Don't people read anymore?

[asli_badmash]

HEY! wait a minit! this thread is abt READING...

Yes it is.. but if someone says Russle Crowe can act I have to counter-act dont I...

Anyway back to the topic.. I am reading Dr. Rafiq Zakaria's " Indian Muslims: Where have they gone Wrong".

Excellent book! I am getting to know a lot of nice things about India and its people that our History books at school didnt talk about. Or did talk about and now I am getting to see all that in a new light.

so where have they gone wrong?

Read the book...



I am in the middle and unfortunatly I dont have the time to finish it in one go. I will write about it when I am done.

[azazel]

im sorry for this digression from the thread. hadnt seen this earlier, cant let it go

I dont think he can act very well.

ur not only in the minority my pal, u R the minority on that

The range of emotions he shows in L.A.Confidential as a cop are same as the ones he shows in "Proof of life". And again in "The quick and the dead"... I think he makes any role he plays bland.

In L.A.Confidential, he played an angry cop who knows how to get justice done. In Proof Of Life, he is a calm n calculated negotiator. i dont see, wht u found similar in those characters. he was hardly known nor have a good role in The Quick n The Dead!

He brings down the intensity of the role and casts the role in his own mannerisms. The way he smiles, the way he cries, the way he becomes angry is always the same.

dude, the subtlety he brings to the characters he plays albeit in the past few years is unmistakeable. he clearly humbled an actor like Al Pacino despite being kind of relegated in The Insider! u havent seen his best performances yet or chose to ignore them

I mean to ask him a question... "You have been in the movies for so long, how have you grown as a person and as an actor"?.

being nominated for the Oscars consecutively for 4 years isnt good enuff?

On the contrary people like Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington try to portray the character as it is supposed to be.

name a few Liam Neeson movies other than Schindler's List plz. Morgan Freeman is one actor that doesnt require me to praise. he is just impeccable with an amazing screen presence n charm. Denzel Washington too is an amazing actor. but, where is the true comparison man?

[asli_badmash]

I wouldve quoted from the book for Godfather.............but neither have I read the book nor have I seen the movie.

(Read in Italian Broklyn accent)Let me make you a proposition that would be hard to resist...



Badmash points a gun at Alexis and says "You read the book or you dead.. kapisch "

[Alexis]

I wouldve quoted from the book for Godfather.............but neither have I read the book nor have I seen the movie.

(Read in Italian Broklyn accent)Let me make you a proposition that would be hard to resist...

Badmash points a gun at Alexis and says "You read the book or you dead.. kapisch "

Violence begets violence, AB! And hell hath no fury like a lady threatened, esp. with a gun.

[asli_badmash]

Sorry people but I have to digress.. I apologize.

im sorry for this digression from the thread. hadnt seen this earlier, cant let it go

Neither can I...

I dont think he can act very well.

ur not only in the minority my pal, u R the minority on that

Look around you.. nobody is saying a word about the aussie my good friend. Before you claim me to be the minority.. I would like you to count your friends. I dont think you would find many hands being raised to speak about the acting prowess of the man from down under. Heck people from down under dont think too good about him too.

The range of emotions he shows in L.A.Confidential as a cop are same as the ones he shows in "Proof of life". And again in "The quick and the dead"... I think he makes any role he plays bland.

In L.A.Confidential, he played an angry cop who knows how to get justice done. In Proof Of Life, he is a calm n calculated negotiator. i dont see, wht u found similar in those characters. he was hardly known nor have a good role in The Quick n The Dead!

I have seen all the movies and the best I can give him he has range. But I am not talking about range I am talking about the depth. Depth is what makes a role stand out. Every role he has done I think is bland. Tha Gladiator character could easily fit the character description from "Proof of Life" character. The Code breaker from :A beautiful mind" can easliy fit the character description of his role from "The Insider".. all good movies.. but how much justice has Mr.Crowe done to the roles. It looks like the same person in different situations...

Some people can portray some emotions very well. Some try to do it but since they cant get beyond themselves they tend to not do justice to the depth of the character. Some director once said... The best way to give depth to the character is to be the character. I dont think Mr. Crowe is there yet. I would say he could learn something from the Sixth Sense Kid. Haley Joe Osmand(Spell??)... that kid has some talent. He is good.

