Nude Couple at Holland Village

The nude couple at Holland Village were fined S$2,000.

I thought it was a little too harsh even though they were not jailed.
The fine was the maximum but they could have been jailed.
Punish them by making them wear clothes lah. Anyway, what was so anti-social about walking in the nude? They probably could make more friends, aid social cohesion and create a good laugh (and a buzz on stomp/sam leong's alfresco/hardwarezone edmw).

The pair (what other "pair" were you thinking of?) are students at Karolinska Institutet. The guy claimed he misapprehended and didn't know public nudity is an offence in Singapore. Maybe he thought Holland Village is governed by the Dutch. It's like the people who walk along Little India. They cross the roads along that stretch of Serangoon Road as if they are in India. Hmm, actually I have not been to India. So I don't really know. Neither have I been to Holland. So I am not certain if nudity is permitted in Holland.

The girl, being the scholar that she is (she is more than a lab technician ok), contributed to society through her research work in infectious diseases. She contributed to the vibrant night life of Holland Village that January night. So she should be rewarded. She was involved in projects promoting safe sex education previously. That's meritorious as well. I'm sure she was carrying a condom while parading in the nude. Just in case.

But when they left court today, they did not return to their former glory.
Preferring instead to be very covered up.


Pictures from CNA.

What is a vicious circle?

When a bad thing leads to another bad thing and so on so forth until it leads to the original bad thing which leads to another bad thing...

Therefore when you have a sadistic side punishing your masochistic side, it's just about as vicious as it can get.

This didn't keep me up

Vehement.
Emphatic.

Commonly used in written form.

But I don't think I have heard people actually using them in conversations.

broadcasting

this is me, coming to you live, in a toilet cubicle.
Splat.
I need a shower, clean change of clothes and a good rest.

Rachael Yamagata Live in Concert at The Esplanade

was having a tummyache & a splitting headache from midweek beer...
The set list.:-)

Elephant
Be Be Your Love
What If I Leave
Little Life
Faster
Worn Me Down
Letter Read
Elephant (instrumental)
Even So
Meet Me By The Water
The Only Fault
Over And Over
Sidedish Friend
Accident
Sunday Afternoon
Duet
Reason Why

Ok. Proper review later.

*proper-ish review here:

First thing : I am not going to say anything about Jack & Rai except that their last track reminded me of Jeff Buckley's cover of Van Morrison's The Way Young Lovers Do. Thumbs up.


Comparing the setlist from the last time RY was here, the amazing thing was the coincidence in her choice of her last song in the encore numbers.
And that she is having a cold.
No point giving you a blow by blow account. There are probably scores of bloggers in the crowd last evening.
Just remember that Bill Pullman is the "secret crush" and that the haunting intro to Over And Over was the result of her channeling the trumpet ghost.

Setlist from Mosaic in 2007.
Letter Read
Collide
Be Be Your Love
What If I Leave (previewed in 2007 and in latest album)
Paper Doll
Under My Skin
Meet Me By The Water
Known For Years
Would You Please
Worn Me Down
Sunday Afternoon (previewed in 2007 and in latest album)
Reason Why

So here's the reason why (from reading too much about her in online interviews, not that it's official, please):
It's easy to read the lyrics of the particular song she had chosen for her encore. As the lead singer of a Chicago band content with staying in the club circuit, she was no longer satisfied with the constraints that being in a band had on her. She was no longer happy being the way the band had wanted her to be. The clever play of words - "to cover the tracks that I have left" , referring to the band's future need to get a replacement singer to sing the songs that used to be sung by her. I am guessing it is related to what she wanted to tell her former band. Rather than to any particular guy she used to be with. This is a break up song. But not between a boy and a girl.

Thought Police and the Ministry of Truth

I read George Orwell's 1984 more than a decade ago.
That was when the teenagers were still chatting on mIRC and setting up their own websites.

mIRC is still around, people have moved on from ICQ and more are getting into instant messaging. People are still setting up their own websites. Kind of. It's called blogs.

Twitter and Facebook allow users to share their thoughts and activities with the rest of the world (depending on your privacy settings). They do it without being told. That's not unlike the Thought Police (thinkpol in Newspeak). The thought police in 1984 were the enforcers of law and order in the psychological and intellectual realm. More than the control of physical breaking of laws, thought police will use all available means to glean thoughtcrimes - unapproved thoughts and the intent to challenge authority. With Twitter and Facebook, you will be logging "What are you doing?" and "What's on your mind?" without being told. I don't think George Orwell would have imagined that this was how the Thought Police would manifest itself. I wonder if he would have been twittering and facebooking had he been alive today.

Wikipedia and Google form the twin pillars of the Ministry of Truth. Ministry of Truth (Minitrue in Newspeak) is one of four Ministries in 1984. It "governs", "manufactures" and "popularises" truth. What this meant was that histories are re-written or destroyed so as to be presented in an authorised manner and disseminated to the population. And that is why I said Wikipedia and Google form the two pillars of Minitrue. Wikipedia gives you the definition of everything you need to know. I've been linking to Wikipedia throughout this blog entry. Google tells you where to find the information you need. It decides (through its algorithm) what is relevant and what is not for you and lists them out in some order.

Me? I started Twittering in 2007. According to Twitter, my first tweet was made on 15 May 2007 at 7:25pm. twittering. twitting. twiing. whatever ...
Facebook I probably started sometime in early 2007. I cannot remember when did my number of friends exceeded 3 digits. Anyway, it used to be easier looking through the list of friends of my friends to look for mutual friends. But now, it's just tiresome.

My Firefox browser search bar tool is set to Google search as default.

Can't fight the truth

I was reading the latest Basic Instructions and it was about female cartoons.

To cut the long story short, there are no Disney female animated character that looks hotter than Bugs Bunny in drag.

Not Minnie, not Daisy and not Clarabell.



It's true!

This just in - singa gets pants

It was reported in Channel News Asia that Singa the courtesy lion will be adopting a new look.

I remember him from primary school and he (lion, not lioness) was looking like this:

Happy and with a tomato red (or is that diluted fire-engine red after several repeated washings??) t-shirt. Ready for a hug, he's t-shirt has got a pirated Watchmen smiley face print. And get (over) this; NO PANTS.

In his re-vamped look, which happened a short while ago, without us noticing, he has gotten for himself a brand new Made in Tiong Hua cheapo plain white t (not to be confused with this band - Plain White Ts) with a lousy misprint. Why misprint? Narbeh, the heart shape was misaligned. Resulting in an asymmetrical heart.

And as a reflection of softer governance, we are not obliged to be kind. Instead, we only need to try. In the former years, it was Make Courtesy A Way Of Life. Yes, it was that draconian - a way of life or death. Ok, not true but you get the idea.

Now we just need to Try A Little Kindness. Not explicit about giving or receiving it.

See the above for Singa's new look. Featuring the same cheapo Tiong Hua made t-shirt and green pants. Singa is embarrassed by his cheapo t-shirt and chooses a placard to hide it.

GREEN freakin' PANTS!

T-shirt I can understand because I have seen them wearing t-shirts in the wild. Slogan Ts no less.


I have even seen them wearing t-shirts and a red nose in the wild.


But no lions have ever been seen wearing freakin' pants.

Uniquely Singapore.

Bought this week

From top:
Pet Shop Boys - Yes (Special Edition with ETC)
Duncan Sheik - Whisper House
Royksopp - Junior
Starsailor - All The Plans
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
M. Ward - Hold Time