John Gay.
Born : June 30, 1685, Barnstaple, Devon, Eng.
Died: Dec. 4, 1732, London

Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote,
And think they grow immortal as they quote.
- Edward Young, adapted from Love of Fame

Continue reading "Insights: Literary Genius: John Gay" »

Posted by digitalk team at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Image taken from Factiva.com

A poll done on Americans reflected that one in four adults read no books in 2006. As shocking as it may seem, the polls reveals the truth, that there are indeed people all over this globe who have hardly ever read.

It was also reflected in the Associated Press-Ipsos poll that amongst those who read, women and seniors were most avid. Top choices for books were mostly religious works and popular fiction.

How about Singaporeans? Do we read? Share your views with us.

Direct Links:
(1) Fram, Alan. "Poll: 1 in 4 U.S. adults read no books last year." Associated Press Newswires. 22 August 2007. Data from: Factiva.com

Posted by digitalk team at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

that we behaved as they would wish us to, and are buried here.” – William Golding, The Hot Gates, 1965 (From Wikipedia).

This quote was taken from an essay written on the Battle of Thermopylae by author William Golding, in his collection of essays titled “ The Hot Gates”. Golding’s reasons for choosing “The Hot Gates” (the English translation of Thermopylae) as the title for the collection are perhaps explained by the following from his Battle of Thermopylae essay:

“Neither your nor Leonidas nor anyone else could foresee that here thirty years’ time was won for shining Athens and all Greece and all humanity.” “A little of Leonidas lies in the fact that I can go where I like and write what I like. He contributed to set us free.” (Information taken from URL: http://www.william-golding.co.uk/w_hot_gates.html)

Well Golding wasn’t the only one who admired Leonidas. Renowned comic writer Frank Miller and Lynn Varley retold the Battle of Thermopylae in their graphic novel “300,” which has been remarkably dramatized by Hollywood in its adaptation of “300.”

Prepare for glory Zack Snyder, director of “300,” did when he started this project as the film is now 2007’s first certified blockbuster with ticket sales of US $70 million over its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. (4)

That gives you about US $233, 000 for every one of the gung-ho 300 Spartan warriors who fought against the very much larger army of Persian soldiers in the epic battle of Thermopylae.

"On a Spartan-by-Spartan basis, that's a lot of money," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "Summer came a little early, because this is a summer-style opening." (4)

Continue reading "“Stranger, tell the Spartans…" »

Posted by digitalk team at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The poor old pig gets a really bad press - very few of the phrases in English which contain the word "pig" seem to be complementary and some are downright inaccurate!

"Stink like a pig"
To say this would insult any average pig. Pigs are very clean animals and have virtually no odour.

"Sweating like a pig"
Pigs do not sweat, they have no sweat glands - this is why they like to roll in the mud to cool off.

"Eat like a pig"
Well finally smething right! A pig does love to eat and eat ... and eat!

"I can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear"
This is apparently a mistranslation of "can't make a silk purse from sousier". Sousier (from the 16th century French coin the Sou) is a rough, French purse peasants used to keep their coins in; the phrase says you cannot make something quality from something rough and cheap.
but could also come from 'Pig's ear' Cockney rhyming slang for beer. 'A pig's ear' is a mess or muddle perhaps caused when one is drunk?

Continue reading "You absolute pig!" »

Posted by digitalk team at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the rationalist to the devotee of whatever persuasion - it seems we can't resist saying something quotable about love. Here's a selection of our favourites from first flush to dealing with the debris:

At First Sight

"Where both deliberate, the love is slight: Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?"

Christopher Marlowe 1564-1593, British Dramatist, Poet

"I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. We generally make up our minds beforehand to the sort of person we should like, grave or gay, black, brown, or fair; with golden tresses or raven locks; -- and when we meet with a complete example of the qualities we admire, the bargain is soon struck."
William Hazlitt 1778-1830, British Essayist

"You can't blame gravity for falling in love."
Albert Einstein

Continue reading "Love "Quote ....Unquote"" »

Posted by digi.talk team at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The art of obfuscation(1) has long been with us or is it that just that it seems that way? Everyone seems to love telling everyone else as little as possible in order to dress up, obscure, or shade the actuality of what is going on. On the other hand a professional facade, image or (in the jargon) brand is pretty much expected these days - it gives people confidence that what they are seeing, buying or wearing has "cred"

