Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Call it, the dream of a simple man!

Azmin wants to have a race car. He's fixed up sticky racing tyres for his car and also added this interesting device which would shut off the engine 15 seconds AFTER you remove the key from the ignition slot. His lights are a nice blue (I think, but I could be wrong) and very very bright. He has plans about selling his Getz and paying 40K more to get a used BMW M3 because we all know the bigger the car, the smaller the ----. It HAS to be proportionate.

He also wants to have a nicer house. A house where he doesn't spend half the day cleaning the toilets and barring his family access to it whilst he's getting down and dirty scrubbing inbetween the tiles. A room where he doesn't sleep on a mattress on the floor with about 4 fans surrounding him because he doesn't have air conditioning. He wants a fridge that has more Ribena and chocolate milk than he could ever dream of. A kitchen that cleans itself up after every failed cooking disaster. He wants more photo frames around the house with more photos of a skinnier him. He loves those creative shots of himself so much. So much.

He wonders that maybe. Just maybe. Something could be done about the ancient light switches and the creaky doors too.

Afterall, he's entitled to dream.

Poor Rosa. Poor Harry Lee.

Poor Rosa and Ester. Rosa because she kenna haunted by ghosts in THE MAID. Ester because she was kenna raped and killed by her employers in THE MAID.

Poor Harry Lee. Because you'll just feel sad for him. Hailing from slightly before our father's generation, this is a man without a degree, sweating and toiling to make his ends meet in qualification-essential Singapore. He's actually not very far off from us despite our so called dipolmas, A'levels and impending degrees (if any). Harry is this man that's very nice to others and goes all the way out to please others at the expense of himself. This comes at the cost of his family. Neglecting is one thing. Abusing is another. For a fact I know some parents are like this. Damn nice to outsiders. Treat the family like punching bags (no need to be physical punching bag, can also be verbal - like PMS). It's atypical of people of a certain era I would think. Or I would like to HOPE that future generations would eventually phase this bad trait out.

Always thinking of others, always helping others. Getting nothing in return. A gambling addict for a wife, a son that doesn't acknowledge him, losing his job. Despite all, he maintains and optimistic outlook on life and concentrates his goal on (what else) - migrating to Perth. In a way you know he'll never get there. It's like this unattainable goal, just out of reach despite everything going so smoothly (right). From the start you know that Harry is a typical man that everyone can relate to. His Ally-McBealish daydream of beating up the bus driver is something that we've always wanted to do but only in our dreams. In a way, he is contrasted starkly with AB, his ex-employer cum good friend. AB does not hold back on showing people how he feels about them. When cut off (on the road) by a bunch of ang mohs, he tells Harry to catch up, and promptly beats them up to teach them a lesson. Where Harry bottles up his negative feelings and emotions from outsiders, AB doesn't give a damn and just goes ahead and whack. In this aspect, I'm sure we all relate to Harry in one way or another. A simple man trying to live a simple life. Right.

Perhaps the defining moment would be when Harry drinks at home and he just goes all out loony. Staring in the mirror, he confronts himself (literally) asking himself "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?... DO YOU?!" It's true. The Harry that people see is just this facade that he wants them to see. The nice Harry. But deep down inside, he's something else. I'm sure many people are like this. The real you is the one inside screaming to get out and speak your mind, to do whatever fuck you want without a damn. The one outside is like the representative (mask), filtering whatever you say, making sure you don't make a fool out of yourself and basically telling people what they want to hear to let them have a decent impression of you. It's who we are inside that's dangerous as we learn from Harry's demise. In a way, it's also an explaination as to how come people can do impossible, shocking things. In a mock interview after the massacre, his friends were trying to convince the viewer that Harry wasn't ever a gang member. One would think so from the ferocity of the attacks. But really, he's just a bloody oppressed individual that had at one moment, let it all out. Potentially everyone could be a Harry. Really. I know I could. Just the right catalyst and I'll probably hang (touch wood!). You could too. Hopefully it'll never happen of course.

That was the more personal aspect of the film. How one can relate to the main proteganist. Going about the storyline, it's a tad strained. But it does work in a way. Unfortunately I see typical Jack-Neoish coffeeshop talk present. Yeah, it was a good laugh, but deep down I really don't fancy laughing at myself or laughing at the government. In a way, I do hope that Be with Me (the upcoming Eric Khoo film) will be sans-government bashing. Perhaps one might say it's impossible to show the real life of the lower denizens without bad-mouthing the government a little. Unfortunately I do agree with this statement. But it must be done in moderation. Somehow hearing people say "the bloody buggers in the gah-ment" just doesn't do it for me as much as them discussing more personal issues. Like when he reminscents about his wife "that liar. that fucking liar." You can feel more in the pauses between his sentences there than a rambling on about government policy, how it affects the low level people and eventually leading to them losing their jobs to diploma kids and getting picked on in army by pre-pubescent 2LTs.

M18 ENGLISH & MANDARIN LANGUAGES (COARSE LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE) - They weren't lying when they said coarse language. Almost every minute was puncuated by some dialect curse usually involving a reproductive organ or two. Some may love it, some may hate it. People like to laugh at it. I'd prefer otherwise simply because it sounds pretty normal. It's really what we say in real life. Really. It's weird that people laugh at vulgar and coarse language. You might wonder why. I guess we still can't accept the fact that we can say such stuff on film. But if they can say fuck, why can't they say cheebye? I mean seriously, it's time to grow up sniggering whenever we hear stuff like KNNBCCB. It's as much as motherfucker or cunt. Which are really curse words. I thought that the violence was handled exceptionally well. Not too gorey. But enough to satisfy the audience and make them believe the amount of violence we're all fully capable of creating. I guess in this aspect, Perth is much more grown up than 15 in terms of what they choose to let the viewers see. Here, they like to leave the violence just slightly offscreen so you really can't see anything. In 15, they derive great pleasure in zooming for a close-up on a giant cock or focus on some real tongue piercing and/or wrist slashing action. Excess is best. 'See everything' was director Rayson Tan's mentality. I really don't like his work. He doesn't know when to withhold information and let the audience's imagination run wild themselves. I mean seriously. What's more effective. Seeing a parang cut through tissue and bone or having it done offscreen but with the sound effects of the damage being done?

In all honesty, I wouldn't say it was fantastic. Not to bicker on the choice of film (16mm - 35mm) but it just looks too jialat at times. A little inconsistant maybe because I didn't know what effect they were trying to go for. Sometimes the story stretched to include stuff that well... didn't REALLY matter in my opinion. Like the vietnamese part with the K. Rouge. I believe that was just silly. He doesn't need an excuse to want to save the Vietnamese prostitute. It's already in his character to be always putting others above himself. It wouldn't come to me as a surprise that he felt for this poor girl that was beaten up on the job. I'd try to get her out of it myself if I were in his shoes. We didn't really need backstories for everything. Sometimes people just do things because they feel like it. We don't need a reason for everything we do. In this aspect it could use a little work. I do like the aspect though of Harry really getting nothing in the end. True, one might say that killing the boss in charge of the prostitutes would grant the Vienamese safe passage home thus achieving Harry's goal of saving her. But if we realise that Harry's wish after his death was to have his ashes scattered into the sea, then he didn't even get his last wish because AB went to the temple to visit him in the end. Bitter irony really. How can we not feel sad for Harry?

By feeling sad for Harry we're essentially feeling sad for ourselves. Bottling up our feelings and repressions for so long can't be healthy. Letting it out can't be safe. Is this problem unique to Singapore? (Uniquely Singapore!) I don't know. But it IS a problem that PERTH has nicely addressed. In this essence, I applaud it because it IS different. Considering the language, I'm sure many of us will appreciate it because it's really every single curse word in hokkien you've every heard and more. I know Shellen will. Haha. There's a bit of loyalty and friendship inside that's really quite secondary to the main theme. His melayu friend is loyal to the end where he does help Harry out at a fight in the club and at the KTV lounge. AB is like those ah beng brudda-hood like of loyalty where at the deciding moment, turns agains his boss to help Harry because "anything you want, I promise you." and he keeps his promises. Silly? Shallow? Maybe. But as said, they're just secondary.

There's potential for more definately but it's quite an interesting homage to Robert De Niro's TAXI DRIVER. I certainly don't suggest you going in with De Niro in mind. It's just quite different. In fact, forget that I mentioned the TAXI DRIVER bit. Most people probably wouldn't have seen TAXI DRIVER anyway. Overall, interesting perspective that I'd really like to explore given the chance. Somehow in my own opinion, I *think* that Singaporeans are attracted to the vices that the government is desperately trying to shield us from. Topics like sex, drugs and violence are really the main draws in the local film scene. They are applauded for the wrong reasons though. Watching the trailer of Be with Me, I was touched instantly by the musical chords as I was when I saw 12 Storeys for the first time in 1997. 8 years ago. Notwithstanding the rave reviews I'd heard before it was slated for release in Singapore, I knew instantly from the beautiful images that this was different. It wasn't trying to be different, it was naturally different.

Perth is also different, but in a more I dunno... not trying to be pretentious sort of way. I guess. I also guess that I do like it. Considering the previous effort of Djinn (the director) in RETURN TO PONTIANAK, I suppose he has in a way redeemed himself a little. Doing something close to the everyday man's roots is a cleverer choice. But don't go all out Jack Neo of course. The simple concept of taking something like a brutal massacre then making the murderer so very human (not cold blooded) and so relatable to everyone really hits home the message that THIS CAN BE YOU. We're all human time bombs waiting to explode. It's just how short your fuse is. Now if only we could do something interesting with Repro...

"I am a very simple man. I am a security supervisor with the shipyards. I earn some extra cash at night driving a cab. Somehow along the way. My life has become a little too complicated..."

Hello Halo

You know you're THERE already when you're able to flag melee people to death and score 3 times consecutively.



That's it la. That's it.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Must Love...

Dogs? The same person I addressed the below post to told me that this show was very nice. I disagreed on the spot. She mentioned that after watching it, she believed that there could be such a thing as true love again. Or rather it just made her believe in love again. I shall reserve my comments on that statement. (I'm really not that evil. Really. Sometimes I reserve comments because I have NO comments. Haha.)

Must Love Dogs is if anything a predictable romantic comedy that doesn't really try to be anything different. I'm very sorry that I actually missed a good 10 minutes of the show. (SORRY SORRY! REALLY!) It isn't me to be late. Combination of factors include 1) spilled dinner 2) bad time estimation and 3) suntec parking is horrendous. I'm guilty of (2). But one can just pick up the story even after not catching the first 10 minutes. At least we weren't the worse ones. I saw a couple coming in like 20 minutes late. Heh.

Regarding the plot, it's pretty straightforward. I agree with a comment I heard in that "there was the whole "everyone must have a significant other in order to be a complete person" theme that appears in nearly every romantic comedy. So of course, it's to be expected when you go to see one, but it was drilled in quite painfully in this one. The woman was unhappy not simply because the man she loved broke her heart, but because she had gone a whole 8 months without a man in her life. I personally didn't get the feeling that they'd fallen in love as much as they'd found somebody decent enough to get into a relationship (or get it on) with." Maybe that's thinking too much. But in a way it did kinda make her a desperate housewife (sans the kid) and seeing her swim after him in the end wasn't romantic. It was downright painful to see her behaving so desperately. (Next time you see a romantic comedy, you'll probably view it in a "two desperate people trying to get it on" way...)

