It's been confirmed The Slap is going to be made into an eight part miniseries starring Melissa George and a whole bunch of award nominees who I've never heard of.
It sounds like they are trying to make a decent production out of it, but my one major concern is where is Vince Colosimo??!
This book was virtually written for him, who else can play an egotistical, chauvinistic, nouveau riche asshole quite as well as him? He's a walking cliche!
Anyway, i'll be interested to download it my leisure, and reserve the right to switch off when Melissa George starts breast feeding a ten year old.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/aunty-calls-home-hollywood-starlet-20101210-18rpd.html
Friday, December 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Andrew, this one is for you.
Lionsgate has closed a deal with Mike White to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that spices up Jane Austen's time-tested 1813 literary classic with a smattering of flesh-eating walking corpses. David O. Russell stepped out but left behind a script that had filmmakers salivating for the job. White got theformal offer on November 5. Lionsgate can now get busy on casting Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, and the other characters in the Austen tale. Russell originally had Natalie Portman interested in playing the female lead, but she left the project some time ago as actress, though she is producing through her handsomecharlie banner with Annette Savich, and Darko Entertainment. When she left, Russell wanted Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper. Unclear if they'll stay, particularly as Johansson was in contention for several other high profile films that were casting up before landing the female lead opposite Matt Damon in the Cameron Crowe-directed We Bought A Zoo.
http://www.deadline.com/new-york/
http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/mike-white-gets-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-offer/
Lionsgate has closed a deal with Mike White to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that spices up Jane Austen's time-tested 1813 literary classic with a smattering of flesh-eating walking corpses. David O. Russell stepped out but left behind a script that had filmmakers salivating for the job. White got theformal offer on November 5. Lionsgate can now get busy on casting Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, and the other characters in the Austen tale. Russell originally had Natalie Portman interested in playing the female lead, but she left the project some time ago as actress, though she is producing through her handsomecharlie banner with Annette Savich, and Darko Entertainment. When she left, Russell wanted Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper. Unclear if they'll stay, particularly as Johansson was in contention for several other high profile films that were casting up before landing the female lead opposite Matt Damon in the Cameron Crowe-directed We Bought A Zoo.
http://www.deadline.com/new-york/
http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/mike-white-gets-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-offer/
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Oh My Godfather
This month's book club just proved once again that you should never ever assume. Anything! Who new how easily a seemingly simple topic from which to choose a book club book could be so easily misinterpreted!?
Abby's topic was "an enduring novel", Sam and I thought we'd be reading Pride and Prejudice or War Of The Worlds or some other such classic literary masterpiece, but what did we get when we let Abby loose in Borders with those three little words? We got "Going To Extremes: Mud, Sweat and Frozen Tears"
Classic Abdul!
When Abby sent over his choice i had a quiet giggle to myself but didn't hesitate to update the book list for the year. I mean this sounds pretty interesting and interpretation is what book club is all about!
In Going to Extremes, Nick Middleton, a travel writer with a penchant for some of the more bizarre outposts of human habitation, ventures to the hottest, driest, coldest, and wettest inhabited places on Earth. He wants to know not only how people manage to live in these places, but also why they settled there in the first place. And, most intriguing of all—why they stay
I was overruled by the majority though, and Abby had to re-choose his book. The comedy didn't end there though, the book Abby chose was The Godfather. Excellent choice for that topic, but i think it might have been chosen before Abby saw how bloody thick it was. This is the man who calculates the number of pages which must be read each night in order to be finished within the month, and he has chosen the longest book of the year. Again, classic Abby, and it's why we love him.
I honestly thought i'd struggle to finish the Godfather, it's about 20 books long and is what i would classify as a 'boy drama', meaning a reasonable story line but written by a boy for boys and something i'm not going to really give a shit about or relate to at all... i was wrong. The Godfather rocked, and that's not just my opinion either, everyone seemed to get it and enjoy it. It's a miracle!
Some topics which were covered?
What did you think of how the women were written and described? - (see Brett's comments below.) This actually started quite the conversation... Ellen thought they were all written pretty poorly which sparked the discussion about whether they were written poorly on purpose in order to illustrate the secondary role of women at this time, or whether Mario Puzo just couldn't write women... I think Andrew summed it up though - "it was the author, the time the book was written and the story")
Would you protect your family the way they do? - Abby would, brett was quiet...
Was it really Michael's story? - pretty much, but more so in the film
Don Corleone/Marlon Brando - Brett was impressed with his acting chops, the girls were impressed with his hottness
The Film versus the Book - very very mixed, I was disappointed Marlon Brando wasn't in the second or third movie, Brett struggled to remember the films, Sam thinks it's worth struggling through the second movie to get to the third one which is a masterpiece. (I'm not sure i'm willing to wait out three hours of boring film to get to number three though)
There were a few good calls of the night, Brett's comment that "yeah this was written in the 40's, it was ok to knock women around back then, it was way better" was up there, plus Abby's explanation that "the word 'mafia' has been misinterpreted and really it was just a family who protect each other" was... well... interesting.
