Some Of My Favorite Movies Of 2010

The Perfect Florence <3

All about Dinosaurs

Everyone of us knows more or less about dinosaurs. But the question is, do we actually know what dinosaurs were or how they lived or became extinct? Well, let us know briefly about the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs were thw animals of the Mesozoic era which were chiefly terrestial, gigantic and fossil reptiles, a group of extinct and are considered as the largest land animals. Mesozoic era was divided into three periods and they were the Triassic period, the Jurassic period and the Cretaceous period. Dinosaurs lived in those three periods. The dinosaurs lived about 245 to 66 million years ago and they lived on earth for about 160 million years.

It is obviously a wonder to most of the people that hopw did the dinosaurs appear in the earth. Mostly it is thought that land mass was gathered on the continent Pangea. So, scientists think that’s how the dinosaurs were originated and they first appeared in South America.

There were both types of dinosaurs- herbivorous and carnivorous. Their forms were mosly like bid lizards, some were like gigantic sharks and others were like big flying birds. Foods of dinosaurs weremostly plants, grass and dead animals. The colours of dinosaurs were dark like the elephants and rhinoceroses. Some also think there were also dinosaurs of bright colours like purple, orange-red and even with blue spots.

Now, let us discuss how the dinosaurs were divided into those three periods of Mesozoic ers. Of course different types od Dinosaurs had appeared in each period.

The Triassic Dinosaurs: The Triassic dinosaurs were reptile types. Some were active, some were covered with feathers. Some known dinosaurs were- the Caelophsis, the Plateosaurus(late Triassic), the Staurikosaurus(lateTriassic) etc.

The Jurassic Dinosaurs: They were mostly like mammals. There were also some sea monsters. Famous dinosaurs were- the Camarasaurus, the Brachiosaurus (late Jurassic), the Allasaurus ( late Jurassic) etc.

The Cretaceous Dinosaurs: In this period, the climate of the earth had changed. There were hard dwelling dinosaurs. They were- the Velociraptor, the Tarbosaurus, the Triceraptors etc.

ArgentinoSaurus was the largest dinosaur and its length was 22-33m. While, Campsognathus was the smallest dinosaur and its length was only 1m.

Dinosaurs used to lay eggs. Dinosaurs were hatched from eggs. The average lifespan of most dinosaurs were 100-152 years.

Today animals like turtles, birds and crocodiles have similarities with the dinosaurs according to some some of their characteristics. Some think that the dinosaurs could roat as their size were enormous. But dinosaurs actually sounded like the chirping of birds.

When we hear about the extinction of animals, the first animal that comes to our minds is the Dinosaur. Dinosaurs became extinct fully in a mysterious way. Some scientists think that the asteroid impact on the earth killed the dinosaurs. Some think, the dinosaurs became extinct all on a sudden. Some say as the climate was changing, the dinosaurs failed to adapt with the new environment and thus they became extinct.

‘The Alchemist’ Book Review

‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho is a short, simple book but still bears so much significance. The language is simple and easy to understand but the meanings appears somehow really deep. The story follows a young shepherd boy who searches for treasure and realizes and learns so much meanings in the way. he learns about luck and destiny. He appears to understand gradually about specific values of certain things.

I have realized many philosophical things over and over again. Like I have realized, one who experiments and learns new things must move forward with his life without binding herself to any activities. In the book, the travelling is that sort of experiment. There is always a way out from any kind of trouble no matter how hard it is. It is no coincidence, it is destiny. There is nothing impossible for us to do or gain because everything needs to make the matter possible lies within our souls. Human soul is the greatest of all as Allah Himself has said.

After reading this book life seems beautiful. Even if there are troubles and disturbing phenomena going on, it is worth to believe and to rely on life completely. 

‘The Alchemist’ is a book of realization. The things we already know but haven’t have enough before to realize. This is a great spiritual and moral book. I will definitely recommend this to all the philosophy lovers.

‘Anna Karenina’ Book Review

‘Anna Karenina’ is a beautiful novel. This novel is soft, simple and it is a very social novel. The upper/higher middle society of Russia has been represented very beautifully. Though the novel is quite longer but it is elaborated rhythmically.

The main story of the novel not only focuses on Anna but also on some other characters like Levin and the household of Oblonsky. But obviously Anna is the main character. From Anna’s point of view, the story shows that how human mind affects or works when one is in a miserable condition for a longer period. 

