Monday, June 23, 2008

All Your Livejournal Are Belong To Us

Here's a funny Error 404 page from the folks at www.livejournal.com



And to put this in context, here are a couple of videos to help you with your sense of humour.

all your base are belong to us


zero wing rhapsody


thank me later.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Jean.SG Says She Was Molested, And We Say She Deserves It?

"seems to me there's somethin' you don't know about men, an' that's we can't help this shit.

i mean, i dunno if it's genetic, or if it's to do with what we get taught, of if it's just 'cause it's expected of us -- but it's what we DO, ok?

'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17


it's just the right, goddamned thing to do.

i don't know why this post link here is bothering me so much, or i think it's more the comments from anonymous pass-bys that irks me more. link here

Before we go any deeper into this, please read these links to get some context to what's going on.

the girl's account
a local tabloid's report
asiaone's news story
and countless other people who have spoken for and against this girl for either leading the guy on (accepting a $48,000 'gift'), putting herself in an awkward situation (sharing a bed together) and inviting trouble.

Yes. Yes. and Yes.

but still, what gives the guy ANY RIGHT to snuggle up next to her in the dead of the night, start stroking her back with his fingers, and when she was too terrified to do anything, whip out his big dick (it must be big if his brain was there and not in his cranium) and stroke it at her buttocks?

No seriously, what gives him the right to assume the stage has been set, the gift ($48,000 mind you) has been given, the circumstances were ideal (what? he thought she planned the 'one bed' dilemma?) when there is no clear sign of consent?

i'll admit, i think sex is a special enough act that you remain faithful to your partner to, even before you are married. but that's just me, and even for people who don't share the same view and are more versed in this act of sleeping with anyone they wish, isn't there some sort of 'teasing' or acknowledgment that they want to have sex with you?

i hardly think a dead log not making a noise to your stroking fingers is communication that screams out 'YES! TAKE ME NOW!'



i think i've made my point, who was clearly, more in the wrong for assuming too much.

the final thing that irks me, are all these anonymous people who leave comments behind saying that she had brought it upon herself, saying money had changed hands, justifying this course of action. well if it does, it clearly shows how you treat women, they're nothing more than things that can be bought.

women are humans just like us. i think it sorta shows what kind of person you are. the selfish type who looks out only for his/herself, or you respect your peers, regardless of where they come from, and their well-being is of concern to you.

it's funny how such anonymous commenter's can say such things, and although www.jean.sg has chosen to remain anonymous, at least she has a source blog and is contactable via email and willing to go public. how many of these other unverified commenters are willing to be spotlighted by public opinion, and actually broadcast what they really want they say and put it on record, while taking full responsibility for the words they use.

not many i can imagine.

big empty words. forever resigned to anonymity lacking any credibility.

my identity on this blog is public and transparent for a reason. i'm taking responsibility for anything and everything i say here, and i cannot speak for anyone but myself.

in closing, the blame that we heap on www.jean.sg will come full circle. if we are unwilling to give her quarter and benefit of the doubt for such a hideous action, when it happens to one of your loved ones, or to yourself and you are powerless to do anything about it, we have only wrought the hurt upon ourselves, because we allowed and justified such a thing to happen in the first place.

why am i speaking out about this? i'll share two of my favorite quotes, because it's pushed my buttons and these quotes belly my own principles as a man, and mortal.

'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17

once a man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. never pretend it doesn't exist. no matter who orders him to look the other way. we do not do this thing because it is permitted. we do it because we have to. we do it because we are compelled." - rorschach, watchmen issue vi

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Brian Morgan Productions Pilot Vodcast: The Muxtape Episode



without much fanfare, production values and a brand new blackbook, i present brian morgan productions a first look at music you should be listening to and all the other cool DIY things you could be doing.

who we are: brian leery, bassist & inquisitive social media practitioner and morgan c. hoax, indie music guru, photographer & brains behind the skinny fists

why we started vodcasting: we're both recently mac-enabled. i wanted to show how easy it was to begin vodcasting. for content, we both love music a little too much, and we hope that through the use of video, we can share the cool things you ought to be listening to and what's out there in the world of music + intertubes

links mentioned
muxtape
morgan's muxtape
brian's muxtape
pitchfork
morgan's blog
brian's blog: you're reading it now!

songs and/or albums mentioned
1. Follow The Lights (EP) by Ryan Adams
2. The Greatest (LP) by Cat Power
3. He War (Single) by Cat Power

Saturday, June 14, 2008

dashing all your hopes and dreams

it's been awhile since i last stepped into my blog. it's scary, knowing that it's there and i should type in it ever so often. but really, sometimes i'm human and i don't really know what i want to say.

but oh well, we all have to grow up sometime right?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

*EXPOSE* what's all this fuss about Plurk anyhow?

by now, some of the more active new media movers in Singapore have tried out the latest web application, Plurk.

what exactly is Plurk? well, if you aren't even using Twitter, this post might not make much sense to you.

Twitterers jumped onto Plurk when Twitter kept having outages that really made following conversations a hassle. While Twitter and me have not parted ways, i am sort of having a friend with benefits, if that is my relationship with Plurk.

So let me share step by step, what's working out for me and Plurk, before i add a wishlist of what would perhaps, make it even more plurking awesome.

1. Plurk iz pretty

the timeline user-interface (UI) takes a bit of getting used to. but once you do, following conversations and taking part in them is insanely easy.

2. Plurk makes it easy to participate in conversations of interest
see a post that you like? click on the drop down option, and plurk a response instantaneously! it reminds me of the way people post replies to threads on forums. in fact, it's like "threaded conversations" if i may quote @uniquefrequency or @yuhui. i cannot remember. in one of my more popular plurks i got 43 responses, although more than half came from @uniquefrequency and myself, it proved the ease in starting a conversation on any topic, and anyone can join in.

here's an example of that Plurk's permalink. the fantastic thing, is that you can now join in that conversation by just registering yourself and continuing that conversation!



