A Rant about The Ancient Magus’ Bride

The picture here may look like this anime is about a cute romantic retelling of the Beauty and the Beast and it's just that but it is worse. Dropped this one just after watching one and a half episode, because I couldn't take how the "romance" was getting handled in this.

So, we have Chise, the 15 year old protagonist of the show, who is SOLD AT AN AUCTION to a magician by the name of Elias, who is, later we'll know, more than 200 years old, because she is going to be his apprentice in magic. So right after the girl is brought to his place, guess what, he immediately does?

STRIPS HER NAKED FOR A BATH WHEN SHE WAS CLEARLY PROTESTING.

His reason was that "she cannot do it". I don't understand which part of bathing she couldn't do? Take her clothes herself? Fill the tub with warm water? Or just take a bath? Why does he have to strip her naked? And are we supposed to find this romantic? I really did not understand that scene. And all these happened within the first 10 minutes of episode one.

Damer Madar: Explanation and Review

The drama – Damer Madar – roughly translated as “Breath Bender” is a Realistic Musical Drama which is heavily dependent on various instances of Symbolism and Surrealism. The drama is co-written by Sadhana Ahmed and Irin Pervin Lopa and directed by the latter. The drama was staged in Mohila Shomiti on Baily Road starring Shishir Rahman, Parvin Paru, Shuvashish Dutta Tonmoy and so on. The stage and lighting were designed and choreographed respectively by Junayed Yusuf.

Subject

The story is focused mainly on the internal conflicts of the main characters all the while representing an ancient art form on the verge of extinction, that is, the Fire Dance of Madar. The main characters include Jarina, who was an embodiment of the legendary Madar herself, her young granddaughter – Nur, who is supposed to take Jarina’s place and her unintentional love interest, the lead vocalist – Harun. Another additional important figure is Choudhurir Beta who is shown to be the villain figure, however, he is not the real antagonist.

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo and My Aching Heart

I never knew a story about time travelling can be so exciting and at the same time, so heartbreaking. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (what the title means, I have no idea but it does sound a very romantic) is the very first and so far, the only Kdrama I ever watched and it shattered my heart to pieces. I don’t remember alternating between crying and laughing during each episode of the same serial. In fact, I was so hooked into the plot that I finished all the twenty episodes each an hour long in the span of six days. So, I won’t go into the plot details since you can find it on Wikipedia and other sites, but, I will tell you why you must watch it.

First of all, if you like romantic and historical fiction, this is right up your alley. It has the most classic blend of heart-warming romance, tad bit of sci-fi, historical setting and stimulating drama…a lot of it. In fact, the series has some of the most impelling plot twists ever (which I won’t give away and you should look it up). Basically the story is about a young girl (played by Kpop singer IU) who’s going some life crisis when due to a splash of fate, she happened to go 500 years back in time and finds herself in the body of another girl who looks exactly like her called Hae Soo. She may be stuck in a new body but her mind is totally in present time. Her lack of knowledge about her current time period and the familiarity of her face ensues a lot of drama, especially when she gets herself involved with the royal family.

Things to Know About Prophecy: A tale of two sisters

Final Book Cover

Basically the story is about two sisters who are born in a fantasy land with magical powers and because of the twisted nature of their fates, they are destined to fight each other to save the world from a bigger danger. But you guys should read it not only because of the plot alone. Here I will be stating five reasons of why should give this book a chance.

It belongs to the fantasy genre: The fantasy genre generally deals with daily problems using magic and mystique. It puts a different perspective on our daily chores and produces a lot of “what if”s. Fantasy genre is a great escape from reality. It is an adventure to a relatable yet different world. And since this book is set in a fantasy world itself, whether written poorly or good, it may not solve all your problems but it sure will at least relieve you from the stress of daily life.

It is short: Most of the time, the books in a fantasy genre tends to be long and in series. However this is a standalone book that roughly has about a hundred and fifty pages. It is a very quick read. 

You don’t have to invest a lot of time or brainwork into comprehend the story fully. Since it’s quite short, you can easily put bits and pieces of it in your work schedule and finish it off quickly. You won’t even feel like that you have wasted any time reading it even if you don’t like it.

Ramadan by Neil Gaiman

Being a practicing Muslim, the first thought which came to my mind is that this graphic novel is offensive and wrong. Islam is not about big cities and emperors owning thousands of concubines. But as I continued reading, I realized it was more about Arabian culture than Islamic teachings. Anyways, I could clearly see what the inspiration behind the story was.

The theme of the story is basically a satirical and quirky version of the Arabian Nights or One Thousand and One Nights. In fact, it is purposefully told in a fashion as though the story was being told by a story-teller because of the unexpected plot twist at the end.

Here is my version of the analysis:

Protagonists: Caliph Haroun Al Raschid – emperor/caliph of Baghdad, who liked to spend his time wooing his beautiful beloved city and the exotic women present in his harem ready to give him any pleasure he wanted.

