SubscribeThere’s an old saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.” In this age of larger-than-life movie characters and a generation of non-reading youth, this adage has to be changed to “Never judge a book by its movie.” The present generation seems to prefer visual media to anything else. With the advent of internet and e-books, the popularity of the paperback seems to be faltering. Many books seem to get a bad image, just because its movie adaptation was a bomb. Case in point, Wolfgang Peterson’s 2004 epic, Troy. A pathetic interpretation of Homer’s epic poem of nearly 16,000 lines, Troy was largely disappointing, in spite of its talented cast. The movie also used scenes from the Aeneid, by Virgil. Although the movie was commercially successful, it was critically disappointing.
Many such movies have bombed over the years, among the recent ones being I, Robot, directed by Alex Proyas, which is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s novel of the same name. Again a commercial success, this movie is a classic example of a movie tarnishing the book. I, Robot was peppered with action scenes and violence, bearing no resemblance to the original storyline. If Homer and Asimov were alive…
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Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone is a music composer and conductor, born in Italy in 1928. He is famous for his music composition for more than five hundred film and TV productions. He is perhaps most famous for his composition Ecstasy of Gold, a piece he composed for the movie The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Despite being more than 80 years old, he is still active in the music field, performing with many other highly praised composers.
Morricone composed his first piece when he was six years old, and has not stopped since. He went on to learn music under Goffredo Petrassi, who was a classic music composer. He graduated from the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, and continued to study classical music and gained a trumpet diploma. During World War II, he spent time in his study, poring over books brushing up on technicalities of music.
He has won a slew of awards, including Grammies and BAFTA titles and is hugely popular all around the world, selling more than fifty million records. His career spans nearly 65 years, from 1946 till date.
His most recent accreditation is the music for the Quentin Tarantino movie Inglorious Basterds, who used his previous compositions.
Scrabble
Scrabble, perhaps the most popular board game to hit the market, was invented by an architect, Alfred Butts in 1938. It was originally called Criss – Crosswords, and is now know many other names. The idea was initially put forward by Lewis Carroll, more than fifty years before Butts’ invention.
Scrabble was voted ‘Game of the Year’ in 1975, by the Game and Puzzles magazine, and its popularity has only risen since. Former US President Richard Nixon confessed that used to play Scrabble to relax during his hectic office hours.
The immense popularity has given rise to various other forms, some childish and other downright crazy. One version, called Syzygy, is played without a board.
Many forms of Scrabble Championships are held around the world, each with minor changes in rules and regulations. Tens of thousands of people participate in these tournaments, which last for slightly less than a week.
Scrabble is also a popular testing ground for computer programmers, as making a formidable Scrabble-playing artificial intelligence system is quite a challenge. One of the best AI players is a program written by Brian Shepard and is called Maven. An open source version of Scrabble has also been written, called Quackle.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation, or the BBC, as it is better known, is a public service broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is the largest broadcasting network in the world, operating across different spectrums such as radio, television and also the internet. It’s not only the world’s largest, but also the world’s first. It was set up on October 18 1922 by six other telecom companies, as an experimental radio network. But five years later, it was turned into a non-commercial network, under a Royal Charter.
Starting with just radio in the beginnings, television broadcasts were introduced in 1932, on an experimental basis. The BBC now operates around eight TV channels and ten radio channels.
Even in the face of stiff competition of other commercial broadcasting networks, radio channels and internet TV, BBC has played a major role in the British way of life. The British Broadcasting Corporation has always been one of the tenets of popular British culture, and a major influence.
BBC Radio proved to be an invaluable source of news during World War II. It is quite correct to say that no other network has had cultural impact of such significance, or has come close as the BBC.
Read A Book
Answer this: When was the last time you actually visited a library? Not in the past couple of years, I bet. But if you have, cheers! Today’s youth are billed as ‘non-reading’; instead they’re more attracted to the visual media, as in movies, and the audio media, as in music. Libraries are becoming increasingly rare, with the few still open today in a pathetic state, underfunded and understaffed. Gone are the days when you could sit in a quiet atmosphere, surrounded by the works of many great authors, and forget yourself for hours on end. Books are now available in the digital format, thus making libraries more and more obsolete. With the advent of the internet, the world’s libraries are fast becoming digital, and are available online. Looks like the habit of reading is at an all time low. Book stores are also becoming increasingly rare, few and far between. Books are now ‘e-books’ and can be downloaded at the touch of a button. They are also now available in various audio formats, thus eliminating the need to read, completely. Frankly, I miss being able to curl up on the couch on an evening with a hot cup of tea, and a book.
