It's here!

...or at least it's in Japan.


You can not advance

If you've been following my blog, you'd know I'm an Evangelion fan. Pretty much a flawed jewel, as I've mentioned in previous posts. But I love it all the same.

The latest Evangelion movies are actually a remake of the television series that made a stupendous amount of money for Gainax in merchendise (what, gross USD2 billion????). The Eva movies are a great way to milk a money cow, for sure. (It appears to be beating the most successful movies in Japan in the year so far)

The first of four movies has come and gone, the latest one which I want to watch is the second in the series. While the first movie was nearly a scene for scene replication of the original animation aired on tv, the second one is soooooooo different from the original apparently that fans just *have* to watch it to see the differences for themselves. To put things into perspective, rabid anime fans are the type of people who take great offense to a small change in the name of a character.

So yeah. Can't wait to watch the show myself, trying very hard not to read the evil EVIL spoilers all over the internet. It's going to take a very long time before the show comes to (limitted) screens in Malaysia or DVD though. :(

Youtube/surfing addiction

I forgot to sleep last night again. Spent the night watching random youtubey things like Naga the Serpent's infamous laugh (from the anime Slayers) and Spiderman Unlimitted and the glorious glorious TV Troupes website. The last one is a hilarious listing of "tricks of the trade for writing fiction."

Check out this entry on "Lampshade hanging"!

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Lampshade hanging

"If I live to be 100, I will never understand why they keep so many damn weapons under the ring. It's like they want the wrestlers to use them on each other..."
— Jim Ross, WWE RAW

Lampshade Hanging is the writers' trick of dealing with any element of the story that threatens the audience's Willing Suspension Of Disbelief—whether a very implausible plot development, or a particularly egregious use of a trope—by calling attention to it... and then moving on.

The reason for this counter-intuitive strategy is two-fold. First, it assures the audience that the author is aware of the implausible plot development that just happened, and that he isn't trying to slip something past the audience. Second, it assures the audience that the world of the story is like Real Life: what's implausible for you or me is just as implausible for these characters, and just as likely to provoke an incredulous response...

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Brilliant stuff. I love it soooo much! *gleee* There's more content to that entry on lampshade hanging, but I think you get the idea from there. :P

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In the mean time, I'm considering adding one of those little song playing thingies to my blog. Travesty, I know. But check out this song!



Wouldn't this song be just perfect on my blog? =:3

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SBB says:

You've *got* to be kidding me.


SBB seal of disapproval

(another) What ever happened to...

...dating?

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Me: Hrm. I noticed that most of the gay couples I know got hitched up very quickly. Love at first sight, all of them. (Myself included)

Sinner: Really? Did they last long?

Me: Most of them about two years so far. Only two real break-ups i can think of now, and that includs myself.

Sinner: Well, I guess it's different for (gay) guys. A girl will want to go dating, be romanced and chased after. For us, if there's a mutual interest it happens. That's it.

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Erm hrmmmmm.

But doesn't dating actually serve a purpose? The whole getting to know each other thing? Surely you can't really get to know a person immediately.

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"...But another, more useful purpose of dating is to learn. We need some experience to learn what we want in a partner, what we don't want, how to communicate our needs, how to serve the other's needs without disrespecting ourselves, and what it feels like to love, be loved, and even how to be strong enough to part when we know it's time..."

"...Dating is a selection process. The problem is that most people don't have a clear idea of what they're looking for. That's why it's important to make a list of qualities that you're looking for. Then, when a person falls short of matching that list, it's important to say, "Next."... " -Kara Oh, Alive with Love.

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Hrmm. But how well does that apply to gay men?

Can gay men really be very choosy? You know, not a whole lot of fish in the ocean for gay men sort of thing. So if we find someone who seems halfway decent, perhaps its wise to 'grab' before he's taken by someone else. It's not like dating is really going to tell you how compatible you are anyway. And how long do you really need to date to get to know what a person's like?

Still. Having just come out of a relationship recently myself, I feel like being cautious. I had really put in a lot of effort and made a lot of sacrifices into my last relationship - not that that's a bad thing, but I feel hesitant to jump into another one immediately. But I may have already let opportunities pass me by.

What do you guys think?

Opportunity comes knocking

Lately I've just finished a contract of part-time work. So I'm a bit more free lately, wondering about employment issues. In fact, I was just thinking to myself yesterday, "Wouldn't it be funny if a job opportunity dropped itself on my lap all the sudden?"

Today I just got a phone call from my old employer back in Melaka. They want me back for teaching and training. They want to expand their services it seems.

Huh. Not quite what I had in mind.

I liked working in my old workplace. I already get along with the staff there, and I know I can do my job well there. Pay is of the non-profit organization variety of course.

