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/