Nonsensical Insanities

The One That Got Away

2011-07-04T19:41:00.011+07:00

Thailand’s first female Prime Minister? It might turn out to be a good thing even though somehow I’m not quite convinced. Maybe it’s because getting her into power only reconfirms my belief that this country is drowning in retards. Maybe it’s because she’s so obvious a figurehead that she’d be better placed on a ship than in parliament. Maybe it’s because a handful of other female politicians in the country that would be better suited for the job. Maybe it’s because what I’ve seen on her campaign shows how much she lacks in credentials to run a country. In the end, none of that really matters if they’re going to push the envelope now, does it?

It’s not that I’m against the idea of a female leader. Back in 2008 I sincerely wanted to see Hillary Clinton make it all the way, although getting Obama probably wasn’t too bad a compensation. I was in Australia in 2010 when Julia Gillard ran for Prime Minister and thought it would be nice to see her as head of state (even if support for her came partially from the fact that I, like many Aussies, like redheads). However, despite my superficial preferences for lady leaders, what they really had going for them was their experience and knowledge in government.

There are a dozen other female leaders in history that I’m not sufficiently informed about to comment on yet am quite certain share the same qualities. Years in parliament gave them the qualification one would want in their representative. The sort of expertise that is pretty much non-existent in our would-be PM. It wasn't their gender that earned them respect, it was that they were good as politicians. The best option to choose. In that respect, I find it genuinely disappointing that Sudarat Keyuraphan is suspended from politics as I think that if we were to choose a woman, she would make a much better Prime Minister.

Oh sure, Yingluck Shinawatra has experience running a successful company but it’s not really governmental work, is it? That’s like applying for a job at a pig farm and boasting about your degree in theoretical physics – it may be one hell of a qualification but how is that going to keep you out of shit?

Perhaps I’m a bit harsh. Sitting behind a big desk all day while nothing happens does seem a lot like ministerial work. It’s still not really what I’m looking for. The last person I would want running a country is someone who thinks of it as a greed-driven, profit-seeking company with its citizens nothing more than employees or even worse – customers.

For all that complaining, I guess I can safely say that I’ve already been proven wrong by the majority. On the bright side, if we do get her as our very own female Prime Minister I’m confident there will be a cascade of hilarity to follow. I could always start with her name, since the local media has a habit of saying a celebrity’s nickname first and they certainly love treating her like a celebrity.

Never forget that for all the appealing female politicians out there, we might have our hands on a Sarah Palin.

App.rise and App.ease

2011-01-16T21:36:00.005+07:00

Being about as up-to-date as a dodo fiddling with an abacus, it's refreshing for me to hear the news when it's still relatively new. It's even better when it's something as amusing as Mircrosoft challenging Apple's bid to trademark the term "app store".

Come to think of it this isn't actually something new. Since when hasn't Microsoft and Apple been at each other's throats? Haven't companies been trying to brand everything in existence with their own mark for, like, ever? It's been going on for years but at least it's eyebrow-raising enough to get me thinking.

While I app.reciate the app.eal of having intellectual property rights taken seriously, it's hard for me to sympathise with the I-own-everything-even-remotely-related-to-me app.roach many businesses have gone for. Especially if it's something as trivial as this. An "app store" isn't a store name, it's a definition. If we wanted things this literal Apple should be a speciality fruit shop.

Speaking of fruits, what about apples, who owns the right to them? I'm almost certainly sure no-one does, it's nature's gift. Yet there's a company that app.arently parades under the banner of said crunchy fruit. So as silly as it may sound, I think it app.lies to this argument. It's only app.ropriate that Apple pay royalties to mother nature for giving them a logo for their empire, not to mention a delicious source of vitamins. I'd app.rove.

The brilliantly app.etising Japanese Mac Apples, a corporate copyright conundrum?

Frustration: My World Cup Final

2010-07-10T20:32:00.005+07:00

Never have I been less enthusiastic about a World Cup final since ... well, ever. Though I can’t say I have a long history of watching World Cups. The first ever televised game of football I ever saw was probably the 1994 final between Brazil and Italy. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I’ve enjoyed watching the so-called ‘world game’ ever since. This year however, I’ll most likely skip the final and end my World Cup with tonight’s third-place play-off between Germany and Uruguay.

It’s not that I think Spain isn’t good enough to be in the final. Nor am I a die-hard Germany fan. In fact, the moment Fabio Grosso scored against the Germans in extra-time at the last World Cup was pretty much the highlight of 2006 (it was a slow year). If anything, I think it’s great that no matter the result, one team will be winning the champion’s title for their very first time. They’ve both played solid football throughout the tournament and dominated their opponents for the most part.

My only problem with teams like this is that they haven’t been very fun to watch. Sure they control the game, their passing is superb and they possess the ball like a fat kid hordes chocolate; that’s exactly what’s wrong. My point is, as a neutral spectator, it just seems like nothing is happening. All that technical superiority doesn’t necessarily make for an entertaining match.

While it is highly subjective, Germany and Uruguay have played more exciting games; mainly because neither side, nor their previous opponents, were as good at holding the ball as the two finalists. I enjoyed it when games were wide open and while the execution wasn’t clinical, it at least gave both sides a chance to do something. Even when they weren’t scoring goals, it was still fun.

Playing against Spain, you hardly get any chances since it’s just that difficult to win the ball from them. Their style of football wins matches, yes, and if Spain does end up lifting the trophy it’s because they had it coming. They certainly are playing the best football, but watching the Spanish team has been as much fun as if I had slept through the match and read the result in the papers the following morning.

