Tangled : Change In Disney Stories?

Tangled opened up this week and has been doing really well, it has raised up to 100 Million. This is the story of a new and different Rapunzel who is curious and adventuresome. The movie has received good reviews so far, in fact people are comparing it to Shrek. The movie has everything for everyone, it is not the typical fairytale story that there is a beautiful and subtle princess who is in trouble and only a prince can rescue her. This movie is an adventure for both boys and girls. Disney's story have changed in the past few years and in a good way, they are moving away from the conventional stories which have been criticized by many feminists. The biggest change that we saw in Disney was after they made The Princess and the Frog. The lead characters were black in ethnicity and this story is about a girl who works hard to reach her goals. The male character in this story is a spoiled prince who changes after meeting this girl and after having to live as frogs for a day. In a way it was the opposite of typical fairy tales.

Disney's fairy tales have been a big part of every young girls life and many of the cartoons are big part of young boys lives. Usually the first movies that young children see are of Disney therefore they are important in their socialization and building their world view. Bringing diversity in these movies can help reduce conventional ideals of beauty and power and help promote female empowerment and equality.

Billboard On Shahra-e-Faisal

Recently a billboard advertisment caught my eye and for a while it left me confused until i reached close to it and I could examine it closely. The advertisment is of Cadburys Dairy Milk Chochlate. When i first saw it from a distance it looked like there were three men on it, one was sitting on the top, one at the bottom and one was hanging in the middle and for a while I was confused as to what are these men doing there? They didn't look like workers but when I came closer to the billboard I saw they were dummies ! Pretty confusing, many people would say thats just stupid but I say brilliant advertisement. The whole idea of billboards are to catch a persons attention while they are on the road and this caught everyones attention.During the time we were trying to figure out who what these men are doing, our minds very reading dairy milk chocolate, and therefore it registered in our heads. I couldn't take a picture of it but the picture above is something similar to what was on that billboard. The billboard is located on the connecting bridge between Shahra-e-Faisal and Defence Phase 2.

Karachi Plane Crash

KARACHI: At least 12 people were killed when a Russian-made cargo plane crashed in a fireball seconds after taking off from Karachi on Sunday.
Rescue workers recovered 12 bodies from the crash site, including four identified as local labourers, and the death toll was expected to rise.
Authorities said the Ilyushin IL-76 operated by Georgian airline Sunway slammed into buildings soon after refuelling and taking off from the airport in Pakistan’s business capital.
The plane was carrying eight crew members and 31 tons of supplies for Sudanese capital Khartoum and the crash was so severe that fire engulfed two buildings, as well as adjacent construction sites, the spokesman said.
“Rescue workers have recovered 12 dead bodies, these include eight crew members and four labourers on ground,” Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Pervez George earlier told AFP.
George has already announced that all eight people on board have have been died.
Authorities said they had brought the fire under control but rescue workers were still searching for bodies.
Had it been crashed Just two streets away from construction site, it would have resulted in severe casualities of Retired Naval officers and their families living in Naval housing scheme(NHS). The worst part after the crash that was faced by people residing in NHS, that people from nearby areas that got inside the naval base started looting. This situation was handled by teenage boys living in nhs that came forwarded as brave citizens.
But the real Question that arises is that it was the third plane accident in four months in Pakistan, a country of 170 million people where inter-city travel is most efficient by air, and the second aircraft to crash after takeoff from Karachi in just four weeks.
Is it just mere incident or some planned conspiracy….??

Kim Kardashian Plays Dead

Kim Kardashian is all over the news, one day you hear she is married, next day you hear she is not! In the last one week, the news has been filled with Kim Kardashian and it makes sense, as she launched her brand Kardashian Konfidential and she needs all the publicity she can get. Therefore we hear news stories about her wearing leather to her credit card getting terminated, however this story really caught my eye.

Kim Kardashian will remove herself from twitter until 1 Million is raised for HIV/AIDS awareness, and till this money is raised, she will play dead and also pose to be dead in a coffin. The event is organized by Alicia Keys’ “Keep a Child Alive” organization. Other celebs who opted to digitally die include Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Ryan Seacrest, Serena Williams and Katie Holmes. The event is supposed to get people to care about AIDS and therefore raise awareness. Kims increasing popularity can make it successful but the amount 1 Million, she could have donated herself, therefore this can be seen as no more but an addition to her publicity. But in any case she is helping raise some money for a good cause and therefore this piece of information was quiet interesting. 

