SUPERFAG AND THE SHADY ASS BITCHES

Sketchthing. First of a regular series, perhaps?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:04:39 GMT

It's no secret that I want to make my own graphic novel, someday.

It's also no secret that I can't draw shit to save my ass.

The key is to practice, practice, practice. So that even if I end up with shit at the end of it, it'll still be better-looking shit than I started with in the first place.

I'm starting small-- I'm trying to sketch something different every day. Little things. Baby steps.

As it has already been established that I am not too good at the character-design thing, I will start with drawing other people's characters first. Once I get better at that, I will give drawing my own characters a go.

So, first up: Lockon Stratos.

Hmm. Consistency issues here and there. He looks too young in some of them. I am also really bad at drawing frontview faces-- took me many, many redraw efforts to get the face shape to look right (and still not too happy with it). IDK why I find 3/4ths view so much easier-- probably something to do with perspective being an anchor I bet. And lack of symmetry. I am very bad at symmetry.

OTOH I like the hair. Hit and miss, when it comes to me and drawing hair. But I think I'm getting the hang.

Must work on more expressions.

(P.S. Should I keep posting these?)

Objects of desire

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:58:43 GMT

It is no secret that I am disgustingly materialistic. I buy stuff on a whim more often than is healthy for me (or for my wallet). I always have a list of things-I-want (which often translates into a list of things-I-end-up-getting).

Here's the current list. As expected of me, it consists purely of shiny gadgets, books and clothes.

#1
Dude, what else can I say? I've been lamenting my lack of an iPhone ever since I lost mine in February and SingTel's anal iPhone policies wouldn't let me buy a new one until the no-upgrade lease in my contract was up.

And then the 3G S was announced to launch in my country one month before the lease expires. With video capability and cut-and-paste and all that fancy shit that I wished the first phone had, but didn't. Sweeet.

I am counting down the days to August when I can finally get my hands on one. So I can get back to Twittering on the train, IMing while crossing busy traffic junctions, incessantly checking my e-mail, and having tons of kick-awesome music at my fingertips.

And this time, I'm getting a chain to keep it with me always.

This completely cracks me up and I don't know why

iPhone 3GS
Price: Unknown, I'm guessing about SG $500+ with a plan
Status of acquisition: August, August, so far awaaaaaay

#2
Earlier this year my producer (who has since left the company) turned up to work in a pair of these, albeit brown. Since then they've been haunting me with their delicious retro juice and their big cups fitting snugly over ears blocking out the noise of the world.

I wanted to get a pair, but since I'd lost my iPhone and no longer had a proper MP3 player, it seemed a little silly to.

Then I went to Japan and I saw people wearing them everywhere: on the streets in the trains everywhere. Desire was rekindled.

I began looking for headphones online and eventually located these (which were produced by Panasonic, and not Audio-technica as I was originally led to believe). Sweet green cans with a brown headband... a color combination apparently now only available in Japan. Fuck the wha-!?

After a brief stint of kicking myself in the ass for not thinking of going to look for them when I was actually in the country, I finally arranged to have them delivered to me from Amazon Japan via vPost (as Amazon.co.jp doesn't ship this out of Japan).

As a matter of fact, while talking to my colleagues about my purchase I managed to somehow also talk two of them into getting the same headphones, just one in black and one in white. They are all shipping together, along with this fella, surreptitiously hitching a ride. ~~Yun Kouga's naked space Tieria~~ Consolidated shipping costs FTW!

Our evil plan is to simultaneously wear all three pairs in the office after they arrive, since we all sit around the same area. Yes, I know. We are undeniably awesome.

Panasonic RP-HTX7-G Headphones
Price: ¥4,482 (about US $46)
Status of acquisition: In the process of shipping

#3
I've been fascinated by Lomo cameras for a very, very long time, ever since I read about them in a news article years and years ago. In particular, I like the Colorsplash, the Horizon, Diana F+ and Lubitel cameras, for various reasons (mostly that they take pretty pictures that no amount of post-processing in Photoshop can emulate).

But they are, like all things novelty, rather pricey for something not much more than photographic conceit. And they are analogue film cameras, a format I pretty much haven't used since the turn of the century. I wondered if there was some sort of 30-day trial period for Lomo cameras.

And then I discovered that since the last time I checked, they've made these funky one-time-use disposables that come with a color filter each. That don't cost a million dollars. (And can actually be reloaded, according to the instructions that came with the box) Bingo.

After scouring the web for a while I managed to find a good shop online that sold them separately and shipped to Singapore by priority mail. I got one with a yellow filter, which was schlepped over by UPS in time for tomorrow's stayover night of drunken debauchery that my girlfriends and I have planned. We will take crazy photos (24 of them, to be exact, as provided by the single roll of 35mm film). I will then somehow get it developed. And then I will decide about the other cameras.

Lomolitos
Price: US $40 for a pack of 4, but I got one for $13 and shipped for $35
State of acquisition: I has a Lomolito at the moment. Still thinking about the actual fancy cameras themselves.

#4
I first heard of Modofly as the people who took Moleskines and laser-etched their covers. However they apparently stopped the practice after finding out that Moleskines have PVC in their covers and it's dangerous to etch them because of the tosic fumes.

So they've moved on and become an outfit that makes custom-printed, gorgeously designed notebooks and (apparently) sketchbooks. There are tons and tons of designs on their site, and a good chunk of them are incredibly lovely.

Not gonna lie, thirty-six US dollars is insanely pricey, even for a pretty fabric-bound high-quality sketchbook. It's probably not worth getting any of the designs featured on the site, even if they're really pretty.

