#and don’t even mention me men because there’s a reason my music library is 90% women

[blues-valentine]

Don’t get me wrong because I genuinely think Taylor Swift is a talented lyricist but she really has not artistic growth… She has written the same exact songs four hundred times but now she just puts a random words generator. Like, some of those lyrics sound AI generated. And she’s 34 years old but her albums still speak on the same things. There’s zero evolution. Some of those lyrics feel targeted to a 19 years old that is in her “indie aesthetically bad boys that get high and I think I can fix phase” which is basically the same as her old material but way more cringey for some reason. And I’m not trying to compare but Beyoncé at that age was making Lemonade. It’s hard to think this is the biggest pop star the world has to offer us. This is white mediocrity. The songs are fun to edit over fictional characters but when you put into perspective her whole work is so lackluster. So utterly boring and predictable. Maybe she needs to take a break (?). And somehow, people and white music critics will pretend this album is comparable to the likes of Cowboy Carter.

[ifeveristoday]

I got out my DVDs for this rewatch (that’s not actually a big deal. I only have season 3 on DVD. 😂) so let’s get to it.

I forgot they did a cold open for this episode!

I know it’s for ambiance but man does Angel have a lot of candles displayed. Probably too ‘mainstream’ for his taste but the thought of Angel furtively going to a Bath and Bodyworks in the mall during their semi-annual sale and just buying out their whole candle selection gives me the purest joy. Let’s be real though, Angel would shop at some boutique/hole in the wall owned by a wizened old character with a twinkle in their eye and everything marked up 20%. Or it would be a steel and glass monstrosity with a collection labeled Candles for Men. That’s the range.

Back to the enormous fire hazard that this scene is -

Wait. Does fire burn on stone?

Shout out to the stunt doubles.

I think that Angel getting food for Buffy for a sort of alfresco picnic while training is really sweet, actually. Also, can't miss the opportunity for both carbs and phallic symbolism ala bread.

Everyone is so embarrassingly horny in this moment. I'd say get a room except they're in a whole giant mansion.

Always remember the bread! What did Angel do with the food after Buffy fled? Fed the no-doubt cursed pigeons that live in Sunnydale.

Thanks for the workout (insert stereotypical dirty laugh).

Oh yes, the awkward 'let's talk about your birthday without mentioning the last birthday you had at all because it's horrifying' chitchat. God, the anxiety Angel is radiating here and Buffy trying to smooth it over. You can't unfrost that trauma cake!

Angel, you utter dork. You're lucky Buffy finds you pretty. Very powerful himbo energy here. And it's nice to see some light-hearted flirting/banter between them.

How do you know when someone's aura's dirty? Buffy is only asking the reasonable questions everyone has.

Do you hear yourself, Giles. "I'm aware of your distaste in studying vibratory stones..." I can't imagine what that section of the Slayer handbook looks like. Are there pull-out charts?

Faith being conveniently gone for this episode. Boo, hiss.

That workout really did a number on Buffy. I see what you're doing with those crystals.

One of the sad parts of rewatching Buffy is that you just don't have the first time discovery feels of watching it - that magic is gone, but even though I know why Buffy's wobbling in her fight, the reveal is still upsetting. Thinking about how in Season 5, when she does get staked, just as she's questioning her powers - and here, where she's losing them.

Also, obvious observation is obvious - the sexual violence imagery is really, really blatant here - with the vampire crouched over her with the stake aimed toward her heart, just as she playfully staked Angel earlier in a more romantically set scene.

AND THEN THE THEME KICKS IN. Like, damn! Three minutes and you can pretty much tell what the plot is going to be - Buffy and Angel's UST is getting out of hand, Buffy's lone Rangering it, and something is wrong with her. And it's her birthday.

And Buffy's resourcefulness saves the day.

Perhaps you shouldn't be throwing knives in the library, Buffy.

Did they do a geography lesson on Cuernavaca? It's also just fun to say. Like La Cienega. Brief moment to ponder yet again about a show set in Southern California, actually shot in Southern California, with the huge Latine population we have and the Spanish-influenced names and culture and - getting sidetracked by all this casual 90s racism.

"We do it every year for my birthday," except your seventeenth, presumably because of the murderous ex-boyfriend stalking the town you live in and all your loved ones. [Or, he did take her and it was not shown on screen!] Sometimes I wonder if the continuity editors just go, you know, I'm going to let this one go for the 'emotion' and not just so years later, a Virgo with a deep-seated need to obsess over throwaway details will go into a thought spiral to make it make sense.

I think this is also the last time Hank Summers was spoken of with any real affection because then he was Deadbeat Dad for the remainder of the show. Oh, look. The Scoobies are surprised about the traditional birthday ice show that I'm going to nitpick about forever.

Oz is so supportive, and then the clunker of a 'deep' line of ice being cool because it's water then it's not. I do like the Whedonesque school of dialogue, but sometimes you gotta reel it back. I remember the dialogue on Dawson's Creek was getting pinged for the teenagers talking like grad students.

Quiet reflection. Oh you poor girl, you have no idea.

Quarterly projections - is a convincing filler phrase for when you don't need to know what the job is, because it's boring but sounds vaguely official. What does Hank actually do? Who cares! He's an asshole.

Sunnydale Arms, because of course, Sunnydale has a broken down abandoned murder hotel.

Quentin Travers. Boo. Hiss.

The scary music is very scary. Also one of the Council flunkies looks like a very young Vincent D'Onofrio.

This scene with them in the library is so bittersweet because Buffy is fishing for Giles's attention as a father figure substitute ("very sophisticated people go!" breaks my heart) and he pointedly is rejecting this for training talk.

Look for the flaw at its center. THE FLAW IS YOU GILES. YOU YOU YOU.

it's just so terrible, this scene because of how methodical and clinical it plays out. And Buffy is just not there, and then Giles smiles like nothing has happened.

Buffy makes it through another night - next day (another reason why this trial is so horrifying is that it takes place over several days - it's not on Buffy's birthday but leading up to it, so the idea of her getting weaker and weaker and unable to fight to make it to 18 in the first place) and it's time for the Cordelia has had enough of toxic masculinity scene!

Also, Willow blithely ignoring a person's feelings and treating Amy as just a rat is played for laughs and cuteness, but yeah...you can't treat people like puppets or rats [law and order sound]

I love Cordelia's coat. And also, while it does suck that she stood him up, he's not entitled to her time or attention and certainly not to threaten her. Go, Cordy! Fight like a girl! Yes! Pummel him into the hallway.

I also love Willow's outfit here because I think the colors are so complementary and warm and it's a cute outfit. Okay, the knit wooly hat is a bit too Blossom-esque, but whatever.

Buffy is tiny, we all know this, but I do think they purposefully dressed her in larger than her size coats in this episode to make her look even more tiny and vulnerable.

Giles is TOO BLASE for this scene also shut your mouth about throwing knives like a girl

"It's an archaic exercise in cruelty." SO WHY DID YOU GO ALONG WITH IT, BRAIN TRUST. (I am going to be very mean to Giles this whole rewatch, deal with it.)

"But I'm the one in the thick of it." No, you're not. You are going to be adjacent to it, at best.

Hey it's that guy!

Okay, in better lighting, flunkie does not look like Vincent D'Onofrio.

It's impossible to pin down one type of Vampire in the Whedonverse, except for the delineation between Grunt Bait Vampires, and Special Guest Star/Master vampires, but Kralik is the only other example of a vampire with mental illness besides Drusilla, yet he's medicated. Makes me wonder how exactly they got Kralik...he was a monster before he was a vampire, but who vamped him? I don't put it past the Watchers to have vampires created for this purpose.

Curse against lawyers!

Xander and Oz bonding over comic books is so fun. I regret they didn't really get closer until after Xander and Willow cheated because Oz was the one male friend Xander had.

They mentioned her birthday! Thinking about Buffy's love of poetry later on, this is a nice little detail, and it *is* a thoughtful, sweet gift. Also those poems: horny. Oh yes, maybe in a restrained way, but Elizabeth Barrett Browning knew what was up.

The Buffy and Angel relationship in season three is full of these starts and stops that I can see why and agree with others about how it's frustrating on a number of levels. They know why they can't be together, but they still try to find a common ground because they want to need the other one. They still have their identities to figure out - Buffy as the slayer and a young adult, Angel as a person, separate from Buffy and being Buffy's ex sort of maybe.

But this conversation in Helpless is genuinely sweet and a glimpse at what a normal couple at the crossroads would talk about - I think I'm also being soft on this because the other Important Male Figure in Buffy's life in this episode lets her down so spectacularly bad, that Angel being supportive and kind in his awkward way is a nice respite. It's good to be away from the angst and the horror that their relationship has had.

And the self-aware puncturing of the Moment between them is something Buffy does very well. "Taken literally, incredibly gross - I was just thinking that too". Look, it's cute and soft and I will allow it.

The horror of this episode (and there are so many) is that we have to watch Buffy become the helpless blonde in a slasher flick who is being chased by the monsters and she can't do anything about it - that she has to be rescued or die. That the real world with men catcalling and bystanders who ignore women's cries of distress is far scarier than the literal demons that inhabit the town - and Buffy brokenly saying she can't just be a person, she can't be helpless like that [like women are, still, today] is a gut punch. It's uncomfortable and unhappy because Buffy is supposed to be the hero, the [sigh] strong female lead who can kick ass and take names, and this episode is all about finding who Buffy is, separate from her super powers. Also an exercise in emotional torture, but must be Tuesday.

The physicality - the weakness that both Buffy and Giles display in this scene is so, so good. The way Buffy's hand trembles toward the needle in the case and the dawning realization of what Giles has done, has chosen to do - and he bloodlessly tells her what the Cruciamentum is.

Her tiny little "Liar."

GOD WHY DIDN'T SHE GET AN EMMY (rhetorical we all know genre tv only matters if it was Game of Rapey Thrones)

"You will be safe now, I promise you." LIAR.

Another puncturing a heavy moment - Cordelia as cavalry - I love it. Cordelia taking the most obvious approach to the situation - 'oh Buffy might have lost her memory, well he's Giles,'

I can't believe they robbed us of a conversation in the car scene with Cordy and Buffy.

Kralik had to have found a polaroid camera and a metallic sharpie for this whole scenario -- OH I KNOW WHO HE REMINDS ME OF. The Night Stalker and any number of serial killers that terrorized SoCal. Is the show being self-aware of the problem with mothers and parents in general?

Probably a glib accident.

I don't have much to say about the part where Buffy hunts Kralik because it's so masterfully done with the atmosphere and music.

Nice of Giles's backbone to enter the chat now.

This is not business. Ooo.

Buffy's "I thought I killed a man" emo overalls!

Like it's shadowy, but there's still enough light to see facial expressions. Lighting guy, I salute you.

Little red riding hood metaphor. Oh, that's so her stunt double.

CREEPY SEXUAL VIOLENCE REARS ITS DEFORMED HEAD AGAIN

Jump stair scare. I remember the first time I saw it, I jolted in the living room.

Serial Killer Shit. Why are vampires such drama queens?

THAT'S RIGHT, BUFFY DID THAT

The ending scene in the library is cathartic in that Buffy gets to stand up for herself finally, and recognizes what Giles gives up by helping her, delayed as it was, also there's the feeling of hate punching Quentin Travers via your eyes.

Still don't think she should have forgiven Giles so easily, but we don't get to see a lot of aftercare for Buffy when she gets hurt, and it is a very tender scene.

The Scoobies are being way too upbeat if they knew about the fact that Giles poisoned Buffy, which is why I'm assuming she told a very abbreviated version of events ending with Buffy killed the bad guy and Giles got fired, oops.

Xander's big strong man comment and then looking immediately to Willow to open the jar and not Oz...

I could watch this episode again with episode commentary from David Fury, but another day.

[hekate1308]

Signs Of Evil

I expanded this. Enjoy!

Day 30

It’s been a month since he was quick enough to find his doppelganger in the parallel world and convince him that ending his miserable existence was the way to go and saved the world before he closed the gates of Hell once and for all. Souls can still slip through – can’t allow the increase in ghost activity – but there’ll be no more demons wreaking havoc apart from those who happened to be on earth when he slammed the door shut.

It gives him plenty of time to relax and occasionally visit the boys. Things have been quiet for a while now, since he conveniently showed up to kill off Satan’s spawn and Cas was miraculously brought back to life once again, human but healthy.

He’s walking down a hallway in the bunker; Dean made it abundantly clear that he prefers it when people “knock on doors and walk through them in case I am polishing my gun” so he’s decided to fulfil that particular wish.

A noise emitting from one of the store rooms draws his attention. With a blink of an eye, he’s standing right in the middle of it, looking down at...

Oh. He is somewhat surprised the Men of Letters managed to get hold of a basilisk’s egg.

Rather risky keeping it around.

Basilisk’s eggs are very powerful and as such very valuable, but there are a few drawbacks.

For one, it’s hot and could easily set anything it touches ablaze.

Well...

Anything with a shred of decency, that is.

Because the biggest irony of all concerning basilisk’s eggs is that only evil entities – demons, angry ghosts, occasionally a witch if she manages to be as wicked as his mother was – can touch it without getting burned.

Eggs like this one also have a tendency to move on their own, probably compelled by the same instinct that makes their parents turn anyone who looks at them directly into stone.

It has managed to open its box and roll halfway across the floor.

There’s a pair of gloves and pliers lying nearby, proving the boys already know what’s up.

He reaches out and takes it in his hand.

Huh. It even feels warm for him, and that’s saying something.

He carefully puts it back in the box. As he leaves the room, Dean strolls into the hallway.

“Crowley”.

“Squirrel. I put the egg where it belongs”.

Dean catches on immediately.

“Thought I heard it. Does this about once a month... thankfully it can’t get through the door, the Men of Letters were too careful. Thanks. Can be a real son of a bitch when it wants. We haven’t found a way to destroy it yet”.

He nods. Not even he is aware of a way to accomplish that.

“You staying for dinner?”

He doesn’t need to eat of course, but he will admit that Dean is a good cook.

“Since I’m already here...”

Day 40

He’s back at the bunker again. Dean, Sam and Cas are preparing to go on a hunt and he has nothing better to do, so he tags along.

No one says anything against it when he gets into the Impala. The backseat; he doesn’t feel like fighting over riding shotgun today.

“Do you have credentials?” Dean asks when they’re half way to Iowa.

“Sure” he replies. He’s always made certain that he can get in wherever he needs to be.

“Alright then, you can take the locals.”

His badge works like a charm. The little old lady at the reception of the police station even flirts with him a little, which surprises him because it’s easy to tell she has the kind of soul that should have flinched away from him subconsciously.

There’s a reason some people never meet demons. Self-preservation is a powerful instinct, which Mrs. Grover seems to lack.

He shrugs and moves on.

It turns out to be an easy salt-and-burn, but he still hangs around because he’s got nothing else to do and at least the boys are fun.

He drives back with them to the bunker too.

And only when the case is well and truly over and he’s said his goodbyes does he stop and think and realize he just went on a hunt with no other reason than he could.

Day 70

He’s had to put the basilisk’s egg away too more times in the mean time. They thing is growing annoying; he’s less and less disposed to deal with it, but it would be far more troublesome to force the boys to use the gloves and pliers all the time.

Is it just his imagination or is it growing warmer, too? He should perhaps do some research; not that it melts its box one day. Then they’d really have a problem.

“Ah, Crowley. Great, you can help me out. What does this phrase mean?” Sam, who he’s materialized in front of, asks.

“The bone of the unborn” he reads. “I am assuming you didn’t know that babies having died during their birth was an ingredient, Moose?”

“Who is using babies as an ingredient now?” Dean asks, stepping into the library.

“Hey Crowley, didn’t expect you back so soon”.

He doesn’t sound annoyed, and really, it’s been a while since he visited them last...

A whole of three days, he suddenly realizes.

Oh well.

There’s so much time on his hand these days, and Dean just got a football for the bunker.

Day 90

He appears in the bunker’s shooting range and watches Cas fire another round.

“Bulls-eye, Feathers”.

Cas rears around, gun in his hands.

Crowley raises an eyebrow.

“That won’t work on me, I’m afraid”.

The former angel relaxes.

“Crowley”.

“Thought I’d drop in, see how you were getting by”.

Neither of them mentions he only stopped for dinner yesterday.

“Also, I put the egg back into the box... You should really look into that, it’s getting hotter”.

“Hotter?”

“Yes”.

Cas tilts his head to the side and studies him and for the first time in a long time, he can’t tell what he’s thinking.

He doesn’t tell him about the curious revulsion he feels that’s getting stronger every time he has to face the egg. Must be his imagination. And that look on his face makes him uncomfortable enough.  

Day 120

“Crowley” Dean says when they’re about to retire and he’s getting ready to say his goodbye and return to the luxurious hotel he’s currently staying in.

“We cleared this one” he points to a door, “But no loud music between the hours of two and eight am”.

And with that they leave him to... get acquainted with his own room.

Alright then.

It’s plain, simple, comfortable. Nothing like the hotel where he has room service and a huge flat screen.

He moves in immediately.

That night, the egg comes crashing down again.

He could swear it’s a few degrees hotter than the last time.  

Day 130

“Crowley. Did you bring a hell hound into the bunker?” Dean asks at breakfast. “Because I could have sworn something licked my hand in the war room.”

“Of course. You know her. Juliet.”

“Juliet... Alright, but why?”

“You gave me a room. I can’t let my girl camp outside when I have a room.”

“Your – you know what, just tell her no chewing on anything, and she’s not allowed on the couch”.  

Day 150

He can find nothing that would explain why the egg is becoming hotter every time he picks it up, but at least Cassie knows so someone’s keeping an eye on it when he’s not around.

Not that he’s gone so often. After all, they gave him a room, he might as well use it.

“Good morning – oh, Sheriff Mills. Girls”.

The sheriff looks quite well. Their date certainly did her no harm, he hopes, somewhat taken aback at his own reaction.

From what he can remember of his human life, he’s experiencing something almost like shame.

Before anyone can stop her, the one he thinks is called Claire Novak, Cas’ vessel’s daughter, marches up to him and punches him in the face.

She’s pretty strong for her age.

“Claire!” Jody calls out, clearly worried, and the others quickly move behind her.

Dean seems to be a bit conflicted as to who to shield against whom. It’s almost... touching.

The last thing he wants to do on this fine morning is provoke a fight though, especially since he’s pretty sure he’ll have to deal with the damn egg again soon.

And he did try to kill her, after all.

“I suppose I deserved that” he says mildly.

He ignores Sam’s incredulous stare.

Day 200

The egg’s almost too hot to hold now, but he can’t find a single reason in lore why it should be.

“Crowley, we’ve got a case!” Dean calls out.

He moves to find him in the hallway.

“I’m worried about the egg” he says.

“Cas told us. Don’t worry, we strengthened both the box and the door” Dean says.

He can’t feel any enhanced protection, but Dean knows what he’s talking about.

He shrugs his shoulders and forgets about it.

Day 250

“You can trust anyone in this room” Dean tells the other hunters they met on their newest case.

Of course they immediately look at Crowley. His time on the throne is still well remembered, it seems.

“I don’t know...” the woman begins, slowly. “After all you did, working with a demon...”

Dean snorts.

“Come on guys, do you really think he’d be a member of our team if we didn’t trust him?”

Talking is suddenly difficult.

It’s a strange thing to have, the trust of others.

Day 300

He can actually sleep when he puts his mind to it, and it’s a pleasant way to pass the night. Otherwise, he just waits for the boys to wake up or corrects the mistakes in the Men of Letter’s library or takes Juliet on a walk.

Even the others have got used to having to wake him for breakfast, although they were a little weirded out at the beginning (it’s not his fault he doesn’t need to breathe, and he told himself he wasn’t feeling bad when Dean came to get him and thought he was dead for a second).

So, when a crash wakes him up, he blinks and groans realizing it’s the stupid egg again. Juliet sniffles at the foot of his bed.

He just hopes it didn’t wake up anyone else. Dean is just getting used to a regular sleep schedule, and Cas still has problems drifting off now and then.

Definitely uncomfortably hot now.

Day 365

It’s been a pretty relaxing week – Sheriff Mills even came to visit and was civil to him – and he sighs when he hears the tell-tale thump from the library.

For some reason, he feels Cas’ eyes follow him as he leaves the room.

Also, he really dreads dealing with the egg, now. He must be growing soft after all

 Even without Cas’ text, he would know.

After he told them of Crowley’s worry about the egg, they did their research and there is only one explanation why someone would think the thing was too hot to touch.

And to be fair, he hasn’t considered the demon pure evil since...

Point is, Dean has been waiting for this for a while, so the crash and the curse coming from the store room don’t bother him.

Neither does the sight of Crowley, staring at his burned hand with a shocked expression on his face.

Dean picks up the gloves and the pliers and puts the egg away.

“Don’t touch it just like that again”.

He lightly touches his shoulder.

“Come on, you need that taken care of”.

From their own experience, he knows the burn will be a bitch.

As they walk towards the war room Dean says, “Being good isn’t that bad, you know”.

Crowley doesn’t say anything, but from the corner of his eye, Dean can see a small, pleased smile on his face.  

[analogguyinadigitalage]

Minimalism...

“The things we own ending up owning us.” Tyler Durden in Fight Club

     I am a firm believer in the old adage: when the student is ready the teacher will appear. The teacher can appear in the form of a person, a book, a song, a documentary, a film, or a chance encounter. Some would call this divine intervention, fate, karma, or life teaching us lessons. Whatever you wish to call it, there is no hiding the fact we sometimes are tapped on the shoulder by some life force to show us a different perspective. 

     Recently by accident I happened upon a documentary on Netflix called The Minimalists. While watching it I had an a ha moment in my life. The documentary is about two thirty something best friends who, realizing they have dream jobs, six figure incomes, huge houses, and huge debt and are living what most consider the American dream, decide to walk away from it all by becoming minimalists. When I first heard the term minimalist, I thought, hmm what’s this some guy living in a tent? In reality however it means living within your means without a lot of junk to clutter up your life giving you more time to focus on the really important things in your life.

     Everything they talked about in the documentary rang true to me. Here’s where the teacher/student adage mentioned above comes in! The most important message I got was to explore this lifestyle and the innovative ideas these two bright young men discovered and were living. They were clearly “walking the walk.” Minimalism is not a one size fits all, cookie cutter recipe, so I decided to explore a bit more. Being a reader, I discovered they had published two books, so I jumped on Amazon and ordered them both. 

     While I awaited the arrival of the books, I began thinking about some of the  messages in the documentary. I began asking myself questions about the things I had acquired over the years and what purpose they served then and now in my life. My eyes opened. I started with my closets, and embarrassingly found myself filling seven 30 gallon trash bags with clothes I no longer used or wore! Talk about an eye opener! Realizing I had shirts, pants, and coats which I hadn’t worn in years got my head wrapped around just how much “stuff” I had accumulated to clutter up my life. 

     And so after a few trips to the local clothing donation box, I felt a twofold satisfaction, first I was actually going to help someone who possibly had no clothes, and second I was un-cluttering my life. This was just the tip of the iceberg. I mean does one man really need fifty baseball caps? I’m a single guy who lives alone, could I possibly need 25 coffee mugs? Probably not. Questions I would ask myself again and again as I started to un-clutter my very cluttered life. 

     In a few days, the books arrived and I flew through the first one in no time knowing I would read it again and again, and savored the second to read slowly and digest the thoughts and ideas. While this was going on, I began the slow and laborious process of going through my house room by room, cabinet by cabinet, drawer by drawer and cleaning house literally and figuratively. To my amazement, it got easier the more the momentum was gained with each discarded item. 

     But what was I going to do with all this “stuff” I didn’t need anymore? I mean the clothes were easy I donated them to a local clothing bank. The idea hit me to have a tag sale and sell things I was no longer using. Items I felt at some point in my life that I just had to have to be happy, content, satisfied. The tag sale would help me un-clutter my life and any money I made would go directly to paying off debt.

     And so with each item I picked up, I asked myself three questions; had I used it in the last 90 days? Would I use it in the next 90 days? And if the answer to both of those were no, then I would ask myself the all important question, did the item add any value to my life? Realizing some were sentimental items this question became very tricky. Yes they were sentimental items, but did they add any value? This one question above all is without a doubt the hardest I had to ask and answer when cleaning house. 

     I heard a voice from the documentary and the book which basically said, our experiences are with each other, not with inanimate objects. Wow! Talk about a cultural shift in beliefs! As I began to ponder this posit, it meant letting go of an old tried and true belief I had which was I must hold onto “things” in order to have a relationship with the person who gave it to me. So if I threw out the cracked coffee cup someone gave me five years ago sitting on the shelf covered in dust did that mean I didn’t have a relationship or experience with that person? Hell no! It was a dusty, inanimate object cluttering up my life. It was my belief system that was holding me back. My belief that in order to hold onto or keep a bond with someone required me to keep items they had given me was ludicrous to say the least. 

     Let me pause here and say I’m not advocating throwing out any/all sentimental items if they serve a purpose. I kept family pictures and items which were sentimental AND served a purpose. A beautiful clock adorns my bookcase which was a gift from my godfather. It has sentimental value and it serves a very utilitarian purpose. It’s the bric a brac and stuff I never looked at, let alone used that I deep sixed! Over the years I had confused adding value with sentimentality. I found items stuffed on shelves in the back room in the back of bookcases which I couldn’t honestly recall had been gifts, or if I had purchased them at some point in my life. Realizing I had moved those “important items” from the front room to the back room to make more room in the front room for more “important items” was a sign it was time to get rid of stuff. It’s a vicious cycle of not being able to let go of anything because I was associating more pain of throwing the item out than I was pleasure of having an un-cluttered life. Each sentimental item I picked up made me realize that my experiences with the person who gave it to me existed in my mind NOT in the physical thing in my hand which I hadn’t looked at or used for years. My experiences with friends and people I love will forever be etched into my mind and I don’t need an item stuffed into the back of a closet to enable me to enjoy those experiences or remind me of them.

     I’m sitting in my living room looking at six big plastic tubs filled with stuff, next to them are six cardboard boxes of books, and next to them are another five large cardboard boxes filled with more stuff. These items are lined ten feet into my living room from my front door and these don’t count the things I can’t fit into boxes! There’s hat racks, a desk, several chairs, paintings I’ve taken down from the cluttered walls to name a few. How did I ever accumulate so much stuff I ask myself? I’m a single guy who lives alone in an 1100 square foot house and yet I have all of this stuff packed up and ready to sell and in all honesty it looks as if I’m getting ready to move out, but my house doesn’t look empty by any means, it looks much more open that’s for sure. 

     The garage is next and it takes me the better part of a day to pull down metal automobila signs, gather tools I haven’t looked at in twenty years, and sort through things I know I’ll never use and that are also collecting dust as the things in the house were. I find brand new “just in case” items still in their packages neatly sealed awaiting the apocalyptic emergency I was sure was going to come when I purchased them. I realize I have purchased many items over the years for a one time use and could have borrowed them from a friend had I just had the foresight to ask rather than run out and buy it as I’ve been conditioned to do all my life. 

     Being a musician means I have LOTS of musical stuff some of which I haven’t touched in years, others which I touch daily and with love and creativity. I ask my three questions and list a bunch of musical equipment for sale online. Keeping just the instruments I know I play and create with, means they add value to my life. Selling instruments that lay under my bed in cases collecting dust gives me great pleasure and hopefully some well needed cash. Luckily, I find a buyer who wants to buy the whole lot, lock stock and barrel! I come home that night and pick up my Martin acoustic guitar and strum a chord and hear the beauty of the space I have created around me both physically and mentally. This guitar is a keeper, it is truly one of my passions. In the days that follow, I find I don’t even miss the instruments that are gone. 

     The tag sale day arrives and it’s taken me nearly four hours to unpack everything, put it on tables, price it and move it outside. For two days I watch stuff go and I feel great about it. The joy of seeing people getting excited about getting a “deal” on my stuff is exhilarating. It was a lot of work, but at the end of the day most of the stuff sold and the stuff that didn’t sell, went to my neighbor who is having a tag sale in another month or so at another location. I couldn’t be happier, she couldn’t be happier. Three boxes full of books were donated to the local library without much fanfare, I simply went there when they were closed and put them by the front door, a gift to the librarian and anyone else who gets to read some of the magnificent books I had already read and was keeping for no good reason. 

     While my house is much emptier than it was, it certainly is not comprised of empty rooms and barren walls. It’s much nicer looking now, much easier to clean and much easier to spot things I no longer need, want or that don’t add value to my life. As I look around I wonder if having so much stuff made me a hoarder. I mean I’m wasn’t ready for A&E to come shoot their show at my house, but the fact sinks in that I had way too much stuff. I was a bit of a hoarder, albeit a very anal retentive, OCD one! 

     The really good news is that in a little over two weeks time I was able to pay down my debt to the tune of $5000 just in selling things I hardly looked at or used! It’s incredible what I was able to do with just the slightest change in my behavioral pattern and belief systems. This journey for me isn’t over, it’s a never ending one. Once the clutter was gone from my physical surroundings which was a very cleansing and liberating experience, it allowed me time and space to focus on what’s really important in my life; relationships, and embracing and following the passions that I have which are music and writing, which have become center stage for me. 

     Relationships that were toxic or relationships in which I wasn’t seeing a mutual sharing of respect needed to be reevaluated and in some cases terminated. One case in point involved someone who I would constantly call to see if they wished to go out to dinner or to spend time together and they always found a convenient excuse not to be able to go, however, when they needed money or a favor, I was the first on their call list. I realized I needed to distance myself from this relationship. While not entirely severing it, it was time for me to take a break from being the one who always initiated contact and invitations. Will it survive? Who knows? What I do know is I know have more free time to dedicate to those relationships where I do get mutual satisfaction. 

     To date I’ve learned some valuable lessons while embracing minimalism: 1. There is a big difference between need and want 2. Most of the things we think we need, we merely want 3. A person can get by without 80% of the things they own 4. Experiences exist with the person NOT the object 5. Sentimentality does not equate to adding value 6. The things we own end up owning us 7. Ask better questions, you’ll get better answers 8. Un-cluttering your life is liberating and cleansing 9. Relationships can be burdensome, get rid of the bad ones 10. New habits and behavior patterns are worth looking into if it leads to positive changes in your life

[englishchinesetranslations]

Whites may be inferior to other races in several critical skills

by Kevin Alfred Strom (pictured)

Free Speech magazine, December 1995

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This publication corrects some typographical errors and omissions which have been present since this article’s first appearance on the Internet in the 1990s. I would also add that the term “separatist” has become, in the intervening years, an opprobrious media smear word almost as frightening to two-legged rabbits as “supremacist.” The word “compound,” referring to someone’s rural house or business or intentional community, is another coöpted word which has been given newly-negative implications.  – K.A.S., January 26, 2009

I RECEIVED an electronic mail message a while back accusing me of being a “White supremacist.” I won’t give the name of the person who wrote me with this comment, even though he left the message, including his name, in a public forum on a computer network that can be accessed by anyone. I won’t give his name because he didn’t give me permission to do so. I had left a message on the computer network, asking everyone who read the message to tune into American Dissident Voices, and giving our latest radio schedule.

This fellow wrote back, without so much as a how-do-you-do, and called me a “White supremacist,” and a few other names that I won’t mention. Well, I’m not a White supremacist. But the fact that this person called me one is illustrative of just how much ignorance and malicious misinformation is out there when it comes to racial matters in general and the ADV program in particular.

My dictionary defines “White supremacy” as “The doctrine arising from the belief that the White race is superior to the Negro race and that the latter must therefore be kept in an inferior economic and social position.” To explain a little further, a White supremacist believes that the different races ought to live together in the same society, and that the Whites ought to rule over the other races. I don’t believe in that idea at all.

I believe that each race or ethnic group within a race, which considers itself to be a separate and distinct people with its own distinctive qualities and values and interests, ought to be free to pursue its destiny with perfect independence and freedom. And I am rational enough to see that when different races are forced to live together in the same society, their interests naturally collide and each group will try to get its way. This always results in one group dominating the others. Sometimes the tables will be turned and a group on the bottom will take control and wreak vengeance on their former oppressors.

But whenever people are forced to live in a multiracial society, there is almost always this situation of conflict and/or supremacy. I also note that force is usually necessary to create a multiracial society, since in nations, neighborhoods and school lunchrooms, human beings naturally gravitate to their own kind. This is a behavioral characteristic that is inborn in us and therefore, we must agree, of value.

No matter how many “integration” laws the criminals in Washington pass, this natural tendency to want to live and work among one’s own kind, this self-segregation if you will, continues to confound the bureaucrats. Left-wing intellectuals regularly wring their hands over the supposedly terrible fact that the races in the United States are nearly as separate now as they were in those supposedly bad old days thirty years ago.

I’m not for White supremacy, Black supremacy, Jewish supremacy, or any other kind of supremacy in a multiracial nation. We’ve taken a multiracial road in America, first with slavery, and now, more than ever, with integration. It has been a disaster for everybody. It ripped America apart once, and, if we let it go on too much longer, it will rip it apart again.

If you must choose a label for me, make it Nationalist or Separatist — not supremacist. Since I am a White American and I care about the future of my people — and I dare you to say that there’s anything wrong with that — I suppose you could call me a White Separatist. I find common ground with separatists and nationalists of other races, though, for they are mostly working for the same thing I am working for — the peaceful and voluntary separation of the races, and true independence and freedom for all peoples.

I find more common ground with Black or American Indian nationalists, for example, than I do with White liberals who want to force us all to mix together to fit their unrealistic dream of world government, or with rich White conservatives who want to force White working people to mix with Blacks and Mexicans because cheap labor increases their “bottom line.” I find no common ground with Whites who think like that!

Now, it may be argued that I would have to use force to separate the races and gain for each the independence and freedom that I desire. Well, our American forefathers had to use a bit of force to gain their independence and freedom from King George III; so, I suppose there is some merit in that line of reasoning. But the separatist idea has a lot going for it that I think makes it one of the most peaceful and non-violent ideologies extant. For one thing, as I’ve already said, people naturally form families, extended families, voluntary associations, and yes, nations and governments, with those with whom they feel a kinship, with those of their own race. So if you took away the implied force of all the so-called “integration” laws we have now, people would just continue to do what they have done naturally for many thousands of years, and 90% of the separation of the races would be done automatically, without a law being passed or a shot being fired.

In addition, large numbers of people, of all races, are already on our side, although they often don’t get to hear the separatist point of view because of certain interest groups that work to keep our books out of the libraries and our programs off the air.

The vast majority of decent White and Black people would prefer that their sons and daughters mate and marry among their own kind. I know this from personal experience, and the marriage statistics bear me out. Though the number of interracial unions has, tragically, increased, it is still a tiny fraction of the total despite the largest and most sustained propaganda drive in history promoting it from our pulpits, newsstands, television, Hollywood, and so-called “music videos.”

Since the majority of people want freedom and independence, and prefer to live under their own government and among their own kind, once we can get our separatist message spread far and wide, the situation may evolve to the point where on one side you’ll have the global elitists and their allies in the media and the bureaucracy who promote world government and multiculturalism — and on the other side you’ll have nearly everybody else. That is why the Anti-Defamation League and the other organizations of subversives and traitors in this country are so desperate to keep American Dissident Voices off the air. They realize that more and more people are wising up to their genocidal plans, and they want to plug the hole in their dike of media lies so that no more truth leaks out.

A lot of the people who are wising up to the genocidal nature of the multicultural agenda are Black people, Black nationalists to be exact. Pondering that fact, I am concerned by the realization that my own people have not measured up to other races in this regard. So I think I will confound my critics again by devoting the rest of this essay to describing, not the superiority, but the inferiority of the White race.

The inferiority of the White race is obvious. Now there are many ways in which we are superior, at least by our own standards. We did put a man on the Moon. We did invent the transistor and the computer and virtually every other technological marvel of this age. Our race has produced men like Shakespeare and Socrates, Pythagoras and Poe, Robert E. Lee and Julius Caesar, Michelangelo and William Shockley. These men and the civilizations that we and our kind have built are worthy and admirable. We deserve to survive. I have devoted a good part of my life to saying that.

But as worthy and admirable as our race may be, by our standards, it must be admitted that there is a higher standard. It is the only objective standard. It is Nature’s standard. As one of the greatest minds of this century, Dr. Revilo Oliver, has stated in his book America’s Decline:

“The only objective criterion of superiority, among human races as among all other species, is biological: the strong survive, the weak perish. The superior race of mankind today is the one that will emerge victorious — whether by its technology or by its fecundity — from the proximate struggle for life on an overcrowded planet.”

In other words, if we succeed in surviving the next few centuries, we can objectively be called superior to those races that do not survive. That’s a big “if.”

White Americans are at present markedly inferior to other races in many crucial survival skills. One such skill is the ability to organize and stand up for the interests of our own race. We are all familiar with the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, the Black Caucus, the Urban League, and many other racial organizations working for what they perceive to be the interests of Black people. Those well-known names are just the tip of the iceberg.

I have before me the standard reference work on organizations in the United States, the Encyclopedia of Associations. Under the category of Black organizations, I find some 300 separate listings, including the Black Book Writers Association, the National Association of Black County Officials, the National Association of Black and Minority Chambers of Commerce, the National Association of Black Veterans, National Association of African-American Students of Law, the Emergency Black Survival Fund, the Black United Fund, the Association of Black Women Historians, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the National Black-Owned Broadcasters Association, the Council for a Black Economic Agenda, the National Association of Black Journalists, etc., etc., etc. I could go on for hours.

Now let’s turn to the page which lists Jewish organizations. Numerically, there are far fewer Jews in the United States than Blacks — but in the Encyclopedia of Associations there are at least 600 Jewish organizations listed. We’ve all heard of the biggies — the B’nai B’rith, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America, etc. But have you heard of the other 5 or 6 hundred? The Jewish Committee on International Affairs, the Jewish Student Press Service, the Coordinating Body of Jewish Organizations, the Jewish Documentation Center, the Association of Jewish Campus Professionals, Association of Jewish Book Publishers, and on and on and on and on . . . .

Now far be it from me to criticize Black or Jewish people for organizing themselves. It is natural and logical for them to do so.

But ask yourselves this question: Do White people have comparable organizations to these, standing up for White American interests? Clearly, we do not. There is no White Press Council, no White Broadcasters Association, no Miss White America beauty contest, etc. If there were, can you imagine the stink that would be raised in the controlled media? In regard to having the will to organize for their own self-interest, White Americans are clearly inferior.

In defense of White Americans, it might be stated that there are some signs of hope. Two such hopeful signs are the organizations producing the ADV radio program and the Free Speech newsletter, and this Web site. It might also be stated that the criminal politicians and the controlled media do everything they can to suppress any effort at White American self-determination. But there is no excuse, really. The existing organizations for White Americans would have to be 10,000 times as large to be comparable to non-White organizations. And they aren’t. American Whites have proven themselves inferior in this crucial survival skill.

