the oscar noms

i'm not really a huge fan of the oscars, but it's nice to see penelope cruz nominated for her role in volver. but i'm sure helen mirren would win that one.

deepa mehta's water is nominated for best foreign film! good on her. i don't understand why volver isn't nominated though. bah.

skin

"orang kafir tuh. mereka tak tahu."

they can be ruthless sometimes. some malaysians. hopefully not everyone. also unforgivingly self-righteous, and yet they live in ignorance to just about anything else unrelated to their just cause. some don't know when to shut up. some really need to get out more.

for people who live slightly outside the norms of conservative normalcy, this poses a strange dilemma. these days where we are valued based on how we present ourselves and what we do, it is no wonder why there is very little admiration for the simple act of kindness.

we live in this state that evades and represses our real emotional needs. on one hand there is the moral camp that lay the foundation on how we are supposed to live. julangkan budaya timur. persetankan propaganda barat. (siapa yang berpropaganda sebenarnya?) and on the other hand, a most basic basic form of humanity that does not conform to simplistic demarcations.

why should we be surprised when tens of thousands of our youth chose to attempt risky stunts on their honda motorbikes? taking control of your life is the ultimate form of freedom. freedom. a basic human need we constitutionally possess, but one that is sadly poisoned by our very own society hell bent on their hypocritical judgments.

II.1

parallel. part one.

with confidence
she heads forward
along the cafe-littered street

with each step
four-inch-heel commands increasing determination
along the beats of vitalic

the chaotic rhythm of street-life
resonates harmoniously
such power is optimism

for she looks forward
to her new life away from home



note: parallel story to the post tempo. a lame attempt.

untitled

a moon bathed street at 6 a.m.
he heads home
and witnessed the city
awaken

their day begins
while his ...
just coming to its end

plastic goliath

inescapable : Kl-ites and their mall culture. you hate it. and love it. you wander along characterless + endless + covered boulevards protected from the harsh tropical weather.

you sit in a sidewalk cafe located indoors. no hazy air here, it only reeks of pretentiousness. sipping a warm mug of latte (mug? do they know anything?), you flip through magazines and wonder why the heck it costs an extra Rm1.75 for each extra shot of espresso.

you ascend the escalator, and proceed through more a series of artificially-lit-and-ventilated boulevards. every trace of the outside world is sealed off. no windows to be found. sense of time suppressed.

the hyper-real world of the shopping mall sets the scene for the wannabes who wants to be somewhere else, to escape the daily grind of our third-world reality.

perhaps that was an unfairly harsh judgment. with one utama, centre point, ikano power centre, tesco, the curve, cine-leisure and atria less than five minutes away, i too frequent these places. they are convenient no doubt.

this isn't s statement against the malls. i'm just saying. would it not be nice if we accepted our surroundings a little bit more, as they really are. hot and humid. and not spend half our lives in these placeless goliaths.

hey, i condone the superficial lifestyle. but do it with a bit of style lah. hahaha. tak habis habis dengan ais blended.