Specter of the Past

I've been having a string of dreams lately, about running into old friends, and finding out certain things about them. Some good, some not so.

I wonder if anyone else looks at a half-forgotten friend's name when they scroll through their phonebook, and thinks of giving them a call. Or initiating a conversation with one through MSN. I wouldn't know about the latter, but the former is someting that keeps coming up. Another reason why I refuse Facebook is that it gives the illusion of connectivity - you FEEL like you're keeping in touch with all your old friends and the updates in their lives, but in reality all you're getting are the scraps from their tables. There's no substitute for a nice dinner, or a drink at a bar or a Starbucks and good old-fashioned conversation.

Distance now bring a problem in maintaining past relationships, at least for me, I try to maintain email contact with my closest friends overseas. Every morning I wake up and I draft replies to anybody who's replied me the previous night, or make a mental note to type one later. It doesn't take up alot of my time, and yet people seem... reluctant to reciprocate. But instead of pointing fingers I look inwards and realise that it's not as easy as I make it sound. Sometimes my emails consist of one-liners and comments that don't easily create a response. Maybe I'm not asking the right questions, or talking about things relevant to my friend's lives. Perhaps they really are alot busier than I am. (I recognise that the amount of time a day I spend staring at the computer screen is far more than the average person)

My best friend (one of the few readers of this blog, albeit on a rather sporadic basis) is somebody that I don't have an email thread with, and our interactions have been somewhat limited over the past few months. I sense that his life is moving onto other things (not for me to judge better or worse) and the lack of a part of it makes me feel ... I wouldn't say sad, just... I dunno, remiss?

Alot of things can change in a short period of time. People would say that drifting apart is the natural order of things as people move on, and create new relationships and explore new possibilities. I refuse to accept that. There's alot of my innate autism in this, I recognise, but it's not like I havn't tried to move on. My attempt has created some friendships, perhaps some that might even one day be as strong as the ones that I'm desperately trying to hold on to. But it doesn't mean I'm so easily willing to let go of the relationships I once had with people.

And in the process of looking forward I think to myself why not look back as well? How hard could it possibly be to reconnect to someone in your past without the aid/handicap of Facebook? A combination of dreams and reality have shown me that the process is not always a happy one. Sometimes you might not even like what you see in them anymore. Like finding out an old crush is actually lesbian now.

... Wait a minute.

Rape By Fence

I remember how back in the old days with fellow Arts Students we used to diss the Science and Maths students for having no creativity, and generally looking down upon what we perceived to be their general disinterest in the Arts and dislike for all things impractical.

And now being on the other side of the fence I realise that Science/Maths nerds make similar, if not the exact same comments about the people on the Arts side as well. It's... kind of ironic, and abit sad at the same time.

I wonder where the mutual emnity stems from. Possibly from an inability to comprehend, which transforms into a subconscious impairing of one's innate ability in the other field. I still believe everyone has the capacity to do both Arts and Sciences, but in labelling yourself as an 'Arts' or a 'Maths' person, you automatically close off the side of your brain that was capable of appreciating literary genius, or solving a differential equation.

I don't particularly identify myself with either side, and I'm pretty sure neither side would identify me as one of them either. But I guess I far prefer it this way. It's difficult though, to... keep up with one half when you're immersed in the other. At least back in JC all of us still had to do Math, but there was still a certain joy this semester when I pushed out a 1.5k word essay in an afternoon without any research.

A Life of a Zergling

I had a really weird dream last night.

There's this old Chinese parable about how an old master gathers his 12 disciples one day and gives them each a chopstick. He asks them to break it, which they do easily. Then he gives them each another chopstick but instead asks them to put all 12 together in a bundle. He asks them to try to break the bundle, and the obviously can't. The moral of the story here being strength in numbers blah blah blah. If you don't know this story you obviously wern't paying attention in Primary school Chinese.

So in my dream last night I'm a zergling. And I have 11 other zergling disciples, and we have a zergling master. Our master gives us each a chopstick to break, which we do easily. However when we make the bundle our master takes it, and snaps it with ease as well. Then he says to us something along the lines of 'Yall go alone, yall die. Yall 12 all go together still die'.

... The moral of the story here I'm supposing is don't build zerglings.

STML

Don't you just hate it when you think of something awesome to Wiki while in the shower, but by the time you get back to your computer you've forgotten what it was, or worse, forgotten entirely about it?

Rage @ Meiji

Eh Linus and XR, and any other Law people that still come here, can I sue Meiji for false advertising if I keep finding damn Hello Pandas with no filling inside?

Cheat My Feelings

There's no incident that more accurately embodies the title phrase than biting into a Hello Panda and finding NO CHOCOLATE INSIDE.

Similarities

Came across this article comparing Street Fighter and Poker. If nothing else, it's a fascinating comparison.

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The Evolution 2010 Season Wrap-up

Part 1 - The Fighting Game Boom

Except this year, I'm doing things differently. Normally, what I did in the past wrap ups, as mentioned earlier, was discuss each community individually and talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each individual community from what I observed. This year, however, I think it would be a mistake to do such a thing. And the reason for this is because, this year above all other years, we need to focus not on the individual communities, but the Fighting Game Community as a whole. And that's because this year, the Fighting Game Community may have taken its first steps into becoming something much bigger.

Let's just cut to the chase, first and foremost. Street Fighter IV has changed everything. What this game and Super Street Fighter IV have done to the Fighting Game Community cannot be denied. One main reason that it's not proper to focus on the communities of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, Melty Blood, Tekken, and Super Street Fighter II: HD Remix is because, quite simply put, these communities are overshadowed by the sheer size and power of the Street Fighter IV community. And while this may make some of these other communities upset to hear me say this, especially because some members of these communities look down on Street Fighter IV, I think communities need to look at the positives that Street Fighter IV has been bringing the Fighting Game Community as a whole.