What's interesting about them is that they do completely custom printed books. Since each of their notebooks is only printed when it gets ordered anyway, there's no difference in the charge between one of the books in their store, and a book printed with a design you supply yourself. So you could get a book printed with something you drew yourself. Or printed with an awesome crazy photograph and given as a totally unique gift to a friend. Suddenly-- gosh, it sounds like a good idea.

But if I had to pick any of the designs from their site, it would be this one. Absolutely gorgeous.

Modofly books
Price: US $36 for a large sketchbook
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

#5
I stumbled across this artist's work on, of all places, ontd_political (my LJ home away from home). I can't even remember what the post was about, but I do remember homasse posting gifs of this guy's works and me going "OMFG where did you get those from?!?!" So she passed me a link to a shop that sells his artbooks-- hoo boy.

Basically, if you can't already tell from the photo, Takato Yamamoto specializes in dark sensual Ukiyo-e style paintings of beautiful, scantily-clad, somewhat androgynous young men and women, which are sometimes hard to tell apart from each other.

Needless to say, I am absolutely and utterly in love with the artwork.

(Duh.)

There are a whole bunch of artbooks that he's produced and Scarlet Maniera is the first of the lot. I don't know which of them is better than the others so I figured the first book would be an ideal place to start collecting. If I do start collecting. Much as I wish I was, I am not actually in the business of printing money.

(Why could I not have discovered all these things before I went to Japan? Why!?)

Takato Yamamoto's Scarlet Maniera
Price: ¥3,150 (about US $32)
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

#6
Alright, I haven't bought anything from Threadless in a long, long time. While I love their designs, I've come to prefer long shirts with huge graphic designs that cover half of the front, which Threadless doesn't do often.

This, however, is different. I love the design. I love it. It's striking, it covers most of the shirtfront... and it has UV ink ghosts that only show up in bright sunlight. How awesome is that? Plus, it's on sale for only $12, instead of the regular $18.

On the other hand, I need to spend more money on clothes like I need a new hole in the head. So I don't know if I should. Even though it will look awesome with my wardrobe.

Also, it's been as while since I've bought from Threadless (as I've said), and in the interim they've started printing shirts on their own house brand of tees. I've not had any experience with their tees so far-- does anyone here have feedback on it? Is it light and comfy? Anyone?

"Secrets of the City" from Threadless
Price: US$12
Status of acquisition: I'm thinking about it

Iran: Why You Should Care (reposted from one_hoopy_frood)

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:45:35 GMT

I have taken this from one_hoopy_frood, with encouragement: the LJ equivalent of a Twitter repost.

I (me, June) have been following the Iran elections & subsequent protests for the last two days, over Twitter, ontd_political, and the blogosphere. It has been a harrowing experience: the tension, the photos, the reports that have come trickling out from the tightening grip of the Iranian government has been both heartbreaking and terrifying. There's something about following the updates of a student getting shot at by armed militias that just tears at you.

Fixed where we are a world away, the best thing we can do is to stay informed and help get the word out. Let those who are fighting for their freedoms know that they are not alone, that others are hearing their cries.

REPOST!

If you are reading this right now, you have more luxury than someone in Iran could ever hope for right now. If you are watching TV or a video on youtube, updating your status on Facebook, Tweeting, or even texting your friend, you are lucky. If you are safe in your home, and were able to sleep last night without the sounds of screaming from the rooftops, you need to know and understand what is happening to people just like you in Iran right now.

They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with ferver as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Amedinejad.

On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmedinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmedinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite; websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmedinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.

Mousavi requested that they government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. (Personal note: I've heard reports that it might have been 3 million-- but nothing is confirmed at this point). Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. Women are being brutally beat.

Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran, no older than I. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.

For more information:

PICTURES:
Here - from Boston.com
Here - on Flickr

NEW INFORMATION:
Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish - near constant updates
ONTD_political live post - Collated information, pictures & etc in the comments

ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi
@ProtesterHelp
@IranElection09
@IranRiggedElect
@Change_For_Iran <-- no tweets for a while, which is worrying :(
@NextRevolution <-- absolutely heartbreaking

ETA: SIGN THE GLOBAL PETITION! 25,000 signatures and growing! http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protest-against-the-june-2009-coup-detat-in-iran.html

دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election

HTML Code for reposting:

They are not the enemy. They are a people whose election has been stolen. For the first time in a long time, a voice for change struck the youth of Iran, just as it did for many people in the United States only seven months ago. Hossein Mousavi gained the support of millions of people in Iran as a Presidential candidate. He stands for progressiveness. He supports good relations with the West, and the rest of the world. He is supported with ferver as he challenges the oppressive regime of Mahmoud Amedinejad.

On Friday, millions of people waited for hours in line to vote in Iran's Presidential election. Later that night, as votes came in, Mousavi was alerted that he was winning by a two-thirds margin. Then there was a change. Suddenly, it was Ahmedinejad who had 68% of the vote - in areas which have been firmly against his political party, he overwhelmingly won. Within three hours, millions of votes were supposedly counted - the victor was Ahmedinejad. Immediately fraud was suspected - there was no way he could have won by this great a margin with such oppposition. Since then, reports have been coming in of burned ballots, or in some cases numbers being given without any being counted at all. None of this is confirmed, but what happened next seems to do the trick.

The people of Iran took the streets and rooftops. They shout "Death to the dictator" and "Allah o akbar." They join together to protest. Peacefully. The police attack some, but they stay strong. Riots happen, and the shouting continues all night. Text messaging was disabled, as was satellite; websites which can spread information such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and the BBC are blocked in the country. At five in the morning, Arabic speaking soldiers (the people of Iran speak Farsi) stormed a university in the capital city of Tehran. While sleeping in their dormitories, five students were killed. Others were wounded. These soldiers are thought to have been brought in by Ahmedinejad from Lebanon. Today, 192 of the university's faculty have resigned in protest.

Mousavi requested that they government allow a peaceful rally to occur this morning - the request was denied. Many thought that it would not happen. Nevertheless, first a few thousand people showed up in the streets of Tehran. At this point, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people were there. (Personal note: I've heard reports that it might have been 3 million-- but nothing is confirmed at this point). Mousavi spoke on the top of a car. The police stood by. For a few hours, everything was peaceful. Right now, the same cannot be said. Reports of injuries, shootings, and killings are flooding the internet. Twitter has been an invaluable source - those in Iran who still know how to access it are updating regularly with picture evidence. Women are being brutally beat.

Tonight will be another night without rest for so many in Iran, no older than I. Tonight there is a Green Revolution.

<blockquote>For more information:

PICTURES:
<a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html">Here</a> - from Boston.com
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388/sets/">Here</a> - on Flickr

NEW INFORMATION:
<a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/">Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish</a> - near constant updates
<a href="http://community.livejournal.com/ontd_political/3331425.html">ONTD_political live post</a> - Collated information, pictures & etc in the comments

</a>ON TWITTER:
@StopAhmadi
@ProtesterHelp
@IranElection09
@IranRiggedElect
@Change_For_Iran <-- no tweets for a while, which is worrying :(
@NextRevolution <-- absolutely heartbreaking

ETA: SIGN THE GLOBAL PETITION! 25,000 signatures and growing! http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protest-against-the-june-2009-coup-detat-in-iran.html</blockquote>

<center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/3631626120/" title="v6u8hw by jyyang, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3546/3631626120_8b3270470b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="v6u8hw" /></a>
دنیارابگوییدچطورآنهاانتخاباتمان دزدیده اند
Tell the world how they have stolen our election</center>

(original post by <lj user="one_hoopy_frood"> <a href="http://one-hoopy-frood.livejournal.com/10678.html">here</a>)

Repost this in your own LJs or elsewhere if you must-- spread the word! CAN'T STOP THE SIGNAL!

I am, shockingly, alive and looking for some small guidance!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:26:19 GMT

Well, now that I've been back from Japan for more than a week and have gained both distance and some sort of perspective on the entire affair, I think I'm finally ready to write a few summary-and-reflection posts. After hanging around listlessly doing nothing-in-particular all of last week, my previously-absent writing mojo is starting to return to me.

The problem is, there's just so much I could write about. I have a whole list of things I'd like to talk about, but I could really use some direction, or at least some inspiration that will lead to some semblance of direction (the wishy-washy-words, they are strong with this one).

So, as usual, I will do things by way of public appeal. Dear friendslist, what part about my trip to Japan would you like to hear most about? Top 10 lists, specific questions, personal reccs, etc.? Anything you want to request, I will consider. Give me an idea on what I should be focusing on! :D

In the meantime, I'm still (slowly) cherrypicking photos & videos from Japan and (slowly) uploading them to my Flickr account. I'll do a final streampost when they're all done.

Giant music-sharing-and-request post coming soon. Hurrah, I guess?

Japan Days 6-8: Photos

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:33:30 GMT

Haven't been blogging Japan because a) tired, and b) figured I was boring most of my friendslist based on the dwindling number of comments. So no full blogposts from me. Instead, have the Flickr photostreams.

Most of the streams aren't too detailed because time spent shopping == nothing particularly photograph-worthy, but I did put in some lengthy explanations on some of the photos I did take, so they're worth checking out if you're interested (particularly the Washinomiya day).

Tomorrow we head to the Tsukiji fish market in the morning so that might be something more interesting. The day after that I fly back to Singapore.

Day 6: Ikebukuro
10 photos

Day 7: The Lucky Star shrine (Washinomiya)
44 photos

Day 8: Shibuya
7 photos, 3 videos

I'm tired and I want to go home.

June's Big Trip To Japan Day 5: AKIHABARA!

Mon, 25 May 2009 14:36:07 GMT

AIKBA! A day spent navigating up and down one cramped, crazy multisensory, multifloor store after another. Akiba, the venerable Mecca of otaku the world over, was a long street filled with tall skinny buildings all trying to outshout each other as throngs of geeks made their way down it, occasionally vanishing into one of the shining, gaping maws that awaited them. Was it an eye-opener? Most certainly. Would I want to go again? I'd say yes, but my wallet is sitting in a corner screaming "No! No! NO!" You figure it out.

We spent the day there, going in succession from Kotobukiya, K-Books, Gamers, Asobit Chara City, the @thome maid cafe, Toranoana, and Animate. Each of the shops was overflowing, absolutely overflowing, with varying portions of CDs, DVDs, games, manga, doujinshi, hobby kits and character goods. The madness didn't end where the merch did: the walls, the stairs, the gantries, even the interior of the damn lifts were literally plastered over with posters, ads, prices, and more anime than the eyes could stand. I didn't take many pictures of the places we went: where the hell would I start? Akihabara is not a place, it's an experience.

