Lego reimagined in contemporary times.

Twist and Shout
Originally uploaded by eitheror.

This was my favourite of the bunch. More over here! I guess some people just kill time on Christmas Eve more interestingly than others.













Also, see Mario Bros in Legoland

Mario Bros. Lego
Uploaded by Bibi-de-Bibopof

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So, for those who were wondering, I actually finished Pride and Prejudice this time around. (see: this post here). And considering the speed with which I ploughed through the book, it's hard to believe the hard time I had reading the book the first time around. Actually, no. I suspect the only reason I finished the book was because of my fondness for the movie. It's like Lord of the Rings for me. It's much easier to go through the book with visuals attached to certain scenes.

Verdict: For me, movie trumps book. If not for the superb acting or the cinematography, than because of the tracking shots. I'm a bit of a dope when it comes to long tracking shots. Dope meaning that I fall hopelessly in love with really successful long tracking shots.

Q: What's better than watching 300 on big screen?
A: Watching 300 on HUGE ASS SCREEN - IMAX, bitchezzzz.

Another Q: What's better than watching Spiderman 3 on big screen?
A: For real, it opens at the Melbourne IMAX on May 3rd. I'd advise you to check your local listings for this will be unlike any other screening. (IT'S 3D!!!!!//11/convulses/dies)

Earthlings

If you've never heard of the documentary Earthling, well, on the verge of being patronizing, lucky you. Having heard of this notorious doco, I hunted it down and after viewing it, I almost wish that Earthling to me was nothing but the word 'earthling' in italics. Not because it is bad by any means, but the stark truth of the film sears itself into your brain, leaving you unable to ever feign ignorance at the subject matter.

In short, the doco is about animal rights. Yeah, I can hear the groans already but this film is not PETA propaganda material. It doesn't resort to the organization's irritating and ultimately self-defeating 'shock tactics'. It does tend to fall on preachy grounds but given the obvious direction of the subject matter, it's hard not to.

What I thought was the most interesting thing about the doco was the idea of speciesism it expounded on. The idea is that we, top-of-the-food-chain-bearer-of-opposable-thumbs humans, are guilty of not including other living planets on the Earth when we use the term 'earthling', therefore unconsciously practising deplorable acts to what we view as lesser species. Hence, the -ism. The practice of speciesism is divided into 5 sections:

1. Pets - that we own these free creatures and expect them to serve us = a big no no.
2. Food - hidden-cameras taken into slaughterhouses allow us explicit footage of what really goes behind those walls.
3. Clothing - self-explanatory
4. Science
5. Entertainment - animals as exhibitions at zoos, circuses

For the most part I found that even if I didn't fully agree with everything said in the doco, the graphic content sure did have some truly stomach churning moments. These are my thoughts on the 5 sections humans are most guilty of in specieism. I should probably warn you that there will be spoilers. I would prefer if you, dear reader whether friend or random visitor, watched the film before reading on but if you can't stomach gore (and I mean, real life gore, not the CGI stuff you see in horror films or in CSI), then by all means. Hopefully my horrible grammar and inarticulacy will be no deterrent.

For those interested, you can watch the film online here. It runs for 95 minutes.

---Here be SPOILERS---

To begin, I should tell you that I would call myself a selective animal lover. In the sense that I love some animals more than others. Whales and wolves would be at the top of my list (and not just for alliterative purposes), whereas pigeons and guinea pigs are right down there. It's horrible and hypocritical but it's the truth. Besides, I never said I was a nice person. Alright.. onwards to my thoughts on the film.

1. Pets
Having never had a pet, apart from the one day Baxter affair (see: Flickr), I can't claim to know the motivations behind keeping a pet. Friends who have pets lavish them with so much attention and care that it's hard to believe that people will rear pets for any other reason besides adding another member to the family. Yet, there exists puppy mills where pets are bred for profit. And pets that have outgrown their rearer's comfort zone only to be abandoned. It's a sick world and I lead a charmed life, pardon the ignorance. Pet shelters can only do and keep so much abandoned pets. As humane as the concept of euthanasia is, it's still chilling having to watch actual footage of dogs slumping over five seconds after receiving the lethal injection. Worse still is the footage of inproper extermination, eg. cyanide in food. Euthanasia may be the most humane process but also the most expensive and in the end the mighty dollar speaks last. This segment lauds owners who haven't more than one space for a pet yet leave them unneutered because the excess of breeding goes to become landfill waste in the long run. Which I have to agree with for even if you do manage to sell your pets, there's no telling how well they will be treated or even how long they might hold the buyer's attention.

2. Food
When I tell people that I don't consume shark fin's soup (on the grounds of animal cruelty), I often get asked if I'm a vegetarian/vegan. I go on to tell them that no, I love my chicken too much to ever give it up, eating veges only is madness! how bout you? After watching this doco, I have to ask myself why the hypocritical partiality to sharks? Then I examine my life a bit more and have to admit that the main reason behind abstaining from pork for four years was not because of an objection to the breeding conditions of the pig, but borne out of an obsession with Jewish culture. I realize now that the looming extinction of a creature has had a lot to do with my food choices. That realization was affirmed while watching the doco because the parts I squirmed the most was during the footage of whale hunting. Having always had a soft side for whales (they are my second favourite mammals after humans), watching the visceral footage was horrible. There are, of course, equally visceral imagery regarding poultry, beef and pork slaughterhouses, which really affirms everything we've heard about the practices in these places. It's not really a question of whether we shouldn't eat meat. It's the circle of life. What really matter is if it's right to torture animals so grotesquely before we consume them. To give them hormone injections to bulk them up, to force animals into pens that can only hold a tenth of them is against what nature prescribed, is it not? I wonder if having an image attached to the rumour-turned-truth will prevent me from buying crispy strips off KFC. I'll tell you in a week.

3. Clothing
Alright, so that really weaned me off my hunt for the perfect leather jacket. Touché. No mink either, point taken.

4. Science
This is the section that I want to agree with but can't. When I was fourteen, I fancied myself an antivivisectionist. I was against all use of animal in product testing or medical research, the whole righteous she-bang really. Then I turned fifteen and in biology class, I happily spliced a frog open without much hesitation. It wasn't even in the name of science for me, just morbid fascination. Two years later I talked with a friend's mother over dinner about her work in scientific research and the use of animals in said field. Now, at the age of twenty, I have to admit that I am a pro-lab rat kinda person. In the doco, it was mentioned that the use of animals are wasted as these medicines are tested on humans in later clinical trials. To my understanding, those medicines/products used in clinical tests have been finely modified and worked upon after the results of the tests on animals. So really what the humans are receiving is at that point, the most perfect formulation after trial and error. I don't know what would happen to humans if they received the rawest product. Does anyone remember the international crisis a couple years ago where four humans reacted badly to a clinical test in Germany? I don't remember the specifics but the global reaction was urgency at its finest hour. I imagine that if animal testing was outlawed, that event would be a weekly occurrence, and for those who can't remember, it was urgency bordering on terror. I suppose to make clear, I am an advocate of donating human bodies to science as well. There is a lot of people dying of cancer. Need we add to the death toll on the quest to find a cure for cancer?

5. Entertainment
The doco made clearly the difference in zoos and conservations. Our natural curiosity of the exotic is the basis behind zoo operations, the film states. Which come to think of it, is quite true. Very rarely do zoos serve conservation purposes. Living in captivity is surely not healthy for the creature. Keiko, the whale from Free Willy, anyone? What really drove the point home was the bull-fighting footage. It's just wrong, what they do to the bulls to get them to 'fight'. They prod, poke, tighten reins, stab the bulls- all in the name of entertainment. Humans are the worst kind of species because we not only force other species for our entertainment but have no qualms in using fellow human beings too; the gladiators in ancient Rome comes to mind, or a more recent example, the leaked pictures of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. WWE, people! I have no idea why I brought that last point up, just thought it needs to be made clear that despite the best of our intentions, all of us are guilty of being speciesist. And too easily entertained by men in lycra.

I think that at the end of the day it's a dog eat dog world out there. Only the best survive, right? Darwin and all that rot. Yet I can't help but feel for our fallen earthlings, especially those killed because some people had too much a passion for fashion. I wished that slaughterhouses in the world would only use the most humane methods in killing livestock, yet I know profits are the order of the day so expenditure must be kept to a minimum. I wished I could say I wasn't a speciesist, that to me all animals are equal, but I laughed pretty badly at the footage of the 'pigeon bowling' sport. I'm a little confused, and I'm not sure what to do to ensure that animals can at very least be granted a humane death so all I can think to do is to pass the message on so that at bare minimum no one can feign ignorance at the extent we mistreat animals. Hopefully I've done that. Thanks for reading.

Recap of past week

I haven't been the busiest of the busy beavers around but I've been surprisingly lax when it came to updating the blog, if only because I have too many things I want to say but no linking theme between these things. So what will transpire is a post that is garbled, long and rambling- not exactly the easiest kind to read. Anyhow I'll try to break this post up into manageable reading material.

Uni aspect of life
For one of my classes, part of the final assessment is creating and maintaining a blog throughout the semester. Initially I set up the blog using the old Blogger account style with my Hotmail email address because I didn't want to mix the personal blog with the class blog, but embarrassingly enough I forgot the username so I started a new one with my Gmail account. Talk about a waste of a perfectly good URL. So now if you click on my profile, you'll see that I am actually managing three blogs right now. Which is quite an accomplishment for me considering my lackadaisical attitude towards updating. If you care to know,

1. Sporadic word vomit - is the private, or as-private-as-I-get, blog. Updates generally contain either pop culture references, self-made lists, or what-I've-been-up-to details.
2. Test pilot - is where I try to create a satisfactory template so that I can transfer 'Sporadic word vomit' to the new Blogger Beta layout. Nobody is ever meant to visit this blog. Currently the only problem left is getting Haloscan to work with the new beta Blogger. Once that's done (probably 900 years from now) it's Blogger Beta all the way, baybeh.
3. Overcoming crippling HTML fear - is the blog for class. So far I've put up links to things I find amusing on the web, so take a look there for some of my best finds on the wide world of the intrawebs.

Social aspect of life
N/A. Report: this entity does not exist.

Work aspect of life
Because nobody will entertain a kid without retail experience, it's pretty impossible to find a job in retail. It doesn't help that I'm terribly picky about shops I want to work at. So in the end there's a high chance that I'm going back to Maccas. Yes, I am Ronald's bitch. Did you want that cheeseburger in a meal or by itself?

Pop culture aspect of life
I finally got around to watching Crank and I wished I watched it in 2006 because then I could have include it in my annual review. It would be my one and only "Most WTF movie of the year" entry. I'll say this much about it: What Crank lacks in plot is made up in the visual and editing department. And that was some serious top-notch editing. You know how chick lit is considered the fluff of the romance genre? Crank is basically the cinematic equivalent of unadulterated fluff in the action genre. It's not good, not bad but purely contained to the realms of guilty pleasure. Watch it if only to see Jason Statham steal the role that Bruce Willis once owned before the paunchiness and onset of male pattern baldness. Seriously though, the really innovative highly stylized visuals and editing are definitely something else. Think about watching it.

This year will be the year I force my way through Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The last time I read it in high school, I gave up halfway through the book on the grounds of insane levels of boredom. But yes, ladies and gents, even if my eyes spontaneously start bleeding from the sockets, I will persevere and finish the damn book. That is the promise I make to you.

And right now you're thinking, "what the hell do I care if Karen reads P&P?" Well, it's true it's nothing to you but I thought the dramatic exclamation had a nice touch to what is essentially a really pointless goal. So there.

Just because

Goth 60% Punk 47% Emo Kid 40% "Ghetto" 40% Jock 33% Hot 33% Geek/Nerd 20% Stoner 13% Loner 7% Prep 7% What Highschool Clique Do You Belong To? created with QuizFarm.com

Can't them cracker asses see that this girly be feeling the "ghetto" style? Holla!

My extremely belated Top 3

Well, as it turns out I threw out all my past year ticket stubs under the impression that mid-February was a wee bit too late to rate the top 3 movies of 2006. But then comes Thursday, March 15 and I'm in need of a distraction so hell, here's my extremely belated top/bottom 3 movies of the past year going on memory. Yeap, this is going to be THE BEST LIST EVER.

My Three Favourite Films

1. Brick
This, to me, was the best movie of the year not simply because of the Joseph Gordon-Levitt factor, but because the idea, execution and delivery of the film was perfect on every tactical and technical level. Rian Johnson's decision to write the script in old-school mystery noir style was very ambitious and potentially fatal to the success of the film. Pretentiousness, overreaching, unrealistic.. these were some of the words attached to Brick. Luckily the majority of the movie world embraced the film with a grousing applause. It's hard to be critical about the dialogue when it flows so smoothly and adds an extra dimension to a world of thugs, drugs and murder, that is, get this, set in an urban high school. It might seem implausible but then film was never meant to perfectly resemble real life. The ensemble cast was simply exceptional and delivered above and beyond what I expected from largely no-name actors. Highly recommended to anyone who is willing to venture out of their comfortable pop culture grounds.

2. Blood Diamond
DiCaprio proved his role in The Departed was no one-trick pony with his excellent follow-up performance as the morally ambiguous black-market diamond trader in Blood Diamond. If you ask me, I'd say DiCaprio is far more engaging here as evidenced in his constantly toeing the morally grey line. Political messages aside, this film was an emotional powerhouse, Djimon Hounsou being the proverbial dynamite to the exploding show. The pacing was consistent, visuals, exciting and action, unrelenting.

3. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
No, I'm only kidding.

The real no. 3: She's The Man
Seriously though. STM is very entertaining for a teen genre flick. Plus, if you ever wondered, I base my list on shows that are not only my favourite of the year but also flicks that I wouldn't mind re-watching again in the future. So that's why The Prestige isn't taking this spot. It's fantastic and all but I doubt I'll re-watch it anytime soon.

My Bottom Three Movies

1. My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Hard to believe that the lame female lead is the same person who tore up screens a year ago on a bloody rampage as the Bride.

2. Date Movie
It was pretty bad. But Epic Movie is worse. In fact, I'll just declare this up front. As of March 2007, Epic Movie is my chosen worst movie of the year. It's kind of hard to top that disaster of lame and unfunny gags.

3. John Tucker Must Die
It's not so much putrid as horribly generic. Which is actually enough to make it pretty damn bad. So there.

Also, just since I'm on a roll and all..

My Three Favourite 'Horror' flicks

1. Slither
Yeah, I'll admit it. Besides the incredibly gross (=awesome) visuals and FX, the main reason why it's number one has a lot to do with the Nathan Fillion factor. Also, I think I'm a little bit in love with writer/director James Gunn, brother of Sean 'Kirk on Gilmore Girls' Gunn. It's a fun ride this one is.

2. The Hills Have Eyes
Did you know that the same guy who was the father of the baby plays flame-boy Pyro on X2 and X3?

3. The Descent
That scene with the night vision camera and the cave dweller had me stopped chewing my potato chips mid-bite if I remember correctly.


My Three Favourite Comedies

1. Borat
"It nice!" has entered the international lexicon of all things funny, yes?

2. Clerks 2
The humour doesn't really hold up with repeat viewings but you just can't go by the witty pop culture-laced dialogue.

3. Jackass 2
Funny, but for all the wrong reasons.


The Three Biggest Disappointments

1. Lady in the Water
Oh, M. Night Shyamalan. I tried to ignore the critics and the reviews and it worked. But when I watched the movie myself, it was hard to keep paying attention what with the lagging pace and the plodding dialogue. Also, I hate Paul Giamatti so that didn't help any. Still love your visuals though.

2. The Illusionist
I was all prepared to love this show more than The Prestige, after all they had the same 'magician in trouble' premise. While Edward Norton was amazing as per usual, the combination of Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman takes the whole damn bakery. While the visuals were pleasant and the plot easy to understand, it just lacked a lot of the punch Prestige had. Take a bow, Nolan.

3. Babel
The more critical acclaim this film gets, the more I hate it. While each individual plot was engaging, the movie as a whole lacked cohesion and at the end of the movie, I was left with a "urmmmm.. was that all?" feeling. I don't know.. maybe I just expected too much from it. Whatever the case is I'm pretty glad it didn't win best picture at the Oscars.

Restlessness

I have to confess that I've been feeling a little lost these days. The daily grind brings some sense to the days as they pass by in an eternal blur. Much like the proverbial fog rolling in from the sea blanketing a city, I am the proverbial citizen left disoriented and confused as the weight of the air press down on me and sight cease to be the most important of the five senses. Now that all the shows I watch regularly in the US have gone on hiatus, I've pretty much lost my direction during weekdays.

No, seriously, I am devastated.

It used to be so simple. Mondays had Heroes, Tuesdays- Veronica Mars, Wednesdays- catching up on the TWoP forums, Thursdays- the utterly delectable Ugly Betty and The Office, Friday- mad squealing over Thursday's shows. Thanks to the American hiatus system, which I don't even understand and can't find a page on Wikipedia to explain it, I am left on the edge of my seat as I wonder how Peter can come back from a possibly fatal ass-whipping from Sylar. OMG.. Heroes will be the death of me.

Luckily, there is one saving grace on TV right now. Call it what you will but America's Next Top Model is back, and I'm totally loving it. I love everything about it; Tyra's spiral into both inanity and insanity, the cattiness/false modesty of the models, the fact that there's a quiet 'wink-wink' consensus by the producers,models, audience that thus far no previous winner has actually achieved 'top model' status in the US, let alone make a mark on the international modeling circuit.. Finally, there's meaning again on Wednesday nights and while it may be mindless, reality-escapist/bimbotic meaning, I'll take what I can have.

A-Z of Cambodia

And in case you were wondering, YM and Christine, this is what I was frantically scribbling down during traveling periods in the van and bus.

-----
A
Airport - The Siam Reap International Airport looked more like a luxurious getaway resort than a bustling travel hub. Trust me when I say there were lots of pretty abound.
All-American Rejects - Thanks to heavy rotation on Channel [V] which, by the way, we received in Cambodia, I consider 'It Ends Tonight' as my theme song for the trip. Not that it had any relevance to the trip but you know, Tyson Ritter is very, very hot.


Angkor Wat - is everything and more I thought it would be. The pictures I saw did nothing to prepare me for the intense beauty of it all. (I may sound like a prat, but I'm totally serious!)

B
Baguette - I, along with YM, sampled a ham, tuna-filled baguette from a roadside vendor (You see them everywhere). It was yummy and no, we did not spend the rest of the day in the toilet groaning while the baguette violently came out from every orifice in our body.
Bayon Thom - It's depressing how thieves have made away with the heads of the statues. Says a lot about the level of poverty in Cambodia.
Buddhism - approximately 90% of the population are Buddhists.

C

Chilling - Our visit to Cheuong Ek Genocidal Centre on Day 4.
Corruption - rife in Cambodia. There is a marked divide between the rich and the poor - the rich often holding positions of state officials or government folk whereas the poor slum it up in dwellings along the Mekong River.


Crickets - which at point of writing I have full intentions of eating which I did not sample due to time constraints and the lack of cojones on my part.

D

D'Angkor Artisan - a carving center in Siam Reap which primarily houses the deaf. We were given a chance to tour the facilities and it's really interesting to note that handcrafted was meant on a literal level.
Dine & Dash - At Toule Bassae Restaurant, which is a fancy buffet restaurant, we left with a good meal in our stomachs and USD 2.00 more in our wallets because we forgot to pay for the drinks we ordered.
Dusty - Siam Reap as a whole was very, very dusty, mostly due to non-granite roads.

E
Emerald Buddha in the Silver Pagoda, Royal Palace - Conspiracy theorists say that the famed emerald Buddha statue in the Royal Palace had actually been long taken by the Thais during a joint preservation project. What is left is a replica that is either made in the inferior jade or plastic. We saw it and our verdict? Those smarmy Thais.

