Comics - no relief !

Wanting to buy the graphic novel on the never-ending war in Lebanon, ' Waltz with Bashir', I rummaged my mouse through amazon.com to discover some good things about online buying and some nasty truths about graphic novels.
Book buying on the net has come a long way since I bought my first book on rediff in 1998. The book 'Kotler on Marketing' was delivered from Shankars in Bangalore with a nice pyramidal bookmark . It was a no-frills experience- some discount, a 3-day delivery promise and no status-of-order check. Have since bought many more books - the experience is better now except that there's no discount and delivery takes 15-20 days but you can track the order on the cell phone. Would rather have the discount and 3 day delivery without the SOD check. Better than rediff is the buying experience on Amazon, one for its reviews- and two for the near-brick&mortar-purchase experience. The best is its trademarked feature 'Look Inside' which actually opens the books pages for a sneak peek at the index, prologue, first chapters and epilogue for a quick browse before buying. A bookstore experience, but without the 'butt-brush' factor. Albiris, on the other hand, is a store with terrific choice- the same book is available in hardcover to paperback , signed copies to pre-owned to first editions at varying price points. Sometimes the first quoted price is a 10th of the last copy. Becasue whats the point of buying online if you can't get the browse experience and the discount ?
Now to Waltz with Bashir.
Why are the graphic novels as expensive as they are.
The DVD of '300' - based on the spartan-persian war can be had at Rs.400 , the book is Rs.500 but its graphic novel is twice that at Rs.950. Try Agatha Christie's novels - most cost close to Rs.300 today while the graphic novels cost Rs.650 upwards. This is one mystery even she wouldn't be able to solve!
I grew up on comics - ( no ipod, playstation , gameboys , computers ,multiplexes , DVD players and cellphones in those days. A weekly movie meant a trek to the open-air movie theatre in the army unit with a dress code- tie, shoes and full sleeve shirts !) So my companions were comics - Amar chitra kathas, indrajal and diamond comics, commandos ,tintin and asterix alongwith the daily newspaper episodes of Tarzan, Woody Allen ,Bo peep, Calvin , Garfield , Mutt&Jeff , Bringing up father and later the Mad magazines of which I have a huge set. The most expensive amongst the lot were Herge's Tintin and Asterix at near Rs.75, quite reasonable even almost 5 times the price of an ACK then .Even the graphic novels of David Copperfield or Three Musketeers were quite easy on the wallet. IN the pricing hierarchy, their book-versions were always much more expensive.
Things have been turned on their head.
Suddenly, a graphic novel is the most expensive version of the story. An animated movie like Persepolis or Waltz with Bashir has DVD versions at Rs.400 but graphic novel versions are 25% more expensive. My experience with print tells me it costs probably much lesser to make a comic than a book.
Is it the target groups propensity to buy, then? An Asterix costs under Rs.700 now, so assuming people are ready to spend that much for a comic, shouldn't a graphic 'novel' cost more?
Is that why it sits smugly in that high price range?
Some graphic novels are too shallow- no plot, too many characters, some erratic strokes and colors and an unfinished agenda- prompting a sequel ! Scam absolutely, if there was one.
Finally,is it that the audience seeks multiple experiences around the same story? So, will Harry Potter book and movie versions follow with a graphic novel version ? Now that the Potter theme park is launching in December this year.
Is the reader of the book , the viewer of the movie and the player of the game the same ?
And will he pay another 1000 bucks for the graphic novel ?
Maybe .
Can't figure why.

Borrowed Fame

Last week I had finished reading Tom Sharpe's The Great Pursuit about a guy lending his name to a book by an anonymous author who didn't want to attach his name to his book. With dry Sharpe humor, it turned out to be an intellectual plot peppered with some dramatic action between London & New York, as the 'pseudo writer' becomes famous and carves out a 'fictitious' life of his own, extracting revenge in the bargain.
The 1951 movie, 'The Front' ,which I watched yesterday, had Woody Allen playing a cashier at a restaurant, masquerading as a writer , when he actually was a 'front' for a set of blacklisted 'communist' authors. He sees this as his escape from the drudgery of the cash register, but this is the cold war '50's and the FBI is hot on trial of any communist whiff. The relationship formed with a beautiful TV production manager, as a result of the weekly 'scripts' he is providing, form the rest of the interesting story till an abrupt ending leaves you thinking about the need to be truthful !
Quite a set of coincidental stories of pretentious authors and consequences of 'borrowed fame' to swallow in the Ides of March!

