he can save his friends and defeat Valdemort. Harry goes to meet his bitter end in the forest and dies from Voldemort’s hand. Being dead Harry finds himself in a limbo – a white place somehow resembling the King’s Cross station and he has a choice (compare with Neo being stuck between the worlds at the beginning of “The Matrix: Revolutions”). It turns out a part of Valdemort’s soul lived within Harry Potter. Through his death Harry can be purified and then resurrected which leads to final defeat of Valdemort who has lost his powers. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” is mature, powerful, very well acted and definitely worth watching. 

MG

“Yes Man” and other ideas

 

 

Have you seen “Yes Man” (2008) comedy movie? The main character (starring Jim Carrey) promises to stop being a "No Man" and vows to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity, request or invitation that presents itself. This, as you may correctly expect, leads to many hilarious gags. The film is loosely based on a true story and 2005 book titled “Yes Man” written by British humorist Danny Wallace, who inspired by a phrase he had heard in a bus decides to take it as a challenge and say "yes" to everything for a year.  

Saying “yes” to everything was definitely funny in the movie but it may be quite dangerous in real life if people you bump into tend to be drug dealers and loan sharks. Instead of being compliant with everything why don’t to choose a proper challenge?  

Certain people took the idea to extreme and made it some sort of art and a way of life.  For example experimental journalist A.J. Jacobs spent a year trying to follow all the rules and guidelines he could find in the Bible and even wrote a book about it, titled: “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible”. And I’m telling you, Paramount Picture is going to make a movie out of this, starring Brad Pitt, as it has been announced. 

In 2005 Jacobs outsourced his life – he hired personal assistants from India to live his life and doing things like answering his e-mails, reading his children good-night stories, and arguing with his wife! His other project involved a month of Radical Honesty (it was too difficult to go on for a year with that). An article he wrote about was titled: “I Think You’re Fat” –  and you get the idea. 

Jacobs spent also a year on reading Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z – all 32 volumes and all four million words of it. He wrote about this experience in a book titled: “The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”. It was said about that book: "The Know-It-All is a terrific book. It's a lot shorter than the encyclopedia, and funnier, and you'll remember more of it. Plus, if it falls off the shelf onto your head, you'll live."

And what would you say about a blogger, entrepreneur and achievement guru Timothy Ferris? Tim holds Guinness Book World Records’ record for the most consecutive tango spins in one minute; he became a national champion of Chinese kickboxing; within just one week he learned and performed Yabusame – Japanese art of horseback archery. Watch it in his show “Trial By Fire” which was aired on the History Channel in 2008; you may find it on the Internet. Tim Ferris is the author of “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich”.  

MG

“Machete” 2010

 

Rated A for Awesomeness in my notes, “Machete” makes a brilliant and highly watchable entertainment. Mark my words - this masterpiece will be remembered. Man, just take a look at these posters! And here straight away you may get confused. Steven Segal and Robert De Niro together? Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriquez with Danny Trejo as the heroic and romantic lead Machete who gets all the women? Yes, it is hilarious. This movie is a good joke, yet some Americans don’t get it. The politically sensitive theme of Mexican immigration with illegals portrayed as good guys and Americans being bad must be the reason for such confusion. At the end of the day however, “Machete” makes safely and entirely meaningless entertainment full of purposefully over the top violence and gore. Anyone trying to take this movie seriously as a political statement or even as a serious action movie for that matter must have been depleted from sense of humour. The directors - Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, have done a great job with total lack of  political correctness - not just about politics or religion - and so did the actors. It looks like they all had a lot of fun making this movie. Maybe ‘Machete don’t text’ but Danny Trejo as ex-federale chick magnet seeking for revenge with his stern face and ‘you fucked with the wrong Mexican’ attitude is frigging awesome.  Michelle Rodriguez as revolutionary Shé (another joke if you think Che Guevara) is incredibly hot and tough with her bra being a gun holster. Hot chick Jessica Alba plays a persistant U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who knows what the law says but does what is right. Oh, and by the way,  she practices martial arts by playing video games. Robert DeNiro as senator John McLaughlin (yes seriously) finds pleasure with videotaping himself during safari-like hunting down Mexicans crossing illegally the border. Cheech Marin as a rouge Padre is better with guns than with prayers. The scenes and scenery in the church belong to the best including lacking of any taste cross made from CCTV monitors. Lindsay Lohan's role as a slutty drug addict is a joke in itself. Then there is Steven Seagal as a powerful drug lord and Machete's main opponent in machete vs samurai sword duel. Now put all the above togheter and add a lot more - you gona to love this movie or you gonna to hate it. Violence, gore and nudity but surprisingly enough all of that feels good and is actually quite hilarious. It is the best movie of the seson and much better than "The Expendables" so I recommend to watch it. And I haven't even used the word "Mexploitaiton" in this review. Well, until now.   

