Feminism

This post's gonna have a lot of edits and additions. keep checking in.


Rant mode : ON




Men and Women should be treated the same? Yes.

Men and Women can be equally smart? Yes.

Therefore Men and Women can also be equally stupid, which means that now the stupid women (of which there are a few out there just like there are stupid men) will get raises for jobs they are unfit for or inadequately execute. While the other men and women who deserve the raise will be left hanging.

If a woman gets fired now it will a call to arms under the banner of "Gender Equality" or "Feminism". Not because the company deemed it necessary to fire the person due to whatever other reasons.

#SatyaNadella

Now that's bullshit.

Unless....

I can now call in sick a minimum of once a month for 2-3 days after which I can have a pissed off demeanor and no one will say anything.

People will hold doors open for me and I don't have to bother about letting someone else go ahead of me. I mean, since we're all equal and everything... I don't see why women need the extra attention. (same goes for elevators)

When I go on dates the woman's gonna pay for the evening, or at least split the bill. (Women now get the same salary! Raises remember!)

I'm gonna get gifts and flowers every-time I go out on a date. (Even if I don't get these at least don't expect me to buy anything since you can afford your own stuff now.)

Just because a few Men treated Women badly doesn't mean that all Men do.

The tables have turned now and its equality all around.

Deal with being treated as another dude....

( This seriously raises some more questions, can I be crude and crack all sorts of dirty jokes around women now that we are "equal")

Super Hero Movies

OK, before I even get started on writing about Superhero movies if you're a person who doesn't watch action movies or doesn't like/follow superhero fiction, this article isn't for you. Buzz off.

Alright now that's that. So to all of you who watch action films and follow superhero comics/cartoons/story-lines etc. Why does everyone suddenly want to watch a "meaningful" movie? Whats this nonsense about the movie having too much action or that it looks like a VFX showcase... Five years ago you hypocrites were cribbing about how action movies try too hard to put in different angles and that they should stick to what they're supposed to do. Now that Superhero movies are doing just that, everyone's suddenly like "oh no, why so much destruction... its a bit over the top" NO ITS NOT. OK!!?? This isn't some nonsensical love story about fate and how you feel about looooovvvveeeee (ewww cooties). These movies are action flicks. If you want to watch something with more "acting" and "drama" please watch movies that are meant for that. That's great cinema too, but in an entirely different genre. And as VFX grows so will its uses. I mean Benjamin Button, what a brilliant movie in which VFX was use through the entire film.. and drama... but since its not action its mean to have drama and love and acting. If you expect drama in a transformers or a Superman flick, you're gonna have a bad time.

And just so that you know, the action is for all those lil kids who come to the theater to watch the bad guys get their ass beat. By giving these films bad reviews you will never let another child have the joy of watching Superman beat someone through buildings or watch Wolverine claw his way through a hundred men. Very selfish I tell you... to say you are hypocrites is to say 5 year olds are mature.

A rambling monday

The loss of power in any situation creates frustration. The ability to make changes has left us. We are a humble people. A people who strive to survive. The entire Indian race exists within the bounds of society. Some philosophers say that it is because the aggression and battle-hunger was extinguished with the Mahabharata and Ramayana. But is it true? Have we as Indians lost our ability to stand for ourselves? The last battle we fought as a united nation was against the British... and even that we fought non-violently. Now the country is being eaten from the inside out. Not just by corrupt government officials but by the people themselves. The patriotism for India is almost non-existent. Well unless you talk about India in reference to Pakistan, then maybe you can shake this sleeping giant to twitch a little. But that's all you get, a little. There is no pride in being Indian. I mean look at the amount of people who are NRI's and are proud about it. There is absolutely no patriotic behavior left in any educated Indian. All they talk about is how clean places are abroad and how the climate is so much better. Ask an Indian about the best country in the world and they might say America or the UK or some other country but ask an American the same question and within a split second, without any hesitation the answer is USA. And I believe the same goes for any other nation... except us. Why has this happened?

I have been led to the conclusion that Indians are frustrated with the loss of power and are now living in a nation that they don't want. This isn't the India the freedom fighters foresaw and fought for. This isn't the India that Mahatma Gandhi starved for days for. This isn't the India countless people died for. Yet here we are... a powerless people that helplessly get bullied by cops and politicians. And if not the government then the thugs, the dons, the local 'mawalis'. Every Indian needs to stand up. No one is going to do your fighting for you. You have to take things into your own hands. Almost every movie in the 90's was depicting a fight against  the rich, the powerful and the wicked. And now we've moved away from even telling stories that inspire people to fight for themselves.