He brings down the intensity of the role and casts the role in his own mannerisms. The way he smiles, the way he cries, the way he becomes angry is always the same.

dude, the subtlety he brings to the characters he plays albeit in the past few years is unmistakeable. he clearly humbled an actor like Al Pacino despite being kind of relegated in The Insider! u havent seen his best performances yet or chose to ignore them

Again I have seen almost all the good movies of his and I must say I am not impressed. He lacks the depth or that special something that makes the world go.. hmmm this guy can act.

I mean to ask him a question... "You have been in the movies for so long, how have you grown as a person and as an actor"?.

being nominated for the Oscars consecutively for 4 years isnt good enuff?

You stay long enough in the Film Industry and you are bound to land on some Oscars nominations here and there. Oscar nominations is no scale to measure the talent. For every Big budget movie that is made there are many good films that go unnoticed.. many good actors go unrecognized. I dont know if Oscars is the place it used to be anymore.. its become like a big party where everybody shows up to show off their clothes or their girlfriends and people just pick randomly from among their friends for the Oscars. I stopped watching. But as i said he has range.

On the contrary people like Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington try to portray the character as it is supposed to be.

name a few Liam Neeson movies other than Schindler's List plz. Morgan Freeman is one actor that doesnt require me to praise. he is just impeccable with an amazing screen presence n charm. Denzel Washington too is an amazing actor. but, where is the true comparison man?

You ask for a true comparison but all this talk about who we like as an actor is subjective. I like to see certain things in people when they play a role and I am sorry to say the Aussie boy just doesnt cut it. I might be harsh on him but thats my opinion. Maybe in furture if he starts acting I will come to recognize him as a good actor. Till then we are on the opposite side of the line on this issue.

[marko]

speaking of LA Confidential, any James Ellroy fans out there? read the Dudly Smith trilogy (actually couldnt get through the last one, nowhere near as good as LAC and The big nowhere)

highly recommended.

[Scorpion's Sting]

On topic



"Dying is about the only thing in life I haven't experienced. It's something I don't want to miss" - Charlie Standhurst in The Capetbaggers

[Lucifer]

On topic

"Dying is about the only thing in life I haven't experienced. It's something I don't want to miss" - Charlie Standhurst in The Capetbaggers

That is one fabulous book. Jonas Cord, Nevada Smith and Rina Marlow are still etched in my mind. Robbins was one writer who truly knew the art of enrapturing his audience. Pity, his later works did not live upto his standards...

[Scorpion's Sting]

On topic

"Dying is about the only thing in life I haven't experienced. It's something I don't want to miss" - Charlie Standhurst in The Capetbaggers

That is one fabulous book. Jonas Cord, Nevada Smith and Rina Marlow are still etched in my mind. Robbins was one writer who truly knew the art of enrapturing his audience. Pity, his later works did not live upto his standards...

Yea, the book was absolutely amazing. Nevada Smith is one character I will not forget for a long, long time. Have The Storyteller also, any idea about the book?

[Lucifer]

Have The Storyteller also, any idea about the book?

Do not read that book. That is one book, which I call the epitome of crap writing. Though I still remember Joe Crown, Jamaica and Motty, it is still not a book you would want to read.



On another note. How many fans here of the Hitchiker series?

[azazel]

On another note. How many fans here of the Hitchiker series?

have read the first in the series only.. was floored one mother of a laff riot.. shall get my hands on the other 4 soon..



btw, just saw an addition to Ludlum's Bourne trilogy at Walden.. written by some other guy as "Robert Ludlum's Bourne Legacy" nice

[Cowboy]

On topic

"Dying is about the only thing in life I haven't experienced. It's something I don't want to miss" - Charlie Standhurst in The Capetbaggers

That is one fabulous book. Jonas Cord, Nevada Smith and Rina Marlow are still etched in my mind. Robbins was one writer who truly knew the art of enrapturing his audience. Pity, his later works did not live upto his standards...

Nevada Smith is good but Jonas Cord is amazing. Any other Harold Robbins works I shouldn't miss?

[Lucifer]

Nevada Smith is good but Jonas Cord is amazing. Any other Harold Robbins works I shouldn't miss?

1. The Adventurers

2. 79 Park Avenue

3. Never Leave Me

4. Where Love Has Gone

[akhilis2cool]

bad news!

