Lisey's Story -- Stephen King: A book review

Okay,

Yes, I know I've been neglecting the blog but I haven't been well, and I've therefore been spending my spare time sleeping rather than blogging.

Anyway, on that note, I've been reading quite a lot in bed. I read Lisey's Story by Stephen King, which is a Psychological horror story told from the third person perspective of the wife of a best selling writer Scott Landon.

Two years after the death of her husband, Lisa Landon thinks she's over her husband's death, but peculiar things begin to happen to her as she starts going through her husband's old things. The story is a character story of astronomic proportions. King has the gift of being able to take the reader into the life of his character and making them feel that they are part of a credible story that is indeed plausible.

His dialogue is effective and his descriptions are epic. His only flaw is sometimes pacing. And that is indeed a little bit of a problem here. It took me quite a while to get into Lisey's story. Once I was in though, there was no getting out.

If you like horror, or even if you like thrillers, this book is a must read. Have a great one!

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson: a Book review

This week I read quite an interesting piece of fantasy. Prior to reading War Breaker, by Brandon Sanderson, I'd read his extension of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series The Gathering Storm. In terms of his prose, I don't think that he's all too revolutionary, but he brought a pretty dead story back to life. He's good with story telling, though not as classy as Jordan.

Anyway, the magic system of Warbreaker was quite original, in that I'd never seen anything of its like done before. I didn't really think it was too effective though. It used color of all things to determine the magic, and was utilized through breath. The more powerful the magician, the more breath. With more breath came ability to see more color and thereby bring objects to life with the use of the color or something like that. To be perfectly honest I didn't really understand what one had to do with the other.

Still, despite my qualms with the magic system I didn't have too many other problems with the piece. The tension ran high throughout the story, and there were plot and character twists that were bold and potent. The action ran high, and the human element also did.

The world was quite intriguing for a single volume fantasy piece, though I did think he could have fleshed out on this a little more.

The truth is that I really enjoyed the book despite its flaws. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it was certainly an enjoyable read. Give it a try if you enjoy fantasy and try to turn a blind eye to your cynical personality.

Have a great one!

Ragtime – E L Doctrow: Book review

I was told that E L Doctrow was one of the greatest classicists of our time. I was also told that Ragtime was his best book. As always, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went out to investigate. I'll tell you some thoughts that went through my mind as I read the book, and perhaps add another to the sea of opinions about Ragtime.

The book was written in a very interesting fashion. The narrator had a distinctly distant voice and seemed to paint a story by painting a selection of scenes that wove together into a tapestry that told an entire tale. It was a very original telling and what little dialogue there was was skillfully crafted into the prose, allowing for no distraction in the painting. To begin with, the lack of dialogue irked me. It became clear at the end that the story would not have worked the same effect with dialogue present. Still, I am a fan of dialogue driven character development, and Ragtime didn't have any of that.

The story was set in a beautifully painted late nineteenth / early twentieth century during the time of Harry Houdini and J P Morgan and Ford when the automobile had just started being mass-produced. The story was themed around the issue of prejudice that was present in the United States at that time. The feminist movement, the racist issues, the class differences.

I'd have to define the story itself as a world building story more than anything as the plot itself is not grounded in one story but in many all sharing one characteristic: the society and world in which they take place. Despite this, Doctrow forces the reader to care for and at the same time despise many of the characters in the book, demanding a high level of emotional investment.

I enjoyed the book largely, although I found it rather slow at times. The writing is beautiful and he portrays society masterfully. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you like Steinbeck and F Scott Fitzgerald, perhaps buy the book.

Enjoy!

Fifa World Cup

I was a born South African and although, I'm not there now, this world cup holds some interest for me.

The truth is I'd like to talk about the world cup briefly from a slightly different perspective to the mad vuvuzelas and crazy screaming fans. That of my friends who live in South Africa in fact. It's crazy how much of an effect the world cup has had on the country.

When I lived in Johannesburg, it was pretty much standard that nobody would use public transport as it was rather dangerous, crime and all, but now, the Gautrain had around 25 000 people within its first week! Yep, that's a success for now.

And then there's the fact that they say there's actually some sort of unity in the country. Well, that's new and hasn't been present since Mandela's appointment of 1994.

Plus, the soccer team, Bafana Bafana, drew with Mexico. That's something new as well. Yep the country seems to be on fire.

Well, I don't know if I believe it, but in a month after the world cup has ended, I'll be there to see whether it made any lasting change.

Enjoy!

iPhone 4 -- What to expect

Since I've been spending so much of my time covering the Gaza Flotilla clash, I've barely had an opportunity to cover anything else. I guess it's a little too late to start covering the BP oil spill, so you'll have to deal with a post about the iPhone 4.

So, the new iPhone is all the talk and hype since Steve Jobs introduced it last night. Here's my take on the device.

What is for me the most convenient feature about the iPhone is the fact that its about a quarter thinner. Yep, what has always made the iPod Touch just that little more convenient than the iPhone was the fact that the iPod Touch is a quarter thinner and, therefore more convenient. So, yes, Apple got it right when they made the phone more skinny. Or as Jobs put it, "The thinnest smart phone in the world."

Then there is the video camera. 720p high def video recorder. Yep, video bloggers, get ready. You are going to be able to do the blogging from your phones as long as you have WiFi. Plus video editing software!

Then there's the processor. Yep, we're running the iPad processor, which pretty much means that we'll be going really fast. It's actually pretty awesome. Plus, 40% more battery life! A claimed ten hours of wi-fi internet browsing.

And then there's the Gyroscope, which together with the compass and the accelerometer will perhaps revolutionize mobile gaming for all time.

If they can pull this off it'll be seriously impressive!

Yep, it looks really great.

To watch the presentation, just look below:

Flotilla Choir presents: We Con the World

The following YouTube video is worth watching even if you haven't been following the flotilla clash as closely as I have. It seems to have become rather popular. Rather funny as well!



Perhaps they said it a little more strongly than I would have, but it was a brilliant piece, wasn't it?

And in other news, Israel was forced to once again defend itself from a boat trying to get through the barricade. They were a little more clued up this time, and managed to pull off the task without harming anyone. For more info, here's a link.

The Flotilla Clash: Should the blockade remain?

