Steve Hely needed to know how to write very well in order to write as miserably as he does in How I Became a Famous Novelist . In a satirical novel that is a gag-packed assault on fictitious best-selling fiction,Hely, who has been a writer for David Letterman and American Dad , takes aim at genre after genre and manages to savage them all. You are invited to trawl the mass-market fiction in your local bookstore if you think Hely is making much up.
Since he needs a pretext for this batch of dead-on parodies, Hely invents the calculating Pete Tarslaw,hack extraordinaire. And How I Became a Famous Novelist needs to give Pete some motivation. So in a rare show of genuine literary laziness, Hely jolts Pete with the news that his college girlfriend is getting married. This qualifies as instant, just-add-water motivation. Pete wants to be a hugely popular writer so he can make this girlfriend sorry she's marrying somebody else.
With that, Hely is off to the races.He has Pete start analysing popular books to see what makes them sell.That gives Hely a pretext to lard How I Became a Famous Writer with a wide array of supposedly viable titles, main characters, ad lines ("Blood is the new pink") and crazy premises.Sample thriller plot:"A New York City cop discovers that some Hasidic Jews have found a long-lost 11th commandment that changes everything."
Here are some sample titles from Hely's version of the New York Times best-seller list, which is mimicked with particular glee:Cumin: The Spice That Changed the World ,Indict to Unnerve ,The Jane Austen Women's Investigators Club and Sageknights of Darkhorn . The list also includes a sci-fi novel with the following synopsis:"In a post-nuclear future inhabited by intelligent cockroaches, Lieutenant Cccyxx discovers there was once a race of sentient humans."
At the risk of shamelessly cannibalising Hely's humour, here are a few more. Sample military adventure title:Talon of the Warshrike . Sample writerly process: The author of "Warshrike"explains that he got a plot idea while in Venice with his ex-wife; while on a night cruise he looked back at the city and thought,"What if somebody blew this place up?" Finally and most lovably, there is this suspenseful moment from a brisk novel in which a US president is warned about a national security crisis:"Sir, how much do you know about outer space?"
Gradually Pete begins to shape his own version of a winning formula.He is goaded by the example of a folksy, literary type named Preston Brooks who appeals greatly to women and who says things - in person, not in print - like the following, as he gives a tour of his office to a TV interviewer:"I call this the dance hall.Because characters will appear, and introduce themselves and ask me to dance. The character always leads. I bow, accept, dance for a while." Is it any wonder that Pete dreams up a scene in which a young woman admits she's never been to a formal dance in high school - and then a kindly gent named Silas Quilter dances with her in a cornfield?
That novel of Pete's is The Tornado Ashes Club . It involves a grandson who fulfils his grandmother's wish to find a tornado into which she can throw the ashes of her long-lost lover,Luke, who appears in a young, handsome incarnation during the book's picturesquely European World War II flashbacks."Use words to describe old ladies that make them sound beautiful [graceful, regal, etc.]", Pete tells himself about pitching his story to a book-buying audience. He also concocts many other rules, like a dictum to dream up highway scenes "making driving seem poetic and magical" in order to tap into the audiobooks market.(Most audiobooks are listened to in cars.)
The Tornado Ashes Club really does stink. So how closely is Hely going to tether How I Became a Famous Novelist to this one parody? Happily, he concocts so many other diversions and advances Pete's story so deftly that a little of Pete's bad book is allowed to go a long way. And without really straining credulity, Pete's travels through the world of publishing become exuberantly far-flung.
He crosses paths with a businessman who has been inspired by a selfhelp book called Caesar, CEO: Business Secrets of the Ancient Romans and thus refers to a rival company as Carthage; a drab, well-known literary figure who teaches a writing class ("For ease and accuracy I'll call her SpaghettiHair HamsterFace," Pete says) and an editor who makes sadly apt notes about Pete's manuscript."Does a dying deer really smell faintly of cinnamon?" she inquires."You use the word sallow four times, and I'm not sure you ever use it right."
Revealingly, Pete's research project never extends to the writing of endings.That may be because Hely doesn't know how to end this book. In the final chapters he torpedoes Pete's cynicism in ways that will disappoint anyone who was enjoying the jaundiced humour. And there are contrived plot complications.("An interesting fact about the US attorney's office in Boston is that they serve good coffee.")
But the damage is already done:Hely has deftly clobbered the popularbook business. He has taken aim at lucrative "tidy candy-packaged novels you wrapped up and gave as presents",the kinds of books that go "from store shelves to home shelves to used-book sales unread". His complaints about such books are very funny. They'd be even funnier if they weren't true.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
MEDIA PRIMA OFFERS TO BUY NEW STRAITS TIMES
Media Prima, Malaysia's biggest publicly traded publisher, offered to buy out the country's oldest newspaper group at a discount to its share price.
