‪#‎BookBucketChallenge

An enthusiastic reader must surely agree that it's stupid to limit the number of books you can talk about, especially when that number is as low as ten. Also, sometimes lists just ain’t enough. These books are special and deserve more than just a mere mention, so here goes:

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

A book so sublime I can’t even begin to find words to describe it in a way that will do it justice. All I can say is, if I had to pick just one book as my favourite, (which is excruciatingly hard) it would be this one.

Mortimer Says Nothing – Joan Aiken

This is a children’s book that mom brought me from a library well over a decade ago. I read it just that once and haven’t seen it anywhere ever since, but it’s stayed with me all these years. It had three hilarious short stories of a young girl and her raven Mortimer who says only one word: "nevermore". It was only years later that I read Poe and realized Joan Aiken's not just a great children’s writer but also a sneaky genius.

The Black Magician Trilogy – Trudi Canavan

It's been quite a few years since these books too, and I still feel extremely privileged to have read them. I’ve enjoyed several great books after this trilogy, but unless I read it again and find I've changed my mind about its awesomeness, I can safely say this is my favourite fantasy series so far.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy – Jonathan Stroud

My favourite fantasy series after TBMT. The story has some of the grimness you can expect to find in fantasy, but it also made me laugh and laugh and laugh. And cry a little bit on the last page. It's a book in which the numerous footnotes are the best part. Like this one:

We communicated with pithy, rather monosyllabic thoughts: viz. Run, Jump, Where? Left, Up, Duck,* etc.
*This latter was an observation I made on the edge of a lake. Nathaniel unfortunately took it as a command, which resulted in our temporary immersion.

The Stepford Wives – Ira Levin

The most intriguing book I’ve ever had the good fortune to read. Which is remarkable considering it’s just a little novel with crisp, straightforward writing, ordinary characters, and a simple story that’s perfectly easy to understand except for the one little bit that leaves you guessing. It moves fast, is freakishly gripping, and, quite frankly, gave me chills by being unnaturally mind-blowing. Based on this book, I’d say this guy is to writing what Tesla is to science.

A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Dickens is one of those writers who I thought wrote unreasonably wordy stories and was relevant in this century solely as a tormentor of high school students like me. That was before I read this book. Typical Dickensian writing, but somehow strangely fascinating and, over time, quite wonderful. It has plenty of epic lines and gives us Sidney Carton, one of the most beautiful human characters in the history of fiction.

And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie                                

Remember all her novels in which you know the murderer is the one who’s introduced as the nice person with absolutely no apparent motive or opportunity to be a killer? This one is different. It was my first Christie book, so obviously everything else by her seemed drab in comparison. It’s a murder mystery that's thrilling even if you've read it before.

Oh, The Places You'll Go! – Dr. Seuss

If anyone else had written something like this, I may have dismissed it as preachy garbage and mentally slapped the author for being annoyingly self-righteous and filling people’s heads with pseudo-motivational gunk. But this is inspiring and uplifting in a way that doesn't make you feel like you've accidentally stumbled into a cult of stoned yoga-doing hippies.

Maskerade – Terry Pratchett

Many people might say that this is far from being the best book in the Discworld series, but to me, it's the best of them all (though I should probably mention that by "all", I mean the few books I've read from that vast collection). I don't recall laughing that hard and that much with any other book, and the phantom's letter is a stroke of sheer brilliance from an otherwise generally brilliant writer.

Ahahahahaha! Ahahahaha! Aahahaha!
BEWARE!!!!!
Yrs Sincerely,
The Opera Ghost

"What sort of person," said Salzella patiently, "sits down and writes a maniacal laugh? And all those exclamation marks, you notice? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head. Opera can do that to a man."

And he takes a dig at Sherlock Holmes as well:

“Well, I think," said Nobby, "that when you rule out the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, ain't worth hanging around for on a cold night wonderin' about when you could be getting on the outside of a big drink.” 

The Bunnies' Get Well Soup – Joan Elizabeth Goodman

This was one of my favourite books when I was little, and though I outgrew it long, long ago, I'm still (and shall always be) extremely fond of it. It's a sweet, simple story with splendid illustrations by the author and a recipe for the Get Well Soup that I used to wish mom would make instead of laughing at me for being naive enough to believe it was a real recipe.

