Transformers

Transformers
Visual ecstacy.

Every fanboy's dream.

Better than Spiderman 3.

By far, this year's best film.

Solid.

Please watch it, I beg thee.

'nuff said.

Chiam See Tong on Friendster

No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you; Chiam See Tong has a Friendster account, presumably to "get in touch" with tech-savvy Singaporeans of today. I'm not sure if this is an authentic account though, but if it's for real, then I really wonder how long it took him to figure this whole Friendster thing out. 1 week? A month? Hey, I'm not trying to be mean, okay. Don't you know that it can be really complicated for people his age? My Mum doesn't even know how to power up a computer, and she's like almost 20 years younger than he is. If this account isn't a bluff, I'd salute you Mr. Chiam.

Now, when will Lee Kuan Yew get his?

(PS: Here's the link to his account http://www.friendster.com/28511416. A big thank you to Addie for providing it, although I totally disagree that he likes me.)

Why I Abhor Microsoft

Reason No.1 - They are too egoistic, narcissistic and impudent to admit they are afraid of Apple.

What a big turn off ain't it? Just look at how hard Steve Ballmer is trying to "laugh it off" and ridicule the new iPhone.

Reason No.2 - Listen to what Steve Jobs has to say about Microsoft.

I totally agree. Amen.

Reason No.3 - A father begets a son, an idiot begets an idiot, a loser begets a loser. No wonder Microsoft is what it is today. Take a look at how CEO Steve Ballmer starts a presentation and you'd understand.

Oh my gawd! Can somebody just shoot this man? A comment left for this video: "the things microsoft has to do to hype up a crowd vs. apple which just has to show an iPod" (xboxgod88)

Epiphany

Epiphany

A feeling - a realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something or someone. An inspired understanding arising from connecting with profound insight, awareness, or enlightened truth.

A celebration -a Christian feast commemorating the revelation of Jesus to humanity, specifically the visit of the Magi

Meditation - a practice of evoking, and engaging with mindful contemplation. Breakthrough or transcendent awareness. Profound realization that seems to engage one's whole being in resonant connection with aspects of truth and insight.

A band - a group of dorks making music, or possibly, noise. Hear us live come August '07.

Connie in the Finals!!

Bet many of you out there are wondering if Connie made it to the finals. She did! Sadly, she didn't win the competition. That honour went to a guy called Paul Pott who is a fabulous singer himself. Alright, enough said. Here's the video of that lovely angel singing again:

Cue Balls

Have you ever wondered how a coin-operated pool table is able to differentiate the cue ball from the others? I did, and I found out how:

Coin-operated pool tables such as those found at bars and college campuses historically have often used either a larger ("grapefruit") or denser ("rock", typically ceramic) cue ball, such that its extra weight makes it easy for the cue ball return mechanism to separate it from object balls (which are captured until the game ends and the table is paid again for another game) so that the cue ball can be returned for further play, should it be accidentally pocketed. (www.wikipedia.com)

Interesting isn't it?

Connie Talbot!

Listen to Connie! She's only 6 but she sings like an angel. You'd find yourself going "Awww...." at the end of the clip. Enjoy!

Behind Bars

0630 - the time the lights shatters the blanket of darkness that fills my cell. Having led a life comparable to that of a nocturnal creature before I was jailed, it took me awhile before I got used to falling asleep at 2200 and waking up at 0600 in the morning. Monotony is the key word to describe my stint in prison; everything's a routine. You wake up at 0600, shower and store enough water before the supply is cut off at 0630, have breakfast, and then you basically rot until the next meal and the meal after that. And when all is done and said, you go back to sleep - the only form of escape from the harsh reality that bites you each day. This routine plagues every prison, though there are slight variations to certain things such as muster checks and all. I shall not elaborate into detail about the specific routines of the 3 different prisons I was in because that's gonna take a fair bit of explaining. Pardon my laziness.

Monotony - what a far cry from the promiscuise lifestyle of all night private drug parties I once enjoyed! I'd dare say that the best way to torture is to deliver it into the realms of the mind. That's why they don't beat you unless you get violent with them; they just starve you from having what you have always taken for granted - freedom.