It’s 90 minutes I could’ve spent doing other equally non-productive activities; like spacing out in the loo, lying awake in bed, or writing up some drivel about football not being fun. It amounts to the same level of excitement and entertainment as a one-sided game on SBS.

Maybe I would’ve been happier if they managed to turn that overwhelming possession into more goals, instead of just some more possession. Honestly their attack hasn’t been truly inspiring and it’s at that point where I wish they would just give someone else a chance to perform.

*Two players that have surprised and entertained me most in 2010: Mesut Özil (8) and Thomas Müller (13).

It’s like when the older kids hog the basketball court to themselves just because they are bigger and stronger. Now imagine that they aren’t even good at it, but they can easily wrestle the ball away leaving you with nothing else to do but watch them miss shot after pathetic shot.

Usually this is where I would like to cry out about horrible childhood memories, but I don’t remember being bullied in the playground. Although Germany versus Spain ended up giving me a pretty good idea of how it would feel.

Freedom of Breach

2010-05-31T21:23:00.002+07:00

Yesterday I was whining about inaccurate representation of facts, which was mostly to do with news sources. When it gets down to nitty-gritty online discussion, it all degrades into slurry of incomprehensible slush. And that’s what I’ll be bitching about today.

The majority of online discussions are, for the lack of a better word, rubbish. And perhaps I am at fault for reading them, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are bad. Nonetheless, there are many a Thai who would defend this type of commentary, which begs the question: why?

This of course has a lot to do with freedom of speech or lack thereof. It’s so hard to tell these days since people are so fickle. Give them too little and they moan on and on about being oppressed, but give them too much and they wreak havoc on everything, even the notion of free speech itself.

Keep in mind that the arguments here have more to do with the concept of free speech in Thailand and how I’ve seen it paraded around, for reasons I hope will become clear later. Even those guilty of the most horrendous comments raise the banner of “free speech” in their defence.

The comments generally exhibit the same factual flaws I discussed earlier with additional use of hateful expressions and an abundance of bigotry. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve always understood that freedom of expression was to promote intelligent, constructive debate. The majority of comments being brandished under free speech in Thailand regarding the recent crisis was neither intelligent nor constructive, but highly debateable.

Think of it this way: as consumers we, the general public, are always demanding adequate information in order for us to make an ‘informed choice’; is it then, too much of me to ask for it to work the other way around as well? Is it not reasonable to hope that other people should at least come up with an ‘informed statement’ before they decide to share it with the rest of us?

Don’t get me wrong; I think free speech is a wonderful thing. If it weren’t for free speech I’d be infinitely more miserable than I currently am because I wouldn’t get to complain as much publicly. It’s because we live in a world where we are free to express ourselves that I don’t have to live in fear. However, there are some things that you shouldn’t say even with all the freedom in the world, if it will cause harm unto others.

That brings us to the problem of responsibility. All the people who bleat on about ‘Rights, Rights, Rights’ never talk for a moment about their responsibilities, all I hear is ‘me, me, me’ when what they’re supposedly standing for is the greater good. How does that work? We forget that the proper phrase is “Rights & Responsibilities”, don’t go snipping off the bit at the end just because it doesn’t work for you.

There are many articles that talk about how far you can go with free speech and what the consequences can be. However, these are articles about free speech in the Western world. And as is the case with democracy, our Thai version of free speech is still in its infancy, with people still unclear of what it is actually all about or what they are even fighting for.

Basically, even with freedom of expression, we need to think twice before saying things. Isn’t that always the case? In no way does this discourage freedom of expression. It doesn’t require external control either. It just requires people to be responsible. It’s as simple as that.

I’ve complained about this before. It’s apparently inherent in Thai society that we demand our personal rights while neglecting our civil duties. To put it simply, Freedom of Speech is our Right but it is our Duty to practice Responsible Speech.

When push comes to shove, I don’t mind being censured. In my case, I’ve probably done something worthy of a good slapping anyway. My problem is that the message I get from most people throwing free speech in my face is that they do mind. From what I gather, their freedom of speech means they can say anything without being held accountable for what they say. That’s just selfish, what you’re basically saying is, “I want you to respect my rights to freely express myself whilst I constantly disrespect yours.”

It’s okay to have people yapping at each other, just as long as they don’t feign ignorance about their personal involvement in expressing those views – waving ‘freedom of speech’ around like some immunity flag on a crappy reality show.

People should be held responsible for their actions, and that includes accepting criticism from others who don’t share your point of view. What I am constantly infuriated with is the response from people who feel threatened by any sort of negative comment about their opinions. Wailing that it’s “Free speech, I have the right to say that”, without realising that nobody is denying you your right to free speech. They are actually endorsing your cry for freedom of expression – by showing a bit of their own. You should be happy for that.

I’ll say it again: I support free speech. I will not, however, put it up on high and treat it as the most sacred thing in any given situation. I won’t defend it either. It’s not even near the top of my list of things I would fight for. There are more important things to me than free speech; it’s just a good thing to have around.

Of course, in an ideal world of free speech everyone can say anything, anywhere, to anyone. Even if it means we may end up greeting someone with a simple “Fuck you” then nod and smile, unfazed by the reasonable response, “Sod Off”. As if it was merely a part of normal, everyday life: simpler, happier times.

