One Paper Clip at A Time

Tonight, I watched a film titled One Paper Clip at a Time. An award-winning documentary, it shows touching scenes of how a group of students led by their teachers and principle of Whitewell Middle School, Tennessee, taking on a journey of which they would never expected to become an incredible success. The journey was called The Paper Clips Project.

They had intended to do a group project focusing on the Holocaust. The purpose was to educate the 8th grade kids on the importance of diversity and tolerance. Hence, they began searching doing posters and class group discussions on it. One day, one of the students found that the Norwegians during World War 2 had used the paperclip as a symbol of defiance against the Nazis.

And thus began their journey of collecting 6 million paper clips to represent the loss of the people during one of twentieth century's greatest tragedies. It was amazing how they took upon themselves to bring forth to educate themselves considering they were from the south of the United States, typically white kids with very little interaction with other kids other races and cultures.

All in all, at the filming, they collected a total of 29 million paper clips from all over the world. Finally, they managed to get hold of a old German railway car (supposedly have carried prisoners during the war), refurbished it with the help of the town community and filled it with 11 million paper clips. Subsequently, a memorial was held and the students themselves starts to educate other students from the state who come over to Whitwell on field trips.

It was a 2-DVD set, and I took the opportunity to have open the 2nd one. This time, it showed them in New York at ground zero of the World Trade Center. There, one of the kids could not help but feel so sad that he wanted to be alone.

This documentary had opened my eyes that our adult prejudices and intolerance can indeed be overcomed through education of young. Only then, that could this world in the future avoid the constant wars, acts of terrorism and move society towards a more compassionate treatment of people who are different.

I could still remember the speech made by one of the Holocaust survivors. It was so heart-wrenching how he and his family was separated into the Left and Right lines. Only he and his brother survived by being on the Right, while his mother and other relatives move on to the gas chamber. Similar to what Viktor Frankl had described in his book, The Search For Meaning which I had posted here.

Definitely, a film worth watching.

Rating: *****/5 stars

I am Legend

Will Smith has always been an actor I like since the time he was not so famous as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. In I am Legend, in my opinion he has delivered his best performance to-date, at least his films that I have watched.

This film practically blew me away with its multiple scenes of New York being totally deserted, I remembered watching a similar film, 28 Days Later which had had London being emptied of its people too.

However, between these two films, I am Legend wins hands down with the strong portrayal of Will Smith in his role as Robert Neville. I was particularly hit by the scene of him training together with his dog and the sheer intensity of his seriousness in keeping fit while doing his chin-ups. His muscular frame and multiple abs must have taken him alot of work and time to attain. I was sort of inspired to be like him.. hahaaa... unlikely but I hope to attain perhaps 10% of what he has.

The sheer loneliness of being the last man of earth... or rather New York filled with strange creatures who roams at night, was in essence the reason why Robert Neville fills his time doing his fitness training seriously. He even goes back to humanity's roots of hunting, cultivating or gathering of food. For entertainment, he goes to the DVD store to so-called 'rent' the movies there. He even returns the DVDs that he as finished.

What is striking about the film is that it shows that man after all is a social animal. With absence of other humans, Robert resorts to talking to his dog and even mannequins in the DVD store. I guess that is the only way he could maintain his sanity. I remembered the other film, Castaway where another lone man protrayed by Tom Hanks talking to a basketball (with straws sticking out as hair and a some stuff being put on it to as eyes, nose and mouth).

What was more touching was the scene on how he had to kill his beloved dog after it got infected with the virus. Such is the fraility of the human mind as after the loss of his dog, he felt no reason to live anymore... but luckily other survivors appeared to save him.

Well, in the end, Robert made the ultimate sacrifice... and it ends with him being the legend.

Rating: ***** (5/5)

Iwo Jima and Yamato

My last day of exams and I reached home wondering what I should do for the evening.