Media Prima is offering one new share for each held in New Straits Times Press, known as NSTP, valuing each share at 2 ringgit (Bt20).
In addition, the newspaper group's shareholders will get one free warrant for every five shares they exchange. This represents a 19 per cent discount to NSTP's last traded price of 2.46 ringgit on Thursday.
Media Prima's managing director Amrin Awaluddin said the offer is "fair' based on NSTP's average share price over the past year, and described as "speculative" a recent surge in the stock.
The offer values the transaction at about 246 million ringgit, based on Bloomberg News calculations of the number of NSTP shares not owned by Media prima.
The offer ends more than two months of speculation that led to a 65-per-cent surge in NSTP's stock price since August 5, when the company announced that its main shareholders were considering options such as privatisation to boost shareholder value.
NSTP said in a separate statement at the weekend that its board does not intend to seek any alternative offers.
"Under the proposed transaction, the enlarged media entity will have the potential to emerge as one of the largest media groups in Malaysia in terms of sales and total shareholders' funds," Amrin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The buyout would help Media Prima, which controls four television stations in Malaysia, add earnings from the New Straits Times, Berita Harian, and Harian Metro newspapers as advertising income rebounds, Sharizan Rosely, an analyst at CIMB Investment Bank, wrote in a report before the announcement.
Earnings at New Straits Times will increase as companies spend more on newspaper advertising, said Sharizan, who kept a "neutral" rating on the stock pending the offer details.
The offer will become unconditional once Media Prima's stake hits 51 per cent, after which it will proceed to de-list NSTP, Amrin said.
Media Prima already owns 43.3 per cent of NSTP, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Amrin expects to complete the buyout by the end of the year, including the de-listing of NSTP.
Media Prima wants to make NSTP a subsidiary, instead of an associate, so it can consolidate its earnings, he said.
The acquisition would boost Media Prima's annual revenue to more than 1 billion ringgit and profit to more than 140 million ringgit once the companies' finances are consolidated, Media Prima said in a statement.
To finance its working capital and investments, Media Prima also intends to sell 150 million ringgit of bonds attached with 50 million warrants that are convertible into shares in the consolidated group.
Maybank Investment Bank raised its recommendation on Malaysia's media industry last month to "neutral" from "underweight" following a rebound in advertising income and consumer confidence.
Advertising spending in newspapers increased 6 per cent to 291.2 million ringgit in July from a year earlier, ending monthly declines that started in October, Maybank wrote in September.
Television and radio advertising expenditure rose 20 per cent in July, according to the report.
Malaysia's economy may shrink less than previously forecast this year amid signs of a global recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said October 14.
Media Prima and NSTP shares were suspended from trading in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and will resume on Monday.
The buy-out would help Media prima, which controls four television stations in Malaysia, add earnings from three newspapers as advertising income rebounds.
Media Prima is offering one new share for each held in New Straits Times Press, known as NSTP, valuing each share at 2 ringgit (Bt20).
In addition, the newspaper group's shareholders will get one free warrant for every five shares they exchange. This represents a 19 per cent discount to NSTP's last traded price of 2.46 ringgit on Thursday.
Media Prima's managing director Amrin Awaluddin said the offer is "fair' based on NSTP's average share price over the past year, and described as "speculative" a recent surge in the stock.
The offer values the transaction at about 246 million ringgit, based on Bloomberg News calculations of the number of NSTP shares not owned by Media prima.
The offer ends more than two months of speculation that led to a 65-per-cent surge in NSTP's stock price since August 5, when the company announced that its main shareholders were considering options such as privatisation to boost shareholder value.
NSTP said in a separate statement at the weekend that its board does not intend to seek any alternative offers.
"Under the proposed transaction, the enlarged media entity will have the potential to emerge as one of the largest media groups in Malaysia in terms of sales and total shareholders' funds," Amrin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The buyout would help Media Prima, which controls four television stations in Malaysia, add earnings from the New Straits Times, Berita Harian, and Harian Metro newspapers as advertising income rebounds, Sharizan Rosely, an analyst at CIMB Investment Bank, wrote in a report before the announcement.
Earnings at New Straits Times will increase as companies spend more on newspaper advertising, said Sharizan, who kept a "neutral" rating on the stock pending the offer details.
The offer will become unconditional once Media Prima's stake hits 51 per cent, after which it will proceed to de-list NSTP, Amrin said.
Media Prima already owns 43.3 per cent of NSTP, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Amrin expects to complete the buyout by the end of the year, including the de-listing of NSTP.
