Talking of sports, nothing is bigger than the FIFA world cup football and its madness and craze beats every other collective or individual sport across the globe. No game brings with it such great human emotion like football. Although Olympics when initiated in Athens were a spectacle to celebrate the triumph of the human spirit, the baton has long been passed on to football and specially the football world cup.

The football world cup just got over and Spain emerged victorious just when its economy was fighting for survival, giving a lot of people new hope and vigor to bring the economy back on track. Football has got nothing to do with the economy but its the underlying spirit of achievement that brings hope. The spirit to falter, to fall down but to stand up again and walk the path armed with positive vibes. A nation that was engulfed in uncertainty is now suddenly happy and positive and it would be no surprise if Spain goes on to beat all its economic woes and emerge like the Spain of old we all knew.

Nothing has been more talked about in the past weeks as the Psychic Octopus Paul and its predictions and their effectiveness. Paul, the oracle octopus has emerged a hero (or a villain, depending on which side you are) accurately predicting the outcomes of all matches Germany played and also the Final. Though the celebrity octopus carried itself with aplomb, it triggered fierce debates on social networking forums.  Octopus Paul will go down in history as the one who got it right but is this just a coincidence or superstition or Psychic is still not clear. According to Adelaidenow, a spokesman for Paddy Power bookies in England reported that the bettors there began backing Spain once Paul chose them as the final winner.

Soon there were parrots and crocodiles and a number of other animals and their owners who suddenly jumped into the prediction business and suddenly everyone was following the prediction business more than the game itself. The whole affair looked like a half-truth and I did some research on the web and came across website and blogs that give us the real ASTRAL projections and not just mere predictions.

Come to think of it, what the Octopus did was to open a box and eat its food and it comes down to perceptions. One can perceive as the box it opens first as the winning team’s box or the loosing team’s box or whatever else we might perceive. It’s also true that most animals see patterns that are invisible for humans however whey they are addressed asking a question on future event, their response is based upon the color vibration they feel.

Mathematically speaking, getting all eight predictions roughly has a probability of (1/3)^3 * (1/2)^5 = 1/864 (the first three predictions could have resulted in a tie).  Not bad. But Paul the Octopus gained international fame after his first four correct predictions, which means the conditional probability that his last four predictions are correct given that his first four predictions were correct is (1/2)^4 = 1/16.  It was unexpected that he would continue to make correct predictions after attaining such fame, but given that there were certainly more than 864 bizarre ways to make World Cup predictions, someone had to get them all right.  Still, the octopus is a great mascot.

While the whole world was engrossed in the Octopus mania, i found out some real time research websites (www.astral-guide.blogspot.com) that do real research on Astronomy and projection patterns of human life based on Mathematics, life sciences, astronomy and past projection timelines. The past is nothing but a starting point for the new is as important as predictions for the future.

Quoting for the website’s blog written on July 09, 2010 (2 days before the final game and one day before the third position play off)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Who will win the World Cup Football and the EU Economy?

After a brief study for the 2 teams in the finals of the world cup Football being played in South Africa, we have stronger feeling that Spain will be the winner of the cup, despite the Netherlands team being very strong and skillful.

Purely based on Astral studies we find that Spain will win.
We also make a note here that from July 22 onwards the economies of Spain and Greece will lift up and irrespective of fate of Euro currency the two countries critical economic status will have a respite. Spain and Greece are two stable economies and their future is as bright as any.

Read full article Here

What’s more the website study predicted that Based on the first matches of national teams of Uruguay and Germany both are going to play with great energy however Germany has more edge and may hence win today’s match with a slight luck. If this match were played on July 20th Uruguay would have won. German team’s fortunes have fizzled out on 6th July onwards going down but they still have great energy left.

For those of you who would like to visit the website and check out more predictions based on ASTRAL studies of planets and astronomy you can visit http://astral-guide.blogspot.com.

There is a difference between predictions and projections and also a thin line between speculation and real time prediction. Speculation is essentially for gamblers and its nothing more than plain mathematical probability that can make or break the outcome. Astrology is a very different dimension of looking at things from a different plane and studying the emerging trends. Alas a lot of so-called astrologers are nothing but salesmen promoting fake and generic predictions for one and all. Some in old civilizations like India are so engrossed in their past that they have not bothered to refine or study patterns with evolving times.