Car and TV fights

Two very interesting pieces caught my attention in the latest issue of Businessworld and bought back memories of having participated in those battles and return with similar lessons. The first dealt with the fight between LG and Samsung and the second between Toyota and Honda. Coming 6-7 months into the slowdown,both make quite fascinating reading. The last time I drove down the Greater Noida highway to the LG factory, it was mid-summer of 2006. Across various divisions, we made audacious presentations to take the season by radioactive storm. LG turned it down as they were changing tack, the new CEO Shun was seeking to re-position LG from being a mass-market leader to a mass-premium player ( a new segment most companies in boom-time India had created to chase both volume and value - to keep the mass and attempt the premium or viceversa - to whip the cream and drink the milk at the same time). Samsung in the meantime was attempting the reverse. I remember that after my Samsung presentation, I was told that the dealer budgets had now increased from 0.5% to 2.5% of the 4% allocated to advertising and promotion, signifying a shift in strategy to tactical incentivisation. Of course, we managed to attack the regional offices for our share of monies, but the strategic shift stayed in my mind for some time. I thought highly about Korean flexibility. Sony and Phillips in contrast weren't as nimble- sticking to steady premium-technology positioning for years. Both never attempted a price cut or looked at the mass markets.

It seems today, as the article says, that the positioning shifts attempted by LG and Samsung have not yielded the desired results. LG has skidded off its leadership plank and given way to Videocon while Samsung has slipped further. The trade, which was used to LG's agression suddenly needed to look at a new mass player and it helped that Videocon was around to fill the gap. Probably LG's Kims' move to Videocon helped too. Samsungs' consumers were also left confused - as is the wont of any premium brand when it goes mass. The slowdown was a final nail.

The drive to Toyota on the Mysore road is great and the sight of thousands of cars parked in the plant at Bidadi is exhilarating. Have only seen the Maruti, Gurgaon and the Daewoo,Noida plants, so in incomparison this looked much larger. We had to leave our cell-phones at the out-gate and walk the distance to the factory office. IN times of google maps and satellite pics, I thought it was a little archaic. Inside the plant, I saw Japanese excellence at work and learnt the truth about their brillance. The incredibly achieved brand swap of Qualis-Innova is a marketing case study. Toyota doesn't introduce a new model till its existing model has outgrown its profit and volume targets. So, its in it for the long haul. I thought this was a good strategy. After all, where was the hurry ?But the last three years have proved it wrong, or so it seems.

According to the piece alarmingly titled ' On the wrong track',it seems it is losing the battle in India. The Camry costs 21 lacs in India and only 10 lacs in the US. For an economy thats 15 times our size, how do they manage to buy the same car at less than half the price? Assembled locally with a similar 44% imported content, the Accord at 17 lacs is only 7 lacs more expensive than in the US . The 4 lac price differential is hurting volumes. The Corolla Altis, the new car launched phasing out the version I have, is priced above the Honda Civic (and should be!) but the absence of a car in the C segment to compete with the City and one to compete with the CRV are doing Toyota's slow expansion philisophy no good. The plan to launch an A seg car in 2011 will also put Toyota much behind in the race, considering Skoda launched one last year,GM two years back, Mercedes (a beauty at 55 lacs! ) and Honda is intending to do it next yr.

As GM contemplates bankruptcy, as Ford shares drop below $1, and as internationally, Toyota expects its first operating loss in 70 years, inspite of being so very conservative, it will be interesting how, like my team Chelsea, it makes a comeback.

Scarcely English

Dharmendra's character, a simple car driver in the movie 'Chalte Chalte, attempting to master the english language was aghast at the phonetical challenges some english words presented -  'to', 'do' and 'go' !

Why is the English language short of words ? Short so as to be forced to have different meanings in different contexts. Or sometimes have different words for similar objects and activities ?

e.g. The word 'Lie' can mean many things including as various forms of speech e.g. verb and adjective and can take on different meanings in context. While 'truth' means only one thing in all contexts. 

Similarly, 'drive' is physical, metaphysical and philosophical - and a verb or noun all in different contexts. ( I can walk english, talk english and speak english said Amitabh -summarizing pretty much how english can be used)

You 'drive' a car, 'drive' someone out of the house, summon inner 'drive' ,  'drive negative thoughts away' , park your car in the 'drive' or even go for a 'drive'. Finally, a screwdriver and a car-driver perform absolutely different functions !

Why do except and accept have to sound the same? Or dairy and diary resonate similarly?

Or why is awesome quite full of praise and aweful devoid of awe?