Whenever I talk about the Fighting Game Community to friends and where it needs to go and how it needs to grow, the topic of poker always comes up. Of any mainstream gaming communities that exist today, the Poker Community is the one that I feel as though the Fighting Game Community needs to follow and emulate as much as possible. There are many facets that can provide similarities between the communities, but the reason I bring this up today is because I feel as though the way Chris Moneymaker's win in 2003 initiated the Poker Boom, Evolution 2010 may have been the closest thing we've yet seen to achieving a similar boom. And it's all a direct result of Street Fighter IV's immense popularity.

You see, Chris Moneymaker was an unknown player. He was what we would refer to, in the Fighting Game Community, as a "newb." But he got entry into the World Series of Poker by winning a satellite tournament and proceeded to not only win the Main Event as the World Series of Poker, but to do so by taking down veteran professional player Sam Farha heads-up at the final table. After Chris won, everyone believed they could also win. And thus: the Poker Boom. Though a similar situation where a "newb" has taken down a pro hasn't happened in the Fighting Game Community, the huge increase of players at events like Evolution from one year to the next upon Street Fighter IV's release was very similar to the increase of players at the World Series of Poker the following year after Moneymaker won.

Now, I dunno about most of you people, but before the Poker Boom, poker was one thing to me: people sitting in a smoke-filled room asking for more cards and trying to bluff each other. Whenever you saw poker on TV shows or in movies, it was always the same format: each player is dealt 5 card hands and they are allowed a maximum of 3 cards for redraw. Texas Hold-Em was a version of the game I had never heard of even though it had been the Main Event at the World Series of Poker since forever.

After the Poker Boom, Texas Hold-Em was the main form of poker played. Even TV and movies began to reflect that. Casino Royale -- the recent James Bond film -- for example, had a plot that revolved around Texas Hold-Em. Without the Poker Boom, they probably would have played the same 5 card style of poker that we had seen in TV shows and movies for forever. Hell, they might have even just played Baccarat, the game that was originally played in the book.

Since Moneymaker's win in 2003, Texas Hold-Em has exploded. Everyone plays that version in home games, and when you hear "poker," Texas Hold-Em is now the first game you think of. Even your average joe pictures Texas Hold-Em as what poker is now. But here's the question: are there other versions of poker? Are there even more skilled versions of poker out there, that rely less on luck and require more knowlege and skill?

The answer to both of those questions is "Yes." There are tons of poker versions out there, and many of them do require stronger knowledge and take away some of the luck. There's Omaha High-Low, Stud Eight or Better, Razz, and on and on. Heck, there's even huge differences between tournament play and cash game play. Some formats are more skilled, some are less skilled, but none are as popular as tournament Texas Hold-Em. But here's the question: do you think fans of these other versions are frustrated that Texas Hold-Em is the most popularly played poker format out there?

Maybe. But most of them more than likely have accepted Texas Hold-Em as the main format in the poker world. In the mid 2000's, when ESPN showed the World Series of Poker, they used to televise many different games. They showed the Omaha games, the Stud Eight or Better games, and so on and so forth. But recently, in the past couple of years, ESPN has moved away from showing these games. They only show Texas Hold-Em events now. Why? Because the other formats simply didn't get as many viewers.


So by now I'm sure many fans of the other games like BlazBlue and King of the Fighters and Tekken are either sad or outright angry with me because they think they know where I'm going with this poker analogy. Am I really sitting here, telling you all to declare Street Fighter IV as king all-mighty of the Fighting Game community and to just accept it, like many poker players have just accepted Texas Hold-Em as the top-most played poker format? Am I saying that everyone should drop their games and go learn Street Fighter IV? Well... no. Not at all.

What I'm telling you is this: use the exposure of Fighting Games to the general public through Street Fighter IV to help your own community grow. Look at the influx of potential players and, instead of looking down upon the casual Street Fighter IV fan, nuture them and introduce them, slowly, to your game of choice.

Everyone nowadays goes into poker learning Texas Hold-Em. But it's almost a guarantee that, through the natural course of exposure to Texas Hold-Em, players who become serious about the game eventually move on to learn the other formats. They start learning how to play the other games due to general curiosity and the need for variety.


Is Street Fighter IV a simple game? Yes. But it's approachable and it's easy to learn. People who don't understand poker at all can watch poker on TV, see the percentages written on the screen, and recognize when someone catches a miracle card to win a hand and understand the elation or devastation experienced by the players. What they don't see is the slow-plays and the fake over-betting with a strong hand to feign weakness by appearing to try and buy a pot. People watching Street Fighter IV can tell everything that's going on and see who's winning thanks to the life bars and get excited by Ultra Combos and their pretty animations and recognize big comebacks and narrow victories and understand the elation or devastation experienced by the players. They don't see a lot of the subtle strategies that go on with Footsies and Option Selects and finger dexterity, but they don't need to: the game looks fun to them and they can understand it.

So the same thing starts to happen with Street Fighter IV that happens with poker: people who spectate start to get interested in playing because the game is so fun to watch. And they step into it and learn the subtleties little by little and their appreciation of the game grows. You start to understand why poker cannot be played without chips and why Street Fighter cannot be played without Throws. And then they start to understand the idea of why slow playing the set of kings is so effective and why baiting Wake-Ups becomes a fundamental tactic. And then they slowly but surely become good at a game that is actually friendly enough to allow them to get to a point where they are truly competitive. Yes, they are still going to lose to Patrick Antonius and Phil Ivey and Chris Ferguson and Johnny Chan 99 out of 100 times at the poker table, but they can at least play. And yes, they are still going to lose to Alex Valle and John Choi and Arturo Sanchez and Justin Wong 99 out of 100 times, but at least they can play!