After the Gaza War that ended at the start of last year, the decision was made to place a blockade around Gaza. The blockade was intended to ensure that supplies that could be dangerous to Israel did not reach Gaza.

The truth is that Gaza put themselves into the position that the blockade was required. Hamas had been firing numerous rockets indiscriminately into Israel meant to kill randomly and cause as much damage as possible. Israel needed to protect its people and therefore responded. The world claimed that the response was drastic: 1,400 palestinian deaths and only 13 Israeli deaths? A problem that must be called disproportional force. Plus, of those 1,400 Palestinians several hundred were innocent civilians.

But it is the Terrorist organization of Hamas that is responsible for the deaths of its people. To launch rockets from nursery schools and hospitals -- the use of those you are responsible for as your own shields!

I hear you as you ask me whether or not Israel should have fired missiles with the knowledge that there were innocents there. The answer is an obvious no. But it was perhaps the lesser of two evils. Had they not fired, Hamas's rockets would have continued to fire into Israel hitting its own hospitals and playschools and killing its own civilians! A country has a responsibility to its civilians first and foremost.

The terrorist organization of Hamas as voted in by the people of Gaza was killed so many innocents of the people of Gaza. Had they done their duty as a nation and protected their citizens; had they even not done their duty as a nation but fired their rockets from locations a little away from their citizens, they would not have pressed the trigger on Israel's weaponry to murder their own.

The border barricade is not there to hurt the people of Gaza; it is there to protect them! It is there to protect them from the terrorists of Hamas who would fire rockets into Israel and force Israel to fire back, killing more of there own.

I send out my plea to all of you Human Rights Activists -- The first right is the right to live. If you want to deny that to the civilians of Gaza, then continue to try to break the barricade. If you really care about the Palestinians, support the barricade and send your supplies through Israel. Work in cooperation to ensure that no more innocent blood of Israelis and Palestinians is shed.

Let the blockade remain.

The Flotilla Clash: What Israel Should Have Done

Elementary. They should have let the ship pass, bombard their border defenses, let Al Quaida join Hamas, and give them weapons and money.

But the truth is even if they hadn't found any of these items on board, a human rights ship was the ultimate guise to hide weapons and give them to Hamas. If it were me running the country, I know that there would have been know way whatsoever that I could have let the ships pass knowing the possible dangers it might have to my civilians.

Disagree?

The Gaza Flotilla Clash: an analysis

Relations between Israel and the rest of the world have been tenuous of late. When Israel then go and board a ship under the flag of humanitarian aid, one would not expect relations with the world and Gaza to improve at all. I intend to try to study the situation from a purely factual perspective point of view and then draw several conclusions that you may or may not agree with.

Let's start with the beginning of the story. It might be said that there is no beginning to the story as the Palestinian - Israeli conflict is a vicious cycle. Still, we can at least use the Gaza war as a reference point.

Gaza is busy firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel and Israel responds. Dramatically to say the least. A series of air-strikes were carried out resulting in the deaths of 1417 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers. International response to this statistic and in fact the tactics of the Israeli army in general caused major international condemnation.

Let's not even get into the Goldstone report as it is remarkably flawed in ways that I don't feel like getting into right now, but should you want to read about them try this link.

I do want to remark on one thing, though. A great deal of the civilian casualties in this war were results of the human shield strategy, in which Palestinians rely on their own human civilians to deter Israeli fire. In fact, one might argue that Palestinians caused most of their own civilian casualties. There is no reason whatsoever that Israel should have jeopardized the lives of its own soldiers to reduce the casualties of its enemy's civilians. A country's primary concern must be its own citizens.

Anyway, to return to the point, Israel was condemned for disproportionate response and being to careless with the lives of civilians. Ultimately, though, Israel protected its own civilians as well as might be expected and the rocket fire stopped. Whether or not they sacrificed to many Palestinian lives along the way is up for debate, but one thing is certain, had Gaza valued the lives of its civilians, they would have ensured that their army was as far away from their civilians as possible.

Still, these air-strikes left Gaza in remarkable disarray. They needed supplies and resources to rebuild the piles of rubble left by Israel. Israel could of course not entirely stop these supplies, but would be careless to let the supplies land without inspecting them. For perhaps they contained more rockets, the last thing they'd want.

Liberal activists from around the world against the Israeli violence toward innocent civilians in Gaza are now bound to come to the fore in providing these supplies. Thus when a flotilla of six ships aimed to break through the Gaza blockade as a protest to Israel's censorship of supplies, it is unsurprising that Israel warned them against doing any such thing, instead telling them to send their supplies across land. Surely a human rights activist group is the ultimate hiding place for weapons to refill the store houses of the tarnished Hamas group.

What Israel didn't expect was to have any particularly violent encounters, but for whatever reason, when boarding the ships as a result of a failure to comply with the request to send the aid via land, a major brawl ensued upon the Turkish ship. Nine to nineteen activists were killed in the violence, and ten Israeli soldiers were injured.

Israel claims that the violence of its soldiers was self-defense, Turkey and most of the rest of the world seems to believe the violence of the activists was in self defense.

I'm inclined to believe Israel on this one for two main reasons:
1) The flotilla claims that no weapons were aboard when two of the Israeli soldiers had bullet wounds, and
2) There were no episodes of violence on the other ships, and one would expect a certain consistency, had the Israeli soldiers been ordered to incite the violence.

Still, regrettable as the deaths of these great people who fought for what they believed in are, to fault Israel for asking the resources to be put across the land and then after warnings going and intercepting the ship is difficult. Why precisely if they wanted to perform a terrorist attack as they are being accused of, they'd warn the victims, is a little strange as well.

Those are my thoughts for now. Feel free to leave your own below, but please keep the discussion clean, intellectual and non-insulting.

The Magician by Raymond E. Feist -- Book Review

Hi there,

I feel rather bad that I haven't updated my blog of late. I blame it fully on my busy schedule and an increased workload. I must also blame it on the fact that I've been reading more than I've been surfing the net, and am therefore left with a bunch of book reviews to write and not much else. So I guess this'll have to satisfy you.

The Magician by Raymond E Feist was one really famous fantasy book that I'd been putting off reading for quite a while. The reason for this is simple. The first adult fantasy book that I ever read aside from Lord of the Rings was Exile's Return by Raymond E. Feist. I really disliked the book intensely.