F
Food - is like a mix of Thai, without the spices, Chinese, without the MSG, and Vietnamese, without the beef noodles, which doesn't make it any less appetizing than it is.

G
Gems - Cambodia's specialty- rubies and sapphires. They still cost an arm and a leg.

H
History - The scars of the Khmer Rouge regime are still fresh in the minds and on the lands of the people. Depending on who you talk to, you get a different account of it all. What I think happened, put simply, is that during the Vietnam War, the Viet Kong in northern Vietnam pushed their way up to Cambodia for survival and taught the fringe-side locals the way of their life. What transpires next in the events of Cambodia is the result of learned hatred and discrimination towards the city and well-learned folk.

I
Idiot - Malaysia moves an hour faster than Cambodia. I set my alarm on my mobile phone for seven am, and end up wasting an hour that could have been spent on not-really-needed sleep. Mind you, this was on day 4 of our 5 days there.
Insects - Did you know that insects like crickets and beetles are sold as snacks in Cambodia? Spiders, on the other hand, have medicinal values, not like we put that to the test.

J
Jolly - as YM and Christine found out, I get a bit, ahem, 'jolly', come nightfall. Nothing I ever want strangers to find out, of course, in the event I am unfairly, but justly, labeled a psycho.

K
Khmer - is the main language spoken in Cambodia, followed by French, English and Mandarin. See N.

L

License - In Cambodia, driving a motorcycle does not require you to have a license. Cars, vans and trucks on the other hand, do need a official license. And with good reason, as evidenced by 'taxis' in Phnom Penh. Additionally, motorcycles in Cambodia are made to sit up to three people and that's legal (!?).

M
Marriage - When asking for a lady's hand in marriage, the guys need to prepare at least USD$5000 for the day-long ceremony alone. And that's just the average dude.
Massage - THE BEST EVER. It only costs like 7 bucks for a full body massage and it owns every other massage I've had.

N
'Nyer cekut' - which means 'you're stupid' in Khmer. Oh, the handy phrases I choose to remember.


Naga Casino and Resort - where my 15 bucks would end up recirculating to YM's 12 bucks+ and Christine's 10(?) bucks+ winnings for the night.

O
Ouch - the general feeling the day after our visit to Angkor Wat. My thighs were burning something bad.

P

Pan-handlers - not limited to your garden-size variety adults only. Be prepared for kids running up to you and begging for money while your head turns and your heart breaks. Beware: give one and more will come.
Passionate - Our tour guide for the Phnom Penh leg of our trip, Sau Phorn, was extremely passionate about Cambodia's history. Apparently his grandpa had been a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime. He was a teacher before, and something tells me I would have loved him as my history teacher.
Phnom Penh - the capital of Cambodia. A lot like Ipoh, with the slower pace of life, but with more footless monks and crazy tuk-tuk drivers hassling you for a ride.

Q

Quizzical - I was going for 'wildly amazed' but ended up with a, "Huh?" face in this self-portrait taken in front of the Independence Monument in Phnom Penh.

R
Rock - A popular and hip local discotheque which we went to after dinner on our third day. It was dark, cavernous and very empty- owing to the fact that it was only 8.30 pm.


Royal Palace - When the flag is flying high at the King's official residence, that means he's home. No, we did not meet him and neither did he or his guards unethically proposition anyone of us.

S
Siam Reap - the cultural province of Cambodia where the great temples and Tonle Sap can be found.


Sombre - the mood after visiting the Killing Fields.


Sombre X 100000000000 - the mood after vising Tuol Sleng.

T
Tuk-tuk - Much like Thailand, they're a cheap form of transportation, averaging from 2 to 4 bucks.

Tuol Sleng - for those not in the know, Tuol Sleng used to be a school but was converted into a torture/detention prison for those accused of crimes against the regime.

The Khmer Rouge, ruthless as they might have been, were also incredibly organized. They took a picture, along with personal details, of every single person who was condemned to the prison. That was just one room of pictures. The noticeboard with the pictures of kids absolutely slayed me.

U

Unnerving - The feeling within the walls of Tuol Sleng. Never have I experienced a more apt moment for the phrase, 'if these walls could talk'.

V

Very snazzy restaurant we dined at - Alright so I've got nothing for V.

W
Warm - the best times to travel to Cambodia is between the months of November and December, when the weather is generally cooler.


World of hurt - was the state I was in the second day after climbing the steep, STEEP steps of Angkor Wat. I want to go back to when this picture was taken and tell PastKaren that she's going to be in a total agony following the triumphant feelings of climbing the steps.

X

Xcellent (yeah yeah.. what a copout) - The view from above the pagoda at Angkor Wat.

Y
Yang - the name of this kid I promised to buy postcards from after lunch but had to turn down due to the lack of pretty in her postcards. I ended up postcards from her friend. The look she gave me following that made me feel very, very ashamed.

Z

Zoinks! - the bumpy ride on the 'roads' of Siam Reap on the one night we ventured out. This was before we knew about the fog of dust that settled in the night air thus scaring us from coming out after our showers ever again.

I'm a lazy, lazy bugger. What's new?

I've decided that in order to help break this streak of laziness I'm currently fostering, I'll go right ahead and do what lazy people do best when it comes to updating their blog that has been lavished with inattention and neglect for, oh, about eight weeks now.

Alright then.

Brace yourselves, children.


------
Part 1: On the Outside

Name: Karen
Date of Birth: 02/02/1987
Current status: alive and loving it
Eye colour: Black
Hair colour: Black
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Zodiac sign: look it up, you lazy SOB

Part 2: On the Inside
Your heritage: 3/4 Chinese, 1/4 Peranakan
Your fea laziness... taking.. complete... control.. over.. body..

cannot... resist...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Year 2006/2007

Year 2006 ended with:

- an immeasurable feeling of national pride at the quick response of the government in dealing with the floods in Malaysia.
- realizing my cousin could be contacted through email (duh. Hey Daniel. Happy new year!)
- my first trip to China, Shanghai specifically, which left my brain scrambled for more than just negative reasons. To be expanded upon later, when I am sure that my usual long-ass posts won't be rejected.
- the SCBs having their first major fight, which luckily ended in a pact to never let future fights last longer than two days.
- my first new year countdown spent in the company of the SCBs (-1).
- my first aerosol-tin-foam fight which ended with Adeline's kid brother getting pwned big. Ad, don't tell him I said that.

Year 2007 started with:

- my brother exhibiting mad golfing skillz that led to him clinching fourth place in the Saujana men's tournament. That's my kid brother, peeps!
- Sammykins leaving for UPenn for a year. What will entail is me watching movies and student productions at uni all by my lonesome self. Or at least until the Chairman gets back in July.
- a realization that I am horribly allergic to the stuff in the aerosol-tin-foam. There is irony to be found somewhere but I'm too busy trying not to scratch and covering my blotchy face then to go figure it out.

