recentrunes.com

Featuring dildos, profane banners, and a giant inflatable penis.

Key Quote: “For me it was just a regular hockey game. It was no problem.”

Animals have no rights. When an owl swoops down and kills a field mouse for food, there is no animal police to arrest the owl for murder. The concept of rights (and justice) is a human one and does not really have a place in the Natural world.

I am often leery and cautious of people advocating “animal rights” because most these “advocates” lack the depth of understanding and can only spout slogans and catchphrases, most of which, I feel, are heartfelt but meaningless. While some others use this as a political platform (Adolf Hitler, a vegetarian and Hermann Göring, appointed Reichsforst- und Jägermeister, were animal rights activists) for control, leaving a very small minority who truly understand and care.

On the contrary, what I believe in is Human Responsibility. We are responsible for the environment and other species because our impact on them is by far the most far-reaching and influential. On a personal level, when we decide to get a pet, we become responsible for the pet. We are charged with their welfare and care.

We have a dog. We have cared for it for 16 years from abandoned puppy (we found it on the streets) to the 112+ year-old mutt (16x7yrs = 112 dog years) it is today. Apart from a collapsed ear canal, it is hale and healthy.

Unfortunately, as we have sold the house and moving on to smaller apartments that do not allow large pets, we cannot take him with us. It is very fixed in its ways and requires a huge space to run, dig and play. And as we not irresponsible people who abandon animals, the decision is to put it to sleep.

Death is as light as a feather, duty is heavier than a mountain.

“If you trust in yourself … and believe in your dreams … and follow your star … you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy.”
- Terry Prachett, The Wee Free Men.

Love the world you have.

—

If you’re down and confused
And you don’t remember who you’re talking to
Concentration slip away
‘Cause your baby is so far away

Well, there’s a rose in the fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can’t be with the one you love,
Love the one you’re with.

Love the one you’re with.

- Steven Stills, “Love the One You’re With”

Dudes and dudettes: Let’s try to make it to PaPi’s this week.

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

- Self-pity, D.H. Lawrence

Many people got no style one. Me, I got character.
See ah, I don’t simply take instructions from people.
I think first lah. Don’t like it, don’t take lah.
With boss also like that. I don’t care. Sack sack lah.

I not afraid one.

Then, when got no mood to work, I just go for teh tarik.
Don’t like? Not my problem what!
When boss make noise, I tell him to fly kite.
Money so little, some more got so much work.

Where can?

Some more got so many bosses.
Big boss, small boss, woman boss.
One say one thing.
Listen until you peng san.

You can died like that.

I tell you sometime not fair.
Client also another kind.
Always last minute change this change that.
Ganrantee one.

Make my life difficult only.

Then, kena work until three a.m.
Who can tahan like that?
Something Koyak in their head.

I not joking.

Don’t know advertising but only talk big all the time.
Then some more when the thing tak jalan,
then complain we all no good.
Then who kena?

Me lah!
Some more who?

[Saw this at a photocopy shop.]

This election has been very fun to watch. Of the 3 elections that I have been eligible to vote, this is my first where I have to sit at the sidelines and watch.

And watch I did.

This election is different from the other two as we are dealing with a sudden influx of more educated and "in touch" people.

People who do not have to fight for a living (like the 1997 recession) now have the time to think carefully, to analyze and to process the information that is readily available.

The power of the Internet, more specifically, blogs, has also been severely underestimated. The power that tight control over traditional media has granted in the past has diminished significantly.

All this is possible with the push for greater education and a life-long learning approach. The construction of very good infrastructure also helped. Everyone with an Internet connection can now access to the latest and greatest news.

Furthermore, with a subscription required to read news from the local newspapers, the push to seek other alternative sources was also increased.

And with the incentive to communicate more within our families, the young wannabe-punk with the Internet connection can share information with the senior citizen with their connections to the local grapevine.

Isn’t Convergence great?

The impact which the "new media" had on the election will be looked at. As Decartes once said, to control something, we need to be able to measure it first.

Unfortunately, a Draconian approach to control will have little effect as seen in the case of original Sintercom. They were invited to be hosted in Singapore (from the US) and when regulators came knocking at their door, they simply said they can move out of Singapore.

In any case, the feeling I get in this election is Complacency.

Clinging on to old practices and schemes get very boring and do not give a sense of renewal.

What’s even more dangerous is to try and fit an everchanging society to old norms and beliefs. Doing the opposite, changing one’s self to meet the dynamic society is a more prudent approach.

Of course, one must change quickly. Or at least, visibly.

In conclusion, Karl Marx et al got this correct: History progresses through contradictions; what was society’s [or party's] greatest asset will become it’s biggest hinderence.

Complacency leads to stagnation.

"Art is subjective. Everyone has his own interpretation of the design."

Being older, and supposedly wiser, I no longer fly into a rage when someone tries to fob off shoddy work with such a flippant phrase. However, I still cringe everytime I hear this phrase used as an reason for why a particular graphic design fails my review.

Such arrogance. It sounds as if the world does not understand your art, it’s their loss. It is a poor excuse for a graphic artist.

Art, in the traditional sense, is subjective. Given a portrait or a landscape, everyone appreciates it differently because of the different context that is brought to bear by different people.

However, this does not apply to graphic art. Graphic art is deliberately designed to bring across a specific message to a specific group of people.

If the target audience does not get the message, then the design has failed.

Circumlocution and stonewalling only serves to portray yourself as evasive and untrustworthy.

Am lying in bed with a sprained back, lamenting the fact that I missed a fantastic dinner last Monday featuring some very very very fine wines. Was intending to bring a newly discovered Italian dessert wine to share with my friends.

Anyway, been catching up on my reading and I also read this on Mrs. Budak.

Being new to this, I was really surprised to find that my circle of friends are avid bloggers. What’s more, quite a fair bit of them are online personalities where a lot of people hang upon their very words.

Wah. And here I am posting nothing earth-shakingly important nor opinionated.

Maybe I should follow Budak and copy something from a reputable source and then post a comment on it. Nah. He’s good, I’m not. I just like funny stories (besides, other than "Marmalade", "Risotto" and maybe "Limoncello" *hint hint*, I find words with three or more syllables beyond my grasp).

It’s just like the time when I found out that quite a lot (most actually) of my bunkmates in NS were gay. I didn’t know! I just thought they were really friendly with each other.

After all, we went through a lot of crap. So much for the Band of Brothers.

Anyway, having a public blog, especially one with your photo on it, does wonders. You meet interesting people like Gurge and Elanee, and you discover old friends and family like Carrie (we really should find time for tea), Cakie and Le Learn.

Of course you get to pass obscure messages to your loved ones and people who offended you.

It’s a wonderful way to keep in touch with people without being intrusive.

Dear: Let me know about Tuesday. I am thinking of my favourite restaurant in Central Mall.