Animation and Me ;)

Pre-Script: This post, in a way, proves how good of an aunt I am for my niece n nephews. It also clearly showcases me as a lead supporter of piracy as far as animation movies are concerned, again it 'll also let the readers (poor souls :( ) know that I still have a kid alive in me (yeah I know shocking, if anyone has fainted reading this, I sincerely request the person sitting beside them to sprinkle some water, because well I know I've the perfect serious gal image :P and I work hard to keep it intact, but we all have our weak points) but the motive of post in none of those cited above....to know the mystery; please read on :D

I kind of have this habit of stocking all the animation movies with me whenever I find them (or rather whenever I feel I'm wasting my internet's bandwidth by not utilizing it and keeping the torrent inactive :D ) Initially this habit of stocking the cartoon movies was on the pretext of doing so for my adorable nieces...like a sweet, responsible, loving, caring and completely devoted Aunt, I made sure to have at least a dozen or so movie ready in hand before the angels (read devils in disguise ;)) ) came for a trip to India....and then came those times when I was out of stock to watch anything (these are the days before I got absorbed by a number of series) and hence, I started watching the animation movies myself....

I remember watching a couple of Tom n Jerry movies while I was a kid...and yeah, Bug's Bunny too...but more often than not, what I caught up with in name of animation was episodic like TaleSpin, Mickey Mouse, The lil mermaid, Ducktales n so on.... not really a full length movie kind of thing....and hence, in the name n duty of being a "Maasi" I ventured in the world of movies without real people for the first time...

Since then, there have been lots of animation movies I have watched (again being a responsible Aunt you see, I need to watch the movies and make sure they are suitable for my niece...can't let them b badly influence, I'm more than enough of a kind in the family ;) )

But the last two movies I have caught, have actually made me question....question if something is wrong with me, or are the animation movies getting more serious than the usual adult movies....I for one am not a big time movies buff...I do see movies once in a while, but it's tough for me to see a movie with complete dedication...and I generally don't tend to flow out in emotions while watching movies...In fact I remember how we had a school premier of Kal Ho Na Ho, and the gals with me started crying since before the intermission till the end of the movie, and I was rolling my eyes, as to what on earth is wrong with these gals!!! I really have no business in crying while watching a movie, in general....

The only time I remember myself crying in a movie was during the Hum Aapke Hain Kaun show...and I was barely 7 or so that time....couldn't help crying when one of my fav person on screen was dying...I absolutely adored Renuka Shahne back then, and so it got a lil too sad for me...but over the years I rarely have cried...one movie which I love till date n still makes me cry has been "My Sister's Keeper" and I know how badly I'm recommending the movie to everyone around me (though bad guys these people are...they just don't watch it!!! X( )

But I'm afraid of my state of my mind now....the last two animation movies I've seen have left me in tears :( "Tangled" and "Despicable Me"....recently saw them n somewhere towards the end of both the movies I found my eyes wet....and this is grossly unacceptable... (I'm sure my niece n nephew never 'll actually even shed a tear in the movie) and there I was, feeling all what not for the lifeless in reality characters...not loving this shift in my emotional stability even one bit :(

Anyways, as for the movies, both of them are awesome, n must watch...specially Tangled...it's a visual treat and I doubt if there is anyone who can resist loving our very sweet Maximus....Despicable Me is a delight in itself thanks to the three girls, but still a lil faded in front of Tangled...but then comparing the two movies is like comparing two entirely different entity...must watch movies for any age group (and if any of you cries watching either of them, please let me know...it would be a solace to know I'm not the lonely miserable hopeless soul to do the same :-? )....and as for me...I'll keep wondering if the movies really were that amazing, or I finally actually have lost my nuts n bolts to cry for a animation movie :)

