The biggest reason public educators never approached this subject was that monetary history was taught privately and only, to the lite one percent of the world's society.Meaning only the ultra rich were privy to this closely guarded information.The other 99 percent of us were basically out of luck.Monetary history and wealth generation was spoon fed to the lite one percent.Once they entered society they used this valuable information strictly to their advantage, allowing them to earn 90% of the total wealth generated on the planet.There is a solution, for those who constantly strive to achieve success but were never included in that privileged one percent.The answer is to learn and duplicate what other successful people are actually doing to make these huge sums of money.Honestly, you cannot expect to learn to how to become successful from someone who themselves has never been a success can you? Of course not.These lite members of society have very important traits in common that include all the facts below.It is evident that throughout history wealth, prosperity, affluence and riches travel within economic cycles otherwise referred to as "Wealth Cycles".These cycles are repeated over and over again throughout the ages.If your timing is right you can profit from huge windfalls.It is the understanding of these wealth cycles that is the key to proper investing.The lite one percent are either an expert at understanding these cycles or they know where to go for immediate access.Most normal investors have never even heard the term before.For the wealthiest people in the world, banks are not the place money is stored.Their money is actually stored in hard assets such as gold, silver or real estate.The rich never leave large amounts of cash deposited inside a bank or a bank safety deposit box.The main reason, in the event of a bank failure or bank run markets will crash and you're likely your money will never be found.As for safety deposit boxes, if a bank goes under it could be months before the doors open again and you have a chance to get inside your safety deposit box.By that time, likely your box will have been cleaned out.The thief will always get away with it, because these boxes are almost never insured and you would be the only one who actually knew the true contents inside the box.Sound currency is considered hard currency because it actually has tangible assets such as gold to back it up thus allowing it to be a true store of value.Fiat currency on the other hand is not sound currency because it has no tangible assets to back it up.Fiat money is created by a government's decree within its society and backed the faith of the people in that society.Another term for this money is "paper money" or "paper currency".Once the faith of that money is lost it becomes totally worthless.Lately, there has been substantial evidence pointing towards the public's distrust and lack of assurance for the US dollar.Furthermore QE3 seems even more evident that money printing and bond purchases will once again resume.These measures certainly are not true fixes to the monetary and fiscal problems ailing the United States and the devaluation (inflation) of its currency.This amounts to no more than a quick patch job allowing the fighting to re-surface again, while leaving its lasting problems for someone else down the road to deal with it.Central banks really have always been a bad idea and were constructed to help only the privileged few.America's own forefathers announced warnings of grave consequences that would fall upon the American people if bankers were allowed to run the country.There actually is nothing "Federal" about the US.Federal Reserve Bank except for its clever name.It is a Private Bank, that's it! Run by lite banking families, earning profits from every dollar they print at zero cost to them (with the exception of ink and paper).They have free control and zero accountability to the US Government or its citizens as to what they do or how they do it.They also have total un-hampered access on printing the money and controlling it.This is by far one of the nation's biggest scams ever to be conceived.And surely one of the biggest mistakes ever made by Congress when they voted in the 1913 Federal Reserve Act.Regardless of your feelings with the current economic downturn, you can be assured no permanent solution to these problems are anywhere in sight.Prepare yourself by protecting your assets now.The best solution for this is investing in physical precious metals such as gold and silver.Do what the elite one percent are doing and have done now.Follow their example, as they become richer you can also benefit along with them.Gold and silver have been true stores of wealth throughout history.They act as insurance policies, protecting your wealth and keeping their true value regardless of economic conditions.
