To thine own self be true

Pandemic Floating Toilets aka Cruise Ships.

LOVE=EVOL

–Pearl Bailey

Here
I’m here
the snow falling.
–Issa Kobayashi

If only you could hear
the sound of snow.
–Hakuin Ekaku

There are only two mistakes one
can make along the road to truth:
not going all the way, and not starting.
–Buddha

To attain enlightenment
is to know one’s own mind
as it really is.
–Mahavairocana Sutra

You cannot open a book
Without learning something.
–Confucius

You cannot travel the path until
you have become the path itself.
–Buddha

The deepest love
is often hidden.
–Yamamoto Tsunemoto

To a mind that is still,
the entire universe surrenders.
–Zhuangzi

Be serene in the oneness of things,
and dualism vanishes of itself.
–Jianzhi Sengcan

There is also David Lean’s 1984 A Passage to India, a good adaptation of E.M. Forster’s classic. But Richard Attenborough’s 1982 AA-winning Best Picture is the last on a mass human scale not seen since the 1950s and ’60s. The filmed-on-location crowd scenes are spectacular and one can only imagine how difficult it was to coordinate tens of thousands of extras for the many memorable crowd scenes.

A labor-of-love film that took the director 20 long years to realize. (John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins were contenders for the lead role till Gandhi look-a-like Ben Kingsley (Best Actor), himself from Indian heritage, won the part.)

Everything about this film is right including the main episode coverage and big scenes from Gandhi’s life driven by John Briley’s Best Original Screenplay. The cast is made up of strong Indian supporting actors and veteran actors headed by John Mills, Trevor Howard, John Gielgud, Ian Charleson, Martin Sheen, and Candice Bergen. The cinematography by Billy Williams, the look of the locales, and Ravi Shankar’s music round out the excellent production. (Bonus: numerous extras on the DVD)

This epic gives the viewer an outstanding review of the main events in the main who brought nationhood to India and kept its warring factions from getting out of control after the British left. Gandhi is a remarkable man and Kingsley brings out his many nuances of character including his humor, wisdom, and high purpose.

The DVD print from Columbia looks as terrific as David Lean’s classic Lawrence of Arabia, comparatively speaking, and Gandhi is as significant a historical figure as Lawrence, well-worthy of the masterpiece Attenborough has, likewise, created. Highly recommended for viewers interested in history, great men, and epic movies made with real people, not ersatz CGI figures.

(an impressive 20 year quest to film Gandhi, plus a review of Attenborough’s long career)

“You’ve got to walk that lonesome valley.
You’ve got to walk it by yourself.
Lord, nobody else can walk it for you.
You’ve got to walk it by yourself.”
–(sung/recited by John Stewart, left), The Kingston Trio, “The Reverend Mr. Black”, 1963

(a resplendent little UK movie which won Best Picture in 1981; Ian Charleson #451)

Watching him in Gandhi (1983) and remembering him as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire before that. Various speeches from that movie are on Google Video, incidentally.

What a good, likable, charming actor he was, who died too soon, in 1990, of AIDS. He apparently gave an amazing final stage performance as Hamlet before he died at 40, and a copy of the play was found by his bedside.

A sad story and a clear case of an actor who had much promise….

The late Pepper (right) would respond to invitations for a walk on a word-by-word basis: “Do (head cocking)-you (moreso)-want-(getting excited)-to( very excited)-go…anyway by the time you got to walk, she was by the door. Also went crazy upstairs if you started to peel an orange downstairs.

A very smart girl. Would lie down at the top of the big staircase and when daughter would throw up balls, would carry them to the edge and drop them down stairs.

knowing what I know and as sure as I am, without a good crap detector. Thank you, Aristotle, Hemingway, and Postman.

Make no mistake about it. He has been hanging out in Africa for a more subtle reason: to do penance for his multiple blackface episodes. This way if he comes off ok with the people there, he will really ‘reproved’ his political correctness branding status. That’s all that distracting choice is about as well as escaping having to take responsible, responsive action on the failing oilsands, and native blockades destroying the railway system and Canada’s economy, thereby acting against their own best interests in the long run. (If the economy is destroyed, there could/will be no payouts to them or anybody. More moderate action would seem to be wise?)