Bottom line is that I don’t think Pauly the Octopus was a gimmick or a probability mechanism but something more refined although the future can be altered by our timely actions and free will and a combined approach of astral projections, astrology and our real time actions is the only way forward to beat the mesh of uncertainty of our daily lives.

Yesterday while sitting at my desk i came across this news that actor Lisa Ray had been diagnosed with an incurable cancer of white blood cells and she announced it to the world on her blog herself (lisaraniray.wordpress.com). My first reaction was ot of shock or disbelief but of surprise as she seemed not to show a lot of emotion or anger.

Quoting a few lines from the post ‘I’m a junior Member in many ways, having been diagnosed at 37, while the average age is 65. Makes the disease not quite as ‘Sexy’ as other Cancers, but we can change that. Some advised me to keep my ‘condition’ a secret as it could negatively affect my career. Buh? I’m plumper, redder, more energetic and wily than ever before- Kiss me like I’ve been kidnapped! I believe it can be cured. That’s the Dirty Realist in me. I’m going to listen to my marrow. Again.’

Once again life and its cruel ways to remind us that life is not just all about eating, sleeping, making money and breeding. There has to be more to live than all this, Infact there is more to life than this and one of the things is the path that our human spirit follows. The triumph of the spirit is the triumph much larger than any award or any sum of money or fame. While she writes the above lines, its visible that her body might not be strong but her spirit certainly appears to be so. That should mean the first half of the battle is won. Just the second half of the physical body remains. Most diseases start on a mental level before they get transpired to the physical body and real cure begins on a mental plane as well. Recall how Lance Armstrong’s strong will to beat the disease started on a mental plane as well. However its very hard to keep the flame burning and the let the flag of positive vibes keep flying all the time. But that’s the real battle. The body can be broken but the spirit should never be allowed to die. For its this spirit that defines each one of us and its this spirit that’s the prime mover of the world and all its creativity and its this spirit that can bloom happiness for all mankind individually.

A highflying spirit can conquer all hate, poverty, disease, disgust, humiliation, disability, isolation, and injustice. What breeds the spirit though is love. Doesn’t have to be an endless stream of love. It can be that one moment that lasts a lifetime. That’s why love is divine and love is God cause it breeds the spirit that is the prime mover of everything.

I don’t know Lisa Ray. Chances are i will never know her. All i can sense is that she has a strong spirit and even with a weak body i am sure she would be able to transform into a fit human being sooner than later. I hope she recovers cause with her will recover a lot of people fighting their battles armed with nothing but their spirits. People stacked against all odds, people who are just on the brink of going down but holding on, people who are as defiant in their spirit as her.

Go for it LR!!

I picked up Dev D last week, eons after it was released. Didn’t feel like watching anything post that but yesterday on a weird Sunday afternoon, I just saw this movie, 99. i wasn’t as blown as with Dev D but its far better than the Kaminey thing.

I say I don’t believe in movie reviews and funny that my last 2 posts are about movies. Weird? Well not quite, cause I had no plan to write about this movie 99 but then I was reading an extract from an Osho Book and there were these few lines that hit me. They said that, retrospectively one always looks at things in a way one would not have looked if life had moved in a different direction. The same things would not have given you the same indications.

Come to think of it, all autobiographies are written retrospectively. There is no doubt that the author writes in the light of what he or she has become and starts looking at the past as what he or she is now rather than what he or she was at that point in time. Doesn’t that make autobiographies more fictitious as fiction can be?
So this movie, 99 is set in the Y2k year and hence the titled 99 and its also a woven story of people who are stuck on 99 and need that one run to bring them in synch with their respective lives. Truth be told, I didn’t think much of Kunal Khemu or others before I saw this movie and it was just Boman Irani that made me watch the movie but I was pleasantly blown by Kunal Khemu’s work. I don’t know if that’s his ability or the magic of a well read out script. May be both. Anyways coming back to Boman Irani, there is not much doubt that he is one of the best actors in India today and far above the overrated people who we see in everyday bullshit (bs) movies we are bombarded with.