And then when Andrew asked us all what we thought the themes of the book were, and Jenny asked "you mean like 'don't fuck with the Mafia??' to my (very funny) response, 'i don't really think that's a theme, it's a key learning...' But i think Andrew abusing Ellen with "You fucking wrecked Gone With The Wind" was probably call of the night. (don't worry Ellen, as long as you loved the book then it was a worthwhile sacrifice)
Even though this book was pretty epic in that is spanned almost a generation of one family there were still some sub-plots which we would been keen to know a little more about. Kay's family stood out as being a total miss match to the Corleone's and it would be fascinating to know more about what they thought of this other family, and how they felt about their very proper and sweet daughter marrying the next Don. I would have been pissed!
Luca was another character that we felt wasn't really fleshed out, but when we thought about all the freaky shit he did, we kinda didn't want to know any more. Who would do that to a baby!?)
So what were the themes? Power, love, loyalty and the loophole that exist in society which allow this sub-community to flourish. Big hugs to the Deniz's for their Italian mama hospitality. All together an awesome book and an even more awesome bookclub!
Friday, October 22, 2010
The Universe is trying to tell me something...
Tonight i have my 10 year high school reunion and i'm kind of dreading it. If you don't already know this about me, I hate small talk. I'm just not good at it... And I feel like this reunion is going to be a night of small talk. A night of telling people who in most cases I haven't seen in ten years about what those years have been like... in 25 words or less. What fun!
Having said that, i guess i am interested in what a few of them have been up to, I'm sure there will be some great stories and many adventures to share (some of them mine), so hopefully it will be a night to catch up on the fun things, not a night to revisit the cliquey smugness of my private girls school education.
In the same day that the last ten years caught up with me i had another blast from the past, which is the reason i'm writing. My early teenage years were spent doing a lot of reading... I did a lot of other things (under 13s basketball with the Waverley Raiders to name just one highlight) but reading was definitely up there. And there was one series which i remember the most. I was obsessed with them and wanted to live their lives (elizabeth, not jessica), and that was the Sweet Valley series.
There was Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, and Sweet Valley University. And this morning I discovered (thanks People.com on twitter) that now, years after they finished releasing them, there is going to be another book - Sweet Valley Confidential! Am too excited.
Interesting timing though... I'm realising that these 10 years which have come and gone since leaving high school have been incredible, and I wouldn't take back any of them (not yet anyway), and even if the five girls under 26 in my team don't even know who Elizabeth and Jessica are (WTF!), the main thing is that i'm old enough to know cool stuff like this. And i'm totally happy with that.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20435286,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines
Having said that, i guess i am interested in what a few of them have been up to, I'm sure there will be some great stories and many adventures to share (some of them mine), so hopefully it will be a night to catch up on the fun things, not a night to revisit the cliquey smugness of my private girls school education.
In the same day that the last ten years caught up with me i had another blast from the past, which is the reason i'm writing. My early teenage years were spent doing a lot of reading... I did a lot of other things (under 13s basketball with the Waverley Raiders to name just one highlight) but reading was definitely up there. And there was one series which i remember the most. I was obsessed with them and wanted to live their lives (elizabeth, not jessica), and that was the Sweet Valley series.
There was Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, and Sweet Valley University. And this morning I discovered (thanks People.com on twitter) that now, years after they finished releasing them, there is going to be another book - Sweet Valley Confidential! Am too excited.
Interesting timing though... I'm realising that these 10 years which have come and gone since leaving high school have been incredible, and I wouldn't take back any of them (not yet anyway), and even if the five girls under 26 in my team don't even know who Elizabeth and Jessica are (WTF!), the main thing is that i'm old enough to know cool stuff like this. And i'm totally happy with that.
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20435286,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
An awesome book i've heard of!
http://www.borders.com.au/book/clean-and-lean-diet/7846540/
Ok, so it's not a novel but i've heard rave reviews. I'll report back on it once it bloody turns up from Amazon.
That is all
Ok, so it's not a novel but i've heard rave reviews. I'll report back on it once it bloody turns up from Amazon.
That is all
Sorry about last bookclub
I can't believe I broke my promise already! I still haven't blogged about out last book club (The Other Hand) and now I've forgotten a lot of the detail!
In future i'm going to borrow Brett's dicta phone thingy and record it so i can be a little more thorough. I promise!
Bookclub is next week at the House of Deniz (sans Jenny Deniz as she'll be gallivanting off somewhere interstate) and we've all been reading The Godfather (or at least i hope we have!) and i have to say i'm almost finished reading it and i love it! It's not my style of book at all, or at least i thought it wasn't but i'm 100% in! I never would have picked it up off the book shelf, and to be honest i didn't even know it was a book before it was a movie, but i'm converted. Nice choice Abby!
