Baby Hitler
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Baby Hitler
Too soon, way too soon.
But still funny as hell.
The Year of Donkey Balls
Monday, September 29, 2008
The Year of Donkey Balls
I have had it, I have had it! 2008 sucks donkey balls, I swear. I don't really know what that expression means, but I suppose it is one-up from just saying "2008 sucks". I am not one to say words like "life sucks!" or "2008 sucks!". It just sounds really juvenile, I suppose, to blame everything on your life or a single calendar year. I mean, shit happens all the time, and you blame a dozen things around you but you yourself. The fengshui messed with my chi, I was having a bad luck, everyone else in my project group didn't do their jobs, it was all his fault, the Devil asked me to do it, whatever. You see it every once in a while behind people's MSN nicknames, a bunch of them complaining about how their lives suck, like some naive little boy who cannot stand doing some extra homework. I am not usually a fan of showing my thoughts or emotions through my MSN nickname. It is uncomfortable for me, and parading what I have in my head to everyone on my contact list just seems to be something an attention whore would do. That is also why I usually restrict myself to quotes, song lyrics, and perhaps the occasional announcements. However, if you can see me online right now, you'd see that I have "2008 sucks donkey balls" as my sub-nick. Why? The sentence before that explains it all.
I have had it, I have had it! 2008 sucks donkey balls, I swear. I don't really know what that expression means, but I suppose it is one-up from just saying "2008 sucks". I am not one to say words like "life sucks!" or "2008 sucks!". It just sounds really juvenile, I suppose, to blame everything on your life or a single calendar year. I mean, shit happens all the time, and you blame a dozen things around you but you yourself. The fengshui messed with my chi, I was having a bad luck, everyone else in my project group didn't do their jobs, it was all his fault, the Devil asked me to do it, whatever. You see it every once in a while behind people's MSN nicknames, a bunch of them complaining about how their lives suck, like some naive little boy who cannot stand doing some extra homework. I am not usually a fan of showing my thoughts or emotions through my MSN nickname. It is uncomfortable for me, and parading what I have in my head to everyone on my contact list just seems to be something an attention whore would do. That is also why I usually restrict myself to quotes, song lyrics, and perhaps the occasional announcements. However, if you can see me online right now, you'd see that I have "2008 sucks donkey balls" as my sub-nick. Why? The sentence before that explains it all.
2008 has been a bad year for celebrities, not because the bad ones are being arrested for even more DUI charges, but because the good ones are all dying. It has gotten to a point whereby enough is enough, and one more celebrity death is seriously going to cause me to explode. Celebrity deaths don't usually get to me, since it happens all the time. George Harrison's death a few years ago might have shocked a lot of Beatles fan, but I wasn't exactly shocked when I read about it online. It is always going to be saddening, of course, when you read about the world losing another talent to the hands of death. It is a frustrating process that none of us can prevent, and we can't help but feel so trivial and little next to the might of death. It takes away everything, destroys all that is under the sun, and time is its accomplice. Not even the all powerful love can defeat death though, because death takes away love without any hesitation or mercy. It doesn't matter if you spent the better part of your life begging for money at the local park, or a rock star whose life everybody envies. When it is your time, it is your time, and nobody is spared from this intangible and yet powerful system of life.
First it was Heath Ledger, then it was George Carlin. August took away Bernie Mac and Issac Hayes, on the 9th and the 10th respectively. Now that it is September, it took away Paul Newman, one of the greatest actors in cinematic history. There are probably a couple of names that I missed in between, but these names are certainly sad enough for the world of cinema. It is a dark year in Hollywood certainly, and I have no idea why 2008 has to be so cruel to all our favorite stars. Heath Ledger was an up and coming actors with so much potential, and George Carlin is probably the best comedian of all time. I am not exactly a fan of Bernice Mac, but his death certainly came as quite a surprise for me, and even more so when Issac Hayes followed suit a day afterwards, the same guy behind the theme song of Shaft and the voice of Chef from South Park. Paul Newman, what can I say, the coolest actor in Hollywood, if not the most talented. I was just talking with my friends the other day as to who we'd like to grow old to look like, and I mentioned Jon Bon Jovi in the forties, and definitely Paul Newman in the seventies. With Paul Newman's death, I wasn't exactly surprised, since he has been battling lung cancer for the longest time. But seriously, it's just unfair that the untalented and stupid celebrities are still hanging around, wasting our resources with every extra heart beat.
At 83 years of age, Paul Newman has lived a fulfilling life, and nobody can deny that. Everything from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to The Sting, to Road to Perdition. He has established himself as one of the screen's legends, though I cannot say that I have seen many of his works. Still, he is one of those actors you cannot help but respect, and it is definitely not the kind of respect automatically earned posthumously. You read some of the comments people have left on news or movie websites, and you just can't help but feel disappointed with humanity as a whole. There are actually people who think that they do not deserve the kind of attention that they are getting with their death, and words like "burn in hell" are being thrown around carelessly without thoughts. Seriously, you start to wonder, just what in the world is wrong with these narrow-minded imbeciles. Here is a man who donated nearly 300 million dollars to his own charity foundation in his lifetime, and you are throwing words like "burn in hell"? What is the matter with you? I was just telling my mother about it yesterday, about how I have a little hope in humanity when I see human beings helping out with animals and the nature. It makes me feel happy, honestly, until I change the channel to watch some politicians lying to the news camera, or some evangelist being arrested for child pornography. We are doomed, and it is our own doing.
So, as I was saying, 2008 has been harsh. I mean, just look at the amount of hurricanes and typhoons (yes, they are different) around the world as of late. This is the third typhoon to hit Taiwan this month, and all the other things happening around the world is just depressing to say the very least. I am sure someone somewhere is coming up with some armageddon theories all over again, telling believers to behold the "wrath of god" or whatever it is that they preach in churches nowadays. I do not believe in the end of the world, since it has been predicted to happen a few hundred times over the past century or so. The last time I checked, we haven't experienced a great flood around the world, the skies are still not raining fireballs, and I am still here typing this entry without being struck by lightning. The world is still here, and it is still going to be here long after we are gone as a species. We are really not much different to dogs and cats in the eyes of mother nature, and it really only takes a lift of her eyebrows for us to be wiped out. In the mean time, we watch these amazing human beings dying one by one, and you cannot help but feel affected by it.
How unfair is the world, when train wrecks like Amy Winehouse are still alive and breathing. These people really do not deserve the kind of attention that they are getting, the way that they destroy themselves with drugs and whatnot. Nothing is ever going to happen to people like Amy Winehouse for a very long time, for reasons unknown to most people. It's saddening to know that throughout my own lifetime, I am probably going to see a lot more deaths of famous and talented celebrities. I am also going to witness the death of a few family members and friends, and that is certainly not an encouraging thought no matter how you convince yourself that the inevitability of it all is no different from you getting hungry after not eating for a whole day. It is inevitable, but that doesn't make it OK, to me. You don't read about a respectable person's death and carry on as if nothing has happened. That is not to say that we should grieve about it, which would be stupid if you don't know the person. But just the general sense of loss, you know?
Anyway, I think personally, 2008 has been rather kind, though uneventful. Kind, which is really all that I can ask for personally, and I have learned to be contented with the littlest of things. But the world in general seems to be heading in an opposite direction from me. I can see myself reviewing 2008 on the very last day, and using the same words like "donkey balls" to describe it all. Because, it has been a year full of donkey balls, unnecessary and tragic deaths all around. I do not wish for the death of people, but you can't help but wonder sometimes, why the talented and the good people are dying faster than the untalented and idiotic people out there. Once again, I have to bring up the name of Bill O'Reilly, because I think this is one right-winged idiot who does not deserve to live at all. Anyway, so here's a giant thumbs down to 2008, and a one minute silence for one of the greatest actors of all time.
1925-2008
Formula One
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Formula One
So, Singapore and Singaporeans are crazy about the Formula One thing right now. Ten o'clock every night, and I see a whole bunch of televisions tuned in to the same channel on the opposite block, all of them watching the same race from the same camera angle, on the very same channel. The whole country is going crazy, and rightfully so, because this is the first time Formula One is in the continent, and also the very first night race ever. I suppose it is just pretty cool to see one of those Need For Speed games coming to life in a town near you, seeing those cars zip through streets that you know of so well at three hundred kilometers per hour. There's a certain sense of adrenaline rush, I suppose, to see a car beat the red light without a care or worry for any speeding tickets. That is not to mention the fact that within the five kilometer circuit, the racers would probably cross a dozen ERP gantries, and none of them are going to light up and deduct obscene amount of money from your Cash Card. Yeah, it's nice to see a bunch of people breaking the rules in a legitimate way, but that adrenaline rush is obviously not shared by me, or anyone in my family.
Best part of any race.
So, Singapore and Singaporeans are crazy about the Formula One thing right now. Ten o'clock every night, and I see a whole bunch of televisions tuned in to the same channel on the opposite block, all of them watching the same race from the same camera angle, on the very same channel. The whole country is going crazy, and rightfully so, because this is the first time Formula One is in the continent, and also the very first night race ever. I suppose it is just pretty cool to see one of those Need For Speed games coming to life in a town near you, seeing those cars zip through streets that you know of so well at three hundred kilometers per hour. There's a certain sense of adrenaline rush, I suppose, to see a car beat the red light without a care or worry for any speeding tickets. That is not to mention the fact that within the five kilometer circuit, the racers would probably cross a dozen ERP gantries, and none of them are going to light up and deduct obscene amount of money from your Cash Card. Yeah, it's nice to see a bunch of people breaking the rules in a legitimate way, but that adrenaline rush is obviously not shared by me, or anyone in my family.