Wikileaks

Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables, the largest set of confidential documents ever to be released into the public domain. The documents will give people around the world an unprecedented insight into US Government foreign activities.
These leaks have stirred a worldwide shock and have gained a lot of attention, they are all over the news worldwide. The website is so popular that when i tried to open it, it took me 5 attempts because it has too much load on it. Wikileaks has revealed a lot of new and insider information, the top few are the follows :

•  King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly asked the U.S. to "cut off the head of the snake" -- meaning, it appears, to bomb Iran's nuclear program. Leaders of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern nations expressed similar views.
• Afghan Vice President Ahmed Zia Massoud took $52 million in cash when he visited the United Arab Emirates last year, according to one cable. The Afghan government has been plagued by allegations of corruption.
• The United States has been working to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani nuclear reactor, out of concern that it could be used to build an illicit nuclear device. The effort, which began in 2007, continues.
• The State Department labeled Qatar the worst country in the region for counterterrorism efforts.The country's security services were "hesitant to act against known terrorists out of concern for appearing to be aligned with the U.S. and provoking reprisals," according to one cable.
• Clinton may have asked diplomats to gather intelligence on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's plans for Iran, and information on Sudan (including Darfur), Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Iran and North Korea.

There are many more pieces of information that have been revealed but these have stirred up a lot of attention, especially in Pakistan and other countries involved. These cables have also been released through well known news posts like the New York Times, The Guardian of Britain and Der Speigl of Germany. This revelation of new information is going to change a lot of the world history, but the authenticity of it is very questionable, particularly for one reason. Why is the website not blocked by the United States, despite all the damage it might cause to their diplomacy its still running. The US has the abillity to block any website and they can even stop Julian Assange but they are not, which raises questions, maybe they don'd mind this information from being released, because most of its content will raise alot of issues between middle east, Pakistan, Iran , Afghanistan, Korea and China. In other words the Muslim world and the upcoming Asian super power. Though most of it can be true leaking this information to the public will cause conflict among these nations, therefore the US has some benefit  out of wikileak.

From Bebo To Munni To Sheila.

Last year, it was Kareena Kapoor in Bebo mein bebo, the item number in the movie Kambakht Ishq. This year two more item numbers have hit the nation India and obviously Pakistan aswell. One is the track Munni Badnam Hui from the movie dabang. Malika Arora has performed in this number. The other one is Sheila Ki Jawani from the move Tees Maar Khan, this shows Katrina Kaif as lead dancer. All three songs had catchy tunes and got alot of popularity, but thats not the only thing that they have in common. Besides being item numbers with superstars of bollywood dancing to them, they share a common bond of vulgarity in terms of lyrics and the video. Katrina, Kareena and Malaika are seen dancing in revealing clothing and eye-catching dance movies. In Sheila and Munni, they are dancing in the middle of a stag of men. The lyrics of these songs appreciate the hotness and sexyness of these women, as well as their innocence. These grotesque songs have gained more popularity then the movies themselves. It was shocking to me because first there were figures like Rakhi Sawant who used to dance in such tracks but now well known and top actresses have been participating in them. What does this show for Bollywood when the culture of item girl dance tracks are now making way into mainstream Bollywood and the top most actresses are actively participating. It only proves that Vulgarity is on the rise in Bollywood!

Oregon Bomb Suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20023957-504083.html

Another shocking story for all Muslims out there, though I am surprised, and also relieved that this story hasn't been given a lot of attention. A 19 year old Muslim boy namely Mohamed Osman Mohamud was arrested as he was involved in planting a bomb at the tree lightening ceremony at downtown Portland. What he didn't know was that the bomb was fake and his companion in this mission was an undercover CIA agent, who wanted to catch him in action.
The validity of this story will always remain a mystery because there are some bits that seem exaggerated.Apparently this boy wanted to engage in jihad since 15 but couldn't because of his parents, then he finally got touch with someone in Pakistan who could help him become a "jihadi". If this is 100 percent accurate then this boy seems a crazy sociopath, mostly because of his thrill to kill Americans and enjoy the fireworks. Clearly he is suffering from some psychological illness that has killed his humanity. It is even more troubling to know that the terrorists trying to help him are all in Pakistan, which makes you wonder is it true or is it just a sham to make sure that the terrorists operation in Pakistan keep on running and we all believe that there are terrorists functioning in Pakistan? Somehow the actions of this boy and how his sayings seem exaggerated to me. A person who is involved with  terrorist groups, surely would be very careful and wouldn't respond to anyone without any authenticity, but the boy easily believer the CIA agent and didn't check his identity with his Pakistani terrorist friends. Either he was really dumb and delusional or this is all a sham to support the existing propaganda against Muslims?

