Beyond the pitch

I recently watched the movie The Matrix. I had watched some parts sometime ago but I failed to understand the concept or the plot. This time I watched it at a strech from the beginning to the end. I could not take my mind away from even for a second after watching it. To me The Matrix is a seperate discipline that you can talk for hours. Every scene carries something to think and you can hit the rewind button literally thousands of times. In very simple terms The Matrix is buddhist philosophy. Buddhism teaches us that the world is full of signals (sanskara). The human mind is The Matrix. Passa or the feeling is perceived by the human mind when viggana (I like to think this as a signal) is cordinated by an external object and an internal object. The external objects are the projections in human mind  when they are transmitted through signals which are collected by internal objects (sensory organs such as nose, eyes, tongue, ears and body). So when we see a red apple, do we really se...

This morning I was reading an article of Mark Manson on advertising and marketing. Mark Manson is a kind of  hero for me. The main argument of that article is that we live in a world where out identity is defined by how much we consume, which is predominantly created by media. We live in a bizzare world where we are trapped in a rat race. We dont have time even to breathe. With the advent of neo-liberalism and globalisation everyone is in a race to become global and become recognised by the world. What I want to highlight here is that all of us even including me, forget what we have in our own hands and run for illusory goals and ambitions. As a generation we are more prone to anxiety, depression and various whatnot diseases than our parents or grandparents. Honeslty I think this kind of disappointment is a common problem for every young person in the world. But as Manson rightfully concludes there is no other better solution than neo-liberalisation or globalisation to 'govern'...

Jayanntha Chandrasiri's latest movie Garasarapa deals with a rather  old theme, yet from a fresher perspective. Chandrasiri examines Sri Lankan mythical exorcist practises from an unsual perspective: the perspective of Sri Lankan Catholic identity. He juxtaposes the Sinhala exorcist practises associated with Kalu Kumaraya (black prince, a demon believed to be possessed with unmarried females) against Christian culture. Vidya, the female lead in the film seeks the support of a Catholic priest when the black prince possesses her. The film starts with her journey to the church where she meets Sadares Edirisinghe. Sadares comes with his ailing cousin as his gaurdian. Both Sadares and Vidya fall in love and ironically it is their immense love that defeats the negative influence of the black prince. However, Vidya and Sadares are forced to seperate when her family decided to flee Sri Lanka due to racial riots. The film records the Black Prince's promise to Sadares that he will make S...

Hats off to Sri Lankan Test cricket team ! They showed composure against a quality Test cricket team. South Africa is not an easy team to beat even on home soil given that their statistics in the subcontinent are superb !Dimuth Karunarathne batted so well and he had a clear plan in his mind from ball number 1. Herath, Dilruwan and Sandakan showed that they are invincible on Galle pitch. And specially Suranga Lakmal should be hailed for his positive mindset as the captain; the way he stood up as the captain with bat and ball was superb ! Well done Sri Lanka!

Hello friends, Welcome back to the blog after quite a period of time ! I would like to write few thoughts on Karl Marx following a video I watched this morning. The video was titled "who is Karl Marx" and it has been produced by Deutsche Welle. The video follows a report of Peter Dörfler. I guess its focus has been given to Marx's 200 birth anniversary in May 2018. It traces Marx's journey from Drier, his birthtown to England where he produced his masterpiece Das Kapital with Engels. It also examines Marx's imfluence on Communist Republic of China. It ends with the beatiful image of a miniature Marx ornament which I found strikingly important for the whole documentary: it shows how pathetic and ironical that Marx himself has been reificated and been used as a fetish in history. The discussions also reveal how Marx has been misinterpreted in history and how his deep pychological concepts like alienation has been ignored. The documentary tries to validate his posi...