Avatar the Last Airbender

                                                  

Since 2007 Avatar the Last Airbender has captivated me and millions around the globe, irrespective of any specific demographic boundaries. 

Avatar the Last Airbender, is a Nickelodeon Animated series about a twelve year old boy freed from an iceberg only to discover he's been frozen for a hundred years, the world is engulfed in war and his entire people have been wiped out.

The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced world of Chinese martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show drew on elements from traditional Asian culture, blending the styles of anime and US domestic cartoons.

It is right to say that this series is pretty much the pokemon and dragonball z of this decade defining a generation of fans. 

Since it's release it has won numerous awards for its compelling characters, brilliant writing and superb animation, including Annie Awards for three years in a row, a Genesis Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Peabody Award for "Unusually complex character and  healthy respect for the consequences of warfare."

Series Overview:

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Furthermore, people known as Benders have the ability to manipulate the eponymous element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show’s creators based each Bending style on a style of real-world martial art, leading to visual differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (tai chi chuan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (baguazhang). Each country is also associated with a season: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation.

At any given time, there is only one person alive in the world of Avatar who is capable of bending all four elements: the show's titular Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When an Avatar dies, he or she is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle, in the order of the seasons. Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in seasonal order as well, starting with their native element. For the Avatar, learning to bend their opposite element can be extremely difficult; the example shown in the series is Aang's inability to stand his ground head-on while Earthbending, his Airbender training having placed emphasis on circling, approaching from new angles and adapting on the fly.

The Avatar possesses a unique power called the Avatar State, which endows the Avatar with the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars and acts as a self-triggering defense mechanism, although it can be made subject to the will of the user through various methods, such as extensive trial and training (such as Avatar Roku), or if he/she opens his/her bodily Chakras. If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar will cease to exist.Through the ages, countless incarnations of Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order. The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, allowing him or her to solve problems that normal benders cannot.

The series aired for 3 season, each season is named after the element Aang trains to master during that season, which are Water, Earth and the final season being fire.

Main Characters:

Aang  is the 12 year old fun-loving, protagonist of the series who had been frozen in ice with his flying bison, Appa, for about 100 years. He is freed by a young Waterbender named Katara who later becomes his love interest. He is the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. Aang is a reluctant hero trying to return balance to the world.

Katara  is a powerful 14 year old Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara and her brother, Sokka, discover and free Aang from a block of ice in which he had been frozen for 100 years. With her brother Sokka, she accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord and, eventually, becomes his Waterbending teacher. Katara is also one of the only Waterbenders that have the ability to Bloodbend, which allows her to control any person by bending the water inside the blood; although she is reluctant to use the ability. 

Sokka  is a 15 year old warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. With his sister, Katara, he accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord. As both the joker and the idea man of the group, Sokka describes himself as "meat-loving" and "sarcastic". Unlike his companions, Sokka does not have any bending ability; however the series, though it often makes him the victim of comedy at his expense, frequently grants him opportunities to use his ingenuity and weapons, including his trusty boomerang and a sword he forged from a meteorite. From creator Michael Dante DiMartino it was revealed that Sokka also had some waterbending potential, but never realized it.

Toph Bei Fong (Jessie Flower) is a 12 year old  blind, tough Earthbender who first appears in the second season of the show. Not long after meeting Aang and his friends, she leaves her wealthy family and comfortable home to join Aang on his quest and a plan to teach him Earthbending. Though blind, Toph "sees" by feeling vibrations in the ground through her feet. She is the only Earthbender to learn to bend metal and is considered one of the most powerful Earthbenders.(She learns metal bending while trapped inside a metal box.)

