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too much and too little |
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Fuck, fucker, fuckest
Fword That was the coolest legal document I've ever read!
Amusing Ourselves to Death
The problem with school is that by the time I get home, I'm too damned tired to think. Nothing really happened today, but tiredness is good. The few days I had been spending at home had been torturous, because in lieu of stimulation I had to do reflection, and in spite of what everyone says, nobody really wants to do any thinking at all. Hey, why else would people pay 13 US dollars every month for Everquest or watch MTV? (The title of this blog is the same as the Neil Postman book, subtitled Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. I wonder what he would think of the incredible amount of effort, thinking and discourse that goes into the MMORPG mire from the players themselves? Amusement that requires you to suffer for it. The sheer genius of such a thing is astounding!)
Just because you feel it doesn't mean it's there
It's horrible being a complete outsider. Today, I went to one of them NIE courses (taking a General Elective), and apparently everyone knows everyone else. Now even at the very best of times, outside a minuscule circle of friends, I'm not someone who fits in. Other than the intense social ineptitute (read: dorkiness), I'm also a rather angry guy. Now, put me in a situation where I was the only NTU guy in a whole class filled with NIE students. That's pretty high on my list of nightmare scenarios. Luckily there were two other girls who joined the class later, and I knew one of them fairly well (by fairly well I mean "Hi!" "Bye!"). They were late because they couldn't find the class. I could go on a rant here about how NIE is *fucked up* by having a schedule that's like 90% wrong on STARS (the class registration system), but that's for another time, because I am completely badgered right now! Before you ask, yes, the title makes a reference to "There There", the Radiohead single. And no, it doesn't quite fit. Also, here's an interesting link that makes my own porn addiction seem innocuous: 7 Year old boy addicted to porn Hmmm, I used the word porn. That should give this blog a few hits...
Very interesting Flash game
Only the East Europeans could have conceived something so utterly brilliant. Genius! Best 20 minutes I've spent on an adventure game, ever. Yes, this is the FIFTH update I've done today. What can I say?
Where have all the great comics gone?
All comics should aspire to a state of Calvinity~
The Inward Eye
My mediocrity revealed itself to me at a very young age (far too young), when the benevolent coos of my parents and relatives became my enemy. Their insistence on education and intellect quickly turned on me when I realized that I was nothing if not average. I learned no faster than anyone else, and I had no talent whatsoever at anything beyond the academic. While I do not understand why I constantly fail (refer to my first entry in this blog), I do know that my abilities are very limited at almost everything of value, and, even more jarringly, especially in things of no value at all. This would be fine if I were happy. One can be weak of mind and limb, and still find joy in existence. Tragically, I am incapable of happiness. I haven't the heart for it, nor the essence for it. I was cursed with a great soul, I think, one that burns and burns and burns. Greatness thirsts for greatness, but with no aspect within that may quench that flame I can only suffer its fiery lick. If I cannot be happy, then I must be great. If I cannot be great, then I must have clarity - crystalline, absolute, pure, constant. For without clarity, how can I find peace? If even clarity escapes me - if even that last respite is denied my spirit - then the recourse left is blindness. Better to be blind than to suffer this twisted sight, this false sight!
Our Inheritance
Calvin: "It took hundreds of years for these woods to grow, and they leveled it in a week. It's gone." "After they build new houses here, they'll have to widen the roads and put up gas stations and pretty soon this whole area will just be a big strip." "Eventually there won't be a nice spot left anywhere." "I wonder if you can refuse to inherit the world." Hobbes: "I think if you're born, it's too late." (Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson)
It's funny, ok
'Equality', by Richard Henry Tawney
This is a tract from 'Equality' by Richard Henry Tawney, and apparently a favourite quote of Donald Dewar, first First Minister of Scotland.
wifflewiffle: In other words, the tadpole survives to become a frog not mainly because it's better, but also because it's luckier - the above is a parable against the excesses of capitalism. In the context of Singapore, it's a reminder about the dangers of subscribing blindly to the founding myth of "meritocracy", especially when it is used by the powerful to justify their position; always question whether the socioeconomic inequalities inherent in a meritocratic state, especially those across class, race or religion, are fair or, indeed, inevitable.