Obvious culprits are the IT industry, the advertising profession and of course our politicians. Whether it be buzzwords(2), trendy phrases for those wish to appear "cool"; acronyms, the dizzying alphabet soup of obscure abbreviations; or technical or specialized phraseology created by a particular niche world- it all adds several layers to the already huge amount of plain information we seem to be required to soak up in order to just function day-to-day. ...and of course with the web it has all got a lot more deeper, fatter and taller. What has been spawned is a network of nets made up of management-speak, corporate-speak, marketing-speak, geek-speak, business-speak, therapy-speak, art-speak, lawyer-speak, media-speak, government-speak, consultant-speak, technospeak or adspeak.

Continue reading "Bull, Doublespeak and the Transfer Tube" »

Posted by digi.talk team at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

*****
A certain minor light may still
Leap incandescent

*****
... Miracles occur,
if you care to call those spasmodic
Tricks of radiance miracles. The wait's begun again,
The long wait for the angel,
For that rare, random descent.

Plath, Sylvia. "Black Rook in Rainy Weather." The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry. January 29, 2007. http://www.columbiagrangers.org.

Interested in poetry?

Check out Granger's World of Poetry Online here.

Posted by digitalk team at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All of us have our favorite set of authors whose books we love. Writing a novel is not an easy task. And writing a good novel is an even tougher feat. So what makes a good novel?

“Character, story and underlying spiritual truth are what matter. These are considered to be the fundamentals of novels, which must be understood if one wants to write one,” says Calder Willingham in his article. According to Erika Dreifus in her article. “Characters must want something, and want it intensely.” In novels, the characters are the main aspect.

It isn’t all about fundamentals I reckon. One should be able to imagine, has to be expressive and fluent with their language to write a fabulous novel.

“Almost all fiction and non-fiction, including short stories and essays, need a strong, distinctive voice,” mentioned novelist John Edward Ames. The concept of “voice,” is defined as the style or manner of expression of an author or character in a book. This creates the identity and personality of the author’s writing both in fiction and non-fiction. Each author is different is their own way, thus they have their own unique writing style. It is their individuality that makes them stand out and steal readers’ attention.

Ever wanted to write your very own novel?

First, listen to Robert B. Parker, author of the Spenser series (latest: Back Story), and Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island, who know a thing or two about stringing words together and about getting the job done.

- "DIVE IN.” "Just write the book for yourself. It won't matter then whether it gets published, "Lehane says. "Write it for yourself, and then self-consciousness goes away."

- PREPARE TO STINK. "You won't be coming out of the gate with the necessary skills," Lehane says. "You have to suck longer than you think. If you want to be rich or want to be known, there are so many easier ways."

- PACE YOURSELF. Parker writes no more than five pages a day; his limit before becoming "bored or distracted." In 60 days, that is 300 pages. Lehane blocks out at least 2 hours a day - no phone, no e-mail, no getting up. "Don't get up when it hurts. And it'll hurt," he says.

- GO TO WORK. "If you do this for a living, you can't wait for inspiration," Parker says. "Writing fiction is a matter of will and self-control. Talent isn't everything."

- CRIME-STOPPER TIPS: For a crime or detective novel, concentrate on characters, not plot. "People are more interested in people than events," Parker says. Lehane says limit physical descriptions: "It lets the reader own the characters."

Singapore too has its very own group of novelists. Check out our local novels at the launch of So You Think You Can Write A Novel, featuring novel excerpts by 19 Singapore writers. For more information, visit here.

So get inspired, set the scene and get your brain juices flowing.

Direct Links:
(1) How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author
Ilene Cooper. The Booklist. Chicago: Sep 1, 2006, Vol. 103 Issue 1, p36- p38.
Taken from: ProQuest Research

(2) One author's steps to success for fiction writers
Erika Dreifus. The Writer. Boston: Oct 2006. Vol. 119 Issue 10, p49.
Taken from: ProQuest Research

(3) In search of voice on the streets of Deadwood
John Edward Ames. The Writer. Boston: Sep 2006. Volume 119 Issue 9, p43.
Taken from: ProQuest Research

(4) How To Write Novels and Screenplays.
Willingham, Calder. Texas Review, Spring/Summer2005, Vol. 26 Issue 1/2, p81-p99.
Taken from: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

(5) Writing Novels and Having Fun: That's Amore.
Andriani, Lynn. Publishers Weekly, 4/26/2004, Vol. 251 Issue 17, p32-p36.
Taken from: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

(6) The Case of the New Writer.
Men's Health, May2003, Vol. 18 Issue 4, p86.
Taken from: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

(7) The Writing Life.
Trujillo, Carla. Lambda Book Report, Jun99, Vol. 7 Issue 11, p18.
Taken from: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier

Posted by digitalk team at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is Hollywood suffering from a lack of imagination?

