I mentioned yesterday that I was going to put One Hundred Years of Solitude review up today, but I’m going back to Indonesia for my brother’s wedding tomorrow morning, it’s 12:20am, and I’m juggling far too many things right now, so I thought, why rush it? I’m gonna take my time writing later and I’ll be back before you know it. So happy reading, see you in 2 weeks!

So on Saturday night, hubby and I went to an orchestra based on The Arrival, Shaun’s wordless graphic novel (since I’ve met him, can we be on first name basis now?). The orchestra complemented the slides of illustrations from the book nicely. It was lovely.

But the real highlight for me, of course, to meet Shaun Tan in person! Gosh talking about nervous! Heart beating fast.. sweaty hands.. incoherent speech.. fangirl mode on. Luckily I managed to force myself to blurb out something like I’m the biggest fan of your work. He was being really nice, and replied back in a very normal way, so we actually had a nice conversation for a couple of minutes. I haven’t been to many authors’ signings, but I thought Shaun was extra nice. He actually talked to me like a completely normal person without fame vibe whatsoever and it didn’t feel like he was rushing so he could get on to the next person behind me, if you know what I mean. He actually spent some time talking to me even though there’s a long line for him!

When I said I loved The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia, he said that his favorite book is probably Tales from Outer Suburbia. It was the one he enjoyed doing the most, and the type of book he likes to read as well, short stories and illustrations. Then I mentioned about seeing trailer of The Lost Thing and how awesome it looked. He thanked me and said it took them nine years to do the 15-minute short film (wow!). Said it’s gonna be out on DVD soon and that he thought I would love it. (obviously!) I also found out that The Arrival took him four years to complete (with one year of thinking and not exactly knowing what to do). Each page took about a week long. When asked how he came up with such beautiful illustrations, I overheard, he smiled and answered, just lots of practice really.

It was the best author night ever. I left with a huge huge smile on my face for the entire night :)

What’s that he wrote under the cute pet? (which he drew on the spot!) I was too nervous to pay attention at the time to ask!

Afternoon the next day I went to a panel titled The Evolution of an Idea, with Shaun Tan, Neil Gaiman, and Eddie Campbell. The length I went through to get the ticket to this event! I thought when and where else would Shaun Tan be in the same room as Neil Gaiman?! I just had to go to see them both!

Look at them side by side!

Lucky I managed to secure myself a spot! It was an awesome 90 minutes panel about evolution of ideas. Obviously Neil Gaiman was the most famous out of the lot (though I beg to see differently as Shaun is my star), so lots of questions were thrown at him. He struck me as being a shy guy for some reason, and impressed me for being very articulate and well-spoken. Shaun too, to my surprise. I guess I have preconceived notions that authors are generally articulate on paper, but not in person. Well they both defied the myth. To be honest Eddie Campbell wasn’t on my radar much. I heard of From Hell but that’s probably it, and I didn’t find him as interesting as the other two on the panel.

A couple of things I gathered from Shaun (which seems to be a misspelled Shawn or Sean, because that’s how you pronounce his name):

He started as an illustrator but always wanted to be a writer as well, because he wasn’t satisfied with just illustrating other people’s lines. On The Rabbits for example, he received a half-page fax with 16 lines from John Marsden for the script of The Rabbits. It took him a year to illustrate the book, while both of them later got the royalties, which probably didn’t feel fair to him. The idea of course is important, but the actual labour of writing is minimal compared to illustrating. Good for him to make the book his own at the end with his outstanding illustrations! Were the script given to a lesser illustrator, it would just be a bunch of indistinguishable rabbits and the book would be lost in the sea of the ordinaries. (Since then Shaun has gone to have his fully own written book: Tales from Outer Suburbia.)

A thread of conversation led Neil Gaiman to mention that he thought who you are as an author is shaped by things you digest before you’re twenty. Shaun quickly agreed. Said he used to really get into reruns of The Twilight Zone the tv series when he was about 11. He then went to the library and asked the librarians what genre The Twilight Zone was. It was science-fiction apparently and he was given a list of sci-fi authors, arranged alphabetically. He came upon Ray Bradbury and never got pass that. (funny!) Shaun read all Bradbury’s books and was completely immersed. (Note to self: read one of Bradbury’s books!) Another book he remembered was Animal Farm by George Orwell. (Note to self: read that one too!) His parents thought it was a children book and gave it for him to read. But just so you know he totally got it and could see who the pigs were on the school playground.

