The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

A review and short summary of Arundhati Roy's novel The God Of Small Things, Manorama Mathai explains how she feels about the novel.  She states that before she even read the book there was a lot of hype about it, which of course led her to want to read it.  Mathai claims that the the story contains great writing, but it is easy to read and understand even with all the jumping around between present and past.  She is criticizing the story because she thinks the the story plot is the weakness of the novel, but also adds in that the portrayal of the family is very strong and full of description and detail.  I feel like this reader is indifferent about the novel, and also seems a little bit disappointed since she was so excited to read it.  She says that Roy is manipulative in the novel through the writing and seemed that it was unnecessary.  Then again, she claims that certain parts of the novel is just beautifully written and pertains important and creative parts of the story which makes the novel so popular.  Over all, I do think Mathai is being a little critical on Roy's piece of writing, but she makes positive reflections while critiquing. 


http://www.indiastar.com/roy.htm

Miley Cyrus the next Lindsey Lohan?

It is typical for us to assume that most famous child stars will become a wreck by the age of twenty five, or earlier, but is Miley Cyrus the next to fall into the infamous pattern?  After a recent clip that has taken over the internet and even appeared on the news, it looks like Cyrus's career might be put on a halt.  The clip shows Cyrus taking a hit of a hallucinogen drug called salvia from a bong during her 18th birthday celebration.  She had a friend, obviously not trustworthy, record the video.  With the video leaked, it seems like it is going to be hard for the teen pop star to win back her young fans.  What is different for Cyrus compared to other teens, she is famous, and she can not get away with anything since she will always be in the spotlight whether she likes it or not.  We can not discriminate against her since she is not the only eighteen in the whole world who has smoked salvia (a perfectly legal drug in the state of California) but it is crazy for her to think she could get away with such an act, the world is watching her.  The sad thing about this is that Miley Cyrus has led her way up to this point after her recent pole dance at a concert and the scandalous half naked cover picture for a magazine.  Of course we can not jump to conclusions and say she will be the next Lindsey Lohan, but it is not looking to good for her.  She is going to have to clean up her act if she wants to continue her past success.

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/12/10/2010-12-10_miley_cyrus_caught_smoking_out_of_bong_experiencing_a_trip_off_hallucinogenic_he.html

New Life Form

Recently in the past week NASA has discovered something phenomenal that changes the way we can view life.  A new organism builds its DNA, RNA, proteins, and cell membranes from actual poisonous arsenic.  We have always thought life form is only capable between six main components, but clearly this is not true and our imaginations of what can be has expanded drastically.  It boggles my mind when I try to distinguish the difference between reality and fantasy.  With this new information, it seems to be almost certain that there is another life form out there in outer space, considering there our perception on the Universe can now be tripled the size.  The fact that we have discovered a life form that is made out of a substance that humans and other organisms are not adapted too is a crazy thought.  We now know so much more about life and what it is capable of being and becoming.  From the article, scientists now say that there is almost no point to keep looking out for life on other planets and to instead focus on what we have here on Earth considering there are possibly trillions of planets just like Earth orbiting around the Universe.  In my opinion, I do not think there should be any reason to give up on the search.  There are thousands of different things we will still be learning here on Earth, but we should also keep a look out on other existing planets.  This is some cool stuff!

http://www.africanaonline.com/2010/12/nasa-discovers-new-life-form/

Black Friday of Death

So, I have not heard of any incidents with crazy deal hungry shoppers this past Black Friday, but I know there has been plenty in previous years, such as the one at Toys R Us in 2008.  Seriously, people being trampled to death for toys or a half price sweater? Really?  Can someone please tell me that our society can not possibly be that slimy enough to cause harm to another human being for a simple lifeless product.  These are the actions of our society that makes me sick.  The whole idea of Black Friday in general is way overrated.  Who in their down right minds would enjoy waking up at 5 in the morning just to snatch up some lame deals?  Funny thing is is that a lot of people actually do this.  I, on the other hand, would much rather enjoy sleeping in and saving the most money out of all the frenzy shoppers by not spending a dime.  Anyways, the fact that people have a big enough motive to wake up that early in the morning shows that they are on a hunt, and they will destroy anything or anyone who is in their way.  We turn this type of theories of human society into horror films, but what is ironic is these movies actually truthfully depict human nature in a way, which is horrifying to me.  It is really time for this type of nonsense to just end, it is embarrassing.  Happy Holidays!

http://www.dailystab.com/three-deatghs-reported-on-black-friday/

Facebook vs. Twitter

As our technology has been changing as the years go by, more rapidly than ever, we rely on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to allow others to know every single thought that comes to mind.  If we were to predict that our social world would be revolved around a computer fifteen years ago, I do not think we would have had a clue on its huge impact.  I have been an avid facebook user for a good four years now, but recently I picked up a twitter account, and a question comes to mind: which one is better?  Even though I frequently used to bash and tear twitter to shreds, it has definitely grown on me.  As in the article, there are pros and cons to both networks.  For example, Facebook has it all, pictures, email, instant messaging, simple ways to keep close with friends and family.  But because of all of this, we tend to get distracted very easily, and it is the perfect procrastination tool ever made for man.  Twitter on the hand does not have all of these features.  Instead, it uses the same idea as "status updates" for Facebook, except it is a lot more personal.  You can "mention" people you follow so they know you are talking directly to or about them and it is sent straight to their phone.  Twitter even has "twitpics" where people can send photos directly to their phone at any place or time and share it with their followers.  Unfortunately, Twitter does not allow you to express all of your feelings in one simple tweet, it has a character limit, and too be honest sometimes it is a little boring if no one is tweeting.  Who is to say which is better, they are both huge communication tools that will continue to be used by everyone, it just depends what kind of socializing you are looking for.

http://www.twitip.com/twitter-versus-facebook/

http://www.suite101.com/content/facebook-vs-twitter-a129179

Mariemont High School Parking Lot is Raided by Police K9

Whatever happened to the fourth amendment? Oh we forgot, in high school you have no rights.  Last Friday, Mariemont High School felt the need to inspect students, of course only a portion of students--the ones who can drive and afford cars.  Now we can not draw to conclusions that this is the only high school that has ever done such a thing to belittle their students, this happens all around the U.S.  In my opinion, do I necessarily feel bad for those students who bring illegal substances on school grounds, aren't they just asking for trouble?  Not too much, but who is the school to judge whose alcohol beer can that is or whose one single marijuana seed that is or whose cigarette.  To me it looks like the school missed the real problem.  If they really wanted to solve something they would have warned the students of a search giving them the chance to realize if carrying around illegal substances is really worth the trouble, consequences, and high school infamy.  I understand high schools' concerns with kids and drugs and making school a safe learning environment, but if they are just sneaky and unjust about it, they are wasting their time.  In the article they discuss whether schools doing this proceeder is fair or not.  I can see both sides.  The way Mariemont executed the search was disappointing to me though, cars were scratched, only students that own cars were dealt with, and many false accusations were committed.  How will students learn to respect their school if the school will not even respect them?

http://lincolncountynewsonline.com/main.asp?SubSectionID=75&ArticleID=50155&SectionID=1

REACHING THE END 2012?

Many of us know about the upcoming year 2012; it is the end of the world, obviously.  Having previous information on this touchy subject, I wanted to learn a little more on this subject.  It is thought by "thousands" of people that all the sudden everything is just going to stop working, the sun will blow up or just disappear, and then we will all die.  Some people have even started building underground protection rooms filled with canned goods, water, and other necessities needed to live.  I do not understand how someone can be so sure of this that will actually waste time and money building these rooms.  Now doesn't that sound a bit dramatic?  Of course there is some history on the year 2012.  The Mayan calendar claimed that this would be the end along with some agreement from the ancient Egyptians.  But over all, come on, there is really no other scientific argument to support the idea of the world ending in 2012.  I think it is a bunch of bologna; the thousands of people, out of our world population of 6 billion, that are preparing for this seem to have some issues.  If their intentions are to just worry and scare people, it works to some extent.  To me, personally, this whole idea fits better as a movie or a song on the top 100 itunes hit list.  It is too crazy to actually be true.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=5301284&page=1