Ah yes, freedom - Maybe I've tipped the scale and exaggerated it a little too much with regards to how much freedom I had. There IS a certain allowance of freedom in the joint, but you be the judge and decide if I am right to say that it is as good as nothing:

• For the 1st 2 months of my incarceration, I was kept under solitary confinement. That meant that I had to spend 24 hours in my cell everyday unless I was scheduled for fornightly visits which lasts for 30 minutes or so. The months that followed got slightly better because I was allowed out to the yard for an hour. But even so, there wasn't much to do there except bathe in the sunlight and watch topless men running around.
• The Superintendent of the Prison dictates almost every aspect of your life in there, except which hand you use to clean your bum and how much soap you use to bathe. As I've said earlier, even the water supply is controlled. As such, we're forced to be innovative when our stored water runs out. What we'd do is to smuggle a plastic bag, fill it with whatever water we have left, tie a rubber band around it, pump the water in the toilet bowl down into the pipes, use the bag as a stopper, press the flush and KA-CHING! We have a mini-bathtub. Yes, I bathed using water from the toilet bowl. Of course, I made sure it was clean before using it, but even if it wasn't, I don't think I have much of a choice right? Beggars can't be choosers.
• Letters that go in and out of prison are screened before they are posted. Even your books are. Novels and magazines with too much violence or explicit content are either rejected on the whole or censored. How? They just rip the pages out or blot out the lines. These are just one of the many policies that govern the admission of items from the general public.

So what's your call?

Privacy is another troubling issue behind bars. Strip searches are nothing out of the ordinary there. We even have to open our a-holes and have a torch shone up in it to make sure there isn't any contraband items hidden there. Disgusting? Naw, don't be surprise to hear the numerous stories of people doing exactly just that. Imagine hiding a cigarette up there - it'll be like brown, soggy and erm, smelly. You must be wondering how we do our business there eh? Well, in front of many others, that's how! Yuh, fellow inmates not only get to smell your deposits, they also get to see all of it firsthand. The only way one could ever have a little privacy is to mimic what a peacock does: he just takes his towel, wraps it over his head and takes his dump. I recall this poor guy who couldn't shit with so many eyes trained on him, he had to wake up in the middle of the night to do it. No prizes for guessing, he got a dressing down the next morning. Oh, by the way, one thing I picked up from prison is this fact - if you don't shit for consecutive days, your crap will stink like mad. Don't believe me? Try it! That's why there is this unspoken rule that you should clear your stock everyday. See, in prison, your business is essentially everyone else's business. What freedom OR privacy is there?

Apart from all that I've mentioned so far, another thing of great concern to an inmate is his social life in there. Jail's definitely not a place to diss people off because there isn't any where for you to run to if you do. Got a problem? Deal with it! Either you back off or you go crying to the wardens and get labelled as a sissy. My best solution for it? Avoid the crossfires, take no sides, talk less, be diplomatic, know that violence is but a vicious cycle that solves nothing (talking it out is better) and think before you shoot your trap. That, however, isn't fool-proof, but it is the safest bet.

Well, I survived in the hole and surprisingly, my life took a 180 degrees turn for the better in the days after. The sinister walls that seperated me from the world outside did me a lot of good because all I could do within them was to reflect upon my life. I survived the ordeal not because I was street-smart or gangly. I survived it because of a Greater Someone. Chill, I won't pull some religious thingy on you, but I still believe it with all my heart that I couldn't have done it alone. What on earth am I talking about? Go figure.

I have a lot more to talk about my experience there, but words are simply not enough to describe it all. As you can see, I've already written such a huge chunk of words and I've barely scratched the surface. Maybe next time I will explore a different aspect of my stay there and if you have questions, please ask and I'd try my best to answer it.

PS: Dee, as requested - my experience in prison. And also, wanted to say that I made a typo on my tagboard. Meant to say "idea" but ended up spelling it as "idiot". Sorry!

Paris Hilton Back in Jail!

