Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Day when I read a novel & watched a movie called "The Devil Wears Prada"


Directed by David Frankel
Produced by Wendy Finerman
Written by Lauren Weisberger (novel)
Aline Brosh McKenna (screenplay)
Starring Meryl Streep
Anne Hathaway
Emily Blunt
Stanley Tucci
Adrian Grenier
Tracie Thoms
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography Florian Ballhaus
Editing by Mark Livolsi

Plot:

Andrea "Andy" Sachs, an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University, lands the magazine job "a million girls would kill for": junior personal assistant to icy editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, who dominates the fashion world from her perch atop Runway magazine. She puts up with the eccentric and humiliating requests of her boss because, she is told, if she lasts a year in the position she will get her pick of other jobs, perhaps even the journalistic position she truly craves.

At first, she fits in poorly among the gossipy fashionistas who make up the magazine staff. Her lack of style or fashion knowledge and fumbling with her job make her an object of scorn around the office. Senior assistant Emily Charlton, her coworker, condescends to her. Gradually, though, with the help of art director Nigel, Andrea adjusts to the position and its many perks, including free designer clothing and other choice accessories. She begins to dress more stylishly and do her job competently, fulfilling a seemingly impossible request of Miranda's to get two copies of an unpublished Harry Potter manuscript to her daughters.

She also comes to prize chance encounters with attractive young writer Christian Thompson, who helped her obtain the Potter manuscript and suggests he could help her with her career. At the same time, however, her relationship with her boyfriend Nate, a chef working his way up the career ladder, and other college friends suffers due to the increasing time she spends at Miranda's beck and call.


Shortly afterwards, Andrea saves Miranda from social embarrassment at a charity benefit when the cold-stricken Emily falters in reminding Miranda who an approaching guest is. As a result, Miranda tells Andrea that she will accompany her to the fall fashion shows in Paris, rather than Emily who had been looking forward to the trip for months. Miranda warns Andrea that if she declines, it could adversely affect her future job prospects. Emily is hit by a car before Andrea can tell Emily the next morning, making her choice moot.

During a gallery exhibit of her friend Lilly's photography, Andy again encounters Christian, who openly flirts with her, much to the shock and disgust of Lilly, who witnesses it all. After Lilly calls her out and walks away, Andy bumps into Nate, who, when she tells him she will be going to Paris, is angered that she refuses to admit that she's become the girls she's made fun of and that their relationship has taken a back seat. As a result, they break up in the middle of the street the night before she leaves for Paris.


In Paris, Nigel tells Andrea that he has gotten a job as creative director with rising fashion star James Holt, at Miranda's recommendation, and will finally be in charge of his own life. She also finally succumbs to Christian's charms, and sees her boss let down her guard for the first time as she worries about the effect an impending divorce will have on her twin daughters.

But in the morning, Andrea finds out about a plan to replace Miranda as Runway editor with Jacqueline Follet, editor of the magazine's French edition, later that day. Despite the suffering she has endured at her boss's behest, she attempts to warn Miranda but is seemingly rebuffed each time.


At a luncheon later that day, however, Miranda announces that it is Jacqueline instead of Nigel who will leave Runway for Holt. Later, when the two are being driven to a show, she explains to a still-stunned Andrea that she was grateful for the warning but already knew of the plot to replace her and sacrificed Nigel to keep her own job. Pleased by this display of loyalty, she tells Andrea she sees some of herself in her. Andrea, repulsed, said she could never do to anyone what Miranda did to Nigel, primarily as Nigel mentored Andrea. Miranda replies that she already did, stepping over Emily when she agreed to go to Paris. If she wants to get ahead in her career, that's what she'll have to be willing to do.

Andrea gets out of the limo at the next stop, going not into the show with Miranda but out into the street, where instead of answering yet another call from her boss she throws her cell phone into a nearby fountain, leaving Miranda, Runway and fashion behind.

Later, back in New York, she meets Nate for breakfast. He has accepted an offer to work as a sous-chef in a popular Boston restaurant, and will be moving there shortly. Andrea is disappointed but her hope is rejuvenated when he says they could work something out, implying they will have a long-distance relationship in the future. At the film's conclusion, she has finally been offered a job as a newspaper reporter, greatly helped by a fax from Miranda herself who told the editor that Andrea was her "biggest disappointment ever", and if they didn't hire her they would be idiots. Andrea calls Emily and offers her all of the clothes that she got in Paris, which Andrea insists that she doesn't need anymore. Emily accepts and tells Andrea's replacement she has some big shoes to fill. In the last shot, Andrea, dressed as she was at the beginning of the film but with a bit more style, sees Miranda get into her car across the street. They exchange looks and Miranda gives no indication of a greeting, but gives a soft smile once inside the car, before sternly telling her chauffeur to "go!".

