Drops of Joy in Ocean of Tears is a collection of poems and essays written by Saurabh Chaudhary, a student from DPS Vasant Kunj. He is currently in class 12th and a frontrunner for the post of head boy of the school this year. 🙂 (Last year he was the school vice head boy.) He is the de-facto leader of the DPS VK Quiz Club and is the best quizzer that Delhi Public School, Vasant Kunj currently has. (In the recently held Mod Quiz, Saurabh Chaudhary won the position of ‘best quizzer’.) He is also one of the best group discussion members that the school computer club Code Warriors has right now.
Published by Unicorn Books, a sister concern of Pustak Mahal, this book is a quick read. You could wrap up reading this within 30-60 minutes. The quality of writing is good. I’m not a big fan of poetry and I rarely find any sort of verse to be readable. With a few exceptions, I detested studying poems as a part of my English literature syllabus in school. However, I found Saurabh’s work very readable. (Most of the content in the book is poems.)
The theme is unvarying throughout, which can make your attention waver a bit, but the quality of writing is – undoubtedly – great. The theme of poems in the book is of how he felt rejected / neglected by peers in school because of some decisions that he took. It’s a contentious topic so I won’t go into that – instead, I judge the book on its own merit. Towards the end there are also a few essays on a few miscellaneous topics. These sort of tie into the preceding poems and sort of don’t. I also felt that the essays were a bit short and could’ve been a little longer.
It won’t take you long to read the book. I suggest that if you come across this in a bookstore (I couldn’t find it on Flipkart) then do browse through it, but it if you like it.
My rating of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: A- (Almost perfect) Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman Directed by: David Yates Studio: Warner Bros
If you chose option 4, then congratulations! You’re on your way to becoming a much despised movie studio executive. Just because JK Rowling revealed Dumbledore was gay doesn’t mean you have to use that, you know.
I used to think public *nudge nudge wink wink* displays of paedophilia was banned around the globe. Apparently, I was wrong.
David Yates who directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (my review here) is back at the helm. Story-wise the fifth movie was the weakest in the franchise so far; watching Order of the Phoenix felt like watching cricket match highlights. Technical aspects were great – the cinematography especially was brilliant. Yates continues with same tradition with superb cinematography in the sixth movie, although not quite the same use of flybys all the time. Special effects are good too.
Half-Blood Prince truly shines through with its story / screenplay. Distilling down hundreds of pages of a book and bringing it alive on-screen is admittedly an uphill task. This movie is able to strike a fine balance between what should’ve been left and out and what shouldn’t. It is very true to the essence of the book even if at had to throw out some sub-plots / scenes. I would go as far to say that Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy – which is the pinnacle of faithful book-to-movie adaptations so far – Half-Blood Prince sets an example for what filmmakers should try to achieve when making adaptations. Steve Kloves (screenplay) and David Yates deserve a round of applause.
Once again, Darrell Alexander Nicholas Hooper disappoints with the musical score. Ever since he took over this part in the last movie, he has messed up the score. That guy has absolutely no frikkin’ idea what kind of music goes with what scene. He’ll happily plod down Super Mario-ish soundtrack for an intense battle-scene.
Daniel Radcliffe has finally taken some acting lessons. He’s still quite terrible, but less so compared to earlier editions. Harry becomes Neo in this movie as he is the ‘Chosen One’. Rupert Grint doesn’t get much to play in this movie – whatever time he does get is spent snogging. As usual Alan Rickman and Emma Watson (whose new hobby seems to be beating up people with books / papers) deliver the best performances out of all the cast members with realistic acting, with the surprise addition of Tom Felton to the list too this time. He’s been one of the better actors in the series and does a good job this time. I wonder how good the next movie installment (it is to be released in two parts) would be without Alan Rickman. Michael Gambon fulfills his role of a paedophile by taking keen interest in Potter’s love life. Just like the kiss with Cho Chang in the last movie, the scene in this one with Ginny Weasley and Potter seems very wooden and forced.
One thing that this movie sorely lacks is pace. While the adaptation is faithful to the essence of the book it is equally slowed paced as the LOTR movies. David Yates seems to have been inspired by LOTR in his direction style. Nobody will deny the movie is good, but at 2.5 hours run-time the movie drags its feet along in some scenes. Nevertheless, a good movie, a notch up from the old one; still not good enough to dethrone Alfonso Cuaron’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as the best in the series so far.
