Avatar, The Movie

”It’s all nonsense of course, but in the best possible way; pure Hollywood entertainment at it’s best. Take the misses or take your mates, see it at the cinema and see it in 3D. This is, after all, what cinema was made for.” I think this is what to say all about  ”AVATAR“. It’s an American 3-D science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron. This film focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus. The film’s title refers to an avatar, a 3-D representation of a real person in a virtualized world.

The story takes us to AD 2154, where the character Jake Sully, a former US marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program (due to his genes being identical to those of his late twin brother, Tony, who was supposed to go), which will enable him to walk. He travels to Pandora, a lush and sentient-inhabited satellite of Polyphemus, 4.3 light years from Earth. Pandora is filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying. This world is also home to the Na’vi, a sentient humanoid race, who are considered primitive, yet are more physically capable than humans. They live in harmony with their world.

As humans encroach deeper into Pandora’s forests in search of valuable minerals to remedy a crisis on Earth, the Na’vi unleash their formidable warrior abilities to defend their threatened existence. Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake will be able to walk again. Sent deep into Pandora’s jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow, Jake encounters many of Pandora’s beauties and dangers. There he meets a young Na’vi female, Neytiri. Over time, Jake integrates himself into the Na’vi clan, and begins to fall in love with Neytiri. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Pandora.

Anyone with an interest in films and filmmaking will appreciate what writer-director James Cameron has achieved. “Avatar” is not such a fresh story. Actually it’s quite old: boy meets girl, adapts to the ways of her tribe, must choose between the girl and his mission.What is astonishing is the look of “Avatar”. Cameron and crew, with hundreds of millions of dollars in CGI tricks, have created another world: the planet Pandora, occupied by the Na’vi, nine-foot blue human-hybrids with tails who share the forest with a fantastical collection of creatures, plants, and insects.

Yoga for weight loss

-YOGASANAM-

I know some people  struggling hard due to over body weight. They put themselves into agony by making severe fasting and vigorous exercises. But all these works without a proper guidance or a systematic approach do any good I think. So if you are looking for a new and effective way of losing weight or tired of sweating for hours on a treadmill without seeing any appreciable results, believe me , there is a way to lose weight in a healthy manner….. YOGA.

I hope some of you may be very familiar with Yoga. Anyway I shall give a very brief description to it, for those who are unfamiliar with the word. “Yoga is a healing system of theory and practice. It is a combination of breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation that has been practiced for more than 5,000 years and is a form of a spiritual practice in India.”  It’s true that people normally don’t consider yoga for weight loss, but take a moment to think about it. You will invariably find that people who have been practicing yoga regularly are fit and lean, never fat.

Yoga is one of the very effective exercises for weight loss because it works on many different levels at the same time. At the end of the day, yoga aims to bring your body and mind to a natural state, where your entire being functions as one, with full efficiency, and in perfect harmony with the rest of the universe. Let’s take a look at some of the yoga poses for weight loss.

Surya Namaskara: The Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutation is a series of 12 exercises that are performed in a sequential manner. These 12 exercises not only strengthen your body, they also help to boost your metabolism and make your body burn fat faster than ever.

Dwichkrika Asana: The Dwichkrika Asana or Prone Cycling Pose helps to strengthen your abdominal regions and also helps in burning fat. Just a couple of minutes of performing this yoga exercise for weight loss can work wonders on your midsection.

Ardha Hala Asana: The Ardha Hala Asana or Half Plough Pose is one of the best yoga asanas for weight loss. This asana helps to stimulate the digestive system and boosts your metabolism. It is also one of the best exercises to lose that stubborn fat that accumulates on the lower abdomen.

Pawan Mukta Asana: This is also an excellent exercise to stimulate the digestive system and one of the more popular yoga poses for weight loss. This amazing exercise not only tones your midsection, but also helps to dispel any gas that is trapped in the intestines.

Vellattam – Theyyam

Last week we went to one of my colleagues’ house to participate in religious function called Vellattam. Velllattam is a form of Theyyam, a very rich cultural dance or invocation generally performed in front of the village shrines or in the houses in Kerala.

There was no stage or curtain and other arrangements for the performance. When we reached his house the theyyam artist was doing his make up. There are different patterns of face-painting. Mostly primary and secondary colors are applied with contrast for face painting. It had effected certain stylization also.  It was very interesting to see the way he wears his ornaments, which were seen like of a fairy tale.

The dancer along with drummers recites the particular ritual song, which describes the myths and legends of the particular ritual song, which describes the myths, and legends. This performance is a combination of playing of musical instruments, vocal recitation, dance and strange makeup and costumes. The stage-practices of Theyyam and its ritualistic observations make it one of the fascinating theatrical arts of Kerala.