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Archive (May - July 2005)
Today marks exactly one year since Drakey Poo left us. This time last year, I put her still little body into a Chanel box and buried her in the garden. Of course, since then Snowy's been guarding her grave from vicious grave-digging cats. Since she left us, the music just isn't here anymore. When Drakey was around, there was always a pleasant sense of serenity and simple joy when she'd happily chirp along to the songs that she liked. Her favorites were Pachabel, music from the Final Fantasy games, Evanescence, and unfortunately Linkin Park too (she probably didn't understand the silly lyrics). Had I been listening to I am Robot and Proud back then, I'm sure she would've loved it. Listening to the same songs these days just doesn't have the same effect anymore... not without the additional backing vocals of a happy little budgie chirping to her heart's content, and occasionally singing her own name too (click the link if you don't believe me). Everyone misses you, Drakey. I hope budgie-heaven is treating you well.
Last night, in what might be the geekiest thing we've done all year since watching all three original trilogy Star Wars movies in a row, Chris and I went along with Javad to the World of Warcraft Singapore launch party. Geek heaven, indeed! Imagine this: a club filled with geeks standing around discussing strategies to take down shadow-priests and which racial ability is superior, the Will of the Forsaken or the Tauren Warstomp... Add to the mix one really fucking annoying announcer whose voice is arguably even more annoying than Fran Dreschner's! I mean, the party was dead as hell as it is, then he starts yelling every now to make things more exciting... He made the same mistake Joel Schumacher made when he made Phantom of the Opera... just because it's louder doesn't mean it's better. Entertainment consisted of free bottles of coke, and stupid games where people try to pass messages on in a line with the music really cranked up. By the end of that, the party had died so badly that it took 20 minutes to hand out 6 lucky draw prizes because 80% of the numbers drawn out belonged to people who had ditched the party. That's pretty SAD! Oh well... Oh did I mention that they had a few mascots? A Night Elf who wasn't even blue or purple, a human priest, a Tauren... where are the orcs and undead? Gawd that was geeky...
Well it's been quite a while since we last updated. Blame can be put on Munky being obsessed with World of Warcraft, Chris working the video store 24/7, and the rest of us just busy working on Idle Dreams. So here are some basic updates:
--- Aside from that, it's pretty much life as usual. There's a couple of short film competitions that we're thinking of entering stuff into, so we'll see how that goes. Jo's studying really hard for her upcoming exams, and is starting to really stress out. I'm sure she'll do okay, but let's all wish her the best anyway, yah?
Ever wondered what life was like in the Deadpan Headquarters over in Moore Park Gardens? Well I was playing around in The Sims 2 and created some sample screenshots of typical days over there. Check them out:
You know what's one of the worst things about living in Singapore? Aside from the fact that people are by default discourteous and refuse to stand on the left side of the escalators to allow people in a rush to pass them... it's the fact that they're all obsessed with durians here.
The Durian, a fruit most foul! For those of you who don't know, the Durian is considered to be the king of fruits in Singapore. Why? I have no idea. It's a large almost watermelon sized piece of shit covered in spikes. Despite the spikes, somehow some asian decided in all his wisdom to pry the fruit open at the risk of slashing his hands up. And when he did open it, he found inside some "seeds". Seeds that are covered in some gross yellowy goopy substance that's like a mix between curdled milk and yesterday's semen. So what does Mr. Curious Asian do? He puts that shit in his mouth and decides that it's the best tasting thing he's ever eaten. Of course, Asians are the same people in the world who eat dogs and sea-slugs, so this might not be entirely out of character for them. Which is all okay for them, as long as they keep that shit away from me. But you know what the worst thing is? The durian has a stench that's possibly one of the 10 worst smells in the world! So bad that it can't possibly be good for the ozone layer! And currently, it's durian season in Singapore. Across the city, in just about every side street you'll find some asshole peddling this stuff in carts and tables, spreading the stench all over. And people will buy it and commute back home, spreading it to every corner of the city. I wasn't around or anything, but I bet this is what Europe smelt like during the Black Death. Argh!!! --- If you have to read more about Durians, check out this really warped and depraved site here.
