this is brilliant work
"Sita Sings the Blues" is based on the Hindu epic "The Ramayana". Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina Paley is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of torch singer Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told." It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley.
in my experience of working on several live performances of Ramayana and viewing countless bollywood varieties of the epic, Ramayana is best taught as what happens when God incarnates as a man/ king and so then makes mistakes as well as is dealt some raw ones himself. after viewing this rendition of Ramayana which is true to the long versions i have seen, you may agree that Ram could have better served as God and King if he had first been a better husband to his Goddess and Queen Sita. instead he follows the dictates of his ignorant and egotistical male subjects, losing out on his power to demonstrate LOVE and the power of forgiveness, particularly forgiving what we do not know or understand. though Sita was a righteous woman who did no wrong, her own husband punished and tortured her for having been abducted and abused by his enemy rather than supporting his victimized wife. her further injured her and his resultant children instead and not only that, led the way for all men to learn to do the same (as he was both their King and a God incarnate so allegedly could do no wrong as a role model). i originally purchased this DVD as a way to introduce Hindu culture to my young grandsons. after viewing it, i see it as an excellent tool to show what happens to a woman and to a whole society when a man of respect in his community isnt loving and forgiving in his own home. what if Ram had chosen instead to point out the difference between abduction and adultery by sheltering, protecting and healing Sita after her painful experiences? what if Ram had taken the path of accepting Sita, his Queen and Goddess, as perfect and pure even if she had been raped (the story goes she was not raped but abducted and held against her will). what kind of better world might we be living in today if all men were raised with those ideals of forgiving and healing with love instead of banishing and torturing by fire a woman who has been victimized by another man? if you choose to enjoy this gorgeously made film i hope you will ponder and explore these issues with the young and old among your loved ones.
Donate to the filmmaker here: http://questioncopyright.org/sita_dis...
Buy DVDs, etc, here: http://questioncopyright.com/sita.html
Aung San Suu Kyi free after 7 years
"i got a telephone in my bosom and i can call him up from my heart, when i need my brother, when i need my my mother..." lyrics from Richie Havens - Freedom.
moxa /moksha = release, freedom, liberation. this freedom is the birthright and abides in the core of all beings even when the outer circumstance is restrained or oppressed. some people hold a living mirror for us to get in clear focus of what freedom is and means to us as "free people".
Aung San Suu Kyi Burmese pronunciation: [àuɴ sʰáɴ sṵ tɕì]; (born 19 June 1945) free at last after 7 and a half years under house arrest in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 80% (392 of 492) of the seats in Parliament, this implies Suu Kyi was elected Prime Minister.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the third child and only daughter of Aung San, considered to be the father of modern-day Burma.
"i got a telephone in my bosom and i can call him up from my heart, when i need my brother, when i need my my mother..."
Aung San Suu Kyi derives her name from three relatives – "Aung San" from her father, "Suu" from her grandmother and "Kyi" from her mother.She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw is not part of her name, but is an honorific, similar to madam, for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt" She is also often referred to as Daw Suu by the Burmese. She is a Theravada Buddhist.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained for 15 of the past 21 years as political prisoner. On the evening of November 13th, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. This was the date her detention had been set to expire according to a court ruling in August 2009.
CHRONOLOGY OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S DETENTION
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/11/12/burma-chronology-aung-san-suu-kyi-s-detention
http://www.hrw.org/asia/burma
Freedom is commonly known as a state of being free from government oppression. Religion often defines it as "Free will", the ability to choose one's own destiny, that one's actions are not pre-determined.
Liberty, the ideological concept of having the right and ability to do as one chooses. there are as many ways to be free from oppression as there are ways to oppress. this is testament to our tenacity of free will as sentient beings.
Amnesty International quotes that there are over 2,200 other political prisoners who are still behind bars in Myanmar prisons. "The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must not make them forget other prisoners of conscience." Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty said.
Meanwhile Zoya Phan, the Burma Campaign UK organisation's international co-ordinator, sounded a note of caution about the regime's motives in freeing Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is about public relations, not democratic reform," she said.
"I am thrilled to see our democracy leader free at last, but the release is not part of any political process.
"Instead it is designed to get positive publicity for the dictatorship after the blatant rigging of elections on November 7.
"We must not forget the thousands of other political prisoners still suffering in Burma's jails."
- AFP
http://political-prisoners.net/
moxa /moksha = release, freedom, liberation. this freedom is the birthright and abides in the core of all beings even when the outer circumstance is restrained or oppressed. some people hold a living mirror for us to get in clear focus of what freedom is and means to us as "free people".
Aung San Suu Kyi Burmese pronunciation: [àuɴ sʰáɴ sṵ tɕì]; (born 19 June 1945) free at last after 7 and a half years under house arrest in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 80% (392 of 492) of the seats in Parliament, this implies Suu Kyi was elected Prime Minister.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the third child and only daughter of Aung San, considered to be the father of modern-day Burma.
"i got a telephone in my bosom and i can call him up from my heart, when i need my brother, when i need my my mother..."
Aung San Suu Kyi derives her name from three relatives – "Aung San" from her father, "Suu" from her grandmother and "Kyi" from her mother.She is frequently called Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw is not part of her name, but is an honorific, similar to madam, for older, revered women, literally meaning "aunt" She is also often referred to as Daw Suu by the Burmese. She is a Theravada Buddhist.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained for 15 of the past 21 years as political prisoner. On the evening of November 13th, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. This was the date her detention had been set to expire according to a court ruling in August 2009.
CHRONOLOGY OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S DETENTION
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/11/12/burma-chronology-aung-san-suu-kyi-s-detention
http://www.hrw.org/asia/burma
Freedom is commonly known as a state of being free from government oppression. Religion often defines it as "Free will", the ability to choose one's own destiny, that one's actions are not pre-determined.
Liberty, the ideological concept of having the right and ability to do as one chooses. there are as many ways to be free from oppression as there are ways to oppress. this is testament to our tenacity of free will as sentient beings.
Amnesty International quotes that there are over 2,200 other political prisoners who are still behind bars in Myanmar prisons. "The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must not make them forget other prisoners of conscience." Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty said.
Meanwhile Zoya Phan, the Burma Campaign UK organisation's international co-ordinator, sounded a note of caution about the regime's motives in freeing Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The release of Aung San Suu Kyi is about public relations, not democratic reform," she said.
"I am thrilled to see our democracy leader free at last, but the release is not part of any political process.
"Instead it is designed to get positive publicity for the dictatorship after the blatant rigging of elections on November 7.
"We must not forget the thousands of other political prisoners still suffering in Burma's jails."
- AFP
http://political-prisoners.net/
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