pigduck's Xanga

What I don't understand...

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:39:47 GMT

I signed up to Premium for a month to get my archives out of Xanga. It's so... strange using Xanga... it's a good blogging tool. It really is. It allows me to do cool things and in a way is better than wordpress. BUT I'm not sure why I'm not using it. HMPH.

Anyway, let's see... maybe I will revert to xanga just 'cos it's easier to do things.

OK. That's all. Take care.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:15:56 GMT

tra-la-la-la-la-la... my weekend was quite quiet.

Not sure what is going to happen the next few days.

Bah. Aahhh... I love posting nonsense like this.

I'm about to start on the book below and I'm bracing myself for heavy stuff. AAAHHHHHHHH!!!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:39:29 GMT

Since nobody really reads my xanga anymore and I haven't had time to hook it up with my quite successful pigduck.com, I thought I might use this place to rant a bit. After all, that's what I'd used Xanga for previously.

Maybe I can be personal here. I find it hard to be personal on pigduck.com just because it's become more commercialised and really, I don't think people want to read me slagging them off or any of that... so here it is. My trusty Xanga... waiting patiently the past year and a half. I'm back!

WORDPRESS to XANGA is not working!

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 05:51:35 GMT

What happened here? Why are my posts not appearing on Xanga anymore?? What's going on?!! NOOOOOooooooooo...

Anyway, people, if you'd like to catch up on my life, please check www.pigduck.com

I will try to fix this but in the mean time, so sorry... I should so post on Xanga again. I love Xanga!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:38:27 GMT

What’s up with Asia and Cancer?

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

It is awful to read such a depressing article. I guess it’s the truth.

People die from cancer because they cannot afford the exorbitant medical care. That is a depressing thought, isn’t it? We have to work really hard to afford better healthcare.

I would like to think it’s the West who are flooding the East with toxicities, selling us things that are harmful to our health, marketing it to us gullible folkd that it will enhance our lifestyle. Instead, it’s filling their pockets.

But then, cancer strikes anybody, doesn’t it? Even to the innocent or those who are cautious. How many of us are truly careful though? How many of us can say we live in an environment that’s relatively free of toxins? We drive cars, we eat preserved foods, we deal with microwaves and radiation on a daily basis… we go to public places and breathe in secondary smoke, we walk the streets and it’s full of dangerous pesticides…

To be damned. It’s tragic. Jesus Christ, come back soon!

Here’s the article, “Asia’s cancer rates to spike by 2020“.

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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:30:37 GMT

What’s up with Asia and Cancer?

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

It is awful to read such a depressing article. I guess it’s the truth.

People die from cancer because they cannot afford the exorbitant medical care. That is a depressing thought, isn’t it? We have to work really hard to afford better healthcare.

I would like to think it’s the West who are flooding the East with toxicities, selling us things that are harmful to our health, marketing it to us and making us believe that it will enhance our lifestyle.

To be damned. It’s tragic. Jesus Christ, come back soon!

Here’s the article, “Asia’s cancer rates to spike by 2020“.

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:56:33 GMT

Catch & Release - Life After Death

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

Do you want to read my review of Catch & Release?

I am not sure why the last 2 reviews I’ve had to do revolved around death.

It was a bit disconcerting when I watched Catch and Release. I mean sure the movie had its bits that were quite funny but the overhanging theme is really grief and mourning.

How do we get over grief? What is life like after someone dies?

Is it that easy for life to carry on?Â Can we just fall in love so soon after?

DidÂ Gray love her fiance or not? Did she fall out of love after death?Â

Do we have a method of getting over a grief? The movieÂ portrayed it quite realistically. Life moves on, you gotta deal with what’sÂ ahead, you’ve got to pick up after the dead person, you find out things about the person you never knew… does it make grieving harder?

Some times we just want to be stuck in a moment, where everythingÂ stops.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:25:30 GMT

I feel sorry for Cho Seung Hui!

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

Over the past two days, I have had the chance to catch bits and pieces of the Virginia Tech massacre (as CNN terms it. A bit too dramatic, I think)

I spoke to a friend this morning about the shooting, asking him about the updates and he said that, “we shouldn’t be too hard on the boy…” and after much thought and looking at his pictures (the same ones they keep displaying on CNN as if he’s a wanted criminal), I actually am beginning to sympathise with him. I feel sorry for him. Let me digress a bit.

