Now, when you look at the book cover, you’d be turned off by the depictions of bunny rabbits. You, a future doctor who battles everyday with the likes of differential diagnostics and the choosing of the right dosage of the right antibiotics, are not about to read a book with bunny rabbits on its cover! Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to like it too, though my reason was I am ghey enough already.

But thanks to Donnie Darko, I gritted my teeth and, with as much manliness as I could muster, ventured to the Lapine world of charismatic Hazel and Fiver and the mystical El-ahrairah.

Watership Down was the first novel written by Richard Adams and moves to-and-fro between the genres of Children, Classic, Epic and Fantasy. It has been compared to Homer’s Oddysey and Virgil’s Aeneid. It won awards and was placed number 42 of the greatest book of all time by the British public. It didn’t do so well in the States but it is one of my maxims to look to the Brits for comments on all things literary and the Americans for movies.

Watership Down begins with Fiver’s unsettling visions of doom. Jesus rightly said that “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house” and such happened to poor old Fiver. He was not believed by the Chief Rabbit and therefore left his warren with his brother, Hazel, Bigwig the Warrior Rabbit, Dandelion the storyteller and but a few other bucks.

From there on, the focus was shifted to Hazel and his natural leadership. After many hardship, the rabbits finally settled down at Watership Down. But it was not the time for our courageous bunnies to rest yet. New problems arose. Together, the band of rabbits went on to search for does for mating, battle fascist rabbits, rescue does-in-distress from evil farmer and his dogs, and strike alliances with the unlikeliest of creatures. What more can you want from a novel?

The book itself revolves around themes one do not find in children books these days: exile, survival, political responsibility, the never-ending struggle between tyranny and freedom, reason and emotion. Therefore, the book is intellectually engaging enough for adults to enjoy but still filled with adventure and heroism and, of course, cute little bunnies that are attractive to the younger generation.

The first thing I did after watching the film Wanted was imitating the gun-swinging action thing. It was such a fun movie, much like how I feel all testosterone-y after watching 300 [I wanted to shout THIS IS SPARTA! and kick people into pits and whatnot] and how August Rush made me vow to listen to the music of nature. [Which I forgot after half a day]

Admittedly, the storyline leaves a lot to be desired for and the logic is ridiculous. But there’s Angelina Jolie, weh: the woman who certified I’m not gay and created my interest in hot, sizzling Latinas. But again, I must repeat, it’s a fun movie!

Imagine my surprise when I learnt that it came from a graphic novel! There are a few movies that could even be on the same par with the original literature, [LotR, 2004 adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo] let alone be better than the book itself. So, simple deduction: movie = good, comic = better.

Wanted the movie is very, very loosely based on the graphic novel itself. I guess, the gist is the same but everything was totally different. For example, in the movie, it’s a group of assassins; in the graphic novel – supervillains; movie – focus on training itself, graphic novel – revenge. On to the review:

Wesley Gibson was a loser. His girlfriend was unfaithful, his boss constantly berated him for nothing and he was a massive hypochondriac. All that changed with the assassination of the father he never knew. You see, Wesley’s father was the Killer, a super criminal whose superpower was to end life. In executing his will, the Killer’s supervillain friends gave Wesley the chance to be trained in their ways, to escape his mundane and insignificant life. Well, with the words “Sex. Money. Super-powers. Costumes. You know you want it!” on the cover of the first issue, there’s little doubt on Wesley’s choice.

Rising in rank rapidly in a world without superheroes and ruled by supervillains, Wesley Gibson has only one mission: to find his father’s killer. Was it Mr. Rictus, the head of the Australian crime family? His father betrayed the perpetually pissed walking corpse and maybe Mr. Rictus wanted a payback. Or was it his boss The Professor, the man with a level 9 intelligence? The Professor might have wanted to protect his own spot as the head of the Americas. It couldn’t be Fox, his father’s one-time lover, now, could it? But all the evidences point towards her.

Mark Millar’s writing was hailed as “the Watchmen for supervillains” by the UK Sunday Times. I do think that it’s an exaggeration but not by much. The whole series was rife with philosophies of egocentricism, witty comedy and foul words. The 6-issue long series was drawn by J. G. Jones. Not my favourite artist but his artwork suits the story naturally.

A word of warning, though: This comic is filled with strong language, sexual references, gore and a very negative outlook on life. It is definitely not suited for children and people, who don’t wish to be exposed to these elements. Enjoy!

John Cage (1912 – 1992)

The literal interpretation of this poem believes it is about individualism and being your own person.

I personally believe that decisions have to be made by the person himself/herself and should not be regretted later in life. One has to strive in order to see the other part of the mountain.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.