Perhaps the reason for this was that it was the third in the trilogy and I hadn't read the first two, but either way I was put off Feist.

Anyway, someone convinced me to try The Magician, the start of Feist's far more famous saga. And I'm glad for it.

I really enjoyed the book, despite the fact that at the start it was rather slow and without tension. The characters appeared flat and there seemed no reason to read on besides Feist's flowery prose.

Later though, the book spun around shocking with character twists of massive proportions, world building and tension the likes of which I've rarely seen. It was an impressive work and I'm glad I was convinced to read it.

The book spans years from the protagonist Pug's point of view in which he grows from child to master magician. He goes through slavery and fears of losing the only companions he ever has. He goes through a brainwashing treatment in which he begins to sympathize with the enemy. The character story is truly epic. It's a must read for epic fantasy fans.

Have a great one!

Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger -- Book Review

After a long time of being on my To Read list, I finally got my hands on Catcher in the Rye and read through it. I read it in fewer than three hours and in two sittings. The truth is that I truly enjoyed the book.

Despite that the era in which the book takes place is not our own, I found that I could connect with the main character. It takes serious guts to write a book from the first person point of view of a mad-man, but to pull it off takes pure skill. Salinger has both.

There is little doubt that Salinger's story is a character story and it is his ability to tell of people in interesting fashions, describing eccentricities more candidly than would be regarded as proper. All this makes for an entertaining and emotional story that breaks hearts and wins laughter with seemingly no effort.

While there was nothing too revolutionary in terms of plot in the book, what there was was a beautiful weave of strong story and stronger character. Take The Grapes of Wrath and remove all the pretension and you'll be left with a story that might be similar to this.

In terms of classics this was really a worthwhile read.

Lindsay Lohan's Big Jail Party -- Postponed!

So it appears that our favorite danger on the roads, Ms Lindsay Lohan has deprived the Los Angeles jail of one really good party -- for the time being at least.

All I can say is that I'm most upset that the inmates at the jail are going to be missing out on what would probably have been the most lively party they might have ever experienced. How cruel it is of Ms Lohan to deprive them of this.

Of course perhaps they might be able to convince the jail to give them their party anyway, using Lohan's $100 000 bail.

Have a great one!

Feature Friday

Featured YouTube Video:
Shaytard's YouTube Story:

An inspiring story of one of the biggest YouTube celebrities around and how he made it big on the web.
Part 1:


Part 2:


Featured Amateur Blog:
Jewel's Arty Blog
I know little about art and the blog is seriously girly, but she writes quite well and her stuff looks pretty professional.

Featured Popular Blog:
Fail Blog
'nuff said.

Featured Website:
Exploding dog
Very interesting website. People prompt him and he draws pictures based on the prompts. One can scroll through it for ages. Plus, he's been doing it for 10 years.

Featured Book:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
A children's book freaky and warming enough for the whole family.

That's it for Feature Friday this week. Tune in next week for more features!

Synthetic Life

It appears that science has finally created life of its own. Yep, a bacterium like cell has been synthetically built from scratch. DNA mapped by computers, based off a true life form, a self-replicating life form has been produced.

So what do I think about this? I've invested very little thought in the understanding the ramifications as they will need to progress far further for the changes to become significant. It does mean though, that perhaps there will in the future be ways to create a system of sustainable energy based on synthetic life.

As to what it means to religious life, nothing yet. I don't think any religions feel themselves under pressure. The real pressure will come if intelligent life can be designed from scratch by computers some centuries in the future. There is not likely to be any backlash thus far.

Lance Armstrong: Doper or Clean?

I grew up in a family where we were kind of brainwashed into loving cycling from the first day of life.

I followed Lance Armstrong through all of his Tour de France victories, watched Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich fight with him to the top of the game. I watched Armstrong survive as Ullrich and Basso were dropped for implication in Operation Puerto. The next person to take on the mantle after Armstrong's temporary retirement was Floyd Landis. And then Floyd too was disqualified for drugs. Of course each of these riders vehemently denied involvement in banned substances.

Through seven Tours de France, Lance Armstrong was singularly the most tested cyclist for drugs, and yet somehow all of his competition managed to get caught leaving him seemingly clean.

Finally, after nearly five years of claiming innocence, Floyd Landis finally admitted to doping. Problem is that he's now claimed that he was not alone and in fact Armstrong was doping with him. Plus he used to be on Armstrong's team. So it is possible that it is not a complete fabrication.


This is by no means the first time Lance Armstrong has been accused of taking drugs. But so far each drug claim has seemed to make the possibility of his use of banned substances less and less likely.

The truth of the matter is that I've got no idea whether Armstrong used drugs, but he was clearly the smartest drug user in the peleton if he did. While he might have taken drugs, though, it is rather stupid to believe Floyd Landis, a person who has lied for five years to protect his reputation. He's got the status of a liar, and I find his lies rather ugly. To protect his bad publicity as he admits, he creates an even bigger story, which might be real though likely is not, to undermine his admission.

Sorry, nope, I'm not believing it from you, Floyd. You've lost all your credibility.

A Little About Israel

I've been doing a little touring of Jerusalem over the past few days. I've seen a bunch of really interesting things along the way.

Let's start at the walk through Damascus Gate in the old city on Jerusalem day. As a Jew, it is somewhat nerve-wracking to walk through the Arab market on a day when there is so much hate in the air. Still I went with a bunch of friends through the Arab part of the old city without much trouble. A couple of Jews ran through the market singing Jewish songs in the joy of commemorating the day that marked the return of the land on which the old temple was regained by the Jews.

I thought that that could have been interpreted as provocative, but perhaps it is merely my Jewish ancestry and its bias that tells me they were genuinely happy to have the city of Jerusalem again and were therefore singing in praise and thanks to God.

A couple of days later I went to tour the southern excavations at the edge of the temple mount. It was amazing to see the history that is contained especially for the Jewish people but also for the Byzantines there. The tour guide was an archaeologist and really helped bring the history of the place to life.

