A quieter way of life

 This is how I've viewed life for many years now. 

The television series White Wall

White Wall is an eight-episode Finnish/Swedish tv series from 2020 that showed up on Norwegian tv (NRK1) recently (perhaps it's been there a while and I just didn't know about it) and we finished watching it last week. It is apparently available for viewing on Netflix as well. White Wall is a sci-fi series that I can recommend, although the ending will probably frustrate some people (not me). But I happen to like the sci-fi genre and will cut sci-fi writers/filmmakers some slack if their creations are mostly well-done. I think this series was well-done, even though it moved slowly. It took its time getting to the revelation of what the white wall actually was and what was behind it. Additionally it had an appropriate 'atmosphere' and subtle feeling of impending doom in each episode.  

The series has Norwegian actor (Aksel Hennie) in one of the main roles. I thought he did a very good job as the character Lars Ruud, project leader at a former Swedish mining site that is being prepared as a large repository for nuclear waste. There are the extremist environmental activists who are against the opening of the site as well as corporate leadership that doesn't want anything to stand in the way of the formal opening. The underground team working on the site discovers the existence of a white wall at the end of one of the many tunnels after an unexplained explosion. Several members of the team are killed and this prompts an investigation by security; Lars and his team keep the discovery of the white wall secret from corporate leadership while letting the security leader in on the secret. They come to realize that they cannot dig around the wall or excavate it; it has an oblong shape and is quite high. Without giving away the rest of the story, the white wall is eventually shown to be a huge capsule of some sort, composed of carbon and unidentifiable materials not before seen on earth. What this capsule is doing there, who put it there, and what it contains are the subjects of the last three episodes. Subplots include Lars' affair with his colleague Helen Wikberg (played by Vera Vitali), her autistic son Axel's behavioral changes after touching the capsule wall, the activist Astrid and her father Besse (retired but who once worked in the mine and knew about the existence of the white wall), and the relationship of Oskar the security guard with Astrid. The atmosphere is appropriately eerie and claustrophobic, as one might expect when working in deserted mine tunnels. The series was filmed in an actual mine located in Pyhäjärvi, Finland. Kudos to the actors who worked in these mine tunnels for months at a time. You couldn't have paid me enough money to descend so far underground; my claustrophobia would have gotten the better of me. 

It's unclear whether there will be a season 2 based on the ending of season 1. Without giving it away, I'll say that it's fairly catastrophic, so what there would be to continue in terms of storyline would be truly challenging to write. But time will tell. 

The Kashmir Files

There are some films that will haunt you for the rest of your life. The Kashmir Files is one of them. I saw it last night with a friend who happens to be from India. She did not know the story of the 1990 exodus of the Kashmir Pandits, which is what the film is about, but she had heard that the film was very good. She invited me to join her and her family and friends to go and see the movie. We have previously talked about going to see an Indian Bollywood film together with some of our other friends, a group of women who happen to be former colleagues, and we will do that at some point. But last night's film was not a happy Bollywood film. 

The Kashmir Files is a Hindi-language drama film (with English subtitles) based on real-life stories of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits during the Kashmir Insurgency. It was written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri and was released in March of this year. It has done very well at the Indian box office and it will be interesting to see how well it does globally. The film has been criticized for promoting anti-Muslim sentiment due to the brutality of the extremist Muslim insurgents against the Kashmiri Pandits. If you want to read about the film you can do so here: The Kashmir Files - Wikipedia. What I have understood is that the insurgents butchered not only the Kashmiri Pandits but also moderate Muslims and other religious groups. Their aim was to free Kashmir from India and to make it a Muslim state; their motto was 'convert, leave, or die'. In the film, the young male university student named Krishna Pandit (played by Darshan Kumaar) learns what happened to his parents and brother at the hands of the insurgents; he has not been told the truth by his grandfather who raised him. His speech at the end of the film to his fellow university students was electrifying. He tells the story of what he has learned about what happened in Kashmir after going there to spread his grandfather's ashes together with his grandfather's old friends, which leads to estrangement from his professor Radhika Menon (played by Pallavi Joshi) who has pushed him to front the new separatist movement. All the actors and actresses in this film delivered excellent performances.  

I leave the political discussions for the experts. I cannot comment on the history or the events of 1990 in Kashmir; I know very little about Indian history. But it struck me once again how much evil is committed in the name of religious sentiment. Religion has been the reason for many of the wars up through history and for the ensuing brutality. After seeing this film, I asked, why? Why can't we live in peace, coexist peacefully with each other? I firmly believe that most people want to do just that. Why can't we worship as we please without preaching and subduing others who believe differently? If you believe in several gods and I believe in one, so be it. We are different. I have no right to tell you that my beliefs are better than yours, nor do you have any right to tell me that yours are better than mine. I am not the sole possessor of truth in this life and neither are you. It is more important to me that we should live peacefully together. But I see that many political leaders do not want to do that. That is very clear to me when I look at what is happening in Ukraine. Man's inhumanity to man; I wonder if it will ever stop. 

One of the older characters in the film says that inhuman leaders rely on the hopelessness of the people they subjugate in order to retain their power. He says that one must always have hope, because if there is hope there is the possibility of change. I can imagine that for those who lived through this era in Indian history, that having hope was difficult, much like it must have been for the Jewish people during WWII. But it is hope that keeps you going. My friend said that one of her friends did not want to attend the film with them because she is from Kashmir and experienced what happened first-hand. I can understand that too. The film was tough to watch, and probably on my own, had I read about it first, I would not have chosen to see it. But I don't regret having seen it. Sometimes it is necessary for the bubble that we live in to be popped from time to time. Because we really have no idea what it is like to have to leave your country behind because an invader wants to kill you. We have no idea. 

Another way of looking at it

Another way of looking at life's detours.......

What to say to a writer

Nothing else to do but laugh when I read this. I can imagine it's like this in some literary arenas where the air is rarefied, if they're anything like the good ole boys' clubs found in academic circles. Mutual admiration societies, and if you're not part of one, oh well. Too bad for you.  

Vaccination competition

Did I ever mention how much I love Pearls Before Swine (probably a hundred times if I was counting). Stephan Pastis' sense of humor appeals to me. Today's strip was funny in that bizarre nutso way he has of reflecting on what goes on in society. Enjoy. 

In my later years

I am now living like this after years of not living like this. It's not that I was unhappy before (research science used to be a creative profession until it was taken over by bureaucrats), just that I'm happier now that I am working only for myself. I consider myself lucky that I loved what I did for many years (over thirty years working as an academic research scientist), until I didn't anymore due to the bureaucratic infiltration that hit us full on about ten years ago. No regrets about retiring. Moving on has been a happy change!

A necessary reminder

Just a reminder, for those Americans (and any others) who are complaining about the high gas prices.....

No one else is quite like you

Worth remembering especially when you get discouraged.....

Harbingers of spring

How the snowdrops look now as of March 5 this year

How the snowdrops looked on March 16 of last year

Each year in March, the snowdrops make their appearance. They are the harbingers of spring, and my heart is overjoyed each time I see them. They are hardy flowers, poking up through the remaining snow and dead leaves covering the garden. They precede crocuses and hyacinths which make their appearance in April, closer to Easter. 

I love hardy flowers. I love anything that survives a tough environment. In that regard, I'm a fan of berry bushes too, as well as rhododendrons. Raspberry, gooseberry, blackberry, black currant and red currant bushes survive the cold winter and freezing temperatures and bloom like clockwork each year. There is something so heartening about a garden. It gives one something to believe in, especially when it seems that all hope is lost in the world. A garden provides hope. It is a place of renewal. It tells us that we can start again, start over, leave our winter souls behind and embrace the warm sunshine on our faces. I've often wondered what the world would be like without the sun. Life as we know it would end, of course, but I'm sure many people would commit suicide before that eventuality. Who would want to live in perpetual darkness? I suppose there is a good reason that Christ is seen as the light of the world; our souls do not have to live in darkness if we seek him. It seems that more than ever, we need to seek him, since our world is moving toward darkness. I will find him in my garden, that I know.  

The turn of events in the world

I haven't posted this past week, and it's not because I've run out of things to say. It's because I'm shocked by the turn of events in the world. Russia invaded Ukraine and most of the world united against the aggressor Russia. I'm astounded by how fast that happened, both the invasion and the reaction to it. We knew the invasion was coming, but the unity of the reaction impresses me. I'm so heartened to see all of the businesses that are pulling out of Russia, the freezing of Russian assets, etc. While I know that many Russians don't support Putin's decision or his world view, the fact remains that they are the only ones who can end his reign of terror and paranoia. They are the only ones who can rise up against him. It has to come from within their country. I'm all for supporting Ukraine with weapons and military equipment, and if need be, personnel, but only if absolutely necessary. But if we do, the USA and NATO will be part of a new world war, and what will that mean for humanity's future, especially if it becomes a nuclear war?

What has also surprised me is how many wealthy people there are in Russia, all of whom are worried about their wealth and their freedom now that sanctions are a reality. Russian oligarchs. I looked up the word oligarch just to be sure I understood its meaning. An oligarch is 'a person who is part of a small group holding power in a state'. Wikipedia defines Russian oligarchs as 'business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth during the era of Russian privatization in the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s'. In other words, opportunists who got filthy rich at the expense of the country; they support Putin and their resources help to finance his invasion ( FACT SHEET: The United States Continues to Target Russian Oligarchs Enabling Putin’s War of Choice | The White House). Putin is very wealthy as are many in his cabinet and many of his cronies. Of course they want to preserve their wealth; in that respect they are no different than many American billionaires. The difference is that American billionaires are not considered to be oligarchs, although one can wonder at times about their intelligence and morality (or lack of it). I need only think of Jeff Bezos wanting the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands to take down a bridge so that he can sail his 458 million dollar yacht out of the city (Rotterdam to partly dismantle historic bridge for Jeff Bezos’s superyacht | Netherlands | The Guardian). Rotterdam surprisingly enough has agreed to do that. Or Kim Kardashian paying 150 million dollars for her new private jet. People are starving in the world and they use amounts of money that 99% of the world population will never see during their entire lives.  

