LOG ENTRY #21 - Thought Patterns

I was lying in bed yesterday night, thinking like I always do after 12 a.m.
I forgot where my thoughts began from. In the middle of it all, though I distinctly remember thinking about my 6 year-old cousin.
I wondered what I was like when I was six.
Then I wished (not for the first time) that she was at a more mature age. Maybe 12? But since she's turning 7 this November, I guess a five-year jump is too much of a miracle to ask for. And then I wondered what would the world be like when she actually did turn twelve. I would certainly not be a teenager then.
Early twenties, probably. And then I thought about when I was six and my cousin, on the paternal side, was in her late teens. And then I turned eleven and she was in her twenties.

I guess where I'm getting at, is how 'generous age gaps' between cousins or - for that matter - people in general, affects their attitudes to one another. I remember when my twenty-something cousin called me 'Beta' which is the Urdu equivalent of someone calling you 'Child' or 'Kid'.
To put it simply, I was offended.
"I'm your cousin! Not your niece. Why are you calling me 'Beta'?" I had asked, indignantly.
To which, she had replied, "I'm nearly ten years older than you. What else do I call you?"
I didn't say it, but my name would have been a useful alternative.

Which led me to think last night, that it would be a similar case for me. I would be in my twenties when my little cousins would enter the teenage years. But I wouldn't want them to look at me as an adult figure. That would just be wrong. Cousins should not be thought of as adult figures.
I wouldn't want to stick my cousins in the sort of situations I was stuck in. Always being afraid and awestruck, thinking of the elder cousin with the amazing grades and exceptional taste in books, music and movies as the perfect adolescent.

Of course, most will think - after reading this - that I have some sort of resentment directed towards my [much] elder cousins [of which I have 5]. But I don't.
All I'm saying is that I know that if one wants to be approachable, one can choose to be so.

LOG ENTRY #20 - New Blog!

Okay, so I was having issues building a proper audience here on Blogger. So I decided to join WordPress too. Hopefully things will pick up.

Caffeine Rush.
"Hopefully things will pick up.. pick up.. pick up... pick up... pic.."

That, however does not mean I will not be active here. I'll be blogging on both sites! I've decided to import the posts from here to WordPress, and that way both places will have mostly the same stuff but will be reaching a wider audience. Although, posts exclusive to this place or that place will also be uploaded.
So keep checkin'! ;)    

My WordPress blog - thelogbooker.
www.thelogbooker.wordpress.com

Enjoy!                            

LOG ENTRY #19 - "Be Heard. Be Strong. Be Proud" Why I loved Lemonade Mouth.

Yes, I know. It's been a very long time since Disney aired their made-for-TV movie - Lemonade Mouth. But stuff kept cropping up, and somehow or other I never got to write about this movie.
Which is weird, considering one of the many reasons I started blogging - was this movie. Not that it inspired me or anything, Haha - no. But I found this movie so enjoyable, that I wanted to blog about it. And thus.

Anyway, when I first watched this movie, I had been super-busy and was rushing about doing things, when I suddenly remembered it was the premier date for the movie. I had already missed about 15 minutes of it, but what the heck.

I arrived upon the detention scene. And to utmost surprise, I was hooked. It's not common (or easy) to be hooked to a Disney made-for-TV movie nowadays, primarily because most of them revolve around the same old themes and storylines and after a while, it gets daunting,
Lemonade Mouth had themes similar to many movies, i.e. music, teen angst, rebellion, wanting to be heard etc..
I guess even the story wasn't that unique. Or maybe it was. I don't know.
There was something about the movie that just got me. I've noticed that in movies dating back maybe 10 years ago or 7 years ago, in movies where the final scenes involved some sort of showdown, the team/people about whom the movie is, usually won. But then lead characters' winnings became predictable and slowly, gradually the main teams started losing. Like in Camp Rock 2, like in Spectacular, like in the GLEE regional episode...
And now, at this moment in time, even the losing has become predictable!

*reaching end of movie*

          Random Person: dude, it's the ending. I bet they're gonna lose! Nobody wins..
          Random Person's friend: Yeah, they can't make the leads win. The movie would be too      predictable.  

  My point is, now the era of losing is predictable, hence a new strategy was needed. The film-makers kept making them lose, but now - the losing holds another message for the audience. There is more to life than winning or losing... blah blah blah.
Back to square one - Lemonade Mouth did just that. They didn't win, and I especially liked the part where all of them were in super bad health conditions, and there were no miraculous recoveries right before the show. Everybody was sick, and they sounded sick. No cover-ups, no auto-tunings,. no nothing!
Apart from all the technical reasons why Lemonade Mouth was an absolute favorite of mine, the songs were super catchy and not cheesy!

