Small Gods

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Susana L. Valadéz (Mexico), October 28, 2013

This review is from: Small Gods
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (born 28 April 1948) is one of the most popular English authors of fantastic novels today. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009. “Terry” Pratchett is the author of the Discworld series of about 40 books. Small Gods, the 13^th book of this sequence, was published in 1992. It was adapted as a serial for BBC Radio 4.

The story starts whit the short tale of the relationship between tortoises and eagles.
After that, we are taken to the Hub, the center of Discworld, where the history monks live and take care about all the History and they make sure that when something important is happening, there is someone who is watching that really happens. Lu Tze, one of the history monks, is sent to Omnia, because something was just going to happen, a couple of battles and an assassination.
Meanwhile in Omnia, in the year of the Notional Serpent we find novice Brutha. Even he is too old for being a novice, he lives under the supervision of Brother Nhumrod, and he isn’t considered very important, brilliant or smart, but Brutha’s memory is so good that he didn’t know the meaning of the word “forget” or disobedience.

With Great God Om appearing as a tortoise, problems start to appear into Brutha’s life, one of the most important when the Exquisitor (not inquisitor, he’s more like a supervisor) Vorbis, who has really black eyes, asks him to join a group that is going to travel to the city of Ephebe to defeat the unbelievers, like the Great God Om wants. Because Vorbis think that if the Great God doesn’t want him to attack the ephebians, he will stop him. He is proudly in charge of the Quisition, and of everyone who let him be their superior, including particularly novice Brutha with his eidetic-memory.

Poor Brutha finds himself in the middle of a war between Omnia and Ephebe because Vorbis said that Om is the only true God (and everyone who says otherwise is wrong and should die!), and the inner conflict that knowing the Great God is a tortoise, so he is neither omnipotent nor the only small god who lives and obtains his powers thanks of his believers’ faith. And Om faces the true that Brutha is the only one who…

“Small Gods” is a very interesting and funny novel that makes fun of some aspects of the religions in general, so people can relax and take it not to serious but as an important part of their lives. Terry Pratchett has the ability of write this novel and put some jokes that can distract us from the rest of the text, but he also know how to take us back to the story. I certainly enjoyed reading this book, and I feel proud to write that I understood many of the jokes that are included in the book (even one related to programming!)
I recommend this book to readers up to 15 years, because it is easy to read (even if you are a non-native English speaker), but there are some complicated issues that require more general culture knowledge and even the jokes are sometimes hard to understand. Despite the fact that it could be difficult to read, Terry Pratchett gives us a fictional new and interesting whole world in this book.

The Big Sleep: the beginnings of Philip Marlowe

The Big Sleep: the beginnings of Philip Marlowe

Reviewed by Verónica Hernández Landa Valencia
October 17^th, 2013

Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) is an icon between the fans of crime novels. He contributed to the renovation of the genre born in the nineteenth century with a new and unexpected focus. In Chandler’s novels, the rational process followed by the main character to solve a mystery is not so developed than in nineteenth century novels, as those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Instead of that, the mystery is created by the atmosphere: strange characters that belong to a dark world inhabited by persons with mental disturbances, lawless men and woman —not only those who came from the underworld, but also those who use checkbooks and cover their shady business under the appearance of legality.

        The Big Sleep (1939), ranked by the Time’s, in 2005, in the list of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century novels, is the first Chandler’s hardboiled crime novel starred by Philip Marlowe, the character that made Chandler famous. In this first work of Chandler, Marlowe is already represented with all the attributes that have made him emblematic: a tough and self-sufficient middle-age man, with a great intelligence and an acute sense of humor, who lives in the borders if the dark world where he constantly have to get into to solve mysteries, hired by the most enigmatic and exotic people.

          In this novel the reader can also recognize some characteristics of the second characters that will be exploded in other novels, such as The High Window: a rich, willful and mysterious person ―in this case a man, Mr. Sternwood―, who cannot be easily interpreted, and is surrounded by the strangest people the reader can imagine. Commonly, this character hires Marlowe to solve a case without telling him the entire story. Therefore, the investigation takes Marlowe to unexpected paths.

It is also possible to find the exotic Chandler’s female characters that made him famous: women almost subnormal that only act in extreme situations, and hers actions usually results in big troubles; powerful and arrogant women that will be dominated by Marlowe. Here, it becomes necessary to recognize that, for the reader who is accustomed to this kind of character representation and understands the time when Chandler wrote his novels, these characters wouldn’t represent a problem, even can be really attractive, but they can be irritating for those who don’t like a misogynistic treatment of the characters. 

