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05/02/2006

Demon Seed:: Dean Koontz

Book Review: Demon Seed

Let me start this book review by saying that I am a Dean Koontz fan. I used to be hardcore, but ever since having my kids, I dropped the Koontz books and opted for Miriam Stoppard instead. But now my kids are a little bit more independent, I am back to Koontz. Now, the book….Demon Seed, eh?

 

Hhmmm…an artificial intelligence program gone awry. A psychopathic, maniacal computer malfunctioning causing mayhem within the house that it (he) controls. A woman spending her life trapped and abused by men…and then now, a computer (also a man, it seems to believe).

 

I admit, the concept of a psychopathic computer trying to manipulate the feeble human race is nothing new. There has been movies and books…and songs written about it. The concept itself is intriguing – although at times laughable, I assure you. But it’s all in good fun. You’ve just got to leave everything behind, logic, facts, doubts, everything behind. Pretend you’re not smart at all.

 

Demon Seed is indeed revolutionary by virtue of the fact that the book was first published when I was born…(that’s 1973, by the way) and when I was born, the smartest computer probably weighed about 10 tons! So, for Dean Koontz to write something like this in complete detail is probably quite a bit of a challenge. But Dean Koontz rewrote it in 1997, 20 years later, adding some newer gadgets and technology bits into it. The Internet, intranetworking systems, genetic engineering…blah blah blah…like I know the difference.

 

The most interesting thing about Demon Seed is that Dean Koontz wrote this in the first person voice. Which means to say that the entire book is a narrative from the computer. Often you’ll find the psychopathic computer trying to reinforce a point by repeating itself…like I am a kind soul. I am a kind soul. I really am a kind soul. I am a really, really, REALLY kind soul. Pretty much the way a psychopathic computer should act – I suppose. Or perhaps even child of 2 who is trying to get an extra lollipop. Who knows?

 

But the fact that the book was written in the first voice is very fresh and interesting. It gives us a very refreshing look into the purported behavior of a computer that malfunctions and begins to develop what it (he) thinks are feelings and emotions. However, this advantage is also the DISadvantage. Miss Susan Harris, the lead female character in this story, lacks a voice. Very little chance is given to the female lead to tell us, the readers, what is going through her mind except through the computer’s narrative about what he sees.

 

The innocence and confusion of the computer is also quite intriguing. In fact, its attempts to be sexy and as humanly as possible is hilarious! I don’t want to spoil your fun but then there was a point where the computer wanted to appear sexy (duh!?) to Susan and the only data it (he) could gather on sexiness is from books and whatever that is published on the Internet. Therefore, he often said things like…. “I think your breasts are really pretty”. Guffaw!! Guffaw! Choke! Ssssseeeeexxxxyyyyy…….

 

I have very few complaints about this book but one of the biggest complaints about it is the fact that the ending was so rushed I didn’t have the time to absorb it, no time to feel anything apart from….it’s ended? When? My suggestion would have been for Dean Koontz to have given the last few paragraphs or the last chapter to Miss Susan and tell us her side of the story.

 

It would have been perfect then.

It would have been perfect.

It would.

Really, it would have been perfect.

Simply perfect.

09:00 Posted in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: dean koontz, demon seed, koontz, kontz, fiction, writer, science fiction, review

04/02/2006

Mom, why English is so hard?

It continues to bug me, despite my best efforts, that my kids are not avid readers. It bugs me BIG time! How come, how come, how come? You see, ever since I was very young, I’ve always read a lot and if you can’t find me, it’s because I am hiding somewhere reading my novels at high speed fantasizing and immersed in my own world of princes and princesses, thanks to a heavy dose of Enid Blyton. I sincerely believed that, at one point in time, if I wished hard enough, I could actually make a bed fly and whoosh around. I honestly thought that goblins and fairies DID exist. Oh, the countless times I sat outside in the wee hours of the morning looking out of the window wondering if a fairy was slumbering under closed flower petals.

 

And yet, why oh why can’t my children find the same joy I did when I was a kid.

 

It seems that Joshua (in particular) is a very visual person. Ask him to sketch something out and he would, without much hesitation, ink out a picture of whatever it is that you’ve just mentioned – be it flying dragons or triceratops-robot-cars, whatever! He’s very cartoon-ish in his drawing as well – with those tell-tale signs of clouds behind someone who is running very fast, and bubbles around wrongly-spelt words to show that the character is thinking or talking.

 

English. A very funny language indeed. With Chinese, you recognize the character once and for all – and that’s that. No two ways about it. With Bahasa Melayu (Malaysia’s national language), B-A is Ba (as in goat and sheep Baa Baa), P-U is Poo, T-O  is Toe…etc. But with English, it’s a little bit more different.

