NaNoWriMo and a rejection slip ..

November is National Novel Writing Month(NaNoWriMo)Participants who sign up for the write-a-thon need to finish writing a 50,000 word novel in the next 30 days. Daunting? Definitely yes, but 2000 words a day is actually doable if someone is really driven.In short that someone is not me.I am taking the easier way out and thinking of joining NaNoReaMo,which is Natalie's Novel reading month.The goal is 3 books a week and 12 books for the month,which is equally mind boggling.I don't think i have read more than 8 books in a single month.So maybe,i'll just do BeUnSweEaMo-Bedazzled's Unlimited Sweets Eating month. No quantitative goals here ..Eat all you can!:-)

Btw,any of you planning to sign up for NaNoWriMo or NaNoReaMo?

On another note, what you see below is the rejection slip from Essanay Film Manufacturing company which was in existence from 1907-1925.The company was famous for its Charlie Chaplin movies..Note point 17- "Robbery,Kidnapping,Murder,suicide,harrowing death-bed and all scenes of unpleasant nature should be eliminated."Wonder how many rejection slips they had to send considering the fact that most milkable "negative" themes have been ruled out !

Oh,have a wonderful weekend!

Full-blown movie crib

IMHO,there aren't too many movies surpass the brilliance of the books they have been adapted from.I am not talking about the Harry potter series or The Godfather series or even LOR. I am talking non-fantasy , non- gangster based and non-art-house,Oscar-type fare like-Eat pray Love and Julie and Julia.

I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love(the book). Ok shameless plug now.You can find my review of Eat , Pray ,love(the book)- here and got to watch the movie adaptation finally .I am having a a tough time getting over the "Duh" feeling it left me with after the movie ended.And that's surprising because i dont think i am a demanding movie-goer who only sees taut, incredibly dense, arty movies. I am a girl who occasionally doesn't mind being seen in pink and will tuck in vast reels of chick-lit movies with good-matured gusto.I even liked Legally Blonde(both parts) and have watched them atleast 5 times.

Somehow the thought of Julia Roberts gallivanting around the globe in search of purpose of life and happiness smacked me in my head.And thats not a good type of a smack i am talking about. I felt this despite the fact that the movie is pretty much faithful to the book and Elizabeth Gilbert looks uncannily like Julia Roberts. Maybe the length was its undoing.The plot just dragged on and on and on ... 133 minutes of the movie was positively squirm-inducing ,despite the lovely places they got to show us. Even if i treated the book like some travelogue,i want my money back !.

And , is there anyone else who thinks that Julia Roberts has started looking more horsey than is humanly possible?I know thats a really mean thing to say about an incredibly talented actress,but i really cant figure out what put me off the movie and i am grabbing whatever cheap tools i have in my box right now. The magic,spontaneity and the warmth that the book possessed somehow dissipated in the movie.

The only redeeming aspects were Ketut, an incredibly sweet , Balinese old man who spouts adorable stuff like "I can't fly in airplane.I no teeths" and the obscenely rakish Javier Bardem (who floored us all with his sex-appeal in Vicky,christina and Barcelona.).He doesn't disappoint here either -he broods, looks intense and does all those things that he is expected to. Despite all this ,the movie was a huge letdown.

Lets talk Julie and Julia now.I didnt think the book was incredible-just passably okay.But at least it was Julie Powel's life that was at the centre stage. Now what do the movie barons do ? They cast an incredibly talented Meryl Streep and wonder whether they should put in more parts with Streep in it to make it win 1 Oscar atleast.They start tweaking the script so much that the final product seems more like the story of Julia Child and not about what it is predominantly supposed to be.The narrative now is mostly about Julia's life-how she enrolled at the cooking institute,how she starts writing a book and struggles to get published while the story of Julie's struggle and the challenge she takes up to escape her mundane life is relegated to the obligatory 3 minute clip once every 20 minutes. Who the hell was the protagonist in that movie ,again?.

Thankfully, I saw another book-adaptation sometime back that makes me feel that there is still hope for viewers like me. It was a BBC and HBO adaptation of The No1 ladies Investigative agency. It adorable.The warmth and wit that somehow gets tempered in the meandering pages of the book hits you bang on with adaption.One couldn't have asked for a better choice of casting. But the actors ,though famous weren't bigger than the script,which sadly i think was the case with both Julie and Julia and Eat,Pray Love.

Just one crib thought -I just wonder why The No1 ladies detective agency was televised rather than be made into a movie .There are enough fans of Alexander Mc Call Hill who would go watch it just to see what their favorite private investigator, Mma Ramostwe was really like.

What do you think ?Liked the movies?Seen the HBO-BBC series?Come on people, show Bedazzled some "louve" here.. I have been averaging just 5-6 comments here for the last few posts and even have had to resort to blackmailing the hubby for some comments.Ok,as usual i was exaggerating,but" please no mind" .

