Sunday, December 21, 2003
Everytime I listen to Evanescence's "My Immortal", it brings about a calming effect. Don't know why too. It's amazing how I cannot seem to get tired of that song. Usually if a song is overplayed I'll just get tired of it but somehow it doesn't apply to this song. But than again Evanescence is no ordinary band. Amy Lee just has this sort of magical voice. A voice that's so clear, deep and high. Something that's just so distinct. Even for the super overplayed "Bring me to life", still not getting sick of it and the MTV. Can almost remember the entire sequence of it but still, yea, not tired of it.
Can't be said of the stupid Gatsby advertisement. When it first came out, found it quite amusing, but that was the first time. Second time, it was no longer that amusing but getting a little painful to watch. Third time on, wah, it just gets super annoying. Haha. Well if any of you do not recall the ad, its the ad with the three mohawks singing "If you're and you know, you clap your hair..."
Was surprised to see and find out that Garret Mallal was part of the Sea Games water polo team. Wow, a Cat High guy to be in that team. Haha.
he spoke at 12:57 pm
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Totally surprised by Rio Ferdinand's eight month ban for his apparent forgetfulness. Always expected a ban but a ban of eight months seems very harsh, afterall, he did eventually take the test and passed it. Nevermind that he took it 36 hours late, but the fact is that he passed it. All the long, Ferdinand had an witness in form of Man City's Eyal Berkovic, testifyling that he was indeed with Ferdinand during the house moving process. Seems like that was not enough even to give the benefit of doubt. Wonder why. Think the reason for such a lengthy ban is because of the once investiagted Fifa's president Sepp Blatter. Over the course of investigation etc, he has been lending his weight to a length punishment. It does seem a little bias isn't it? How can a person of such high post comment and "sway" the decision. Will it be not more appropriate for him to comment after the verdict. Yes, the jury can say that the verdict was not affected by any outside factor, but that itself is only true if given the benefit of doubt. Can one truthfully say that his or her decision is independent of the boss's influence especially after the decision was in the boss's "favour"? Or should I say what the boss wanted?
he spoke at 10:22 am
Friday, December 19, 2003
Owe an apology to Jop, Jos and Clarence over LOTR. Sorry bros.
Been cleaning up my room and realised how dusty my room was. My comp etc were like covered with a layer of dust. O well, glad that its been removed.
Was very impressed when I saw Beyond the movies: Lord of the Ring. Never knew that LOTR was so closely linked with so many historical facts. Maybe its what historians thought of and drew the parallel. But if that's not the case than Tolkien is one heck of a genius! The parallels range from Sir William Wallace to gettysburg to rasputin to Churchill. The list just goes on and on. Wow, just a few books and so many historical facts are packed into it.
Been thinking a lot of late and the notion of taking things for granted just kept popping up in my mind. Yea, be it family, friends, job, health or peace So many simple things yet we all take it so much for granted. Must we really need to be struck by the crisis before we really appreciate what we had? How many times have we heard the phrase "be thankful for what you got"? Probably so often that it has become a cliché! But the problem is that we still take things for granted! Will never forget what Wings once told me, he said that ever since he injured his knee, he is just grateful that he can walk normally everyday. Can some what relate to that cos after my inflammation, am really thankful that I can walk around without pain. Even happier when I can walk long distance or run without much pain after that.
But what we both have gone through is really nothing compared to people who have lost the use of their legs. These people will never be able to feel how its like to be able to walk. The thought further sank in after watching a documentary on foot binding. How can such a painful act enhance sexual pleasure and be considered erotic?? There were actually men who get excited over seeing the naked bound feet! What amazed me more is that some of the surviving feet bound women do not regret binding their feet. They even said that they were the ones who wanted their feet to be bound. They do not consider themselves women if they do not have it bound. One of the women's husband also said he still finds bound feet attractive. But something more amazing is how these bound feet women still go about doing their daily chores. Be it fetching water from the well or plowing the land, they still go about doing it. Even till now, the women are in their 80s and 90s but still they are able to go about their lives without even a walking stick to help them walk. Feet less than five inches yet they go around unaided. Ask any Sinagporean boy or girl, put them through the lifestyle of the women than, ask them go about it with their feet bound, bet most will probably not be able to take it. Fetching water is not like taking it from the tap. You got to take it from well or river, sometimes one got to walk miles. After drawing the water, you got to balance the two buckets on a pole and carry it back. Walking on dirt roads, not once but about 15 times a day, everyday!
