Friday 28 December 2012

The Uglies: Book Review


Many decades after a massive disaster that seemed to reshape the world, Tally is about to turn 16 and go into surgery in her isolated, disconnected city. The surgery will make her a “Pretty” and deliver her to “Pretty land”where all they do is party and have fun. Once Tally makes a new friend Shay, Shay runs away putting Tally in a difficult position as to find Shay and turn her in, or not turn pretty at all.
Firstly, I am extremely surprised going onto good reads and seeing some of my favorite book reviewers rating the book as a 4 or a 5. I was actually expecting the book to be brutally ripped apart.

The Uglies was basically just a beach read. Its one of those books I call “junk-foods” Books that don’t even get the worst readers to check the dictionary. The writing is terrible, for one. I actually think I have read much better writing reading my peers short stories in grade 6. The Uglies is like a book I would read after battling a classic like The Scarlett Letter, or To The Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf, something to relax with so that intellectual and emotional difficulties are no problem. It wasn’t completely awful to read, relativalely enjoyable even though I had to ignore some incredibly obvious plot holes like how Tally watches old movies from our time, but still doesn’t know what a train is? Or a rollercoaster? What was so extremely bad about trains and rollercoasters that this new shaped world completely avoids it?

The plot starts off slow, then quickens too fast. In less than 10 pages, the book got from Tally casually being friends with Shay.. wandering around the town having fun and creating trouble, to Shay running away, Tally being captured by the city leaders, and being told to find her good friend. It got from being watery soup, to a thick custard.

I also don’t understand Tally and David’s romance. Not only is it completely random, but it has a bit of a Bella and Edward reference. They dive right into it. Readers like the build up, but there is absolutely none of it in this case. The main reason I actually cringed when David and Tally shared their first kiss.

What bothers me most about this book however, is the terrible writing. This book has so much potential, it actually physically hurts. The plot, other than the super deep holes, isn’t bad. And if it was given to another author that turns words into visuals like John Green, this book would be incredible. Anyways, I actually think Uglies would be much better as a movie. Although I don’t think I take the book seriously enough to actually read the other three. 

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Picking a Library Book

Often, I sit and wonder how some people can roam a certain section of the library, pick a book with an interesting bind/cover and start reading it. To be honest, I have genuine wonder for how they do it. How can you just start reading a book without having much insight on the author? Without knowing a relatively detailed summary? Without reading reviews? Without knowing how many stars it has? The front quotes on the cover on some novels have are generally misleading.

Some books such as Uglies by Scott Westerfield, and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher who caused so much controversy, news and hype back in their days that I actually read without interrogating at first, why exactly brought on the media that they did- when in the end they are relatively averagely written books. Unlike the Uglies, which contained some of the worst writing I have read since Noddy.

I simply cannot visit any book store or library and pick a book without using my usual routine, which is:

1) Research for about an hour or so on the kind of book you want. I end up with a list of about 60-50ish books after the first stage. So far, I only know the genre and the author (an author I have probably never heard about)

2) For the next 30 minutes or so, I search up whether this book is actually in the library or not. This brings it down to about 5-10 books (I only know the genre and author)

3) Between these 5-10 books, I read the general plot summary. So far, I have not manually found the books in the library yet.

4) Out of about 5-10 books, the ones that strike me the best are the ones I get into detail with. So about 3-4. I find these books in the library, read a few pages here and there, trying to see if these books are in general captivating or not.

5) Between the 3-4 books, I read up on the reviews on goodreads, look at the general rating, the amount of copies sold etc.

6) Then I come down to about 2-3. This is when I research the author on my phone. What other books has she/he written? Were they a success? What genre is she/he most popular with?

7) After this, I am usually left with one. This one is the final novel I take out and read.

Thanks to this list, it is rare that I stop a book half way, or ditch it before x number of pages. And the few rare exceptions when I actually picked up a random book (Kisses from Hell, Seaborn, Room) were  all failures where I ditched them before the half way point, or trudged through- trying not to abandon a book as I dislike this completely.