In the WWII, Adolph Hitler used something called as propaganda with brilliant effect. It was called Nazi propaganda. What we see in Indian entertainment scene is much similar. The people are flooded with BS cinema and they can escape once or twice but then in the end would end up hailing some or the other BS and claim it to be the best work and needless to say we have these so called best actors and best this and best this. Its BS at its best.

Then amid all the chaos we get some real people, making real movies, telling real stories unlike the BS, the real way, writing the real books in a real way, working around everything and weaving them in a creative way. Its sad to see that majority of this work is obscured by the bs that’s dished out but a good movie is a good movie irrespective of empty cinema chairs, a good book is a good book.

One thing I do best is fucking digress, heh. So Coming back to 99, the movie begins in 1999 and follows the story of Sachin (Kunal Khemu) and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha), two small time con guys who dabble with SIM Cards (The Mobile revolution was just taking off at that point!). They end up working for a small time Bombay bookie and a ‘paisa vasool’ trip takes them to Delhi and into the world of Rahul (Boman Irani) and JC (Vinod Khanna) where they get fully pulled into the match-fixing racket that was making headlines in 2000. The casting is spot on and the performances are brilliant. For once, the jokes in a bollywood movie were intelligent and funny. My favorite was all girls in Delhi are usually called Pooja or Neha. Watch it the believe it. It was also funny to see that the movie got pretty average ratings.

I don’t know what happened to the movie commercially but creatively for me i think it was smooth and subtle and had its highs and lows and nothing actually drags in the movie. For now is in my list at number 2 behind Dev-D and way above the hyped Slumdog and Kaminey which is nothing even remotely close to what the so called cinema big shots are calling it. If Kaminey is path breaking and bold new Bollywood cinema, then its like serving bs wrapped in a new glossy pack.

Amid all the bs, 99 is cool. Watch it if you haven’t and you would sort of agree with what I am trying to say.

I know a lot has been spoken and written on numerous forums over the Internet and other mediums over this brilliant Anurag Kashyap movie. Still i felt strongly enough to write about a few aspects of the same. Don’t care if it matters but the movie forces me to wrote in a way and perhaps it deserves a couple of more pages in its googling result, heh.

I remember listening to Dev D’s OST long before the movie was released and just like all PYT’s, the music was well PYT. One just got the feeling that the Patna ke Presleys were obviously going to be just click big time they eventually did. The rest was hot and cool along the way and then i got fed up or just distracted or out of my zone and dumped the music to come and check it some other day at peace. That day didn’t arrive till about a couple of days back after i actually the saw the movie long after its release. Definitely Worth the delay, heh.

There has lot been said about Abhay Deol and how he is doing stuff which that is making him explore various shades of his craft but as far as I am concerned Manorma, Six feet under was Abhy Deol’s purest work till date. Obviously he’s going on from strength to strength and i just hope he can keep on exploring. The movie is simply modern adaptation of Devdas. Yeah right, so much better than the Shah Rukh over hyped melodramas but what hits you in the face is not the modern adaptation or love, lust and coke but the color.

Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express called Abhay Deol, Bollywood’s most lovable loser and AD didn’t seem to disagree but what’s making AD this is the color on the canvas. The credit has to go to Anurag Kashyap for painting brilliant colors on screen like an artist. An artist of a filmmaker is the right way to put it. Although I do not believe in comparisons but just equating with Sanjay Bhansali (director of earlier Devdas) and his claim to be using colors as a theme, like shades of black and grey in black and the attempt to use blue in that Savariya flick. I don’t know what’s the fascination for colors and themes but the way Anurag Kashyap has used color like a true artist, this is fucking true Eastman color tribute, heh.

Also people equate him to Quentin Tarantino for using background score to push the movie forward and back with brilliant affect but again not using comparisons, I think this is just one of the purest works done with a sincerity which shows. And of course the music adds on to you after you actually watch the movie. I am sure since almost everyone must have seen the flick by now, would agree.

