The Princess And The Frog

Once upon a time (in the roaring twenties, to be precise), there was a little girl (no, she wasn’t a princess. Yes, I know the title mentions a Princess, but just bear with me, okay?!?).

When she wished upon The Evening-Star, she fervently hoped for a wonderful restaurant of her own: 'Tiana's Place'.... A glamourous eatery that would serve honest-to-goodness Louisiana cuisine. No Kiss-Happy Frog. No Prince. No Marriage to the CK Underwear-Model-Worthy Hero (yep, breaking the mould with a vengeance, wasn't she?)

She didn’t spend her days playing lead songstress to a bunch of cuddly woodland creatures. She didn’t perch herself at a castle window waiting for Prince Charming to whisk her away on his white steed. Nu-uh….she was too busy waiting tables at a grimy diner, saving up her earnings for her grand dream (ref. above to wonderful restaurant).

The girl is Tiana. She is also Disney’s first black heroine. AND she’s the shining star of The Princess and The Frog. Tiana is a hardworking blue-collar girl in New Orleans. She has no time for the frills and fancies that infect her ditzy southern belle of a friend; Charlotte LaBouff. Charlotte is the daughter of a very rich and doting sugar baron. Daddy dearest, unbeknownst to him is under the greedy radar of local voodoo witch doctor, Dr.Facilier (a.k.a. The Shadowman). Meanwhile, the handsome but broke Prince Naveen lands in New Orleans with the express purpose of bettering his financial prospects. He hopes to achieve this by marrying the empty-headed but seriously wealthy Charlotte. But Dr.Facilier, with a touch of shiver-me-timbers voodoo and underhanded schemes turns Naveen into a frog.

And no, Tiana will not…no way…kiss a blerggg…frog!!! However, playing on Tiana’s secret dream…kiss him she does….and LO!

And behold….

Tiana is now a pretty, emerald green frog………..

Yep, didn’t see that coming did you???

Taking the plot from there, the two bickering amphibians make their way through Louisiana’s dangerous bayou in search of the famous Mama Odie to reverse the spell. Accompanying them on this trip are a trumpet playing croc, Lou and a little worse for wear Cajun firefly, Ray. The couple discover love, loyalty and the surprising fact that dreams don't stay static. Hopes change, ideals change and plans most definitely undertake some drastic detours!

It’s comforting to see that Disney got it right after a very long time. The Princess and The Frog is a fabulous tale - engaging characters…..addictive music score and brilliant artwork. Ah, the artwork…..you could watch the movie for the artwork alone…..vintage and unadulterated Walt Disney. The charm of twenties New Orleans is captured in a burst of riotous colours. You can almost smell the gumbo that Tiana whips up. You supress a shiver as Dr.Facilier plays his fiendish games. You fall in love with the sidekicks for their bumbling charm and secret hopes. You feel like breaking into a fox-trot as Tiana’s dream comes alive in a song-and dance art deco number.

Original setting….quirky twist on a classic plot….and The Princess and The Frog makes you realize why Walt Disney was the Grand Poobah of 'em all! ....

(oh, and also.....why you're apparently never too old to enjoy a good ol' happily-ever-after!!!)

Millie's Fling

I love the Brits’ dry turn of phrase, tongue-in-cheek humour and ability to be self-deprecating. Jill Mansell has straddled all the above ingredients in her refreshing collection of chick-lit. Her books are fun reads; devoid of random smut and brimming with memorable characters, quick-silver dialogue and believable story-lines.

Millie’s Fling is one such fine example. The best way to review this l’il gem would be to give a little heads-up on some of the characters.
So here goes:------------------------------------------------------------------

Orla Hart : Best-Selling Author of grandiose, passionate fiction. She gets the story started on a promising note by planning to fling herself off a clifftop. Reason for foiled suicide attempt? –> Husband Giles is a philandering no-gooder who is having a flaming affair with some tart. Foiled, I say? –> Saved by main character, Millie (ref. Millie Brady). Orla, later fuelled by a truly scathing review, decides to write a realistic novel based on the daily life of aforementioned Millie.

Hester: Millie’s roommate and long-time friend. In possession of the best boyfriend a girl could ever dream of –> Nat (ref. Nat). Unfortunately, in the true tradition of scatty girls who don’t know when they have a good thing going, Hester is constantly tempted by the need to get-it-on with love ‘em and leave ‘em Lucas (ref. Lucas Kemp). With Nat toiling away in another town and Lucas very much working in this town, Hester cannot resist exploring the ‘what-ifs’ of a chance encounter with Lucas.

Nat: Hester’s chef-boyfriend. All around Good Guy and trusty mate. Separated by job pressures and distance, he is in danger of losing Hester.

Lucas Kemp: The Don Juan DeMarco…The Casanova…the what-have-you of all womanly dreams. Legendary Lover and Charmer- Extraordinaire. After a stint as a successful DJ in glitzy London, he is back in Cornwall to run a Kissogram Service. He also happens to be Millie’s (ref.Millie Brady) new boss. Despite the obviously black shades that Lucas is destined to be painted in, he proves to have scruples and tosses many a pleasant surprise throughout the book.

Llyod and Judy…oh, and also Adele: Llyod is Millie’s father. Adele is Millie’s estranged mother. They are divorced, primarily due to Adele’s need for a better, spicier and fraught-with-passion life. Adele is now prone to search around for Husband Number Two. Her improbable bait takes the form of an intellectual book tucked under her arm….Sylvia Plath’s poems being a perennial favourite. And Llyod? Llyod is not heart-broken. He has found the perfect mate in Judy…..down-to-earth Judy who cooks wholesome meals like Shepherd’s Pie and is known on occasion to have entertaining tricks up her sleeve like juggling a bunch of mandarins. Together, Llyod and Judy provide a loving escape for Millie, whenever she needs it. Adele being Adele does drop in to blot the copybook and aggravate Millie’s already frazzled nerves.

Hugh Emerson : The hero of the book.He is handsome,witty and ever-so-yum. Hugh is also a fairly recent widower. A fact that is unknown to Millie ( ref. Millie Brady), when she finds his missing wallet and decides to pull a phone-prank on him. A prank which goes excruciatingly wrong. There are plenty of opportunities for a relationsip to blossom between Millie and Hugh…but does Hugh want that? Still loyal to his wife’s memory, is he destined to remain Millie’s Fling?

And finally….

Millie Brady: A perfect chick-lit heroine…pretty…funny…in fact she’s pretty funny what with her ability to exchange entertaining banter with the rest of the cast. She deals with all the lemons that life flings at her with wit and the occasional introspective/ drunken conversation in her head. Saving Orla (ref. Orla Hart) from certain-death proves her innate niceness. It also proves that good deeds can come back to bite you in the backside. When she becomes the reluctant heroine of Orla’s next great blockbuster, she finds herself having to deal with prospective boyfriends who kiss like Aquavacs, boyfriends who would prefer to be kissing other boyfriends, bosses who like to play God (and the Devil, more-often-than-not), heartbroken roommates who make Lady McBeth look positively cheerful and potential soulmates who don’t really want to part with their souls or hearts, thank you very much!!!
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Millie’s Fling is an example of truly entertaining British chick-lit. No vindictive, retail-therapy obsessed heroines and no devastatingly-perfect heroes. What you get instead is a fairly realistic take on what finding love is all about. And when it’s generously peppered with loads of humour, you know that you have a sure-fire winner on your hands.

The Girl Who Could Fly

"My ma told me that there isn't anything in this life worth having
that comes easy. She told me that every road I walk down's gonna have a price.
But what she didn't tell me and what I learned since I've been here is that if
you don't choose the road you're gonna walk, sooner or later someone else'll do
that choosing for you."
~ Piper McCloud

Every once in a while there comes across a book that is seemingly perfect in every way. It may have nothing new to offer by way of plot, characters or story progression…and yet by the time you reach the last page, you are left with a feeling of resolution and contentment. ‘The Girl Who Could Fly’ is one such book.