Quickees..

Have you read the book,Twitterature?-it describes plots of books for the Twitter-generation. Meh!,if you ask me.But i am technology challenged-so i really don't get warm and gushy about twitter. Now for some quick reviews of books i have read in the last few months.

1. Keep the Change by Nirupama Subramanian

Chicklit.Chitlit.Chicklit- Screamed the cover of the book.I loved it!. Story of B.Damayanti who is sick of her life at Amman Kovil street in Chennai and her employment with SSV and sons. She decides to chuck her job in chennai and get herself a new lifestyle in Mumbai.Makeovers,f new riends and love follows.Plot was cliche,but sometimes,its the execution that matters and Nirupama's book is a breezy ride thats been executed very well. The book is set in a bank and the plot something i could relate to having worked at a bank myself.Purists might pan the book saying it was brainless,but i think i was refreshing breath of fresh air.

2. If it is sweet by Mridula Koshy

GOSH.Thats the only word i can think of after reading a ghastly set of stories that won a spate of awards.Of course the GOSH was accompanied by wrinkling of the nose and was not uttered extolling the virtues of the book. Seriously,if you want to read some spaced out reading,you need to pick up this book.Right from a monkey that is a companion to an old lady to the story of a jeans,the book was a total let down for me. I must give Ms Koshy this much credit- Her words are luscious and the descriptions very visually potent.Other than that, a complete tangential,weird collection of stories.

3. Chai chai by Bishwanath Gosh

The writer visits some imporant train station junctions that are never final destinations for most people (like Jhansi or Jolarpet)and attempts to find out what these places look like beyond the stations. a very interesting idea,if you ask me!But the execution is shoddy and the writing very ordinary.The author made the destinations sound as if there was nothing worthwhile or remarkable to share about them..In the end it seemed like he wanted to do nothing more than get sloshed and stay inside hotel rooms.Even the random exploring he does gets boring after a few chapters.DRIVEL.DRIVEL.DRIVEL.Hubby said that the book put him in a nice holiday mood,but other than that it didnt work for him too. The languorous pace almost killed my brain-cells.

4. The Blaft anthology of Tamil pulp fiction- Pritham K chakravarthy

Mad scientists,avenging robots and cleavage touting detectives-what's not to love ?. Translated works of some of the best known Tamil pulp fiction authors. Like any anthology,there were a few odd-balls that were bland and unduly preachy,but on the whole the stories were good fun to dig into.Some of the stories i loved were by Indra Soundarajan and Rajesh Kumar Incidentally,Rajesh kumar has written over 1500 novels and is trying to get into the Guinness book for the most number of novels written by a single author.Find generous servings of sexual fizz in the stories. After all, whats pulp-fiction without a little harmless fun ? :-)

I am currently on the second Blaft anthology and starting Life and times of a thunderbolt kid by Bill Bryson next..Whats on your bed stands?

Eye Candy from Tribal route

A few years back,i managed to land up on the facebook profile of Tribal route and have been a huge fan of their merchandise.I managed to visit their store when i was in Mumbai last year and LOOOOVED it!.Green froggy incense holders,funky bags,jewelery,kitschy posters and thousands of other goodies vied for attention in their quaint cottage-store in Versova.Feast on some pretty stuff from their shop.

I totally love the Maa clock and the tiffin boxes.. Did i miss the lanterns and the cot ?What's your favorite ?

All images courtesy Tribal route.For more stuff head over to http://www.facebook.com/TribalRoute.

Bottle art,anyone?

Sometime back we had decided to stop buying knickknacks for the house because the house that we live in currently is too small for us and has zero storage space.The other reason obviously is that i go berserk when i see cutesy,kitschy stuff.I happened to land up on a whim just 20 minutes before the wrap up of an exhibition in mixed media art by Anjali Venkat and Shetal Parrek and was blown away by the creativity of these two ladies.The exhibition was aptly tiled 'Wood Paper Glass" and showcased quirky decoupaged furniture,trays,diya holders and functional but artistic pieces.Anjali is a glass artist and works out of a lovely studio in Besant Nagar in chennai.

I ended up buying just one piece.I had no clue that a vodka bottle could be used to hold stuff other than alcohol.totally cute,no?.How about a close-up?.

Artist profile and pictures of Anjali's totally drool-worthy work coming up soon..

oops..there i go again !

I abhor creepy crawlies normally..This picture was taken in a rare moment of clarity when i did really think that the "creature" looked beautiful.

Edit: of course,its a grasshopper!! why did i think that it was a caterpillar ..My high school biology knowledge decided to ditch me .. thanks Geeta!! :-)