Then my final encounter of worthy importance was a walk down the Haredi part of Jerusalem on Bar Ilan. It's really a dirty part of town and I found it to be a rather loathsome experience on the whole. I needed to be there though to catch my bus. Problem was that when I got there there was a whole riot with overturned metal disposal bins in the street and a whole load of fire and burning and other such destructive activities.

Yep, they're meant to be representing the Jewish religion and are found disrupting the lives of people. Anyway, it turned out that I had to walk through Jerusalem for an hour until 12:30 pm to catch the next bus at a different location due to the diversion of the public bus system.

It was rather aggravating experience.

That's it for now!

Paul Burling -- Impersonator Extraordinaire

I've been having a rather good time on YouTube today, and came across another video of official awesomeness.

Britain's got Talent occasionally reveals stars the likes of which are rarely seen. Such was the case with Susan Boyle.

And now it appears that they've found the same sort of a star in the genre of comedy. Perhaps not as revolutionary but hilariously funny nevertheless. The embed code for that video was disabled, so here's the link to comedy extraordinaire Paul Burling.

You liked those old cartoons too? Well, this was for me one of the more heartwarming reminders of my childhood that the internet has given me. Hope you enjoy

Greyson Chance vs. Lady Gaga

Truth is, I've never really been too much of a fan of Lady Gaga. That is until Greyson Chance, a sixth grade kid picks up one of her songs, does away with all the irritating bits, leaving a good song. Plus this kid's voice is pretty beastly.

So, when my sister told me about this song, she gave me a pleasant surprise.

Greyson Chance singing Paparazzi by Lady Gaga:

Feature Friday

Featured Obscure Blog: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Planet

As an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, I recently discovered this blog which as far as obscure blogs go quite impressed me.

He writes really well. His stories are interesting as far as stories go. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey -- Book Review

A couple of days ago, I finished Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey.

The book was the first I've read by Mercedes Lackey. In some ways I rather liked it. What for me was the most distinguishing quality of Lackey's writing style was her superb world building.

Jinx High is an urban fantasy set in our world with a bit of a twist. There are creepy spirits and ghosts that roam the streets and make the world a rather dangerous place to hang out. Behind these spooks lie magicians who conjure them to perform their bidding. A real creeping location, perfect for a story designed to give you the chills to take place.

In Lackey's book the lead character is Diana Tregarde a Romance Writer / investigator / witch / black belt in kung fu / clever / witty / wise person. In short she's a typical Mary-Sue. Yep, in her own book when Lackey paints the scene of Tregarde teaching writing, she tells the students to ensure that their protagonist isn't too perfect because that detracts from the tension. Well she was a wise woman, I just wish she never fell into that same pit herself.

She was thus reduced to trying to pull and force her tension from other characters stupidity and it just didn't quite work out.

Nevertheless I was still fairly happy with the book and when rating it would happily give it a 3 out of 5. It wasn't a bad book, and I don't have any real qualms with it aside from the aforementioned.

She succeeded in painting a world more in touch with reality than any I've read in ages. Her prose is quite close to invisible, though not completely. It's not a particularly beautiful prose but it tells her story.

Overall I think it was good. It had more squandered potential that was untapped. It's worth a read though. If I were you, I'd take it out of the library rather than forking out money. Or perhaps mass market paperback?

Enjoy!

Kid Survives Airplane Crash

Oh gosh! There's so much to talk about.

I guess I could talk about Miley Cyrus and lap-dancing, but I'd probably find myself hard pushed to keep the blog PG. Which I might point out, I do make a great effort to do.

And then there's the new Microsoft Office 2010 which I guess I could deal with, but I haven't yet used it yet and cannot contribute much original content there.

I also feel like talking about the Apple lawsuit and the possible ramifications of banned iPods, but find myself distracted by this too by a rather interesting story which is in many ways tragic but is also somewhat miraculous.

I want to talk about the plane crash in Tripoli.

I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and lived there for what has so far been the overwhelming bulk of my life. It is from my home town that Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 departed with a full stock of 104 passengers.

When the flight crashed only one man survived. A ten year old Dutch child was pulled out of the rubble with two broken legs and numerous other injuries. Still, it is a miracle that an airplane crash that killed every adult on the plane and a ten year old kid was the sole survivor.

As a religious person, it is difficult to not look at the crash without saying that the hand of God kept the child alive. Who can claim to say why the plane crashed at all? I certainly don't know, but we can take what lessons we can from this and try to live every day in such a way that it would be a worthwhile last day.

Spend all the time you can with those you care about, for you never know when they might be taken from you.

Still, when you're down and out, remember that there is that one ten year old kid that survived the plane crash. You can certainly survive some emotional trauma.

My thoughts go out to all the families of those who perished in the crash.

The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin -- Book Review

Undoubtedly one of the greatest writers alive today is Ursula K. Le Guin. I began to read her stories a couple of years ago, and still get the same warm shiver down my spine that I did when I read her Earthsea Saga: what is considered by many her magnum opus.

The Telling was an awesome read. By no means was it the greatest of Le Guin's pieces, but it is very difficult to flaw someone who writes a prose that even at its weakest point is more potent than almost any other piece of modern literature.

The Telling is set in a dystopic society similar to those of Bradbury and Orwell in Farenheit 451 and 1984 respectively. The difference is that while those societies were purely communist, Le Guin's is purely capitalist. The society is centered around maximum output and productivity with no concern for tradition and no time for leisure. Planet Aka revolves around a systematic religion of science with no regard for any superstitions or non-evidence based beliefs.

The story is told from the third person perspective of linguist Sutty, the Earthling who was left home to study linguistics. The problem is that books are burned by law and the old tongue has been de-legalized. There isn't much constructive that the linguist can do.

Sutty is sent to Ozkat-Ozkat, a town still illegally practicing ancient ways. An almost buddhist culture and a far more romantic way of life than the capitalist lifestyle of the urban part of Aka, Sutty finds herself drawn towards the lifestyle of Ozkat-Ozkat. In a style reminiscent of The Last Samaurai, Sutty finds her mind involuntarily betraying her own people for the lifestyle of Ozkat-Ozkat.

As always, the distant web that Le Guin weaves elicits emotional response rare in literature.

There are few flaws with the book, but what was for me the most obvious was that Le Guin almost seems to be preaching. Her protagonist's feelings and thoughts towards certain issues seem to be geared towards convincing her audience of her beliefs. Though she tries to be subtle about it, I find that she somewhat fails.

