Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Current Affairs

Three weeks of rigorous writing - for a client's travel site - is what I was upto during this 'break'. There were so many things that I wanted to write about, but completing my assignment was first preference. First of all, an online friend asked me if everything was fine at my end, given all the bad news going out of Pakistan. Yes, we're all well, but that obviously doesn't mean that Pakistanis aren't in pain. We are losing innocent lives everyday, and that is tragic. The height of it is that we have sadly grown somewhat immune to it all, unless it strikes somewhere nearby. Sounds cruel, but life goes on...

Talking about terrorism, Avatar has a thing or two to say about state terrorism (aka U.S. Foreign Policy). I finally saw the movie a couple of days back. People have been going mad about it since it first hit the cinemas. Okay, its good. Nice special effects, but I certainly did not think that they were out of the ordinary. Or perhaps I didn't have the facility to see it in 3D. In any case, I think the movie deserves more accolades for its political underpinnings. James Cameron has put across a very strong message, and effectively at that. Why don't people talk about the plot or the story itself; why just the special effects! It makes one wonder whether the technological expertise invested in the movie has been its own undoing - at the end of the day, lessons learnt stick with us. Special effects will only keep improving with time. In about 10 years' time, people will have forgotten Avatar, the visual wonder.