Batman Dead End
I just downloaded this little clip (Batman Dead End) from Shareaza and it's great. Since I'm an Communications student I guess I'm supposed to enjoy media products by upcoming talent, but it's so hard when most of it is moronic pretentious posturing shite. A fucking degree in Film Studies doesn't mean that you can pull off a movie involving hand held shots with a multilinear narrative composed of multiple flashbacks. Hell even the good ones like Wong Kar Fai's gives me headaches at times. This little 40+ megabyte download was nothing like that, it was just a cool, dark action flick done cheap, filled with just enough geekiness to feel, well, comic book. I mean, Batman, Joker, Predators and Aliens all in one alleyway? If that's not the epitome of a geek fantasy I don't know what is. Now, this little movie is probably just an animated calling card for film-makers on their way to bigger things, and it's not the most polished moving picture I've seen, but it was refreshing from the endless dose of pretentious tripe imposed on me by professors (though I really liked Apocalypse Now). Please feel free to sign in my guestbook any and all comments, and recommend any interesting gems floating around the fileshare universe. I find it almost impossible to maintain my attention on movies over an hour and a half long though. At the moment the guestbook is completely empty and I get the niggling feeling that nobody's reading. So if anyone's out there, do drop me a line.
Query of the day
Picked this one up from a forum I was reading: If a law falls in the woods and no one is affected, does it make a precedent? :)
It's all about elevation, baby
Sometimes I wonder if the heavens themselves conspire against me. In my last update I mentioned that I twisted my foot, yes? So I wait fer the mom to get home for lunch and get her to take me to the sinseh for tui1 na2 (some sort of massage... physiotherapy) so she does and drives off for work. I walk there, and find that they're CLOSED on Thursdays! I had to limp my way back because I didn't bring my handphone. Ok, that's hardly a tragedy, but hey, a man has to complain about something. So I log on and a nurse friend tells me to keep my foot raised and iced. Elevation helps keep the swelling down, apparently. You know, I knew that, but it simply didn't register - and that's strange, because my memory usually only fails me during examinations. And tests. And when I meet an old friend. And when I meet a new friend. And when I'm counting money. And when I have appointments. You know it just occurred to me that I not only have a fucked foot, but a dodgy memory too. Nothing much else happened today. As usual, the most exciting thing that I did today was to block spam mail that asked me whether I "Want Bigger Penis and Power Erections". I mean, why'd you even need to ask?
It hurts everytime I touch it, doctor
For the 12+ years that I have been playing football I have never had a real foot injury. The reason might be that I play like a total pansy, but hey, not everyone has to be a Roy Keane, eh? So it's especially unpleasant when this guy W sent his foot over while I was in mid-dribble and made me fall on the side of my foot, twisting my ankle. I hadn't had the chance to see a physio yet, so it still hurts like a motherfucker! Damn, I'm such a goddamn sissy. Anyway after football, we went over and played a boardgame that took like 5 hours. The boardgame is based on the rules of the Civilization boardgame, so it was called, you guessed it, Civilization (NOT "Advanced Civilization", a far older game that was published by, I think... Avalon Hill). That was pretty much my entire day. I haven't had time to ruminate on more important issues, like say the Malaysian water issue or the legitmacy of "terrorism" in the Middle East or whether Britney had a boobjob - but I will get down to some of these soon. Oh I found out one of my friends was actually a homosexual. That's cool. At least I know a homosexual human, which vastly expands my current network of Chinese, English-speaking Male, Middle-Class, Christian, Straight folks. And you know it's incredibly dangerous to always stick with a class of people with a very specific agenda and a very specific viewpoint - in the end they seem to all end up the same.
Sometimes I cheat and change the past
This was not the original post. Sometime in the six months that had followed the creation of this blog, this introduction had become increasingly embarassing and not reflective of my current state of mind. Identity, you know, is a strange thing - it shifts and changes constantly, while a kernel remains curiously constant. I think some people call that thing a "soul" but I would not be quite so presumptious, I'm not sure I have one. So who am I? Well, to start with, I'm Singaporean, a native of an island south of Malaysia. (For a minute there I was compelled to use the words "tiny island", but though descriptive it has become a cliche.) As of 2003 I'm studying in Nanyang Technological University, but I'm going to be off on a six-month internship with a local paper, which I am sure will be a source of much hilarity and pain. Oh and since gender pretty much defines who I am, I'm male. A short male. I think those guys who talk about animals on the telly, like that old Brit guy, would term me "the omega of the pack". Hey, I say that as long as it keeps me from being beaten to a pulp by the Alphas that's "a very good thing"(TM)! And for the rest, I'll let you draw your own conclusions on what I am like from reading the blog itself. Good night.
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