In Som Night (EP)
Listen to it on BandCamp : https://sgathomas.bandcamp.com/album/in-som-night
In Som Night (2019) is second EP from SGA Thomas.
Early 2016
When I was starting to experiment with creating electronic music, I was eager in capturing emotions during my sleepless late night walks that I used to have. ‘In Som Night (EP)’ is a collection of those emotions.
Bright orange street lamps scattering its light against thick fog, chatters and whispers of night that echo through the dense air. A brief pause, a brief rewind, a brief chaos, a brief sigh.
Tracklist:
- Sleepless Nights
- Wandering Among Stars
- Under The Northern Lights
- Noises
- Structuring Chaos
- Lost into Echoes
Composed by SGA Thomas
Under the moral support and guidance from Vigensh.N
Album Art by Indhu Kanth ( https://www.behance.net/indhuinkka14d9 )
All Songs are licensed under Creative Commons – Attribution. You can reuse this music with appropriate credits. For more https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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DHAYALAN (EP)
My Debut EP is out now! Check out the following links for more! 🙂
Band Camp Link:
https://sgathomas.bandcamp.com/album/dhayalan
A crisis.
A gentle wave.
A gentle excitement.
A rediscovery!
This EP is an attempt to capture a portrait of rare weird dreams I used to have.
Track Listing:
1. A Cold Frosty Night
2. Awake and Alive
3. You Know Nothing
4. SPIRAL
5. The Hunt The Blur
6. A Writer Knows
Composed by SGA Thomas;
Under the Moral support and Guidance from Vigensh.N
Samples from:
RasperryTicle:
freesound.org/people/RaspberryTickle/sounds/214160/
TheGhostNetwork 3.14
www.youtube.com/channel/UClk50BlI8bSGPnu34GCX3ow
NASA:
soundcloud.com/nasa
Distorted Room:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NinoScuderi
Album Art Credits:
Photo by Divya
Edited by SGA Thomas
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Twitter: twitter.com/SGAThomas2Gans
Blog: sgathomasofficial.wordpress.com
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Support me via
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All Songs could be downloaded with ‘Name Your Price’ Tag. It simply meand You could pay Zero Dollars or more to download 🙂
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In Som Night #3
For a second, I thought I am making a mistake. Empty streets. We could easily get caught. We should have waited for the peak hours. But then, can’t trust luck. The sooner we leave the city, the sooner we are out of trouble.
For Previous episodes:
InSomNight: #2 Road to Sleepless Night
In Som Night 3:
Void. An endless void. That’s what I could see. I could still smell the fresh paint on the walls. I don’t even know how long I was here.
Calling Bell rang. Went to the door.
It was my uncle.
“What on earth, are you doing here? Do you even have any idea how long we have been searching for you ?”
After a pause, “sil..Silence.” was my reply.
“What?”
“I wanted sil…. I wanted to be alone for sometime “
“Still thinking about the incident? “
I just nodded my head.
“Just don’t think about it anymore…”
“I know. But I can’t help it.”
“Did you speak to your sister?”
“No. I don’t have the courage to meet her..”
“She had a shock when she heard the news. She didn’t even shed tears. We thought she was strong at first, but never knew that it completely broke her inside. She had been thinking about it all the night and the next morning she had slipped to coma.”
“For five days. I know.”
“At-least talk to her over phone.”
“I will. I have to. She is the only one I have left.”
“Ok. Come, Lets go. You aunt was worried about you.”
“About that … I actually wanted to stay here. Just ask the electrician to finish the remaining work.”
“What ?”
“It’s my father’s dream house. I have to finish it.”
A sigh for a second.
A smile for split second, followed his chuckle.
Took a week. The concrete emotional baggage started to shine brightly!
—
For a second, I thought I am making a mistake by leaving the hideout in early morning. Empty streets. We could easily get caught. We should have waited for the peak hours. But then, can’t trust luck. The sooner we leave the city, the sooner we are out of trouble.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Just wear the hood and come out”. She came out.
“Walk relaxed. You should look like you are going for an early morning jog. Just keep your ears open. When I say run, just run with me. Don’t go out of my sight. Got it? “
“Yeah.”
5:30 AM. Cold frosty December.
“Take left. Don’t go for the main routes.”
“Ok. Yeah.”
“You are still not relaxed.”
“I know. Can’t help it. Everyone are looking right at us.”
“No, They aren’t. You are. Just stay calm.”
“Ok.”
Few streets later.
“Wait.”
“What ?”
“Turn back.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Just turn back.”
“What happened?”