Post-Script: I'm a lil more at peace...happy with the fact that I didn't cry watching "A Bug's Life" :D :D :D Party time!!!! But then, the movie lost it's pace around the first 20 to 40 min....only to pick it again after an hour, but it was a lil too late...nice one for kids, I doubt how much buddhi's like me would prefer it though (specially in the absence of any absolutely heart stealing character...the lil ant princess named Dot tries to do the same, but isn't all that effective given the lil screen time she has had :| ) ...Anyways, I'm hopeful my season of crying while watching cartoons is over, but I'm going to test it again soon, with "Gnomeo and Juliet"..."ll keep you guy's updated, even if you don't want to be :D

Post-Post Script: The blog, of nothing else, gave me a nice excuse to play with pictures and create collage :D :D :D ....Here goes the creation ;)) (do pass me the compliments for the pathetic job done :P ) [As it is, this blog is a pure testimony to how useless n workless I am these days....laziness at its epitome...YayyyY!!!!! ]

Stranger In The Mirror : Not the Review

And I had to write this post 3 days back...but then, life came to a full circle...I remember my firs few days in MBA...same looks like the end...had an unending project report to deal with....n well the last presentation of the course actually reminded and made me go through all what I had in the very first presentation almost 18 months back...life doesn't change much, isn't it :)

So, "Stranger in the Mirror", a novel read by me ages back...has nothing to do with this post...

Nor as one of my friend thought (after reading my status message on FB around 4 days back), is it related to the horror/thriller movie Mirrors (again saw it over 2 years back)...

But this one was a personal reflection, which I prefer to believe holds true for everyone (ab I can't say I'm different in each n every aspect, one shouldn't be that abnormal too after all :P ) "If we look close enough in the mirror, we often find the biggest stranger in our life..." or something like that was the status message I had on Facebook...a quick way to put your thoughts across the world, and definitely better than Twitter (of course, isn't it obvious that I'll choose FB over Twitter...to a gal with never ending blogs, 420 words over 160 chars, the choice is simple enough for even a kid to make!!!)

Just had a thought....we all spend our lives in judging people (yes, I honestly do, n be honest, so do you...) we appreciate them, critique them...find their shortcomings or their strong points (and again lets be honest...from the finding the positive n negative in other, which part do v most often unearth??) We (or rather I'll shift back to I), I definitely can writes essays about the characters, habits and traits of at least a couple of dozens of people...it's just so simple...and I'm so stringent in my belief, so sure that what I think of that person, is how that person really is...and well, no one can change that opinion, but I myself...but why would I (it's tough to accept you are wrong, even if it's something you have to confess to yourself n not the world :-| )

But then, how often do we think of ourselves...how often do we actually measure ourselves on the same parameters, look out for same behavior n characteristics, as we assess in those around us....do we really know ourselves, what we truly are?? Truth be told, I at least don't!!!

Today, if I confess, I probably am the person I know about least....other's can call me predictable, but to think of, I don't know who I've turned out to be, someone I would have appreciated as an on-looker (like I appreciate few people around me..) or someone I would have found full of errors and condemned....is there any way, I can be as true at self-assessment as I am while assessing others???

Till date, I actually have tried making sure that I don't end up doing the very same things, which I don't like seeing other's do...which I raise an issue, complain or even crib behind their backs (yup, that a shortcoming, and being a gal, it's not surprising; but well I do talk about people, I do end up picking their wrongs...and I am not apologetic...because somewhere I know, the majority of us do that...and well, I don't think it's wrong too...it's a part of being in the society.... ;)) Nice excuse...right?? )

Anyways, to cut the long story short, I liked the novel "Stranger in the Mirror", the movie "Mirrors" was good enough to keep me glued till end (I've a bad habit of leaving movies half watched!!! ) but what fascinates me, is the person that reflects back while I look in the mirror....for that's one person I know the least about......

False Impression Gives Me a Character to Fall in Love With...