All the Indian society is worried about is what will the neighbors think or say. What will happen to my children if I don't earn enough money for their life. I mean you live your life earning for your children, they in turn spend their lives earning for their children. Where and when do you live for yourself? Doing what you love? And if you have a breakdown here itself, how can you think about your country when you don't have the time to think for yourself.

So I urge everyone who is stuck in an office... sitting at a desk reading this or hiding from your boss and reading this on a smartphone in a toilet because you don't get time to sit on the net in office. Go do what you dream of doing... Cook, travel, take photos, make movies, music, write a book, invent something, discover life. Don't get stuck trying to fatten your bank account. Because when you find what you love to do, money and success will always follow. And even if it doesn't, at least you're having fun doing what you're doing!

Superman Re-booted.

A world in shreds, tearing itself apart. Civil war and unrest as well as geological destruction taking place. Planet Krypton is about to be destroyed and the characters of Jor-El (Superman's biological father) & General Zod are set in a blink of an eye. The Man of Steel begins with the origins of 'Superman' or 'Clark Kent' or 'Kal-El' and almost instantly goes from how he was born to who he is today. The non-linear story-line combined with Nolan's typically characterized complex narrative structure of film-making makes the 'Man of Steel' an interesting watch by keeping you on the edge as you keep discovering new aspects of Clark Kent.

Christopher Nolan's morally ambiguous characterization comes into play with General Zod played by Michael Shannon, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Revolutionary Road and is also part of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. But not necessarily with Clark Kent aka Superman who epitomizes goodness.

Superman is rebooted with this film in a more modern context. Although the Superman costume does look a little different sans the red underwear on the outside its more than just a costume. Most of all the 'S' for superman symbolizes hope and is the symbol of the house of 'El' (Superman's family). It's actually just shy of genius how David S. Goyer (the writer) has successfully melded modern mentality and the archaic design style of Superman into a cohesive thought. Everything that is has a reason and there are almost no flaws left in the plot.

Zach Snyder definitely proves that he has an innate aptitude for dealing with superheroes as real people with real problems as shown in the Watchmen. In the Man of Steel, Superman actually earns the name of SUPER - MAN. Because in the end even if you are of alien origin, its your beliefs that make you the man that you are.

Bo : Bounce

Bo, that's what my neighbors called me. My favorite toy as a child was the "ball". I was so fascinated with the shape that everything round was perfect. Peas, the Sun, the full Moon, eyes, roundness... So much so that even the letter "O" was a favorite letter, I spelled ball as BOLL since its round and should have the letter!

And so I grew up with that pet name, Bo. I took on some properties of the ball, to Bounce.

bounce  
Verb
Move quickly away from a surface after hitting it; rebound: "the ball bounced off the wall".

And so I learned to bounce... from fights, from terrible accidents, from disasters...
There comes a time in everyone's life when they are changed. The following changed mine...

On a sunny winter day in a small cafe in the financial district of San Francisco; (San Francisco is a very beautiful place in the winter with the cool weather and bright sun shining.) There sat a young man who must have just stepped out of his teens. Spare facial hair growth, tall and well built. As he sat there in his brown overcoat, eating frozen yogurt that the waitress at the 'Working Girls Cafe" winked at him. He smiled and looked out to the street. "Today is a good day" thought the young man as he relaxed into the steel and wood chair placed on the sidewalk. After a few moments he dialed to call a friend and see if he was free to come join for a cup of coffee. As the friend declined, he placed the phone on the table so that in-case his friend called he'd not miss the call. As the young man sat eating the iced yogurt looking at the people hustling by on the sidewalk, a black boy not much older than the frozen yogurt eating boy stopped by the table. The black boy picked up the phone and said "Nice phone." and proceeded to walk away with the phone. Our young man at the table wasn't one to go down quietly so he chases the thief who has his phone. After a two minute chase, the boy catches the thief and beats him. During this process he is surrounded by a gang of thugs. Now each of them is about six to six and a half feet tall. After the young boy got up to fight off these new attackers he fell to the barrage of fists and feet. After a rather valiant effort to fight for himself, the boy was felled by a set of brass knuckles that hit him in the face below his right eye three times in quick succession. At this point the gang proceeded to leave with their wounded. The young man got up to see himself surrounded by people of all ages just watching. No one had dialed "911", no one to help him, no one to even attempt to save him. With his broken face of which as he found out later required reconstructive surgery which consisted of  a new eye socket a new zygomatic arch and upper cheek bone all crafted out of Titanium so it would be permanent. 

No one will help you get out of your troubles. No one will ever help you when you are down and out. No one will do anything for you. You have to 'bounce' back yourself. 

That boy was me. The year 2006. I'd turned twenty just three months before the incident. 

I bounced from that. It physically hurt me for months. It mentally hurt me for years. But I bounced. 
I went through everything after that with a smile on my face. Nothing fazed me. No problem was too big to handle. After this incident I had the courage to take on the world. The whole process of recovering from this made me a tough nut to crack, never ever after that has anything hurt me that badly again... Until a week ago... I cracked open, shattered once more.

I lost the woman I loved a few years ago and I still hoped somewhere that I'd get once more chance with her and prove it to her that we were meant to be together, it was something that I could fix, or so I thought. I waited and waited, and finally the day came when she was single once again. She initiated contact from her end. It was like the fates had finally smiled upon me. The clouds were breaking, the storm was ending. I could see happiness on the other side. She wanted to meet me! I was ecstatic and apprehensive about it all. When I opened up to her finally she told me she wanted me only as a friend and that she was going to get married, it was a scary decision and she needed me as a friend. I thought she was history and I was strong enough to forget after this... But every time I think of her, it all comes rushing back like it was only yesterday. And the fact that it will never be possible for me to hold her like she was mine or look upon her to know she was only mine that we were beautiful and happy together. Its over. It will never happen, I will never be able to fix us. We are really over. It has finally hit me after all these years. I lost you. Forever. I know you might not forgive me for not taking the right steps at the right time. I have no one to blame. I feel like I was back in 2006, hurt on the street, fallen in blood, gasping for air. With everyone looking upon me from afar... leaving me alone, stranded, suffocated, suffering. The damage done to my face doesn't even feel like a fraction of the damage that my heart has suffered this week. I feel as though a truckload of Titanium bolts won't be enough to fix this fracture. If this feeling could be represented in terms of physical pain, try to imagine your heart in a blender while its still attached to your body, and every time I think about her being married to someone else its like the blender has started moving and chopping my heart into tiny bits. 

But...

I will love again. I might be in the depths of the darkest hell, but I will come back from this. Those seven black thugs couldn't kill my spirit. No one can. I might get beaten to a pulp but I will rise up again. Beat me up and I will heal and come back for more. I will love again with just as much passion and energy. I might get hurt once again but at least I'm ready for it this time. I will bounce back. Again and again. From this as well as many more things that life will throw at me.

A true life story.

MATURITY

MATURE :

Having reached full natural growth or development or having reached a desired or final condition; No longer subject to great expansion or development.

How do we define when a person is mature? More importantly, how do we know when we are mature?

My brother who is a decade younger than me calls me in the middle of the night to find me in a meeting with a client. He doesn't say he misses me or that he wanted to play video games with me... My little brother asks me "Did you have dinner? What time are you going to be home? Drive safe." For boy who is still in his teens that's mature, pretty damn mature if you ask me. This got me thinking about how do we grade ourselves on maturity?

As a man in his mid-twenties I get to see both sides of the coin very often. Some people think I'm mature while my very loving mother who dotes on me thinks I'm very childish. But there are things that you just don't want to grow up out of. For me its playing video games, for someone else it might be day-dreaming, for others its reading adventure novels. Something that your inner child does. But does letting that inner child out mean that your not completely matured yet? Or even if you can keep that inner child bottled up, does having that hidden urge mean that you aren't matured yet?

I believe that we can never stop being subject to expansion and development. I look back a few months and find that I've already grown as a person... Its when you stop growing and developing that you need to stop your life, take a break and look at what you're doing. If need be change. Restart. Even if its from scratch. The purpose of life isn't to make money or be successful. I think its to be the best you can be. To fall while forging new ground is better than to walk straight on paved roads. Unless of course you're better off being one of the sheep.

So. Maturity doesn't exist... Unless its a monetary investment. 

Excerpt From my Sci-Fi Novel

This is an excerpt from a SCI-FI piece I'm writing. I hope its entertaining so I'm inspired to finish the book!
Its a little out of line from my usual gloomy writing style of heart-breaks and life changing epiphanies (hehe) but its just something that I want to put out there and see what response I get.

I could go on and on about why I'm writing it, etc. etc. But I'll just cut myself short and let you read this first!

Happy reading :



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"Squadron Alpha online", "Squadron Beta online", "Squadron Gamma online", "Squadron Delta online", "Squadron Epsilon online"….. "Where the hell is Squad Kappa!?" crackled the commander's voice through the radio phones.
That was the fifth squad we'd lost to the 'Hellderichts" within the past three months that we were trying to clear out 'Sector 17'.