When talking about adaptation of his books, Shaun said he generally doesn’t have a lot of actions in his books and his characters are often nameless. He has always preferred “static images that linger.. like an echo of what happened”. Which doesn’t make it easy to adapt his books to other medium. In one case, The Arrival was adapted to a stage play in Canberra and they added a strong landlady character to create conflict with the main character. Gracious and humble he said if he had seen the adaptation before finishing the book, he would probably make it that way. It’s scary how in the process of creating a book, it could go a thousand different ways. Which path should I take? Which path is right? At the end you have to go with what you feel strongest for. Neil expressed his agreement.

What I gathered from Neil Gaiman:

That he never starts to write a script before he knows who the illustrator will be. It’s crucial to collaborate with the illustrator and adjust his writing in accordance with the strengths and weaknesses of the illustrator.

In his early writing career he wrote biography for Duran Duran..

There are about 60 people altogether working on The Sandman series.

One of the most interesting thing was probably the part where he told the story behind MirrorMask (note to self: watch the movie). Whereas any normal movie project starts with an idea, MirrorMask started with a budget. Dave McKean was given 4 million dollars to make a movie and he accepted, asking Neil to work together. The rest of the details were quite hilarious, I wish I could record everything. Oh he also talked about Stardust the movie (which I also haven’t watched. I do have the book on my tbr.)

It was a great afternoon. But have to say I was really disappointed that they almost literally ran out of the room as soon as the event ended. I brought Stardust with me (my American Gods didn’t arrive on time from Book Depo) and was kinda hoping that there would be signing at the end. They didn’t say there would be, but still I had my hope. Well, Neil disappointed me in that regards. What, is he too famous to do signing in Sydney? :(

I’ve made up my mind. If I could have ANY three authors for dinner, alive or dead, one would definitely be Shaun Tan. My admiration for him keeps going TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

With so many toys coming into Mee’s headquarter in the past few weeks (MacBook, XBox360, Wii), something gotta take the backseat. Reading doesn’t, but I guess blogging does. Coincidentally I’m reading One Hundred Years of Solitude which takes a while to read, while I only have one book review in the backlog. What can I say, the universe just seems to conspire for me not to write anything.

Meanwhile, have you checked out the Booker longlist? This year I have read 1 book, which is a great improvement from the usual uum.. nil. I read The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas earlier this year and I’m glad to see it there, just so we have another Australian apart from Peter Carey (hasn’t he won enough?). There are some brilliant bits in the book and some boring bits, but all in all, a rather worthy read. Most Australians are quite surprised that the book gets so much attention overseas (what with Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and now The Booker), because it is soo Melbournians… I am too. I lived in Melbourne for 6 years before so it is a book I’m glad I read, but I’m not sure how other people relate to it. Perhaps UK’s contemporary suburban life is not that far off than what we have here down under.

Apart from that, one book that piques my interest the most is Room by Emma Donoghue, and I know I’m not alone in this. Looks like Room starts popping up everywhere on the blogosphere. I’m not however rushing to buy and read it. I’m more likely to sit back and watch the battle field from the side, waiting until the dust settles before approaching any of them.

“After graduation from university, Emma, with her youthful aspirations and good humour, shares a night of passion with the shallow and vain Dexter. In a series of annual updates spanning 20 years, we return to the two friends every June 15. We follow their lives as they travel their own paths, intersecting and deviating along the way. As the years tick by, it becomes clear that they are happier, better people when they are together than when they are apart.”

Really, I was hoping this could be the second The Time Traveler’s Wife. But alas, (most of) the panel hated it. I highly trust Marieke and Jason, since they’re always honest and spot-on. Jennifer likes too many books including the not-so-liked ones, so I take her opinions with a grain of salt. Possibly as the main host she can’t butcher a book too much. Or she just has a bubbly personality that doesn’t allow her to be mean to any book.

Marieke started her opinion by saying “I hated it so much. I thought it was a smug, unfunny, unlikeable book about two smug, unfunny, unlikeable people.” (I love her) In the whole show Marieke, Jason, and Wendy (guest) just went on and on about how they hated the book, it’s so funny. Rob (also guest), as the only person apart from Jennifer, who liked the book, actually started talking to the audience instead of the panel (like he’s meant to)! Appealing to the audience to convince them to read the book!

I laughed so much during this segment. Must be one of the funniest episode of First Tuesday. You can watch it online here (12:21).

The second segment features Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth, Marieke’s pick. I am now absolutely convinced that I need to read this book.