Bridalplasty?

Just when you Reality TV can be anymore shocking, E! brings you bridalplasty. The most depressing and ridiculous show that I can ever even imagine.The show puts 12 brides-to-be together in a mansion for four months, and pits them against each other in a variety of typically contrived contests -- not for money, but for plastic surgery. The grand prize? A full-body makeover and an upscale wedding.

The reality aspect of the show is nothing special,it takes the same stereotypical image of reality TV females and incorporates  bridezella into it. The worse part is that the women on these shows are naturally beautiful and one of them is a former beauty pageant winner but they are all fighting to get plastic surgery. What kind of image are E! trying to create of beauty with such a show? Is it just to promote plastic surgery or to show how crazy women are in when it comes to beauty and being a bride! Whatever the purpose behind building such misogynistic reality show, I am glad that the show has horrible reviews. It is nothing but despicable and I feel sad for these women who feel the need to change themselves and most of all, I feel sad for their grooms because they are about to marry these crazy women. I really hope this show fails miserable.

Potter Stars And The Love Child Rumour

http://www.popeater.com/2010/11/27/harry-potter-tom-felton-love-child-rumor/

A picture posted on postsecret.com, of the seven famous cast members of Harry Potter revealed a shocking secret.  Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Oliver and James Phelps, Jason Isaacs and Alan Rickman were on a postcard where someone posted the following anonymously :-
"One of these men is the father of the most amazing little girl in the world," says the unsigned message scrawled on the postcard. "He's never met her. He never will. He probably can't even remember my name."
It immediately became into a scandal that one of these actors have a love child and obviously it must have been a huge shock to the actors. 
It is a bit suspicious as to how there have been a couple of scandals in the past few weeks, at the same time the latest movie of the series(Harry Potter And the deathly hallows) has been released. There was the video leak of the first 30 minutes of the movie and now this. Either they are victims of bad luck or is it all a publicity stunt?The lovechild thing, I think is a bit too much, obviously there is no way of finding out the truth but the amount of attention the media is giving to the cast members of the movie makes it quiet obvious that these are all just publicity tricks!
However the success of the movie has been phenomenal,it managed to make 125 M in the first week. The success for a movie like harry potter is solely because of all the Potter fans out there who have read the books, therefore i don't think they even need these kind of publicity stunts.

Spanish Women Owns the Sun

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7452354-spanish-woman-claims-she-owns-the-sun-and-wants-to-collect-taxes
A Spanish women bought the sun and now will charge taxes on anyone who uses the sun. According to her she saw it as a source of income and a unique idea , which is going to bring revenue to her country. Well congrats on the innovative idea to make money, surely no one would have thought this before, and even if many did, no body could ever believe that it would be real, or anyone would ever actually consider doing it. Now the question is what is next? If we, simple individuals start owning objects of the universe,particularly those of the most importance,how long will it be since we come down to owning the elements? Today someone bought the sun, in hopes of earning revenue of it, tomorrow someone will buy air and then charge every human being to breath it. I mean we are already fighting prices for water now! Gaining ownership to one of the biggest necessity of earth is no different then the selfish ownership of resources by an exploitative capitalist. This universe was built for every human,animal and plant, giving ownership of its important objects is unfair because then humans are being deprived of their natural right.

I don't think this women will be successful in her quest for revenue by charging usage of the sun, but if she does, then thats a tragedy and it will begin a new era of competition, this one being on gaining ownership of basic necessities and profiting on them.

Pastor Advises Ban on Facebook!

