What Horror?! Japanese Film Festival

Unimpressed by the affectionately coined J-Horror, being the self-proclaimed daredevil that you are? Well, we'll see what you are made of. Go be awed by the pioneers and truly, the masters of horrors who inspired the current ever-so-copy-friendly J-Horror stereotype, at the Japanese Film Festival in Singapore this year from 25th to 30th August 2009 exclusively at the Singapore Museum with half the screenings up for free admission. Featuring Onibaba, a 1964 noir classic made in Japan, that had always remained an unseen film in my never-fulfilled to-watch-list and was released in its most appreciated condition in the Criterion Collection DVD that displayed brutal humanity in all its raw beauty and ugly facet. All kinds of frustration already ran wild here for missing out "House", a 1977 film that was written by the director's then 7-years-old daughter, with all kinds of timely weirdness in the late 70s. Check out the official site for more screening details and information pertaining the event. Be disturbed, I'll say. That's the single most unspoken element in modern horrors.

No New Tale To Tell, 31 Years On My Way To Hell

...Happy Birthday

Global Warming Rocks

Browsing through the illustrations from MYDEADPONY, this particular image detonated an earlier entry that got rigged back in 2007. I happened to chance upon this poster in the corporate alleys of SINgapore.

Merlion Lightning Struck

The first premonition of the ever-impending Apocalypse? You decide. "SINGAPORE'S iconic Merlion statue, a popular tourist attraction, was damaged by lightning on Saturday afternoon during a thunderstorm, according to reports. No one was hurt. The Merlion was struck by lightning between 4 and 5 pm local time, causing parts of the statue to fall near a group of startled visitors."

Sinners Burn In Bloody Hell. SAVE YOURSELF, REPENT NOW!

Being a long-time fan of Li Xie (李邪) AKA 宝宝, the infamous DJ who challenged the oh-so-vulnerable authorities with her commentaries on current news (back then), this is one advertisement I can't help but coming out with... Then again, I find the tagline verily funny... Catch it. Anyway, I'll be.

Dreaded Drama Of The Day

The Dreaded Doctor Chee Strikes Again! This time at both the Myanmar Embassy and the Istana, which of course, happened to be his final destination, as he got arrested by the Singapore Police for "staging an unlawful demonstration at the Istana Park facing the main entrance of the Istana". The below drama got unfold, according to this article at the SDP site... SDP's chairman, Mr Gandhi Ambalam, began to read out the letter of petition, "Dear Sir, It is with disgust that we learn about the murderous assault on the Burmese people..." Before he could finished reading the first sentence, the staff abruptly interrupted him and said, "No. We cannot accept this petition." He then turned his back and walked straight back to the embassy.

PacNet Wins.

From the Straits Times. ANIME distributer Odex has lost a court bid to force Pacific Internet to reveal names of subscribers who allegedly downloaded pirated versions of the Japanese cartoons. The Subordinate Court handed down its decision in chambers on Thursday and no details were made public. Pacific Internet (PacNet), which opposed the Odex action, would only say that it 'respects the rights of intellectual property owners and at the same time, also believes in protecting the privacy of all our subscribers'. The Straits Times understands one reason for District Judge Ernest Lau's decision is that he believes Odex was not the right party to make the application, despite having the go-ahead to prosecute on the behalf of the Japanese anime studios. Odex is demanding the names of up to 1000 PacNet downloaders. A company spokesman said it will consult the rights owners before making its next move but it was likely to appeal. It has 14 days to do so. The ruling on Thursday came as a surprise given that Odex had successfully obtained Court orders to get SingNet and StarHub to reveal names of their downloaders. Different judges ruled on those cases, and both internet service providers declined to say what arguments they presented in court. In light of the PacNet decision, a StarHub spokesman said on Thursday that it's 'assessing our options ...given the different decisions rendered by the court'. But the deadline for lodging an appeal has expired for StarHub and SingTel. I bet they will.

Four Million Bullets...

For four million freaking ear-to-ear smile...

Sometimes, It's Perfectly Alright To Just Shut Up

Sometimes, in life, nobody's complaining if you keep mum. Really. Within the plush comfort of the Raffles City convention centre, billionaire George Soros held court yesterday to an audience of 1,600 academics, government officials, businessmen and undergrads, enthralling them with his beliefs and vision for a global open society — and declaring that Singapore had yet to score in his book of liberal politics. Having made his wealth by the time he hit 50, Mr Soros is now into encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become "open societies" — open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce, but more importantly, tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behaviour... With Mr Soros's drive to bring about change in China, where he admitted failure, and Myanmar, where efforts continue, the focus inevitably fell on Singapore. Panel member Benjamin Lee, a third-year National University of Singapore student, asked Mr Soros how he rated Singapore as an open global society. Mr Soros was blunt. "Obviously, Singapore does not qualify as open society," he said. But Singapore is prosperous and prosperity and an open society tend to go hand in hand, he said. "I detect a desire of greater openness," he said, adding that he had great respect for the achievements of Singapore's energetic leadership. "But I hope they will be brave enough to take the next step in the development of an open society." Classic response to Soro's remarks, from a Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts spokesman. "If we were not an open society, George Soros would hardly be able to make the comment at an open forum in Singapore, and be reported in the Singapore media." Nuff's said. Literally.