Media Prima wants to make NSTP a subsidiary, instead of an associate, so it can consolidate its earnings, he said.
The acquisition would boost Media Prima's annual revenue to more than 1 billion ringgit and profit to more than 140 million ringgit once the companies' finances are consolidated, Media Prima said in a statement.
To finance its working capital and investments, Media Prima also intends to sell 150 million ringgit of bonds attached with 50 million warrants that are convertible into shares in the consolidated group.
Maybank Investment Bank raised its recommendation on Malaysia's media industry last month to "neutral" from "underweight" following a rebound in advertising income and consumer confidence.
Advertising spending in newspapers increased 6 per cent to 291.2 million ringgit in July from a year earlier, ending monthly declines that started in October, Maybank wrote in September.
Television and radio advertising expenditure rose 20 per cent in July, according to the report.
Malaysia's economy may shrink less than previously forecast this year amid signs of a global recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said October 14.
Media Prima and NSTP shares were suspended from trading in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and will resume on Monday.
The buy-out would help Media prima, which controls four television stations in Malaysia, add earnings from three newspapers as advertising income rebounds.
Times scraps sale of Boston Globe
The New York Times Co said it had given up its plan to sell the Boston Globe and related businesses after drastic cuts it imposed on the daily newspaper earlier this year improved its financial position.
The announcement caps a painful odyssey for the 137-year-old Boston Globe that began earlier this year when the Times threatened to close the paper if it could not get its unions to agree to deep cost cuts.
Selling the Globe would have been a dismal exit from Boston for the Times.The company spent $1.1 billion to buy the Globe in 1993, at the time the most money ever paid for a single US newspaper. The offers it reportedly received for the Globe this month were less than 10% of what it paid.
The Times did not mention the bids and officials were unavailable for comment about whether they played a role in the decision to stop the sale. The company instead said the Globe 's financial outlook has brightened.
"The Globe has significantly improved its financial footing by following the strategic plan it set out at the beginning of the year," Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr and chief executive Janet Robinson wrote to Globe workers on Wednesday.
"All along, we explicitly recognised that a careful restructuring of the Globe was one possible route and, thanks to your hard work, that is precisely what has been done," they wrote.
"I think many of us felt that the more we learned about the potential buyers,the more the Times seemed to be the best possible owner for us," said Michael Paulson, a reporter who covers religion for the Globe.
When the decision was announced in the newsroom, he said "there was no celebration but there was a sense of relief."
The Times, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission,said it was still considering options for the Telegram & Gazette , a daily paper that serves Worcester, Massachusetts, a city about 40 miles west of Boston.
The Times wants to reach a decision soon "and we will provide a full update to our colleagues as quickly as possible,"Sulzberger and Robinson wrote.
It did not say if it was still trying to sell its interest in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
The announcement caps a painful odyssey for the 137-year-old Boston Globe that began earlier this year when the Times threatened to close the paper if it could not get its unions to agree to deep cost cuts.
Selling the Globe would have been a dismal exit from Boston for the Times.The company spent $1.1 billion to buy the Globe in 1993, at the time the most money ever paid for a single US newspaper. The offers it reportedly received for the Globe this month were less than 10% of what it paid.
The Times did not mention the bids and officials were unavailable for comment about whether they played a role in the decision to stop the sale. The company instead said the Globe 's financial outlook has brightened.
"The Globe has significantly improved its financial footing by following the strategic plan it set out at the beginning of the year," Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr and chief executive Janet Robinson wrote to Globe workers on Wednesday.
"All along, we explicitly recognised that a careful restructuring of the Globe was one possible route and, thanks to your hard work, that is precisely what has been done," they wrote.
"I think many of us felt that the more we learned about the potential buyers,the more the Times seemed to be the best possible owner for us," said Michael Paulson, a reporter who covers religion for the Globe.
When the decision was announced in the newsroom, he said "there was no celebration but there was a sense of relief."
The Times, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission,said it was still considering options for the Telegram & Gazette , a daily paper that serves Worcester, Massachusetts, a city about 40 miles west of Boston.
The Times wants to reach a decision soon "and we will provide a full update to our colleagues as quickly as possible,"Sulzberger and Robinson wrote.
It did not say if it was still trying to sell its interest in the company that owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
TIME FOR ASIAN WRITERS TO SHINE
Southeast Asian writers were urged by bestselling author Paul Theroux to tell their stories with honesty and integrity, without bias and hidden agendas.
Theroux says writers are "seldom well compensated" for their efforts, especially poets who are often underrated for their contributions to society.
But with the emergence of Asia as a new global power, he says regional governments would do well to support their own writers, he says in honouting eight regional winners of the Southeast Asian Writers Awards recently.