Pastor Advises Congregation to Abandon Adulterous Social Network

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/18/the-last-temptation-of-facebook-pastor-advises-congregation-to-abandon-adulterous-social-network/#ixzz15loPfbwZ


Wow isnt this a bit too extreme? Facebook should be removed because it results in online flirting and physical meet ups! So do many other websites but thats not the point. This leads me to the essential question : Is banning the right option or is freedom to make your choice provided with rightful awareness the better option? What good will banning do? If a person wants to get into an extra marital or pre-marital affair,he/she will make it happen by signing into any other social network or even going to a social place like clubs. But if the person has been taught that his/her religion does not allow such acts or the consequences will not be good, then he/she will never intend to indulge in such behavior. By banning the site, only the medium is being removed but not the intention where the real problem lies.
Another thing that article reminded me off was the ban on Facebook enforced by the Pakistani government because of blasphemy. This kind of shows how religion does not affect the state government in the USA because if it were Pakistan, they government would jump towards enforcing a ban! Despite it being a very extremist action by this church, it doesnt affect the whole nation and only affects a few people, also the congregants are advised, not forced!

Why Slackistan is not in the cinemas?

Why Slackistan and Harry Potter are not in the cinemas- http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/2871/why-slackistan-and-harry-potter-are-not-in-the-cinemas/

A very good point raised! My concern is more with why Slackistan hasn't been up in local cinemas yet.Its a movie that marks a change in Pakistani cinema and yet most of the population is deprived of it. Yes I agree it serves a different niche, but at least let that sect of Pakistan watch it.In order for our youth to progress and actually improve something around here, we need to be supportive of their efforts. It is even more disappointing that we see news regarding Indian movies and actors flashing in our 9 o clock news bulletin, but we don't see our media promoting our own movies. We only see gossip of Indian actors and Bollywood films, what does that show of our media if all we wanna talk about is foreign and not give our own even a chance.

Though I haven't seen Slackistan myself, but the trailer has caught my eye. It is filmed in Islamabad and it gives an insight to the youth culture that prevails in all over Pakistan, even if it exists in a minority. The film has screened in Abu Dhabi and London and many other places around the globe and has caught attention because of the new image that it has brought to the world regarding Pakistan. Thats great because all over the world, we are seen as terrorists and its about time, the world realizes there is more to Pakistan. A film that can change the image of Pakistan should be supported by our media and PEMRA. This lack of support is really demotivating to future independent film makers.

Harry Potter Vs Twilight

Times have changed and they continue on changing. Every year, we have new resolutions, new beliefs, new passions, new television series, new movies and the list goes on. What has caught my eye are the new books and how with those new books, the book preference has changed as well. People, specifically teenagers are now keener to read twilight and its entire Saga rather than the Harry potter series. Its actually shocking that very few now read Harry Potter and most of them are now more focused on reading twilight or chatting about it, blogging about it etc. Maybe its because Twilight is more modern compared to Harry potter. If we compare those two, one can conclude that both are based on myths and a wild imagination but what is even more obvious is that Harry Potter (even though based on fiction) has far more character and story in it compared to twilight. The Twilight saga is the story of a girl who is too weird to fit into the real world and thus is attracted to obviously the two people who do not belong to this world either, a vampire and a werewolf. Harry Potter Is the story of a boy who also doesn’t fit into the “real” world but he has a place in the magical world, he is a boy who lost his parents when he was still a baby and when he turned 11 he was recruited into Hogwarts to learn magic and the story goes on from there. In my opinion, why teenagers’ specifically teenage girls are so amazed by the twilight saga is because every teenage girl who has gone through puberty goes through the “I don’t belong here” phase and thus looks for someone to ease her alienation. It provides them with this security that it does not matter if they are alienated because In just a matter of days the “most breathtakingly beautiful” man will come and sweep them off their feet (maybe even literally, if he is a vampire).

Harry Potter, on the other hand is a journey, an adventure to be precise. One simply cannot relate to this story because even though magic may exist (as some may argue) but voldemort does not thus there is no point dreaming about it in a black robe hoping some snake like man will come one day and you will have to defeat him. Harry Potter is one of those books, which people should read not because they expect to learn a lesson from it, but because of the dynamics of the entire story. How it all comes together in the end, how the things we read in the first book make sense only after we read the last part, and not once does it bore the reader, not once does it make the reader want to just put the book down and sleep for a little while. I remember when I read Harry Potter, I was always so eager to know what happens next that i forgot to have a few meals. Where as when I was reading new moon (second book in the twilight saga) I actually skipped a few pages because I was so bored of reading Bella whine about how much pain she is in and how she has a hole in her heart and that she wants an adrenaline rush because it makes her see Edward (a case of schizophrenia, I think so).