To be honest, I don’t really want to see that. I don’t want to see Thailand become a country where trading insults becomes the norm. I’d like to see a society where that option of expression is available, but where people are sensible enough to realise its not very nice.

Frak the Facts

2010-05-30T21:02:00.000+07:00

If one thing has come out of the recent situation in Bangkok is that I’ve been using social networking systems more than I normally would. That’s why I’m back on my blog after another prolonged absence. Ironically it’s been a little over a year since my last rant about Thai politics. It was crap then and it’s still crap now. It’s actually the exact same piece of crap left out in the sun for a whole year and is now more horrifying than one could ever imagine.

I’ll refrain from expressing my political views on the situation because I’m certain I won’t be doing anything constructive by blathering on about the issue. I don’t believe I hold the power to change the situation or even people’s thoughts on the situation, so I’ll keep my mouth firmly shut.

The Internet, on the other hand, had a substantial amount of influence on how people responded to what has happened. Like always, the net was rich with commentary, some good but mostly just plain awful. And while I will keep quiet about my political leanings, I’ll gladly ramble on about what ticks me off with the media in regards to how it dealt with the issue.

First of all, I got most of my news about the situation online so I’ve seen pretty much every point of view there is to be seen and I have to say I’m disappointed. To get into my reasoning of why it was disappointing let’s start with the aftermath of the May 19th crackdown. One thing that’s been tossed around like a hot potato, or as a more aptly put Thai phrase translating literally into ‘shit-flinging’, is the question of responsibility.

What people are saying is that they want someone to take responsibility – as long as that someone isn’t them. Everyone is then logically trying to avoid taking responsibility because it would be like shooting yourself in the foot, then handing the loaded gun over to the general public so that they can have a go at you.

Why do I say this? It’s because we’ve evolved into such a society that has zero tolerance for even the slightest slip-ups. Nobody is encouraged to claim responsibility in front of the masses because no matter what the reason was for the erroneous decisions, as long as the public can vilify it – they will. The media thrives on writing stories of how wrong and bad things are, regardless of the circumstances preceding shit-to-fan contact. As a matter of fact, you could argue that it’s exactly what I’m doing.

Sure, we all insist that “Oh, if he’d just admit he was wrong we’d be compassionate and forgiving,” but I call bullshit. It’s much easier for us to have someone to blame and until we get someone willing to shoulder that blame we sit in our ivory towers decrying other’s insincerities. It all looks nice on paper, but the reality is that people who are willing to forgive don’t need a confession anyway, while the ones passionately demanding an apology are those least likely to accept one.

It’s certainly not right for respectable pillars of society to avoid taking responsibility for their actions, but neither is it right for us to practice schadenfreude for the sake of it. It’s as if we’ve reached a saturation point with scaremongering in the media and are now resorting to creating outrage in order to push stories.

This brings into question the validity of public opinion as well; especially in light the recent news coverage both locally and internationally. My stance has always been that people can go ahead and criticise anyone and anything they want granted they get their facts straight. If you can’t even get your facts straight then shut up and don’t bother with sensationalising a story that should be viewed objectively by all audiences.

An immensely fun trick in the world of online news and discussion is the use of selective truths. Sure they’re presenting facts, only they’ve decided to show us the bits that support their claim and make for a good story. A story they would like to sell us.

In many ways it is far worse than people not getting their facts straight. At least then you know they’re lying. In this case you have people knowing both sides of the story and willingly leaving out bits that they don’t want us to know. That’s not reporting; that’s just plain old propaganda. It’s bad enough coming from government sources, but when you start hearing opposing and equally biased points of views coming from the supposedly 'free' media, you start to wonder if something’s wrong.

Why does the story have to go one way or the other when it clearly isn’t? Does it necessarily have to be a story about who wins when the only apparent outcome is that there are losers all around? Why do I have to cross-check between two extremely biased and distorted views of the situation? I thought it was the journalists’ job to do the necessary research and present genuine facts for those of us that are supposedly less experienced in telling apart the bullshit. Then leave it to us to form our opinions based on the un-biased facts presented, rather than being force-fed a certain version of reality just so it generates greater public interest.

Sure, I normally check multiple sources of information when I read my news anyway, but in most cases there is at least the indication that there is more than one side to the story. Then it’s about which facts are more compelling, not which propaganda machine I’m being suckered into.

My message is simple; if people want to write a dramatic story whilst utterly disregarding any information that states the contrary, they should take their skills to Hollywood. There’s a desperate need for better plots there. If people want to stay in the business of reporting the truth, then they should do so.

We can handle the truth.

Apparently that wasn’t as short a first section as I wanted it to be. I was trying to build up to something even more irritating that revolves around free speech in Thailand, but I guess I’ll leave that for tomorrow.

Short Shorts

2009-10-09T00:41:00.003+07:00

So I skitter back to Blogger even though I've already been exposed to the delightful horrors of Facebook and Twitter. That's not to say I spend much of my time posting anything on either of those outlets. It's just that I do find it slightly frustrating when I finally get out of my anti-social hole to share something then constantly run into a wall with their character limits.

It's not like it's a bleeding essay with a word limit. I don't want to be told I can't make a post because I've gone twenty characters over a random limit. I don't want to have to count every single character and cut my words like a paranoid puppy trying to satisfy the Facebook gods just so my post can end up as graffiti on the very arbitrary 'wall'. Furthermore, I'm not good at writing short updates about my life nor do I think my brief thoughts to the world would make for good reading. If it were in some miraculous case that I somehow take pleasure in sharing what's on my mind, my tweets would all be 15-minute intervals of "Sod the fuck off". Which ironically is well within the 140-character limit.