Four elements, four nations and the Avatar

/Trailer below!/ In the spring of 2001 Bryan Konietzko took an old sketch of a balding middle-aged man and re-imagined him as a child. Then he drew this figure in the sky with a flying bison and showed the drawing to Michael Dante DiMartino who at that time was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in ice deserts of the South Pole. With such modest beginning came to life extremely popular and brilliant award-winning animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbeneder" (a.k.a "Avatar: The Legend Of Aang"). I had never thought the production aimed at 6-11 years old audience will be interesting to the point I will be willing to watch all three "Books" (Water, Earth, Fire) consisting of 61 episodes altogether (25 minutes long each). Which, I have to admit I did. However, I consider “Avatar: The Last Airbender” as a one of the best titles in its genre with audience not necessary limited to children.
12-years old boy Aang wakes up from a century-long hibernation. His task will be to defeat the mighty Fire Lord Ozai and save the world. For this purpose he must learn specific “bending” powers of the four elements: Air, Water, Earth and Fire; which also constitute the separate styles of martial arts. Aang also must face guilt and loss. He has to control his emotions, accept responsibility, grow and learn new skills, etc. - which is difficult since he is just a fun-loving, 12 years old …monk. As a small child he had chosen the toys belonging to previously living avatars. Thanks to that fact monks were able to recognize him as a new avatar – a new incarnation, a new manifestation spirit of the planet. Avatar’s task is to maintain a delicate balance in the universe between the four elements and respectively between their four nations. These four nations are: Air Nomads (Aang belongs to this nation), Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Due to tense geopolitical situation monks who were raising Aang decided to drastically reduce his childhood, and hasten his training which indirectly and accidentally resulted in Aang being trapped in the ice with his flying bison Appa. After hundred years of time Aang has been found by Katara and Sokka - siblings from the Southern Water tribe from whom he learnt that during his absence Fire Nation had started war in which Air Nomads were destroyed (except Aang) while other nations were closed to being completely defeated and conquered.
I assume after reading the above short introduction every enthusiast of the Far East culture would have been pricking up his or her ears at least a few times. Because the action of "Avatar" is set in a brilliantly created fantasy world saturated in rich Far East culture and history. It is easy to notice various elements of Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese and Eskimo (Inuit), etc. cultures. It includes spirituality, philosophy, history, arts – everything. So we have references to the history of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhist traditions including the search of tulku. Have you ever seen animation for children about chakras? Here you have a one. The whole episode is devoted to chakras meditation with detailed explanation where chakras are located and how they work. There is yoga, chi energy, Taoism, shamanism (and the shaman's spiritual journey to the spirit world), Chinese calligraphy, eating with chopsticks, brewing green tea, temples, Lotus Secret Society, Chinese Wall, Forbidden City and so on. The previously mentioned styles of fighting are actually the authentic styles of Chinese kung fu (wushu to be correct): Ba Gua for airbending (Air), Tai Chi for Waterbending (Water), Hung Gar for earthbending (Earth) including Chu Gar (Southern Style Praying Mantis) exclusively for Toph, and Bei Shaolin (Northern Shaolin) for firebending (Fire).
In addition to this fascinating cultural spectrum, we have a whole gallery of excellently designed and created heroes. Besides of Aang we have (among others): practically orphaned siblings Katara and Sokka who are accompanying Aang from the very beginning of his journey, blind earthbender Toph raised as the only child of wealthy and overprotective parents, Prince Zuko who wants to capture Avatar to please his father who rejected him. Deep and compelling characters contribute to interesting interactions and vivid action. It is also impossible not to notice the elements of western psychology and therapeutics.
The show is in all its aspects simply great and if you are interested how Far East themes are present in modern pop-culture, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is a must see. By the way, I remember watching on YouTube the reaction of the audience during preview of Avatar’s season three in the theatre. People just freaked out and I was even able to hear shouting adults. Which explains why upcoming on July 2010 live-action film “The last Airbender” is so much anticipated. It may be not as good as the original, I'm afraid, but we will see.