The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building, located in New York City is one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the world today. Standing 1250 feet tall, the Empire State building was the tallest structure in the world for nearly forty years till the World Trade Center was built, and is now the 15th tallest in the world. Construction began in 1930, and the building was completed the following year, on May 1st 1931. It was also the first building to have more than a hundred floors. In its time of construction, the building cost more than $40 million to build, which was a lot of money at that time. The building was the result of a competition to build the tallest building in the world, which two other buildings were aiming to achieve, the Chrysler and 40 Wall Street tower. In spite of all its hype, the building remained empty till the 1950s, and was losing money till then. The Empire State Building has also been featured in many films, such as Independence Day, Sleepless in Seattle and a most importantly, in King Kong. The seventy year old building is now undergoing an ambitious $120 million renovation process to make it more energy-efficient and eco-friendly.
The Indian Railways
The Indian Railways is one of the oldest and largest rail networks in the world. It was started in 26th April 1853, by the British. The Indian Railways has a total track length of nearly 65,000 kilometres, with 6909 stations. It transports more than 18 million passengers on a daily basis. Employing almost one and a half million people, it also becomes one of the world’s largest public – utility employers. The Railways uses four different gauge measurements: the broad gauge, the metre gauge, and two narrow gauges. It runs nearly fifteen thousand trains a day, covering various routes throughout the country. Indian Railways is divided into 16 geographical zones, to make governance and management easier. The longest route covered by the Railways is the Kanyakumari – Jammu Tawi Himsagar Express, travelling the entire length of the country, and runs for 3745 km. Fairy Queen, the world’s oldest locomotive is still operated by the Indian Railways on special occasions, between Delhi and Alwar. The Railways is also undergoing an ambitious Rs. 30,000 crore renovation plan to serve the public better. The Railways is the pride of India, in operation for more than hundred and fifty years and still going strong.
Coffee
Coffee is one of the most consumed liquids in the world, after water and tea. Coffee has been cultivated for hundreds of years. It is said that a poor goat farmer in Ethiopia noticed that his goats were jumping around energized after eating the berries of a strange shrub. He plucked some, and gave it to the monks at the local monastery. The monks tried roasting them, and it gave off such a pleasing aroma that they brewed it into a stew. Coffee was born. From Ethiopia, coffee spread to other parts of the Muslim empire. Then after, the coffee seeds were bought to Europe and soon to her colonies. Coffee became an important social drink. In some countries, it had religious significance and was used in rituals and ceremonies. It even had political significance, and was banned in Turkey some three hundred years back, due to coffee being linked to rebels in Europe.
Now, coffee is very common, and is quite popular with the many coffee – parlours that have become fashionable. It is one of the most traded commodities in the world and it the top export for 12 countries. Enjoyed by many, and is the favourite drink of people of all ages.
Tea
Tea is a beverage that is brewed from the leaves of the camellia plant. Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world, after water. There are many kinds of types, and they differ mainly in the way they are processed, and in some cases, the way the camellia plant is grown. In India, tea has been cultivated and consumed for thousands of years, but commercial production did not start until the British invasion. The Britishers then spread the cultivation of the tea plant to the rest of their colonies, like Sri Lanka and Burma, where tea is still grown today.
India is the top consumer of tea today. In production, China comes first. Tea is exported from India to many other countries, like Britain and other European countries. Indian tea forms the base of many foreign brands like Tetley and Typhoo.
Tea has also been used as a curing agent for many generations. The Chinese is thought to have first exploited the medicinal uses of tea some five thousand years ago. Modern day medicine lists tea as a mild anti – carcinogen, which means that tea or its components could be effective in fighting cancer. Health benefits or not, tea continues to be the preferred of many, all ages and sizes.