Speaking of breaking the rules, that was exactly the case when this whole "motor racing" thing started out in the beginning. Initially, they didn't have any rules as to the power of the cars, the weight of the cars, or the size of the cars in general. Due to the fact that a lot of older races happened on public streets, and also because the organizing committees wanted to reinforce fairness between racers during the races, they came up with a set of rules and regulations for the participants to follow, called "Formula". The number "one" is merely the class that the cars are in, with Formula Two involving smaller cars, and Formula Three involving even smaller cars. But you know how humans are, we don't like our cars to be too small sometimes. That is also why Formula One is to most popular motor racing sport in all of the motor racing sport in the world. Admittedly, I didn't know of the above until a little bit of research online, and my lack of interest when it comes to cars also contributed to my lack of knowledge. I thought "Formula One" refers to some secret petrol X that the racers used for their racers. Too much cartoons for me, I suppose. I did grow up watching Speed Racer, after all.
So this is the first time something like that is happening here, and it is indeed something to be very proud of, I'm sure. I mean, the scale of such an event is just so huge, you can't help but to be astounded by it. The problem, however, is of course the inconveniences involved with organizing such an event. Sure, the massive traffic jam yesterday morning was due to the rain in general, and not to mention the train breaking down over at Tampines. However, I am pretty sure the road closures in town had something to do with the morning traffic, one way or another. My mother's drive to the office yesterday morning took a little more than an hour, not to mention the fact that everybody has to find various ways to get into town now. The taxi drivers are probably going to rejoice though, with all the surcharges flowing in like a fountain during this three day period. Think about it: let's say you are a spectator at the F1 race this year, and the only way for you to get home from that part of town would be to take a public transport, or to take a cab. You could always walk out of that part of town but, that'd take some time. That is when the taxi option comes in, and here is how much money they are going to earn.
You step into the cab, they automatically earn $2.80. There's a petrol surcharge at $0.30, not to mention the peak hour charge at 35% of the total fare at the end of the trip. If you are stupid enough to call for a cab via your phone, that is another $2.00 (if I am not wrong) out of your wallet. For a special three-day period only, you also get charged $5.00 extra for taking a cab out from town. So, let me sum up. If you are taking cab out of the event area within this three day period, stepping into the cab itself is going to cost you $10.10. That does not include the journey home, mind you, which could cost upwards of twenty dollars, depending on where you are going. A trip from Kallang to Clementi Road for April yesterday was a whopping $26, so you can do the math yourself. The cab drivers are probably going to earn in big bucks tomorrow, all thanks to this single event, which is not putting any smiles on the commuters' faces at all. Personally, being there is not exactly what I have in mind when it comes to having a good weekend with friends. First of all, I have to deal with the people there at the event. Since this is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime deal, you'd expect the event to attract all sorts of people. Middle-aged men and women, having nothing to do on a weekend, would probably bring their whole family to the event - which is just weird, in my opinion. There's nothing wrong, of course, just weird. I mean, we have this family in flip-flops on one side of the grand stand, and then David Beckham on the other. What's up with that?
Then I have to tolerate the noise of the engines. I mean, I usually give dirty stares at pretentious drivers around Singapore who like to modify their car engines to make their cars sound sexier. In actual fact, I read, women are only really attracted to the sound of Maserati engines, followed closely by Ferrari ones. I'm sorry, but your modified Honda isn't really going to make the cut with the ladies. It is a nuisance, especially when you are in a quiet neighborhood and some pseudo-sports car speeds by with his engines all fired up. It is irritating and annoying, sad attempts at making your car feel that much closer to a real F1 racer. But with all the rules and the speed limit being capped at 90km/h in this country, I don't suppose you can go very far anyway. So yes, I have to tolerate the noise of the engines, which is just unbearable to my ears. I dislike the sound of tires screeching on tarmac, or just the general sound of loud engines anyway. I can understand why some people can be attracted by the idea of an engine being fired up. Perhaps it demonstrates the amount of power the car has, and by association the driver of the car as well. It doesn't matter if you are skinny and wimpy at the same time. You really only need a car engine that sets off the highest decibel reading.
In truth, I am not ready to invest that kind of money for the tickets. I heard that for one thousand dollars a night, you get to view the race from the highest hotel in the world. Of course, the racers are also going to be no bigger than your thumb nail, but they obviously are going to leave that out from the brochures. I did the math, so hear me out. Let's say you do buy tickets to watch this race thing, and you are sitting there at one of the grand stands, with your camera ready and everything. At its slowest, the cars are probably going to pass you by within one second, which means a 62 round race is probably going to come up to about one minute in total. One car is going to appear before your eyes for one minute, and that excites you? OK, we throw in a whole lot of cars at the very same time during the finals, that is still not going to be a lot of time spent anyway. People might argue that you get the atmosphere and stuff. You get to see it, you get to hear it, you get to smell it, you may even get to taste it if you are crazy enough to lick the tarmac. But if I am going to spend that kind of money, I'd rather do so on something which is going to last longer than one minute before my eyes. It's really not worth it, to me.
Here's some of the perks you get if you watch the race at home. You get air-conditioning, which is a plus in a weather like Singapore. Rain or shine, you get the roof above your head and the comfort of your sofa. You can grab a drink from the fridge whenever you want, and you even get to view the race from the camera mounted in the driver's helmet. You are constantly bombarded with updates, statistics, commentaries, not to mention a thousand different angles to view the race. At least the cars are constantly in sight, and not for one second in every round they make around the circuit. Here's another reason for you to catch the race at home: after the race, you can fall asleep on the couch if you want to. The bed isn't too far away either, and you won't have to endure the homebound crowd once the race ends. That is always a plus, I am sure. Oh, and not to mention the fact that you get to see the crew change those tires at lightning speed. Now that is definitely something I love to watch during any F1 race, the speed at which the crew changes the tires and the petrol is just, not humanly possible. But like many other impossible feats, they are interesting to watch.
That is one thing I like about motor racing, the changing of tires. Then there's the other aspect, which is the car crash. It's a cheap thrill of mine, but I love to see car crashes. You know, multi-car pile up on expressways, trucks being smashed into smithereens by trains, cars being blown up and stuff. I hate to see people get hurt or get killed, and I certainly don't hope for that to happen to anybody. But you know, the act of cars being destroyed is just so fun to watch, and they tend to happen during F1 races. Here we have, perfectly engineered cars, traveling through narrow streets at three hundred kilometers per hour, being smashed into pieces at top speed too. It's kind of like how we love monster movies, the way they smash buildings in big cities and to crush cars with their feet. We love to see things being destroyed, which is also why those "Most Dangerous Moments Caught On Tape!" shows are always being brought back to life. I do not wish for the injury or the death of anybody of course, but some kind of crash or explosion would be very nice to watch indeed.
Other than that, I am not very hyped about the race itself. I'd be interested with a tennis match between Federer and Nadal in Singapore, or the NBA dream team playing here or something. Those would be events that I'd be genuinely psyched about. And as for motor racing, I am not so sure, I am not a fan. I just don't get the racing, you know, like crickets. I don't get cricket at all. Why do they always toss the ball in that funky way, anyway? I think Singapore should try to import monster trucks next time, and have them run over piles of Comfort Cabs. Die, you money sucking monsters! That'd be pretty interesting to watch, and I'd pay good money for the destruction of perfectly fine cars on a field. I think Singapore has done a magnificent job at organizing this event though, but I am just not particularly into it at all. Terence, my high school friend, probably shares the same sentiments. "F1 is crap!" is his MSN nickname, and I do wonder how many people out there feel the same as me, as the rest of the country goes crazy over watching speeding cars.
Best part of any race.
Friday Routines
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday Routines
Oh, Friday, Friday, Friday. It is a day that evokes such wondrous images like, partying and friends, and drinks and a good night's sleep. It's like a mini-Christmas every single week, who wouldn't like that? You don't get presents every week - given - but then you also get to treat yourself to a little break until the next week officially begins. I suppose the person who can truly appreciate the beauty of a Friday is my sister. She's two weeks into her first job ever at an advertising firm as a graphic designer, and she can't take the stress as far as I can tell from the groans and the moans. That is not to mention the heavy footsteps down the corridor when she comes home, and the sigh of relief after a good long bath. That is not me, though, my Fridays kind of suck. Though I do get shorter days than my sister, more friends, better food, but at least she doesn't need to bring her work back home. Everything remains within the walls of her cubicle, and the weekend is strictly for herself, exclusively. I have to worry about what is happening next week, ration it out, make plans, cancel plans, whatever. That is not to mention the four and a half hours of nothingness in between classes.
We begin at seven in the morning, an ungodly hour for anything, to prepare for school. The rituals include the soft rubbing motion of the fingers around the eyes, the gulping of cold water down my dry throat, the feasting of warm breakfast, the brushing of the pearly whites, the careful selection of wardrobe for the day, the delicate styling of the hair in front of the mirror, then the journey to Felicia's house. That is what happens pretty much every morning, unless she goes over to her sister's place, then that's a different story. We usually have to brave the morning traffic as before mentioned, then curse and gossip about things on the way to school. The first lesson on Friday is Nutrition, followed by Philosophy four and a half hours later. In between, I have lunch, I stone in the library, I surf the web with my Macbook, and then I stone some more. One or two friends come along, I say hello, but I don't see anybody most of the time. Just me, amidst a whole hill of strangers, and just the general sense of stress and dread in the air. Then I have Philosophy lessons, the only lesson that can put me in a comatose state, not because it is boring but because it is about things that are beyond me. I get into this state of confusion every time during the lesson, and coming back to my senses only halfway back home most of the time. I don't go out, I don't party after school, I go home. That is my Friday routine.