I highly suggest to everyone that Harry potter is one the most amazing books ever written, and even though I recommend people read the twilight saga, I do not suggest one should try to relate to the story. It will drive you crazy if you start acting like Bella in hopes that a vampire will come to your rescue you and not bite you. 

Ban On Sheesha?

Punjab government contemplating ban on sheesha! - The Express Tribune

Senator Pervaiz Rashid said he would submit a privilege motion in the senate for a complete ban on sheesha from the country. According to Pervaiz Rashid, Sheesha is spoiling the youth and in many unchecked outlets, addictive drugs like cocaine, marijuana and heroine are added to the flavoured tobacco. Therefore a ban on sheesha will be imposed soon.

Not that i am against with the ban, but i feel that its not going to do any good to the youth,because most of the youth have access to sheeshas at their homes. Secondly the sheesha culture has become a big part of Pakistani youth, their life revolves around hanging out for sheesha and many businesses thrive merely because they provide sheesha in thier outlets.Sheesha is a much more accpetable activity then smoking cigeretes, many parents are compromising in case of sheesha but when they catch their childern smoking, they are furious.Banning this activity will just create alot of frustration amongst the youth because it has become such a big part of the nations youth. The government needs to be smart when making such decisions, two things that can be effective in order to protect health of the youth and reducing sheesha usage are awareness of the harm that sheesha can cause and also an increase in price. 

Awareness regarding sheesha will let the youth know why it is harmful and then it becomes their own responsibility to protect themselves and an increase in price by taxing this commodity will slowly reduce demand. Out rightly banning a commodity which has cultural significance is a foolish move, instead a slow and more interactive kind of process will be effective.

Miley Cyrus Cant Be Tamed Anymore!

First came Britney Spears with the song My Prerogative, then came Lindsay Lohan with the song rumors and now Miley Cyrus with Cant be Tamed. Britney and Lindsay have a lot in common in terms of their star- base and extra-curricular activities,.hence it made alot of sense when they came up with songs like these. At that time when i heard these tracks, i always interpreted them in terms of  how they are suppressed and these females have been a target of baseless rumors and they need to let loose and be themselves. Now Miley Cyrus has come up with her track, Cant Be Tamed, which shows her as a bird caught in a cage and once she lets loose she becomes aware of her self , she is free to do crazy things because she cant be controlled anymore.
She has been given  this innocent minded next door girl kind of image, same was the image for Britney and Lindsay, until it came crashing down and they felt the need to come up with songs like these to show that they are finally letting loose of their strings. With these songs, just followed a bunch of sexual and wrecked behavior. Is that whats going to happen to Miley, was this song a signal that a new wrecked Miley is in the making?
These Pop stars are role models for millions of teenage girls all over the world, and when they come up with songs like these, it serves as a signal to all these girls on how they need to let loose and get out of control. Teenagers are already in their own rebellious phase and music like this aggravates it even more. Every year, a new pop star comes up with a number like these.There has been a trend and Miley Cyrus's new track just adds into it. The purpose is quiet obvious, once these pop stars stand up as labels of freedom from control , they became ideals for these teenagers because teenage girls believe that they can relate to them.Once this mutual feeling is developed, they start relating to all the other activities these pop stars indulge in. Its simply good branding and good advertising.

Racism, Yet Again !

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been subjected to racist abuse during Italy's 1-1 draw with Romania.

Just when I thought Europe had kicked racism out of its system, this comes up. I am not a fan of  football but just like any other sport, national football clubs serves the task of bring billions of multiple races together. Sports has a big role in bringing peace and co-operation among nations and with these multi-ethnic teams, its  even better because fans from different nations are sitting together rooting for one team. More efforts like these need to be made. However this latest news serves as a shock.A banner of bearing the message - "No to a multi-ethnic national team" - was confiscated in Klagenfurt's HypoArena stadium where the match was played. Its really disappointing, not only because its offensive to the players but also because it shows how people are so unwilling towards achieving peace. Maybe it serves their purpose of divide people and exploit them or maybe they are body of generally miserable who cant stand to see something good happen in this world. 

