Paglaa

Last days in Pune

Abke Santa Christmas Mein : My Chhoti Si Wishlist for Christmas

Dear Santa,

I have been a good boy this year or at least I think so...Time for a payback...

Here's my Chhoti Si Wishlist for this Christmas:

• A Disney Sketchbook (Hardcover)

• .Walt Disney Animation Studios -- The Archive Series: Story

• Walt Disney Animation Studios -- The Archive Series:Animation

• New MacBook Pro 17"
  

• Aur ek chhota sa Ghar! (Even if it has a couple of bedrooms lesser than KRK's Villa, I'll adjust).
  

Arre Haan, Oscars to main bhool hi gaya...koi naa next year Oscars bhi le lenge...

Updates!

I haven't been too active on Blog front for past few weeks. Neither active as a blogger nor as a reader. Reason, well there are plenty - I have been shuffling between Pune & Bom..err...Mumbai for more than a month now. I quit from my job to work on my documentary - Chitrakatha (which now has a dedicated Domain Name and hopefully will be having a dedicated website too along with the already running blog).

Chitrakatha again had to be put on hold for my house hunt in Mumbai. Hopefully I'll be finalizing a house soon and will be moving back to Mumbai.

Another big reason was my Reliance Data Card which has been generating some insane bills despite my limited usage, I fight with them, they disconnect it and I am forced to stay away from my blog.

As the day's approaching when we'll be bidding goodbye to Pune, I want to spend sometime in the city living the Puneri Life. I am definitely going to miss this house, rented hi sahi but this one was the bestest of them all.

I also took a deliberate break from reading comics and graphic novels for sometime and have started reading other books. Just finished reading two books by Argentinean author Guillermo Martinez: The Oxford Murders and The Book of Murder. The stories didn't appeal me that much, but his story telling skills were really commendable. Though I found the stories were not so gripping I would like to read more of his work, just to enjoy the narration, Martinez certainly is a master in that.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is another fun read, meant for teenagers but IMHO will be appreciated by the grown ups more.

Last but not the least, if you haven't joined the Chitrakatha Group on Facebook. Join the group and bring in all your friends, fans & followers. We will be having our 1st online contest on the Group soon!

   

Thoda Sa Relax Ho Jayein!

How to start writing when you have too many things to say, but don’t know how and where to start from? It happens when you come back home after a long journey, a journey where every single moment was so extra ordinary that you want to pour your heart out as soon as you reach home but when you reach, you are so overwhelmed and also, tired and saturated with all the thoughts that you can’t express things. Slowly its all forgotten or remains there somewhere in subconscious and comes out in fractions. It can also happen when you come back to your blog after a longtime and see you haven’t ‘actually’ blogged for sometime. Random updates don't count as Blogging, right? Now everything that you wanted to say is so jumbled up in your mind, that you can’t think of a thing in particular and start writing about it.

So I am planning to let my mind wander and write as it’s coming to me right now.

Congratulations Manna Da : I wanted to write when Manna Dey was honored with Dada Sahab Falke award last month. Manna Da is one of my most favorite singers and his songs have an aura of honesty because of his voice. His soothing voice has an assurance that the he understands you and your deep emotions. I always feel a deep connection to his voice and songs. I consider myself lucky, that my first professional Radio Assignment was a Manna Dey Special, a 3 hour long Manna Dey Interview for Musical-E-Aazam in December 2005. I not only got to meet the maestro after the show, but also discuss some of his non-filmy albums like Bachchan’s Madhushala composed by Ravi and rendered in his own voice. I also managed to get my Madhushala CD autographed.

I am sad to see how media which neglected the 90 year old genius until now, was hunting for his contact after the award was announced (I was still in touch with him and gave the contact to many a friends from media, who didn’t even know anything about him except Tu Pyar Ka Sagar Hai and Pyar Hua Iqraar Hua).

KANK: I just quit from my Job and cleaning my cupboard. There are bundle of papers, notes and research for the stories I was working on. Feels funny to see the chunk of work I did here in the past 18 odd months (my longest tenure with one job ever). I find it funny when people get emotional while cleaning up their desks in their last days in office. I often find it strange when people decorate their work desks like they’re going to be stuck with the same desk throughout their lives. Those nauseating big warm hugs to colleagues, Bye Bye, Tears, Last emotional mail sent to all and all that jazz… Kinda Vidaayi Scene! It was your office! Grow up! for crying out loud! Pardon me if I am getting too harsh! LOL!

What bring tears to me is the F***ing paper work: A Bigtime Headache, which I’ll be going through before the legendary full and final settlement with the company!

Finished reading The Oxford Murders by by the Argentine author Guillermo Martínez. The story is interesting although the climax was pretty predictable. For the first time I felt, Mathematics can also be intriguing. Damn mathematics teachers!