         The story starts with general Sternwood, an old man about to die, hiring Marlowe because he wanted to stop being blackmailed, without paying anything to the blackmailer. The problem started because Mr. Sternwood had two rebels and uninhibited daughters that always got in troubles; somebody called Geiger founds out a dark secret ―gambling debts of Carmen, the youngest Sternwood’s daughter―, and tried to use it to earn easy money. Nevertheless, the Sternwood family had more secrets to hide, and this turned more complicated Marlowe’s work.  

          What it seemed to be a simple arrangement ―once Marlowe’s knew about Geiger’s dark secrets and had information to pay Geiger’s blackmail with the same coin―, become an investigation about a chain of blackmails and murders that, apparently, started with Geiger’s, but Marlowe will discover that the murders started some years ago, by the hand of the most unexpected person.

         From the start, the investigation Mr. Sternwood commissioned Marlowe seemed to have a little fold that was mysterious: the name of Rusty Reagan ―the husband of Vivian, Mr. Sternwood oldest daughter, who disappeared suddenly years ago―, appeared since the first conversation with Mr. Sternwood. The general never told Marlowe two investigate the fate of Reagan; however Marlowe knew that the general expected to, not because he wanted back Vivian’s husband, but because Regan was a friend of him. In contrast, Vivian seemed more worried because she believed that Mr. Sternwood asked Marlowe to find Regan. Meanwhile, Carmen was creating more problems.

Once the blackmail situation was solved, finding this mysterious character, Reagan, becomes the center of Marlowe’s investigation. It leads him not only to meet more blackmailers, but also bookmakers, an owner of a gambling house, dangerous blonds,  desirable women ―and others not so desirable―, a hired murderer that almost put in danger Marlowe’s life, and let him a little beaten. That is the strange way that guides Marlowe to the past of the Sternwood family.    

For lovers and experts of twentieth century crime novel, to read Chandler’s books is considered almost an obligation. In the case of The Big Sleep, to the well known author’s technique to create singular characters and environments, is added the freshness of the first Chandler's novel in this literary genre.  

Thinking about Communication in the web

5.0 out of 5 stars.

October 29, 2013.

By Edwin León.

Language and the Internet by David Crystal.

Internet is a medium that has made deep changes in human lives. Marketing processes, democratic decision making, education and audiovisual diffusion are some examples of this transformation. The way in which people interact with each other has also been transformed because of the possibilities that Internet gives, breaking the time and space limits worldwide. Language and the Internet (2001) by David Crystal, the first edition in Oxford University Press, is a book that explains extensively how World Wide Web and computers have changed communication between people.

David Crystal, who is an honorary Professor of Linguistics in Wales University, analyzes with scientific rigor the changes that users have lived in their chatting since the public availability of the Internet until the beginning of the twenty-first century. Crystal is a world foremost authority on Linguistic studies. In addition to English as a Global Language and Language Death, Language and the Internet completes the author’s perspectives about current changes in English language; however, his arguments could be applied to languages all around the world which are used in virtual platforms.

Crystal starts his book explaining how chatting has made individuals to create new resources to communicate with their peers, so that they can adapt and take advantage of the properties of the medium. He notices the emergence of a novel way of talking between users, neither spoken nor written, but a combination of both. This is what David Crystal names Netspeak. After describing it, he presents how the users have adopted this linguistic register to build a community and to identify themselves as part of it. The body of Crystal’s book is shaped with the analysis of four Internet situations where Netspeak is used: E-mail, chatgroups, virtual worlds and the web itself.

The author advocates for a non-prescriptive theory of Language shaping. He thinks about Language as a medium which necessarily needs to change throughout the time and space. This conversion is just part of natural and cultural human evolution. Internet has revolutionized a lot of routines and habits of human life and Language would not be the exception.

Crystal’s work is a pioneer study on the topic. It has been referred in subsequent works such as Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (2008) by Naomi Baron, who is also a linguist interested in the technological influence in human communication. In fact, Baron and Crystal constantly refer each other in their researches. Language and the Internet has transcended the United Kingdom boundaries too. In Latin America, Guadalupe López and Clara Ciuffoli considered this book to write their own purposal entitled Facebook es el mensaje: oralidad, escritura y después (2012).

Language and the Internet is a book mainly addressed to scholars and researchers of Linguistics, Communication Studies and ICT’s Development Studies. Nevertheless, it could be useful for an everyday Internet user who wants to know more about the communication practices in which he/she is involved. Although Crystal uses a lot of technical terms related to Linguistics, his written style is not so complex to become confused at reading his reflections. He actually adds some humorous thoughts about his own findings along the text.

