Top ten movies 2008

I started this blog while thinking that I won’t write about anything which relates to politics. I can’t help it though, politics in my passion and I can’t really ignore it. But nonetheless, I write this blog to list my top ten movies of 2008.

It has been a good year for movies for me personally. Due to my train travel I get time to watch more movies this year than for a long time. Having a bouncing baby boy has stopped us from heading to the cinemas, but this hasn’t stopped me from watching movies on my trusted iPod.

Of course the list below is only a small list which covers only the movies I have seen and in no way is a representation of all movies and is not a best of 2008 list. It is just best of 2008 based on the movies I saw ….makes sense? Ok! Here we go:

10. Hellboy 2
Yet another comic book adapted movie. I hated Hellboy part 1 and was hesitant in watching this movie. But after reading all the positive reviews I went ahead and saw the movie and was thoroughly entertained.

9. Horton Hears a Who
Previous Dr. Seuss adapted movies had disappointed badly with the ‘Cat in the Hat’ and The Grinch. Finally they realised that puppets don’t work! In this day and age of animation, this is the time to go all out. The movie is interesting and nicely made. Jim Carrey has done well to play Horton and not go too overboard (like he normally does).

8. Iron Man
Robert Downey Jnr. comes back in this smart and edgy movie. I was a fan of Iron Man back in the day and the movie doesn’t disappoint.

7. Kung Fu Panda
This animation should have been up there if only Wall-E wasn’t there. This is a great animated movie with all the characters playing their parts really well. It is interesting to note that even with all the violence there is no killing. A very funny and entertaining movie overall.

6. The Happening
Shyamalan’s latest movie is a little different to his earlier movies as it doesn’t particularly have a twist. Even so, it is a chilling and creepy movie. He has once again proved that he is one of the best in the genre of horror and suspense.

5. Body of Lies
Leo Di Caprio and Russell Crowe – how can you go wrong. It tackles the sensitive issues of torture and terrorism in a refreshingly unbiased way.

4. Burn After Reading
The Cohen brothers’ latest masterpiece! This movie is really funny and also very dark at the same time. It has a huge cast and an interesting story with great results. The lives of different characters get connected in a strange way and it’s all in all a very funny and smart movie.

3. Taxi to the Dark Side
This documentary chilled me to the bone. Shows how some people’s lives can change so suddenly for the worse. This movie is a very powerful and disturbing tale of a common man in Afghanistan.

2. Wall-E
Pixar has done it yet again. They keep coming out with gems every time. The last time it was Ratatouille and this definitely is at par with that. For an animated movie to be entertaining without any dialogue for the first half an hour or so is certainly an achievement worth noting in this day and age. It is very a entertaining and a fun movie.

1. The Dark Knight
You can’t go past this movie in 2008. This has to be the best super hero I have ever seen. The story is smart, the performances are fantastic, the action sequences are out of this world and the direction and screenplay are just amazing. This takes the cake in 2008 by a long shot. I had a lot of expectations going into the movie and still came out overwhelmed by the sheer ‘amazingness’ of this movie. Of course Heath Ledger’s performance and his death had a lot to add on the phenomenon of this movie but that doesn’t take away how good this movie was overall.

As it is the award season soon, there are a few good movies coming out in the next few weeks as well as some movies I have failed to see this year which will definitely affect this list. Some of the movies I am looking forward to watching are:

- Synecdoche, New York
- My Winnipeg
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days
- Milk
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Speed Racer
- Encounters at the End of the World
- The Reader
- Doubt
- Revolutionary Road
- In Bruges
- Frost/Nixon
- Valkyrie
- Changeling
- Man on Wire

Happy New Year!

The Pursuit of Happiness

Today I write about something which is quite different to what I have been posting recently predominantly (politics). I am writing about us human beings and how we perceive happiness. I saw this movie called 'Into the Wild' a couple of months back and had thought long about this quote which ended the movie, which was "Happiness is only real, when shared". 

It is simple yet powerful, which is why I love it. It made me think about what happiness means for different people. One of the things which I always am fascinated about is how us humans, no matter how different we are in terms of the country we come from, religion, age etc all react more or less the same way when we are truly happy. 