And then what happens? They go to events like the World Series of Poker or Evolution and they start watching. They start seeing other games like Omaha or Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 or Seven Card Stud or Tekken and they become intrigued. And it's really up to those other communities, now, to bring those players in and introduce them to a different game. And who knows? Some of those people coming in as Texas Hold-Em fans may become one of the best Omaha players ever. A few of those Street Fighter IV kids may become pro BlazBlue players. You never know.


And this is bringing me to my main point: the Fighting Game Community needs to act as a whole from this point forward. This is why I do not want to discuss each community individually anymore. The Fighting Game Community is one entity, and it will only become successful and mainstream if it acts like one entity. The separate games of the Fighting Game Community need not ostricize and fight against other games. They need to start learning how to bring in other players and take advantage of the other communities.

Tekken players need to write up articles such as, "If you like using a Rush Down character like Cammy in Super Street Fighter IV, well then you should look at these characters to play in Tekken because they have similar sensibilities." BlazBlue experts need to write how strategies you've learned in Street Fighter IV apply to BlazBlue, such as Option Selects and BnB's and safe Block Strings and such. Heck, why stop at Street Fighter? They should even write articles that say "If you appreciate the Okizeme games of Tekken, here's how BlazBlue implements their Oki game in similar fashion."

The Fighting Game Community can only benefit from the influx of players that Street Fighter IV has brought in, and it's time for people to start realizing this and taking advantage of it. Only by doing so will the Fighting Game Community not only continue to grow, but to thrive and become truly a mainstream form of competitive entertainment.

Drink With Me

Drink with me to days gone by,
Sing with me the song we knew.
Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads,
Here's to witty girls who went to our beds.
Here's to me, and here's to you.

Drink with me to days gone by,
Could it be you fear to die?
Will the world remember you when you fall?
Could it be your life means nothing at all?
Is your life just one more lie?

Drink with me to days gone by,
To the life that used to be.
At the shrine of friendship never say die,
Let the wine of friendship never run dry.
Here's to you, and here's to me.

Drink with me - Les Miserables

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Somehow not being able to sleep at night led me to re-reading posts from my last blog. I notice how my three blogs differed in tone for a large majority of the posts, but somehow I feel I used to write better in JC. Must've been the arts class and all. Anyway I came across a couple of lines I posted from this song at the time, but now the whole song seems relevant when it didn't back then.

Conception

It's 5.45am in the morning, Sydney time, and I'm wide awake to the sound of generic pop music blasting from speakers 2 rooms down. I've slept for a grand total of 30 minutes, because somehow my brain refuses to shut down til 5am every day. White people on the floor stumble out of their rooms half-awake to start a day of alcohol and general debauchery, and while I don't condemn their activities in any sort of sanctimonious manner, I can't help but feel a general disdain for the enthusiasm they show to such an event. A fellow countryman here promises me that this will be a day to remember, and I don't doubt that, just probably not in the way that he expects.

It's Conception Day at Macquarie University, which according to Wiki celebrates the Conception of the founder of the school, Lachlan Macquarie. His conception is celebrated because apparently his birthday falls on an unappropriate day for festivities.

And festivities there are. When I asked what kind of things go on on Conception Day, my over-enthusiastic compatriot proudly proclaimed 'A Bouncing Castle' as one of the main highlights of the day. I stared at him and asked him how old he was, he said '24' and asked how that was relevant.

... I could go on. I know I sound annoyed and a small part of me probably is. But as usual in place of annoyance the pervading feeling of a general apathy is how I see this whole day. I mean I REALLY couldn't care less that you'd wake up at 6 in the morning to drink, party and screw around. I don't even care that you have to wake the ENTIRE hostel up at the same time with bad music, because clearly EVERYBODY should be participating in this momentous event. (Somehow even that shit is authorised) A few hours from now I'll probably be in an open-minded enough state to go to Uni to see for myself what's happening. I might even have fun.

God knows I've tried for ages to live this nihilistic philosophy of life. It's not easy. Stoicism was definitely out of the question, because I lacked the patience required to exercise that kind of viewpoint. I settled instead for trying not to care about what other people did, so long as I wasn't affected. And while I'm greatly affected by the proceedings around me now, my question with it extends far beyond myself (I think).

People who know me well and would like to think the best of me say that deep down I actually care about others in general. I maintain that I look out for the interests of firstly myself, and then my loved ones, and then subsequently I couldn't care less. I realise now that I'm lying to myself. I don't say this in any attempt to justify that I'm a better person than I thought I was, I'm just stating a point. My preferences for entertainment are such that I recognise that they will not be appreciated by the general populace. Yet I don't see the need to impose it on everyone else, especially at the time of the day that I know that people are obviously not rational and wiling to listen. (Self-included)

So I think what I'm trying to say is that maybe I'm not as big an asshole as I thought I was. I've often wondered which is worse though, the sinner that's self-aware, or the one that's ignorant. Because while morality can be cured, ignorance most certainly can't. On the scale of the most fucked up things I've seen or heard people do, I honestly believe I'd rank this as one of the highest. Some of the most evil events in history arose from a group of people sharing the common belief that THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH THEIR ACTIONS. Even when I do something wrong and later admit it to myself, there's at least the chance that I'll try not to do it again, or that whatever's left of my conscience will tell me not to do so. For those that remain ignorant, repentance is completely out of the question.

