"Over billions of years, on a unique sphere, chance has painted a thin covering of life -- complex, improbable, wonderful and fragile. Suddenly we humans (a recently arrived species no longer subject to the checks and balances inherent in nature), have grown in population, technology, and intelligence to a position of terrible power: we now wield the paintbrush."

Dr. Paul MacCready

Rediscovering the meaninglessness of existence

Four quotes from Woody Allen's new flick 'Whatever Works'

1. "It's not the idea behind Christianity I'm faulting, or Judaism, or any religion. (It’s the professionals who've made it into a corporate business. There's big money in the God racket. Big money).Hey, the basic teachings of Jesus are quite wonderful. So, by the way, is the original intention of Karl Marx. Hey, what could be bad? Everybody should share equally. Do unto others. Democracy. Government by the people. All great ideas. These are all great ideas, but they all suffer from one fatal flaw. Which is they're all based on the fallacious notion that people are fundamentally decent. '"Give them a chance to do right and they'll take it. That they're not stupid, selfish, greedy, cowardly, short-sighted worms." All I'm saying is that people make life so much worse than it has to be, believe me, it's a nightmare without their help. But on the whole, I'm sorry to say, we're a failed species."
2. "Let me teach you something about love. Okay? Naturally, there are exceptions to what I'm going to say, but they're the exception, not the rule. Love, despite what they tell you, does not conquer all. Nor does it even usually last. In the end, the romantic aspirations of our youth are reduced to whatever works. Okay?"
3. "It's amazing, Melody. Thousands of years ago, ancient peoples, Egyptians, Romans, Mayans, were walking home, just like us, discussing where they should eat or making small talk."Hey, we just bought a great house on the Nile with a yard, overlooking the Pharaoh's new pyramid".- Or... or, "My... my physician says..."peacock tongues are bad for your heart”. ....Or, "I'm worried I can't get my kid into a really good Aztec preschool”. What the hell does it all mean now? Zilch. But they thought it was important.  
4. "I happen to hate New Year's celebrations. Everybody desperate to have fun. Trying to celebrate in some pathetic little way. Celebrate what? A step closer to the grave? That’s why I can’t say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filch or provide every temporary measure of grace, whatever works. And don't kid yourself; it’s by no means all up to your own human ingenuity. A bigger part of your existences luck than you'd like to admit. Christ, you know the odds of your father's one sperm from the billions, finding the single egg that made you? Don’t think about it, you’ll have a panic attack. "

Woody Allen explores the meaninglessness of life through the views of Boris Yelnikoff (Larry David) , a retired 'genius' quantum physicist. The movie,obviously, is a well made one,philosophical at times and sarcastic most of the time. Its fast paced movie since it covers almost 2 or 3 years in the life Boris. Yet each scene has its own controlled pace which kept me gripped.The whole thing as has a documentary feel to it (though undeniably enjoyable) since the camera focuses on mainly on the reactions of the characters to weird situations.Infact one of the most humorous parts are the instances when - amidst the regular scenes - Boris turns to the camera starts speaking to the audience directly as if in a documentary, whereas those with him are baffled since they cant find whom he is talking to. I think there is something for anyone who watches the movie. But ultimately Boris is the " only one who sees the whole picture, [and] that’s what they mean by genius.".
Right in the beginning Boris says "This is not the feel-good movie of the year. So if you're one of those idiots who needs to feel good, go get yourself foot massage."
But turns out I cannot agree with him on that, this is the feel-good-movie-of-the-year for me.

What drives all of us?

What is the common thing that drive all our actions in our lives? In my opinion it is the urge for satisfaction satisfaction.Every one tries to satisfy himself in some other way or the other.For some it may be physical urges ,for others it may be intellectual or spiritual.From a saint to a criminal, no one can deny that our actions are based on our need to satisfy our desires (even attaining moksha (liberation) is also an element of desire if you think about it).Also people try to maximize the number of choices available to them.The more number of choices they have the more happier they are (though this may apply only to worldly matters).