"It was high time we started doing something about it." said Heracles, he was the part of the new unit that had just arrived from Earth IIV. These guys were huge, almost as big as the Extirpators. Ben said it was the air and gravity on Earth IIV. "No one wants to pick up the grave yard shift now" muttered Ben. "I hear that these Hellderichts are immune to our plasma cannons, is it true?" it was one of Heracles unit members. That's all that everyone spoke about on the ship nowadays, the Hellderichts and how to defeat them. "Wish Squadron Qoppa was here, I want to sign up with them" Heracles' said. Squadron Qoppa was still out fighting those colossal bugs, Coleopterans of some sort. Squadron Qoppa was outfitted with new electric hammers. Amazing piece of technology, these hammers; there were tiny cones in the head of the hammer, when the hammer struck anything or anyone the cones released a hundred thousand volts of electricity each, completely decimating anything that stood in its way. We were all anxious to see how it would affect the Hellderichts. As our thoughts raced through our heads we ate our stew, finally some meat tonight. Hopefully it wasn't one of the sick animals from sector 17. A cold metallic voice came through the PA system in the mess, "Knight-Lieutenant Boe, report to main deck immediately." No more time for meat stew. Maybe later on I would be able to pick something up from one of the food-bots. "Keep us updated, don't you forget!" yelled Ben as I left for the main deck. I don't know why but I always felt out of place in this high-tech environment. Being frozen for more than fifty years doesn't make you feel right at place as soon as you are unfrozen, and five years later, I still crave for the grass and pollution of the twenty first century sometimes. The only other time soldier on the ship was Ben and he was only frozen for seventeen years. "Sir!" I saluted the commander chief. Behind him, I could see the holographic representation of the planet we had been orbiting for the last few hours. We hadn't even scanned that area for Helldericht presence yet. This was going to be extremely risky to say the least. "The electric hammers Mark II have just arrived. You and your men will be armed with these. You will lead a small squad of men armed with these to sector 26 and explore these ruins. I am sending you because you are the best we have at tackling planet side recon missions". Who would have thought being a marine would come in handy at this time.

I headed back to my team and gave them the brief. Ben, Heracles and the rest were eager for action, ironically if we did our job well, we wouldn't see any in this mission. Regardless, I hoped these boys wouldn't scare easy and the eagerness to be out there in the field would push them enough. Hopefully we wouldn't encounter any of these Hellderichts. Within hours we were ready to set out for sector 26. While the rest of the crew favored the new plasma pistols, I had the techs in the ship's armory dig up an old chainsaw sword and a photon pistol. I've always been old-fashioned.




We were dispatched quickly and quietly to the surface on a landing ship.
The planet was lush green, with pools of sparkling blue water dotting the landscape. High humidity and a tropical temperature ensured this planet's evolutionary process would be rapid and diverse. The ship dropped us off and quickly returned to the Mothership. "Squadron Omega online" I reported into the microphone. No reply. "Squadron Omega online" I repeated myself. Damn it, the radio was offline. Something must have scrambled the frequency during the landing. "No radios, good old hand signals. No one disconnect life support systems. You have six hours of power. If you stray away from the unit, head back here directly. You, stay here and set up a defense perimeter." I selected the smallest of the lot to stay back. I wasn't taking any chances with this mission. Hopefully I wouldn't cross paths with those dreaded Hellderichts.


I couldn't see the sky. The tree canopy was thick. It reminded me of the rainforests of my time. I almost took my helmet off so I could breathe the air. And see the true colors of the surrounding, and not the computers displays and infrared sights from inside the helmet. It was an extremely necessary precaution against fauna in an unknown area. I saw a small life form ahead. It was barely as big as my forearm. Heracles tried to shoot it with his plasma pistol. It was jammed. The fool forgot to charge his weapon. This was going to be tougher than I expected. We walked through the forest for an hour, suddenly I heard a thud, I looked behind. Heracles had fallen inside a pit. His visor was smashed, he was bleeding. It was a trap, the likes of which that hadn't been seen for a long, long time now. I had to risk it and go down in there. But before I could Ben jumped down and picked Heracles up. I would never have imagined that wiry Ben had the strength to lift that mammoth of a person. Heracles must have weighed at least thirty stone without the bio-suit. I took my helmet off, but made a sign to the rest of the team to keep theirs on, we still needed the infrared vision. Ben took his off too we spoke in hushed tones. Ben, being the designated medic of our squad, got to work and patched up Heracles as best he could, but his leg had been hurt bad. We decided it was best to take Heracles back to the ship. I would continue scouting for another hour before we turned around. I took Heracles hammer with me, just in case we needed it. I noticed another strange thing. My photon pistol was also discharged. Weird. I felt a little better with the helmet off though, must be the fresh breath of natural air for a change.

