Saturday, July 09, 2005




Arnold Schwarzenegger !!

When I won the 2nd prize on the body building competition in my college, my mates started calling me as “Arnold” Bala. That was the start-point of mine to know more about Arnold Schwarzenegger. His achievements went in to my heart very deeply and I became his ardent fan forever.

Most of the people feel that muscle developing is not a difficult one and that any one can get it if they go to Gymnasium regularly. Frankly speaking, it is not so easy.

I have seen lots of guys (on the Gym where I used to go) that in spite of hard exercises, they could not develop their muscles. When I asked the same question to my Gym master, he advised that those who do exercises regularly would have a body fit, but is not sure that they can develop their muscles. Thank God, I was one among the guys who could !!

I was surprised to note Arnie’s muscles (see the picture). I started watching his movies very interestingly thereafter (still I watch T2 fully if it is shown on any channel, of course, every body at home hate me for that).

Here’s the background of Arnie:

Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Austria, four miles (6 km) from Graz, to a Gendarmerie-Kommandant policeman, Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907-1972) and his wife Aurelia Jadrny (1922-1998). His parents were members of the Nazi party.

With $20 in his pocket, and not fluent in English, he moved to the U.S. in 1968. He became a U.S. citizen in 1983, although he has also retained his Austrian nationality. During this time, he earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he graduated with a major in international marketing of fitness and business administration in 1979.

In 1971 Schwarzenegger's brother Meinhard was killed in an automobile accident, and his father died the following year. In 1977 his autobiography, Arnold: The Education of a Body-Builder was published. In 1986, Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver, niece of late President John F. Kennedy. The couple have four children: daughters Katherine and Christina, and sons Patrick and Christopher. Together, the couple own a home in the fabled Kennedy Compound.

His distinctive and oft-imitated accent has led many entertainers and pundits to refer to him simply as "Ah-nuld".

Schwarzenegger first gained fame as a bodybuilder. His well-developed physique earned him the moniker "The Austrian Oak"(or "The Styrian Oak") and won him the titles of Junior Mr. Europe, Mr. World, Mr. Universe (five times) and Mr. Olympia (seven times). The seven wins at Mr. Olympia was a record set in 1980, cementing him as a legend of the sport. The record would remain until Lee Haney won his eighth straight Olympia in 1991. Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition.

Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was Conan the Barbarian (1982), and this was cemented by a sequel, Conan the Destroyer (1984). As an actor, he is most well-known as the title character of James Cameron's android thriller The Terminator (1984). Schwarzenegger's acting ability (described by one critic as having an emotional range that "stretches from A almost to B") has long been the butt of many jokes; he retains a strong Austrian accent in his speech even in roles which do not call for such an accent. However, few of the fans of his work seem to care. He also made a mark for injecting his films with a droll, often self-deprecating sense of humor, setting him apart from more serious action heroes such as Sylvester Stallone, his most prominent contemporary. (As an aside, his alternative-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day which, in that alternate universe had Sylvester Stallone as its star; a similar in-joke in Twins suggested that the two actors might one day co-star, something which never came to pass).

Filmography:

· Hercules in New York (1970)
· The Long Goodbye (1973)
· Stay Hungry (1976)
· Pumping Iron (1977) (documentary)
· The Villain (1979)
· Scavenger Hunt (1979)
· The Comeback (1980) (documentary)
· Body by Garret (1982) (short subject)
· Conan the Barbarian (1982)
· Conan the Destroyer (1984)
· The Terminator (1984)
· Red Sonja (1985)
· Commando (1985)
· Raw Deal (1986)
· Predator (1987)
· The Running Man (1987)
· Red Heat (1988)
· Twins (1988)
· Total Recall (1990)
· Kindergarten Cop (1990)
· Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
· Freed (1992) (documentary)
· Dave (1993) (cameo)
· Last Action Hero (1993)
· The Last Party (1993) (documentary)
· A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
· Beretta's Island (1994)
· True Lies (1994)
· Junior (1994)
· T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) (short subject)
· Eraser (1996)
· Jingle All the Way (1996)
· Stand Tall (1997) (documentary)
· Batman & Robin (1997)
· Junket Whore (1998) (documentary)
· End of Days (1999)
· The 6th Day (2000)
· Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) (voice)
· Last Party 2000 (2001) (documentary)
· Collateral Damage (2002)
· Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
· The Rundown (2003) (cameo)
· Around the World in 80 Days (2004) (cameo)
· How Arnold Won the West (2004) (documentary)
· WMD: Weapon of Mass Destruction (2004) (documentary)
· The Kid & I (2005) (currently in post-production)