I can't help it but to story you this agonizing act from Unilever's AXE. But before that, let me tell you what made me 'like' AXE Malaysia's page first and foremost. Well, AXE Malaysia had a contest to search for the next Malaysian astronaut and a Malaysian Indian lady was among the top 5 selected to contest for the final round. When I got to know about this, I was so excited and I told my mom and we were showing our support to the girl by voting for her every hour. The contest is now over and the official winner will be announced coming 24th. I spread the news to some of my friends on Facebook and guess what, not many actually replied or showed support. This is pretty much why I feel like not having Facebook because people are there just to stalk you and gossip behind your back but acts like they never knew you when you approach them on FB. Okay, let's just stop ranting about social media, which is not very social actually.
AXE is a brand by Unilever for men's hair care and body products. My question is, what are those women doing on AXE's advertisement when it is a product meant men. Of course they have one or two products for women too, but when it comes to men body spray, are we supposed to see men in the advertisement, aren't we? AXE has been using women, or I will say, exploiting women to promote their product and this has caused an uproar among the AXE Malaysia's Facebook page because we anticipating updates about the competition and all we get is their sexist,cheap promotional methods on Facebook page. I was one of the first ones to spark a debate about this on their page (hahaha :P). I saw many comments following that trashing AXE Malaysia. If you need to know what I'm talking about exactly, you need to go their page via this link and see for yourself.
Is That Picture Necessary?
By having videos and pictures like that, it simply sends a message that men has no brains and nothing much to attract women, so use good fragrances like this to get ladies. It doesn't matter how bad you smell from within, all you have to make sure is to smell good with AXE.
It also sends a message that indicates women are cheap and can be attracted with good fragrances. Watch this video.
Reaction From Potential Customers
What they expect out of their 'sexy' advert - Men and women going crazy about their products and keep giving them business. What is actually happening - They are losing more and more customers and probably because of people like me who is contributing to their loss, it will be even worse because due to the competition, many people all around the world are watching this page closely and their promotional method is suicidal now. People would be attracted to products and companies that have value and do good. Of course, in the business world, nothing is transparent but avoiding efforts to objectify women will save them in the long run.
Now, on the other hand, I think women who model for this product knowing that they are being objectified, are just plain dumb and have no social responsibilities at all. What are those employees for Unilever doing? Well, it is so sad to think we have to forgo social responsibilities at work because we are there just to earn money for living and not to argue for our values that we uphold.
I'm not saying women should be covered all the time or should not be given the choice to dress up. Bikini and modesty has very little correlation because we won't be able to change a man's mind to respect women just by changing our clothes. No, it is not that simple. Bikini is just a swimwear. You wear nightgown when you at bed and you do not roam around the city with that because that would be inappropriate. One should know his or her limits and behave accordingly. You will just know if what you are wearing is appropriate or not. What has to be changed is not bikinis but misusing them for advertisement purpose in a way that causes harm for women. Of course, for lingerie advertisements it will be fine.
Last but not least, if I ever have a boyfriend using AXE, I would be 'welcoming' him home with an axe. With that being said, ladies, you know what to do now ;)
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
It has been a week now since I last blogged. Today has been a fantastic day so far. I made it to the third round of interview after being interviewed by the director of GreenEnergy Worldwide for Malaysia. It feels good because I think it gives me a chance to be in an industry providing green energy solutions and eventually breaking the dependency on fossil fuel. I have also received a surprise e-mail today so it has been a great day so far and I'm thankful for that.
So getting back to the post today, I'm sure many of you are well-informed about the winner of Miss America 2013. Nina Davuluri was crowned as Miss America and she is the first Miss America from Indian descent. She is also the Miss New York 2013. America being one of the world's largest melting pot where people of different races and cultures embrace America as their home today took the world by surprise when some people made racist remarks on Twitter following her victory. What really amuses me is the fact that people have been calling her a Muslim and linking her with Al-Qaeda. Some people made themselves clowns by saying that she should have been chosen as Miss Africa. I think they must have missed their Geography lessons back in school, poor kids!
This social backlash reminded me about the popular TV show, Celebrity Big Brother where we had a participant, the late Jade Goody with two others bullying the well-known actress in India, Shilpa Shetty for being an Indian. I think, generally when you cross your own border, you are a refugee and you just don't belong to where you are fully because people do not welcome ''foreigners'' wholeheartedly.
Is it a crime being born with a dark complexion? What it really takes for a woman to become Miss America? Being blonde and white? I don't understand how people could choose Obama as their president and still be prejudicial. I am not referring to those who voted for Obama and choose to side Nina. I'm sure at least one out of those people who attacked Nina WOULD HAVE voted for Obama but when it comes an American Indian winning the pageant, they can't take it. I'm keen to know the probability of those people voting for a man different in race and heritage as their president. I think people react differently when it comes people who are successful and people who are about to unleash their talent. Before you actually achieve something solid and widely accepted, people would judge you based on colour, background and etc and discourage you every way they could. I don't understand how they could welcome Indians to come and work for Bill Gates but still deny their rights to contest in a beauty pageant. Those who made the ugly comments certainly forgot the fact that their place of birth is a colourful land with people from different roots contributing to its success today. In most countries today, majority of the citizens are not the native people. My ancestors were from India and they were brought to Malaysia during the British occupation. Our real native people are the Orang Asli which literally means "the native people" and America is no exception too.
As an approved contributor for Global Voices, (I haven't contributed anything YET, and I have posts up there as drafts because I thought it will be good to observe what others post and how to protect myself if someone from my ''awesome'' government were to read my posts and accuse me of being a ''threat'' to the national harmony and security. Malaysia is getting funnier day by day so it is good to know how to save my ass before doing something) I observed a post from an Indian citizen and I thought she has pointed out great issues and Tweets from other netizens.
I think Americans are way better because we will not see Nina Davuluri being crowned in the pageant if the organizers or judges were racists. It is just a part of the society that has a problem seeing an American-Indian winning the competition, may be because their favourite contestants lose the game! I think the issue is less severe in America than it is in India.
While reading the post from Global Voices, I realised that if Nina's parents chose to stay in India and raise their kids in India, Nina's chances of being crowned would have been a dream still. You can see the comments in the snapshot below and I feel it is true because we Indians(referring to the race) do not embrace our own people as we worship fair-skinned ladies and men more.
Global Voices
At least, Nina prides herself in becoming Miss New York and Miss America but what do we see in the Indian film industry today? Actress Nandita Das is a dark-skinned, beautiful young lady and I have always admired her so much. Her message for this year's Women's Day is "Stay UNfair, Stay Beautiful". She and her career has been affected due to her dark complexion and she campaigns for the movement called Dark Is Beautiful. You can read about her further at her blog (and let me know if you think she is beautiful ;))
We all have our own issues to deal with and raising awareness is not just about me blogging about this and you reading but also about correcting the way people think and behave around you and making a change. Do your part in educating the society. By writing this, I will never be able to reach out to those who made insulting comments about Nina but if we continue to pass the message around, hopefully we can see gradual changes.
Good night world!
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I got the inspiration to come up with this post after reading +Katie Cross 's recent post about weird words we find in English or weird alteration we make to an already existing word in English to be precise. I'm very excited to introduce Manglish to you guys! Malaysia is a multicultural nation where we have three different races living together just like Mauritius and some other countries. We have Indians, Chinese and Malays here and the multicultural society exists today because of British occupation about a century back where they bring labour forces from India and China. Our forefathers are basically from India and China. What happens when a group of multiracial society attempts to speak in English?
Watch the brief video to here how Malaysians speak in English(Manglish) and how we all speak English in the proper way. It's not that Malaysians learn the wrong way to speak English. We know the proper way to speak English but it is just a Malaysian-thing that you can't seem to avoid at all. ;)
If you are wondering what the lah doing at the end of every sentences, here is some explanation that can be helpful but I'm sure you won't be understanding the rule of using it the correct way. (Yes, we have rule to use it and if you attempt to use it without knowing how it works, you will seem to be a real clown as I'm very sure it will sound awkward and funny!! LOL)
some helpful explanation
While writing this, I remembered about the famous TV show "Mind Your Language" back in the 70's and 80's. I think it is one of the most wonderful TV show I have ever watched and I still watch some of the series today! We used to crack jokes when I was back in the university as my Plant Design group comprised of two Chinese boys, one Indian (myself) and two Malays. The Malay girl is my good friend and her boyfriend is from Yemen. I can still remember how hilarious it was when the Yemeni guy was arguing with my Chinese friend on the way he uses English.
Another video that explains Manglish from a foreigners point of view!!! :)
On another note, I thought of sharing with you about a sentence that shows unity among the three different races here which I came across lately. "Macha, you want to makan here or tapau?" which literally means "Buddy, you want to eat here or pack the food?" It's a combination of English, Tamil, Malay and Chinese.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Today, my mother and I went to the local supermarket nearby to buy some groceries. We headed to the food department where they sell sweets and other junk food. I was looking for something to eat and I thought it was good to buy some snacks. I got some Cloud Nine chocolates while my mother was searching for sweets and that's when I saw Hudson's sweets. I have never really seen Hudson's sweets in packets before so I picked one of it up and flipped the packet! Guess what I saw?!
Hudson's #1
"When your little son asks you to show him how to make his own babies... Hudson's soothes life's little irritation."
Hudson's #2
" When you wife asks you if she looks fat in her new dress... Hudson's soothes life's little irritations "
Hudson's #3
"When your boss asks your honest opinion about his new hairstyle... Hudson's soothes life's little irritations"
Hudson's at the Store
Hudson's and its nonsense!
Hudson's, you are not soothing life's little irritations, you are inducing frustration and irritations!
I just can't understand what makes Hudson's feel so cool about its promotion or marketing method by incorporating such rubbish at its packaging. Obviously, this is not the only product that promotes wrong messages and supports movements that don't benefit mankind. I feel one of ways to stop discrimination is by boycotting products and businesses. That would create stress in their business and eventually force them to do stop monopolizing the market with marketing that has negative impacts on people.
I stopped buying Gardenia bread we have over here when I knew it was taken over forcefully by some people using political influence. I will include Hudson's now in the list!
Updates: I sent them a feedback. Let's see what will their response be.
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I was unable to post recently as we were out for a short visit to my aunt's place where things changed the moment we arrived. I was handling job applications and I was called for a few interviews at once and all of them were scheduled just a few days after one another. I'm still thinking about a job offer I got today. I thought I should give serious consideration for job-hunting and I think I am already doing that.
Official Contributor of GV
On another hand, I was taken by surprise when I got an e-mail from Global Voices. I remember I applied to become one of the contributors long time ago and my application was accepted. They made me an official Author page and I can now write any issues related to Malaysia quoting from our bloggers and social media posts. Guess what, tomorrow is our National Day so it will be a good day to start. I wanted to highlight events in Malaysia for a larger audience and with this opportunity, I can now lend Malaysia a louder voice through my posts. Of course, I should be careful doing that too as the government doesn't seem to like people exercising freedom of speech nowadays. But, who cares because we need more citizens to voice out.
Today was another terrible day as my uncle passed away. Coincidentally, his daughter was supposed to get engaged today and it has been called off. Death teaches a lot of lessons. It shows how we should be humane enough to forgive the one who has died and I learnt this through my mum today. Death reveals the ugly faces of people and reunites souls in the name of humanity. It depends on what we choose to see.
It's is getting late here. I will get back to my usual routine soon.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I really feel that students, when they are as young as a 7 years old, should be encouraged to get involved in multiple activities. As an adult now, I am realizing the importance of extra co-curricular activities because it teaches students to be a good juggler.
Parents during my school time were giving too much importance for studies and all they want their child to be was the top student of the school and that was like getting a Noble Prize for excellence. I can only feel sorry for those kids who couldn't think for themselves and went on to listen to their parents advice because they are nothing but a bookworm. They can't work without reference and they need a user-manual for almost everything they do and this is the reason why the First Class students fail in their working life. Nobody wants to hire someone who can't stand pressure at work place and juggle numerous responsibilities at one time.
I'm not saying that you should be too hyperactive and get involved in every single event happening around you. Of course if that is what you do, you won't be able to focus well. But at the same time, you can't just devote your attention to one task. That shows how inefficient you are.
To end my random ramblings here, I will let you know what are those tasks I'm juggling with. I'm actively looking for a job and this week will be busy with an upcoming interview hopefully. I need to keep an eye on my email and apply for jobs online. I need to blog and empty my head space which gets occupied from time to time with issues to be discussed with all of you lovely readers. I need to get my book-writing going which is one of the top priorities now. I am also freelancing at the moment and reading books whenever I feel the urge to stay away from the computer. I spend time going to the mountain nearby for hiking at times and cleaning my house with my mother. I am also learning a few things about Social Psychology via Coursera. The next assignment is due first week of September so I can focus on other work first :)
If I have the chance, I wish to learn better German. I can say a few things in German and understand conversations to some extent. I need to also plan for my further education later.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Thanking +Adrianna Joleigh for letting me know about this documentary on YouTube. As we know, India has been in the spotlight since December last year for rising rape cases throughout the nation. Women in India have come together to protest the sexual discrimination and endless violence they have to face on a daily basis. Ever since the Dehli Gang Rape case incident, more rape cases are discovered day by day and it doesn't seem to get any better.
India's image has been tarnished with world-wide accusations. Men in India are horny bastards. India is not a safe country for women. These are some of the statements that you can see in the comments for the video above. It is definitely a shameful issue for a country and its citizen. I'm feeling really sorry for the victims and I hope for a better future for women in India.
But the question is, how do you REALLY feel when you watch the video or while reading this post? Are you feeling disgusted about India? Did your subconscious voice just told you that these Indian men are horrible? If you are from a safer place where you have been protected from these violence all your life, do you really think you are safe? Can you assure that your children's safety is protected?
Indian men don't deserve their women. I said that in one of my older posts. But I have also mentioned that the same rule applies for all men regardless of their race or nationality. The huge misconception in our society when we come across any hideous news happening elsewhere in the world is to assume that we are in a safer part of the world and instantly feel thankful for it.
I wanted to make a snapshot of some of the comments under the video but when I came back a day later, it was flooded by hundreds of comments and I lost track of the earlier comments. From my observation, some Indians were admitting to the fact that the situation is getting worse in India for women when authorities are not taking proper measures to arrest the rising sexual violence and rape cases whereas some are trying to protect their shame by diverting the attention to countries like Saudi Arabia and Africa where women are treated like slaves with restrictions imposed in the name of religion.
Will their shame alleviate your shame, India? No. Are we still going to see more women being raped and subjected to brutality? Yes! Because if we are not going to admit that our men are terrible and the situation is getting out of hand, people would continue to protect the name of the nation and shame of the society by pin-pointing to what is happening all around the globe. I agree that countries like America, Australia and Canada are not safe either and you can't claim these countries to be safe as the suicide case of Rehtaeh Parsons serves as an evidence that no where on this earth is really safe.
The only way to handle this brutality is by acknowledging the issue and start implementing better rules and regulations on sexual violators so that we can see hope for women renewing itself with no expiration date. On the other hand, it is time to reflect this issue upon our own country and see where do we actually stand when it comes to crimes like sexual harassment and rapes. Just because the media caught one country for its shameful incident, we can't be taking it for granted and throwing wild accusations. May be our shame is being swept under the carpet and could be the next talk of the world when someone were to reveal it.
I welcome your thoughts and views ! Thank you for your feedback
It’s me Jasveena here. Nobody is literally moving out of home. Not my family out fear due to the recent robbery happened at our place. It’s the Thoughts And Views That Matter that is moving. I am trying shift the traffic to WordPress now from Blogger as I feel the only reason why Blogger is not my kind of platform anymore is because my effort to install Disqus on it failed. It just FAILED because Disqus can’t recover old comments to the blog and it also doesn’t allow readers to comment via G+.
I though WordPress is really cool as it is a very strong platform to be blogging from so I am going to keep all three; Glipho, Blogger and WordPress but my intention is to shift the traffic from Blogger to WP slowly and bring all my subscribers to this platform so that I don’t miss any of their precious feedback.
So, feel free to comment from WP and I will definitely comment back. If you want to stick to Blogger, that is not an issue too. Stay tuned with my thoughtful posts.
I think some of you may know that I went wild in excitement the last time the Big Bad Wolf came to the town where my university is situated. I bought quite a number of books. I am huge fan of non-fiction book and I usually buy anything that is related to the Middle East. Trying to recollect the fun I had that day, I went on on my own by bus as I was really not bothered to wait for anyone else to tag along. It was worth the hassle because good books were selling like hot cakes that day and I was really happy I went early.
I carried a huge box I found at the side of the hall and started to pile it up with books and carrying it along from one section to another awkwardly. Just to have a change in my reading experience, I bought books from all genre and Seven Days One Summer was one of it. I thought of giving Young Adult genre a try. I picked this up a few days back before I go for my holidays but there is just something that didn't attract me well in this book. I feel the story is stale and the plot is very boring. You would be expecting a twist each time you turn the pages but it would end up disappointing you. At least that is what I honestly felt. There is just not much motivation about it that keeps you going.
The story is about a woman going for holiday with her son and husband. At the holiday spot, they meet their old friends with their spouses and kids. So it ended up like a group vacation where old friends meet. Jen is actually not happy with her husband Marcus and the way the relationship is going. She meets her old flame in that group and her attentions got diverted to that guy, Sam.
Sam shows not much of prominent interest in Jen anyway. I really feel Jen is quite obnoxious in this story as she falls for another man too easily. The entire story so far was just about them having some argument, particularly between Tara and Jen and how these two women were possessive over Sam for no reason even though they are already married. On top of that, Alfie, Jen's kid is another irritating kid in this story who comes crying to his mother all the time. I can say that the author has made Alfie very annoying as he comes crying in between every twist in the story and the excitement of yours would fade off as the story hardly develops.
I'm not sure if I would finish reading the book but I may read just to have the satisfaction having read the book and not wasting my effort buying it. Yeah, just for the sake of it. ;) I'm sorry but I really didn't enjoy it. What else can I say.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
Modern Disciples Volume 2 gets deep into the character development and this is differs the book from the first sequel. Jane is seem to be the hero that captures everyone's heart with her bold and outspoken attitude. This book features Jane slightly more than any other disciples, even Ryan. If you have read the volume 1, you will be wondering what will happen next to these disciples especially Ryan and Jane. In this book, the characters' emotions develop and Jane's love for Ryan unfolds.
The author has once again connected the reality with mythology very naturally. As Jane trails the man who may be in league with the Titans in Las Vegas, she was joined by a few other new disciples in this story. When Ryan gathers the group back together, Jane receives another mission from her mother unexpectedly. The group was divided into three and Jane and Ryan go to the dessert where the mobster's camp is. Monsters from Norse Mythology, from Dark Elves to Fire Giants, make an appearance in this story, as well as new gods and disciples.
For those of you who wants a story with good character and emotional development, this will be a good read. Whereas for those of you who prefer action-paced story and character where there is nothing much about emotion development, this book may seem a little bit lesser than the first.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I'm not sure how many of you are actually aware of this movement called Make Love Not Porn by Cindy Gallop. I just got to know about this movement sometime back while reading a blogpost. I thought there was a great idea lying behind it as Cindy speaks about how detrimental pornography is for the youngsters nowadays. The possible reasons why Cindy would have decided to work on this idea are:
1) You Can't Stop Them From Doing It
Nothing is really working when it comes to efforts taken to stop teenagers from having sex. Sex education has educated them to protect themselves from STD's but what about having them refraining from having sex. I don't think so it has worked really well. You will have your kids start questioning about sex sooner or later. Kids are getting very advanced in understanding the world and sex is definitely not an exceptional issue. You can't fool them any longer with an answer or sweeping statements that sound like these; ''sex refers to your gender" or "when man and woman have sex they have babies".
MLNP
2) Pornography Is Destroying Relationships
It is disturbing to think that pornography has long been ruling over people's sexual life. Men think women will react the way they see on porn and expect their partners to behave the same way. Hardcore porn never reflect the real life sex as people show different inclination towards sexual activities. With this movement, hopefully the younger generation would know what love really is and how porn and love-making are entirely different. I feel the human contact is amiss in porn and I don't think that should be the reference for young adults.
MLNP
3) Resources Are Everywhere
You can never stop your child from learning about sex. If you are not explaining about it, they will go looking for the information on the websites and you can be very sure that they will stumble upon porn on the internet. So that is how easy they can get mislead. Why not start a movement like this to have the right education where people learn what sex really is and know that it is about emotions, feelings, relationship and love. I think Cindy is able to send this message across to a certain extent and this movement has to go viral to be the talk of everybody so that we could save families in future.
MLNP
4) Explaining What Love Really Is
I think the main reason why she has started her work on "Make Love Not Porn" videos is because porn is not in favour of love. This movement made us all think where are we heading towards with so much domestic violence that is shattering homes. Porn has made men and women hard and emotionless. On top of that, Make Love Not Porn also stops women from being seen as an object to satisfy men, exposing the truth on how women really feel in the reality.
So finally it's my house they targeted to break into. This robbery happened on Monday morning around 8 am (+8 GMT) as estimated by my neighbours. I'm feeling bad for the robbers who went away empty handed. The only issue that is bothering us is the fact that they took one of our car keys along with them, so now we have to change key and alarm for our car and that has incurred an extra expenditure. Just imagine when you reach home early in the morning from the place you went to have a good holiday time together with family, just to see your house has been thoroughly ransacked!
It was festive season over here in Malaysia last week and I bet most Malaysians would have been away from home for celebration and holidays. The situation in Malaysia has gone from bad to worse now following MANY gunshot incidents here. Since April 12 2013 there were 31 gunshot murders and incidents in Malaysia. Firearms are now available at very cheap price and almost anyone can own a gun now and shoot anybody he or she feels like killing. This is the new trend here and most of the victims were killed when they stop their cars or bikes at traffic lights. So the next time you are in Malaysia and you stop at a traffic light, beware as you could be the next target for no particular reason.
Where is Malaysia really heading to now? With our economy going worse from day to day, increasing crime rate has been very worrying. The recent general election has caused great turmoil in Malaysian politics and uneven opportunities among people of different races has forced many skilled workers to emigrate and look for a better life. I could safely say that most of the students studying abroad would never return to Malaysia for a living and this is why you could see more foreigners here working as labours and even skilled workers because our own people had enough with what's happening.
If you think I'm hugely deviating from my post about the robbery by linking it with the current political scenario, you are absolutely wrong! I feel both issues are greatly interconnected as failure to handle crime while it could still be controlled with great ease has accelerated violence further. Now as problems have gone out of hand, we are struggling to offset to the situation.
I don't believe that moving out of the place where we belonged to will guarantee a better life. If I can't fight for what is rightfully mine in my own land, I don't expect Americans, Australians or Canadians to help me out for a better life. If you can't fight for yourself NOW, you can't do that elsewhere. Malaysia's top two richest men are non-Malays. In fact, the backbone of Malaysia's economy is held by the Malaysian Chinese. I believe it is more of what you can make out of what you have right now and that is the true trait of the survival of the fittest.
I'm not sure how many of you know the existence of an educational website called Coursera. I think it is definitely fun to join in the fun of learning with the other students across the world from different cultural backgrounds. I joined a course earlier called Rhetorical Writing somewhere in May this year and the response was overwhelming from the participant, but the only drawback of the course was the duration of it that lasted for about ten weeks. So I was not able to commit fully as my final examination was nearing at that point of time. Since I'm home now and I'm trying to occupy my time with a lot of useful activities, I joined Social Psychology class that commences this week.
What draws my attention to this class? I love to learn different subjects that educates me with a concept I can apply in my daily life. I feel social psychology is an important aspect in understanding the complexity of human being and the problems that follow when we fail at it. History, Geography and Science have intrigued me to a great extend when I was at school as I feel those subjects deliver knowledge as a package. With this class, I hope to be able to handle human better and look at psychology from a whole new perspective. It is going to last only for 6 weeks, so I am sure this can be managed well. On top of that, I will be granted 'Certificate of Completion' when I complete the course successfully. Oh yeah, this is a FREE course, so while you laze around in the internet, why not learn something useful and that too for free? :)
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
The Harbinger written by Christopher Huntingford is the first sequel to the other Harbinger Chronicles that will be following up soon. This story is based on kingdom adventure with Alexander Wolfield as the main character where the kingdom of Alveus is on the rise as it conquers the economic wealth. The story evolves as a rift between the king's sons develops. Apart from that, factions are also being formed in the countryside. Alexander faces challenges from his father as he became close and loyal to his ideals who points out the sins of the nobility and he soon finds his way out to leave the kingdom.
The characters of the King's children are very captivating in this book, with each one of them being so different from one another. I enjoyed Sofia's character in this book as much as the main character. She is the only girl among the four brothers and also the twin sister to one of the boys. The third son Calimus' is the black sheep of the family I would say as he shames the family and kingdom with his character. These characters add the suspense element to the whole plot as the tension rises when friction builds among themselves.
Christopher has an amazing website for his book that can be viewed at this link. His blog can be viewed at this tumblr website and like his Facebook page to get the updates regarding his book. You can pre-order the book now through his website or wait for the book the be available on Amazon on 9/1. About Christopher
Christopher Huntingford is a citizen of the world. He was born in the United States and raised on military bases across the Pacific Ocean. At one point he attended four schools in three years and ended up attending seven schools in a span of twelve years.
In the midst of his journeys he developed his creative side with his love of acting and a secondary love of writing. He went on to perform in high school and college plays and sketches, but left his love for a successful career in business management.
When his son Wyatt turned eight, Christopher promised to finish a story he had been musing on for a decade and publish it.
Ian was born in New York but now lives and works in Florida. He has traveled to many different
places throughout the US and has even been to Scotland once. Ian started studying Mythology at a
young age when given a picture book of Greek myths. Since then he has become a student of
Norse, Japanese, Egyptian, Irish, and many other types of Mythology. He has combined these
different mythologies into his series entitled "Modern Disciples." He is new to the world of
publishing books, but has written short stories and poems since high school.
Ian's book can be purchased via Amazon and he has also two other sequels to this book; Modern
Disciples Volume 2 and 3. Check it out!
Here are some interesting things about Ian and his writing journey mainly based on Mythology.
Where are you from?
Originally, I am
from Buffalo, New York. Before the turn of the millennium, I moved to Florida
and I have been living in Tampa ever since.
Why do you write?
I honestly believe that this is what I was
meant to do. I think everyone has a
specific purpose in life, something that he or she was meant to do. I think
many people who are unhappy are that way because they never found their true
purpose in life. Writing is mine.
What do you write about?
I mostly write about
Mythology. That is where the majority of our stories come from. Even our most
modern stories can be traced back to Mythology somehow. You can see it in Harry
Potter, the
Hunger Games, and the Maze runner to name a few.
Do you have a specific writing style?
I wouldn’t say I
have a specific style. I always try to edit my work as well as I possibly can.
I prefer third person perspective. I find first person a bit too restrictive. I
try to use the active voice as much as possible but sometimes it just does not
sound right. When I use dialogue I try to make it as natural sounding as I can.
That is how I write my fiction. When I write on my blog on Goodreads, I try to
sound casual while still trying to lead a serious discussion.
What are obstacles that come in the way of
writing?
Besides life in general, I would say the two
greatest obstacles are a person’s own fears, and their laziness. Those are
everybody’s greatest enemies in my opinion, no matter what they do. Every
excuse you can think of to not do something comes back to either being too
scared to do it, or being too lazy. “I don’t know if people will like this,”
your fear. “There are too many distractions in my life right now,” your
laziness.