Till next time..
x :)

                   




                                                   

LOG ENTRY #18 - "A brother in need, is a sister indeed!"

Don't you just love split-second decisions? A few days back, a couple of my cousins and I decided at 12.20 a.m. to go watch a movie. The cinema was just a three-minute drive away. The show was scheduled to start at 12.30 a.m. and we didn't even have tickets! 

But when miracles want to happen - they usually do. 

We ended up arriving just a few minutes late! And luckily there were still a lot of tickets on sale.

We watched the new Indian release, "Bol Bachchan" starring Abishek Bachchan and Ajay Devgn in the main roles.
I'm not one for Indian movies, but since we had watched every other movie playing at the cinema ('Brave' and 'The Amazing Spider Man') - our choices were limited.
As it turned out, the movie was not only quite entertaining, it wasn't vulgar entertainment, as is the case with most Indian movies. There was no story-line at all, really, and the action sequences and car crashes looked very over-the-top. There was a scene in which Abbas (played by Bachchan) and Prithviraj (a powerful and influential resident of Ranakpur village, played by Devgn) are tossing people about.
Somehow, these two men manage to knock out about fifty men (or more) one after the other. The punches they throw couldn't have looked more fake and unbelievable. Slow-mo's and flying men everywhere and the two leading men walk through, looking macho. The amount of grocery stalls they break and crash into, while fighting in the main market square, were enough to have them paying a very handsome amount in compensation to the poor shopkeepers. And yet, men from the village just kept lining up to be beaten to a pulp. Nearly half of the village's population must have been thrown on car windscreens too! Those were the most hilarious to watch. 


And yet! Despite all the visible errors during the outrageous action sequences, it was a heck of a movie. No story-line, fake fights and (at times) predictable scenes, did not interfere with the fact that it was good entertainment. Prithviraj Ji's bad english was probably what won me over. The pitiful state of his English was portrayed and acted out so well, that I found it hard to care about anything else. Abishek's acting was also commendable!
In fact, I think it was the actors who made the film worthwhile! 
A must-watch on the big-screen!

LOG ENTRY #17 - Once Upon A Song

Everyone enjoys catching up up on movies, sleep, books, music etc. during the summer holidays. I was of course no exception.

Yesterday night, 1 a.m., I decided to watch one of the DVDs I had bought a few days ago. One of those

was "A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song". I'm pretty sure many people are face-palming themselves right now, going "Why the hell would you even think of a movie like that?!"

But as it was, I had been eyeing that movie in the store for quite some time, sizing it up; wondering if it was going to be worth my time. Now, since I had all the time in the world, why not?

And so I watched it.

To make a short story even shorter - it sucked. By the time, the final credits rolled, I was wondering how could one movie be so similar to another. And apart from the freakishly similiar details, how could one movie be so bad that it makes the person want to unsee it. And I don't even feel like I am exaggerating.   

The Selena Gomez-starrer, "Another Cinderella Story" was following the same storyline, except the choice of talent there, was dance.

Here - it was singing. How Original.

"Another Cinderella Story" was still pretty bearable. I mean, the actors were fairly OK and the portrayal of the whole Cinderella-concept didn't make you want to do something harmful. 

For one thing, I think Missi Pyle - playing Evil Stepmother a.k.a. Gail Van Ravensway - overdid it. What with her stupid quest to gain peace and fame, and the obsession with Hollywood and big houses and riches...

Lucy Hale playing Katie Gibbs a.k.a. 'Cinderella' is someone I can't really say anything. I haven't seen Pretty Little Liars, and it seems unfair to judge her acting just by watching this one movie.

Two scenes from the movie which were very memorable was the dance. The Indian-themed dance with the tabla and dhol music, and the flowy, chiffon belly dancer-esque outfits. It was dragged on too long for my taste. And the other scene was when Katie is locked out of the house, naked, by her little stepbrother. 

It was simply disturbing.
The only thing I liked about Prince Charming, played by Freddie Stroma, was his British accent. I just love British accents.

Something else I would dearly love to add, was my first impression of the movie. When the first scene came on, I knew the movie would be a disappointment, just because I saw Lucy singing and dancing, looking great, backed up by a couple of dancers... and I knew she was dreaming. Starting the movie with a dream was not a good idea. Especially since the movie's predecessor started in the exact same manner. Exact. 

Nothing much left to say about the movie, except, don't watch it. 

Photos were taken from:
en.wikipedia.org 

www.rsmoviedownloads.com

LOG ENTRY #16 - "...May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour."