Of course all books by John Green are automatically read without a second thought.


Wednesday 31 October 2012

Ted Talks

During English class, we were shown a video on TED Talks, where a Nigerian lady: Chimamanda Adichie, gave a lecture on the dangers of Single Stories. The idea was that people stereotyped all races, which lead to unnecessary discrimination of some, and idolization of a few. I believe the point of her talk was to spread awareness, and tell the world that people should understand and get to know a certain person before coming to a conclusion on their personality and what they would be like. Adichie also mentions that this has been fed by Western Literature, where western authors describe Africa as a place of immense poverty and lack of resources.

I thoroughly enjoyed the talk because it was not only engaging, but had a focus point which I had a strong interest in. Chimamanda Adichie helped me understand the difference between racism, and generalization through Single Stories better as well.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Abnormal vs Normal- Lady Gaga

I have been following Lady Gaga as an artist since Grade 4, and have always been intrigued by her abnormality and ability to sustain such an original figure. She does day to day activities like grocery shopping, running errands etc in ways that most people do not. Her sense of fashion and common references to her Catholic beliefs set her aside from other musicians. Lady Gaga's music is also different from the main stream songs as she uses much more depth than other artists, causing the listeners to spend a lot of time thinking about the deep message she is trying to convey in each lyric.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Change of Perspective

"Point of view enables us to gain perspective in order to create and negotiate meaning."

Mr. Raisdana introduced a new alternation for "free writes" (now far more sophisticated) where we use the perspective of another person. This person could be anyone, a parent, a sibling, or a bystander, as long as the story was written in third person form.

At first, I had difficulty understanding that the whole story must be put in a new format. I had changed most of the I's to Her's and She's and changed the sentences around to fit the third person, but it sounded strange. With the help of a friend, I realized that the importance of that day might be not be as deep to another person, and that moment might not have the same significance either. 

After deleting the text and following it up in the perspective of my cousin, I now understand the importance of rethinking a story while writing it through someone else's eyes. 

Tuesday 18 September 2012

The Olympics


Olympics is known to be one of the greatest events in Sports history. Mostly because it was established years ago, yet the tradition still lives on, stronger than ever. A few handpicked sports talents from each country compete in a large arena to win the gold, to show the outcome of their perseverance to the world. 

Unfortunately for me, I could never understand the importance of the Olympics other than its old age and consistent occurrence. To me, I find no difference in watching my friend’s Football games and watching the Olympics, as I’m not there to feel the pressure. I just don’t understand the stakes as to which the athletes bleed, sweat, break bones for, mainly because I am not in their position. 

Also, before I had the ability to think for myself and make decisions, watching the Olympics was almost forced. I didn't have a choice but to sit down for three hours a day and take in people jumping off boards and hanging off bars in an artistic fashion. I never had the chance to understand the joy in watching the Olympics as when I was a younger, watching them was a chore. 


