Mercure by Amélie Nothomb

Yay ! I just finished reading my first French novel. Well, actually it's Belgian but you know what I mean :) It's called "Mercure", written by Amélie Nothomb and published in 1998. What attracted me to it initially was nothing but it's pocket-book appearance. The novel is a pretty fast read and took me just a day and a half to read. It's quite suitable for anyone who is at the B1 level with a decent vocabulary. I was actually looking for some pulp fiction but judging by their covers the "romans" section of the Alliance Francaise de Bombay has only literary fiction.

I enjoyed "Mercure". It's a thriller narrated in easy, light prose. I think my own imagination lent a gothic atmosphere to it. I think the story is just perfect for a Hollywood thriller. It's 1923. Nurse Françoise a beautiful, competent and upright woman is summoned on a private island to take care of Hazel, an orphaned young girl living under the guardianship of a rich old man. On her arrival, Françoise is puzzled by the tight security and baggage-checks. Soon it's revealed that mirrors are banned on the island and the guards are ordered to confiscate even the smallest reflective surface. Over the course of her daily visits, Françoise becomes aware of the strange relationship between Hazel and her benefactor. Old man Loncours treats Hazel like his daughter except at night. Françoise soon gets into Nancy Drew mode and uncovers secrets that could change the course of Hazel's life.

There are only three major characters and most of the action takes place indoor. Although there are many scenes where two characters would just talk and talk, it never ever gets boring. In fact all the conversations are quite interesting. For some reason the author decided to write two climaxes, both of which seemed odd to me. The second one is weird as hell.

I am a big fan of dark thrillers and "Mercure" seems like the perfect source material for an atmospheric, period thriller. I couldn't help but imagine a smart tall brunette like Angelina Jolie playing Françoise. By amping up the supernatural elements and adding some scares this could be one hell of a movie ! Wow! I wish that gets made.

Room 205 (Kollegiet) - A Review

I think, this is the first danish film I have seen. Its what we call a 'timepass' movie in India. Just some passable entertainment to engage in when you have nothing better to do. I watched it with the sound on low ( with subtitles ofcourse ) , because it was playing late at
night on TV and I dint wanna disturb anyone. Its fun to watch subtitled movies in the dead of the night :) Especially a horror flick.. This particular one, called
Room 205 ( Kollegiet ) is a rather standard, mild ghost story. The ghost itself is a funny
looking blonde who turns up here and there in a dormitory, terrorising good looking people.
But I do admit, I saw her through half-open eyes as I dint wanna keep seeing her weird face
everytime I went to the loo in the dark :D

Let me outline the plot first. Theres a pretty girl, Katrine, with some baggage , emotional as
well as real. She moves into a college dormitory and is subsequently ill-treated by some
bullies, especially by one jealous bitch with curly hair. Katrine begins to have some creepy
supernatural encounters, people die and the ghost has to be stopped before it kills the main
character itself.

I kept getting Deja Vu-ed throughout the whole thing. Everything seemed familiar and
predictable. Thats the only reason why the movie did'nt hold my attention so well .

I wont call this an atmospheric thriller just because it has a few scenes of the sky changing
eerily over buildings ( deja vu again ). The dorm, where all the action takes place, looks
like a nice place with lots of fresh air and sunlight. Cant help contrasting it with the
creepy old building in 'Dark water'.

There are a fair number of scary scenes. Mercifully, the gore quotient is low. The acting is
strictly ok. Actually the supermodellish Katrine seemed a bit out of place. She dint really
seem traumatized or disturbed.. I dunno if I missed something in the translation, but I really
dint care for the characters. Some of them looked too old to be playing college students.
All said and done, you will enjoy it if you dont mind the cliches. Bad movies can be fun too
you know. If you DO see it, watch out for the very last scene. Its HILARIOUS ! :D

Interviews with new-age spiritual teachers

Found this really wonderful website that features interviews with the world's most popular new-age spiritual leaders. I had not heard of all the names listed, but I have read some wonderful ( understatement ) things written by Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer and Eckhart Tolle. Everytime I read these kind of things, i feel so much clearer.