And it is worth mentioning that the character Levin is also represented with much emphasis. So if we see from Levin’s point of view, it is seen that He is very self-esteemed. He values his works so much and considers every little matter carefully. He always thinks and thinks. He confuses himself in every little matter. He is always in an excited mood to find out whether he is doing right or wrong. But his life goes on like that even smoothly which he doesn’t even know himself.

I love the romance between Kitty and Levin soo much. No matter how many times Levin tries to put Kitty out of his mind, he just can’t. He loves her terribly. Levin is one of the best kinds of lovers that I will always prefer. He loves as well as respects Kitty. Eventually Kitty also realizes her secret affection for Levin. I really adore the conversation that has been taken place between Levin & Kitty while playing this chalk writing game. Kitty said “If you could forget and forgive what happened. Levin replied” I have nothing to forget and forgive, I have never ceased to love you.” These two sentences have just melted me.

I also love the character of Alexey Alexandrovich Karenin. He appears so hard and emotionless. But in real he is not at all like that. He does have a soft corner in his heart. I really fancy that part where he really cares for little Annie and how unconditionally he forgives Anna.

The miserable condition of the ladies then are also shown in the novel. Often it is seen that the husband had lost interest in their wives after some years of marriage. Such is the case of Dolly. 

The whole plot has been represented in a beautiful manner. It is seen that Anna’s life becomes duller from the beginning to the end and on the other hand Kitty’s life becomes happier. And behind this there is only the event of one ball.

Sometimes I kept thinking why did the novel is named ‘Anna Karenina’? Here we can see other main character like Levin too. But I came to a conclusion that it was named so because the whole story had been created on the action of Anna’s one decision i,e to love Vronsky avoiding all the odds. It is one of the greatest novel obviously.

Definitely mind blowing!

Pip and Estella

Great Expectations (2011) BBC

Keeper of the Memories

This is the second story of the “Avonlea Club”. I am a bit late though, but still I hope you enjoy<3

Sylvia with her family was moving to a place in the country. She was leaving behind all of her memories. This was something Sylvia didn’t like. Moving away was cowardice to her. She was someone who wanted to hold on to everything. But her family had chosen the other way, so they were moving. 

The place was very beautiful and calm. Any nature lover like Sylvia would love this place. Sylvia liked the place but it couldn’t be something she would call home. Back in the days, when everything was perfect, they used to go to vacation resorts just like this one. Those times were golden. Every moment in those resorts was lovable to her. But their new house wasn’t their vacation house. It was beautiful but not lovable. 

Sylvia didn’t want to go into the deep of the house. Hence, she had requested her parents to give her the ground floor guest room as her bedroom.If she needed fresh air, it would be easier to run for it from  her ground floor bedroom. The upstairs rooms were all very deep and dark. If she stayed there, the room was going to absorb the remaining pieces of memories she had managed to save within her. She wouldn’t let the darkness take her precious memories. If darkness came all the way from upstairs, she would run, run so hard and be out the house, straight to the woods, where she would be free to hold on to her memories, to express herself fully. In the house, her parents wanted her to be unexpressed. 

While unpacking her things, Sylvia found the doll. The doll for which she used to fight. It was one of her favourite dolls and there were so many memories with it. Again, like their own home, Sylvia’s parents didn’t want to take the doll with them to the new house. Her mom said that it was better to leave it with the old home which was its real preserver. Sylvia didn’t accept it. She knew that their previous home (the real one) was the holder of the doll, but she was forced to leave her home anyway, she couldn’t at least leave her doll, the precious one with precious memories. In this decision, her father said that she was not moving on. Sylvia didn’t understand why she needed to move on. She wanted to scream and tell her parents that she would never ever move on. At the end, she didn’t scream but packed the doll anyway.

Sylvia always used to sit beside her mother at supper. Likewise, on the first night at the new house during supper, Sylvia sat beside her mother. Her father insisted that she sit beside him pointing at the empty chair near him. Sylvia became really tired at that point. She couldn’t understand why her parents wanted to change everything after moving away from their home. She became aggressive and went straight to her room without finishing her meal. Suddenly she felt very lonely in her room. She felt the need of someone. So, she kept visiting her memories, her only way to escape the situation. 