At the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the venue of the gala event, Theroux reminded a packed hall that classic writers of old from abroad such as Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham need not be the only voices depicting the region.
"It is time your own writers write the stories."
The world should wake up to the big changes sweeping the Orient.
The Asia Theroux wrote in his latest book "Ghost Train To The Eastern Star" traces the magical leap made by countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand the past 40 years.
"I first came to Thailand and Vietnam in 1969," says Theroux who taught literature at the National University of Singapore from 1968-71.
His first book on Asia, called "The Great Railway Bazaar", 30 years ago spoke about a chaotic capital that was Bangkok and of colourful trips to Indochina during the Vietnam War years.
Those tales now serve as historical documents for a time and place long gone.
For stories to survive, Theroux stresses the need for honesty.
In good writing, he says, you need to exercise ethics and integrity.
His speech before His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and his Royal Consort HRH Princess Srirasmi was the highpoint of the evening.
The sponsors of Sea-Write, one of the most prestigious corporate social responsibility events in the Kingdom, include Bangkok Bank, Thai Airways International, Mandarin Oriental, Bank of Thailand, Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Thai Beverage, the Rex Morgan Foundation, the Chumbhot-Pantip Foundation, Toshiba Thailand and King Power Complex.
Theroux says he owes much of his success to a table he made in Singapore in 1970.
The table, which could be taken apart, as Theroux travels often, was made by a carpenter off Orchard Road.
"Today Orchard Road has changed so much. None of the old shops remain," he adds.
But the table, bought for just 240 Singapore dollars (Bt5,800), has served him well.
It has followed him to Britain, where he lived for many years and then to Hawaii where he now resides.
"I couldn't work on a wobbly table. The carpenter made the table out of hard wood with fatlegs," he says.
It stood a bit lower than most tables to accommodate writing and typing work.
Therous still writes long hand before typing the manuscript.
About 40 books owed their origins to this table.
Towards he end of his stay in Britain, Theroux wrote "Kingdom By The Sea" in 1978. It became one of his most celebrated works.
"It written at a time of the Falklands War," he recalls. "I was disturbed by the event. I was against the war."
"The Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges says it best when he compares it to tow bald men fighting over a comb."
Commenting on today's digital age, Theroux says he trusts his calligraphy more than keyboards.
People should not be fooled by the hype drummed up by computer companies and Internet firms. Books and newspapers will never be replaced by the electronic medium, he says.
The prine medium is far cheaper than the new medium and does not require expensive monthly fees and repairs.
Theroux's steady income testifies writers can still live off their books.
"The Great Railway Bazaar" was reprinted 52 times, providing royalty income for the writer.
Some of his works have also been made into films. His books "Dr Slaughter" became the movie "Half Moon Street" (1986) with Sigourney Weaver; "Chinese Box" (1997) with Harrison Ford and "Saint Jack" (1979) with Ben Gazzara.
But it is his non-fiction works that Theroux is best known for.
His trip to Asia followed his stint as a Peace Corp volunteer in Malawi in 1963.
It was his involvement in politics in Malawi that led to his expulsion in 1965.
After two years in Uganda, he travelled to Singapore, the backdrop to "Saint Jack".
The tale of an American hustler who becomes involved with the world's oldest profession during the "rest and recreation" years of the Vietnam War is regarded today as an invaluable historical work.
So much of Singapore has changed and many of the places no longer eixts.
In 1971, he quit the English Department to begin a full-time writing career.
"I have never held a job since."
Theroux says writers are "seldom well compensated" for their efforts, especially poets who are often underrated for their contributions to society.
But with the emergence of Asia as a new global power, he says regional governments would do well to support their own writers, he says in honouting eight regional winners of the Southeast Asian Writers Awards recently.
At the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the venue of the gala event, Theroux reminded a packed hall that classic writers of old from abroad such as Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham need not be the only voices depicting the region.
"It is time your own writers write the stories."
The world should wake up to the big changes sweeping the Orient.
The Asia Theroux wrote in his latest book "Ghost Train To The Eastern Star" traces the magical leap made by countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand the past 40 years.
"I first came to Thailand and Vietnam in 1969," says Theroux who taught literature at the National University of Singapore from 1968-71.
His first book on Asia, called "The Great Railway Bazaar", 30 years ago spoke about a chaotic capital that was Bangkok and of colourful trips to Indochina during the Vietnam War years.
Those tales now serve as historical documents for a time and place long gone.
For stories to survive, Theroux stresses the need for honesty.
In good writing, he says, you need to exercise ethics and integrity.