Gehring, Wes D., mentioned in his article“American movies generally attempt to play it safe financially by working with proven material. Besides the aforementioned sequel route, there are five additional safety net approaches: copycatting a popular genre hit, moving a television program to the big screen, literary adaptations, remakes, and re-releases.”

It is worrisome that the movies running in our theatres in recent times are mostly adaptations of novels, comics and games or remakes and re-releases.
Sure, most of the time we’re left anticipating, waiting in vain, always on the lookout for the latest sneak previews just to see our favourites unveil in front of us on the big screen. Unfortunately, despite being released with a big bang, they largely fail to impress the fans of the originals.

Reviewing the movie version of Oscar Wilde's “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in The Nation in 1945, James Agee complained that "the novel ... is distinguished, wise, and frightening; whereas the movie is just a cultured horror movie, decorated with epigrams and an elaborate moral, and made with a sincere effort at good taste rather than with passion, immediacy, or imagination."

Movie adaptations have been an ongoing trend since the days when movies were black-and-white. But what seemed to be a subtle trend is fast becoming common in Hollywood today. One could name a string of movies produced, based on novels, comics and games. In the upcoming weeks, several adaptations would be released such as James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia, Steven Millhauser’s The Illusionist, Janette Oke’s Love’s Abiding Joy, Tom Perrotta’s Little Children and Dito Montiel’s A Guide to Recognising Your Saints, just to name a few.

Whether these movies will go the way of their predecessors, remains to be seen but if you want to find out more about adapted screenplays do visit our databases today.

Direct Links:
(1) Vineberg, Steve. “In Movie Adaptations, Changing Stories to Keep Their Essence.”
Chronicle of Higher Education. 2/9/2001, Vol. 47 Issue 22, pB12.
EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.
(2) Gehring, Wes D. “Hollywood suffers from lack of imagination.” USA Today Magazine;
November 1997, Vol. 126 Issue 2630, p70-p74.
EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier.

Posted by digitalk team at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
William Blake – “The Tyger”

Scholars believe that poetry originated as a ritual practice in early agricultural societies. The first poems were in the form of magical spells recited to ensure a good harvest. Indeed, poetry might be as old as history or older, but it has since entered the digital age.

Take for instance William Blake’s masterpiece, Songs of Experience and Innocence, a series of lyrical and epic poems. One of the most strikingly original works in the Western culture, when first published it featured stunning hand-illustrations by the poet, William Blake himself. Today, few copies of the double collection, Songs of Experience and Innocence remains, and these are kept under lock and key as part of rare book collections in archives around the world.

Continue reading "The spell of poetry" »

Posted by digi.talk team at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TV's Top Stars strutted their stuff in a big, bare way as low-cut V-necks and halter tops dominated the red carpet at Sunday's 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awardsin Los Angeles. Other fashion flashes: purple, red and white were the top color choices; metallic beading drew eyes to all the right places; and soft, sexy, piled-high hairdos helped actresses keep their cool on an unusually hot night.

As I was watching the encore on Channel 5 at 10pm, I was simply mesmerised by all the beautiful dresses and matching acessories. Evangeline Lilly from " LOST" scored high marks from the fashion critics, She was stunning in a cross pleated purple dress which seemed to float dreamily to the floor.

Continue reading "Emmy Fashion Takes a Plunge" »

Posted by digitalk team at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've been using it for a few years but now - it's official! - Google is a verb - whether that is in the lower case preferred by the Merriam Webster Dictionary where it is a transitive verb meaning "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web."
or you go with the Oxford English Dictionary where the capitalisation is retained: " To use the Google search engine to find information on the Internet. or {trans.) To search for information about (a person or thing) using the Google search engine.

Continue reading "Google, the Verb" »

Posted by digitalk team at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The most attractive sentences are not perhaps the wisest, but the surest and soundest."
Thoreau, Henry David (1817 - 1862), US writer, Journal, 1842