Piper McCloud is a talkative country girl born to the brusque and non-fanciful pair of Betty and Joe McCloud. The McClouds just want to fit into the small but inquisitive farming community. Anything extraordinary must be stifled and must never reach the malicious ears of the town-gossip; Millie Mae Miller. And there IS something extraordinary brewing at the McCloud homestead – Piper. Piper can fly. She can soar up into the sky, twirl through clouds, and get a bird’s view of all the secret happenings in the village. But despite her parents’ best efforts, Piper’s secret unravels before the village folk in an unexpected manner. In danger of being ostracized and suddenly in the eye of a publicity storm…Piper finds herself in a tizzy.

And then like a shining beacon, comes the beautiful Dr.Letitia Hellion and her entourage of expressionless dark suits. Without much persuasion, they whisk Piper off to a top-secret, maximum security institute for special children called I.N.S.A.N.E. (think X-Men and yet, not so much like the X-Men). Finally, Piper is attending a proper school, making hesitant friends and vindictive enemies. She is seeing the world from a different view-point. Dr.Hellion’s view-point. The good(?) doctor has soon got Piper convinced that flying is a bad and downright dangerous thing. Something which must not be repeated at any cost. And Piper agrees…her spirit is submerged and her one great desire in life, heavily doused under a promising layer of a luxurous lifestyle.

But something is rotten in the state of Denmark , or at I.N.S.A.N.E.to be more precise. What lurks behind the seemingly gentle and caring façade of Dr.Hellion? Is mean and nasty fellow student, Conrad really a rotten egg? What experiments are being conducted at the different levels of the institute? Who are the friends and who are the foes?

All this and much more are revealed in the story of Piper McCloud – an optimistic, feisty and extraordinary little girl. Victoria Forester has a delightful way of weaving a plot. She creates a picture that pulls you in, adds in a few homilies which are pertinent to the plot, churns out an eclectic bunch of characters who never stay true to their profiles and ultimately gives a twist that leaves you smiling at it’s sheer brilliance.

While the resolution of certain pitfalls may seem a tad too pat for many readers’ liking…I personally felt that it was a welcome change from the unnecessary taffy-pulling that some of today’s YA-Lit are subjected to. No monologues, no unnecessary dialogues and characters with enough gumption to hold all the threads in place. An adventure encompassed in 300 odd pages is not a bad thing at all…especially when there’s an author like Forester at the helm, keeping it together with her superlative story-telling abilities.

The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.....

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me,
but I think she enjoyed it. ~ Mark Twain

Mum...thank you for not bursting a blood vessel when...

~ I tried to swim in electrified fountains

~ I dropped earthworms/ centipedes/ lizards into your lap so that you could admire their subtle charms and facial contortions.

~ I fell from trees/ toppled into ditches/ rolled down slopes/ walked into transparent French-windows (and this was before the advent of St.Gobain)

~ I made you surrogate mum for every pup/ kitten/ bird that just happened to ‘follow’ me home.

~ I managed to turn every white item of clothing into something the cat-dragged-in.

~ I rushed headlong into lampposts and created vampire-happy pools of blood

~ I chewed your ear with my mind-numbingly boring ramblings on my crushes

~ I subjected you to my early cooking fiascos. You turning pea-green over Strawberry Cheesecake was not part of my grand plan.……

Happy Mother’s Day .......to a mum who is wicked-mad and a bigger nut than me! :)

Café Terrace at Night (Vincent van Gogh)

In an attempt to nudge my heathen soul from it’s perpetual siesta, I have decided to look up one piece of Art everyday. Today’s pièce de résistance is Vincent van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night also known as The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum.

My View/ Ramblings : Old world charm has always been my weakness. Throw in a sleepy little café which is so unlike the pretentious, chain-store coffee shops that pop up with alarming regularity and I have one of my many daydreams recreated in splendid oil-paints. As I sit here in Mumbai, sweltering away in the mother-of-all summers…I try to imagine (and fervently hope) that someday I will be sitting in this very same-café - under the stars, with a crinkly-eyed partner - exchanging dreams, thoughts, gossip (non-slanderous, ofcourse) as the glasses chink and the cutlery clicks. We will people-watch, smile happily and non-stalkerishly at passers-by, listen to some softly piped music coming from an unknown source and demolish a no-holds barred dinner with nary a thought to calories and love-handles.