I have another confession to make... I fully intend to break with protocol and watch the three movies before we catch up on Wednesday... I think I've seen them before but i clearly don't remember. I feel like the book is intrinsically linked to the film now, and throughout the entire (very long) book I've been picturing all the characters straight from the film, so it should be interesting to see the differences.
Plus we always forget to talk about the film version of the books we read after the fact, and i bet you lot have all already seen the movies so i just want to be able to keep up with conversation!
See you on Wednesday!
Catcher in the Rye
Hi book clubbers, through my awesome investigation powers i have discovered that Catcher in the Rye will be discussed on the First Tuesday Book Club tonight on ABC.
I honestly don't know what they could discuss/uncover which we haven't already covered, but i suppose they might have another perspective...
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/
Anyway it might be interesting...
I honestly don't know what they could discuss/uncover which we haven't already covered, but i suppose they might have another perspective...
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/
Anyway it might be interesting...
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Book Club tomorrow!
It's book club tomorrow night, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, and i came across some quotes from the book which i really liked. check these out (sam, this means you) http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/374590.Chris_Cleave
there is one quote on the very last page which i liked, but i'm not totally sure if i agree with it or not. I'll find it and post it here. It has sort of stuck with me all day today.
Here is a reading group guide from Chris Cleave's website which is interesting, some of it is a bit lame, but there are some good thought starters.
http://www.chriscleave.com/little-bee/reading-group-guide/
here is some more
http://www.hodder.co.uk/Assets/WorkAssets/ReadingGuides/Other_Hand_RG.pdf
I wonder why the U.S. book has another name... It's called Little Bee. I understand why some publishers change the name of their books in different markets, but that's usually because it's lost in translation, but this title seems pretty cross-cultural to me...
Can't wait for book club!
there is one quote on the very last page which i liked, but i'm not totally sure if i agree with it or not. I'll find it and post it here. It has sort of stuck with me all day today.
Here is a reading group guide from Chris Cleave's website which is interesting, some of it is a bit lame, but there are some good thought starters.
http://www.chriscleave.com/little-bee/reading-group-guide/
here is some more
http://www.hodder.co.uk/Assets/WorkAssets/ReadingGuides/Other_Hand_RG.pdf
I wonder why the U.S. book has another name... It's called Little Bee. I understand why some publishers change the name of their books in different markets, but that's usually because it's lost in translation, but this title seems pretty cross-cultural to me...
Can't wait for book club!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Welcome book clubbers!
Well i was going to make my first post about this months book (which is The Other Hand by Chris Cleave by the way http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Hand-Chris-Cleave/dp/0340963409 ) but i figure it is best to just start from the start...
I want to write about what book club means to me... Book Club is my favourite night of the month, and has been for almost three years now. Part of what i love about book club isn't just discussing the book though, it's the month before that, it's reading a book which i probably never would have picked up before and reading it at the same time as eight of my friends. During this month i'm always thinking about what their reactions are going to be, what parts of the book they are going to love or hate or flick past and then being surprised by the actual experience those people had. I love knowing that my friends are having a totally different experience from the same book than i'm having, and i love seeing how my own and my friend's attitudes and prejudices change over time.
Another thing i love about book club? Finding out what books people haven't read... Both Amy and Sam haven't read Pride and Prejudice! How is that possible! That's like someone saying they haven't seen Dirty Dancing or Ferris Bueller's Day off! It just shouldn't happen in a civilised society!
I'm going to finish up now, but i want to make a promise... I promise to keep this blog updated and write about the books we read and what we talk about in book club... whether you find that interesting and choose to read it or not is up to you, but it will be here all the same.
Love ya guts!
Sally
I want to write about what book club means to me... Book Club is my favourite night of the month, and has been for almost three years now. Part of what i love about book club isn't just discussing the book though, it's the month before that, it's reading a book which i probably never would have picked up before and reading it at the same time as eight of my friends. During this month i'm always thinking about what their reactions are going to be, what parts of the book they are going to love or hate or flick past and then being surprised by the actual experience those people had. I love knowing that my friends are having a totally different experience from the same book than i'm having, and i love seeing how my own and my friend's attitudes and prejudices change over time.
Another thing i love about book club? Finding out what books people haven't read... Both Amy and Sam haven't read Pride and Prejudice! How is that possible! That's like someone saying they haven't seen Dirty Dancing or Ferris Bueller's Day off! It just shouldn't happen in a civilised society!
I'm going to finish up now, but i want to make a promise... I promise to keep this blog updated and write about the books we read and what we talk about in book club... whether you find that interesting and choose to read it or not is up to you, but it will be here all the same.
Love ya guts!
Sally
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