His speech before His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and his Royal Consort HRH Princess Srirasmi was the highpoint of the evening.
The sponsors of Sea-Write, one of the most prestigious corporate social responsibility events in the Kingdom, include Bangkok Bank, Thai Airways International, Mandarin Oriental, Bank of Thailand, Export-Import Bank of Thailand, Thai Beverage, the Rex Morgan Foundation, the Chumbhot-Pantip Foundation, Toshiba Thailand and King Power Complex.
Theroux says he owes much of his success to a table he made in Singapore in 1970.
The table, which could be taken apart, as Theroux travels often, was made by a carpenter off Orchard Road.
"Today Orchard Road has changed so much. None of the old shops remain," he adds.
But the table, bought for just 240 Singapore dollars (Bt5,800), has served him well.
It has followed him to Britain, where he lived for many years and then to Hawaii where he now resides.
"I couldn't work on a wobbly table. The carpenter made the table out of hard wood with fatlegs," he says.
It stood a bit lower than most tables to accommodate writing and typing work.
Therous still writes long hand before typing the manuscript.
About 40 books owed their origins to this table.
Towards he end of his stay in Britain, Theroux wrote "Kingdom By The Sea" in 1978. It became one of his most celebrated works.
"It written at a time of the Falklands War," he recalls. "I was disturbed by the event. I was against the war."
"The Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges says it best when he compares it to tow bald men fighting over a comb."
Commenting on today's digital age, Theroux says he trusts his calligraphy more than keyboards.
People should not be fooled by the hype drummed up by computer companies and Internet firms. Books and newspapers will never be replaced by the electronic medium, he says.
The prine medium is far cheaper than the new medium and does not require expensive monthly fees and repairs.
Theroux's steady income testifies writers can still live off their books.
"The Great Railway Bazaar" was reprinted 52 times, providing royalty income for the writer.
Some of his works have also been made into films. His books "Dr Slaughter" became the movie "Half Moon Street" (1986) with Sigourney Weaver; "Chinese Box" (1997) with Harrison Ford and "Saint Jack" (1979) with Ben Gazzara.
But it is his non-fiction works that Theroux is best known for.
His trip to Asia followed his stint as a Peace Corp volunteer in Malawi in 1963.
It was his involvement in politics in Malawi that led to his expulsion in 1965.
After two years in Uganda, he travelled to Singapore, the backdrop to "Saint Jack".
The tale of an American hustler who becomes involved with the world's oldest profession during the "rest and recreation" years of the Vietnam War is regarded today as an invaluable historical work.
So much of Singapore has changed and many of the places no longer eixts.
In 1971, he quit the English Department to begin a full-time writing career.
"I have never held a job since."
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Pared down, but still meaty
Reacting to the anticipatory effects generated by last week's commencement of construction of the tent, Bangkok fashionistas who bump into one another every other night at some party or other started bidding adieu with the new catchphrase "Bye, see you at the tent next week!"
Disregarding the daily ominous grey clouds that pose a threat of rain, Bangkok is getting into just the right mood for Elle Fashion Week (EFW). September and early October saw several collection and brand launches.
The Bangkok Fashion Society premiered its latest collection by holding a pop-up show a few weeks ago. Celebrity leatherwear designer Tipanan Krairiksh welcomed a large gathering of journos and invited guests at the opening of her new signature shop at Siam Paragon last week. Munchu's, Vickteerut and its sister line Robshop, together with hip children's wear boutique Rhapsody launched their new offerings this past Sunday at Fallabella. Elle Fashion Week couldn't hope for a more dynamic warm-up.
But what is in store for the fashion crowd on this year's EFW runway? First, the number of shows has dropped to 12, not including the two special promotional shows by CentralWorld and the one by the Department of Export Promotion showcasing its brands in its Designers' Room: Now. Fortunately, size does not matter when it comes to fashion (unless you're a model) and EFW, while losing a few big names such as Issue, Greyhound and Headquarter, has managed to lure back onto the runway some show magnets like Sretsis and Kloset Red Carpet as well as keeping event favourites ranging from Zenithorial and Disaya to Senada Theory on its schedule one more time.
If there's one thing fashionistas will miss at this year's Elle Fashion Week,which kicks off today, it's surely the leading streetwear brands that offer menswear,notably Greyhound and Headquarter.However, a show-stopper like Zenthorial will be present to guarantee excitement with its latest collection celebrating the works of revered fashion lensman Amat Nimitpark, who has been working in the Thai fashion industry for over 25 years.Its display, together with the one that will be put on by 27 Friday, which is also going to present menswear to its huge,loyal fan base, should secure a full-house tent.
