Ella Minnow Pea

Synopsis: Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family and fellow citizens from the enroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression and a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

I really enjoyed this book, despite it being a sequence of letters written by the characters to each other. I think it works because it adequately captures the feelings of the characters without sounding exessively cheesy. I think every linguistic student should read this book! It was an absolute delight to read, and it is just so meaningful in exploring English language and the letters. So far, we have all been studying morphemes and phonemes that we do not go to even smaller units - grapheme. And I quote the book:

“When the aeiouys start to go, Ella, writing to you turns exponentially more grueling.” - Pg 153.

This book has made me much more appreciative of every single letter in the alphabet, that we cannot do without any of them. But what is disturbing is the sentence below (as well as many other sentences like that towards the end of the book):

“Ewe mae repher to me as “Little.” I am repherring to miselph that wae now.” - Pg 182, after B,C,D,F,J,K,Q,U,V,X and Z were gone from their land.

Doesn’t it look like Netspeak used by the many $&*@#!@ Singaporean youth today? Oh well.

Anyway this book rocks, really.

A Sprained Ankle part 2

Last night I went to bed at 11.30pm, but couldn’t sleep till 2am because my foot was hurting so badly. I woke at 8 am this morning and I couldn’t even walk 1 step. The swelling got worse, despite me RICE-ing (rest, ice, compress, elevate) it. I really couldn’t take it so we called an ambulance and I was sent to the hospital.

I took an X-ray and … well, the doctor couldn’t conclude if it was a hairline crack or if my bone hasn’t developed fully to fuse. So there. But either way, I will be, and have been put in a cast.

It technically a half-cast, with Plaster of Paris only forming the L-shape brace with the bottom of my foot up to my calf. The rest is bandage and cotton. And so now I’m on crutches. And now I realized just how weak my left leg is because when I was learning to use the crutches in the hospital, I fell and couldn’t get up because my left leg just couldn’t make up. And it doesn’t help that the arch on my left foot is non-existent (i.e. flat-footed) - my balance is similarly non-existent.

Anyway, I would have to be a saint to not think about “what if we weren’t at Tampines yesterday”. But I guess there is no point thinking about such things and leading people into guilt trips when all I should do is rest and hope for a quick recovery now.

A Sprained Ankle

(Blogging about my injury has precedence over blogging about KL’s birthday celebration)

I fell down 2 steps of the stairs today and sprained my right ankle.

 

See the pingpong ball-looking swelling? Looks quite bad doesn’t it.

Well, I’ve sprained so many parts of my body before, so this is no biggie. I sprained my left ankle in secondary school (that resulted in doctor’s suspension from physical activites/education in school for 3 months), and I’ve always complained (inwardly) how because of that incident the muscles on my right leg are more developed.  So now that my right foot is swollen, I’ve got to lean all my weight on my left - good time to train up my left leg to balance out the muscles? -laughs-

Starbucks

I’m blogging at Starbucks now, so I thought, why not plug for them whilst I continue to take up space, trying to get my readings done before meeting my friends for dinner later?

Anyway, what is your favourite drink at Starbucks?
Over here for me, it’s got to be the Green Tea cream Frappuccino. I still remember when they first came up with the drink a couple years back, they offered me a free sample (small cup, like the sort you pee in when you go for a health check) and it tasted quite nice. However the skeptical me at that time thought it was one of those drinks you get sick of when you hit the 6ounce mark, and just brushed it off.  I revisited the drink a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with it. Yes, it is cream-based (i.e. fattening), but I really like it! It’s got this nice green tea flavour, without being bitter. Compared to the other non-coffee frappes Starbucks sell, this is my favourite.

And talking about Starbucks, I remember the time when I went to Starbucks at Raffles City with my friend Angela, the Starbucks addict. I ordered a Tall (smallest size in Starbucks) green tea frappe and she took a look at the creamy green substance and went “so cute!” Apparently she has never really ordered a Tall drink before; she does Venti (largest size, 20ounces) all the time, so she thought a small transparent cup filled with creamy green sludge was “cute”. Hoho. And I’ve been teasing her ever since, about how she never orders small drinks. Heh.

The Last Empress

 
Synopsis: At the end of the nineteenth century China is rocked by humiliating foreign attacks and local rebellions. The only constant is the poer wielded by one woman: the resilient, ever-resourceful Tzu Hsi, also known as Empress Orchid. Moving from the intimacy of the concubine quarters into the spotlight of the world stage, Orchid makes a dramatic metamorphosis from a strong-willed young woman to a wise political leader, who must not only face the perilous condition of her fading empire by also a series of devastating personal losses. Yearning to step aside yet growing constantly into her role, only she can hold the nation’s rival factions together.

Can I say that this book is an utter disappointment? I liked Empress Orchid, but after reading The Last Empress (the sequel), I’m beginning to have doubts about liking Empress Orchid in the first place. This book is filled with nothing but gaffes and labourious historical recollections masqueraded as biography. I didn’t really enjoy the book, and I couldn’t avoid spotting mistakes.

“The business of running the nation makes me sick, period. Sorry, Mother, I have to go.” - Pg 34

Yes, Tung Chih might be playboy, but he does not sound like a 15-year-old American teenage girl.  The style of writing is really off! San Fran has really caught on to Anchee Min huh?

