Origins of the Fool?

While discussing insults in foreign languages with a good friend (who picks up Hindi words here and there), we came across 'ullu ka patah' which is believed to translate to 'owl's son' by some. Now, a question that has come up in my mind repeatedly over the years came up again: Why is an owl, which is associated to wisdom in other cultures, considered to be a fool in Indian culture?

There are a few interpretations floating around out there such as the perception that fools are mindless, and so Indians associate the still vacant stare of the owl to that of a mindless animal. But why would only Indians do this? Why not other cultures? So perhaps someone else out there may have a better explanation about the origins of an owl being a fool in Indian Culture? Maybe an old Panchantra fable, perhaps? Anyone want to venture a guess?

Feeling Adventurous?

Mine: Hedonistic joy at the expense of others (true story)

What's yours?

A Beautiful Rendition of Stand By Me

From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music," comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. The results were impressively well-done, not to mention beautiful and heartwarming. It is definitely something that a lot of people can relate to presently and gives a sense of inspiration.

Some info about this rendition of the song:
It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician named Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Elliott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley's base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz's added metal percussions.

From there, it just gets better and better: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals, which were assembled into this final final version -- all done with a simple laptop and some microphones.

For more information, visit links below:
Playing for a Change (Official Website)

Click here to Join the Playing for Change Online Street Team

You Thought You Had A Bad Day?

This Blows

In Honor of the New Harry Potter Movie...

<3 Teehee. Oh, and it's coming out on July 15th. Trailer below. It looks good but is it just me or is it incredibly LOTRish?

Nirvana

A compelling vampire movie, at last!

Yes. I have a inclination towards things that are fictitious, the paranormal, and things that go bump or bite at night. Specifically vampires. Unfortunately, contemporary media and literature has failed to deliver something with actual substance for the past few years. Alright, well, I take that back...there have been a few exceptions for contemporary literature about vampires from the likes of Anne Rice, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Kostova, and Christopher Pike to name a few but movies? Sadly not many of the recent ones made the cut. So it came as no surprise that a compelling vampire movie came from elsewhere: Sweden, to be precise.

The movie is based on a novel, Låt den rätte komma written by Swedish author, John Ajvide Lindqvist. There are two American titles for this movie: Let the Right One In and Let Me In. I will let interested parties read up the rest on Wiki by following this link here.

Despite it presenting many of those cliche vampire stereotypes (ie: can't enter places without having permission, running water, nocturnal creatures, combusting when in contact with sunlight, etc.), the movie told a remarkably unique story about two children: one young human boy and the other a vampire girl who is clearly far older than she appears but still has this innocence to her. The storyline in this movie actually reminded me of what you often find in many memorable Japanese Anime movies (Anime fans, you will know exactly what I'm referring to when you watch this movie).

The other neat thing was that quality of the film at first makes it seem like it's an older movie, perhaps from the 80s, but clearly it's far more recent than that. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I am not sure which theaters this will be playing on, but it happened to be conveniently available on Netflix Instant Play which is where I watched it myself.

[/Netflix spokesperson]

Enjoy :)