Language is an important quality of human beings which defines not only social interaction in a certain group, but also the symbolic values of a culture. David Crystal gives a deep approach to this issue in the digital age, explaining their causes, characteristics and consequences. There may be a lot of concepts and arguments that can be rejected. Personally, to talk about a Netspeak seems to be risky because he is establishing the medium as the dominant element in Language transformations above from users. Notwithstanding, Crystal's contribution is definetely valuable no matter the controversies that it can incite.

Crystal doesn´t analyze the instant messaging interaction although it was very popular in the 2000. He neither considers the social networks and its influence on Internet users' conversations because they become a boom until 2006. Notwithstanding, the author highlights that the four studied Internet situations are certainly not the only ones which will impact on human communication. In this sense, when David Crystal acknowledges Internet as an integrating medium, he foresees the emergence of websites like Facebook and Twitter.

Language and the Internet is an obligatory reading to understand current communication practices. Comprehending language and its uses is one way to know more about society itself and oneself.

"The Invention of the Jewish People" by Shlomo Sand

“Thus Israel became the first country in the world to officially recognize the Catalan nationality.”

When the professor Shlomo Sand questioned the ethnic origin of the Jews, the most reluctant critics saw an “anti-Semitic Semite”, an Israeli who hates himself and his nation, while other malicious critics took advantage of this controversy to bolster their own obtuse racial ideology. It's hard for us to understand the real origin of the “errant race“ just because is not possible to question these  “historical  dogmas”.  Sand’s travel across the Jewish history is exciting and revealing.

We have learnt through history (and maybe Hollywood) how some troubled and anguish people ran away because of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans in the first century AD. We know that these fugitives became millions and populated several areas of Europe. Theodor Herzl, a visionary man, was the architect of the Zionist dream: the long- awaited return of the "Eretz Israel", the Promised Land for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, etc. Therefore, any attempt at recovering this territories and expelling its current residents might be the most exciting and fair human epic, but, what if not? What would happen if the fiercest Zionists were not descendants of the biblical race? Why did Sand get in so much troubles investigating the origins and expansion of the Semitic races through Asia, Africa and Europe? When we entered the forest of history, its thickness deprives us of the light and we tend to lose orientation.

The fall of the temple of Jerusalem was just the impetus for Jews to conquer the world not with arms but ideas. We must recognize the great labor of the Jewish proselytism which began in the first centuries of our era. It is impressive how the teachings and the beliefs were inculcated in the most diverse people: Arabs, Turks, Mongols met a new God. The birth of the Talmud gave a new dimension of the cosmogony of the Jews, new laws, new behavior and a new raison d'etre. Their creed made them stronger and braver. What does it matter if they are different from others? They would die before becoming “marranos” (Jews converted to Christianity, on several occasions against their will). Of course, this religious revolution was not focused on the love to neighbor and so, some ideological courses were more focused on a kind of bewitchment; a typical case was the Shabbetaian Movement, a religious activity based on the hope of a new Messiah capable of changing this state of things. But these movements were ephemeral, just the essential things remained, the Jewish religion was widely accepted.

 Thus, thousands of people of Arab origin adopted the new faith and diffused it. Hence many Jews who came to Spain were “Jewish” just for their religion. On the other hand, in Central Asia, Khazards adopted the new faith as an opposition to the Arab regimes they fought with. The descendants of these Khazard Jews will be the ones who immigrate to East Europe and populate this continent for the next centuries.  Now we can understand that most of the Jews from Europe and America (because of the subsequent immigration) do not have a Semitic origin, but Khazard, and curiously, these people are the ones who support the Zionist politics: the return to a land where their ancestors were never from. Here is when we can get confused:  where are the real Jews? Did they get lost forever in the Diaspora?  In most cases, they remained in Palestine. Sand denies the existence of a Jewish nation in the Old Testament, therefore, this could be a chance for the Palestinian people to preserve their territories.

Unfortunately, as we expected, this book tends to be misunderstood by the people who hypocritically advocate respect for different races and democracy and end up being more racist than a Nazi. In the worst of the cases, the fanatics of the “conspiracy theories” find fertile ground to plot their more twisted ideologies.  I recommend the reader not to fall into the trap of the hatred and resentment.   I understand Sand is not making a mockery of the Jews with his book like it was a new version of the German Magazine “Simplissimus” which delighted anti-Semites a century ago.  This is not an apology for terrorism this is not a justification for the violence provoked by the “nationalist Palestinians”. Shlomo Sand leaves the open door to debate and confrontation of ideas, if anyone wants to get involved they must search for more works of the author in order to becoming a scholar, or  simply censor Sand.

