Vocabularically challenged

I don't know if there's a word for that. You think you are a decent writer, know what you wanted to say and the ideas are there in your mind alright, but the words are just don't come out. You wait for some time and, out of frustration, fill up the rest with some mundane words and close the piece. That leaves some bad taste in your mouth.

Alas, some people never seem to face that problem! The words just seemed flow for them just as smoothly as their fountain pen. One of them is Roger Ebert, the noted film critic. His site contains the reviews of almost all the movies made in Hollywood. I strongly recommend the budding writers to read those pages, if not just the film critics.

I can't help quoting from his review of 'Sideways' that made me gasp. Here I go.

The movie was written by Payne and Jim Taylor, from the novel by Rex Pickett. One of its lovely qualities is that all four characters are necessary. The women are not plot conveniences, but elements in a complex romantic and even therapeutic process. Miles loves Maya and has for years, but cannot bring himself to make a move because romance requires precision and tact late at night, not Miles' peak time of day. Jack lusts after Stephanie, and casually, even cruelly, fakes love for her even as he cheats on his fiancee.

What happens between them all is the stuff of the movie, and must not be revealed here, except to observe that Giamatti and Madsen have a scene that involves some of the gentlest and most heartbreaking dialogue I've heard in a long time. They're talking about wine. He describes for her the qualities of the pinot noir grape that most attract him, and as he mentions its thin skin, its vulnerability, its dislike for being too hot or cold, too wet or dry, she realizes he is describing himself, and that is when she falls in love with him. Women can actually love us for ourselves, bless their hearts, even when we can't love ourselves. She waits until he is finished, and then responds with words so simple and true they will win her an Oscar nomination, if there is justice in the world.


There's no justice in the world coz' I can't write half as good as Ebert.