 

You see, it’s hard to explain to a kid how come things are different all the time. Sometimes you have double Ts and sometimes not. sometimes you need two Ss and sometimes you don’t. sometimes Chair and Mare rhymes but they are not spelt the same. How come you add a T at the end of ‘Go’ and it’s not ‘Goat’. This is the problem I have with tutoring Joshua.

 

It’s sad because, as a writer, I am thinking to myself, ‘Teaching my own kids to read and write in English should be a breeze because I am like such a PRO (Cough! Cough!), right?’ PRO-fectly wrong. I am not a PRO, of course, because I make so many mistakes in my grammar and writing that I wince, sometimes, after writing some stuff for my clients. I am particularly bad with punctuations and I think it will be a challenge in the future if I decide to pursue this tutoring thing with my own kids. I am not the best English teacher on the planet – no, wait. I am not teacher material – period.

 

Or maybe I am a good teacher (because I used to tutor other kids and did a credible job at that) but just not to my own kids.

 

Or maybe it’s best that I just teach whatever I DON’T like or have NO passion for…like maths instead of something that I like so much – the English Language. Bah, I think I’ll just teach my kids how to enjoy life, have fun, live with wild abandon and shun responsibilities. Hhhmmmm….I think I won’t have a problem with that at all.

02:05 Posted in Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: English, english, read, reads, reading, book, books, teach

02/02/2006

Woe the holidays

I wonder if I am the only one on the planet that feels like holidays are…such a complete waste of time. Admittedly, I am one of those workaholics who cannot sit, stand, lie or squat still for a very long time. No, not a hyperactive person, but I do like being useful or doing something.

 

Therefore, holidays are always a bore to me. Strangely enough, when I was in school, I would end up going to school just to play or practice something. You know, in school, we always have this extra-curricular stuff going at one point or the other. And when I was working, I would end up spending more hours in the office during holidays than during the normal working days! Strange creature…me.

 

And it’s no different now that I am a mother and freelancer.

 

Having the kids home with me all the time is god-send. I mean, this is what I want – to have them with me and I have all the time in the world to spend with them, tickle them and play catch with them, enjoy their laughter and also to break up their fights. But heck, when in the world is the holiday going to end??!!! I have to get them out of my hair soon otherwise, I am never going to get any work done at all!

 

Sadly, even during the Chinese New Year, when just about every single Chinese in the world is taking a holiday or enjoying themselves, I am here, mulling over websites, articles and brochures!

 

Am I the only person in the world who doesn’t like holidays?

 

In fact, I spend so much more money during the holidays because I have to take the kids out all the time – they get bored pretty easily sitting at home, it seems. So, there we go strolling aimlessly around every shopping mall nearby and breaking every see saw and swing in every garden we find, stuffing our faces with pizzas, spaghettis, lasagnas and other out-of-the-budget food during the holidays is….well, something I can do without.

 

I can’t wait for school to start so that they can have their life back (they might disagree with me) and get off Astro Playhouse Disney and Cartoon Network and I can get some things done here. Otherwise, my clients are going to have my sorry behind for dinner!

08:55 Posted in Being human , Family , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this | Tags: work, holidays, holidays, kid, kids, family

30/01/2006

Mom of boys

First, read this. It’s an excerpt from Sure Signs you’re the mother of boys by Sharon O’Donnell. I am quite picky about who I like as a writer and for me, Sharon O’Donnell has this way of writing that either touches you or tickles you. Everything that she writes about parenting and being a mother is so true that it makes you want to cry!

 

Excerpts from: Sure Signs You’re the Mother of Boys

by Sharon O’Donnell

  • you find Power Ranger parts under your sofa. Sometimes your vacuum cleaner finds them first.
  • your weekend schedule includes more total hours of little league sports than it does sleep
  • they think PMS is the new Play Station video game system
  • you have to chase down the playful family dog to retrieve your son’s jock strap
  • the most romantic movie you’ve watched in the last five years is DieHard II
  • you have to arrange two weeks ahead of time to take a bubble bath – and then must lock the door and scream “I’m in the tub – ask Dad!” every three minutes.

I not only find Power Ranger parts under the sofa, I find it in my underwear drawer, in the fridge in the wok and many other unimaginable places. And I have not been able to find the time to sit down to plan the next five minutes….a bath? Out of the question!! The only bath I get these days is in the condo pool. And I don’t think they allow red wine there….

14:00 Posted in Blog , Family , Ramblings | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: mom, moms, mother, mothers, motherhood, parent, parenting, parents