© copyrights MG

PS: Here is the final trailer and creators: Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino. Notice the reaction from the audience! VIDEO

Grandma was cool – “Legion” (2010)

It seems to me filmmakers are determined to regale us with all unimaginably weird apocalyptic scenarios before the end of 2012. “Legion” is confusing – not because is complicated but because makes no sense whatsoever.

Spoiler!

God has lost his faith in humanity and decided to exterminate human race but humanity will not perish as long as a particular unborn baby lives. Why? We don’t know. Anyway, hosts of angels try to kill the child and its mother. However, there is a renegade angel who has a different idea. He becomes a protector of the conceived life and humanity. His name is Archangel Michael and he starts his rebellion against God by cutting off his own wings. Then he takes a lot of guns, gets into the car and drives into the desert. There, in the middle of nowhere there is a diner where the pregnant woman works as a waitress. Michael gives weapons to the staff and travellers who happened to be there. With these they fend off hordes of possessed by angels zombie-like people. At the end two angels in homoerotic tension stare at each other, talk and fight.

Don’t make a mistake - this one tastes like a B-class movie. It could be better. It suffers from excessive and unconvincing dialogs, is a little bit slow and has a lot of clichés. Nothing special – but grandma was cool.

© copyrights MG

About "Book of Eli"

Spoiler!

The plot can be summarized as follows: in a post-apocalyptic world, guided by faith (and a voice in his head) wanderer (Denzel Washington) saves from oblivion the last copy of ...the Bible. Yes, not the Koran, not the book of Mormon, only the last copy of the Bible. Causing this disputable service to humanity, apart from the Bible and faith, our hero has a machete, bow, and gun and uses them with suspiciously deadly accuracy. It doesn't seem to be very Christian to me. Could it be directors were inspired by Old Testament's prophets and heroes who weren't holding back from extreme violence? If so, then they were not trying hard enough. Old Testament remains still far more brutal.

But what is more interesting: the film suggests the surviving people have destroyed almost all copies of the Holy Scriptures. Could it be a religious conflict which cased such destruction? Some light on this issue sheds main 'bad' character - gang chieftain and leader of the small town (Gary Oldmnan). He wants to get the Bible at any price - as a powerful weapon allowing totalitarian control over hearts and minds of human masses. The marriage of religion and politics - that's how you supposed to rebuild civilization and create an empire.

Instead of emphasizing such interesting and iconoclastic conclusions, the filmmakers go into a preaching mode. Encountered chick (Mila Kunis) almost immediately assimilates prayer and begins to believe - despite of initial restraint from God's man-on-the-mission. Such a quick and blind conversion is not really convincing. Interesting is the fact Eli has been already wandering 30 years through apocalyptic wilderness on his way from New York to California. According to Google Maps it should take 39 days and 4 or 5 hours. However, what would you expect from God knowing the biblical Israelites had been wandering for 40 years through much smaller desert on their way to Land of Promise?

In conclusion this post apocalyptic action flick has its strange religious component. For this reason it may be interesting but makes no sense. Considering violence and geopolitical issues I think Koran would fit better and would be more convincing than the Bible. It would better serve to the plot. A little slow, strange and not convincing but there are some good moments and unexpected surprises.

