Das Leben der Anderen(The Lives of Others) is a brutal yet moving account of life in the GDR a few years prior to the Wall being felled. It focuses on the ways in which State Security (Stasi) kept tabs on every citizen (especially artists) by tapping phone calls, bugging their homes and watching their every move. Regular citizens were not the only victims of the regime but so were State Security officials—artfully portrayed through the Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler character in the film.
Wiesler, better known in the Ministry as HGW/XX7, is a spy and interrogator who begins to question the morality of the regime and his own job while spying on a prominent writer and his girlfriend. Wiesler is played by Ulrich Mühe, an actual victim of the Stasi ever since he began his acting career. He also proved to be a valuable asset while director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck wrote the script; helping him gain a true sense of life during that period—the language, environment, conflicts and fears.
One of the comments by Florian on the ‘Special Features’ disc that caught my attention was a mental image that sparked the idea for this film. Florian was captivated when he heard the “Sonata for a Good Man” track but wondered what it would be like for someone who didn’t enjoy the music but was forced to listen to it. That was it… the single image in his head around which he thought up this brilliant film! Here’s what the eventual image looked like in the film—Wiesler listening to the music while the subject he’s spying on plays it on the piano:
WHAT: Mumbai Screenwriters is a writing group for aspiring and established screenwriters. Through weekly meetings and online collaboration, the group will brainstorm ideas and support each other in developing concepts into finished pieces for short films or features.
WHEN: Every Sunday, start date TBA
WHERE: TBA
WHY: I’ve been getting many ideas for short stories and screenplays recently but finding it hard to make time to write and develop them further. I’m looking to start a small writing group that can meet once a week to improve writing through workshops, storytelling exercises and critiques. The group can also setup a collaborative space at www.mumbaiscreenwriters.com to engage in free writing and blogging.
While reading Nina Yiamsamatha’s Don’t Hate on Twitter post recently, I struck upon an analogy that explains why I think Twitter is awesome. Remember the Verizon ads that have a bunch of people following you around to show the ubiquity of their network signal? Now imagine a similar multitude of creative folks with diverse backgrounds and interests always there to instantly give you feedback on thoughts, develop ideas, collaborate on projects, and share interesting content. That’s twitter! Seriously, don’t hate on it.
What if I told you the couple didn’t know each other until the photo was taken? In fact that’s the premise of photographer Richard Rinaldi’sTouching Strangers project. He’s done well to seek interesting pairings and backdrops to create intimate moments between complete strangers. Most of the portraits feel natural, leading the viewer to believe that the subjects know each other well or belong to the same family. I wish Richard would include a commentary for the photos, describing where and how the pairings happened and the subsequent reaction of the subjects. He recounts a couple of stories in the blog interview below.
I wanted the images to explore how notions of trust, love, social conventions, and taboos are expressed through body language. After that it was really just getting up the courage to actually go out and do it. (via Conscientious)
Carlos Lascano is a multifaceted artist who has successfully made incursions into painting, illustration, comics, photography, animation and special effects. He finally decided that filmmaking was his medium of choice because it represented the coming together of the different forms of expression of his artistic universe.
Carlos blends a variety of animation techniques to create a unique style for his films. Check out his portfolio on Vimeo.
Happy Halloween folks! What/Who are you dressing up as today? I’m going as a “Krazy Klown”, barring any makeup malfunctions. The comic really cracked me up! If you like it too, don’t forget to check out cartoonist Sean Bieri’s other work.
This series depicts Seinfeld and Superman hanging out like ordinary folks, at the local diner, setting up a home theater system, or taking a road trip together. It usually ends up with Superman getting them in a fix and embarrassingly for him, Seinfeld needs to call for help for which American Express is usually the answer. It’s not too obtrusive since the dialog is witty and references are made to previously established character traits and events, keeping you interested in the storyline.
The website greets us with the line “Dysfunctional isn’t a word. It’s a last name,” and that’s exactly what you experience through the perspective of Jason Becker as the Becker family prepares for Thanksgiving. All his relatives with their awkward kinks own either a Mercedes, BMW, or Lexus while Jason, the “Family Holiday Survivor”, drives an Audi. Luckily those distinctions are subtle and the series is character driven, making it a fun watch.
3) I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter: Vote For Spraychel Campaign
Tapping into the Presidential race buzz, Unilever has created its own animated campaign series that pits the 0g fat and 0 calorie per serving Spraychel (nominee of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s Spray Party) against the rich in saturated fat and cholesterol Maxell Butterman of the Butter Party.
In fact Spraychel was integrated into a recent episode of MSN’s Republicrats, an online parody on the current Presidential race. The show features comedy writer Sean Masterson—a hapless third party candidate running for president against Sen. John McCain and Sen Barack Obama—dreaming of Spraychel running for president of his refrigerator.
Partnering with Publicis Mojo of New Zealand, Coca-Cola aimed to revitalize its Schweppes drink in the EU by positioning it as an “adult” product. Publicis enlisted 5 directors to create short films; each one targeted at a mature audience, containing smartly devised product placement and a mandatory “Schhh moment” around which the campaign is based.
Schweppes aired intriguing snippets of these films on air that encouraged watchers to see the full versions online. Make sure to watch “SIGNS”, an incredibly quirky, uplifting, and serendipitous take on making connections with people around us.
Do these campaigns work for you? Can you think of other compelling forms of branded content? I need your help to grow this list so please feel free to share links of other examples you come across.
Blog Action Dayis an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Their aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. This year’s topic is Poverty.
Growing up and living most of my life in India, I’ve always had a close view of how disparate the distribution of wealth is in the world. The most disconcerting aspect is that most people are there due to circumstance and that it could very easily be me. Yes, I agree I’ve worked hard to reach where I am but much of the world’s poor may go through a lifetime without getting an opportunity to work or display their talents and at most times oppressed due to their lack of resources.
Take for example this recent article about the shocking treatment of the poor in India.
India is changing so fast that it is starting to look like someplace else. Skyscrapers are sprouting. Towns are ballooning. The young date, drink, smoke freely. But many of the people who are making the new India new - from the stockbrokers to the bedecked socialites - are responsible for preserving a certain gloomy element of the Indian past: a tendency to treat the hired help like chattel, to taunt and humiliate and condescend to them, to behave as though some humans were born to serve and others to be served.
Again, not so surprising for me—I’ve seen it happen often and find it deplorable. One can only wonder how long the poor will remain patient and quiet—in India there are numerous stories about mini revolts sparking off in retaliation. We don’t need more strife and internal fighting, even if we can’t make monetary contributions, we should embrace the moral right to respect human life.
One observation that’s amazed me in my travels around the world is that children, no matter how poor their family, still manage to go about their daily chores with a smile and frolic with their siblings and other street kids. It’s that very innocence, that pure pleasure of life itself, that we tend to lose once we’re entrenched in the greedy quest for wealth. I’m not advocating that we donate all our life savings to charity and become ascetics but rather detach ourselves occasionally from our daily pursuits and understand the need for a more equitable distribution of wealth for the world to prosper. Our strength is in our people and right now millions of them are dying in abject poverty.
Dealing with poverty can be depressing but with this video I’ve tried to capture some of the happier emotions that can inspire ourselves to seek out that same unperturbed joy by limiting our needs and contributing our excess towards uplifting the marginalized. The recent financial crisis has taught us many lessons but the most severe being that many countries have been living way beyond their means and for the most part, at the expense of the less privileged. Lifestyles will have to drastically change to fix this mess and I hope we can all evaluate our lives and make a commitment today to make a positive impact on our environment and the people around us. I hope you enjoy the video… please pass it on, and keep smiling!
The song in the video is Bob Sinclar’s “Give A Lil’ Love”, a DJ who “aspires to bring people together by making music with hope and energy, music that can be shared across the world.” Check out “Love Generation” which also has a similar theme. Here are the lyrics for the song in the video:
now you and I
can get together
let us start a revolution
change this world
to what it should be
and forget all this confusion
we could live together
for the sake of love
what are we fighting for
oooh now
we could start heeling today
if we can just learn to give
give a lil’ love
you and I can change the world
live a lil’ love
make it better if we try
show a lil’ love
let your love rain
let it rain down on me
now if we wait and do nothing
then what about their future
how can we look in to there eyes
and say we love our children
we can make it better
feel the love inside
forget foolish pride.
Here’s an action list that can help you get involved. Another great site that I use is Kiva, which helps you make loans to small business owners in third world nations. It involves concepts that I find very inspirational: fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and micro-finance. I would welcome a discussion of similar new business ideas, ones that we can collaborate on and implement collectively.
I occasionally upload songs to let people discover new artists to fall in love with and support. If you are an artist (or represent an artist) and would like it taken down, please email me at blog @ gauravsikka.com