Simple solution being I could just e-mail them my slightly over-worded feelings for comedy shows I have watched over the years. Surely I could dodge the dodgy limitations with a good old proper message. Of course with social networking services, who checks their mail anymore? At least I remember being told by the people who wanted to know what's going on with me that it was more convenient to do so via the aforementioned services.

I might be guilty of preferring a wordier approach to my posts. The fact is that the people I'm writing it for, the people who actually want to read what I write, don't mind my particular style of writing. What gets my knickers in a knot is when going over the limit by a few characters forces me to either chop my thoughts up into awkward chunks on multiple disconnected posts or retreat defeated to a less-used and less-read medium, which is why I am here and where I am now.

This brings me to my point that all I wanted to do was show my appreciation for a comedy duo I've only recently been introduced to, and for anyone who is interested to look them up. The following is exactly what I wrote when I first attempted a post flowing directly from what went through my mind at the moment:

"Although I haven't actually lived through the times, I like to think of my fancied British comedy shows chronologically. In the 70s we had the brilliance of Monty Python. The 80s gave us Blackadder then with Fry & Laurie picking it up through to the mid 90s. Finally, after perhaps a bit of a dry spell, I've found my love of the 2000s in Mitchell & Webb. Check them out if you're at all interested or cared enough to read through all that gushing fanboy drivel."

Which is apparently too long and did not appease the mighty lords of micro-blogging.

I suspect I shall be stricken down by the internet some time soon.

Sorry 'Politics', Pandas are more Important

2009-05-10T17:59:00.007+07:00

Tonight was supposed to be another heart-stopping moment in Thai politics when the Red Shirts announced that ... oh, screw that I can hardly finish the sentence with my stomach contents intact. These days I take the word 'politics' with more salt than usual, many a deer would be lacking nutrition if they lived near me, because the whole political arena in Thailand is little more than a very bad joke.

I've had it up to here with the opposition party (or parties; one can never be sure who is siding with whom nowadays) nit-picking on the government if they so much as farts in the wrong direction, for no other apparent reason than them being bloody jealous of the ruling party. The fact that they can't come up with anything convincing to prove that the current government is corrupt, goes about calling people names and 'daring' the Prime Minister to swear his innocence to the gods makes them sound like whiny little brats crying about how it's their turn on the swings.

Plus there's this 'drama series' bullshit being run by the anti-government group or the 'Red Shirts'. Thank you for taking a perfectly nice colour and ruining it for me, making me too ashamed to even wear a red shirt in public, bloody pricks. I say drama series because they claim they have shocking information at their immediate disposal but if we wanted to know what it was then we'd have to stay tuned and wait until they wanted us to know the 'truth'. I'm sure it takes time to fabricate this 'truth', but this is like announcing the sequal to a movie nobody gave a damn about in the first place, little dipshits.

If I had cable I'd change to the Disney Channel and throw the remote away.

So instead of watching 50-year-old kindergartners duke it out in the muddy sandbox of Thai 'politics' I looked elsewhere for things that really mattered in life. Now if there's something that strikes me as being remotely important and worth the 'suspense' is the news about whether the pandas in Chiang Mai are going to finally give us cute little baby pandas. I must admit there would be few things in the world more adorable than a panda cub.

The only problem in this story is pseudo pregnancy that the couple already experienced in 2007, or the more recent incident at the Smithsonian's National Zoo that suggests false pregnancy is common in Giant Pandas. Therefore, tomorrow morning at 10am doctors will take Lin Hui for an ultrasound in an attempt to ascertain whether she is indeed pregnant. Still, it would be difficult to make a definite determination even with the ultrasound but if anything is worthy of my attention then this is it.

So I'm sorry Mr. Thai 'politics', as much as you were hilariously deplorable enough to make me give two shits about the political situation over the past year or so your lack of substance does not make up for your consistancy to be idiotic and unreasonably illogical, which has led me to lose interest and revert back to my normal outlook on politics which is 'I don't give a flying toss'. I used to at least think that politics was good for laughs but the recent pig-headedness of some politicians, who would be diagnosed by any medical professional as a compulsive lair, to be anything but funny. It makes me wonder if a prerequisite for being a politician in this country is that you must be mentally retarded in one way or another, which is why the 'normal' politicians are getting so much flak.

If only we'd come to our senses and let pandas and other fluffy creatures run for parliment, now that would be political innovation. Sure they won't have a law degree or lie as much, but at least you'll be compelled to give them a hug instead of reaching out to strangle them every time you had the chance.

I'd vote for you!

Arrr, There Be Pirates Abound!

2009-05-09T13:12:00.008+07:00

Two days ago there was news about a government crackdown on vendors of goods that violated intellectual property rights in Patpong, Thailand. Violence broke out and the skirmish resulted in injuries and officials having to fire warning shots into the air. The aftermath of the collision was laughable to say the least, with vendors filing charges against Commerce Ministry officials claiming they were too harsh on them.

What really made me think the whole situation was a joke was a phone interview on channel 3 with some lady vendor saying, "...we've already invested so much into this, we have our children to take care of..." after claiming the officials 'lacked humanity'.

Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe Thai mentality. Everyone is asking everyone else to respect their 'rights' when they can't seem to even grasp the concept themselves. It's as if their personal rights take precedence over everything else in the whole world. They blabber on about their rights when they are clearly breaking the law and neglecting to recognise the rights of anyone else. It's like the entry I wrote about the dairy farmer protests. If people feel disadvantaged in the slightest way they throw everything else out the window and bitch and whine about their rights. Who gives a damn about the law, norms, values and even morals when I'm being 'robbed' of something I'm not entitled to?

In school I learned that every citizen has rights AND duties to the community. Apparently most of us missed the latter class. Yes, so we have the right to freedom of various things, but it's also our duty to obey the law and respect other people's rights. You can't just bloody well claim that the law is 'too harsh' because it infringes your personal rights. That's just irresponsible and selfish. If people still continue to abuse their rights with total disregard to another person's rights like we are doing now, I for one will say that we don't deserve those rights.

What I also found equally, if not more, ridiculous was that the general public seemed to sympathise with the vendors. People saw them as the 'poor people trying to scrape by with the economic crisis looming overhead'. I wonder how much they've made over the past decade when we didn't have an economic crisis and pirated goods were sold as openly as lottery tickets.

Now personally I don't give a flying toss if any of those arguments are valid, everyone has the right to express their opinions, but that isn't the bloody point!

The point isn't about civil rights, it's about intellectual copyrights, and even then I think it's far from the point. The real problem is the idiotic notion we customers have ingrained into our rarely functioning brains that 'we have to use brand products' no matter what. Even if we don't have the money to pay for the unreasonable price tags we must have it. Or to go one better; even if we don't even like the blasted products we strive to possess one because ... of what? Because it's cool? Because it's trendy? Because it's fashionable?

Or is it because other people tell us to? I'm not just talking about the darn product advertisements that further rot our brains either, I'm talking about society in general. A society where we expect others to buy unreasonably expensive products if they want to be accepted even when we can't afford those things ourselves. A society where people are so blindly concerned about superficial properties that they can't find any other qualities to be proud of and have to resort to materialistic approaches to stand out. Even if they have to go as far as buying counterfeited products because seriously, nobody in the society can really afford those brand products anyway. A society so full of deceit that we're willing to break the law just to be able to show off to the other lying bastards in the society.

It's not like the quality of the counterfeit products are that bad either. I've had a bag that I still use after seven years which I sure as hell hope wasn't counterfeited because I don't even recognise the brand anyway. It's lasted me since 2002, it looks just like any other backpack, and it cost $5 back in the day. The thing is the bag was probably made by the same people who make counterfeit items.

What I don't understand is if Thai factories are capable of making products of decent quality, why aren't we making our own brand names and selling that legally? It's not like slapping a brand name on it makes much more profit, the fakes are sold for dirt cheap prices anyway, that's how they sell at all. Just make it a local product that you can sell without having to panic everytime a cop walks by. Why are we so stuck with the idea that it has to be a foreign brand name to sell? People are blaming the government for not doing enough and doing too much at the same time which is very unfair in my opinion. The government can promote local products until their jaw drops off but unless they resort to some form of brainwashing mind control propaganda it's unlikely we'll even take a second glance at local products unless we're able break free of these stupid brand obsessed restraints. Which at the moment seems highly unlikely.

A good perspective of the situation is written in this editorial if you are at all interested in what actually happened rather than my rambling rants.

So, what's up this summer? (part 2)

2009-05-06T06:27:00.012+07:00

Anime

Yes, as much as I love games, I'm a bigger fan of Japanese animation. Not that I don't enjoy Western animated series, I just ... don't. Well, to be honest, there are some great ones out there but by the time I get a hold of them, it's like two years old or so already and not worth mentioning here.

Anyway, scouring through the market of spring anime releases I've managed to come up with two, yes TWO series I plan to watch. I've run into the same problem with all my other joys in life - things just don't seem to interest me anymore. Still, I thought this years contenders were worth a mention for various reasons.

First and foremost is something I stumbled across completely by accident. Following a few magazine scans I ended up watching the opening sequence on YouTube. The first thing that crossed my mind was 'I wouldn't be surprised if this was made my KyoAni'.

It turns out I was still surprised that it was indeed a Kyoto Animation production. Of course I had no idea KyoAni was coming up with a new project, but the point is how I managed to speculate at a glance who was responsible. It's like the feeling you get when you hear a song for the first time and you're so sure who it is. So KyoAni is getting pretty obvious I guess, and for once predictability is a good thing, because when I saw the animation I thought the style and quality was too good to be anything but Kyoto Animation.

K-On!

Is an anime adaptation of the manga by the same title about four highschool girls (re)forming the light music club to keep it from being disbanded, with the lead protagonist so eager to join a club for the first time in her life that she failed to realise what the term 'light music' actually meant and apparently has no musical talent whatsoever. That's basically it. So clearly this isn't something you'd watch for an inspiring plotline, rather to enjoy it as it goes like most slice-of-life comedies that are so popular these days.

Another point you might take offense about the series is the characters that share similarly stereotypical personalities to those of previous anime as if it was stamped by the same cookie cutter like PvP mage builds in World of Warcraft. Of course I like to think that no two characters are exactly the same, at least I sure hope not, otherwise they could just make it a sequal of whatever series it was instead of trying to come up with a new story. As long as they provide me a good laugh, seeing how K-On! is a comdey-centric series, I'm happy enough. Not only that, even in real life you can't help but run into people with the same personalities because humans are mundane creatures and the only 'different' character personalities you see are merely fleshed-out versions of stereotypical extremes. Which is why I was overjoyed a few years ago to see Dr. Gregory House and Leeroy Jethro Gibbs debut on our television screens.