I remember the ending of the movie called "Love, Actually" (yes I actually saw that movie :P) where they have shown the arrival gate of an airport (presumably Heathrow) and it is funny as well as fascinating to see people who are so different to each other react the same way to see their loved ones arrive. It is a moment of sheer joy - smiles, hugs, tears of joy etc.....that moment is a true reflection of how similar we all are. 

All of us cherish the same things - being with loved ones, having good times with friends, living a peaceful life etc. Even people who are murderers do have a part of them leading them towards happiness.

I know I'm dabbing into politics again - but this reminds me of the video of Osama bin Laden in his son's wedding video where you see him all smiling and happy to see his son getting married. I also remember a picture taken of Saddam Hussein with his entire family and see him all happy and smiling. I point out these two recent figures because they have been portrayed to be or are responsible for murdering thousands of people. Even then one can see that these guys are at their happiest when around their loved ones. 

Returning to the movie I mentioned earlier i.e. "Into the Wild", the guy really wanted to live by himself in the wilderness of Alaska without anyone for hundreds of kilometres. Even though he loved the experience, in the end when he was close to his death he realised the fact that being with his loved ones was the one time he felt true happiness. He then wrote the quote I noted earlier and passed away. 

All of us want to be happy, fine there are different things that make different people happy and people have even killed in the pursuit of happiness. But I truly believe that all of us are trying to get to the same thing in different ways. 

We are too busy these days to think about these things, but we should all cherish the times with our loved ones.... I know I do!

US Presidential Election 2008

I have used the electoral vote calculator from the CNN website and have come up with the following prediction for the election in November.

According to my analysis - its going to be a tight race, even though I wouldn't like it to be that way.

Have a look!

The Downward Spiral to Anarchy

I write this blog today thinking about how my son will perceive this world. The world we live in today is a far more dangerous place than what it was when I was growing up. Granted, it was still quite dangerous living and growing up in Pakistan, but it was never ever this dangerous. We used to get occasional problems in the country, but never was it a place where your personal safety is at risk no matter what you do and where you go. I write this after watching the images and reading about what occurred in the last couple of days in Islamabad. I am referring to the cowardly suicide attack on one of the icons of Islamabad and Pakistan as a whole, the Marriott hotel. Some people may think that this is just another terrorism attack that has been going on since Pakistan stood side by side with the United States in the so called war on terror. But believe me; this is entirely different and very significant.

The Marriott hotel in Islamabad has been an icon of prestige and life at the high end. Its location makes it a special attraction for foreigners and of course a target for attacks like this. It was as guarded as a hotel can be, for a place where normal public can also have access. I make this point to note that this was not only a place for people to stay – it was a special meeting point, it was a place where people had coffee, enjoyed dinners, had weddings etc. Its location is merely a few kms from the Presidential and Prime Minister’s house, making it even more secure.

This is really worrying to me as this gives everyone the message that no place is safe anymore for normal people. People to eat out and not worry about safety, is not the case anymore.
The people who are in government and in positions of power have been stuck in power wrangling have done nothing to address the urgent need of fixing this major problem threatening to destroy Pakistan. People like Nawaz Sharif keeps giving deadlines for bullshit problems when there is so much killing and suffering in the country. How can these leaders get on with their lives when they are not even trying to address this urgent need? Why don’t these people at least try and put some of the effort they have put in to try and topple the previous leader into addressing this? This decease as Asif Ali Zardari called it in his address to the country has the capability of destroying the entire fabric of society in Pakistan.

I was speaking with a fellow Pakistani the other day who was talking about having some faith in Zardari who hoped that he puts some of his ‘business-man like’ effort into solving some problems in the country. As much as I hate the leaders of Pakistan – what can a normal person do? One has to hope in order to go on. The life of the people on the street is not getting any better – in fact with all these maniacs trying to blow things up, it has made Pakistan even more vulnerable and unstable, economically and generally.