Another area of White American inferiority is our gullibility, which at times approaches the supernatural. We seem to have willingly suspended our critical faculties, and believe almost everything we are told.

Here’s one small example from recent history: I was listening to Tom Brokaw pontificate on NBC-TV a while back, and he said that Nelson Mandela was the first Black ruler of South Africa in over 300 years. Now that isn’t true. The truth is that Nelson Mandela is the first Black to rule South Africa ever. Anyone who cares to research the history of South Africa will find it recorded that the White pioneers of that land did not encounter Black tribes until they had pushed to their northern frontiers. Prior to the White settlement there was no nation of South Africa. After the White South Africans had built a civilization there, millions of Blacks willingly immigrated there because of the economic opportunities.

Now the White South Africans have proved their inferiority by abandoning their fair and reasonable program of setting aside separate territories for the various White and Black peoples of that region, called apartheid, and by acquiescing in the turnover of their entire nation to the Communist ANC.

When the controlled media told Americans over the last 30 years right up to today — that Nelson Mandela is a saint, a fighter for human rights and democracy in South Africa — the gullible Americans believed it. This is the same Nelson Mandela who authored the essay “How to be a Good Communist,” the same Nelson Mandela who regularly speaks before huge hammer-and-sickle Communist banners, witnessed by thousands. They tell you that Nelson Mandela is a demigod and a friend of Black people, and they tell you that I am a White supremacist. Well, I have never harmed a hair on the head of a single Black person, yet the controlled media would have you revile me as a so-called “hatemonger.” Whereas Nelson Mandela’s ANC, as has been extensively documented, has killed tens of thousands of Black people in South Africa, because they wouldn’t submit to Communist domination.

One of the main techniques used by the Communist ANC to discipline recalcitrant Blacks is called “necklacing.” In case you don’t know what necklacing is, I will describe it for you. Usually the tendons are cut in the victim’s arms and legs, so that he cannot flee or remove his “necklace.” The necklace is an old tire which has been soaked in gasoline, which is placed over the victim’s head and set on fire. Anyone unfortunate enough to witness a tire fire knows that tires burn slowly and are almost impossible to extinguish. The burning rubber slowly boils and bubbles its way into the victim’s skin. No matter how he rolls or struggles, nothing he does will put out the fire which is literally consuming him. He will die a prolonged and extremely painful death.

Multiply this picture in your mind by several tens of thousands, and you will have a realistic picture of just what a great friend of Black people Nelson Mandela really is. The victims of necklacing were almost all Blacks who opposed the Communist ANC. Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie Mandela, spoke for the ANC when she said, “With our matches and our necklaces we will liberate this country.”

All of these facts about Mandela and the ANC are in the public record. All of them could be found by anyone who wants to find out for himself. But most White Americans believe whatever they are told. The media masters in New York and Hollywood must laugh at our gullibility, at our belief in their picture of Nelson Mandela which is completely at variance with the facts. “We can make the American swine believe anything,” they must roar.

Regular readers of this magazine well know that Nelson Mandela is just one of many things that the media masters lie about. But the point I am trying to make is that most White Americans are very, very gullible. If you told them in a serious voice that the Martians had landed in New Jersey they would believe you. They won’t or can’t check the facts for themselves, and as long as the beer and the football and the girlie magazines keep coming, they apparently don’t care that their country is being stolen from them. Fifty years of lies from the controlled media, and still they believe, still they trust. These characteristics cannot be regarded as boding well for their future survival. They must be counted as more evidence for White inferiority.

But of course, not all White Americans are inferior.

There are more and more of us who are awakening to the fact that we have been used and lied to by the media and the government for our entire lives. And there are millions who may not have figured out the plan in detail, but who are nevertheless aware that something is seriously wrong in this country, who are just awakening to the fact that we have lost control of our nation and our destiny. It is my job — and it is your job too — to awaken those who can be awakened, to educate those who can be educated, to communicate the facts to those who can think for themselves — because in the next American revolution, they will be the only people who count.

[lazyupdates]

Karan Johar or more commonly referred to as KJo, is the man who has played a major role in getting Bollywood to where it is. In fact, for anyone who is watched Hindi films in the 90s will find Bollywood incomplete without Rahul and Anjali’s infamous “cheater” fight from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Kajol’s “Aivai” from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham amongst many other things.

Basically, without Karan Johar, Bollywood would have a completely different feel to it all together. His picture perfect scenes in films like in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with Anjali’s red dupatta and Shah Rukh Khan’s friendship band line have been ingrained in the mind of the audience so much that most of them wish to have their own love story in a similar manner. His projects without a doubt have been more aesthetically sound than his colleagues in the film industry. Not just the lead, but even every supporting actor in the film breathes life. The reason for this being Karan’s impeccable attention to detail. And his talent is not just limited to direction, over the years, Karan Johar has tried his hand at various things like producing, acting, and even costume designing.

So, we take a look at the maestro’s journey from being an assistant director in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to being the mastermind behind Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.

Kara Johar entered the industry as an assistant director working on Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which is considered a landmark in Hindi cinema. Karan Johar mentioned that he considers Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to be the pillar of all love stories during an interview with a leading daily. He said, “After this (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge), a lot of love stories were made but nobody could touch that bar. It is the pillar of love stories. I have a lot of memories of ‘DDLJ’. I started my career from there… It is and will be the largest part of my career. The film with its epic love story and innocence had set the barometer.” Although not a pivotal role, Karan Johar also was seen in the film. He played the role of Shah Rukh Khan’s friend.

Karan Johar made his directorial debut with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai starred Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji in leading roles. The film was a love triangle between the three people set years apart.

The first portion of the film is about their life in college. While the second portion of the film tells the story of a young daughter trying to reunite her dad with his love. Right from his first film, Karan Johar struck gold. The performances, camera work, the music and the story telling, everything was spot on. Anyone who watched the film couldn’t have said that it is the director’s first, mainly because Karan Johar is such natural at the art. And all this work surely didn’t go unnoticed as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai won big at every award show the following year. At the 44th Filmfare Awards, the film managed to bag the Best Film, Best Director (Karan Johar), Best Actor (Shah Rukh Khan), Best Actress (Kajol), Best Supporting Actor (Salman Khan), Best Supporting Actress (Rani Mukerji), Best Art Director (Sharmishta Roy) and Best Screenplay (Karan Johar) awards.

