Monday, August 07, 2006
Absolut Freedom - Day One
Thanks to a strange turn of events, I now find myself with altogether more freedom on my hands than I can cope with.
This morning was spent wandering around Holland Village and remembering what the Real World feels like - or rather, gawking at the mishmash "Real World" of Tai Tais, gangly teenagers and caucasians that Holland Village has somehow become.
Granted, something was still not-quite right in my head (that niggling sense of imbalance that resembles - but is not - an inner-ear infection, and that ever so gentle aching reminder that somewhere around the corner a rip-roaring earth-shattering headache lurks, threatening to overwhelm and conquer the instant one's guard is neglected...) but a nice leisurely sit-down at Starbucks, head back against the plush sofa and eyes vacantly staring out the glass window at the gray, gray sky, with mandatory mug of Starbucks (tm) Grande Latte grasped firmly in hand and all was right in the world, or at least my head again.
Somewhere along the way I stumbled (literally, haha) across a copy of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and the rest of the day was spent consuming it, at first skeptically, then with growing fascination, till its - rather bittersweet - ending.
I swear, if they make this thing into a movie... well, at least a few grown men will cry. And admit it.
*****
And So The Facade Falls
I watched David fall beneath brute Goliath's club, and felt... almost nothing. I have been back too long.
You can taunt the three headed hydra all you want...
... but for heavens sake's beware it's bite.
Today, your column.
Tomorrow... who knows? Just remember your wife... and your child.
That, I suspect, is the message David received, albeit in far more eloquently masked terms. And perhaps the reason his friend Miyag...a threw in the towel.
And these are the reasons I hate this ridiculously childish country so. Yes, hate. No longer do I merely tire of it, or dislike it. I must leave one day.
We are not a maturing society at all. We are not, in any way a developed nation. We're nothing if not simply... retarded. In almost every way. Retarded of thought, of speech, and of freedom. And what of our well-fed... patricians - amongst the highest paid in the world?
Ah, amongst the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
*****
A friend of mine showed me something the other day which chilled me to the bone.
I don't remember if it was something about teen pussies or hungry huns or what-have-you. Either way it was a website which was redirected to a message from the IMA. Or was it IMB?
Have you ever wondered why your lightning-fast TXXX connection is so ridiculously slow? The bottleneck isn't coming from your fancy new Pentium XXXX system, nor from that sleek cable modem you just got. The internet only runs as fast as the proxies its being accessed through. Proxies which, for your safety, screen out undesirable elements, and in all probability make note of the individuals trying to access said undesirable elements.
I didn't think they would even try - the internet is too unimaginably massive, and too fluctuant - too dynamic - to censor.
Not until the instant that IMA message appeared onscreen.
So much for progressive, vibrant new world, new party, new everything.
George Orwell's 1984 may not be as far at hand as we think - yet we're not batting an eye. We're living in it - we, the perfectly conditioned sheep.
The newspapers bemoan almost annually that the youth of today are politically apathetic - but then they laud them for being fiercely interested in the country.
Stop for a moment and wonder - why are they politically apathetic? Ah, the conspiracy theories we could weave, eh? But no, they're fiercely interested in the country, meaning where next to go to eat, sleep, and fuck.
Politics have become separate from country.
But support the Party, for the country's sake - you hear it droning on and on like a broken gramaphone every year come election time.
Country has become inseparable from party.
Food for thought?
Nah, let's just get back to Neil Gaiman. What next... Hmm, American Gods, I think.
This morning was spent wandering around Holland Village and remembering what the Real World feels like - or rather, gawking at the mishmash "Real World" of Tai Tais, gangly teenagers and caucasians that Holland Village has somehow become.
Granted, something was still not-quite right in my head (that niggling sense of imbalance that resembles - but is not - an inner-ear infection, and that ever so gentle aching reminder that somewhere around the corner a rip-roaring earth-shattering headache lurks, threatening to overwhelm and conquer the instant one's guard is neglected...) but a nice leisurely sit-down at Starbucks, head back against the plush sofa and eyes vacantly staring out the glass window at the gray, gray sky, with mandatory mug of Starbucks (tm) Grande Latte grasped firmly in hand and all was right in the world, or at least my head again.
Somewhere along the way I stumbled (literally, haha) across a copy of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, and the rest of the day was spent consuming it, at first skeptically, then with growing fascination, till its - rather bittersweet - ending.
I swear, if they make this thing into a movie... well, at least a few grown men will cry. And admit it.
*****
And So The Facade Falls
I watched David fall beneath brute Goliath's club, and felt... almost nothing. I have been back too long.
You can taunt the three headed hydra all you want...
... but for heavens sake's beware it's bite.
Today, your column.
Tomorrow... who knows? Just remember your wife... and your child.
That, I suspect, is the message David received, albeit in far more eloquently masked terms. And perhaps the reason his friend Miyag...a threw in the towel.
And these are the reasons I hate this ridiculously childish country so. Yes, hate. No longer do I merely tire of it, or dislike it. I must leave one day.
We are not a maturing society at all. We are not, in any way a developed nation. We're nothing if not simply... retarded. In almost every way. Retarded of thought, of speech, and of freedom. And what of our well-fed... patricians - amongst the highest paid in the world?
Ah, amongst the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
*****
A friend of mine showed me something the other day which chilled me to the bone.
I don't remember if it was something about teen pussies or hungry huns or what-have-you. Either way it was a website which was redirected to a message from the IMA. Or was it IMB?
Have you ever wondered why your lightning-fast TXXX connection is so ridiculously slow? The bottleneck isn't coming from your fancy new Pentium XXXX system, nor from that sleek cable modem you just got. The internet only runs as fast as the proxies its being accessed through. Proxies which, for your safety, screen out undesirable elements, and in all probability make note of the individuals trying to access said undesirable elements.
I didn't think they would even try - the internet is too unimaginably massive, and too fluctuant - too dynamic - to censor.
Not until the instant that IMA message appeared onscreen.
So much for progressive, vibrant new world, new party, new everything.
George Orwell's 1984 may not be as far at hand as we think - yet we're not batting an eye. We're living in it - we, the perfectly conditioned sheep.
The newspapers bemoan almost annually that the youth of today are politically apathetic - but then they laud them for being fiercely interested in the country.
Stop for a moment and wonder - why are they politically apathetic? Ah, the conspiracy theories we could weave, eh? But no, they're fiercely interested in the country, meaning where next to go to eat, sleep, and fuck.
Politics have become separate from country.
But support the Party, for the country's sake - you hear it droning on and on like a broken gramaphone every year come election time.
Country has become inseparable from party.
Food for thought?
Nah, let's just get back to Neil Gaiman. What next... Hmm, American Gods, I think.