I am of course still a hopeless romantic at heart. No really. Maybe not exactly now, but there's still this buried hope inside there that someday my Prince(ss) will come and it would be a Hollywood flick kind of romance. I hope that didn't sound too gayish. (But maybe gayish would sound like this: *man working out in gym pumping weights* I really hope *clink of weights* I meet the right guy *clink of weights* soon... *clink of weights*) But at the moment, after seeing scores of Lomantic (with a captial 'L') Hollywood flicks, I'd say yeah. I believe in the impossible. Why not. We're inclined to. We're also inclined to believe that people with very different personalities can get along. And fat and ugly people can find very beautiful/handsome life partners. That last bit is especially true. Maybe I should eat more.

I last saw John Cusack on a my plane heading to Chicago in 2002. His presence was intimidating and really everyone on board were literally staring at him with their little headphones on. Obviously they were screening an in-flight movie and it happened to be Serendipity. I saw it twice. Once on the trip to Chicago and once on the way back. He seemed an exact replica of himself in Serendipity and I guess it was because both Serendipity and Dogs are in essence the same type of romantic comedy. There isn't very many things one can do here. Or shine in. But he did captivate the hearts of many of the teenagers present on board. That much is true.

Bottom line. Despite the cliches. Despite the flat one-liners. Despite the cringe inducing family sing-along, I really didn't mind Dogs. (The dogs did nothing for the owners in the entire span of 1.5hrs. Nothing. Zilch. No helping. They shouldn't title it MUST LOVE DOGS. Bloody misrep!) Yeah. I don't mind it. But I would prefer the British romantic comedies more of course. Ala Four Weddings and a Funeral, About a Boy and Love Actually. Love Actually was superb.

Drats. It's time to move back to hall again. Time for Company Tutorial again. Time for school again. Why doesn't the weekend last as long as it should be...

Perth

I want to go to Perth. I'm going to Perth. I am going to Perth. Strong words. Especially for a 51 year old taxi driver. Somehow, I just don't think I'll have enough time to 'Perth'. Seriously. By the end of next week, it probably wouldn't be showing anymore. That's quite sad, but it's the truth.

I cut myself. Again. No. Before you start thinking I'm some deranged maniac that loves to self-inflict wounds, you're mistaken. I've got a cut across my palm from -- what else -- rocks again. Last week they claimed my toe. Today they claimed my palm. And I didn't even know it until it stung and when the water turned red. Not very pleasant. Not at all.

My MSN nick for the hour is "Some things just shouldn't happen". That's a very broad statement but I'm referring it specifically at you know who. Despite whatever you're saying, I think it's a rebound and rebounds are generally frowned upon. Also, it doesn't help that he's fugly. Fugly fugly, fugly fugly fugly. Please, you're supposed to have better taste. Get your spoon out of the gutter asap. I've said what I felt and I don't care anymore how you're doing. Yes. I don't care. But maybe the other 2 in our group do. But I'm washing my hands off your personal life and will not give anymore comments regarding your choice(s) anymore. So I swear.

I'm a very patient person. Extremely patient in fact. Angelene can attest to that. So for me to say the above means I've had it.

I wish you eternal happiness.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Family Guy: Ready, Willing & Disabled

TV Announcer: We now return to Touched by an Angel.

Lawyer: Now, where exactly did the angel touch you?

Boy: Here.

Angel: Come on! Who're you gonna believe? I got a freakin' halo!


------------------------------------------------
Oh this cracks me up everytime I think about it...

Azmin can I have your Rambutan?

I went to watch the french documentary: The March of the Penguins today.

I tried to keep myself awake. I really did. I tried and tried desperately but the language was foreign to me. As I tried to concentrate on the images in front of me, I couldn't help but nod off. Before I knew it, the Islamic Law lecture was over and it was time to get out of LT19. Yes. I fell asleep in class. Sue me. On second thoughts, don't. I have no money. But I digress.

Yes, this post IS about the march of the penguins. By the fact that it's a documentary, one has to be mentally prepared to be bored by repetitive images of nothing but animals and mother nature. Ala National Geographic. But no. This is different. Or at least tries to be. It injects annoying snippets of Bjork like music numbers which totally detract from the mood of the scene and basically throws one off track and leaves the poor audience going WTF was that for? Not to say the images weren't good. Obviously if you're following a penguin tribe around for 12 months, you're bound to get 2hrs of good footage at least (He accumulated 120hrs of footage total). I'm sure it was hell doing the editing for this documentary but I'm sad to say it didn't work for me.

In a way, I'm not particularly impressed by wildlife documentaries. I much prefer documentaries that do interviews and go behind the scenes. At least it shows that there's much effort in the script and the director knows where he wants the audience to go. E.g. Bowling for Columbine. Clever editing + amazing content = An audience convinced of whatever the documentary is trying to establish (even though some say it's missing some facts/it's too selective, but that's editing!). Here in PENGUINS, we all know what the story is. Basically how the Emperor Penguin travels, mates, hatches and looks after the kid and the trials and tribulations in between. Predictable? Very. Hard? Not really. Stick to the tribe and you pretty much get everything. After getting the images, then get a rough story to link up the images. Not that difficult. I'm sure there's more work involved, but I fail to appreciate animal documentaries as I've already mentioned.

This is not to say PENGUINS isn't any good. It was a little draggy, but achieved the goal of showing us how amazing these little buggers really are. Yes, one can almost say that they're human like in their perserverance and shit. But then again, I have to be honest. I fell asleep. Twice. Once when they were mating. Another during the snowstorm. Unfortunately for me, I guess I didn't enjoy it that much because I was very tired. Sure. Penguins are cute. But after 10 minutes, I had penguin overkill. It was only when the babies were born then did I wake up a little. Those babies are mutha cute. Somehow the in betweens weren't very compelling and very much predictable. I wanted it to surprise me. I wanted it to touch me (get your mind out of the gutter!). But it didn't. Why it's held in such high regard might be attributed to the fact that it's bloody hard to film or follow the tribe in sub-zero conditions for 12 months. Therefore, it might be the first time anyone's seen this sorta thing. In a way, many people are surprised at how human-like these penguins are. How much they see of themselves in the little birds. I hate to shatter your ego, but if you've realised that all animals (or living things with brains) are capable of love, care and concern (even anguish and various other feelings), then you'll realise that this is really just another National Geographic Special. I cannot comprehend how humans can think feelings are exclusive to homo sapians. How egoistic. Pfft.

Bottom line after all that crap. If you want to be touched by the perserverance of these penguins (and if you're not as skeptical as me), do give it a try. The girls might like it. Afterall, most girls love furry huggable things. Penguins are the ideal subjects. If you like beautiful images of snowy landscapes (I did appreciate the scenary), this is also for you. It's not something to burn time with, but it sure as hell is something to watch when you're fully awake. Don't go into this one tired or sleepy. You'll probably fall asleep during the mating bit. Their calls ARE very alluring.

PS: Try to watch the one narrated by Morgan Freeman. I heard it's much better than the French or *SHOCK HORROR* Mandarin version.

PPS: Please do not shriek and go "OH HOW CUTE IS THAT!" or "AWWWWWWW" when you see the penguin babies or when the penguinss wobble and fall over. Please. We're 20 year olds. We leave that to the kids.

PPPS: A documentary is all about perspective. When we see a penguin die, we go sad and think: IT'S NOT FAIR. In reality, if I were doing a documentary about fish, and the penguin comes along and eats my fish (or main lead), I'm sure you'll think the same way too. Perspective.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

KTP visits mambo

For those that know what KTP stands for; shush. For those that don't know, I'm not telling. I made a rare decision to visit Zouk yesterday. Very very rare. The ta.... ta... sorry. My good friends will know that I do not usually visit Zouk nor any other club (e.g. Double O, DXO) unless twas a law bash. Budden Weitan msg'd and jio one abit hard to refuse. Afterall, we did jio him out at like 4am before. So tit for tat, I'm obliged to go. It seemed like a good break from the hectic week too. So. What the heck.

Little did I know that there was the biz bash going on at Zouk. No really. I didn't know. I'm like the least informed of all the clubbin clubbin stuff ya? Anyway, when we finally reached at 1+am, it was packed. There already were drunk girls puking their guts out on the streets and inside, drunk girls were lying in the arms of lecherous freshies (and seniors alike) whilst the guys contemplated the next move. Unfortunately I didn't drink much. Which meant there was no replay of DXO whereby I simply enjoyed laughing at anything and everything. I think it was a bit more fun then, but alcohol is expensive and I really have to get up the next day for an 11am lecture.

So there we were, a few of us standing in a circle waiting for the music to get better when I started noticing what the crowd (or rather the people on the podium) were actually doing. Any of you remember on National Day when we all had to say the pledge together and there'll be a small insert on your tv screen with this mute person doing hand signals (sign language) of all the words in the pledge? Ever wondered what those people did in between the yearly National Day Parade performance and probably some miscellaneous RTM programmes? Apparently they congregate at Zouk on wednesday nights (in mambo) specifically for the task of translating the song lyrics which the DJ spins. So imagine when the song mentions rain, on cue as if it were some unspoken language, all of them would stretch out their arms, palms open whilst wriggling their fingers and cascading their arms down with the tempo. Rain. Heart would be something like a heart shape formed with thumbs and forefingers of both your hands put together. Free would be outstretched arms with an expression of jubilance on their faces. You get the drift. It was hilarious and made for great night entertainment whilst we waited for the music to get better. It never really did.

I heard that it was the Manchester United (v. Everton?) match that night. As a soccer match was telecast live on your television sets, a basketball match was held in Phuture at the same time. Amazingly the score was pretty much the same. Three goals for Manchester United, and 3 balls were scored for the basketball match. But I think one was a three pointer and the other two were single point free throws. But it was too dark so I couldn't be sure. Details were hazy for the night though I didn't drink much primarily because there were just too many people around. If not for the bash, I would think we'd have more space. Oh well. It WAS a much needed break. *I can be so lerky, lerky lerky lerky...*

PS: Weitan owes us drinks...

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A UNIQUELY SINGAPORE SEX SHOW

My ever horny friend Yuan Long told me about the Australian Sexpo oh so many months ago. Now she's the first to notify me of the local Sexpo coming to a convention hall near you... in Singapore.

From Todayonline:

Tuesday August 16, 2005

SEX in Singapore? A non-event, going by surveys of global sexual habits.
But one local company is hoping to change this, by organising Singapore's
first sex exhibition.

On display will be adult novelty products and sex-friendly furniture, and
there will be demonstrations of intimate dancing and a look at the
evolution of undergarment and sensual wear.

To be held in November at the Singapore Expo, it will be called - what
else - Sexpo 2005. The company behind the event, also called Sexpo, was
set up in March.

"We got the idea from the sex exhibitions in Australia which are organised
by the adult entertainment industry," said Mr Kenny Goh, a Sexpo
directors. "But for us in Singapore, we want to do it from a 'health'
angle.

"The exhibition will deliver frank, accurate and updated information on
sexual education in a family-friendly setting," said Mr Goh, 35.

"There is certainly a vacuum in terms of educational information on
sex-related issues and we see a lot of potential in the market. The
exhibition will be the first in a whole series of events ...

"Just like how we have computer and furniture shows every year, a sex
exhibition can be held to de-stigmatise sex."

Soon after the company was formed, Sexpo applied to the police for a
licence to hold the exhibition, said Mr Goh, who is also a director at
Cherubim Exchange, a medical diagnostics distributor. In May, after he was
asked to give more details, he was told that it had to be cleared by
"higher authorities".

To his relief, the in-principle approval was granted in July. Sexpo will
continue to work closely with the police in screening the programmes and
participants at the exhibition.

He said: "They expressed concern over the adult content. The three
guidelines given to us were that there must be no obscenity, no nudity and
no content on homosexuality."

While government agencies were uncomfortable about backing the exhibition,
Mr Goh said they have been supportive.

Government agencies such as the Health Promotion Board (HPB) will have
booths at Sexpo, as will voluntary groups such as Action For Aids.

Speakers at the various seminars during the exhibition will be educators
and medical personnel. The topics have been selected in consultation with
doctors and the HPB, and cover matters such as sexual positions and tips
on sex toys and bedroom games.

The initial target audience was working executives, but Sexpo then decided
youth should be included.

This raised the question of whether abstinence or safe sex should be
promoted.

After discussions with the relevant authorities, the focus on sexual
education for teenagers "will be more on abstinence as we strive to
reinforce the virtue of abstinence and stress on the non-physical
relationship for the teens", said Mr Goh, who expects the three-day event
to attract more than 60,000 visitors.

With tickets priced at $8 for visitors below 21 years old and $14 for
adults, Sexpo expects to see a healthy profit on its exhibition, which
cost some $500,000 to organise.

The Sexpo exhibition, occupying 3,000 sq m, will be in two sections.

The "Living Room" will cater to the general public with exhibits and
seminars focussing on adolescent sexual issues. The other section, the
"Bedroom", will house adult-oriented content, including the sale of adult
toys, and access will be restricted to adults.

One highlight of will be an exotic dance competition. Auditions for this
will be held in October.

Said Mr Goh: "I think it is quite challenging to hold such an event in
Singapore. That is why we want to position the exhibition properly. Upon
successfully launching the event, we can bring smaller scale events to the
heartlands." - Loh Chee Kong

Monday, August 22, 2005

Have I mentioned...

that I hate my room? Just this morning I finally finished (to a certain degree) my Company Law tutorial. It was already 4am when I finally switched off the lights and curled up in bed expecting a good rest. But then I realised that it was bloody noisy. The location of the room has betrayed me once again. My room faces the business slope and there was this big drain like downstairs. Taking into account that it just drizzled and whatnot, the drain was therefore bustling with night life. Crickets were out in full string (in the grass near the drain) and the frogs in the drain were going at it like there was no tomorrow. Yes. There were frogs fucking. Fucking frogs. You could almost hear the rhythm in their pumping. UWA UWA UWA UWA UWA UWA UWA followed by hectic UWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWAUWUWAUWA... until they were exhausted UWA .... UWA .... UWA .... UWA .... and they didn't stay long being exhausted. It was almost a Seinfeld episode when after like 10 minutes of vigorious vocal and physical activity, they actually went all quiet... for like all of 20 seconds which lulled me into the false sense of security that it was all over. I took the pillow off my head... then the UWA UWA UWA UWA resumed. UGH.

I think it took me till around 5am to sleep. Thanks to the frogs which I once thought were cute when I was still staying at the other room. Again, the morning traffic roused (roused, not Aroused!) me. Cars and buses (Damn that bloody A2 revvvvvving to get up the frickin slope...) joined in the cacophony of assorted noises which never fail to annoy and force me out of my nice slumber before my alarm rang. (I mean looking at the time of the post, you can see that I'm NOT supposed to be up!) Finally, the killing blow was dealt by the bloody security outpost. You know the yellow pillar of confidence that a student was supposed to activate in the event that he was pursued by a murderer or she by a rapist? It has a direct line to the campus security HQ and ya, it's supposed to make alot of noise (think a high pitched ear annoying siren) once activated. Well some idiot student or random passerby activated it at around 8am. I climbed out of my bed to locate the source of annoyance and found the bloody thing flashing its siren and whining its high pitch cry for help. With no dying or half naked student in sight. What a letdown.

This is getting ridiculous. I can't sleep through that. Even after closing the windows and drawing the blinds I can still hear the incessant siren. It seems as though I'm destined to take an evening nap later. Sigh. To quote a song "And you don't know what it's like... Welcome to my life..." Indeed.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Thanks Shellen! (Tagboard)

It's over. Elections are over. Instead of a the Presidential Election we had an MC Election with a total turnout of 300 voters. Amazing considering our entire law fac has 800 students only. ALMOST 1/2 turned up. Almost. Anyway, as I'm waiting for my hair to dry (It's not very long, it's just very wet and my towel's just very wet), I shall give thanks to the many that have actually bothered to come down all the way to the student counter to vote for me. It's so nice to know that people actually respond to our little campaign and voted for us.

I got the news of the end of vote counting when Bob called me around 740ish. He asked whether I got the call yet. Having not gotten any call regarding the election, I said no and that probably meant I didn't get in. He then hung up the phone and I went to take a little pee. Whilst in the bathroom, my phone started ringing. It was Weitan calling regarding the results. I picked up the phone and heard his familar voice over the line... "Excuse me, may I speak to Zhiyou?" "Yah?" "This is Weitan here ah, informing you about the election results. Sorry to say that you are not one of the non-elected people." I was peeing and couldn't concentrate on the double negative. Thinking that I didn't get in despite the vast campaigning, I felt quite malu and flinched. Bad mistake as liquid flew around the tiny bathroom. "Oh... ok. Nevermind lor... What to do..." "Eh? You didn't hear me correctly arh? I said not one of the non-elected people!" I was like WTF. Cannot just say properly meh?! Heart attack ley! "Nah Bei I'm peeing you know! Not good to joke when I'm peeing!" After that it was polite goodbyes and a clean up of the toilet bowl and the surrounding floor area.

The toilet really isn't the best place to get news. It's always the nightmare of dropping your phone or wallet into the toilet bowl or the flush splashing on you that gives me the creeps. That's ridiculous you say? Well my wallet DID drop into the toilet bowl before! So did my book... Ugh. It's not a nice feeling reaching and pulling out a SOAKED wallet. Fish.

It's getting late and I still have a windsurfing clinic to conduct tomorrow. For those interested, currently we're going through the basics with GIRLS only. Guys can only attend after 1 month when the girls get better and THEN I'll have time for ya. But girls are ALWAYS welcomed. (Discrimination? Hmmmz) But then again, affiliates of the *cough*TATAPS*cough* are welcomed anytime. Hur hur hur. All lessons are FOC but you'll have to pay for board rental. Every sat at East Coast Park. Come get a nice tan!

PS: I've typed out a 3/4 long post regarding myself thanking all the people in Mansion 6. But I never got around to finishing it. Hope I finish it soon!

Goodnight!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

And now, for something completely disgusting...

This is what many of you will find in your mailboxes tomorrow. Yes. It's abit shameless. It's abit small. But it's the only thing we could do following our tissue stint. I hope I don't have the wear the KDG T-shirt tomorrow. No really. I don't really like wearing my name on my chest/belly. It's just weird. Anyway, our little phamplet has our B&W pictures on it! Finally people will know who we are. Amazingly the tissues at the student counter were all gone. Hope you guys put the tissues to good use. And please please please. DON'T LITTER the floor with the empty packets that has our names on it. Can die one. Haha.



There'll be no activities on friday as it's voting day. For those interested, do vote. For those not interested, ya don't have to do anything. No pressure.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Welfare!

My friend from SMU just msn'd me regarding some $5 ticket for a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory screening booked by her school. That's exactly what Sam brought up during the rally and something which is definately under welfare. I'm not mad or anything, but I was surprised that I had the same idea as well and generally the same chunk of stuff about changing the physical aspects of Law Fac. It seems as though I just might be able to work better with Sam than Bob. But then again. I'm sure Bob would be equally accomodating to whatever changes proposed. Tough.

In the event that I don't get elected (which is quite high still considering I think Siew Men's campaign materials are very nice and Sam,Shue,Susie & Fav's posters are literally being seen EVERYWHERE) I've already joined up with the BTC committee. So I'll still get to contribute. In fact, I see a vast overlap between the BTC committee and the position of welfare secretary and publications. Dunno how to get around that, but the BTC committee is going down next week to survey the campus. Should be exciting!

Maybe I ought to get the E-block banner design out today. Get it painted tomorrow. I did promise the blockhead that it's gonna be due next Monday. Darn. Have the idea already. Bought the cloth already. Just no drive to do it alone. Supposed to get the freshies from hall to paint. But honestly la. How would I know who they are? Hall orientation was a blur. Didn't even attend due to matric week preparations. Just 5 mins before they were called down to block initiation, I had a tummy ache and went to shit. Missed the entire saga. Again it seems as though I was damn anti-social. But the fact was that shit happens. Maybe the banner would become a one-man show. My magic 8 ball agrees with me.

Then again there's CLT readings. So many pages. So little time.

But enough about silly things. Since yesterday was the rally, there wasn't much to do. Today was spent distributing FREE TISSUE to the freshies. There's even a small basket at the law fac counter. What's amazing was that we actually managed to distribute all 130 packets at LT 15 (Jackson Eng took 4 pkts!). The basket at the counter moved alot slower. It was for the year 3s and 4s. But who I saw taking the tissues were CONTRACTORS, DELIVERY MEN and TUTORS. Not exactly our target audience but charity la.

And so ended a short day of only 1 tutorial. The turnout for repro was very small but the nasi lemak was sedap! (nods to shoo) My property law tutor was the author of the book I photocopied page for page. Ouch. Can't bring it into tutorial anymore. Sigh. Finally, I can't seem to leave my room to go library study. Think I'll nap.

Inertia!

The Magic 8 Ball

I think I shall take some time to introduce my little friend, the Magic 8 Ball. It's really quite an interesting piece of work this question answerer. I asked it a series of questions. Some interesting. Some idiotic. Here are the results:

Qn: Should I... ? (personal question)
Ans: Very doubtful (Quite a good answer concerning the matter)

Qn: I'm lazy. Do I still go brush my teeth before sleeping?
Ans: It is certain (Alright!)

Qn: Will I kenna questioned for the tutorial tomorrow?
Ans: Outlook good. (Meaning what? Will kenna? Will not? Confusing but cryptic!)

Qn: Should I vote for the opposition in the next election (provided there is one)?
Ans: As I see it, yes (Oh darn)

Qn: Should I borrow the redspot property text and photocopy the whole book?
Ans: Reply hazy, try again.

Qn: Ok... Should I borrow the redspot property text and photocopy the whole book?
Ans: My reply is no. (Firm supporter of the photocopy law!)

Qn: Last question before I turn in for bed. Will I ever turn gay?
Ans: You may rely on it. (WTF?!)

Qn: I'm gonna try this again.
Ans: It is certain. (WTF WTF WTF?!)

Qn: One last time.
Ans: Without a doubt. (KNNBCCB)

Qn: Again!
Ans: You may rely on it. (....)

Qn: Can I take gay as 'happy'?
Ans: Very doubtful. (CB!)

Ahfuggeddit. I'm going to sleep.

PS: The answers to the questions above do not reflect the actual sexual preferences of the author. Neither will it stop him from photocopying the entire prop law textbook from the library.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Election 2005

There wasn't any big hoo-hah regarding this year's election. Not that there was last year (coz it was a walk-over), but rather it was a little too quiet considering the amount of time we had to convert voters. Sunday afternoon - evening was spent printing out t-shirts and large A4 sized vibrant posters to catch the attention of any unfortunate individual passing their way. Sunday night was spent sneaking around law fac putting up the above-mentioned posters. This was followed by photo-taking for the write up to be submitted the very next day.



Monday's campaign was supposed to be very simple. Just wear the KDG t-shirts and attract attention. Let the students see the KDG posters. All very simple. Bob would wear the one with my name and I'll wear the one with his. We were supposed to try to not be seen side by side. That would be too gay. But as usual, things don't always work out. I kept running into Bob. Wherever I went. It was just too gay. On the plus side, I had 3 people say that if I wanted they would wear the shirt for me. Meaning I print more for them to wear. If this were a real presidential election, I'd gladly do so. But unfortunately this is a mini election with 10 people contesting for 8 seats. So no point spending so much right?



