candy cane empire island city state

Playlist for 2009

New Years High

'Lollipop' Framing Hanley

'Just Dance' Lady Gaga

Obama's Inauguration

'Its a new Day' Wil.I.Am

Maybe March

'Sex is On Fire' Kings of Leon Cover/ In Current Standing

'I Turn my Camera on' Rock Kills Kids

'Love Save the Empty' Erin McCarley

Sundown Marathon Training

'All These Things that I have Done' Killers

'Handlebars' Flobots

'Sophia' Nerina Pallot

Happiness

'Portland Maine and the Pouring Rain' The City on Film

'I Can Feel a Hot One' Manchester Orchestra

'When did your heart go missing' Rooney

'Dismantle.Repair' Anberlin

Sad Times

'Inevitable' Anberlin

'My Favourite Accident' Motion City Soundtrack

Merry Month of May

'Break Even' The Script

'Green Light' John Legend

Holiday Season

'The Way I Am' Ingrid Michaelson

'Leavin' Jesse McCartney

'How Do You Sleep' Jesse McCartney

Anberlin Concert

'Adelaide'

'Day Late Friend'

Army Half Marathon

'I Got a Feeling' Black Eyed Peas

'Make it Mine' Jason Mraz

Birthday

'Weightless' All Time Low

'Cross my Heart' Mariana Trench

'Big Girls Don't Cry' Fergie

Pre-ORD High

'The War' Melee

'Mrs Officer' Lil Wayne

'Fun house' Pink

ORD

'Body Language' Jesse McCartney

'Most Beautiful Girl' Flight of The Conchords

'Empire State of Mind' Jay-Z

------

Looks like it hasnt really been a year for rock.

I wonder what december has in store...

"Lets have

a ce

le bra

tion

baaby"

Jesse mcCartney

of fish and flight

of fish and flight

by Rishik Vijayadas Menon

dear i fear

you know you love fishing too much

and while ive tried in vain to fall for the

cast of line and bait, in luckless faith

that nylon threads would draw us closer together

it seemed i proved too unromantic a

reeler to spin the odds to my favour.

alas I still have my tact, and tackle box

packed (not to mean intact)

I was able to take flight

off the jetty the next morning

mourning another wasted night,

trying and failing to get you to notice me.

being sensitive, and careful, noticing you

the most minute of oncoming sneeze

offering you tissue,

buying you lemon barley

rigging your lines

oh you have no idea

i would do your dishes!

...if only you gave me the chance

but like hook and master,

in spite of all our efforts

we simply could not connect to our

catch. so i thank god for small favours instead

that I did not have to open my box of

dettol plasters for one

and I suppose I remain in your regard

as that sub-species of men found in

the less favourable rungs of the evolutionary tree

more commonly known as "The Friend"

Ive not always been this impotent

though ive been known to let laundry soak

in the rain while I myself drift into

seas of luxurious afternoon sleep

in fact, I even had the audacity

to entertain notions of myself

wielding a competitive advantage

owing to my years of experience

of flying kites at the field

you see, dear, theres so much in common

with fishing and flying kites

you tie hope to the end of a string,

and throw it out into a sea of chance

and well wishes

with only instinct left to guide you

on how much to pull and let go

but the differences

'tween the two now dawn on me

as im waiting for the first bus

home to pasir ris without you

The type of prizes I sought after

while flying were momentary

snapshots of colour in the sky

while sun and wind dried my

heart into patient comprehension

of the beauty of solitude

Your game was tangible

and that was the crux of the matter

My art could not satisfy

your appetite for something real

if not always alive.

as vibrant as it might have been

that lack of direction or purpose

spelled the end of

what-just-might-have-been "us".

without anything definite to look forward to

I flew as long as the wind would let me.

if you like it..then you should have put a ring on it.

No comment. (or does this become a paradox?)

Why ask rhetorical questions?

I never use extremes!

Us lone wolves need to stick together.

The following sentence is true. The previous sentence is false.

The following sentence is false. The previous sentence is false.

Homophobia is gay.

Austerity at any cost!

stay educated

Im only 20 year old people. But im gonna make myself a promise.

I am going to stay educated!

Seeing as how I've run out of 'witty', and 'clever', and Mensa Singapore has kicked me out for not paying yearly subscription fees, its pretty much the best I can hope for. In the long run.

Its not a bad deal actually. all it takes is a little effort everyday to...

read

write

converse with people

listen to music

watch movies

try something new!

kay so its not exactly being educated. but something in between educated and cultured. you get the drift.

Janadas Devan has got it right. the guy is awesome. he doesnt show off a whole lot. but when he writes this quality about him shines through. his education. his cultured mature mind. he doesnt use academic lingo to build a barrier beyond the common man to show that he's better. He does it in the most simple of ways. engaging. shining light on new perspectives. introducing new ideas in moderate doses. serving bite sized portions of history, fact and anecdote. never extreme. but clearly passionate and confident about where he is heading or leaning towards.

how do you reach that stage in life? that ability to write so comfortably without falling into old traps doors of a particular niche' audience and crowd.

im thinking experience has to do with it. and a very conscious effort to stay relevant. to stay educated.

Let me contrast that to sXe Phil (Philip de Franco). I watch the guy's show on youtube and there are brilliant moments on quite a regular basis. Not easy considering its virtually a daily show. and i think to myself.

Its certainly possible. If you dedicate that much of yourself online everyday, your bound to come up with enough material to talk about. but dont you wanna move beyond talking about it? beyond mere commentating and reflection.

I guess the internet is full of that. witty comments. insightful and sharp reflections on society.

But blogs (or Vlogs) will never replace mainstream media or the news in particular. because there is no sustained focus online. topics fly and trends die in a blink of an eye.

and while communities might form, like the vlog brothers (the Nerd Fighters) or certain forum communities (even on Yahoo! Answers) these communities tend to be immersed neck deep in their own lingo and inner references and jokes. not exclusive. but private.

and while you can build a reputation for yourself online, also with experience, its simply not sustainable. people will forget you. you can pour your heart into issues over time, and become something of a credible force. but are people ever gonna say, "they wanna be like you"? cause its not gonna last forever. your only popular online for 10 minutes. and then they have their own lives to get back to. well at least for me anyway.

I wanna be popular WHILE im online. and then I wanna return to the normal world, and do normal things.

I guess what Im saying is, I think sXe Phil is a talent. who deserves to get out of youtube and do something bigger for society. cause he really is quite a smart-ass. and i mean that in the best sense. but he strikes me as a talent who is being wasted for an online audience who will forget him when his time is done.

and the other thing im saying is.. you dont get educated on the internet.

you get informed. you get striked with news your allowed to take in, and then you get to comment or blog about it.

you get access to google and wikipedia and dictionary.com and with a few clicks your capable of making obscure witty references and riding on trends and memes only comprehendable to a small few group of online peers.

but because its so easy to get that information, your so unlikely to remember it in the long term.

and when push comes to shove, your at a black tie cocktail party trying to make conversation, your ideas of things to talk about run dry and theres no google or wikipedia to pull you out of that hole.

so yes. I may belong to this wired generation.

but i still believe in education.

god forbid I don't let myself decay.