Well, heres the link, that will lead you to a "a collection of inspiring interviews with leading spiritual teachers and "The New Age 100" Core Book List "..

http://hemachandra.com/LouiseHay.aspx

Chicken chilly and Egg fried rice.

hi

I made my first decent-tasting chinese food today :P

I think I added bit too much of soy sauce, but it was still fine.

Found the recipe on youtube. It was by a chef called Sanjay Thumma

( vahrevah.com ). The guy is really fun to watch, I would definitely

recommend his video recipes..........i think he just makes it look so

easy. Heres one for chicken fried rice :

http://www.vahrehvah.com/popvideo.php?recipe_id=83

I loooooove puppies :) n i want one tooo !!!!!..

Look at his ears, isnt he cute?? I just wanna hold him close...
And look at these fur balls below..how do dey get to be soooo cute?!? <3

Design and Me

I am really happy that to FINALLY step out of full-time professional graphic designing. But looking back, I feel even happier that over the last few years, as a just-out-of-college, clueless youngster, my career was subjected to a bit of experimentation. Including my summer vacation jobs, I have dabbled in sales, reception, journalism and design. But it was my not-so-short stint as a graphic designer that really enriched my life. Some ‘mistakes’, you see, are not to be regretted.

My first real job as a graphic designer was at the Gowandi-based Web Animation Studio, which was, in those days, bustling with full-on 3d, flash, html, photo shop activity. I guess I was lucky to get a break THERE, of all the places. We had cool projects. It was fun to be in a place where interesting work happened.

The first assignment on my plate was a CD-presentation for a leading internet service provider. This was the project that taught me to create a flash presentation, and all that goes into it. It was a team effort with one script-writer, two voice-recording artists, one illustrator, one graphic designer, 3 flash designers , one video-editing guy and one project co-ordinator working on it. I was co-ordinating the project and took over as the flash designer towards the end. I also got a chance to witness a voice-over recording session, with me supervising it. The recording studio, tucked away in an old Chembur bungalow, was the first that I had seen. Well, I also learnt that voice-over artists get paid pretty well and their job looks like so much fun! I also learnt the importance of crystal clear communication. When so many people are working together, a lack of communication alone can disintegrate the project. And, I have seen that happen. All in all, this project was quite a learning experience.

Another memorable part my design career was the Myspace Secret Show concert, that we had organized, just a month or so before we went jobless. I ACTUALLY, got the opportunity, to design the stage-backdrop, apart from T-shirts! It was amazing. Even now, sometimes I see a random guy on the road wearing a Secret shows T-shirt. Feels nice.

Days at WAS and MySpace were spent in scouting for images, templates, fonts, inspirations….This is how I discovered stock images, stock illustrations, Template monster, photoshop tutorials, deviant art, dafont, Smashing magazine etc...It opened up a whole new world of art and beauty to me, which showed me just how much serious talent exists out there. I was totally awed. It inspired me to learn illustration and I went on to draw my very first portrait, which I proudly uploaded on my blog. The collectible posters at MySpace were a revelation. What coolness! I would say the biggest thing that I gained in the design-terrain, is the inspiration to explore my creative side.

As a web designer, I ended up learning and using, many more smaller softwares, apart from Photoshop and Flash. Now I can create my own ringtones etc in a sound editing software. Upload/Download files using FTP, Convert FLV to mp3, create basic html pages... This quickness and comfort with new softwares, is all thanks to the demands of the profession. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to learn anything out of the way. Being a web designer myself, I designed a website for my mother’s matrimonial bureau. Today, I manage it myself, with occasional help from my php-developer friend, Roy. I also print my own wall-posters, and I can design my own Tee-shirts (although I haven’t yet gotten around to doing that YET!)

