PAIN - Follow Me   ¶ 11:33 pm 0 comments

  Falkenbach - Vanadis (Eluveitie's cover)   ¶ 10:21 pm 0 comments

  A new hobby So, today, I decided to do something out of the ordinary that I would do on a weekend, or any other day for that matter, seeing how disenchanted I am regarding to places like Orchard/Bugis/City Hall recently. So today, I went for a saunter at East Coast Park at night with a good friend of mine.

Knowing how long since I have been to the beach (at least a good 2 to 3 years of hiatus), I felt immediately delighted upon the sight of the shimmering waters lapping itself to the sands. What delighted me even more was the ocean's quality likening to that of an abyss, a pit of water that could drown and give life at the same time. It's almost like the moon - mysterious and alluring. My friend said it takes a man of great depth to have a liking for the ocean and who prefers to don in black. HAHA. That sounds like me! Ok, ego-stroking aside, yeah, it is really a sheer pleasure to visit the ocean once a while, to just listen to the crashing of the waves and stare into the horizon.

So, what about the new hobby? Me and my friend were sitting at the edge of the breakwaters and appreciating the ocean while it's high tide. So the waters were rising up to the edge of the breakwaters. Adding to that sense of ''danger'' was the fact that it was nightfall, and hence the added quality of the sea being omnious and menacing because you have no idea how deep it is in the dark. And, there you are sitting at the edge of the breakwaters, looking at the rising level of the consuming tides, listening to the omnious crashings of the waves, wondering is it the time to grab your belongings and leave before the tide gets any higher. It gave me a glimpse of the primal state of humans - the basic mindset of "Fight or Flight", so that is something that is worth delving into more often. Next, my friend likes to listen to inspirational tapes while he sits there, which gave me an idea to meditate there in my next trip to the beach. That should be a great idea, provided I could discern the height of the incoming wave with my eyes closed and locked in rapture. HAHA. Yeah, I have found a new hobby! Sit by the sea and introspect or appreciate the potentially destructive nature of this water element.

One thing I am annoyed at is the amount of "campers" on the beach. I mean, you camp at a spot which is just steps away from restuarants, fast food centres, 7-11? >_< And, those people at the chalets are just plain noisy.  ¶ 1:58 am 1 comments

  Friday movie therapy again! Went to watch Meirelles' Blindness this afternoon, the third consecutive time I have committed myself to a movie on a Friday, I think this has became a ritual of sorts. Haha, ritual or not, it's an awesome auto-healing process which the misanthropic Ling needs.

So this film was recommended to me by Kevin, saying it's somewhat like a quasi-dystopic film that I would enjoy. Damn straight (flourisher's pun), he was right! It somewhat reminded me of Plato's Theory of Forms - The Allegory of the Cave. As exemplifed by the blindness the people in the film experienced, this is likened to the one of the men in Plato's allegory, where everyone is deprived of sight and only could judge via other means of perceptions, everyone becomes brutish and inhuman and conditioned to remain callous (despite the fact that there was a slight peaceful moment in the movie). It takes a person to remain hopeful of the situation and remain visually-capable to mend the rest of the group. What I liked was the fact that the Blindness was a blindness that rendered people viewing in shades of white rather than the conventional black, which meant to me that it is a type of optimistic blindness that would change and purify people (as shown by the joy expressed when one blinded is cured of his malady).

End of movie ramblings now.

Why do I smell japanese food (chicken udon, I think) in the house at this ungodly hour of the night and when everyone is in bed? Speaking of that, I think it will make a good perfume - chicken udon scent. HAHA.

And, happy 20th birthday to Vika - my tea-drinking, Blind-Guardian-listening, nifty things, ugly-Lenovo-laptop, geeky friend! Have a great one!

It will be less than 3 months for me to hit my big 20th, speaking of which. Not a great thing!  ¶ 12:14 am 0 comments

  So Long and Thanks for the Meme. Ganked this from Valerie; now I am going to bore you with chucks of words that are not going to pose any meaning to your respective lives. Here we go!

1. Do you have secrets?
Yes, obviously. It's only fallible to walk around with your heart unguarded, especially in such a shifty and insecure toxic environment called society. You don't want your personal details to be hovering around people like currency, losing its value. =P

2. Would you fall in love with a boy younger than you?
If he is really that impressive in all aspects (which is almost impossible), I don't see the age gap as a barrier. He might even relieve me of the drudgeries of getting old and inspire me in a way that even younger people are capable of a serious relationship and the ways of being ardent, that gives me hope. Which is a kind of special love. Then again, such mature, passionate young men are hard to locate.

