Marcus Robbin – Last Hippie Standing

The Legends

“I grew up on the cusp of a chillum and rock music in bell bottoms and a floral shirt. India then was in the throes of change. The seventies were a great time for music, reefers, Marx and Sartre. Like me, many from my generation lived in a psychedelic world of acid rock and Hendrix. Some fell  by the wayside, dead, others crawled out of the cauldron when the party was over to finish college and get married and have children.  Memories of those years were washed away by the surging waters of the monsoon. All I carried was the debris of a lost inheritance, or so I thought, till I encountered Marcus Robbin in a restaurant overlooking the Arabian Sea. The ensuing conversation unhinged the sluice gates and let loose a flood of memories, which overwhelmed me and prompted this interview with Marcus.” 

– Mark Ulyseas

Marcus Robbin, Director and Producer of the film Last Hippie Standing discusses his life and work with Mark Ulyseas

How do you define a Hippie, Marcus?

In the words of Walter (English chap) who has been in Goa since 1972 – A typical hippie is a person who believes in peace, love and freedom. If you want to live outside the system run by the government then you could become a hippie.

Why this fascination with the Hippies?

Around 25 years ago I witnessed my friends going where their parents were going instead of taking time off for reflection on life. You see, many people don’t take time off now instead they continue to stuff their heads with education. Searching for a meaning to life in general does not exist in this generation. I have always felt uncomfortable with mainstream society. The hippie felt so, that’s why I identify myself with them.

And Goa?

I have been travelling to India since 1991 and I always found Goa fascinating. It is a mingling of cultures, unique in India, as it is, for the world. I feel that Goa is a place where there is a meeting of two cultures – East and West. It is nothing else then a disco ashram…the gateway to enter Indian ‘philosophies’ for it is here that there exists a profound background of spirituality.

What inspired you to make this film ?

Sometime ago I had written a script “Vermischung” (Mixing) because I wanted to highlight the interconnection of Europe and Asia on the cultural level; And specifically how places like Goa accelerate this process. It is essential to preserve the knowledge emanating from this fusion of cultures. This was the precursor to LHS.

Have you seen the massive banyan tree at Arambol? It is symbolic of Goa. It feels like the whole world has been sitting under it. Its branches extending metres around are representative of people who have come to Goa and left taking its energy to another part of the Planet (even George Harrison sat under this tree). Last Hippie Standing, the first in a trilogy, demonstrates that Goa is not a place, it is a state of mind.

Did you write the script ? In LHS there are three main protagonists – Cleo Odzer, Swami William and Goa Gill. Could you tell us a bit about them?

No, we didn’t follow a script. I set up a number of interviews and hoped to meet the legendary “Cleo Odzer”, but was not sure we would meet up. Fortunately, she was here and she obliged me by sharing aspects of her life including handing over an invaluable cache of Super 8 film of the hippie era in Goa filmed in the moment! Cleo had different values, different aims and she tried to maintain the hippie values against all odds.

On the one hand she was a fragile person and I felt she could break in the moment. I suspect it was an aspect of protection, maintaining this other world. Cleo was a ‘soft hippie’ – an integral element of the band of Groupies. In March 2001 she was found comatose in a hotel room in Goa and died two days later in hospital… “Sie war die Verkorperungder hippies” – She was the personification of a hippie.

Swami William, I met in a bank while changing money! He was a hippie going into the spiritual and carrying it forward into our time. He has opened a Spiritual Park north of San Francisco and is now known as Swami Chaitanya.

Goa Gill is a cyber-sadhu. He combines the hippie with a guitar on the beach into a new generation ‘Psyhcotrance’.

These hippies reflect a truth that many among us fail or simply refuse to acknowledge.

It is not about the weakness of a single human being, it is the importance of ideals, going new ways as a civilization. There are things in the Wester Western World that are not expected like intuition/emotions.

So where to from here?

I am working on the second part of the trilogy – Global state of Goa, of the mind. It goes away from Goa to portraying the world made in Goa, about the state of the world and it goes back to the idea of the global village, which already has partly materialized in Goa. But I urgently need a producer. This second part of my project is hanging fire at the moment and I hope someone somewhere will come forward to finance the project.