Jeffrey Archer, another author, whose work I used relish way back in past....I remember reading its thick, heavy n kind of never ending "Kane and Abel" around a decade back...I happened to have finished my 9th standard n was spending a huge chunk of time (read around a month) at di's  place...with her being in office throughout the day on weekdays, n no television in tow in her apartment, the sweet lil me had to keep myself busy with all the books I could find...wasn't surprising when it took me just a few days to complete a book, di was stuck with since weeks :D

It was a nice read...a paced story revolving around the life of two men, born on the same date, but with different fortune...and as has been my habit, I delved into all the novel written by the man (though I doubt I've read them all...I believe I've missed plenty) The kind of novels this guy writes can be broadly categorized into epic dramas or suspense (or thriller) novels...and truth be told, being the dramatic gal I'm; I loved Archer for those dramas spanning from birth till the end of men or even across generation...Sherlock Holmes isn't my favorite genre in any case... 

He is one guy, who actually has had a life as dramatic as his novel...a baron, a writer, a political reader to insider's trading only to even taste being a prisoner...hell of a life it was...and we think, it's the end of the world once u land up in jail (even his novels suggest so) but man, he continued with his pen even then (though I left reading him :P nothing related to his jail stint in any case ;) )

So, I just realized a couple of days back that there are now 3 proper fictional novels by him that are out since his time in prison and I haven't touched even one yet...and hence began my journey with "False Impression" .

Confession, before I move forward (yup, it's my kind of review...so it's bound to be like pages n pages long :P ) I generally tend to read a lil backdrop about the story of novels I pick...generally myself go through some shadowed reviews on various blogs and Amazon...but seems like amidst all my submission n rocking-rolling life, I started this novel without going into the backdrop or storyline of the novel...

Good, I didn't...else I would probably have not started with the novel (as I said, not a big fan of thriller or chases...) Bad, had I been through the reviews, I probably would have understood it's not a novel with perfect fit for me...I remember reading "Da Vinci Code", n getting so overwhelmed with all the artwork they mentioned that the entire novel got too heavy to take in for me (not to forget, I ended up comparing it with "Angels and Demons" and well "Da Vinci" just lost it with huge margin) "False Impression" is the next novel I've ever come across, full of painting and their history (and frankly I've no clue about them, never even had heard about them...like I had no idea what a Monet could be, losing which made a man sad, a man who didn't think twice before killing someone, gettin sad for a person?? Nah...till I realized its a painting :P ) And yet, I'll say hats of too Jeffrey, I not only finished the novel, I actually ended up learning about a couple of artworks...

A story spanning across ten days needs to be thrilling...keeping the suspense n action quotient up all the time, be enthralling and succinct...sadly, the book was neither of the two...at least not the first half...the entire backdrop of 9/11 actually had no correlation with the plot of the novel (only serving as a mean to give the lead a way to hide her presence, claim herself dead!!!) The way the characters kept jumping from one country to another, was kind of lame (it actually can make me all d more weary about travelling, n not to forget it also tempts me to think that every flight has a killer, a cop n a lead-in-run as its passenger :O ) The male lead, hardly had a role (except of-course trying out his luck with the female lead, n occasionally outwitting the bad man, actually woman :D ) 

And man, what a negative lead she is...I guess she is one character that got me completely hooked (how often do u find that the negative lead is a light frame woman??) This book was worth it for her (and I had to read d ending twice for her...trying to figure out if she is alive or dead...n seems like I'll find her again in some of Jeffrey's novel because to the best of my knowledge she was given a last moment life n chance to escape..) and well I would keep my fingers crossed that she re-surfaces in some other of his novel....she completely steals the show from the male-female lead...hats off!!

Other than that there are some characters here n there...all suiting pretty well to their character (including the negative lead, the assistants, and the friends for the leads...) but well, to be honest, none of the character had a depth or big background attached to it...in fact, one of the biggest mystery in the novel; the reason for the the lady assistant to be helping the female lead, was in fact a dampener (okie the dramatic me wanted some big mystery to be revealed and not a one paragraph revelation just before the novel ended)..