It's the start of my 3rd week as an 'adult', and I struggle now to maintain some level of maturity and not walk out of room and thrash the large speakers outside. I guess it's good that my anger isn't directed at any one person right now. Unfocussed anger is less likely to induce action, at least from me. I can assure you that my fellow residents will not see it the same way.

Nightmare Booster

Yes this is a post about dreams, but it is in no way inspired/related to the movie Inception, which for the record was a great movie, but everyone should stop talking about it. Also, if we're paying for entertainment value, I feel the $10 I spent on the Tekken Movie was far more worth it than what I spent on Inception.

I've mentioned this before in post a year or more ago, but the really scary nightmares arn't the ones that involve you being chased by some monster or whatever. Frankly I havn't had one of those in more than a decade.

The scary nightmares are the ones that have every realistic possibility of coming true. A nightmare is something that plays on your insecurities and exaggerates them, sometimes to a fantastical level, and in such a way that you've no way to deal with it. When you're a kid your greatest fears (I suppose) would be the monsters under your bed, the dark, vertigo or whatever. Your best dreams take place in the shape of a 5-storey arcade that was operated by mechanical pencil lead. You buy a box from the counter and one stick of lead would be the equivalent of a 50c coin. Some days I wish I could visit that place again.

Anyway so there are nightmares, and then there are those gg nightmares that seem to hit EVERY single insecurity at one time. I swear I couldn't have written a book about my life in a more dramatic fashion. I'm still shaking as I type this. I don't normally analyse dreams unless their rather vivid, and this one definitely was, although it didn't take very much effort to decipher the meaning behind it.

Dreams don't show you things you don't already know about yourself. Anyone with the least bit of introspection should be able to admit to his own insecurities. But to reminded of all of them in one night, waking up in the morning not feeling any particular worry, but just a general feeling of fear...

I'm thankful for my alarm today, for once, because it broke through the dream in a way that brought me to reality in one swift jolt. Not because I didn't need to see the ending, no. My dreams never 'end' anyway.

Something Different

It's 4am here in Singapore, the World Cup final is playing on TV in my living room but I, along with currently 11905 and increasing people are watching online the Marvel vs Capcom 2 finals at Evolution 2010 in Las Vegas, not to mention the people watching live in the ballroom.

This is the excitement of 90 minutes packed into 2-3 minutes of excitement of the best, and the other truly beautiful game of the world. Nothing like it.

Achievement

I have officially spent more hours today studying (8) than hours slept the night before (7). Anyone who knows me well enough would know that my study hours are full study hours.

Poker Facebook

I had... one of those dreams last night that start to get you thinking about things you wouldn't otherwise have considered.

I still remember alot of it, but anyway the important part has something to do with this guy I used to know in army. He was... a nice enough person, a good enough friend of mine, smart and able to reason and consider other points of view. His only flaw (if it could be called that) was probably not being ambitious enough, and not willing to push himself to strive for something better. It wasn't laziness, it was more of a contentment with what he had in life and where he was going. I... only spoke to him once more after I left the service, when he called me some time in January to ask how I was doing. He's also one of the few people outside my usual circles that know where I am now and what I'm doing. We agreed to go get a drink with him some day after he leaves, although I think we both knew that wasn't going to happen.

Anyway the point of the dream was that I ran into him one day 20 years down the road and he asked me somewhat sadly why I never bothered to keep in touch. I gave some pretty bad excuse about not having the time to, but in reality it was that one particular aspect of his character that I disagreed with that makes me unwilling to put in the effort to maintain a relationship. Which is one of my personal flaws - this... belief that because some people are the way they are, it makes them... 'not worth the effort' of me trying to maintain a relationship. Not in the sense that I believe I'm better than them, or that they're useless, but in a simple pragmatic way that I don't see my relationship with them going anywhere, and hence why invest the time and effort into sustaining something with no foreseeable future? Sure I may be wrong, but that's how I see it.

Which brings me to my final point. Lately I've been getting more and more requests from people asking me to join Facebook. I have friends here in Sydney who claim that I am the only person they know that doesn't have it. (isn't on it, whatever.) I think part of the reason why I've staunchly refused to jump on this trend -heh, other than the fact that it is a trend- is that I fear the many pseudo-relationships I have to open myself up to online. There are many people from service who's names I've forgotten and have no wish to remember. I've met alot of people in my life that would throw a punch at me in real life and add me as a friend on Facebook. The whole... superficiality of it annoys me. If you and I arn't friends in real life why maintain this virtual facade?

And yet... there is a small tinge of regret. What you do to others you usually find done to yourself, and there are people I do wish that I could've gotten to know better. People whom I havn't seen in almost 10 years, but who sometimes flit into my thoughts briefly, causing me to wonder where they are now. The knowledge that these questions could easily be answered by the click of a button is almost too... tempting. And as I write this now I seriously am considering opening an account. Online social networking is still social networking, and every relationship built starts with small, superficial steps that grow into something far more meaninful.

But no. For the simple reason that it's too easy. Too easy to extend myself online, where the emotional hurt of a failed attempt at a relationship is minimised to a sad emoticon. Too easy to be fooled into thinking that a relationship could be more than it actually is. Relationships have to be worked for. I know that better than most people.

Making a friend isn't as simple as a click of a mouse online, and never will be. It's a long, beautiful process that starts with a phone call, and a day out.

Top Gun

It's one of those nights again. 5 in the morning here and I don't feel like sleeping at all, though I havn't taken a nap all day. Every now and then it hits me pretty hard how far away from home and everything I know and love that I am, and even though I'm about 2 weeks away from seeing it again, there are 4 papers in between me and that. Even now it's bothering me that by sleeping late I'll end up sleeping most of tomorrow and not having enough sleep, which will affect my study plan tmr ... ... Fuck that.

I watched Top Gun earlier tonight. It was one of my favourite films as a kid, though I never actually understood the story and all. That along with Flight Of The Intruder, which went even higher above my head as a child. Kinda sad though, that nobody makes movies about fighter planes and pilots anymore, nor are there any good flight simulator games going around. Doesn't every kid dream of being a pilot at some point in his life?

I also won $30 by coming in 3rd in my weekly poker game on Sunday, which in all honesty didn't mean that much to me. It proved to me once and for all that money isn't the reason I play these games, but it's the thrill of the game that I'm paying for. Oddly enough I walked away with the money feeling slightly annoyed at myself for having gotten so far while playing like a scrub. But yea, it's nice to know that I'm not lying to myself for once. Seem to have been doing alot of that over the past few years.

Company

Supper is a meal meant for two.

Originality

I watched 'The Book of Eli' today (apparently Australia's kinda slow about certain movies) and I quite enjoyed the movie, which was why I was immensely surprised at the end where the words 'Based on the novel by so-and-so' were NOT shown during the credits.

It's not that I think sequels and print-to-screen adaptations are crap, (I'm still waiting for my Drizzt movie) it's just that every one in a while it's nice to have a breath of cinematic storytelling fresh air in a movie. I think the last original movie I watched was Avatar, which wasn't all that great either. And I refuse to believe that watching it in 3D would have enhanced my appreciation for it. And while some adaptations of literary works have been pretty awesome and extremely faithful to the original (Watchmen springs to mind), many have simply fallen short of the print version. And you can't say I shouldn't compare them because they are the SAME STORY. It has been ASKED to be compared to it's predecessor.

Worthy of some note are movies that take a basic storyline and characters, but decide to develop a semi-original plot. (The latest Batman series and the Marvel movies). Whether or not the plot is GOOD is an entirely different matter, as a fan of the latter example I found myself quite conflicted when I watched the Spider-Man and X-Men movies. One part of me was objectively thinking that these movies were pretty good and the other irrational fanboy part was screaming (OMG WHY IS TOBEY SO GAY WHY IS CYCLOPS SO EMO WHYDOESSHADOWCATHAVESOLITTLESCREENTIME) etc.

But really, original movies deserve the appreciation. In a day and time where any random collection of words can be turned into a movie (Julie and Julia, Da Vinci Code wtf) a plotline that can keep us on our toes is always worth following to the end. Sure there may be some inconsistencies and hiccups, but at least they have the excuse somewhat of having nothing much to fall back on. Adaptations have no such excuse.

I think the problem with movies adapted from print are the two primary kinds of people adapting them. (This rule can also be applied to sequels)Firstly, the corporate souless individual who couldn't believe how well the book sold and decided to make a movie out of it just to make more money. These guys have no real appreciation for how and what made the original so good (or in the Dan Brown's books cases, bad) and hence just produce a generic Hollywood film that fails to capture the essence and soul that was contained in that piece of literary work.

The second, and possibly worse, kind, are fanboys. Fanboys who believe that making a movie out of their favourite piece of work is the greatest justice they could ever do to the author and make a movie that is figuratively intended to suck the balls of every single other fan of the same author. In their movies you can almost see the drool oozing out of every scene. Shamayalan's The Last Airbender looks dangerously close to this kind of movie, but I'm praying to be proven wrong.

A good example of a successful print to screen adaptation would be everyone's favourite The Lord of the Rings. The success of Peter Jackson's trilogy didn't lie ENTIRELY in the EXPERT casting of Legolas, but more because the movie did not follow the book to the letter, but cut out only what was absolutely unnecessary and added dimensions and angles that Tolkien's writing simply couldn't bring out. Action scenes were far more dramatised, obviously, which was fine because the book was kinda dreary at times. Character development was consistent with the book, but brought out in a far more realistic fashion. (Hobbit homosexuality) But most importantly it kept true the THEMES of the book, which allowed the movie to be compared to the book and stand up because it stayed true to what the story was trying to tell. I could go on, and I'm not even a big fan of LOTR, which I suppose goes to show the level of appreciation I have for the adaptation.

I'm looking at the Coming Soon list and I can't say I'm looking forward to anything this year. Even Iron Man 2 just looks entertaining at best. I'm struggling to think now of the best original movie I've ever watched and I can't really say at the moment. It occurs to me that 95% of everything I've watched isn't original, which is sad, really.

National Pride

One thing I still don't get is when I greet somebody walks past me in the hallways with a 'Hey' and they reply 'How's it going?'

Like... am I actually supposed to reply to that? Sometimes I just don't say anything and we both continue on, but I feel kinda bad like I ignored his question. Then when I actually do reply something like 'Oh I'm good. Going for lunch now' or something there are also 2 possible outcomes. One being that the guy turns around and we have a small conversation and block up the passageway for a few minutes, and the other being that he/she just continues walking down without replying, or with a minor affirmation at most, leaving me feeling rather embarrassed for opening myself up for no reason.

I watched the first live soccer match since I came here last night and it was gratifying to know that Man U fans are every bit as obnoxious no matter which country they come from. The reaction of the Koreans when their countryman scored was quite a sight to behold though.

