Refiner and Purifier of Silver

The following lines are ones I got from an e-mail forward. I want to have these posted here too.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot. Then, she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

Everlasting Support

The following lines by Mary Stevenson (1922-1999) are ones that will always remain close to my heart. Just wanted to have them posted here....

Footprints....

One night, a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life, there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it: "LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."

The LORD replied: "My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

Born for Cinema!

Like Raja is born for music and Lara is born for batting, this guy is born for cinema!!!! Who else could it be?

A classy scene from one of the classiest ever movies....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmOy6p87TWI&feature=related

There's no way you can't like this movie.

Now, check out and listen to each word in the letter handed over in the next one! Oh! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk62UuX3rHw

We all know about his acting. How come he's also a genius in writing screenplay?

"Virumaandi" must be fit to be a lesson if you're running a university that aims to teach screenplay writing.

Now, one from the all encompassing "Naayagan"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t963z59MPYk

I was pretty small when I first saw this movie. My brother was still smaller. The theme song "Thenpaandi Seemaiyilae" was the first song he sang (in childish lingo - "Mazhalai Bhaashai" in Thamizh). He probably picked up this song much before he picked up a lot of the other common place words! :) I see at least a few scenes from this movie every now and then. I never seem to get bored of this movie.

How about one from "Aboorva Sagodharargal"? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWiT1pmLgrk&feature=related

Come on.... I already told you he's a great actor. Take my word. The combination of Kamal in the foreground and Ilaiyaraja in the background is a dangerous one! This combination could easily pull out some lachrymal liquid out of your eyes even if you're trying hard not to succumb to emotion. The "Moondraam Pirai" climax is another terrific example.

I'm not satisfied that this is enough for me to pull the curtains on this post.

The angry young man....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYSbmA2olts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JtbYbnA1vU&NR=1

There was more than just Kamal to those scenes. Don't you see a lot of K. Balachander to them? :)

Could I afford to leave "Salangai Oli" out?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FRYyxIITD4

Jayapradha is a terrific actress too! I wouldn't mind defining BEAUTY as "Jayapradha in Salangai Oli". You could even take it that I some how have some sort of a secret crush on the character that she plays in this movie. :) Oops! Did I let the cat out of the bag?! ;)

And, with regard to that scene, please don't fail to give the due credits to Raja and to the director K. Vishwanath.

Are we done with "Salangai Oli"? Don't you want to see the dancer? I don't intend to put the first movie in the next clip here. Couldn't find one which had the "Salangai Oli" portion alone.... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQwqjQSFbXM&feature=related

If you ask me what I'd consider the pinnacle of film making, I'd say it's the movie "Hey Ram". There's no way I'm going to put a period to this post without something from this movie.... For heaven's sake, don't miss the uncanny wit in the dialogue.... The dialogue is by Kamal himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_nxg7xXGEc

Well.... That was just a tribute from an admirer to a great artist.... Hope you did enjoy every bit of it.... :)

I'm a fan of all forms of art. I'd really love to have a better chance to stay in closer touch with even those art forms that I do not practise myself. I'd just like to sit out there and listen to some quality music and watch some quality dance. So, do I practise any form of art myself? Yes! :) I do, and that's painting.

In one of the future posts, I'll try to splash you with some colourful experiences that I've had when I've worked on some of my paintings.

Time for Some Rajini Specials?

This is the Rajini that I like most.

A beautiful scene from the movie "Mullum Malarum".... Beautiful characterisation by Mahendran.... Do I like the scene for some other reason too? Is it that I feel the character somewhat resembles me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-eX6jJmyk

I admire the title of this movie 'cos I feel I could read its meaning 1 of 2 ways - "The Thorn and the Flower" (Rajini being the Thorn and Shobha being the Flower) or "The Thorn Will Also Bloom".... I'm sorry if the literal translations do not sound too good to the ears! ;) Between, how was Raja's stroke when Rajini gave everyone his surprise?

The next 2 are scenes from the movie "Johnny".... For a change, let's do the climax first and then go to what had happened much much before the climax.... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yhlkotw2QY

That is one of the best BGMs I've ever heard and I'll ever hear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO8O5qInUsk

Well, that's Mahendran's way of weaving the scene. I find it beautiful. Do you too?

Now, are you game for Kamal Haasan? :)

So, what's it this time?

There are a lot of things that I want to write about. I really feel like posting something rightaway. But...., the words are just not flowing all that well currently.... I'm possibly in the same sitaution that Kamal Haasan was in when he had been in the caves (Guna). Just that I'm not writing or trying to write a love letter now.... So, what do I do?!

Being the movie freak that I'm, I wouldn't possibly or realistically go to the extent of thinking beyond cinema when I want to "try to" make some interesting talk.... Or, at least for now....

So, I just thought I'd put up some of my favourite scenes from some of my favourite movies. Howzzat?! :)

Believe me! I can talk pretty well about movies and you may even find out I may never stop if I do start talking about movies....

If you ask me who my 3 favourite cine personalities are, I will have to say the first one is Ilaiyaraja. Then, I wouldn't really want to put the second and the third on 2 different levels.... I would give a combined second place to Rajini and Kamal.... :)

My first tribute is to Raja. He's got many evergreen songs to his credit. I am, of course, a great fan of all his songs. But, more than all these songs, what I admire about his music are his background compositions. The tunes that speak when the words don't....

Check out this scene from the movie Pithaamagan. Rajini and Kamal specials to follow this post! :) And, a lot of those Rajini and Kamal specials will happen to be Raja specials again. :)

The following scene does have some lyrics to the tunes later on, but the beginning is just absolute instrumental magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6rBGJE-JA4

Catch you soon in the next post! :)