One DOES need to hope that these people in power can try and solve the major threat faced by this country in its 61 year history. I pray that the leaders in Pakistan can take a lead in solving this, rather than worrying about their seats of power. I pray that the religious leaders of Pakistan can take the lead in eradicating this ‘cancer’ and tell people that Islam is a religion of peace and loving. It is a religion that teaches one to be a better person, by being forgiving and having love for his fellow human being. This is a religion that tells one to treat life with respect and shed no innocent blood. I pray for the people who lost their lives protecting other people. They are the real martyrs here not the people who carried out the attack.

Living in a western country you think how people of other faiths must think about people of the Islamic faith. They must think Islam teaches something which these fanatics are willing to die for and cause havoc and destruction. Why would western people even think about investing or even sending their cricket team for example to visit this dangerous place?

All I can say is that God help Pakistan – it is on a dangerous downward spiral towards anarchy

Change is coming

The US presidential election is in full swing. I follow this race to be the leader of the ‘free’ world quite closely and am quite interested in the ups and downs of this campaign.

First of all it is quite refreshing to see after a while (8 years) an American leader who looks the part. I mean the last 8 years have been quite bad for America – in almost all ways one can think of. Be it foreign image/policy and economy among other things. The last leader looked like a dumb spoilt brat who has been given something he couldn’t handle.

This new leader is talking about change, he is talking about real reform, and he is talking about engaging all leaders of the world in a more diplomatic stance to enhance the credibility of the United States of America.

The leader I am referring to is of course Barrack Obama.

It is interesting to note that he has been talking about change from day 1. Since the time he came from nowhere to beat Hillary Clinton, which no one could have ever imagined a couple of years back. Even in that contest, the mantle of change was tried by Clinton, but was forcefully taken back by Obama’s campaign. Even though their views were more or less the same on almost everything, the mantle of change was always trumpeted by the Obama campaign – and still is.

Now we see the Republican candidates, John McCain who is a patriot and a war hero. But the Republican convention did not spring anything new that they haven’t said before. It was all about the American hero blah blah – of course they steered clear from any of the current administration people Dick Cheney has been off the radar for some time now, George W Bush made a brief appearence. I won’t even talk about Sarah Palin as I think it’s just useless. And finally, the bombshell by McCain, ‘Change is coming’ he mentioned in his acceptance speech.

Now that is just ridiculous! I mean how can they be so blatant to actually say that they are for change. I mean first of all, look at McCain’s policies – his policies are exactly the same as the current administration. I was watching the daily show with John Stewart the other day where he made a comparison of McCain’s acceptance speech and George W. Bush’s speech at their conventions. It was funny to see that there were quite a few instances where they have simply repeated even the same words in their relative speeches. Even Sarah Palin’s speech was written by Bush’s speech writer – this is not change.

This is just the same old people with different leaders in front of them. It is the same policies and the same attitudes towards the people of the world.

I don’t proclaim myself to be an expert in foreign policy or even day to day American problems. But I do know from a person who is observing this race from an objective point of view, that these are the same Republicans who brought the world the most hated leader in the world. They can try to talk change, but they are absolutely not for change and for more of the same.

American people are one of the friendliest in the world as personal experience tells. It would be good to see an American leader also like these people and who is a leader that will lead the world to a better tomorrow.

I personally hope that the Democrats seize power and Obama is elected president. I guess I will have to wait and see what happens on November 4th when the American people are going to decide the fate of a lot of countries in this world.

From Prisoner to President!

Warning: Anger filled rant below

I cannot hold my silence much longer. I know that my words and my rant will make no difference to the world. However, it’ll at least help me with my frustration, anger and a sense of desperation that is going through me these days. I am in this state because of something that is about to occur in my homeland of Pakistan.

Asif Ali Zardari: The name synonymous with corruption is about to become the President of Pakistan. It is beyond this blog how completely flabbergasted I am by this event about to occur. There are umpteen articles and news pieces that show him as being a man who takes pleasures in accumulating huge amounts of wealth for him. A man who likes to appoint ‘his’ people in all the right places in the country of course after a minimal fee.
Living in Pakistan when the Bhutto government was in power, I myself saw and heard all this craziness occur in the city of Karachi. Travelling in private jets, building huge mansions were just some of the things you could see occurring regularly. Building a prime minister house which is probably as large as the presidential house and accommodating a polo field at the back, for Zardari’s love of horses and the game of polo.