Guess all the madness in the world have also shown how vulnerable life can actually be. How more can we not take things for granted. Yea, sounds pessimistic but hey, that's really how the world is! Turn back the clock to six years back, 19 December 1997. Does that date ring a bell? MI 185? Still cannot recall what that number is? Well, today marks the sixth year since the ill fated Silkair plane. Guess its not possible to stop doing everything just to appreciate what's around us, but it'll be really nice if we can just begin to take notice of what's happening around us. Slow down if necessary just to see the beauty that's around us. Don't need to look for a miracle to happen but just to see the details that we have missed around us. Maybe a neighbour's newborn or maybe the flowering trees just by the road we always take.
Wonder if they ever meet this goal. Yea, they have had many failings but it'll really be a miracle if they can meet their goals. By 2015, that's 12 more years to reach such huge goals. I really have no idea how UN's going to achieve all those in such a short time, but since they have set their sights on them, I'm pretty sure that they can meet it. If the whole world or should I say all the UN members are willing to do their part, at least 3/4 can be met. More than half of the goals involve women. Sad isn't it, we are all humans with the same aspirations but yet we are all so divided. Divided by health, race, gender; you name it, you got it. Somehow its always the coloured people and women who suffer most. Take for example in the States, a woman is raped every two minutes I think. That's 30 woman raped every hour, 720 every day and over 25, 000 every year. Over 25, 000 women who have to go through the trauma. Mind you thats the number of reported cases, what about those that were unreported? Than there's Aids. Over 25 million Africans are suffering from Aids. Man, with stats like that, we really need those UN goals to work!
he spoke at 6:37 pm
Monday, December 15, 2003
Just came back from watching Infernal Affairs III. It has to be one of the most confusing shows. Really had problems catching and linking the entire show. Jop, Wings, Clarence and I came out pretty blur so after asking so many questions and attempting to answering them, we still came out pretty blur. Yup, its a show that really spun from here to there. Advice to those who do have not caught part one and two - do not bother watching part three; you'll definitely not understand the show at all. Maybe the most worthy part of the show is seeing Kelly Chen. Haha, yup, she looked super good in the show! Now must try to get all three parts and slowly watch them to understand the show sia.
he spoke at 11:31 pm
A show of brilliant intelligence? Maybe, but must say that I'm pretty surprised that Saddam was captured pretty meekly. A man known to be a fierce dictator giving in without a fight. Pictures of beaten man being 'prodded' with a stick by his enemy; wow, what a powerful statement that is. O well, guess it kind of shows that evil/ crime does not pay.
Impressed by Bush last week for his slamming of Taiwan. Man, those fuckers want democracy at all cost it seems. Even at the expense of world peace. If they really declare independence, got a strong feeling that China will invade it. US will certainly be drawn to war. With two superpowers at war, odds of a world war will no doubt be high. Agree fully with what Thaksin said though, "Democracy is a good and beautiful thing, but it's not the ultimate goal as far as administering the country is concerned. Democracy is just a tool, not our goal. The goal is to give people a good lifestyle, happiness and national progress." That statement really says it all.
Yea, Juve is back. The true Juve is showing itself! A convincing victory over Parma says big things. As usual Nedved showed why he is probably the truely best player in the world! Del Piero too is coming back to form. A goal in less than a minute after he came on, followed by a beautiful dribble to set up Nedved's goal. Simply magnificant!
Was laughing when I read Jeffery Low's article on the Sea Games. More specifically about the football team. How true indeed that those clowns ought to have the massive funding taken away from them to help more deserving sports. The prove the cliche, "when you pay peanuts, you get monkeys" wrong. We do not pay peanuts to our players yet we still get monkeys to play for us. Maybe we should just pay them peanuts, heck maybe only the shells cos I think monkeys play better than them. They really disappoint us time and again. How often do we read about the players lack the commitment etc?? Mind you all, these players are paid relatively well in the S-League. Averaging more than 3k a month, I really think we deserve better standards than that. We can safely tell them that they can forget about playing in Europe so they might as well snap out of that illusion. The hard truth is that our players cannot even make it to England's Division Three. They'll probably spend more time watching the match there from the spectator's seat than warm the reserve bench. The other person who does not deserve his awards is UK Shyam. Why waste so much money on a person who does not take his sport seriously?? He is being paid to train and study so he jolly well do exactly that. The reason why he is getting the money which is about 90k a year is because he is a sprinter so there is really no reason why he should skip training and overseas stints in order to study. Yes, studies are important but come on, you are paid to do both so you have to do both.
Lauryn Hill has the pontential to be the most hated star by the Catholic community after her outburst at the Vatican Concert.
he spoke at 11:52 am