Top 10 Movies About WRITERS!

    I'll just keep it short and simple.

    I won't write reviews or clatter the post with my personal opinions. It's just the bare bones; top 10 lists for you to take your pick and find what suits your taste.

    Here's a list of my top 10 favourite movies about, writers!



1-  Midnight in Paris

     While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director:

 Woody Allen

Writer:

 Woody Allen

Stars:

 Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates

IMDb: 7.7



2-  The Words

     A writer at the peak of his literary success discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man's work.

Directors:

 Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal

Writers:

 Brian Klugman, Lee Sternthal

Stars:

 Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde

IMDb: 7.1

3-  Misery


     After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

Director:

 Rob Reiner

Writers:

 Stephen King (novel), William Goldman(screenplay)

Stars:

 James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth

IMDb: 7.8



4-  Capote

     In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.

Director:

 Bennett Miller

Writers:

 Dan Futterman (screenplay), Gerald Clarke(book)

Stars:

 Philip Seymour Hoffman, Clifton Collins Jr.

IMDb: 7.4

5-  The End of the Tour

     he story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'

Director:

 James Ponsoldt

Writers:

 Donald Margulies (screenplay), David Lipsky(book)

Stars:

 Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky

IMDb: 7.5

6-  Before Sunset

     Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.

Director:

 Richard Linklater

Writers:

 Richard Linklater (screenplay), Julie Delpy(screenplay), 5 more credits »

Stars:

 Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff

IMDb: 8.1

7-  Trumbo

     In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.

Director:

 Jay Roach

Writers:

 John McNamara, Bruce Cook (book)

Stars:

 Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren

IMDb: 7.2

8-  Authors Anonymous

     When a dysfunctional group of unpublished writers accept Hannah into their fold, the last thing they expect is her overnight success. Can these lovable misfits achieve their artistic dreams and avoid killing one another in the process?

Director:

 Ellie Kanner

Writer:

 David Congalton

Stars:

 Kaley Cuoco, Tricia Helfer, Teri Polo

IMDb: 4.4

9-  A Fantastic Fear of Everything

     A crime novelist whose research on Victorian serial killers has turned him into a paranoid wreck must confront his worst fears when a film executive takes a sudden interest in his movie script.

Directors:

 Crispian Mills, Chris Hopewell

Writer:

 Crispian Mills (screenplay)

Stars:

 Simon Pegg, Paul Freeman, Amara Karan

IMDb: 5.9

10-  The Raven

     When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's works, a young Baltimore detective joins forces with Poe to stop him from making his stories a reality.

Director:

 James McTeigue

Writers:

 Hannah Shakespeare, Ben Livingston

Stars:

 John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans

IMDb: 6.4

What's your favourite movie about writers??

Stay tuned for more top 10s...next time, my top 10 movies about BOOKS!

Game of Thrones: part 3

     


     

     So, these books just keep getting bigger and bigger. But I must admit, it took me a little over two weeks to read it and it's still the fastest I've read 900+ pages, even if they were spread over two or three books, not just one.

     A Storm of Swords is the third instalment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As you probably know, the fifth season of the TV show Game of Thrones which is based on these books has aired and finished already a little over a month ago. I decided to boycott the show until I read all the books because for me it's better to get the surprises and shocks on paper rather than on screen; a joy I am still deprived of because I had watched up to season four already which ran parallel up to book three.

     So now, I have read what I watched and watched what I have read. I thought that I could read book four, A Feast for Crows, then watch the new season, however, it turns out that book four AND five actually are parallel, where book four shows things from the perspective of a few characters, then book five goes back to show the same time period from the perspective of the other characters. The TV show showed a combination of books four and five which means I still have to postpone watching season five a bit longer.

     This book was much lighter on scenes with Tyrion Lannister, which was the downside for me. Other than that, I could safely say it's the best of the three books so far. The plot is thickening and most of the characters are getting new twists in their stories and we start to understand a little more about the Lord of Light and Dorne and some of those things we only heard of remotely in the first two books.

     The next book in the series for me, number four, A Feast for Crows, is about two hundred pages shorter than book three, so I hope to get through it faster and also, since all the action will be new to me, I am hoping for an even more enjoyable experience than the three books I have got through.

     I have a few books on my TBR list to get through then I will be jumping back into the world of Westeros and Essos and I'll be reporting back right here, so stay tuned for the updates and pick up your copies and join me and get in on the action. You will not regret it.

Until then, Valar Dohaeris.

Project Ulysses Part 2: Dubliners & Portrait of the Artist

     It's been almost a year since my last post on Project Ulysses. That is a long time and I think I should feel ashamed of that. But I won't let that hold me back because what matters is that the project did not stop; it's just slow. Knowing how slow Joyce wrote and how long it took him to finish his books, one might say that taking so much time to get on with Project Ulysses is only appropriate and an ode to the author himself. (I guess we all need to tell ourselves things to make us feel better)

     Well, not to dwell too much on the speed of progress, I shall focus instead on the progress itself. I have finished the second step in the journey towards Ulysses; I have reread Dubliners.


     In fact it took me so long to finish writing this post, that I have actually also finished stage three of Project Ulysses which is reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It seems that admitting this delay, not only in reading but also in the act of updating this blog, is counterproductive, but I will go ahead and keep it so that whoever reads this will get to join me on my journey, with all its setbacks and road bumps; this is simply what a regular person trying to juggle work, reading and writing and whole lot of other stuff together at once.

     Enough of that since I am not here to act the martyr, I am here to talk about Project Ulysses. Unfortunately, at this point I don't have much to say. It's still the same for me with Joyce, I enjoy his writing,but I don't really get it, there's something about his pace and choice of words and the music of it all that entrances me and keeps me turning pages and coming back for more, but the intention, the meaning, the lessons that I should get out of his writing continue to elude me. I think now about this choice of words (lessons that I should get out of his writing) and I wonder if I or any other reader SHOULD get anything out of anyone's writing? SHOULDN'T we just enjoy and go along for the ride and take away whatever we take away? Sometimes what we get on a reread is different than the first time but it's still up to us and fate.

     Anyway, this is how it's been for me with these two books, although I must say that there were parts in Portrait that did resonate with me and that being a novel I was able to follow it better than some of the stories in Dubliners. But if you ask me, I'd say that as a whole, I enjoyed Dubliners more.

   

     That being said, there's something alluring about Joyce himself or his writing that keeps me excited about going ahead and reading Ulysses and I have been fired up lately about it and I have decided to tackle it within 2015. Seeing my history with this project who knows if that will in fact happen. But it's the plan and I promise to come back to you with more details on that when I do get around to it.

   I will be reading Ulysses accompanied by Harry Blamires's New Bloomsday Book (on Amazon here, although I suggest checking eBay for better prices), reading, according to advice found online, one chapter from Ulysses and one chapter from Bloomsday to keep everything in focus and such. I also think that with the magnitude of Ulysses it might be more enjoyable for me and useful for you if you are following to post here regularly about it as I go and not just wait till it ends. It does feel exciting to have built up to this step and to actually be ready to enter the world of Leopold Bloom's Dublin on 16th June 1904.

     Let me know if you will be following and if you would like to join me in reading Ulysses as we go step by step.

     Thank you and see you back here again soon.

All The Light We Cannot See

I woke up this morning, it’s a Friday, and I read through the last one hundred pages of All The Light We Cannot See. I finished it an hour ago. Although it feels it’s been more than an hour, because I have been walking around the flat more slowly, responding to questions only when necessary, and all the while thinking about the story I have just finished.

I’ve written several reviews before but none of them was written at this desk; a desk that faces a corner of our living room, with everything else going on behind me. The TV is on, Sofia the First singing her signature opening theme and my daughter singing along. That was usually the setting to which I wrote all the reviews before; facing the TV and watching my daughter. Today, this time, I am keeping them behind me, in the background, with the smell of fresh baking coming from the kitchen where my wife is probably wondering why I have been a little cranky over the past hour. Maybe she will know if she reads the same story I have read.

I think I read somewhere lately that no two people ever read the same story; that our experiences and perspective and personal histories are as much a part of the story as the words themselves. So, I guess this review is more about me than you; more about my journey with Marie-Laure, Werner, Frederick and Volkheimer, than the book itself.

Countless before me and countless after will speak of books they read and loved and how they were transformed or mesmerized or a dozen other adjectives that we all wear out as we try to convey and share our feelings with the world. I’ve done it and will do it again. But this time, I just want to let it flow, hoping that my rationalization and logic will not kick in and ruin it. This is probably more about me than you. But I hope you continue reading.

Right before I sit down and type away, this image flashed before me that to an extent explained why I have been treading lightly around the house for the past hour and avoiding conversation with my wife. The image is of this dark space, ghosts and phantoms swirling around, some of them peaceful and quiet and others menacing and loud; like the dementors in Harry Potter. And at the center of this dark space, among all these flying phantoms, is a sphere, bright and glowing, inside it, the memories, feelings and images that have been created in my mind by reading this story; the city of Saint-Malo, Marie-Laure’s house, Werner and Jutta crouching in the attic listening to the radio. The sphere protects them, but with every step, with every word, with every thought, the sphere grows smaller. That’s why I’ve been trying to stay quiet and calm. To preserve it. But it still grows smaller. From experience, I know that at some point later today or probably when I crack open the next book on my To-Be-Read list, the sphere will break, and whatever is inside will spill out into the dark space surrounding it and join the phantoms. And hopefully from time to time the spectres will coalesce and I will be able to see them for some fleeting moments and remember how I felt that first time I read the story.

I believe since I’m writing a review and you are reading it for that purpose that I owe you the courtesy of at least touching on some points about the book itself. But as I said, I am afraid of ruining it with worn out clichés. This book has been rated on Amazon over 9000 times. I’m sure somewhere in there someone has written a review that is technically more worthy than mine. For me, I am hoping that I can convey to you how you would probably feel after turning that last page of the book. My story will differ slightly from yours, but I don’t think that will make a big difference.

I will give you some points to explain why this book is great, even though I know I might tint it.

The book is about a blind girl, and without you noticing how or when, the author will bring to life all your other senses, just like Marie-Laure needed to do. You will hear, and listen, you will taste, you will smell and you will feel. You will feel with your skin, and with your heart.

The last thing I will mention, for it is the most important, are the people in the story; the children. For a very long time I had forgotten what it’s like to feel so strongly for fictional characters in a book. And in this story, I am grateful to the author for not giving me just one memorable protagonist, but a whole bunch of them. They are children and their innocence just seeped out from the pages and settled down over me. I will not speak of them in the past tense like I usually do when speaking about books. They are children; they will always be children and they will always be innocent and their innocence will always find someone to touch as long as someone reads their story.

I could keep going on and on, feeling the sphere grow smaller, trying to slow down the process as much as I can. But it is inevitable, and you have probably tired of reading. I’ll end this now and enjoy whatever minutes or hours or hopefully days I have left with the remnants of this reading. And as for you, I hope, for your sake, that you go read this story too.

Game of Thrones: part 2

     
     

     So, it's been five months since I read A Game of Thrones, the first book in The Song f Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, and I finally got to reading the second book of the series, A Clash of Kings.

     AS mentioned in the first post, I decided to chronicle my journey reading these hefty tomes and to share with you some glimpses of my experience in case someone wants to do the same or just join me on this.

     A Clash of Kings clocked in at 728 pages and it took me two weeks to finish it. Two weeks of A LOT more reading than I'm normally used to mind you. But I must say, I enjoyed it much more than the first book. I have already seen all four seasons of the HBO series and according the the internet, the TV show takes us up till the end of book three, which will be my next step in this journey. The first season turned out hat it stuck pretty much to the books but It seems that for book two the TV show creators began deviating a little; not much, but enough to keep the books still interesting and a little surprising. Another reason I may have enjoyed A Clash of Kings more is that I have watched season one of the TV show more than once but I only watched seasons two through four only once and I was binge watching so my memory of them is vague at best.

     I must also say that from the TV show my best character is Tyrion Lannister, portrayed by the genius Peter Dinklage, and reading the books just made my admiration for him increase ten fold. The character and all his lines are perfect and he is just a delight to read and follow whether on the page or on screen. Tyrion's character got a lot of air time in A Clash of Kings, which in and of itself is a reason to love this installment in the series.


But knowing that the TV show is deviating from the books I hope I don't get surprised by his death in the books any time soon. And please if you are reading this and already know the answer to that, please no spoilers. Even if he does live till the end of the most recently published book five, I still don't want to know. The anticipation is as sweet as the wines of Arbor.

     Long story short, for book two of the series things are getting interesting and engaging. I read a lot over these past couple of weeks but it didn't feel like a chore, which reading should never feel like anyway. And stretching my reading speed is always good exercise.

     The interesting thing right now is that season five of the show has just began airing and GoT noise in the media and on the internet has been relentless. I've been dodging spoilers left and right. I plan not to watch the show until I finish the books; the ones that have been published anyway. All reports say that the story lines are beginning to deviate greatly and will deviate even more as the show moves into season six and probably even seven. And of course right now the whole trouble revolves around whether GRRM will be able to finish the books ahead of the HBO series or are we going to see the ending on TV first. As an avid fan of reading I always prefer to get the first taste of a story printed on the pages of a book so I'm rooting for George and I hope he's already finished the books and just playing the fool for some marketing stunt or something.

     I'll break away from the world of Westeros for a while with some other books off my TBR list and I'll be back again with A Storm of Swords.

     Until then, Valar Morghulis.

Can you really shut down your brain?

     

     I really must admit at the get go that I do not claim to be 
able to actually answer any of these questions, nor am I going to cite any studies or official sources of information on this subject or any other subject I bring up for that matter. I can only claim, and promise this, that I will try to speak of these topics from a personal point of view, out of personal experience, hoping that maybe you, or someone else out there, will come across it and think "someone out there is feeling the same as me and I am not alone".