The absolute best part of our day was the time we spent in the maid cafe. We weren't actually planning on going, but we needed to find a place to sit down and sort through the stuff we'd bought, and we had been given directions to the place by my sister's otaku guy friend, so we decided to give it a try. What we found inside was a delight: the maids were cheerful and friendly, who held a rock-paper-scissors game for all the patrons, taught us to do a little "MOE, MOE, KYUNN~" handsign-and-chant thing before tucking into our sweets, and talked to us despite our general failure in speaking Japanese. One of the maids serving us saw us sorting through the b00bies doujin we'd bought and told us she was a fan of the series too (she liked Lockon and Patrick). When she saw the Tieria-centric ecchi doujin menelvir had bought for me, she said "Banshi ni attai suru!" Which was the title of the doujin, but left us all in a fit of senseless giggles anyway. menelvir asked another of the maids about the ring she was wearing which was this little thing with a faux macaroon on it, because she wanted to see if she could buy one like it. But it turned out that the girl had made it herself, and then she insisted on giving it to menelvir. Oh man! We left the cafe feeling slightly guilty about it, but also completely bubbly and giggly-- it gets infectious. I highly recommend visiting this cafe if you're ever in Akiba, it takes up several floors on a building on the left of the first big cross junction after coming out of the station. (@thome cafe's website)

The worst part of the day, if I had to say, was probably our time in K-books while we were browsing through the used CD section, which was also in the doujin and character good section. That place just gave off... weird vibes, from the body pillows on sale to the shelves of hentai stuff all over, and the men there who were giving us all sorts of strange looks. We three were the only girls in that entire half of the store, and it felt really skeezy in a way that the normal, non-yaoi hentai doujin part of Toranoana didn't (even though the latter had ginormous nipples on display everywhere you looked. Everywhere, I assure you). Maybe guys would have been comfortable hanging up, but we certainly weren't.

What else can I say about Akiba? By the end of the day we had bags filled with anime merch of all sorts, gotten entirely sick of the theme songs to K-on (they were playing in every shop we went into. EVERY shop), and spent more money than we had capacity to not feel guilty for. I'm just thoroughly glad that I'm not a huge fan of any of the anime series that have come out this year, or I would be much, much poorer.

WTF engrish. "Story liquidation" sounds like and awesome idea for a... story. (What the sign actually means is that you have to pay for the merchandise on the floor you find it on-- you can't take it unpaid between floors. As spotted in Gamers.)

ORE NO GUNDAM DA! This sign in Asobit Chara City cracked us up. Can you spot the door in the picture? Look carefully.

I was walking up the stairs in Toranoana when I saw a poster and said, "Hey, this dude has an eyepatch, he looks like Lockon." Then I realized that he was, indeed, actually Lockon, and I'd walked into a wall full of ads for yaoi b00bies doujin.

The folks at Toranoana have way too much fun with their figurines.

Curry and takoyaki-flavored ramune. The curry flavored one was palatable, the takoyaki one much less so. The real funny thing is that the locals working at K's house were all shocked at seeing the strange flavors, until they found out that we'd got them from Akiba. Then it was all, "Aah! From Akiba, that's why it's weird." Oh dear!

This, however, is the most delicious thing ever-- it's curry bread from the 7-Eleven opposite our hostel, which we've been religiously eating for breakfast every morning since we arrived in Tokyo.

Clockwise from top: Chibi Meisters sling bag (for my sister), b00bies voice i-Doll (I got a Ribbons ♥), a couple of cans of hard candy (for my colleagues, b00bies character stickers (which I will probably give away), an entire box of 24 (plus four more) of teeny tiny Macross F gashapon (most of which I will probably end up selling--lol), Pinky St. girl, the half-finished bottle of curry ramune, SID's ending theme to FMA (just because I love SID), chibi Meister CD cases, Moyashimon postits and notebooks (for my friends).

Ribbons: No, let's see, red fishnet stockings. Yes. Those would bring out the color of your eyes better. >:3
Tieria: D8 D8 D8

And finally, a catalogue of the stuff that I couldn't take out and photograph in public. I have no idea why I thought making a video of it would be a good idea, since I hate my voice and how dumb I sound when I talk, but there you go.

Today's flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyyang/sets/72157618685353139/

Tomorrow: Ikebukuro, and a butler cafe!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

June's Big Japan Trip Day 4: Harajuku

Sun, 24 May 2009 15:28:42 GMT

Our first full day in Tokyo passed in a madness of shopping and elbowing through crowds of people. I went to Harajuku intending to spend money, and spend money I did. Something like six tops, two skirts, a bunch of leggings, and a whole plethora of accessories to go along with. Packed ¥30,000 (about USD300) into my wallet and spent almost all of it. Along the way, managed to grab some good food, meet some of Tokyo's more outrageous denizens, and have dinner with dilettantka and hinoai. Sugoi.

The main attraction, for us, was Takeshita dori, the little street that could--crammed from end to end with shops hawking clothes and bags and accessories for the trendy kids of Tokyo. And it's got benri--convenience--down to an art: get off the train at Harajuku, follow the big bright signs that say "Takeshita dori", and bam! The street is right in your face the moment you step out of the ticket gantry. No maps needed. Just cross the road and you're on your way to a day's worth of browsing the colorful, beckoning, overflowing stores down its maybe-hundred-and-fifty meter length.

Here's a very brief pictorial recap of our day there-- mostly I was too busy buying stuff to take pictures.

It was raining lightly when we got to Harajuku, and the light rain would persist for half the day. The street turned into forest of umbrellas.

There are tons and tons of crepe shops in and around Takeshita dori. We got to try some-- OM NOM NOM.

One of the places we patronized hugely was this shop called ACDC Rags, which had multiple outlets around Takeshita dori. They sold all sorts of punk apparel, frills and checkers and skulls and metal studs. I bought a pair of boots and a sling bag from them.

But they had some really nifty stuff, like this heavy leather jacket that weighed about fifty pounds and cost about three hundred dollars.

This is absolutely the most outrageous shop along the entirety of Takeshita dori-- Takenoko boutique, stuffed floor-to-ceiling with hugely flamboyant costumes all embroidered, glided and sequined over every square inch. Completely fantastic.

A little overwhelmed by it all, we finally left Takeshita dori and wandered around in search of Meiji-jingu-mae, the fabled Sunday gathering point of cosplayers. It did not take us too long to find it (and without aid of a map, I must say!)

Harajuku station exit beside Jingu-mae

The bridge at Meiji-jingu-mae.

To be completely honest, I wasn't really blown away by whatever was going on there. Maybe it was the rain earlier, which might have discouraged more people from coming, or maybe it was just the fact that we're too inured to this stuff. When your sister's best friend wears Goth Loli to classes in college, the outfits we saw weren't that far off from the ordinary, in our estimation.

A sampler of some of the cosplayers

Then my sister's carry bag chose that moment to give up the ghost and snap at the handles for good, so it was back to Takeshita dori to find her a replacement.

The view from the head of Takeshita dori-- people, people, people!

She finally got her bag from one of the bigger ACDC shops, which was actually on a small street off the side of Takeshita dori proper, to the right. (Worth the visit if you're into the punk rock aesthetic, as they have a lot more stuff there than in the small shop they have on Takeshita dori itself. You can spy the shop entrance from main street well enough if you pay attention.) Sis ended up getting a black bag with lace and corset ribbons. She loves it immensely.

I of course, bought more stuff while I was there.

My contribution to the Japanese economy!

(And oh-- that's the larger ACDC shop in the background-- it's off the side of Takeshita dori, as I said.)

After that, we went to meet Jamie and Eda at the Harajuku station, and had a wonderful dinner together. We didn't get any group photos, but we did take some of Mickey Mouse doing something strange to Jamie's butt (although, I have to add, that the idea for the shot was originally Eda's. Must give credit where it's due!)

We finally got home after a little adventure on the Yamanote line where I dragged everyone off the train at Ueno, got horribly lost looking for our transfer exit, only to realize "OH SHIT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO GET OFF AT OKACHIMACHI" when we were miserably headed back to the platforms to look for another way out. In my defense, my brain was fried after all that shopping, and we were supposed to get off at Okachimachi to transfer to Ueno-okachimachi, so I obviously wasn't thinking straight. But nope, the mocking didn't stop all the way back to the hostel. Sigh. FML! (And yes, Ueno and Okachimachi are hugely different stations especially in terms of size, but let's not go there, shall we... as I said, my brain was fried...)

Unpacking our swag in our closet-sized dorm.

Here's a little video of Meiji-jingu-mae, where my sister wonders about the nose strip popularized by (I believe) the Gazette's Reita.

Tomorrow we head to Akiba: Otaku heaven!

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June's Big Japan Trip Day 3: From Kyoto To Tokyo

Sat, 23 May 2009 12:54:48 GMT

Day three had been reserved for traveling: from Kyoto back to Tokyo, and then bashing around Tokyo until we'd finally located our hostel, and then riding on the Yamanote line like crazy bastards getting used to commuting in Japan.

It went sort of something as planned.

The view from the K's House Kyoto cafe.

We walked back to the Kyoto Tower to do some last-minute souvenir shopping. And while we were there, we saw something quite unusual--or perhaps quite usual, by Japanese standards:

OPPAI PUDDING (and yes, there are little nipples on the pudding).

Then it was Shinkansen time, back to Tokyo. We ate bento we bought from the station, as well as a few mementoes we got from Kyoto:

RAMUNE-FLAVORED YATSUHASHI

We got to Tokyo and onto the Yamanote line without a hitch. That wasn't the hard part of our trip. The hard part... was to come later.

pkyyr and menelvir on the Yamanote line

We got off at Ueno with all our baggage, intending to transfer to Ueno-okachimachi on the Oedo line, which our subway maps told us we could do. We docilely followed the signs out of Ueno station directing us to the Oedo line, all the way, out of the station...

...and found ourselves stranded on a busy crossroad with no signs whatsoever to where the entrance to Ueno-okachimachi was.

It took us about half and hour of blundering around the vicinity of the station before we finally staggered back into Ueno to ask the stationmaster where in the world the Oedo line was. It turned out that we had been on the right street, but had gone in the wrong direction down the street because ta-daaa! There were no directional signs on the street!

So finally we arrived at Kuramae station, and found K's House Tokyo (right beside the station). Let me tell you Internets, Tokyo has completely rewritten my definition of "small living space". The three-person room we were given has just about enough space to physically fit the three of us, our luggages, the bunk beds, and maybe about half a cat. "Tiny" would be too generous a word for it.

After we'd checked in and settled down (optimizing our use of space so that we could all open our luggaes at the same time!), we decided to try walking from K's House to Ueno station so that we could save the 170 yen fare for the Oedo leg of the trip.

Half an hour of traipsing down Kasuga-dori later, we decided: FUCK THIS, WE'RE TAKING THE TRAIN THE NEXT TIME.

Our original plan was to jump onto the Yamanote line at Ueno, and bounce in and out of stations figuring out all the exits to the major stations. However, when we got to the station we were distracted by all the bright and shiny lights, and decided to eat first at the Mickey D's...

And so our first meal in Tokyo was a fat- and sodium- laced meal of junk.

One thing led to another, and we found ourselves spending the next few hours wandering down the bright and shiny street, otherwise known as the Ameyoko market, which is apparently the only open-air market of its kind in Tokyo. Shops selling watches and hats and clothes and bags nestle jowl-and-jowl with shops selling food and fish and other things. It was fantastic walking--and shopping.

CRABS

An Obama t-shirt!

The we got back to K's House.

We split the spoils of our trip, including a pair of tiny, lovely watermelons we bought from the vicinity of Ameyoko.

OUR LUVLY MELONS

Knock knock!

And here is the video of the day: the Ameyoko open air market. Deliciously crowded and lively.

Here's the flickr stream for Day 3. As usual, bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos later-- I will probably upload more after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

NEXT UP: HARAJUKU AND THE WALL OF PEOPLE... or so I've heard about the conditions of Harajuku on a Sunday. But we must catch the cosplayers and the Goth Lolis in action!

P.S. I know I have a metric shiton of comments to get back to on the previous posts-- sorry! I will get to them... eventually. A bit short of time here, I am.

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June's Big Japan Trip Day 2: Hiroshima

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:31:50 GMT

We got up early and hacked our way to Kyoto station, where we caught the 8:04AM Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Our destination: the A-bomb done and the memorial park.

Luckily for us, there is a electric streetcar that goes from the Shinkansen station to right in from of the A-bomb done. The station's even called Genbaku Dome-mae.

pkyyr and menelvir

The Genbaku dome is the name of one of the very few buildings left standing after the A-bomb was detonated nearby. It was left in the state of ruins as a reminder of what had happened.

The dome is the beginning of a series of interconnected parks and memorials around the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which documents the bombing.

A thousand paper cranes.

This is the memorial for all the children who lost their lives in the bombing.

The paper cranes are a significant symbolism. The construction of the memorial was sparked off by the death of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who developed leukaemia after being exposed to radiation from the nuclear fallout of the blast. She folded thousands of paper cranes in a fruitless prayer for her illness to get better. After her death, a fund was started to get the memorial built in the memory of her and the others like her, young lives prematurely ended by the bombing. The glass-walled boxes pictured in the previous pictures are filled with thousands upon thousands of cranes sent in by schoolchildren from all over Japan.

This flame will keep burning until all the nuclear weapons in the world are gone. President Obama, I hope you were sincere about nuclear disarmament. It would be really nice.

We went into the peace museum (pictured in the bg of the above), walked around, got kind of melancholy and depressed, as expected. We were very, very quiet as we left the museum and walked back to the tramcar station.

Tramcars on the road really remind me of Europe

We went back to the Shinkansen station in search of food-- the famed Hiroshima okonomiyaki (お好み焼き). There was a nice cosy restaurant there, and they not only sold okonomiyaki, but also udon.

Apparently, very special udon.

But we didn't get that. Okonomiyaki! Noodles, omelette, some sort of bacon and veg. All topped with a sweetish, savory sauce.

OM NOM NOM

On the way back to Kyoto

In Kyoto we did a bit of souvenir shopping at the Kyoto Tower before grabbing a bite at a little ramen stall on the way back. The lady at the ramen stall spoke Chinese, much to our amazement! She complimented us on our Japanese, although I hear that Japanese tend to do that when you're a foreigner speaking really, really bad Japanese to them. Which we most certainly were.

Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo and settle in. In the meantime, here's a video I took of the Shinkansen arriving at the station in Hiroshima:

pkyyr and menelvir were trying to stick their fingers into the shot while I was filming >8(

Here's the flickr stream for Day 2. As usual, bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos later-- I will probably upload more after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

June's Big Japan Trip Day 1: Kyoto [a photo recap]

Thu, 21 May 2009 13:20:05 GMT

So! Day 1 in Japan with pkyyr and menelvir. After a long overnight journey which was so empty I got to sleep across a row of chairs in cattle class, we arrived in Japan, and spent the next six hours shuttling from highspeed train to highspeed train until we finally arrived in Kyoto.

Kyoto/Hiroshima is the scenic leg of our trip, all culture and scenery and sane, not-at-all-brain-melting things. Or at least, as un-brain-melty as it can get when it involves people like my sister and I.

A brief pictorial recap!

On the plane, a 11-hour journey with a stopover at Bangkok, at which they threw us off the plane and made us all re-board.

I should have known Kris was going to win AI. The signs were EVERYWHERE.

We arrived in Tokyo in the morning, struggled out of the airport and somehow managed to not only buy our passes, get our tickets and locate the train, but also do so without getting lost. 2 years of Japanese language studies have paid off, apparently!

The Narita Express that took us to Tokyo where we would board the train to Kyoto.

No amount of Japanesing can explain what the hell a DEAD HEAD TRAIN is, unfortunately.

Seen at one of the stations on the Narita-Tokyo line: YES WE CAN! The Japanese reads "We can because it's ABC!" Only In Japan!

SHINKANSEEEEEENNNN

I did some Japanese studying on the train journey there, which was a rather cramped and uncomfortable affair for someone traveling with 10 days' baggage. I was up to the eyes in stuff, and I kept elbowing the poor salaryman in the seat next to mine everytime I tried to retrieve something from my bag.

And at long last: KYOTO! (MY first Japanese crosswalk ever. <3)

It took us a bloody long time (and a lot of trekking, 10 days' baggage and all) before we managed to locate K's House Kyoto, shoved into a small side street. After checking in, a sort-of lunch and a quick shower, we set out to explore on foot and search for Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺)-- the love shrine, and I don't mean the dirty sort. It's old, it's famous, and it's also right on top of a hill overlooking the city.

Unfortunately we decided to lose ourselves in the tiny roads and alleys of Kyoto, and took about two hours to reach the place. It did not help that the map we had had the roads labelled WRONG. WTF WE DEMAND A REFUND GODDAMMIT

But we got a lot of pictures of the quaint countryside.