Zuko  is the 16 year old exiled prince of the Fire Nation and original antagonist of the series. Due to events in Zuko's past, his father Fire Lord Ozai, deems him a complete failure, and Zuko feels he must capture the Avatar to regain his honor. Over time, Zuko struggles to deal with his anger, self-pity, and complex familial relationships. Over the course of the series he grows sympathetic to the people his nation has terrorized. He takes on the identity of "the blue spirit" at the end of season one and beginning of season two. In season three, he defects from the Fire Nation and joins the Avatar and the team in order to teach Aang Firebending. At the end of the series, he is crowned ruler of the Fire Nation.

Azula  is the manipulative princess of the Fire Nation. She is Zuko's younger sister and one of the major antagonists of the series. Azula is a Firebending prodigy and is one of the few living Firebenders capable of casting lightning. She uses fear to control her relatives or friends Mai and Ty Lee, reserving her family loyalty for her father alone.

Iroh  is a retired Fire Nation general, known as the Dragon of the West, and Prince Zuko's uncle and mentor. Iroh was the original heir to the Fire Nation throne until his brother usurped the throne after Fire Lord Azulon's death. On the surface, Iroh is a cheerful, kind, optimistically eccentric tea-loving old man, but he still remains a powerful warrior and a devoted surrogate parent to Zuko. Iroh is a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of men from all nations and helps retake Ba Sing Se during the series finale. Unlike most Firebenders, Iroh does not use anger as the source of his strength; instead he uses the original Firebending skills learned from the Dragons

The character development in the series is complex and realistic, the characters face the same emotional and ethical challenges as one would if thrust into a similar situation in the real world. Each of the character is not one-dimensional as is seen in many shows, they are complex, with many layers and each has a history and proper personality development.

Cultural Influences:

Avatar borrows extensively from Asian art and mythology to bring its universe to life. The show's character design is heavily influenced by anime as well as Chinese art and history, Hinduism, Taoism Buddhism and Yoga. Traditional East Asian calligraphy is used for nearly all the writing in the show. The show employed a cultural consultant and a calligrapher as consultant for the show's cultural influences. 

The music and sound used in the series was done by Jeremy Zucherman and Banjamin Wynn. They made use of a wide variety of asian instruments such as guzheng, pipa and duduk to compose a background score that fits into this fantastic world.

Avatar:

Avatar comes from the Sanskrit Language. The word Avatara (Sanskrit: अवतार) which means "descent", its roots are ava, "down" and tri "to pass". In Hindu scriptures avatara signifies the descent of divinity into flesh. One who attains union with spirit and then returns to earth to help humanity is called an avatar. The Chinese Characters that appear at the top of the show's title card mean "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world"

During the series it is revealed that the Avatar's identity is discovered in each cycle when the avatar chooses four toys out of thousands which were the childhood toys of the previous avatars. This mirrors the tradition in Tibetan Buddhism where there is a similar test for reincarnations of a Tulku Lama, where the child must pick out amongst thousands of things which belonged to the late tulku, thus showing that he recognizes the things which were theirs in their previous life.Each successor is expected to show signs of continuity with the previous Avatar, such as being born within a week of the death.

Elements & Fighting Style:

Avatar draws on the four classical elements common to many ancient philosophies for its bending arts: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. In the show’s opening, each element is accompanied by two Chinese characters: an ancient Chinese seal script character on the left representing the element being shown and a modern Chinese character on the right describing some feature of the element. The character 水 (pinyin: shui), which stands for water, is shown with 善 (pinyin: shan), which means benevolence and adaptivity. The character 土 (pinyin: tu), which stands for earth, is shown with 強 (pinyin: qiang), which means for strength and stability. The character 火 (pinyin: huo), which stands for fire, is shown with 烈 (pinyin: lie), which means intensity and passion. Finally, the character 气 (pinyin: qi), which stands for air, is shown with 和 (pinyin: he), which means peace and harmony.

In addition to the use of four classical elements in the series, the fighting styles associated with each element are all taken from different styles of Chinese martial arts. The series employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a martial arts consultant. Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected. Tai Chi was used for "Waterbending" in the series, and it focuses on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. Hung Gar was used for "Earthbending" in the series, and was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes to present the solid nature of earth. Northern Shaolin, which uses strong arm and leg movements was used for "Firebending". And Ba Gua, which uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes, was used for "Airbending". The only exception to these styles is Toph (the blind earth-bender), who can be seen practicing a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style.