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/26arthur.htm

[Le Chacal]

What books did this guy write?

[akhilis2cool]

What books did this guy write?

he wrote gr8 novels like The Hotel, The airport, Money Changers



i read the last one....

[Lucifer]

What books did this guy write?

What?

[Le Chacal]

What books did this guy write?

What?

W-h-a-t b-o-o-k-s d-i-d t-h-i-s g-u-y w-r-i-t-e?

[Scorpion's Sting]

^^Arthur Hailey wrote books like Hotel, Airport, The Evening News(I'm not so sure whether or not this is a Hailey book) etc. I think I have the book Airport



Just finished readind The Day Of The Jackal, boring at the start but gets really interesting towards the end.



Started Ludlum's Scorpio Illusion today, just got past page 7 now

[popesmokesdope]

November has been far from wasted... was just catching up on a lot of reading which were pending for a while



CUCKOLD by Kiran Nagarkar. Brilliant book. One of my all time faves. Fluid poetry that has the potential to take you low and hit you suddenly, tenderly drowsy, yet strong lucid narrative. I recommend it VERY strongly to just about anyone who can take irreverance about everything without freaking out. A fantastic book in which the entire atmosphere of a scene can change in the span of just a couple of lines.



The incredibly craptacular Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown - Repulsive book. Redeemed by occasionally good passages. This one's headed straight for the 'use just once and destroy pile'. It starts off in a marginally interesting way - quickly moves into tripe phase when Langdumb meets a green Venuisan woman and they have conversations that are The Miracle Network meets Aleister Crowley - and then perks up a bit when the evil incarnate himself arrives on the scene - gets into a very interesting phase after that - both philosphically and stylistically: the message of it seems to be, like Mad magazine once said, "good will eventually triumph over evil but only if good is more violent than evil" - and then degenerates into some sort of Christian crapology for a conclusion that drags on and on. Sort of like the end of the third book in the LOTR series.



Also finished The Eighth Ghost Book - a collection of supernatural short stories edited by a total moron caled Rosemary Timperley. Ms.T seems to adore stories that are more parable than anything else. A few of the stories 'Looking for Carloff', 'The Man Who Went Too Far', 'The Homecoming' are truly excellent in most part because the authors have done such a cracking job of building the narrative, although the bare plots aren't novel in themselves. The rest of this book goes from ho-hum to absolute balderdash with one of the worst stories provided by Ms. Timperley herself.



Tried rereading Kafka's Trial a week back, but somehow I'm just not able to wade through it with the zeal I once had. I still like his style (in translation, but still) and his content, but somehow it all hits a little too uncomfortably close to home once you cross over into that bad place they call adult life. I even find it hard to read Camus anymore, not that I've become all positive and shit like that, but it's not just a story anymore, you know...

[akhilis2cool]

mahabharath is close to our day to day lives. no dobt abt. it.

[Le Chacal]

Check out this link: http://www.stateoffeargame.com

Thats the link for the new book by Michael Crichton:State of Fear.You have to solve some clues and then work the premise of the book out.I have exams in 10 days so I am too busy to play that game and the books releasing in 17 days.

[Scorpion's Sting]

Check out this link: http://www.stateoffeargame.com
Thats the link for the new book by Michael Crichton:State of Fear.You have to solve some clues and then work the premise of the book out.I have exams in 10 days so I am too busy to play that game and the books releasing in 17 days.

Yea..but that game is pathetic.. it isn't even worth calling a game....its just publicity for some websites

[Der Schakal]

Check out this link: http://www.stateoffeargame.com
Thats the link for the new book by Michael Crichton:State of Fear.You have to solve some clues and then work the premise of the book out.I have exams in 10 days so I am too busy to play that game and the books releasing in 17 days.

Yea..but that game is pathetic.. it isn't even worth calling a game....its just publicity for some websites

Yeah i know.I tried it out but it wasnt worth the time being spent.Anyway got the book yesterday,its okay.I am half way through it.Its about Global Warming.And here Michael Crichton say that Global Warming is just a theory and it isnt happening.

[CtrlAltDel]

...Michael Crichton say that Global Warming is just a theory and it isnt happening.

:shock:

maybe Bush commissioned him to write that book...