Today, however, was a little different. It began with a massive jam along the expressway with Alvin, Felicia's boyfriend, in the front seat this time. Coupled with a massive storm, the cars crept along the expressway like scared hamsters, however strange an analogy that one was. We were supposed to have our mid-terms paper at nine, and yet we were still stuck in traffic ten minutes to the paper itself. Felicia panicked, I tried not to panic, and Alvin just yawned because it didn't really concern him very much. The rain came down harder than before, and the cars only moved slower. That was when the phone calls started pouring in from people all around, when Sarah called to say that the MRT broke down and that everybody was forced off the train. Then April called to say that she was stuck outside her home, unable to get a cab because everybody who was on the broken down train was trying to call a cab. Then we have the F1 race happening in town this weekend, which caused a lot of road closures. That alone led to the building up of traffic all along the expressways, and it wasn't helped by the fact that it rained like it'd flood the entire world with water once and for all. Half of the cohort was late, and the most angry of them all was probably Aaron, who looked utterly infuriated after the paper was done.
And as for the paper, it sucked through and through. Somebody told me that reading the notes and then doing the online quizzes were enough. That was pretty much what I did, though I cannot say that the notes were very well digested. They were too long, too wordy, and had little to no focus at all, whatsoever. Anyway, so I didn't expect much from the paper, which turned out to be really difficult for me. Like a few people I can think about, the paper was as tough as a piece of frozen pizza, and I tried to pinch myself awake a dozen times during the paper. If the grades of this nutrition paper is going to be directly proportionate to my health, then I can safely say that I am not going to live pass twenty-five. Think about it: if you tank at a module that is supposed to teach you about what to eat and what not to eat in order to stay fit and healthy, then doing badly in the module would only mean that you are an unhealthy person, right? I love my junk food every once in a while, and all those lovely MSG from instant noodles are just so amazing to my tongue. I generally cannot care less about what I put into my stomach, since weight isn't exactly an issue for me - haven't you noticed the stagnant weight of mine over the years? It runs in the genes, my mother has the inability to gain weight as well. The carelessness of what I eat has finally caught up with me, I'm afraid.
So, in protest, I didn't attend the half an hour lecture that was supposed to happen after the paper. I hung out in the atrium with Felicia, Alvin, Shi Ting and Sarah, while imitating flamingos and penguins. Anyway, there was still a couple of hours before my next lesson started, and I wasn't exactly in a rush to get anywhere. So I headed for the library, the usual place to hang out alone, which was where I chanced upon Elena. Apparently, she was in school just for the sake of being in school. At that point in time, she has already missed her first lesson, which made it even more strange as to why she was there in the first place. Anyway, so we sat with one dude in between us and started talking on MSN, which is strange because I don't see her very often in school at all. You see, Elena hangs out alone and seems to be self-sufficient most of the time. She comes to school alone, hangs out alone, then goes home alone. She has her friends online, but then perhaps the frequencies just don't quite match with anybody else in school - perhaps, just me, in a mild sort of way. So there I was, chatting with her over MSN, despite being just a meter away from her. Let's just say, with four and a half hours ahead of me, I couldn't really be bothered who I was chatting with.
Jeremy came to school and attempted to study Sociology for a while, but I suppose hunger took over him soon enough. After talking about the Philosophy assignment a little bit, we headed up to Megabites and had our lunch over topics like reality television, the same old army things, and then some. Joyce came to school a little earlier than usual today, sat around and became the target of our amusement, as guilty as I feel every time we do that. It was still fun, though, to find out who she'd like to have as her partner if she were to join the Amazing Race, or to talk about who we'd vote out if we were to be involved in Survivor (make a guess, the choice is obvious). My mind was still pretty much clouded by the gloom of the morning. Not just the storm but, the lightning that struck me in the hall that was the Nutrition mid-terms. The next time somebody mentions words like glucose, lactose, maltose or fructose, is going to get his "lipids" squeezed out of him with my bare hands. Anyway, it's just depressing, when you know that your other subjects are doing rather well, and yet you are tripping over this one module that you aren't even that interested in. At least everybody suffered together, and it is always encouraging to die as a crowd.
So, going back to the four and a half hours break, this is what usually happens. Without someone there to talk to, I usually open up my Macbook and take as long as possible to uncoil the charging cable, just to kill time. Then I take my own sweet time to put on my sweater, while the screen loads up to the desktop. This would kill about three minutes in total, and I'd be happy for a split second before checking out the time all over again. I'd look at the three wooden walls around me, and then imagine how it'd be like to be an office worker, trapped behind his cubicle for a whole day like that. It was a horrifying thought, and a thought I usually don't want to entertain for a very long time. So I'd stare at people's heads on the other side of the barrier, or look at what the person next to me is reading on his laptop screen. Of course, my own surfing around on the Macbook is inevitable, but then even that gets a little dry after some time. So I quietly air guitar underneath the table at times, if I don't have any work to hand up later, or just text a random somebody a random message over the phone. I have such an ability to waste time, and I have no reason why.
So, that is my Friday routine, every single Friday. Perhaps I should consider busking in school during those long hours, in between classes. You know, take out one shoe and place it in front of me while I sing away in a public place. I think you need some kind of license for that, but I suppose the school is a free place for you to do such things. I'd probably pick the atrium, or that stage next to the atrium. Maybe I'd pick the area in between the canteen and Megabites, or the pond so that I'd have a fixed and devoted fan base. That sounds like a neat idea, if only I have the guts to do it. Actually, I do have the guts to do it, but then I don't really see the need, or the sense in doing something like that. I think it should be encouraged for students to freely express their love for any art form around school, just as long as they do not destroy any public property in the process. You know, ruin a wall or destroy a water cooler, anything. Anyway, enough of my random ramblings. It is the weekends, so I suppose I shall rejoice a little before I hit the books for the plunge next week. It has been a bad start, but let's hope it only goes back up from here on out.
Post Post Rock
Friday, September 26, 2008
Post Post Rock
And you thought that post-rock as a musical genre doesn't get any better. Bands like Rachel's and Clogs comes in and slaps you across the face with their musical brilliance. This is how they did it: you take the elements of post-rock, slap it with classical instruments and music, then record everything in a subway station. Yes, that is where post post rock comes in, if I am making any sense at all. OK, it is a term I came up with myself, but their music is just jaw-dropping good. It just seems like for most musical genres out there, taking a step or two beyond the norms is just the winning formula. I am not familiar with the genre of hip-hop, but apparently the best underground hip-hop nowadays aren't even hip-hop at all. I love trip-hop, and it is derived from hip-hop somewhere down the line as well, and look how amazing it is. Anyway, here's a song called 5/4 by Clogs. Hold your jaw.
Theories
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Theories
Supposedly, by the time we are done with this college deal, we would have boosted our vocabulary bank by about twenty thousand words, imagine that. Most of these words are probably going to be the result of a bunch of theories, and specific words from these theories you are going to learn from various courses. Some of these words aren't even going to exist in a modern dictionary, but you are forced to learn and remember them anyway, because apparently scientists and theorists operate in a different universe from ours. I wonder how many children grew up wanting to have their names appear in textbooks and academic journals, you know, instead of wanting to be policemen or actors. They probably are not really into guns and catching thieves, or all the attention you get when you are on the silver screen. Perhaps it works better if you enjoy long hours of solitude and feel the need to marry your lab rat instead of a real human being. Textbooks and lecturers like to tell you about theories, theories, and even more theories. Some of these theories are interesting, though not practical. Some of these theories are practical, though not interesting. Most of them, however, are just impractical and uninteresting all packaged into one giant gift bag of boredom.
Supposedly, by the time we are done with this college deal, we would have boosted our vocabulary bank by about twenty thousand words, imagine that. Most of these words are probably going to be the result of a bunch of theories, and specific words from these theories you are going to learn from various courses. Some of these words aren't even going to exist in a modern dictionary, but you are forced to learn and remember them anyway, because apparently scientists and theorists operate in a different universe from ours. I wonder how many children grew up wanting to have their names appear in textbooks and academic journals, you know, instead of wanting to be policemen or actors. They probably are not really into guns and catching thieves, or all the attention you get when you are on the silver screen. Perhaps it works better if you enjoy long hours of solitude and feel the need to marry your lab rat instead of a real human being. Textbooks and lecturers like to tell you about theories, theories, and even more theories. Some of these theories are interesting, though not practical. Some of these theories are practical, though not interesting. Most of them, however, are just impractical and uninteresting all packaged into one giant gift bag of boredom.
Like some of you may know, I loved COM231 despite the fact that I did the worst in that topic. PHI115 has been great so far (haven't lost a point), but you can't help but feel stupid by the end of every lesson. I don't quite understand why we are taking sentences apart and then trying to group them into categories during a philosophy lesson but, I suppose everything is necessary for something. Conjunction sentences, disjunction sentences, conditional sentences, biconditional sentences, negations, and everything else in between and more. I can't believe I actually remember these very technical names, and I suppose this sentence is a compound sentence by itself. As you can see, this poison is deep, which goes to show that you are a full-blown college student. At least that is what I was telling Corinna, when she quoted from Karl Marx the other day, something to do with religion which she thought to be interesting. The surprising thing was, I actually recognized the quote, which goes to show how much a college student I am at this point. When you see a Karl Marx quote that you recognize, you are probably a college student, no questions about that. While half your brain is dominated by sex, the other is probably dominated by a whole bunch of theories. This entry, is an entry about why some of those theories are plain stupid.
