That's some horrifyingly beautiful shit right there

======================================
A Phoe Gyi

Where our deepest fears roam
Shall we, together, go;
And bloodless hand in bloodless hand
Our darkest fortunes know?
Shall we be ourselves for once,
My creature of the night?
Shall we tell the truth by candlelight?

Chain our souls to borrowed time,
Defy the gods above,
And leap into a river of souls,
Shall we, together, love?
Shall we summon an army
To strike our enemy?
Shall we call forth demons, thee and me?
======================================

 Dota 2 x Penny Dreadful

Monophobia 1 : Legacy

========================================
Legacy

Why do these keep coming back, Mummy?
Why won't they leave me alone?
There's a ton of things that I've gotta do
And the King of the World is on the phone!

I've had too many a heartbreak, Mummy,
And it's been a very long day;
It was hard to believe the numb machines
But I think I'm going their way.

I thought you'd touched my forehead, Mummy,
And I reached out to hold your hand
But your hand just changed to fairy tales
And you, to dreamland.

Mummy, it's a whole new world away,
But I've told the boys around here
That my Mummy is precious, and ferocious too,
And they've Heaven and Hell to fear.
========================================

There's Doctor Who, Pikachu, Batman, Runescape, Durgapur and CMI behind this poem. Don't ask.

Identity 3 : The Hidden

==========================================

The Hidden

At the stroke of midnight

The weary flee the floors;

Pride holds back the dreams you had

That follow out the doors.

Games are played and names are changed,

And three old childhood friends

Give way to newer meanings that

See them to their ends.

I will find a little place,

A small world of my own --

And there I'll seek the peace that comes

To those that weep and mourn!

But far and few, the fresh and new

Will see me dancing on:

In steps and swirls and risky whirls,

Braving dusk and dawn.

==========================================

Tiny Poem 9

The scars of battle,
All over you and all over me,
Are sacred bonds.

Inspired by Criminal Minds Season 7 Episode 18 : "Foundation".

Grief Wins Today

The good news came just now. Two of our Voices Co-ordinators, Shreya and Oishee, have scored over 97% in the CBSE XII exams of this year, and I saw them both on TV. I heard Oishee mentioning Voices, too. The news makes me very happy, and is a proud moment for everyone at The Statesman Voices.

Now, let me go back a few hours. A classmate of mine called to inform me that another classmate, Medha, was in a road accident this morning and died there on the spot, along with her mother and grandmother. Her father and brother were taken to a hospital, where her brother also expired. Her elder sister stays elsewhere, and at this time probably doesn't know yet. Calls have been flying back and forth since then. I myself have called another friend and a teacher. The news has reached both schools: ours and her brother's. All friends are in tears. I myself cried. Medha's boyfriend is in shock. The friend who gave me the news had to get the confirmation of this horrific news from a stranger who answered Medha's phone. I hear her body was shown on TV. I ponder about how a whole life was whisked away in a moment, and I reminisce about our times together. I try to reconcile with the truth, and I mourn.

Perhaps, emotion is less about its quality or reason, and more about its strength and the impact it makes on us. This is the first time in my life that positive and negative emotions have overlapped so very closely. I have realised more clearly than ever that most of the impact they had on me were of the same kind: differing only in strength. Comparing the exam results and Medha's untimely passing, I find that the feeling is eerily the same, differing only in its magnitude. It is a feeling that disorients every normal idea about contradicting emotions. As I write this, I am grovelling in a haunting depression. And as I typed that last sentence, the battle inside me was over. Today would be marked by many events, but for me Medha's death would be the most prominent. My pride at the achievements of my friends, which on any other day would have given me cause for immense jubiliation, takes the back seat today in the presence of prior grief and shock.

