If you are a regular visitor or at least bump into my blog, every now and then, you would find something odd in this post. There is no movie poster followed by a star rating and my review. Also if you decide to read this post any further, you will find that it is a blog entry with a more personal touch, something that I usually avoid. Nevertheless the subject matter is the same - Movies!
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Part 1: My take on the OSCARS 2009.
So Slumdog Millionaire has made it big by winning 8 OSCARS and matching the achievement of the 1982 film - Gandhi (which I have yet to see). The Indian media has as expected left no stone unturned to proclaim it as an Indian victory. "Bharat ki jai ho" is what was flashed on desh ka sarvshresht news channel - Aaj Tak on the day of the OSCAR win. I realise that three Indians won, but seriously give me a break, "Bharat Ki Jai Ho" because a film made essentially by British film makers has won the OSCAR? The Indian obsession with the OSCARS is something I fail to understand. Lets face a fact, most of the movies nominated for the Best picture at the OSCARS will easily bore to death more than half of the movie goers in India. We know that Indian cinema and Western Cinema are poles apart, yet each year we crave for the golden man which is not meant for the kind of films we churn out as makers and enjoy as audiences each year!
Let it be known to you guys that in no way am I undermining Slumdog Millionaire's victory at the OSCARS. In fact, I have loved the film and having also seen the other nominees in the Best Picture category I firmly believed it deserved to win big. I really give credit to the academy for not bowing down to popular tastes and excluding The Dark Knight in the Best Picture Category. A superhero film is at the end of the day, just that - a superhero film!
Coming back to the OSCARS, this year, I made it a point not to watch the repeat telecast and catch 'em live instead. The event though held in the midst of a deep recession in the US, had all the glitter and glamor possible. Hugh Jackman made for a charming host who was effective without making the digs at the stars like his predecessors Chris Rock and Jon Stewart did. His opening act certainly caught everyone's attention without any contempt. It was clear that the evening was to celebrate the movies and the men and women that make 'em. The yesteryear's winners coming to give the award in the categories for the Best Actor and Actress added an endearing personal touch.
It was great to watch the the makers and actors of SDM including the child artists, walk the red carpet with a resounding confidence. It was going to be their night and it certainly was! Three Indians - A.R. Rehman, Resul Pookutty and Gulzar had their hands on the gold. While A.R Rehman and even Resul hogged the limelight, I was particularly happy for Gulzar winning it, although was flummoxed by his absence from the event. The man who has written some of the best songs for Hindi cinema was getting the biggest prize in Entertainment but had chosen to skip the event! The high point of the evening for me was the performance by Rehman who sung Jai Ho and O Saya with Desi dhol walas and dancers dazzling the arena filled with the who's who of showbiz.
Talking about the other awards of the evening, Mickey Rourke not winning the Best Actor was the shock of the evening and left me heart broken. Here is a man who had made a smashing comeback in a deeply moving film, yet he was denied what should have rightly been his. Kate Winslet winning Best Actress for The Reader was pretty much expected as it is exactly the sort of role that the voting members of the academy fall for. For me, Kate deserves the award not in particular for her performance in 'The Reader' but for the great work she has done over the years, specially in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Heath Ledger's best supporting actor was the most assumed award of the evening and it was nice to see his folks picking it up on his behalf. Penelope Cruz's win as best supporting actress (female) too was well deserved.
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Part 2: Slumdog, OSCARS , Dad and Me
Currently living in Chennai and working in Orchid Pharmaceuticals as President and Chief Exectuive, my dad (pic above), is as big a movie watching enthusiast as there can be. He boasts of the finest collection of world cinema which if sold, would probably earn him a fortune. His passion is one of the major factors responsible for me being more willing to watch classic cinema and not necessarily in English language. Over the past couple of years I have discovered some of the finest classics out of which, Its A Wonderful Life, Ladri di Biciclette, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Vertigo, Casablanca, To Kill A Mockingbird, Rashomon and Notorious have entered my all time favorites list. Its A Wonderful Life (1946) is the most feel good movie ever made. Period. Having a bad day? Put this movie on and it will uplift you instantly!