And why is it cowdung and bullshit? 

Secondly, what's with the silent alphabets? i.e. why is the 'p' necessary in pneumonia and why are 'k' and 'w' unnecessary in know?

 

Leadership lessons from Soccer: Scolari's failures

Pete Gill's article on why Scolari didn't deliver in the seven months he managed Chelsea makes for great reading. From a hero in Brazils 2002 world cup win to the villian in Chelseas premier league performances...

Pete Gill: Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked after just seven months at Chelsea, F365 considers the reasons it went wrong for him so spectacularly and so quickly at Stamford Bridge...

Signing A Two-Year Contract
Questions about the wisdom of Scolari"s appointment were raised the moment it was announced he had put pen to paper on a two-year deal. Not only did the short-term undertaking suggest that his roots in London would be loose, but it also cast considerable doubt on whether he would - or could - provide the long-term outlook that many felt Chelsea desperately required after two years of gradual regression and their side relatively elderly compared to their closest rivals.

The brevity of that contract may have also served as his death warrant: While the sackings of Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant from their long-term deals cost Chelsea tens of millions in compensation, dismissing Scolari will have been comparatively cheap.

Did He Lose The Dressing Room?
According to Sky Sports News, the Chelsea players were "unhappy" with both Scolari"s tactics - specifically the refusal to use a 4-4-2 formation - and his "antiquated" training methods, while the BBC has reported that Roman Abramovich appeared at the training ground to "canvass the opinion of the senior players" last week. If true, then there is only one conclusion to draw from the axe falling this Monday.

Losing The Fans
Scolari"s substitutions became a weekly source of irritation to the Chelsea supporters, culminating in chants of "You don"t know what you"re doing" during Saturday"s dismal draw with Hull. That reaction may well have spooked the club"s hierarchy into believing that wielding the axe would be both an appropriate and popular measure; don"t forget that Jose Mourinho was ousted in the wake of less than 25,000 fans attending a Champions League qualifier 24 hours previously.

Failing To Adapt To Being A Club Manager Again
After so long as an international manager, did Scolari appreciate the different - and heightenend - demands that a return to club management would make? John Hollins, the former Chelsea boss, believes not. "Every day is very, very busy and I have to say I don"t think there was enough in there from him to carry it through."

There"s an interesting - if unverified - anecdote to endorse the suspicion. After the game with Middlesbrough, when it now appears that only a couple of late goals saved him from instant dismissal, Scolari failed to appear in front of the press. Why? According to reports, he had actually left the ground even before the final whistle to collect his son from St Pancras station.

Good parenting, to be sure, but hardly the sort of dedication to the job that Chelsea might have felt they were entitled to receive in return for his handsome remuneration.

Failing To Win Any Big Matches
Early February is an unusual time for managerial upheaval, but Chelsea"s record against fellow members of the Big Four this season - Played 5, Drawn 1, Lost 4 - didn"t just spell doom for their title tilt but also suggested that redemption in the Champions League wouldn"t be forthcoming either.

Chelsea"s statement that "In order to maintain a challenge for the trophies we are still competing for we felt the only option was to make the change now" reads as the club concluding they had nothing to lose - and plenty to gain - in acting so decisively ahead of the CL"s resumption in two weeks" time.

The Absence Of Plan B
Scolari took the Chelsea job after almost ten years out of club management and it showed. Once the flaw of his favoured formation, which used both full-backs to provide all the width, was exposed, Scolari seemed to run out of ideas.

Perhaps he was right to believe that Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba were incompatible but Scolari"s reluctance to try something different must have been a factor in the club believing he wasn"t capable of arresting "a deterioration at a key time of the season".

Failing To Speak The Lingo
Given the close relationship between communication and management, it was a puzzle from Scolari"s first garbled press conference that Chelsea had appointed a man who could barely make himself understood in the Premier League"s native tongue. If those press conferences were any guide, Chelsea"s players must have been the most confused in the country.

Failing To Inspire
The statement released by Chelsea suggests that the club had simply lost confidence and belief in Scolari. No wonder. There was simply no facet of his tenure that either inspired or convinced.

Performances, both individually and collectively declined, and the impression of a club going backwards was allowed to fester. Since the late summer, Chelsea have ceased to appear a happy unit and Scolari"s handling of Didier Drogba - which alienated rather than motivated - was a test of management that he failed.

Failing To Entertain
There is no arguing with results and Scolari would still be Chelsea manager if they were top of the league. Nonetheless, it is telling that Chelsea cited a decline in "performances" as well as results in their explanation for his ousting.