The ruins were about two hundred meters away, there was something familiar about it. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Suddenly I heard a whizzing sound, I turned around to see what kind of bug just passed me, such samples were welcome on the mother-ship. I was shocked to see a spear stuck in one of the soldiers armor. It did as much damage as an arrow would do to a knight in armor. The question was who threw the spear? Were these ruins actually ruins? Or was it a settlement that we were disturbing. I pulled out the spear and looked closely at it. It had some writings on it. Maybe it was a ceremonial spear of some sort, because it was made of wood and had a sharpened stone head attached to it with some kind of rope. I held the hammer up over my right shoulder, ready to smash anything that came out of the bushes. I gave the hand signal to spread out in a line and slowly sweep the area. We spread out at a distance of about fifteen meters each and started advancing slowly in a long line. Like a comb in the forest, we swept the area for ten minutes. Nothing. Everyone's pistols were depleted, well at least we had our hammers. Somehow the power packs that were supposed to last us for a few more hours were down to the last twenty five percent. Something was draining out our energy, and fast. The best thing to do now would be to head back, recharge and radio out for a drop ship. We turned around and started heading back, when all of sudden I heard a muffled explosion of some sort. I turned around, no mushroom of smoke or fire. Suddenly one of my men fell face down. The back of his helmet shattered. That must have been a sniper of some kind. We spread out immediately, and started towards where the sound had issued from. I saw something move far ahead, I started out at a dead run towards it. Dodging through the trees and jumping over bushes, this humanoid was fast, whatever it was. I dropped the hammer, too heavy. I slowly started gaining on him. He dropped the weapon he was carrying. It looked like a .50cal 1890's Sharps rifle as I passed it, plenty of time for that later. In the time of photon and plasma pistols and I see a Sharps' .50cal being used. I was hot on the snipers heals, almost had him. The sniper turned around and leapt at me. We hit the ground hard. He was wearing leather and some kind of coarse cloth. I hooked my right fist to his head, I manage to stun him for long enough to get up on my feet. We circled around each other. I had pulled ahead of Squadron Omega, no backup. I still had my chainsaw-sword, I pulled it out and started it. I couldn't see anything of his face because of his hood, but those glowing purple eyes told me that whatever this was, it wasn't human. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand, something wasn't right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw more figures appear out of the thick green wall of leaves. And they were not my squad. This just keeps getting worse. "Omega Squadron – HOTEL ECHO LIMA PAPA" send co-ordinates with that message out on all frequencies. Hopefully someone would catch that. I backed up against a tree and held out the sword in front of me, well if I was going down, I was going to take the first few with me.





Ben finished bandaging Heracles head. He would have to wait to get back to the mother ship before he could get into the 'red bath' and get this wound all fixed up. Ben rechecked the perimeter, set up motions sensors, it was getting dark. Where was everyone? After setting up the UV lights, Ben sat down and lit a cigar. One of the few times when you could actually smoke; outside the ships and domed cities of the empire. Time was running out, everyone should've been back ten minutes ago. They were running out of power. It would be near impossible to carry that suit without power. Ben dozed off, Heracles was keeping watch. A crashing sound awoke Ben. There was something in the bushes. "Who goes there, identify yourself" yelled Ben into the darkness. Suddenly one of the Omega Squad fell into the spotlights around the ship. It was amazing that he had carried the suit back to the base camp without power, that man must be exhausted with the exertion. As soon as Ben had taken of the power suit, the man stood up and saluted, then reported the events that happened earlier. More units were stranded near the ship without power. Ben and Heracles wore their suits and went looking for the others. Twenty minutes later, everyone was back in the camp, all except Squadron leader Boe. Ben was now squadron leader in Boe's stead. He didn't know whether he should stay put and try to get back or continue with the mission. "Sir, what are your orders? Sir" said Heracles. "For now we stay put and try to get our radio working." replied a worried Ben. "I want a man directed toward every single direction. No one leaves the clearing. If you absolutely have to then you take someone with you to watch your back." Ben said. Then Ben headed into the tent to try to get that damned radio working. Even the sun was down, no solar power. This was going to be one long night.