World Reviews Now!: 2005

Showing posts with label 2005. Show all posts

Review: Girls of Riyadh (Book, 2008)

Thursday, March 24, 2011 | Posted by The Entertainment Geek

Running on an Arabian-tale high, I picked this one up after reading Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, and Girls balanced the weighty after-effects of Princess quite well. I knew that Princess had a deliberate, slightly outdated outlook, and I wanted to read something more current, balanced, and varied.

I found Girls of Riyadh sitting valiantly on a front-row shelf in the Mid-Manhattan NYPL. I already had the books I wanted: I passed it. I walked back. I picked it up. I smiled: Just what I was looking for!

The Rundown

Country: Saudi Arabia, 2005 (Saudi Version), 2008 (English Version)

Author: Rajaa Alsanea

Genre: Novel

Languages: English & Arabic

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 300

Love it or Hate it? Love it!

Synopsis in A Sentence: An anonymous writer reveals the escapades of her 4 girlfriends, Sadeem, Gamrah, Lamees, and Mashael (Michelle) through weekly-emails.

Think: Gossip Girl meets Sex and the City

The Good: A fun read! It’s extremely enlightening and insightful: light-hearted, yet politically heavy. It’s the kind of book you’d read to take a break off everything serious, only to realise that you’re actually reading something serious!

The Bad: The tone may be a bit too bubbly and vivacious for some male readers, but if you’re bold enough to pick this up, you’d be too engrossed in the story to be bothered by the tone… and it’s a fun tone too!

The Verdict: 4.5 Stars- A complete guilty pleasure! Much fun! Do read.

Memorable Quotes:

1. “Ladies and Gentlemen: You are invited to join me in one of the most explosive scandals and noisiest, wildest, all-night parties around. Your personal tour-guide—and that’s moi—will reveal to you a new world, a world closer to you than you might imagine. We all live in this world, but do not really experience it, seeing what we can tolerate and ignoring the rest…”

2. (After quoting a poem from Nazir Qabbani) “Right you are Nazir Baby! Your tongue be praised, God bless you and may you rest in peace. Truth be told, though you are a man, you are indeed ‘the woman’s poet’ and if anyone doesn’t like my saying so, they can go drink from the sea!”

3. “My hair is now fluffed and teased, and I’ve pained my lips a shameless crimson red. Beside me rests a bowl of chips splashed with chilli and lime. Readers: prepare yourselves. I’m ready to disclose the first scandal!”

Posted In 2005, 2008, Arabic, Book, Girls of Riyadh, Novel, Saudi Arabia, The Middle East, Top Rated (20-15) | 1 comments |

Hana Yori Dango (2005 TV Series)

Friday, January 7, 2011 | Posted by The Entertainment Geek

After seeing the Korean version, I had to see the version from the originators of the story, and Hana Yori Dango didn’t quite disappoint.

“It’s Japanese manga in action.”

The Rundown

Behind the name: Pun on Japanese saying, “dumplings before flowers”

Country: Japan, 2005

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Distributed by: (TBS) Tokyo Broadcasting System

Director: Yasuharu Ishii

Cast: Mao Inoue, (as Makino Tsukushi), Jun Matsumoto (as Domyouji Tsukasa), Shun Oguri (as Hanazawa Rui), Shota Matsuda (as Nishikado Sojiro), Tsuyoshi Abe (as Mimasaka Akira)

Compare to: Boys Before Flowers, Meteor Garden

Hate it or Love it? Love it.

Synopsis in a Sentence: Makino Tsukushi is a poor girl who attends Etioku Academy, an affluent High School in Japan, where she gets mixed up with rich guys and a love trapeze begins.

It’s started the Asian wave of the decade. First the Japanese maga, then the Tiwanese series, then the Japanese series, then the Korean series. Hana Yori Dango incorporates some originality in its plot.

On Writing: The Plot

It’s a good story. It’s not one f those overly lovey-dovey stories and its not one of the mindless ones either. It’s uniquely Japanese, inspired by the best selling Japanese Shojo Manga of all time. The series stays close to the manga, maintaining the names of the characters. The writing’s unique too, with some extra-special parts, and the plot’s easy to follow. Overall,

(4/5)

On Acting: The Cast

Good actors. They seem to mesh well together. Overall,

← Mao Inoue, who plays Makino Tsukushi may be the best actor of the group. She’s just right for her character, but she’s not quite the most convincing tom boy. Besides that, she’s all good; very convincing, and will win your trust by the time the series is over.

Jun Matsumoto plays Domyouji Tsukasa. Overall, he’s a good actor but comes off a bit like a hooligan—think wealthy careless jackass, minus the gorgeous arrogance displayed to effortlessly by Gu Jun-Pyo (Korean version). If that’s how rich, powerful, Japanese boys are supposed to be, then he plays it well, if not, then his rendition of the characyter comes off very unrefined.→

← Shun Oguri relays Hanazawa Rui’s actions, and he’s good. In this series, I actually rooted for him, rather than the main male character. He’s real, relatable and refined. What’s not to love?

Shota Matsuda is Nishikado Sojiro in the series, and he just might be the best looking of the group. His character doesn’t show as much, but when he’s on, he plays it well. →

← Tsuyoshi Abe acts as Mimasaka Akira in the series. Quite honestly, he looks a bit too old for his part, but he’s a good one overall. He plays up his character’s role as the voice of reason in the series.

(3.5/5)

On Production: The Creativity

The production was good, with beautiful angles and good symbolism. As far as fashion goes, the buildings outshined the clothes… come to think of it, the clothes were almost a flop, considering the background of the characters. The music is not award winning, but it’s okay. It included music by Arsahi and Utada Hikaru. Overall, it’s a good production.

(3.5/5)

On Resolution: The Conclusion

Ahhh. The end… might have been the best part—was actually the best part of the entire sries, which makes a good story even better. Some knots seemed untied, but that’s probably to keep you guessing. Nice symbolism, nicely wrapped up. You’ll love it because of the end.

(4/5)

The Verdict: A great story, good actors, a great production, but when it all comes down to it, the Koreans did it better. L

Overall Score = 15/20