Friday, August 31, 2012
History of Money - The Missing Subject, You Never Learned in School
The biggest reason public educators never approached this subject was that monetary history was taught privately and only, to the lite one percent of the world's society.Meaning only the ultra rich were privy to this closely guarded information.The other 99 percent of us were basically out of luck.Monetary history and wealth generation was spoon fed to the lite one percent.Once they entered society they used this valuable information strictly to their advantage, allowing them to earn 90% of the total wealth generated on the planet.There is a solution, for those who constantly strive to achieve success but were never included in that privileged one percent.The answer is to learn and duplicate what other successful people are actually doing to make these huge sums of money.Honestly, you cannot expect to learn to how to become successful from someone who themselves has never been a success can you? Of course not.These lite members of society have very important traits in common that include all the facts below.It is evident that throughout history wealth, prosperity, affluence and riches travel within economic cycles otherwise referred to as "Wealth Cycles".These cycles are repeated over and over again throughout the ages.If your timing is right you can profit from huge windfalls.It is the understanding of these wealth cycles that is the key to proper investing.The lite one percent are either an expert at understanding these cycles or they know where to go for immediate access.Most normal investors have never even heard the term before.For the wealthiest people in the world, banks are not the place money is stored.Their money is actually stored in hard assets such as gold, silver or real estate.The rich never leave large amounts of cash deposited inside a bank or a bank safety deposit box.The main reason, in the event of a bank failure or bank run markets will crash and you're likely your money will never be found.As for safety deposit boxes, if a bank goes under it could be months before the doors open again and you have a chance to get inside your safety deposit box.By that time, likely your box will have been cleaned out.The thief will always get away with it, because these boxes are almost never insured and you would be the only one who actually knew the true contents inside the box.Sound currency is considered hard currency because it actually has tangible assets such as gold to back it up thus allowing it to be a true store of value.Fiat currency on the other hand is not sound currency because it has no tangible assets to back it up.Fiat money is created by a government's decree within its society and backed the faith of the people in that society.Another term for this money is "paper money" or "paper currency".Once the faith of that money is lost it becomes totally worthless.Lately, there has been substantial evidence pointing towards the public's distrust and lack of assurance for the US dollar.Furthermore QE3 seems even more evident that money printing and bond purchases will once again resume.These measures certainly are not true fixes to the monetary and fiscal problems ailing the United States and the devaluation (inflation) of its currency.This amounts to no more than a quick patch job allowing the fighting to re-surface again, while leaving its lasting problems for someone else down the road to deal with it.Central banks really have always been a bad idea and were constructed to help only the privileged few.America's own forefathers announced warnings of grave consequences that would fall upon the American people if bankers were allowed to run the country.There actually is nothing "Federal" about the US.Federal Reserve Bank except for its clever name.It is a Private Bank, that's it! Run by lite banking families, earning profits from every dollar they print at zero cost to them (with the exception of ink and paper).They have free control and zero accountability to the US Government or its citizens as to what they do or how they do it.They also have total un-hampered access on printing the money and controlling it.This is by far one of the nation's biggest scams ever to be conceived.And surely one of the biggest mistakes ever made by Congress when they voted in the 1913 Federal Reserve Act.Regardless of your feelings with the current economic downturn, you can be assured no permanent solution to these problems are anywhere in sight.Prepare yourself by protecting your assets now.The best solution for this is investing in physical precious metals such as gold and silver.Do what the elite one percent are doing and have done now.Follow their example, as they become richer you can also benefit along with them.Gold and silver have been true stores of wealth throughout history.They act as insurance policies, protecting your wealth and keeping their true value regardless of economic conditions.
The Privileged Planet Price Comparisons Of The Privileged Planet - Chinese
The Privileged Planet See The Privileged Planet - Chinese Details
List Price : $19.95 Price : $10.45
as of 2012-08-31 11:30 PM
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Is Earth merely an insignificant speck in a vast and meaningless universe? On the contrary: The Privileged Planet shows that this cherished assumption of materialism is dead wrong. In this provocative book, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards present a staggering array of evidence that exposes the hollowness of this modern dogma. They demonstrate that our planet is exquisitely fit not only to support life, but also to give us the best view of the universe, as if Earth were designed both for life and for scientific discovery. Readers are taken on a scientific odyssey from a history of tectonic plates, to the wonders of water and solar eclipses, to our location in the Milky Way, to the laws that govern the universe, and to the beginning of cosmic time.