In an interview with a leading portal, Karan Johar spoke about how the idea for the story of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai came about. He said, “It existed in various versions in my mind. I first wrote a story, which was a love triangle between a tomboy, a very pretty looking girl and a slightly insensitive boy but I was not very satisfied with it. So I kept it aside. Then I thought of another plot about a widower and his child. Again, I was not very happy with that and so I kept it aside. Then I started work on a third idea but simply could not get things in place. But, frankly I was not even thinking of making a film. Till Aditya Chopra told me: Don’t be silly, you must make this film. It is a lovely story. It will work. I was worried about the child aspect, whether Shah Rukh would be accepted as a father. But that seems to have worked in my favour. People have loved him in a different kind of role.” The film became a major blockbuster at the box office and received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was also a turning point for Dharma Productions. The film managed to breathe new life into the company which was helmed by Karan Johar’s father Yash Johar.

His next directorial venture was Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham which boasted of a star-studded cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. This film was also produced under the Dharma Productions banner. Like the title suggests the film showed us that in life, there will be moments when we are happy and feel that everything is perfect and there also will be moments where you will hate everything. But, life goes on. With Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Karan Johar just didn’t rely on the big star cast to carry the film to success. The fine writing, excellent direction were equally if not more important for the film’s success. Every Karan Johar is always so full of life and with features so subtle that you don’t even realise that how it is influencing you. Like Rani Mukerji’s character’s unrequited love with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s chatterbox character… they stay with you. The film became Karan’s second major blockbuster at the box-office and received mostly positive reviews from critics.

After Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Karan Johar took a five year long break before he directed a film again. In the meanwhile, he also began focusing on growing Dharma Productions as a brand by producing films like Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and Kaal (2005).

In 2006, we saw his next directorial venture Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna hit the screens. The film dealt with the controversial subject of marital infidelity of people set in the backdrop of New York city. In the film, we see Dev (Shah Rukh Khan) who is always ignored by his wife, Rhea (Preity Zinta) as she is too involved in her work and Maya (Rani Mukerji) who just never happened to love her husband Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan) have an affair. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was not only a success at the Indian box office but also did phenomenally well abroad. It was also screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The script which was co-written by Karan Johar received recognition by a number of critics and was invited to be included in the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In his biography, An unsuitable boy, Karan Johar spoke about what made him take such a risk with this film since Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was based on infidelity, something that our society didn’t even speak about openly at that time. He wrote, “I wanted to be very modern about it because there was so much talk about marriage being a crumbling institution and how divorce was the new marriage and infidelity was a part of every home. I experienced it around me, with friends, with family. At the time when it released, a lot of scenes in the film were, I realized, uncomfortable viewing for many couples. I remember a couple came up to me and said, ‘If my wife says she liked it, I would say why did you like it? Similarly, if I say I liked it, she’d say what did you like about it?’”

He even mentioned that all the actors in the film except Abhishek Bachchan, had doubts for their character during the shoot of their film as well. For example, Rani would say, “Arre, give me one scene to justify my behaviour… Itna achcha husband hai. Main kyun affair karoon?’. Getting Bollywood’s lover boy to cheat in a film is a risky move. This feeling was shared by Shah Rukh Khan as well which is why during shooting he said things like, “I can’t do this. What is this nonsense!”

He also mentioned that the audience couldn’t get why many things happened in the film. He wrote, “I was so angry. I kept trying to tell people, ‘Can’t sexual chemistry be a reason for people to leave? Maybe she wasn’t aroused by him. He may have been a great guy but she was not turned on by him. She found a crabby, crotchety, angry man attractive.”

His fourth directorial venture was My Name is Khan, which also marked his fourth collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan and his third with Kajol. The plot of the film revolves around a Muslim suffering from Aspergers syndrome. He is living a happy and normal life in the United States of America until the dreaded 9/11 takes place. After which, the entire country begins treating Muslims badly. His wife even loses her son as he was killed by his classmates only because his mother was married to a Muslim. So, he decides to take matters into his own hands and decides that he will personally go the President of United States and tell him that, “My Name Is Khan and I’m not a terrorist.” This is obviously easier said than done, since meeting one of the most powerful men in the world isn’t a cakewalk for sure. Shah Rukh Khan was so convincing in playing the part that you actually buy into the idea that this guy will stop at nothing to fulfil the promise he made to his wife.

Most of the people never agree when they could have done something better even when they know it themselves. But, as you might have guessed by now, Karan Johar is not one of them. During an interview with Filmfare, Karan was asked if he would like to change anything in the film. To which he replied by saying, “Har film jab bant jaati hai, to ek evaluation ka mauka mil jata hai. Hum use film ke bare mein sochte hain ki kya sahi tha aur kya galat. In all my films I find some flaws. Like there was a section of hurricane in My Name Is Khan which I feel directorially I didn’t handle nicely. Which was my mistake. If I have to go back in 2009 when we were making My Name Is Khan, I would have shot perhaps those fifteen minutes differently. Apart from that, I have to say I’m very proud of that film, I’m proud of communication of that film, I’m proud of the context of the film was made for. More than anything else, I’m proud of Rizwan Khan, which Shah Rukh Khan did. I’m very greatful to Shibani Bhathija who wrote that film for me.”

Next up for Karan Johar was Student Of The Year (2012). This was the first film in which he didn’t cast Shah Rukh Khan. Also the first film in which three of the main characters of his film were making their debut. The plot of the film revolved around three friends who are fighting for the title of Student Of The Year in their college. The film was a moderate success at the box-office and received mixed reviews from the critics.

Karan also teamed up Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, and Dibakar Banerjee for Bombay Talkies (2013), a film that celebrated the century of Hindi cinema by collaborating some of the best talents in the business at the time. The plot of Johar’s film followed a magazine editor (Rani Mukerji) who discovers that her husband (Randeep Hooda) is gay after an interaction with an intern at her office (Saqib Saleem). The film did not perform very well at the box office but earned positive reviews from critics.

His next and also the last film he directed was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) which starred Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Fawad Khan in leading roles. The film gained positive reviews from the critics and also went on to be a success at the box-office.

Not just directing, Karan Johar has also tried his hands at acting. He made his full-fledged acting debut with Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet (2015) which also starred Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. Although, the film failed to impress the viewers, Karan earned some appreciation for his performance. A leading critic commented, “The only consolation in the film is Karan Johar who brings a lot of dignity to the character of Khambatta… which is commendable since this is totally outside his comfort space.”

Karan Johar has also worked as a costume designer in many of Shah Rukh Khan’s films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Duplicate (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Om Shanti Om (2007).

Besides becoming one of the most renowned directors in the film industry, the biggest achievement of Karan Johar has to be the way he’s carried forward the legacy of Dharma. After the death of his father, the entire responsibility of the company fell upon his shoulders. While many would crumble under the burden, it made Karan even more stronger and determined to take Dharma to the position they are at today.

So, on his birthday we thank him for all the contributions to the film industry and hope that we get to see many more of his films in the future.

The post Birthday special: Karan Joharâs magical journey in Bollywood appeared first on Lazy Updates.