And last but not the least, I look back at my designing career fondly, because of all the wonderful people that I met, all the friends that I made….Yogi - my boss at WAS, Abdul - my walking-talking photoshop tutorial kit, Sunny – my reporting manager at MySpace, Dolly – colleague and friend at MySpace….

I am glad that all this happened to me. However, slowly, as I became more serious about a career, I had began to realize that I didn’t really belong. Although, I could have survived long enough, as a mid-level designer, I couldn’t really envision a future bright enough. I did not see myself as a commercially viable graphic designer, and neither was I interested in coding and implementation. But the main problem, was switching careers. How would I do it? But my mind was made up, and here I am.

29 Palms : A comment

I watched this movie last night, and I am still feeling spaced-out :D Actually, I really liked the first half, which is all serene and normal
( I hadnt read many reviews...was watching it without much expectations). Nothing much happens, but its still good. I thought it was all
building up to something very interesting/moving/disturbing . I found
the couple kinduf interesting and sweet at first. But 70 mins into it,
I began to wonder, where exactly the film was going.

The one thing that disappointed and confused me was, how the bloody
climax, makes all the interesting little details of the relationship (
the ice-cream conversation, the late-nite fight, oral sex in pool,
David's stalking of katia etc ) seem irrelevant. The couple itself
doesn't seem normal, but I think the climax would have been the same,
irrespective of how normal/dysfunctional the couple was. An incident as
horrific as that, can make anyone go mad. 90% of the 114 mins , are
focused on their relationship, but the "horror element" which arrived
in the last 5-10 mins of the film, just comes out of elsewhere.

Sure the rape is horrible n humiliating, but it seemed to be there just
for shock value. Maybe, the director wanted to show how one random
horrific incident, can absolutely ruin everything...but if thats the
case then the duration of the film doesn't really make sense.

I think the makers have done a great job in building up the
suspense....but the wait is too long and wen the bad stuff happens its
weird. For me, the climax was neither shocking nor thought-provoking
(Everyone knows, man is capable of both savagery as well as
saintliness) , but just very very saddening. So this movie has left me
in a sad and confused state of mind.

Also, I dunno, why are movies like these, marketed as something they
are not. If you promise the viewers "a deliverance meets psycho", and
give them this movie, there are bound to be negative reviews. Even, the
original trailer tries to make the film look so eventful and
thrilling...lolz...I can understand why horror fans are pissed off.

Its NOT a bad movie, but I would'nt call it a horror film either... I
agree that the desert looks quite menacing, so OK that qualifies as a
"thriller" element. But there is a disjointedness to this movie, which
is why I wouldn't recommend it.

But if you like to watch slow, ambiguous movies and then dissect them
for symbols, hidden meanings etc..then go ahead. You just might like
it.

Buffet froid - french bizarre dark comedy

Hey,

Last night, I watched a french movie called "Buffet froid", which roughly translates into "A cold meal". I had the read the story behind the dvd, and expected it to be a goofy fun action-comedy.

But to my surprise, and I dint mind it, the movie was amusingly absurd n consistently funny. Every character is either a killer or gets killed. Its a quiet movie, most of it being shot in the night, in empty subways, deserted streets, and an almost-empty highrise. Gives it an urban-gothic touch. 20 mins into the movie, you realize that the movie is trying to say something abt the loneliness of city life, and how it seems to suck the meaning out of life. So much so that people are driven to do weird things.

For me the high point of the movie was the Gerard Depardieu. He was so cute when young, i found myself waiting for the camera to rest on his face, again n again :)

A good one.

Murder by Death

Lolz..Picked up this movie, thinking it to be french. Turned out to be a rather silly-cartoonish murder mystery, in English. The characters spoof well-known fictional detectives like Hercule Poirot,and Miss Marple. I could'nt recognize the others, ( guess I am really not that well-read..! )

Actually I quite liked the first-half of the movie, after which it began to get slightly tedious n unfunny. Most of the gags are quite good. A good whodunit timepass .

