Saturday, May 8, 2010

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Friday, May 7, 2010

Q3 - Two Countries: Fact and Fiction


Disclaimer: The following is partly fictional and partly factual, and the blogger does not vouch for the historical accuracy of the events depicted in this account.

According to A & B’s account of C’s adventures, C has travelled a lot, (see pic.) often accompanied by D, and is quite famous for always being at loggerheads with E. E never managed to beat C, by might or meanness..Never..!!! The village to which both C and D belong to is supposed to be in country F, and the city G which was the seat of E’s rule is now in the country H.

Now some history lessons, I was an important supporter and loyal friend of E, and was a natural choice of to give the eulogy of E. In his famous speech, he also read out E's will, which left most of his property to the people of G, demonstrating that, contrary to the aspersions cast on him, E had no intention of forming a dynastical rule. After the death of E, I married J, the former lover of E. A power struggle ensued between J and K, (the heir to E by adoption), which was finally won by K. History also tells us that the seventh item in a recurring series is named after E to honour him; Not to be left far behind the eighth item was promptly renamed after K.

A & B tells us that C and D visited the country L, in the continent M,along with the wise old man of the village N and D’s best pal O, to help J to win a wager against E and during their adventure D brought irreparable damage to the structure P, while attempting to have a better view of the surroundings. It was the only instance of N allowing D to have a taste of C’s favourite drink. O was instrumental in an important rescue effort.

History tells us that the mutilation of P actually occurred during the invasion of L by Q. Another interesting fact is that Q and R are the only two heads of state of the country F, who had divorced their spouses to remarry while in office, in the history of the country of F. Amusingly, the current wife of R was born in S, “the automotive capital the country H” and then migrated to country F.

T is probably best known for his 1997 tragicomedy U, about a Jewish man who tries to protect his son's innocence during his internment by telling him that whatever happening around them is an elaborate game and he must adhere very carefully to the rules to win. U won V in the category of W. Now isn’t it curious that as far as the number of wins of V in the category of W is concerned, country H tops the list (10 times) closely followed by country F (9 times)…!!!!

Now, for the folks who were following the blog from the beginning, V is a recurrent element in this blog…..

In 1999, T, born in the country H played the role of a corrupt tax collector in a production called “C and D versus E”, which was the most expensive production in the motion picture history of F at the time of its release which was only surpassed by its sequel in 2002, named “C and D : Mission J”.

In 2006, F and H locked horns again for a prestigious trophy X, evoking the memories of the old rivalry between C and E. However this time around, neither C nor E was around, and Y and Z grabbed all the attention. Z offered Y something and Y quipped “preferisco quella puttana di tua sorella” which evoked a strong response from Z and Z was staring at a little rectangular scarlet object a little time later. This time around, it seems E finally had the last laugh. H won…..!!! Sweet Revenge….!!!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Q2 - In Search of .....


A, though born in the southern part of the country, spent his childhood and did his schooling in a city B in the eastern part of the country, which was once the capital of the country, and carried a distinct stamp of that culture in his works. At a very young age, he joined the performing arts troupe of C, the elder brother of the better-known D. In 1944, he joined E under a three year contract as a choreographer.

Veering off a little bit, E was famous for its productions that stood out for excellence and social awareness themes, and had the logo of a girl blowing a trumpet (??)…Sadly, after F split off from the company to establish his own studio in 1942, the company fell into hard times and was finally wound up in 1953. Of no relevance here, still…, in the year 1985, F was awarded with the industry’s highest honour G. Looking at the brighter side of the things, the place where the former premises of E stood, now boasts the address of one of the premier institutes, H, of the country.

Now, I, an honorary OBE, graduated from H, acted in a 1992 film called J, the story of which takes place in the city B. The film was an adaptation of the novel of the same name by K. But the blogger thinks that K is more popular for the book named L, which K had co-authored with M. The blogger has heard that K has co-authored another work, this time with N, on one of the biggest industrial tragedies, O, happened in the history of the country, the royalties from which go to the a clinic in O which provides free medical treatment to the victims.

