The Paradoxical Commandments

- by Dr. Kent M. Keith (1968)

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
   Love them anyway.
       
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
   Do good anyway.
      
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
   Succeed anyway.
      
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
   Do good anyway.
      
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
   Be honest and frank anyway.
      
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
   Think big anyway.
      
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
   Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
      
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
   Build anyway.
      
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
   Help people anyway.
      
10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
    Give the world the best you have anyway.

(Source: paradoxicalcommandments.com)

Pecha Kucha...say what?!

No, I'm not swearing in Japanese. Pecha Kucha is a creative “meet up” kinda event that’s turned into a global phenomenon (449 cities and counting) over the last couple of years since its inception in Japan in 2003.

A dear friend calls me up and goes, “Dude, Pecha Kucha Night is happening in Colombo!”, and I’m like, “Ooh, is that like a buffet theme night?” (cos, you know, I am thinking of food all the time, like ALL the time!) – but this time, I was so wrong. So I decided to prod deeper…

What?
Pecha Kucha means “chit chat” in Japanese (if you consider that swearing, you need to grow up!). It’s an event, usually held at night, hence “Pecha Kucha Night” (cos having it during the day and calling it “Pecha Kucha Day” is very uncool like – I think), and it brings together people who have a love, appreciation and drive for creativity.

The basic concept goes by something called a “20x20 presentation”. Anyone who’s got a creative idea, project, concept or anything creative for that matter could present it to the audience in 20 slides with 20 seconds spent on each slide (yeah, I did the math too, it’s a little less than 7 minutes). This way, ideas keep moving fast. Why? Because, according to www.pecha-kucha.org, the official organization managing these events, you “give a microphone and some images to an architect - or most creative people for that matter - and they'll go on forever!” – couldn’t agree more.

How?
Pecha Kucha events are propagated via a simple non-profit network with a loose central management to keep things clean, simple and authentic.

Five quick pointers on how it works:

• Potential organizers will strike a “handshake agreement” with pecha-kucha.org
• Only one organizer per city (so people don’t start competing and profiting from it!)
• Anyone can participate (from your 5 year old daughter to your ever enthusiastic grandma)
• Anything can be presented (the obvious boundaries exist – this is not a hippie gathering)
• Can be held almost anywhere that welcomes fun

Why?
Because a creative voice deserves to be heard, and a Pecha Kucha Night does exactly that – it lets even the most humble creative voice to be heard and appreciated in a dignified manner.

Pecha Kucha Night - Colombo
Yep, Pecha Kucha has hit Colombo – next event taking place on 23 October 2011 at the Warehouse Project in Maradana.  Browse over to www.pechakuchacolombo.com for the nitty-gritties (or if you're a Facebook junkie, here's your fix - facebook.com/PechaKuchaColombo).

Still think I’m swearing? Bite me!

Movies from 2010 which entered IMDb Top 250 List

The Internet Movie Database 

http://www.imdb.com

The IMDb Top 250 Movies List:

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

During the last decade, the Year 2010 saw the highest number of entrants into the IMDb Top 250 Movies List. The poorest year was 2005 with only 2 movies making it into the list from that year. I'm guessing by this, of the 10 years, 2010 was the year that made everyone involved (actors, directors, producers, studios, productions companies & movies houses) the richest.

So here goes, the list of the best movies (apparently) from 2010, that have been deemed worthy of entering the IMDb Top 250 List according to the IMDb user voting:

• Inception - Rank 7 - Rating 8.9
• Toy Story 3 - Rank 27 - Rating 8.6
• Black Swan - Rank 52 - Rating 8.5 
• The Social Network - Rank 160 - Rating 8.1 
• The King's Speech - Rank 161 - Rating 8.1 
• How to Train Your Dragon - Rank 176 - Rating 8.1 
• True Grit - Rank 192 - Rating 8 
• 127 Hours - Rank 212 - Rating 8 
• The Fighter - Rank 230 - Rating 8  

Too bad I didn't join the bandwagon and make a movie myself, perhaps at the end of this decade I shall attempt this feat...ok not really.

P.S.: I personally think The King's Speech is the best movie of 2010, and I'm will to take a bet that it's going to nail the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor & Best Supporting Actor. The fact that Colin Firth won Best Actor at the Golden Globe for this movie is a good sign I maybe right. 