If anyone is interested in producing the second part of the trilogy

please contact at marcusrobbin@yahoo.com
www.lasthippiestanding.de
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Hippie_Standing
www.cultureunplugged.com/play/2357/Last-Hippie-Standing
www.youtube.com/marcusrobbin

2010-2011:
Pre-production for “Last Hippie Standing: Global State of Mind”

2004-2010:
Living, building and farming on Azores Islands

2001-2004:
Studies of German, Literature and History

2001:
Making-Of director for Rajkumar Santoshi’s movie “Lajja” in Mumbai
and Hyderabad / Line Producer for the awarded documentary “Howrah, Howrah” in
Calcutta

1999-2000:
“Last Hippie Standing” in Goa

1997-1999:
Production Coordinator for Wim Wender’s “Road Movies Filmproduktion” in Berlin / Studies of Film Sciences at “Freie Universitaet Berlin”

1996:
Assistant director for Bharathi Raja in Chennai for the movie “Tamil Selvan”

Source: www.liveencounters.net

KEE The Movie - Jeeva in a Techie look

The movie Kee is an upcoming Tamil science fiction psychological thriller film, which is written and directed by Kalees and produced by Michael Rayappan. The film acted by the actor Jiiva in the lead role, while actresses Nikki Galrani and Anaika Soti play the leading female characters. The music composed by Vishal Chandrasekhar.

 

 

Star Casts the film

Audio Launch

Jiiva

Jiiva is an actor, producer, singer, philanthropist, model and a dancer. He acted in the Tamil films. His first lead role in the romantic movie called AasaiAasaiyai, before performed in the film Raam. He has stars many cinemas like Dishyum, E, KattradhuThamizh, and Ko.

Nikki Galrani

Nikki Galrani is an actress, model, and a fashion designer. She works in the Tamil and Malayalam films. She also acted in the Kannada and Telugu films. Her first movies are in the Malayalam language is Vellimoonga and in the Tamil language film is called Darling.

Anaika Soti

Anaika Soti is an actress. She has acted in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. After making her debut movie in the Ram Gopal Varma’s bilingual film called Satya 2, she went on to star in the Tamil period film is known as KaaviyaThalaivan.

RJ Balaji

RJ Balaji is a radio jockey, presenter, comedian and an actor. He is well known as the host of the BIG FM 92.7 show called Take It Easy and its defunct segment Cross Talk. Balaji’s films like TheeyaVelaiSeiyyanumKumaru, Vadacurry, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and Pugazh.

Crew of the film

Well was all set to release on Feb  9 Yet audince need to wait till Feb 28

Kalees (The Director of the film)

Kalees is a Tamil Film Director. The movie Kee is his first debut film in the Tamil language.

S. Michael Rayappan (The Producer of the film)

S. Michael Rayappan is an Indian politician and an incumbent Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from the Radhapuram constituency. He is also a film producer producing the films such as Naadodigal, Goripalayam and Sindhu Samaveli under the Global infotainments banner.

Vishal Chandrasekhar (The Music Director of the film)

Vishal Chandrasekhar is an Indian film score and a soundtrack composer. He has scored the music for Tamil films. Vishal made his music composing debut with the film called Hi Darling.

Meet DIVINE, The Rapper Who Founded Gully Gang

The musician talks about barging into the Indian rap scene and what hip-hop means to him

Who: Vivian Fernandez
Why: A lot has been said and written about him lately, but the young artiste who founded Gully Gang and popularised phrases like ‘boys from the naka’, ‘yeh meraBombay’ and ‘scene kya hain’ is just getting started. Born and brought up in the slums of Andheri, Fernandez barged into a rap scene that was dominated by lyrics about alcohol, drugs and girls…and told his story. That was all it took for people to sit up and take notice. So much so that he was signed to Sony Music India, became the first Indian artiste to have a single released worldwide by Apple Music, and is now the inspiration behind a Zoya Akhtar film, along with his peer Naezy. With his knack for writing hit songs, meticulous flow, electrifying stage presence, authentic lyrics and a down-to-earth, approachable persona, the rapper seems to be built for stardom.

“I started rapping for fun in school; I was never serious about doing it full-time. I saw a guy wearing a 50 Cent T-shirt, and I just wanted to know more. My friend told me about him and gave me a CD which had his and Eminem’s music on it. I listened to that for a year, playing it constantly on my grandmother’s CD player and memorising the words.”

“Everything changed for me when I heard a song by Lecrae. It was gospel rap, and it blew me away that he was rapping, but he was talking about God. I was writing a lot of devotional rhymes as well, because I was living with my grandmother and she would take me to church every single day and I was an altar boy for mass. That’s how the name Divine came about.”

“The main reason I am what I am is because I practically lived alone; my mother and brother both worked abroad ever since my dad left. I would write every day for five hours at a time, and I’d spend days trying to perfect one verse, which I can do in minutes now.”

“My family didn’t support me at first because they weren’t here and didn’t know what I was doing. They saw hip-hop as drugs and bad company. Now that they’ve seen it through my eyes, they’re happy.”

“The evolution of the scene has been amazing to watch. I remember lining up outside clubs for rare hip-hop nights. Now we’re on massive stages playing to audiences of 15,000 people. I think it’s taking off now because regional languages are being embraced. I rap in Hindi because that’s what I grew up hearing in the gullies.”

“The people who built me are still with me and I’m so grateful for them. These are the guys from where I lived and still live, who are in my videos and also behind the camera. They were the ones who pushed me because I didn’t have a family to go home to, and they always stood in the background while I was doing my thing.”

“Getting signed was the highlight of my life because I really needed a win. All my friends had moved abroad or were working in good jobs and I hadn’t finished school or done anything with my life. It happened when I performed Mere Gully Mein with Naezy at Blue Frog; we were the opening act for a Sony artiste. We had just written the song and it was super rough, but a representative from the label heard it and approached me. I luckily had a few songs ready to present, and the rest is history.”

“There’s an audience for everybody and that’s what I love about the game right now. Bollywood rappers play their own role that is different from ours, but neither is less or more than the other. Certain formats are easier to digest than others — after a long day someone may not want to listen to Jungli Sher, so they turn on DJ Wale Babu or Chaar Bottle Vodka.”

“Hip-hop is a lifestyle and you can embody it through dance, by making music or through the console, using any language that comes naturally. Being a fan or a manager or writing about it makes you a part of the movement too. It doesn’t matter how you contribute to the culture as long as you do what feels right to you.”

Credits: www.vervemagazine.in

'Reactive Programming', A new buzzword among techies

The year of 2018 started with the new tech trends that will probably define the next few years of IT industry. A new buzzword among the tech professionals this year is  

‘Reactive Programming’

Reactive programming is basically a model of development that visualizes an application as a series of micro-elements that run in response to a specific event. The term is supposed to be the future of tech industry going forward. Reactive programming approach is not only related to IT processes in an organization but also business processes.

The model of development breaks an application into micro-elements, these elements are running asynchronously. Each element in the reactive programming can be implemented parallel with the other element. The approach focuses on items of work that drive changes in a condition. The consequences of these conditions are related to the other items of work.

Underneath the complex definition of the new buzzword, what lies is the relief from the traditional model of software-drives-worker. Reactive Programming tries to relate to each step of the business task. The whole idea is to let the programmer perform tasks that the business demands. If the task fits into a process of accumulating change, you can continuously update or commit something.


The approach has had a major impact on application design. Instead of sequencing each step, you can create concurrent steps that accumulate to the point where everything that is needed to be done is done. The professional using reactive application performs the business in an optimum way based on conditions. In reactive applications, the outcome is not based on a fixed sequence.

The only threat of reactive programming is that it changes the notion of applications tied to the roles that professionals play. The functional atoms that build the reactive program are themselves the target of support. You still need to have sequences and chain of things in this approach. But these sequences represent effective event source-to-receiver relationships that are mandatory for the change to happen.
The reactive programming approach may seem quite complex to understand at first sight. It also changes the board context of collaboration that traditional workforce is used to. The information-driven sequence flows can help in designing the highly efficient solutions.

Google beta testing brand - New Google Search Console design

Check out these screen shots of the new Google Search Console user interface.



Google is currently testing a new design and user interface for the Google Search Console. The new user interface takes a design look from the revised mobile-friendly testing tool that launched less than a year ago.

It seems Google has been beta testing this new user interface for some time and now is starting to slowly roll this out to some users.

Alan Bleiweiss is part of this beta test and he emailed me several screen shots of the new design and user interface. Here are those screen shots:

Be In the World as a Traveler- Emil Ihsan Alexander Torabi

On the authority of Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (ra), the blessed Messenger of God ﷺ is reported as having stated, “Be in the world as a traveler or a stranger,” [Bukhari]. In this simple statement, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ communicates the essence and summary of the journey of a human being as a traveler or wayfarer from the world of form to that which is beyond.
By learning to live and be as a traveler, as one who realizes that he or she is here but for a limited amount of time and that eternity awaits in the world beyond, not only can we experience life beyond fear, grief and suffering, but we can also better prepare our souls for the that which is eternal.

We Are Travelers

We begin our lives at birth and the journey ends for each and every one of us at the death of the physical form. Based upon this blessed tradition from the Prophet ﷺ, however, we are reminded that death is not the end, but rather the means to arriving at the true destination of the soul.
Thus, for a believer, death is not something to be feared, but rather prepared for. For one of faith, death is not something to avoid, but rather to journey towards with excellence and integrity.
The Muslim is by definition he or she who looks forward to the meeting with their Lord, and thus one who does not fear death. Thus said the blessed Messenger ﷺ, “Death is a gift for the believer,” [Tabarani].
Furthermore, the Prophet ﷺ consistently advised to “remember death,” for it is only in the acceptance of death that one becomes liberated from fear and thus able to truly live. It is but by remembering the temporality of life in the world that we prepare for that which is eternal.

Be In the World as a Traveler: Experience Peace

For most, because of the fear of death, life passes moment by moment in fear, worry and anxiety, all of which result from attachment to the world of form, known as dunya in Arabic.
Yet for the believer, particularly they who have transcended the world of illusion, Allah Almighty states, “Verily, upon the friends of God, there is no fear nor do they grieve,” [Surah Yunus, Holy Qur’an, 10:62].
Who are the friends of God? The friends of God are simply they who are close and intimately connected with God, and they who are close and deeply connected with God are they whose hearts have transcended and are not attached to the temporal world of form.
By remembering that we are travelers, and by living and being in the world as wayfarers, they who are on a sacred journey from form to transcendent light and energy, we liberate ourselves from the ceaseless suffering that invariably results from attachment to that which is ever passing away.
It can be said that all suffering is from attachment, and it is but the realization that we are travelers that enables one to let go of that which is ultimately not that important, and to embrace that which is true, real and eternally of value.

“Suffering is from attachment. Be in the world as a traveler and transcend both fear and grief.”

Be In the World as a Traveler: Awaken

Form veils essence, and a traveler in the spiritual sense is he or she who is traveling from form to spirit, from illusion to reality, from time and space to that which is eternal.
The great Imam Ali (kw) stated, “All human beings are asleep, and they awaken with death.” Thus, the journey’s end is not in fact the end, but rather it is the beginning. In death, we do not enter into eternal slumber, but in fact the exact opposite, we awaken.
To be in the world as a traveler is to move through life free of attachment, and only thus do we become capable of truly loving and truly living. To truly experience is to be awake, and so it has been reported that the noble Prophet Muhammad ﷺ stated, “Die before you die.”
To live and be in the world as a traveler is in effect to die to the illusion and vanity of the world of form and appearance, and thus to awaken to transcendent truth, light and reality.

Be In the World as a Traveler: Return to Fitrah

Allah Almighty has created all things in a state of original excellence and wholeness known as fitrah, yet as we become acclimated to what is essentially a false world, this original state of purity and innocence becomes warped, fragmented and veiled.
As fear increases in the psyche, that original state of tranquility becomes increasingly lost, and we become increasingly fragmented and fractured. Fear arises from attachment, yet by remembering to be in the world as a traveler, we free ourselves from attachment and thus from fear, and so progressively return to our fitrah, the original state of wholeness, completeness, peace and tranquility.
When a human being is again healed and whole in their fitrah, he or she is in alignment with the Universe and is thus supported by the will of the Divine in all of their affairs. Paradoxically, by letting go of the world, it is given to one. Yet one who seeks and chases after the world loses not only light in the afterlife, but fails to ever reach to peace, happiness and contentment in the world itself.
Be in the world as a traveler, return to your original state of fitrah, and journey in peace and prosperity.
To your divine and eternal success.

Source: http://www.spiritualexcellence.com