Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...Heinrich Harrer is a self centred man, he is also a national hero for his prowess as a mountaineer, and as such has travelled to the Himalayas to conquer one of its peaks, on behalf of Austria and its Nazi government. He is also running away from a loveless marriage and the fear of fatherhood, he is running away from himself more than anything. So begins Seven Years in Tibet. As a member of the national expedition we see Harrer (Brad Pitt) for what he really is, an arrogant loner filled with dreams of self glory rather than the team work needed to conquer the mountain. The expedition fails and to make matters worse, on their return to the foothills of India they find themself under arrest. War has broken out in Europe and they are german nationals on empire soil. After spending most of the war in a British prison camp, Harrer and his... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic main theme, lyrical throughout, Yo-Yo Ma, a real pleasure
Disadvantages: For the most part will not satisfy fans of noisy music

...Of the four John Williams scores of 1997 (that also icluded Rosewood, Amistad, and The Lost World), I have always considered Seven Years in Tibet to be the best. Rosewood I never have liked, Amistad had a beautiful theme but was pretty standard for the most part, and the Jurassic Park sequel wallowed in the rhythmic darkness of deep jungles so much that the original film's themes were almost completely absent and the new big theme was criminally underused. Seven Years in Tibet, on the other hand, delivers on almost all the fronts that the three others failed in. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Brad Pitt, the film tells the true story of the Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer, who went to the Himalayans to scale a mountain at the outset of World War II and is subsequently arrested and denied his return to Ausria due... Read review

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Advantages: Good cast - good performances from Pitt and Willis
Disadvantages: Overly wrapped up in itself at times

...12 Monkeys is a bizarre film in a Tarantinoesque vein starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt at a time shortly after Willis appeared in Pulp Fiction, the Palme D’or winner at Cannes. Pitt is at his best in this film – the only comparable performance is his role in Seven Years in Tibet, although of course the two roles are extremely contrasting. He plays the madman with extreme conviction and is a very convincing loose screw. The plot is at best difficult to follow and requires several viewings to get the best out of it, but sadly the best may not be worth it. There are some clever parts to the plot but it tries to offer some satisfaction by inviting the viewer to believe they are getting something out of it, and making one feel clever by working out the overlaboured parts of the plot. All in all it was a deserved flop given the cast... Read review

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Advantages: a visual stunning and moving tale
Disadvantages: none

...before. Once you make this leap of faith with the film, you see the film and the man differently. Gone is the humanity and in its place is an icon or a spirit give a few mortal trappings. This film therefore should be seen as the equivalent of a latter day study of the life of a saint. That this film should come from such a director as Martin Scorsese is a bit unexpected. Normally associated with the mean streets and the gangsters and lowlifes that inhabit them this is a bit of a departure, but there has always been a spiritual quality to his work. Of course Scorsese did give us the controversial Last Temptation of Christ, but where as there he portrayed the struggle of a man seeking perfection, with Kundun we have perfection in the form of a man. Comparisons will also be drawn with Jean-Jacques Annaud's recent ``Seven Years in Tibet which... Read review

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Advantages: great suff
Disadvantages: time is less and writing space is less

...Olympics and Politics are inseparable. During the cold war era, US and Soviet camps used Olympics as a weapon. This year's Olympic was awarded to China with a political motive alone. China has emerged as a major World power in almost every fields and no country is able to counter weigh this. On top of this, China is not a Democratic nation and a communist nation. Olympics will help China come out into the open and be a part of the open world. This has far reaching economic, social, military, political effects. Issues like Tibet will be handled more humanly. The world will feel not threatened by rising China and diffuse tensions. It will help the world understand China better and accept the fact that China is a world power rather than swallow with pain! Boycotting the Olympics wil have no effect on China. Today the world needs China... Read review

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Advantages: The first inkling of a return to form
Disadvantages: none

...Tracklisting 1. Little Wonder 2. Looking For Satellites 3. Battle For Britain (The Letter) 4. Seven Years In Tibet 5. Dead Man Walking 6. Telling Lies 7. Last Thing You Should Do 8. I'm Afraid Of Americans 9. Law (Earthlings On Fire) I saw Bowie for the first time in my life at the Q Club in Birmingham at the time of this albums release - I had already heard (& shuddered at) Little Wonder but hearing the other songs contained here in a live context sold the album to me. First things first though This Is Not Bowies Jungle Album - Little Wonder has a touch of these drums and Telling Lies (which was apparently the Junglist song) also only touches on it. What this album actually is is a return of a Bowie doing completely his own thing - working with a band who are mostly still with him to this day, especially as a live band... Read review

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Advantages: Only of use for fire lighting or propping up wobbly tables
Disadvantages: Quite simply this is the worst book I've ever read

...or Tibet, but that it was interesting for the experiences it conveyed? Was not one of these early reviewers none other than the long time friend and confidant of His Holiness the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet, Heinrich Harrer of “Seven Years in Tibet” fame?” He replied, “Now you’re nit-picking! My first book sold hundreds of thousands of copies in each language into which it was translated and that is more than can be said for the writings of my detractors. The German editions have sold the most of all but my American sales are catching up quickly” I retorted, “But Oh Great Rampa didn’t all these scholars say your book was a fraud and deride you as a fake?” “So what, I’m the one with a religious sect still in existence in Toronto (to where I emigrated following my literary success), what have they attained?” It was my turn to stay silent, as he... Read review

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Advantages: Not bad
Disadvantages: Not special

...1997 proved a successful year for John Williams with the release of four films with his music in them: Rosewood, centering in the aggressions of several white people against the neighbouring black people in a peaceful Florida community in 1923; the sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World, offering much action and jungle music; Seven Years in Tibet (being definitely the best of the bunch), having several distinctly Tibetan melodies with a sweeping main theme; and then there was Amistad, making great use of African-sounding melodies. Amistad was based on a true incident of an uprising aboard the slave ship La Amistad in 1839 and the subsequent exposure of the slaves to the American judicial system. Despite being a Steven Spielberg film, it is not one of his greatest achievement, getting a little boring in the end. Again John Williams... Read review

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Advantages: Humanity is the main thing of concern.
Disadvantages: If we could put politics aside, Olympic would have a different charm.

...not facilitating Tibetans in any way. All the developments they made to Tibet for Chinas own benefit. Coming back to Olympic boycott, in the history of Olympics, there was a previous boycott in the year 1980. The game was awarded to Moscow and many in the west feared that the games would turn to a propaganda show for the Soviets(as if that was te first time the Olympics were used in that manner). When the Soviet invaded Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter pressured the USOC to boycott the games. The repeatation of that in present situation and so there is a boycott from many parts of the world from the begining itself. My Views: The Olympics is a game where the atheletes participate for unity, peace and harmony of the Nations. "One World One Dream" fully reflects the essence and the universal value of the Olympic spirit - Unity, Friendship, Progress... Read review

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Advantages: Entrancing, informative, awe-inspiring
Disadvantages: Not an easy read - one to be studied

.... Teaching yes, but more importantly committed always to deepening his own understanding. "Secret Tibet" was born of two journeys he made with the orientalist Professor Guiseppe Tucci in 1937 and 1948. It was first published in 1951 in Italian, with the English translation following a year later. Fifty years after the latter exploration Maraini reconsidered his writings and the happenings in Tibet in the intervening years and added postscripts to each chapter. This reconsideration is an indispensable part of the current version, since it answers that question we would all ask when reading historical travel writing: I wonder what they would make of it now. To call this book 'travel writing' is to mis-serve both the author and the reader. This is not travel literature in the modern sense, which implies a record of a journey, which however... Read review

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