Take Away from the Film ‘Network’

Take away from ‘Network’ a 1976 satirical movie directed by Sydney Lumet where Peter Finch an anchor of a TV channel after publicly publicizing his suicide, goes ‘live’ on the same TV channel and announces the following:

“Good evening. Today is Wednesday, September the 24th...

...and this is my last broadcast.

Yesterday I announced on this program that I was going to commit public suicide.

Admittedly an act of madness.

Well, I'll tell you what happened.

I just ran out of bullshit.

Bullshit is all the reasons we give for living.

If we can't think up any reasons of our own, we have the God bullshit.

--through all this pointless pain, humiliation and decay...

...so there better be someone who does know.

That's the God bullshit.

Man is a noble creature that can order his own world.

Who needs God?

If there's anybody out there... ...that can look around this

slaughterhouse of a world we live in... ...and tell me that man

is a noble creature... ...believe me, that man is full of bullshit.

And I was married for 33 years of shrill, shrieking fraud.

So I don't have any bullshit left.

I just ran out of it, you see.”

John Dryden

Imitation of Horace (1685)

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.

o Book III, Ode 29 line 65-68

John Dryden –

(19 August 1631 {9 August O.S.} – 12 May 1700 {1 May O.S.}) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. He was Poet Laureate, 1668–1689.


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Change of Uniforms

You are born, you live and you die. Amidst this, you change uniforms - a lot of uniforms. You get into baby uniforms, kindergarten uniforms, school uniforms, office uniforms {police / military / Firefighting / Doctors / Nurses / Lawyers / et al /}, day or night uniforms, social visit uniforms and lastly get into a funeral uniform.

At the end of the day – you just change uniforms

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You don’t say (or can’t) “Life is Beautiful”, when you are drudging it out hard in your office!

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There is no such thing as a merry philosophy

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Sometimes you wish Darwin never existed. How can he deprive us of our belief of holding the hierarchical view that we were made in the image of a god? How can he instill upon us that we were made in the image of a monkey?

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Will competence, punctuality, and the aspiration for achievement and success bring us happiness?

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Yasujiro Ozu

Yasujirō Ozu
From Wikipedia :

Yasujirō Ozu (小津 安二郎 Ozu Yasujirō?, 12 December 1903 – 12 December 1963) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films. Ozu made fifty-three films: twenty-six in his first five years as a director, and all but three for the Shochiku studio. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in the 1930s.

Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the themes in his work. His outstanding works include Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953), and Floating Weeds (1959). He made great use of elipsis, where many events are not depicted visually, and he also used a style of cinematography in which the camera rarely moves and is usually positioned below the eye level of the actors.

His reputation has continued to grow since his death, and he is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential directors.

Completed watching the following movies

{1931} - Tokyo.Chorus
{1932} - I.Was.Born.But.(1932)
{1934} - Ukikusa monogatari {A Story Of Floating Weeds}
{1935} - Tōkyō no yada {An Inn In Tokyo}
{1936} - Hitori Musuko {The Only Son}
{1941} - Todake no kyodai
{1942} - Chichi Ariki {There Was A Father}
{1948} - Kaze no naka no mendor {A Hen In the Wind}
{1949} - Banshun {Late Spring}
{1951} - Bakushū {Early Summer}
{1953} - Tôkyô monogatari [Tokyo Story]
{1956} - sōshun {Early Spring}
{1956} - Sōshun {Early Spring}
{1957} - Tōkyō boshoku {Tokyo Twilight}
{1958} - Equinox Flower (Higanbana)
{1959} - Ohayo {Good Morning}
{1959} - Ukigusa {Floating Weeds}
{1960} - Akibiyori {Late Autumn}
{1962} - An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji) (1962)

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Jazz and Blues Archive

Jazz and Blues Archive

Completed listening to the Jazz and Blues Archive of 164 Albums - @!

It was an enthralling, exhilarating and elated feeling – while it lasted.

