SAMSARA, an amazing sensory journey of life on earth

Unconstrained by dialogue or narration, this contemplative documentary reveals the ties between the dueling rhythms of nature and humanity as found in diverse locations across the globe, from sacred sites and natural wonders to industrial zones.


THE DANCE OF A THOUSAND HANDS. One of the most beautiful ancient art forms. Absolutely mesmerizing!


Nina Simone I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free

Nina expresses beautifully our wish to fly as free as a bird. Samsara allows us that experience for a couple of hours.

Australian baseball player killed by Oklahoma teens -- just because. I ask why???

Too many guns in the wrong hands? Are they insensitive to life, considering the violence on our television screens day in and day out...whether the news or series. A question was posed, "Where are their parents?" Shouldn't our parents also incude our politicians and lawmakers we elect to help do what is right? Instead, they fight amongst themselves exchanging slurs, slinging the most vile I have ever heard. And then we wonder what is wrong with these boys? Let's start at the top. Civility and respect must return to our Senate, House of Representatives and corporations. We must care more for every human being!



CNN) -- A random act of violence has left a promising 22-year-old college baseball player dead, a family devastated and two countries half a world apart rattled.

Christopher Lane, who's from Australia, was gunned down in Duncan, Oklahoma, while he was out jogging last week. The motive, police say? Three teens who had nothing better to do.

"They witnessed a young man run by on the street. Chose him as the target," Police Chief Danny Ford told CNN affiliate KSWO.

When police eventually arrested the three teens -- ages 15, 16 and 17 -- one of them offered up a motive that made clear that Lane, who attended East Central University on a baseball scholarship, was chosen at random.

"He said the motive was, 'We were going to kill somebody,'" Ford told Australian radio station 3AW.

"They decided all three of them were going to kill somebody."

Police say the teens shot Lane in the back in the town of about 24,000 and sped away in their car.

"There were some people that saw him stagger across the road, go to a kneeling position and collapse on the side of the road," Ford told KSWO.

Attempts to revive Lane failed.

Police caught the teens a few hours after the shooting. Thanks to security cameras from local businesses, police saw their car speeding down the street.

Nearly 10,000 miles away in Australia, Lane's family struggled to cope with the news.

"He's left his mark as we know, and you know there's not going to be any good come out of this, because it was just so senseless," Christopher's father, Peter Lane, said. "It's happened. It's wrong, and we're just trying and deal with it the best we can."

Lane's girlfriend Sarah Harper posted an emotional tribute on Facebook, saying "you will always be mine and in a very special and protected place in my heart."
 

                       

Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is considered by many, a masterpiece

The finale, Frank (Henry Fonda) and Harmonica's (Charles Bronson) showdown. 

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How did Sergio Leone create such masterful westerns?  Some would argue Leone's were better than the American productions.  His love for the American western is evident; and its influence created his style called the "Spaghetti Westerns."

Perhaps one major reason is his amazing partnership with his primary school mate and composer Ennio Morricone, as in director and composer pairs Federico Fellini and Nino Rota, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herman.  Morricone would write some of the score before the film was shot, and Leone would incorporate his script to the score afterwards. 

In addition, Morricone would write different themes representing each major character.  He wrote four different musical themes for the four major characters in ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.  These themes would play when the character appeared on screen, offering a memorable experiece for the viewer.

But it was the silent, sinister type-characters who loved their gun more than money or women which was enhanced by Clint Eastwood.  He introduced the archtypical gunslinger as a man with no name who comes from nowhere; always silent and only lets his gun talk for him. 

In addition, this film is much slower in pace and sombre in theme.  The film features long, slow scenes in which there is very little dialogue and little happens, broken by brief and sudden violence. Leone was far more interested in the rituals preceding violence than in the violence itself. The tone of the film is consistent with the arid semi-desert in which the story unfolds, and imbues it with a feeling of realism that contrasts with the elaborately choreographed gunplay.

Poetically expressed in the most dramatic and eloquent of westerns, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST stars Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain, Charles Bronson as Harmonica, Henry Fonda as Frank, and Jason Robards as Cheyenne.