The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Posted by Victor | Filed under Books, Review
I’ve always tried to avoid reading book prize winners for some bizarre wish to “be different from the crowd,” never actually realising that there is always a very good reason why some books get prizes and some don’t. So over the past few days I’ve been reading prize winners and “mainstream” books rather than the usual Fantasy/Sci-Fi fare and I don’t think I’ll be turning back in a hurry.
I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (TBWLOW) a couple of days ago. I usually avoid reading novels written in first-person but TBWLOW has completely changed my opinion. The title explains exactly what the book is about. Oscar’s life is told from his sister’s ex-boyfriend Yunior’s point of view. Oscar is a Dominican nerd who loves women but for most of the story, they don’t love back. Although Yunior narrates most of the tale, some of the book is told from Oscar’s mother’s and sister’s perspectives which makes for an interesting read. The book is also about cultural clashes. Even Oscar, the subject, breaks the Dominican sex-magnet stereotype by being an overweight Dungeons and Dragons freak.
The author, in Yunior’s voice, assumes the reader’s knowledge of Dominican history and language but also uses satiric footnotes to help the reader along. This makes the reader feel a part of the story as if the narrator is actually sharing the story rather than just outlining events.
Short Story: Intro
Posted by Victor | Filed under Fiction, Uncategorized
After reading a book, I always feel an urge to write something. Usually the feeling is pushed away when I reach for another book. So now I’ve put my foot down and have decided to actually follow through with the urge and write an introduction to a possible series of short stories inspired by the anime show xxxHolic. I haven’t figured out a title yet but here goes.
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The City, you would think, is a decidedly odd place for a witch to move to. Considering the difficulties encountered in her career choice, you would have thought a nice cottage on the outskirts of a dark forest would suit a witch perfectly.
Well, not this one. Our witch enjoyed the hustle, the bustle, and the anonymity a big city provided.
If you chanced a glance at her, you would see a pretty but fairly ordinary woman. As with all women from a magical background however, upon closer inspection, she was impossibly beautiful but appeared dreadfully untouchable. If you were to look at her through squinted eyes, a shadowy hag-like aspect that you would never have suspected of her would flit across her face, so briefly that you may have thought it was just your imagination.
At this very moment, our witch steps out of a taxi parked outside what would be her home for the foreseeable future (she has checked). She looks up at the tall building - it definitely wasn’t a skyscraper - feeling a sense of mild disappointment. This was it?
Apparently so. She had specifically bought a penthouse so she would be able to see the city at night from a bird’s eyeview. Our witch, you see, was a romantic. Probably the last one of her species.
So it was with this slight sense of disappointment that the witch entered the building and the next stage of her life.
Books Books Books: non-fiction
Posted by Victor | Filed under Books
I’ve had a lot of time on my hands lately so why haven’t I blogged since February? In between reading, piano playing and various other activities, writing posts has seemed to slip between the cracks.
So after my extended leave of absense, I’ve come back having read several books that I would like to share. I’ll do this in chronological order.
I began my reading frenzy with Rupert’s Adventures in China: How Murdoch Lost a Fortune and Found a Wife by Bruce Dover. A review of the book came out a few months ago on The Economist but I couldn’t get a hold of the book in New Zealand and after a while, I forgot about it. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when I stepped into the University Bookstore that I saw it being displayed, snagged it, and read it through the English and maths lectures. The book provided a much more interesting distraction than the English lecturer’s tangent. Rupert’s Adventures describes the difficulties Murdoch encounters in China, one of the only areas where Rupert has tried and failed to extend his media empire to. Bruce Dover was one of the “front men” for Murdoch’s empire in China and his account of what happens is interesting and insightful. Dover understands the Chinese concept of “face” and traces Murdoch’s problems with China to a speech Murdoch gives at the end of the Cold War which condemned authoritarian regimes. The book was very entertaining and prevented me from doing anything for that day.
I now had a renewed sense of faith in the University Bookstore so I went back and got another non-fiction book. This time Edward Lucas’s The New Cold War. This book was written by one of The Economist’s correspondents in Central and East Europe so as expected, the book was a very detailed analysis of Russia’s increasing isolation and hostility towards the rest of the world. The book was drier and more serious than Rupert’s Adventures so it took me slightly longer to finish but it was definitely worth it.
I’ve decided to divide this book post up into more manageable sections so here ends the non-fiction end of things. Stay tuned for the good stuff that’s to come!
Skipping January
Posted by Victor | Filed under General, Holiday 07-08
It’s the first of February and time for another post. I got back from Taiwan two weeks ago after an extremely brief visit of five days. The food was as great as usual and I’ve expanded my palette to include pig’s liver, heart and blood. We didn’t have time to do much apart from visiting relatives but just being in Taiwan felt great, especially going to the local market in the morning or just walking the streets in Taipei. I’ll get photos up soon.
Coming back to New Zealand was a relief after a month of flying every three-to-five days albeit slightly more boring. Basically, it has just been interviews, reading and swimming. Our pool is awesome on a hot day and I wave it metaphorically at your faces. I’m recording another radio show this afternoon which shall be interesting. I’ll try to blog more now that I’ve finally broken the month-long silence.
San Francisco done
Posted by Victor | Filed under Holiday 07-08
I’ve completed the San Francisco leg of the trip and have just arrived at Newark. Unfortunately, the internet cost money at the hotel we stayed at so updating didn’t happen. Since I have a shockingly poor memory, I’ll probably have missed several details.
The flight from New Zealand to San Francisco was terrible. You would have thought that after 30 hours of flying one-way to England including stopovers would have prepared me for a mere 12 hour flight without any stopovers to San Francisco. I have come to learn that your flight experience depends largely upon the passengers sitting close to you. The wart on my foot for this particular journey was the guy sitting to the left and behind me. The guy had a high-pitched, piercing voice and began, before take-off, to reassure his neighbors on his row, with his braying voice, that he never slept on airplanes. Throughout the flight, he cursed his in-flight entertainment screen, his mother and his life every five seconds.
Once we got off the plane, we took a taxi to our hotel, Parc 55, which was located at the bottom of Powell Street, one of the cable-car streets that characterises San Francisco. It was convenient and only two blocks away from Union Square. We went to get ourselves lunch at John’s Grill after dumping our luggage in our hotel room.
As soon as I stepped into the dark restaurant, the stench of seafood hit my nose and began beating my olfactory receptors. The place reeked of fish but since we were tired and hungry, we decided to ignore the smell and sit down. Fortunately the food more than made up for the smell. Perhaps I was just too hungry but the steak was delicious. It was probably the fastest that I’ve ever downed a slab of meat.
After the enormous amount of food ingested in such a short period of time, we took our bloated stomachs back to the hotel and watched TV, vowing that we would explore San Francisco later on that evening. Eventually, when we did get off our behinds, it was time for dinner. We wanted a bit of Chinese food after the steak so we made our way to Chinatown. Most of the shops were closed early as it was Christmas eve. Most of the Chinese restaurants that were open served similar gunky crap so we just chose one that had a table available. To say that the food was disappointing would be an understatement. I’ll just say that Taiwanese food = 999999999 x Chinatown food.
After going back to the hotel, we discovered that it held a Club Lounge, where we could get free cakes, tea, coffee and alcohol. The Lounge was on the 30th floor so it had a nice night view of the South Financial District.
Here is where day one ends. I didn’t know I would write this much on a day where nothing much seemed to have happened so San Francisco may have to be split up into a few parts.
It’s us and the US
Posted by Victor | Filed under Holiday 07-08
We’re flying over to the US today to begin our epic journey spanning both the US and Taiwan. Little did you know that I had already had a trip to England which was why I hadn’t updated in a while. I haven’t had time to give a summary of what happened in England, which I may leave until later, but rest assured that I will try to update my blog during the US and Taiwan trip.
First stop: San Francisco
On Writing Well
Posted by Victor | Filed under General, MP3 Player
I’ve noticed that my writing has been going down hill so I decided to reread On Writing Well. After reading about half of the book, I’ve noticed that there are two main points that William Zinsser tries to make - lose the clutter and write for yourself. I may have to work on losing the clutter but I do write for myself, being the narcissistic bastard that I am. There are a few things that I don’t agree with such as the use of a surprise ending and the use of “I” in formal writing but reducing clutter is useful advice.
As I suspected I would, I have gotten over the Zune phase. I’ve finally admitted to myself that I was only excited about the awesome user interface and that I am indeed such a shallow person. Almost no one in New Zealand has a Zune so I won’t be using its major selling point - the social sharing of music via WiFi. I don’t like watching videos on small screens either so the Zune’s pretty colour screen would also go to waste. Although I’m not a big fan of Apple, I’ve decided to stick with my trusty 5th generation iPod and keep my money for slightly less unnecessary things.
Medicine flavoured alcohol
Posted by Victor | Filed under General
Yesterday, I had my first bit of alcohol, which happened to be a bottle of Archers Peach Schnapps. I suppose it was some sort of pathetic milestone. The Archers has been advertised as “A clear, sweet, peach-flavored liqueur with a very distinctive peach aroma.” Unfortunately, I have to say that it was disgusting and I have been permanently repulsed by that kind of thing. It tasted like fizzy sickeningly sweet cough medicine that had the same aftertaste. Peach aroma? What peach aroma?
Virtual thief arrested
Posted by Victor | Filed under General, Technology, Web 2.0
I read something interesting in the Guardian Weekly today. A 17-year-old was arrested in the Netherlands for stealing “virtual objects” inside the social network 3D cartoon world of Habbo Hotel. Apparently the thief tricked Habbo players into removing virtual items they had bought. It also happens to be the first time European officers have arrested someone for stealing virtual property.
I reckon anyone who buys virtual goods using real-world money to decorate a virtual apartment on a site such as Habbo deserves to have those goods stolen and European police obviously have too much time on their hands. It seems hypocritical for someone who enjoys MMOs to say this but buying virtual items with real money to impress virtual people enough so that they would socialize with you seems a tad sad.
EDIT: Found it on the Telegraph.
Singing books
Posted by Victor | Filed under General
I came across a “Are you a bookworm?” quiz on the internet and to take my mind of exams, I had a brief look at it. The question that jumped out at me was “Do you hear music in your head that fits the scenario when you read?” I hear music in my head in almost every situation in life let alone in books. There pretty much is a full orchestra playing 24-7 in my mind. For example, when I walk into the Hall for each exam, I hear Rex Tremendae from Mozart’s Requiem. It’s almost interesting enough to be a story in itself. Almost.
I haven’t had a new post up in a while because I’ve had exams and I’ve been lazy. But finally all of my real external exams are done (I don’t have imaginary exams, I just mean the exams that count for something) and my birthday has fled by without much fanfare because of them and now I’ve sunk into anime, other TV shows, and fantasy fiction pleasure among other things.
I think it’s time for a new design for this blog but knowing me, it probably won’t get done until next year so don’t get too excited. I’ve also noticed that I don’t blog much (you don’t say) so I’ll be going for shorter but more frequent posts. You may mentally slap my hand if I don’t put up a new post every day.