Differences between film and novel


Plot:-

In the novel, Andrea is forced into confronting Miranda at the climax when, back in New York, Lily is involved in a car accident, which leaves her comatose. Andrea's friends and family challenge her via phone calls to stand up for herself.[4] The conspiracy to remove Miranda as Runway editor, and everything associated with it, was written entirely for the film. Andrea ends her time with Miranda by telling her, very publicly, "Fuck you, Miranda. Fuck you."[5] instead of simply throwing her cell phone into a nearby fountain.


To set up the climax, details along the way were changed or added. Irv Ravitz, head of Elias-Clark, was given a far bigger part in the movie. The scene where Andrea succeeds where the sick Emily faltered at the benefit was adapted from a similar scene in the novel which did not involve Emily. Her inability to go to Paris in the novel is due to a bout of mononucleosis.[6] McKenna and Frankel decided to have her suffer the car accident instead of Lily to let Andrea out of a moral dilemma that could have made her less sympathetic in viewers' eyes.

Afterwards, the novel's Andrea sells her leftover clothing to a second-hand shop for $38,000 and finances her writer's life for the next year.[7] She, too, eventually returns to publishing when she sells a short story to Seventeen, and then returns to Elias-Clark to discuss freelance writing assignments with another of the company's magazines, The Buzz.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Ten ways to lose weight without hunger

By: Dr. John Briffa

"Eat fewer calories than you burn" has been the weight loss mantra for decades now. The problem is cutting back on food and taking more exercise almost inevitably makes people hungry, which can make positive changes quite unsustainable in the long term. In this article I offer some practical solutions to this by outlining several approaches that can help put the body in "caloric deficit" and promote weight loss without any need to go hungry.



FORGET ABOUT CALORIES

While there is an element of truth in the calorie principle, it neglects the fact that different types of calories are burned differently in the body. While fat is often singled out for attention in low calorie approaches, there is evidence that when calorie intakes are the same, individuals that eat most fat actually lose the most weight. Also, the effect that a food has on subsequent appetite will determine, ultimately, its influence on food intake and weight. The key to long-term weight loss is not to concentrate on the quantity of the food that you consume, but its quality.


EAT PROTEIN-RICH FOODS

Calorie for calori, protein has been found to satisfy the appetite more than either carbohydrate or fat. Protein-rich foods that are naturally appetite-sating and therefore, worth emphasizing in the diet include meat, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds.


EAT LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX (GI) FOODS

THE GI is a measure of the speed and extent to which foods release sugars into the bloodstream. The higher a food's GI, the less satisfying it tends to be. Of 20 studies published between 1977 and 1999, 16 showed that low GI foods promote the satisfaction derived from that meal and/or reduced subsequent hunger. Protein rich food have very low GIs, though other options include beans, lentils and most fruits and vegetables (other than potatoes).


EAT BREAKFAST

For many, eating breakfast helps to prevent over-eating later in the day. The phenomenon was studied formally in research published in the Journal of Nutrition. This study showed that those who had consumed the bulk of their food near the end of the day ate, on average, significantly more calories than individuals who ate more substantial amounts of food early on. So, to put a natural break on the appetite, make sure you don't skip breakfast.


GRAZE DON"T GORGE

If we get too hungry , it's difficult to control what and how much we eat. Eating between meals (maybe some fruit and a few nuts in the late morning or afternoon) can make us likelier to eat more healthily at meal times. Also, consistent eating has been found to be associated with lower levels of insulin, a hormone that can be cause weight gain in the body by stimulating the production of fat.


DON'T BUY IT

When none-too-healthy food is easily available to us, it can be difficult to resist. On the other hand, if it's not in the cupboard or fridge, we can't eat it. So don't buy it. Critical to achieving this with relative ease is to make sure that our food shopping, especially in a supermarket, is not done when we are hungry. So eat before you go shopping, rather than after.


CURB ALCOHOL INTAKE WITHOUT SACRIFICE

One way to reduce the intake of unwanted calories is by reducing alcohol intake. Some drinking may be driven by taste and the relaxing effects alcohol are perceived to have. However, what is less well recognised is that drinking can also be driven by plain thirst and hunger. Maintaining hydration during the day and not walking into a bar or restaurant very hungry can really help to curb alcohol intake without any sense of sacrifice.



USE SMALL PLATES

Adequate portions of food can easily get "lost" on big plates, so there can be a tendency to serve and eat more than is strictly necessary. Using smaller plates and bowls can help make it easier to eat just enough rather than too much.


CHEW YOUR FOOD

Eating more slowly helps ensure that food is more likely to register in the body and reduces the risk of eating more than is really required. Ideally, food should be thoroughly chewed before swallowing. It can also help not to touch our remaining food or our cutlery again until the food that has actually been put in the mouth has been thoroughly masticated and swallowed.


DISCOVER YOUR IDEAL DIET

Physiological studies show that different people metabolize specific foods with different levels or efficiency. For instance, some individuals are very good metabolizes of fat, while others run best on carbohydrates. Maintaining a healthy weight is, therefore partly about feeding the body with the foods it is better adapted to process. For more details on this and on how to discover your ideal diet, see http://www.thetrueyoudiet.com

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