“First published in 1969, Philip Roth’s novel is the story of Alexander Portnoy, a young Jewish American who, on regular visits to his therapist’s, pours forth a rambling biography of his early childhood and teenage years. His tale is one of a strict upbringing, a raging libido, sexual guilt, compulsive masturbation and an overbearing mother. Unhappy with his parents and his sex life, Alexander’s confession becomes a comic attempt to cure himself of his one overbearing ailment, his Portnoy’s Complaint.”

You’re not convinced? Well watch the episode online (7:34)! They unanimously loved the book. Marieke this time started with “I just could kiss every page.” Very convincing Marieke. Then the rest of the panel just raved on and on about it.

Must. Read.

Have you read Portnoy’s Complaint or other Philip Roth‘s books? Which one would you recommend?

Are you planning to read any of the two books? Did I or they change your plan?

One thing about the festival is New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards that are always announced at the beginning of the festival. Here are the shortlists this year for The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, which is “named in honor of the highly acclaimed Australian novelist and short-story writer, offered for a book of fiction. The award may be made for either a novel or a collection of stories”:

J.M. Coetzee – Summertime
Richard Flanagan – Wanting
Cate Kennedy – The World Beneath
Steven Lang – 88 Lines about 44 Women
David Malouf – Ransom
Craig Silvey – Jasper Jones

Yes folks, we can claim J.M. Coetzee as Australian now! And guess what? He won!

Anything catches your attention?

I trust you’re all doing fine with me not filling up your reader. Usual blogging activity will resume soon, after I catch up with everything. (Just when I thought I was about to get there…)

Just so you don’t think I’m lying:

Actual snake used in photo

Bracing self to jump headfirst into the swimming hole, hoping no croc was watching

Thanks for all the visits and comments. I’m going to reply them in the next couple of days.

Love,
Mee

In my case, we either have family gathering on Christmas, Chinese New Year, or Lebaran. (oh, and New Year)

I’m going back to Indonesia for Chinese New Year so I’ll be offline for 2 weeks. I’ll see you all in March!

Image from Sydney CNY

Gong xi fat chai, xin nien kuai le!

Spending Australia Day in the office with a giant cube of Lamington

A Better Place, by Mee

Something did! I changed the theme AND my blog title! If you forget, my blog title used to be Books of Mee, but after some consideration, I’ve decided to change it to something more mee (sorry, couldn’t resist :).

I would change my header image every once in a while. Figured my thousands of pictures sitting on my laptop needs a better treatment. A bit of limelight won’t hurt. You know, a couple of weeks of fame is all they’re gonna get.

There might be a few more things I want to change, some cleaning here and there. But overall, I’m quite happy with what I have right now. Thanks to some elves who gave me encouragements. You know who you are! :D

I told you earlier when I reviewed Dracula that I was going to watch its movie soon. So I did.

It’s directed by Francis Ford Coppola and has a line of stars: Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves. The movie is definitely more sexual (sometimes unnecessarily I thought). The main, huge, difference with the original novel is that Mina is Dracula’s wife in previous life and she remembers it! What an odd decision to make.

The movie is all a bit cheesy for me. Perhaps I’m just not a fan of vampire movies. I’m not a fan of the book too after all. I kinda liked Gary Oldman as the old Dracula, with the red robe and funny hair (see the trailer). He really looks creepy there to the point of being unrecognizable.

Talking about vampire movies, I definitely liked Interview With the Vampire more. (Please don’t tell me to watch Buffy or Twilight)

Rating: 7/10

Mao’s Last Dancer (2009)

I’m so much more excited about the second movie. It’s just recently out in Australia and I haven’t heard anyone at the other part of the sea mention it, though it’s pretty big over here (movie and book).

Mao’s Last Dancer follows the extraordinary journey of Li Cunxin, plucked from poor Chinese village by Mao’s cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. During a cultural exchange to America, he fell in love with the country and an American woman, and decided to not go back. The decision caused an outrage that forbid him to go back to his home country and meet his family for a long time. Li is now an Australian.

I’d say I haven’t seen book-to-movie adaptation that is so mind blowing for the longest time! The dance was simply mesmerizing and the journey fascinating! I’m not sure if I want to read the book, because I can’t imagine how it could portray the dancing as well as the film.

The only flaw I found was some stilted acting, but it’s so minor I’m willing to let it go. Highly recommended. Please watch the trailer so you can have some sense of what I’m talking about!

Rating: 10/10

The Book

The last bookish thing I’d like to give a shout is the Book Blogger Holiday Swap! It’s my first time joining. I can’t remember how I missed it last year. I must’ve been very busy. Two years ago I joined something similar with the folks over at Bookcrossing and I had so much fun! So I’m happy we have something similar for book bloggers. The dateline to sign up is 12 November 2009. I hope you can join us!