Okay, picture this scenario: A poor Kid grows up in the ghetto, surviving by working a minimum wage job as a mechanic. His single parent mother is a virtual slave, doing god-knows-what to make ends meet in a corrupt city run by the local fat slug of a organised crime boss. One day, some traditional coach realizes that this Kid has a special talent, and decides to exploit this Kid's talent. He inducts the Kid into his team, and trains him to be a major player someday. He puts him under the supervision of his laid-back under-achieving team captain. Fast forward to a few years later, and the Kid picks up the skills he needs at an incredible rate, surpassing everybody's expectations. He's good, he's damn good, and he knows it. Everyone knows it, and everyone's afraid of how good he is and how cocky he's gotten, especially the under-achieving team captain. But the team has a system, a team spirit that enforces team spirit. After the Kid makes a few big amazing plays, they bench him again to put him in his place until he learns the team's system. One day, an opposing team's Evil Wrinkly Old Coach approaches the Kid and talks to him about life, and his role in it. The Kid realizes that he's too good to be stuck playing back-up to a bunch of players who can't come close to having the raw natural talent he possesses. So why isn't he getting the limelight? Why isn't he a marquee player? It's that under-achieving team captain! He's holding the Kid back! So the Kid decides to ditch the old team for holding him back all these years. He's wasted enough years sitting on the bench so that older less capable players can bask in each other's wisdom and understanding and hog the limelight. He's not going to settle for that, because these coaches are just scared old men who won't let him play his way because he just might win. He switches sides, and starts destroying everyone on the old team with his newfound freedom to let his power flourish. --- So who's the Kid in the above scenario? Is it Randy Moss? Terrell Owens? It could be, I was describing Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader (oops... I guess I spoilt the M Night Shylalalamananan secret plot twist in Revenge of the Sith). You see, what I'm trying to say is that Anakin Skywalker should've been black, because his character embodies the stereotyped image of the black superstar athlete. Winning to get the media power, the phat cash and the honeys, never satisfied to make a comfortable wage sitting on the sidelines like Obiwan and the countless other no-name bit-character Jedis. "Football teams are corporations... but black kids are raised to be individuals, stars. They don't learn to work together... That's what this country's all about. Being number one. Every kid can grow up to be President, right? But who the hell wants to grow up and be VICE-president? Either you make it and get the big car and the nice home or you're on the bus and in the funeral home." - Willie Beamen, Any Given Sunday.
I guess I'm just iffy that Anakin Skywalker ended up looking like someone from *NSYNC when really he should've been either Ludacris or Snoop Dogg. Maybe I can settle for Eminem...
The big recent war was of course, the Iraq war. But underneath the noses of most people, another war was being waged right on American soil. I speak of course of the Lindsay / Hilary War, one that's been waged for the longest time and getting just as much media coverage (albeit on the MTV channel instead of CNN). We all know the story... bitter Disney rivals, love triangles involving Nick Carter and that guy from That 70's Show... cheating, backstabbing, and name-calling. And lately, they've escalated their efforts to trash-talking each other in their music (I'm surprised they don't rap). I've always sided with Hilary before. I'm not sure why, maybe because I thought Why Not was a catchy single or the fact that I've never watched a single episode of Lizzie Maguire. She seems sweet enough, and has appeared in pointless unoriginal movies like A Cinderella Story (where she plays a sweet young girl who falls in love with Chad Michael Murray). And then there's Lindsay, fresh outta being a child star in The Parent Trap. I never liked her look or her image. She comes across as having a really annoying face, and appears in pretty watchable but equally pointless movies like Freaky Friday (where she plays a bitchy alternative rocker girl who falls in love with Chad Michael Murray). I was listening to their latest songs, and it's pretty tranparent who they're singing about. Based on their opposing images (sweet vs hard-edged... kinda like Britney & Christina) I'd have expected Lindsay to have the harsher lyrics, but she's pretty laid back in songs like Rumors, with lyrics about people like Hilary starting vicious rumors about her, and Lindsay's just asking to be left alone. Hilary on the other hand goes all out in songs like Haters. Every lyric in that song is designed to hurt Lindsay's feelings. ("You want my friends, you want my clothes. You're one of those haters... You say your boyfriend's sweet and kind, but you've still got your eye on mine. Your best friend's got hers on yours.") Of course, this is all referring back to the Nick Carter incident and who knows what else. But the one that's really harsh comes in the form of a subtle jab at Lindsay's family life and her estranged father. In the song Sweet Sixteen Hilary sings: "My mom loves me... and daddy's always there." I think that attacking someone's troubled family life is really really low, and beyond harsh. Hilary, shame on you!
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