So, I settled down to watch Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood. I found the film to be touching as it really shows how wars can affect human lives. It cuts through the usual protrayal of the enemy as the cruel and unjust people they are.

I was glad that the unseen angle of humanity in war films was so well-protrayed here. Truly seen in the eyes of the human and not the enemy. We could learn to "try to do the right thing because it is right". This was written in a letters by one of the mothers of American marine caught by the Japanese soldiers.

After the film I did some research in Wikipedia on The battle of Iwo Jima, and found that more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers died in Iwo Jima, with the remaining last 2 surrendering only about 4-5 years after battle ended in 1945. It is really amazing that these guys could actually continue to hide in the caves.

Of course, there is the earlier film similarly directed by Clint Eastwood; The Flag of our Fathers... which I did watch too. Similar tale of soldiers, but this time on the American side and how they suffered following their return to the United States.

Another Japanese made movie Yamato also showed the real humanity and I could feel emotional intensity when the sailors had to leave their families to go on their final mission.....

Wars are destructive and brings loss to families of the victims, soldiers, sailors and civilians alike...

FORA TV - Another great video site

Recently, just discovered another fantastic video site just like TED. FORA TV however is very different from TED in terms of its theme and content. There are more on geopolitics, military, economics... more serious stuff than TED.

Its sessions are also definitely longer as it includes speeches which may last more than an hour....

The URL :

http://www.fora.tv/

Superheros - Why Red and Blue?

Ever wonder why the superheros of the comic world are always so heroic, just and self-sacrificing? And have you wondered why in the world are their costumes are always Red and Blue in colour?

Well, just try to recall where did all these superheros originate and you will know the reason. Apparently, the comic/cartoon artists tend to think that their country also exhibit the same attributes as the same superheros I mentioned. (This is of course abit biased and subjective, many people may dispute that!)

I only made this observation a couple days ago while watching Transformers. Also one of my favorite cartoons shows of all time, now made into life-action movie with the best CGI graphics I have seen.

There I was looking at the charismatic Optimus Prime standing on the gigantic telescope with the rest of the Autobots when I suddenly realised his colours were similar to Superman, Spiderman .... erh... Captain America (obviously but also with additional white colour). By the way, I think new Optimus in the movie is the coolest amongst them, although Spidey is also another favourite. Good thing, Optimus was still voiced by Peter Cullen from the cartoon show as I could remember it very well.

Any idea which superheros has the same fashion tastes as our four saviours of world?

Necessary illusions to manufacture consent

Watched an earlier film by Mark Achbar which won several awards sometime back. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media shows Noam Chomsky at his best making speeches, interviews and generally explaining his opinions and viewpoints. It was loosely based on his book Manufacturing_Consent:_The_Political_Economy_of_the_Mass_Media with Edward S. Herman. Cited in the film is also Chomsky's book Necessary Illusions.

His assertion that the media's role is to serve the private interests of special groups and not the people is constantly repeated throughout the film. In fact, he mentions that it is the role of the media to create "necessary illusions" for the people so as to "manufacture consent". Chomsky cites this catchphrase by Walter Lippman's in the book and Achbar's film.

His intellectual arguments are so powerful and strong that most of people that engaged him were in my opinion no match at all. He is so often described as a leading intellectual alive today, but I do not argue with that. Chomsky's contributions to the world in the field of linguistics and as a social activist has been nothing short of incredible. In the film, I particularly find his quote about sports quite amusing:

"Now there are other media too whose basic social role is quite different: it's diversion. There's the real mass media-the kinds that are aimed at, you know, Joe Six Pack -- that kind. The purpose of those media is just to dull people's brains.

This is an oversimplification, but for the eighty percent or whatever they are, the main thing is to divert them. To get them to watch National Football League. And to worry about "Mother With Child With Six Heads," or whatever you pick up on the supermarket stands and so on. Or look at astrology. Or get involved in fundamentalist stuff or something or other. Just get them away. Get them away from things that matter. And for that it's important to reduce their capacity to think.