I remember the first economics lesson I had in junior college. You know, that first lesson when they taught you about scare resources and opportunity costs? Whatever was "opportunity cost" anyway, the words pieced together don't even make much sense at all. That is until the lecturer explained to us the meaning behind this little term, though we could probably explain it as "something you'd lose if you choose A instead of B". Simple, direct, straight-forward terms, but the economists don't really like those. In fact, the entire scientific community don't really like the idea of simple, direct, straight-forward language. It is made worse when some of these scientists disagree with one another, and they come up with their own terms to define the very same thing. Enough that these theories are confusing the hell out of us and killing a billion brain cells everyday, they have to include even more terms to explain the very same theory. Somebody needs to come up with a standardized system soon, or else someone is getting a test tube up their rear. Or worse, a beaker!
So, back to the point I was trying to make. I remember the first economics lecture I had, and the lecturer told us about how a lot of what we were going to learn is going to revolve around theories. At that age, that naive age, I used to think that theories were the absolute, that they were correct. I thought that you could whip out a theory in an argument and then slap that person across the face, although the idea of contradicting theories never actually came to mind. So there I was, sitting at the back of the class, thinking about the potentials of theories when the lecturer told us that almost none of what we were going to learn is going to be applicable in reality. That is to say, whatever that I learned for two years in junior college during economics lectures were practically useless in the real world, and that they were merely theories to be considered. "Things work very differently in the real world" he explained. "But you have to learn these anyway". I wondered to myself, if it was possible to skip all the theories and then jump straight to the real world stuff instead.
Of course, the Singaporean education system doesn't really want you to do that. They prefer to choke you with useless theories and then spit you out into the real world, starting from square one. If theories are actually applicable and practical in real world situations, then degree holders would emerge out of universities as being geniuses in the job markets, and people don't really like that. People don't like competitions, or people who are too smart. A country full of idiots is infinitely easier to control than one with a bunch of geniuses, because the former group of people don't think very much. If your theories do not apply to the real world, which they don't, then you are going to start out in the real world as a new bird, or fresh meat. Square one, where everybody else knows more than you because they've been on the job for a much longer time. As you learn more and more of these theories, you realize that they make great conversational topics, if you are into talking about those things over dinner, though they are not really applicable anywhere else. You don't argue the fundamentals of economics with the manager of a supermarket, he'd tape your mouth with price tag machines.
So, not all theories are applicable in real life. It's like that time in high school when they taught you about Pythagoras' Theorem. You know, the whole a-squared plus b-squared equals to c-squared thing, which is also how you find one side of a triangle when they only give you the length of two sides. It's pretty easy and straight-forward, one of those theories we learned in school that wasn't too hard on the brain to comprehend. But if you think about it, it really isn't that applicable in normal everyday lives. It is useful if you want to be a math teacher, and probably a must if you want to teach high school math, or if you are going to be a father and your son comes to ask you one day of a math question. That is as far as application goes for theories like that, and nobody actually uses them very often really. You don't go to a shopping mall and calculate sine, cosine, or tangent to the power of X, that's not what they have on price tags anyway. Queues would be so much longer if that is the case, and a lot less efficient too. People would be calculating how much a certain brand of coffee is instead of comparing that brand with another. It'd take forever to do so, which is why these mathematical theories aren't exactly practical.
Some are just sad attempts to explain the human condition as a whole. As a communication student, we always learn about relationships in between two human beings. It just seems like we are always trying to find the best way to co-exist with one another, when this so-called "best way" doesn't exist at all. A truly effective communicator doesn't exist, in my opinion. It's a myth, though we are all trying our very best to work towards it, because we are supposed to know the theories and the theories behind those theories. We learn about conflict resolutions,a and yet we always get into disagreements. If an IKEA user manual doesn't actually teach you how to put that new coffee table together, customers are really going to be very pissed off when they find out. They are probably going to burst the IKEA hotline just to complain about the faulty user manual, but nobody complains about theories that are supposed to explain why we are doing the things we are doing anyway. Like, that relationship theory this guy called Knapp came up with, and he charts how a relationship goes from the initiation stages, to the experimental stages, to the integration stages, and then gradually to the terminal stage. There are stages in between, but I cannot remember very well. It all seems pretty reasonable, but then you realize just how little sense it makes.
Not every relationship follows according to plan, some people skip that experimenting stage altogether. They jump straight to the top of the relationship and then they pack up and leave by morning - if you know what I mean. Most theories focus on how two people can get together anyway. There was this theory, I forgot the name of it, that mapped out the reason on why humans get together with one another and fall in love. A common workplace was one of them, which I found to be a little ridiculous. Perhaps I just prefer to separate love from work, or maybe it is the fear of meeting each other at work everyday despite a nasty break up. You know, seeing your ex-girlfriend in school every single day for every single class - that's got to suck. Of course, you don't go into a relationship thinking about such things, but then perhaps you really should be doing that. The thought of seeing each other day in and out in school is just mind-boggling to me. I need that distance, that desire to see somebody. I don't want to be able to see someone just by crossing over to the desk across the aisle when I want to. That's too easy, and it's just not very exciting.
Some relationship disintegrates really fast, they don't follow step by step. You could try, the next time you break up, to go through the steps. "I'm sorry, but according to Knapp we cannot go straight to termination. We have to follow the rules!" It doesn't work that way, you might get a tight slap if you attempt to do so. Some relationship ends real quick, from the highest to the lowest, just like that. No questions asked, no sweat broken, just two words and it is over. If you really want to believe that being in the same environment with somebody truly makes the heart grow fonder, then you should also believe in Freud that girls grew up with a penis envy too. I don't think girls are very envious that we have this ugly thing hanging in between our legs, or those two other things that hang behind that first ugly thing. No, they are really not that envious, and I think Freud really only wanted to get closer to little girls back then. Anyway, theories are not exactly accurate, and they could conflict with one another. The point is, don't take everything on surface value, and don't trust whatever the school tells you. Question, then question some more, because that is the only way to derive at your own theories, your own relative truth.
Dear Mister McCain
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dear Mister McCain
Yeah, me too.
Dear mister McCain, can I call you John? I will call you John. So, John, I want to be completely frank and honest with you, right from the start. I don't want you to win, nor do I like your campaign very much. Much like how I began the last blog entry that was addressed to Obama, I must emphasize again that I used to be a person who stays away from the politics. Politics of any kind, whether or not it happens in a Parliament (in the case of my country) or in schools. Politics messes up everything, kind of like how any mainstream music messes up a party. I dislike politics and politicians, but your opponent came into the game and gave the rules a brand new twist. Suddenly, I am into politics, but I am still not so much into politicians though, and it is exactly because of people like you and the people that are helping you run this sleazy and rotten campaign. This is a campaign that is built almost completely full of lies, and you are lying to the rest of the world just to make yourself less of a fool, though you really are making yourself a bigger one. If 44% of the Americans can't tell the facts from the lies, the rest of the world can. And we are laughing at your stupidity, right this moment.
This is what my mother taught me, she taught me that you have to tell a dozen lies to cover up just one lie. Here's the problem: if you tell more lies to cover up one lie, you'd have to tell even more lies to cover up those lies. Problems are going to snowball to biblical proportions, and you are going to be lying your butt all the up into the White House, if we are unfortunate enough. Hypothetically speaking, just hypothetically speaking, let's say that you do get yourself into the Oval Office, sitting there and then giving your speeches to the camera and looking smug. That "maverick" side of you is probably going to lie about a whole lot of other things, and then you are going to march down the path of insanity by bombing Iran - how smart. But of course, you will then blame it all on your memory, or your skin cancer problems, or maybe your wife because she just seems to disposable from where we are. Anyway, it was all hypothetical, so you really don't have to worry about it coming true - you are still going to get to keep those houses and cars she bought. I am just saying, that if a person is willing to lie about everything just to be elected, what other things is he willing to lie about when he gets all the money and the power in the world?
Look, John, I am not saying that you are a bad person, I really don't think you are. In fact, I don't even think your good friend George is a very bad person either. Actually, Michael Moore will disagree with me, but I have to say that I'd be willing to spend an afternoon with that guy, if he wasn't a president or, if he hadn't sent so many soldiers into a foreign country to die for oil. If he was George from around the corner, I'd probably enjoy a coffee or two, sure. But he isn't, but that doesn't mean he has horns hidden in his white hair and has a picket underneath his suit either. And neither are you, although you agree with him 95% of the time, checked and rechecked three times. I don't think you people are bad people at all, but all those people who are working for you, are making very bad decisions for you. These imps of yours are throwing out their morals and their values just to have you trucked into the White House, and that does not disturb you at all? The only thing left that they haven't attempted involves a pistol and a few bullets, and you wouldn't want an election to turn into that, now would you? Seriously, they have done everything else in this campaign that you can't help but be disappointed at the country as a whole.
I love your country, I really do. You guys have awesome television shows, brilliant movies, and more than half of the music that I listen to come from your country. There isn't a reason for me to hate your country, but there are times when I can't help but feel extremely disappointed. It's just that, I feel there are greater issues for the people to be worried about, to be concerned over. It shouldn't matter if Obama was from a Muslim school, or that his pastor may be racist. It doesn't matter if he supposedly called your running mate a pig with lipstick (he didn't). Don't you think we have greater issues to talk about, especially in a time like this. We have one of the greatest financial crisis in the history of mankind, and it has been happening for an entire week. All you have done is to tell us just how incompetent your opponent and what he has done to contribute to the crisis, while your opponent has been calling for support and cooperation? People have their priorities completely wrong this time around, putting other trivial and unimportant things above what is really important. It really doesn't matter, and shouldn't matter, the faith and religion of a candidate. What matters is his policies, what he wants to do and can do for the country. It's just shameful for you, a 72 year old man, to be using childish and immature lies on your opponent like that. You might as well say that he has a poo-poo face, we wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.