Ah the joys of heat-induced hallucinations…

The Artist’s View: (This is what Van Gogh wrote in a letter to his sister)

“I was only interrupted by my work on a new painting representing the
exterior of a night café. On the terrace there are small figures of people
drinking. An immense yellow lantern illuminates the terrace, the facade, the
side walk and even casts light on the paving stones of the road which take a
pinkish violet tone. The gables of the houses, like a fading road below a blue
sky studded with stars, are dark blue or violet with a green tree. Here you have
a night painting without black, with nothing but beautiful blue and violet and
green and in this surrounding the illuminated area colours itself sulphur pale
yellow and citron green. It amuses me enormously to paint the night right on the
spot. Normally, one draws and paints the painting during the daytime after the
sketch. But I like to paint the thing immediately. It is true that in the
darkness I can take a blue for a green, a blue lilac for a pink lilac, since it
is hard to distinguish the quality of the tone. But it is the only way to get
away from our conventional night with poor pale whitish light, while even a
simple candle already provides us with the richest of yellows and oranges”

Twitterature

Thanks to two articulate AND disrespectful nineteen year olds, the world’s greatest classics have now been condensed to their impurest form.

Twitterature makes you smile…It does. While the purists would gasp aloud and turn red to see the much loved tomes reduced to a bunch of impudent tweets, the imp inside us all is wholly entertained.

My favourite was the hack-job on Romeo and Juliet. Have copied it here for your reading pleasure:

ROMEO AND JULIETBy William Shakespeare
@DefNotAHomeo
@JulieBaby
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My family won’t stop fighting the Capulets. Life should be a party. Make love, not war!
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Here comes my benevolent cousin, Mercutio
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Ah, how I love women! No, not that OLD woman. New woman. I shall have no fun at this party, thinking of this woman I love…
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WTF is Mercutio talking about? Everyone knows fairies don’t exist! Whoa. Hot babe cometh near. Must try the uninvited grind.
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She totally digs it! Ah, sin! Sin again! I’m such a wit, and such a pimp.
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Uh-oh. She’s a Capulet. Methinks this can go nowhere good, but why stop now?
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Later: Maybe if I stick around I can get a glimpse of her through the window.
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D DefNotAHomeo: Psst. Wherefore art thou?
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D JulieBaby: What do you mean ‘where am I’ ??? I’m right under the balcony! Does no one understand English any more?
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Her nurse asketh if I want to marry Juliet. She is the sun but this is waaay to fast. Am I being punk’d?!? Where’s Ashton Kutcher?
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D Tybalt: Why are you hitting me? I can barely Direct Message the question with your sword up my a**.
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Mercutio, you horse dropping. Why’d you have to die? @PrinceOfCats: One of us is joining him…NOT IT!
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Sometime’s you kill your wife’s cousin in a duel, and then you have to go to Mantua to hide out. Yeah, life sux.
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What? Juliet is dead?!? No! Orders to kill me on the spot? No! Curse the stars that led me to believe in Hollywood Endings.
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I have my poison, will return to Verona, take care of business.
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Found fair Juliet. She’s dead, and definitely not faking it! (Didn’t move when I poked her.) Alas, I must drink this terrible brew.
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‘O, I am fortune’s fool!’ Maybe just a tool. And so I die. BTW that other woman I was into before Juliet? Would’ve been a safer bet.
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D DefNotAHomeo: Wake up, my love. C’mon. Fun’s over. Wake up. Quit it! Not funny. Where’s Ashton? Oh shit.
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Bottoms up.
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@Montague, @Capulet: Can’t we all just get along?
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Catching Fire

Katniss Everdeen; dystopian teen-heroine extraordinaire won The Hunger Games. She also managed to save the life of fellow district Tribute, Peeta Mellark and stick one in the eye of the sadistic Capitol. Never in the history of the fiendish Games have there been two winners. But Katniss, with her now famous “poisonous-berries” moment achieved the impossible and had The Capitol impotent with fury.