To cut it short, it was a decent read...the first half tested me a lil, but the second half was a page-turner...loved the female negative lead....in fact will keep my eyes open for more such characters, which I know would be hard to come across :( 

One-line Review: Read the novel if:

a. you like the chases and have a knack for thrillers 

b. want to see a negative female who goes beyond the kitchen politics but is actually in love with kitchen knives..

c. are interested even the tiniest bit in artworks :)

d. wish to read a lil more about the 9/11 destruction and a fiction on how the people trapped in twin towers would have gone through those moments...

and give it a miss if:

a. you are looking forward to a chase like Robert Ludlum's novel,

b. you prefer novels who have a good research work done about the character's background,

c. you actually are looking for a sensible, coherent, practical stream of actions

d. and last but not the least, are looking for some big mystery element.

(And dare anyone point out that it was way more than one line!!!)

Rating: 4/5 (and trust me at least two of these four point here are for Krantz, the female negative lead...yup I like d bad guys...oops...gals :D)

Post Script: Would be back soon...very soon!!! ;))

and no, it won't b a post on Prisoners of Birth, the next Archer novel I've started with :)

He

Pre-Script: This one was tough :P ...being a gal thinking about a guy's perspective in any case is tough...that's why a three days break even when I had planned to come up with the "He" in the very day itself...and yup, I know this might offend few "He"mans :D

He was born to succeed, or so he believed....being second was just not acceptable, right from the birth...maybe that’s why, even after being the second child in the family; he was the preferred child...he was born in the usual Indian middle class family...he sure was his father’s dream, his mother’s world...his sister’s adored brother...he in fact, was probably what his family looked up to, to change their lives, to secure their future...with great power, comes great responsibility...his demands were commandments for his parents...the price of it, was to fulfil their dreams, to be ahead of the race...

Not much can be said about his past, guys hardly talk about the times they were kids...but anyone can be sure that he had lots scrapped knees in those days, for he still had them...every game, every activity...he was prone to sport a mark or two...call them the testimony to the battle he had fought, and yes; won...ambitions are good, wishes necessary; but when you get in the habit of winning, accepting even a minor setback is tough...any other guy in his place would have been happy with what he had achieved...what he was capable of...but he was forever in the agony of not being the best...there always was something better he wanted, nothing probably was enough for him...

But he was human...he wasn’t a super-hero, he wasn’t the prince charming...he had his share of short-comings...or maybe they were short-comings in the eyes of the people who looked at him, because he was sure this is the way wanted to be...so often, the world witnesses the successful men...and every so often are those achievers alone...guys, even in the upbringing of our times, are taught to hold back feelings...he mastered the art pretty soon...emotions do not produce winners...his target was victory...a lil sacrifice of things or people, all was worth it for him in battle-field...emotions were a weakness...and rather than wasting time in the feelings which couldn’t be helped, he preferred investing time in ensuring that feelings did never arise...

Or so, he pretended...for humans can never let go off their thoughts...no matter how strong a mind is, it can’t altogether put the heart on silence...no matter what he claimed, tears in the eyes of those who cared moved him...he knew he was failing those who wanted and expected more than his fame and accolades... maybe it was easier to handle professional life than personal...he wasn’t running away, he was just ignoring it...but with time, probably failing in the same...

How would anyone understand him, when he failed to understand himself...he was a guy, so sure of himself, to the outside world...that no one could even imagine that he can be guy who breaks down alone at night...his maddening drive to succeed probably had camouflaged his need and reason to succeed...how long can one cut himself off from people, from relationship, from any distraction other than work...he had people around him, but he know there were hardly he could have called friends...how long can he pay the cost of his dreams, the burden of his responsibility, and most importantly, how long till he wrecks himself, a part of his fighting with himself...he knew he wanted someone, someone who can hold him together when he loses it out...but how does he ask someone to love him, when he has resolved not to love anyone...