Now the one that I'm really looking forward to because it seems to have an actual, and rather intriguing, plot is Production I.G.'s Higashi no Eden or Eden of the East. I'm not going to go into the story because A) I don't know much about it either and B) I think it's worth it to check it out yourselves. Higashi no Eden spans eleven days over the same amount of episodes having the audience in the dark at the beginning of the series with nothing but some very interesting questions we hope will be answered as the story progresses. The character design is also very remeniscent to Honey & Clover, an underrated series that boasts stunningly beautiful animation and is heavily plot-driven. The important thing is that Eden is a Production I.G. presentation which, like anything Kyoto Animation makes, I am willing to trust in the quality of the series.

In today's world of entertainment, a good plot is no longer a guarantee and I'd rather watch something that has no real plot than a plotline that becomes retarded halfway through the series. Having a decent plot with lovable characters becomes a rare bonus and if anything I'm waiting to see what KyoAni plans to kill me with in the moe department this time around. That's why these are the only two anime series I'm genuinely interested in this summer because plot and characters aside, the one thing these two studios have proven time and again is that at the very least I'll get to see something that's bloody beautiful, great art with brilliant animation, and that's more than enough to make me enjoy the show.

So is there anything you're interested in watching this spring/summer? Maybe there's a good movie or television show that's coming up. As for me, I'll be watching a lot of reruns and maybe get to finishing up the last few episodes of Hidamari Sketch.

So, what's up this summer? (part 1)

2009-05-05T17:16:00.006+07:00

Computer Games

Yes, I'll admit I like playing games more than food, and it was a tough choice trust me. Luckily I don't really go out of my way to find new games to play. I prefer playing my old games until they get tired of me and start dealing with the graphics card to lock up just so I can stop playing them. Which is while I'll continue running my old games until I finally rip my laptop open with my bare hands and chew on the contents like stale cookies. Perhaps I just have an extremely long attention span, or it could be that none of the new games truly interest me.

Apparently something has interested me otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time telling you this. Actually the only reason I'm telling you this is because the closed beta doesn't start until Thursday, so it's not like I'm losing any game time or anything.

Still, the list only consists of two games I'll be trying out this summer, fist of which is an Online game or MMORPG, as I love saying it the way Mr. Croshaw pronounces it. What's got me wanting to try it out is because I don't own any gaming consoles. X-box? Never touched one. Playstation? Only played at my friends. Nintendo? I should buy a DS...maybe later.

Anyway, getting back to the mumorpurger, which is called Dragonica Online. It's got me interested because it's selling itself as a 3D side-scroller arcade type RPG. I know it sounds kinda mashed up and unimaginable when I say it but it still sounds pretty fun. Plus the characters are cute, and I'm a sucker for cute characters. I doubt I'd play games where things aren't aesthetically pleasing.

The other game is The Sims 3, a not-so-new game that comes out this June. Honestly I have no idea why I'd go and buy it seeing how I never got through the truckload of expansions on both the original and Sims 2. Although, I've always enjoyed sitting back and watching my sims 'take control' of and ruin their lives. Now that's what I call entertainment.

Even when played properly, The Sims manages to warp the sense of reality with the surreal which makes good fun. It's always a joy to watch them interact and react to one another. Maybe because it's easier and more pleasurable than actually interacting with real people myself, but that's just me.

So, I hope you've managed to find something fun and a hell lot healthier to do over the summer.

Is Fast Food Still Fast Enough?

2009-03-09T21:01:00.015+07:00

When I think of fast food, the first thing that comes to my mind is a juicy hamburger. I haven't had one in a while now so it's no surprise that the image of a delicious burger like this one would pop up once I started contemplating food.

To be honest, I think about food quite often, the reason I mention fast food is because recently it's as if any kind of eating isn't fast enough - or at least that's what my body is telling me. Now I know the whole purpose of fast food is to minimize the time spent in the dining process, especially for those on a strict timetable. I, on the other hand, am neither busy nor ever in much of a hurry and yet I find myself not chewing my food right.

If you've ever had to scoff down a chunk of meat that almost chokes you then you know that you aren't chewing properly. Either that or you should take smaller bites. I distinctly remember being raised to chew properly. How could you ever really forget those days of learning your table manners? I also remember enjoying my time spent eating; I had always been the slowest eater in my family and group of friends. So then why have I changed now, a good twenty plus years since I've mastered spoon-mouth coordination?

I'm considering blaming it on processed foods. My lovely hamburger is full of it. Of course processed foods isn't limited to fast food, but it's a pretty good example. The definition of processed food is about as varied as the discussions for and against it. If you are interested, do some research, it'll give you something to think about. Anyway, without going into the nutritional debate of processed foods, I will say that it has had great influence on my habit, conditioning and attitude towards food; and that has been the main cause of my mastication complications.

Only for the past few months have I made fresh fruits and vegetables the main part of my diet, a first for me, as well as unprocessed meats. It was during that time that I discovered that I wasn't giving my food appropriate amount of affection. I found that swallowing was difficult mainly because my food was still in its chuncky, original form even though I thought I had spent the same amount of time chewing food as I usually do. Perhaps that isn't the case, I could well be neglecting some jaw action, even so why haven't I encountered this problem before?