Have a great year everyone!

Ruminations: Part II

1. I have recently discovered a new allergy that I suffer from that unfortunately does not seem to be letting up anytime soon. It is potentially lethal, I feel, and any help given in curing it will be much appreciated. This is it: I am allergic to teenagers of the younger-teeny-bopper variety. It's school holiday season now in Malaysia and the damn kids are out in packs of at least six at a given time and they take up seats at restaurants, giggle excessively in not-really-funny scenes at the movies and block my walking path. You could point out that I too am a teenager, albeit one in the final year, but then I'd have to de-befriend you.

2. To the kids who haven't got the memo and think Heelys (those shoes with the wheels in the heel) should still be worn, please know that your parents don't love you and you were adopted.

3. I got into my first driving accident couple days back. It was at a stupid turning to a road which I stupidly assumed was one-way and my mum was in the front seat giving lousy ass, stupidly confusing directions. Suffice to say, I've now given my mum enough nagging ammo to last a few generations. When last questioned, my mum could not have a bigger smirk on her face.

4. For the life of me, I cannot get into Faulker's works. I've so far attempted 'The Sound and the Fury' and that ended with me exchanging the book for store credit. Yet for some reason or another I purchased 'As I Lay Dying' two days ago, thinking I'd give the guy another shot. I plead temporary insanity. Luckily it only cost 12 ringgit which if I think about, isn't really that much.

5. I went to a Pay Less Books book clearance and came back with 14 books for less than RM50 which of course put me into a complete high today. If there's one thing I love more than a good buy is the good buy being books at a reasonable price. Any regular reader in Malaysia will tell you that that reading here is quite an expensive habit to maintain. A fiction novel in paperback form would normally sell for 35 bucks (and when I say bucks, I really mean ringgit) and that's not even including the non-fiction, science, astrology, hardcover stuff. Which is why after I discovered Pay Less Books, a secondhand book store chain with outlets in among other places, One Utama, Carrefour and Atria, I only ever buy second hand books now. It's heaps cheaper and they have a pretty wide variety of books (especially the Atria branch). It might be a little less presentable looking than a fresh, plastic-wrapped MPH bought one, but really, what matters is between the covers, right?

6. That being said, I couldn't find any Neil Gaiman today. So I might actually have to purchase them from MPH. Or maybe I should go to PLB in Atria, since I haven't checked them out yet. Yes.. I should do that.

7. Unfortunately I have also yet to find any manga series on the shelves of Pay Less Books. Which means that I am going to have to fork out an exorbitant amount of money for the Battle Royale and Death Note series if I do decide to get it. Which I probably won't. Because gosh darn it, RM 300+ for manga is something I'm not willing to pay. So I'll just keep moaning about them with the hopes that maybe some charitable do-gooder (ie. friends -ahem-) will decide to help out and fix me of my want. No pressure, or nothing. It's not like my birthday is coming or anything. Oh wait, yes it is.

8. I've been very lazy with email lately, so Charm I promise that my email is coming. Although I fully expect you to be busy in the land of old people and swamps so I guess I could hold out a little more. Alright, alright.. I'm on it.

9. If you're reading this, hello Li Yang! I didn't know you go by Daniel too until Jon filled me in. It was great seeing you during the dinner although I didn't get to talk to you much. I should actually reply in the comments but I'm much too lazy to do so.

10. I am trying to create a Guilty Pleasure Mix CD (tm) and it is surprisingly hard to do so. One CD allows for 18 songs, 19 if you're lucky and fitting in 18 of the most embarrassing, but totally awesome songs is taking much longer than I expected. This is what it looks like, with commentary (re: my defense), since it's Christmas and it's supposed to be time of giving. Before you mock and ostracize me forever, what's yours?

-----
Fernando - ABBA
A must have in my mix CD since I normally despise ABBA, but really dig this song. I usually break out the funky Saturday Night Fever move whenever it plays on my iTunes.

Lala - Ashlee Simpson
She may be the unholy spawn of living-off-your-famous-sisters-name, capitalism and unhinged consumerism but this song still makes me dance and sing-a-long like a squirrel on fire, or what I imagine a squirrel on fire would look like, which is unbelievably ghastly and funny at the same time. Basically, my feelings toward this song too.

Quit Playing Games With My Heart - Backstreet Boys
If you've been visiting my blog regularly, you know that I actually quite like the BSB. Which is why for me choosing only one BSB song as a guilty pleasure was simply too hard and complicated for words. I had to factor in level of cringe-worthiness and how loud I sing the chorus along too to get the final two. In the end the totally gay video for this song made me choose it over 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back). I'm still a little torn.

One Week - Barenaked Ladies
A one-hit wonder if there ever was one. Actually no, scratch that, Deep Blue Something's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' remains the yardstick for all one-hit wonders that ever existed and any future hits that will come.

Kokomo- Beach Boys
It's so bad, it's effin' fantastic and you know it!

Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy
Pete Wentz's exploits with his camera phone may have scarred me for life but this song remains one that I sing when no one is listening and I'm all alone. Eyeliner aside, the line "I'm just a notch on your bedpost/but you're just a line in a song" is really effective in using your band to slag off an ex, no?

Faith - George Michael
Another must-have for the mix CD. I'm so in love with this song I've even got the Limp Bizkit and The Boy Least Likely To covers. I'm risking social pariahness, but whatever. This song is total gold.

Get Right - Jennifer Lopez
Yeah yeah.. at least it wasn't from that 'Jenny from the Block' CD.

Give It to You - Jordan Knight
I think he was an ex-member of a once famous boyband, possibly New Kids. I don't know why I like it.

Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard
It's the damn violin that puts them above other pop-rock bands.

Since You've Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
There must be a level of hell that is specially reserved for people who admit to liking songs by a reality TV star. I suppose, I'll be seeing at least one of my friends there?

Everything - M2M
I think I gave Chen Chou so much flack for liking them in high school, but at least they're not Mandy Moore, right? That's my rationale and I'm sticking with it.

Just Another Phase - The Moffats
Actually liking Mandy Moore might not be so bad in comparison. Hmm. The song is really good and matured for the band that came out with some of the gayest poppy-sounding 'lite rock' in the 90s. It's like Hanson's 'Weird', a different sound which worked for an innately lame band.

Mother We Can't Get Enough - New Radicals
It was on the soundtrack of A Walk to Remember, which unfortunately really detracts the song from it's really kick-ass riff.

One Girl Revolution - superchic[K]
Lame band name. Lame song title. Really good 'girl power' song without the tackiness of Spice Girls attached.

