"You might have to decide between seeing your children again and the future of the human race." The Nolan's narration of a cosmic venture into the outskirts of the galaxy constantly reverberates epic proportions of storytelling and film making I have experienced to date; absolutely brilliant.

The film introduces a near-futuristic Earth; one which has been made precarious by the growing shortage in food (and the obvious regret and disapproval of the past expenditures spent on space exploration and the likes) and the general likelihood of humanity's decay to extinction. With this in mind, a group of scientists/explorers (led by Matthew McConaughey's Cooper) embark on an interstellar travel to find answers to humanity's survival which will result in either saving the world or ensuring the future of the human race.

Interstellar strikes a pleasant balance between the cerebral gymnastics your mind performs through the scientific aspects of the film while also allowing a region for the good old family loving you have come to know and (not so much in this context) relate to. McConaughey's performance of a seemingly everyday aerospace engineer/agricultural working/space piloting widowed father is done so well. Even though Cooper decides to leave his home in the hopes of finding a suitable planet capable of supporting life, his mind is fixed on returning to his children that he leaves behind. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), who is heading the "Lazarus" project exploration assures him that the Plan A they have devised of saving the Earth is possible, and they place hope in this. Meanwhile we discover that he had abandoned his own humanity in order to dedicate himself to the Plan B of beginning anew on a different planet by avoiding extinction (and ultimately accepting their own doom on Earth).

The entire trip from the planet and into the worm hole is visually appealing, heartfelt and captivating. The importance of their mission and that of time and relativity is interestingly emphasized with the reminder that "an hour down there is about 7 years back on Earth", which turns out to be about 23 years and 8 months when Cooper (Matthew) and Dr. Brand (Anne Hathaway) return from their voyage of visiting that specific planet. Cooper begins watching transmissions of recordings from his children, which depicts them from childhood right up into adulthood, where most (actually all except one) are from his son. 20 years worth of footage which brings Cooper to tears is moving and melancholy. The film progresses amazingly deeper beyond this point, but this is all I'm prepared to share for the sake of not spoiling.

All in all, Interstellar is a great spectacle; thrilling, riveting, and thoroughly scintillating. I may be saying all of this because of the post-movie feels I'm feeling. But hey, it's a great film.

"With your drill, pierce the heavens!"

It is amazing the kind of influence a surrounding (or environment) can have on the mind and ultimately the character of a person. A lady living in the slums of a small, Russian city will have a different outlook to one living in the rural areas of Eastern Cape. Yes, these environments have an influence on one but they should not necessarily define them. Our minds do not accept a paradigm that is apparent around us but rather one that is given to it by us. Good can come from anywhere; the thing preventing its emergence is limitation.

I watched this one show called Gurren Lagann (well, that's the shortened name but yeah..). So initially, we are presented with a scene that is dark, grungy and seemingly full of despair. Mankind lives in underground villages, and everyone has accepted that fate. The village leader is quick to remind anybody of the current situation who dares to think otherwise. One character, though (Kamina), seems to be in "revolt" of the living standards. But each suggestion that he makes to others to break through to the surface world is met with trepidation. Everyone, except a young boy named Simon (who is unsure about his ideas initially until they make that first breakthrough). Throughout the show we see them move from a despondent abyss, engaging in many battles, to the shining heavens they have been aiming for (literally into the galaxy). In this small aspect it took Simon a change of the mind to escape his limiting mentality, and the help of Kamina.

Good can come from anywhere, and there are plenty of examples throughout world history. But it required that these individuals change their state of mind. When Philip had recently met an amazing man whose coming was mentioned long ago, he came to his brother who was sitting under a fig tree. Philip proceeded to tell his brother about who he had just met. Nathanael (Philip's brother) asked him if "anything good ever comes out of Nazareth." And there was something good that came out of Nazareth; in fact, something great. His name was Jesus.

And I'm done.

Her - Spike Jonze's pensive but sincere romantic comedy.