This comes after years of consuming processed foods that has made eating a little too convenient. I'm much more eager to gobble food before giving it the proper grinding since soft bread, steamed vegetables and minced/tenderised meat goes down easily with a single bite, a chew or two for luck, and swallow - voila, instant nourishment. So when I said I was going to blame processed foods I was joking, my apologies to any loaves of bread that happened to be reading. I love to eat you, really, and pasteurised milk too. In my opinion, it's more the habit that arises from constant consumption of processed foods that is the source of my problem. It takes the effort out of eating. Thankfully, it is something that could easily be remedied with a bit of awareness and will power but could even easier be overlooked.

I'm not trying to force anyone to give up processed foods here. I'll even bite into a pizza meal or burger set once in a while, given the chance. I'm not someone to pass up a scrumptiously satisfying treat and it would be a sad day if anyone had to be forced to walk away from one. While some people will have to give up on the finer things, for medical reasons and what not, it's probably okay for the rest of us as long as we are sensible and check on ourselves from time to time.

Having said all that, have you noticed how well you chew your food? Do you have trouble forcing your food down your throat? Is your food is easily ingested and digested? Whatever the answer is, if you ever get the craving to chew on some steak or jerky like I often do then by all means go for it. Even if think you don't have the time because of your on-the-go lifestyles it will only take a few seconds to ensure a happier meal. Not to mention that chewing comes naturally and doesn't take much effort to begin with.

The picture of the amazingly tasty-looking burger above was found randomly from Google. However, if you're not into beef you can always try Jeppe Madsen's version of the chicken burger to the left.

Jeppe assures us no chickens were harmed, or eaten, in the making of this photograph.

Leave the Cows Alone!

2009-03-01T15:21:00.011+07:00

Thank you for making cows funny.

If there ever was a case that crying over spilled milk could be taken literally, this would be it.

The past week or so saw Thai dairy farmers in angry protests over the oversupply of milk in the market. These farmers have blocked roads and gathered outside government offices to pour tonnes of raw milk to waste while demanding that the government buy their excess milk.

Seriously, if you are unreasonably trying to depend on the state, throwing perfectly good milk away is NOT, in anyway, signalling your desperate need of help. Neither is using that milk to bathe and wash your clothes and cars. What it does show is your reluctance to adapt and your blind ignorance of the situation.

The fundamental issue is if the markets are already overstocked with milk, nobody is asking you to over produce. If you still insist on producing the same excess amount of milk you usually do without taking into account the current state of demand and the growing financial crisis then it is your own problem and you do not deserve help or sympathy from anyone. Much less the government whom you are asking to spend taxpayers' money to bail out a failing business that you have only yourself to blame.

The ones left crying over spilt milk aren't the farmers themselves, but rather the small school children that fell victim to a scandal in which students are being given poor quality milk. While they're drinking sub-standard imported milk while the local farmers are cleaning the streets with theirs.

I was even peeved enough to write something about this when I heard that the farmers are now threatening to slaughter their cows in front of government offices if demands aren't met. Now I doubt this will ever go through considering animal rights activists and that it would result in nothing but wide-spread disgust. Still it has left me crying in outrage at the inherent stupidity of the Thai people who are now resorting to road-blocking protests causing trouble to countless bystanders whenever something doesn't go their way. I wonder if this could be considered a form of terrorism.

So my message to these dairy terrorists, as a fellow Thai and someone who still believes that farmers are the backbone of our country, are two simple words; one of them being 'off'.

Oh yeah, and leave the bloody cows alone!

Pining For the Fjords

2008-11-17T12:00:00.003+07:00

I assume with some amount of certainty that any Monty Python fan would have gotten that reference and then subsequently associated me with a dead parrot. Judging by the relative (in)activity of this so-called blog they wouldn’t be far off the mark.

Lately I’ve been listening to an awful lot of the Python team’s audio recordings in favour of my usual playlist of anime soundtracks and music from the 90s. This is mainly because my eyes hurt from over exposure to the computer screen and any time I try to actually watch their shows my brain goes numb. Still, it’s a nice change of pace and I’m glad to see that I can still enjoy their particular form of comedy through a different medium. Although that would be saying more of the brilliant minds that came up the material than about myself, seeing (or hearing) how sketches I’ve seen before were as enjoyable in audio format as the first and fiftieth times I’ve seen them performed.

However, Monty Python is in fact totally irrelevant to the title of today’s blogger-blabber except for that one phrase...or so I would have liked it to be. Either way, what I meant to write about was my reaction to that phrase, since it pretty much sums up what I am at the moment.

A dead parrot.

Well, not exactly, although in all honesty I could be said to be ‘pining for the fjords’. If you’re still wondering what I’m getting at then either you’re not part of the vast minority of online gamers or I’m just being too cryptic. The truth is on the 13th of November, Wrath of the Lich King was released as the second expansion pack to World of Warcraft, and while I could go on and on about the people who ploughed their way through the content in less than three days of its release I myself have yet to see my copy of the game arrive in the mail and am currently pining for the fjords. The Howling Fjord to be exact.

Nevertheless, I’m content to wait. I’m rather bored at the moment and this lack of gaming actually made me write this blob of nonsensical stuff. Plus I got to have some fun with Photoshop. *SQUAWK*

It’s ironic to think that my first post in five, six, seven, eight, NINE months would be on the same topic I left off with at the beginning of the year, which goes to show that, well, you can always go back to the good old times when things aren’t really working out for you, although it’s just a matter of how long you can actually stay there.