Antagonists: I did not see any antagonist in the story but a conflict. It was Al Raschid’s everlasting tension and anxiety about the lasting of his city.

Setting: I was set in the city of Baghdad, a middle-eastern Asian kingdom/country which was described in such a way that it felt like it was some utopian kingdom of the future.

Auchin Pakhi (Dream Bird) by Hasan Azizul Haque

The exposition of the story is about this poor father and his son, who live well under the poverty line at a time when strikes were fairly common. The time period is clearly not mentioned but I am guessing it is during the liberation war or during one of the many events that leads up to it. The father was the only earning member of the family who worked as a school master at a local school and barely made enough money to lead a comfortable life let alone dream about luxuries as obtaining a pet.

The story is told in third person limited narrative where the father was the main narrator. The main character’s family consisted of only himself, his wife and their only son, Babul. Now they may be living under poverty due all this strikes and the husband’s not-so-much earning, but the man surely was a doting father as he tries to fulfill all his son’s wishes; sometimes even going for extreme measures for that. For example, when he bought that chandana bird for his son. Now, owning a pet might not seem like a big deal but under the circumstances of the family’s poor financial situation, buying a bird and taking care of it was quite a deal as it meant that they will now have lesser food and money to buy other stuff. Now, it is not clearly mentioned but implied that the father’s job is currently on hiatus because of all the strikes. So, just like the atmosphere of the story, the mood of the characters were kind of restless all throughout.

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

George and Lydia Hadley are the anxious and tired parents of two young children called Peter and Wendy. They live in high-tech house called the Happylife Home, where they various machines and gadgets to do their daily biddings as simple as brushing teeth or tying shoelaces. Things go wrong when the father of the house tries to bring an abrupt change to his children’s habits.

Here is my version of the analysis of the story:

• Written in third person limited narrative from George’s point of view.
• The protagonists are George Hadley and his wife, Lydia Hadley.
• I am a bit confused about the antagonists. They may be the children; or the extraordinary mind-controlled machine in the nursery; or it can be the Hadley’s too much affection for their children and making them spoilt. I am guessing, the antagonists are the kids.
• The genre is Science Fiction with some psychological horror undertone.
• No definite situational irony present. The ending was foreshadowed by the father’s actions.
• The rising action starts right from the first line, when Lydia shows concern about her children’s imagination with George.
• The falling action begins when George abruptly switches off all the machines in the whole house in hopes of getting a normal life and for the betterment of his children.
• The climax is when Peter and Wendy lock their parents in the veldt (the part of their imagination that shows the African savannah). The most disturbing part of the whole story is that the two children have hated their parents for a long time and they have killed them in their imagination a lot more times before the ultimate action and they were very chilled about it.
• The denouement of the story is when Dr. McClean, the psychologist comes over to accompany the Hadleys to a vacation and finds out the horrible truth.

Remarks: Overall the story is very grim and the tone of the story was dreadful right from the beginning. The writer does a brilliant job at creating a dark and disturbing atmosphere from the very first line. Even though the ending is expected, it sends a chill up our spine nevertheless, and I believe that is what the author intended to do in the first place. 

Rain by Somerset Maugham

Dr. Alec Macphail sets sail for the west with his wife and on the ship they befriend the Davidsons, who happen to be Christian missionaries. On the way, they get stuck on a monsoon-clad Samoan island called the Pago-Pago, where they have to rent a small room in order to stay. Their fellow renters were the Davidsons and a woman known by Sadie Thompson. The story speaks of the sense of morality, sin and temptation through the various mentioned characters. Here is my version of the analysis of the story:

• The protagonists of the story are the Macphails and the Davidsons.
• It does not have a clear antagonist. But it is not a person. Perhaps, the tension between Mr. Davidson and Ms. Thompson is the main antagonist and also Davidson’s extremist behavior.
• The story is told in third person limited narrative from Dr. Macphail’s viewpoint.
• It falls in the genre of Realism as there was no mention of any technology or supernatural entities or any fantastical beasts. It is about a few people coping up with each other in an unfriendly climate.
• The story takes about fifty-one pages to tell us about sin and morality, but the main rising action begins with the introduction of Ms. Thompson, as she is one of the most important central characters. Her lifestyle was against the principle of the Davidsons and that is where things start to fall apart.
• The falling action is when Ms. Thompson is threatened with imprisonment (it is not clearly mentioned but alluded to) in San Francisco. She begins to act hysterical and begs for Davidson’s company to comfort her.
• The story has a very clear climax. Davison suicides near the end of the story. It is literally mentioned why he did it but the Maugham gives strong allusion that he gave into temptation for Ms. Thompson in the end. His strong sense of justice (sinner must be punished) and guilt makes him do that.
• I do not know if it counts as a situational irony but I was not expecting the ending like this. Yes, the things he did to Ms. Thompson and the natives sort of make it obvious that he would die, but I thought he might be killed by the natives or Ms. Thompson or Dr. Macphail (who was losing his patience with the missionary’s rash feats). So, in the end when Davidson cuts his own throat for shame and guilt, I was surprised. So, even if it is not a major irony, it is definitely a plot twist for me.
• The story has a clear denouement – Davison dies, his wife and the Macphails mourn and Ms. Thompson has her ultimate revenge. Thus this grim story is nicely wrapped up.

The Post Office by Rabindranath Tagore

Here is my thoughts and review of the play The Post Office by one of the best Asian playwrights, Rabindranath Tagore. This is purely my opinion and in no way do I claim that this is the accurate interpretation.

  

At first read, the play felt short and utterly pointless. On the surface, this is some escapist play where the central character – a sick young boy – uses his high imagination and optimism to escape from his prison-like situation. But being aware of the fact that Tagore tends to use a lot of symbolism in his writing and the last act showed that this play is much more than that. It is packed with various symbols here and there.

The play consists of a total of two acts. In the first act we learn that Amal, a young little boy adopted by Madhav, is suffering from a terrible disease which requires him to be locked up in his room away from the so-called “autumn wind and sun” in order to cure his sickness. But Amal is a playful little boy and being confined in a room is like a prison to him. So, to escape from this, he uses his imagination and befriends different people, who happens to be passing by his window. This sounds like a simple story about children and their imagination. But it much more than that.

Pygmalion Act IV & V by George Bernard Shaw

Here are my thoughts about the final two acts of this clever and witty little play.

Up until this point I was wondering the relevance of the title to the play. Pygmalion was an old Greek myth about a creator falling in love with his creation. Reading the first three acts, I assumed that Higgins will fall in love with Eliza and that will be all. But I was thoroughly wrong and completely impressed and amazed at how the events took a different turn.

The conflict of the play is supposed to be whether Eliza becomes a lady or not. But apparently that is not the case as the acts continue even after her success at some lavish party. The play shows several conflicts such as, the differences of economic classes, commercialism, the good and the evil of wealth, the idea of nobility and freedom. The part of Eliza’s training and whether she is successful or not is just a subplot to the play giving it more depth and helps it proceed.

The fourth act begins with the trio entering Higgins’ lab after a tiresome evening party where apparently Eliza performs a good work at presenting herself as a lady with her impeccable speech and mannerism. But Higgins’ indifference to Eliza’s success and calling her hard work a boring challenge is not only rude to Eliza but also the audience because at this point, we grow fond of Eliza’s character and her maturity. So Higgins’ inconsiderate attitude provokes our dislike towards him. Shaw is clever in depicting what the audience feel through Eliza as she, finally succumbing to her rage, throws slippers at his face, much to the amusement and satisfaction of the audience.

Pygmalion Act II & III by George Bernard Shaw

So, here we are passed poetry and into drama. The first play we have to read and review is the interesting and witty play by George Bernard Shaw. Here is what I think of this play.

Act-II

The scene opens inside the laboratory of the renowned Henry Higgins. It was late cold morning (since the fire was alit). The playwright pays attention to the details to describe the setting.

Judging by the instruments and equipment in the lab, we get the feeling that Higgins is interested in music (due to the presence of the piano, the tuning forks and the organ pipes) and anatomy (life-size image of the left side of human skull). He also had a sweet tooth (fruits and chocolate on the piano). He also liked to read newspapers.

The presence of some mention-able portraits and the absence of paintings kind of show that he is interested in those decorations for something more than their artistic value only. All the furniture stacked in his room are somehow related to phonetics. So, we assume that Higgins is pretty serious about his job.

The scene consists of five characters. They are Henry Higgins, the linguist; Colonel Pickering, Higgins’ fellow linguist and a friend; Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper; Liza or Eliza Doolittle, the flower-girl mentioned in the first scene and Alfred Doolittle, Liza’s poor father and a foil to our main character Higgins.

Pygmalion Act I by George Bernard Shaw

So, here we are passed poetry and into drama. The first play we have to read and review is the interesting and witty play by George Bernard Shaw. Here is what I think of this play.

George Bernard Shaw was a prominent playwright of the twentieth century whose main focus of the plays were different social discrepancies and equality of human beings, especially feminism. Such influences were clearly visible in the first act of his play Pygmalion. Here, he shows that human beings constantly jump into conclusions without proper understanding of the situation. Also he makes us believe that a lady or gentleman is distinguished from the lower class (of old British system) was through a flawless and genial speech. Since both this traits are found in the character of the Note-taker or Henry Higgins, we assume that he is the main character or hero of this play.

