Sex(ism) and the Silly

watched Sex and the City.

i don't understand what gave Carrie the right to be upset with Big. it was clear that she was being a selfish bitch to want to have such a huge wedding. she buried the sanctity of marriage in a mire of ostentatious pomp. it was no wonder that Big started to have his doubts. if i were him, i would wonder whether she really wanted to marry me or just have a show of marrying me. she brought whatever humiliation she felt upon herself.

and then the rest of the show just went on to show how much Carrie suffered. and we are led to sympathise with Carrie. but what about Big? i'm sure he suffered a lot more. through that part (and it was a major part) the dominant thought in my mind was that Carrie is an idiot who deserved every shred of suffering she was going through and has no right to complain nor seek any form of repartriation from Big. in fact, if anything, she should be the one making up to Big.

the treatment of Miranda and Steve's problems was a lot more balanced, more real. it is conceivable that the mundane chores of everday life, working, looking after the kids, cooking, cleaning, washing, etc, dull the shine of romance in a marriage. and then both parties say and do something stupid and the marriage is on the rocks. that's when the relationship is tested. that was a lot more real.

and then there is the whole thing about all the clothes, shoes, bags. man... that's the reason why there are starving children in Africa. people who splurge precious resources on such frivolous things. perhaps it is because my upbringing makes me anathematically against such wanton consumerism. i mean... if you have enough, stop. the world is dying already. you don't need more of everything. and if you are that rich, buy a few sacks of rice and send it to Africa, Szechuan, anywhere with starving children. or give your money away to some organisation providing education for children or giving vocational training for young adults. eesh... the thought of it is making my skin crawl with disgust. grr...

Price of Oil

BOng has a number of entries about the skyrocketing price of oil...

i think we all saw that coming since a long time ago, but we pretended that it won't happen. i remember when i was in Uni, i thought that the one area of research that Singapore should go into, in a big way, is the production of energy and the efficient use of energy. more so than Life Sciences.

and there is so much scope. biofuels (i read now that swamp algae might be a good source of biofuels... damn... shouldn't have reclaimed Jurong!), solar, more efficient extraction of fossil fuels, more efficient ways of refining, hybrid cars (Cheng's Honda Civic Hybrid is quite an example of this technology...) and other methods to improve our energy efficiency, of cars, buildings, anything. and it's not just limited to this. i'm sure that there are other interesting topics in the area of energy production and efficient usage that i don't know about. so it is strange that Singapore isn't pumping as much resources into this area, isn't creating as much hype about our efforts, isn't getting as many people into this field as we did for Life Sciences.

KL

went up to KL last weekend. bunked in with Cheng. it was a good relaxing trip. ate good food. one particular one that stood out is this mamak called 'Murni'. it's like Al-Ameen of Singapore, only much much better.

Murni was the first thing i ate in KL. it was a few years ago, my first visit to KL. i flew there, Cheng picked me up from the airport and en route to his house, we went to Murni for supper. i wasn't impressed by the looks of the place. it looked like eating food from there will give you a serious bout of dysentry. it didn't help that it doesn't have a menu as such. you either know what you want to eat already, or you don't. or you point to what someone else is having and say, 'yar... that one... that's what i'm going to have...' and then you find out that that thing the other person is having is called Roti Special... then you start to wonder what you are eating... but one thing is sure... whatever it is... it is damn good.

the thing about Murni is that it has such great potential for expansion... as it is, everytime i've been there, the shop is overflowing with customers, such that they have to sit on the curb, by the road, at least a good hundred, 2 hundred meters away from the actual shop. which made me wonder why Murni has not thought of expanding. is it because it is difficult/detrimental (in any way) to teach more people the recipe to its food (the success of Murni is the food it serves, which are rather out of the ordinary)? see... trouble with the food business is that the secret lies in the recipe, you teach that to someone, thinking that that person will work for you, but what if he/she doesn't? what if after learning the recipe, he/she goes off and sets up shop somewhere else?

i do hope, however that someone with the capital can bring Murni to Singapore. the Roti Special,the Claypot Low Xu Fan, the drinks (there's one weird Ribena concotion) are really fantastic. but i don't see that happening soon... ah well...

damn... all this talk about food is getting me hungry... grr...