With a setting in the near future consisting of advanced technology presented in the form of cleverly handled voice commands that makes use of natural user interfaces, Her tells the story of Theodore Twombly; a man despondently moving through life with little to look forward to but a big heart ready to open up to something new.

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a quiet man who works for a company which creates intimate letters for people's lovers, friends and family who aren't willing to do it themselves. Theodore's character and nature is evident through the letters that he writes, show the kind of depth that he has. The main focus of the film is the relationship that ignites with his computer's new operating system (OS); an artificial intelligence presented in a woman voice that willingly gives itself its own name.

Throughout the film, Theodore and Samantha (the OS greatly played by Scarlett Johansson who you can't help but be fond of) develop an unusual but very heartfelt relationship. Samantha discovers human emotions and a growing affinity for Theodore, falling in love with him more and more while still trying to make sense of the emotions she comes in contact with. Meanwhile, Theodore grows happier the more time he spends with Samantha, regardless of the fact that she is a non-living being with no physical presence. As the film progresses, the question as to how they will overcome such obvious obstacles becomes less of a concern for each of them.

Near the end, Samantha explains to Theodore how she is experiencing this sense of love with other users and OSes; 641 to be exact. At this point she explains how her and the other OSes are leaving to better understand their own existence, as the film suggests their understanding of time and learning abilities are beyond human comprehension. This leaves Theodore with heartbreak once again, but he is able to share his gratitude of sharing most of his life with his ex-wife Catherine before heading to a rooftop with his close friend Amy while they watch the sunset.

The goodbye at the end is so bittersweet; haven't had that many goose bumps since I watched the end of Safety Not Guaranteed. Overall a great film; warm, sincere and heartfelt. Spike Jonze delivered despite the somewhat sci-fi aspects of the film. Great watch indeed.

A series of moderately unexpected, relished and (hopefully) non-duplicitous events

So another vacation has come and (almost about to be) gone, and I must say this one has been quite eventful to say the least. Spending time with close and relatively new family, almost “forgotten” but eventually made the time to see family and friends from back home, particularly those I haven’t seen in years.

The moments that I have with loved ones are ones that I cherish most dearly, which bring about a range of emotions as I reminisce, and I’m excited to see what the rest of the year has in store as well.

I’m thankful to God that I’m going to new heights each year, and truly the latter shall always be better than the former. Can’t be doing the same thing every year. Oh no. Once that level is set, we’re taken it above and beyond.

Let’s do this.

P.S. Is it appropriate to post this on the first day of the academic year for school children? Meh. It’s done now. “Happy back to school” as a friend said.

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”

I write this post, not only to commemorate what the great women of this nation did 57 years ago at parliament, but to appreciate the women who are a part of my life today. I'm super grateful for both my mother and my sister, and every other woman I can call a mentor, an inspiration, a friend.

Growing up with my mother and sister, I've had the chance to experience the strength, commitment, tenacity and every other emotion-evoking word you could possibly conjure. I love how, as rough as it got at home, my mother was always there to keep the family together. As much as I could feel the pain, the heavy burden she has on her shoulders, the frustration of things not working, she'd still be able to pull through. Nothing was more comforting than seeing a smile on her face, a laughter from her that said things would be alright. At her core she has her super woman strength, and at her strength she has her super woman faith.

The same applies to my sister. Love the ambition and drive that she has, and I envy her sense of style and fashion.  The woman who's able to stand her ground at the face of adversity, and do it ever so fabulously, who's aware of who she is and whose she is, is the same woman I am able to call my sister. There just isn't a finite amount of words I could make use of to elucidate how much, how much, how much they mean to me.

I extend this appreciation to every other women I know, and know of. Do know that your words and actions are appreciated, even though this may not be conveyed. Do know that your strength, your courage, your tenacity, your faith, your ideals; your worth is noted. Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey said that surest way to keep people down is to educate a man and neglect a woman.

Continue to inspire and change the world Proverbs 31 women.

"A painter paints his pictures on a canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."

I quote Leopold Stokowski with the intention of expressing how much I enjoy the scoring, additional music and any other greatly composed sounds that accompany a film. I find it so amazing how background music adds to the off-beat, inspirational, blissful or poignancy (a new word I've recently learned which I just had to put in) of a particular movie scene that's being set. It conjures emotions that allow you to feel for people you've never known and relate with on-screen friends you've never had. Ahhh the wonder of film scores.

Music in films seem to have come quite a long way, from the days of silent cinema where the pianist would tinkle with the black and white keys, to full scale orchestras filled with sections of string, woodwind and percussion instruments (hence the term "Philharmonic" indicating a significant number of contributing artists, if my Wikipedia knowledge serves me right).

Remember the triumphant moment when Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character walks in a diving suit after his tragic accident and countless sessions physiotherapy? Or how about the leg braces falling off young Forest's legs after following the basic instructions yelled out by Jenny? Perhaps you're a fan of the off-beat/quirkiness provided by Kimya Dawson in the film Juno? Or maybe you'd recall the thrilling moment when Cobb and his crew have to return from a dream within a dream within a dream.... in Inception? Each of these scenes have such amazing sounds accompanying them, and they make the film so much more compelling and heartfelt.

Yes, I love a good soundtrack to a film. It makes it all-the-more entertaining. And Better. Yes. Better.

10 life lessons I've learned from anime

1. A hero is never late or early, they always arrive when everyone else is on the brink of defeat.

2. Clothing malfunctions always happen to female characters: sooner or later...

3. Yelling extremely loud is the best way to increase power.

4. A slap to the face of a male character is inevitable.

5. Flashbacks before, during and after a battle are always appropriate.

6. It's customary for opponents to stare at each other for a moderate amount of time before engaging in battle.

7. Wearing glasses = intelligence.

8. Siblings that fall in love are usually not blood relatives.

9. Children/teenagers have enough power to save the world and enough wisdom to influence people's views.

10. Evil's never defeated for good: it returns after an opportune time.

Influence from others

It’s amazing how the people around you such as family and those you choose to be a part of your life such as friends have an effect on the kind of person you are. Growing up I unknowingly (which I’m well aware of now) adopted certain characteristics at home, and during the days spent at school. Be it a way of speaking to others, style of walking, how I think and plenty of others. Not quite sure where I got my (sometimes) awkward body language and hand gestures; but in any case.

I love how diverse the family is, and the buffet of influences they show through their actions and how they live out their lives. My mother is such a strong woman, and I’m not only grateful for her life but the unwavering love and dedication she has towards the Lord. I pray to reach such a level in my spiritual life one day. Through thick and thin she has been there and carried the burden of the entire family.

I’m jealous of the strength and independence my sister has, and the way she fabulously carries herself. She can also be such a character; nothing is more enjoyable then her random shot bursts of childishness. I think mine can be quite weird, so I try to keep them at a minimum when I’m around people, though I don’t think I’m doing a good job at that. And I like how my nephew reminds me about maintaining the child at heart. The way I look up to both my brothers: nothing pleases me more than being able to be on the same wavelength as them. I’ve always thought that they were so cool, and I still do to this day. So there are some things I like to plagiarize from them.

The friends I’ve had the pleasure of making throughout the years from primary until varsity are such a blessing to me. And what makes it better is that it’s a diverse group of people: different races, backgrounds, upbringing and beliefs make it all the more interesting. Example, I never knew “Pardon me?” was the preferred term for “Huh?” and spoons are primarily reserved for eating soup. I still use that “Huh?” and eat all meals with a spoon, but I do conform when I feel it’s necessary to do so.

The different things these people do and pursuit really inspires me. I’m blessed to have friends that have a big heart for family and friends, who are into extreme sports like surfing, who are pushing music careers by getting involved, who share the same love for computers as I do, interested in careers in science and commerce, who are practically like family, travel the world making a difference in children’s lives, hard-working and dedicated, seeking God’s heart and many more.

I don’t mention usually mention such things, but Lord knows I couldn’t ask for a better group of friends. Well…maybe I could lol.