Chinese Language Version.
The Privileged Planet - Chinese Reviews
The Privileged Planet : The Privileged Planet - Chinese Reviews
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Eye to Eye With a Silverback Sends a Shiver Down Your Back
For as long as I live I will never forget the moment I came face to face with a 400lb silverback gorilla and I am almost certain my heart stopped for at least 5 seconds.I have been fortunate enough to have spent priceless time with the few remaining mountain gorillas on the planet.These magnificent apes are found only in the Virunga Volcanoes of Uganda, Rwanda and Congo as well as the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda.Scrambling up the side of a rather precipitous volcano may seem irrational but the rewards are plentiful when you catch sight of a baby gorilla swinging freely though the undergrowth.Thoughts of an arduous track through dense rainforest rapidly fall away and leave you with a feeling of excitement and serenity which is difficult to describe.As your eyes focus through the forest you begin to make out the shapes of two, three four, five individual personalities - grooming, sleeping, chewing and wrestling each other.Babies scamper from branch to branch whilst the more sedate adults shoot tentative looks over the troop.In the distance a large black solitary object sits motionless and as you shuffle around the bamboo shoots to take a better look you find yourself less than 20 feet from the greatest of apes.A fully grown silverback mountain gorilla.The setting is surreal and it is almost as if you have turned up unexpectedly at a family gathering but everyone politely ignores you as if you are invisible.Human presence is perfectly accepted amongst this particular family, provided you keep a safe distance and it is rare that a gorilla will even make eye contact with you let alone shake hands.Mountain gorillas are highly social and territorial and do not survive in captivity.There are approximately 700 left on the planet of which there are only twelve habituated families so the opportunities to spend time with these fascinating creatures is strictly limited.I would urge you to join this very select club of people who have had the privileged of visiting the gorillas.
UFOs and Evolution - Is There a Connection?
Have you seen any flying saucers lately? Many people think they have.Even now, reports of mysterious sightings are circulating in the press and on Internet forums.The modern UFO boom began in June 1947 when a businessman named Kenneth Arnold reported that while piloting a private plane he had seen nine saucer-shaped objects flying over Mount Rainier in Washington.Later that years there were rumors of a flying saucer crash in Roswell, New Mexico.According to a popular but false conspiracy theory, US Air Force obtained the corpse of a saucer pilot but covered up the discovery.The strained relations between the east and west that became to be known as the cold war had just begun and the political atmosphere was conductive to conspiratorial rumors.The number of UFO observations exceeded 850 by the end of 1947.Later, for instance the Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and former US president Jimmy Carter have disclosed seeing a UFO.So what are UFOs? A UFO is an unidentified flying object.Most sightings have a natural explanation, such as a landing airplane, satellite or meteor.Some are hoaxes.But for the ardent UFO fans, some are genuine alien spaceships.However, UFOs cannot originate from the other planets of our own solar system since scientists have failed to find any evidence of life or little green men on Mars or Venus.The nearest star outside our solar system, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years from us.A space ship traveling at the speed of light would thus take 4.2 years to reach us.Many researchers think that space travel between solar systems is impossible.Moreover, while a number of Earth-like rocky exo-planets or planets orbiting other stars have been discovered, they are either too large or too hot.It is very improbable that UFOs hail from "super Earths" such as Gliese 581 c, which is hotter than Venus.It seems that there are some religious ingredients in UFO sightings.For some, belief in UFOs has superseded the belief in biblical Christianity.Little green men are seen as the new age saviors who will prevent earthlings from destroying themselves and their planet.According to Gary Bates, the author of Alien Intrusion (2004), UFOs often have an evolutionary connection.If life evolved on earth by purely naturalistic means, it should also have evolved on other planets.The SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project is an attempt to prove that we are not as special as we think.Carl Sagan believed that the Earth was just a tiny pale blue dot in the vast cosmos.However, as Guillermo Gonzales and Jay W.Richards write in The Privileged Planet, our planet is anything but ordinary.Our planet looks as though it was designed for life.At best, we can only speculate about other worlds.We might never get proof of the existence of little green men for a rather simple reason. there might not be any.