Monday 10 September 2012

As an Animal Rights believer: Vegetarianism vs Non-Vegetarianism


More often than not, other Animal Rights believers call me a hypocrite. Why? Because as much as I love them, I still enjoy them on my plate everyday at dinner and lunch. Although this subject causes a lot of debate around the world, I personally believe it is all about opinion. I can argue for days on end that vegetarians should start eating meat but it will make no difference. People make decisions from their experiences. Then there are some who try to turn me into a Vegetarian, or don’t take me seriously when I try to prove a point during debates. When this occurs, I rattle off the same few points I have been collecting for the past few months of my life. These are points that support my general idea as to why exactly Vegetarianism makes no difference when it comes to supporting what you believe in.
  1. Give respect to what you eat.
  1. When I first heard about the brutal ill-treatment of animals before they were slaughtered, I was not only appalled, but speech less too. I looked down at myself, for proclaiming to be an animal lover when I was clearly not. I then slept on the idea that kept submerging itself deeper into my cluttered mind, waking up to a new theory. Due to the slaughter, we shouldn’t just stop eating meat, because not only will this highly disturb the food cycle, but also take away thousands of jobs, and ruin an industry that we have been supporting for hundreds of years. Instead, we should know where our meat comes from. Buying meat from a sketchy down the street mart at the end of your road is probably meat that comes from poor Slaughter houses from some part of the United States. Going to an Organic store however, will guarantee that the animal you are eating was respected due fully before its departure. This means it was fed properly, not medicated or drugged, had open space, green grass, and a healthy lifestyle before it was killed. If more people just bothered to spend an extra few dollars on buying organic meats, the abuse would stop, and the slaughter houses that ill-treat animals would lose business.
  1. Unnecessary Wastage.
  1. Although I do believe that eating animals as a right activist is acceptable, there are still somethings I definitely do not support. This is shark fin soup, the Ivory trade, Fur trade, Skin trade. This is a waste. Animals are killed by hundreds  a day, just for a 12 inch piece of their body. The rest of them, bleeding and rotting at the ground, sometimes even breathing. If you take a life for food, use it as food. Not doing justice for its life by using only a small part of it is just disrespectful. 
  1. A Vegetarian’s food isn’t completely harmless either.
  1. Although Non-Veggies have a more obvious contribution to this day and age’s horrid support of abuse, A Vegetarian’s role is extremely active too. Where do the dairy products come from? Just about the same animals we eat. They probably come from the same slaughter houses too. Eggs, milk, cheese, butter, etc. They all come from animals, the same animals that we later kill for food. Non Vegetarians might take lives for their food, but Vegetarians make them go through the same abuse. Vegans? Its the same thing. How many animals die while humans are spraying deadly chemicals and pesticides on the ground to kill the plants? These chemicals have also take the lives of thousands of animals living in the garden your fruits and vegetables are grown in. Animals becomes homeless due to this. Yet we are still focusing on the massive roles Non Vegetarians play in this aspect of abuse. If people believe we should just stop eating anything that affects animals, then our diet would limited to about 5-7 types of foods. 

It all comes back to being conscious. Conscious of where your food comes from, where to buy our food, and how to treat it. We all can put slaughter houses out of business. Give the animals the respect they deserve, while still maintaining a healthy balanced diet of meat and vegetables, that we are sure come from a positive environment. All we have to do is raise awareness, open our eyes, and take the first few steps. 


Sunday 9 September 2012

English Lessons


During the course of my English Lessons, something I have learnt and will cherish throughout my life is the importance of good communication. Possibly unintentionally, Mr. Raisdana raises awareness about having good vocal, listening and presentation skills every lesson. This has already begun helping me prove my point in work, with my friends, parents and teachers. I can now actively participate in conversations outside class and still manage to patiently listen to my friends’ perspective while still voicing my own.

Personally, something I enjoy almost everything about English class. If I had to pick one thing that I enjoy most, is the blogging. Being a huge fan of reading blogs, I have never managed to set up my own. To be able to share my thoughts and beliefs with other people who have the same interests with me is an extremely exciting idea. After Grade 8, I hope to continue expressing my ideas and my personal perspective through my current blog.

I enjoy almost everything about Mr. Raisdana’s class, if there was something I might change if I was to teach and English lesson, is the hand raising during discussion. Its interesting to see that Mr. Raisdana is the only teacher who allows students to basically have a friendly conversation that they would usually have on the lunch table (although about English related subjects) Personally, the reason I might not talk as much during English lessons is that I am afraid that I might talk over another student, hence, making it awkward. As good as the idea of not controlling the conversation may be, I believe we should have an appointed “talker picker” (or something like that) that doesn’t necessarily control the conversation, but appoints people to talk so that students aren’t as uncomfortable to voice their opinion. This doesn’t have to be Mr. Raisdana himself, but a particular student that we change every lesson.