Runaway: An Animated Film by Cordell Baker

Cordell Barker, who directed The Cat Came Back and Strange Invaders, is once again at his best with Runaway. Set to the music of Ben Charest, Runaway takes you on a journey that is both funny and disastrous.

Happy passengers are having a great time on a crowded train, oblivious to the unknown fate that awaits them around the bend. The ensuing crisis leads to a class struggle that is as amusing as it is merciless. Naturally there are victims, but in the end everyone is equal.

Warriors with Minds on Easy Chairs

I hyperventilate. It happens everywhere. Sometimes inside the bathroom. Sometimes in the middle of the road. Then, I try and call someone who can talk me out of it. All of them say, "Put your mind at ease."

But, how?

**

Here is an abrupt extract from Carlos Castaneda's Tales of Power: (pg 52)

 "Should I try to find an explanation for what happened, then? I[Carlos] asked.
 "Certainly!" he[don Juan] retorted. "It's your duty to put your mind at ease. Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over the walls; they don't demolish them."
 "How can I jump over this one?" I asked.
 "First of all, I think its deadly wrong for you to regard anything in such a serious fashion," he said as he sat down by my side. "There are three kinds of bad habits which we use over and over when confronted with unusual life situations. First, we may disregard what's happening or has happened and feel as if it had never occurred. That one is the bigot's way. Second, we may accept everything at its face value and feel as if we know what's going on. That's the pious man's way. Third, we may get obsessed with an event because either we cannot disregard it or we cannot accept it wholeheartedly. That's the fool's way. Your way? There is a fourth, the correct one, the warrior's way. A warrior acts as if nothing had ever happened, because he doesn't believe in anything, yet he accepts everything at its face value. He accepts without accepting and disregards without disregarding. He never feels as if he knows, neither does he feel as if nothing had ever happened. He acts as if he in control, even though he might be shaking in his boots. To act in suc a manner dissipates obsession."

**

The Art of Discovering

Discoveries are the clouds in our sedentary lives. It could be about the soul, the nature of science, bacteria, mutant frogs, or the colour blue. They may happen when reading a book, engrossed in a conversation, bleeding in a fight, watching a death, expecting a birth, or a finding the chance to run away. We'll find a discovery hanging off an ignored leaf, grab it and treasure it in an old cigar box. It may simply be the choice to stop everything and return to sedentary silence. At the beginning and at the end, it is a choice to search. 

It begins from a dream. 

**

Here is an extract from Lloyd Jones' Mister Pip, a story of a little girl named, Matilda and her teacher, Pop-Eye. (pg 159)

Broken Dreams

 The girl next to where I grew up used to sleepwalk. It was amazing how far she would get--still fast asleep. One time she paddled a canoe out to the reef, came in and went back to her sleeping mat. Or else you'd see her marching up the beach like she was late for church.

 Once we found her in our house sitting up to the table, her eyes closed, while every other part of her suggested she was waiting to be brought a cold drink. I was going to wake her but my mum stopped me. What if she is dreaming....? Dreams are private, she said. And she is right. A dream is a story no one else will get to hear or read. 

 Thanks to dreams, in the history of the galaxy the world has been reinvented more often than there are stars. 

 The girl in our house though was probably just dreaming about jumping off the wharf--and that's okay too.

**

Twenty One Years and Two Days

Birthdays - I do not how they are supposed to be spent. Each one has been different, memorable for different reasons. Some have gone worse than the others, hurting me for years. But, this twenty-first birthday was mellow, cinematic (watched Iron Man 2 and Kites in the span of three days), and yummy (ate Korean food at InSeoul). Thank you to everyone who showered love!

Leaving to Hyderabad. Lots of people to meet there, things to pick up, stories and plays to write, proposals to finish, and cousins and parents I need to catch up with.

Goodbye.

See you all in Hyderabad.

The Superhero Blanket Around My Shoulders

I will not be alone when I shout from the rooftops, before trying to fly: "I LOVE SUPERHEROES." Going to start digging into the history of who brought out this concept soon. Stan Lee, according to me is God in this area. The day I saw him (on TV) flying down on a spider to receive his Scream Award, I fell all over again for him. However, I've always had the reservation of making my sister jealous if I agree I love superheroes or Stan Lee as much as her. This is her thing. I've sat with her in book shops where she has blown her entire month savings on comics and series. She is mad about them. I take them as a sweet ride of ecstasy. It is Energy.

Expecting this, I went to watch Iron Man 2. Back home, I am confidently writing this: "it is one of the most intelligent superhero movies ever." Why? I spent most of my childhood wanting to be a physicist, it was the closest I could have gotten to understanding the world and conquering it. No. 1: Tony Stark is a physicist. Van Con is a physicist. Even, Hammer is a physicist. When the time came to choose my subjects of specialization I chose to study the human race more than the world. If I was going to conquer anything at all in my life, it was going to be me.


More than the first part, Iron Man 2 exceeds it brilliance. Tony Stark was first only a technically bad man, a mass murderer, who invents something for himself and then turns it into a good man's weapon. This is the initial story of Iron Man. But, this sequel digs deeper and adds darker shades, with even the touch of romance and glamour. It is a packed, entertaining ride to the sky.

In the sequel, Tony Stark is a narcissistic rich man, with a self-created super power, who is threatened by death and personal longings. He is a human-being, battled by other human-beings. James Rhodes is that same patriotic commander and the man who stands against his friend thinking he might save the country. And yes, the Russian is the villain, with his own share of personal history triggering revenge. The best man of all, the creator of Stark Industries, is Howard Stark. Just like expected, he talks out of an old taped recording and reveals to his son that death is not going to stop him and that he is here for a bigger purpose.

There are all these and more stereotypes. Even, if you haven't read the comic book, one can guess who is the lover and who is the sexy one. I am back here and haven't forgotten a single character, a single scene, or a single turn in the story. Does this make it a good movie? I guess so. 

It's true I went there wanting to enjoy it and I am back satisfied, exhilarated, and happy.  My textbook on 'Writing on Film' tells me strictly that I cannot go to a movie with the intention of enjoying and then criticizing it. Defying this, I think the intention is precisely why the mind stays open enough for flaws to tape themselves in my mind.

I haven't done anything wrong by wanting to enjoy this movie. I simply let it take me on a ride, and it did a pretty good job, probably the best. The last few superhero movies terribly disappointed me - yes, Watchmen being one of them. Kudos to Iron Man 2. 

It's not keeping me waiting to watch more, but has put me on the most brilliant energy rush with the simple story it told me today. Be a superhero or a normal person, there is fear that's going to hit you and you are going to have to deal with it in your own way.

Here's a small peak into my childhood superhero:
"Sun rose in her dreams, and sun flowers lived beneath the thick black blanket. In the dark sunny abode lived a paradise. Swarna turned around restlessly, distracted what the day had been. She should have been kissed by him. She should have caught the bus in time. She should have seen the sitcom episode completely. She should have talked for hours to her boyfriend. She hadn’t done any of this. She had been on this mattress with a cobra.
Every morning, it coils itself around her, pulling her plump self in to the mattress. Tied and worn out in struggle  the cobra suffocates itself to life. The black cotton cobra would hiss into her ears: a hundred love stories and mystic hymns. Then she would pull him over her head and close her eyes.
Tonight, she told herself about the magnificent cobra. She read the bed time story about his crawling love. Under the cobra evils are not seen. Under the cobra everything is protected from unknown things. Blankets are super heroes."

[written long ago]

It's late in the night, but come back tomorrow for a nice look into the History of Superheroes.