Despite the fewer show days and a less-packed schedule, Elle Fashion Week will not be compromising on style diversity.The event welcomes regular masters from Kai, Pisit to Nagara, all of whom will be rolling out their presentations on the same day to ensure that fashion followers coming to keep track of their creative mastery get full benefit by attending. Last year's young designer Vatit Itthi will also be returning to the catwalk to demonstrate that couture and meticulous cutting do not belong to only the seasoned masters.The design duo will be adhering to the
international fashion calendar by showing off their Spring/Summer collection emphasising texture and layering.
Making its first appearance at Elle Fashion Week is Olanor, a brainchild of former Theatre's design assistant Thanes Boonprasan, who has already taken this new brand to several trade shows and fairs abroad.Scheduled to make the scene on the same day as Kai, Nagara and Pisit, the brand will have the opportunity to attract the attention of the same crowd of trendsetters who appreciate refinement and luxury.
Now, now, the rest is girls talk. EFW has embraced all the darlings of young female fashionistas to the fold once again.Sretsis, Senada, Kloset Red Carpet, Disaya and Asava have promised to continue to be show magnets this year. Disaya will open the event with a collection that glistens even in an era of darkness called Celestial Warrior. Asava tackles the concept of changing lifestyles brought about by the economic downturn in its Wall Street Goddess collection. Sretsis goes back to its seemingly basic yet slightly eccentric Metamorphosis theme. The collection celebrates design as a process of transformation and will feature the season's must-haves, such as reversible dresses.Kloset Red Carpet puts on the grand finale to the four-day event with a collection inspired by Tangrams, the puzzle board game.
EFW will also be featuring two special shows by CentralWorld that will see models strutting on the runway wearing the current season's items created by international brands like Mango, Castro and Topshop to offer fashionistas mix-and-match ideas.
Elle Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2009 at CentralWorld begins today until Sunday.
Disregarding the daily ominous grey clouds that pose a threat of rain, Bangkok is getting into just the right mood for Elle Fashion Week (EFW). September and early October saw several collection and brand launches.
The Bangkok Fashion Society premiered its latest collection by holding a pop-up show a few weeks ago. Celebrity leatherwear designer Tipanan Krairiksh welcomed a large gathering of journos and invited guests at the opening of her new signature shop at Siam Paragon last week. Munchu's, Vickteerut and its sister line Robshop, together with hip children's wear boutique Rhapsody launched their new offerings this past Sunday at Fallabella. Elle Fashion Week couldn't hope for a more dynamic warm-up.
But what is in store for the fashion crowd on this year's EFW runway? First, the number of shows has dropped to 12, not including the two special promotional shows by CentralWorld and the one by the Department of Export Promotion showcasing its brands in its Designers' Room: Now. Fortunately, size does not matter when it comes to fashion (unless you're a model) and EFW, while losing a few big names such as Issue, Greyhound and Headquarter, has managed to lure back onto the runway some show magnets like Sretsis and Kloset Red Carpet as well as keeping event favourites ranging from Zenithorial and Disaya to Senada Theory on its schedule one more time.
If there's one thing fashionistas will miss at this year's Elle Fashion Week,which kicks off today, it's surely the leading streetwear brands that offer menswear,notably Greyhound and Headquarter.However, a show-stopper like Zenthorial will be present to guarantee excitement with its latest collection celebrating the works of revered fashion lensman Amat Nimitpark, who has been working in the Thai fashion industry for over 25 years.Its display, together with the one that will be put on by 27 Friday, which is also going to present menswear to its huge,loyal fan base, should secure a full-house tent.
Despite the fewer show days and a less-packed schedule, Elle Fashion Week will not be compromising on style diversity.The event welcomes regular masters from Kai, Pisit to Nagara, all of whom will be rolling out their presentations on the same day to ensure that fashion followers coming to keep track of their creative mastery get full benefit by attending. Last year's young designer Vatit Itthi will also be returning to the catwalk to demonstrate that couture and meticulous cutting do not belong to only the seasoned masters.The design duo will be adhering to the
international fashion calendar by showing off their Spring/Summer collection emphasising texture and layering.
Making its first appearance at Elle Fashion Week is Olanor, a brainchild of former Theatre's design assistant Thanes Boonprasan, who has already taken this new brand to several trade shows and fairs abroad.Scheduled to make the scene on the same day as Kai, Nagara and Pisit, the brand will have the opportunity to attract the attention of the same crowd of trendsetters who appreciate refinement and luxury.