     You will probably say that in this day and age and with the all encompassing existence of the internet no one still feels they are alone, no matter how rare, or weird for that matter, whatever it is they are experiencing may be. Well, true and not true. True because, Duh! I can't deny a fact like that, but not true because I believe in two things: one, that with everything on the internet brining everyone closer and connecting those who used to think they were lonely islands in the world, there was someone who started writing about it or posting about it or whatever about it at some point. Not only that, but people with a certain interest in a certain topic continue to post stuff about it. No one has ever reached a point regarding any topic on earth and said, "Oh, I guess there's enough of that out there. Let's declare this topic closed or on hold till further notice."
Just look at all the porn out there. Not that I know of it myself, but people talk.

     The second thing I believe in with regards to this point is that maybe my post, my meagre little two cents on the subject turn out to be the post that you read from among all the heaps out there. Maybe my words strike the chord and you can make that connection you were longing for and that brought you here in the first place. And yes, I do believe my words can have that effect. Well, not really, but I kind of hope so.

     So, to sum up, there are loads of stuff out there already on almost any and all topics. Someone started it and people have never stopped since despite the enormous information already out there. So I will also continue to add to the pile. And despite the pile being humungous, my words could be the needle and you could be the lucky one to find it in the haystack.

     Now that being said, you may wonder when I will begin dazzling you with my unprecedented insights and heart-felt words, and gut-wrenching prose that will bestow upon you the epiphany of your life?

     Well, I already have. You see, the topic is, Can You Really shut down your brain? And the five previous paragraphs you've been wading to until now are the answer to that question, No, you can't really shut down your brain. No matter what you do, your brain will continue to think and come up with ideas words and images that can be world-changing or in other cases, like what I have just been writing and you have just read.

     So, before you curse me or throw something at your screen and before you start sending hate messages to me on Facebook or Twitter (I won't mind it by the way, I am desperate for attention), hear me out. If I, since I cannot get to shut down my brain, have taken these past few minutes from your life and have had the audacity to type out these words and post them to waste the time of unassuming poor souls such as yourself, then you might as well do the same. I know you can't shut down your brain either (the title did grab your

attention after all), and now you are either so angry at me, or so amused by my wit, or so impressed by my abilities, in all cases, now is the best time for your to pull out a fresh page and take it out on the world!
You are, after all, unable to shut down your brain, might as well

lay it down on the world, because when you do, I'm quite sure you will send into the world something better than what you've just read, and maybe, just maybe, you can actually get to make a difference.


M.Refaat
2nd March, 2015
On an airplane to Dubai.

Stephen King: A suggested reading list

        When it comes to Stephen King, I find it difficult to choose what his best novel is. This could be in part because I am a big fan and my opinion is biased, it could also be in part to the fact that I am still very much behind on reading enough of his work to be able to make such distinctions. So, when asked "what should I read first if I want to begin reading Stephen King?", I can only draw on my own experience which admittedly isn't very long, but I think can be helpful nonetheless.

Stephen King writes big books and although they are engaging enough to keep you hooked and entertained throughout, they still can be off-putting for the uninitiated. So bearing all the above in mind, here is what I think a new reader of Stephen King should start with: (click on any name to go to its Amazon page for more reviews)

1- The Shining

2- The Dark Half                         

3- Bag of Bones

This is not by any means a list of my top three SK books but if you have it in you to read big books then you should read these and in this order, I read them all can attest to that.

If you prefer starting of with something a little shorter then Misery and Carrie are for you and of course you must not miss the most famous SK story, The Shining.

1- Misery

2- Carrie

3- The Shining

If you would like fast paced easy reads and more recent King books then you can begin with Mr. Mercedes, which is a great crime thriller and then move down the list. 11/22/63 is a monster of a book but worth every second of reading. If you don't want to tackle a book this size, then of course, yes you said it, go for The Shining

1- Mr. Mercedes

2- Revival (you can also check my review of Revival here)

3- 11/22/63

                  

Here is a list of the Stephen King novels I have read in case you would like to discuss any of them of ask about any of them. Below that are the SK novels on my To-Be-Read list.

Have been read:

• 11/22/63
• Bag of Bones
• The Dark Half
• Doctor Sleep
• Joyland
• Mr. Mercedes
• Revival
• The Shining

On my TBR list:

Misery

The Stand

Lisey's Story

Needful Things

Pet Sematary

Salem's Lot

Carrie

Cell

Desperation

Duma Key

Gerald's Game

It

Thank you very much for reading. Enjoy your journey into the vortex that is Stephen King writing.

WARNING: if you get hooked it will be bad for your wallet and for your time. You have been warned!