Post-Script: Really nothing to say as such...this one, as said before can never match she...after all being a gal, I in any case can put in more colors to the gal...and well, this biasedness would continue...if, ever, this he and she together have any story forward :) However, hopefully there would be some break...and some trying out new things before coming back to these two fictional people ;))

She...

Pre-Script: Yet again, a completely different kind of attempt by me...just wanted to try something new...try not to read too much between the line...it's a lil of me, a lil of fiction, a lil of what I see around me...and I'll try to make this one short (oh trust me, that's one of the toughest thing for me to do :( ) Just giving theme based writing one more try, and playing with words myself :S

She came in this world as her brother's dream, his favorite person, as she was reminded for a good number of years...As she passed her birthdays, she loved hearing her grandma tell how much her father doted on her, her silly demands being orders for him....Her mom was probably the only disciplinary in her life, the only one who had a heart to refuse her whims and yet, her mom just wanted the best from her because mothers generally do know what their child is capable of...Blessed, she definitely was, for she had a sister who made sure she never felt odd in place, even if it meant her sister had to act like a child, ages younger than what her sister really was...She grew up reading stories that ended with "and they lived happily ever after..."

Life was simple, or maybe she was smart enough as a kid to treasure n remember only the pleasant incidents, or heck, maybe memories so distant usually turn themselves into a rosy picture...she knew she the preferred one, and she indeed made sure to get things her way...calling her spoiled might be unjust, but lil gals become more lovely, when they r just a lil willful too....like any other gal, she loved her dolls, they all had a pretty name....and years later, the pictures of those very dolls would remind her of her very first mean act...she regretted it as soon as she did, but she was scared not to admit it...yes, she was already growing up, even when she continued to love playing house and doctors....

Year passed on, time never stops; no matter how much one wishes....against all attempts, she did have to grow up....she saw a lot of what she never wanted to see, she got glimpses of her dreams come true...and then there were the days, when she realized that dreams are just dreams...she knew she would survive, she had what it takes to go on...and she did battle things which people probably never face in their entire life...she was strong, she was weak...she was normal and yet it seemed as if nothing around her had any semblance of normalcy..she was predictable and she could surprise the hell out of you with her unexpected behavior....she was an enigma, even to herself...she accepted she was humane, she was prone to error....knowingly-unknowingly, she was bound to hurt people...it stopped affecting her too much, she no longer spent sleepless night repenting for her deeds....

Her readings now ended on sad notes, they were full of complicated relations...no longer was life a game of black n white, it was grey all over....she loved her family they were always with her, somethings actually are forever...but then somewhere, somehow deep inside, the bonds were no longer so pure...she laughed, she cried, she actually did live...but somewhere down the years, her life was robbed of her...a part of her might have given up, but a chunk of her believed it's not over...there is a lot yet to come, and it would be a shame if she misses out on it...so there she sits, with a thousand thoughts in mind, a heart that has survived the winds of time, looking at the present with thoughts of future...yes she is a fighter, living life always has been a war for us...she would rebel, she would buckle, she would rule, she would kneel...but she knows, she has it in her to leave her identity in the world....

Yes, she has the child of yesteryears safe in her very core....for that's the childhood she wants to gift to the one of hers...she isn't extra-ordinary, she is you, if you truly look in the mirror....

Post-Script: I won't re-read what I've written, that never has been something I liked doing...I just hope it didn't come out as completely insane n insensible....and it didn't have a lot of "She" :P ...yeah I could have kept going on...at least doubled what I wrote...I'm sure I've missed a lot of her...but then she is beyond words...just something I noticed as I finished the piece, I haven't used any emoticons in the parts of her...and a post with so less of smilies (they being restricted to pre and post-script) is just another new to me :) . Do leave the thoughts on this one, if you have any...even criticism is welcome...that might be the only way you have to ensure that I keep my hands off from such stuff :)