Tuesday, July 26, 2005
More old news...
A friend lent me this DVD which I finally got round to watching last night, called Confronting the Evidence: A call to reopen the 9/11 investigation. The first half of this lengthy 2hr40min video is simply looking at photographic evidence of the twin towers and pentagon attacks, where pretty interesting facts are pointed out. The DVD is based on a 9/11 anniversary conference (2004) comprising mostly of experienced research scientists, well established political authors/journalists and the general public. Its aim is not primarily to answer questions, but to bring to surface the ones that need asking; whether in a forensic or political context. Most people seem complacent with the information that the mass media feeds to them and buy into it at face value. Of course it's easy to turn a blind eye and believe everything is as straightforward as it is. Conspiracy theorists therefore don't usually receive great responses. Personally I'm not a fan of the conspiracy theorists who think the original moonlanding never happened. But, quoting from one of the guest speakers, a theory is only a theory until you have a single piece of evidence. Then it becomes possible and the more evidence, the more likely that theory is true. That is sort of the basis of the video which puts together both physical evidence and questions that the government has failed to address.
Confronting the Evidence: You can watch streaming video clips of the entire DVD FREE at their website www.reopen911.org.
It was stated that shortly after September 11, Condoleeza Rice made a speech claiming that they had evidence linking Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to the WTC attacks which they would shortly release. Up till date, no evidence has been formally released. So interestingly enough, the claim that Iraq had anything to do with this is in itself, a conspiracy theory too. The only difference is that Bush and his administration get to act on theirs and send thousands of American troops into a war half of America didn't want, and consequently resulting in the loss of many innocent lives.
Too lazy to navigate through their website?
"Confronting the Evidence" Online Video w/ Subtitles Windows Media Player with Subtitles (Windows & Internet Explorer only) PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5
Also reccommended: www.pentagonstrike.co.uk
Sunday, July 24, 2005
I PITY the fool!
Admittedly, alot of things from the 80's and early 90's are no longer 'cool' as they were when some of us were kids at the time, speaking of fashion, tv shows for example. Like when I see an episode of Knight Rider and realise after 10 years how cheesey the music actually is, or watching the Transformers movie and realising there is not a single second of the cartoon not being occupied by some weird synthesiser music. But today, I got a blast from the past at Heavy.com and discovered what Mr T did in his spare time while not out there kicking crime in the ass with his A Team and the ultra cool black van with the red streak. You would think that a black man who strolls the neighbourhood street today donning at least 5 kilos of "bling bling" would somehow have to be gang-related and boasting to be from the ghetto or gangster *cough*50cent*cough*. Or showing off their new low riders with extra backseat space for all them ho ho girls *cough*snoopdog*cough*. But here, Mr T, the baddest of the badass from the 80s, does the COMPLETE opposite. Still donning his jewellery neck accessories and mohawk, Mr T takes to the streets promoting moral values and good traits with a touch of his personal humour. Promoting treating your mother right comes complete with background singers with appropriate lyrics on....treating your mother right. That's right. Mr T does not advocate mentioning other people's mothers when it comes to smack talk. And definitely a favourite is his take on popular fashion culture...
"Hey. Everybody gotta wear clothes. And if you don't you get arrested. But that don't mean you gotta let some fashion designer in New York or Paris tell you what to wear. Clothes express your personality. So express yourself, and not someone else. Does Calvin Klein, etc wear clothes with your name on it?? No, of course not! So you tailor the label, and wear your own name." - Mr T on fashion advice (still very sensible coming from a walking jewellery store).
"Hey. Everybody gotta wear clothes. And if you don't you get arrested. But that don't mean you gotta let some fashion designer in New York or Paris tell you what to wear. Clothes express your personality. So express yourself, and not someone else. Does Calvin Klein, etc wear clothes with your name on it?? No, of course not! So you tailor the label, and wear your own name." - Mr T on fashion advice (still very sensible coming from a walking jewellery store).
Left Mr T: Fighting bad fashion sense.
Right Thefrogiwanttocrushintomushwithmyboot: Accused of crimes against what is left of sane humanity.
Some of his advice is not always practical, but who cares. So whether you feel like having a nostalgic experience or some moral ed classes/sesame st. specials, check out his clips, all inclusive with synthesiser music!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Lord of the Flies
You've been working on this deal for years. This meeting is the cumulation of hard work, sweat, tears. A potential partner sits across the table. He's got the cash you need to finally reach your dream. Numbers are flying around like flies. But that's not the only thing criss-crossing the room. A fly is flying like a fly, buzzing this way and that. It's hot. It's sweaty. The pressure is on. And that Goddamn fly won't go away. It keeps annoying your investor. Your partner. Your saviour.
And then it happens.
The potential partner stands up, screams profanities about the insects and walks out, taking with him your hopes and dreams.
What do you do?
Article by Simon World (20 July 2005).
You've been working on this deal for years. This meeting is the cumulation of hard work, sweat, tears. A potential partner sits across the table. He's got the cash you need to finally reach your dream. Numbers are flying around like flies. But that's not the only thing criss-crossing the room. A fly is flying like a fly, buzzing this way and that. It's hot. It's sweaty. The pressure is on. And that Goddamn fly won't go away. It keeps annoying your investor. Your partner. Your saviour.
And then it happens.
The potential partner stands up, screams profanities about the insects and walks out, taking with him your hopes and dreams.
What do you do?
Article by Simon World (20 July 2005).
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Singapore Rebel
Thanks to Steve McDermott at Singabloodypore for finding a link to a web-hosted video clip of the 'banned' documentary film Singapore Rebel. You can download it here. Hopefully it stays on the net unlike previous ones that were apparently pulled offline.
Clocking in at only 26 minutes, the film is not going to be your in-depth Bowling for Columbine or F9/11. Considering it was directed, written, edited AND filmed by one man alone, Martyn See, the amateur film is still definitely a nice starter to the politically-naive Singaporean. No narration is in this documentary, and perhaps 26 minutes is a bit short to really explore all the facts to really open up an interest in Singaporean politics for someone new. Anyway, it's only a 105MB in size. It wouldn't kill you to spend some of your expensive highspeed broadband to watch this.
"...in order to get that kind of behaviour, for this flock [of sheep] to move away at dusk, you need three things, three factors. One, there must be fear. Two, you must deprive the indivdual animal of information. They must keep its head down and not look up. You must make sure that those that step out of line are quickly punished. And of course it helps to have a bunch of running dogs all around. The question is my friends, are we sheep?" - Dr Chee Soon Juan
Clocking in at only 26 minutes, the film is not going to be your in-depth Bowling for Columbine or F9/11. Considering it was directed, written, edited AND filmed by one man alone, Martyn See, the amateur film is still definitely a nice starter to the politically-naive Singaporean. No narration is in this documentary, and perhaps 26 minutes is a bit short to really explore all the facts to really open up an interest in Singaporean politics for someone new. Anyway, it's only a 105MB in size. It wouldn't kill you to spend some of your expensive highspeed broadband to watch this.
"...in order to get that kind of behaviour, for this flock [of sheep] to move away at dusk, you need three things, three factors. One, there must be fear. Two, you must deprive the indivdual animal of information. They must keep its head down and not look up. You must make sure that those that step out of line are quickly punished. And of course it helps to have a bunch of running dogs all around. The question is my friends, are we sheep?" - Dr Chee Soon Juan
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Suddenly It's Cool to be Uncool
So it seems after popular culture hijacked gay culture and spawned metrosexuals, the masses seem to have found a new victim to leech off on; the "uncool" people. The recent trend seems to have dorks becoming self-proclaimed dorks, but inevitably drawing 10 posers for every real nerd that exists.
CNN - "The O.C.," a TV show popular with teens, has Seth, a comic-book loving nerd played by actor Adam Brody. Bands such as Weezer also feed off the dork image, complete with horn-rimmed glasses and a song about being OK with not fitting the Beverly Hills mold. "Napoleon Dynamite" has a fan club; its Web site claims 150,000 members.
And, increasingly, people are parading around in shirts that say "Dork Pride!" among other things. Such items have gotten so popular that CafePress.com, an online merchandiser, has created a special category for shirts and other items celebrating geeks, dorks and nerds.
Speaking of The O.C., please don't ever attempt to watch the tv drama One Tree Hill. If you hated The O.C., (which I didn't mind really despite it being soap opera for the teenies) YOUR EYES WILL BLEED FOR DAYS if you see One Tree Hill. As did mine. I downloaded one episode just to check it out and the viewing experience was somewhat similar to vomitting and then trying to eat your vomit, if only your eyes could vomit. It is an epitome of canned tv entertainment for the masses that is 100% proccessed by a team of monkey scriptwriters. So unless you have an appetite for ultra corny/cheesey one-liners, painfully predictable conversations, good boys that pretend to be bad boys, and tv shows where mothers and daughters look like they could be siblings, then this is your luxury buffet. Otherwise don't say I didn't warn you. I'd put fresh batteries into my remote control just in case...
CNN - "The O.C.," a TV show popular with teens, has Seth, a comic-book loving nerd played by actor Adam Brody. Bands such as Weezer also feed off the dork image, complete with horn-rimmed glasses and a song about being OK with not fitting the Beverly Hills mold. "Napoleon Dynamite" has a fan club; its Web site claims 150,000 members.