The disappointing thing was that I didn't spot a single poster from anyone else up yet. Other than Sam's ones which would probably be distributed by now, I didn't see any other piece of propaganda around. Was it really that silly for us to prepare a new item for every day of the week? Looking back, it might be so. Then again, the campaign posters and t-shirts were of particular significance to me. To the normal passerby, you probably just saw a china poster or an america poster, followed by our KDG t-shirt. I personally felt that the china and america posters were more of a tribute to the olden pop art of yesterday which we all remember, but came before our time. It's amazing to see these iconic images being used again and again despite their first appearances being like the 40s - 50s. As a tribute, I decided to incorporate them into our campaign. Just for fun.



The t-shirt itself was another homage/nod towards a small cult classic called NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE. The basic plot was that a nerd helped his new found mexican friend run for class president. And winning. One of the gimmicks they used was the tshirt. Our version wasn't just a last minute slap-together effort. It was a word for word and font for font reproduction of the original VOTE FOR PEDRO t-shirt featured in the film. It just gave me a kick being able to pull a stunt like this without anyone realising or recognising (Though it would be more fun if people DID recognise the tshirt la). All in all, today's campaign was really more for personal enjoyment than for the actual campaigning purpose itself.



Stay tuned for more silly stuff tommorrow~

(Shit, I forgot to wash the tshirt for Bob...)

I hate my room

I hate my room. It's not just hot. It's noisy. It's also very far from the toilet. But that doesn't really matter.

Why is it hot? It's facing the west and we all know the sun sets in the west. The afternoon to evening sun basically stares down through my window and even invades the lower panels of the room just to make my feet sweat. It's like a boiling suana in here every single day. Which is why I think I'll be chilling out in the library more often from now on. Come back after dark. Mug.

Why is it noisy? Lemme see. It's just along one of the main roads where cars pass by to get out of NUS towards Pasir Panjang. I have 2 confirm wake up calls every morning. Morning 0845 the garbage truck will come into KR to collect rubbish. It's FUCKING LOUD. That's because it's just under my window. Then later at 9am without fail, there'll be a congestion at the junction just outside KR and some anal taxi driver would be so inclined to give a series of loud horns just to speed things up. These two wake up calls ensure that I wake up by 9am every single fucking morning.

Any other noisy moments? Well let's see. After the 845 and 9am wake up call, I'll get to sleep in for 1 more hour till 10am from Tues to Fri thanks to my 11am lectures/tutorials. However, inbetween that period, confirm I'll be woken up at least once by mynahs. Oh yes. If you thought minahs were bad. Mynahs are worse. They'll just perch outside my window and bitch about losing that big fat worm they failed to get because they woke up late. Bloody hell. Oh i almost forgot. At night, some idiots like to pretend that the road outside my window is one of the mountain roads in Initial D and speed through it with a souped-up engine.

Oh I hate my room.

Now people may be thinking. Senior, year 2 already. Didn't you get to choose your own room? Yes I did. And didn't. I chose a nice room facing the sea on the other wing. I remember that day. After settling for the sea-view room, this block-comm guy came up to me and asked if I would like to stay beside him in this wing. Where I am currently. I was like... why? He said come stay beside him, so he can jio me for activities. Coz when I stayed at the other side last year I was damn quiet. So I was like really ah? He say jio me down easier. So I stupidly okayed it. Then he immediately turned around and booked the entire sea view wing for himself and his friends from the first floor. How interesting. Lying to me just to get MY room. Bastard.

Nevermind. There's karma in this world. I might get to employ him next time. Then he'll be allocated to the only room in the office without air con. See how he likes it.

All this staying in my boiling room is making me grumpy. I can't wait to move to BTC.

UGH.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Wayne for President!

I feel inclined to give my man Wayne more coverage... for those whom missed the TODAY paper a few days ago, here's an article about the upcoming election. And yes. Wayne is very much an opposition fan.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

National Day

Prior to National Day, I was really down on my luck. Just a short recap of the last one month alone had a few sad things happening to me:

1) I buang the Ford Focus and had to to repair it ($175).
2) The camera I brought along for Law Camp spoilt and had to be repaired.
3) I bought a nice watch in Bangkok and promptly destroyed the glass on the first day when attempting to block open a lift with my arms.
4) I dropped my Samsung S200 and it split into two. Physically split into two.
5) I bought a new Nokia 6020 and a few days later during Quest dry run, it got covered with melted chocolate.
6) I bought a shirt at G2000 and immediately a few days later it was at 50% off the already discounted price I paid.
7) I bought a new lamp today from IKEA and after constructing it, I forgot the lamp's height and promptly fed it into the KR fan. It wasn't a pretty sight.
8) My rheumatism got so bad that's it's in pain for 24hrs now.
9) During windsurfing recently I got stuck in a patch of zero wind for like 1/2 hr. It was damn jialat. I almost wanted to kill myself. That day wasn't that good overall. Gusty inconsistant wind.
10) The GV website refused to process my online booking of tickets for me and instead I had to use phone booking.

However, days aren't without both their ups and downs...

1) I managed to win $ at mahjong tonight. No small feat considering I've had a bad losing streak. Kudos to Bangkok for teaching me the finer arts of mahjong.

With this I end the post as I'm damn sleepy now.

Goodnight~!

Friday, August 05, 2005

Typhoon in Singapore

I received this in the email today:

Hi fellow surfers,

Due to the typhoon near Taiwan straits, there have been storms in the mornings for the past few days :) This morning was the best, 44 knots was recorded by Richard Man at PA (People's Association). Most went out on a 5/6m but all were trashed up... Imagine Andrew (National Windsurfer) went out with a 4.7m and also find it strong! For those of us always praying for wind, pls make sure you pray for constant, moderate wind. NOT this type of freaking wind. Heh :)

Nothing Else Matters!
Weili.
(Inter Tertiary Windsurfing Association)

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Dammit. What have I been missing... I miss the beach (not Sentosa) already.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier...

