GRRRRR. Arrrgh. And sometimes a travel log.
It's kinda strange to be at home on a Thursday night... can't remember the last time that happened.
So strange that I was watching the heresy that is The Amazing Race Asia.
Still bad.
Still won't watch it. Not unless there isn't anything else on TV.
Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession.
The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.
Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really Satan at all, but Pan, the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.
What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.
In the studio now, going through the language for the subtitles for the feature-length version of the movie when it gets shown at the AFFF - where it is the Closing Film for the Festival and will be shown at the Arts House on 5 December, 7.30 pm.
Then it's Awards Night on the Sixth. Time to go look for something more formal than what I've been wearing for the last three years.
(And if you click on the link to the movie synopsis and all that, I'd like to clarify that I turned to photography full-time in 2003 and not scriptwriting as stated. Yeesh!)
The movie's also going to appear, in its 30-minute short film version, at the Jakarta International Film Fest (JIFF) where Babel is the Opening Film.
How stressful is that?
Still, I think everyone's kinda happy that the movie is getting three screenings during that Festival.
In the meantime, this is my online reminder for the missus to print out the application forms (which apparently have not been submitted - even though it had been agreed that we'd do it on 1 Nov):
Yeah, let's stop with the lies already.
The asshat doesn't know that without my laptop, I cannot really respond to the meme, though I'm doing it now anyway:
Science Fiction Book Club Meme:
Instructions:
“Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list most significant SF novels between 1953-2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star* next to the ones you love.”
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick *
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice *
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut *
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks *
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
And now I tag the following, who may have better luck than I with these titles:
Tym
Wahj
Boko
Chrisssy
Packrat
So something before 12.34 pm yesterday, one of my quotations for a job was 'outbid by a very aggressive young photographer who is keen to build up his portfolio'.
Outbid?
Nah. I'm pretty sure it's more like 'underbid'. And 'keen to build up portfolio' sounds like said someone offered to do the job for free. Can't get more outbid than that, I suppose.
Funny how it is that I lose jobs in Singapore because I'm too expensive to be worth the cost, and I lose jobs overseas because I'm too cheap to be good - a.k.a. Reason #11 Why Singapore Sucks and I Wanna Be A Quitter.
Note the difference?
Someone once told me, "In this line of work, you can do a good job, a cheap job or a fast job. But the client can only choose two."
Oh well, c'est la vie. Just as well there's something else that's coming up that might be more interesting, if I can pull it off.
Was interviewed on 93.8 Live yesterday, all the nominees for the Asian First Films thingy. Walked into the booth like a boyband we did, according to R. Yeah, I'm probably the member most likely to end up in rehab.
It was just 15 minutes, which including the traffic report, sponsored by King Koil (doing!), and right about when people'd be just coming back from their lunch breaks and/or taking a nap under their tables.
Hmm.
There's another one today - my fourth - smack in the middle of the day again, and when I'm supposed to be helping with the subtitling for the movie. It's still fewer than what the others have gone through, but I'm not complaining. Hate them. Always have.
What is it about one of these neighbourhood karaoke parties that draws people, who think they can sing, to belt out ballads, badly, at the top of their lungs?
Oh look, another SMS record. Big whoop.
Can we get some real news on the boob tube some time?
You cannot be serious right?
One night after the premiere of that thing that violates my eyes when placed in comparison with the real deal, you're showing some event at a Zouk-esque location congratulating yourselves already?
Jeeesus. Can anyone say 'Mediacorpse' much?
Let's see, what's good about it.
Er, it's only an hour long?
Better yet, what's wrong with it?
How about a host who looks like a gerbil on drugs when he's explaining the rules and the tasks and who's nearly overtaking that other one who used to host the Pyramid Game in being, er, boring? Yeah, that one who does the reception on the mat with the scripted, "Congratulations, [insert names of contestants], you are team number [count to three] [insert team position]." Yeah, that one. Gimme Phil, not a pill.
Editing. Oh are the teams going the right way, are they not? Who knows? Who cares after a while?
And that crock of shit about having a predetermined non-elimination first leg? What the fuck is that? Oh wait, yeah, we gotta keep the viewers interested, so let's not eliminate someone in the first episode and then lose the viewers from the country where they're from. Well, good on you.
But I think it's a fucking crock. And the main reason why I'll be gladly going down to Walas for my weekly pilgrimage and leaving this crock of shit unwatched.
Mondays, on the other hand, I'll stay in.
Computer's down again, by the way. Seems like the graphics card this time: I'm getting the Clan MacLeod tartan pattern on my screen. So again, I'm depending on the generosity of others.
In the meantime, some thoughts to tide o'er the downtime:
1. So what's the point of having a website where people can buy tickets to watch your movies at your cinemas and then only have one line open and then having people all queue there anyway?
2. Macs hate World of Warcraft.
3. I kinda enjoyed watching Goodbye Boys (or Boy on the ticket) even though I'd thought it was a rip-off of Stand By Me before I actually watched it. Review to be posted once I get my computer back. In the meantime, watch it.
4. There's nothing like walking down to the neighbourhood barber and finding out that he's moved elsewhere - it's still within walking distance but sweat-inducing - and then realising the buzz cut, when properly done, is a magnet for women wanting a quick rub of the head.
But it was a damn good night.
Little wonder since I was slightly (only slightly) smashed last night. Let's see:
1 x pint Erdinger Dunkel
5 x pints Guinness
4 x mugs Heineken
2 x glasses Merlot
3 x shots Tequila
And the band. Who had a number of musicians from other bands (and even the guy who makes the pizzas at Timbre) playing with them through the night.
And the birthday boy who gamely got up on stage to sing U2's 'One'.
And the afternoon wasn't too bad either: 'V For Vendetta' on DVD with the Crew on the Fifth of November.
Remember, remember...
Was minding my own business catching on things happening in the school with a colleague (ex-colleague, that is) when this came in:
"Don't be left behind! Even Ministers blog! The new wave is Mobile Blogging! Now you can post to your blog site from your phone. Register at..."
Uh, right. Whatever. Just because they climbed onto the bandwagon late doesn't mean anything to me.
And if I wanted their views, I'd stick to the rags we have at the newstand.
In the meantime, more sad stories about dead-cat-on-head-dude:
Apparently to appear tougher, or cooler, or just to make friends, DCOHD decided to line his table with empty alcohol bottles. Now, we are talking about a school here, so it's inappropriate. For sure. I mean, the worst I did was to have a bottle of Absolut under my table and the Uncle Jimmy in my overhead cabinet-cum-bar. What makes it hilarious, the bottles were empty pussy drink bottles - we're not talking JD, Black or Blue labels, or even a good, old-fashioned 80 proof vodka; we're talking drinks with mixers, fruit juices and god-knows-what because I don't.
But I guess my other colleagues are already relieved that he no longer has pictures of bodybuilders (or rather, one particular bodybuilder), fully oiled, on his desktop and screensaver.
Still, I gotta admit, toupees have gotten to look really good, even though they still don't blow in the wind.
Finally, what's the point of having a TV screen at the back of headrests in taxis when the reception blows so bad, that on the 20-minute journey I was on yesterday, it was only running for less than 2 minutes?
Former ad executive, teacher, now photographer (and sometime screenwriter). Wearer of many hats in my life; husband, brother, son, friend. Still hoping to save the world. Not earning as much, but infinitely happier with life in general. Which doesn't explain the angry blog.
