Take one, Descend. Take two, Rise.

Posted on January 12, 2013 by The Nameless One

Run outside. Take a picture of the first thing you see. Run inside. Take a picture of the second thing you see. Write about the connection between these two random objects, people, or scenes.

Today’s daily prompt is one of the most interesting so far, which actually made my lazy ass get up and do something. It is late evening now and I don’t have a great smartphone or camera, and me being a passionate photographer planning to get one soon, this is the best I could do at the moment.

Descend

Just opened my door and this is the first thing I saw. Stairs leading down from my home. This reminded me of one of the most famous rock songs of all time, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I think I should name this Stairway from Heaven, or rather Hell, I don’t really know.

Rise

This is the first thing which is visible after entering my house. Got this as a gift in December ’12 by my secret santa via redditgifts. On my living room wall ever since.

The Connection

Now before I could think of a connection between the two, and write some arbitrary stuff, to my astonishment I didn’t even have to think of anything! The connection is so clear (or I would like to think of it that way). The first image (outside my house) the stairs down. In the title why I preferred descend rather than fall from the epic The Dark Knight, though that did strike my mind first, I just felt we mostly likely fall at one or even more than one point of time in our lives we will fall but to my interpretation here that depicts in life we must get out of our comfort zone (ie our home in this context or any other in general terms) and descend to move ahead. We don’t fall willingly and falling down the stairs is pretty bad too (saying this with a lot of experience)

The second image, the poster of one of the best films made in our history, The Dark Knight Rises, and also my most favourite, is the second ‘stage’ or however you might put it. No matter who or where we are, to succeed we must make effort and Rise. The way back home, the stairs up is also a pretty dam relevant here. And Rise not only in the world, but also within (inside home).

So much connection metaphoric to life in just two simple images I took within 5 minutes following this challenge. Now I’m astonished myself.

Also this is directly the themes of The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, the second and third films of the epic The Dark Knight Trilogy. Another degree of connection.

(Begins). Fall. Rise.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Resolved

Posted on January 9, 2013 by The Nameless One

So as the title says, although I find ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ silly which I said already, it would be hypocritical of me if I say I didn’t think of doing something to make my life better, where I’ll use the old fashion a-picture-says-a-thousand-words thing as given by this week’s photo challenge.

The latest addition to my vast books collection is the (new edition) box set of the universally acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, which is also adapted into the most amazing tv series run on HBO and the best thing on tv (and my most favourite) I spent nearly 2 hours cleaning my entire house just to make some space for this. You can see a lot of Batman and few others in this section too. As I said in my weekly writing challenge post I want to get back into reading more.

What happened now? The Internet that is. Although my indulgence in too many things apart from these two also is, but that is not really a bad thing right? Time to get back into avid reading as I once was and also a balance in life.

And as bonus, let me show you the song of my people. For all the existing fans, here is something which we actually hope the author sees and does something. 😛

Call me Ishmael… I mean Iyer.

Posted on January 5, 2013 by The Nameless One

I’ve got the home stretch all to myself when the readings stop making sense.

I sit at home lazily in front of my laptop typing this, while the above line was said just in a different circumstance (the complete opposite in fact) by one of the most well known person in the world- Bruce Wayne, also known as the (goddamn) Batman. I know what you are thinking, he is one of the most well known and recognized for over 73 years and not even real!

The above line is the opening line of my most favourite and perhaps the worlds greatest graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns. The acclaimed comic book artist and writer Frank Miller (insert legend, not to be loosely used) gave the world this epic work being the first actual dark gritty and serious take on The Caped Crusader. The epic conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises was mainly based on this (apart from a few other story arcs and Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities). The world changed forever with its release and popular culture with it, not restricted to Batman or comics.

When I think of my most favourite book, there are many which comes in mind instantly, some of them which include The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and off recently A Song of Ice and Fire. Dan Brown and Stephen King are also my favourite authors.

But the one which is the epitome of awesomeness is what I mentioned above. I strongly recommend this one to be read, even if you don’t read at all. This being a graphic novel and not just a novel might make it easier in that case. Being a long time Batman fan (and the nice guy which I’m :P) I gifted the same graphic novel to about 8 people in the last 2 years or so. (So yeah if you are nice to me I might give you one too, just saying)

Coming to the title of this post, (honestly if you don’t know it, shame) it does really strike a chord, albeit my post doesn’t have anything to do with it, but in a way it has everything to do with it, as because of it I came up with this, so I had to mention something out of respect. (alright that sounds weird, seriously). Thanks to the daily prompt for this one.

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

I must have read The Dark Knight Returns more times than I can count, must have quoted almost the entire book (because it is so awesome that it is entirely quotable) but never I gave a thought actually on the opening line itself and this actually made me think about it and to my surprise how much it actually reflects my current state in life :O

I wish one day I could also with the same amount of pride say/write:

Call me ~~Ishmael~~ Iyer.

(I just practice doing it now) 😛

Till then I’ll wait to cross one of this things in my bucket list of getting this signed by Frank Miller.

My ~~Absolute Dark Knight~~ preciouss.

Quote Me

Quote

Posted on January 4, 2013 by The Nameless One

Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?

A very interesting question. I have many favourite lines/quotes which I have in mind always and some which come and go at a given instance of time.

These are my most favourite quotes which mean quite a deal to me:

“The Training is Nothing! The Will is Everything! The Will to Act.”

– Ra’s Al Ghul (Batman Begins)

This is perhaps one of my most favourite quotes both at a personal/individual and as a human being. It is well self-explanatory. For achieving anything in life, as an individual or as a group ranging from a society to a nation to as the human species itself.

“To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.”

– Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin’s Creed: Revelations)

This is from one of my most favourite video game franchises, and perhaps resonates with the one I said above.

“Keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs.

What is the most beautiful aspect of [these] is they are stated so beautifully. Now I don’t want to make this into a quotes list, so I’ll end (sort of) here. I know, those who know me well would have been surprised if they didn’t find a Batman reference here 😛

Oh and this one is a recent favourite, from one of the best games of 2012, FAR CRY 3: