Pat

Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA


Joined January 4th 2008

Number of Posts:
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Number of Comments:
149

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Recent Posts

Ulysses

September 23rd 2008 11:43
This book is tremendous! I can't believe I waited this long to write a review about what is probably one of the best books that I have ever read. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of taking in this delightful work by James Joyce, then I can not emphasise strongly enough how much it will be worth your time to go out and buy it. Today.

Ulysses


This review will proceed in the following way:

1. Plot synopsis;
2. Analysis of themes prominent throughout;
3. Discussion of main characters and their relationships;
4. Relationship between Ulysses and the Odyssey;
5. Conclusion;

PART ONE

Stephen Dedalus spends the early morning hours of June 16, 1904, remaining aloof from his mocking friend, Buck Mulligan, and Buck's English acquaintance, Haines. As Stephen leaves for work, Buck orders him to leave the house key and meet them at the pub at 12:30. Stephen resents Buck.

Around 10:00 A.M., Stephen teaches a history lesson to his class at Garrett Deasy's boys' school. After class, Stephen meets with Deasy to receive his wages. The narrow-minded and prejudiced Deasy lectures Stephen on life. Stephen agrees to take Deasy's editorial letter about cattle disease to acquaintances at the newspaper.

Stephen spends the remainder of his morning walking alone on Sandymount Strand, thinking critically about his younger self and about perception. He composes a poem in his head and writes it down on a scrap torn from Deasy's letter.

At 8:00 A.M. the same morning, Leopold Bloom fixes breakfast and brings his wife her mail and breakfast in bed. One of her letters is from Molly's concert tour manager, Blazes Boylan (Bloom suspects he is also Molly's lover)—Boylan will visit at 4:00 this afternoon. Bloom returns downstairs, reads a letter from their daughter, Milly, then goes to the outhouse.

At 10:00 A.M., Bloom picks up an amorous letter from the post office—he is corresponding with a woman named Martha Clifford under the pseudonym Henry Flower. He reads the tepid letter, ducks briefly into a church, then orders Molly's lotion from the pharmacist. He runs into Bantam Lyons, who mistakenly gets the impression that Bloom is giving him a tip on the horse Throwaway in the afternoon's Gold Cup race.

Around 11:00 A.M., Bloom rides with Simon Dedalus (Stephen's father), Martin Cunningham, and Jack Power to the funeral of Paddy Dignam. The men treat Bloom as somewh...

Ok, that's enough legitimate (stolen) information to trick people into coming here to read this review. Now that I have your attention, I'd just like to say that this book is unreadable and if you are a person who has read it and enjoyed it, then your drab little life is beyond pathetic.

Suicide would be a good option, but before you do, I'd just like to thank you for spending your last few moments on earth reading my poorly planned website.

:^)
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Royal Flash

September 11th 2008 11:21
This is the second book in the Flashman series written by George MacDonald Fraser, and possibly my least favourite (so far) but also one which allows me to write a review which seemingly makes light of sexual violence towards women (of course this review shouldn't be interpreted that way, it's just that it's harder to find books humourously dealing with sexual violence against men to balance the ledger).

Royal Flash


Here are all the important statistics in bullet point format for ease of reading:

* Number of times Flashman rapes a woman: 3
* Number of times Flashman unsuccessfully attempts to rape a woman: 6
* Number of times Flashman assaults a woman: 5
* Number of times Flashman assaults a man: 1
* Number of times Flashman refers to a woman as 'slut': 26

Essentially this book places Flashman at the centre of the Schleswig-Holstein Question (a very boring thing of some nature which I know nothing about and will not expand upon any further than cutting and pasting the text from wikipedia). A ridiculously complicated plot has Flashman posing as a look-alike Danish prince as a result of the designs of Otto von Bismarck with the goal of replacing the unlucky Dane at his own wedding to a young (and obviously soon to be raped) royal belonging to a fictional state in modern day Germany.

The story lacks the military character of a lot of the other Flashman books as the plot revolves around cowardice in the face of political intrigue, rather than cowardice on the battlefield and perhaps it's slightly lacking as a result.

If you like your fiction with an intricate, and mostly accurate, historical background and a fair slice of violence and all-round disrespect towards women, then you will thoroughly enjoy the book Royal Flash and you are no doubt on the way to becoming a successful rapist yourself. Please stay away from my family.

Notable appearances in this novel by John Gully (bare-knuckle boxer and politician), Lola Montez (the Countess of Landsfield and 'slut' [Fraser's word, not mine]) and, very briefly, Karl Marx.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Flashman is, without a doubt, my favourite rapist of any era.

In 1975, this story of sexual misconduct was made into a film starring Malcolm McDowell as Flashman, Oliver Reed in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan as Lola Montez. I have never seen this film because I don't watch 'films'. In fact, movies are for cretins (possible name for a movie-related blog?? MoviesAreForCretins.com, you heard it here first so don't steal it!)

This post is tagged 'Family Friendly Content' as it is suitable to be read by children of all ages.
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Hey.

September 7th 2008 05:31
Will post up a new review shortly. Maybe even a serious one and not some rubbish which no one finds funny. Just went through some life changes and couldn't find time to waste (badly) writing garbage on the internet that nobody wants to read. I'm back now though and I've missed you, internet. We're together at last. No more lonely nights apart.
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In Milton Lumky Territory

August 18th 2008 03:08
Reading this book was... regrettable. Imagine a story centred around the wheelings and dealings of a sales rep for a discount warehouse who loves nothing more than banging on about the intricacies of dealing with specific suppliers and providing inane details about long and boring drives through long and boring country.

In Milton Lumky Territory

[ Click here to read more ]
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Letter to Michael Mewshaw

July 31st 2008 05:56
Those of you who read my last post about the book Shelter From The Storm might remember that I concluded by saying that I would write a mean letter to the author, Michael Mewshaw because it stunk so badly. Now, normally in this kind of situation, I would just pen some silly rubbish and send it off and post up the email and forget all about - who would actually expect a reply?!

But in the case of Mewshaw, the reply came in record time. The guy must be some kind of internet obsessive, because within half an hour of sending my (stupid) email, his obnoxious reply came in. Because of the weirdness of this all, I'm going to give up my usual game of trying to trick everybody and be honest with you guys


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Shelter From The Storm

July 30th 2008 03:41
Hullo, I am back from vacation now so this site is back in action. Also, I'm unemployed for a little while so maybe I'll post up a whole bunch of exciting web-log entries for you to read over the next couple of weeks!

One of the books that I read on my holiday was Shelter From The Storm by Michael Mewshaw


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Sorry!

July 5th 2008 20:36
I am sorry for not posting anything for a long time on this blog but I am on vacation and am only posting this post up so that it gives the illusion of activity. Anyway, maybe YOU too should consider getting off the internet (you pathetic nerd) and make something of yourself a la me.

Anyways, I'm in Chicago and it's very nice and I'm having a delightful time meeting new people and seeing terrific sights and basically enjoying all that life has to offer


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This is truly a sad day friends.

Chris Bosma... my hero.

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Jailbird

June 15th 2008 11:51
"Harvard and Nixon, the Holocaust and Watergate, Sacco and Vanzetti, Alger Hiss and Whitaker Chambers are the obsessions of this novel of evil and inadvertence."

Jailbird

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Raymond Chandler

June 1st 2008 04:44
I think I must be the only person in the world who thinks that Raymond Chandler sucks.

Raymond Chandler

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Recent Comments

Comment by Pat
on Ulysses

September 27th 2008 08:31
Thanks for the bewildering feedback 'Norm'.

Comment by Pat
on Royal Flash

September 11th 2008 11:33
To the credit of the administrators of the Orble network, I am yet to be reprimanded for my unsuitable blog content, but I feel that this might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

If it isn't, then I promise I'll do better next time.

Comment by Pat
on Hey.

September 11th 2008 10:32
It sure does Stu. Feel free to post up some details of your life Stuart when you get a chance. I'd love to hear about it.

Comment by Pat
on In Milton Lumky Territory

August 18th 2008 07:33
Yeah, I sure read some garbage but in my defense, I don't actually own any of these books - all the really bad ones are given to me or somehow end up with me for a while before I pass them on.

FYI, I actually own a grand total of 2 books at the moment because I give them all away to friends and family. Post up your contact details here and I'll mail you the next book that I finish reading for free.


Comment by Pat
on Suggested Changes on the technical side of Orble

August 18th 2008 03:10
I have no idea because I can't tell any of you people apart, was sort of just planning on being generally unpleasant to everybody.

Comment by Pat
on Suggested Changes on the technical side of Orble

August 8th 2008 06:06
Please don't make it harder for me to cyber-bully orble users. I'm begging you.

Comment by Pat
on Letter to Michael Mewshaw

August 8th 2008 06:02
yeah, he's not the nicest internet user that I've come across.

I sent him another email and I'm waiting for a response. Will post eventually. Thanks for the comments team.

Comment by Pat
on Jailbird

June 15th 2008 22:33
Yeah, this one will definitely be forgotten (if it hasn't been already) especially in comparison to Slaughterhouse 5, as you said,even Breakfast of Champions or basically anything else that he wrote!

Comment by Pat
on Raymond Chandler

June 15th 2008 01:53
Stu, I'll try and figure out how to give you posting privileges so you can post whatever you like, whenever you like!

Comment by Pat
on Raymond Chandler

June 12th 2008 22:20
Yeah, I've been slack. I'll get right on it. The problem is that that's only a short-term fix though because this blog will be dormant for a month as of next Thursday!

I'd really like Stu-Kicks to take care of it for a month but I'm fairly sure he can't/won't read books.