Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World raked in an abysmal $10.6 million dollars on it’s opening weekend. Even after a global marketing campaign, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was ear-marked to be a summer blockbuster, what went horribly wrong?
Plot?
Cast?
Director?
We don’t know, and we’ll never be sure what happened to Scott Pilgrim. It could be a combination of things. Maybe Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World should have been a mini-series or adapted into a trilogy. Fighting a girl’s seven evil exes doesn’t allow for deep characterisation in 112 minutes, an average of 19 minutes per book of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s series.
Even with idealistic graphic novel publishers and film studios, the transition to celluloid is rarely achievable and successful. The film industry is already flooded with graphic novel to film attempts, a handful being quite successful with the majority either being mid-list or a flop. Perhaps it’s easier for film studios to see potential in a silver screen adaptation of a graphic novel as the brand would be known in the current market.
The double-edged sword for film studios adapting graphic novels is accuracy and loyalty to the brand. They rely on the fans to purchase cinema tickets but what if the studio gets the adaptation horribly wrong? The bloated blimp on the silver screen would be detrimental to the brand and be held as a black spot against the series for getting it so wrong.
One would have thought that graphic novel established fanbases would be a sure bet. In these economic times, are film studios picking up on established brands as a safety instead of pushing creative innovation?
Leave your thoughts in the comments!
There are so many ways I could describe Kelly Cutrone – Earth Mother, ‘PR Machine’, no-shit merchant. Ever since Cutrone graced The Hills, I’ve been a confirmed Kelly fan. On finishing, her first book – a fast-paced self-tome – aptly named ‘If You Have To Cry, Go Outside and Other Things Your Mother Never Told You’, I’d have to add Advice Angel.
Genre-wise, the book is very much in self-help/spirituality/career guidance bucket and is squarely aimed at aspiring fashionista fans of the show and PR queens but there’s a heavy pinch of here’s my hard-worned life lessons, take them and run with it!
As she aptly puts it:
For women, life is set up like a video game. It starts out in childhood with the Disney princesses, followed by the need to become the prettiest girl, the pop star or the model, and then, in high school, we’re told it’s time to become the thinnest girl, then to become successful, find a guy, convince him to move in with us, get married, have a baby, and live happily ever after!
Despite Kelly’s hints on hiring, finding your style and making difficult life decisions, the most engaging parts of the book were the memoirs she strings together to illustrate her advice. She’s not afraid to impart the bad choices in her life and use them like springboards. Like for example her reminiscing on waking up in a Bill Blass gown she’d won after an accidental heroin trip to find a man wearing tube socks and a whip saying he’d been a very bad boy. Yes, things had to change and did change for her.
The thing is, that as the book went on I wanted more irreverent memoirs. More stories about her life. I know that she’s currently working on a second book on the same vein, I just hope that book three is an exhaustive autobiography.
‘If You Have To Cry..’ is incredibly readable. I hoovered it up in a day or so. I’m not sure it’s a book to reread from start to finish, rather one of those books you can dip into for an amusing aside or a nugget of advice.
Rating: 
Publisher: HarperOne
ISBN-10: 0061930938
ISBN-13: 978-0061930935
P.S. Kelly is @peoplesrev on Twitter!
The dramatic opening of Beautiful For Ever allows us to question why a young lady would commit suicide at the close of the 19th century. To understand this unfortunate situation, we must look to her mother for an explanation.
Sarah Levinson aka Madame Rachel was a Jewess cosmetician, plying her trade to ladies in the shelter of her Bond Street store. Racism was prevalent in London and combined with the condemnation of artificial beauty to enhance looks, Madame Rachel was held under further suspicion and scrutiny. Natural beauty was hailed as true beauty which was to be valued above any poor artificial imitation.
She trained two of her daughters, Rachel and Leah, in the art of cosmetology selling ‘Jordan Water’ and many exotic lotions for extortionate prices in both London and Paris. This led to clients pawning jewellery in secret, as their husbands retained financial control over expenses. Greed is Madame Rachel’s hubris and ultimately the destruction of her empire.
Ironic to think that just over a hundred years ago, ladies of high standing were determined to give themselves a pale complexion. Tans were sign of working women and not ladies even by rural estimations. If ladies could see modern definitions of beauty, they’d probably swoon in shock.
I felt the opening chapters of Beautiful For Ever, Rappaport had very little to work with the background of Madame Rachel. This was thinly veiled as Rappaport lists the exclaimed ingredients for Madame Rachel’s potions, lotions and enamelling (‘whitening of the skin”). Beautiful For Ever becomes a social commentary of 19th century London in an attempt to bulk out the book with more content. When you get into the real story behind Madam Rachel to say she had an eventful life is an understatement. Glancing at the bibliography, it’s evident Beautiful For Ever was heavily researched but there remains a sensation that it still wasn’t enough, but then again what more could we want?
Verdict: It’s an interesting read but certainly isn’t compelling enough for a second look. If you’re a fan of Herbert Asbury (The Gangs of New York) and interested in the Victorian era, this book is for you.
Rating:
RRP: €15.72
Publisher: Long Barn Books
ISBN 10: 1902421523
ISBN 13: 9781902421520
The real battle is Edward versus Eric. Forget Edward against Jacob in Twilight and ignore Eric versus Bill in True Blood. Ten differences between the two guys below. Both are smexy blonds by any standard so if you had to pick, who would it be? Edward or Eric?
