Bond, James Bond

As all of you are aware, this past weekend was Thanksgiving.  Everybody has their own Thanksgiving traditions and my family’s tradition is to see a movie on the Saturday after. This year was no exception and the movie of choice was Skyfall.  All my family members were really looking forward to seeing the movie given the fact that it had gotten good reviews and people we knew had really liked the movie.

I think I can speak for all of us when I say the movie did not disappoint.  In fact it exceeded my expectations and here is why.  This is one of the few James Bond movies that did not depend on gadgets to get James out of his impossible predicaments. Oh don’t get me wrong I love the James Bond gadgets. But in this movie it focused on the technology that we have today.  Computer programs, GPS and tracking devices that are all in use today plus the agent’s ability to think and assess what to do in a situation made the movie believable.  Also Q and Moneypenny are back!

Of course I will not say more because I don’t want to spoil the movie if you haven’t seen it.  It is definitely something to put on your movie going list.

But that is not why I am writing my post.  After the movie was over and all the credits were rolling I noticed that Ian Fleming was on the list of credits.  I was pretty sure Ian Fleming had died but heck I thought that I could be wrong so I of course went home to Google him.  Just as I suspected he had died in 1962.  He wrote many James Bond novels but Skyfall was not one of them.  It seems he still gets credit because he created and developed the characters or so it seems to me.  So other people wrote the story and screen play but he still got credit in the movie. Interesting!

 

Coincidently, I was reading the Sunday Washington Post.  I like to read Walter Scott’s Personality parade the question and answer column on famous people.  One of the questions asked by a curious reader was “There seems to be a new James Patterson novel every month.  Does he take part in the writing process or just lend his name as a co-author?” I was flabbergasted by this question thinking to myself, why would a writer not write their own books?  The answer to this according to Patterson is that he creates the outline and a “cowriter’ writes the first draft and Patterson than finishes up.  As far as I am concerned he is not writing or for that matter co-writing these books.  He is merely selling his name.  Ok he looks at the first draft to make sure the co-author can write a story but what part of these books did he really write?  He is basically playing the role of an English professor or a Company with his co-writer being his student or employee.

How Many other writers are doing this and why?  To me writing means expressing your views and telling your story not letting someone else do it for you.  Each writer has their own way of using words and developing their story.  It is like their finger print and while they may write many novels with different characters and plots their own special cadence and rhythm is woven into their words.

When I find an author that I really like, I will usually read another book by that author.  Some of the things I look for when reading is consistency in the writing.   Call me old fashioned but if I was a successful author why would I let someone else write books under my name causing people to question my personal writing ability.  Some of my feelings may be my ego talking but I am not so sure.  Writing to me is sharing and communicating with people in my own style.  It is an accomplishment, a personal accomplishment.  Am I the only one out there that feels this way?    

                      

The Casual Vacancy  J.K Rowling

 

Hi Everyone.  I am back.  Work has been crazy busy and was temporarily tapping into my brain power.  Things have settled down a bit and so I am able to read again without falling asleep after a page or two.

Harry Potter, two words that have become synonymous with seven excellent books and eight movies.   These so called “children’s books “ captured both the attention and heart of children and adults alike.  I remember pre-ordering the 7^th Harry Potter book from Amazon.com and when it arrived at my house I removed it from the box and put it on my night stand.  It took me several days to start it only because I knew once I did, I would not be able to stop and once I finished there would be no more.  It was thrilling to see how it ended and sad that these were the final chapters.  I still am overwhelmed by the brilliance of everything created by Rowling in the Harry Potter series.  She created a different world with well- developed characters; places that we wish were real, new languages and lots of spells to learn.

I watched several interviews that Rowling gave.  One was with the iconic Oprah. You do not mess with Oprah! Oprah asked if she planned to write another book and Rowling gave the impression that she really didn’t have any plans for other books or for that matter any desire to write other books.  But once a writer always a writer and so there is The Casual Vacancy.

Right from the start I found the name both intriguing and confusing. Rowling I guess must have found the title unique because she defines what a Casual Vacancy is before you even start the book.  The story starts with the death of a local politician which allows her to introduce her characters to the reader.  Again Rowling is good at developing characters.  In fact, Rowling is a great writer period. 

I have a reading rule .  The rule is that I read the first fifty pages.  If the story has not captured my attention, I am done with it.  I sometimes break my fifty page rule.  I did when I read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I was glad then so I decided to carry on after fifty pages of this book after all it is J.K. Rowling. The problem that I had with the book is the story is very slow to develop and it doesn’t really pick up much as you get deeper into the book.  I didn't like the characters, they were dull and boring. It was certainly not Harry Potter. I guess that it is kind of unfair to judge the book this way but I can't help it.  When you have read seven books by an author that you just couldn't put down there is a certain expectation that the next book written will be as good as the previous ones.  This one just didn't have the WOW factor that I had come to expect from J.K. Rowling.  Let me know what you all think of the book and if I am being unfair by judging her on previously written books and not on the merit of this one.

 

Experts Read the Tea Leaves  by Katherine Tallmadge Washington Post 

Tea has been around for centuries. My Grandmother drank tea.  Rather unusual in a world where coffee reigned supreme.  She passed her affection for tea to my Dad who in turn passed it on to me.  But I do admit, I did not really appreciate it and enjoy it until I started working with a physical therapist.  She quickly became a good friend and I have dubbed her my Guru of Health. 

She introduced me and my office mates to some wonderful teas oh and yes some lovely “nibblies” as she calls them.  In addition to the exposure to teas, she introduced me to the concept of taking a few minutes for myself to enjoy the tea and de-stress.  OMG what a concept and it is such a simple one at that. Now I always have tea at work and I try really hard to take a few minutes for my cup of tea and my return to sanity.  I may not steep tea leaves but I do have a box of my favorite at work.

In a recent edition of Local Living in the Washington Post, which by the way is rapidly becoming my favorite section of the paper there is a wonderful article discussing the benefits of tea. Among the benefits of tea mentioned in the article are my two favorite ones De-stressing and help you to think. There are studies that L-theanine in combination with caffeine which are natural ingredients in tea reduces cortisol the stress hormone while improving mental alertness.  And the best part is tea is not a drug. I call that a win-win situation.  Read the article it is very interesting.  For those of you who might have missed the print version or live out of town I have included the link.  Oh and make yourself a cup of your favorite tea while you read it. Celestial Seasoning has all its holiday teas in stores now.  Nutcracker Sweet Black tea is my favorite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/teas-health-benefits-seem-promising/2012/10/29/90014e06-1c5b-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html