Just when I thought I had gone crazy from all the frustration with everything happening (or the lack thereof), I saw this today.




Since I got it on camera, clearly I am not crazy. I didn't know though that baboons roamed Old KR. Maybe they do live around here somewhere, and come out rarely, like the dogs at night (or at those wolf cubs). Anyway, I thought it was interesting, and first time I ever saw anything of the monkey family in Singapore (*Resist making obvious joke*)
By the way if the picture is not clear, there is one above the window and another on the window above. I saw him try to make his way in. Now i'm never going to leave my windows open when I leave the room

Speedy gonzalez

It is strange how words take a new meaning when imported into another language. The French always keep complaining about how the English take their words and say them with an accent in English sentences just to sound sophisticated, it is a matter of great curiosity to them. This does not have anything to do with Speedy Gonzalez of course, but a train of thought led me to him.
I saw a nike ad today claiming in a strong font "The new hombre is here." Hombre is simply spanish for man, however using it in an English sentence somehow makes it, for lack of a better word, 'cooler.' Language is a curious thing indeed.
Coming to Speedy now, I was wondering what he kept saying. Being a kid, I couldn't care less what it really meant. Wikipedia tells me that it was "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!" which is Spanish for "Hurry up! Get up!" I could never understand the inverted exclamation mark too. Weird.
Anyway this got me thinking how cartoons are different when you view them now. One of my favorite ones growing up was Gumby, about a talking piece of plasticine (how naieve kids are, believing everything you tell them). Having nothing else to do, the other day I watched an episode of Gumby for 'old time's sake.' Ladies and Gentlemen, let me tell you something, you will never see anything worse that that. What an utter piece of crap! No plot, no excitement, nothing, it was painfully boring. This makes me wonder, what was it that made it so watchable in the first place. I honestly have no idea. I don't know what was going through in my head at that time.
On a similar note, what's up with the Ninja turtles. I mean, why teenage mutant ninja turtles. What's being teenage has got to do with anything they do? and turtles of all the creatures? turtles? and why did splinter turn into a rodent? why not a mutant human or something?

This all makes me wonder, is it very easy to amuse kids or did all those cartoon really have something?

P.S. By the way, check out the wikipedia entry on Speedy, apparently it was quite racist

Dear Ali,

you are an idiot. In the past you have done your share of moronic activities, but this, sir, surpasses all of them. What the hell were you thinking? A tale of such grand fuck-upitiness that you could tell your grandchildren about it (who'll want to marry an unemployed arse anyway).
Stand in the middle of a dark room and let a spotlight shine on you. Kids, when I say "go", you point at him and laugh your hearts out, he deserves it. It doesn't need to be said, but you, my friend, messed up big time, and don't try to rationalize this now, it was your own fault, nothing else. Accept it. No bullcrap like "well it's kinda good in a way." You know what, there is no such thing as a blessing in disguise, it's just a term sad people use to justify their own misfortune, and it's not misfortune when fate has nothing to do with it, and on that note I know that you don't believe in fate, so Ali, enjoy what you did, and remember it, because something tells me this is not the last time something like this happened.

Sincerely,
Ali

This post is long overdue, in response to a note that never was.
I have been told that this is not a problem anymore, but recently some people suffered the bane of ostracism at the hands of the majority for acts that were not condoned by the said majority. Let me put it another way, I have red hair, I hang out with people with red hair. A red-haired friend of mine dyes his hair blond. Result : I don't let him hang out with me any more, ergo, ostracism.

Now, really, seeing this does not make me happy, but seeing people justify this makes me plain angry. Seriously, are you going to live in your 'comfort zone' throughout your life? If I were to spend time only with people who shared all of my interests, I would be alone all the time (Unless there is someone else who likes Irish girls with a penchant for mascara and some other things that I should not divulge on such a public place). The point is, you cannot expect people to follow the ideology that you have, the tastes that you have and such, and as long as they don't carry out acts that make you uncomfortable in your presence, I don't see why you should have a problem with what they do.

Another assumption made here is that such acts are done without any thought and with amorality at heart. That is definitely not the case. Everyone you know, everything that one does, is based upon many, many factors, and if it is a big decision, extreme amount of thought has gone into it. No matter what the person may seem to you, any act that would set him apart from the group, move him away from their comfort zone, is not mindless. On that note, if you believe that he does this act based on peer pressure, by you harassing him (yes, harassment is the word) are you not forcing him to conform to your ways? Isn't that peer pressure? Any big decision that you make, that may actually change your outlook on life should never be based on peer pressure, it should be a person's own decision solely. Unless someone asks for advice don't give it. Let that person be, he needs to do what he wants to do, you forcing him to do otherwise would benefit no one.

Honestly, I have friends whose character and activities range across the spectrum, and if you feel that you would want to confine yourself to certain characteristics, that frankly, is something I cannot understand and you are poorer for doing that to yourself.

darn, been long, i shall try not to let this blog die

funny shit

Shooglenifty

Last Wednesday the World of Music and Dance (WOMAD), an ensemble of musicians from all over the world came to campus. I'll admit my main motivation for going was to see the British-Indian group Dhol Foundation, who were great by the way. However, it was another band that I liked so much that I am going to mention it here (and you can see by my posting frequency what things make it here). Shooglenifty is a band from the greatest city in the world, Edinburgh! Although they don't use bagpipes, their music is an excellent fusion of rock and folk with a distinct celtic sound. They were so good that they forced the NUS staff to burst into an impromptu ceilidh.
The band's website is http://www.myspace.com/shooglenifty where you can listen to some of their great works.
and here is a video of their performance at the Edinburgh Festival last year