Happy Feet

An absolute treat for the eyes and a sumptuous banquet for the ears. Happy feet is one of those rare animation movies which strikes the right balance between humour and a story with a message.

The movie is for all ages and from the first scene i knew it was something special. Each character is well defined and stays with you after you have left the movie hall.The choice of songs is amazing and only Lion King and The Road to El Dorado have comparable soundtracks.The graphics/animation is the best i have seen yet. The chase scenes are realistic and dramatic with grand camera angles and locations.

But what's most important is the message the movie tries to deliver.No its not about stopping global warming.Its the refusal to conform yourself to the views and opinions of society around you, a message that finds voice in the classic Dead Poets Society.Dead Poets has a bitter sweet end with the death of a student but opening up of the rest.While this option would not have been available to makers of an animation movie.Mumble the main protagonist is a penguin reject who's inability to sing in a colony of singing penguins makes him an outcast. But his ability to dance and his use of this skill is the movie itself.

A fresh movie which will make you laugh,cry,ponder and Dance!

The Flower

Another great poem...enjoy!


The Flower

Once in a golden hour
I cast to earth a seed.
Up there came a flower,
The people said, a weed.

To and fro they went
Thro' my garden bower,
And muttering discontent
Cursed me and my flower.

Then it grew so tall
It wore a crown of light,
But thieves from o'er the wall
Stole the seed by night.

Sow'd it far and wide
By every town and tower,
Till all the people cried,
"Splendid is the flower!"

Read my little fable:
He that runs may read.
Most can raise the flowers now,
For all have got the seed.

And some are pretty enough,
And some are poor indeed;
And now again the people
Call it but a weed.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Wikipedia Versus Traditional Encyclopedias.

The debate whether Traditional Encyclopedias like Britannica and the recent Encarta are more professional than the "Giant Killer" Wikipedia has been going on for sometime. Wikipedia occupies a place in the minds of the public very similar to Google. That of a revolutionary product which is going to change mankind's views of the world. Here's Wiki's take on itself . I've been following the Wikipedia growth for the past year including various news articles that appear all over the place and I have a few observations.

While it’s extremely impressive to say that Wikipedia is by the people and not by a couple of experts, that's not the point. What experts of a particular field have been replaced by are arm chair experts whose level of knowledge is from low grade sources like newspapers at worst and from Credible Encyclopedias at best. Thus while Wikipedia is a great source of information, the kind of credibility that is needed to really understand a subject is best left in the hands of experts.

So I'll continue to use Wikipedia because I can't afford any of the other encyclopedias but I've learnt that the majority of the content is "Cut, Copy and Paste" from various sources or in other words, experts. But the biggest edge Wikipedia has is on subjects like the following on Indian Street Cricket! And say a good movie like The Shawshank Redemption.

There are talks of Wiki starting a search engine to oppose the Goggle dominance. Talk about the Clash of Titans!