The point is, this man was all the wrongs that people could see when Benazir was in power. Getting people killed, burning places where he didn’t get his way was just a few things that happened.

Now this man is going to become the most powerful man in the country of Pakistan. He will have total immunity from prosecution – no matter what happens. I don’t foresee him changing at all unfortunately. Now he will have access to do anything and everything he wants to the people of Pakistan. He will build palaces and empty the country’s wealth and fulfil his own ambition.

I really don’t know what to say – I really don’t know what is going to happen to my beloved Pakistan.

They say leaders of a country are like the most of the people of a country – which I don’t really know what to say about now.

I refer you to this article for further reading - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/world/asia/05zardari.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Species above all species

The phrase 'species above all species' is one which I have taken from the Quran. Having taken care of our little one for the last 8 weeks made me think the other day, how this statement is very interesting.

Humans as a species are the ones with the largest brains. This of course has evolved over time and the brain has become an integral part of the human intelligence. If you believe the theory of evolution, the human brain has changed shape over time and has slowly evolved to its current shape over many years. First four legs then two….scientists believe that one day humans just started walking and became bipeds.

The human brain has been central to our evolution, if you think about it….the human body has not really kept up. The human body is and has always been fragile. It needs a certain temperature. It needs a certain amount of food and water. It needs constant maintenance; otherwise it gets ‘deformed’. Humans have used their brains to protect and survive.

The point is, the human body needs and has always needed constant attention for protection. If you look into the animal world, things have evolved a little differently; brains haven’t evolved much but the physical characteristics of the body have. Animals have changed how they walk/fly/hunt etc to survive the changing world. They always have done to their bodies what humans have done to their brains.

Interestingly, when animals are born, certain characteristics are fully developed. Take the example of a horse that’s off spring starts walking only a few hours after birth. Lizards that start hunting as soon as they are born, fish who swim right from birth. As compared to humans, the child can’t walk, can’t talk and is totally dependent on the parents for survival. Maybe birds are a bit close as they need the parent to feed and take a while to fly. I am not sure if birds have a problem communicating with their parents, but I know (and have experienced) that children can all but cry to communicate anything and everything at birth.

It seems these days that the flavour of the year is climate change. This threatens the very existence of humans on this planet. Humans have used their brains to get out of problems like this in the past, for the changes due to the normal evolution of this planet (re-location, warmer clothing etc). But now this change is due to our own development and progress. Humans like always will probably find out a way out of this crisis using their brains. Animals however will adapt and evolve again.

I heard something very interesting the other day, and I quote:

“Humans as a species use only a tenth of their brains, imagine if they started using another tenth and we would probably be worthy of God’s attention. Cockroaches for instance can survive for weeks without food or water, can survive radiation and even without oxygen in space. If God wanted to create an image of Him in a species highly evolved, then I submit to you that God, is a cockroach.”

Something to think about….

Dedication to my little miracle

On February the 8th, 2008 I was blessed with a little miracle of life. I still can't comprehend fully what exactly has happened, but I think it has slowly sunk in. Life will never ever be the same again. The little one has arrived with much anticipation and has already started to brighten it with his antics. When one sees a little life being born in front of your eyes, one can't help but be thankful to his Almighty and bask in the miracle of life. I cannot explain the way I felt when I saw the little one and gazed into his eyes (his eyes were wide open as soon as he was born), couldn't help but swell up with tears. A little version of me lying right infront of me looking up with a confused look. What could be better than this? I cannot wait to see him grow.... I wanted to dedicate the following song to this wonderful little bundle of joy.