Edward
- Cares for Bella and her virtue.
- Is a “high school student” at Forks.
- Naturally romantic.
- Feeds on animals.
- Dark, brooding quality.
- Sparkles in sunlight. (I’ll never understand this one.)
- Just cries, no tears of blood here.
- Willing to commit suicide for his love.
- Bella loved him first.
- Has the Cullen clan as family.
Eric
- Has the hots for Sookie and can’t wait to unwrap her.
- Owns a entertainment/stripper bar called Fangtasia and in a position of power.
- Direct and knows what he wants.
- Mostly feeds on humans.
- Also has a brooding quality but it’s politically motivated.
- Turns to dust in sunlight.
- Cries tears of blood.
- Not willing to admit he truly loves Sookie.
- Sookie loved Bill first, leaving Eric in the position of Jacob in Twilight terms.
- Bosses around minions to do his work.
Yeah baby, Eric all the way for me!
Of course, we have to include Jacob and Bill in the poll too for variety. If you think we should include something or someone else, let us know.
The image from Android Karenina popped up as an ad in my feedreader recently. It seemed like this jokey phase of having fun with literature was a trend but there’s a whole new breed of writing bursting forth. There’s a small section in bookshops now with these mixed genre books. It seems this trend of taking classic literature and merging it with another genre is becoming popular.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies set up the mix of horror and steampunk genres and injected them into classical literature. This book was soon followed by Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters. Android Karenina is the latest of these type of publications but I wonder how effective the characters are in this alternate world.
It seems this genre is not a passing trend. My eye caught onto a comic book adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the other day in my local bookshop and a movie adaptation is on the cards according to IMDb.
Have you read any of these books?
What did you think of them?
The first volume of Dengeki Daisy was released by Viz Media on the 6th July 2010 in the US and UK markets. This series is created by Motomi Kyousuke and it’s his second series to be published in English by Viz Media. Dengeki Daisy has an ongoing status and currently seven volumes of the series has been published in Japanese.
Dengeki Daisy isn’t your usual fluffy girly mangas, it has a little something extra. Teru’s nosy, likes gossip and trouble seems to follow her everywhere. She’s an orphan girl who’s brother disappeared under mysterious circumstances, involving hackers and computer programs. Before he left, Teru’s brother gave her the contact details of another prolific hacker called Daisy who would watch over her. Teru doesn’t know Daisy’s true identity but he/she gives Teru encouragement and confidence everyday.
After breaking a window Teru becomes a forced labourer to help Tasuku Kurosaki, the school janitor, make amends since she can’t pay for the damage. Kurosaki is harsh, rude, and a slave driver but perhaps there’s more to him then what meets the eye…
Highly recommended as a light, cute and romantic read.
Rating:
RRP: € 7.90 (converted from $9.99)
ISBN 10: 1421537273
ISBN 13: 9781421537276
Wicked Lovely was devoured in three hours from when my paws bought it. I hate saying it’s like Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight with faeries because really it’s much more. Wicked Lovely is darker, edgier, has lots of teenage angst and it scores high on my list of books in general. This book is published by Harper Collins and is the first of the titled Wicked Lovely Saga by Melissa Marr, and yes, she blogs and tweets too.
The story focuses on a young girl called Aislinn who has the ability to see faeries (yes, clichéd but stick with it) and has been to taught to ignore them but slips up. Her power attracts the attentions of Keenan, the Summer King and he needs her help. He tricks her into giving up her mortality (silly human) and he entices her to rule as the Summer Queen. Aislinn must help defeat Keenan’s mother, the Winter Queen, otherwise all of the summer faeries will perish under her tyrannical reign. Of course there’s Aislinn’s best friend/almost boyfriend Seth added to the mix and we have ourselves a triangle and an almost reverse harem. There’s always conflict with other characters especially Donia, a former candidate for Summer Queen. Keenan is the Don Juan of the faerie world which doesn’t help and nobody approves of Aislinn. Not all people will like the ending, it’s not gonna end up with a tiny little bow on top. There’s pain, sacrifice and dissolution.
The characterisation in the book is quite exceptional, ignoring the main villain character of the Winter Queen, she’s a bit flat. The rest of the cast have depth and have distinct personalities. Some of the minor characters that flash up in Wicked Lovely have books focused on themselves later in the series.
The following books in the series are Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity and the latest installment is Radiant Shadows. The fifth book Darkest Mercy is slated for release in 2011. Each is centred on different characters within the same world and not all the endings are gooey, sweet affairs but more realistic, harsh endings. Wicked Lovely is by far the trophy of the series, when I read the later installments I found myself reading less and less of the books. I finished Ink Exchange and was a bit miffed, read half of Fragile Eternity and only glanced at twenty pages of Radiant Shadows. I’ll have to give them another shot in the near future.
Wicked Lovely gets a perfect score for an interesting and different slant on the sterotypical (paranormal) romantic love story. I plan on diving back into Wicked Lovely at least a couple of times over the summer to simply enjoy it again.
Rating:
RRP: €8.99
ISBN 10: 0007263074
ISBN 13: 9780007263073