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.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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!
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!
Friday, April 23, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, April 16, 2010
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. ;)
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!
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!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, April 12, 2010
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.
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 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.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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!
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
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
Friday, April 9, 2010
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
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
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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 :)
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 :)
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