Now, now, the rest is girls talk. EFW has embraced all the darlings of young female fashionistas to the fold once again.Sretsis, Senada, Kloset Red Carpet, Disaya and Asava have promised to continue to be show magnets this year. Disaya will open the event with a collection that glistens even in an era of darkness called Celestial Warrior. Asava tackles the concept of changing lifestyles brought about by the economic downturn in its Wall Street Goddess collection. Sretsis goes back to its seemingly basic yet slightly eccentric Metamorphosis theme. The collection celebrates design as a process of transformation and will feature the season's must-haves, such as reversible dresses.Kloset Red Carpet puts on the grand finale to the four-day event with a collection inspired by Tangrams, the puzzle board game.
EFW will also be featuring two special shows by CentralWorld that will see models strutting on the runway wearing the current season's items created by international brands like Mango, Castro and Topshop to offer fashionistas mix-and-match ideas.
Elle Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2009 at CentralWorld begins today until Sunday.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A "French chef" whose appeal doesn't translate well in France
Julia Child may have been the US's best-known "French chef", but here in Paris, few know her fabled cookbooks, let alone her name.
Posters for the movie Julie & Julia were plastered across the city before its release here on Wednesday. But the movie was being anticipated more for Meryl Streep's performance as Child than for any particular interest in Child, the principal author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking , who died in 2004.Child's book - beloved by US cooks for almost 50 years and now a bestseller because of the film - has never been translated into French, said Anne Perrier, a manager at Galignani, an English-language bookshop here."It's the vision of a revisited France, adapted to the American taste, at a time when tastes were lifeless," she said.
In an interview in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro last week, Streep said:"What surprises me is that the French don't know her at all. While for Americans, she was one of the best ambassadors of France ... since Lafayette!"
French food experts are divided about Child and her cooking. Some say she caricatured French cuisine in her book and cooking show, making it seem too heavy and formal. Others believe she demystified it and see her as a role model in France, where cooking shows are rare and cuisine is not necessarily viewed as something anyone can interpret.
"Julia Child's cuisine is academic and bourgeois," said Julie Andrieu, a television personality and cookery book author."It shows that in America, the cliche of beef, baguette and canard farci remains."
For Jean-Claude Ribaut, the food critic at Le Monde , Child was more like "a mediator who promoted the French lifestyle in the United States, but had no influence on restaurateurs".
But some chefs say they hope that the film will rehabilitate French cooking in the US. Gilles Epie, a chef who met Child in Los Angeles at a birthday party for her in the early 1990s, thinks French cooking has been tarnished as stodgy.
"Americans have really slammed French cuisine," Epie said."They think we only eat boeuf bourguignon and rabbit stew, which is wrong."
Before taking over the Citrus Etoile,in the 8th Arrondissement, Epie ran the Los Angeles restaurant L'Orangerie for more than three years. He remembered with distaste the strictness of US health rules about food.
"My fish shop in Santa Monica smelled like a pharmacy" instead of like fresh fish, he said."And when I asked for a three-month-old baby lamb, like you can find here, they thought I was crazy and nearly called the police."
But some French chefs say they believe that Child, through the film, could have an impact on contemporary French cooking, or at least make boeuf bourguignon,a traditional dish currently absent from most French menus, fashionable again.
"She explains her recipes like a housewife, but she knows how to do it and she does it genuinely," said Guy Savoy, owner of the restaurant that bears his name in Paris. He met Child in 1981 in Massachusetts and remembered her as "a real character, gentle and affable".
Andrieu, the cookbook author, said that despite Child's cliched recipes, her style could be defined as a "combination of scientific and empirical virtues" that helped explain why US authors wrote better cookbooks than the French.
"The French think that they are natural-born cooks; they prepare a dish off the top of their heads, without testing it," she said."In France, we rush over explanations."
After watching Julie & Julia , Andrieu said, she felt compelled to go home and make boeuf bourguignon according to Child's recipe."I cut the flour in half,and it turned out to be the best I had ever made," she said.
Epie even thinks that Child's story should encourage the French to discuss their cuisine in a more democratic way.
He is one of the few respected chefs in Paris to offer US food on his menu,including his signature dish: a crab cake a la francaise, prepared with shellfish oil instead of mayonnaise.
"I want to do Julia Child, but Julia Child with real fish, real lobster, with eels to shuck and rabbit to bone," he said."That's my dream."
Posters for the movie Julie & Julia were plastered across the city before its release here on Wednesday. But the movie was being anticipated more for Meryl Streep's performance as Child than for any particular interest in Child, the principal author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking , who died in 2004.Child's book - beloved by US cooks for almost 50 years and now a bestseller because of the film - has never been translated into French, said Anne Perrier, a manager at Galignani, an English-language bookshop here."It's the vision of a revisited France, adapted to the American taste, at a time when tastes were lifeless," she said.