001_(1899-1917)_Scott Joplin

002_(1917-1921)_Original Dixieland Jazz Band

003_(1922-1935)_New Orleans Rhythm Kings

004_(1923-1927)_Jelly Roll Morton

005_(1923-1929)_Johnny Dodds

006_(1923-1930)_King Oliver

007_(1923-1931)_Bessie Smith

008_(1924-1925)_Ma Rainey

009_(1924-1927)_Duke Ellington

010_(1924-1928)_Bix Beiderbecke

011_(1924-1942)_Buster Bailey

012_(1926-1931)_Louis Armstrong

013_(1926-1933)_Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang

014_(1926-1934)_Luis Russell

015_(1927-1928)_Red Nichols

016_(1927)_Fletcher Henderson

017_(1928-1929)_McKinney's Cotton Pickers

018_(1928-1934)_Jack Teagarden

019_(1928-1942)_Tampa Red

020_(1928)_Mississippi John Hurt

021_(1929-1930)_Clarence Williams

022_(1929-1933)_Benny Carter

023_(1929-1935)_Coleman Hawkins

024_(1929-1938)_Fats Waller

025_(1929-1938)_Jabbo Smith's Rhythm Aces

026_(1929-1940)_J.C. Higginbotham

027_(1929-1946)_T-Bone Walker

028_(1930-1932)_Bennie Moten

029_(1930-1934)_Jimmie Lunceford

030_(1931-1933)_Blind Willie McTell

031_(1931-1939)_The Boswell Sisters

032_(1932-1936)_Josh White

033_(1932-1937)_The Mills Brothers

034_(1932-1939)_Sidney Bechet

035_(1932-1942)_Ivie Anderson

036_(1932-1944)_Ben Webster

037_(1932-1946)_Big Bill Broonzy

038_(1932)_The Rhythmakers

039_(1933-1936)_Billie Holiday

040_(1933-1941)_Art Tatum

041_(1933)_Washboard Rhythm Kings

042_(1934-1936)_Fletcher Henderson

043_(1934-1937)_Chick Webb

044_(1934-1940)_Leadbelly

045_(1934-1942)_Earl 'Fatha' Hines

046_(1934-1946)_Teddy Wilson

047_(1935-1936)_Benny Goodman

048_(1935-1938)_Tommy Dorsey

049_(1935-1939)_Benny Goodman

050_(1935-1939)_Mildred Bailey

051_(1935-1941)_Roy Eldridge

052_(1935-1945)_Big Joe Williams

053_(1936-1937)_Benny Carter

054_(1936-1937)_Django Reinhardt

055_(1936-1937)_Kokomo Arnold

056_(1936-1937)_Robert Johnson

057_(1936-1939)_Mezz Mezzrow

058_(1936-1940)_Ella Fitzgerald

059_(1936-1944)_Lena Horne

060_(1936-1944)_Lester Young

061_(1937-1939)_Bunny Berigan

062_(1937-1939)_Harry James

063_(1937-1939)_Sonny Boy Williamson

064_(1937-1940)_Lionel Hampton

065_(1937-1940)_Sonny Terry

066_(1937-1941)_Sleepy John Estes

067_(1937-1944)_Count Basie

068_(1937-1946)_Earl 'Fatha' Hines

069_(1937-1949)_The Andrews Sisters

070_(1938-1941)_Artie Shaw

071_(1938-1941)_Charlie Shavers

072_(1938-1941)_Gene Krupa

073_(1938-1941)_Glenn Miller

074_(1938-1944)_Bobby Hackett

075_(1938-1945)_Pee Wee Russell

076_(1938-1956)_The Big Band Boogie Woogie

077_(1939-1941)_Charlie Christian

078_(1939-1946)_Albert Ammons

079_(1939)_Charlie Barnet

080_(1940-1941)_Brownie Mcghee

081_(1940-1941)_Memphis Slim

082_(1940-1944)_Meade 'Lux' Lewis

083_(1940-1945)_Anita O'Day

084_(1940-1945)_Erskine Hawkins

085_(1941-1942)_Muddy Waters

086_(1941-1944)_Edmond Hall

087_(1941-1946)_Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup

088_(1941-1946)_Big Joe Turner

089_(1941-1947)_Duke Ellington

090_(1941-1953)_Peggy Lee

091_(1942)_Lu Watters

092_(1943-1946)_Nat King Cole

093_(1943-1947)_Dexter Gordon

094_(1944-1947)_Billy Eckstine

095_(1944-1947)_Erroll Garner

096_(1944-1947)_Pete Johnson

097_(1944-1949)_Frank Sinatra

098_(1944-1950)_Roosevelt Sykes

099_(1944)_Barney Bigard

100_(1945-1946)_Dizzy Gillespie

101_(1945-1946)_Lionel Hampton

102_(1945-1946)_Slam Stewart

103_(1945-1947)_Charlie Parker

104_(1945-1947)_Don Byas

105_(1945-1947)_June Christy

106_(1945-1947)_Lucky Thompson

107_(1945-1953)_Dinah Washington

108_(1945-1954)_Woody Herman

109_(1946-1947)_Illinois Jacquet

110_(1946-1948)_Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis

111_(1946-1948)_Lightnin Hopkins

112_(1946-1949)_Lennie Tristano

113_(1946-1949)_Wardell Gray

114_(1946-1954)_Ella Fitzgerald

115_(1946-1954)_Mel Torme

116_(1946-1954)_Sarah Vaughan

117_(1946-1955)_Joe Williams

118_(1947-1949)_Fats Navarro

119_(1947-1953)_Gene Ammons

120_(1947-1953)_George Shearing

121_(1947)_Thelonious Monk

122_(1948-1953)_John Lee Hooker

123_(1948)_Kid Ory

124_(1949-1950)_Bud Powell

125_(1949-1950)_Johnny Otis

126_(1949-1951)_Lee Konitz

127_(1949-1952)_B.B. King

128_(1949-1952)_Sonny Stitt

129_(1949-1953)_Dave Brubeck

130_(1949-1953)_Jay Jay Johnson

131_(1949-1953)_Miles Davis

132_(1949-1954)_Charlie Parker

133_(1950-1951)_Jimmy Witherspoon

134_(1950-1952)_Stan Getz

135_(1950-1953)_Gerry Mulligan

136_(1950-1953)_Stan Kenton

137_(1950-1953)_Zoot Sims

138_(1950-1954)_Art Pepper

139_(1951-1952)_Howlin' Wolf

140_(1951-1952)_Wilbur De Paris

141_(1951-1953)_Paul Quinichette

142_(1951-1953)_Shorty Rogers

143_(1951-1953)_Sonny Rollins

144_(1951-1955)_James Moody

145_(1951-1955)_The Modern Jazz Quartet

146_(1951-1956)_Shorty Rogers

147_(1952-1954)_Barney Kessel

148_(1952-1954)_Chet Baker

149_(1952-1954)_Lou Donaldson

150_(1952-1954)_Ray Charles

151_(1952-1955)_Billie Holiday

152_(1952-1955)_Tal Farlow

153_(1952)_Horace Silver

154_(1952)_The George Lewis Ragtime Jazz Band Of New Orleans

155_(1953-1954)_Dizzy Gillespie

156_(1953-1956)_Art Farmer

157_(1953)_Bud Shank

158_(1953)_Clifford Brown

159_(1954-1955)_Phil Woods

160_(1954-1956)_Herbie Mann

161_(1954)_Charles Mingus

162_(1955)_Jackie McLean and Donald Byrd

163_(1955)_Louis Armstrong

164_(1955)_The Jazz Messengers

Barbarism and Fanaticism

There is not much of a difference between barbarism and fanaticism.

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If you cannot touch something, is it possible to believe in it?

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Have you ever wondered about people who want to have things systematically around them?

Well here is an interpretation of putting things systematically – It means that these people also and always try to get other people under their control.

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What greatness have these ”truth telling men”, ”these men of letters” and “philosophers” achieved - for even all of them at one time or the other have fallen victims to the stupidity of nations, the atrocities and fury of tyrants?

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Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

Really liked the verse of the Persian philosopher, theologian, poet, teacher, and founder of Mawlawi order of Sufism; Jalaluddin Rumi, or simply known as Rumi.

o Some Hindoos were exhibiting an elephant in a dark room, and many people collected to see it.

o But as the place was too dark to permit them to see the elephant, they all felt it with their hands, to gain an idea of what it was like.

o One felt its trunk, and declared that the beast resembled a water-pipe;

o another felt its ear, and said it must be a large fan;

o another its leg, and thought it must be a pillar;

o another felt its back, and declared the beast must be like a great throne.


o According to the part which each felt, he gave a different description of the animal.

o One, as it were, called it "Dal" and another "Alif."

o Compare the sensual eye to the hand of one that felt the elephant.

o The eye of outward sense is as the palm of a hand,

o The whole of the object is not grasped in the palm.

o The sea itself is one thing, the foam another;

o Neglect the foam, and regard the sea with your eyes.


o From:- The Masnavi, Book III, Story V, as translated in Masnavi I Ma'navi : The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad Rúmí (1898) by Edward Henry Whinfield

Excerpts from the Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech

Excerpts from the Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech - 'The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination' on June 5, 2008

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticize my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools.

DNN: Agree - that one cannot blame one’s parent for their point of view.

DNN: Agree – that there is an expiry date on blaming one’s parents for steering one in the wrong direction

DNN: Agree – that one cannot criticize ones parents for hoping that one would never experience poverty.

DNN: Agree – that poverty causes stress, fear, depression, humiliation and hardship

DNN: Agree - (and this is of primary importance which leads me to further paradoxical excerpt of Madam Rowling), that ”climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools.”

Now a further excerpt really confuses the audience:

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

DNN: If happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check list of acquisition, (accolades) or achievement than how does one ‘’climb out of poverty by one‘s own effort‘’ { which according to her causes all the stress, fear, depression, humiliation and hardship }?

DNN: Agree – that Life is difficult, complicated and beyond anyone’s total control – but if one’s qualifications and one’s CV are not one’s life then what is? – And how do you define yourself? What are you? What are you made of if not of your thoughts, ideas, acquisition, accolades, achievement, qualifications, CV, money, fame and power?  

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