Coming back to my Dad, he forwarded me a mail earlier this week where he wrote what he though about Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great review/perspective from someone who had lived in Mumbai for 25 years! The mail was first posted by him on the BITS Pilani yahoo group, where he and his other batch mates are members. I forwarded him my own review on the movie which surprised him as he never imagined that I wrote movie reviews or had a blog. I never told him in the first place as I thought my writings were too insignificant to be shown to him. He liked the review and much to my amazement even shared it with his batchmates of BITS Pilani on the same Yahoo Group.
My generation is big on facebook/orkut. We have all our friends added on these social networking sites and despite seeing each other's profile pictures everyday we send a "Hi !, How are you?" message only once in a blue moon. On the other hand, batchmates of an Institute, passed out in mid 70's are still in touch regularly through a less fancy Yahoo group. Thats amazing and certianly something for us to learn!
I will now copy paste the two mails (with my Dad's mails in blue color text, my mail to him in red and the the comments to my review by his friends in green).
Mail 1:
Dear friends,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________________________
Mail 2: The response to my review from some of his friends
Love,
Rahul
The review can be found here: http://unbornlegend.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-millionaire-deserves-billion.html
_______________________________________________________________
Part 1: My take on the OSCARS 2009.
So Slumdog Millionaire has made it big by winning 8 OSCARS and matching the achievement of the 1982 film - Gandhi (which I have yet to see). The Indian media has as expected left no stone unturned to proclaim it as an Indian victory. "Bharat ki jai ho" is what was flashed on desh ka sarvshresht news channel - Aaj Tak on the day of the OSCAR win. I realise that three Indians won, but seriously give me a break, "Bharat Ki Jai Ho" because a film made essentially by British film makers has won the OSCAR? The Indian obsession with the OSCARS is something I fail to understand. Lets face a fact, most of the movies nominated for the Best picture at the OSCARS will easily bore to death more than half of the movie goers in India. We know that Indian cinema and Western Cinema are poles apart, yet each year we crave for the golden man which is not meant for the kind of films we churn out as makers and enjoy as audiences each year!
Let it be known to you guys that in no way am I undermining Slumdog Millionaire's victory at the OSCARS. In fact, I have loved the film and having also seen the other nominees in the Best Picture category I firmly believed it deserved to win big. I really give credit to the academy for not bowing down to popular tastes and excluding The Dark Knight in the Best Picture Category. A superhero film is at the end of the day, just that - a superhero film!
Coming back to the OSCARS, this year, I made it a point not to watch the repeat telecast and catch 'em live instead. The event though held in the midst of a deep recession in the US, had all the glitter and glamor possible. Hugh Jackman made for a charming host who was effective without making the digs at the stars like his predecessors Chris Rock and Jon Stewart did. His opening act certainly caught everyone's attention without any contempt. It was clear that the evening was to celebrate the movies and the men and women that make 'em. The yesteryear's winners coming to give the award in the categories for the Best Actor and Actress added an endearing personal touch.
It was great to watch the the makers and actors of SDM including the child artists, walk the red carpet with a resounding confidence. It was going to be their night and it certainly was! Three Indians - A.R. Rehman, Resul Pookutty and Gulzar had their hands on the gold. While A.R Rehman and even Resul hogged the limelight, I was particularly happy for Gulzar winning it, although was flummoxed by his absence from the event. The man who has written some of the best songs for Hindi cinema was getting the biggest prize in Entertainment but had chosen to skip the event! The high point of the evening for me was the performance by Rehman who sung Jai Ho and O Saya with Desi dhol walas and dancers dazzling the arena filled with the who's who of showbiz.
Talking about the other awards of the evening, Mickey Rourke not winning the Best Actor was the shock of the evening and left me heart broken. Here is a man who had made a smashing comeback in a deeply moving film, yet he was denied what should have rightly been his. Kate Winslet winning Best Actress for The Reader was pretty much expected as it is exactly the sort of role that the voting members of the academy fall for. For me, Kate deserves the award not in particular for her performance in 'The Reader' but for the great work she has done over the years, specially in 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Heath Ledger's best supporting actor was the most assumed award of the evening and it was nice to see his folks picking it up on his behalf. Penelope Cruz's win as best supporting actress (female) too was well deserved.