World of Warcraft is Still WoW

2008-02-20T20:00:00.002+07:00

It's been a while since I've been away from World of Warcraft, two months to be exact, and I've finally decided to renew my subscription. I have no idea why I did so, although I have to say I have no regrets.

World of Warcraft still entertains me and I guess it will do so for a long time to come. I've heard a lot, massive amounts actually, of negative criticism of the game and I usually just laugh at them. Some are ridiculously hilarious and some are true, the important thing is I still like the game and I'm willing to keep paying Blizzard to play it.

Anyway, it's not the game itself I wanted to write about. Since I'm getting back into it I just want to share my thoughts on the new Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition - I WANT IT.

Yes, that is all the thought I have on the laptop. I want it. I know it's a grossly overpriced item and the amount of money I would spend on it would be much better used on something else. I still want it. I've already got the collector's edition of the games so surely I'd be the type of fool to fall in love with something like this. Of course it would be a huge improvement to my current computer, but most importantly it would make me happy.

(Un)fortunately the Warcraft Edition laptop is currently sold only in the US and Australian retailers are showing no indication that they will be shipping it over here in the future.

Not Just Entertainment

2008-02-16T15:23:00.003+07:00

So the other week I went to see a play my friend performed in. It wasn't anything fancy, kind of like a thesis thing for his seniors and he was asked to play a part. What impressed me most was not the play itself or any of the characters, it was actually the theme the play was based on and one of the questions I found in the questionnaire.

The play was, interestingly enough, about global warming and used the characters from a series made famous by Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon. It was fun to watch and as the play seemed to focus more on entertainment it was lacking in the informative department. Not to say that it wasn't a good play, just that it could have been better.

This view is supported by one of the questions they gave to the audience along with the itinerary which asked us simply; "What do you think the play depicts as the cause of global warming?"

Now this would have been much easier if they ask our own opinion on the cause of global warming but as the play did not really come to a definite conclusion on that we can only assume the answer from what we saw.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that the play was, like a lot of other things in life, fairly open-ended. There were clues here and there on what the people are trying to say or what the truth is. In the end it all comes down to our individual judgement of what we see as fact or fiction.

This is where I say the play could have been better. Being someone who is probably more familiar with the environmental scene it has always been clear that to make people understand more about things like global warming we have to try many different approaches in getting information through to the audience. There are some mediums that appeal to the public more than others, and I think entertainment is one of them.

I say that they play was good in the sense that it was entertaining and it was innovative enough to touch on such a topic as global warming, although the audience would have benefited far greater from it if it were more informative and able to incorporate the scientific data into the entertainment.

If we could have learnt a bit more from the play about what global warming actually was, maybe we would have an easier time making up our minds.

"What do you think is the cause of global warming?"

Changes

2008-02-15T18:00:00.006+07:00

As a child I've alway enjoyed travelling. Long journeys with no responsibilities, I'd just sit back and enjoy the experience until I got to the destination. Travel was fun, it was getting to go to new placese, to see new things.

Now that I've grown up a bit I seem to have changed my views on travel quite a bit.It's more like an obligation now, especially when I know that I'm going back to study - or worse, going back home. The latest trip back to Australia really showed me that things could change. I was literally sick of travelling and not even the fact that it was my first, and very unsuspected time on an Airbus A380, did very little to lift my spirits.

This goes to show that people probably do change, despite many sayings that tend to state the opposite. Maybe it's because we can't percieve such changes in others or not willing to see that they have changed. I'm not really in a position to judge though, sometimes I know what it feels like to refuse to believe someone or something has changed. And it all sounds very reasonable when I think of it because I have mixed feelings about change.

I once found change to be an exciting prospect and when something new happens I'm usually overjoyed. However, as more things in my life change there is also this sense of insecurity and more often than not I would prefer that things just stay the same way they were.

If I were to look at it from another point of view, perhaps the reason I'm not so fond of travelling anymore is because, unlike my feelings towards travel, the one thing that didn't change was the travel itself. Recently I've only been travelling the same old routes back home during the break and back to study in Australia. I could say with some confidence that if I were to travel to Europe my experience in travelling would be quite different and even pleasant. If that were the case, maybe statis isn't such a good thing after all.

So if the same old routine is making life boring, then change would probably be very welcome. I guess change can be both good or bad depending on how things change and how ready you are to accept it. Either way, we all have to deal with that fact that the only thing constant in life is change.

A (PRODUCT)RED Heart

2008-02-14T15:20:00.001+07:00

Ah, it's Valentines again.

When I saw the red roses and heart-shaped accessories in practically every place I went I think of my red 2nd Generation iPod Nano. It's one of those items under the (PRODUCT)RED brand. However, mine is a second hand iPod I got off eBay so I can't really say I contributed much to anything.

The concept behind (PRODUCT)RED, for those who aren't following me, is that when you buy something labelled as "(PRODUCT)RED", you donate a portion of your spendings to charity. For instance, if I had bought my red iPod Nano from the online Mac store, at a price of $199 (US) since mine is an 8 GB iPod, I would be giving $10 (US) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Many people will have questioned the effectiveness of these donations, and some may wonder if this is not just a ploy to increase product sales. I would say I have to agree on the obvious flaws in the whole concept. Honestly though, these are companies trying to make money so giving away money will certainly not be one of their top priorities.

In the end, I think it comes down to the fact that there actually is some money going into the Global Fund and that's what counts. If any small portion of the money that people will inevitably spend on luxury products is going to the charity, then I think it's a good thing. As long as you noone buys these products for the sole purpose of donating money. There are better ways to do that.