I walked into the computer lab the other evening and I saw a multi-national group gathered around a computer screen and they were laughing uncontrollably at some video. The people in the group included Malaysians, Indians, HKs, Koreans, Japs, Chinamen, Aussies, Pinoys and Americans. Curious as to what could attract the attention and tickle the funny bones of so many races I walked over to the computer screen and to my immense surprise I saw them going through a playlist of 'Gao Xiao Xing Dong' episodes with subtitles.

I have never before felt so proud to be a Singaporean. Apparently everyone back home hates him now for some scandal, but go back and watch Gao Xiao Xing Dong and remember what he did for the country's comedy scene.

When The Cold Wind Blows

Earlier this week when I was walking to school this line suddenly hit me, along with that tune. I stopped in my tracks and wondered 'wait where did that come from' before I remembered it was an army song. The second thing that hit me was 'wait again how does it go?' and to my immense satisfaction I COULD NOT REMEMBER. Til today I've still no idea how that song goes, and I'm really thankful for it. A small part at the back of my mind seems to remember it starts off by waking up in the morning, but the minute I say those 5 words another song starts playing in my head and the train of thought ends there.

So I've been here a month already and... I'm content. Not happy, the friends here can't really compare to the ones I've left behind and I met my dad for dinner because he happened to be here for the weekend and as he drove off there was a small pang and I felt all alone for a short while. Some times at night the bed feels too much like the one in camp, because of this weird Australian lack of faith in bolsters. (I've searched all over and not a single Australian shop sells bolsters. Very odd)

I guess apart from people what I really miss is the food. It's quite a simple common thing but I really do miss the Singaporean food. There are substitutes of all kinds due to the large number of Asians in Sydney, but somehow the same dishes don't really taste the same here as they do back home. Perhaps I'm being overly sentimental, which is (supposedly) not a good thing.

Autumn is coming soon. Seasons actually mean something here apart from game release dates, although I'll never get tired of the weather here.

Of Movies That Move

2 days ago I watched Shutter Island, which was quite possibly the best psychological horror/thriller movie I've ever seen. ... Okay if that's not saying much then it's the best psychological horror/thriller movie that I've ever WIKI-ed. And that is really saying something.

Also, over the last 5 days I've watched in spurts on the train The Wrestler. Normally watching a movie in parts doesn't really give you the full emotional effect that it's supposed to, but in the last scene and the subsequent credit track written by Bruce Springsteen (whom I've never really had any love for) I found myself tearing. It was quite possibly the most heart breaking movie I've ever watched in a long time. In fact to date I can only think of 3 other books that have ever induced such emotions in me, Charlotte's Web (I cried when I read the book the first... 2 or 3 times. The movie, not so much. Come to think of it the only thing the movie had going for it was Dakota Fanning), Great Expectations (no tears, just alot of emotion) and The Once and Future King. (I sat at my table in my office there just being overwhelmed for almost 30mins)

I'm sure there are others, but these are 3 from the top of my head. And somehow no other movies sprang to mind. I realise that most of the Literature that moves me usually has some sort of an unhappy ending. (Spoiler) And it's not that I like unhappy endings or anything. I actually far prefer happy endings to unhappy ones, and especially detest books/movies that throw in an unhappy ending just for the sake of it, to add controversy and drama. It's quite disgusting. Unhappy endings arn't something you throw in at the end, or worse, BEFORE the end of the story, the good ones are inevitable. It's not a shock in terms of a plot twist, but building up to it allows the full weight of the tragedy to come crashing down when it happens.

My need to discuss Literature is pretty damn high now that I've realised that I'm taking 3 Maths and 1 Econs module this sem. Sigh.

Wake Up In The Morning Feeling Like P.Diddy

So I've just spent my first night alone here and it's been pretty good so far, slept a little late because the guys in the opposite room were playing loud music and drinking til about 1+, but it wasn't TOO annoying. Bed was pretty nice, better than the one in army, and the temperature here's just nice for waking up to, kinda like switching off the air-con in the morning.

Anyway I'm supposed to head down to meet the arcade community in Sydney this evening, so if I get raped/kidnapped/anything my last known destination is 857 George Street, Sydney. Place called Good Games. Looking forward to it, though.

Power Overwhelming

After my last post it occurred to me that it is somewhat therapeutic to tear down certain concepts that people find useful/entertaining/essential but hold absolutely no appeal for me. And I will re-iterate this concept of how it holds no appeal for ME and ME alone. If you want to go running you are more than welcome to do so, and I will think no lesser of you (than I already do) for you doing it. Just don't expect me to follow you.

Today's topic would be the concept called POWER NAPPING. I was introduced to power napping during my A level year when I asked a classmate of mine how she survived by sleeping 3-4 hours a night and still come to school and stay awake during all the lessons, then go home and study the whole day without extended sleep catching-up. It seemed rather superhuman to me because I was sleeping about double her hours, and still dozing off during every possible lesson, going home and THEN taking another evening nap.

So she told me that she exercised what she called 'power napping', a phrase which I assumed she coined at the time but later realised that it was more widespread than I thought. Power Napping, as she defined it, involved one taking an EXTREMELY short nap of about 10 to 20 minutes, and waking up feeling suddenly refreshed and ready to continue studying for at least a good 1 to 2 hours after.

Now this seemed like a rather revolutionary concept at the time, so I did what I always do whenever a girl introduces something to me - I tried it. (right.) And I don't know what the science is behind it, but I find that it DOES sort of work. You do wake up feeling rather refreshed as if you had slept for a couple of hours, and it can extend your operating hours far better than splashing cold water on your face. There are however, a few problems.