Ten books/series done! *drumroll*
But I'm not done yet.
Here are some authors whose books would have been on the list if I had had the ability to choose just one of their works:

Neil Gaiman – If there’s one person who can make me fall in love with words, it’s him. He makes darkness in any form enchanting, can really mess with your head, and leaves you feeling like you're not the same person you were before you read him. Also, he gave us what might just be the best piece of advice in the world: the best way to deal with anything life throws at you is to "make good art".
Best speech ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWexCID-kA

Shel Silverstein – Wrote tremendously funny poetry that I will read and enjoy over and over again. I know I should be telling you to buy his books, but you need him more than he needs you, so here, read his poetry:
http://shelsilverstein.yolasite.com/table-of-contents.php

Roald Dahl – One of those rare writers who has produced equally fantastic works for both children and adults. If you didn’t read his books growing up, I truly feel sorry for you. But hey, it's never too late to start! 

Oscar Wilde – The most quotable person that ever was and ever will be. Clever, funny, outrageous genius, that guy. He's someone I earnestly wish I could have met! I’m sure I’d have loved him. We would have gotten along wonderfully, I think. Or he would have hated me for not being supremely awesome. But Wilde being Wilde, I'd have gladly accepted (and even treasured) his condescension in place of love from a few other people.
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Oscar_Wilde/

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – I don’t need to explain, do I? It’s elementary, dear (your name). Of course, if you’ve actually read the entire series, you would know Holmes never said that – not even with "Watson" in the bracket, I mean – in any of the books. True story, non-readers. 

Lewis Carroll – His writing can be analyzed at so many levels. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass may be children’s books, but they seem relevant to almost any context, such as politics, philosophy, drugs, math, religion, history, etc. So surreal but scientific, whimsical yet logical, silly yet sensible. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Just ask any of the hundreds of people who have referred to it in their writings, screen adaptations, general musings, and so on. Also, the Jabberwocky is a marvellous poem – one of my favourites.
Here's an interesting link that discusses the Alice books: http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice10.html

Giovanni Guareschi – My Home, Sweet Home is a really cute collection of short stories about the everyday adventures of an Italian family, and the Don Camillo series is an absolutely delightful collection that's fun to read but also deals with serious issues and often takes on a satirical form. It revolves around two main characters: Don Camillo, a priest with very normal human tendencies, and communist mayor Peppone, DC's nemesis whom he's forced to work with every once in a while. One of the main highlights for me is a very cool Christ (with a rather wicked sense of humour) who DC communicates with mainly through the crucifix in his church, often venting his frustration and receiving (not altogether unhelpful) advice and gentle admonitions.

"Down with capitalism!" said Comrade Rondella.
"Death to priests!" roared Peppone, looking Don Camillo straight in the eye.
As Don Camillo raised his cup he gave Peppone an eloquent kick in the shins.

I've written more than I thought I would, so I shall end with just a list of ten authors I'd have liked to write about but won't, which is sort of what I was supposed to do in the first place:

Beatrix Potter
Roger Hargreaves
Enid Blyton
Richmal Crompton
Dav Pilkey
L. Frank Baum
P. G. Wodehouse
Demetri Martin

Goscinny and Uderzo – Asterix Series

These books are amazing on multiple levels even though all of them work around the same basic concept of Gauls drinking magic potion and beating the crap out of Romans and anyone else they want to beat up. They have tons of clever puns everywhere, starting right from the characters' names, include wonderful illustrations, successfully make Caesar seem quite the douchebag, and contain several highly memorable and quotable lines.

J. K. Rowling – Harry Potter Series

Many people my age seem to think it’s no longer cool to say they enjoyed Harry Potter. Sure, we've all read books since then that make us feel like our reading habits have evolved, but people who read them as young kids can't deny the magic of the alternate universe it created. It’s even more untrue than saying you never really enjoyed anything about the Backstreet Boys.

Yeah . . . I can't just do a normal list with no explanation at all. Not when it comes to books. But hey, I'm finally done. For now.

A Minor Update

This is more like an extension of a previous post rather than a proper post in itself, but the thought struck me while I was attempting to play my guitar today, so here we are.

This is Chord Overstreet:

And so is this:

This is him when he was little:

I love whoever put up this picture.

So if I had to make a graphic representation of a kid version of him, it would be this:

I'm afraid you won't get it unless you know something about guitar chords. To people who do get it, I can only hope you find it as amusing as I did (though I doubt you will). Well, I tried.

To Do or Not to Do

Because this always happens to me, no matter how I try . . .

Hopefully this holiday will be more productive than usual.