   

There was Harry Potter, then there was Twilight... and now there's Hunger Games?

Well, no. I mean, there's beeen tons of phenomenons and although many of them were widespread, I've always been more attracted to the cults. You know, like The Last Airbender or Japenese anime.

Anyway, as I was saying - The Hunger Games.

   Of course the hype started when The Hunger Games shot to the top of the Box Office. That's when some people, riding on the series' new-found fame, pretended to have known about The Hunger Games for ages while the loyal members of the cult got excited about finally seeing their favorite book on the big screen!

  To be very honest, I hadn't heard of the series before the movie either. But atleast I didn't pretend to be an age-old Hunger Games fan-girl! I was highly intrigued, and even though a certain movie-buff scoffed at the concept of this movie - I stayed highly intrigued. It was showing in cinema's nationwide, at that time. But staying true to my avid-reader instincts, I decided I wouldn't watch the movie until after I had read the book. And now, having read the first book, I am really looking forward to the movie.

   I feel like I am now in a position where I can form opinions about the book and honestly, I haven't read such a book for a LONG time. It was so... unbalancing; so unpredictable. It wasn't the story that was unpredictable nor the characters that much. Even the plot was obvious. But the way one thing led to another, what exactly happened, how it happened and how it was portrayed, perceived and expressed; all of this was extremely different. The emotions and themes discussed could not be related to, or atleast I couldn't. Because thank God, I have most of what life has to offer. But this book shows you how everything can and is taken away from someone who started with nothing in the first place.

   To anyone who has watched the movie, for heaven's sake read the book! Because it is common knowledge that 9 out of 10 times, the book is better.

   To anyone who has read the book, watch the movie for an all-round experience.

   To anyone who has done both -  read the other two books! Duh. ;-)

  - - - - - - - - -

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

LOG ENTRY #14 - Pakistani Music-2011

   When it comes to the amount of music produced in Pakistan this year, some may say automatically say "Nil." I would have said something of the same sort.. until now. I've actually made an effort to get to know the latest and greatest in Pakistani Music. And let me tell you.. there was only one HUGE disappointment.. ;)

                         

   Yep. I honestly don't get that woman. According to me, the only attractive thing in that video were the pair of silver sequinned headphones she was stroking her hair with. After seeing this, I was.. disturbed. And then some months later I saw another video, and believe me, if it hadn't been for the extremely familiar piano notes keeping my hand steady, I would have changed the channel then and there.

                          

   I failed to understand how the lyrics did justice to the song, and I failed to understand why on earth this song was called an 'adaptation' of "Someone Like You", so I wouldn't blame you if you were extremely confused right now.
  Moving onto bigger and better things, the major platforms in Pakistan for promoting music are either Coke Studio and Uth Records (which, by the way, was also introduced this year), or the Internet and YouTube. Coke Studio has been churning out alot of good songs for quite some time now and this year was an equally successful year. It may have been because of the fresh talent that Coke Studio was avidly followed by the younger lot as well as the classical-loving adult party, this year. Fresh talent, namely Bilal Khan, The Sketches, Mole, and Kaavish. These were instant hits with me. Bilal Khan, obviously, got his fame from his debut single "Bachana", which was a fantastic song to jumpstart one's career as well as boost Pakistani Music to a bit of a higher, more evolutionised level. "Bachana"'s success was amazingly fast and widespread.

                         

  Bilal's successful streak didn't end there. He went onto make appearances in this year's Coke Studio. The originals he performed there were just.. too good. My favorite was "To Kia Hua". Must have listened to this song about 20 times everyday for a month!

                        

  Bilal was also roped in by Levis, along with Zoe Viccaji, an extremely talented backing vocalist from Coke Studio, to do covers of classic Strings songs. Now we all know Strings are a legend. They are probably one of those bands that have contributed alot to the music scene over the years. Levis launched the campaign, "The Originals - Inspire" as (as I understood it to be) a sort of tribute to the Strings; them being the "orginals". I thought the campaign was a very good way to show our appreciation of the great work Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia have done. With posters of Zoe, Faisal and both Bilals gracing the interiors of Park Towers and Levis outlets, the whole affair was very nicely handled, and made aware about. As for the songs, I thought Bilal and Zoe formed a great duo, as their covers were really good and fresh.

                          

 

                         

   Strings also released a nice, motivational song this year, which had a alot of weight in the lyrics. Now if only all this could happen.. That would really make my New Year's Eve special. Here's to hoping 2012 has alot of good in store for our dear, young country.

Happy New Year, everybody! :-)