The Associated Press has reported that Paris Hilton has been sent straight back behind bars to serve the remaining of her sentence.

Yes. She needs to go back there to grow up and learn how to take responsibility for her bimbotic actions. That girl should have well thought of the consequences before taking the wheel. Well, obviously she didn't. My guess? She probably thought she could beat the law with her big fat bank accounts.

Sorry girl, you can't have your way all the time, like what we say here in Singapore - "You think what? Everyday Sunday ah?"

If wealth can catapult a person above the law, then the judicial system is nothing but a big joke. But then again, I wouldn't be surprise to see rich people buying themselves out of trouble because judicial systems are never flawless. Justice percieved by Man is blind; look at what the sheriff did - he boldly released Hilton and allowed her to serve her sentence at home. He then goes on to justify his actions by stating that she was punished too severely for a minor offence. I mean, HELLO!! You're a sheriff, not a judge. Why are you trying to revoke the sentence passed down to her by someone who has studied a subject called law, which I assume, you've never ever heard of before? This is absurd! I think you have an identity crisis.

You see? Justice percieved by Man is blind.

Anyway, I don't quite comprehend why everyone is making such a big fuss over the 45 days sentence. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the time she has to spend in prison will be less than that because there's remission for good behaviour or something like that. Even so, 45 days is not a dreadfully long time!! Ask any ex-convict and they'd tell your 45 days in prison is nothing but a breather from all the hustle and bustle of a life filled with crime. It's only a month and a half! So what's the biggie?

Alright, alright... I know I might have stepped on the toes of you Paris Hilton fans. You might think that whatever I've just said is gibberish because I don't know the torment she has to face in serving her sentence. You know, you might just be right? Cos' I've never been sentenced to 45 days in jail before; I was sentenced to 23 months. And mind you, the 23 months did me a lot of good. It shook me up so bad I turned over a new leaf. So, please, don't even try pulling some smarty pants remark on me if you have never even smelt the stale air of prison before; it's you people who don't know nuts about prison life that are making such a big deal over this.

Paris, why don't you just do your time quietly and reflect upon your life. You'd effectively stop embarassing yourself and the world would find it a lot easier to love you.

Shaye Saint John

This is Shaye Saint John. It is believed that she was involved in an accident which horribly disfigured her and destroyed her limbs. She now makes short films to depict real life events. For your information, these films are apparently quite well recieved by some people. I chanced upon this one called "Wire Therapy" early this morning. I freaked out. But after watching it a couple of times and reading her Livejournal entries, I began to empathize with her and the video didn't seem as creepy anymore.

Anyway, here's "Wire Therapy" for you below. Love it or hate it, you make the call.

Passport!!!

YESSS!!

I've finally gotten my passport after waiting for almost 3 years! It came as a pleasant surprise because I was supposed to only get it in like 2008. The excruciating wait is finally over! I'm overwhelmed with so much joy I've decided to forgive those inconsiderate baboons who cut my queue and incurred my wrath.

My goodness. I never expected the repercussions of drug abuse to be so severe; I've always thought that imprisonment was the worst it could get.

Wrooong.

I still had to put up with:

1) Tiresome urine tests at a police station -3 times a week for 24 months. The officers treated me like a dog.

2) The hassle of leaving the country - I've got to get an approval from the director of CNB, head down to ICA, queue for hours, get my a Document of Identity (it's a substitute for a passport), get a visa if necessary, get bombarded with rhetoric questions ("Why are you using this for?" Cos I don't have a passport. DUH!) at checkpoints etc.

3) Getting that look - Hmmph! Junkie. Bet his urine is contaminated with so much dope you can get high if you drink it. I wish I could just let them try.

Oh man, going through this has made me tired all over again. It's terrible! Guys, if you're thinking of doing drugs, please think twice. The aftermath is intolerable. Prison will drive you mad, which I probably am right now, and whatever comes next just sticks with you the rest of your life. It's a stigma that you'd probably never gonna get rid of. The closest you can do to eliminating it is to basically use it for some greater good, but even then, it still exists somehow.

Oh well. At least I got my passport!