What's in a Name? (Part 2)

I started blogging on my birthday a long, long time ago, but as is the case with anything I'm involved in, things got a little befuddled (/befuddling? See what I mean?) Anyway, here's what I wanted to announce: this blog is exactly three years old today! Good thing too, or I'd have put off this post until goodness knows when.

That being said, let the name-calling continue!

Funny, I don't remember Bill Gates having a different background colour. Oh well.

Here's part one, if you missed it.

To everyone who's been reading my blog, thankee! May you be forever blessed with perfect coffee, rain, music, and whatever it is that you people like.

Frozen Over

I liked Frozen. I really did. But it didn't quite live up to my expectations considering the way I'd built it up in my head after watching the trailers. It felt incomplete, somehow, and wasn't believable enough for me. It's fine that the movie is very different from The Snow Queen. This isn't a problem with the magic either. Magic is beautiful. Coincidence in films is expected. And it's Disney, so naturally, the characters have American accents no matter where they're from. My problems are a little different . . .


What up with the princesses being under house arrest?

Elsa has her gloves. All she needs to do is keep them on all the time, which must be a pain but has to be more convenient than staying shut up alone for years. It's not even like she takes them off when she's alone, right?
As for Anna, what did she ever do to deserve the "kingdom of isolation"? Yes, she's flighty and wants to marry the first guy she meets after running out the gates, but hey, that may not have happened if she'd been allowed to go out every once in a while.


Hans's plan to take over

Wouldn't it have been so much easier for him to kill Elsa when they captured her instead of bringing her back? Okay, so he thought she could bring back summer, but what about after he found she couldn't?
He could've finished off Anna quite easily too, had he risen to the occasion. But then he never seemed like a very smart guy.


Olaf

Absolutely adorable, but the movie could have done fine without him. You'd think they would focus a little more on someone's ability to bring snow to life than on her ability to turn water to ice. Any semi-functioning refrigerator can do that. Maybe they were worried Mother Nature would be upset at the undermining of her abilities and the implication that she was inferior to some princess/queen.
On a slightly different note, Idina Menzel is awesome! I blame the weirdness of the Oscar performance on the accelerated speed of the song. And on John Travolta. Like everyone else, I'm still wondering what on earth he was smoking.

Olaf had his moments, though, one of my favourites being this part of In Summer:

And of course, the "aww!" moment of the film:

You know what? I like to criticize, but Olaf is cute enough for me to let it gooo . . .


Anna jumping in to save her sister

That's quite some selflessness for a sister you've hardly seen during the last few years. Lucky for her that the magic worked at the right time, but who thinks of running up in front of the guy, turning around, and stopping a sword with her bare hand instead of just tripping up the swordsman from behind or something?
Oh well, the drama's good sometimes.


Weaselton anticlimax

With the way they introduced the Duke of Weselton, you'd think he would be an important character with a sneaky plan to rip the kingdom to pieces. I was terribly disappointed that he didn't have a fantastic evil plan after all. In fact, he did absolutely nothing!


Jonathan Groff

So they got this incredibly marvellous singer to do Kristoff's voice and didn't even give him a song?! Even douchey Hans got one! And no, the reindeer song does not count. Especially when you have someone of that calibre. Come on, people, he's a Broadway performer! He's also the guy who sang both these songs in his first episode of Glee.

There's a lot more wonderful music by him, and I'd love to put up every song here, but unfortunately he's not the primary focus of this post.

All in all, another cute Disney movie with good songs and a plot that could have been quite exceptional but somewhat missed the mark. You know who didn't miss the mark? Merida from Brave. Coolest princess (and princess movie) from recent times.

Brave > Frozen > Tangled

P. S. - Hans, Kristoff, Anna, Sven . . . Hans Christian Anderson. Coincidence? Or am I just trying too hard to make a connection?

What's in a Name? (Part 1)

Sure, a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. But people really do need to think about the effect a name can have on their kids. Unless you completely lack imagination, every name creates a certain mental image of the person even before you meet him/her, and thinking about how people might react to your name can lead to great anxiety. At least that's what Shel Silverstein, and later Johnny Cash, felt.

Now there are many names that make me visualize other things before I think of the actual person. I've divided the post into (at least) two parts because there are many more pictures I haven't drawn yet. The names chosen are ones in which both the first name and the surname work together to create a comprehensive image.

That's it for now. I've thought of a few more, but let me know if you have any suggestions. And oh, no rapper names. If I start on those, that's all I'll be doing.

Update: Here's Part 2

All I Want Is Something New...

