For the love of the Game

'He can predict the future by tossing a blade of grass into the air.He can read a green like Eveyln Woods.And he knows where the bones are buried.If you have never walked with a caddie by your side you have never played Golf'

"Science" fiction movies

Firstly i just dont understand the need for such movies to be produced in the film industry! Utter nonsense is what flashes in my mind and the next thing we all know is that one of the distinct members from the Indian film industry has been thoroughly inspired by such stupid creativity that he actually makes one such movie without forgetting to integrate a basic ingredient of indian films-songs; into it. Now i just saw a movie -a sci-fi, and realized few things. let me share this with you.

->The central problem and its context.
A story is SF when the central problem dealt with by the characters is a science-fictional idea, or when the central problem is resolved by science-fictional means. This obviously means that if the SF elements are removed from the story, either the central problem, or its resolution, will cease to exist, causing the story to completely collapse. The always collapse when it is made in India-esp tamil films. Not to forget bollywood initiatives on these lines. There are many. Just think of one.

->There is a large body of thought that says that a story has to have more than an SF setting to be SF. In other words, if the characters and plot can be successfully transplanted to a non-SF setting, it isn't really SF.

->If a Plot is said to be the structure of events within a story and the causal relationship between them, then in SF films there is no plot without causality. "Captain Stronghead piloted his spacecraft to Proxima Centauri," is an event with no plot. "Captain Stronghead piloted his spacecraft to Proxima Centauri in order to escape the despotic regime on Earth," has the beginning of a plot. We can imagine how much of work and effort has been put in by our indian counterparts while conceiving a plot to cater to the hysteric viewers in India.

->Now comes the complications. Things getting worse is not a matter of simply increasing the magnitude of the problem. (Discovery of the fact that the asteroid about to hit Earth is 1500km across rather than 500km across.) Things getting worse in a story sense means a proliferation of new problems rippling from the old. (The realization that the technical failures in the escape spacecraft are the result of sabotage.) Complication means that the problem the characters were trying to solve is not quite the same as the problem they actually face. Here again when this aspect is to be modified to suit the Indian context, the protagonist is always ready for any situation whether he is working towards solving a problem or not. And if he is shown to be a meek character, its just that the audience is in for a surprise as he would pray and suddenly utilize his unknown potenial which is not @100% but over 240%. Somewhere very close to Superman i suppose!?

Balancing on the Wall!

I believe media ought to be non-partisan and is ethically bound to be this way and just report facts as they are. Of course, If it were so simple then there wouldnt be so many news channels around boasting about their 'humble viewership'! would they?

Why is it people snigger about the dull news reports from the government owned channels when all it does is present the news like it is: without any frills? Which means one one hand while we complain about sensationalism of news by the media we seem to secretly encourage it too by subscribing to these channels, although not necessarily to their point of view. We like to shift channels between Jaya and Sun or NDTV and CNN- IBN to see what each has to say about an issue. We also like to know more about hidden intentions/meaning of what has been said by this person and the details of the body language and what it could have otherwise implied and so on. And when you get opinions from people belonging to different ideologies, it is bound to reflect in their opinion however erudite it is!

So in this context, is it possible for a newspaper to be totally loyal only to truth? (like 'The Independent' and the character depicted by Mithunda in the film GURU where the criterion for publication of a news item is only that it is true.)

So Today is there plain black and white in anything? Particularly in politics? So what is more possible is that they do not publish or say something completely untrue or totally speculative. A known fact is that news carriers and channels depend on advertisements for their survival in the market so there is some kind of pressure on them to go easy on their patrons! Well not surprising is it?

As readers and viewers we are also happy to be exposed to different views and analyses as it expands our thinking and presents diverse view points. The channels are obviously under pressure to grab the viewers with the result that the very critical issue over the boundary line between reportage and entertainment has become obscure!