My 5 favourite cartoons!

I love cartoons! More than movies or music, and thats saying a lot . I think I appreciate cartoons more now that I have grown up, than when I was a kid. Cartoons, my friends, are a simple pleasure...no tears, only joy :)
Heres the countdown of my favourite cartoons, starting from the number 5!

5) Doraemon
This one is always predictable but enjoyable. Based in Japan, the main characters are a group of school-going kids - Nobita, Gian, Tombari, and Shizuka. Nearly every episode starts the boorish
Gian, alongwith his accomplice Tombari, bullying Nobita for some reason or the other. Nobita, the loser, comes crying home everytime, and asks Doraemon for a gadget to teach Gian a lesson.
After protesting for sometime and preaching the virtues of self-reliance, the cat gives in ( Doraemon is a cat-robot) and produces a miraculous gadget from his pocket and hands it to Nobita warning him againts its mis-use. Nobita then goes on to kick Gian's ass but then goes too far, and gets his own ass kicked.
Despite this fixed agenda, I find the show entertaining. The characters are funny, each in their own different way. I love the japanese setting and all that jappiness. I really wish I could have watched and understood it in the original language. Hmm. With every new gadget come new adventures and new jokes. I love those imaginative gadgets, lol..... they are just the kind of things I used to dream of when I was a kid.

4) Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries

Hehe...I havent seen this in a long while. I dont think it even airs anymore. But I remember the
black and white cat being so funny in his tireless efforts to catch hold of Tweety. And all this in the middle of solving mysteries with Granny, a lady detective somewhat like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple! I love mysteries, I love humour and thats what puts this show on my favourites list.


3) Kiteretsu
This ones similar to Doraemon, but in my opinion, simply better. First of all I prefer Kiteretsu's look and feel to that of Doraemon. While 'Doraemon' is colourful and glossy, Kiteretsu's scenes looks like a drawing, which gives it a charming worn-out feel like that of an old paper. I also prefer the characters. While Nobita of Doraemon is a cry-baby, Kiteretsu is a clever, sensible and cute little genius. The other characters are also very similar, making me think that both the shows must have originated from the same script. In fact I just now googled it and found this .

2) Scooby Doo
I absolutely adore this one. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. I love dogs, I love mysteries, I love stories with ghosts and graveyards and detectives, and this one has it all. Plus its so damn silly and funny. And scooby doo is so cute, with his strange shaky voice. I remember returning from school and getting glued to TV, when this used to air. The first time I saw Shaggy, I swear I thought the character was a beggar. Lol..So unkempt he looks. Some episodes, even has Scooby Doo's nephew, Scrappy Doo, a lively and brave puppy, trying to walk in the footsteps on his uncle, whom he believes to be, well, a hero.
The best part of every episode is the chase with the ghost chasing Scooby and Shaggy, and the other kids chasing the 'ghost', and all the slapstick comedy that ensues.
In the end, it always turns out that, the ghost/vampire/witch/whatever is a villain with a mask.
If I had to create an animated series, this is the kind of thing I would make. I dont know why Cartoon network discontinued it, but I hope I can get my hands on all the episodes on the net. Torrents, Torrents.



1) Shin-Chan

What do I say about Shin-Chan. Love him, hate him, you cant ignore him. Rather he wont let you
ignore him, with his..err..extraordinary antics. I enjoy watching this so much. I especially love the episodes where Shin-Chan is with his other little buddies.

Mini's first time

My sister was out on a trip last nite and I had the living room television all to myself. Great! I took the opportunity to make it one of those fun nights, when I can enjoy a late night movie, all alone. I love nightly solitude . I was in a darkish mood, and I wanted to savour it with a dark atmospheric thriller. Too bad, there was no chocolate icecream ( or grape
juice.......or red wine ) to add to my pleasure.

