Verily, a Verbose Vocabulary.

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

~ From V for Vendetta.

When there's something strange in the neighbourhood...

Haha. Whoever did this while watching the thumping must have been one kind of genius. I heartily applaud.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

It was bold and it was obvious. The PAP Straits Times reiterated what had been said before clearly in black and white today:

"If you don't vote for the PAP, your government will not represent you."

Aside from the aforementioned SGD$2.6 billion warchest that the PAP controls, we also have threats and some arm twisting(!) Has a party ever been so brazen? Has a democracy ever been so twisted? Maybe it's just me but doesn't that sound like corruption at a governmental level? What, if anything, is a government's role if it's not to serve her people? Why then deny certain people of privilleges if they voted for the other guys? Does that seem fair to you? Does it not hark back to Hurricane Katrina and the delay of help to people who did not vote for the party in power? Isn't the democratic process supposed to be one in which we have a choice? And isn't that choice a right that we have?

Should we be punished because we vote?*

Some people seem to think so. And those are the people who are desperate to cling on to power. And to take power exclusively for themselves. Almost everything in me says "rebel!". But the cynic in me says "let's just stop all this election bullshit and just call ourselves an oligarchy." And rewrite the damn pledge. After all, the founding father who wrote it's dead and I think it calls for an upgrade:

"We the citizens of PAP
Pledge ourselves as one compliant nation
Regardless of freedom, thought or choice
To help the party stay in power
Based on Toadying and Elitism
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our government."

The hypocrisy of the election really pisses me off. More so than it should. I mean, I KNOW it's not a democratic system. It just sucks when all you hear are the pretense of a "fair and balanced" voting/campaigning process.

Now, where did I put that Guy Fawke's mask?

*What choice is there when your government punishes you for "voting wrong"?

The nature of human beings...

The Horde attempted a suicidal raid on Stormwind, one of the capital cities of the Alliance and the result was utter decimation of their raid team. That said, they fought bravely without running and panicking. All in all a very organised effort on their part.

The result:


It is with a certain pessimism that we witness what happens next because a member of the Alliance, instead of taking stock of the situation and ensuring that the Horde do not launch a second attack, organises a raid group to attack the Horde city. (By "organises" I mean yells "LET'S GET THOSE HORDIES IN THEIR OWN CITY!!! WHO'S WITH ME?!!!) Subsequently, a large portion of the Alliance players defending the city rush out to take the fight back to the Horde.

/me smacks forehead.

Aiii...

Anyone wonders why human beings start so many wars? One need only look at the games people play to find the reason.

"Remember, remember the 5th of November...

...The gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot"

V for Vendetta was excellent.

I had high hopes for it considering that it came from the mind of Alan Moore but that hope was laced with a slight anxiety because of the way that they had butchered The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But then again, this was a Wachowski Brothers production and coming right off a Matrix trilogy marathon screening, the anxiety was significantly reduced.

V is a story about rebellion, resistance and all things seditious. It is a wake up call for the politically apathetic and a rallying cry for anarchists everywhere. Strange that a film with all these subversive elements should make it into a country with a very prominently controlling government. Thankfully, it made it to these shores and uncut at that. (An M18 rating ensured that the subplot that deals with a lesbian prisoner actually stayed in...way to go ratings system!)

That said, I think that the film was released about 2 years too late for it to have been truly relevant. The idea that a voice of resistance is integral in times of turmoil, when people look blindly to their governments to lead the way, is an idea that should have been broadcast in the US during the height of 911 fever. (One wonders if the message would have been accepted or rejected as being unpatriotic, thus justifying the release date.)

All in all, a very nice flick. Like the Ws write in their introduction to The Matrix, it is actually possible to make an action flick that is not brainless and a brainy flick that isn't boring.

Hats off to you. And now to get a Guy Fawkes* mask...

*Fitting really, that a terrorist that is burnt in effigy every 5th of November becomes a symbol for freedom from oppression and a (supposed) guidepost toward a more democratic system of government.

What do you call an election when you've ganked* the competition?

I dunno. Perhaps you'd call it a exercise in self indulgence that wastes massive amounts of money that could be used to, I don't know, upgrade schools. Build better roads? Control the fallout from 2 integrated resorts?

Has a political party ever had a warchest that could pay out 2.6 billion dollars to buy votes?

I think the upcoming election's going to be interesting...well if you like entertainment like watching Mike Tyson beat up Pee Wee Herman, or crush watermelons. (Which to be fair, does hold certain entertainment value but does not a fair fight make...) It's poor form to ask the competition to "bring it" when "it" is a knife and you've got an AK 47 along with some grenades. There's something called dignity and let's leave the opposition to slip quietly into the night so that we can just get on with our lives.

*Gank has several meanings:

- Gang PK. When an overwhelmingly larger, more powerful group or party kills you and or your group. Commonly used as a verb. "A 60 Hordie ganked me." or "Alliance players are ganking newbies."

- Where a single player purposely attacks a player of the opposing faction who is at a substantially lower level.

- When a single player attacks a player of equal or lesser level who is in the middle of a fight with something else and is handicapped by that fight and unable to deal with the ganking enemy.

Wonder why this is a good analogy...Hmmm...

And the prize for the strangest flash based game...

...Nanaca Crash!

The object of the game is to launch the guy as far as possible. Additional air time can be achieved by juggling him as he falls or bounces upwards.

Weird...but addictive.