My gift is my song
And this one's for you
And you can tell everybody
That this is your song
It maybe quite simple But now that it's done

Hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the
So excuse me for forgetting
But these things I do
You see I've forgotten
If they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is well I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple
But now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is now you're in the world
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world

Your song by Ewan McGregor, Mouline Rouge 2001

Australia day 2008

Australia day occurred on the 26th of January 2008.

This day is very significant to a lot of Australians and has a lot of meaning in the history of Australia. It's even more significant for me personally as this is the day when I arrived in Australia for the first time. It was on this day back in 1999 that I came to Australia with hopes and dreams and great uncertainty. I had no idea what the future might hold for me and my time in Australia. Initially, I had planned on staying here for only 6-8 months as I wanted to head on to the US to pursue my educational goals. Taking a step back to give you some background, I had initially planned on going to the US for studies; however I was late in the application submission and hence missed the deadline. I was faced with the consequence of wasting about 9-10 months. I took the opportunity to come to Australia when my father was informed of a good degree program in Melbourne. How he got to know about this program is yet another story. Things just came to shape pretty quickly and I ended up in Australia in January to study till about July and then heading to the US. This was not to be as once I was here, I was settled in and enjoying my time in the culture and life here.

Since then it has been a long journey of 9 years. Quite a few huge milestones have been accomplished while living here.

• Finishing my studies and graduating from my Bachelor’s degree and then subsequently my Master’s degree
• Getting married and starting my married life
• Moving to Sydney from Melbourne
• Starting my professional career
• Becoming an Australian citizen

There are quite a few milestones in between all of the above, but I think the list above is of a huge significance to my life and the way it has moved forward. I am moving towards another huge milestone in my life, and Australia is in the thick of it.

In my previous post I mentioned that change is inevitable. Looking at the list above and what is going to occur in the future, change IS inevitable and it is our ability to deal with the change and make things happen is how we make our life filled with fond memories. I certainly have experienced many good memories in my time here in Australia and look forward to many great experiences in the future.

Change is inevitable

The word change is such an important part of all our lives. No matter how much we avoid it, it is bound to happen and is inevitable. I was particularly fascinated with this word as it has been brought up again and again during this year’s American election campaign. I saw a hilarious clip on the ‘Colbert Report’ where they showed a live debate between all of the major Democrats. The mediator of the debate asked a question and mentioned the word ‘change’. As soon as he finished his sentence (and I kid you not this is real!) all of the candidates like little children raised their hands up and started talking so that they could comment first and fore most on this topic.
Why is the word change very important in the American elections these days? Well I shouldn’t even go into that I think as that’s another topic.

Current events in Pakistan have also told the story of change. People of Pakistan in particular have a habit of asking for change sooner than many people. They get fed up with the same leaders who they elected with a huge majority and then support the same leaders if they are out of power to get them back IN power, weird.

These two examples are political in nature. There are many other examples where people want to have change. Change in scenery for a person going on a holiday, change routine, change of personal belongings etc.

Some people have to deal with change as just a part of life and come to people whether they like it or not. Some people deal with it well some people don’t.
I heard an inspirational speaker once and he said that change is something humans have evolved to deal with. Humans are probably the least evolved species on this planet to deal with the changing climate/temperature etc. If you compare humans with other species such as insects or others, you can easily see how well other species have adapted. Animals have developed extra layers of skin or have shrunk significantly in size etc. to survive. But in humans there is no change, humans have alternatively moved on to different places where they are suited better or have used their brains to build things that help in survival. This inevitably will be the cause of our demise as well, as we keep on consuming this planet’s resources, there will not be enough places to go to survive based on the rate of human growth.

Science fiction movies sometimes show the eventual evolution of our species. I think it’s a very valid thing and may happen in the future…I am not certain.

The same inspirational speaker said, it is the ability of the people to want change and adapt quickly to different situations is what makes them a cut above the rest.

My rant for the day is complete.

New year and new beginnings

Happy new year to you all! Hope this new year is better than last year. See I AM an optimist.

As for me, this year will be a new beginning to a different part of my life and I look forward to it and await it with open arms. Can't wait to start a new chapter of this life. I just hope that both of us cope with the transition well. Wish us luck!

God bless all of you :0)