I'd like to see an election whereby the people are not choosing which candidate is less screwed up than the other. I'd like to see an election that involves two candidates that are both qualified for the job, candidates who make it too difficult for us to choose because we can't have one without the other. That'd be an election I'd like to see, one that is based purely on policies and not on who is worse than the other. The fight between the both of you are just like two children fighting in a playground over whose sand castle is taller. It is childish, but you guys are doing it anyway. You, however, are the one who is making all the fat jokes and all the ones that deal with the other boy's mother - that's not good, and that's just dirty. There is a limit as to how thick-skinned you can be even as a politician, limits that you cannot cross because everybody has their eyes on you. It's just depressing to see that you cannot care less that people actually have brains to think and process what you say on television. Do you seriously think that Obama wants to teach kindergarten children about sex, do you seriously think so? Or did someone underneath you come up with that great idea, and you are just appearing on that Barbara Walters show to cover your butt?
I think, and I honestly think so, that your running mate is a nice lady. She looks like a nice person, like a friendly neighbor, or a friend's mother who asks you about you day when you are over at his place. She is a stark contrast from who you are and what you stand for, but at the same time I feel that what you are doing is unfair, both to her and the rest of the world in general. You know your health is not holding steady, you know that yourself very well. She is a heartbeat away from taking over your role to rule the country, but then you picked her just because she has the potential to suck out the votes of white female in America? That is just unfair, and using her as your election puppet is just plain cruel. But shame on her, as well, for agreeing to be your puppet. It is one thing to be a puppet, like your supporters, it is another to be a puppet when you know about your strings. But you do nothing about those strings, at least she didn't. She embraced those strings, she loves the attention. She likes to be on stage and, showing the world her very own horrendous Disney cartoon of how, a hockey-mom turns into a vice-president candidate. She doesn't break free, she doesn't protest. She likes being toyed around by the white hair dude, you, and it's embarrassing.
We need change, and we really don't need the same. I don't want a president who jokes about bombing Iran, literally, or a president who thinks that "our economy is strong" and then change his mind three hours later and say "our economy is at risk". Make up your mind, old man, don't be swayed by those imps underneath you just because they think that what you said was inappropriate. Have an opinion, an original thought. Don't be like Dwight from The Office and always sniffing Michael's butt around. Who are you trying to please here, anyway, your good friend George? Which one, both? Well they are not going to spare you a dime from what they earned from the war, they are not going to do that at all. But that is a good thing, if you think about it. You really don't want anything to do with those blood money, let me tell you that. At least in our part of the way, we learn to say no to such things. You never know what a old businessman in a suit wants from you, especially when they are strangers. Oh, wait, you guys are no strangers to each other, you guys are friends 95% of the time! So, really, either you step out of the race or you stop being a lying son of a bitch. Thank you very much.
Sonics IX
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Sonics IX
Dirty Paper Cups by Hafis Huld
So music from Iceland doesn't necessarily need to be dramatically different from everything else on the market all the time. Bands like Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum have all defined a certain genre for themselves, but music from that tiny island in the north Atlantic does not necessarily have to be different to be good. Hafdis Huld is yet another artiste I found via that little adventure I had with Cedric - whoever you are. Anyway, Hafdis Huld is a lot like Hanne Hukkelberg in a way, only her musical style is perhaps a little more quirky and fun. Her voice is pretty distinct, very special in her own rights, and her songs are usually the kind of songs you'd want to listen to on your way to work in the morning. Cheerful, happy, and these two words do not necessarily need to lead to cliche when it comes to music. A lot of people are against happy music, and understandably so as well. It just seems to pretentious to write happy music, pretending to be happy when you are really not. It's kind of like an unwilling cheerleader trying to cheer the crowd up when she has a hill of debts she has yet to pay up. Anyway, Hafdis Huld isn't exactly one of those eye-popping artistes in my library, but she does provide easy listening every once in a while. Pleasant, I'd say, and very interesting to see an icelandic artiste who is not out to be different this time around.
These two albums really deserve to be mentioned together, and for good reasons too. The songs Bruises by Chairlift and Around the Bend by The Asteroid Galaxy Tour are both used in the new iPod advertisements. The first for the new iPod Nano line, while the other for the second generation iPod Touch. One thing about Apple, is that they are always spot on when they pick songs for their advertisements, and this time they struck gold again. They are always giving us a glimpse into bands that we hardly know of, and you start to wonder why these bands are not more famous than they should be. Anyway, Chairlift is perhaps the more established of the two, with an actual album on iTunes while Around the Bend exists merely as a single. Some of the fans of Bruises may not like what Chairlift has to offer in the album, though. It seems to be drastically different for some reason, with Bruises being more like something Feist would have written. The rest of the album is based a lot more on alternative rock, I would say. The Asteroid Galaxy Tour really only has one song to boot, but at least it is a mind-blowing song. These two songs have been on repeat in my iPod for the longest time, and no surprises too. Click on the video below to check out Around the Bend! Thank God for indie bands!
Around the Bend by The Asteroid Galaxy Tour
Dirty Paper Cups by Hafis Huld
So music from Iceland doesn't necessarily need to be dramatically different from everything else on the market all the time. Bands like Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum have all defined a certain genre for themselves, but music from that tiny island in the north Atlantic does not necessarily have to be different to be good. Hafdis Huld is yet another artiste I found via that little adventure I had with Cedric - whoever you are. Anyway, Hafdis Huld is a lot like Hanne Hukkelberg in a way, only her musical style is perhaps a little more quirky and fun. Her voice is pretty distinct, very special in her own rights, and her songs are usually the kind of songs you'd want to listen to on your way to work in the morning. Cheerful, happy, and these two words do not necessarily need to lead to cliche when it comes to music. A lot of people are against happy music, and understandably so as well. It just seems to pretentious to write happy music, pretending to be happy when you are really not. It's kind of like an unwilling cheerleader trying to cheer the crowd up when she has a hill of debts she has yet to pay up. Anyway, Hafdis Huld isn't exactly one of those eye-popping artistes in my library, but she does provide easy listening every once in a while. Pleasant, I'd say, and very interesting to see an icelandic artiste who is not out to be different this time around. Albums by the band:
1) Dirty Paper Cups (2006)
F#A# (Infinity) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Here's the thing. If you are a Canadian musician, you are either really really really good, or really really really bad. On one side, we have the likes of Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, and Sum 41. Then on the other, we have Feist, Broken Social Scene, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I have been a fan of this band for a long time, but for some reason I never actually got around to this album. So I decided to check this album out, and I must say that it is as good, if not better than the other albums. Of course, nothing is going to dethrone Moya in a long time, but The Dead Flag Blues definitely comes close in doing that. Initially, I never liked the idea of each individual songs lasting over twenty minutes, I thought that idea to be ridiculous in every way possible. It's just troublesome to listen to a song for twenty minutes all the time, but that is not the case with this album. As with the tradition of most of their songs, it usually begins with a monologue. And, let's just say that this monologue is one of the best that I have ever heard. Aside from that, it draws you into the song, pulls you in with a rope into their dark, dark world. Godspeed You! Black Emperor paints a depressing and apocalyptic landscape, and then they spit you into their world without mercy. That is what their music does to you, this haunting roller coaster that never seems to end, and you are just drown in a strange sense of hopelessness and misery. Their songs do something to you on a subconscious level, I'm pretty sure of that. The low rumble in between different parts of songs and the silences - this is the epitome of art and brilliance.
Here's the thing. If you are a Canadian musician, you are either really really really good, or really really really bad. On one side, we have the likes of Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, and Sum 41. Then on the other, we have Feist, Broken Social Scene, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I have been a fan of this band for a long time, but for some reason I never actually got around to this album. So I decided to check this album out, and I must say that it is as good, if not better than the other albums. Of course, nothing is going to dethrone Moya in a long time, but The Dead Flag Blues definitely comes close in doing that. Initially, I never liked the idea of each individual songs lasting over twenty minutes, I thought that idea to be ridiculous in every way possible. It's just troublesome to listen to a song for twenty minutes all the time, but that is not the case with this album. As with the tradition of most of their songs, it usually begins with a monologue. And, let's just say that this monologue is one of the best that I have ever heard. Aside from that, it draws you into the song, pulls you in with a rope into their dark, dark world. Godspeed You! Black Emperor paints a depressing and apocalyptic landscape, and then they spit you into their world without mercy. That is what their music does to you, this haunting roller coaster that never seems to end, and you are just drown in a strange sense of hopelessness and misery. Their songs do something to you on a subconscious level, I'm pretty sure of that. The low rumble in between different parts of songs and the silences - this is the epitome of art and brilliance. Albums by the band:
1) F#A# (Infinity) (1997)
2) Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada [EP] (1999)
Rachel's album marks the very first time that I actually bought an album in a MP3 format. It was purely because I was desperate and needed their music, really bad. When you cannot find bands through illegal methods, you know that they are under the radar and are going to be hard to find. So I went straight to their official website, bought this album, and let's just say that I am completely blown away. This is a post-rock band with a twist - it is also a classical symphony orchestra. It's true. I've never thought of blending post-rock elements with classical music, and the end result is this soaring soundtrack that is fitting for a movie with an epic scale. The album is about eight characters going through a day of their lives in the city, and the band tells the story through instruments, at least predominantly so throughout the album. It does sound impossible, but the more interesting aspect would be how the band actually incorporated sounds of the city streets into the album to create this interesting depth and realism. This is probably one of the most classically based albums I have heard in a while, an album that isn't supposed to be from that genre at all. It blends elements of rock and classical music together so well that, you start to wonder if they were supposed to be together in the first place. This band is definitely one of those under-rated bands that nobody knows about - when they should. I admit, I clicked on their album in iTunes because of the strange album cover. But who cares, the fact is, I have the album. So, sucks to be you. 3) Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antenna to Heaven (2000)
4) Yanqui U.X.O. (2002)
TNT by Tortoise
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Listening to Tortoise after Godspeed You! Black Emperor is great, the contrast just perks you up infinitely. I have heard of Tortoise for a very long time, but I have never got around to check them out, for some reason. Tortoise is the kind of band that is hard to classify into any genre, because they are quite different from all the other bands around. Perhaps a little alternative, a little post-rock, but it is still hard to pin-point which. One thing is for sure, though, and that is if you like Explosions in the Sky, you'd like this band. They don't exactly go for the grandeur and the landscapes like Explosions in the Sky, but they are more like this underground band that does their own thing, careless of the world. I am very new to this band, and I've only listened to their album once through. The album starts out on a face pace, but things quickly dissolve into a rather minimal soundscape, though still keeping that basic tempo going. It is interesting, though at first random. It is difficult to get a hold of what the theme of the album is, or the general direction. It is full of surprises to say the least, and very involving. It works great in a long drive or, just chilling out in the bedroom alone. I won't recommend this album to just anybody, but let's just say that Tortoise is growing on me slowly. A similar band would probably be like Jaga Jazzist, but smoother and with more, funk and electronica perhaps.