All the way up the hill, finally, we reached the shrine.

It has a great view of Kyoto.

pkyyr and I.

menelvir and I. I have no idea what she's doing, man. NO IDEA.

Because we got there so late, and left only as the shrine site was closing, we barely got to shop for souvenirs on the street down. Still, we managed to buy some pretty trinkets from the shops that were still open. Then we trekked across Kyoto to buy food, hit the JR station to get our passes for the Shinkansen rides to Hiroshima, and then back to K's house by which time our beleaguered feet were absolutely ON FIRE.

Thankfully, K's house is a marvelous little cozy abode just right for three very tired travellers to chill out and tuck in.

ITADAKIMAAAASU

And that's my very brief recap of the day. I leave you here with a video I shot while we were walking through the tiny back streets of Kyoto. I call it "The Trouble With Tomare". JSYK, "Tomare (止まれ)" means "STOP!" in Japanese.

Here's the flickr stream for Day 1. Bookmark it if you are interested in seeing more photos of Kyoto-- I have tons more, which I will probably upload after I get back to Singapore. This is a brief (very brief) recap, after all.

Up next: Day 2, Day Trip To Hiroshima! Hopefully, I'll be able to get some blogging done tomorrow since we apparently arrive back at the hostel fairly late. If not, you'll hear from me on Saturday when we finally get back to Tokyo.

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PinkDot 2009: All You Need Is Love! (Photos/Video)

Sat, 16 May 2009 18:35:43 GMT

PinkDot! My Very First GLBT Event was a blast, I ran into people I knew, I met a whole bunch of people I hadn't known. I met up and had dinner with an old secondary school classmate whom I hadn't caught up with in years, and whom I just found out was gay today. That was awesome. Hung out or met up with ataraxistence, forochel, renovak, htenywg, glazzal, malyntine, the usual #awaresg folks (@missbossy, @ctham, @bruincoffee, @bionic_creative, @Wolfgang_, @wynlim, etc.), plus a whole lot of other friends-of-friends and assorted folks, including someone I'd hooked up with on OkCupid (hi Kai Er!)

In other words, it was awesome. A great day spent in the company of many like-minded, open-minded and/or openly gay folks. I can't really put the scope of it into words, so I will let my photos (and videos!) do the talking.

The pre-PinkDot late lunch at a Fish & Chips place. So much gossip & drama!

When we arrived at Hong Lim Park, there were already hundreds there. Pink balloons were being given out.

The event's official photographer gave us these placards to pose with. It was actually drizzling slightly at this point, although the sun was out! Only in a tropical nation.

I just have to give props to these boys who did a dance segment for us. Some of them were so incredibly pretty. All glammed-up and proud, pink eyeshadow and everything. It was amazing!

With @bionic_creative aka Vicki and Mel.

Everybody was cooing over this mini Pom who had been dyed pink. She was very sweet, obviously enjoying her day out. All the attention!

Somewhere around six the organizers gathered everyone in a big pink dot for aerial photo taking-- the money shot of the entire event. The camera was located somewhere in a hotel across the street, presumably several stories up. A few celebs incl. Stuart Koe and Neo Swee Lin gathered in the center and read short speeches. The pink flag was a nice touch-- made for photo ops that aspired to be iconic, at least.

And on the mark...

Umbrellas popped open, balloons were released, and we shouted and cheered and sang "All You Need Is Love". ♥

I went for a fusion Japanese pasta dinner with my friend from school and a couple of her friends, who were partners. Most of dinner was spent talking about housing issues-- a major problem for committed couples in a country where gay marriage isn't even on the cards and singles under 35 aren't allowed to own Government-built (and therefore not-so-insanely priced) apartments. It was an enjoyable dinner, but also a very sobering one. Singaporean society is largely conformist and heavily family-oriented, complete with traditions like children being expected to live with their parents until they get married. It makes it pretty much impossible for same-sex partners to live the same sort of lives as heterosexual couples do. It's the same reason why I've not told my parents about liking girls and why I'm still on the lookout for a boyfriend even though I'm far more easily attracted to women than I am to men. If I can help it, I'd marry a boy and just let my parents imagine I'm straight. It's easier that way.

After that I made my way to the 2nd #awaresg tweetup, having had to wade through a huge throng of Man U supporters gathered at Boat Quay to watch the match against Arsenal. Yes, I got to watch as Man U effectively cinched the EPL title this year goddammit (and I had "GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED" stuck in my head on the bus home, fnarrr). But at least I had excellent company (and half of us had come from PinkDot, yes).

And now, I will leave you with this. Due to my abominable videography skills, and the fact that I tried shooting all my videos by waving my camera above my head and hoping I would get something good, all the videos I took turned out disjointed, random, and worthy of Blair Witch-eqsue motion sickness fits. So I tried to salvage the scraps by snipping them together and pasting music over them. At 1AM. On iMovie. A program that I actually have no idea how to use.

I was tempted to use "Free" by the Lighthouse Family as a backing track, but the Glambert won out in the end.

My Flickr set for this event (with larger versions of all the photos here)
ETA!: The actual Pink Dot! Via Twitter
Son of ETA! Official PinkDot video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9gDazG4cC0 I'm in it @ 00:28 -- check out the stupid face I made!

GRRRR WTFFF (Gay rights rant ahead)

Wed, 13 May 2009 10:44:06 GMT

Okay guys, THANK YOU so much for all the supremely helpful tips to my OMG JAPAN post, I promise I will get around to replying to all the comments there. This is just a flyby post to express my UTTER RAGE.