While Katniss and Peeta should now be enjoying the life of well-deserved luxury, they soon learn that rebellious gestures cannot go unpunished. President Snow is convinced that the grand Katniss-Peeta Love Story is a sham and he’s waiting for Katniss to trip and make that one fatal misstep. If Katniss intends to keep her family, Gale, Peeta and the rest of her district-folk alive, she has to pitch in an Oscar-worthy performance.

But the scent of rebellion lies heavy in the air. Unbeknownst to her, Katniss’ grand gesture has sped up the flickering flame of hope in the people of Panem. In varying districts, the sufferers are rising up…ready to take on The Capitol and it’s ruthless regime. And for this, Katniss has to pay…In a cruel and unforeseen twist in the gut, Katniss and Peeta find themselves smack-dab in the middle of The Games yet again.

Catching Fire is a pacy sequel to The Hunger Games. While it does tend to plod and hop along in the first bit, the second half hits you like a punch in the gut with a burst of adrenaline. Survival, despair, improbable decisions weigh heavily on Katniss as she fights it out yet again in the arena of the Games.

Suzanne Collins has the ability to make you empathize with a beautiful, talented teenage-girl who has two handsome and worthy boys waiting in the wings for her. Never at any point do you resent Katniss for all that is being offered on her plate, because just as quickly you realize that there’s a softly softly catchee monkey hand waiting to snatch it all away.

In all, the book is a worthy middle-child of the trilogy. Collins keeps the action constant, drops in a few startling surprises and leaves you with a truly frustrating cliff hanger.

Kudos to her for getting it right, yet again

My "Twilight" Rant

I always have to eat my words…infact, I should be the poster-child for the “hold-thy-tongue-knave-for-thy-shall-have-to-eat-thy-words-with-loads-of-ketchup” campaign.So after scoffing over the vile reviews on The Twilight Saga, I had shuddered and claimed that there would be a snowball’s chance in hell of me ever picking up the books.......................... Five years down the line, I picked up both Twilight and New Moon…read them at a stretch and thereafter, picked up the movies too. What follows here is NOT a review NOR a vindictive diatribe. It’s just a mini-rant, if you will.

Writing a review on the books is futile. I gave “Twilight”: 3 Stars and “New Moon”: 2 Stars. Now why in the name of all things supernatural did Twilight merit the extra star???

For me, it was the Baseball Scene… the one where the Cullen family had their routine bonding session over lightening fast pitches and thunderous body collisions. What really got my blood (see how many nasty puns can creep into vamp-lit?) pumping was the part where the Cullens sense the presence of the evil coterie of James, Laurent and Victoria and await their arrival with barely concealed despair. Meyer builds up the tension admirably. I was literally straining my ears for the crack of a dry twig . And for the record, if you are of the skittish disposition……please DO NOT read this scene in a quiet room. The slightest, unexpected noise is likely to make you jump like a scalded cat…..then again maybe it’s just me….I do tend to live my life out in a series of overused clichés.

Getting back to the plot, kudos to Meyer for that singular scene. The confrontation between the two opposing parties and the ensuing unfolding of events adequately made up for the mind-numbingly boring first half of the book. So yes…Go Team Edward!!!

And now…Book 2: New Moon. Frankly I don’t recall anything from this instalment except for the fact that Edward Cullen resorts to some Drama Queen moves - Jacob Black cuts his hair and gains and some fi-ine body-definition - and dear old reliable Bella blithely accepts the fact that she has a vampire for a boyfriend and a werewolf for a best friend with her trademark insouciance. Seriously, what is with some girls?? Train-wreck waiting to happen?!? So yep, two stars for New Moon And woo…Go Team Jacob!!!

From that soggy rice-pudding analysis, I move on to the movies. So did I like Twilight – The Movie? Did I understand why millions of teen girls all over the globe go weak in the knees at the mere mention of Edward Cullen? To a certain degree, yes. Robert Pattinson was an inspired bit of casting. I can imagine the collective sighs that must have rent the movie-halls when marble-faced Edward makes his model-worthy appearance in the cafeteria. Kristen Stewart was a reserved and confused Bella to the tee. The supporting cast was pretty adequate but I expected Dr.Carlisle to look a tad less pointy-faced. Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black shows promise of morphing into the rockstar wolfboy of New Moon.