I'm not crying anymore, but I can feel that I can smile and laugh less. At the same time I also know that it is more important to console the living, who have faced this loss. I also know, though I don't like to admit it, that life will go on, and I, like everyone else, will move on and push this backwards in memory. The mourning on Facebook, this post, and others like it, will be relegated to archives and history. However, for now, I find it difficult to take full breaths. I'm remembering in flashes things that we did together: how we teased Medha about her indecisiveness; how she, on the last school day before vacations, shouted at us to stop worrying about our studies, how she treated some of us to delicious chocolate a few months ago. These things would ordinarily be forgotten, as new memories would take their place. But now that the person herself is gone, we hold on to these for dear life, and remember them forever. People speak of the souls of the dead haunting us, and skeptics cite logical explanations to counter their arguments. Perhaps, the things that haunt us, after the death of a loved one, are but manifestations of our memory of them, twisted into fearsome things by our grief-ridden minds. Perhaps, the haunting feeling just means, that even in certainty, we are repulsed by the truth. 

I hurriedly made something, to honour Medha, though I don't know anymore how much it could mean. 

IN FOND MEMORY OF MEDHA RAY.

From My Watchlist --Lie To Me

Lie To Me is premiering on Indian television, at 10 pm on Mon-Fri on Star World. The first two seasons are being shown in succession. It is centred around Dr. Cal Lightman, who is originally English and through extensive research has learnt to read human expressions and draw conclusions from them almost flawlessly. He runs a D.C.-based firm, called The Lightman Group, of deception experts, with Dr. Gillian Foster, a skilled psychologist, as his business partner and prime associate. An important employee of the firm is a young Ivy Leaguer called Eli Loker, who, in addition to taking part in the firm's investigative commissions, also runs their research lab on human behaviour. Ria Torres, a former TSA recruit with an exceptional record of 97% correct arrests, was picked up by Lightman & Foster from her airport job when they came to know of her natural talent for spotting lies. The rest of the firm consists of all kinds of professionals, from software operators to accountants, who usually do not get more importance than the required unnamed appearances.
The firm usually assists different levels of law enforcement, orgnisations, and even individuals, in completing investigations and solving various kinds of problems that involve deception and human psychology.
Lightman as a person borders on an anti-hero personality, as he does not care for the law when it comes in the way of the truth. We see suggestions of a rather shady past he seems to have had, and his personal life is evidently no smooth rink, with a problematic ex-wife who doesn't approve of his way of studying her always, and different women, with none of whom does it ever work out. Dr. Foster went through a divorce in the course of the show after she found out her reporter husband to be leading a double life as a drug addict. She too has been seen with different men since then, and till date none of those, too, have ever looked promising. There seems to be some sparks between the two of them, but we've not seen anything conclusive yet. I, for one, am all for it.
Lightman shares a sweet relationship with his daughter Emily, a 16-year-old, who has her share of a high-schooler's troubles. She is quite patronizing on him at times, and at other times she gets into trouble trying to lie to her dad. Not much is known about Loker's private life, except for the occasional date. It is known though, that Torres faced physical abuse from her father in her younger years, and she had to get a plastic surgery done on her nose to fix an injury inflicted by him. She has a half-sister, who was reconciled with her in a recent episode, and with her assistance is back into the mainstream from juvenile detention.
There is also FBI agent Benjamin Reynolds, who is their resident agent and has to assist them on all law enforcement cases as part of the firm's retainer contract with the FBI.
The personal lives of the experts and their families and friends are often interweaved with the cases, and many cases come to the Group through them; these are usually those cases where the Group acts without a specific client and without expecting profit, though they usually are rewarded handsomely when they solve these cases.
The show is a bit slower compared to most crime fiction, however most of the one-hour episodes deal with two parallel cases, and it quite compensates for the lack in pace. The show has immense potential, as the scientific methods that the Group is shown to follow are applicable in real life.
I personally have learnt a pretty amount of face-reading from the show, and it helps in daily life. Also, the show is different from others, as it deals with a third party, non-government group of people who assist American law.
In the photo above, from left to right, Foster, Lightman, Loker and Torres.

From My Watchlist --Criminal Minds

News of previous series item: Glee Season 1 ends with the Clubbers going to Regionals. Slot will be replaced by Ugly Betty Final Season. Now for the topic on hand.