“I will tell you later… We need to walk towards that tea shop. I will do the talking.”
“Okay.”
We reached the tea shop. I got a cigarette and a milk packet.
We walked in the same direction.
“I think, someone is following us.”
“I know. Here hold this packet. Take the next left.”
I stayed back. The stranger stopped. I went near him.
“Excuse me… Do you have lighter?”
A swift silent knock.
“He had a gun?”
“I know, That’s his lighter.”
“Why don’t you take it?”
“We should hide in plain sight. Gun in our hands, not a good option.”
“He is not moving. Are you sure that you didn’t kill him?”
“No, Just a powerful knock. 6 hrs max. We should move.”
Written by SGA Thomas
All rights reserved.
© Ganesh.M, 2017.
Rare Finds #1 – Spider Fighting it’s Mirror Image
Rare Finds #1 – Spider Fighting it’s Mirror Image
One fine day, a spider sees itself in a mirror. And boom! Dishum -Dishum.
Do enjoy, share and Subscribe for more !!
Shot using SONY DSC W350
Shot at Tirunelveli, India
Shot and Edited by : SGA Thomas
Rare Finds Theme by SGA Thomas
https://soundcloud.com/s-g-a-thomas-g…
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And do checkout our short films
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Noir – https://youtu.be/K_47RgfzD-k
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Avatar: Cinematographic manifesto of Marxism
Considering the fact that Avatar, the 3D Sci-fi Blockbuster Hollywood movie has stirred a debate across the world, this article tries to bring out key parallels between Marx’s ideas and Avatar.
Obtaining the Pandora’s Unobtanium
Avatar: Cinematographic manifesto of Marxism
Jake Sully:The Sky People have sent us a message… that they can take whatever they want. That no one can stop them. Well, we will send them a message. You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you. You tell the other clans to come. Tell them TorukMacto calls to them! You fly now, with me! My brothers! Sisters! And we will show the Sky People… that they cannot take whatever they want! And that this… this is our land!
As Jean-Luc Comolli and Jean Narboni convey in their essay, “Cinema/Ideology/Criticism,”
“Because every film is part of the economic system it is also a part of the ideological system, for ‘cinema’ and ‘art’ are branches of ideology.”
“The first and largest category comprises those films which are imbued through and through the dominant ideology in pure and unadulterated form, and give no indication that their makers were even aware of the fact. We are not just talking about so-called ‘commercial’ films. The majority of films in all categories is an unconscious instrument of the ideology which produces them.”
Comolli and Narboni’s assertion that each film is reflective of the particular ideology that produces them suggests a connection between how meaning is expressed in a particular film and the nation, region, governance, or industry that it is directly or indirectly affiliated with. Thus, a mainstream film made as a product of industry within a capitalist society, intentionally or not, implicitly or explicitly reflects the dominant values of both that society and its accepted form of governance. Thus, the authors come to the powerful and the inevitable conclusion that, in fact, “All cinema is political.”
Considering the fact that Avatar, the 3D Sci-fi Blockbuster Hollywood movie has stirred a debate across the world, this article tries to bring out key parallels between Marx’s ideas and Avatar.
Ploting the Pandora: (Spoilers ahead)
Avatar takes place in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictitious moon of a far distant planet. On Pandora lives an indigenous people called the Na’vi. The Na’vi inhabitants live peacefully with nature and worship Eywa, a mother goddess. The RDA Corporation from Earth wants to mine a precious mineral on Pandora and appoints Parker Selfridge as head of the operation and Colonel Miles Quaritch as head of private security forces. Selfridge and Quaritch send the handicapped Marine Jake Sully to infiltrate the Na’vi with the use of an “Avatar” identity. During the encounter with Neytiri, the Na’vi chief’s daughter, Jake realizes that the Na’vi way of life is in harmony with the world around them and he finally falls in love with Neytiri. When security forces of the RDA Corporation come to evict the Na’vi from their homeland, Jake betrays his mission. He does not fight for the RDA Corporation any more. Instead he leads the Na’vi to defend their home and their way of life in a war against the greedy humans.
Differences with Cameron’s previous films:
However, noticeable differences between Avatar and Cameron’s other films in terms of their underlying worldview are worth exploring. First, unlike Cameron’s previous films, Avatar explicitlycritiques U.S. foreign policy when it describes the RDA’s military attack against the Na’vi as one of “shock and awe” in which they will fight “terror with terror”.