Not exactly A kid's Cartoon:

So many times so many of the older fans of the series have heard this from non-fans, Avatar comes on Nickelodeon isn't that a kids toon. Well the series is more than that, its brilliance lies in the fact that it is able to tell a compelling and complex story while tackling the issues of war, genocide, racism, honor, love, friendship, ethics without shedding a single drop of blood. Therefore this show can be enjoyed by people of all ages for it teaches us the lessons of understanding, honor etc. Unlike other cartoons on nick and other channels, Avatar The last airbender is steeped deeply in real world culture, mythology and traditions making it a rather unique experience to watch it.

Conclusion:

One of the best animated series of our generation, it teaches many life lessons. The characters, story reflects real life, in a mythical and beautiful world. It will be enjoyed by many generations to come.

The reason behind writing this post was, to share with the non-fans of the world what avatar the last airbender is all about? how is this show different? and what makes it different? the real world cultural references? and the lessons it can teach all of us.

Where to get info on the series?:

http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_Portal

Where to watch the series?:

http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/avatar-last-airbender

© 2010 posted by Mustafa Ali Khan Afreedi (DarkMystic)

Common Misconceptions about Islam!

Islam is the religion of peace and the 2^nd largest in the world; It is misunderstood by the western world, and the image of Islam has been distorted  over the centuries giving rise to many misconceptions that have endured the tests of time in the minds of many non-Muslims specially westerners. Even today Islam is reduced by many to just three ideas: polygamy, fanaticism and fatalism. Few realize that Islam is means more than just “submission to God”. To a westerner Allah signifies the divinity of Muslims, not the God of the Christians and Jews, which in fact is far from the truth, for Allah means God, like the Hebrew word for God YHWH i.e. the pronunciation Yahweh.

•          Muslims are Arabs:

  Misconception: All Muslims are Arabs

The common image of a Muslim is a turbaned dark Arab man with a long beard. However this image is part of the minority of Muslims. Arabs make only 15% of the world’s Muslim population. As a matter of fact the Middle East comes in third with East Asia coming in at first (69%) and Africa (27%) coming in at second. Another common misconception is that all Arabs are Muslims. While the vast majority of Arabs are Muslims (75%), there are many other religions that Arabs practice including Christianity and Judaism.

·         Muslims and Jesus:

  Misconception: Muslims Hate Jesus

 Many Christians are often surprised to find that there are many similarities in the historical references of Islam and Christianity and that it is a fundamental belief of the Islamic faith to accept Jesus as one of the great prophets of God, One cannot be a Muslim without believing in the virgin birth, and the many miracles of Jesus. The only difference is that Muslims do not believe Jesus to be God.

·         Children’s Rights:

  Misconception: Children have no rights

Children, according to Islamic law, have various rights. One of these is the right to be properly brought up, raised, and educated. Islam encourages children to be brought up well because it is the responsibility of an adult to raise his child to become a moral and ethical adult. Children must also be treated equally. When giving financial gifts they should all be the same amount and there should be no preference among them. Children are even permitted to take moderately from their parent’s wealth to sustain themselves if the parent declines to give them proper funds for living. A child is also not allowed to get hit in the face or hit by anything larger than a pencil.

·         Religious Intolerance:

  Misconception: Islam is intolerant towards other religions

“Kill the infidel” is a phrase that comes to the mind of people when thinking of Muslims unfortunately. This however is not a accurate depiction of Islamic Law. Islam has always given respect, freedom to people of other faiths. In the Quran it says “God does not forbid you, with regards to those who fight you not for religion nor drive you away out of your homes; from dealing kindly and justly with them, for God loves those who are just.” There are many historical examples to support this claim, Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) dealt kindly and justly with people from other faith, one of the best examples of tolerance is during 634AD to 644 AD when Caliph Umar ruled Jerusalem, he granted freedom to all religious groups and even set up courts that were designated for Non-Muslims. Another example is from the golden era of Muslim scientist when in modern day Iraq, Muslim scientist worked with Christian and Jewish scholars, history is littered with such examples.