_________________________________________________________________
Part 2: Slumdog, OSCARS , Dad and Me
Currently living in Chennai and working in Orchid Pharmaceuticals as President and Chief Exectuive, my dad (pic above), is as big a movie watching enthusiast as there can be. He boasts of the finest collection of world cinema which if sold, would probably earn him a fortune. His passion is one of the major factors responsible for me being more willing to watch classic cinema and not necessarily in English language. Over the past couple of years I have discovered some of the finest classics out of which, Its A Wonderful Life, Ladri di Biciclette, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Vertigo, Casablanca, To Kill A Mockingbird, Rashomon and Notorious have entered my all time favorites list. Its A Wonderful Life (1946) is the most feel good movie ever made. Period. Having a bad day? Put this movie on and it will uplift you instantly!
Coming back to my Dad, he forwarded me a mail earlier this week where he wrote what he though about Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great review/perspective from someone who had lived in Mumbai for 25 years! The mail was first posted by him on the BITS Pilani yahoo group, where he and his other batch mates are members. I forwarded him my own review on the movie which surprised him as he never imagined that I wrote movie reviews or had a blog. I never told him in the first place as I thought my writings were too insignificant to be shown to him. He liked the review and much to my amazement even shared it with his batchmates of BITS Pilani on the same Yahoo Group.
My generation is big on facebook/orkut. We have all our friends added on these social networking sites and despite seeing each other's profile pictures everyday we send a "Hi !, How are you?" message only once in a blue moon. On the other hand, batchmates of an Institute, passed out in mid 70's are still in touch regularly through a less fancy Yahoo group. Thats amazing and certianly something for us to learn!
I will now copy paste the two mails (with my Dad's mails in blue color text, my mail to him in red and the the comments to my review by his friends in green).
Mail 1:
My Take on "Slumdog Millionaire" and the Oscars
| From: | Ashutosh Ojha (ashutosho@gmail.com) |
| Sent: | 25 February 2009 21:35PM |
| To: |
Dear friends,
Since I do not blog, I thought I would send you 3 yahoo posts I wrote day before yesterday pertaining to "Slumdog Millionaire" and the Oscars.
My BITS, Pilani yahoo group is called The Dirty Dozen. My nickname there is O,O
Please read at leisure and comment if inclined, when convenient.
AO
_________________________________________________________
Post 1 : My Take on "Slumdog Millionaire" and the Oscars
Dear Dirty folk,
You cannot believe the euphoria sweeping Chennai or for that matter all of India. SM has not only made headlines but has hogged 15 of the first 20 pages of the Times of India today. I have never seen such an over the top coverage ever. We certainly are a movie and cricket crazy nation.
I am going to stick my neck out and air my opinion about SM as well as the awards. Panja ladaai invited, Kuwaiti old chap!
Is SM a great film? No way! But it is a complete "paisa vasool" movie. I saw it twice. Absolutely entertaining!
It is at best, an out and out Bollywood masala movie in the genre of Manmohan Desai with incredible coincidences, twists and turns... The only difference is that it has the discipline of a Western film-maker, a fable tautly delivered within the Hollywood self imposed time limit of 120 minutes. Not a minute less, not a minute more. "Memento" and "12 Angry Men" are amongst my all time Hollywood favourites. Both were 100 minutes long each. Their remakes in Hindi "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" and "Ghajini" went on for 150 minutes and 190 minutes respectively.
Many Indians have dismissed this movie as poverty porn. There has been enormous criticism by some "patriotic" Indians. I for one have no problems with the depiction of slum life the way David Boyle has done it. Nothing that has been shown in the movie is untrue or an exaggeration.. . Having lived 25 years of my life in Bandra, Mumbai barely 2 to 3 miles of adjoining Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, I can confirm that every dark side of the slum life depicted in SM is true. Begging mafia, disfiguring and blinding children for better alms collections, child prostitution, paedophilia etc are all daily realities.
It becomes disturbing and disconcerting when a talented Western Director puts it slickly together in a crisp and compressed melodrama. This movie in my opinion comes no where near the last effort "Gandhi" where a British Director, Sir Richard and many Hollywood and Bollywood stars and technicians came together to give us the unforgettable epic. I own a copy of the DVD of "Gandhi" and even after 27 years of its release, I keep going back to it from time to time.
Will I be revisiting SM after a few years? I doubt.
So was I rooting for the 10 awards for SM, watching the Oscars live? Absolutely. I wanted it to win every nomination despite having my own reservations about the music nominations (Please see my next post) and despite the fact that other than one of the nominees "Changeling" I had not seen any of the other Oscar nominations. I jumped with joy, every time an award for SM was announced. I had moist eyes when ARR bagged the 2 awards.