Second, unlike Cameron’s previous films, Avatar features a classic class struggle beyond national borders. Like Marx, the movie critiques colonialism and imperialism. As Marx (1976) has noted, colonialism is another form of capitalism, capitalists used colonization as a means to achieve primitive accumulation, the “original sin” of capital (p.873).
Drawing the Parallels:
Master – Slave relationship:
Jake Sully: [Narrating] When I was lying in the V.A. hospital with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. I was free. But sooner or later, you always have to wake up.
In the movie Avatar, the main character, Jake Sully, is a pawn in a game much larger than himself. This character, and the relationship that he has with his duty and his commanding officer, exemplifies the master/slave relationship that Hegel promotes. Hegel writes,
“The lord relates himself, mediate to the bondsman through a being [a thing] that is independent, for it is just this which holds the bondsman in bondage; it is his chain from which he could not break free from the struggle, thus proving himself to be dependent, to possess his independence in thing hood. But the lord is the power over this thing” (544).
This quote exemplifies the relationship that Jake Sully has to his commanding officer; he desires his legs and he has promised them if he completes the mission and reports to Quaritch the Marine general. Jake is caught between two worlds; the world that he knows and the world of the unknown; Pandora. While initially Jake accepts the mission since he is promised his legs in return; he begins to love the indigenous people. He comes to find that he can relate better to them and understands their ways better than his own; in essence the truth begins to be revealed to him. Jake reaches his full potential when he realizes that what his race is doing is wrong and fights with the indigenous against his race rather than for his race in the wrong. His race also acts as a master to which he is a slave until he decides to break free and come into his own, to find his true identity.
Jake Sully: Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream.
A similar comparison can be made to this master/slave relationship and that is the correlation between the worker and the capitalist. Karl Marx displays a parallel relationship between the Proletarians [laborers] and the Bourgeois [Capitalists]. In this movie Jake Sully is the laborer or the Proletarian. However, this is not the only example of capitalism. The head scientist, Grace Augustine, that Jake Sully is working for, is a laborer herself. She is in charge of creating a diplomatic solution or peaceful relocation of the Pandora natives. Nevertheless, she answers to Parker, the leader of the entire Pandora operation and he is there for one reason; unobtanium. Marx explains an evolving capitalist society in his work The Communist Manifesto. He explains,
“The modern bourgeois society that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society has not done away with class antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggle in place of the old ones” (657).
As the tension and fight for power increases amongst the characters in the movie the unifying element that brings each of the classes together begins to crumble. At the climax of the movie Jake Sully affiliates himself stronger with the natives than he does with his own race. This change in him creates a glitch in the entire operation. As he grows closer to the tribe, he distances himself from his race more and more. The Marine general, Quaritch assumes the greatest power when he overpowers the attempts at a diplomatic solution. He gains power over Parker and his plan to move the tribe by force becomes a reality.
The Capitalist Commodity:Unobtanium
As previously mentioned the entire driving force behind the operation in Pandora is unobtanium; a commodity. The opinion that Marx holds about Capitalists and their obsession with commodities is prevalent in this film. Marx writes,
“The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere” (659).
The whole reason that the Americans are on Pandora is purely greed. As Parker exhibits in the third scene in the movie, unobtanium is worth more than any earthly substance. Their sole reason for being on Pandora, for assimilating with the natives is for this commodity. Parker additionally gives reference to the stockholders back on earth; he says that they hate bad press, but what they hate more is money lost. These stockholders are essentially the bourgeoisie back on earth, and they are governing the proletarians on Pandora for strict monetary purposes. Marx states in this quote that Capitalists will go anywhere in the world to obtain commodities and to expand the market; this movie exemplifies that the bourgeoisie will not stop on earth. These characters will travel to distant and dangerous planets to obtain the unobtainable; to find even greater riches than can be offered on earth.
Col. Quaritch: Look, Sully, I want you to learn this savages from the inside, I want you to gain their trust. I need to know how to force their cooperation or hammer them hard if they won’t.
Fetishism of Commodity:
Marx elaborates on this relationship between the working class and the capitalist in his work Capital. He further explains,
“The Fetishism of commodities has its origin, as the foregoing analysis has already shown, in the peculiar social character of the labor that produces them” (665).
This essentially means that a commodity is worth more for the labor that it takes to create or obtain it. This facet is also apparent in the movie; the Omaticaya tribe’s village rests on the largest unobtanium deposit on Pandora. This creates an ever greater demand for it because it is even more difficult to obtain. The American invaders are trying to peacefully relocate the natives in order to mine and take the unobtanium. The movie takes place while the attempts at a peaceful relocation are losing steam. Therefore, the relationship between the scientists and marines are growing thin, and tensions are rising.
Col. Quaritch: So since a deal *can’t* be made, I guess things get *real* simple.
[Sarcastically]
Col. Quaritch: I’ll do it with minimal casualties to the indigenous. I’ll drive ’em out with gas first. It’ll be humane. More or less.
Labor Power
Marx states,
“Capital cares nothing for the length of life of labor-power. All that concerns it is simply and solely the maximum of labor-power that can be rendered fluent in a working day. It attains this end by shortening the extent of the laborer’s life, as a greedy farmer snatches increased produce from the soil by robbing it of its fertility” (672).
The Capitalist in the movie Avatar subject Jake Sully to this; they expect him to be able to convince the Omaticaya tribe to move their entire home with a limited amount of time. The irony of it all is that it is unlikely that they even think that it is possible for him to complete this mission, and for that reason they move ahead with plans without Jake completing his mission. The labor-power is based on the risk and power is necessary to obtain a commodity. Marx explains,
“But the value of the labor-power includes the value of the commodities necessary for the reproduction of the worker, or for the keeping up of the working-class” (672).
He further explains,
“The slave-owner buys his laborer as he buys his horse” (672).
Jake Sully is expendable to the Pandora operation. Quaritch explains in the second scene of the movie that not everyone will survive their tour on Pandora. Jake agrees, he is offering up his life for this mission. He is not a Capitalist, he does not have any say in how things are run he is a laborer. As Marx exemplifies all laborers are replaceable no one laborer is better than any other, they are all equal and they are all insignificant.
Jake Sully: [Narrating] I was a stone cold aerial hunter, death from above. Only problem is, you’re not the only one.
The State and Idealogies:
As the movie progresses Althusser’s argument, posed in Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, becomes more relevant. Althusser exemplifies that one can seek to understand ideology by accepting that he or she is merely a subject to ideology. He also gives heed to Marx’s definition of infrastructure and superstructure, both of which are apparent in this film. The two larger parts are the infrastructure and the superstructure; however, what is even more important are the subdivisions within the superstructure which are the State and ideologies. In the film the role of the State is played by the invaders, or the Americans. As Althusser explains,
“the State is explicitly conceived as a repressive apparatus. The State is a ‘machine’ of repression, which enables the ruling classes to ensure their domination over the working-class” (1339).
This domination is exhibited in the Americans structure. Furthermore Althusser explains,
“Repressive suggests that the State Apparatus in question [the State] ‘functions by violence’ at least ultimately” (1341).
The most important element of this quote is that a repressive state is predicated on violence; violence is the dominating factor in differentiating repressive from a non-repressive state.
As previously mentioned Jake Sully makes up the working-class; whereas the Quaritch makes up the Capitalist power; otherwise known as the State. Jake Sully as well as the natives to Pandora are all subjects of the State. The State has power over them, which essentially means that the working-class is functioning in and Ideological State Apparatus that is the State. The working-class, the laborers are the subjects and they are functioning in the ideology that they are subjected to. This ideology is the State, and the power that the State has over the working-class. The minority group or the natives and those that fight for the natives’ freedom are the working-class.
Col. Quaritch: Hey Sully… how does it feel to betray your own race? You think you’re one of them? Time to wake up!
Criticism and Conclusion:
Some have criticized the film on the basis that the Na’vi are only able to win when they are led by Jake, a white man, who arrives to lead them to glory. This criticism is valid to an extent, but Jake does become a Na’vi; the only difference being that he has a deep understanding of both the Na’vi and the humans (and thus best conforms to the guerrilla mantra: know your enemy, know yourself). Also, the fact that Jake identifies with the Na’vi so readily is a way of showing how depraved human imperialist civilization has become.
Jake Sully: The aliens went back to their dying home. Only a few were chosen to stay.
Many other parallels can be drawn. Yet with the above analysis one could clearly see that Avatar is a cinematographic manifesto of Marxism.
Written by S G A Thomas.
7 shows to watch until Game of Thrones Season 7
We all know that as we reach season finale of Game of Thrones, we enter dangerously uncharted waters. The existential crisis of having no more episodes of your favourite show is maddening. So we’ve assembled a few series you may like to check out while waiting for winter, Azor Ahai and season 7 to arrive and chill out a bit.
Read more at: http://www.thefeathers.in/outfocus/2016/06/shows-until-game-of-thrones-7/
Crime does pay
On the tenth anniversary of ‘Pudhupettai,’ a look at other antihero films and what made this one special.
