Reaching There

The Joker had a sinister motive when he asked his victims - why so serious? I asked the same question to me a little while ago; my motive was entirely benign. My thought process evolved from an interview of three-times Academy Award winner in Sun Times. I saw Lincoln a few weeks back and enjoyed the experience. Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis complement each other - the combination of aesthetics of direction and realism of method acting. I would love to talk about this more but some other day! Lincoln is a revered figure in American history and with this comes the burden to portray the character as godlike. I would let a quote from the movie The Insider to put forth my sentiments about human beings who are now considered heroes. Mike Wallace: Who are these people? Lowell Bergman: Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency? The movie Lincoln shows the extraordinary pressure on Abraham Lincoln - a human ...

Susan Cain's Quiet Ever heard a voice coming inside of you? It makes you wonder who is this person speaking to me and sounds just like me. Some movie-makers have tried to visualize this voice as that of our consciousness (remember the scene from the movie Guide where Dev Anand's character battles between the two sides of his voice ). So Easy to Drown the Voice It is easy to drown this voice in the constant bombardment of “entertainment” available at the click of the button. I have these urges to write down a piece of prose or a poem. I open my blog to begin a post and few seconds later I am on Youtube.com going through some random videos! I can kid myself that it is part of the research, but my voice knows it all. And it goes into a hiding. A World that Ignores the Introverts I am reading Susan Cain’s Quiet these days. Some of the things surprised me and others created a feeling of discomfort. For example, a young man trying to give a few good ideas; but t...

Inside an Actors Studio: Steven Speilberg I recently watched Steven Speilberg's interview on James Lipton's Inside the Actors Studio (on youtube!). One of the biggest piece of adivce was his answer to how he direct child actors in his movies. There are quite a few movies in which his story was told from a point of view of a child (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Empire of the Sun). He answered "I don't treat them like children I treat them like my peers". He further added that the moment he begins treating them like children he would become the overbearing adult. This gave me an indirect lesson on how manager or a team leader should treat his team members. He should treat them like individuals who have their own individuality, personality, aspirations and emotions. He should respect their existence in the team and listen to their opinion with a "porous" mind. The reason I used "porous" mind because such a listener gives the oppor...