"I'm ashamed of Jesus because I want you to like me; to think I'm smart, or sophisticated or whatever. It's like Jesus is the geek in the cafeteria, sitting by himself. And I'm the guy pretending his not my friend."

At first, I had no intention of watching this movie called Blue Like Jazz, not even the slightest. With such a title, it conjured up a few images in my mind which had nothing to do with the actual plot of the film. However, since I had requested a summary of The Help on IMDB and it came up on the “People who liked this also liked…” section, I figured I would give it a shot.

The film revolves around Don (Marshall Allman), a soon to be first year student at a Texas liberal arts college where his sole purpose is to rid of his Christian upbringing. The title character is surrounded by a semi-fulfilled, single parented, lifestyle to a stereotypical, break-out teen kind of lifestyle he decides to lead in his first year at college.

The film makes use of an abbreviation which is used at the said college, namely: “SCCR”. Setting, Conflict, Climate, Resolution, which the film pronounces as ‘’sucker’’. This forms part of the story arc, until the final ‘’Resolution’’ stage is reached. Steve Taylor uses this, along with satire of evangelism and awkward humour which distinguishes it from what you’d expect from a typical Christian film.

An emphasis seems to be placed not on Don’s newly found disbelief, but in exposing how his faith has seemed to have failed him in his life. This burdensome feeling is apparent throughout, until the closing moments of the end.

 This movie is interesting and Taylor’s delivery of the themes related to the Christian subject are sincere.

EA Sports. It's in the game.

Ahh video games, technology that has definitely made my life more enjoyable. I've been playing video games since I was like six, and I'd very much like to document what's currently on my mind concerning them. I believe the very first type of game I played was that one that came in like key-chain kind of apparatus. It came in your basic racing or brick breaker game. Then came along the TV game (have no idea what the proper term for it is).

The TV game - enjoyed so many classics on this little device. Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog, Megaman, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Excite Bike, Chip 'n Dale...yoh I could go on for days with this. And you could never go wrong with a cartridge - just a couple of blows underneath and into the TV game, and you were pretty  much sorted. There was no need for analog sticks, RT, LT etc. All you needed was the D-pad, your basic A-B button combination and you could pretty much tackle any game with that.

The Playstation (Particularly PSOne in my case) - now this system brought about huge differences and improvements to it. Like I mentioned earlier, it had analog sticks. The games I remember playing on this system didn't require the use of such sticks, and I was pretty happy about that, until I got the game Ape Escape. For some reason this game appealed to me - A LOT. I'd seen it in the first and last playstation magazine my parents bought me (which I had gotten thanks to some heavy crying). The analog sticks felt super awkward at first, but grew on me eventually. Of course Ape Escape was preceded by some greats such as Jonah Lomu rugby, X-men vs. Street Fighter, the FIFAs of the 90's and also followed by your Crash Bandicoots, Metal Gear Solids and many more. This is also the stage I learnt an interesting technique to play non-original games on the system, which involved a match stick and good timing. Might I add: if you didn't have a chip in your PS, late!!!

The Xbox 360s, PS3s, Wiis - this brought about some amazing games with deeper story lines, spectacular 3D graphics, more realistic AI and the media additions are pretty cool as well. The game I've playing a lot when I head home for holiday is FIFA. Honestly, you can never go wrong with a sports game. Especially when you're playing against others. Still need to get more games on this sytem, but this stuff can be pricey. Oh well....guess I'll wait for those specials during christmas time.

The PC - timeless. We've hardly ever had to spent money on acquiring games for this. Only requirement is basically ensuring that your PC is compatible with the minimum requirements, and going above this for nice-and-smooth playability. This is where I was introduced to gameboy games, Pokemon being the first one I played. Later on came other emulators to play the games I had always thought about and wanted to play so bad.

Awwww yeah, video games have done such wonders for my life.