I am also, watching Heroes Season 3: Villains. I was disappointed with the Second Season, which in retrospect looks like a precursor to the third season. Jeph Loeb one of my most favorite Comics Writer who is also, one of the Co-Executive Producer of the show was recently fired by NBC because of some 'creative differences' & 'budget issues'. I am wondering if Tim Kring (the Producer) will be able to manage season 4 (Volume 5: REDEMPTION) of such a massive multi character show without him.

Comics I read!

It was a hectic week, which started with a lot of stress but everything eventually settled down or is settling down. My trustworthy laptop is at HP Service Center, hopefully I'll be getting it back by next week.

With laptop away and TV in possession of reality shows. I had no other option but to read. The Books I read last week:

Astroboy 3 : Osamu Tezuka (Dark Horse) Osamu Tezuka is called The Father of Manga. Despite being a huge fan of his work and his visual story telling, I avoided reading Astroboy for years, thinking of it as a kiddie stuff. While reading Pluto Series I was astonished to see Urasawa referring to the original Astroboy story - The Greatest Robot On Earth (1964-65) as one of the must read titles. After reading Pluto, I had to read this volume which has the original story and before I could finish the book I was an Astroboy Fan! Highly Recommended!

Pluto : Astro Boy 3 Comparison courtesy : Warren Peace

Scalped: Indian Country & Scalped: Casino Boogie : Jason Aaron (Writer) R.M.Guera (Illustrator) (Vertigo Comics)

Aaron's wonderful story telling also shows the amount of research went into the series and Guera's moody drawing style adds a new dimension to the story and once you start reading it, it kind of grows on you slowly (though there is an ongoing debate on how this series portrays (Red)Indians. The twists in the story, the flashbacks, the characterization everything is so cool that I am hooked to this title.

To The Heart of The Storm : Will Eisner (W.W.Norton & Co.)

Read any Eisner Graphic Novel and you'll understand why he is called The Leonardo of the comic-book form. To The Heart of The Storm is a story told in a series of flashbacks; another installment in Eisner's series of semi-autobiographical graphic novels told by the maestro in his inimitable style. IMHO this is Eisner's is simply one of his best work.

Last Day in Vietnam : Will Eisner (Dark Horse)

Frank Miller once said, "Eisner's the best. He can still kick all our butts." and he really mean it! Last Day in Vietnam contains 6 short stories based on Eisner's experience as a soldier (during the 2nd World War) and as a correspondent for P.S. Magazine (during the Vietnam War).

Mouse Guard Fall 1152 : David Peterson (Villard Books)

David Peterson's Mouse Guard is an Eisner award winning mini series. Brilliantly written and superbly drawn Mouse Guard is a story about an underground mouse civilization, their culture and some dark secrets. Second installment in the series Winter 1152 is in NYT Bestsellers list for more than 5 weeks.

Back Ache, Books & Bakbak

Suffering from Back Ache for almost a week now.

Tied up with a lot of things. Spending my time reading, writing and contemplating. I really don't have much to say or tell...
Detached from everything and away from the discussions, plannings and 'we can do this' conversations...I want be in this zone for some more time...

Doing what I am supposed to do and working on what I really want to do...

Inner Peace...Inner Peace, as master Shifu chants in Kung Fu Panda.

Meanwhile, I just finished reading Crying Freeman Vol.1 By Kazuo Koike (Writer: Lone Wolf & Cub) with beautiful art by Ryoichi Ikegami. The story reads like a fast paced crime thriller film. Really impressive but I doubt if I'll be following this title like I am digging Pluto Series (already on Vol.5 of 7). But I would definitely be watching the 1995 film adaptation Crying Freeman directed by Christophe Gans.

Also read over the last week:
Fables 1 (Vertigo) - I really liked the set up but the climax of the whodunnit story in Vol.1 was pretty predictable. Anyway, its a good series which I am gonna follow for at least next 2-3 TPBs before coming to a conclusion. You can download the 1st preview from Vertigo Site.

Hellboy Vol.7 - Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others : Which collects Hellboy short stories from many other collections from the Dark Horse Stable and one unpublished story by P.Craig Russel & Mignola.

Divine Right : The Adventures of Max Faraday Vol.1 (Wildstorm/DC) : Written & Drawn by Jim Lee, this book blown me away long back when I read it for the first time in Gotham Comics Library. Was it the story or the art...I don't know.

Ordered it from Flipkart to re-read it and find out. This time, I really find it a run of the mill Image Comics Plot where all the characters keep on coming up with one wisecrack after the other...all of them have very shallow personalities. The progression of the story suffers a lot because of the long (sometimes meaningless) dialogues. Jim Lee's writing can't catch up with his art where he is exploding the pages with super energetic spreads. And yep! like all the other Image Comics from that era, there are long legged beauties with Guns.


DISCLAIMER: These are my personal views and thoughts on the books as a reader, please don't take them seriously and read the books before making any opinion on them.