Move Your Feet - Junior Senior
It's not really a guilty pleasure since I'll gladly tell anyone that I really like it. So it might not end up on the final mix after all.

Bust a Move - Young MC
This song shouldn't be on anyone's guilty pleasure, but it's the kind you end up feigning ignorance at whenever it comes on. Oh, I don't know. It might not be in the final cut either.
-----

11. The baristas who work at coffee chains in Malaysia are a pitiful lot. The get absolutely no reprieve from the horror that are frappes. At least in Melbourne, winter ensured that only the odd psycho would buy an ice-blended drink. Baristas don't even get the option of a shift without making frappes over here due to the tropical weather. Heh. That's bloody hilarious and absolutely not going to stop me from ordering a mocha at Coffee Bean or a Java Chip at Starbucks!

12. Since everyone here dresses in a jeans and a tee, people-watching here is absolutely depressing. Echoing Sophia's sentiments, people of Malaysia really need to funkify their wardrobe please. As a serial people-watcher, I am at a terrible loss and know not how to continue my voyeuristic tendencies.

13. For some reason or another, whenever I'm in Malaysia my knowledge of Bahasa Malaysia and Cantonese improves substantially. Maybe it's the environment or the simple fact of using it more but I find my usage less awkward. In fact today some guy even asked if I was from Indonesia which pleased me so since I've been trying to speak BM in the style of Bahasa Indon since Trinity. Of course, my Cantonese remains completely anglo-accented which my dad seems to find immensely amusing. It's Daniel-Wu-in-his-early-days bad. Which I suppose is kind of funny.

14. I'm all for Malaysia, but really, don't bother watching Cicakman. The really sad thing about the movie is that the effects were utterly impressive, almost Hollywood-material, but the long, unfunny sequences made the viewing a complete pain. The film had potential, no doubt, and with harsher editing it could have been really something. Unfortunately, 'humour', which you can tell by my use of the apostrophes isn't really humorous, was littered abundantly throughout the movie much to merely test the patience of the audience. Another one bites the dust, eh?

15. It kills me that I'll be missing Beastie Boys in February. I flipped on MTV to come across the MTV$2Bill program with Beastie Boys performing live, and I'm afraid that's the closest thing to a watching them live for the foreseeable future. How utterly depressing.

16. Also another downside to my holiday in Malaysia is the fact that I'm probably going to have to give up a potentially awesome job because I can't make the interview. There's no need to go into specifics since it'll just depress me more but I'll just say that that job would have been a real resume booster. Here's hoping something great comes along later in the year when I'm actually in Melbourne.

"I'll toast to that, Karen."
"You can't toast yourself Kaz. That's lame."
"Oh, and talking to yourself and debating the lameness of toasting yourself is what exactly?"
"Pathetic and borderline creepy, but not lame!"
"I bet our parents never loved us and we're adopted too."
"Nope, just a middle child, dude."

The more things change..

I bought a door peep hole that allows for a 'fish eye' effect in the pictures. This changes everything...

The best laid plans..

Since two days ago, my plan was to be fully packed and in bed by two at the latest. Ad told me about the awesome in-flight entertainment that I didn't want to miss by sleeping so I figured enough of this insomnia crap, let's bring in the big guns (sleeping pill). I also wanted to be fully packed before I went to bed because I didn't want to risk the catastrophe that was last July's 30-minute-frantic-packing-job. Oh, but how I will cry if I forget my driver's license again.

Of course, it's now 4.01 am, I've been up since four am, I'm running on 2 hour and 10 minutes worth of sleep and I have done squat on the packing front. On the bright side, I managed to drop in on my friend's birthday party and finally finished the full 3.2 kms walk around Princes Park with the additional bonus of gossip, mindless chatter and sarcasm all around. Jesus Christ.. talk about plans gone awry.

I realized that I should be packing but today has been an interesting day of sorts and I want to pen it down before I forget. Firstly, I went to church, 4th time in my life, and didn't fall asleep during the three hour service, time ever, I should add. It was interesting to say the least. I have been meeting and talking with a couple of missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) for a couple of weeks now and I finally went to a service yesterday. Thoughts: It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. I would go into specifics about how I met the missionaries but while I may be actively wasting my time, I also realize that I don't have that much active time to waste. That made no sense, but let's just move on m'kay?

Then while doing some Christmas shopping for friends, I bumped into a classmate from high school. Don't you just hate the awkward pause that follows after a person yells out your name and your mind is pulling nothing but blanks? To add insult to the injury, we were in the same class for two friggin' years and were relatively friendly. In my defense,it's not like I had forgotten her completely. Our eyes met and did the weird sizing up/recognition thing before she finally went, "Karen?" Oh, the embarassment that followed after a long pause and too many false starts. And this made me wonder; are peoples memories just better than mine or have I not changed at all since primary school? And if I haven't changed does that mean I have the look of a nine year old or did I look nineteen when I was nine?

And finally, the birthday party. I had initially declined going, using packing as an excuse, but after threats of physical and privacy abuse, I caved and attended the party. It was fun and definitely good to see the birthday girl bursting with happiness.


That's her on the right. Yeah, she is pretty hot.

After the party I finally took a ride on the back of Jim's scooter, and can I just say that riding a motorbike is fucking exhilarating? Too righteous. On the way back, Neil wanted to see me drive his car. Kids, one year without touching the wheel and guess who's still got some mad skillz?? Yeah, holla at your girl!

What choo mean I can't pull that off? Is it because I ain't black? Oh, you racist pig!

I'm losing concentration but I just need to type this one last thing. The Assistant Manager at my Maccas store just recently implemented a new change in the holiday roster. The new rule is that if you're away for more than two months, you need to hand in your uniform and basically reapply for the same position after you've gotten back. Now, we've put up with a lot of crap from management, mostly cost-saving measures, but this is a new low. I only heard about it from my friend, Steph, who although has been working there for two years, apparently isn't worth Macca's loyalty. This is total bull because Steph is one of our best and most reliable workers. If this is the steps our store is doing to combat the high turnover rate, this isn't the way to go about it. After chatting with her, she admits that she couldn't be arsed reapplying for the job after she gets back from Indonesia, which leads to Macca's losing a valuable crew member. The people who are going away for long periods are usually international students on their summer break. They're good workers and have usually been there a while. How is it fair to punish them for using their holiday to visit the family instead of grovelling at Macca's? How is that going to encourage any job loyalty among the workers? What the fuck kind of management material are they reading??

I write this now to remind myself about how angry I was when I first heard it. Tomorrow I'm going to the store to talk to the Assistant Manager and tell her what I think about this new rule. Granted of course that I wake up in time. At this rate, there will be a frantic rush again of the 'OMG-my-plane-leaves-in-an-hour-and-I-just-woke-up!!!' kind.

Photography project pictures for today







Head on over to my Flickr page for more party and project pictures.

Contacts + rubbing = le ouch.

Contacts + rubbing = le ouch.
Originally uploaded by nerak.a.

Between my irregular wear and questionable contact-care hygiene, it had to happen at some point, right?

Blogger Beta?

I find it hilarious how hard Blogger is pushing for users to switch over to Blogger Beta. It used to be a small line at the start of the log-in page and now it's taking up three quarters of the top page when you're logged-in and at the Dashboard. It looks fairly promising, what with it's new privacy controls and post labels features, but it took my technologically-challenged self effing forever to 'master' the HTML knowledge needed to tweak blog templates, and I'm unsure about their new 'drag + drop' template editing (read: what will happen to my mad HTML skillz??). Anyway, if anyone reading this has already switched over, do leave a comment about what it's like over at the Beta side. Is it greener there?

I've been playing with the idea of starting a month-long photography project for a while now and two days ago I finally decided to commit it. The project is this: for an entire month, I will take at least one photo a day, a documentary of sorts, if you will. The photos can be of anything; an interesting event of the day, something that caught my eye, a fly on the wall.. there are no rules. I was inspired by an article at Photojojo, a really good and innovative photography blog, about a guy who took a 365 photos for an entire year. The end product were memories that were immortalized on film. Of course, I don't think I have the patience to go through an entire year, so I'm making it a month, with an option to extend of course.

It makes for good practice for people like me who want to move past the 'point and shoot' photography stage and it is also fun, or so I read. So for an entire month, I'll be snap-happy and if I meet you be accomodating and willing, yeah? Wishing you thanks in advance!

I went around campus and the city yesterday, running errands and taking pictures and most of it are uploaded on my Flickr page so mosey on over if you're interested. Rather unexpected was the 'graffiti' theme in a number of the photos taken, some funnier than others.







The last one is actually a wall at Melbourne Central, but I think the spray painted sign at the top wasn't in the original conception of the wall art. I could be wrong, but who cares. I'm still amazed I've never seen that wall although I go into Melbourne Central at least once a week.

Also, as an additional challenge for myself, multiple photos that I am included in must have me flashing something besides the generic grin. Seriously. There's only so many pictures I can view where I am wearing the stupid inane grin before I go crazy and want to cut /digitally erase myself out.

A watched pot and all that jazz..

My download of the latest episode of Veronica Mars will be completed in about an hour and I need something to distract me from staring at the fluctuating download speed and willing it to go faster, which explains why this post came about. I can't actually think of anything to write about so as a time-wasting gimmick here are some pictures I've taken over the past month with colour commentary that will hopefully take about an hour to type out. Once the download is completed, I am gone, regardless if I'm mid-sentence. You have been warned.

Ready, set, go!



I've asked a lot of people from different religious backgrounds to explain it to me but countless hours of questions, confusion and "I don't know! What kind of a question is that anyway?!" endings later and I'm still not exactly sure what is so damn bad about the Falun Gong movement. Is it a cult? The Christians, Buddhists and Agnostics mostly answer with a resolute, "YES" while the Smart-Asses go, "aren't all religions a cult technically?". Five bucks says that these smart asses are the seminally smug, totally pretentious douchebaggy students in lectures who answers "it depends on what your definition of _______ is" to every question raised by the lecturers. You know the kind. They exist everywhere without geographical borders often occupying the left-mid-front seat in the lecture hall.



But back to my original point. Google led me to a bunch of news articles that were first hand reports of ex-Falun Gong followers who had quit the group after inflicting grevious body harm on themselves. Apparently third degree burns have the ability to make people come to their senses regarding dodgy 'spiritual' groups. A quick check revealed that the news articles were from the national Chinese media, so that was that.



Then finally I came across a journal article by a British scholar that I assumed was fairly unbias and it was a good read. Except I forgot most of it now, which is highly embarassing but in my defense the exam material had to take priority, right? Anyway, one point that stood out was that since the Chinese government was a strict Communist regime, the development of a group that would challenge it's ideals and core beliefs would pose as a threat to keeping the citizens under control. If that makes any sense.

Oh gosh, the download is done. Kthxbai!

Ruminations

- I got a forwarded email from my brother, the "Ashley killed herself because Jack deserted her, and although this has no connection, if you don't pass it on you will die ARRRR!" kind. And because I know my brother, I am pretty damn sure that he passed it on, not under any spam or entertainment pretenses, but because he, all 6'1'' 96kg of Jon Wong, is afraid that the virtual spirit of Ashley whatshername will come to kill him should the nontangible, nonphysical, nonharmable spirit find out that among the wide WIDE space of the interwebs the mail remained unforwarded seating in his inbox . I call, WUSS, and rest my proverbial case.

- From this week onwards to whenever I fancy a change my resolution is to read more and lie less. In Hell, right next to the people who speak in theatres are the people who lie to missionaries, I'm willing to venture. And by read more, I mean not read Stephen King's 'IT' for the eighth time.

- The weather forecast on my browser is so damn honest, that although the temperature outside is 8 Celsius, it states that it "feels like: 4 Celsius". I don't know which is scarier, the fact that the weather forecaster is more honest than me or that it can 'feel'. Hmm.

- I'm looking forward to going back to Malaysia because finally will I be then be reunited with my Coldplay albums, and my Baseketball DVD. The awesome, delicious food that I used to dream about and salivate over no longer really holds much temptation since I discovered I was allergic to eggs. So really, apart from the benefit of meeting up with old friends and family, the only other perk to going back to Malaysia is the pirated DVDs.

- What ever happened to my Zwan CD? It's not still I start humming the chorus of 'Honestly' that I remember that it's been lost, caught somewhere in the black hole of living and constantly travelling between two places, since 2004. Or maybe it fell behind my desk at home. I'll make it a point to check.

- My life is a string of cliches as much as it pains me to admit; working a McJob, the addicted-to-gambling, glasses-wearing Asian, pop-culture obsessed teen, which is why there is no surprise that I'm experiencing the sophomore slump now. I'm thinking of taking next year off, do an internship and get some experience in the media field, solidify my passion for journalism and all that. But I don't think that'll sit too well with my parents. And deep down I know that journalism is something I've always wanted to do since I wrote my first diary entry at age eight (and I would proceed to tear it up in a fit of rage when I found out my sister was reading it three months later), but I second guess the choices I make much like, you've guessed it, any cliched fickle minded teen out there.

- And then I proceed to shit my metaphorical pants when I think of the competition in the industry and my less-than-savoury writing skills, which includes but is not limited to my penchant for hyphenating every-single-damn-word, and arbitrary use of commas and semi-colons.

