Who's watching the watchmen?

Sukumar Ranganathan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:30:00 GMT

A lot of people are, according to news reports from Reuters and the New York Times .

The $55.7 million in tickets sold over the first three days, the movie became the biggest (so far, and in terms of openings) for the year, and combined with overseas revenue of $27.5 million in the same time, the movie does look like turning a profit for Warner Bros. The Reuters report said Watchmen cost around $120 million to make, but that number clearly does not include marketing and promotional spend.

Still, despite the poor reviews for the film, including those from Salon and The Wall Street Journal, the movie looks likely to make much more money than $120 million -- and legions of fanboys can be counted on to do their bit by splurging on assorted merchandise, DVDs of the movie itself and of its add-ons.

As for the reviews themselves, they don't surprise me. Nor does the undertone of criticism directed at the book that inspired the movie, Alan Moore's Watchmen. Most reviewers and writers have been unable to restrain themselves from taking shots at the book for being part of Time Magazine's 100 best books of the 20th century. "How could a comic ever be part of such a list?" is the message between the lines of such reviews. If there ever was a book whose movie version was bound to get bad press, it was Watchmen.

Does the movie deserve to be trashed? I'll post on that after it releases in India on 20. I'd be surprised if it does more than a week here, though. In a country where kung-fu and Bond rule, I don't think a movie like Watchmen has a chance.

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What's kiddie porn, what's not?

Sukumar Ranganathan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:34:00 GMT

Yesterday's Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times has an article on British nationals Duncan Grant and Alan Waters who were acquitted of paedophilia charges and now seem to be back working at the same shelters for street children where they are alleged to have committed their crimes. The story isn't up on their website but it is there in the epaper you can find on the site.There's a case pending against the two in the Supreme Court, but the incident probably highlights the casualness that accompanies most incidents reagrding paedophilia in India.
Sure, most people in India haven't become as aware as those in the West have when it comes to this subject.
That's not necessarily a good thing.
People in some parts of the world, however, have become paranoid about the subject.
And that's not necessarily a good thing either, especially when it comes to art.
Writer Neil Gaiman's blog recently featured a post on a ruling in Australia that, according to the post "sets a dangerous precedent, particularly for readers of adult oriented comics."
The post then goes on to refer to Lost Girls , about which Gaiman has written passionately before
I have a copy of Lost Girls, and my first column on graphic novels for Mint's weekend magazine Lounge was on that.
I don't seem to be able to find it on the livemint site though -- maybe someone has been censoring content, or maybe it just slsipped into ether because it was the first column.
For those who came in late, Lost Girls is Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's post-modernist and very erotic take on Peter Pan's Wendy, Wizard of Oz's Dorothy, and Alice in Wonderland's Alice.
It's fun, it's erotic, and it's extremely creative.
Would that be considered child pornography in these politically correct times?
I don't know
Heck, would the first lines of one of my favourite books be considered child pornography?
"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."
I don't know.

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A Daily Download : Alan Moore

Who's watching the watchmen?

What's kiddie porn, what's not?