1) Telling yourself to sleep for 10-20 minutes isn't the problem. If you're really tired you can probably fall asleep within the first 2 minutes, and you can always set a phone alarm that will definitely wake you up because 20 minutes isn't fast enough for you to hit REM sleep. Unless you've that magical and mysterious 'malady' known as narcolepsy. Or it's slightly more dubious cousin, MILD narcolepsy. The problem however is after your alarm wakes you up after 20 minutes YOU DON'T WANT TO WAKE UP. You're body is tired and you've actually had good sleep for probably the first time in awhile, particularly if you're napping in a comfortable place. And it takes a TREMENDOUS amount of self-discipline to get your ass out of... chair and go back to work.

2) After trying it abit more I theorised that how it sorta works is that you need to get a surge of adrenaline while sleeping and the sudden change in level of brain activity will be enough for you to function as if you were refreshed. In other words, you need to be SHOCKED awake, and sometimes an alarm just isn't good enough. It's like the scenario where you're sleeping in class, and you think you're only gonna sleep for 10 minutes, but after 10 minutes you think 5 more minutes... etc. And even then you still feel sleepy and you need to go to the toilet to wash your face. However if at the 8.39 minute mark your teacher wakes you up in a rather dramatic fashion (like flinging a whiteboard marker at your head) you are most definitely bound to be SHOCKED awake, and you'll find it pretty damn hard to go back to sleep anytime soon.

So the solution is obviously to a) Get self-discipline or b) Arrange your 'alarm' in such a way that it is bound to sufficiently scare the shit out of your... pituitary gland (is that what it's called?) such that it pumps enough adrenaline to keep you going for a long while more. Which is sometimes beyond your control.

Not that Power Napping is a completely useless concept. I've used it on multiple occasions in the army when I take the opportunity of my boss going out of the office for a short break. What happens is that when he comes back in he has the tendency to jerk the handle rather violently and throw the door open and shout something at me, which is more than enough to shock me awake. (He can't see me sleeping from the door)

I guess my whole issue is why one would NEED to Power Nap. I slept in classes and all not so much because I was tired but more because I was just plain bored. Power Napping is a way to keep your body going longer than it should be, which just strikes me as wrong for some reason. I mean if you have to survive on less-than-normal sleep for a couple of days for whatever reasons then it's fine, but when you have the luxury of being able to sleep for a good 8 hours every night there should be no need to put your body through that kind of sleep-deprived stress.

I know there are going to be many people that claim that the student life simple DOESN'T allow for you to sleep that much every night but I still find that hard to believe. But even if your university workload is that demanding it is no reason to deprive your body of natural rejuvenation. When I say 'not have the luxury of being able to sleep' I mean something more along the lines of a cranky old man waking you up at 3 in the morning so he can drive around and wake more people up at 3 in the morning. You are the only person who feels that you can't sleep because you need to study. To me studying when I'm tired makes absolutely no sense anyway because I'm not making any kind of progress, so I'd rather go to sleep and wake up in the morning to do work.

Oh I forgot to mention that there is a sort of a side-effect from Power Napping. It doesn't affect everyone, but it does hit me pretty bad. It can be described as this rather overwhelming sense of irritation directed at the object/person that woke you up in that shocking manner. I know it's kinda petty and rather princess-like, but I like sleeping and I really hate people who interrupt my naps. I've hurled vulgarities at ISD (secret army police or something) for waking me up at 2am suspecting me of forgery before. (Story for another time) There was once this incident with my brother a while ago that sorta sums it all up.

(at 6am in the morning, when I didn't need to go school)
Thom: Gor, wake up.
Me: What. What the fuck you want?
Thom: ... Eh? I had something important to tell you but I forgot what.
Me: (punches Thom in the face)

If there's a good reason for me to wake up, fine I'm reasonable. But if you're going to wake me up without one or take too long to tell me why then DIE.

10 Reasons

Today I saw an article in the paper entitled '10 reasons to start running' which I felt obliged to on personal principle to flame.

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1) That festive belly looks bad on you, and running is one of the quickest ways to get rid of it. A 70kg person who covers 8km in an hour would burn about 700 calories (which probably was the Christmas pudding with cream)

For Reason Number 1 in this list it isn't a very strong one. It assumes that people have actually put on weight by over-eating during the Christmas Season, and while running is a decent solution for losing weight, this is kinda flawed on 2 levels. A) Not all people over-eat during Christmas (I think I've actually lost weight) and B) It implies that running should be done as a seasonal guilt-solver.

2) It is an easy way to save up for that new iPhone. Running is one of the cheapest forms of excercise -all you need is a pair of shoes, a top and shorts. Goodbye thousand-dollar gym membership!

I don't know who on earth would pay that much for a gym membership, but running doesn't actually SAVE you any money per se. What saves you money is NOT paying $1000 for gym membership! Running is simply a substitute to the gym, and not exactly a direct one at that because people do go to the gym for other reasons (i.e. bodybuilding etc.) .... And who the hell wants an iPhone anyway.

3) Drugs are trouble, alcohol is expensive, running is a legal way to get high. Running produces endorphins in the brain, which can block sensations of pain and give an overall feeling of euphoria.

Okay I've heard about this concept of 'Runner's high' which some people will claim exists, but which I personally doubt. But even granted the existence of such a 'high' and accepting the writer's explanation of the cause, this is still a terrible reason to pick up running because pain that the endorphins being realeased are supposedly blocking is actually supposed to MEAN SOMETHING. Such as, your body telling you that you should stop and rest before something happens to your heart. In other words, running is a no safer form of 'high' than alcohol or drugs, probably just as addictive to some people and while cheaper, not much of a better alternative. You want 'high'? Try music.