Take, say, sports -- that's another crucial example of the indoctrination system, in my view. For one thing because it -- you know, it offers people something to pay attention to that's of no importance. [audience laughs] That keeps them from worrying about -- [applause] keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about. And in fact it's striking to see the intelligence that's used by ordinary people in [discussions of] sports [as opposed to political and social issues]. I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in -- they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues. And the press undoubtedly does a lot with this

You know, I remember in high school, already I was pretty old. I suddenly asked myself at one point, why do I care if my high school team wins the football game? [laugbter] I mean, I don't know anybody on the team, you know? [audience roars] I mean, they have nothing to do with me, I mean, why I am cheering for my team? It doesn't mean any -- it doesn't make sense. But the point is, it does make sense: it's a way of building up irrational attitudes of submission to authority, and group cohesion behind leadership elements -- in fact, it's training in irrational jingoism. That's also a feature of competitive sports. I think if you look closely at these things, I think, typically, they do have functions, and that's why energy is devoted to supporting them and creating a basis for them and advertisers are willing to pay for them and so on."

Source of the above was from Manufacturing Consent, but I pulled it out from here

I did some research on Chomsky in the Internet and found he has a website that features all his article and he contributes to a blog by Z Magazine (one of the independent magazines interviewed in the film). I find his suggestions for people to try to obtain access alternative media to be coming true in the Web 2.0 era of the Internet.

Blogs, Wikis and other forms of collaborative content by peer communities in this phase of the Internet is in my opinion a source of alternative media that he had advocated. I wonder what he thinks of this considering he made his comments on the film in 1992, some fifteen years ago.

I even found a Wiki called Wiki News; that has readers contributing to its articles. However, I see that some of the sources cited by the contributors are still from the mainstream media like The New York Times and other syndicated news feeds like Reuters. Does not sound convincing, but as with all free and open collaboration initiatives, it will continue to grow and evolve its way.

Then later, I also found from google an Activism.net website that cites several links to alternative media. I was abit surprised to find BBC News in the list. Z Magazine also recommends links here.

Well, so hopefully, after watching this film, or reading the books, the "stupid" people would be able to see through the illusions and make an informed consent on the important issues that affects their lives.

Multinational Citizens

Who are the only "persons" in the legal sense whom can become citizens of many countries? They are being allowed to own, buy and sell property in practically all the countries of world. Well, the "persons" just happened to be multinational corporations like Shell, Goodyear, IBM, McDonalds and so forth....

The Corporation by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot underscores the influence, power and implications of the corporate entity to the world since its first inception in history. In all areas of society, we are being brought up to belief that the business is good, and wealth is the way to prosperity. Remember the 80's when the mantra "Greed is Good" as echoed by Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street. It was a hilarious start to the film when the film-makers cleverly put together a series of media shots of people describing the corporate debacles of the past years as "Bad Apples"... I really enjoyed it.

It seems globalization is major theme of this film because it practically describes corporations has permeated into our society by even submitting patents for living organisms, seeds and all things the natural earth has endowed us. Well, I am not sure how they are going to patent all these... but with profit as a main motivator, they will find some means to do it legally. Whether it is enforceable in the eyes of Mother Nature... that is not for them to decide. With global warming as discussed in my previous post, and if no definite steps are taken to address it, all the profit and gains would not be enjoyed by anyone. One CEO interviewed, even called himself "A plunderer of Earth"... this sounds like suitable description so far.

The corporations also tries to own knowledge that has been endowed upon us from the generations of people before us. This in a business perspective seems natural for the corporations but I think this has gone abit too far. Knowledge that we have today, is being enjoyed by us because of the fruits of labour of our past ancestors. The concept of intellectual ownership of knowledge is fairly recent in our history.