Another Genre

and as a reflection of my more eclectic taste in music... here's the more soppy thpe of songs that i like...

this song also brins back much memories... of my final year in Bristol... sigh...

Glorious Years

鐘聲響起歸家的訊號　在他生命裡
彷彿帶點唏噓　黑色肌膚給他的意義
是一生奉獻　膚色鬥爭中

＊年月把擁有變做失去
疲倦的雙眼帶著期望

＃今天只有殘留的驅殼　迎接光輝歲月
風雨中抱緊自由　一生經過徬徨的掙扎
自信可改變未來　問誰有能做到

可否不分膚色的界限　願這土地裡
不分你我高低　繽紛色彩閃出的美麗
是因它沒有　分開每種色彩


you don't hear many of this type of songs anymore...

Beyond...

今天我 寒夜裡看雪飄過

懷著冷卻了的心窩飄遠方
風雨裡追趕 霧裡分不清影蹤
天空海闊 你與我 可會變 (誰沒在變)

多少次 迎著冷眼與嘲笑
從沒有放棄過心中的理想
一剎那恍惚 若有所失的感覺
不知不覺已變淡 心裡愛 (誰明白我)

原諒我這一生不羈放縱愛自由
也會怕有一天會跌倒
背棄了理想 誰人都可以
那會怕有一天只你共我

仍然自由自我 永遠高唱我歌 走遍千里

the MTV isn't that impressive. but this is sung by the original singer. the other clip which i have linked to in my previous post is more loaded with emotions though.

Heh Heh

kudos to jaggedice for finding these two clips... rofl...

Skeptism

i wonder whether our youths today are ever skeptical. not cynical. i have no doubt that many of our young are indeed cynical. but skeptical? do our youths observe and learn, think and reflect on what they have observed and learnt? do they trudge through the mire of popular sentiments with tools of reason to find nuggets of truth, apply the razor of wisdom to cut to the core of what is right and wrong for themselves, the situation, the time? or do they just expect to be told broad generalisations of what is right and wrong, stereotypes of what should or should not be done?

are those abilities the privilege of a select group of 'elites'? should we not expect the majority of our youths to be able to think, not just intelligently, but also wisely? if not, should we not, at least expect those amongst our youths who would aspire to leadership to gather information, analyse, question, think and from that process, synthesize and create?

Cowell at his best

never judge a book by its cover...




love the change of expressions of the 3 of them. especially of Simon Cowell... what he said here is really, i think, him at his best.

Emo

i got reminded over the weekend of the songs by the hongkong band, Beyond. spent much time listening to their songs over youtube.

i was reminded of their songs because one of Beyond's greatest songs,"海闊天空" was given new lyrics as a theme song (of sorts) for the Sichuan earthquake. (the new song is titled "承諾").

i used to listen to "海闊天空" and a few other of Beyond's songs a lot (i.e. put on endless repeat) in my first year of uni. hearing that tune again transported me back into that room and revived many many memories along with the corresponding emotions...

it didn't help that the video of "承諾" is... sigh... and another related one really gets the emo juices flowing. having said that, the videos can be fairly inspirational too.

well... not all that coherent... probably less so than normal. not that i'm very eloquent to begin with anyways...

Too stressed out?

have sex. according to this website, "Volunteers who had had penetrative intercourse were found to be the least stressed, and their blood pressure returned to normal faster than those who had engaged in other forms of sexual activity such as masturbation."

so perhaps one of the reasons why men have such bigger sexual apetite (and thus have a greater propensity to visit prostitutes) is that we, for whatever reasons, get stressed easier/more.