missing the point?

After the remarks made by MM Lee, and the reactions from the Malaysian camp, someone wrote to the ST forum today, that he was appalled by our neighbours’ reactions, because what MM Lee spoke about was “right” (“MM Lee is right about the Chinese in Malaysia”).

The writer, a ‘former Malaysian and a Chinese’, proceeded to explain just how the statement by MM Lee was indeed accurate, taking pains to list examples of the bumiputra policy that was discriminatory towards the Chinese.

I have a feeling that most of us are aware of the bumiputra policy, and the fallout resulting from that. However, i wonder if the writer is missing the point.

Is the Malaysian dep. PM upset about what MM Lee said, or is he upset that MM Lee actually proclaimed it publicly?

Writing in to dispute the Malaysian claim that MM Lee’s statements were inaccurate seemed a little near-sighted (if i may say so) and perhaps a tad unneccessary.
That, to me, really misses the point.

Lazydork vs Mr Cruise

Does anyone even know what a celebrity is anymore?

With reality TV, ‘idol’-esque talent searches and the Internet, this is an era where lazydork is rapidly climbing the stairway to stardom while tom cruise (his name used to be prefixed with terms such as ‘talented’, ‘dashing’; now it’s likely to be ‘kooky’, ‘strange’ or worse, ‘scientologist’) is possibly sliding off the charts in a shorter time than Thailand took to lose its democracy.

Today, John Leland wrote in a NYT article, “If someone is celebrated for not being a celebrity, does celebrity itself still have any value?”

Last night, Alan Shore (James Spader) proclaimed in Boston Legal, that the whole of America is turning into ‘LALA’ land (i.e. Los Angeles); it used to be that “pandering was reserved for (politicians)” – now, everyone panders to everyone.

the lines are no longer clear.

Is a celebrity a narrative or an individual?

A celebrity is celebrated for the ability to create a purpose for all to celebrate? (am i the only one confused?)

Shall end with a quote from the article,

“We’re moving from a representation culture, where celebrities or stars represented us, to a presentation culture, where we can present ourselves.”

– P. David Marshall

Chew on this.

lost literary guideposts

To add to my post on lost sonic guideposts, here’s an article on the evolution of language, albeit written in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

“ Remember when a “website” could only be found in a dusty corner of your basement? When the only thing you would “bookmark” was the latest novel, and “rebooting” meant putting your galoshes back on?”– Jim Stallard

Like Pogue, Stallard muses about the use of vocabulary today, that often differs from the original meaning of these words. Cookies no longer mean just that – with the Internet, cookies take on a whole different (more sinister?) meaning. Ditto for ‘bookmarks’.

‘Zip drives’, ‘spam filter’ (spam was named for spam canned meat?) and a whole lot of other innocuous words strung together to make new meaning for the internet era. ‘Googling’ has already made it into the dictionary, both noun and verb. Stephen Colbert’s ‘truthiness‘ is slowly becoming an official part of the English vocab. And of course, ‘Blogging’ is now a verb, noun AND adjective.

With an evolving vocab, perhaps it’s time to revise our nursery rhymes too, as Stallard suggests. Although i’m not sure kids in the future will still go to the playground.

a very patient porn producer

This is hilarious.

remember the sound of a videotape rewinding?

David Pogue wrote in his blog recently, about the disappearance of ‘sonic guideposts’, replaced with those identifiable only by the newer generation. A concept that isn’t alien to some of us, but i think Pogue hit the sweet spot. Sounds such as a videotape being rewound, the beeps emitted from a primitive ‘King Kong’ handheld games, these are hardly heard nowadays.

In the local context, how many of you remember this? Remember when the news lead-in was a corny-sounding fanfare?

For me, i miss the chimes that signalled the end of one period back in primary school, and the recess ‘bell’. Or maybe i just miss being a kid.

September

Events I found ironic this month:

1) That reactions to the Pope’s statements on Islam, which touched on violence and religion, included threating to ‘blow up all of Gaza’s churches‘. Gee.

2) That the Church let such a speech slip past its gatekeepers (at this point, intentions are irrelevant, it is what is perceived that counts) – Time could not have put it more appropriate, “How the Pope’s PR Machinery Failed”.

3) That Thaksin ‘kena’ caught off-guard – a true case of ‘when the cat is away, the mouse comes out to play’, except in this case, the mouse carries damn big guns, and tanks, and fighter jets, and has thousands of soldiers under its command, and most importantly, it has the most powerful weapon in Thailand – the King’s approval. FWAH.

4) Lastly, on a less serious note, that Ikea has reasonably-priced furniture (feel free to object), but charges $7.50 for 2 small pieces of tough, soggy, fried chicken, some fries and vegetables. Ok maybe that’s an alright price to pay, but i just felt short-changed – i think it was because the meatballs that Keith ordered just looked so much yummier. Sour grapes.