I have this one approach to being a supporter, cheer leader. I will root for my team irrespective of who is the better contestant. In IPL, I cheered for Chennai Super Kings all the way even though Rajasthan Royals were a better team. After all, (to misquote a phrase here) "blood is thicker than water".
The Hollywood Bollywood marriage is the best thing to happen to India. I hope SM and the Oscars do the same thing to the Indian Movie industry clout what the IPL did to the clout of Indian cricket. Things can only get better and bigger!
Jai Ho,
O,O
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Post No. 2 : A R Rahman and the 2 music Oscars
Dear Dirty folk,
I am a huge fan of A R Rahman, and my iPod has every single work of his that he has ever created in any language, filmy and non-filmy. But I am afraid that ARR is not exciting me enough over the last couple of years. The ARR magic has been replaced by more funky stuff and the melody seems to be disappearing. I think this comment applies to his work for "Slumdog Millionaire" as well.
His last few films have left me cold. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Yuvraaj, Ghajini and Delhi 6. His die hard fans eg my brother keep saying that you should keep listening to ARR over and over again and the music will grow on you. Sorry, that is not my idea of great film music. If I do not leave the theatre humming or whistling at least one tune from the movie, the music has not worked for me. In none of the films mentioned above have I come out of the theatres humming any tune.
To me the song has to strike a chord the very first time one hears it. 28 years back, sitting in a cab in Mumbai, I heard the KK song from "Yaraana" ... "Chhookar Mere Mann Ko, Kiya Tuune Kya Ishaara" on the cab's radio. It gave me goose flesh. Till today, I can recall the entire listening experience. The song continues to be my favourite. Around 17 years back I heard "Chhoti Si Asha" from ARR's Roja. It was his first flim song. I was mesmerised when I heard the song for the first time. Even today I rate it as one of ARR's best creations.
The magic that was created in Roja, Rangeela, Bombay, Dil Se, Lagaan,Taal, Zubeida and Saathiya is missing in ARR's music of current times. His non-filmy patriotic bouquet "Vande Matram" was absolutely hair raising. If you do not have the audio CD, please sample it on you tube and later buy the CD. You will thank me for it. 
I have a long list of his Tamil favourites but I will mention only one "Kandukondain, Kandukondain" . Superb music. It had a wide national release because it starred Aishwarya and Tabu. The music and movie became national favourites.
Compared to all this, the later works of ARR are not as exciting. His West End/Broadway production "Bombay Dreams" was an abolute mish mash but the PIOs lapped it up (more so in UK and less so in the US). I have not seen the musical but I have the audio CD.
He and his collaborator, Sukhwinder (of Chhaiyan, Chhaiyan and Jai Ho fame) have recently announced that they will do less of the filmy stuff and more of soul satisfying stuff hereafter. I hope the lucre of Hollywood does not derail them.
And here I stick my neck out for an opinion. ARR should have got an Oscar for his score in his very first film "Roja" and not for his latest "SM". "Roja" is the work of a genius. Years later, he went on to earn the title "Mozart of Madras".
I guess it needed a Western movie maker and a Western vehicle for ARR to be noticed and recognised internationally.
I hope that he gives us what he is really gifted with and capable of.
Time magazine Film critic, Richard Corliss had once said that he rated the score of "Roja" as one of the top 5 ever. (See his comments in blue below.) Corliss has many critics but I take him seriously. He has a pretty good pulse of popular tastes as well as juries' opinions. 3 issues back in the Time Magazine, he had forecated this year's Oscar winners. He got 19 out of 24 right. He comments well about Bollywood also.
Jai ho,
O,O
Roja:Though he is renowned as the preeminent composer of modern Bollywood, A.R. Rahman was born and still works in Madras, 1,000 miles south of Bombay. His Tamil compatriot, the writer-director Mani Ratnam, yanked him out of jingle-writing to compose his first full score for Roja (The Rose) the tale of a woman whose lover is kidnapped by terrorists. Through this grim political parable, Rahman laced some spectacular melodies that not only serve the drama, they create their own[EM]as in the duet ballads "Yeh Haseen Vadiyan" and "Roja Jaaneman," which first are grounded in recitative, then suddenly ascend into celestial melody. This astonishing debut work parades Rahman's gift for alchemizing outside influences until they are totally Tamil, totally Rahman. He plays with reggae and jungle rhythms, fiddles with Broadway-style orchestrations, runs cool variations on Morricone's scores for Italian westerns.
-Richard Corliss in the Time Magazine
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Post no. 3 : Acceptance speeches at the Oscars
Dear Dirty folk,
To me one of the charms of watching the Oscar awards is to listen to people's acceptance speeches. For the first time we had to hear 3 acceptance speeches from 2 Indians. I was wondering how they would pull it off.
Though they do not have the gift of a Sean Penn, a Kate Winslett or a David Boyle, or for that matter a Gulzar Bhai or a Javed Akhtar, I thought they did great with their short speeches completely steeped in Indianness and patriotism.
I hope this observation has not been missed. Both the winners are Muslims. (ARR as we know is a convert but a stoutly devout Muslim). ARR lost his father when he was 9 and from very early stages he had to take on the responsibility to be the sole bread winner for the family of 5. He could have cursed his destiny and luck and gone astray.
But he went on with his dint of dedication and hard work to reach a pinnacle of glory in his chosen field. He talked about his choice between love and hate and he chose the former which brought him to where he stood that night.
Of course there was the Bollywood English used when he quoted the one-liner from "Deewar" ... Mere paas Maa Hai. calling it a "dialogue". Though very Salim-Javedish, at least the tribute to his mom sounded very heartfelt. The shy ARR used the 3rd language as well i.e. Tamil when he said "God is great" in his mother tongue.
The second winner Resul Pookutty, a Mallu muslim for a village near Qilon, could have also been a drifter, being the youngest in a huge family of eight children. Instead he made his way to the top by choosing a suitable vocation after studying at FTII, Pune.
He too made a crisp and compelling speech and was able to invoke pride and respect for India and its civilsation by making a very apt reference to the sound of OM or Aum.
I hope the less"tolerant" of the youngsters in India were watching the two on TV. No two Muslims could have sounded more mainstream Indians than these two proud achievers for whom their childhood was not a bed of roses.
I lament the fragmentation that has happened so fast and is getting worse.
There were no such undercurrents of this nature in our growing up years and all of India just swooned after the Dilip Kumars, Meena Kumaris, Madhubalas and Waheeda Rahmans of this world. Today SRK and Amir Khan are as much mainstream Indians as the most devout Hindus. When they act in patriotic movies or movies about human sensitivities eg. "Chak De India' or "Taare Zamin Par", they move you to tears.
When India was at the verge of disater in the last Twenty20 with SL, it was the 2 Pathan Brothers, also from humble backgrounds, who rose to the occasion and showed what they could do for the country.
If only others too could emulate and not lose their way into "jihad" after blaming society and the world for their miseries and wreak havoc with death and destruction. We could do without these "Aslam-dog Martyrs."
Jai Hind,
O,O
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Mail 2: The response to my review from some of his friends
Sorry for bringing the nextgen's thinking on "Slumdog Millionaire" and Oscars
| From: | Ashutosh Ojha (ashutosho@gmail.com) |
| Sent: | 26 February 2009 14:27PM |
| To: |
Dear Dirty folk,
When I forwarded a bcc copy of the 3 part post on "SM and the Oscars" to you guys to my son, I never expected to get this response from Rahul who is about to complete MBA from Delhi in the next 5 weeks.
My learning from this exchange : children do have an opinion of their own and can make you sit up and take note.
Cheers.
O,O
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Dear Papa,
Thanks for sharing your 3 posts about "SM" and the Oscars. I completely agree with your assessment of "Slumdog Millionaire" but would like to differ where you said that "Delhi 6" was not one of Rahman's better works. Also I felt there was no need for Resul to "dedicate the award to India" in his acceptance speech. The Academy got it wrong by giving Best Actor to Sean Penn when Mickey Rourke more than deserved it for his performance in 'The Wrestler'.
The media has gone overboard with coverage of "Slumdog Millionaire" winning the Oscars proclaiming - how it is a giant step forward for 'Indian Film Industry'. All what I see Slumdog doing is make more Indian films appeal to the sensibilities of Western Audience.
I am pasting my review of Slumdog Millionaire which I posted on 2nd January on my blog, much before the hooplah sorrounding the movie.
