Price of Sanity.

Plainview: I’d like you to tell me that you are a false prophet… I’d like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet… and that God is a superstition.
Eli Sunday: …but that’s a lie… it’s a lie, I cannot say it.
[long pause]
Eli Sunday: When can we begin to drill?
Plainview: Right away.
Eli Sunday: How long will it take to bring in the well?
Plainview: Should be very quick.
Eli Sunday: I would like a one hundred thousand dollar signing bonus plus the five that is owed with interest.
Plainview: That’s only fair.
Eli Sunday: I am a false prophet and God is a superstition. If that’s what you believe, then I will say it.
Plainview: Say it like you mean it.
Eli Sunday: Daniel…
Plainview: Say it like it’s your sermon.
Eli Sunday: This is foolish.
[long pause]
Eli Sunday: I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!
[pause]
Eli Sunday: Is that fine?
Plainview: Those areas have been drilled.
Eli Sunday: What?
Plainview: Those areas have been drilled.
Eli Sunday: …no they haven’t…
Plainview: It’s called drainage. I own everything around it… so I get everything underneath it.
Eli Sunday: But there are no derricks there. This is the Bandy tract. Do you understand?
Plainview: Do you? I drink your water, Eli. I drink it up. Everyday. I drink the blood of lamb from Bandy’s tract.

Desire

I thought this desire was dead and buried somewhere along the weary way from childhood towards adulthood, but I was so wrong. The desire to some day escape from the prison of time and sail away in an old-fashioned boat under the warn sunny blue sky in the serene waters of a deep blue ocean….to a lost and lonely island!

Scarecrow (1973): All Hail Al Pacino!

Saw this remarkable yet overlooked classic today and boy awesome it was! Al Pacino, man, Al Pacino. He’s the GOD of acting. Gene Hackman was no less. Perfect combination and a suberp masterpiece. Plus, screw academy, Al Pacino transcends all awards and honors!
A beautiful and emotional movie portraying two lives coming together by chance and the impact that one life has upon the other. It’s about the things that we learn from others through this journey of life, and the things we teach them….intentionally or unintentionally. It’s about the beauty of friendship and trust.

 

Lion (to Max): You’re laughing, Max. And guess what? I taught you that!

 

Pacino’s meltdown at the fountain and Hackman’s drunk scene are two of the cinematic gems I’ve ever seen. One of Al Pacino’s most creative and brilliant characters ever and same goes for Hackman.

Lion: Hey Max, you ever heard the story of the scarecrow?
Max Millan: No.
Lion: You think crows are scared of a scarecrow?
Max Millan: Yea, yea, they’re scared.
Lion: Yea? Why? Nope, cause they’re not scared, believe me.
Max Millan: Yea, the goddamned crows are scared!
Lion: No! The crows are laughin’.
Max Millan: No, that’s bullshit.
Lion: That’s right, the crows are laughin’. Look, the farmer puts out a scarecrow, right, with a funny hat on it and it’s got a funny face. The crows fly by, they see that, it strikes them funny, makes them laugh.
Max Millan: The goddamned crows are laughin?
Lion: That’s right, they’re laughin their asses off. And then they say, “Well, that ol’ farmer Jo down there, he’s a pretty good guy! He made us laugh so we won’t bother him any more.”
Max Millan: The goddamned crows are laughin…
Lion: Ooh, they’re laughin…

Gran Torino – signs of a good year!

After a pretty bad year for movies, 2009 starts with a great movie ‘Gran Torino’, once again proving Clint Eastwood’s immense talents as an actor and director ( Let’s for a while forget the bad acting by most of the characters and concentrate on the movie itself) The movie has quite similar themes to Eastwood’s  previously directed movies like ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Unforgiven’. A lonely character consumed and wearied with the remorse and regrets of past mistakes and life he thinks was not the way it should’ve been, and in the end finally gets a chance to redeem himself off this burden. Of course, a great theme!