I have to give much credit to America and their media for their news reporting. I was watching CNN an hour or so ago and there was breaking news of bombings in Baghdad. More people have died in the bombings in Baghdad, youngsters have died in Iraq tooÂ (Blood on Textbooks: Campus Under Fire) andÂ in Iraq it is a daily event. But why don’t we care? Is it because we’ve heard it over and over again and it’s more like a, “What’s new?” scenario?

Laying aside sensationalism,Â Americans and the press have given the victims a face. These victims of the Virginia Tech shooting are not just a statistic. They had a life, they had families who loved them and that is what makes these reports so sentimental, so painful and so tragic. We emote and connect with these victims and their families. Too bad, we can’t do the same with the bombings in Iraq or other man-made tragedies that happen around us every minute, everyday.

It upset me quite a bit with how CNN was reporting both incidences at the same time. They mention statistics with the Baghdad bombing where 157, mostly civilians were killed. And then, you hear beautiful instrumental music playing in the background, followed by a touching tale of one of the victims at Virginia Tech. It is quite jarring.

I mean it is not wrong to make out the victims as heroes. Hell, we thrive on heroic deeds and bravery. Take this example by the LA Times of a victim who survived the Holocaust but was killed “saving students” at Virginia Tech. Don’t worry though, it’s not just the LA Times who are doing this. In fact, every other American newspaper is probably scrambling to put their own spin on these witness accounts.

It is amazing how social networking and the Internet has given us an avenue to offer our condolences to the victims. There is the “official” April 16th Virginia Tech Memorial siteÂ where we can leave heartfelt messages and you have the likes of Facebook.com and MySpace.com where people are coming from all over to grieve. It kind of brings people closer together. Strange that we bicker about the Internet and how it reveals our identities way too easily but in a way, it’s a good thing because we see people openly grieving together, students rallying and encouraging one another, sharing information, etc etc. Read this for context, Virginia Tech Students Hit Social Sites After Shooting, Mourning on the Digital Front, “Today, we are all Hokies on Facebook“, Virginia Tech students and people from all over the world grieve and vent online, Online Mourning for Virginia Tech, etc etc. You can view people’s thoughts at VT.edu, Myspace, LiveJournal, Facebook, CNNÂ (lists the victims), and Flickr.com for photos.

As I said, the press have given these students and professors a face, a name, a background, a history, a life. Do you want to know who they are? Check out Profiles: The Victims at Virginia Tech, here are some of the victim’s MySpace profiles, names of the victims (AP) and The NY Times: Interactive Look at the Victims .

Why do IÂ feel sorry for Cho Seung Hui?

First of all, he’s my age.

Second of all, he’s a loner and I’m sort of a loner too.

The comparisons stop here, of course. He had so much rage in him and is evident by the literature he wrote.Â He manifested that anger and allowed it to take over. It is so easy to let bitterness fester.Â Â Â

I came to my conclusion this morning before reports came in that he was mentally unstable.Â It was obvious that he was unbalanced.Â

I am not saying what he did wasÂ right. Of course, senselessly killingÂ people at randomÂ is not normal.

If you look at the pictures splashed everywhere, heÂ looks quiteÂ ordinary. Of course, they chooseÂ unsmiling pictures (but these were probably released by the police)Â andÂ very criminal-like shots of SeungÂ Hui too. I know they are trying to frame him as a crazed murdererÂ but they seem to want to strip his humanity from him.

I feel sorry for him because he was a loner who had no voice and even at this time, when he is dead, he still does not have a voice. When news reports talk about the “32 dead, 15 wounded” at Virginia Tech, they convieniently don’t put him in the death toll. Why not?Â Maybe it’sÂ calledÂ good reporting but he died too and deserves some love and not condemnation. Not when he is already dead.

How must his family feel? Are the media not considering this aspect? He was the son of two people, who also have lives and a history. I am sure they are also trying to comprehend what is happening, which explains their silence.

It is easy to point fingers and what more, he’s Asian. He’s not of the pale skin kind which may or may not garner more sympathy.