"I feel disappointment and anger," said Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, referring to the racist abuse directed at Balotelli.

"We always hear these chants and something has to be done about it. We feel helpless. He has the support of everyone."

Racism has no logic and it should have no place in the 21st century, something really needs to be done about it, otherwise its a setback for human development.

Bomb Blast At CID Headquarters

Bomb Blast At CID Headquarters In Pakistan Kills 18, 120 Injured!
11th November 2010 witnessed this treacherous event in Karachi, it had a huge impact in the area.Though it wasn't quiet shocking for two reasons, firstly as Pakistani citizens, we are all very used to bomb blasts and firing and civil unrest, its become part of the daily news. We hear there was a blast in the city, the first thing we want to know is where so that it doesn't affect our plan or anyone we know and later we wonder about the casualties. Secondly the blast was on the CID headquarters, which in my opinion would be the biggest target for a terrorist and yet it was located a commercial area where there are offices and Hotels. However the biggest surprise was despite it being located in a high security area, this event took place. What does that say about other areas with little security? It is also confusing how a truck full of explosives and weapons wasn't detected in that location which is usually, as far as I have seen, swarmed with cop cars.
The blast caused damage to nearby buildings and residential apartments, besides that mirrors were broken even in far off areas. It is sad but it also reflects the failure of law enforcement and security in Karachi, also I belive that a building which is likely to be targeted the most should not be operating in a commercial area, it should be undercover.

Britain's Shift in Policy

British students, workers and families start feeling the effects of the massive 82 billion Pound worth of cuts to public spending announced by the coalition government, last month. This has led to a number of strikes, peaceful protests that have now turned violent. On November 10, a student protest took place against the threefold increase in tuition fee to nine thousand Pounds. It soon turned into a violent fiasco resulting into 50 arrests and at least 41 injuries among police and protesters.
Now what does this mean? Is Britain taking a step back from being a welfare state or is it merely a contractionary fiscal policy? Whatever it is, my concern is merely weather Britain will continue in its reign of being a welfare nation. For people like me who live under the hopes of welfare states being the only remedy in capitalism, what will become the future of this welfare state system, if Britain being one of the benchmarks for this system has changed its policy. Clearly a cut in public spending indicates a cut in the welfare of people, and its unfair to the population because they have been living all their life with the comfort that their state provides them, now all of a sudden they have to start spending on health and education, its a disaster in the making and a serious policy re-evaluation is needed,especially after witnessing so much civil unrest.

The Social Network

The Social Network has officially been added to my top movies list. Not only was this movie interesting but the dynamics and portrayal of the story made it worth the while. Hand off to David Fincher for making the social network,a movie based of uncovering the events that led to the rise of 20th Centuary biggest social phenomna - Facebook. The movie goes in reverse and it is an insight on the life of Mark Zackerburg(creater of facebook) played by Jesse Eisenberg , how he created facebook and then the major lawsuits that followed. One against former friend and Facebook co-founder  (Andrew Garfield) and the other against a trio of Harvard University students who claimed he stole the idea for the site from them.It is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezerich.
Zackerburg was a lonely and narccistic sophomore at Harvard University. A recent breakup leads him to start an insulting website called facesmash, basically aimed to get revenge on his ex. The website gets a lot of attention specifically the attention of two brothers, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and their partner Divya Narendra (played by Max Minghella). These three were in search of a genius like Zackerburg, to write the code for website which was to serve as a social network fore students of Harvard. Mark accepts their offer and promises to start working on it, however Mark gets distracted by the idea of creating a large social network that came to be known as TheFacebook. The movie shows how Mark gets inspired by his surroundings and incorporates different features of Facebook. He involves his best friend  Eduardo Saverin as the financier and manager of this operation. As the website hits popularity, alot of conflicts rise between Eduardo and Mark, especially after involving Sean Parker, the founder of Napster (played by Justin Timberlake) in operations of Facebook. The winklevoss's are also furious because they believe Mark stole their idea and so Zukerburg is faced with two law suits. 
The story is brilliantly told and its a must watch movie.