Working in Melaka means living there though. Away from KL.

It's funny. Of all people, I should know that nothing lasts forever, and eventually people will move away. I'm used to traveling and staying in other (mostly unfamiliar) places for decent periods of times. As a matter of fact, I've been considering the need to move overseas before 2012 i.e. the next elections. Even made some arrangements that would help me move to Australia if needed.

But the thought of leaving KL really irks me. Life in KL has been really good to me. Since I've come here, I've had the opportunity to make up my own home, experience a relationship and most importantly, make valued friendships. Not that I can't make friends anywhere else, but you guys know who you are and why you're special.

You see, I tend to associate places I've stayed in with my experiences during my stay there. And I've come to realize that KL represents some of the happiest days in my whole life. I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world.

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"Mr. Finch: Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Pergunot. Lysinder. Your own people Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords, reborn.

Sarah Jane Smith: Doctor, don't listen to him!

Mr. Finch: And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh. Never wither, never age...never die. Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us.

The Doctor: I could save everyone.

Mr. Finch: Yes.

The Doctor: I could stop the war.

Sarah Jane Smith: No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship... Everything has its time. And everything ends." - Doctor Who, "School Reunion"





Must we say goodbye?

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Employer: Do you know J*** L***? We want to make him executive director over the new branch you'll be working in.
Me: Er, who's that again?
Employer: You should know him. He was the pastor at your father's funeral.
Me: OH GODS!
Employer: ...oh. That bad huh?

The guy was one of those many people who my late father had *plenty* of time to talk about his ungrateful children. During the funeral, I think have the crowd had this disapproving look on their faces, and there were carefully inserted mentions in the speeches of the need of 'forgiveness' and so on. Somehow, I don't think I would want to be working under this guy anytime soon.

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Everything ends... eventually. But not just yet. :)

Pumpkin

Just wanted to share this rockin' video with you all. Enjoy!

The Photo Album, part 2

"...but what if a picture comes out and your father sees a picture of me?" my mum asked, referring to the photo album that I was bringing.

"Oh, that's easy. I'll just say that's the maid," I replied.

She rolled her eyes, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmph. I'm so fortunate for having such a clever son."

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Just remembered this bit. Lol...

The Photo Album

It was an inspired moment.

"Oh, this is so lovely" my mum said, smiling as she took a picture of her ex-husband posing with her children out from one photo album and passed it to me.

I placed the photograph into another photo album in my lap, using it to cover a picture of my mum. The photo album I was holding was looking positively curious; photos of my biological father from all eras were randomly scattered throughout. And underneath each misplaced photo of my father was a hidden photo of my mum.

The effect was a photo album full of random pictures of my father, mostly posing together with me and my brother when we were children. What was missing was any picture of my mother. Or hidden away, to be more precise.

I had arrived in town the night before, hoping to meet my father who had lapsed into a coma that day. It had been too late at night to visit, so I had to settle for visiting the morning after. But not before making preparations.

My brother had arrived earlier, so he had the chance to see how my father's condition really was. The man was lapsing in and out of consciousness, and when he was conscious he was delirious. Apparently thought my brother was working in the Royal Bank of Scotland, and was delighted he could make it from... Scotland.

Hence the editted photo album.

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"What's that?" My aunt would ask.

"Morphine. The best kind," I would reply as I walked into the room to speak to my father in private.

"Look. This is your life," I would say, as I would open the pages of the photo album and show it to my father. Inside would be picture upon picture of himself posing with his young children. Pictures of his success, of him being a father.

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It was a brilliant plan. It depended of course on the fact that the poor man was delirious. That way he didn't have to think of what happened after the scenes in the photos. He could enjoy every moment depicted in each photo, missing any unpleasant memories or blemishes. Because he was delirious, he could enjoy the early days of his first marriage without remembering that he was ever held accountable for his actions and suffered the consequences that followed.

But did the photo album show him everything he had, or everything he had lost?

Holding the finished photo album in hand, I arrived at my father's new house that morning with my presentation for the dying man rehearsed in my head. But my aunt's first sentence to me was quite different from the one I expected.

"He passed away early this morning," my aunt said,"I only found out when I arrived today myself."

You're too late.

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This is not fiction. The recollection of the events are accurate, but in truth it's not nearly as sad as it sounds in writing. I was disappointed that I arrived too late to give the photo album, but a part of me didn't mind all that much. The dying, delirious man would have enjoyed looking through the album, but something felt terribly wrong about it. It was as if I was taking advantage of the a dying man's inability to think properly in order to feed him a wonderful lie.

The photo album was indeed a curious thing. Was it truly an object of kindness, or in actual fact an object of ultimate cruelty?