If I'm wrong, well, I still get to continue thinking so! :P 

Booyakasha!

Food - waste not!

I find myself constantly nagging friends and colleagues to 'finish' their meal. I mean really wipe their plate clean. (I don't have to do it at home because my family is awesome like that.)

What?
Be it a plate of rice & curry or a portion of drumlets at KFC, its still food and wasting it still is a crime.
I find joy in a clean plate. Some find it offensive, some find it cheap, others think its gluttony, but the bottom line - you are blessed with a meal while millions are not - be grateful at the least, waste not. Please.

How?
It doesn't take much to finish up a meal. If you're in the habit of serving more than you can handle, go easy, there's always room for seconds.

If you have no choice in your serving, try not to make a mess - left overs may (hopefully) makeup your next meal or somebody else's.

If you are that notorious type to gobble it all up BUT the last mouthful, you're sad. It's your psychology. You certainly have room for that last mouthful. And no, you are not going to throw up, I guarantee.

Why?
Your current meal maybe your last (yeah, it's possible, switch on the news). The leftovers of your below average meal would be a luxury for another.

I'm not saying go feed the world, just asking for some gratitude and appreciation for the food that continues to present itself, on time, in front of you, everyday - and put this gratitude into action - 'finish' your meal.

Bon Appétit!

Excuses - The stuff failures are made of.

Excuses: Winners don't need any, losers always have one. If you've never cooked one up, you're full of shit. They're a nasty phenomenon you can and can't live without.

What?
Excuses don't need introductions. A 2-year old would know how to conjure one up.

Like all things, an excuse too has a life time: they bud, grow, mature, get old, die & are eventually forgotten - but they are never justified.

An excuse presents itself in the most camouflaged forms. The disguise works so well that we often "realize" an excuse only in retrospect.

How?
- you've got an achievement to make
- you screw up
- you're discovered
- shit hits the fan
- out pops an excuse!

Atleast that's the overview.

Why?
Because they make you feel good about your screw ups. It's a way (the wrong one) of protecting yourself from an aftermath of a failure. Excuses are a convenient way of giving up your duty to perform.

100% elimination is impossible.

Keep them at bay, minimum doses - like a diabetes patients taking a naughty nibble off a Mars bar - don't gulp it all down - as much as that may taste good, it's bound to kill.

Let the struggle continue!

Damn New Year resolutions - there's an alternative!

Here's the thing about New Year resolutions:
They are cumbersome.
They are a pain in your rear.
They are deemed a necessity.
They are seldom achieved.

So why do people still do it? The answer to this question, one that could lead into many sentences, in one I do not wish to dwell upon.

However, is there an alternative? Yes, there is.

Monthly resolutions!

What?
Yes, monthly resolutions, the answer to all our problems (ok, not honestly so, but it helps if you can see it this way). They are equivalent to New Year resolutions, except in very much smaller and more practically achievable chunks, resolved and attained in a month. Does it work? Hell yeah! (At least for me it does, being a person who wants fast results in short periods of time with minimum effort – isn’t that something we all want?)

How?
If you've made a New Year resolution, then take this resolution, do a critical analysis, break it down into smaller chunks, and set one of these chunks as a monthly resolution.

If you don't have a New Year resolu...what???!!! Now you're in trouble because you first need to come up with resolutions. Ok scrap that. Find those little cracks in your life that lead to bigger issues. Figure out the patch works needed to fix these little cracks, and voila, you’ve got yourself a monthly resolution.

Let's not go overboard – one resolution per month is all you should burden yourself with. Come end of the month, if resolution achieved, pat self on back for the good work done, and then go about setting another resolution for the following month. If resolution failed, stick it up on a punching bag, beat the crap out of it, vent out anger, and then go about setting another resolution for the following month. Continue cycle until dead.

Why?
Errr…I don’t know, because you want your life to become more awesome than it already is, but without all the self hypocrisy and the procrastination that lasts an entire year before it's time to make another bullshit New Year resolution? Or quite simply, because you don't want to make a promise on yourself at the start of a brand New Year and then have to crack your skull trying to figure out how you're ever going to keep this promise. Breaking a promise to yourself is sad. Put an end to it. Today. Hooray for monthly resolutions.

Happy New Year!