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?