This book is not recommendable for anyone but experts in history. This is not a reason to hate the Jewish people regardless of whether or not they are Khazards, and certainly, we must respect those who are comfortable with the Zionist propaganda (Hasbara).  Sand certainly has had great success with this work, and even with Jews who respect and admire him.  Finally, I still believe that Sand begun with a big error of perception, because Mexico is the Promised Land, simply the Zionists brought the broken compass.

Vampire Hunter

 

Title: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.

Author: Seth Grahame-Smith, 2010.

Genre: Fantasy/ Horror.

Rate: 4.5 / 5

By Cesar Aurelio Morales Perez, October 28^th 2013.

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say the one ends, and the other begins? -Edgar Allan Poe.

Synopsis

After graduating, Seth Graham-Smith has a debt to Jan and Al, the owners of a five-and-dime store located in the town of Rhinebeck, New york. They  have supported Seth with money since he was 15 years old, and now for paying of he decided to stay working at the store during some time, which simultaneously he will use for working on his masterpieces as a writer. After that he plans to go out the town and become famous, but… “Life is what happens  while you're busy making other plans…” the  years had passed and  he  founds himself stuck in the routine of a daily life. The promise of become a famous artist of the pen has been frustrated, until a strange gives him the opportunity to fulfill it; the task is very simple: unveil the untold American history of the 19^th century.

This is the Journal of Abraham Lincoln

Throughout the pages of this book we find the life of the 16th United States president. Born in 1809, Abe (Abraham Lincoln) was raised in a family whose members are contrasting: a tender  loving mother , and a father who only makes the necessary for them not to starve.

 At the age of nine our young character knows a truth about the world, there are two races “that have existed side by side since Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, one gifted with superior ability and length of life; the other more fragile and fleeting, but gifted with superior number (Vampires and humans); this fact,  and the confession about the responsible of his grandparent murder, and later the perpetrator of his mothers death, makes him swear that every vampire in America will perish in his arms. From this moment, Abraham starts his quest to exorcise America’s devils, only with his axe in hand  his and physical capabilities.

Later, he will meet Henry, an ally and master who will guide him through the shadowy pathways where the non-living dwell.

As the quest continues and Abe travels along the Mississippi river seeking for revenge, he will find  moral support in his friend Edgar Allan Poe, and fond companion on Jack Amstrong and Joshua Speed, two humans who learned about vampire hunting and devoted to the true cause of war, America’s freedom.

Abe’s life as a politician will raise, his life and their relatives one will be in danger, every decision will have consequences, but the spirit of a man will burn from ashes and a liberty pathway will be forged.

Discussion

I have chosen this book because I really like the horror genre and also motivated by the fact that I couldn’t watch the movie based on this story last year, and for me it represented an opportunity to approach the original work in the original language.

In spite of the fact that the title might evoke a strange association between a myth of the pop culture such as  vampires, and a notable of the American history, on the end is  a delicious mixture for those who love fiction. This combination is delivered in the form of a crossover between reality and fantasy. Well documented on Abraham Lincoln’s life, this alternative story  suited to the 19^th century make the reader to think on it as something feasible.

The character depicted her, carry throughout the pages his essence. Vampires, entities blessed with eternal life but condemned to suffering are similar to the ones shown through Ann Rice`s literature, while humans  are just a reflections of the virtues and defects, product of a society in which they are immerse; the love, happiness, grieve, pain, excitement, will and fear are depicted so close to reality

Also a book full of action,  bloody battles bringing men to excel himself or to be subdued in the struggle for freedom,  for life, for survive.

On turning the last page, a patriotic feeling will be beating inside the reader’s chest.

Finally, the idea vampires and presidents altogether will be formerly senseless, for now the only  logic lacking thought would be to go outside unarmed in the middle of the night, considering the fact that the nonliving  had been vanished from America to creep in the shadows of virtually any country, and probably they would have been thriving in force and numbers.

Grab your axe and join Seth Gaham-Smith as the untold history is brought to the spotlight, or wait until the sharp fangs of the worst human enemies feast upon your neck.

 

A star on my forehead

I was so confused, I thought that it was a mathematical challenge: to determinate what color I had according to logic. I thought I had a green star but I was wrong.

Funny transfer pics

As promised, here is just a sample of the fun artwork you did in depicting how a native English speaker might interpret or picture in their mind what you say, when in the end it was just a problem of native language transfer ... Hopefully the next time you are on the verge of saying (or writing) something like "the movie liked me", you'll remember the humorous image and correct yourself before the words come out!

Joshua:

Susana:

César: (I love the confused face on the person.)

Susana: (again!)

Edwin:

Susana (yet again!):

Sandra:

 Benjamin: (Grumpy or very serious people sometimes think songs can be too funny)

Beatriz:

Verónica: