The Greatest Silence: Rape in The Congo

Ever felt so small and helpless when there are atrocious and heart-breaking incidents happening in the other corners of the unknown world? I felt a visceral emotion today when I read about the HBO's recent documentary: "The Greatest Silence: Rape in The Congo".

It is about the brutal civil war for the past decade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Almost 4 million people have been killed and it is claimed as the deadliest conflict since World War II. The saddest part is the invisible and silenced casualties: tens and thousands of women and girls being systematically raped and most of them killed later. There was no one to tell their story until now.

This shook me the most. "When 4 million people have died, and no one cares, we don't feel human anymore." - Jean Paul, a Congolese man.

The "enough" project works to end such genocides including "The Greatest Silence".

8 Ways To Happiness

I recently came across this interesting website called "Self Creation" that talks about how to be happy in life. Well, is that what we all want. :)

If you have some time, try skimming thru' the pages that describes the 8 Ways To Happiness from this site. In a nutshell, they are:

1) Responsibility
2) Deliberate Intent
3) Acceptance
4) Beliefs
5) Gratitude
6) This Moment
7) Honesty
8) Perspective

Accept what holds true to you and enjoy life!

Double Take

After a long time, I was able to squeeze in rather two different short movies in one single night, even when I had tons of other work to do. :)

Death at a Funeral

A pleasant funny movie. I don't want to reveal the story, but I quite enjoyed it. I fell off the couch couple of times for the few really interesting scenes. Don't forget to watch the "Special Features", it has more comedy in it.

My Kid Could Paint That

This is a thought-provoking documentary about a 4-year-old cute, shy girl named Marla Olmstead, whose abstract art works have drawn critical comparisions with great modern artist like Picasso and Pollack, and her talents have profited her more than $300,000. Along with this fame and glory, their family also had to go through mental turmoil and struggle to prove that she is the one that really paints.

Well, does she really? No one knows for sure, even though the documentary leaves us to guess. But her paintings are still popular now and are in great demand. She is 6 years old now. Only time can tell if she is a prodigy.