Listening to Tortoise after Godspeed You! Black Emperor is great, the contrast just perks you up infinitely. I have heard of Tortoise for a very long time, but I have never got around to check them out, for some reason. Tortoise is the kind of band that is hard to classify into any genre, because they are quite different from all the other bands around. Perhaps a little alternative, a little post-rock, but it is still hard to pin-point which. One thing is for sure, though, and that is if you like Explosions in the Sky, you'd like this band. They don't exactly go for the grandeur and the landscapes like Explosions in the Sky, but they are more like this underground band that does their own thing, careless of the world. I am very new to this band, and I've only listened to their album once through. The album starts out on a face pace, but things quickly dissolve into a rather minimal soundscape, though still keeping that basic tempo going. It is interesting, though at first random. It is difficult to get a hold of what the theme of the album is, or the general direction. It is full of surprises to say the least, and very involving. It works great in a long drive or, just chilling out in the bedroom alone. I won't recommend this album to just anybody, but let's just say that Tortoise is growing on me slowly. A similar band would probably be like Jaga Jazzist, but smoother and with more, funk and electronica perhaps. Albums by the band:
1) Tortoise (1994)
2) Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters (1995)
3) Millions Now Living Will Not Die (1996)
4) TNT (1998)
5) In the Fishtank (1999)
6) Standards (2001)
7) It's All Around You (2004)
8) The Brave and the Bold (2006)
9) A Lazarus Taxon (2006)
Systems/Layers by Rachel's
Albums by the band:
1) Handwriting (1995)
2) Music for Egon Schiele (1996)
3) The Sea and the Bells (1996)
4) Selenography (1999)
5) Full On Night Split Disc with Matmos (2000)
6) Systems/Layers (2003)
7) Technology Is Killing Music [EP] (2005)
Does You Inspire You by Chairlift/ Around the Bend by The Asteroid Galaxy Tour
These two albums really deserve to be mentioned together, and for good reasons too. The songs Bruises by Chairlift and Around the Bend by The Asteroid Galaxy Tour are both used in the new iPod advertisements. The first for the new iPod Nano line, while the other for the second generation iPod Touch. One thing about Apple, is that they are always spot on when they pick songs for their advertisements, and this time they struck gold again. They are always giving us a glimpse into bands that we hardly know of, and you start to wonder why these bands are not more famous than they should be. Anyway, Chairlift is perhaps the more established of the two, with an actual album on iTunes while Around the Bend exists merely as a single. Some of the fans of Bruises may not like what Chairlift has to offer in the album, though. It seems to be drastically different for some reason, with Bruises being more like something Feist would have written. The rest of the album is based a lot more on alternative rock, I would say. The Asteroid Galaxy Tour really only has one song to boot, but at least it is a mind-blowing song. These two songs have been on repeat in my iPod for the longest time, and no surprises too. Click on the video below to check out Around the Bend! Thank God for indie bands! Albums by the band (Chairlift):
1) Daylight Savings (2007)
2) Does You Inspire You (2008)
Around the Bend by The Asteroid Galaxy Tour
Dear Mister Obama
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Dear Mister Obama
If these videos do not make it easier for you, as an American, to make a decision, then you do not have the right to be making a decision at all.
Jesus, locked and loaded.
Dear mister Obama, I am a college student from Singapore, halfway around the world from wherever you are right now. I am a communications student, and very little aspect of my life has got anything to do with politics or politicians. But here's the thing, your presence in the American political arena has given me a new level of interest with politics, when I usually detest anything or anybody who has got an inkling of relation with it. It's strange, and I am still getting used to the idea of me checking up on news in regards to the election, when I am not even eligible to vote in your country. In fact, I cannot care less about the politics here because there isn't such a thing as politics around here. Sure we have politicians, but they pretty much do whatever they want and, the people don't really have a say in a lot of things, although we are suppose to think that we do - we don't. You really only need to visit this country and take a cab from the airport to know the general view of things. The cab driver is not going to waste any time on small talks. He's going to update you on the way things work around here. We can have an election with no contest from the opposing party, and an eighty odd year old president who does nothing but kiss babies on television. So, there.
Anyway, Barack, can I call you Barack? I'll call you Barack. Like I said, I haven't been interested in politics, I think it is a great big dump filled with rotten people. Given, I still think that it is a great big dump filled with rotten people but, at least your presence has changed that perspective, somewhat. I feel very strongly about where you stand in the midst of all the bullshit that the politicians now stand for. It isn't the problem with the White House, or Washington, but that is the political climate all around the world. That is how politicians roll, they lie about everything to cover up their mistakes. Who doesn't like to have both money and power anyway, not a lot of people can keep their hands to themselves, they always want a little more. Especially when you can take a little more, you can't help but reach out. That is the type of politics all over the world, not just the White House now, the kind of dirty politics that can only be witnessed in really bad soap operas. But you know how it is, people are stupid all around the world. People would swallow anything thrown at them, in any manner, in any way. Hitler once said, that if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. That is probably what your opponent is aiming at, and I wonder how you keep your cool against such a low-life like him and his campaign.
I am thankful that you are keeping it clean, or trying your best to keep it that way anyway. I don't suppose attacks on each other can be fully prevented in times of war. And, by "war" I am talking about the campaigning of course, what did you think I was talking about? Anyway, the campaign, it's ugly. From where I am halfway around the world, the Republicans are lying politicians at their best, which is strange because politicians are already lying scum bags in the first place. That is like calling someone a stupid idiot, when it really should be either "stupid", or "idiot". Well, actually, calling somebody a stupid idiot does emphasizes on that person's stupidity. Getting back to the point, calling the Republicans a bunch of lying politicians is like saying that they are even bigger liars than liars. I do wonder if that is possible, but they have obviously crossed the line here. I mean, there are rules about elections, right, and there are stretched out truths that you can talk about in your advertisements. But you don't outright lie about something, and then lie about not lying in the very first place. That's a double lie, and that is the lesson my mother told me when I was younger: don't ever lie, because you'd have to tell more lies to cover that one lie up. The Republicans lied about everything, and now they are just wiping their butts with a piece of tissue that has your face on it.
I don't know how they do things like that and get away with it. You didn't want to teach kindergarten kids about sex, you wanted to teach them about sex predators. You didn't call Sarah Palin a pig with lipsticks, you were referring to the idea of changing Washington - I get that. The Republicans get that too, which is also why they are making blatant lies about you that I just cannot sit here and take it all in. Of course, things are not going to change because of one single blog entry from halfway around the world, written by someone who hasn't got a voice in this election at all. I am venting, and that is what I do best. So here I am, saying that the world will be doomed if someone like John McCain gets into the office. I am not that worried about that, actually, because his health is probably going to fail halfway through his presidency and have Sarah Palin take over the role as the president - oh, the horrors. It'd anger the Gods, like the way it already has pushed Him over the edge with all the legalized gay marriages. It is going to be jumping from a guy who doesn't know how to turn on the computer, to a woman who thinks that she can stand up to Putin just because she lives next door to Russia. Georgia is pretty close to Russia, look what happened to them.
From where the rest of the world is, the decision is pretty clear, Barack. To us, it should be you, and only you, and Joe, in the White House in November. The reason is simple to us: we do not want another stupid president ruling a country that affects the world all over. It's true, as much as people don't like to admit it, America affects the rest of the world in more ways than one. Even if America didn't invade Afghanistan or Iraq, its economy is still going to be vital to the health of the other economies around the world. We don't want a president who is president because he lied his way through the elections, that is not what we want. We don't want a person who hardly knows what he is talking about most of the time to be managing his country and, indirectly, the rest of the world. We don't want a person with serious health risks to be running for office, especially after experiencing four separate cases of skin cancer. We want to know that the words of a candidate is going to be carried out during his presidency, and not because he said those words to get elected. It is kind of like flirting with a girl in a bar with all the sweetest words, and then you leave right after you've get into her pants. So much for the promises. Unless, of course, "straight talk" means "talking without processing the thoughts through the brain".