The point is that he was troubled, had issues that he didn’t know how to handle, that he probably couldn’t control,Â didn’t have people to turn toÂ or talk to and even when people did try, their efforts, in my opinion, were half-hearted and not good enough, to penetrateÂ the defense mechanism he had in place to protect himself. You can see one of his teachers tried to help him. Lucinda Roy actually tried to reach out to him and had one-on-one tutoring. He did seem to relent a bit (since he started taking off his sunglasses). I heardÂ herÂ interview on CNN. Cho Seung Hui needed professional help. I believe Cho Seung Hui’s behaviour was crying out for an intervention but sadly, no oneÂ was his hero. I respect Lucinda Roy a lot because she made him human.Â Something his parents are not doing. ABC Australia’s PM did a segment on Psychology of a Shooter.Â There is a podcast of the interview. Â

He was left alone for too long andÂ from the reports of his previousÂ roommates, they do make him out to be a freak of nature, anti-social andÂ disturbed which he probably was butÂ you can’t blame him for that. People grew tired of him, were annoyed and thus, ignored him which allowed his rage to fester. It seems like he suffered from esteem issues too, unable to express himselfÂ properly, thus translating his likes for someone into stalker traits causing great distress to the girl(s).Â

He put up this shieldÂ toÂ make sure he was never vulnerable. His rage drove him which probably stemmed from rejections andÂ his neuroticisms became more extremeÂ only because he could not control himself anymore.Â

He seemed smart enough. He seemed to be able to think wellÂ and straightforward but that doesn’t meanÂ he’s sane. Being on anti-depressants doesn’t mean, he’s cured. Some times, the body doesn’t know how to react with these chemicals that are trying to balance the person out and thus, tips them over to do things that they may not have necessarily have done if they were not on these drugs. The truth is, people still can commit suicide even though they are on anti-depressants. Some times, it works the opposite and makes them more depressed.

I think Seung Hui needed love. Did he have love in his family? Were they able toÂ convey it to him? He seemedÂ misunderstood and I guess he just needed someone to understand him too.

It makes me wonder then, can people forgive him for his heinous, one-off act? Is forgiveness not in the cards? Some may say why should they be merciful to someone who wasn’t merciful to them… It’s not about seeking revenge. I know the media is trying to make sense of everything, to them there is always a cause and effect and blaming ensues. They frame him in the ugliest light, only to bring temporary relief and understanding to the situation. What happens after this grieving week is over?

Can people forgive him? I think he’s forgiveable. He’s dead already anyway. Just thinking about him brings great sadness to my heart. Right now, he is probably a hated man but you shouldn’t fight fire with fire. Love can melt hate…

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:08:00 GMT

Carrie Underwood is a Winner at the CMT Awards AGAIN!

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

Well, Carrie Underwood does it again. She wins Video of the Year, Female Video and Best Video Director for her single/video “Before He Cheats“. WOOHOO! It’s a really great video if you ask me. Carrie Underwood broke out of the cutesy-mold for just a minute and looked absolutely stunning in leather.

What amazes me is that Before He Cheats is on her debut album, Some Hearts, whichÂ came out two years ago and is still doing strong on the Billboard Charts. (she’s no.6 this week)Â After this win and performance at the CMTs, I’ll bet the album will sail to the top again.

It’s very good … yeay!

I bet a lot of sources have reported this but since I don’t venture out of the fold too much, read more at :-

Yahoo! - Underwood wins CMT Video of the Year Award

MSNBC.com - Carrie Underwood wins 3 CMT Awards

MSN.com - Underwood wins big at CMT Awards

That more or less sums up that Carrie is a winner! Do I need to stick up other sources? nah….The photo below is of her performing and doesn’t she look amazing? If you’d like to see her performing at the CMT Awards, click here.

For more photos, please go to Yahoo! News Photos.

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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 06:00:57 GMT

Yahoo! brings in the crowd!

This entry was originally published at pigduck.com

Katharine McPhee is once again on the frontpage of Yahoo!… if you click on her name you will be brought to the Yahoo! search results page…

The 3rd image is from my website…. See the link? I’m famous! YEAY!

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