Mad Professor blogging: a foreigner in Bollywood June 1, 2009

 (Arno, image taken by me)

Arno Krimmer, a great friend of mine has ventured to leave Austria, his beautiful and comfortable motherland for… India. In Dec 2003 he made India his home and after teaching for 3 years in a school in the Lower Himalayas he became the first foreign Professor at the Film & TV Institute of India (“Bollywood Academy”) and is presently one of the few foreigners working in the Hindi film industry.

Due to his deep interest in Indian heritage and western educational background Arno has gained a unique perspective und insight into the modern Indian film. Every time we meet, I enjoy his analysis of the Indian and world-film industry as well as captivating stories about his life and encounter with interesting personalities of modern India. Every time I visit him in India, I wish I could follow his example and move to this magnetic place on Earth… who knows, may be one day?…

But today let me introduce you two Arno`s blogs. He blogs under the name “Mad Professor”:

BOLLYWOOD SPIRIT

The author reviews films less known and less promoted abroad, but nevertheless or maybe especially because of that highly recommendable. This blog will also take a look on big blockbusters, but without intending full coverage on all releases, it rather desires to present  films with a difference.

Here Mad Professor gives a balanced overview and his personal rating. I can only add that I try to follow his advice and by now all the recent Indian films I watched have been recommended to me by Arno and I enjoyed them immensely.

Another great Russian – LEV GUMILEV and his passionarity concept November 25, 2008

I am glad to continue my line of posts on unknown genius people and the Russian intellectual and spiritual heritage.

After my post on Pushkin and Lomonosov, the next one who came to my mind was the man of a very unusual destiny and intellectual grandeur.

I remember how I was fascinated by his ideas at the age of 15. That time I was keen on history and philosophy, and Lev Gumilev`s idea impressed me with its global approach and intre-disciplinary perspective.

 

 

Why was his life interesting?

 

A son of two prominent Russian poets, Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov(1912- 1992), also known as Lev Gumilev, was a Russian dissident historian. His unorthodox ideas on the birth and death of ethnoses (ethnic groups) have given rise to the political and cultural movement known as “Neo-Eurasianism”.

He proved strong despite almost 16 years he spent in Stalin’s camps, participation in the Second World War and a Nazis concentration camp. Wherever he was he did not loose the sense of life that he saw in work, research and creativity. It is generally known that after he was convicted for the second time in the late 1940s and sentenced to 10 years of camps (GULAG) for contra-Marks and Lenin ideology activities, he continued researches in seeking definitions for ethnos and wrote in the camp a large part of his most renowned book Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere.

 

 

 

 

What was his innovation?

Lev Gumilev debuted in science brilliantly after graduating from the Leningrad University. He thought in a very innovative manner taking as basis historic and philosophic theories. Lev Gumilev formed his own perception of the world creating new doctrines rejected by everyone at his time. He was the father of ethnogenesis theory, under which nations originate from regularity of the society development, and the “passion” theory – the human ability to sacrifice for the sake of ideological purposes, as Gumilev stated.

Global Trends 2025: state capitalism on the rise November 21, 2008

image by axinia

Today’s newspapers all over the world seem to be much impressed by the latest NIC report Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World  where National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community, gives a new perspective on how major global trends may develop in the next 15 years to influence world events.

You can read the whole report here, and some things I found the most interesting and insightful below:

• “No single outcome seems preordained: the Western model of economic liberalism, democracy and secularism, for example, which many assumed to be inevitable, may lose its lustre – at least in the medium term,” the report warns.
• “Today wealth is moving not just from West to East but is concentrating more under state control,” giving the examples of China and Russia. “In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, the state’s role in the economy may be gaining more appeal throughout the world.”
• At the same time, the US will become “less dominant” in the world – no longer the unrivalled superpower it has been since the end of the Cold War, but a “first among equals” in a more fluid and evenly balanced world, making the unilateralism of the Bush era no longer tenable.
• The impact of climate change will be uneven, with some North economies, including Russia and Canada benefit from longer growing seasons and improved access to resources reserves.
• While emerging economies like China, India and Brazil are likely to grow in influence at America’s expense, the same cannot be said of the European Union. The NIC appears relatively certain the EU will be “losing clout” by 2025. Internal bickering and a “democracy gap” separating Brussels from European voters will leave the EU “a hobbled giant”, unable to translate its economic clout into global influence.

Woman-saints in the West? August 7, 2008

image by axinia

We always think of a saint as a man – at least that is the first thought that normally comes to our mind. Have there never been holy women? Or if there are – why are they so unknown?

I found some intresting insight into that topic:

“In addition to the(Knights)Templars and the enlightenment of a saint such as Bernard of Clairvaux, the Middle Ages saw the blossoming of mysticism amongst woman saints. Although their spiritual greatness was marginalized in western culture, this movement grew to an extent unprecedented in western history.