Death Note

was quite an alright show.

if i had the Death Note, there would be one name that i would definitely write in it... mine. and i would specify the conditions of my own death.... that it would happen about... another 50 years later. and i would die in my sleep, peacefully, happy and contented that all my dreams have realised and all my ambitions fulfilled.

but of course, the Death Note does not exist. we cannot choose how we die. but we can always choose how we live.

Charity, Dead or Alive?

so there's the case of the man who died after jumping off the MRT platform.

and guess what?

Singaporeans flooded in to help his family, giving his family a total of $500000. that's right folks, that's half a million dollars that Singaporeans chalked up for the family. such big hearted people, we Singaporeans are.

however, let's pause for a while and think. why did it take such a tragedy for people to notice and help this family? why did no one else find out that this family is living in such harsh conditions? why did no one extend a helping hand before this man jumped? and what if another poor person were to be inspired by this man's example and jumped too? would this other person's family get $500000 too?

and of course, people are once again blaming the government for the tragedy. why didn't the government do anything to help this person? how could the government allow this person to suffer so much that such a tragedy happened?

my answer comes in the form of the following questions: why didn't his extended family, his friends, his neighbours, all these kind-hearted Singaporeans go and help him before he jumped?

clearly, Singaporeans has the ability to help those in need. the question is whether we have the will to. perhaps all it takes for us is to keep our eyes open to the people around us, to be alert to their suffering and constantly think of ways that we can help. and if we are all willing to do that, then we won't have to blame the government for not being able to prevent such tragedies, because we would be there to ensure that such tragedies do not happen.

Blinding

they say that love is blind.

i disagree.

i say that love is blinding. it blinds us to reason, makes us deaf to logic and dead to all except that which we love.

Dried up well...

i used to write so much. about so many different things. i had so much crap to shit out, in so many different ways. but now... the well of inspiration (if one can really call it that...) has run well dry. i have become rather limited in the things that i write about. i wonder whether work has anything to do with it.

sigh.

Fountainhead

if you want to know a little bit more about my view of life, go read Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. i've only just started on it, but so far, the 2 main characters, Roark and Keating are very much what i am: i was born to be like Keating, but i want to be Roark.

it's odd, considering how the 2 of them form 2 mutually exclusive extremes. and i struggle to keep the tension resulting from this contradiction in my outlook in life from pulling me asunder. it doesn't help that i have neither of their talents and that i would most probably be condemned to mediocrity for life.

perhaps that is why i can be so mean sometimes.

Lonely Avalon

if one could block out the discomfort from the oppressive stillness of air, the stifling heat and the way the haze clogs up one's respitory tract, walking at the reservoir near my place at night in this weather is quite interesting. the haze gives the place a very surreal feel. it seems as if i'm standing at the edge of the lake where Arthur got Excalibur, staring across, finding the lights of Avalon glimmering in the distance, beckoning.

and the streets look like London shrouded in winter mist with diffused sodium coloured lamps. it reminded me of the me i was back then. a person who found solace in solitude. somewhere along the line, i have changed, i am different now. it seems that i now find it uncomfortable being alone. or perhaps it is loneliness that i abhor.

Russell Peters

was such a riot! intelligent racist jokes... now now... i know what you must be thinking... an intelligent racist joke is an oxymoron. but really... it can happen. you can make fun of a race intelligently. might not be tasteful (whether it is or not depends on your tastes...), but it can be intelligent.

the thing about comedians, especially good ones, are that they make fun of very common things. things which you see everyday, but never really paid any attention to. they notice these things, spin it around, exagerate slightly, take things that little bit out of context and then it becomes funny. same thing about intelligent racist jokes. you take something that commonly happens, play on the stereotypes and just exaggerate it slightly. it then becomes funny.

of course, good delivery is important. catching the comic time, reading the crowd, working on the crowd's responses and letting the laughter just naturally build up with nothing else but deliberate silence and purposeful stares and pacing, pushing it up to its crescendo and holding it there for just the right length of time.

Russell Peters might not be the most intelligent comedian (i still think that Eddie Izzard's jokes have more depth), but his show definitely made for a good fun night out. i had a good ab workout from all that laughing and i'm sure some of my wrinkles have further deepened from all the laughing.

Under the radar...

so there has been this teacher who resigned cos she was blogging about things which happened to her in school.

makes me wonder whether i should continue blogging.

perhaps that is why i'm slightly more cautious with what i say on my blog. i don't just blog about things that happen in school. nor do i bitch (much) about the things that happen in school. so i suppose i should be fine.

also, i don't get 300 hits a day. smaller audience probably means higher likelihood that i'm not on their radar yet...

Singapore Idol and Singaporean Politics

one of the reasons for the GRC system is the fear that people will vote along ethnic lines rather than considering the merit of the candidate.

however, this must definitely not be the case. Singapore has far fewer Malays than Chinese. yet, the last 2 Singapore Idols, which are selected purely by public voting, have been Malays. and both of them were indeed better contestants compared to their Chinese competitors. this surely means that Singaporeans do not vote along ethnic lines but consider the person's merit.

if that is really the case, then perhaps we can do away with the GRC system.