I think the world should vote, instead of just the Americans. I'm sorry, but I don't think such a decision should be left to just the Americans because, let's be frank here, the fact that someone like John McCain is that close to you in the polls speaks a lot about what goes on in the minds of a lot of Americans. It is an easy choice from all the way around here, it's kind of like picking between apples and dirty socks to eat for a snack here, really. It's simple, really, and it is amazing how there are still percentages of people who are "undecided". If at this point, at the end of September, you still cannot decide between apples and dirty socks, then something is seriously wrong with you. I'd go for the apples, but I am not sure about you. Maybe you have a fetish for dirty socks, you like to smell them and rub them on your crotch, who knows. But I like my apples, and I like them a lot. If it is such a hard decision to make, then you don't even have the right to make a decision. If it was down to me, though, I won't even vote in the first place. I don't want to be responsible for a lousy and incompetent president in the future, I don't want to be a part of the fifty percent of the population that voted an idiot into the oval office. I want to reserve the right to complain because I didn't vote, because not voting is a vote by itself. But if I have to, though, it'd be you Barack, it'd be you.
Of course, American politics, it really is none of my business. I've only really been to America once in my life. I remember Los Angeles very well, and Disneyland no less. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people, but you got to admit that there are times when you just want to shake some sense into people and have them wake up, you know? Just a few days ago, I saw the video of a woman speaking of a government conspiracy when she saw a small rainbow being formed in her backyard by her garden sprinklers - how stupid do you have to get to know that it is the cause of light refraction and not because of some secret plot to poison the Americans. And we are supposed to have these people decide for the rest of the world who gets to be elected? Sometimes, I think people should earn the right to vote, things really shouldn't be as simple as being a citizen of a country at the age of twenty-one. It should involve an I.Q. test of some kind, or at least know what a "light refraction" is. I am surprised that she didn't look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, because I have a feeling she believes in all that mumbo jumbo.
So yes, the American elections, the result is going to be revealed in less than two months. I hope dearly that you will win, I really hope that you do. You are now about four points away from John McCain, let's not screw up at this point or have him bring you down, man. I can imagine how America would be like if the Republicans are going to be running for the next four, or maybe eight years. It'd probably be like the picture above really, with the Republicans thinking themselves to be God and then running the world with machine guns. That has been the case for the past eight years, and it might be the case for the next eight years if we actually make yet another wrong decision. Eight years, like you said, really is enough, and I'd like to see you in the office because, well, I just want to see you bitch slap those racist yokels, figuratively speaking of course. So, do whatever you can within your principles and morals, and try to win this time around, OK? I'm serious, America does not need another George W. Bush. We don't need another George W. Bush. Worse, a George W. Bush who has Alzheimer's. He could invade Iran, mistakenly launch nuclear missiles to Moscow, and then forget about it by lunch. It'd be the end of the world, as we know it. Please, Barack, please win.
If these videos do not make it easier for you, as an American, to make a decision, then you do not have the right to be making a decision at all.
Fake Music Videos
Fake Music Videos
It's Sunday, so I won't expect you to do the following. But have you ever woken up at six in the morning and then watching those cringe-worthy music videos produced by some advertising company for the government's purposes to glorify and venerate the country? Well, I have woken up at six in the morning to watch those cringe-worthy music videos to glorify and venerate the country before, and they are really very cringe-worthy if you ask me. I remember the images of those children throwing paper airplanes, old people smiling, army boys trotting through a desert with green camouflage on their faces, which defeats the whole purpose of having a camouflage in the very first place. You think that the enemy won't notice bushes moving through a desert which, according to tradition, is brown? It's a ridiculous and stupid music video with the national anthem in the background, a tool by the government to instill values and ideas into the minds of many who happen to wake up at six in the morning. They always tell you that ideas are best instill at young, which is why patriotism is passed on from teachers since kindergarten. You know, standing upright during morning assemblies to sing the national anthem and to say the pledge. You won't get the same effects if you start it in high school, I can tell you as much.
It's Sunday, so I won't expect you to do the following. But have you ever woken up at six in the morning and then watching those cringe-worthy music videos produced by some advertising company for the government's purposes to glorify and venerate the country? Well, I have woken up at six in the morning to watch those cringe-worthy music videos to glorify and venerate the country before, and they are really very cringe-worthy if you ask me. I remember the images of those children throwing paper airplanes, old people smiling, army boys trotting through a desert with green camouflage on their faces, which defeats the whole purpose of having a camouflage in the very first place. You think that the enemy won't notice bushes moving through a desert which, according to tradition, is brown? It's a ridiculous and stupid music video with the national anthem in the background, a tool by the government to instill values and ideas into the minds of many who happen to wake up at six in the morning. They always tell you that ideas are best instill at young, which is why patriotism is passed on from teachers since kindergarten. You know, standing upright during morning assemblies to sing the national anthem and to say the pledge. You won't get the same effects if you start it in high school, I can tell you as much.
Anyway, so they start bright and early every single morning, how smart! The same goes for those hidden curriculums in schools, the ones that want you to be nice to people, to help the old people cross the road and stuff like that. You know, such things begin young, because they tend to stay with you longer if you start young. I mean, they even have a subject in school called "Civics and Moral Education" to teach you about your morals and have you be civilized citizens. Cartoon pictures of you helping an old lady across the road, to give up a seat in the train, basically just be nice to the needy. They always do that, and I agree that is what we should be doing. But how often do we not see people letting the old people cross the roads themselves, or people not giving up seats anyway. They pretend to go blind at road junctions or they just fall asleep on trains. Somehow, all those cartoon pictures in the textbooks translated to being completely ignorant to those in need of our kindness, what's up with that? I hate old people on public transports, not because they smell funny but because I can never sit there and watch the old people fight against gravity with their own two feet on buses. I always have to give up my seat, and I hate it when I have to give in to my moral values.
But what can I say, I suppose I am a nice guy. Every once in a while, people do nice things, not because schools taught them to do it but, because it is the right thing to do. We try to be nice to the unfortunate people in our societies, we try to give in to them because we have some things that they don't. Let's talk about the handicapped people in our society for a while, which is really why I started this entry in the first place. It doesn't matter if you were born without legs or if they were blown of by some mine in Vietnam. As long as your legs are not in their rightful places, you qualify for certain benefits in our society. You can request for that young punk to push you across the street or, to have people give way to you in MRT stations. That is the reality of things, you lose some privileges and you gain some privileges, that's how it works in our society. Because the government feel bad about not giving you that extra benefit, so they want you to feel equal by giving you benefits that we, as normal people, don't have. I am OK with that, in fact I support that cause all the way. But, the problem is, are they really being nice to these people or are they just being pseudo-nice?
So, the Olympic games ended for around a month now, and some people in Singapore are still raving over that silver medal they won at the table tennis games. Sure, they lost out only to a Chinese player, and their names are probably going to appear in a couple of records somewhere, which is always nice. Also, you have to take into account that this is the first medal in over forty years for this tiny little country that we call Singapore, of course people were hysterical when they won the silver medal. Why wouldn't you be hysterical, if you've been waiting for a few of your countrymen to win a few pieces of metal things for your country. Oh, wait a minute, they actually aren't Singaporeans at all, just players that they bought from China. I have no problems with you sending players to China to train for table tennis, they are the top table tennis country after all. All five of the top five players in the world are from that country, what other evidences do you need? Japan sent their players to China to train under a Chinese coach, so did Korea. Singapore, however, decided to buy them over and play for Singapore, when they are really from some province in China who cannot afford a table tennis table in the first place. But the main reason to come here is for money anyway, because they pay better than China if you win over here. It's all about the money, glory comes in at a close second. But still, it's money.
Here is how it works. If you are a gold medalist in China, you get about twenty-five thousand dollars, and I have already translated that to local currency. That's not a lot in Singapore's context but, this is China we are talking about. However, if you win just a silver medal, you get seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars here. Here's the catch, though. If you win it yourself, you get to keep all the money to yourself, fair enough. However, if you win it with a bunch of people, you'd have to share it with this bunch of people. A few table tennis players won the silver medal this year, I think three of them, and they'd have to share the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars amongst themselves. That is about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars each, and now the prize money for gold in China just feels like the nickel you found underneath your bed while you were doing spring cleaning. It is a lot of money if you win a medal here, which is why the players were willing to come on over to play for another country. It makes sense, although there isn't exactly a lot of honor involved, from my perspective. To me, the only real deserving Singaporean winner of a medal was that first man who won the weightlifting medal back in the sixties - that's it. I mean, think about it. Given enough money, you can even buy Michael Phelps to swim for your country, what's the point in that?
So, let's get back onto the main topic: handicapped people. The Special Olympics just ended, and I think Singaporeans did a whole lot better there. People don't care about the Special Olympics though, there isn't as much money involved in watching a bunch of handicapped people compete against one another. It's interesting, but only for some time. People don't run as fast, swim as fast, things are just not very exciting, and it certainly doesn't help the ratings on television very much. But, like I said, Singaporeans did very well in the Special Olympics, grabbing a whole bunch of silvers and golds in various events. I am not familiar with the events but, I saw an article in the papers a few mornings ago and was pleasantly surprised. Here we have a whole bunch of people with obvious physical disabilities, winning international sporting events for their country, and doing very well! These are homegrown, homebred, homemade Singaporeans we are talking about, and the nation should be really proud of them. Well, the newspaper certainly is very proud of them, since they gave a whole page to them that morning, not to mention the fancy graphic designs in the background to celebrate their wins. However, try to make a guess at the amount of money they are getting. Really, make a guess. The answer? Zilch - nothing.
That's right, they are not getting any money for their efforts or their achievements, whatsoever. Which is strange, because I think they need it way more than those hired athletes from China, truth be told. Some of them probably pay an obscene amount for their medical bills, and they probably need more care than an ordinary person would need. More medical bills also translate to more money, so I am not sure why their achievements are not rewarded with the same amount of cash money. Sure, you can always argue that it shouldn't be about money in the first place, but shouldn't the hired players not get any prize money if that is indeed the case. I mean, these people aren't even getting half the prize money, they are getting zero for all their efforts - why? I thought sending a team to any international sporting event is supposed to be a glorious thing, to represent, right? I mean, you don't encourage people to reach out to their goals, to be something that they weren't born into, then not reward them in any way once they've reached there, right? I am sure they didn't exactly start out for the money, but still. It's just incredibly unfair and disgusting - yes, disgusting - to treat these people like that.
