Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Now when I heard the latest controversy concerning the infamous talk show host, I thought, obviously nothing could justify her actions in this rain weather storm/shit. However, I also looked into several of her publications although nothing would induce me to read one and be appropriately gagged throughout. Ofcourse the advice she gives out is simple enough, you give in order to receive without needing to analyze the actual implications of those men's actions towards their wives. The examination ofcourse is done in part of the women whereby if they act a certain way, certain prescribed/proscribed ways that signifies what a 'REAL' woman is and therefore they will receive the amount of attention and affection that they want. But the question is, only as a devil's advocate because of course they have every right to receive the happiness that they wish to have and the kind of structure that they wish to present/portray/exist in their lives. But honestly, going far back and talking about the first season of Desperate Housewives, Gabriel goes back and realizes that what she wanted was all the wrong things that she really needed. Although the whole point was for her to have marital bliss and have a baby and all that. But what does a woman want? And why does society have to point it out what they want? Can it be examined further that what you want is not really what you REALLY REALLY want but a product of what you think you SHOULD want?

Congratulations Australia!

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Another Rainy Day

Things have gone a bad turn for me, thankfully I'm getting off unscathed (I think). I'm getting divorced and I don't talk to my mother. I hope things go out well. Other than that, on other issues around the world, I haven't taken the time to talk about the recent fiasco with British Petroleum. So far at SeizeBP.org which I recommend everyone take the time to read, the oil spill is still ongoing. Obviously mentions by government filled newspapers and any other forms of media, the situation is supposedly 'under control' What with the things that are going around on earth right now, with the huge crack somewhere in South America, I would have hoped that people would change their actions and ways. I am still on a semi-carbon diet, I don't ask for plastic bags anymore, I vehemently refuse if someone tries to give me a plastic spoon or fork although I think I should take this a little bit further by taking my own stuff when I want to take away food, like a container or something. I can't live without my computer off, hmm, that doesn't sound so promising although I did set it off to low performance. What astounds me still in the Beunri media is that they only tell people to turn off their water heaters when it's not in use. Hell, are we Rockefellers or something?! Shit, even Rockefeller was an extremely stingy person, so much so he installed a public coin phone at home so that his family, friends and workers couldn't call as they liked. But really, what have they been doing? Leaving it on all day long? People take what? one or two showers a day? Why is that thing on the whole day?!I cannot conceive of the things that we constantly do. And all this fuel for what? I took part as a volunteer for a Green Debate in my university as a water carrier LOL. Interestingly although the whole issue was 'Green' water bottles were used everywhere, what's wrong with water jugs or tap water? Although the issues were there it was hardly green, God knows why. Obviously it was a gimmick in part of shell, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, in fact it could be a good thing. Or am I too extreme? We need some green advisers that's for sure.

Cultural Hegemony?

looking back towards Antonio Gramsci's Cultural Hegemony made me wonder. There are loads of examples that support this theory and very much influences a lot of people. It has also been known that cultural hegemony has the ability to uproot localized cultures and deem them as 'bigoted', 'other', part of the 'lower' etc. when there is absolutely no evidence to support that 'their' way of doing things are better. For instance, protocol, often you see that you're giving loads of movements or even wasting a lot of materials - for what? For what exactly? Sure humans have the need to celebrate or worship/meet the queen but is it necessary to use much waste in the process? Doesn't things like this actually cost much more and difficult to boot? It's like going to the opera house, sure it's for culture, definitely I don't see the wrong in that however, I do see a problem when it utilizes much waste. Wastefulness indeed, like JLos watches or Beyonce's million dollars' worth of wigs. Gramsci has a serious point and I would like to say that I'm wrong but honestly in more ways than one, he's right. Buttress this claim against the French dude who says that certain people make it because of 'Cultural Capital'.

My dear stars

My dear stars,
where ever you are,
under the blanket of dark,
and your little pointy mark.

Fascinating me until I just stare and stare,
It's not like anyone cares,
But I'm okay I think,
I just want to wait and let it sink-
in

I'm kinda lost and my dreams get stranger and stranger,
I'm not in any real danger,
just dreaming again on and off on and off,
then I wake up wishing I was asleep again

The grass is close to my feet.
It's rather cold - no heat.
I wonder what you're doing there,
untouched by this dirty earth,
And all the blood that we didn't spare,
heaven and earth heaven and earth.

The trouble with packed foods

Now lately this has been bothering me and I rewatched The Story of Stuff again. Think about it, you want to eat some biscuits then you go buy some old-fashioned Khong Guan biscuits. The new Khong Guan biscuits now come individually packed while the old ones are only once packed, this time one pack has mini packs! You eat one or two mini packs then you throw it away in a few seconds...how is that fair? It comes with the package, I always refuse plastic spoons or forks for the plain reason that they get thrown away afterwards, for what? For a single use of a thing that biodegrades in 300 fucking years! Ditto for our sanitary pads and kids diapers. Why in the world is it so difficult to be sustainable? I need to go on a carbon diet.

I wonder if I'm a racist?

I wonder if I'm a racist when it comes to finding men who are attractive, if I am spot me out here's the list:-

How often do you see positive images of women in movies?

Granted that the most recent movie I watched with a positive image of a woman was Sigourney Weaver in Avatar (and she's not even the hero) a lot of movies I have watched seems just to limit women and womenhood in general. Sigourney Weaver is a good example of an actress who have jumped the boundaries and is able to become the hero (woohoo~!). Seriously how often do you that to be the exception and not the norm? My GOD!

You, Me and Dupree
- Kate Hudson is a schoolteacher

Bride Wars
- Kate Hudson is a successful lawyer but sort of breaks down in the middle of her meeting just because she has blue hair, and all because of something as 'frilly' as a wedding. Oh she's also portrayed as a 'bitchy' woman.
- Her bestfriend Anne Hathaway is ...gasp, a schoolteacher.

Glee
- I like Glee and the actress Jane Lynch was great in it...just sayin ha3

and the list goes on and on

successful women = bitchy = need love and affirmation of some hot hunk
middle class women who are teachers = smarmy and mousy ( I'm soo not against teachers even though I hated a lot of them during high school, the point is, one of them was a great teacher and she was a woman, never had a great male teacher, nuff said).

When is the next female character the hero again like Aliens? I haven't seen one in ages, when Sigourney Weaver (as a 9 year old kid I watching it) was carrying her large guns I have never felt that 'this looks wrong', au contraire, I was rooting for her, looking at her kill those effing aliens. When was there a positive image of a woman holding a gun looks so right? (not saying that I'm promoting violence either) Well, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one although not my favourite, but Xena was and she was my favourite (kick ass Xena! She was even wayyy better than that show Hercules she spawned out of).Where are the female heroines? Good God I think we need a fifth wave of feminism...

The fragmentation of Nationhood

I think as everyone might be aware of the comings and goings of Malaysi a similar trajectory can be seen with what is happening elsewhere around the world. The existence of minority communities. What we are truly living in at the moment is a post-nationalist world. The nationalist world while still in full effect elsewhere is becoming increasingly fragmented. Sure, Malaysia has had its problems and yes they have for these past few decades created racial riots severe enough to see that they cannot be together and they cannot be apart. It's like the Malay saying, 'Talan mati bapa, luah mati mama' (To swallow your father will die, to spit your mother will die). Malaysia definitely cannot exist if for instance it decides to fragment itself (which it would very improbably won't). The thought rose to me when I was reading Thomas Friedman's 'From Beirut to Jerusalem'. The Lebanese which saw the multiplying minority becoming a majority and like Malaysia too the Malays saw the extreme increasing number of the Chinese right before their eyes. Neither of these countries could exist without the other (well, that is their logic) but in a post-nationalist world where every country is fragmented in terms of race could be very well underhanded. These are wars of identity and ethnicity. Something in truth, very well historically engineered to exist. I wonder what is going on, honestly I am beginning to be suspicious that this is the work of creating non-fluid identities but a more marginalized ethnicity and country without regard to how much it forces people to become uniform. Whatever the arguments proposed for unity and sameness, I think could be summed up by the experiences of the untouchables of India and now I found out, the 'burakumin' of Japan.