And, increasingly, people are parading around in shirts that say "Dork Pride!" among other things. Such items have gotten so popular that CafePress.com, an online merchandiser, has created a special category for shirts and other items celebrating geeks, dorks and nerds.
Speaking of The O.C., please don't ever attempt to watch the tv drama One Tree Hill. If you hated The O.C., (which I didn't mind really despite it being soap opera for the teenies) YOUR EYES WILL BLEED FOR DAYS if you see One Tree Hill. As did mine. I downloaded one episode just to check it out and the viewing experience was somewhat similar to vomitting and then trying to eat your vomit, if only your eyes could vomit. It is an epitome of canned tv entertainment for the masses that is 100% proccessed by a team of monkey scriptwriters. So unless you have an appetite for ultra corny/cheesey one-liners, painfully predictable conversations, good boys that pretend to be bad boys, and tv shows where mothers and daughters look like they could be siblings, then this is your luxury buffet. Otherwise don't say I didn't warn you. I'd put fresh batteries into my remote control just in case...
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Iron my shirt, bitch!
"...I think it’s time to go for a different feminist goal. I honestly think we should not be bothering with trying to gain equality. We should be aiming at world domination. We have the ability and the skills. I think the world would be a much better place if women were the ruling powers. I think, on the whole, women are much smarter than men, and more clever. The only reason we haven’t taken leading roles in the past is because male dominated cultures and religions suppressed women and make them believe they were not as smart as men and needed men to protect and take care of them. Much of this paternalistic attitude lingers." - Cait, comment at Yummy Wakame.
Say yes to equality. No to potential dictators. 
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
I Hate Music
I discovered this amusing blog a long time ago via SomethingSomething but I've recently came back to it to find my "re-appreciation" of this music critic. Tanya Headon, author of the blog, has an impressive archive of music reviews, all of which earn an automatic rating of negative 5 stars. It's an interesting perception of "world class" songs all being on the same level as Britney Spears by someone equally difficult to perceive as having no musical-liking as well.
My name is Tanya Headon and I hate music. All of it. The purpose of this weblog is a simple one: to detail, week on week, the failings and infinite wretchedness of the stuff, building into an encyclopaedia of musical badness.
Much of this music will generally be called 'good' by critics. Some of it you might be a fan of. Rather than get offended, think of this as the virulent opposite of all those smarmy Record Guides with their star rankings and chin-stroking critical weightings. Here, everything gets one star.
If you feel the need to disagree with me, you may. However, it is worth pointing out that while I have every respect for your musical taste, you are wrong.
Some reviews I have seen include The Darkness and Britney Spears. It's always great to see someone put out on the internet the overly-deserving opinions that I was never able to express in words. But if you visit her website, don't say I didn't warn you that at least one of your favouritest bands will be on that shitlist. Agree or disagree, it's all just for fun.
"I'm too famous now to link to anybody, or that's what my publicist tells me." - Tanya Headon (I HATE MUSIC)
My name is Tanya Headon and I hate music. All of it. The purpose of this weblog is a simple one: to detail, week on week, the failings and infinite wretchedness of the stuff, building into an encyclopaedia of musical badness.
Much of this music will generally be called 'good' by critics. Some of it you might be a fan of. Rather than get offended, think of this as the virulent opposite of all those smarmy Record Guides with their star rankings and chin-stroking critical weightings. Here, everything gets one star.
If you feel the need to disagree with me, you may. However, it is worth pointing out that while I have every respect for your musical taste, you are wrong.
Some reviews I have seen include The Darkness and Britney Spears. It's always great to see someone put out on the internet the overly-deserving opinions that I was never able to express in words. But if you visit her website, don't say I didn't warn you that at least one of your favouritest bands will be on that shitlist. Agree or disagree, it's all just for fun.
"I'm too famous now to link to anybody, or that's what my publicist tells me." - Tanya Headon (I HATE MUSIC)
Reiterating stupid culture
So today I made another trip down to Friendster town. I held my eyes shut and logged in to avoid being blinded by stupidity, which never seems to work. Some might say it's metaphorically literally like jumping into a pond of shit. Inevitably after clicking on a friend's profile, a glance at 'Popular searches in xxxx's network' showed this.
Stupid people search stupid things.
Number 2 is a horny bastard.
Number 4 gets 1 stupid point for being a horny bastard and 10 stupid points for not knowing how to spell "naked". He is obviously looking for the Sarong Party Girl.
Number 4 gets 1 stupid point for being a horny bastard and 10 stupid points for not knowing how to spell "naked". He is obviously looking for the Sarong Party Girl.
Number 6. I'll admit not being much of a club-goer, but surely this is not the 70s anymore where John Travolta has his weekday leather, and then his Saturday Night Fever leather wardrobe.
