And Thereby Hangs a Tale

.. is Jeffery Archer's latest offering of short stories. It is also the title of the second book that I purchased at the Odyssey Store at RMZ Infinity. I would like to blame my sudden book-buying impulses on Sir Jeffery Archer but thats not really true. It would be more appropriate to say that when I am in the book-buying mood, he has a new offering sitting on those shelves :) I remember buying Prisoner of Birth, almost a year ago. You can read my review of the book, here.

And Thereby Hangs a Tale consists of 15 short stories - of which 10 of them are based on true incidents according to the Author. While I completely enjoyed some of the stories, this truly did not meet the level, he had set for himself after A Twist in the Tale. For the folks who have read his earlier books, I am sure you agree with me. For the others, if any, I probably sound unfair.

Usually, the difficult part is picking a few of the stories but that was not as difficult as I thought. I liked the way the Author has handled "Why we never ask a woman her age?" in The Queen's Birthday Telegram. It seemed but natural that the story was based on a true incident. :) I also enjoyed the Double Cross, which had a nice twist at the end. Blind Date was a little too literal for my taste but I still liked it. The insurance hoax that was foiled by the wife of the investigator in the High Heels, was quite interesting. I felt very sorry for the Undiplomatic Diplomat and did not like Caste-Off all that much. Read up and share your view... Happy Reading :)

Theodre Boone

It was the Taurean's turn to treat and Sunday saw us at Indijoes on RMZ Infinity. Both the Arien and I have been to the place many times and enjoy the buffet there. I, however, prefer the one on Airport Road. However, after the Carlton fire incident, that is no longer an option anymore. We had never visited Indijoes on a Sunday and were surprised at the crowd. When we were told that it would be 20 mts before we wud get a table, we decided to visit the Odyssey store at RMZ. The Arien walked into Gold's Gym while the senior Arien, the Taurean, and myself gawked at the books at the store. I usually refrain from buying books because I have a membership with Eloor library. This time, however, I found myself buying not one but 2 books. One of them is Theodre Boone.

As soon as I got my books billed, the Arien and I walked up to Indijoes and spent about 10 mts wrangling with the lady who was sending folks in. Everyone was angry and she had no idea who had been sent in, when we could go in and ob. everybody was angry. The manager came in and attempted to settle things by which time the Taurean lost his temper. We decided to have lunch at the food court which was hardly crowded and walked to it in a huff. Suddenly, the manager called and asked us to come immediately - he had a table ready. We went, inspite of the Taurean's irritation. After gulping chaat and some of the starters, the Taurean was fine and started talking to the rest of us. He can be surprisingly cranky when you least expect it :) It was a lazy lunch and we were totally stuffed. All of us yearned for the minute we wud be bk at our homes so we cud crash till 6 pm. The Taurean took off to meet his frend, the senior Arien, the Arien, and myself returned home and crashed till 6 pm.

John Grisham's Theodre Boone is ok. Theodre, known to all as Theo, is a thirteen year old middle schooler who loves everything about the law. His parents are lawyers and so is his uncle, Ike. This book traces a week in the life of Theo which is also a very interesting week because of the murder trial taking place. Theo wants to miss school so he can spend all his time at the courthouse but his parents disagree. Everything changes, however, when Theo gets his hands on evidence that is very crucial to the case and enlists help from his uncle, Ike. However, the book is not gripping enough like The Client nor is it fast-paced like The Pelican Brief. The book falls short of expectations.

In fact, it gave me the feel-good moment that I have come to expect from an Enid Blyton detective series such as Famous Five, Secret Seven, and Five Find-Outers. I think that the role of the security guard or former Federal agent, Omar Cheepe, was not fleshed out. In fact, he was made out to be a bumbling agent somewhat identical to Mr. Goon, the policeman, in Five Find-Outers. I think the book can be the start of a brand-new lawyer series for young adults. It can be hugely successful as there are quite a few options to explore, such as: What did Ike do so many years ago tht he was de-barred? Omar Cheepe vs Theo? April Vs Hallie as a girlfriend? Illegal immigrants? Well, because of all that, I rate the book 2 stars. Do not buy, borrow from your nearest library :D