limited access to education

I just realized something painful about so-called 'wonder' stories about people dropping college and becoming the richest (or wealthiest) man in the world (Bill Gates) and every other 'beautiful' stories about people 'making it'. The only truest rags to riches story I believe would come from the entertainment industry. Now that's a hodge podge of some who were born to act and went to prestigious art schools for music or the stage, OR those who struggled relatively really struggled with poverty to become rich and famous. Oh, I also extend this rags to riches to those who do sports or modeling. The rest? Not so. Sure there are, it is impossible that there aren't considering that there are 6 billion people on this planet, the odds are mind-boggling of course. And out of this 6 billion many will, from the lowest rung of poverty 'make it' through working class, or middle class and hey if you're even luckier, upper class. But the majority of people aren't and I noticed that all of these reasons are simple. Access to education and knowledge. Sure, everyone says, there are public libraries, proponents of such and such would argue, they would go on to say that it is dependent upon their laziness that they do not wish or want to get above themselves. But what if you spent your life thinking that you're not able to read a single book? Too long? Too tiring? Not enough interest or imagination to pull it off? Hey, it's common here in Brunei, a majority of the middle and upper classes do get off books, they prey on it, but the rest? Fat chance, in this small country of 180 thousand locals and more than half made up of expatriates, the truth is there are only three actual living breathing working bookstores while the rest are actually magazine newsstands mimicking as bookstores or text book stores (which make a lot of money actually, a LOT). The access to knowledge is very limited, lack of transportation is a good way of citing it, then there is the fact that the children will grow up seeing that their parents do not read and therefore they don't read (although I have heard stories that the children do read and end up being the better for it), even parents who 'fear' their children reading due to superstition or local stigma. I have seen it before, it is regardless if you're Moslem, their only answer is that the Koran is the only one worth reading. Fair enough for those religious zealots out there, why not? The problem is this a majority who do read it don't understand a single thing about it! Amazing! Many scholars, anthropologists and sociologists have found out that this is quite strange especially among Southeast Asian Moslems. Why? If the Muslims in the West (including the Middle East) have managed to read it upside down inside out then interpreting it, understanding it and actually reading it!! (iqra bismirrabikalazi khalak)The Moslems in Southeast Asia rarely do understand what they are reading. It has in a certain way become so deified that they fear understanding it, that they would sin in understanding it without proper guidance (which they never bother to find in the first place). The Jews and the Christians, the Hindus and Buddhists have had a long intellectual history, even the Moslems. But often I see here is a stagnation that cannot marry both intellectual progress (which ever you wanna understand it, even in terms of Sahlins' the original affluent society) and religion at the same time. That, I think is their prerogative, I'm sorry to say despite the extreme oppression faced by Iranians on a daily basis they still do and have intellectual histories, the study of even fine arts (!!) and yes of course, the so-called Mr. Burnsesque nuclear power-plant.

This limited access to education ofcourse is consolidated with the idea of power and of course money. Limited means to gain education, I mean think about this, I started off with Bill Gates and I might as well end with a bitter note (not that bitter, people should, can and will try) he had a score of 1590 out of 1600 in his SATS, he was highly intelligent, comes from an UPPER MIDDLE CLASS family. Inherited 50,000 dollars to play with, a huge sum in those days, not that he didn't work hard, he did ofcourse. So did Warren Buffet who also came from a 'business' oriented family, they worked hard, they persevered, they didn't spend so much money. But it's easy to see that despite the fact that sociologists accuse the working class as being crass and 'immediately seeking gratification' squandering off their money for enjoyment. You have to understand, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates had lived and enjoyed since their childhood, they have never felt the pain of poverty and therefore were comfortable enough to not need 'immediate gratification' for their hard work.