Criminal Minds is an FBI police procedural crime drama, that deals with the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI, based in Virginia. Their job is to analyse the psychological status of criminals to determine their next exploit and eventually facilitate their arrest. However, many cases have had twisted outcomes, surprising to both sides of the television screen, which leave no room for the offender(s) to be brought to justice.

Once again, I shall not go into details of character and plot, as it is available on http://www.starworld.in/shows.aspx?sid=54.

The show is fast-paced, and they usually have very less time to correctly identify and profile the Unknown Subject or 'UNSUB'; more so because most of their cases deal with extreme crimes which are intellectually challenging to solve. Though a lot of the show consists of fast-paced reasoning in rooms full of white boards and paper, there is enough action and SWAT break-ins to keep the action-loving viewer at the edge of the seat. The out-of-the-box idea, of portraying the psychological analysts of crime, itself is a huge quality of the show. As the wikipedia page puts it, it's specialty is in 'focusing on the criminal rather than the crime itself.'

Episodes usually begin with a preview of the crime or its effects, usually without revealing much information; or with a Virginia HQ scene where they are alerted about the case. Alternately, sometimes the agents going about their daily lives get news of them being called in. Usually after this they are shown in the team's jet or cars, travelling to the crime scene. Each episode typically begins and ends with a saying relevant to the case. The cases, being psychologically intense, are often high on emotion for both the team and the viewers.

Though every episode can be treated as a stand-alone case, a timeline runs in the background, with people coming and going, and the lives of the agents changing. Some intermittent episodes or parts are dedicated to situations in their lives, and these show forth the individual sides of the agents. Sometimes difficult personal situations run for a long time in the background, even involving the team at times, as in the case of Agent Hotchner's enmity with Foyet that leads to his stabbing and his wife's murder; finally Foyet is killed by Hotchner, in a dramatic ending to the murder episode. On the whole, it is fun to follow the workings and lives of the team.

The agents are all portrayed as quick, talented and witty, and the camaraderie within the team is enjoyable. The games and jokes of relaxed moments add to the flavour of the show. There are emotional moments after a success, when they talk about the consequences of their work, and come out of their professional seriousness to look at the last case emotionally and philosophically; and when they receive gratitude from all those benefited by their work.

I was introduced to the show in its fifth season, but I fell in instant love with it, and it was not only about my general love for crime drama. I love the intellectual challenge, the action, the emotion, and the people in the BAU--all of them. I would recommend it to all lovers of crime drama, wit and excitement, as until the screen blacks out after the end of the episode, I'm sure you won't be able to think of anything else. The ending will surely serve to leave a strong mark on your thinking side, and you will ponder over its relevance in real life for a long time after the show, just as I did.

The Season 5 2h finale airs on Star World @ 10 pm IST. The slot will be replaced by another crime drama, the Emmy-nominated Bones Season 5.
A/N: This time I took a more systematic view of the topic, with less campaigning for it; partly because I didn't watch it from scratch, and also as this genre enjoys a bigger fan base.

From My Watchlist --Glee

  

Many will know that this show started airing recently and has already brought Emmy and Golden Globe nominations to the people involved and the show itself. It deals with the lives of the students and teachers in the fictitious William McKinley High School in Ohio, especially those involved with the show choir, or 'Glee' club.I won't go into those details about the show which are unnecessary to make my point about recommending it. It is available on Star World's concerned webpage. I'll rather talk about what I think about the show.

There is every student type in it of a typical American high school -- the star footballer with chick-magnet looks, the skinny Cheerio girls with a chastising captain, the slightly chauvinistic second-hottest guy, the gay boy with a difficult crush, the physically challenged geek and the unpopular talent craving stardom. Anyone past adolescence will relate to their feelings and day-to-day, as well as bigger, issues. Even the teacher group is familiar -- the malleable principal, the disadvantaged teacher , the soft-spoken counsellor; even the bullying and the plump ones are there in WMHS.

