Just wanted to share with a quote from my interview with the ‘Australian’ that is making the rounds n Australia :
AS a director, Shekhar Kapur has become used to working with one of the world’s most expansive mediums: cinema. But the filmmaker and activist is pondering how to tell his stories in under five minutes as the internet and broadband redefine how people are entertained.
“If you forget the boundaries and imagine yourself as part of Asia, then you are part of the Asian story, you are part of the Asian culture, and Asian culture is so diverse. What you do is you suddenly become part of that population and they become part of you. You have to get rid of the idea of territorial boundaries because in the new media these territorial boundaries obviously do not exist.”
“Very soon, you will see there will be 100 million people committed to one blog that will become an ism, that will take over from nationalism and will become a blogism, and people will be committed to that for a while.”
Virtual reality, social networking, new media. The future
None of us really know do we ? And the great thing is that not knowing is s exciting. In discovering and exploring lies the adventure of life. The following is the text of my address at the future of New Media, Social Networking and virtual reality in Melbourne conference. The 3 day conference and mentoring session was organized by the Xmedia Lab. Where I am part of a team of international mentors, who mentor new enterprises in this space all over the world. For me its a great learning process. For in the mentoring I am also catching up with with new technology and developments. And learning from people with different and more advanced skill sets than mine. Read on for the text of my presentation. I am in conversation with Brendon Harkin, one of the forces behind XMedia lab :
Continue reading “Virtual reality, social networking, new media. The future”
The New Media
Still at the New Media/Virtual worlds conference in Melbourne. I heard some amazing brains of ‘life on the other side’ – second life. I spoke about second life, new media etc too, but my talk was more of an exploration of the psychology of living in another – second life. Will write about that, but here is a sound byte interview that I did here, that I want to share with everyone. Not too deep, As I said – sound bytes.
Is Web Video a threat to TV
Fear seems to be the key that drives large corporate structures that just cannot handle the democratization of media and entertainment. The great argument the goes on “is there a business model for the new media sites like video blogs and social networking” ? There is a prime fallacy in this argument that is just so”old media’ that it stinks. Which is, that the only reason people would want to communicate, or spend time and resources in trying to communicate and get attention, is because they want to make money. Here is a conversation on the Wall Street Journal that is a really good read on this topic, and I would recomend it :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118530221391976425.html
Australians and I
Landed in Sydney today. Here to promote Golden Age and to make a keynote presentation at the upcoming Digital World event in Melbourne for the XMedia Labs. I seem to be getting a lot of attention in Australia. Probably because I have worked with so many Australians in the few films I have made in the West. Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish. My editor in both Elizabeth and in Golden Age is Jill Bilcock, another Aussie, as was David Hircshfelder, the composer for Elizabeth. What is it about me and Australians ? Is it just because we were all once colonized ? Though I have to say that Australia still seems to celebrate it’s Colonial past ! While we in India see it much more as a sad part of our history.
The nail biting
Thank you all for the great words of encouragement you have all sent to me. Now all I can do is sit and wait ! It’s frustrating as from a state of “How am I going to finish all of this in time” panic, now I have nothing to do but wait. The mind and body is so used to action and to being adrenaline induced. I wake up every morning with a start – and then do not know what t do !! Must get down to writing my next script. But the next 4 months will be spent in traveling and promoting the film. Cate, Geoffrey and Clive are busy filming , so I guess I will be doing most of the traveling ! Don’t mind it, but must must must lock down my next film.
Ageing America
By 2050, an estimated 25 million people in the US will be over the age of 85, and expecting to live to a 100 at least. Will the US embrace these seniors as a source of wisdom or as a burden ? I guess it depends on their wealth….
Partition of India, the pain.
Just watching a documentary of an Asian Indian actor tracing her roots. And then the documentary talked about her Grand Uncle and his family being massacred on a train as they fled from the newly created Pakistan. She even met her great aunt who was on that train when she was 20, but somehow survived. Why do I feel a stab of pain each time I hear or see anything on the partition of India ? I am a partition baby, but I don’t really remember anything… but after all these years, whenever I see people from the other side of the border speaking Punjabi, looking and speaking exactly like my grandfather, I can’t help shedding tears …
the IIT conference
I was part of a series of forums at the IIT Alumni 2007 Global conference in the ‘Silicon Valley”. I am amazed at what the IIT Alumni has achieved and their incredible influence on the world and in India. I am proud and thankful to Jawahar Lal Nehru for his incredible foresight when he created these institutions. Meanwhile if anyone would like to post a comment on the conference, please do so under this blog.
The Zen of doing Nothing
Work, work, work. Play hard. Take a holiday. Go out. have you seen the latest ? And yet …. I crave to walk the mountains, not alone, but in solitude, allowing my mind to breathe, to listen to the quite whispers going on between me and my mind. Between my conscious and subconscious. Every day to get to know myself again, to say a quite hello to myself, and give myself a gentle hug. And seemingly to do nothing. Nothing except just be…..