Sylvia’s mother told her that she was not going to school and would be homeschooled under a tutor for sometime. When asked, her mother replied that she wanted to give Sylvia sometime to adjust. But her mother didn’t understand that Sylvia would never adjust. However, as she wasn’t going to school, every afternoon, she had plenty of time. One afternoon, she went to roam around in the forest in the backyard of their new house. The forest felt very intense and heavy to her. However, she kept going to the depths of it. In the middle of the forest, she discovered a well. It surprised her. A well in the middle of the forest! The well was very ancient looking. There were vines and creepers around it. Algae and mosses had surrounded it in every direction. She wanted to go near it but also she was nervous. The well was giving her some chills. Suddenly she realised that she was indeed in the very deep- of the forest and started panicking thinking she had lost the direction towards the new house. Without thinking twice, she started running in the opposite direction from the well. She was running and thinking. Thinking about the well. She heard her tutor say one day that there was a legend about the well in the forest. She didn’t ask about it because she wasn’t interested in anything at that moment. But then, she wanted to know about it. She was curious. 

That day it took Sylvia a long time and a big hassle to reach the new house from the forest. Her head was filled with the thoughts of the well. The next day she kept waiting for her tutor eagerly. As her tutor entered the study room, she was a bit astonished to see Sylvia’s eager eyes waiting for her patiently. Sylvia was never interested in anything else before. The tutor took the situation as a good opportunity to become connected with Sylvia. She smiled at her with a sweet ‘good morning’.

Sylvia replied, “Good morning, Ms. Marlowe. You’re late today.”

“Yes, I’m very sorry for that. But I wonder why you’re all buckled up with the sunshine-like eyes of yours, I thought you didn’t enjoy history.”

“I was waiting for you actually. You see Ms. Marlowe, I’m very curious to know about the story of the well in the forest.”

At this Ms. Marlowe became a bit confused. She couldn’t understand why Sylvia suddenly wanted to know about the ‘well legend’. But as she wanted to be close to Sylvia, she decided to start her lesson with the story.

“Well, that’s a very interesting story indeed. It’s an ancient saying actually said by old people of this area. People used to say, there is an old and creepy well in the middle of the forest. It has some dark magic with it. But it can comfort people really well.”

Sylvia knew she needed to be comforted more than anything else in this new house. He3nce, she interrupted her tutor by asking, “What do you mean by making comfortable Ms. Marlowe?”

“Well I meant to say that, suppose a person is in distress and goes to the well, the well would show some kind of illusion which can make the person forget about their distress and they would be comfortable.”

“Wow, isn’t that something really enchanting!" Sylvia exclaimed with joy.

“Yes it is but you see, there is a reason why people call it dark magic. Because it’s not actually t actually beneficial for people. The well is playing illusions, it can't ever be good. People need to find ways to deal with their problems naturally. This sort of way, the one the well directs never really helps but makes the situation worse."

Ms. Marlowe might have continued lecturing about the dark sides of the well legend but Sylvia wasn't paying any attention to her. She knew what she needed and she had found it. Then she thought she was going to be happy again. 

The next day, Sylvia went to the forest, to the well. That time she wasn't scared and near to the well. 

She said, "I've been told that you make people happy. I'm here to see what you have with you to make me happy."

Sylvia waited for sometime but there wasn't any reply. She didn't see any magic coming. She became sad and desperate. 

"Please understand that I'm very sad and lonely. I don't like it here. I want to go back to my own place and own people. To the past, to those sweet memories where everything was alright", Sylvia kept saying those aloud and wept hard. Few minutes had gone while Sylvia was weeping but still nothing changed to make her happy. She began to give up. She thought she could never be happy again. Just at that moment, she saw a girl crawling out of the well. Sylvia panicked at the first instance. But eventually she realised it was someone she would never have to be scared of. 

"Sabrina, is that you?" She asked the crawling girl. 

The girl stood finally in front of Sylvia. Her face was somewhat blurry and  wet. In fact she was fully drenched in water. As she stood face to face with Sylvia, Sylvia could see her properly. 

She cried "Oh, Sabrina. Is that really you? I have been missing you so much." She ran to the girl and hugged her tight. The girl didn't move neither said anything. But she made Sylvia happy. 

Sylvia started visiting the well everyday to see the girl. Sylvia went there and called the girl by Sabrina. Everyday the girl crawled out of the well to stand in front of her. She talked about her day and her sweet old memories. The girl never talked or answered any questions. Sylvia didn't mind much. She was very happy just to be with her. But one day the girl talked. So, she asked her, "Why don't you ever talk to me Sabrina. I share everything with you just like with you just like I used to do before. But you never share anything. It makes me sad sometimes."

And then the girl replied. Her voice was very faded and indistinct. She said, "I am not used to talking outside of the water." 

"Oh, then how can I hear you talking? I cannot talk inside the water."