·         Jihad:

    Misconception: Jihad means to wage a holy war on non-believers
    only.

The true meaning of the word Jihad is to struggle. However in Islam it refers to struggle in the way of God (which essentially means to strive to live a life of good and shun sin). There are many forms of jihad but the most important ones are Jihad al-nafs (jihad against ones self), jihad bil-lisan (jihad by being vocal), jihad bil yad (jihad by using action), and Jihad bis saif (jihad by using the sword). Each jihad is ranked differently and it was reported that Muhammad returned from a battle and said “We have returned from the lesser jihad (going into battle) to the greater jihad (the struggle of the soul).” This means that a Muslim struggling against himself and his soul is more important than the jihad of going into war.

Regarding Jihad another prevalent misconception is that suicide attack for Holy war are a sure ticket to heaven. Truth is suicide in any form is forbidden in Islam, and was greatly frowned upon by the Prophet (P.B.U.H).

·         Muslim Savages:

    Misconception: Muslims are savages and barbaric during war

Quite the contrary, when it comes to the conduct of war there are ten rules that every Muslim army must obey:

1. Do not commit treachery
2. Do not deviate from the right path
3. Do not mutilate dead bodies
4. Do not kill children
5. Do not kill women
6. Do not kill aged men
7. Do not harm or burn trees
8. Do not destroy buildings
9. Do not destroy an enemy’s flock, unless you use it for your food
10. When you pass people who have devoted their lives to monastic services leave them alone

During the crusades when Saladin defeated the franks he honored the defeated Frankish army and supplied them with food and during the third crusade when Saladin’s enemy king Richard fell sick, Saladin sent him a gift of fruits and horses and send his personal physician to attend to the good king’s health.

·         Women Rights:

   Misconception: Women have no rights

The image of a woman wearing a veil from head to toe, a woman who gets unfair justice or a woman who is not allowed to drive is an all too familiar notion when it comes to women treatment in Islam. And while there are Muslim countries in the world that do implement many harsh rulings against women, this should not be portrayed as Islamic law. Many of these countries have cultural differences that go against the teachings of Islam. It should be noted that during pre-Islam Arabia women were used for fornication only and had no independence. The birth of a daughter in a family was considered humiliating and the practice of female infanticide was uncontrolled. When Islam came to being, verses in the Quran condemned the practice of female infanticide. Islam gave back many human rights to the woman. A Muslim woman is allowed to reject and accept any suitor for marriage and has the right to seek divorce. There is nothing in Islam that forbids a Muslim woman from exiting her house and is allowed to drive. Also in regards to education, a woman is obligated to seek knowledge and it is considered a sin if she refuses.

·         By the sword:

   Misconception: Islam was spread by the sword

Historian De lacey O’Leary states “History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.” There is no record in history that shows people being forced by sword point to convert to Islam. When Islam spread through countries they would set up private churches and synagogues for the non Muslims they were governing and because of the good treatment they had received they themselves would convert. If one considers the small number of Muslims who initially spread Islam to the west all the way from Spain and Morocco and into east from India and China one would realize that such a small group of people could not force others to be members of a religion against their will.