I'm not shocked about how power corrupts or about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. One need only take a look at some toxic workplaces to understand this. Unchecked power wreaks havoc on a workplace, just as it wreaks havoc on a country. One must stand up to power-hungry bullies and aggressors, but it seldom happens if they have the power. Toxic workplaces are like toxic countries, just on a smaller scale. You do as you're told or else. The 'or else' can be everything from being fired to being harassed, frozen out of the majority, or mocked. Imagine working for Trump and getting on his wrong side; we've all witnessed how he treated those he considered to be 'disloyal'. Luckily for the USA, its founders built in a set of checks and balances so that the president would never have absolute power. They did not want a king as leader of America. Trump is fascinated by authoritarian leaders like Putin; you could wonder if he wants to be in the same position, the undisputed leader with absolute power. 

The uncomfortable truth is that many people view the extremely wealthy as successful and good people. I'm sure a number of them are, but many aren't. Many are just plain amoral, unconcerned with the right and wrong of a particular issue. And men like Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and OJ Simpson, who are just plain immoral, who behave evilly because they think (know) they can get away with their abhorrent behavior. What surprises me are the number of people living in borderline poverty who think people like Trump, Bezos, or Gates really care about them. What don't they understand? Trump, Bezos, Gates, and other wealthy people do not represent them. They actually have no idea about how the other 99% of people in the world live. How can they, when if they want to travel, they hop on their private jets and avoid what the rest of us have to deal with anytime we want to travel--traffic on the way to the airport, queues at the airport, the economy section of the plane that packs people together like sardines. During the recent pandemic, they were not crammed into their tiny apartments in Manhattan or the Bronx, they were ensconced in their beach houses or vacation houses far from overpopulated cities. 

I don't envy the wealthy, I never have. I grew up with people who did, who wondered why they weren't wealthier, why they couldn't have what their wealthy friends had. I never cared too much about money. Had I cared, I certainly wouldn't have chosen an academic career. Scientists made very little money when I was starting out. I chose my career based on my interest in it, but I did of course know that it would pay me enough so that I could live and take care of myself. Most people think this way. I am appreciative of the innovation and jobs that the wealthy create when they start companies based on their innovative ideas, but at some point their wealth gets the upper hand and things get out of hand. They forget where they came from and they surround themselves with people who preferably don't remind them of where they came from. 

Putin seems to have forgotten where he came from. He is interested in preserving his power and wealth like most right-wing ultraconservatives. He may have been a communist once but no longer. He will kill many innocent people to protect his power and wealth. He is not interested in what is good for Russia, only in what is good for himself. He is both amoral and immoral and the world will eventually be better off without him. How that happens is anyone's guess. I am very grateful for all of the unnamed diplomats in the world who work tirelessly to preserve peace and prevent war. I never understood before what an important role they play in preserving the fragile peace in the world. God bless them. 

Some quotes about evil

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. --Edmund Burke

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil. --Elie Wiesel

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. --Buddha

Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil. --Plato

The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance. --Herodotus

Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table. --W. H. Auden

Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good... Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place. --Pope Francis

Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil. --Aristotle

Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself. --Soren Kierkegaard

Evil is whatever distracts. --Franz Kafka

I define a 'good person' as somebody who is fully conscious of their own limitations. They know their strengths, but they also know their 'shadow' - they know their weaknesses. In other words, they understand that there is no good without bad. Good and evil are really one, but we have broken them up in our consciousness. We polarize them. --John Bradshaw

All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy. --Scott Alexander

It is not enough for us to restrain from doing evil, unless we shall also do good. --St. Jerome

The bad man desires arbitrary power. What moves the evil man is the love of injustice. --John Rawls

The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world. --Max Born

I believe the root of all evil is abuse of power. --Patricia Cornwell

Another great Pearls Before Swine--The Game of Covid Life

 Pretty much sums it up!

The modern dance film Ritual In Transfigured Time from 1946

I am a Friend of Untermyer Gardens (located in Yonkers New York), and I often receive emails from Stephen F. Byrns who is the President of the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy. He sent out an email this week that included this clip of a modern dance film from 1946 called Ritual in Transfigured Time by Maya Deren, who was an American experimental avant-garde filmmaker. Born in the Ukraine, she was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer (info from Wikipedia). 

The reason Byrns included the film clip was because Deren filmed the dance at Untermyer Gardens. I found the film to be moving and quite mesmerizing, almost menacing in some places. I'd never heard of Deren before, but I'm glad I know about her now. 

Every now and then

 No words necessary.....