Shhhhh.... Let the music play!

Just recently, at a dinner, someone while introducing his friends added, "They are also social activists". For some reason this small piece added to their introduction intrigued me enough that I wanted to explore that when can you reach a point where you can start labeling yourself as a "Social Activist".

So first and foremost, like all people, I turned towards Wikipedia. It defines social activism as following:

"Social Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social change."

So, following the above definition, Social Activist can be defined as an agent who brings about the social change. However, what is change and how or what sort of change does a social activist brings about needs to be explored in more detail.

Change can be defined as anything becoming different than what it is. Please, do note: "different", and not better or worse, but, different. There is a famous saying that, "The only thing constant is Change". Change is inevitable, it will come whether we like it or not.

Social activist strive to be the catalyst of change to steer the society in the direction they feel is fit for it. Every person has his/her own perception of a Utopian society. It can range anything from "Society consisting of only one religious belief" to "a society where every man has access to World Wide Web and unlimited access to knowledge". Every person's Utopia is based upon his/her beliefs and ideas and longings. So, social activists are those who put their ideas into action to convert their dream of Utopian society to reality?

If all sorts of people striving for all sorts of Utopian society will be labeled as social activist, it could be quite a detrimental definition and qualification of it for society. Although common sense understands, and considers the above deduction of the definition of social activist to be a logical fallacy of faulty generalization (by reaching an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence) yet, unfortunately, the reality is very much in line with this definition due to the absence of mutual agreement on what is "Absolute Good" for the society. Therefore, historically, all sorts of personalities have been characterized and certified as "Social Activists". We have social activists ranging from the likes of Mother Teresa to Che Guevara. To elaborate further on this, at this point, I would like to introduce the explanation of the word activism as described in Wikipedia,

"The word "activism" is often used synonymously with protest or dissent, but activism can stem from any number of political orientations and take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, boycotts , rallies, street marches, strikes, stoppages hunger strikes, or even guerrilla tactics."

This term covers quite a huge ground. One website says that there are two challenges that a Social Activist needs to overcome,

• To encourage community people to take self-determined actions, and
• To avoid harassment and obstruction by the more powerful who may feel threatened.

So… what sort of actions and for what sort of causes? In my opinion, reforms, resulting from the social activism of a social activist which lessens the sufferings of the oppressed of the society, may only be qualified as positive social changes. Hence, those actions which are performed by a so-called social activist following his/her fantasies of what could be a Utopian society, do not hold much weight if they are not helping any oppressed.

Loosely speaking, every person in his own right is to some extent a social activist striving for a change in society. However, the term should not be thrown around lightly while labeling people in such a manner. Only those people whose actions have brought about that change in society which has lessened the sufferings of the abused and tormented on a huge level truly deserve to be labeled and certified as Social Activist. Then, and only then, the society should certify that Mr. X has indeed become a "Social Activist".

Rating: 4/5

As avid movie watchers, very rarely do we come across movies which tell stories about love rather than a love story. One of these is "(500) days of Summer" released in the Aug 2009 world wide. The story is written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, it is produced by Mark Waters and directed by Marc Webb.

The movie is a third person non-linear narrative of a young man Tom(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls in love with a woman named Summer(Zooey Deschanel), who coming from a broken family does not believe in love. From the very start of the movie, the viewers are warned that, "This is not a love story". This sets the pace of the movie as it skips back and forth from where Tom meets Summer to where he is handling his breakup with her. As the movie progresses, the viewers can't help developing a hope for Tom as their relationship slowly progresses emotionally and physically and at the same time they can't help empathize with protagonist Tom as he tries to come to terms with the breakup.

Without revealing the ending to my readers I would like to point out few things about the movie. First and foremost what stands out is the style of the story telling. Third person nonlinear story telling is not a new idea, however, whats novel, unique and gripping about this movie is the retro feel to it. What mainly creates this feel is beautiful post production work and music which compliments it at every point in the movie. The pace of the movie is slow enough to keep the mellow feeling inside the viewer alive and fast enough to keep the viewer interested.

What adds to the retro look is the get up of lead characters. Tom is all grown up from his "3rd Rock from the Sun" days and his physique has matured enough to showcase fitted casual suits making his look just right for young enough handsome man who looks vulnerable to whatever life throws at him. Similarly, the Summers lives up to the character's name with starry eyes, tiny mouth and bangs; and tiny waist showcased by sixties style dresses and pant shirts. While watching her in the movie, one can't help thinking about Sean Young from Blade runner. She has the same looks and same hot cold feeling to her.


Interestingly, the male lead keeps reminding us of Heath Ledger. He has that same lovable feel to him as Heath Ledger.

Secondly, acting by the lead actors is quite good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt always stood out in 3rd Rock from the Sun in terms of his acting. However, being all grown up, the range of emotions that he conveyed to the viewers through this movie without even uttering many words is huge. He truely stands out in the movie. Similarly, acting by Zooey Deschanel is also pretty good. She perfectly fitted herself into the character description of being warm enough to be empathized with and cold enough to be thought of as heartless.

Lastly, its the story line, the beauty of the movie is that it focuses on the emotions that people go through, their happiness, their ego, their hurt, and the whole range of emotions when they fall into and through love. Everyone who has suffered heartache after a very good relationship should definitely watch the movie. Its nails in the idea how when two people who are really happy together, may or may not find their endings together because one of them may not feel the "this is it" factor. It makes you understand how this is a perfectly normal emotion and help you realize that how the person who may leave in the end may not be actually at fault as we blame them to be. As in spite of all their interest and emotion, they might not feel that this relationship is "it" and strive for its success or progress to the next level. Yet they may find that feeling with some one else.

For all the above reasons and more, this movie is highly recommended to be watched.

How many of us in Pakistan face the problem of what to watch with the family?

I think pretty much all of us.

Once upon a time, there were, urdu plays which finished in an hour without too many commercials.. but that was then, but now..

English Movies- Unexpected SNL
English drama - can't watch too many murder mysteries cos my mom in law is squeamish.
Urdu Dramas - Way too many commercials
Indian Movies - Expected SNL
or even worse
tabsaray!

So what are we left with? yes.. I watch National Geographic, Discovery or sports with family. THATS ALL!

However, yesterday, after a long long time, I caught a movie on HBO called, "Paul Blart: MALL COP" starring Kevin James from "The King of Queens" Fame. While his acting was not that different from how he acts in the show, however, the movie was extremely funny and made me laugh out loud at regular intervals. The movie revolves around a mall cop, who in spite of his boring job description believe he is doing a very important job. His skill and commitment is put to test when a co-worker puts into action his plan to rob the mall and take his daughter and the girl he likes as hostages. The interesting and funny way, he foils robber's plans and shine in the end, makes it a very good comedy watch. Its not what he does, its how he does it!

As a comedy movie, this is perhaps the movie I watched after "What happens in Vegas" which actually made me laugh out loud. Whats even better about it is that I could actually watch it with my family. I only needed to censor a kiss and a scene where he is being beaten up, so that was a good change.

Maybe what I wrote is wrong cos I watched it on HBO, a channel which censors movies so much that one becomes miserable. So, in that case, I am sorry in advance if your mom screams, "What kinda cheap movie is this!" after you pop it in your DVD player. Ha ha.. Other wise, for good laughs.. I give it 3.5 outta 5. :)