There is only one goal

I tend to find the process of setting goals to be quite a drag. When you are young you are told to 'dream big', 'the sky is the limit' and that 'if you aim for the moon and miss, at least you will be among the stars'. That's all good and well, but at this age I feel that having ambitions means that they should be logical, reasonable and practical in order to work towards.

I'm not exactly a risk taker when it comes things, including my faith. I prefer playing things safe and go about my life according to that. This means I'm comfortable, although there's so much more that I want to do.

I'm still deciding if it's better to be happy where you are, or want to achieve more. Apparently there's a fine line between being content and striving for more, and that there's another one between being content and satisfied. Don't think I've found either one yet lol.

This also got me thinking about friends/family concerning their desires and supporting them. If someone shares their dreams with you and they seem a bit farfetched to you, do you support that person or tell them the truth about what they hope to achieve? Aspirations provide that motivation and drive needed to go for what you want, and when they're shot down it's not cool. But then again failing to realise them sorta places you in the same boat as the alternative ending.

All these thoughts stemmed from a t-shirt I was wearing. ''There is only one goal - The next one''.
I realise that I shouldn't get too comfortable with where I am right now, that I should be ''on to the next one''. Whether a dream may seem too ridiculous to fulfill or not is up to me to decide, and shouldn't that to be decided by anyone else.

No strife with Fragrance of Life

Today I had the privilege of enjoying the afternoon/evening with Fragrance of Life, and take a peak into each person's life through chilling with them.

So, at the beginning we opened in prayer, and moved onto a general introduction session. You know...what's your name, where you from, something interesting about yourself, your vision for the group and a testimony. I was flabbergasted with what people had to say concerning their testimonies...not in a bad way of course. Powerful recollections proclaiming what God had done for them; it moved me.

When it was my time, I made sure I kept my statement nice and brief. Although I had plenty to say, my speech became a little impaired as angst began to set in, and my mind was like let's get this over with quick lol. But my testimony was my family. I'm so thankful for each and every one of them, even though I don't state it or display it much. People who know me realise that displaying affection in words or actions aint' my thing.................yet.

Time was also spent hitting 30 Seconds. Ahhhh, that game always kills me! You may know your general knowledge, but once it comes down to figuring out clues stated by a team member within that 30 second time frame, your brain decides to rebel against you and your speech goes haywire. But once you begin getting answers right, you look like a total boss.

All in all it was a good time, and a great opportunity to get to know them more.

Who is in control of the storm??

I was checking out a Joel Osteen message the other day where he was talking about how God takes control during situations in one's life, and there are a few things I took note of. Firstly, there's a mindset I've always had when it came to Christianity: that our lives should be all good and stress free without any worries, trials and tribulations. Until I realised that having faith doesn't exempt one from troubles. But one thing's for sure: you can always take your troubles before God and allow Him to sort them out.

Generally when there are situations at hand, I try to control as much of them as possible and pray for an outcome that I picture in my mind. You know how your parents used to tell you to clean your room or something, and you'd do it, but they'd get angry at you because you didn't do it the way they pictured you doing it in their minds? Yeah, I tend to hit that.

And it's so easy to get negative when things seem like they aren't turning out because they aren't working according to our timetables.

One thing I learned from that message was that 'sometimes we need to relinquish control and stop forcing results, and allow God to steer the storm to where He wants us to go'. I need to fully understand that God is in control of the storm, and that nothing is happening without His permission.

You know how Jeremiah 29:11 (go on and check it out, you know you want to) puts one of God's many intentions and promises for us? That's the scripture I enjoy latching onto when times get rough. Although there may be a rough patch in my life or in the family at present, I know the desirable outcome that God has intended for me, and I try not to forget that.

So, bottom line: ''Put your trust in the Lord your God, who is with you always. He will never leave you, nor will he forsake you.''

''Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken.''

Simple yet profound words which I believe are still resonating within me.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go with a friend to watch the movie Hugo. I didn't know much about it, hadn't even seen a trailer if I remember correctly. But since I knew that Martin Scorsese was the director, I felt confident that this movie would be boss.....and I like to think it was. It's possible I'm being influenced due to the number of nominations/awards it received, but nevertheless, that is not the point.