Well, after surfing through all the western movie channels, the final choice had to be made between "Mini's first time" and"Hidden" ( Originally titled "Oculto"), a spanish flick. The former won coz it was airing at an earlier hour.So, I settled for a 'dark comedy' rather than a real thriller.

My choice, wasnt bad. Hmm.. but from the first scene itself, there was a sense of deja vu...teenage sex-bombs as reckless femme fatales, LA mansions, dysfunctional families, whorish moms... we have seen it all, havent we? I kept feeling that I was watching some sequel of Wild things. Right from the beginning, I knew the guilty party is going drive away scot-free, and
guess what, I was right. Its a formula flick guys. But, a formula that I often enjoy.

Did I mention the plot? Here it is.
"Desperate to be free from her drunken, unloving mother Diane, the beautiful, scheming young Mini seduces her stepfather Martin and soon convinces him to join her in a sadistic scheme to have Diane declared insane. But their conspiracy soon escalates to murder and when John Garson, a young detective starts investigating, Martin and Mini begin to turn on each
other."

I was amused to the see the contrasting reviews of this movie on Imdb. Half of the people loved it, and other half puked over
it. I think both the kinds took it more seriously than it deserves.

I think the title of misused. Mini's philosophy of life is that one should always look for new experiences, and she loves doing things for the "very first time!!" what fun! But I hardly saw her doing that. Basically, its just a convenient excuse, to explain WHY our rich and spoiled Mini would be choose to become an escort. I liked the confidence of the lead character. Shes really smart and seems to enjoy her life. Shes bold, brash and sexy, but the predictability of the movie, doesnt let her go above that. This is where I was disappointed with the movie. With all those high-profile actors and gloss, i wish, they had tried to give a real twist and twang to the story/formula, rather than showing the same rountine.

Btw, The lead actress, Nikki Reed, looked so much like Shakira. But body-wise, shes not close to the bellydancing pop star.But shes hot alrite, I think she was fine for the role. She somehow looks refreshingly different from other actresses, and shes hot in a healthy n real way. No bones or boob-job. Good.


Having said all this, I still found it entertaining. Well, maybe I should mention that "Poison Ivy" is one of my favourite films, and that one made me a Drew fan for life. But that was 1992, and the Drew movie was classy and...truly sexy. This is 2010, and wild things have become so common. Mini is passable entertainment :)

Beautiful photography

Hi
Was browsing deviantart.com just now. Wow! Deviants come up with such beautiful stuff.
With photography and photoshop, an " ordinary " scene is transformed into something
fantastic. See this...its lovely...i love the way the colours just jump out in these pics.


Visit the artist's page here: http://xshadyblues13x.deviantart.com/




Visit the artist's page here: http://spell-bound170.deviantart.com/






Visit the artist's page here: http://scythe-sugar-static.deviantart.com/

Soft blur on my pic

Heya, Check out the magic of soft blur!! It creates a dreamy, soft look, ideal for portraits...

Illustration - Orange fruit

Hello,
I have done illustrations before, but I dunno why this feels like my first one! It was really quick and simple. Started with a simple circle for the orange and some tracing for the leaves. Lots of burn and dodge, and glass + ocean ripple effect for the orange texture. Its really easy.
I couldn't have thought of the distort>glass effect if I hadn't read this sweet tutorial.

My wine bottle has a background now!

Heya,
After a long long time, I am suddenly back to my all-time favourite tp, Photoshop.
Updating my skills, with some amazing tuts on the net, will mention them in another article.
Well, there was some work that I had left kinda incomplete (http://beautifulcopper.blogspot.com/2010/01/photoshop-illustration-wine-bottle.html)

Just finished it yesterday, and added a background for fun :) Hmm, i would love some red wine right now..

French comics - AYA

Note : Please click on images, to view them in big.


Hi,
This post is about a new comic that I discovered at the Alliance francaise library.
I am so much in awe of people who create comics. The illustrations, the story and the
humour in a good comic is a total DELIGHT. AYA, written by Marguerite Abouet and drawn by
Clément Oubrerie, is one such pleasing discovery. Ok and its in french.

AYA, is based on a teenager's life on the Ivory coast, in 1970s Africa. All the characters
are black, and that was a first for me. Its a window into a culture, that was, quite
unknown to me. I found myself as much interested in the the colourful illustrations of
African houses, streets, landscape, clothes, as the story itself.
Theres just so much to look at and admire. For ex: In a lot of places, the sky is greenish
or reddish. All in all, the visuals, made me wanna be there, in hot, beautiful Africa.

Add to this, all the comedy that you find on every page. Its entertaining ; you find people
doing things like sneaking to parties at night, stealing boyfriends, making a pass at a
close friend's daughter and having sex under the open sky. The protagonist is a
level-headed pretty teenage girl, called Aya. She is the narrator, who observes all the
silly antics of the people around her, young and old.

Why am I blogging about this? Because, i loved AYA. I have grown up reading Tinkle,
Archies, and the usual American fare, and this is a big change for me. I am thrilled to get free access to all these exotic comics at the Alliance library :) One thing is for sure, if i ever have a story to tell, I will tell it through pictures.




You can read more abt AYA, and other comics here :
http://www.guttergeek.com/2007/May2007/aya/aya.html

Another great movie brings me back to my blog.

Heya,
Last week I saw a gem of a movie. Yes, the story was a .. deja vu. Bad-ass students finally meet their match and begin to show their good side. I was reminded of movies like Dangerous minds,
Sister Act, School of Rock. etc And yet, this movie is worthy of my blog :) I loved it. To me, its way way way better than the movies I just mentioned. Its entertaining, amusing and very touching.
And, its french..so i might be a biased there..lol. Well, so the winning points are----
1) The actors are all so natural. No over-acting here.
2) Story is told in flash-back, so we are in the year 1949 in france, so everything is old-worldly European, which i adore.
3) The story is not exactly new, but the way its presented is so sweet.! Feels like new :)
4) The kids are endearing, esp. little Peppinot.
5) Humour, thankfully, is present.
6) Its a tear-jerker, but only mildly so. It will move you, but you wont cry. And if you do,
they will be "khushi ke aansooon", coz its always nice to see sad abused children blossom when treated with love :) sniff sniff.........go watch it.


Psst..heres the synopsis, taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372824/ :

Fond de l'Etang is a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. In the mid-twentieth century, it is run by the principal M. Rachin, an egotistical disciplinarian whose official unofficial mantra for the school is "action - reaction", meaning that there will be severe consequences for any boy out of line. This approach does not seem to be working as the boys as a collective are an unruly bunch. In turn, the teachers don't teach, but are always watching out for the next subversive act from the boys. January 15, 1949 marks the arrival to the school of the new supervisor, M. Clément Mathieu, a middle-aged man who is grasping at finding his place in life after a series of failed endeavors. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the "action - reaction" policy, and as such, butts heads with Rachin while secretly undermining the policy...

Kontroll - I loved this movie

Wow, I was lucky when I clicked on "Kontroll" and downloaded the torrent for the same.
I dint even know what the movie was about, and what an awesome surprise. This is just the kind
of the movie that I like - dark, funny, entertaining and..nocturnal.. Add to that some loose ends and symbolism. It was so much fun to watch. ..all the weirdness and the action.

Well, I just had to rave about this, so the post. U know, and I was also struck by how one person can swing between looking so sexy and unsexy, I am talking about the leading man of Kontroll. Hmm...Interesting movie.

Erasing cinderella

Hi
Jus found this piece of work while looking for some image on google. I think its amazingly done,
that erasing technique suits the story perfectly. Take a look.

Ramadan card from Aby