The Privileged Planet Discount Unlocking The Mystery Of Life 3-DVD Set
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List Price : $59.85 Price : $49.95
as of 2012-08-31 11:30 AM
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These three critically acclaimed films are at the heart of a debate that is sweeping the nation. Is Darwinian evolution an accurate scientific explanation of the origin of the universe? Or is the true source of life and the cosmos an intelligent, purposeful designer?
Through computer animation and interviews with leading scientists and scholars, Unlocking the Mystery of Life, Icons of Evolution and The Privileged Planet answer these questions as never before.
- The Privileged Planet
- Unlocking the Mystery of Life
- Icons of Evolution
Unlocking the Mystery of Life 3-DVD Set Reviews
The Privileged Planet : Unlocking the Mystery of Life 3-DVD Set Reviews
| 295 of 353 people found the following review helpful  Factual, careful, artful exposition of intelligent design, Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Unlocking the Mystery of Life (DVD) Having followed the intelligent design movement since its inception, most of the material in this video was not new to me. However, the depictions are apt and really awe-inspiring--especially those in the last one third of the video. When you see a computer simulation of specified complexity at the molecular level, it sticks in your consciousness. Sheer dumb luck could not have done this.I have seen this presentation three times. Each time I am impressed with the comments of the experts and the care in which the challenging material is presented. The subject is approached in a calm and scientific manner. The audio clips are long enough to explain tough concepts. Especially telling is the interview with Dr. Dean Kenyon, a pretigious scientist and author who eventually gave up on chance and necessity as the parents of human life--and this after defending it in a well-received volume called "Biochemical Predestination." He marvels at the nature of life and argues that a... Read more 71 of 89 people found the following review helpful Excellent in Every Way!, By Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: Unlocking the Mystery of Life (DVD) This DVD is great in every way:1. It makes a compelling case for intelligent design. The "outboard motor" design in the bacterial cell itself makes the point; the DNA replication is absolutely awe-inspiring. The argument of recognizable patterns (with low probability of such patterns occurring by chance) is simple but forceful and consistent with human logic. 2. The production and computer animation are top-notch. 3. It is understandable to the average person, yet challenging to the intellectual. This DVD has many potential uses: -provoking the natural evolutionist to consider other options -opening minds that are stuck in 1970's thinking -as an apologetic to friends considering the existence of an Intelligent Designer -as an educational tool to discover the wonders of DNA and even simple life The DVD lasts about 65 minutes and can easily be divided into shorter segments to view it as... Read more 23 of 27 people found the following review helpful The Evidence is Clear, By This review is from: Unlocking The Mystery Of Life [VHS] (VHS Tape) Although more people would by the VHS Video version, click on the Amazon DVD version for additional reviews.Unlocking The Mystery Of Life refers back to Darwin's writings of one hundred fifty years ago and leads us through recent discoveries of the complexity of cell functions and components. Along the way we have Dr. Dean Kenyon who in the 1960's had written the definitive work on the chemical version of evolution, that has been widely used in colleges and graduate schools. Kenyon's textbook was "Biochemical Predestination". Given the scientific discoveries in molecular biology and genetics of the last twenty years, Dr. Dean Kenyon and other scientists in this video (Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, Jonathan Wells, Scott Minnich, Paul Nelson, and William Dembski) have completely discarded Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Two examples of Darwin Theory's failure given in the video are the thousands of different complex molecular machines that interrelate in the cell's manufacturing... Read more |
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Thursday, August 30, 2012
Which Comes First - You or Your Car?
For the past eight years, I have been privileged to travel and share with many hundreds of people around health and wellness topics.As my exposure to others increased, I began to realize that most of my audience placed very little emphasis upon self-care.I began to formulate the idea that we really do pay more attention to the needs of our cars than to our own.When asked if they would put duct tape over a red warning light on their dashboard and hope it goes away, everyone agreed that this would be a ridiculous thing to do.After all, ignoring the signal could mean major mechanical problems or, even worse, a serious accident.It just makes no sense to anyone to pretend and hope that the problem will go away.So why, then, do we duct tape our body's symptoms and hope they, too, will just disappear if we ignore them?In today's crazy world of multi-everything, taking care of ourselves lies at the bottom of the to do list.This is especially true of women.We have been taught to place the needs of everyone else before our own.When asked if they would give up the quiet bath at the end of a hectic day if someone they cared about needed them, nearly every hand goes up in the room.What about the old caution to put your oxygen mask on first if the plane is going down?Many of us are like the old Energizer Bunny.We just keep going, no matter what.It is only when symptoms we keep ignoring begin to affect our every day life that we are forced to reflect upon what these headaches, chronic pains, sleeplessness, weight gain, indigestion, and so many other signals might be telling us.Our bodies are actually designed to support us through one hundred and twenty wonderful years.Most gasp at the mere thought of enduring life on this planet for that long.But, given proper physical, spiritual, and emotional support, these beautiful vessels can sail us through years of joy and growth.After all, there are indigenous people all over the world who live even longer and still have smiles on their faces.Why not us?I think it is the perfect time to begin to look at self-care as a necessity and not a luxury.Let's begin to explore this whole concept together!
The Privileged Planet Buy Signature In The Cell & Privileged Planet - Book & DVD Set
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List Price : $49.95 Price : $49.95
as of 2012-08-30 11:28 PM
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The Signature in the Cell & The Privileged Planet - Book & DVD Set delivers a one-two punch in the battle between Darwin s theory of evolution and the theory of intelligent design! One hundred fifty years ago, Charles Darwin revolutionized biology, but did he refute intelligent design (ID)? In Signature in the Cell, Stephen Meyer argues that he did not. Much confusion surrounds the theory of intelligent design. Frequently misrepresented by the media, politicians, and local school boards, intelligent design can be defended on purely scientific grounds in accordance with the same rigorous methods that apply to every proposed origin-of-life theory. Signature in the Cell is the first book to make a comprehensive case for intelligent design based upon DNA. Meyer embarks on an odyssey of discovery as he investigates current evolutionary theories and the evidence that ultimately led him to affirm intelligent design. Clearly defining what ID is and is not, Meyer shows that the argument for intelligent design is not based on ignorance or "giving up on science," but instead upon our growing scientific knowledge of the information stored in the cell. A leading proponent of intelligent design in the scientific community, Meyer presents a compelling case that will generate heated debate, command attention, and find new adherents from leading scientists around the world. · The Privileged Planet is an hour-long documentary that explores the scientific evidence for intelligent design and purpose in the universe. In the process, Earth is revealed as far more than the product of time, chance, and random natural processes. We now know that a rare and finely tuned array of factors makes Earth suitable for complex life. We depend on our planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere, its large moon, its planetary neighbors, and its precise location within the solar system and Milky Way galaxy. But the story does not end here. For, the same factors that make a planet like Earth hospitable to life also provide the best conditions for scientific discovery.