I had played a powerful cameo in the 1982 biopic P, named after the central subject. The blogger still remembers the scene vividly, the central subject of the film, played by Q, is on a strike in city B to put an end to the maddening violence all around and I comes and throws a certain kind of bread at him and urges P to eat; stating that “though it is certain I would go to hell anyways for the sins I have committed, I do not want to be responsible for the death of P also”. In between, P fetched R the distinction of being the first person from the country to get S.

Continuing from where we had left K, the book L starts with the appointment of T. It was widely rumored that T’s wife had an affair with U. (Now please don’t charge me for libel, I have categorically stated that it is a rumour).

Okay, V has also got S, was one of the founder members of B film society, worked as a cover designer for books, designed the cover of one of U’s famous books etc.. In 1961, on the insistence of U, V was commissioned to make a documentary on W, on the occasion of the W's birth centennial. In 1964, U made X, based on a short story of W. V once said X contained least flaws among his work, and his only work, that given a chance, he would make exactly the same way. The music for U’s most well known and acclaimed work Y, which is also incidentally his first major work, was composed by D. The same D who had a lesser known elder brother C, who in turn ran a performing arts troupe, which A joined at a very young age…..!!!

I think we have veered off quite far…!! Now coming back to A, Z was a regular in A’s projects and was recently honoured with G, and has earned an unmatched distinction. Looking at the works of A, we see that…….

Wait…!!! I have run out of alphabets..!!! Okay let us continue the story of A some other time….signing off for now…….But is there a connection between A and the lady in the picture ?????


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Q1 - The Begining

A, other than the profession he is widely acclaimed for, is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. It is believed that he received his middle name in honor of B, as he was born at the Hospital named after B. He earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from C, where he met D, whose music was used later in E.

B, famous for his piquant remark made about the colour of his product, is often credited with the idea of F, although contemporary sources indicate that the concept and development of F came from some employees of B Company’s Piquette Plant. B was especially fond of G, a prolific inventor and on G's deathbed, B demanded G's son to catch his final breath in a test tube. The test tube can still be found today in a Museum named after B.

In H's famous work I, society is organized on B’ist lines and the years are dated before B or after B instead of B.C. /A.D. Even human beings are produced via an F, grown in large glass jars and provided in five models: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. H’s another famous work named after a line in the famous poem “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” was also the inspiration for name of the group J in which D was a prominent figure.

Now coming back to A, he made E in 1979, based on K’s novella L, notorious due to its lengthy and troubled production, troubles with the lead actors, beset by extreme weather that destroyed several expensive sets. One of the principal actors, M, casted at an unheard fee at those times, arrived overweight and ill-prepared for his act on the sets, and A downplayed M's weight by dressing him in black, showing only his face, and having another, taller double for him.

M, got his first due recognition for the role of a working class auto-parts salesman, who has a vicious temper in the Broadway play N, directed by O, who himself later on directed the film adaptation of the play in which also M donned the same role. O’s another famous film P in which also M played a key role won M his first Q. It would be worthwhile to mention here that O himself has won Q three times, two times for his specific works and one time for lifetime achievement. P, being about a heroic mob informer, is widely considered to be O's answer to his critics (including his former friends and collaborators), showing that there could be nobility in a man who "named names".

S, daughter of A, whose acting career is frequently accused of nepotism, began as an infant, making background appearances in seven of her father's works. The most well-known of these early roles is her appearance in R as the baby boy in the christening scene, in which M also played an important role. Now, T won Q for his role in U, also directed by A, for playing the same character played by M in R. S has an (un)enviable record shared by only two other people, however V has broken the record in 2010, in a different sense. V was married to W at some point of time, and both have competed for the same honour at the same point of time once; but V beat W to clinch the honour. Again, back to S, in 1986 a fifteen year old S shared screen space in a work of A with her cousin who had adopted a different screen name X, in order to avoid the appearance of nepotism as the nephew of A. S’s best known acting role was in Y, and the critically panned performance, for which she received the Z award, a parody of Q, effectively ended her acting career. Now, it is not necessary to state that A, M, S, T, V, X and W have won Q at some point of their career.

Phew…!! It may make things simple if it is added that R, U and Y form a series….