Also, the unilateral culture of Aka is a little to fictitious. I cannot quite bring myself to believe in the planet's viability.

Finally, her story has just been done too many times before. Her classiness as a writer still distinguishes it, but it's not as impressive as some of her other more original and developed work.

The books a worthwhile investment. I'd advise buying it only after having read her more impressive books. For her Science fiction, try The Dispossessed, for her Fantasy, try Earthsea. For historical fiction try Lavinia. For young adults fiction try Voices and the other novels in its saga.

Enjoy!

Want Your Blog Featured on yRate?

I've been thinking for a while about reviewing blogs on yRate. I'm looking for blogs with interesting content and good writing.

If you think that your blog is good enough to make it onto yRate, post a link to it in the comments.

While I am not guaranteeing that any blog published in the comments will make it onto yRate, I can guarantee that I will look through each link posted and consider it for a blog review.

If your blog catches my attention, I'll review it at some stage or another on yRate. I'm not looking for merely one blog, I'm looking for a whole variety to review over time.

So, you think you can blog? If so drop me a link, and you may be the subject of a future blog entry.

Times Square, the Taliban, and Terrorism in General

When the news is all filled with the idea that the US government ties the attempted bombing on Times Square to the Taliban, there is not much else to blog about. So you'll excuse me, I hope, for jumping onto the band wagon.

For those who don't know, the US have said it was a Taliban group responsible for the attack. The LA Times' story is here.

What is there to say about terrorism that hasn't been said already?

I know, perhaps I should get controversial. President Obama, as we all know, is regarding torture, a card carrying democrat. Well, he's a democrat in most areas, I guess. Hence his representing the Democrats.

It just so happens that while I too am often accused of being a crazy liberal, I don't see eye to eye with the liberals on issues of torturing terrorists. No don't stop reading from pure shock at my idiocy yet. I want to at least have earned your scorn. Oh, I know that there are far more effective and efficient ways of extracting information from terrorists than torture. Believe me, I am sure of this.

I also know that there is a value on a human's life. Even the most lowlife of terrorists are people. Problem is that they're people who don't value life. Suicide bombers don't even value their own lives.

Still, what good can ever come from torturing them? You might as well get your information out of them a less painful way. Especially if it works better.

I have always been a bit of a chess player and I want to let you in on a secret. When faced with fire, one of the most appropriate methods of response is fire. Imagine if every terrorist in the world knew that if he was caught he'd suffer pain of enormous magnitude if he were captured. The purpose of torture is not treatment to the sickness of terrorism, it's prevention of the disease itself.

If torture was openly allowed, terrorists would think twice before trying an attack.

As for the morals of hurting a human being, by failing to act, you are hurting all those victims of future terrorist attacks that might have been prevented by creating a fear of torture. There are no two ways about it, if you're kind to the terrorists, you're cruel to the civilians.

Feel free to argue in the comments, but please keep it polite and constructive.

Have a great one!

The True Twilight Story (Part 2)

You might recall that not too long ago, toward the end of April, we began The True Twilight Story. For those who want to read Part 1, it can be found here.

Let's just say that it's finally out in the open. *sing-song* Eddy and Bella sitting in a tree! *end sing-song*

Yep, Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson have finally let the cat out of the bag. And in the presence of Oprah too. Talk about a way to make it public!

I have a mind now to start making a thousand Twilight wise-cracks, though I am trying to hold it in. Okay, I give up. I suppose the Hollywood glamour has made Robert Pattinson scintillate just like his character. And I think that the blood-perfume that Elisabeth Arden puts out is what makes Kristin smell so sexy.

Still, I suppose it is quite a heartwarming prospect that we get to experience what seems at least to be an innocent romance from two young stars. Difficult to believe isn't it? Almost as difficult to believe as a vampire romancing a human, isn't it?

Okay, I'm going to stop having fun at the expense of Twilight now. Yes, they've gone public, and that's about all there is to know.

To all Twilight fans: I apologize for the wise cracks, but I couldn't resist.

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

Justin Bieber and the German Dilemma -- A video from YouTube

The following video is of Justin Bieber getting interviewed and he comes across a rather difficult question.



I must say, in all honesty that Bieber seems more innocent than most with his fame. I am quite impressed.

Kendra Wilkinson and the Sex-Tape Scandal

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Elder Gods by David Eddings -- Book Review

As an avid reader of Fantasy for as long as I can remember, I've been trying to sample every fantasy writer I can get my hands on.

For the longest time people have been recommending David Eddings to me. So after a real long time, I finally got my hands on one of his books. Naturally, now that I've got Eddings under my belt, my list of popular fantasy authors to still read has grown slightly shorter.

I bought a second hand copy of The Elder Gods by David Eddings at The Strand, a second hand bookstore in Manhattan, about a month ago. The book is the first in The Dreamers series and was released in 2003, so it's quite recent and I don't need to feel too guilty about judging an author based on a style that is sure to have changed over time. Eddings by 2003 had enough time to come into his own style.

My honest opinion on the book is that it sucked.

If I am really not enjoying a book I usually put it down, and though I considered putting The Elder Gods down several times I decided to read to the end. I guess that makes it better than certain fatally flawed books, but not many and not by much.

I'm not one to make rash statements without backing them up, so here is the why:

First and foremost, the book lacked conflict. The protagonists in the book (all the unnecessary protagonists as well) were seemingly flawless. When the character with the coolest weapon and the most sarcastic character, and the most funny character, a book is doomed to failure. What keeps a reader attached to a book is the fear of the protagonist's failure. What keeps a reader focused is well written complex plot. What keeps a reader entertained is interesting character interaction. A good book draws emotion out of a reader.

Through reading The Elder Gods, I felt no emotion whatsoever and felt I was reading a dry, uninteresting fanfiction-like amateurish piece of writing.

Character interaction was monotonous with nothing unexpected happening throughout the book. The antagonists were completely undeveloped without any sort of justification or sense.

Okay I've finished my rant. I wouldn't waste my time on this if I were you. Go read J R R Tolkien or Ursula K. Le Guin if you feel the need to spend your time on fantasy.

That is the verdict.

