Having been around the block once or twice, I’ve seen the original RoboCop and all it’s sequels.  Back then the concept was new and everyone was excited about seeing RoboCop.  We all loved the way it bashed the corporations and effectively caught the bad guys.  Of course, Hollywood went overboard and made one too many of these RoboCop sequels and it didn’t do too well at the box office.  I looked up the original 3 on IMDB and found the 1st one earned a 7.5 rating while the second and third only earned 5.6 and 3.8, respectively.  Now 27 years later, Hollywood has decided to try it again.  With new technology available, how far can they go?  Well I believe they made a perfect remake that toned down the family ousting of the old 1987 version and the corporation criminal element.  In other words, Alex Murphy’s family wasn’t given the…

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Fearing that a brief truce could allow the army to move in, protesters tossed firebombs and advanced upon police lines Thursday in Ukraine’s embattled capital. Government snipers shot back, killing at least 70 people and wounding hundreds, according to a protest doctor.

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Last night KSTP Television ran a story about restaurant owners’ take on what an increase in minimum wage would mean to their business.  Restaurant owners, like anyone else, are entitled to their opinions so I won’t question their pessimistic outlook.  (Although I think we should.)  I grant them the right to grumble.  Instead I want to talk about how a  story like this is presented overall and also point out at least one point in this story when information was reported so that it might be confused as fact when it wasn’t.

First, I am going to stick to my premise that these restaurant owners are expressing opinions, not facts, about their business.  When they say an increase in wages will prevent them from hiring, expanding, getting loans and so on, I don’t know what facts they are basing those statements.  They don’t tell us and maybe it would make…

These are the Rhesus Macaque monkeys of Jaipur, the Pink City of Rajastan. The video will enthrall you, give you shivers and be impossible to look away  from because you want to see what they will do next.  Monkeys have invaded the cities of India because of urban spaces encroaching on their native habitats.  It is as if they know they will be cared for as visiting gods, fed and protected with the free range to explore, bathe and eat at will. Because they are!  In the pantheon of Hindu gods is Hanuman, the monkey god.

He is thought to be the avatar of Shiva and the embodiment of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.  Hanuman  is one of the most popular gods in  Hindu India because he inspires his devotees to face ordeals and conquer obstructions in life. The  belief is that monkeys of India are the flesh and blood…

Li Po wrote poems that asked questions. A common theme was drinking alcohol, but, when I read his poetry, I wonder if it was alcohol or his intoxication with the world he lived in? What is real and not real sometimes blurs boundaries and we ask questions about what is real and not real. Who is the leader and who is not appears in Li Po’s poetry.

Herman Hesse blurred the lines between Leo as a leader and Leo as a servant in Journey to the East. Who serves who? What does it mean to lead and serve? There is a Taoist quality in those questions.

Chuang Tzu in dream became a butterfly,
And the butterfly became Chuang Tzu at waking.
Which was the real—the butterfly or the man ?
Who can tell the end of the endless changes of things?
The water that flows into the depth of…

I really tried to find some redeeming qualities out of this movie but, oh well, I couldn’t.  Even though Bad Grandpa received an Oscar nod for makeup, I could tell immediately that this was a young person made up to look old .  I’m not knocking the make-up job, I just saying…  This movie was so stupid, I had to force myself to stay and watch it.  When I looked it up on IMDB, the rating was 6.7 out of 10.  I’m still scratching my head over that one.  The story is about an 86 year old man who’s wife just passed away.  He now feels free to have endless sex despite his age.  He only has one problem, he has to take his 8 year old grandson from Nebraska to North Carolina, driving.  The boy’s mother is off to jail and his father is a crack smoking jerk who…

It is very easy to blame others. What is tough, what is challenging, is to accept one’s faults, slip-ups,  inactions and the actions which were flawed. What is testing is to say I’m sorry, I apologize, yes, I was mistaken. What is superior is to be careful enough of not committing mistakes, to be cautious at all times.

The political situation in India has transformed over the past year by gargantuan rates, that an elucidation of the same may make another piece of writing. Having said that, I would like to throw some light on the most talked about television interview of the year till date, which has now created a massive controversy, become the topic of various debates and hence become the central point of discussion apropos the contemporary Indian politics. I had blogged about the same and put across my viewpoint the day before yesterday and today I…