Much was made out of virgins/virginal traits of characters and the lifestyle including the sluttish behavior, love, lust, disgust but everything kind of merges with the color. I mean have you ever seen better graphics on any Indian movie ever built? Right from the use of fonts top the labels to the colors in the film to the characters, their traits, their clothes, everything is in synch. Modern yes, chick yes, but brilliantly in synch.

Synch, hmm reminds me of Anurag’s earlier film, No Smoking. Honesty speaking it was a much better concept than Dev D that is the same old love, hurt, and ego. It’s just the team that built Dev D to the pedestal it is today but No Smoking was like perfect love gone wrong.

The credits thank Abhay Deol for the concept of the movie but this concept is so huge that it could very well form the core of a lot of work to come. There are more ways to self-destruct than a rich spoilt loser. What if the tables turn and the guy is struggling financially? What if there is no escape route with Chanda? What if the guy fights fears of the mind and the soul rather than addiction? I mean the core remains the same and the story can be with endless possibilities. This goes to show how basic the concept was and still is and has the potential to a lot more interpretations. Anurag has explored love with this version, lets look at exploring hate in the coming years?

Just a final word about the music, it stands way beyond anything that ever came out. (Read crazy hype Slumdog).

“Dev D” is a piece of art. Dev D for the Oscars!

The world we live in today is almost at the brink, it always seem one step away from a possible self destruct mode, some nuke attack by some fanatics or some invasion by holier than thou nations. None of these might bring in any relief to an innocent soul in any part of the planet. Thousands die, millions face grave injustice. Talking of injustice, if there is one thing that’s the biggest sin as far as i am concerned is chocking of a man’s innocence, an attempt to silence his or her triumph, a sin much graver than murder cause you can only kill a person’s body once.

Religion, its a dirty word. Religion has never bonded as many people as it has divided. More wars have been fought in the name of religion than any other reason. Religion has its roots drenched in innocent blood and tears and something as disgusting can never be religious. The earlier the world gets rid of religion and its chaos, the better for human race. Spiritualism has to replace religion if we are to reach our pinnacle of this human life. Anyways coming back to religion, I’ve always considered it to be a private and personal affair. To each his own and I still feel the same but when religion crosses all boundaries of human existence and turns into an ugly disease, its time to reflect if it was really worth it all.

The world today is also at a religious polar divide and instead of bridging gaps; religions of the world and their men in charge are just burning bridges. Burning bridges gladly if i may add.

A Muslim court in Malaysia recently ordered Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a part-time model and mother-of-two, to be caned. Guilt? Drinking beer. Yes that’s pretty right. To be caned six times, after she pleaded guilty to drinking three glasses of beer.

Kartika Sari Dewa Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, was arrested for drinking beer in a beachfront hotel in December 2007. While the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has urged Kartika to appeal but Kartika has instead asked that her punishment is carried out in public, triggering a debate over the use of Islamic laws in the moderate Muslim country.

Amnesty International and other campaigners have urged the courts to drop the sentence, saying it was “cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and prohibited under international human rights law”. But who cares to what Amnesty says? We talk of freedom and democracy and free will and turn a blind fcuking eye to the medieval bullshit.

I don’t approve of moral policing in any form cause its just an average mean, concluded by certain minds which claim to be the ones who are having a say so that the society’s fabrics remains in place. The policing of private morality, the banning of books, the laws on censorship, and other modes of social policing are more of religious politics. So religion again with its dark hood, but its not the last end, it’s the power struggle to rule. Rule via religion, stick and carrot or stick and cane all in the name of religion, feel free to choose your pick.

Post modernism is turning itself on its head and heading towards pre medievalism. Keep moving forward, that’s how winning is done right but this is a step in the backward direction, a step in the disgust, a step in the stone age, a step which treats women as sexual slaves or something similar, a step where Bamiyan Buddhas can be gunned down silently, a step where the gun is the religion and the man with the gun is god.

God is dead, burn the flag. Lets look at our spiritual selves and the world could be a better place person per person. To each his own just like what the man in the golden robe says.

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness- Dalai Lama