Have a great one!

On Bombs and Politics

It appears as though America is once again coming under threat of explosive violence once again.

Times Square, the ultimate target for a car bomb. The UN nuclear summit, the ultimate location for Iran hint at being victimized by the United States. The ultimate location to promote their own nuclear program.

The truth is that I cannot for the life of me work out why it is that Ahmadinejad finds it so surprising that the United States fears he's building nuclear weapons. For one thing he openly despises Israel as a Jewish State and has denied the holocaust, almost indicating a ferocious hatred towards Jews. For another he's threatened the destruction of the US and Israel.

I don't think any sane country would even allow someone like him to set foot on its shore after threats of demolition, let alone allow him to speak at one of its most influential universities.

I'd like to tell Mr Ahmadinejad that he's lacks a certain credibility when he claims that his country is producing nuclear energy for the sole purpose of energy. If that were the case after all, it would perhaps be easier to just build regular energy generators and avoid a whole lot of conflict.

What can be said other than that we need to start taking a stronger stand against terrorism. President Obama, you can't bargain with those who openly hate you without viable reason. Please learn that lesson soon.

The man who is kind to the cruel, ultimately somewhere down the line, will be responsible for the cruelty to the kind administered by the source that he should have quashed all those years ago.

Awesome video from ImprovEverywhere -- fairly old

Check it out!

Royal Assassin -- Robin Hobb: A book review

Hi people :)

So this is my second book review in a relatively short period of time. Yep, I've been reading too much for my own good.

Robin Hobb has always struck me as a great writer in a rather unique sense. I'm a real fantasy freak and am particular about the fantasy that I read. Before I read anything of Hobb's I was quite convinced that she'd be writing a rather poor first person narration with a conventional story line. Which is why I began with reading her Liveship Traders trilogy as it's a lot more difficult to publish a bad third person narration than is to publish a bad first person narration.

Lo and behold, when I finished Ship of Magic, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Hobb was more than the regular fantasy writer. What strikes me about Hobb's prose more than any other fantasy writer is her affinity for creating real characters and winning a reader's sympathy for them. She's not scared of being cruel to her characters and that makes for an interesting and unpredictable read.

Royal Assassin, like Assassin's Apprentice, was no exception to Hobb's style. Her complex plot lines never tilt quite the way that you expect them to. She tells a believable story of character development and character growth. And the best part: It all takes place within a realm in which magic is possible.

Her world too is a vast expanse that she develops effectively with each passing book.

Her melodramatic prose is perhaps Hobb's main flaw. Even her first person narration is fairly believable. It is the fact that she overdescribes to try to get an exaggerated effect, and consequently ends up with a slightly diminished effect.

Hobb's stories themselves are enthralling and are worth reading, especially if you like fantasy.

Astroids and Intergalatic Water

The solution for overpopulation has presented itself.

Yep, that's right, they found water on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. Sounds like it came right out of a Science fiction book. It also almost makes Obama's recent announcement of the race to Mars sound a little more plausible.

Yep, wouldn't it be cool? In a couple of decades we might even have intergalatic internet. And maybe fibre optic cables running through the solar system. Still, I dread the latency such a cable would provide.

Wait! Maybe there are even little aliens living on this asteroid. And how about wormhole generators and lightsabers?

Those'll be the days.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch -- A Book Review

I finished reading the Lies of Locke Lamora a couple of days back. It's a fantasy book with a unique take on fantasy. A rare commodity these days.

What sets it apart from other fantasy, in my opinion, is that there is a tension that exists between the reader and the protagonist. The protagonist is a rather loathsome character when it comes to his personality, but Lynch manages to portray him admirably. With the use of one awesome trick. If you don't support him, you are supporting the antagonist who is more loathsome yet.

In the style of The Count of Monte Cristo, Lynch manages to take the fantasy world to a whole new level as he plots his ultimate criminal justification fantasy work. It's like Monte Cristo, but the stakes are far higher now that magic is involved.

Anything can go.

In terms of prose, Lynch is fair, although he does tend to get long winded. He needs to get a little better at building up action scenes and at varying his pace.

In all, the books worth reading. Especially if you're a fantasy nut and want to see something different.

Enjoy!

Best YouTube Video I saw this week

She's got a couple of awesome points there. It's rather funny.

The True Twilight Story

So, Edward and Bella are almost officially dating.

Kristen Stewart at least seems to love Robert Pattinson, whether the feelings are reciprocated is a matter for debate.

Yes, I was being somewhat sarcastic. These celebrity relationships are amusing. But what really stuns me is the coverage that they're given in the press.

I learn several valuable life lessons from the relationships between celebrities:

1) Whatever you do comes back to hit you in the back -- You do Twilight, Twilight does you. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson made what is possibly culturally the biggest romance story in others lives come to reality. Now, Others are making Bella and Edward's real lives into the greatest cultural phenomenon of romance.

2) Don't put your foot in it: In other words, if you love someone and tell it to the press, don't expect them to reciprocate.

and 3) News stories can be made out of nothing. Yes, journalists, with no concrete information whatsoever, you can build news stories that make Google News's front page. And celebrities, you'd better start doing some interesting stuff, or the news stories about you doing absolutely nothing will make the front page.

That's it for now.

Avatar

I finally did it: I watched Avatar.

That is one movie that I've been wanting to see for ages, but never got around to seeing. Luckily they had it on the plane. So my verdict?

Avatar was officially awesome.

Avatar was also officially subject to a bunch of stereotypical villains that were not particularly real. *although there were a couple of character twists*

Avatar was nevertheless awesome.

That's the short of it, but let's talk the long of it. Which I might point out CONTAINS SPOILERS. As an avid science fiction and fantasy fan, I was only too happy to find Avatar, a Science Fantasy film with awesome reviews. That rarely happens. The story of Avatar is a well plotted out character story about the development of a character that operates on both the straightforward and metaphorical level. A paralyzed person is given the opportunity to break out of his paralysis for the single cost of taking on a dangerous mission to confront with the enemy alien and find out more about the primitive cultures.

Much in the same way as The Last Samaurai, the protagonist falls in love with the new culture and realizes that they are being victimized. When the Humans want to destroy this civilization they are pitted against him, and he must fight his own people.

That's the filtered story line, but beware, the movie contains epicness rarely seen, and awesome action scenes, and a little bit of romance that highlights its fantastical elements. Thankfully, not enough romance to drown the movie out though, as is usually the case.

The acting is solid, and the story is thrilling, the music is magical. Occasionally predictable, rarely boring, Avatar is one of the most epic movies of its kind.

Hopefully it will be the beginning of a new generation of great science fantasy movies.

It's worth a watch. ;)

Icelandic Volcanic Eruptions and Airports

I am currently in Israel. Yep, I got here by airplane yesterday. Actually, that in and of itself is somewhat of a miracle given the volcanic eruption in Iceland and its affect on a whole bunch of airplanes.

Though my flight itself wasn't canceled, I was not completely exempt from inconvenience. Our route was forced to take a detour that added an additional half-hour onto the already long flight. We also took off over an hour late due to the fact that the plane was waiting for a bunch of connecting passengers whose planes had been delayed for the same reason.

It seems though, that inconvenient as my experience might have been, less convenient still, was the experience of the European Airline companies. In the opinion of Dr Ashley Steel, the Global Chair for Transport and Infrastructure at KPMG, the volcanic eruption probably cost an airline like British Airways tens of millions. Did you watch those share prices drop?

So, yeah, the flight across the ocean was really more unpleasant than it should have been, but I'm here now.

And in other news this morning, Barak Obama wants to visit Mars.

Enjoy!

Let's Talk About Nuclear Terrorism

The headlines for the past 24 or so hours have discussed US and Chinese sanctions on Iran. As one might expect, The United States have taken a hard line with the nuclear program, while China has not been as vocal.

What would explain this is the outcome that would result from Al Qaida getting hold of a nuclear bomb. For the United States it would be disastrous. Iran would target them pretty quickly. If not immediately, after the demise of Israel. China on the other hand stands to profit. China needs oil, and Iran can supply it. Severing contact with Iran is the last thing that they want.

On Monday, reports from the White House claimed that Obama had succeeded in convincing President Hu Jintao to cooperate with the US on Iran sanctions. China however denied any sort of shift in political stance. Why? They claim its because they don't believe that sanctions will have any effect on the situation whatsoever.

Would sanctions have an effect? I am not sure I disagree too much with China on this one. I can tell you, though, that regardless of whether or not sanctions would deter Iran's nuclear program to conduct business with prospect murderers is immoral and unethical. Do you sell guns to murderers who would otherwise purchase their weapons on the black market?

Wait, perhaps that's a bit extreme. Let's modify it. Do you sell chocolate to murderers who purchase their weapons from the black market? By refusing to sanction Iran, China clearly marks its political stance as being in support of the Iranian nuclear program. There are no two ways about it.

Sorry President Obama, but it looks like China is still against you. Good luck with the remainder of the conference.

Agree or disagree? Leave your thoughts below.

Kitty Kelley and the Oprah Biography

For those of you who don't know, Kitty Kelley, notorious writer of several unauthorized biographies releases her next book tomorrow. This time, her target is the all-powerful woman Oprah Winfrey.

The Rita Skeeter of the Muggle-world has apparently emerged with several rather potent gossip stories about Oprah Winfrey, the role model of thousands of women and perhaps even some men has, according to Kelley at least, a whole section of her life hushed up.

Tomorrow, with the release of Oprah -- A Biography, Kelley will likely challenge Oprah in the same style as she did Frank Sinatra and several other impressive personalities.

As Wikipedia's article about her points out, although she has been charged of lying numerous times, not once has she had to retract a statement. Whether this is because she is telling the truth or is just quite streetwise is a subject for debate.

So far she has told several rather tall tales about the Oprah so many idolize, not the least of which is that she lied about her poor upbringing and having to keep cockroaches as pets. For what purpose? Kelley quotes Oprah's cousin claiming that Oprah told her, "It's what people want to hear. The truth is boring."

I was scanning through the Amazon reviews on Kitty Kelley's books, and while there are several people who are taken in by her tales of gossip, a rather large number of people don't quite take everything she says as gospel.

The claims of her strong critics are that she spends too much time trying to attack the subjects of her biographies, and too little time focusing on actual substance. While I have admittedly never read any of her books from beginning to end, from the few pages I've read I'd tend to agree with this claim.

I'd like to ask Kitty Kelley why it is that she'd choose to focus on the bad aspects of the celebrities, and uncover negative gossip. I have no doubt though, that like Oprah's response to claims of her distorting the truth, Kelley would respond: "It's what people want to hear. The truth is boring."

To read more, check out these links:
ninemsn.com.au
Chigago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly

Leave me a comment to tell me your opinion.

Neil Gaiman -- Censorship

This afternoon on "An Evening with Neil Gaiman" at Jessamine County Public Library, the interviewer asked Neil about his view on the importance of freedom of speech and his ideas on censorship. My ears immediately perked up and my attention automatically sharpened. Obviously, having read all of Neil Gaiman's novels, I had presumed him to have a liberal and open view on the world.

The reason I became so interested in his perspective on the matter is that I truly respect Neil for his intelligence and expected him to have some interesting new insights into the idea of censorship. I was right to presume so.

I will attempt to sum up his take on the matter;. As I understood Gaiman, he pretty much made two main points:
a) It is impossible to define whose right is right. What I mean by this is that everyone has differing opinions, and therefore to censor some who might seem to have an extreme or even absurd take on a subject, is wrong. Freedom of expression realizes that everyone has different points of view, and ensures that no single person's ideas are scorned and that is purely positive.
b) As soon as you start to censor even the most extreme of ideas, you are on a slippery slope downwards, and will soon create a society with no freedom whatsoever.

Both of the above points are very valid and applicable. In fact the discussion with Neil reminded me of the book Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.


I'm not fully decided on my response to this, though. See, perhaps Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury are correct, however my mind always seems to revert back to the harm that hate speech can administer. See, despite the above two points and their validity, there is a third point that hasn't been addressed in the least.

To understand this point, I ask you to imagine taking a fully loaded gun, giving it to a kid to play with. While you might think that it's extreme for me to liken this situation to mere speech freedom, I don't. I'll give you an example. A couple of days ago I posted about the leader of the South African leading party's youth league, the ANCYL, Julius Malema.