In an interview in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro last week, Streep said:"What surprises me is that the French don't know her at all. While for Americans, she was one of the best ambassadors of France ... since Lafayette!"
French food experts are divided about Child and her cooking. Some say she caricatured French cuisine in her book and cooking show, making it seem too heavy and formal. Others believe she demystified it and see her as a role model in France, where cooking shows are rare and cuisine is not necessarily viewed as something anyone can interpret.
"Julia Child's cuisine is academic and bourgeois," said Julie Andrieu, a television personality and cookery book author."It shows that in America, the cliche of beef, baguette and canard farci remains."
For Jean-Claude Ribaut, the food critic at Le Monde , Child was more like "a mediator who promoted the French lifestyle in the United States, but had no influence on restaurateurs".
But some chefs say they hope that the film will rehabilitate French cooking in the US. Gilles Epie, a chef who met Child in Los Angeles at a birthday party for her in the early 1990s, thinks French cooking has been tarnished as stodgy.
"Americans have really slammed French cuisine," Epie said."They think we only eat boeuf bourguignon and rabbit stew, which is wrong."
Before taking over the Citrus Etoile,in the 8th Arrondissement, Epie ran the Los Angeles restaurant L'Orangerie for more than three years. He remembered with distaste the strictness of US health rules about food.
"My fish shop in Santa Monica smelled like a pharmacy" instead of like fresh fish, he said."And when I asked for a three-month-old baby lamb, like you can find here, they thought I was crazy and nearly called the police."
But some French chefs say they believe that Child, through the film, could have an impact on contemporary French cooking, or at least make boeuf bourguignon,a traditional dish currently absent from most French menus, fashionable again.
"She explains her recipes like a housewife, but she knows how to do it and she does it genuinely," said Guy Savoy, owner of the restaurant that bears his name in Paris. He met Child in 1981 in Massachusetts and remembered her as "a real character, gentle and affable".
Andrieu, the cookbook author, said that despite Child's cliched recipes, her style could be defined as a "combination of scientific and empirical virtues" that helped explain why US authors wrote better cookbooks than the French.
"The French think that they are natural-born cooks; they prepare a dish off the top of their heads, without testing it," she said."In France, we rush over explanations."
After watching Julie & Julia , Andrieu said, she felt compelled to go home and make boeuf bourguignon according to Child's recipe."I cut the flour in half,and it turned out to be the best I had ever made," she said.
Epie even thinks that Child's story should encourage the French to discuss their cuisine in a more democratic way.
He is one of the few respected chefs in Paris to offer US food on his menu,including his signature dish: a crab cake a la francaise, prepared with shellfish oil instead of mayonnaise.
"I want to do Julia Child, but Julia Child with real fish, real lobster, with eels to shuck and rabbit to bone," he said."That's my dream."
Sunday, October 11, 2009
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER IRVING PENN DIES AT 92
Influential fashion photographer Irving Penn, known for his elegant, minimalist portraits, died Wednesday. He was 92.
Penn was long associated with Vogue magazine, where he first began working in the 1940s and won renown for his calm, classical compositions.
He died at home in New York, said a representative for Pace/MacGill Gallery, which represents Penn's work.
Although he was most famous for photographs of glamorous models - including a black-and-white, nude Gisele Bundchen - he brought the same graceful simplicity and accuracy to pictures of Peruvian peasants or New Guinea tribesmen.
"Instead of spontaneity, Mr Penn Provided the illusion of a seance, his gaze precisely describing the profile of a Balenciaga coat or of a Moroccan djellaba in a way that could almost mesmerize the viewer," The New York Times said in an obituary.
"Nothing escaped the edges of his photographs unless he commanded it."
His photographs regularly fetch tens of thousands of dollars under the hammer. An auction scheduled at Christie's in New York on Thursday was to feature some 15 prints by Penn.
Penn was long associated with Vogue magazine, where he first began working in the 1940s and won renown for his calm, classical compositions.
He died at home in New York, said a representative for Pace/MacGill Gallery, which represents Penn's work.
Although he was most famous for photographs of glamorous models - including a black-and-white, nude Gisele Bundchen - he brought the same graceful simplicity and accuracy to pictures of Peruvian peasants or New Guinea tribesmen.
"Instead of spontaneity, Mr Penn Provided the illusion of a seance, his gaze precisely describing the profile of a Balenciaga coat or of a Moroccan djellaba in a way that could almost mesmerize the viewer," The New York Times said in an obituary.
"Nothing escaped the edges of his photographs unless he commanded it."
His photographs regularly fetch tens of thousands of dollars under the hammer. An auction scheduled at Christie's in New York on Thursday was to feature some 15 prints by Penn.
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