My theme: something about books, something about poetry, and something about tech – QA in specific. And S is Serendipity: S is for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Shadorma and Sanity

Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.
– T. Boone Pickens

Entertainment Corner

S is Serendipity: S is for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I did not have any trouble finding books made into movies for this letter at all; instead, my trouble was picking one. There are many I truly enjoyed – the book and/or the movie; and this made it tough for me. So I polled it within the family – it led to split votes. So the luck of the draw from this shortlist turned out to be ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’. The others on my shortlist, if you are curious –

• ‘Shawshank Redemption’: one of my favorite movies, ever. Actually this one should have been for the letter R since the book it is based upon starts with R – Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. (and as for why I did not use it for the letter R or even this one, I am just getting done with reading the novella; and I can totally understand why it inspired one of the greatest movies I have seen)
• ‘The Secret Garden’: one of my childhood favorites as far as the book. The movie – I watched an adaptation years ago and recall enjoying it
• ‘Sherlock Holmes’: devoured the books and enjoyed many of its adaptations
• ‘Shutter Island’: brilliant movie, and book that is on my shelf waiting to be read (why?)
• lots more that did not make it to the shortlist after the family poll

The Book and the Movie:

I watched the movie a few years ago, and then again recently with my dd who is a teen now. I had not read the book earlier though so when I picked it up to read sometime back, the images of the movie had a huge impact as I read the story. 

There are books written with teen audiences in mind that readers of all ages totally enjoy; and then there are those that are truly enjoyed by only the target audiences. This book is of the latter category. While I cannot say that I did not like the book, I truly cannot say I loved it too. I enjoyed the read and the best part of the book was Tibby’s and Bailey’s friendship – at least for me. The stories of the others was just OK.  

The movie is pretty faithful to the book – many dialogs are as is from the book. There are a few deviations from the story and the timeline as well, but they do not take away from the tone of the book or the message of friendship and coming-of-age discoveries. 

Both the book and the movie do a pretty good job of focusing on the friendship of the four girls; and considering I have friends from when I was a teen who are still among my best friends, I appreciated that focus. 

Like in the book, Tibby and Bailey were my favorites in the movie as well. I somehow did not feel as invested in the others. 

Overall, both the book and the movie are certainly a teen-read/teen-flick (for the age the girls themselves are – 15 and around; for those 13 or 14 year olds who understand; and for readers who want to look back into their teen friendships.  

The Question: The Book or The Movie:

Dear reader – have you read the book and/or watched the movie? What is your opinion? Which is your preference? Let me know by voting below. As for me, I think the movie was just a bit better in this case for me. 

[yop_poll id=”19″]

Poetry Corner

S is Serendipity: S is for Shadorma

What is the Shadorma poetic form and how to write it?

The origins of the shadorma are shadowed in mystery(alliteration unintended :))! It seems to have sprung out of nowhere but now is everywhere, at least in the world of poetry. It is believed to be of Spanish origin (but not sure); each 6-line stanza has a syllable pattern of 3/5/3/3/7/5 and the form has no restrictions on rhyme or on the number of stanzas.

So, the Shadorma’s main features are:

• • 6 lines per stanza
  • Syllabic pattern is 3 / 5 / 3 / 3 / 7 / 5
  • Rhyme scheme is left to the poet
  • No restrictions on number of stanzas

More reading and h/t:

• Poets Collective – Shadorma

My Example Shadorma:

I wrote one in an earlier post and had planned to use it first (playing catch up plays havoc on trying to be creative!). But I tried to update it a bit for today’s attempt. Also included is the photographic prompt that was an additional inspiration for both poems:

(un?)Comfortablorful Crown
Colorful
though my crown may be
don’t you see
thorns beneath
that provoke my rainbow tears –
Colorful indeed!
– LadyInRead (Vidya Tiru)

Sleep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow.
– Tom Roth

QA Corner

S is Serendipity: S is for Sanity Testing

What is Sanity Testing?

Wrapping up the S post

Sleep is the best meditation.
– Dalai Lama

What are your comments or questions about today’s post? I would love to hear from you. Check out previous posts in this challenge using the links below.

Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6Day 7  Day 8Day 9Day 10Day 11 Day 12 Day 13  Day 14  Day 15 Day 16 Day 17

Day 18  Day 19 Day 20 Day 21

Linking up to BlogChatter A to Z, A to Z Blogging Challenge, and the Ultimate Blog Challenge