Whatever!

I don't know about you, but I love reading! It's fun! It expands your vocabulary, it keeps your mind working and it’s usually a great way to kill time.



I've read good books, bad books, great books and trashy ones too. I've started reading novels and only made it halfway through because they were so boring. I've started and stopped reading books because they just weren't working for me.



And when you find a book you read cover-to-cover and can't put down, even when it's already half-an-hour past your bedtime, you know you've got a hit in your hands.



And that's when Hollywood rolls in to ruin everything you imagined!



How many times have you said, "Wow, that movie was better than the book!"? I'm guessing probably never.



So why do producers continue to rip our interpretations of a book from our minds and try cramming their formulaic, uninspiring dreck in its place? Their versions leave nothing to the imagination and never fail at omitting the best parts or the most dramatic interactions and build-ups in the novel.



I've seen it happen to recent big-budget movies like Memoirs of a Geisha, The Da Vinci Code and The Devil Wears Prada.



I think the The Color Purple is the only successful book-on-film that easily comes to mind. Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet was pretty hot. I'd say the whole Bourne action series as well, except, I've never read the books. And I guess the X-Men series too, but sorry J.J., comic books aren't exactly fine literature.



But anyway, the latest attempt producers are taking, is turning a fabulous and totally hilarious book called JPOD, into a TV series. If you've read the book, you probably share my befuddlement at how the hell it's going to work.



Though, I suppose we should leave it to the professionals, since they know what they're doing. I'm just really hoping this isn't another stab in the dark that lands in my eye, because I've already had my senses dulled by too many adaptations that make me want to poke my own eyes out to find some kind of relief.





But Whatever!





You can hear Ruby Jones' Whatever rants live Tuesday-Friday during the Morning Show at 7:50, on Flow 93.5. Or check out the podcast at www.flow935.com!