Just over a week ago, Malema stood up and sung the song 'Kill the Boor', 'Boor' referring to the Afrikaans word for a farmer. Overnight, the statistics of farmer murders in South Africa increased from one every 48 hours to one every 18 hours. Why? Merely because he sang a very racist song.

See, hatespeech is like a weapon in the hands of a leader. Without Osama Bin Laden's speeches that won him public support amongst the Taliban, perhaps the World Trade Centers would still be standing. Without Hitler's dynamic speaking qualities, perhaps millions of Jews wouldn't have been murdered in the Holocaust.

Still, as soon as you start to censor, the line of what is acceptable is very difficult to draw. If you merely condemn all hatespeech, it is impossible to respond to world dictators and murderers. If you condemn nothing, you only give them support.

I'm not entirely sure of what the solution is, but I think it is perhaps fairly good to condemn hatespeech without basis. Any negativity must be supported by fact. This isn't a foolproof system, but it seems to me to be better than leaving everything without parameters.

The other option is to ensure that there are enough people with enough leadership and office in every community to respond to destructive voices in the media and and even within community.

That's it for now!

Edit: PS. Please feel free to comment and express your own opinions below.

The Gunslinger -- Stephen King

Today I finished what I would in certain ways consider one of the greatest books I have ever read. The Gunslinger (Expanded edition) is the start of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

The Gunslinger tells an enchanting story of a man who trails the "black cloaked priest". The book is essentially a character story more than anything else. It is the progressing trials and responses that The Gunslinger encounters and makes that shape the story as one that is so absorbing.

King's prose is a wonderful blend of abstract flashbacks and precise highlighting of character conflict that together form a picture that tugs at the strings of the heart.

In some ways, though, I found The Gunslinger to be a little weak. See, while King's prose is clearly as close to artistic perfection as one could ask for, the plot seems to be a little scattered. It seems that in some ways King invented certain meetings and inscribed them merely so he could show his audience the flashback in a fitting context.

This was for me quite frustrating because although I always enjoyed the flashbacks and parts of the story that were focused on progressing the story line, all of this seemed to be weighted down by unnecessary baggage.

Complaints aside, my verdict on The Gunslinger is that it is clearly a work of literary mastery. Impressive and real, very few books compare to the first piece of Stephen King's magnum opus.

Justin Bieber

Usher Junior, otherwise known as Justin Bieber has become unquestionably one of the greatest celebrities the internet has ever produced. Usher finds this little boy on YouTube, and almost instantly he's a superstar.

Now, what I find to be rather disturbing is that his style of music is precisely that of Usher himself. I guess one should expect that, as it is Usher who signed him, he should determin Justin's style.

Still, what strikes me is that he seems to have little original addition to the world of the music. For now he's a sixteen year old kid, but I have certainly seen nothing to show him to be the musical prodigy he is made out to be. Perhaps as he grows older his musical style will mature and he will add his own musical addition to his music. Perhaps I'll buy a record in ten to twenty years, Justin.

Perhaps the reason that I don't feel any sort of connection to this boy is that I am not female. Scanning through his followers on Twitter, I didn't come across one male for a while. The point is that he's clearly a young teenage boy with a whole bunch of teen and tween girls running after him. A note to the ladies: Justin is a little young to commit to any serious relationships. Just don't get too hopeful. Streaking and shouting "Marry me!" isn't likely to help the situation either.

Want to share an opinion on Justin Bieber? Post in the comments!

An Awesome April Fools Joke -- By a Math Teacher

I occasionally browse YouTube, and find a video which gets me ultra impressed. This is one of those videos.


Linked

This fellow is one awesome Math Teacher with an awesome sense of humor, and is dry enough in his execution to pull something like this off.

I saw this and knew I had to share it. Hope you enjoyed!

Have a great one

South Africa's Politicians

Moving from South Africa to USA was quite an experience for me. From the preached incompetence of both George W. Bush and that of Barak Obama, I expected to be somewhat out of my depth here politically.

Now, all that I can say is that bad as the politicians in America are, try take a look at the politicians in South Africa if you want to see bad.

Julius Malema, the head of the African National Congress Youth League, and the person quite likely to in the future be the president of South Africa, is a prime example. Imagine having a leader of the most powerful youth organization in the country supporting Mugabe's dictatorship over Zimbabwe. Well, it's apparently not that difficult to imagine.

Now, the same fellow kicks a journalist out of a press conference for challenging him, calling him a bastard and a bloody agent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkPDzyfNlio

And then if that isn't audacious enough goes on and announces that the ANCYL is open to any apologies that this journalist might offer.

So, how might a person like this become a future president? The answer is easily. He's a leader. He's a person with a vision, distorted as it may be. South Africa is in want of a leader, and doesn't care where the leadership comes from.

For me, the most telling tidbit in this tale is that while the ANC party condemned Malema's handle on the journalists, they have said nothing about his open support of Mugabe. Petty issues they'll handle, but as soon as the issues become real they just sit back and do nothing.

Those are my thoughts for now.

Have a good one

Life, the blogging and Everything

Welcome to my blog.

Please make yourselves at home in my humble abode. Here I will place whatever it is that comes to my mind at a given moment. Without further ado let me move forward.

So, randomly, I walk into Barnes and Noble today. One thing strikes me more than anything. That is the commercialization of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I was rather astonished to find Pride and Prejudice and Romeo and Juliet with covers mimicking that of Twilight.

I also noticed a whole bunch of teenage vampire novels hanging around the kids section. Whatever Meyer did, she's left her imprint on the world of books.

I will admit that my experience of Twilight has been rather limited. Limited to around 20 pages. See, I started Twilight but put it down. I found it to be rather tiresome and uninventive actually. It wasn't that it was any worse than the average teenage girl book that one could pick up off the shelves. In fact it was probably better than most. But with no progressing story and no really interesting 3D characters, I ended up putting it down.

It's interesting though, because the name Twilight is actually very inventive, but now every time I see a book with the word Twilight on its cover, I immediately think Stephanie Meyer.

Very interesting...

And then, I bought myself a couple of books. I've been meaning to read The Gunslinger by Stephen King for a while, so I finally got my hands on that.

That's it for now :)