Slaves of Technology

After plethora of ‘smart’ phones already out in the market, Microsoft jumped into the bandwagon as well. I came across their television ad showing how easily and efficiently one can check all their social updates so that one can actually go back to living life. Apart from the humorous puns intended, it does point out how fractured human life has become.

For many of us, our online life has taken precedence over the ‘normal’ life. We are slaves of technology now. Life now is unimaginable without cell phones, facebook and all other so-called social networks. Let’s face it, we all use it. We all like to think we are not addicted to all this. But matter of fact is, a perfectly normal day becomes nightmare when you realize that you have left your house and forgot your beloved cell phone on counter top. You can’t help feeling that you are cut off from your world or that you would miss someone’s phone call even though you might meet that person during the course of the day. Same goes for facebook, two days you try to live without it, but on the third day you are actually are excited to log on to facebook and check how many notifications or messages you got or how many of your friends posted new pictures or how many friends got into relationships.

There is nothing wrong with catching up the world, but what grinds my gear is the fact that most of such information can be gathered from proper social encounters. By social encounter, I mean actually meeting the person as it has been done through out human history. But sadly, we have entered into an era of life where meeting person isn’t as exciting or as appealing as meeting that person online. One example of our splintered society -which we can all relate to- is meeting some friend/colleague who talks to you while also has his Iphone or Blackberry in their hands. They would be talking to you while also multitasking and typing away on their phones. You might be talking about some serious issue but more often than not, those distracted people have a smile on their face because somebody on their phone said something funny. And when they realize that you have noticed that phone takes preference, they try to agree with whatever you said without even knowing what you said.

I might be hypocrite in saying all this, but it’s about time to follow what Microsoft ad said. It iss about time we focus on people and not let online life disconnect us from offline life. We don’t want to be at stage where we greet the person sitting in front of us by sending him online message do we?

Money Race

Money- the only denomination left which measures the human being in this present world. It is a reality which drives this world. For every good, bad, right and wrong , the ulterior motive eventually is money. I had this sudden realization after seeing two movies that came out lately: Wall Street 2 and The social network. Both miles apart in their stories and ideas, but the idea beneath have been money. Wall street accurately portraying the lust and greed while social network may be not directly pointing to the fact but obviously the story revolve around the elements of greed. Is money that important to people now that they are ready to severe friendships and all the pure relationships? the answer isn’t an epiphany but a sad truth that indeed its in human nature to be in rat race. To have a niche in today’s society, one has to be rich. Fame hardly comes without fortune.

But is it in human nature to reach a level where they can quench their greed? I tried finding out answer to this by researching on several richest people in the world, and there is no definite answer. From Ambanis to Buffet, there is a stark difference. On one hand there are two richest brothers in the world with net worth of 60 billion dollars, still fighting with each other for more money. And there is Warren Buffet, worlds second richest person, who lives a humble life and has donated all two-third of his wealth for charity.

After reading and researching a little about whole money issue, the only thing I was able to conclude was that apart from glitz and glamour that money can bring. Money is also a true judge of people.  Money brings out the persons inner self. The angel or cold hearted devil. 

Ideals

Ideals! they are everywhere, we stick to our ideals of relationships, our ideals of people, our ideals of life, career etc.Latest episode of the television series Brothers and sisters, sparked a thought in me regarding ideals. We are consumed by our ideals, it is very rare to not have an ideal. In fact in todays world, everyone has ideals. In a way they help us in setting our goals, in showing us the way, they help build expectations.Its these ideals that give you hope to wake up in the morning and make the effort. The problem comes when the ideals are shattered.Most of us are always looking for that one bit that you can call "Perfect". We are always in search of that perfect bit and the further we have seen, we tend to term it as perfect, weather its the relationship between your peers or family that you call perfect or the career of your teacher that you call perfect or even the lifestyles of others. We want that perfection in our life, we idealize it and we move forward in hopes of achieving it. this paves way for a simple problem, what if our concept of perfect is not actually perfect? What if there is more than that or what if that only seems as perfect, usually in both cases once you are faced with disappointment, not only over your ideal but of the whole concept and then you start wondering weather its actually worth it. For instance, I hear many people talk about the ideal marriage, the ideal spouse ,"ooh they had such an ideal relationship and it failed, is marriage really worth it". Really? did they really have an ideal relationship, every human, every relationship struggles in their own dimension because failure is a part of success. How do you then create ideals? how do you then build expectations when you know failure is bound to come?