4) For those who still need their alchohol fix, running makes beer taste so much better. Not convinced? See www.lioncityhash.com

It took me a while to find out what the site was about, but it's basically a club for 'runners with a drinking problem'. They actually run with a set of rules like a game or whatever, but the highlight of the run seems to be this:

A down-down is the chug-a-lugging of a twelve ounce beer from the Hash Mug. Once the Hash Song signals to begin chugging, the Hasher must drink until the mug leaves the lips or the beer depleted. Either way, the mug immediately goes over the hasher’s head. Non-drinkers get a free beer-shampoo.

The Hash Song always start with an off-key "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh".

And it goes like this –

“Ahhhh... (hold for about 10 seconds)
Here's to (hash name or real name), he's true blue
He's a Bastard through and through
He's a Piss-pot so they say
He tried to go to heaven,
But he went the other way.

Drink it down, down, down...” (this is the signal to START chugging the down-down)

If the Hasher is taking too long to finish the drink, the following is sung:

“Why are we waiting,
Why are we waiting.”

Until the offending hasher has cooperated (finished the beer) or has been dunked by other senior hashers.

... I seriously have no idea what to say to this. I don't even know how it's relevant.

5) You can achieve something every day.

Such as? Running is by no means an ACHIEVEMENT. If you're the kind of person that thinks 'Yay I just ran 10km I feel like I've accomplished something' you're probably also the kind of person that thought 'Yay I just WALKED 24 kilometers around a deserted jungle island'. Which shows what kind of 'achievements' you get off on. In that case I once 'achieved' drinking 5 cans of Coke in an hour, but you don't see me going around boasting it. ... I actually have more of a right to boast because I'm pretty sure less people can down 5 cans of Coke in an hour than run 10km. But I digress.

6) There are more running paths than ever in Singapore. Last October, the 23km-long Western Adventure Park Connector Network was launched, the second after the 43km Eastern Coastal network. By 2015, the network is targeted to total 300km.

TKA Virtualand opens arcades on something like a quarterly basis, but that's not a reason for everyone to start flocking to the arcades and taking up Tekken. (And this is coming from me). There are more bars/clubs than ever in Singapore but that's not to say that you should be indulging in alcohol and... whatever vice is associated with clubs, just because it's CONVENIENT.

6) (No it's not a typo there are actually to 6-es, slipped in subtlely in the middle of the column so you wouldn't notice) David Poon began running a few years ago and attempted his first marathon as a 63-year-old in 2008. Last month, he clocked 5hr 54min in his second Singapore Marathon - beating half the field. Take it from him, it is never too late to start running.

Someone else being able to do something is NOT a reason for YOU to start doing something. Fernando Torres was the captain of Atheletico Madrid at the age of 18 but that doesn't mean everyone should take up soccer. That being said, there is something to be admired about a man who can do all that at his age. You know what else I'd like to be able to do at 63? BE ALIVE.

7) More than 50,000 people took part in the Singapore Marathon last year. These fifty thousand runnners cannot be wrong.

I could bring up any statistic on the number of people who do stupid things a year like drugs, alcohol or smoking and I'm pretty sure it'd be more than 50,000. This is you would've told your mom when you were 8, to which she'dve replied 'if they all jumped off a building would you?' Granted her reply is flawed as well, which would at best leave this at stalemate.

8) You can take it everywhere. In fact, it is a novel and great way to explore a new city. I have run past ... ... ... (alot of places I can't be bothered to copy). Many big cities like Berlin and New York, offer sightseeing running tours.

I suppose this is probably the best reason that's on the list, and I can't really argue with it in any way. As a hobby this is probably why running is superior to anything else.

9) Amputee Muhammad Shariff Abdullah, 41, has run countless times, including the Singapore Marathon, since getting fitted with a prosthetic blade-like left leg in December 2008. There is no excuse. Everyone can run - just put one foot in front of the other.

See counter-argument to point 6, because this is the same argument as point 6 but with a different example. So yea I guess there really only are 10 reasons.

10) Why wouldn't you do something that is good for you?

The final punchline cleverly masked behind a rhetorical question. One of the many things wrong with it is the assumption that running is actually 'good for you'. Sure there are countless benefits, physically, mentally, and I guess if you want to join the above-mentioned club, socially. On the other hand for every study that outlines the healthy benefits of running, there's one that details its harmful effects, to your knees, spine, whatever. So it comes down to some people say it's good, and some say it's bad. Which makes the underlying assumption of this 'reason' at the very least, questionable.

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... I've nothing against running, actually. Or runners in general. One of my best friends happens to enjoy running regularly, and while I do tend to tease her about it, it's a pretty damn good habit to have. What I hate are the runners that tell you to start running because you need to exercise, and start expounding the so-callled virtues of their so-called sport. On a personal level I don't like running and I probably never will because:

a) It hurts my back. And while I probably suffer less pain than Amputee Muhammad Shariff Abdullah, 41, and have comparatively nothing to complain about, I'm 20, and the fact that I've an injury like this actually bothers me quite alot, so I'm trying my best not to aggravate it.

b) I find it INCREDIBLY BORING. I have personally never experienced this mythical 'high' that runners keep going on about, which according to them is probably because I've never run hard/long enough. But my main problem with getting through even 10 minutes of the activity is that I would be completely and utterly bored. There is seriously nothing more banal than running around the streets that I walk everyday and trying to appreciate the beauty of the world around me but at the same time speeding by it. Even if I were the type to admire nature and creation in general I'd much rather do it at a slow pace, stopping every now and then to check out things that catch my interest, and also in a far less sweaty state of being.

c) I am lazy. I dislike physical exertion without a purpose as much as A LOT of people dislike mental exertion. So let's call it even.