I am not saying intellectual property or capital of the various artistes or companies of today should not be respected, but there should be some measure whereby the knowledge accumulated in the past could be in accessed freely and used by all. Of course, I do not offer a roadmap or framework on the how to deal with this... but definitely it should not allow the rule of externalities that was discussed in the film to be abused by the corporations.

Noam Chomsky is one notable interviewee in this film; one whom I admire for his intellectual prowess. His arguments on the various points shows and it makes the film a more watchable one. I remembered a friend of mine mentioned to me about him once a time and I had begun to read Chomsky's articles online.

In an nutshell, this is a film about globalization as well. People from the developing countries exploited by their meagre wages, while the products they produce are being sold at incredible high prices in the developed ones. The companies make no apologies for this, as profits are their main purpose of their existence.

It brings to my mind a book entitled "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. Similarly, after watching this film and cross-referencing to Perkin's story of global institutions like World Bank, IMF and so forth, I begin to wonder if this is the new societal order that has sprung out in this point of our human history. Of course, anyone would know in previous eras, there were the empires, kingdoms, the church, feudalism and other forms of dominant power in our civilisation.

So, the question is how are we affected by the "soft power" of the corporation wielded by the few in the name of their shareholders on society. Well, one learning point for me is "The Nag Factor". This seemingly marketing tactic has made children of ours as the focal point target to manipulate parents to buy things that they don't seem to need. Well, this is really something I need to be conscious about.... before wielding my credit card while on my way to a cashier at least....

Truth about our climate?

Today, watched two films that largely mirror each other's storyline. The bottom line that both says is that global warming is ruining the earth that we live in now. An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore had all the high powered graphics, his charamastic delivery of the presentation slides and of course with his good wit. The second one is by PBS's Global Warming: The signs and science
hosted by Alannis Morrisette. Less of a drama as it was not delivered by a politician, but still gives us the facts and information through other experts on various fields.

In a nutshell, what both are saying is that if nothing is being done to stop (or was it slow down?) this global crisis, we will end up extinct maybe just like the dinosaurs. So, is there an urgency to alleviate this problem? Apparently not, we are still weighing the costs and the benefits. Some may even be questioning whether global warming is happening or not.

To a certain extent, I can sense that there is "truth" in these messages that are being sent out. Al Gore even had the time to put in the film about how he was influenced by his professor on the environment, his childhood on the farm, his sister's unfortunate death, his son's accident and jibes by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr on his environmental views.

I wonder whether if he had become the President, would he have done things differently; for the environment and the other contentious political issues of our day (Iraq, 9/11 and so fortha). We will never know of course.

In any case, all the troubles and problems will become inconsequential on the day of reckoning when all the wealth, technology and power of the world will not be able to stop this force of nature. So, let's start small and bit by bit. I know what I can try to do first.... try to stop/refrain from taking those plastic bags from the supermarkets and turn off the lights ....

May the force be with you...

My favourite movies of all time... Star Wars, where Yoda, the Jedi Master utter the words "May the force be with you" to Luke Skywalker.

Well, in the true sense, we humans really lack this capability whereby we can lift objects and change the will of other beings merely by use of our mental powers. But what we have is really intuition. Currently reading the book by Gary Klein "Intuition at Work", whom he describes how people can improve their decision making skills through intuition.

I first encountered Gary Klein's work 1-2 years back when I first read his first book "Sources of Power". I was intrigued by his research which concluded that people doing dangerous or critical jobs like fire commanders, pilots and nurses could make split-second decisions on life-threatening situations and yet have a successful outcome.

Malcom Gladwell's book "Blink" probably drew some of his material from him.

Anyway, we can all learn a thing about decision making. Sometimes, we are too preoccupied with doing a thorough analysis of a issue or problem, that we have forgotten to place our subconcious mind of intuition to solving it. I would think that using too much of either left or right side of our brains would be counterproductive. A balance of both good rational analysis tempered by a dose of gut feelings might just be solution to all problems......