My favourite line from the entire movie which we caught at 1220am just this morning:

Everything in this room is *eat*able. In fact, I'm *eat*able. But that, my dear children, is called cannibalism which is in fact frowned upon in most societies.

Ah... the heck-care-ness of Depp which everybody so loves.

For the skeptics, it's not 5 thumbs up per se, but it's alright. It's alright. Watchable. Enjoyable. I loved the song and dance routines. Watch out for those. All the little voices are that of Danny Elfman. Overdubbed like a hundred times. Impressive work.

Check out those dance moves. Yowza~

Ah... lookit the time...

Time to sleep...

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier...

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Mysterious Skin

It really gets under your skin. Oh yes it does. Here's what you will not expect from this film. You will not expect a happy ending. You will not expect everything working out for our main characters because real life just doesn't work that way. You will not expect to stay calm throughout the entire film. You will not feel good after this film because it's not something that you watch to escape 2 hours of your life for.

What you can expect from this film. You will look at some of your friends in a different light. If you have suffered similar experiences as them, you know that you are not alone. You will be disturbed. Greatly disturbed. By many shocking scenes of b-m fellatio and violence.

What's amazing about Mysterious Skin is that it's a no holds barred look at pedophiles and their victims. More so of their victims. Different people choose different paths for their lives after episodes with pedophiles and it's really quite an interesting and honest outlook into how children choose to cope with their encounters. Some embrace their newfound lifestyle as the norm and act upon it with the assurance of the adults (it's ok. it's ok. this is what we do when we want to show someone we love them very much) Some can force themselves to totally block out the memories in an attempt to lead their lives normally.

The content here really hits home to me because I do have a few army friends that turned to the other side thanks to childhood meetings with such pedophiles. It might be a one-off experience but it resulted in their discovering of their sexuality a little differently. Watching this was like understanding how it might be possible. And knowing the truth really hurts. There is no holding back on the brutality of abuse these children go through and it kinda made me think of the email regarding the AWARE research. Quite applicable. But too bad the dateline's over.

Overall if one wants to check out something different and you dare to experiment the unusual, do try this film out. Not for the faint of heart or weak stomached, but if you survive the experience, you'll learn things. And you just might feel the same way as I did when the credits rolled. Too awestruck to move from my seat.

I dare ya.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

The biggest WTF of the day

A simple recap of the biggest WTF of the day... basically i was waiting for yeshye and the rest to come to the car to drive our collective butts over to UCC for the FICC. Once Yeshye reached the car, he started fiddling with the inclining thingy of the front passenger seat without getting into the car. I didn't know what he wanted, so I asked him. He replied with "How to move the seat?" I then pointed out that there's this lever at the front of the chair to move it front and back. He pushed the chair all the way in front, then proceeded to incline the seat a little, before attempting to stick his leg between the lowered seat and the back passenger compartment. He then asked me "How to get to the back passenger seat?" It was truly a WTF moment. "Zhiwei, I have a door for that".

I would think he's just tired.

Monday, August 01, 2005

How Mysterious

Devlin Tay: Censorship and conservatism
I cannot believe Philip Ruddock is leading the charge to ban Mysterious Skin. For heaven's sake, that movie is being shown in cinemas in Singapore right now. Singapore! A country with one of Asia's most conservative and straight-laced governments, with one of the most stringent set of censorship rules governing film and TV. If something can be shown in cinemas in Singapore, I simply cannot see how anyone can justify banning it in Australia. What have we come to? Does the religious right even bother to examine a movie's themes before condemning it to censorship hell?

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Mr Devlin could not be more wrong in proclaiming that Singapore-yada yada censorship rules. Remember kids, if it's political, it's wrong. That's the basis of our censorship rule. If it's about the church, it isn't that wrong. We're welcomed to watch it with open minds. Afterall, if we start banning stuff based on actual content, the poor ah peks at Yangtze would suffer greatly without their daily dosage of porn. Kudos to Cathy for bringing Mysterious Skin into Singapore. I first saw the trailer a few weeks ago and was greatly greatly disturbed. Haunting images they are and they do not disguise themselves to be anything but shocking. I'm finally getting time to watch it tomorrow (not during Flag! though I'll be absent from Flag due to other matters...) and I'm prepared to be blown away.

Expect a thumbs up for this film. I can't wait.

Harry Pothead

To those like Jackson that are too niaow to fork out $42 for the Half-Blood Prince, here are some spoilers. Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. Snape killed Dumbledore. Harry and Ginny get it on. Ron and some random get it on. Some giant spider dies. There's a funeral. That about sums up the Half-Blood Prince. 600+ pages of the most forced writing I have ever read. Unconvincing menopausic Harry Potter just doesn't come off as anything but irritating. I should wag my finger at the book editors for not cutting this piece of trash down to side. Just because the woman made millions doesn't mean that whatever she writes is gold. Ever wondered why the first 3 books were so thin? 2 words: Legal writing. After that, it was unedited trash all the way. Whoopie. Despite all that and the cliche ending, I actually will still buy the seventh book to read. Damn. It's not as if I'm hooked, but somehow this newest volume is just lacking in substance and leaves us not hanging in suspense but rather go.. wtf? It's over? But nothing barely happened! Hey, if I wanted Seinfeld, I'd have watched it on my tv instead. I still have 3/4 of season 4 to go which I put aside for this... for the lack of a better word, brick.

But as we all know, book seven will be out in like 2 years. Another long piece of indigestible trash which everyone will pick up because we have to see how Harry manages to destroy the Voldemort. Curiosity killed the cat I'd say. Know what the ending to this brick was? ImaGen the ending of Batman Begins and Spiderman. Ya know... the part about the hero giving up the girl for a greater cause? Exactly. Disappointing through and through. I think I should start on Neverwhere next. At least Gaiman's consistant.

Now to nurse my throbbing headache and try to salvage my hair after my disasterous haircut.