3. Do you enjoy going to school?
If I study what I really enjoy, yes please, lock me in a school. If not, I will be the misanthropic Ling.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Bite them to see if they are real, caress them. When I am sufficiently sure I have really got 1b dollars, I will go to Wacken Open Air immediately, go visit Vika at Slovenia and do little nifty things on the streets of Prague, get a pair of steel-toe boots for fuck's sake! Buy DVDs, CDs, all of those that I want. Buy books that I love. Personal apartment. Nothing much really, I prefer little joys than extravagant pleasures. Things like a solitary walk down the my favourite street with a good song playing in my mp3 player makes my day far better than any posh social events, in my humble hermit opinion. Close friends would know I love the Esplanade library alot, I just love a slow afternoon there, with a good book and that comfortable sofa. That kind of thing soothes my heart.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
Oh come on, your lover is your bestestestest friend right?

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
Love comes in 2 ways, to enjoy it most, one must love and be loved.

7. List out your 15 favourite songs

(They're not in order)
1)Apostle in Triumph (Opeth)
2)Thorns of Crimson Death (Dissection)
3)The Sandman Enters (The Sandman)
4)Queen of Winter Throned (Cradle of Filth)
5)I'm No Angel (Dido)
6)Korpens Saga (Finntroll)
7)Raabjourn Speiler Draughiems Skodde (Dimmu Borgir)
8)Imagine (John Lennon)
9)War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
10)Thriller (Micheal Jackson)

The list is not exhaustive, obviously.

8. If the person you secretly like is already attached, what would you do?
Liking a person is to ensure he/she is well and happy, so if he/she is happy in his/her situation, I am happy.

9. Is there anything that has made you extremely happy?
The times in/after meditation. Pure. Fucking. Rapture. of. Wellbeing.

10. What makes you angry?
I don't like the word - angry. I don't ever get furious, nothing in the world is worth that much amount of negativity. I only get bothered by things. Things like ..., hmm, I cannot really specify what bothers me too. I let such things pass through me so quickly, I barely noticed their existence! Haha! =P

11. How would you see yourself in 10 years time?
I will be 29 years old then. I would like to see myself fully enlightened and the world changed!

12. Who is currently the most important people to you?
My sanity, my family. Simple.

13. What is being regarded as the most important thing in your life?
A thing called "not falling into mediocity and normality", in all aspects of my life.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married but poor?
Technically, both would cause problems. So I settle with either one with the conisderation that I would be happy with whatever choice made.

15. What is your favourite colour?
Black, white, grey.

16. Would you give all in a relationship?
Is this even a question?

17. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, and both of them do the same, who would you pick?
The one that emits the best vibe.

18. Would you forgive and forget no matter how horrible a thing the someone has done?
We only have 1 life, why spend it on harbouring ill thoughts on human-based problems? In the first place, don't expect much from humans! =D I would forgive, but I doubt anyone could forget.

19. What do you want to tell the someone you like?
You, the general voyeur of people's lives, should not hear this. =P These lines are only reserved for the ears of the loved.

---------------

I tag Vika for this meme! =D
  ¶ 11:04 pm 1 comments

  Resist, Ling, for the Filth! It really takes alot of willpower to resist clicking on (illegal) youtube links to new songs of Cradle of Filth, which will appear in their upcoming album - Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, which will be released on 28th October. Even Rasul said it's rather worthy an album despite their disaster album - Thornography, which makes the temptation twofold harder to resist. No matter how hard it is or how tempting it is, I must not spoil the fun for myself when I acquire the actual CD in late October.


Also in conjunction with Godspeed..., the Glorious Filths are releasing their semi-autographic/historical book - Gospel of Filth too. Of which, I can't wait to lay my hands upon and savour (or devour? lol) the contents written by Dani and Gavin. Been waiting for 3 years to read that since they announced this project, which spans from black metal music history to occult to serial killers to fetishes to vampires. Gah, it is quite unbearable.

Can't wait.  ¶ 9:03 pm 0 comments

  Tokyo! Thus ended the first week of semester school term, it went by quite quickly to my amazement, I thought it'd be a drag. Ended really early today, so decided to go for another movie therapy again, watched Tokyo! at Cathay Picturehouse (my favourite movie therapy location).

Tokyo! is a sort of 3-in-1 omnibus short film compilation from renowned directors - Michel Gondry (Eteneral Sunshine of a Spotless Mind), Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho (The Host). Gondry's film - Interior Design deals with a lady with no concrete purpose in life in Tokyo gradually changing into a wooden chair (expect no normalcy from a director like Gondry, anyway, expect the other 2 films to be even weirder).