Similarly, you don't teach the young children in school to treat old people nice, to be thoughtful towards the less fortunate, when you cannot give two shits about whether or not they put the name of their country on an international scoreboard. Maybe that's why people pretend to fall asleep on buses and trains, maybe that's why old people have to fend for themselves when they are crossing the road. Because they know that whatever the textbooks said in the past are just fluff, they are just empty words brought to you by the government, things that they preach about when they can't even execute. They are rich enough, they are very rich. So this is what you do to these people. You take their pictures, you make a few articles about them, you put them collectively in a newspaper, and then that's the end of it. The rest of their lives on this planet, they still have to fend for themselves because they haven't got enough money to, I don't know, do things. Great work, Singaporean government, great work.
So the next time you wake up at six in the morning to watch those fake music videos, remember also that with every smiling old man and every laughing young child throwing paper airplanes, there is a crippled athlete somewhere who won a gold medal and cannot be taken care for by the government because they cannot be bothered. Oh, the rousing drums and the choir in the music video, all the inspiring images of people being happy and contented with the country. Every country is flawed, you have to admit that. It doesn't make you perfect just because you have the best airport, the best airline, and supposedly the longest tunnel in Asia. It really doesn't work that way, because I have been to old folks' home and places like that, people there are obviously not being taken care of. You always talk about, being nice and caring towards the less fortunate. Well, you are not very nice yourself, so that's that. Yeah well, things are unfair around here but, you are not making it nicer anyway. I just think that these people are truly the ones who deserve the recognition. At least they were born here, and not bought from some other country for your own selfish purposes. Apparently, you only need to function properly as an ordinary human being, and it doesn't matter if you are Singaporean or not. It's just sad, it really is. And, disgusting.
Those Seniors
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Those Seniors
It's like moving into a new house, only it really isn't a new house. Getting used to a new school is like moving on into your new house with your old habits. You know, that smell that hits your face the moment you push the front door open, that smell of dust and new paint makes you nauseous and yet excited all at the same time. So you start to move your furniture into the new house, you throw away some of the older ones and buy new ones, because you can. After about a month or two, the once empty and abandoned house now has a semblance of a home, and you feel proud of yourself. So you sit yourself down on the new couch, careful not to leave bread crumbs in between the sofa cushions, or to topple a glass of apple juice on the carpet. That's really because everything is new, and you tend to be a little more careful with whatever you do around the house. You even speak softer because you are afraid that being too loud might shatter a glass somewhere. You don't want to jump around to your favorite song on the radio because even the neighbor downstairs are new. However, this elevated sense of caution really only lasts for so long, until you bring your bad habits along with you.
It's the same as getting used to a school, you know, you bring your old habits along when you get comfortable - too comfortable. You start to leave your dishes unwashed in the sink, the clothes start to gather in a pile on your bed, and then the cigarette butts are spilling over the edge of the ash tray. But you cannot care less any longer, because you are no longer in that new house, you are just in a house. There's a difference, you know, and my father would testify to that. He lives in a designer's house in Taiwan right now, and by that I mean that he spent quite a load of cash on renovations. It is a posh house, really simple and elegant I must say, but you can never rid a fifty year old person of his bad habits. The first thing I noticed when I got back to Taiwan in August was that bicycle he won in a lucky draw, just leaning against the dining table. Then there were the cardboard boxes that were piled on top of one another in the kitchen, empty ones that he saved for no apparent reasons at all. So I cleared out the boxes in the kitchen and rolled the bicycle into the laundry area, all with my socks still on - imagine that. I'm just saying, that once you get comfortable with a place you are in, you get too comfortable and, well, your bad habit comes through.
I have nothing against my seniors in school, in fact I think they are a fun bunch of people to be around with. Or, at least that is what I can tell from the brief interactions I have had with them. They are nice, really nice, but then you know how they can be at times, getting too comfortable with everything and, not giving the kind of respect a lecturer may deserve. It was philosophy class and there was Angelica, with her enlarged belly and a three month old baby inside. I don't know much about pregnant people, in fact I know very little about pregnant people. I do, however, know very much about the process in which one gets pregnant, but that's besides the point. I know of a little bit, though, and one of it is definitely the mood swings and the inability to function properly. Blame it on the hormones, the baby messes up everything in your body and makes you look bloated for nine months. I suppose if anybody is pregnant and still has to lecture a class, the last thing she wants is to have a class of students who have gotten a little too comfortable with the atmosphere, if you know what I mean. I could tell that there was a dark cloud forming on top of her head, the way she grasped the piece of paper and the way her forehead folded into a frown. They were pushing it, but it's not like the occasional "shh" sound from the rest of the study body did anything to settle things down either.
I am guilty of that, but not exactly in a classroom situation. In fact, I don't suppose I speak for myself, but everybody out there who has a social life. You get to know a group of people, and you try to be the best that you can and you speak carefully, so as not to offend anybody, right. You don't see a cross hanging around someone's neck and then make fun of his religion the first time you meet him. That's just the epitome of social suicide, I feel, and people don't do such things. It takes a while, even if you do want to make fun of the religion, because that is what people do. You get to know, you integrate into his or her life, then you become comfortable with each other. This is the time when most people tend to do the wrong things, or say the wrong things, that's kind of how it happens anyway. Every accidental pregnancy occurred because of two people, a man and a woman, getting too comfortable in a bed, and that is what happens in a social life as well. You get comfortable with a group of people, sometimes you take them for granted, and you say the dumbest things to offend somebody. But you know, we are friends, we forgive each other. So we reflect, every once in a while, and you remind yourself that the mattress could be taken away from underneath you, and you could be back on the cold hard floor all over again.
But those seniors, sometimes they don't seem to learn. I believe I blogged about them a couple of months ago, probably in the second semester, about how obnoxious they can be in class. I don't exactly blame them, because it's not like they don't have the capacity to shut up - they do. It's just that, while you are trying desperately to listen to someone else talk, constant murmuring and laughter in the background can get very annoying. I am, by no means, like Jan. I am not "sensitive to noises" and "easily distracted". I think I deal pretty well with noise, but sometimes it just goes a little overboard, you know? I love Angelica, I really do. So to see her desperately trying to manage a class is simply heart-breaking, for me. The last time I blogged about a similar issue in regards to a similar group of people, though not entirely the same, was during Rosemary's lecture, the first time I experienced her utter stupidity. Here's the thing, I don't like Rosemary, but I had even greater issues with these obnoxious people that I had to blog about it. I even called three of them "pigs", if some of the more loyal readers of this blog still remembers. Thank you for staying around my life, by the way.
I don't know what is it with us humans, taking our bad habits around and then opening up the suitcase when we feel that it is the right place to do so, or when your butt feels comfortable in a certain spot. Obviously, most of us forgot to pack a pocket mirror or something like that to do some reflection, to see just how ridiculous and annoying you look every once in a while. It's fine if you are going to suddenly break into a hysterical laughter, but doing it constantly is just a little pushing it, don't you think? Aren't there better times to talk about your, well, whatever it was that you were talking about in your groups? You really could have waited, after all we did pay a lot of money to get to where we are right now. It's just irritating to see a whole bunch of people asking Angelica to clarify something when she has already clarified it about ten times. OK, maybe not ten times, but enough for someone with down syndrome to remember. She was going through the chapter coverage of the mid-term exams, and not every part of the textbook is covered. But there they were, asking her to repeat again and again when I've literally memorized the whole list myself.
Come on, people, get your act together. Stop talking, a little more listening, sometimes it helps you know. And no, asking questions like "So the last two parts are out right?" is still incredibly stupid when Angelica just said the words "Only the first four parts will be tested". Of course, keep in mind, she has already repeated those words about five times to random inconsiderate people around the lecture room. Isbandi was obviously on the verge of cracking the table in half, and I am sure one more stupid question would have pushed him over the edge. He was fuming, just sitting there next to me, with all the questions pouring in from behind. Yeah, Isbandi, I was sick and tired of their questions as well. I don't suppose if you are as inconsiderate in keeping quiet in class as you are deserve the right to have the lecturer clarify anything for you. It's like saying," I'm sorry Angelica, but I was talking trash loudly at the back of your class and completely missed what you said previously. Could you repeat it for the umpteenth time so that I can quickly go back to my loud and inconsiderate talking?" Seriously, some people need to get their priorities right.
I think we are all guilty of this. I mean, we've all been pointed out in class before, I'm sure. You know, not exactly paying attention, zoning out, or texting underneath the table. I have been called out to answer a question, on purpose I'm sure, when I was typing away on my Macbook in class, sure. Still, I don't suppose my typing on the Macbook actually disrupted the class in any way, or at least I can safely say that my inattentiveness remained within boundaries and did not cross the border in any way. I don't think my "zoning out" caused others to be annoyed, irritated, or whatever. We all do small talks in class every once in a while, but then the consistency of this people is just, well, unbelievable. I sometimes wonder how they keep up their act so well, but mostly on how much they can talk about in any one sitting. Look, you people have your cigarette breaks, why don't you do small talks during the cigarette breaks? Seems to make a lot of sense to me, what else do you do if you are not going to talk during cigarette breaks? Stare at each other deeply? Not during Angelica's class man, or during anybody's class. Some people really want to listen to the class, some people really really really do.