While it was never confirmed in public, the general impression last summer was that Avram Grant had been sacked because he failed to inspire an attacking brand of football. After a bright start, the entertainment provided by Scolari"s Chelsea deteriorated to the lowest level seen during the Abramovich era.

Losing Steve Clarke
Clarke"s departure wasn"t a headline act in September but it has become steadily clear ever since - both in terms of the defensive solidity he has organised at West Ham and the decline at Chelsea - that he was in fact an integral factor in the club"s recent success.

Building Around The Wrong Players
One of Scolari"s most prominent statements in the summer was that he would get the best out of Florent Malouda, making it sound like a simple procedure that only required the Frenchman to operate from his best position. So much for that theory. If anything, Malouda"s performances have declined this season from awful to the sort of thing you sometimes find at the bottom of your shoes. Worse, Scolari"s faith in the non-performing winger meant that he opted against buying any alternatives in the summer. Was this a factor in the club eventually pulling out of the Robinho chase?

It wasn"t until the final day of the January transfer window that width was acquired in the form of loan signing Ricardo Quaresma - by which time it was already far too late.

Building Around The Wrong Players, Part Two
While Deco was brilliant in his first few games this season, Barcelona"s ready acquiescence in offloading the midfielder was a clue to the slump that followed thereafter. The 31-year-old simply does not possess the legs to star over a campaign and, having built the side around him and hired no alternative, Deco"s sharp decline spelled doom for Scolari"s Chelsea.

But In His Defence...
Arguably the greatest trick Jose Mourinho pulled off at Chelsea was getting out when the going was still good and he retained a near god-like status amongst the fans.

Scolari, by contrast, arrived at Stamford Bridge just as Roman Abramovich was shutting his chequebook and an ageing Chelsea side, haunted by the trauma of Moscow, was beginning to decline.

The bottom line, however, must be that he played his hand appallingly.

Vote?

As the world largest democracy goes to the polls, I am faced with my quadrennial quandry - to vote or not to?

Mumbai has now been delimited into 6 parts each of roughly 15-16 lac voters, making it a 90lac voting constituency. Bandra is the biggest with 16.90 lac voters ( I thought Andheri might be the biggest what with the 50 odd lac people staying there, but the mere 15.5 lac registered voter base makes it smaller, so too with Dadar , which alongiwith Chembur is smaller than Bandra) Why does so much of Bandra vote?  Is it the literacy? Is it the slums around the airport and Dharavi? Is it just need to belong? Is it love for the city? 

I think we need a Chief Minister of Mumbai, separate from Maharastra. The key task is to make this a world city in some timeframe with absolute focus on infrastructure, efficiency and law enforcement. Without the worry about famine, monsoons and infrastructure in the rest of the state - just like Delhi manages itself with a CM.

Does my vote count? Last elections saw Govinda winning Mumbai-north by just 20,000 votes. Some constituencies split 50:50. ( Florida is famous) So each vote does count. 

Is the right guy standing? With a 40% turnout, 36lac people would have voted last time. If all were regular voters, the same guy and the same government would  come to power. 

Whats the electoral theme? Noone's got one this time around.( India shining bombed last time, so no theme is better than a mis-understood or mis-interpreted one) Reforms being irreversible, each successive govt can lay claim to it and improve it delta. 

Will I vote? I must, but crossing the registration hurdle is key.

Clearly, Manmohanics has got us this far. 

My virtual vote goes to him.

Wigan's way gone

Four in a row! 

Not counting the one Hiddink didn't really oversee as coach, its a hat-trick of wins for him taking Chelsea back right upto #2 in the EPL league with 55 points, 7 behind MU's 62. Though tied with Liverpool they have 1 more match win than them( 16 vs 15)

The first half sizzled with John Terry's scissor kick , the highest number of goals scored by a defender now belong to him,  gave Chelsea control but Wigan wrestled the control back with some good footwork and an 84th minute goal. 

Then Lampard got into a revenge masterpiece - a header into the net - bravo! 

They can complain about being 'pushed' for ever, ( the video is clear) but as Lampard said later, he didnt know if it could be a foul'.

Super soccer, nevertheless.

An ecstatic Abramovich couldn't hide his glee.

Me too.

Now why was Scolari not able to deliver while Guus seemingly can? 

Needs some study. Leadership mystery #1. 

Any goal in extra-time is special. More so if the combination thats to deliver delivers - what better than a double header by Ballack-Lampard - surely is a leagues tickets worth of play.