3. RSS Feeds
this was rather overlooked. or didn't appear in any of my current conversations. but i've started subscribing to various Plurkers on my GReader, if i see anything that interests me, i can click on that link in my RSS Reader that takes me straight to a Plurk's Permalink, and i can take part in the conversation without needing to go thru the hassle of checking my timelines.

it's a bit of a hassle, but this will help manage updates if and when Plurk becomes too busy for its own good.

you can also try subscribing to Plurk responses, but i think that's overkill.

[Note: you can only subscribe to public plurks, plurkers that are private will not produce a feed. My feed is in this link if you wanna follow me: link]

wishlist
1. SMS integration like Twitter. but that might not be necessary if WIFI becomes ubiquitous for mobile internet devices, or if you have a good 3G data plan. i hear good things about their mobile site.

2. convulated timeline will have to be addressed sooner or later.

3. easier UI to keep track of conversations that are happening. as someone suggested, plurks with responses should perhaps be aggregated to a sidebar for you to comment on. by doing so, this might render the RSS+GReader method unnecessary and require a shorter learning curve to using Plurk.

4. more 3rd party apps or blog widgets to make Plurk more integrated to a lifestream.

closing thoughts
Plurk and Twitter are different animals. Plurk has made it great to start and follow up on conversations. but it doesn't have the ubiquity of Twitter that truly excels on an SMS platform. you probably won't see someone using Plurk to plurk a cry for help when he/she gets arrested in Egypt. SO don't throw away Twitter yet! Twitter might be quiet for awhile as more of us play with Plurk, but i think Twitter will be back with a vengence WHEN it sorts out its backend engineering.

if you'd like to see it for yourself, take part in the conversation and join my Plurk network here: link!

my life in point form

1. played with plurk.com

2. left work

3. listening to matthew good

4. discovered fail blog
- what is the culture of "fail"? [please watch video]


5. ate durians at geylang

6. met friends from perth whom i've not seen in a year

7. still hearting oceansize
[please watch videos]
women who love men who love drugs
[emo spaz moments at 1:58 and 4:17]

Serial killer
Lifeus Exitus
So don't dare
Kill her
It's on me
It's on you
Yeah

So Don't You
Believe
Women
Who Love
Men Who
Love
Drugs
Yeah...


unfamiliar
[love the arrangement of this song, mindblowing vocal melody at 3:40]

During the laceration all you wanna do is cry
At last that realization how quickly fresh blood dries
Needs little explanation, 'sgonna take a lot of time
Ideas above our station are below the fog in my mind
When I see I see my signs
It's the same face presenting the same lie
If you keep walking sideways, if you keep changing your mind
When i see i see my signs
And obsolete your voices are
They say that silence it sometimes pays
In war silence it sometimes pays
Souls and windows stops existing
And holes where his eyes used to be
Needle and thread hold together his love for the dead
And all who sail in her
Saw the seashore, unfamiliar
The water and oil, unfamiliar
Success and toil, unfamiliar
Unaccustomed, unfamiliar


8. playing a gig with Kevin Matthews and the Groovy People on Saturday 930pm @ Timbre for Rock The Sub!

Monday, June 2, 2008

why you need a social media strategist like me

okay, purely off the bat, i'm not moonlighting my services, but this is an example of how being rather connected helps your cause.

it all started with this:

direct link here

An innocent tweet about the new socialite, an upcoming blog that seems to be covering the new media scene / blogosphere / twittersphere around singapore.

and they quoted me! linked my blog. AND! deemed my friend @ambarvalia crush worthy -)

oh, the wonders of having me as your friend will do wonders for your brand!

you can read the article here.

well, in my defence, i never "accused" anyone. for further evidence, please refer to above image and notice the tone of my "non-accusing" tweet. i mean, how harmless is that? -)

anyway, i don't think the new socialite means any harm, and i've already subscribed to its feed. if someone else has got the pulse on singapore, you've already got me hooked as a reader.

i've also yet to join the Facebook group that nadnut invited me to for sweets.sg. i saw the trailer, and looking forward to what these new players in the vodcasting scene are gonna show us!

revisiting the madness

my oh my. what a tragically long absence away from my blog. for a variety of reasons, i had avoided penning down my thoughts because as fatigue took over, i didn't want to post incoherently.

unfortunately, as the week progressed, more and more things amassed, and my lack of a draft system meant that i wasn't taking note of what i wanted to blog about.

there were a few highlights:

1. social media breakfast 2
i had fun as usual, and was always good to touch base with one of the more prominent blogging communities in Singapore.

2. www.podfire.sg and www.treats.sg part ways.
accounts from the usual suspects here:
michael cheng [podfire]
aaron koh [blogger's treat]

3. byzantin3 posted some highlights from vinton cerf's keynote address. [vinton is part of the team that created TCP/IP protocols that are the architecture the Internet is built upon]
here.
her department, Ogilvy One also posted an interview they had done with him online. chekkit out, it's 5 morselly minutes of goodness:



4. there's a new commoncraft show: social media in plain english


5. but do checkout the hacked version by kommonkraft for the new media douchebag.


i wish i had more input to the things i've just shared, but i'm a bit swamped with the way life is catching up with me. countless rehearsals for church, gigs and weddings make for a busy month. but things should lighten up after this week. *hopes meekly*

in other news, the new Baybeats 2008 website has been launched. My band Leeson will be playing at "Asia's largest indie rock festival" so do pop by and check out the video teaser they've put up for our band and the other 10 as well -)

www.baybeats.com.sg
my props go out to you and whose army? anna judge april. silhouette and cardinal avenue!