Robin Hood

On a boring Friday evening, the Arien and I decided that we needed to break the monotony of work-home-cookdinner routine by catching a movie. Though I wanted to watch another movie, I let him choose Robin Hood. So, there we were on a Friday, munching a burger at McDs and chatting as if there was no tomorrow. Amidst the bhaag-daud of the day-to-day routine, I always felt we are moving from Task 9 to Task 10. So, it was nice to have some time to ourselves before we lost ourselves in a movie. The Arien was also relaxed, became nostalgic, and soon we were both agreeing that this was one of the best ideas for an otherwise boring Friday. Naturally, I was all smiles - it was my idea :)

So, we walked into the Cinema Hall, well in advance, and made our way to the seats. I was telling the Arien 'bout the Robin Hood movie starring Kevin Costner and how we were all crazy 'bout him then. Also, Bryan Adams had scored the music for the movie or at least, scored the music for 1 song in the movie: Everything I do, I do it for you. The Arien wanted to know when it was released and I was shocked to realize that it was almost 16+ years ago!! Kevin Costner was so handsome. He was totally perfect for the role. I cud not remember much of the story except tht he was cmpltly drool-worthy :D

The Arien, of course, remembered the ridiculously funny spoof movie on Robin Hood which we had seen often on TV. I think it was titled "Men in Tights" or something like that. It was not funny in a subtle manner or clean enuf for family viewing but it was totally over-the-top, slightly crude, absolutely hilarious movie. Some scenes were totally scandalous but you still found it funny, which is the way most spoof movies are. Zee English used to telecast the movie earlier with all the objectionable scenes removed so that it was suitable for an Indian Audience. Hahaha!!

Well, now to the latest offering of Robin Hood. First thing that you must know, the plan is to probably have a sequel - maybe 2. So, this offering, introduces Robin Loxley or Longstride or whtever, to us. The actual thievery and taking-from-rich-and-giving-to-the-poor is yet to happen. Russel Crowe is not handsome in the regular way but his rugged look was totally worth-a-watch. The scenes between Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett are amusing. The touch of humour does lighten things a bit. However, if, like us, you were waiting for the rob-rich-give-poor scenes, you will be in for quite a shock.

The movie is a tad slow. A touch of Mel Gibson's Brave Heart, Brad Pitt's Troy is quite evident in the fight scenes but they are the only portions which have any action. While, I would term it as an ole romantic tale with a bit of action thrown in. However, throw Russel Crowe and Cate into the story and you will be watching a piece of Art, maybe not a masterpiece but def worth a watch on the Silver Screen. Well, I give it 3 stars. Go watch!!

Rajneeti

The whole team was thirsting for a day out and after a lot of discussion we decided to do a lunch and a movie. The first discussion on the team outing started sometime in March and we finally came up with a date in June. Considering that the team was pretty small - we did not have to do the mail with voting buttons nor did we have to break our heads too much on which movie to catch. We all met for lunch and identified a Hindi movie that was being released on that day. Yup - Rajneeti.

Come Friday and all of us troop in with goofy smiles and lots of laughter. We are off for lunch before we know it, to Bamboo Shoots. We arrive there well ahead of time to find out that the restaurant is now known as Red Bamboo Shoots and it no longer has a buffet. Because we had split up in two groups, 4 of us arrived early and spent some time chatting till the others came. All the waiting and the chatting made us late for the movie - we lost 15 mts. In fact, we missed Naseeruddin Shah. It was only the next day wen I saw a poster of the movie which included him, tht I went - Oops!! We sneaked into the theatre during the Arjun Rampal scene and found our way to the Gold Class of Fame Shankarnag without making too much noise.

What I liked 'bout the movie:

• Amazing casting coup and each actor was chosen for the appropriate role who underplayed it perfectly - well, almost.
• Arjun Rampal was good. He was not his usual wooden self but played the role of an angry young man who has no control on the aggressive nature of his reactions - Score!!
• Only 2 songs - Score!!

What I did not like 'bout the movie:

• Katrina - a totally wrong choice for the role; all the hype involving her Hindi - she has a total of 3 scenes in the movie and none of them are note-worthy - with or without her spouting Hindi
• Because it was based on the Mahabharata, there was nothing unpredictable in the movie - no twists and turns - nothing unexpected which makes the movie a bit boring considering it is a loooong one.
• It had all the ingredients to make the movie fantastic but falls short. Is not hard-hitting enuf and you can watch the movie as a disconnected Audience which is where the movie fails.