"But you have never tried it, did you? Why don't you come to the water with me? I have many things to talk about and show you in the deep of the water", the girl said, attracting Sylvia immensely. Sylvia found the offer really engaging. She gave it a thought. She thought about how miserable she was in the new house. She also thought about the girl who was her only source of happiness after everything had been changed. She kept thinking for some time and finally replied with a happy face, "I got an idea. I think I want to come and stay with you in the well forever because you're the one who makes me truly happy". 

"Seems like a very good idea to me", the girl replied. Sylvia set up her mind and was very proud to have found her forever happiness. 

Sylvia's mother noticed her daughter disappearing into the forest every evening. She also asked Sylvia once what she was doing there. Sylvia just simply replied that she was playing and having fun. Her mother was relieved everytime she was informed that her daughter was having fun. She thought Sylvia was finally moving on. 

Sylvia was packing her things when her mother called her from the kitchen informing about the arrival of Ms. Marlowe. She didn't mind the interruption because she was very happy that day. She merrily went to her study room. 

Ms. Marlowe said, "Good morning Sylvia, you look very jolly today."

"Yes, Ms. Marlowe. In fact I'm the happiest today. I won't be bothering to study history today as this is going to be my last lesson with you", Sylvia replied joyfully. 

Ms. Marlowe couldn't understand the reason behind Sylvia's calling the session as the last one. She said, "But I wasn't informed about it. I didn't know that I don't have to tutor you anymore." 

"You weren't informed by my parents because they don't know about it yet. But I'm informing you now, ain't I? Now please let us start our lesson at once Ms. Marlowe as I have to pack up my things really quick", Sylvia said impatiently. 

"Pack up your things? Are you going somewhere? ", Ms. Marlowe asked confusedly. 

"Yes, I'm going to be living with my sister from now on, in the well in the forest", she replied excitedly. 

Ms. Marlowe then became very worried about Sylvia's condition. Sylvia was hallucinating the whole time. Ms. Marlowe realised that she was still grieving and never moved on. She confronted her and wanted her to realise the truth as well. She said, "Sylvia, my dear girl, there is no well in the forest. It has been your misunderstanding. You were overwhelmed by the well legend and imagining things because you were sad. I know you miss Sabrina, but she is gone and never coming back. You have to accept it and…"

Sylvia became agitated and didn't let Ms. Marlowe takes her happiness away from her. She shouted, "You don't know anything. I don't want to talk to you." She left the study running towards her own room. 

Ms. Marlowe couldn't just stay still. She went to Sylvia’s mother explaining her situation. Her mother broke down into tears. After all, she was also going through hard times after the death of their first child, Sabrina. Ms. Marlowe consoled her and requested her to have some more patience to deal with Sylvia’s condition. Together they went to Sylvia's room.

Sylvia was shaking and sobbing sitting in the corner of her room. After Ms. Marlowe's confrontation, she was forced to visit her dark memories which she was avoiding for a while. She didn't ever want to accept the fact that her sister, her true companion, was dead. She didn't want to move on and wanted to hold onto the memories where Sabrina was present. She didn't want to start anew where no one will talk about Sabrina accepting her absence. But alas! This is the rule of nature. After all of the trials to hold onto Sabrina's memories and never moving on, Sylvia couldn't help but hit the realization. She was very tired of all of her efforts to keep her dead sister alive in her memories. She suddenly knew that she had to accept the fact and move on with her life eventually. 

When her mother along with Ms. Marlowe came to her room, she stood strongly facing them. She apologized to her mother for making such a decision of running away without consulting her. Her mother hugged her tight and said, "My baby girl, I'm very sorry that you had to go through all of these alone. I understand now that I and your father weren't actually neither helping you nor helping ourselves to overcome the situation healthily. But I want you to know that we are still a family. We love you and Sabrina as well. We also miss her a lot. Together we will have to deal with our grief and the darkest part of our memories so that we feel free to miss her from the depth of our hearts. I guess we all made mistakes in the healing process. We were not actually moving on instead we were just running away from our griefs which was not healthy at all." 

Her mother's words comforted Sylvia. She understood that no matter what happens, Life goes on. Hence, she accepted everything and finally began the healing process. After that, whenever Sylvia visited their old home or whenever she touched the doll for which she used to fight with her sister, Sylvia didn't have to hold onto the fact Sabrina needed to be there for her. She just missed her and was grateful to Sabrina for being a good companion. Sylvia's father didn't request her again  to sit beside him where Sabrina used to sit at supper. He understood that though Sabrina wasn’t there, her place was secured in their hearts.

“Dune” Book Review

“Dune” by Frank Herbert is very much enjoying literally from the very beginning. I have soo much to say about this book. No wonder why people still call it a classic. I would say, it is in fact one of the best sci-fi book ever. 