Number 7 is another horny bastard.
Number 8 is a chinese 50cent wannabe.
Number 7 is another horny bastard.
Number 8 is a chinese 50cent wannabe.
Number 9 is an insecure girl who needs a quiz to determine 'true love'.
And I'm still contemplating if number 10 should take the dumbass award from number 4 for needing internet advice on how to do up his hair. Maybe he should do a search on how to grow a brain first before trying anything else.
And I'm still contemplating if number 10 should take the dumbass award from number 4 for needing internet advice on how to do up his hair. Maybe he should do a search on how to grow a brain first before trying anything else.
Maybe later we can braid each other's hair...
While Friendster might be a great way of finding long lost friends, or sometimes bumping into your long lost nemesis, it's still equally amusing when you receive an email with a subject title that reads with great enthusiasm,"Whew! XXXX really does like you on Friendster". Sometimes I wish they'd have an equivalent network for fiends who want to add each other to their shitlist. I'm sure the testimonials there would be 10 times more honest and 20 times more fun to read!
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Things to cross off my To-do list before I die...
Number 53: Be the only yellow guy at a rock/metal concert.
June 14th was my long awaited day to finally attend a REAL rock show. Despite having been to Sum41 and Hoobastank in Singapore, nothing beats the experience of finding yourself amongst other metalheads (not to mention hot goth chicks) headbanging to the sound of System of a Down. I was there with my brown skinned friend from Brunei and I think it's fair to say we stuck out like a sore thumb. We did try to play an asian version of 'Where's Wally' in the crowd while we waited for the band. Our failure to find 'Wally' proved either our fellow asian friends (and by asian, I mean asian-asian) were just to engrossed with their cantonese music to bother with some good ol' heavy metal, or they were too cheap to buy a £20 ticket.
The curtains fall and SOAD explodes onto stage.
The crowd was great. They ranged from young kids (who listen to too much angry music for their age) all the way to people who looked like they existed since the Metallica days. I think I may even have spotted a mom or two who were accompanying their kids; a definition of a cool mom! Or maybe not if she decides to annouce your curfew in front of the moshpit.
Unfortunately, my digital camera was too shitty to take any close-up shots because it didnt have a zoom. It's what you get when you buy things with f*cking reward points. Or if someone bought it with rewards points and THEN gave it to you for christmas.
My fellow gothic minions!!
So yes, the concert was better in every way compared to Sum41 and Hoobastank. Hoobastank was too commercialised because it was organised by a local bank although there were some pretty good opening bands doing covers for Muse and Pearl Jam. But some bitch behind me loved Hoobastank so much as to continuously jeer at the opening bands the whole time. Fucking women...they only go to rock shows if there's a pretty boy on stage. Sum41 was equally filled with teeny boppers (some innocent looking teens looked really..really misplaced in the moshpit) but was a classic example of how weird rock shows are organised in Singapore and geared towards optimum profit-making. The difference between a $100 moshpit ticket and a $50 standard ticket was a short fence away. It seemed quite bizarre that as I stood at the corner of the stage, the guy in front of me, but with a short barrier in between us, had paid $50 more. $50 is already daylight robbery. And just to rub it in their face (the people who paid $100), Sum41 encourage everyone outside the fence to jump over. Who's gonna argue with that?? The horrified look on the faces of the people already inside the moshpit was almost worth the 50 bucks itself.
Friday, July 01, 2005
We Can't Afford to be Neutral on a Moving Train
Here's a documentary film I recently discovered at Rotten Tomatoes by historian/teacher/social activist Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train. A message that urgently needs to be hammered into singapore's majority politically-placid citizens' heads. Because 'to be neutral and passive is to collaborate with whatever is going on'. Zinn offers an "alternative" story to American history.
"The chief problem in historical honesty isn't outright lying. It is ommission or de-emphasizing of important data."
The stories of the country are examined from the standpoint of immigrants, minorities and working people (celebrities don't count I hope) and asserts the value of nonviolent civil disobedience which he calls a necessity and the need for people's movents to effect social change.
Democracy he defines as "not just a counting-up of votes" but a "counting-up of actions." Those are fighting words.
Truly inspirational words for a country truly plagued by political ignorance and supression of speech.
Synopsis by Stephen Holden
"The chief problem in historical honesty isn't outright lying. It is ommission or de-emphasizing of important data."
The stories of the country are examined from the standpoint of immigrants, minorities and working people (celebrities don't count I hope) and asserts the value of nonviolent civil disobedience which he calls a necessity and the need for people's movents to effect social change.
Democracy he defines as "not just a counting-up of votes" but a "counting-up of actions." Those are fighting words.
Truly inspirational words for a country truly plagued by political ignorance and supression of speech.
Synopsis by Stephen Holden