The play starts with a dark rainy setting. Two ladies stand in the rain waiting for someone called Freddy to bring them a cab. At first, the dialogues given by the two ladies, one mother and one daughter, give the allusion that Freddy might be their servant. But the way Freddy spoke back at them clearly states that he is a relative and later the mother admits that he is his son. The daughter, on the other hand, clearly is an example of the pride and haughtiness present within the British upper class. This is shown via her impatient attitude and rude behavior though calling herself a lady all the time.

I Ask You by Billy Collins

Being a student of English, I have to take the course of Literature. The first and important aspect of Literature is Poetry and this is the very first poem we have to analyse. I decided to share what I think of this poem with you guys. Hope it is helpful to you.

First stanza

• The whole stanza is one big rhetorical question, where the poet tells of his intentions of changing his current predicament.
• The poet adopts the persona  of someone who likes to write and based on his emotions or mood in the latter part of the poem, it's safe to assume that he, after all, is just a poet in this poem as well.
• The atmosphere of the first stanza is of boredom; as if, the poet is tired of his surrounding and wishes to change it.
• The verse "floral wallpapers pressing in" is the metaphor  of his frustrations with the regular setting.
• The verses such as "white cabinets full of glass" and "the telephone silent" are also the analogies of the poet's loneliness or isolation.

Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson: Analysis

Michael Jackson is quite popular with creating music that both appeals to one's senses and creates awareness about the current situation of the world in the minds of those listening to it.

This music of the "soul" genre is no different. Written in free verse, figurative language colloquial dialect, the song comprises of roughly six stanzas where the third stanza is a short chorus and the sixth is a lengthy one which wraps up the song, creating a vivid image of the horrible condition some people live in the world.

The song is tactfully written such that the first part of the song shows how unfortunate some of us are. For example, the verses like "a widow deeply scarred" and "somebody's broken heart" clearly depict that how tragic someone's life is even though they are living right among us; while the second part tells us how we can get rid of the situation and also invokes the sense of consciousness and subconsciously instills the energy in our minds to do so. 

The author intends to make the world a better place and shows us that the only effective way of doing so is by changing the "man in the mirror", a metaphor for oneself since the man in the mirror is none but each of us. The poet makes it clear that it is up to us to change the world by asking a couple of rhetorical questions here and there.

The lyrics of the song doesn't follow any specific rhyme scheme but throws in a few internal rhymes here and there but the song is successful in provoking an energetic and compassionate mood within us with its subtle message.

Hello guys, sorry for the late. I was very busy with college and moving. Anyways, I am back but kind of ran out of ideas for my blog. So I decided to share my college assignments just in case they might help you somehow someday. Love!

Interview with the Vampire: Review and Spoilers

The edition I own

Vampires have always fascinated me. I mean, who doesn’t like a good vampire novel or film; their mysterious treading through darkness and mist? A few days back I finished reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and the book left me starving for more vampire books. That’s when I picked up Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, the first book in her Vampire Chronicles series. She was my first choice because she is termed as the perfect descendent of Stoker and after I finished reading her book, I knew why, and I was not disappointed.

Rice has all of Stoker’s quality in describing the atmosphere and to churn out the perfect and mysterious setting for her story. But she also has her unique voice at presenting her story which distinguishes her style from Stoker’s at a far different level. Rice is excellent and perfect in her own way. Today I will focus more on her writing style and will try to control myself from comparing her with Stoker. But before going on with that, I must say if Stoker’s Dracula leaves you empty from inside, you can definitely look forward to Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, even though you will notice a considerable amount of differences between the two prolific authors right from the first page.

Plot 

The story is about a young man called Louise de Pointe du Lac, who claims to be a vampire to a young male reporter known only as “the boy” throughout this book. He confesses his story of how he became a vampire and what happened after that to this young reporter who interviews him.

Review: Gramer Nam Kakondubi

Gramer Nam Kakondubi by Muhammed Zafar Iqbal

(Translation: The village named Kakondubi)

Published on – February, 2015

Publisher – Tamralipi

Plot synopsis

The story revolves around a small Bangladeshi village, Kakondubi, namesake of the title, during the Liberation War of 1971, a war against Pakistan to acknowledge Bangladesh as a sovereign country. The main character of the story is a twelve-year old rural boy called Ranju, who was orphaned during his early childhood and was living with his old grandmother in Kakondubi.

The book is a standalone and divided into four episodes, each of which depicts a certain period of the Liberation war. The first part introduces the characters, describes the village and hints at the upcoming war. The second part tells about the beginning of the war, emergence of new characters and gives an idea about the effects of the war. The third part depicts the brutality of the enemy country (murder of Hindus, rape of women, Rajakars etc), but in a suitable way to children. The fourth and final part describes the role of the guerrilla army (freedom fighters/muktiyoddha) and the involvement of the main character Ranju and his friend, Dora and how the guerrilla overcomes the Pak-Army.