© copyrights MG

"Avatar" and critics

Hundreds if not thousands reviews, opinions and comments have been written about James Cameron's "Avatar". The movie is widely commended particularly for its stunning technical and visual achievements. Just after few weeks after its release "Avatar" has become the most profitable film in movie history, overtaking 'Titanic'. On Rotten Tomatoes "Avatar" has gained very positive reviews (over 80%) => LINK 

However, there is a minority of those who do not like the movie. Some of them coined a new term for ardent Avatar's fans: 'avatards'. However, among harsh critics and opponents are not just perpetually dissatisfied naysayers which can be found on some online forums. There are some more prominent critics who criticised the film as controversial. But then the truth has to be told: it rarely happen a Hollywood blockbuster able to elicit deep emotions and provoke global responses all over the world. Opinions about "Avatar" were presented not only by critics and press but also by Evo Morales, Bolivian president who liked the movie and by Vatican (Vatican's media - Vatican Radio and newspaper l'Osservatore Romano were critical saying e.g. the flick glorifies worshipping nature). Conservative America has been very negative about the movie. Some additional flavour comes with the news that James Cameron; director of both "Avatar" and "Titanic" and allegedly a member of the Masonic lodge took an advantage from utilizing some secret mind-influencing techniques - at least according to proponents of conspiracy theories => LINK. Then still "Avatar" seems to be unaffected by its critics and opponents. The good word of mouth is spreading and many viewers choose to watch the film twice or even more times - especially in 3D. Controversies and discussions just make more people curious.

While viewers vote with their feet, critics point out the similarity to "Pocahontas" and many other movies and books. 'Have you heard James Cameron wants to make "Avatar 2"? He just has to wait for Kevin Costner and his "Dances with Wolves 2" '- reads one of the jokes. Therefore, is that meaning "Avatar" is unoriginal and predictable? And more importantly - is that really bad?

I do not think the use of narrative schemes and archetypes testifies against the movie. In fact, the truth is quite opposite which allows viewers to identify themselves with the characters and themes of the movie. "Avatar" may be not too original in terms of the plot but is originally, beautifully and breathtakingly made. Similarly, opera or theatre goers rarely expect original plot. Besides, it would be really difficult to point out any 'original' movie or book since the repeated themes exist since the first myths had been created. Successful movies in terms of popularity require something people can be related to and something people want to watch. And here "Avatar" delivers.

The further allegation is the characters are 'not deep enough' and their lines are shallow. Well, this is an epic, adventure and action sf flick, not a psychological drama. Would you expect sophisticated language from 'marines'? Its true Avatar’s dialogs serve the main story and some of them are superb. Many side issues are left unexplored, some threads were cut out - but come on, the movie is already 2 hours and 40 minutes long. => LINK

Some people do not like films with messages. As far as I understand, they would prefer 'pure' entertainment and no 'preaching'. "Avatar" is not preachy. It has been hailed as an anti-war, anti-militaristic, anti-capitalistic, anti-American, liberal, green, neopagan, pantheistic, glorifying nature rather than the creator (yes, that's from Vatican) etc. I agree it contains messages which go along well with the screenplay but is far away from 'preaching'.

Some people do not like references to contemporary "war on terror" others say "Avatar" is a racist film with the 'white man's guilt' theme. Reservations for the film had even feminists - in the end why the protagonist is a man? And why always he is the one who saves the day? (Well, to tell the truth not always) It appears people are able to notice in this allegedly simplistic and trivial story so much. For me it is a proof of genius. Moreover, the director (who is Canadian) managed to convince his American audience to Na'vi - non-human inhabitants of Pandora so well up to the point they sympathise with "traitors to the human race ' and blue natives killing 'marines' on the screen.

It cannot be denied the film carries its political, social, humanistic, spiritual, and other messages but they fit very smoothly with the whole plot and action. "Avatar" is a powerful, bold, epic and humanistic masterpiece, the unforgettable experience which simply is a 'must-see' in the cinema - the IMAX or 3D.

© copyrights MG