There’s brisk demand for Karl Malden’s 1997 memoir, When Do I Start?, following the sad news about his death yesterday at the age of 97. I think he was a truly memorable actor. On The Waterfront remains one of my favourite movies. Only a handful of signed copies remain.
Archive for the ‘movies’ Category
15 Collectible Editions of Alice in Wonderland
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009Everyone seems to be chattering about the gorgeous teaser photos from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and I can see why - the rich color, fantastical distortion and surreal decor certainly lend an air of magic and excitement to the project.
And I can think of no better subject for Burton’s brand of weird, dark, beautiful and grotesque art than Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. From the hookah smoking caterpillar to the Cheshire cat, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum to the white rabbit, the books were wonderful and nightmarish, hallucinogenic and marvellous, full of lush, strange imagery throughout.
If you’ve never read the book of Alice in Wonderland it’s well worth it. Carroll’s talking animals, funny backward logic and adventures are perfect for children, and the vivid imagery and bizarre story are dark and interesting enough to have adults turning pages, too.
Here are some more beautiful Alice in Wonderland pictures - this time, of some of the collectible, unusual and always gorgeous editions of Alice in Wonderland available on AbeBooks.
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Monday, June 22nd, 2009Pretty pictures from Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Twilight fans nearly kill Edward
Friday, June 19th, 2009 
Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays Edward Cullen in the cinematic recreation of Twilight was hit by a taxi as he attempted to run past a pack of wailing banshee’s and find sanctuary in his film trailer.
Flanked by five security guards, the British actor tried to run past a group of teenage girls who had gathered outside the bookstore and cross the street to his trailer when the accident happened.
He was not seriously injured, but his bodyguards reportedly were furious, according to RadarOnline.com which claimed to have witnessed the accident. One of the bodyguards yelled at the girls: “You see what you did, you almost killed him!”
This is why I demand danger pay when acting in any film aimed at the teenage girl demographic; they can smell fear. 
Another Children’s Adventure Series Adapting to Film
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
In the wake of the success of the Harry Potter movies and the flop of the Inkheart film, another children’s adventure series will be coming to theatres. Rights to Ian Beck’s stories of Tom Trueheart, a boy who follows his older brothers into the Land of Stories have reportedly been picked up by Freelight Productions and David Uslan. In fact they’ve picked up rights to a trilogy - the third of which Beck is yet to write.
I haven’t read the books but from the comments I’ve seen, kids really seem to enjoy them.
Book 1: The Secret History of Tom Trueheart
Book 2: Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Secrets
Trailer for the upcoming film:
Harry Potter and the Plagarism Claims
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009It would appear that JK Rowling is facing not one but two accusations of plagarism.
John Buechler, director of the film Troll claims that Rowling used a script from the film to create her Harry Potter series. Buechler says the film is based on the experiences of a young wizard and wants to prove to Warner Bros that Troll was actually the beginning of Harry Potter.
Secondly, the family of late English writer Adrian Jacobs is suing Rowling and her publisher for £500million. They claim that Harry Potter was copied from Jacobs’ Willy the Wizard. The manuscript for Willy was sent to Bloomsbury Publishing’s literary agent Christopher Little who later represented Rowling, but the book was rejected. The book was published by a smaller company under the name The Adventures Of Willy The Wizard No 1: Livid Land. Jacobs died in 1997, before the success of Harry Potter played out but now his estate which includes his son and grandson, claim that Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire was plagarised.
Now doesn’t this also mean that John Buechler should be suing Jacobs’ estate and vice-versa?!
Slumdog Millionaire’s Danny Boyle to Make New Film About Mumbai
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta
Speaking of Slumdog Millionaire…
Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire, has bought the rights to the book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta.
The part fiction, part non-fiction book is a colourful combination of a memoir, a travelogue and a socio-political analysis of the history, economy and people of Mumbai.
Maximum City was shortlisted for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.
More about the book:
A brilliantly illuminating portrait of Bombay and its people–a book as vast, diverse, and rich in experience, incident, and sensation as the city itself–from an award-winning Indian-American fiction writer and journalist.
A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us a true insider’s view of this stunning city, bringing to his account a rare level of insight, detail, and intimacy. He approaches the city from unexpected angles–taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and Hindu gangs who wrest control of the city’s byzantine political and commercial systems . . . following the life of a bar dancer who chose the only life available to her after a childhood of poverty and abuse . . . opening the doors onto the fantastic, hierarchical inner sanctums of Bollywood . . . delving into the stories of the countless people who come from the villages in search of a better life and end up living on the sidewalks–the essential saga of a great city endlessly played out.
Through it all–as each individual story unfolds–we hear Mehta’s own story: of the mixture of love, frustration, fascination, and intense identification he feels for and with Bombay, as he tries to find home again after twenty-one years abroad. And he makes clear that Bombay–the world’s largest city–is a harbinger of the vast megalopolises that will redefine the very idea of “the city” in the near future.
Candid, impassioned, funny, and heartrending, Maximum City is a revelation of an ancient and ever-changing world.
Slumdog Millionaire Star to Publish Autobiography
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Rubina Ali, child star of the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, is set to publish an autobiography.
It amazes me to think that a 9-year-old would have material for such a book but having been discovered in the slums of India and then achieving international fame, I’m sure she has more to tell and say than 16-year-old Miley Cyrus.
Slumdog Millionaire is an adaptation of Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A.
There’s Waldo!
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
After starting off in the UK as “Where’s Wally?“, the question “Where’s Waldo?” globalized.
Waldo, created by illustrator Martin Hanford, dressed in a red-and-white striped shirt and hat and carrying a walking stick finds himself ‘lost’ amongst complex pictures and it’s up to readers to locate him.
Soon enough he’ll be easy to spot…in movie theatres. Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment and Universal is bringing the popular character to the big screen.
The plot features a 30-year-old Waldo who, after accidentally activating a malfunctioning time machine, travels through time.
Narrated Video on the Hugeness of Chamblin Bookmine
Thursday, May 28th, 2009I liked the dreamy, awestruck quality of this narrated video demonstrating the vastness of Chamblin BookMine in Jacksonville, FL.
Drat. Another bookstore I might want to see as much as Powell’s. One day, I’m going to have to take a North American bookstore road trip.
….and I’m going to need a really big van for souvenirs.
Frivolous Friday Presents
Friday, May 22nd, 2009Hello!
I dub today Frivolous Friday, a day on which I will create a post only vaguely related to books at best (the first because I stole it from Bookninja, the second because the guy just got a book deal).
Item the first:
Whack-a-kitty!
(I could watch this all day. Giggling like a maniac the whole time.)
Item the second:
Tiny Art Director!
(start at the bottom).
In short, this guy has been doing this illustration blog for almost 2 years. When he started, his daughter was 2. She’s now 4. Together, they make the weirdest art team ever. She tells him what to draw, he draws it, and she critiques it, usually by raining insults and dissatisfaction down upon him. It’s really, really funny. Here’s an example:
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Baby Dinosaur Eating an Orange
The Brief: A Scary Baby Dinosaur
The Critique: No! You color him some more! Can I put makeup on him?
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Stop Drawing! Stop Drawing!
Keanu Reeves to Play Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde.
Monday, May 11th, 2009 
Oh dear.
The Guardian says it far better than I could, as I seem only to be able to muster “Oh dear. Oh..why would they..? Oh, that’s not good.”
Keanu Reeves has apparently been cast in an upcoming film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
That’s fine, you think. I’m sure as a bumbling innkeeper, he’ll provide some much needed comedy relief! He’ll be onscreen…what…three minutes?
Not so, humble and naive readers, Reeves has been cast to play both the well-respected, upper class doctor, Dr. Jekyll, and his murderous, monstrous alter-ego, Edward Hyde.
…..
What in God’s name?! It’s not Point Break, it’s not Bill and Ted…it’s not even the Matrix, which contained so much funny jumping, cool sunglasses and flapping of coats that it effectively distracted the viewer from Reeves’ inability to act his way out of a sodden pile of used Kleenex. Who has time to blanch at his inauthentically croaked “Trinity…I…I love you…” when there are FIFTY HUGO WEAVINGS! to contend with. The Matrix had coolness to spare, and that saved Reeves’ butt from the scathing critical spanking it so richly deserved. 
Seriously. To give credit where credit is due, he was great in Parenthood (in which he played an airheaded, cheerful imbecile with a heart of gold and a race car), and brilliant in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (in which he played an airheaded, cheerful imbecile with a heart of gold and a guitar). But having watched the (excellent) 1993 adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, I’d say the single big mistake Kenneth Branagh made was casting Keanu Reeves as the malevolent, hateful Don John. His attempts at scowling, glaring and scheming were little more than pained grimaces, squinting and generally looking like he had a headache.
The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a complex, dark, chilling tale, full of metaphor and symbolism, making strong statements about human nature and what lives inside us all. I don’t recall the word ‘dude’ appearing in the text even once. It’s a book well worth reading. Please, read the book. Look! You can get it for a dollar! You can’t get a coffee for a dollar anymore. Read the book, and then, if you must, go watch the movie when it’s out.
Please. I’d take Haley Joel Osment over Keanu Reeves.
…huh. Seems like I had something to say after all.
Dom DeLuise’s books
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Portly actor Dom DeLuise died yesterday at 75. You’ll have seen him in the wonderful final fight scene of Blazing Saddles (”throw out your hands, stick our your tush….” - see Youtube below) and in less wonderful films like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Muppet movie and the Cannonball Runs, but he also wrote a lot of children’s books and cookbooks.
His children’s books include…
Charlie the Caterpillar
Hansel & Gretel
The Nightingale
King Bob’s New Clothes
The Pouch Potato
There’s No Place Like Home
His cookbooks include…
Eat This … It Will Make You Feel Better: Mama’s Italian Home Cooking and Other Favorites of Family and Friends
Eat This Too! It’ll Also Make You Feel Better
Actress Nicole Kidman in Competition for Book Rights
Thursday, April 30th, 2009
Little-known British author, Chris Cleave has caught the attention of Australian actress, Nicole Kidman with his book The Other Hand.
The Other Hand, published in the USA and Canada as Little Bee, sold just 3,000 copies when the 
hardcover edition was released last year. However as word spreads, readers are adding it to their personal libraries - over 100,000 copies have sold in the UK in the past two months.
Britain’s Sunday Times reports that Nicole Kidman, who read the book on a recent flight from Los Angeles to Australia, is so eager to star in a film adaptation, that she’s competing with several film studios to secure rights to the book.
The Other Hand is the story of a 14-year-old Nigerian girl, Little Bee who travels to Britain looking for a middle-class woman called Sarah. The synopsis reads:
WE DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it.
Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:
It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.
The story starts there, but the book doesn’t.
And it’s what happens afterward that is most important.
A First Edition copy of The Other Hand, signed by Chris Cleave.
Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.
Signaling the growing popularity of author Chris Cleave, today’s Evening Standard features the article, Chris Cleave, the London novelist taking the world by storm.
Signed, First Edition copies of The Other Hand and Little Bee are still available at reasonable cost - prices start around US $30.00.