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Phoenix Rising - From Concept to Reality

"Phoenix, a mythical bird of great beauty and power, flies far ahead, always scanning the landscape and distant space. The bird is the symbol of high virtue and grace, of power and prosperity. It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end, the re-birth of a powerful energetic Phoenix arises, heralding a prosperous tomorrow."

From Concept to Reality

As we were preparing for the year end party, this time it was special, since there was a name change going on. Named as "The Blaze", had to be special than any other event hosted in the company. The unveiling of the new logo of the company was the main highlight of the event. We coordinated with a group of dancers who gave us 4 acts for the event. One of the acts was the name change dance act. Rambling with what kind of dance act we should have for the name change, its just struck to me in the middle of the night ..'Phoenix Rising'. I'm a real sci-fi tv/movie fan and I have seen many concepts, and the Phoenix Rising just struck a  cord with me, though I can't remember where I have seen it, but knew I had seen it one of the sci-fi movies or tv series and found out I had seen it on Eureka! As my friend and I planned for the special dance act with the theme Phoenix Rising, I had the great opportunity to come out with a soundtrack for the act. And what better way to use soundtracks from the movies!

Below is the composition of the soundtrack consisting themes from 5 Movies: Avatar, National Treasure, Chronicles of Narnia , The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Lord of the Rings.

Here's the soundtrack for your listening pleasure. 

'Phoenix Rising' finally became a reality on the 20th of December 2011. To see a concept come alive was truly amazing!

Dance act for the Phoenix Rising

Born to be Free in the Wild

A young man named Chris, a high achiever in his studies goes through college and succeeds, however after college he's has a different plan of what he is going to do in the future which is quite contradicting with his parents wishes. He leaves his possessions and gives his entire savings - $24,000 to charity and goes in search of Alaska - to live in the wild. On his way he meets various characters and touched the lives of them though somewhat stays at arms length with them .Chris does not believe that money does not bring happiness, including all the materialistic things. The wild has everything where a man can survive. It is sad to see at the end the man who wanted to be in the wild is trapped in the wild and passes away within few months of him leaving his home.
Though I did not intend watching this movie, it happens so that the story line is gripping and you want to see what happens next to Chris. The countdown is a bit confusing with the Bus. But overall the movie was good, a very thoughtful movie and so much to learn.

Some of Chris/Alex's writings (Chris changes his name when he begins his travels)


~ The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.


~ When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it.

~ Happiness only real when shared.


What are you doing when we're there? Now you're in the wild, what are we doing?
You're just living, man. You're just there, in that moment, in that special place and time. Maybe when I get back, I can write a book about my travels. 

It was a surprise to see Twilight star - Bella - Kristen Stewart in this movie!

This is a true story of  Chris McCandless who died at a young age, trapped in the wilderness. If you want a movie with real life emotions well this is it and I recommend it if anyone want's to see this. It somewhat reminds me bit of the CastAway. One of those loner movies!

Macros!

Random shots I have taken...

Eating Chips while watching Black Swan :)

Roots!

More @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailyplanet02/show/

Connected

Many people would agree that an essence of being human is our need to form meaningful relationships with others. We are born into a close knit group known as a family, consisting of very strong relationships..Being connected to each other is essential for human enrichment. It happens so sometimes we have people around us and they seems so distant and you would never in a million years would think of connecting with one of them. And  when one fine evening this unexpected situation arises, and suddenly without any reason or the other you accidentally connect with a fellow human being, and the ideas and information just flows like water. You are connected! It is so overwhelming that you do not know why you have never ever bothered to get to know them.  So keep your mind open!

What is the Source Code?

A picture of how Colter tries to re-live the
last 8 minutes 7 times and succeeding in the
8th time to stop the bomb.

"Source Code" a movie starting Jake Gyllenhaal is about a US Army helicopter whose last memory is flying in Afghanistan, but wakes up in a Chicago commuter train. The story is some what similar as Inception, though Inception has more in depth, and I got lost in the dream...

As of the "Source Code", this is what I thought..

Colter is living two lives, one as an unconscious, wounded soldier and the other in a perfectly healthy body except he lives in the body of  Sean Fentress and re-living the last 8 minutes of Sean Fentress life. Though at the final attempt of finding the bomber of the Chicago commuter train and stopping the bomb from exploding, he somehow manages to extend or to live beyond the so called "8 minutes"! It logically seems there are two parallel realities, but then I wonder, when Colter has flashback memories of the "Cloud Gate" sculpture. At this point I cannot confirm if he had seen the "Cloud Gate" before going to Afghanistan. If he had not seen the so called "Cloud gate" sculpture, then this could be not the first parallel reality,  but it could be a part of another reality. or am I just dreaming..or making any sense? ;-)

Another thing that struck me was, in the second parallel reality, Colter is living in the physical body of Sean Fentress but, also Colter's physical body exists in this reality going through the another "Source Code" event, and in that "Source Code" is there another third  parallel life, and who's to say, the same scene happening all over again? It reminds me of when one is standing between two mirrors facing each other..it becomes infinite...it is so confusing...as to what is real!


My conclusion: What is real? Is the life we live is real? or its just part of another parallel universe :)

The Hook

Here are some interesting concepts about stories that were made into filmTaken from http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/hook.html

A hook is the concept of the picture in a nutshell. Not just any concept. A hook is a fresh idea for a story that instantly makes show business people interested in reading your script, and then makes the audience want to see your movie.


Here are some good hooks:

• A man is about to commit suicide when an angel shows him what his town would be like if he had never lived. (It's a Wonderful Life)
• Two people who hate each other write each other anonymously and fall in love. (The Shop Around the Corner, You've Got Mail)
• A bunch of unemployed Brits decide to put on a striptease act to earn some money. (The Full Monty)
• A cynical advertising executive suddenly develops the power to read women's thoughts. (What Women Want)
• A lawyer suddenly loses his ability to lie. (Liar Liar)
• Some Jamaicans decide to enter the Olympics as a bobsled team, although there is no snow in Jamaica. (Cool Runnings)
• A strange genius discovers a number that may be the name of God. (p)
• Three filmmakers went into the woods to tape a documentary on a legendary witch. These are the tapes we found after they disappeared. (The Blair Witch Project)
• A puppeteer finds a secret tunnel into John Malkovich's brain. (Being John Malkovich)
• There's a bomb on a crowded city bus. If the bus slows below 50 miles an hour, the bomb will go off. (Speed)
• A man discovers he has been replaced by his clone. (The Sixth Day)
• A journalist finds a heart wrenching love letter in a bottle. She tracks down the man who wrote it, and falls in love with him. (Message In A Bottle. I didn't say a film with a great hook had to be good, did I? I only said you need a great hook to get your screenplay made.)