- I think this is the most intimate post since gosh.. I can't remember. I sometimes think that I should build my blog around one theme, either be a movie/tv review type of blog or a pop-culture commentary one, because I get personal as often as a fat kid rejects cake, but then I remember that I started this as a log of things I thought about and weird stuff I found on the web, ya know, general life. Which unfortunately for you, the reader, is often knee deep in contemporary pop culture. Which reminds me..

- One drawback to going back to Malaysia this time around is the sucky movies premiering there as opposed to Australia. Waiting... and The Wedding Date? Seriously? SERIOUSLY???? That is NOT entertainment. That is just one desperate diner-style-Clerks-ripoff with Ryan Reynolds as the lead, which should say enough as it is, and another waste of film that should not be touched by anyone with a Y chromosome or lacking that, good sense. Those damn pirates better deliver quality fare or a bucket better be passed around for the collective tears of the movie-going public. Yeap, right here buddy.

- Don't tell my parents but the main reason why I'm going back a couple of days after my exam ends if because I want to catch Borat before I go back. This means you Jon, if you're reading this. In my defense I've been waiting for what feels like three lifetimes for the damn movie to premiere in Aus. I'm going to be obnoxious and pull rank and play the 'but I was making sexy time with Borat even before the term 'Jagshemash' entered the outer fringes of your vocabulary' card. While it may be ostentatious it is also true. So that is the reason why I've pushed back my 24th departure date to the 27th (you squeal and I'll make sure that is the only sound you ever make again, Jonny Boy).

"This one time we mated a bulldog and shih-tzu? We called it a bullshit"

I was walking home from Safeway just a while ago when an overwhelming sense of dread overcame by entire being. There and then, I knew something bad was going to happen, my gut telling me that I was heading for a mugging. While walking into the store I had been hit up by bums for change three times in total, one which I ignored and the other two which I declined to give change to. Did that have any part to play in the unexplainable feeling of dread? Maybe. The bums that asked for change were obviously friendly among themselves, a family almost. I reckon I'd be lucky to even wrap my palm into a fist against the four sons and eight friends should a mugging were to occur.

Which is why I chose to go out another exit, the dodgy back route, that would help me avoid the family but risk the possibility of bumping into a strung out junkie that might be hell bent on getting more cash. What I realized in the couple of months that I had avoided the dodgy back route was that a new and very garish looking pub had opened. So in place of junkies, the route is overfilled with pissed working-type people wearing slacks and button down tops. They're equally annoying but I'll take the drunk yuppies anyday, thankyouverymuch.

Which is why I feel this quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is especially relevant now.

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's something big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the universe gets that.

According to IMDb's trivia page for H2G2, other actors that were considered for the role of Zaphod Beetlebrox, the President of the Universe played by Sam Rockwell, include Jim Carrey, Robert Downey Jr, Will Ferrell and Bill Murray. The first two would have gotten the job done par excellence but the latter? Bill Murray owns the wry, sarcastic, wit-on-a-stick sthick, but he playing an almost-rockstar, seminally psychotic President in this time is just not going to cut it. Do not get me started on the abomination that would have been Will Ferrell as Bettlebrox.

On the other hand, other could-have-been Arthur Dent's include two Hughs, a Laurie and a Grant. They're both British, so the accent would have been perfect. One is slightly more famous than the other whereas the other has shown more diversity in his roles, although ito be fair to the other Huge, he can only play one type of character sincerely.

For some reason or another, lately whenever my mind is in wandering mode, this picture keeps coming to the forefront of my mind, thus causing me to explode into fits of giggles or sniggers that are highly inappropriate in any given situation.


I think I love this van so much that in effect, my love for the show is slightly skewed and totally biased. And when they trade in the van for the moped.. heh. I'm giggling all over again.

[while petting Petey, who's head has been taped back on by duct tape]
Blind Kid: Pretty bird. Can you say pretty bird? Pretty bird.

When I was nine that scene made me laugh every single damn time I watched the show, which by the way, was a lot. Click here to relieve some of the most quotable moments in Dumb and Dumber.

In line with Britney Spear's recent "Hey, you know what? I AM only twenty five,y'all" epiphany, the word Fed-Ex has reached new heights of public flaggelation and Jessica Simpson, if she hasn't realized already, will go back to gracing the back pages of US Weekly and People Magazine, and that's on the days that Paris, Lindsay, Britney, Christina, Gwen, Nicole, Larry, Moe and the other Stoodge is on a hiatus. I do pop culture regularly on my blog, not the celebrity type normally, but I do feel that someone needs to point out that should Britney continue the way she's going, Elizabeth Taylor's eight marriage record will cease to be impressive by the time Britney is forty. Not even twenty six and two failed marriages under her belt? A future record in the making, I'm calling it; you heard it here first.

"It's liquid. It's courage. It's liquid courage."

I'm in a weird kind of mood right now. Much too energetic to sleep, too hyper to watch a movie or read a book but not too shameless to dance to Justin Timberlake's 'Damn Girl'. I blame it all on the Beastie Boys. Instant adrenaline rush, party of one. I've already terrorized people's Friendster pages, their email (my apologies, Charm) and logically I should go on MSN to use up the energy but I'm not really thinking coherent thoughts or typing real well now either. Thank you Microsoft Word for your spellcheck feature.

So here's a bunch of thoughts I've been pondering over.

- How do people who listen to their iPods or Discmans not bop their head to the music they're listening to? Especially when a real upbeat song comes along, how does one resist the urge to sing along/break out their inner funkmaster and throw down the phat moves? There is 6 billion plus people in the world and about 25 of them visit my blog regularly so I know I can't be the only one who feels that way. No, really. How do you sit still when The Go! Team starts playing or the guitar riff from AC/DC's 'Highway To Hell' comes on or when the "Ba-ba-ba" kicks in in Beach Boys' 'Barbara Ann'? God, should I ever have the Beatle's 'Twist and Shout' on any of my CDs you can bet I'm going to break out into a spazzy head-bopping-shoulder-swivelling-toe-tapping number of the worst kind.

Okay yeah. That's it. In retrospect, I should go and edit the "bunch of thoughts" to "thought" but I'm feeling pretty darn lazy and silly. So, to heck with it.

Fact #1: Young MC's 'Bust A Move' is the best song to end a night like this when you're feeling dance happy and shamefree. Awefreakinsome.

Things change

Somewhere between here,




and here,



i. Jon not only came to exist, but would grow to become a giant that towers over midget me.
ii. Lots, and I mean LOTS, of guys would come to be spellbound by Gill's charms.
iii. My eyesight would lose its 20/20 brilliance and keep deterioriating.

It's official. My eyesight just got worse.

If the subject of having babies in the future ever come up, between my totally awesome ezcema and equally as awesome potential blindness, don't raise an eyebrow when I say I'm going to adopt, m'kay?