Whats the most memorable thing said by a
reader about your work?
One of my friends who
read Volume 1 told me about how she started crying in the middle of a Subway
restaurant while she was reading my book. She thought her favorite character
was going to die. It’s amazing to think that somebody could become so
emotionally invested in a character that I just made up. That was when I
realized that I was meant to be a writer, and I had to do everything possible
to be successful with my writing.
What is your work schedule like when you are
writing?
Well, seeing as how I
recently quit my job, my writing schedule is now wide open. I basically write
all day while allowing myself to get out when I need to.
What would you say is your interesting writing
quirk?
For some reason I keep
writing “they” when I should be writing “the.” It’s something I have to keep my
eye out when I edit.
How long does it take to
write a book?
That depends on who
you ask of course. John Green says it takes him 3 years. I seem to take about a
year to write mine. Other writers get their books out faster. Another thing you
have to take into consideration is that publishing takes time also. Those times
vary on the publishing company, how relevant the topic of the book is to what’s
going on in the world, and whether or not the author self-published. Self-published
books get to the market faster.
Do you have suggestions
on how to become a better writer?
Practice your trade
often. Be a reader. Listen to serious, professional criticisms. Don’t restrict
yourself to your own book critics. Read reviews of other people’s books, and
movies as well. You can learn a lot about story and character that way.
What do you think makes
a good story?
First, you need an
interesting premise. Next, you need memorable characters. They don’t necessarily
have to be likeable, although pulling off a story where none of the characters
are likeable is very difficult to pull off. They just have to stick in the
readers mind. You also need some kind of conflict. There must be at least one
problem that has to be overcome. The most important thing is execution. That is
the one ingredient you can never live without, and sometimes get away with
being the only thing you have going for you.
What does your family
think of your writing?
That’s an interesting
question. They are my biggest fans, and at the same time my harshest critics.
They are always the first ones to read my books when they come out. Some of
them post reviews for me. Yet I’ve noticed that they will often give me 4 star
ratings while complete strangers will give me 5 star ratings. For the most part
though, they are very supportive.
If you could study any subject at
university what would you pick?
I actually studied
Creative Writing when I went to the University.
Every writer has their own idea
of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look
like to you?
In my opinion, if you
can make your living off of it and don’t have to take a day job to make ends
meet, you’re successful.
What is hardest – getting published,
writing or marketing?
Again, this comes
down to traditional publishing vs. self-publishing. As a self-published author,
my greatest challenge has been marketing. Writing would be a close second, and
the publishing part is easy when you self-publish. As long as you have the
money and are not writing a how to book on being a pedophile, you will get
published. For traditional authors, I would think getting published would be
the difficult part. That involves finding an agent that will sponsor you.
Waiting for a publishing house to accept your work, and then when you do sell
your work waiting a year for the book to even hit the shelves. They also have
to market their books as well though, so that is something to keep in mind.
How do you write – lap top, pen,
paper, in bed, at a desk?
At my desktop
computer, that way if I need to research something really quick, the internet
is right there.
It is vital to get exposure and
target the right readers for your writing, tell us about your marketing
campaign.
Modern Disciples has
a Facebook page. I am working on getting it a website. It will be called
Mythbooks. One thing I’ve found is that giveaways don’t work. I have spent a
lot of time and money sending copies of my books away and gotten nothing in
return. That’s why I tend to shy away from them. I find its better to go to
Fiverr.com and get reviews there.
Do you have anything specific you'd like to
tell the readers?
Hey, how’s it going?
Finally, there are some who have been
comparing Modern Disciples to the Percy Jackson series. How do you feel about
that?
I think it would be
silly to say they don’t at least invite comparison. They are both based on
Mythology, Riordan and I both do extensive research into the mythologies before
we write the books. I do think however a better comparison that has been used
by the fans is “Percy Jackson for adults.” My stories are much darker and have
subject matter a bit too mature for the younger crowd. I also incorporate all
mythologies at once where Riordan prefers a one pantheon at a time approach. I
have read the entire Percy Jackson series though and I do recommend it highly.
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
