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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:

Are you one of the Indians that bemoans our paltry medal tally at the end of every Olympics? I certainly am! “A country of one billion can get gold medals in just shooting and hockey?” is the usual rant. Well, now we have a solution and you can help.

GoSports’ goal is to identify, groom, and manage sporting talent in India. The company was founded in Bangalore by an Olympian swimmer and Harvard and Oxford University graduates.

Our team primarily works with talented young athletes who have displayed the potential, commitment and drive to be winners on the world stage. We focus on making key interventions in our clients’ careers by securing them access to training, advisory, monitoring and representation services, sponsorships and other personal development opportunities.

GoSports recently made it through the first round of 600 nominees in the Tata NEN Hottest Startups contest and the final 30 now battle it out for five winning spots that come with these benefits. You can vote for GoSports here and view the final shortlist here. Athletic gold medal for India in 2012? I hope so!

For all the lives lost in the Mumbai terror attacks of 26/11/08.

Give Peace A Chance - John Lennon

Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(C’mon)
Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Minister, Sinister, Banisters and Canisters,
Bishops, Fishops, Rabbis, and Pop Eyes, Bye bye, Bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

(Let me tell you now)
Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Revolution, Evolution, Masturbation, Flagellation, Regulation,
Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna
Hare Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

It’s 5pm. I look out of my airplane window to see Manhattan’s breathtaking skyline against the impending sunset. Far into the horizon I notice luscious hues of orange, yellow, and red. We’ve just taken off and and the plane feels like it’s floating towards this paradise. Time stands still… It’s a new beginning. Within minutes the colors begin to melt away and the sky is engulfed in darkness. The journey begins. The journey from New York to Mumbai. The journey from America back to India after seven years. The journey to find my new life adventure. The journey to fulfillment.

I had decided over the summer that Mumbai with a teeming population of some 15 million, its expanding financial and entertainment industries, and enigmatic promise would be my next stop after Bangalore, Ann Arbor, Prague, and New York. The city whose essence NY Times writer Anand Giridharadas captures so wonderfully:

Here the highest social boast is that you “just got back” from abroad; the loftiest praise for a restaurant is, “It’s like you’re not in India.” Mumbai’s globalized class hungers for it to be a world city, and its leaders pledge to make it Shanghai-like by 2020; the plan is, to put it gently, behind schedule. (full article)

Similarly, my decision was met with much cynicism amongst my friends back home: “Why leave America?”, “Enjoy one of the worst cities of the world. It’ll destroy your soul. Have fun!” So why am I doing it? What am I looking to get out of it? I can’t foresee the future but as I was deliberating these thoughts, I chanced upon Tony Robbins’ provoking TED talk, “Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better.” Littered with nuggets of wisdom, it gave me perspective and a chance to reflect on what I was doing and where the motivation was coming from.

Over the past few years especially, I haven’t taken conventional paths when presented with a decision. When most of my friends were clamoring to business school, I opted for film school. When the same friends were headed to Wall Street internships, I moved to Prague to shoot a film and then finally ended up at a comic book company after graduating. Being a startup, we were hit by the financial crisis this year and I decided to move on.

Evaluating the decision through Tony Robbins’ six basic human needs, I’m definitely looking for more uncertainty at this formative stage in my career. Life in New York was getting predictable and I missed the chaos of India. Chaos breeds creativity but on the flip side, getting things done can be draining.

As Giridharadas goes on to say:

Mumbaikars, as they are known, cannot resist one another, cannot resist Mumbai. Those who crave departure could depart if they wanted. They are still here. The newly arrived could have stayed in the villages, basking in their certainties. They too, choose to invest themselves here.

Neither investment is total, unreserved. But Mumbai works on the agglomeration of these hopes: Because so many cast their lots here, it becomes a place worth casting lots. The longer you remain, the less you notice what Mumbai looks, smells, sounds like. You think instead of what it could be. You become addicted to the companionship of 19 million other beings. Surrounded by hells, you glimpse paradise.

Then there is the need for achievement, which will lead to significance and fame. That said, I strongly believe that given appropriate educational and cultural backgrounds, there is a window of opportunity for faster rates of professional growth in emerging markets like India. Finally, when one can take the need for connection and love beyond the familial context—by embracing cultural and geopolitical roots—contribution beyond ourselves (to society) will begin to emerge. Call me an idealist but Barack Obama’s recent exploits have really shaken me up from the inside to take part in pro-social activities and get involved in the political landscape of my country.

I’m on the journey to discover my destiny but somewhere in between I see those glimpses of paradise. Maybe that is the final destination!

A google search for “Obama” returns almost 500 million matches, so what’s left to say about the 44th President of the United States of America that hasn’t been said already? Charismatic, suave, determined, unifier, eloquent… I’ll probably run out of superlatives before the list is complete. Hell, even a search for “messiah” has Obama in the top 5 results. The illustration above by artist Patrick Moberg deserves special mention for his poignant representation of the event… seriously, anything is possible! Here are some more memorable pictures from the Obama campaign over the last couple of months.

Billions of dollars have been spent on this election, millions of words written, as many pictures taken and numerous tears of joy shed in response to Obama’s urgent message to usher in a new era of change and hope. Obama resonated with a new America—one that the Republicans were completely out of touch with—a new America that responded with unprecedented enthusiasm to elect its first black President.

Personally, I’ve been in the US for seven years and last night I really wished I could vote for Barack. I like what he stands for—he understands that the world is now globalized more than ever and America needs to reassert herself as a respected hegemony. He challenged voters to restore the American Dream and they responded in overwhelming fashion. As a young guy setting out to build my career, I feel deeply inspired especially given the timing of this historic moment. I recently decided to move back to my home country of India to pursue entrepreneurial projects, reconnect with my roots, and promote social change so we can eradicate poverty and dogmatism. India too faces a defining moment in her history; with a phenomenal 500 million youths under the age of 21, the country needs leadership to leverage and mobilize this massive youth population.

Barack Obama’s campaign is a testament to the tenacity of the human spirit to overcome the most daunting obstacles. Such human beings come around once every generation and I hope Obama’s journey inspires more individuals around the world to rise up and make a difference in their communities. Obama has reminded us of the potential of grassroots campaigns and that we all have a part in creating a free and peaceful world.

The two-year long show is over, now let’s get to work.

GO BARACK YOUR WORLD!

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.

Photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman has put together a fascinating Wisdom project to facilitate passing knowledge onto the next generation by collecting insights from luminaries such as Desmond Tutu, Graham Nash, Jane Goodall, Wole Soyinka, Robert Redford, Nelson Mandela, Ravi Shankar and many others who have made a mark on the world.

Here are some more perspectives on wisdom from famous philosophers and literary figures:

“Wisdom begins in wonder.” —Socrates

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” —George Bernard Shaw

“It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.” —Henry David Thoreau

“The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.” —Mark Twain

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” —Mohandas K. Gandhi

For me, wisdom is the ability to use intuition, humanity and steadfastness to seek creative solutions and also to confront deep-set fears with a belief in oneself to prevail.

Please share your take on the Wisdom project and what it means to you.

EDIT: I watched this video a week after I first saw it and was struck by a new revelation—to me, WISDOM IS THE ABILITY TO FIND INNER PEACE.

That’s it! How one describes inner peace though is up for contention.

Digital Imagery Architect, Mark Goldsworthy, has some amazing samples of his film and video game work on his website and here’s a particularly cool evolution of an image from concept to final product, inspired by the Natural History Museum, London. Do you think a landscape orientation would make it stronger or do you like the imposing size of the structure by giving it more height and shooting from a low angle? I really like how low it’s set, getting you very close to the destruction.

Moodstream is a brilliant mashup and interactive art tool by Getty Images that mixes images, videos, and music based on your mood—happy or sad, calm or lively, humorous or serious, nostalgic or contemporary, warm or cool. According to them:

Moodstream is a powerful brainstorming tool designed to help take you in inspiring, unexpected directions. Whether you want images, footage or audio, or just need a stream of fresh ideas, tweak the Moodstream sliders to bring a whole new creative palette straight to you.

The UI is simple yet elegant and the palette allows you to customize your mood preferences and save them for later as mood playlists on the “Moodboard”.

Some folks have complained about the resolution of the pictures but I quite liked the stylized effect which almost makes it feel like a lenticular surface. The player comes with some preset moods and I highly recommend Simplify and Inspire. I’m not sure how much it can do to change your mood but it’s definitely inspiring and if nothing else, interesting to look at. So start streaming, sit back and enjoy the show.