Sweet Valley High

I have been a bookworm since like forever but when I hit my teens I found that there were no fun books aimed at my age group. There were some wonderful pieces of work by Brits Honor Arundel, Enid Blyton and Jaqueline Wilson, but they were serious books. Then in 1983 a new book series was launched about twin sisters who lived in California; it was called Sweet Valley High and was developed by Francine Pascal. They focused on 16 year old Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield who were identical in every way except in their persona. Elizabeth was sensible, hard working and nice while Jessica anything but. She was manipulative, self centred, shallow and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. However, as lousy as she was Jessica made Sweet Valley High compelling and exciting to read. Over 150 titles were published as well as spin off series. During 1983 and 1987 I think I bought every title every month. Oh how I would wait in anticipation for a new book to drop and in many ways it was like waiting for your favourite magazine to come out. In 1995 I was delighted when the show hit the TV screens in the UK, Brittany and Cynthia Daniels were perfect in the roles of the Wakefield twins. Interestingly enough the show was very much like Clueless in it's style and feel and possessed the campiness that is contained in Ugly Betty.

Earlier this week it was announced that, Sweet Valley High is about to be made into a film and the script will be written by none other than Diablo Cody. This is exciting news and has been reported on blogsphere a lot. I think Diablo's kick ass dialogue combined with edgy dark humour will be just what the series needs to take bring it into the 21st century. They have got off to a cracking start already with the major characters having twitter accounts. It feels kind of weird that a book series that I was so obsessed about when I was a teen is hitting the public foray but at the same time it is very exciting and I am curious to see what the Juno creater will bring to the table. While I was doing some googling I came across Sweet Valley Diaries which is a nostalgic look at SVH.

Here is a clip from the TV series. Have a look and tell me if it is not a dead ringer for Clueless.



Image from AP.

Juno

If someone had told me last year that a film about a pregnant 16 year old from a small town in Minnesota would be a translantic hit, I would have laughed out loud. I saw a trailer Juno at the launch of last year's London Film Festival and out of all the films this one stuck because of its freshness and amazing dialogue. Now I like many things in a movie; good storyline, magnetic characters (good and bad), a happy ending and a wonderful script. Yep, I am a big sucker for a great script. In the era where Hollywood is obsessed with special effects like massive bombs, spectacular car chases and airplane crashes, a great dialogue has often been put to the way side. The only directors who seem to specialise in creating great dialogues and I do not mean great lines like Jerry Maguire's "Show me the money," the Fight Club's, "The first rule is you don't talk about the fight club." No I mean a great film with a cracking script that is consistent throughout. Take Steven Soderbergh who gave us Traffic and Erin Brockovich or Quentin Tarantino's quirky writing in Pulp Fiction which is amazing and one of the most unconventional piece of work to come out of Hollywood.

Now onto Juno, this is a poignant and bitter sweet film that will leave you enraptured. The film totally lives up to its hype and I can say deserves the huge push that the powers may be gave it. Juno MacGuff, played by Ellen Page is an earthy teenager who is so sharp she might cut herself. After taking three pregnancy tests, instead of freaking out or throwing herself off the top of a building she wastes no time in finding suitable parents for her unborn baby. With the help of her 'so cool it hurts' best buddy, Leah played by Olivia Thirlby, she finds yuppie couple Mark and Vanessa Lorring played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. On paper the couple seem like perfect fodder to bring up her baby but in reality there are cracks in the marriage. Meanwhile there is a small matter of the father of Juno's baby, Bleeker played by Michael Cera still being in love with her. To throw a spanner in the works it looks like Juno might feel the same way about him.

Diablo Cody's writing here is exemplary and boy did she rock the red carpet at the Oscars with her leapord dress and taking off with the award for Original Screenplay. Ellen Page's performance is endearing and the combination of these two women results in a film that is sweet and touching.