Know those times when you feel like you're just drifting through life trying to find some purpose? I've found it helps a little to try and learn something new, even something seemingly minor, as often as possible. Here are a few new things I learnt recently that helped me not die of boredom.

Ginger Rogers often used to lead while dancing. Backwards. In heels. *Respect*

Train berths have these little flaps where you can tuck your sheet in. Now I know how to keep the sheets from hanging over people sleeping on berths below mine.

The Sherlock fandom exploded online after S3E3, causing Tumblr to shut down temporarily. Seriously.

There's always an off switch. And if you can't find it and are too close to the bomb to get away to safety in time, you could always try yanking out all the wires together like Richard Castle did.

Gold worn below the waist is supposedly inauspicious. No one's given me a logical reason behind it, but that certainly explains the presence of those fugly gold belts. Then again, I suppose they could make useful weapons.

Baths work just as well to keep you awake as they do to ensure peaceful sleep. As does coffee, if you're weird like that.

Indonesia has been invaded by the Japanese and the Dutch in the past. It's prone to just about every natural disaster you can think of and currently has at least nine active volcanoes. It's adorable how my Indonesian friends say things like "my volcano erupted last year" and "what's the current situation with your volcano like?"

In some countries in the Middle East, if you compliment someone on something, apparently their culture dictates that they should give that particular thing to you! Say, sheikh, I absolutely love your house. *smirk*

You can never have too much cheese on/in a pizza. Assuming it's good cheese.

Football can be a scary game. But it's also totally awesome.

Never buy the first guitar you see. Not without checking out a few others, at least.

Learning to play a guitar can hurt not just your fingertips but also your wrist, arms, shoulders, and back. However, it's totally worth it.

You can play plenty of songs with just a few chords.

Leonardo DiCaprio's presence doesn't make a bad movie good. It does make it better than it would otherwise have been, but that's not quite the same.

Lemon juice without sugar can taste much better than lemon juice with sugar. Unless you don't like lemons, in which case it sucks to be you.

Neil Simon, who was also called the King of Broadway, is said to have premiered many of his plays on off-Broadway stages because the latter was just that popular.

A slightly different way of tying shoelaces.

How to move a bike.

Always watch like a hawk to make sure the person serving you an egg puff doesn't heat it in a microwave oven.

What "proclivity" means.

People can make anything taste like... well, just about anything else.

Keep a safe distance from people who hardly need an excuse to set off bombs. By bombs I mean the firecracker type. But yes, you must most definitely stay away from people who set off actual bombs. Didn't mention that before because, well, it goes without saying, doesn't it? Unless you're hanging around to get them to tell you where the off switch is. If they know. Which they should. And if there's a chance that they'll actually tell you. Although... right, this is a highly problematic situation, so let's move on, because if you're in such a mess, your best chance might be to simply trust your instinct rather than try and recall what this blog suggested.

The word "thrice" has become archaic and isn't in use any more, I heard. Which probably means I'm going to use it more than ever before just to overcompensate.

It's possible that washing your hair with just water (without shampoo or any other cleanser) can leave it feeling dirtier after the wash.

The slogan "Make love, not war" originated during the Vietnam war.

Double ka meetha is called what it's called because bread is called "double roti" in Hindi. That's something I learnt soon after posting this, so of course I had to update the post to include it here.

Imagine

No, it has nothing to do with John Lennon and everything to do with me writing random poems and being terrible at coming up with titles.

So much for the title. Here's the random poem:

Open your weary eyes, look all around.
Unplug your ears and listen to the sounds.
Buildings and vehicles on each crowded street,
Voices and horns, a dull shuffle of feet.
Busy feet walking on, going nowhere,
Living ghosts, wicked mouths and silent stares...
Mouths that, once open, tear all things apart
And cut like a scalpel through toughest of hearts,
Polished and sly, or words careless and small,
Laments that mean next to nothing at all.

Look out the window.
Now, what do you see?
A mad world,
A place where you're not meant to be?

Shutitout.
Stop.

Take a deep breath,
and then
Open your eyes and ears up once again.

Look hard beyond what you see, listen well,
Feel beyond that slowly festering hell
A place that resembles some exquisite dream
Distant and faint, but more close than it seems.
A place filled with magic and music and art
And people good-natured, creative, and smart.
Someplace with great wonders in the slightest things
That makes you believe you can fly without wings.

So when you're alone and confused feeling blue
And think you have nothing constructive to do,
Look out at your world, then deep within you
And see how all that you imagine comes true.