Yes, to many, it will seem the usual high-school drama with nothing really going on other than relationships. Even to me, it seemed the same initially. However, a few days of relaxed watching told me that the show never lost the ultimate sight of the goal -- that of the WMH Glee Club to come out of obscurity and win Nationals. The constant battle of the clubbers and their coach against the humiliation faced by a disadvantaged group is the underscore in every episode. Hearing themselves called 'homo explosion', a nickname not helped by the fact that they do have a gay member, and getting the school fruit drinks, or 'slushies' thrown in their faces as the standard WMHS mark of disrespect, are part of their daily routine. But the clubbers emerge stronger at the other end of every challenge, which is the clear moral of the whole show. The challenges that the students and teachers face and the way their personal lives affect the Club are intrinsic of any group, and without it the saga would seem unreal. The journey of every member is outlined, and how some of them emerge victorious while some give away to the pressure of being with the cool guys is portrayed very realistically. Depending on the viewer, some characters emerge lovable, and even exemplary, while some are laughing stocks; and others whom we either love to hate, or whom we relate with.

For those like me who shirk away at any hint of drama, read sloppy love stories, please note that it is human nature to amplify the particular topic in any piece, and also we notice more what we hate. If the show is watched with a mature outlook, the lessons that it imparts in determination and individuality will surely gain the prominence in the eyes of any slush-hater, and the viewer will reach out to the clubbers and wish them success. Of course, the show is not for anyone mentally younger than an average adolescent, as the broad reality is not easy to grasp. The songs which sometimes give the teenage students insights into their own lives, or which they sing for one another, are not just good music; they deal with the real impact of music in human lives, and will surely emerge a positive characteristic of the show to any music-lover. Music gives them an outlet for their troubled lives, and they use it to communicate at individual and collective levels, and even to make a point in public or achieve an unrelated goal. It is noteworthy that each of them is talented at their own levels, and, spare a few, they all are more or less leaning towards the ideal, despite their many faults.

Finn Hudson the star boy, for example. He deals with his girlfriend Quinn's situation, only to find the responsibility actually lay with his best friend Noah. Rachel the aspiring diva deals with the teenage craving to be have a popular public life and a satisfying personal one. Mercedes deals with being overweight and risking losing her Cheerio ambition, Artie with his life in a wheelchair, Tina with her false stutter and Kurt... well, watch the show. The teachers too, have their own share of issues. Will Shuester, their in-charge, deals with the hurdles with, leading to estrangement from, his wife Terri; to add to that he has his relationship with Emma Pillsbury and his bitterness with Coach Tanaka. Emma herself has personal problems, while Shue has the incessant rivalry with the bullying and blackmailing Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester, who leaves no stone unturned to devastate him and destroy his club. Every person and situation in the show has its complement in real life. Its closeness to real issues is too much to give it a complete miss.

They still have the goal of Glee Nationals in their hearts, giving them the fuel to cope. Their success at Sectionals takes them one step nearer to it, but it takes them no further with respect to their position in school. For one moment it seems that Mr. Shue has a leg-up over the Cheerios coach, but Sue comes back with a bang. Some mistakes they make and some personal choices endanger the club's already dim chances, and they have their share of infighting. Many keep secrets from others for their own sakes, and the efforts of the Cheerios coach doesn't help. But the love of show choir keeps them together and ready for more. The spirit of love, friendship, and teamwork are strong and are upheld as the ideals in the show. Every high-spirited episode gives them a small one-up on their detractors. There is much more philosophical and intellectual wealth in the show than is obvious at first glance.

Personally, I like watching the show for my love of music and human slice-of-life stories, and for the values upheld that I mentioned. I have reason to believe that for many, it may even have wise advice in it. All of you, who love music, strong people, strong bonds and thought provoking storylines, please patiently watch a few episodes of the show. It will surely change the opinion that you may already have formed, or will form, as your first impression; nay, it may even change your ability to cope with the worse things of life.

Glee airs on Star World at several different timings. Visit aforementioned website for details.