Ringo Starr January 15, 2010

Was just watching the Daily Show and the guests for the night were Ringo Starr, Relentless7 and Ben Harper. Shan’t comment on the performance just yet, but a few things just popped in my head as I watched this ex-Beatle sing…

For those who aren’t in the know, Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey) is one of two living members of the Fab Four; the other being Paul McCartney. He was the drummer for the band (though not the original, Pete Best was.) and was least featured vocally of all the Beatles. I don’t really know the extent of his contribution but definitely wasn’t as influential as the other Beatle members.

So here we have the arguably the least musically inclined, least physically attractive and more or less the least intelligent (its a drummer stereotype) of the lot, and he still commands respect and gets treated as Music Royalty to this day. Why?

Basically this chap here stuck through with the Beatles through the hard times, through the times where they were slaving from gig to gig in Liverpudlian bars and other whatnots. And when it came time for the Beatles’ meteorological rise to success; this Starr also started to shine with them.

So what can we learn from Ringo Starr?

Perseverance and Choosing the Right People to Associate With.

Even if you’re a untalented hack such as he, be wise in who you choose to cling on to and you might just smell success you would never have if you went alone.

Oh, about that performance? It was ABYSMAL!!

Linguistic Analysis of Miss Singapore World 2009 September 17, 2009

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I’d thought I’d scribble some thoughts down about the Miss Singapore World scandal.

Sex scandal? Hell no, everyone’s been poking fun at her command of English! Or lack thereof. So I decided to put together some points that actually defend our representative in Miss World this year. So here goes…

The English that Miss Singapore taught me:

“…Currently I’m majoring in my Diploma in Health Science, Hospititality and Travel Tourism…”

Hospiti-tality: The course of study in which amalgamates the disciplines of both health-care and hospitality. We could all make do with nurses with better manners.

“…Right now I’m studying steel…”

Steel: Showing resilience and focus at the task at hand. When Miss World mentions that she is “studying steel”, she is basically implying that she takes her studies seriously despite participating in the competition.

“if I’m feeling naughty, I’ll wear something Rad..”

Rad: An uncommon color in located 3/4 between Red and Maroon. The closest web-safe color is  #990033, any closer to this color will cause your monitor to explode because it’s too loud. The color is coined ‘Rad’ because of it’s outlandish and radical appeal that no one would wear it except those with questionable fashion sense or are crown Miss World.

“…Something… you know? BOOMZ!..”

Boomz: something jaw-dropping, loud and attention-seeking/catching. Boomz is used here as opposed to Pew Pew Pew; which would mean she would rather make your heart explode than zap your eyes out. Notice the “z” added in at the end of the word for effect? This was included because Miss Singapore knows the worldwide appeal of the crown, and was subtly speaking out to the Internet Generation. Boomz indeed.

“…I’m a huge fan of South Africa… I love safari.. I love leopard prings… “

Prings: Any self-respecting Miss World would know; saying “leopard prints” would in some cases imply that she would approve of the skinning of leopards for just their coat of fur. This is a big PR no-no in the glamor community. This practice is inhumane. The cats should be also eaten after the skinning so that none go to waste!

Knowing this, Miss Singapore took the time to endorse Prings™; a much more conscientious effort to save our printed cats! Prings™ material is fully synthetic, except for the part that is the coat of fur. For more information go to www.prings.com.sg

Ok, That’s it from me, let’s just hope that Miss Singapore World gets to the Q&A portion of the competition. It’s not like she would say “World Piss” like the rest of them would she?

The Sum of All Beers December 2, 2008

Ok random thought… Morgan Freeman is AWESOME. It’s not like I just watched any of his shows recently but it just occured to me in the shower (of all places) that he appears in some of my favorite movies of all time!

Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, Lucky Number Slevin, The new Bat-movies, Se7en, Driving Miss Daisy…Ok maybe not that last one.

He just brings that certain level of authority to the role, you know; the “Important Old Dude” presence, similar fogeys that have this are Patrick Stewart and Ben Kingsley. Every scene they’re in its like everyone listens up and gives the “Important Old Dude” sage-like reverence, even if he has a crappy line like Batman’s junk got stuck in Singapore or something.

Hell, he almost saved Wanted by just being in it, showing his badassery side et all (esp when he dropped the F-bomb). It’ll be an honor to have a beer with God (or at least the person who played Him).

A Toast to the Important Old Dude.

Things have been quiet around here in KNCT; everyone at school is slogging away at the end-year exams and that means no time for fun with me. The Japanese students are a perculiar bunch, they seem so carefree until the exams come around. Then they suddenly have “mainland chinese scholar” work ethic bury themselves in their books. Can’t blame them though. They have like 17 (seventeen!) different papers to be taken over a 5 day period.  Score one for the Japanese education system.

So Ben and myself have been left pretty much to our own devices; he’s mostly in his room (doing who knows what) but when he’s out with me we are mostly smacking ping pong balls together. I’ve gotten good. Well, much better than I was 2 months ago. Everyone was a noob once.

A nice session of Ping Pong is topped off with a nice hot shower (43 degrees, remember that!). Even more so when the temperature took a nose-dive because of winter, it dipped to 4 degrees just the other day.

Speaking of showers, it think they have a magical effect on me; I find that when I’m soaking myself in the shower room I get some of the most brilliant ideas of the day. Some examples include Poems/Scribing/Songwriting,Yo Momma Jokes, Programming Logic and of course Morgan Freeman. It clears my head for some reason. And for that I can officially say…Hot Showers are my Muse.

Since I came to Japan though, I’ve been rotating my bathroom iteniery like Benetiez does to them Reds. I’ve went through a couple and today I got to trying out a new set of products.

Bad idea.

Never… Ever… try new bath products all at once. Execute a phase-by-phase method of implementation. Or risk smelling funny. In more than one place.

Now I my body smells like Bandung and my hair like Chinese 5-Spice Seasoning (五香粉).

Great. Now if I was a national landmark, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) would write me off as having Rustic Charm.

*edit* : To Bill, Gloria and the rest; thanks for your gifts. This and this is for you.