 

Other than this usual beautiful theme, the movie touches the emotional gap between generations and unsaid and unfulfilled love. The selfishness of human relations and the purity of human feelings, redemption and sacrifice. What the priest teaches in the church, Walt had practically experienced throughout his life, especially the years he spent in the Korean war. He despises the standards of the church and the priests. It’s clearly manifested when the young priest asks him why does he dislike him so much and he answers:

 

“I think you’re an over educated 27-year-old virgin who likes to hold the hands of superstitious old ladies and promise them everlasting life.”

 

And:

 

Father Janovich: Let’s talk about life and death.

Walt Kowalski: Life and death. What the hell do you know about life and death?

Father Janovich: I’d like to think I know a lot. I’m a priest….

Walt Kowalski: yeah, you get up and preach about life and death. But all what you know is what you’ve learned in the priest school. Right out of the rookie Preacher’s Handbook.

 

And then the horrible incident that drags the priest a little towards reality out of the hypothetical world of Bible:

 

Father Janovich:  I knoow you’re close to these people, but this pisses me off, Mr. Kowalski. Damn all this.This just isn’t fair!

Walt Kowalski: Nothing is fair, father.

 

It was one of those movies which I thoroughly enjoyed and loved because they are realistic about the joys and pains of life and because in the end, we have good lessons to learn from them.

 

The directing was superb, plot was good, dialogues and score was good and the only thing that went a little bad was the acting of most of the characters, but of course, that’s not as important as other things. Eastwood does a superb job as an actor, director and producer as he always does and with this movie marking the start of 2009, one can hope good for this year while highly anticipated movies like “Public Enemies” and “Inglorious Bastards” are already on the list!

The Deeper Reality.

“What is DEEPER REALITY? DEEPER REALITY is a blog devoted to what we may call deeper issues with the reality around us. It is perhaps delving deeper into what we can call existence. Deeper in science and deeper than where science would normally take us, into the realm what might be considered philosophical. It will be blog with multiple contributors and would be rich in content and as varied as the many thoughts of its authors. 

So with this prologue, DEEPER REALITY is launched.  Let’s delve deep!”

-Usman Saeed.

http://www.deeperreality.blogspot.com

Anyone and everyone with a passion for scientific and philosophical knowledge and eager to share it is welcome. And I guess I should divert my scientific-philosophical thoughts to that blog and reserve this blog for random stuff.

Inside Story…

After much introspection, I’ve finally decided to post this quote from the movie “Devil’s Advocate” (1997). To be more considerate, I’ve also decided to skip more intense parts. You’re welcome.

“Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He’s a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It’s the goof of all time. Look but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, don’t swallow. Ahaha. And while you’re jumpin’ from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He’s laughin’ His sick, f****n’ a** off! He’s a tight-a**! He’s a SADIST! He’s an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER! “

-John Milton, Devils Advocate.

Me? No, these are the words of the Devil’s character in this movie. As for me, I don’t feel it appropriate to ‘feel’ something towards someone who doesn’t exist at all, but I guess I’m not yet successful in arriving at that stage of overcoming intense hatred. I can only hope I’d be able to do that some day.

Existence

‘Tis all the wasteland;
pale skies and baked sands
dried tears, looming demons of fatigue
laughter of insanity, veils of sanity
across the boarders of intrigue
under the guise of casualty

‘Tis a toil without a point
desire without a hope
it’s a relativity of ideas
painful incoherence of thoughts
axes of INFINITE and the ashes of TIME
amidst the delusions of fragrant auras

and the travellers moil on
one after the other, youth after the age
strides of body, leaps of mind
heavy sighs of silence
with all the souls entwined
yearning for eternity, fading into oblivion
what art thou, existence?

Towards the Truth

“So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?”

 -Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time.

and…

the void he feels

void miserable to hide

yet the ego dominates

overshadowing the tide

and the spirit purges, the overwhelming surge…..

Wish

We thought there was no more behind

But such a day tomorrow as today

And to be a boy eternal

- Shakespeare.