It took me along time to realize this but the biggest lesson we should learn while growing up is that ideals will be shattered and expectations will be destroyed but the only way to adhere to your goals is never give up.Don't give up on your ideals because you have seen others fail to live up to them, who knows maybe one day you can live that ideal but you only find out if you remain consistent. This leads to my second point, don't build your ideals on humans, at the end of the day they are still human beings, just like you. Build your own ideal and try to live up to it.

What is going on with latest action comedies, either I am hallcuinating or suddenly american action comedies are just bland now. Last week, I saw Knight and Day starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I was shocked as to how hollywood's two well known actors can even think of acting in such a grody movie. The picture had such a predicatable story, half way through i could predict the ending. The movie had no action whatsoever, everytime it would reach to an action scene, the main character would black out and wake up after the whole scene is over. The humour was extremely cliche and the phrases seemed like they had been taken out of a 60's comic.Obviously the movie was a flop and a big disappointment to many Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise fans.
The next day I saw  Killers, starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl. The plot is average but the ending stunned me, not because it was really interesting but as to how can they even make such a movie! It was completely and totally pointless. It was as if the writers were in a rush and decided to just finish the story by giving it a twist which had no roots in the entire story. I was even telling myself, this cant be the ending, there must be more to it but apperantly not. Its like one of those movies, where you are looking for the final conclusion and suddenly the screen turns black and the casts name starts coming, and your left thinking "Huh WHAT?". However, in this case, I thought with a cast like that, its going to be something interesting but apperantly not.
It really makes me wonder as to whats wrong with the action/comdey writers these days?

Is Foreign Aid the answer?

Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan told the AFP news agency that 2,000 people had now been killed by the floods - previous estimates have put the number of dead at around 1,500.He said it would take at least five years for the country to recover, and put the reconstruction bill at "more than $10 to $15billion". BBC News.

Despite all the aid that is coming in Pakistan to help the flood affected areas, will Pakistan ever be able to recover this loss? Will the aid that is coming ever be utilized in the right manner? We have been receiving aid ever since we were born as a nation, but very few of it has been utilized. The rest just vanished without any account of it. Yes, in case of natural calamities or crisis situations, we need the aid, we need the help, however with a government like Pakistan , whose accountability is close to zero, is aid the best idea? It is as simple as this, once you know that someone else is going to pay for all your expenses for the rest of your life, you really do not want to bother working on yourself. The point I am trying to make is that aid has made us highly dependent on the west and because of that we have completely ignored our own development, if we knew that we wont get aid, the government will get money through taxes, by keeping an adequate check on tax payers. A checked progressive taxation system will be established and because everyone will be paying taxes, they would expect results from the government, hence the govt will be held accountable for all classes. 

The reason why I am criticizing international assistance is because in the last 50 years or so, we have gotten lots of aid and international loans which has only increased our deficit and class differences, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. The real purpose of the aid or loan has hardly been ever achieved. 

Pakistan Floods

I wanted to make my first blog about something that really interests but right now, the only thing that comes in my head is the tragic situation of my country, Pakistan. As monsoon hit the nation in summer 2010, the country has drowned in a massive flood.The Pakistani government estimates that over 13 million people have been affected and according to the UN, the number of people affected are more than those affected in the Tsunami, Haiti or the Pakistani Earthquake. On turning the news channels we see images of people walking in water, leaving there homes behind, we see interviews with people who have lost all their possessions and in many cases lives of loved ones as well. They are yelling and shouting for help, for food, for water, for shelter. It is sad that this could have been avoided with proper planning and the constructions of more dams. If there were Dams, all this water could have turned into electricity. If there was proper planning, people would have made their houses and farms in safe areas. Most of the people had built establishments near the river and none of them were ever regulated. 
The only question that comes in my mind is where was the bureaucracy? This flood is proof is that since the last flood , there has been nothing done, absolutely no measures taken. Everyday its becoming even more difficult in understanding how this country works. All we can do is hope and pray that the flood victims are able to recover their loses.