Supergrass Lipdub from tantedhoek on Vimeo.
We jumped on the lipdub bandwagon, yay. Someday I will jump on the Don’t Forget To Deinterlace Your Bloody Video Before Uplading bandwagon, super.
Is the computer a friend or enemy of man? Will it cause hopeless unemployment by speeding automation, that disquieting term that it has brought into the language? Will it devalue the human brain, or happily free it from drudgery? Will it ever learn to think for itself?
I find it absolutely remarkable how we are still asking the same questions. Are we? I’ve linked this 1965 Time article on this site before, and I am doing it again only because it’s such a fascinating read. It amazes me how in the relatively short time that has passed between the publishing of this article and today, we have allowed the computer to progress in leaps and bounds while humankind is still exhibiting some truly backward caveman behavior.
(I wonder if the author thought the year 2008 was going to look like something out of The Jetsons)
I’m at my gate in Singapore, waiting for my 8:00 PM flight to Bangkok! I’m going to see my dear N and spend the night at her place before catching that plane to LAX at 8:00 PM tomorrow night. Good night!
A telephone conversation I had before I left the States for the summer in Singapore.
Me: “Hello?”
J: “Oh god, yes! You’re still in the country! I’m so happy you’re here!”
Me: “…Okay, but you know I leave next week.”
J: “Yeah, but you’re here now!“
A telephone conversation I had before leaving Singapore for school in the States.
Me: “Hello?”
M: “Eh, why are you still here?”
Me: “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
M: “WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LEAVING ME!”
Dear gents, I’m sorry I couldn’t get to your comments these past few days; it’s poor netiquette and I know better, but I’ve been busy making preparations for my flight back Stateside. It’s been another good month in South East Asia—had plenty of good food, met up with old friends, met up with new ones (Hi Id!), and played a healthy dose of CounterStrike. Boy do I love CounterStrike.
I’m going to travel with something new: a wheelie-rolling-luggage-thing. It’s a pretty big bag, I’m going to have to check it in. I haven’t checked in a bag since September 2007, so this is a pretty momentous occasion for me. Let’s hope I don’t take this habit come Austin City Limits!
Okay. I’m absolutely spent, I’m not sure I have the energy to fall asleep. I’m absolutely spent, I’m not sure I have the creativity to weave a coherent close to this entry.
My Macbook is talking to me and it won’t shut up! What the hell.
Who else thinks we need to do something about spring cleaning at the UN Security Council? Two of its permanent members have invaded sovereign countries in the past decade (with significant support from another two member countries), one is pumping the arms and money that are contributing to the genocide in Darfur, and another has been accused of providing support to the Rwanda genocide.
Security Council my third-world country ass! I don’t know how secure I’d feel around these guys. The United Nations is a wonderful idea, but until member nations learn to play nice with each other and exhibit some real leadership, that’s all it will be. I hope they go to sleep every night and get haunted by the chain-rattling ghost of the League of Nations. Sweet dreams.
Krishna: “Look at that guy, he’s got three young girls to control all by himself. Where’s their mother? What if things go crazy?”
Joseph: “The girls look pretty submissive, actually.”
Me (to Krishna): “Have you seen those parents who put their kids on a leash? It’s terrible.”
Joseph (butting in): “They’re free-roaming in India!”
I went through high school with these two, lucky me. Fun things always happen when you put together a med student, an arts student, and a social studies student. There, you writers-of-terrible-sitcoms, you. There’s a scenario. Have a party.
(These days all I do is write about the past. I’m either doing a lot of looking back, doing a lot of nothing in the present, or not doing enough thinking about the future. How, ah?)
OH! I saw Travis last night, and I’ve learned what it’s like to fall in love twice (it’s a good feeling, give it a go). I’m so happy! Their two hour-long performance was worth the pain of sitting through an hour of Simple Plan (You know what was crazy? Simple Plan commanded a larger crowd compared to Travis. I KNOW RIGHT). Highlights: Dougie given vocal responsibilities on a few verses of one song, and the cute little acoustic rendition of Flowers in the Window at the encore (guitar strapped onto torso of vocalist, chords held down by guitarist on his right, strings strummed by the bassist on his left, like this). OH. I’m so happy. But remind me to never down a 2/3 bottle of sake, a glass of chardonnay, a large chocolate shake, and a can of Red-frickin-”Made in Austria”-Bull in one night. OH.
(All pics by my sister of Waitplease fame and heyalaner notoriety. She’s generously given me permission to edit and post these pics taken by her, but I just want to explicitly state that the shoddy editing is not her sloppy handiwork, but mine)
Props to Singaporean CC Sound Factory for pulling off a very great set, shame the audience numbers did not do justice to the quality of the music. Some people don’t know good electroclash if it kicks them in the balls. Personally, Travis saved Singfest for me, but who’s that on the horizon?
Back in the ‘Pore. Jakarta was good. Will head back to the States in a little over two weeks. Hippies of the world, hate me! I’m sorry for accumulating a massive carbon footprint! Star Alliance, LOVE ME! You will find no one happier to ride your codesharing ass.
The picture above is of my old neighborhood; it was shot from the second deck of a bus I used to take to get from school to home. Since I graduated from there three years ago, my school has moved its campus to a different part of the island, and we have moved house twice.
You first realize you are not in America anymore when you no longer call it ‘America’ and refer to it as ‘the States.’ And then the little things get to you: the up-riding escalator is where the down-riding one should be, the kitchen sink has halved in size, and the soymilk that goes in your breakfast cereal comes in these strange, diminutive quart-sized boxes.
(There are these stickers on the boxes that proudly say “PRODUCT OF USA.” When you rip off the stickers, the original text below reads “LACTOSE FREE.” Apparently it’s more important knowing your soymilk comes from the U.S. than knowing it is a great milk substitute for people who are lactose intolerant. Ho ho.)
And the shopping! The clothes here are still tailored for goblins and small children; some things never change, I suppose. And this island is so…shiny. It doesn’t feel the way it did last time I was here six months ago (cue cheesy little ditty about nationalism and progress). It doesn’t feel like home anymore, which confuses me.
Off to Jakarta tomorrow, hopefully that remedies the big gaping hole in my emo soul (Sometimes I ooze with wit. This is not one of those times).
1. Help! Does anybody know where I can find a poster-sized print of this? I don’t know the title of the piece, but I know that I love it and I must have it on pain of death!
2. I have these new curtains in my bedroom that match my sheets—a nice deep red color with a contrasting black sheer. They are wonderful and I love them and everything, but now my bedroom looks like the secret lair of Drusilla the Kinky Nympho of Southern Ohio. And it doesn’t help that my handcuffs (a gag gift, I SWEAR) raise even more suspicion!
3. I received this message in my Facebook inbox:
was browsing through and yr pic caught my eye. am looking for interesting women for companionship and hopefully more. if u’re keen to know me, do reply.
Is it bad if I am less repulsed by his being a creep than I am ghastly appalled by his going this far in life without the ability to grasp basic spelling and grammar rules? And what does he mean by ‘interesting’?
4. Take-off in T minus eight hours. As usual, I’m not done packing the one backpack I am taking with me, and as usual, I am shaking like a leaf out of pre-flight anxiety/excitement. There’s no sleep for the jittery tonight, folks.