74-Year-Old Executioner Got The Boot

"It has been very, very difficult for me," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "I am not the hangman anymore." SINGAPORE has sacked its long-serving hangman on the eve of the execution of Australian drug courier Nguyen Tuong Van. A new executioner is expected to be flown into Singapore this week to carry out Nguyen's death sentence as scheduled on Friday despite pleas for mercy from Australia. It is believed the new hangman will be flown in from another Asian country, possibly Malaysia, with which Singapore has a close relationship. The 25-year old from Melbourne will become the first prisoner in Singapore in 46 years not to be sent to his death by Darshan Singh. The 74-year-old grandfather was dumped after his identity and picture was revealed by The Australian newspaper. Mr Singh said he was in big trouble and was out of a job. Mr Singh said he would miss the $400 fee for each execution but was relieved he would not be placing the noose around Nguyen's neck. "In a way I am happy," he said. Nguyen's lawyer Lex Lasry said the prospect of an inexperienced hangman was disturbing because mistakes could cause extended suffering. "If this must happen it must be done as humanely as possible. It just shows the high level of inhumanity of it." Nonsensical defense from the lawyer. "The prosepct of an inexperienced hangman"? What jabberwocky? Inexperienced in pressing a button? Absurd.

Secret Origins Of A Racist Blogger

Hell, this bring a tear to my eye. Almost. It was on this night that Gan's 1-month-old brother, Jun Fan, suddenly developed breathing difficulties. Born with a defective heart, Jun Fan had been released from hospital two weeks earlier. Gan's father was away on business. Outside their Marsiling HDB flat, his mother, Madam Koh Ah Luan, saw a Malay couple flagging down a cab. Gan, then 7, saw his mother plead with the couple to let them take the cab. He remembers how the couple got into the cab without a word. It took Gan and his mum another 20 minutes to find a cab. The baby was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. It was Jun Fan's 'man yue' - exactly a month after his birth. As his mother fell into a six-month depression, Gan said he carried the pain with him silently. 'Later, when I saw people with their brothers, I would often wonder about how old my brother would be,' he said. He started resenting the couple, though he wondered if they had realised the seriousness of the situation. As his hate grew over the years, his studies suffered. Hoping to study business in university, he transferred to a new school this year to retake the O-level exams as a private student. 'I needed an outlet for my frustrations,' he said. And in April, he found it. He chanced upon someone's blog while surfing the Internet. It spewed frustration. He decided to start his own blog immediately, giving it a 'random, angry' name: The Second Holocaust. No prize for what his angry blog got him. He became the third racist blogger to be convicted in Singapore this year.(Do they do this anywhere else?) On Oct 7, marketing executive Nicholas Lim and animal shelter assistant Benjamin Koh were given landmark jail sentences for similar offences. Lim was convicted of one charge and given a 'nominal' jail term of one day. He was also fined the maximum of $5,000. Koh, who was convicted of two charges, was jailed for one month. They were the first people to be jailed under the Sedition Act since 1966. Gan, perhaps in parts due to his tear jerker of an origin, got himself this: - undergo psychological evaluation and follow-up to address the death of his brother, - attend counselling sessions to correct his misguided dislike of Malays, - post a $10,000 bond to ensure good behaviour, and - perform 180 hours of community service. The twist of the knife in the wound? The judge suggested that part of Gan's 180 hours of community service to be done in Malay welfare homes like the Mohamidiyah and Pertapis homes so that he could have positive opportunities for interaction with the Malay community. Lesson learned : Racist Blogging Doesn't Pay.

Absolute Newater

Stumbled upon this nifty pic from the BigO site.

Before I Get Old

Shades of The Propaganda Remix Project recollected, but nonetheless thought this poster is blatantly appropriate now. Anyway it was taken from the ever intriguing BigO site. Speaking of BigO...here goes...Inaugurated since September 1985, the locally-based music magazine known as BigO (acronym for "Before I Get Old")is one of Asia's most respected and influential rock magazine. But should my sources not fail me, BigO had ceased publication and are now an online magazine. Not complaining though, it's still packing the punch. Ever the political incorrect rock mag that also includes social commentaries on the world at large (which is considerably quite a feat in itself, mind you, this is SINgapore), complete with the regular previews and reviews stuffs in regular rock mags. Check the site out.