“The imperial backyard concubines slipped into their ankle-length chipaos, dresses of Manchu design that cleverly complimented the female figure.” - Pg 125

Just as how the author cleverly masked her ignorance with vague words. As far as I know, qipaos only became body-hugging in the 1920s, after the dynasty was fully overthrown. It was then that the dethroned, deserted concubines had no choice but to alter their loose fitting Manchu wear to mask their identity. No female figure flattering qipaos in the Forbidden City (unless if the author considers loose fitting garb as complimenting to the female figure).

“Behind us, sixteen eunuchs carried my room-sized ceremonial palanquin.” - Pg 165

(Once I start being sceptical, I can’t stop.) If she’s talking about the 十六人大轿 (16-man palanquin), the obviously it is not “room-sized”. Below is a picture I took of the said palanquin in the Forbidden City:

Room-sized?

I really do not recommend this book to people who like Empress Orchid, because it’s a far cry from that ,and it’s really a chore to finish reading it.

Fall Into Reading 2007

Sure, there isn’t technically “Fall” (or the British usage, Autumn) in Singapore, but who cares. I’m going to take part in the reading challenge for fun! Head over to Callapidder Days for the info!

Here is my list (that really is made up mostly of the books I’m supposed to read for TBR2007, and my Dystopian Challenge 2007)

1. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
2. Embers of Heaven, Alma Alexander
3. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde
4. Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
5. The Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a good halfway into this!)
6. 1984, George Orwell (a good 3/4 into this!)
7. A Moliere in French (haven’t chosen one yet)
8. Animal Farm, George Orwell (a revisit)
9. The Giver, Lois Lowry
10. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Completed. Yay.)
11. The Last Empress, Anchee Min (Completed. And hated it. )
12. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn (Done)
13. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini(Done!)

Yes, 13 books, just like my favourite number.

New Skin

Yay, a new skin for my blog (and for those who have been randomly clicking on my blog every 5 minute - to what end I wonder - will realize I have been trying different skins out until I finally got it done). Had to snitch that graphic off the net and design my own header. And I updated Blogrolls as well. Liberally added something bimbotic (Purseblog for luxe bag ogling), something edible (She Bakes and She Cooks, a Singaporean undergraduate who has a flair for cooking and baking!), and something linguistic ( The Unofficial, Unauthorized English As It Is Broken Column that spots the grammatic gaffes of supposed learned users of English in Singapore).

And some people have asked me what the name of my blog means. Especially when the sous-titre is “they say the pen is mightier than the sword.” Well, if that is really the case, wouldn’t the ink INCORPORATED in the pen be the mightiest of them all? (Of course, one can always choose to use a pencil.) So there you have it. Another of my conceitedness.

Book Meme

Tagged by Sulz.  

Total number of books owned:
According to MY LibraryThing catalogue, I have 76 novels. Did not bother to catalogue non-fiction (e.g. Introduction to Psychology, and Structure of Sounds and Words…) and my sister’s bunch of murder/investigative mysteries (Tess Gerritsen, James Patterson …)

Last book bought:
(by my sis as a gift to me) The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
(by myself) A Place Called Here, Cecilia Ahern

Last book read:
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman

Five books that mean a lot to you (If I have to choose):
1. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
2. Persuasion (no matter how draggy and boring it is), Jane Austen
3. Empress Orchid, Anchee Min
4. The Cat Ate my Gymsuit + There’s a Bat in Bunk Five, Paula Danziger (the books that re-read time and again during my pre-teen years!)
5. - Can’t think of any more-

Tag five people to continue this meme:
Anyone who wants to do it, and hasn’t done it!

If I had been born …

I was just musing about (during breakfast) at how sometimes people think about “I had I been born elsewhere/another time/etc”. I seem to think this is quite a flawed way of thinking because technically, if you have been born elsewhere, or in another time, you won’t be YOU anymore. You will not be able to go through the same experiences, receive the same opportunities that will culminate in you thinking about an alternate universe for yourself. Say for example, if I had been born in a rural 3rd world African country, where perhaps day-to-day living is the primary and only concern, I wouldn’t think about living somewhere else. Heck, I might not even know that there are better places out there. So, I wouldn’t be the same “I”, right? Someone once said that self-reflexive thought is a product of a modern society, or something along those lines.

No double standards, right?

Today the headline for the Home section of The Straits Times read “7 in 10 Frown on Homosexuality, NTU Survey Finds”. The rest of the article talked about attitudes in other countries towards homosexuality, and the report found that those who responded showed either religious influence (read: Christians and Muslims) or conform to social norms.

Well, I’m sure it’s those Christians who do not lie, do not kill and “love their neighbours” (aside from offering both cheeks for slapping)? No double standards here, I suppose?
Wait a minute. If one is supposed to love one’s neighbour even though he might sin against one, what if said neighbour is gay? Is one then still supposed to love him, yet lament his fall from grace and thereby exulting one’s graciousness in acceptance him for who he is?

Anyway, then the article mentioned about how Penal Code 337A is not one about rights and regulations, but one of moral values. Using the word moral values is merely using an even greater all-encompassing criteria to persecute AND prosecute homosexuals, by claiming that they don’t conform to basic human values. Maybe it’d be better to say that they don’t have rights, and be blamed as a governing body that is blind to minority demands, rather than a governing body that now purports the idea that homosexuals do not have values.