The novel is super fast and highly paced. I never thought I would enjoy a book full of fights and adventures this much. This book hit totally different. In fact, it is also very dramatic. I felt like I was watching a soap opera TV series. In some parts I constantly had to remind myself that I was reading a sci-fi book! I loved the beginning of every chapter which contains a little extract from different writings about Mua’dib and Arrakis by Princess Irulan.

The inner thinking of the characters and what is going on in their minds in every little matter have been explained in the book and it is one of the best parts of it. I loved some of the Bene Gesserit ways very much. They really do have some productive plans which I think is very hard yet very powerful to stay calm and clean in difficult situations. We actually need to get adapted to some of those techniques. One of the great motives of the Bene Gesserit that I liked and Paul & Jessica kept adapting throughout the whole book was ‘I must not fear, Fear is the mind killer”. The mother-son relationship between Jessica and Paul is complicated yet very understanding. I liked the struggle they had together over the dune. Those parts were hard in one way and peaceful in another because they at least had each other. I also loved Paul & Chani together soo much.

Now, I shall talk about some of the characters. Paul is a great observant. He is very curious about everything. The sudden change that happened in Paul was so perfect at least in that disastrous situation.  Jessica is a great mother and protector. She tries to protect Paul from troubles and she is extra careful. There is a strong feminine pride in the reverend mother’s voice. One of her quotes was really good, like “ Humans are almost always lonely”. 

Frank Herbert was definitely a brilliant man with a good fold of knowledge. He was well informed and knows a lot. he created the whole universe fantastically. The descriptions, the rules and rituals of the fremen community is insanely good. one of the sayings of “Dune” is my absolute favorite which is “God created Arrakis to train the faithful”. 

One complain that I have about the book is, there was definitely a need of more female developed and powerful characters other than Jessica. And certainly I didn’t like some of the fremen ways of treating women. So, in a sense, “Dune” is back dated at least while mentioning the feminine situations. 

Overall, the book is crazy. The time when I was reading it, I just kept thinking about it all day and night. It is very catchy and keeps giving you glimpses of scenes even when you aren’t reading it. I loved it and can’t wait for the movie. Absolutely worth the hype.  

Review “Men Explained Things to Me”

Just some random thoughts I had while reading the book:

1. Solnit was so pissed with the so-called everlasting knowledge that the men try to represent they have. Literally in every matter, they try to put forward some illogical, unreasonable and irrelevant garbage of the theories they posses and try to stop the women, violating the rights to speak laws everyday.

2. It has become a necessity to start talking about women and their rights by stating about their unprivileged condition first. Many people may find this as cliché or rather boring, but just think about it in this way, we guys  might have become bored to hear about these regular women tragedy everyday where this shitty condition of women is not changing for these whole periods of times those had finally made you bored!

3. I loved how Solnit talked about the violence women are facing in her country as well as tried to talk about some of the problems of India. Some of her quotations are very very strong. She has a great political as well as philosophical views.  She wasn't confined in talking about feminisms and women's problems only but also shared her perspectives as a writer in different artistic values.

4. In one of her essays, she also mentioned that time is definitely changing though. Women are suffering true, but not as much as they used to in the past. I think writing this is definitely an example of optimism which again gives us hope (the famous Pandora's box's hope in the good sense you know). The essay called "Pandora's box and volunteer police force" and "Thinking out of the box" are my absolute favorite.

5. In her essays she also talked about some other issues like capitalism etc. which shows her other sides like unbiases. 

“A Christmas Carol” Book Review

“A Christmas Carol”! What a wonderful story! I never thought this book to be this humorous and heart- warming at the same time. Dickens was a great writer indeed. This book has every Christmas vibes to it  starting from presents to foods and family time. 

I was really impressed to find out how the story proceeds. Particularly, how Scrooge was learning and realizing how he should have treated people on the basis of what he had experienced in the past. I felt like sometimes we ought to see things with our own eyes to feel it, to believe it. The story has an interesting way to teach us humanity and humanitarian activities. 

And what can I say about Scrooge? He was such a miser. I felt like there was no juice of life left in him in the beginning. But he was definitely not like him in the past. Loneliness and childhood trauma make people feelings-less and hard. So was the case with him.

I was impressed with this book. Highly recommend it. Perfect for the Christmas!!

Just a small friendly reminder:

Everyone knows toxic chemicals are harmful for the physical health. Likewise toxic people are also harmful for mental health. It is wise and healty to stay away from them.