Leos Carax did a flim titled "Merde", a french word for "shit" about a red bearded creature who dwells in a gutters of Tokyo launching the general public into widespread terror and starting a cult following and seemingly defied the law when the authorities put him to death and the ending text merely went "Next destination - Mr. Merde in streets of NY". Very good adaptation of the modern idea of the terrorist. I especially liked the part where they interviewed the Tokyo citizens about the gutter creature - "In Siberia, a mother said the man is her long lost son Igor who is a gifted pianist who disappeared 17 years ago." HAHA. That was rolf-worthy! Insanely good short film. I hope someone have it on Youtube. =)

Last one was did by Bong Joon Ho who did The Host previously, his is named "Shaking Tokyo", about a Japanese city recluse opening up to the world and finding the strength to step out and re-integrate into the world again by love. I really liked how the director presented this film and tried to tell the viewers that this world, everyone is a recluse in a certain odd way and it is absoloutely essential to find a way to find joy and meaning in life again; to break free from one's little world grey world. Despite the fact that Leos Carax's Merde was insanely enjoyable, I got to say Bong's Shaking Tokyo is my favourite one of the three. No disrespect, Mr. Gondry!

I need to find a way to obtain the soft copies of these 3 short flims!



Excerpt from Merde, just loves how he exits from the sewers. So much style into it.  ¶ 11:29 pm 2 comments

  Last day. Driven the depressing prospect of returning back to the pit of numbing my senses tomorrow, I made this video, which I am very proud of, consist of the top 10 list of my favourite metal bands and snippets of songs of theirs. Now, I feel the immaterial badge of Metal Honour being burned into my skin even deeper! Hail! Haha!



It was a tough decision to place the bands in the order and choose a fitting song to represent it.  ¶ 9:19 pm 0 comments

  Laughter Went to watch The Coen Brothers' latest movie outing (final holiday movie therapy session) - Burn After Reading this afternoon, it was a vast disparity from their last Oscar-winning endeavour, No Country for Old Men. This movie (Burn) was a mad chaotic disaster that will incur unexpected laughter from the viewer. I especially liked the part where one of the Hardbodies staff who found the "sensitive shit" appear so oblivious to the brouhaha when the other staff were getting insane over the discovery of the "sensitive shit". "I didn't know! I found that in the floor of the gym! I didn't know!" HAHA. Flipping idiotically funny. Another part hit me hard on my geeky side, it was when the Russian embassy officer asked the maniacal woman who needed some surgical procedures how the CD would work, "Mac or PC?" HAHAHA! And, Chad (Brad Pitt) had the saddest death ever in his film history. That film was pretty awesome, it makes me want to check out earlier comedic films of the Coens. Which acutely reminds me of the half watched Fargo.

My laughter didn't end there for the day. I went to Ajahn Brahmn's dharma talk at Phor Kark See monastery after the movie and as usual, Venerable Ajahn Brahmn was as inspiring and amusing (in a respectful manner) as what I usually see in his youtube videos. He got this brilliant sense of Buddhism humour, when he was talking about how we can adapt to the finanical crisis, by driving a smaller car, and he always did what he preached - his vehicle is the Hinayana "Lesser Vehicle", HAHA. And, those deadpan middle aged audience didn't catch the joke at all. =\ Anyway, it was great to be able to see Venerable in person and hear him speak. Great experience to meet someone internationally known for his dharma talks.  ¶ 12:48 am 1 comments

  Deckromancy

Not wanting to let the holidays slip away without having made a single personal video, I went forth to Fort Canning Park to film this yesterday. Something queer happened though, as I was standing on top of one of the tomb slab on the ground, a sudden downpour of rain came upon me without warning and, what's more weird is that neither the cameraman, Jordan or my other friend, Ambrose got hit by the sudden onslaught of rain. The rain only stopped after I got off the tomb slab. =\ Apologies, the deceased below!

That day was a productive one which saw the filming of 3 videos consecutively, the one that you see above, one for Ambrose and one which is the card desecration video. =)

Anyway, in other matters, yeah, the holidays are sounding its death knells and swansongs... Reluctant to head back to that hole for more pretentious social meanderings as I have always been towards the institution called school, I only have to console myself I might learn something amusing at some point of the day, which I think could only derive from anatomy and physiology. Speaking of that subject, I hope we could still get to witness those lovely cadavers, lest my stay would be somewhat enjoyable. Nonetheless, the prospect of numbing my senses in that place is not at all inviting.

I got lost in my reverie, again.  ¶ 11:01 am 0 comments

  Incredible. So, today, I went to undertake the White Tara Initiation and Empowerment ceremony conducted by the young Choeze Kuchen Rinpoche. As my post title suggests, it was an extremely incredible and immense experience, to be able to see the actual Rinpoche in front as he speaks behind the raised platform, to hear the scriptures to be read from the actual Tibetan books, to hear and witness the motions and sounds of the Vajra, Vajra Bell and the various other ritual items, not forgetting the greatness when Tara's Mantra was repeated in unison.

Now, I get why the Guru-Student connection is so greatly emphasised, it's something like a concert, you have to be there to feel its awe in full instead of half of what is presented in a, say, Youtube video. Haha!  ¶ 1:10 am 0 comments