The anti-hero has always been a prominent presence in Tamil cinema, but he usually came with a “but only because.” Sivaji Ganesan, in Andha Naal, took to selling Indian secrets to Japan, but only because his big idea was spurned by the Indian government. Kamal Haasan, in Sigappu Rojakkal, went about killing women, but only because of the women from his childhood, who behaved in ways that turned him against them. Rajinikanth, in Baasha, became a don, but only because a rival don murdered his best friend. There was always an extenuating circumstance, something about the environment, or something other people did, something that made us empathise with – at least understand, if not root for – the protagonist who behaved like an antagonist.
The first film that…
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The Road to GIP
My first time Chennai visit was nothing but an OMR Traffic Jam. And then Dadri occured.
Again Without purpose : The Road to GIP*
THUD, THUNG. SILENCE. A silence that reminded me how this route would be memorable in my life. Not because of the THUD, THUNG. Might be the connection I had with it. All I knew is that there are three routes to Noida* from SNU*. The One that local buses take (via Surajapur), the one that CABS take and the other what DADRI* AUTOs take (over the newly constructed bridge, but eventually it would connect to the bus route). I am more familiar with the Surajpur route than others.
Hailing from a village Surandai*, traffic jam was entirely a new and an irritating moment to me. My first time Chennai* visit was nothing but an OMR Traffic Jam. And then Dadri occured. A pure dystopian. That’s what the silence said to me.
My close friend once told that it is not the destination but the journey. For me it is the opposite.There is only one reason why I loved GIP. The silver lining that GIP gave to that dusty + risky journey.I still remember my first trip to GIP. Being new to both language and the place, I accompanied a pack of 20 guys who were going for a movie. I had only one requirement. Engineering Graphics Equipments and few academic books (which I never used after 1st Year). I spent 6 hrs wandering in GIP without a purpose. People and the ambience. Moments of Nihilism.
Notes To Self: […]Take Left and I will reach my house.
Directions. This what everyone who is new to a place would remember. The same applies to me. I knew how to reach SNU. I knew where Dominos outlets are.I took string of autos to chase my classmate who left me and went for Age of Ultron.
You don’t need Dr.Stephen Strange* to open up your perspective. Visit Dadri during it’s busiest hour. The evening Market. Dadri is not entirely a hell. I had spent an entire day at Dadri (again without purpose). It is its people that defines Dadri. Bargain, Horn, Chit chat, “Aavo sir, Andar baito” (Come and Sit inside the Share Auto). Its true. Silence is an endangered species.
Few threatening moments. After Raanjhanaa *, our auto toppled. I was walking right in the middle of the market a day after a shooting without knowing it. And now this THUD, THUNG. …SILENCE
Written by Ganesh. M
- An Edited piece of the above article was originally written for the limited editon of SNU’s Yearbook for the batch 2012-2016.
Notes:
GIP – thegreatindiaplace.in A Mall in Noida Sector 18 ( http://binged.it/1UwUFxg )
Noida – Noida, short for the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city in India under the management of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority. 28.535180, 77.386240 http://binged.it/1UwSQ3l
SNU – Shiv Nadar university (snu.edu.in) , Greater Noida – http://binged.it/1UwTjTj
Dadri – Dadri is a town city and a municipal board in Gautam Buddha Nagar District in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. ( http://binged.it/1rroaF2 )
Surandai – Surandai is a panchayat town in Tirunelveli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. (http://binged.it/1UwTCgP)
Chennai – Chennai is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ( http://binged.it/1rrofsh )
Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange, best known as Doctor Strange, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. A former neurosurgeon, Strange serves as the Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats.
Raanjhanaa – Raanjhanaa (English: Beloved One) is a 2013 Indian romantic drama film, directed by Anand L. Rai and written by Himanshu Sharma. It stars Dhanush, in his Bollywood debut, Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol in lead roles.
Stalking point
While celebrating ‘Fan’, let’s not forget Kamal Haasan’s ‘Uttama Villain’. Or the fact that these films can be made only in India.
Watching Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan, I kept recalling Kamal Haasan’s Uttama Villain. Both films are not just about the characters these actors play (within the movie) but also about who these actors are – outside these films, and across the films they’ve made in their career. Thus, it’s impossible, if you’ve been following their work over the years, to watch these films as just films. You keep wondering if this scene is a reference to this earlier film, if that moment is a nod to that earlier moment. Both Fan and Uttama Villain cast an unflattering light on the protagonists, who are shown to be narcissistic and self-absorbed. And both films play with the notion of the death of a star. Uttama Villain does…
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Words From An Idiot 