Signature in the Cell & Privileged Planet - Book & DVD Set Reviews
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› Be the first to review this item on Amazon.com Take Flights to Goa to Immerse Yourself in Spectacular Attractions
Wow! Your wait is finally over and it's time you back your bags and get going to one of the most amazing holiday spots not in India but on the planet.What can be better than choosing an unforgettable holiday in Goa? What strikes your mind when you hear the word "Goa?" Well, those of you who are travelling aficionados would draw a broad list of varied places of interest that catch the attention of the people from within the country and abroad.Nothing can deny the fact that the state of Goa can rightly contemplated to be the travellers' haven as it is beautifully steeped in mind-boggling highlights which make the tourists flying from far-off locations to fall in love with this marvellous hotspot at the very first sight.Many grab flights to Goa so that they can amalgamate themselves with the fun and frolic offered by the tourist attractions.Are you on the edge of making the most of this summer season? Why not head to Goa for an immaculate experience that you would love to take delight in for a lifetime.To cut a story short, Goa needs no introduction as it has been into existence since those times when the Portuguese landed on the soil of India and erected some of the extraordinary churches.They ruled over Goa for almost five hundred years and you still can savour the flavour of Portuguese culture that leaks from every corner of the state.You would get your hands on almost everything for which the dazzling state of Goa is so renowned.Why waste time when you're the privileged one to gorge on lip-smacking food, sand, sun-kissed beaches, boisterous environment, water sports and much more?Pamper yourself by tossing the hidden tales of Goa's rich history and heritage.Numerous individuals book cheap flights to Goa from Manchester to become a proud spectator of the wonderfully built churches whose base was laid around five hundred years ago.It is eminent for its churches which are crafted with Portuguese architecture.You can pay a visit to the Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks as well such as Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary, Molem Widlife Sanctuary and the list goes on.Admire partaking in the carnivals? The carnivals in Goa are very popular in which you can express the euphoria by gorging on food and drinks and also, meeting your beloved ones.Following are the highlights which are definitely worth a visit..Goa State Museum.Anjuna Beach.Panaji.Margao.Aguada Fort.Morjim Beach.
The Big Issues of Living: Three Recent Indy Films
I keep thinking the three odd, non-mainstream movies I've seen recently, "The Tree of Life," "Beasts of the Southern Wild", and the newly released "Margaret," (a 2002, post-911 film whose distribution was delayed), all have something crucial to tell us.Or rather, show us, because we have to figure out their messages for ourselves.Or, these films are, at the very least, a reflection of part of our new century's collective consciousness, as well as bulletins from our collective unconscious.I was drawn into the films though they were not as much "entertainment" as they were stimulants for difficult thought, and it is a bit if a challenge to articulate just what the three may have in common.The first, Terence Malik's "The Tree of Life," I found so mesmerizing in lyrical imagery that the fragmented narrative didn't bother me at all.And yes, there was a story there, a typical family drama of the early sixties.Brad Pitt is the father of three boys and we are perceiving mostly Jack's world, the older boy's, perspective, his chaotic and bewildering coming-of-age through adolescence to manhood under the somewhat stern dominion of the father played by Brad Pitt.The ethereal Jessica Chastain is The Great Earth Mother beneath whom the three sons are sheltered, and the tensions between the parents, and the father and his sons, are fraught with the same incongruous conflicts many of us recognize from the emotional throws of growing up in small town America.In the middle of the film there is an interlude of dazzling imagery, an explosion of nature's growth and time's passages, throwing us into thoughts of the Big Bang, the violence of earth's natural movements, the tossing of seeds and leaves and light, atoms and molecules, sperm and ovum, the sense of time immemorial, infinite time and the great questions of time's purpose.It doesn't segue into or away from the narrative well but it gives us some hints as to the ambitious nitty-gritty of the film.Jack is a poetic soul, struggling to understand his own existence, and the middle son is the sensitive would-be musician whose life is cut short by the Vietnam war.As the brothers grieve and the parents suffer and wound one another, we feel the vicissitudes, the anxiety and threats that persist alongside daily living.We believe in the "Tree of Life" of the title, the welling together at the root, the battering of the branches, the dappled summer light that brightens the buds of the heart and awakens the body's mortal awareness.How does one capture and interpret the secret of what it means to be human on this particular planet, to know the Self writ large? Who Are We? Jack wonders in voiceover.Can the far-reaching, archetypal symbol of the Tree hold us all, thread and root us into an interconnected whole?Most of us never question why we're here, but then, again some of us question constantly.As a poet, I read all sorts of approaches that speak to this question along with shapely and sinuous answers.And Malick's film itself is poetry, and poetry's response is often layered down to the bedrock, twisting with wishes, as on a Mobius strip.Despite critical raves, in theatres throughout the country people walked out on this film, frustrated no doubt by the alternate mumbling and blaring of the soundtrack and the lack of linear storytelling, perhaps unwilling to give the film the attention it needs.I saw it twice, not wanting to miss any of the pieces the first time, and the second, to focus on how the pieces were put together.I found it visually astonishing and the acting excellent, earning Pitt an Oscar nomination.Pitt takes on a deeper dimension of himself as the frustrated father, and Hunter McCracken, plays Jack with universal truth in his every move.In the finale of the film, a strange, surreal place (meant to be heaven?) emerges, complete with beach and lapping waves, for what seems a city population coming and going as if the sand itself were a New York sidewalk.The family we watched coming apart, comes together again in reconciled affection.Sean Penn, is the older Jack, who has found himself as a modern architect, and appears with his younger self, his lost brother, the mother who never ages, and Pitt as a more tender father.Between the shifts of light, the shapes, the colors, the abstract landscapes and the faces of the figures, it appears Malick is paying homage to our whole experience as beings on and of the earth, nothing less than eternal in the sheer mystery of soul travels.Like "Tree of Life," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," is also told from a child's viewpoint.This protagonist, an untrained star of amazing power and depth is played by six-year-old Quvenzhan Wallis, a fascinating child to watch.In fact, the entire cast is without acting experience, and yet, each tapped into a larger self and found his or her character's perfect center.As for plot, this movie possesses even less than Tree but is equally provocative.The girl lives alongside her father on a small barrier island in New Orleans' gulf, an area bordered by levies, called "The Bathtub." The young child, "Hushpuppy," narrates as we watch her alcoholic father's health fail in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.Her mother "swam away" one day, though Hushpuppy still sees her in her minds' eye, and calls to her from the water's edge.Her father raises her like a boy, won't let her cry over his illness, (though both do at the unsentimental end) calls her "The Man" and exhorts her to stand up and cheer for herself, showing her "guns" (muscles).The film takes place in just a few days.In the back of Hushpuppy's imagination are the arctos, ancient, mythic creatures, huge in her fantasies.And when she finally meets several of them nose-to-nose, she is like Alice grown tiny.Yet through her confidence and self-reliance, Hushpuppy is able to dispel the enormous spirit-creatures with her own magical powers.As a metaphor for her own wildness, one could say these wild beasts further represent her own smoldering independence.The film is disturbing.The ragtag group who cling to what's left of their junky homes are nothing like proper parents.By any middle-class measure, these children would be taken away for their own safety.But though it disturbs us that Hushpuppy suffers both abuse and neglect, her father's love for her is real, and vice versa.While he tries to shelter her from his illness, Katrina swings in, and the inhabitants of the island find themselves cut off from their self-sufficiency.Everything is dying around them.And when they fight the help they're offered by government agencies, they are like primitives who can only survive in their natural habitat, preferring to die in it.While she observes her father under doctors' care, Hushpuppy ironically remarks that when people grow sick here, "they plug them into the wall.".After their escape from the hospital, she cremates her father and sends him off to a burial at sea on a homemade float just as the ancients did.One remembers the rituals of Avalon, and that the Nature that threatens this community's life is also a part of its soul.The film speaks for a kind of Libertarian independence, against an intervening government civilizing society.The motley crew slips away from the Red Cross camp, and Hushpuppy conquers the primitive creatures in one triumphant moment of staring them down.This is her fantasy of course, the way she sees herself, a girl-child raised like a boy, a loyal, devoted daughter, who grieves the loss of her mother and father equally.But Hushpuppy knows who she is.She tells us the scientists will look back 100 years from now and "they'll know there was a Hushpuppy who lived with her Daddy in the Bathtub.".Will she survive? Not by any dint of current cultural standards.But then, as she earns our respect and captures our hearts, we wonder about our own world, held as we are in its tightening, grip, more and more alienated from Nature.What if we don't need banks? And lawyers? Or the Federal Drug Administration? What if we didn't rely so heavily on the Powers-That-Be, those that seem to be serving themselves more than their constituency? Wise men tell us that this is now the era for us to outgrow the ubiquitous crumbling systems and shallow values of our over-materialistic world.Hushpuppy is mythic, a magical child.She shows us an alternative life we would never choose for ourselves.But still, we sit in our silent tears at the end of the film, find strangers in the restrooms afterwards wiping their eyes as well.We know something's been lost in our world that is not lost for Hushpuppy.She's free and she's confident and yes--she'll probably grow disillusioned as she ages--but her faith in her strange foundation is steadfast.We're sure we don't want to live like her, but we're not sure, how in our modern lives, we can find what's been lost.A few days later I picked up a movie in the supermarket on Redbox.I'd heard an NPR program on "Margaret," and because of its length among other reasons, it had been held back from release.Based on a play by Kenneth Lonegrin "Margaret" tells the story of a fatal bus accident and the privileged, teenage, West Side Manhattanite, Lisa, played ferociously by Anna Pacquin.Lisa causes the accident by distracting a bus driver with her flirtatious interest in his cowboy hat.The bus driver, (Mark Ruffalo) runs a red light and runs over a woman, (Alison Janey.) As "Monica" dies in the girl's arms, Lisa, (if she hadn't discovered it by 911 already) learns that life can change in an instant.Although she readily admits to her math teacher (Matt Damon) that she cheated on his test, Lisa begins to think about "right" and "wrong" in absolutes.She's traumatized by Monica dying in her arms.In the aftermath of the accident, exchanging looks with the bus driver, she tells the Police the light was green.But Lisa develops an obsession about her lie and confides in her actress mother who has her own distractions as the star of a new Broadway hit.We see Lisa in and out of school, arguing, manipulating and seducing teachers and friends.She lives an "entitled" life and most teenagers, she is passionately idealistic.When she tries, with the help of Monica's cynical friend, to administer justice for Monica's senseless death, by amending her statement, incriminating the driver and starting a law suit against the MTA, she only succeeds in drawing them into a settlement which benefits Monica's greedy, distant cousin.Still the driver gets to keep his job despite a previous record of reckless driving.But does Lisa recognize in herself the mountain of guilt she has projected onto him? Though she makes one admission that the accident was her fault, she has not taken full responsibility for her own reckless behavior, which continues throughout the film to the point of losing her virginity and claiming to her teachers that she has had an abortion.We do not think this is true.Meanwhile Lisa's mother is being courted by a rich Columbian man who dies of a heart attack shortly after she breaks up with him, leaving both mother and daughter finally with some things in common. guilt and grief.In the last scene mother and daughter attend an opera at Lincoln Center and at the sound of the diva's voice, they are reduced to tears.Then sobs, then hugs.For the first time we see the love between them shows.Lisa's aware that the world isn't fair.She is a feisty and courageous, persistent and operatic herself.The world seems to her a series of random events such as her mother's lover's death, the horrible accident and the ever-present memories of 911, which the filmmaker emphasizes by numerous pans of the skies over NYC.All three of these films tell us something about the difficulty in reconciling the many opposing forces in our modern society.Tree of Life looks back with nostalgia for a simpler time as much as it looks through the eyes of a young man toward an unsettled future.Beasts gives us a young child's endeavor to come to terms with her lost mother and dying father, and to transcend her immensely disadvantaged life with hard-won inner strength."Margaret" (named for the a young woman's realization of death in a poem by Gerard Manly Hopkins) gives us the thin-skinned, self-centered insecurity of another dramatic young woman with scary close-ups of an adult world that offers no answers to injustice.The precariousness of living in our times is stated in each.Something's not right with our world.Nonetheless the lesson we can draw from all three films is found in the wise words of the Earth Mother in Tree of Life. Help each other.Love everyone.Every leaf.Every ray of light.Forgive.
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