The Most Dreaded Local Film. And No, It's Not Directed By Jack Neo.

The recent "Singaporean-Doing-Hard-Time-For-Blogging" incident, despite casting a dark and gloomy cloud over the local blogosphere, was actually rather gratifying to me in some extent that it brought up some intriguing issues and cases that I never noticed earlier on, and that it has without a shadow of a doubt, raised some much needed awareness on both the blogging community and the Government stance on freedom of speech. For example, while browsing down the related stories, I stumbled upon an article on a film that I have only heard of earlier on (pros for being a devoted follower of Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) since 1998), "Singapore Rebel". Come to think of it, it's rather funny that while the Censor Board's idea behind banning the documentary was to eliminate any chances of it reaching Singaporeans and the international community(the Censor Board told SIFF organisers that Martyn See, the producer of Singapore Rebel, must withdraw the film from the SIFF within a few hours, or else they would report him to the police and have him charged), all it succeed in achieving is blowing the trumpet out loud now that its existence has reach puny locals like myself. And now, the most dreaded local film has been screened in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sweden and the US, and has sparked petitions for its release from global entities such as SEAPA (Southeast Asian Press Alliance) and Amnesty International. Worth the ticket price just for its notoriety. Sorry, Jack Neo. The most dreaded local film is not "I Do I Do". Not "Money No Enough". And hell no, not even your latest magnum opus, "One More Chance" despite the fact that it remains as my single most 'skull-fuck-me-to-death-please' cinematic moment ever. And please don't ask me why I go in the first place. IT is that traumatic. But I'll be more than delighted to attend the screening of "Singapore Rebel".

Guilty Of Being White (Elephant)

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know. - Groucho Marx (1895 - 1977) Would you be interested to know who got these cute little white elephants out, along the road dividers outside Buangkok MRT station? On August 28, cardboard white elephants were lined up on the road dividers outside Buangkok MRT station. It was believed to have been put up to coincide with a visit by Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, to reflect what residents thought of the unopened MRT station. But some members of the public had expressed surprise and unhappiness that the police is investigating the incident. The public said the 'white elephants' case was an "innovative way to express public feedback." They had also questioned the need for the police to "over react." Uniquely Singapore, indeed. We got three bloggers being charged with sedition to coincide with the closing events of Singapore Writers Festival; and now this nifty little display of creativity, can't help but makes me wonder if this got anything to do with why ADASIA 2005, Asia's most important advertising and marketing communications congress, where creative directors of this region's big-time industry players gather, will be hosted by Singapore in November. Of course, once again this is me at my sardonic self again. For the record, the "White Elephant" case HAD NO CONNECTIONS WHATSOEVER WITH ADASIA 2005. Pardon my sappy commentaries, for now the infamous "White Elephant" incident had just gotten more intriguing than I thought as the police have launched an investigation into a supposed violation of the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act. Somehow, the press claims that a complaint had been lodged and the police are responding to it. Law lesson of the day : Public Entertainment and Meetings Act. Drama ensues. Cop Drama, I mean. (Fingers crossed)

Exclusive Red Dress Made For Singapore

Now you see them... ...now you don't! Where else in the world can you find such a red dress? Actually, after some intense examination, the lady isn't really nude...By the by, here's a creepy French site of the flick...

Grand Finale For The Singapore Writers Festival : Two Bloggers Charged Under Sedition Act Over Racist Remarks

"The Singapore Writers Festival celebrates the power of the written word!" The recent Singapore Writers Festival, closes with an explosive epilogue with the arrest of two bloggers. Of course I'm being cynical here. The irony. Hell, this even got into Slashdot. "News For Nerds. Stuffs That Matters." Indeed. Not here to examine the definition of "Religious Disharmony" or "Racial Shit-stirring", as these topics are neither intriguing nor interesting enough for me to run my mouth about. (or perhaps it's just the craven in me being afraid of getting into trouble for my useless rantings, so much for "Text In The City", another tagline for the above mentioned SWF.) It's just that, the realization of the existence of this particular Sedition Act, (Thanks & regards to Mr Brown for the link) somehow got me shaken, not stirred. It would be foolhardy for me to quote the Law, but certainly it takes an issue such as this to bring awareness to all bloggers out there, Singaporean in particular. I sincerely advise anyone who writes anything online, be it posting in a forum, blogging, whatever, to check out the link above for the definition of this Sedition Act (and then solemnly conclude that you shall remain a READER for the rest of your life.) Smashing! The Power Of The Written Word!!!