Today, I got done with New Moon. Verdict? Edward, get over yourself! Jacob Black was delicious…as a buff human in the guise of Taylor Lautner or as an oversize russet-coloured wolf. Bella…honey….have you seen Jacob?!? Now THAT’S perfection….not Mr.I-Sparkle-In-The Sun-Edward. In all, the acting was better….the hamming was minimal and yep, the movie belonged to Jacob Black.

And for what it’s worth, …..with all the subtle crabbiness I exhibited above, I am still looking forward to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which releases in June. Go figure…. :)

Rumour Has It

What do you do when you are stuck in the boondocks and have been flicked one too many times by a cow’s tail? You nudge Bessy (or one of her many cousins) aside, dig out a (hopefully) decent chick-lit and settle down for some good ol’fashioned reading.

And Jill Mansell’s Rumour Has It proved to be a surprisingly good entertainer. I use the term ‘surprising’ because I had expected it to be a run-of-the-mill smut-fest peppered with loads of gratuitous sex. I am happy to report that it was in fact a small-town tale about friendship, romance, gossip, slander and verbal slug-fests handled with refreshing candour.

Tilly Cole is twenty-eight years old and freshly dumped by her lacklustre boyfriend. She plans to leave behind the hustle and hassle of bright-lights London for the quiet charms of small-town Roxborough. She follows this up with an impulsive decision to take up the post of Girl-Friday and general dogsbody to handsome (and divorced) interior-designer Max Dineen. And no, she isn’t launching into a predictable relationship with him. She gets along splendidly with Max, bonds with his teenage daughter and provides a welcome ear to his surprisingly pleasant ex-wife; Kaye.

So who does Tilly blow hot-and-cold with? The charming, lady-slayer Jack Lucas. Jack hits all the right buttons but he’s also apparently alley-catted his way through all the ladies of Roxborough. Commitment-phobe Tilly doesn’t want to be another notch on his bedpost but he’s proving to be singularly hard to resist.

Other story-arcs include Tilly’s best friend Erin who has launched into a hush-hush affair with almost-divorced Fergus. Almost-divorced Fergus is still trying to escape the clutches of his scary wife, Stella. Max’s ex-wife Kaye also has an interesting number of pages devoted to her, what with being a prominent soap-opera star and facing the nasty side of Hollywood when a vindictive producer-wife decides to have her blacklisted. Kaye’s subsequent escape to Roxborough and the escapades that unravel thereafter provide for quite a few chuckles.

After being sorely disappointed by some seriously seedy chicklit, 'Rumour Has It' turned out to be refreshing and the proverbial breath-of-fresh-air. It had all the twists and turns of an afternoon slot soap-opera but minus the air-brushed actors hamming it up.

The Bride's Farewell

On the eve of her wedding, a weary but spirited farmer girl gathers up her beloved horse, Jack…and an unexpected companion in her mute brother, Bean and escapes…She escapes from a future that promises to be bleak and soul-crushing.

…and thus begin the reluctant adventures of Pell Ridley.

Striding about in breeches, she’s an expert on all things equestrian. As she heads off to an unknown future, she meets strangers who promise to put the Devil to shame. But there are also reluctant Samaritans…people who can overlook the shoddily-clad girl to notice her core-strength. Pell meets individuals with hidden-agendas and also ones with genuine kindness. The cherry on the cake is the enigmatic Dogman (whose real name remains a mystery). Brooding and brusque, he cuts a promising figure as a possible hero to Pell’s newly awakened senses.

If you cut to the chase, it’s a simple story…straightforward, with a lot of coincidences (or fate, if you will) neatly stitched in to keep you sufficiently entranced. The beauty of the story lies in the mellifluous language of Meg Rosoff. The prose flows, the plot unwinds gracefully and as you turn the pages, you wish the book were an age-old parchment covered with loping, curlicue script befitting a fairytale.

The genre in itself is difficult to peg down. Not wholly a romance, barely a thriller and just skirting around the edges of a coming-of-age tale – The Bride’s Farewell encompasses the life of a girl who has enough guts and gumption to keep you hooked till the very end.