Love,
Rahul
The review can be found here: http://unbornlegend.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-millionaire-deserves-billion.html
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Comments from my BITS, Pilani friends most of whom are Head Honchos or entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley Companies
Ashutosh:
I was reminded recently that while she is a "child" to me, my daughter is actually an adult with fully formed opinions and thought process. So the first adjustment we must make is to consider our children as adults. They have just as much conviction for their opinions as we had in Pilani which led to years of lachha.
What a great write up your son has provided - kudos to him.
I am puzzled by the comment about Resul - what is the issue with dedicating the award to India?
Cheers,
-anjaneya
_________________________________________________
I was reminded recently that while she is a "child" to me, my daughter is actually an adult with fully formed opinions and thought process. So the first adjustment we must make is to consider our children as adults. They have just as much conviction for their opinions as we had in Pilani which led to years of lachha.
What a great write up your son has provided - kudos to him.
I am puzzled by the comment about Resul - what is the issue with dedicating the award to India?
Cheers,
-anjaneya
_________________________________________________
Ojhaji,
Excellent write-up from your son. This is a good example of why you
need not make promises about avoiding non-DD posts. After all it is
topical and enjoyable by all of us "groan ups".
That touch at the end shows that Rahul, in addition to being a great
progeny, is an excellent prognosticator as well!
If I don't get to see the movie during my vacation I will see it when
I come back.
Cheers,
Madhu
P.S. My folks informed me that there is a package, sent by someone
named Ojha, awaiting Sandhya when we get to Hyderabad. Thanks in
advance. We take off tonight. Look forward to chatting with ya soon.
Excellent write-up from your son. This is a good example of why you
need not make promises about avoiding non-DD posts. After all it is
topical and enjoyable by all of us "groan ups".
That touch at the end shows that Rahul, in addition to being a great
progeny, is an excellent prognosticator as well!
If I don't get to see the movie during my vacation I will see it when
I come back.
Cheers,
Madhu
P.S. My folks informed me that there is a package, sent by someone
named Ojha, awaiting Sandhya when we get to Hyderabad. Thanks in
advance. We take off tonight. Look forward to chatting with ya soon.
__________________________________________________________
Howdy OO,
That was a very tightly written piece from your son. Man, you must
be a very proud daddy. Incidentally, don't people periodically post
jokes, etc, which are non-DD content? I would hardly consider works
of immediate family as non-DD.
I guess I have to see the movie sometime. (I have been meaning to
see Trainspotting ever since it came out, so that may give you the
timeline.)
Cheers,
Lakshman
______________________________________________________
That was a very tightly written piece from your son. Man, you must
be a very proud daddy. Incidentally, don't people periodically post
jokes, etc, which are non-DD content? I would hardly consider works
of immediate family as non-DD.
I guess I have to see the movie sometime. (I have been meaning to
see Trainspotting ever since it came out, so that may give you the
timeline.)
Cheers,
Lakshman
______________________________________________________
Ojha:
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Dhanya ho ... very
impressive writing from this young man, taking after his father in
movie appreciation and the use of the language!
Wah!
8
_______________________________________________________
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Dhanya ho ... very
impressive writing from this young man, taking after his father in
movie appreciation and the use of the language!
Wah!
8
_______________________________________________________
Dear Ojha,
One thing is ceratin. This generation is years ahead of us at the same
stage of life.
Pillai
________________________________________________________
One thing is ceratin. This generation is years ahead of us at the same
stage of life.
Pillai
________________________________________________________
OO, what a brilliant review Rahul has written. His communication skills apart, I was quite impressed with the originality of his thoughts.
Jai Ho,
Atul
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
These comments by my Dad's friends are amazing, flattering and encouraging. I personally have always maintained that I have been and still am, an average writer. It is the love of the movies which makes me write sense. My endeavour shall be to improve and with that promise, my longest blog entry ever comes to an end.
P.S. You deserve a cookie if you read the whole of this! Yes, I am serious.
__________________________________________________________________
These comments by my Dad's friends are amazing, flattering and encouraging. I personally have always maintained that I have been and still am, an average writer. It is the love of the movies which makes me write sense. My endeavour shall be to improve and with that promise, my longest blog entry ever comes to an end.
P.S. You deserve a cookie if you read the whole of this! Yes, I am serious.