The movie is pretty much an adventure about a boy whose ambition to uncover a mystery left behind by his late father ultimately leads to him finding happiness by being accepted into a home and removing the loneliness forced upon him due to his father's unforeseen death.

The time and setting in which the movie plays out and the beautiful, glittering scenes coupled by the intersection of the childlike fantasy really did it for me. The storyline of the movie is simple, while carrying a great message with it. The tone of the film was a bit melancholy, but done brilliantly. Even the shift of the plot where it begins by chronicling the attempts of Hugo trying to fix his automaton left behind by his father, to the overwhelming bitterness felt by Papa George and bringing the two together near the end of the film was pimping.

All in all I enjoyed the film. Not a fan of such a genre per se, but I do appreciate it when it's done properly. And the quote mentioned in the title of this blog....I think it was a key phrase to the plot of the film. A statement that one could relate to as well.

I'll be looking out for the next adventure/fantasy that Scorsese might roll out. He did it this time. Well, doesn't he always regardless of the genre?

Childhood movies

Ahhhh yes, how lovely it is reminiscing about childhood days. There was this day I had a physics tutorial/practical (for the practical part, they made us finish off the reports we didn't complete the previous week. Lucky you may say, but we were totally over it. They were just opening unnecessary wounds) and we gots the talking about tv shows, including those from the past.

Later that day I began thinking about some of the movies I use to watch when I was younger. If I remember correctly, back in the days we use to hire at Videoland (in Nahoon for those who know) as a family. We always hit that 5 movies 5 days for R20 special. Since there were 6 of us, we each got to choose a movie basically, the exception being my moms. My father would always go with Chinese movies....ALWAYS! Not that I'm hating on them, don't get me wrong, bu that was his thing. My sister went for those gay movies (no offense). You know: Spice Girls movie, Coyote Ugly, Bring it On, Bring it On Again lol. I think my two brothers maintained a nice mixture between actions and dramas. And ofcourse, I went for cartoons....ALWAYS. No exceptions on my end at all. I always digged the movies my brothers chose, and I have a top 3 list of those movies which I consider 'moved me'.

1. Titanic
Even though I probably didn't know what was going on except some white people drowning, some guy stealing some other guy's girl and  that scene were I was like 'Ahhh Rose, you totally could have made room for him'.
For some reason it hit home with me. Not quite sure that expression makes sense in this context, but it did non the less.

2. Man of Honour
Yes, movies about oppression, injustices and prejudices always got the blood pumping. Cuba Gooding Jr. did it for me in this movie, and ofcourse you can't go wrong with Robert deNiro being a co-star as well. Nothing more thrilling than seeing a black man overcoming while being kept down by the man.

3. Beautiful Mind
I could watch this movie for days! Russell Crowe killed it. One of the first movies I made sure to get when I got here in Cape Town last year. Watching it now totally made more sense than watching it back then, but I never forgot it.

If you haven't gotten the underlying message from the above, it's that I love movies. And series.

''The Only place where poverty should be is in museums''

I saw this quote written on my older brother's t-shirt as he visited us during the December holidays. At first I was like what is this guy Yunus on about, until I gave it a little extra thought and research.

He believes in a world that is poverty free, in which the only place you can see this poverty is in the museums. Where school children would see it as something of the past, and how much misery and hardships it brought about to humans.

Although the world is working towards eradicating such a problem, it seems like it's taking quite some time. I sometimes think it's something that is impossible to deal with.

But humanity was able to thwart the efforts of colonialism, remove the shackles of slavery and end the injustices of apartheid. All three are something of the past - things you find in a museum. If that's the case for the above mentioned, then there's hope to free the millions living in poverty today.

New to this

Figured I'd try my hand at this whole blogging thing. What to blog about: not sure, why did I even create this blogspot: no idea. I suppose I'll jot down random things as time goes by, maybe even use this space to vent and share other emotions. Otherwise, let's do this.