·         Islamic Terrorism:

   Misconception: Muslims are terrorists

The biggest misconception about Islam is that all Muslims are terrorists and this is due to the stereotyping done by the media. Its quite noticeable that when a specific group of people attacks some other group it is labeled as hate crime but if a Muslim does that it is branded as terrorism. Many dictators, fanatics, extremist groups use Islam as a strategy to get followers to meet their own nefarious deeds and most of their practices go against the true teachings of Islam. Islam is portrayed as a cult of sorts, which is a farcry from the truth. More than a billion people practice Islam daily in the world peacefully and in accordance with the true teachings, living their lives as productive and peace-loving citizens of society. Islam is against terrorism, there are numerous verses in the Holy Quran which are against terrorism.  Some of these verses include “fight in the way of Allah those that fight you but do not transgress limits for god does not love transgressors.” This basically means do not fight except in self defense and even in doing so do not go beyond defense. Another verse states “if they seek peace, then you seek peace,” which means do not attack people for no reason or kill innocent people. There is nowhere in Islam, whether it be in the Quran or the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H), that promotes the killing of innocent people.

I hope that this removes the common misconceptions about Islam. Please share it with everyone you know, to let the world know, that those who commit these acts of terror are not of Islam, in fact they do not belong to any religion for all religions preach peace at their core. 

© 2010 posted by Mustafa Ali Khan Afreedi (DarkMystic)

Pakistan's Football Dream

The countdown to FIFA 2010’s final has begun, and like many Pakistanis I wish to see the day when the green shirts from our land take to the field on the biggest football event in the world and raise the golden cup high above their heads as our national anthem plays. So the question is what happened to Pakistan’s football dream?

Pakistan’s Victory Lap : a sight we wish all to see in FIFA worldcup

        

The history of football in Pakistan is as old as the country itself, in December 1947 Pakistan Football Federation was established with Quaid-e-Azam being the patron in chief of the young organization, the PFF was recognized in early 1948 by FIFA. Pakistan’s first National Football Championship was played between May 28 to June 5 in 1948 at Karachi. The winners were Sindh Red, beating their fellow provincial team Sindh Blue. It was a knock-out competition, which remained this way until it was replaced by a Football League in 2004.

Pakistan was once one of the top footballing sides of Asia, recording its biggest win against Thailand in 1960, winning 7-0. However the sport remained underdeveloped for decades due to mismanagement, lack of support and corruption. The PFF also didn't bother sending the team to World Cup qualifiers until 1989. This saw Pakistan become one of the weakest sides in Asia and in the world. Pakistan as of 26^th May 2010 ranks 165^th in the World.

          Pakistan’s national team has so far been unable to qualify for FIFA worldcup or the Asian Cup, but this sorry state of affairs can be attributed to the immense popularity of cricket in the region, lack of general interest in the game and PFF’s own lackluster handling of football in the country for the greater part of the last 6 decades.

          The development of football as a game in Pakistan has not been in smooth, and as already mentioned the participation in international events has been sporadic. Football around the world has soared to new heights in the world, especially in the European and Latin American countries. The techniques and tricks of the game have evolved. Today a football match between two balanced sides is one of the most exciting sporting spectacle. But unfortunately Pakistan’s football dreams have been bashed repeatedly and the standard gone down instead of up. The dream of making the game professional in Pakistan seems like a far cry, groupism, bureaucracy, corruption has seriously hindered football’s smooth progress in Pakistan. To put the game on right path earnest efforts are the need of the hour; but the PFF is not alone to blame, the players of the past squads are not free from blame either: like the infamous incident where the Pakistani national squad went abroad and simply disappeared, instead of playing a good match and returning.

          Something needs to be done;

·     The first and foremost step to be taken is to introduce a youth program to find potential players for the national team and train them from an early age. The youth program will comprise of football tournaments at the school and university levels, along with inter city and national leagues.

·      A proper league system to be introduced accessable to all

·     Making sure that it pays to play football for a club or for your country. Unfortunatley one does not earn much in other sports as compared to cricket.

·     Introduction of sports based scholarship in higher educaton institutes specially football.

This is just the begginning of our journey to better football in our country. One day Pakistan’s football dream will come true, when we will see our greenshirts raising the golden cup.

         

 If you have any suggestions for Pakistani Football be sure to give them in the comments.

         

© 2010 posted by Mustafa Ali Khan Afreedi (DarkMystic)