Background: Singapore's Nominated Members of Parliament are up for nomination again. These folks are not democratically elected, but rather, selected by the Parliament from various walks of life (not necessarily political), to sit alongside elected Members of Parliament and offer alternative opinions during parliamentary debate.

Current NMP Siew Kum Hong, who was the nifty guy who did his legal advice to the AWARE Old Guard (pro bono!) is up for renomination. Unfortunately, he appears to be the target of an astroturfing effort to smear his reputation and hurt his chances of re-nomination.

I got wind of this and left a comment supporting NMP Siew on the Government's online outreach board. It was a horribly phrased, terribly cliched little thing that sounded like a sixteen year-old wrote it for their O-level argumentative essay. Nevermind that. Half of the comments on that page were illogical, fear-mongering anti-gay screeds anyway.

Then I hit a particular stinker of a comment on that same page and totally lost my cool. I quote verbatim:

Jose Rodrigo
13 May 09 , 16:36 PM

Please stop demonising Christianity. Its not just Christian values, its Asian Values. One we grew up with in this country. Values that teach us love and family respect. Not everyone who oppose this evil are christians, we're decent, harworking, STRAIGHT Singaporeans who don't want to see our country corrupted by these buggers and see our children turned into sexual deviants.They're decent Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, Hindus etec. They take a stand against this insidious evil called Homosexuality.
It is not intolerance, its right and wrong. We refuse to co-exist with these degenerates, just like a flock of sheep cannot co-exist with a wolf in the flock.

That said, an NMP who speaks for this alternate lifestyle cannot, and MUST NOT be supported.

WHAT. THE. FLYING-- WHAT. WHERE DO YOU EVEN BEGIN TO-- NO. NO.

Half a minute of finger-shaking rage later, I finally managed to compose myself enough to sit down and type out this reply:

JY Yang
13 May 09 , 17:08 PM

Dear Mr. Rodrigo,

Have you heard the words that are coming out of your (figurative) mouth? "Evil"? "Degenerates"? These are PEOPLE you are talking about, fellow human beings who just happened to have been born different from you. You are veering dangerously close to hate speech, my friend. Gay people are not going to eat your children, take away your job, or strip you of your right to marry. Why do you feel the need to persecute them so? If you want to talk about demonizing, I suggest you look in the mirror first.

Comments like yours perfectly exemplify why we need reasoned voices like NMP Siew's in Parliament, who speak up for those who would otherwise be dehumanized and stripped of their rights by the bigotry such as you are espousing.

I'm still angry. I'm still fuming, seriously. Asian values... Asian values my ASS. As @missbossy said on Twitter, ask him to go read Dream Of The Red Chamber and stop talking out of his ass. Or this bit in Wikipedia, particularly about early European explorers being shocked by the open acceptance of homosexuality in Asian cultures. Also, I'll note that Buddhism & Hinduism, both major Asian-origin religions here, do not consider homosexuality a sin. Unlike the Abrahamic religions imported from the West-- and even then there's not always consensus. Not even gonna touch the rest of the hate and the ignorance in that comment. Just--

FLAMES. ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE.

I'M GOING DOWN FOR PINKDOT COME HELL OR HIGH WATER

OH SHIT I FLY TO JAPAN IN A WEEK.

Tue, 12 May 2009 09:57:43 GMT

It's just hit me. It's just hit me. I'm flying to Japan next week and I have not prepared anything for the trip yet. I blame recent... events for distracting me, but the key thing is that we'll be headed to Japan in a week and I haven't even given it more than a cursory thought.

Or, to be more accurate, we're going to be in Tokyo for six days and we have NO IDEA where we're about to go. Other than vague notions of "Okay, we'll spend a day in Ikebukuro, a couple of days in Shinjuku & Harajuku, some time checking out Akiba..." We're not taking any guided tours, we've never been to Japan before, and as a matter of fact I have a sinking feeling we'll spend most of our days there lost and peering at our maps and trying to figure out which intersection we're at and how many miles away it is from where we actually want to be. GOD HELP US.

Well, actually, maybe you guys can help us. If you're familiar with Tokyo, or have been there recently, maybe you might have answers to these questions!

What are good places for budget clothes & accessories shopping? I want to throw out half my dowdy old wardrobe to repopulate it with fancy shirts, cute skirts, stockings, boots, belts and various shiny accessories. At the same time, I don't want to spend a fortune. Anyone know of a good place to get cheap but fashionable stuff?

There are tons, and tons, and tons of otaku places to go in Japan. We definitely won't be able to visit them all. Anyone got reccs for the best you-can't-go-to-Japan-and-not-go-here places to get manga/doujin/anime merch?

What's the availability of free wireless like? Especially in K's Hostel where we'll be staying. I ask because I know I'll need regular access to email for work purposes. (The computer will be with me in Japan, yes.)

Because food in Japan is so expensive and we need to save costs, we'll spend our trip subsisting on peasant ramen and discount bentos. We're planning to limit ourselves to ONE good meal at a decent-but-not-too-fancy restaurant. Food reccs, anybody?

And finally, anyone want me to help buy them something from Japan? This is entirely dependent on cash flow issues and luggage space, but I can probably afford to help people buy and transport small items costing ¥2000 or less. Like manga or gashapon figurines or Pinky dolls. No guarantees I'll actually be able to find the stuff, but I can try!

(For those who will inevitably ask: We are spending a couple of days in Kyoto, taking a day trip to Hiroshima, and then spending the rest of the trip, six days in total, in Tokyo. We have Kyoto and Hiroshima more or less worked out, but the Tokyo leg of the trip is a huge blank. And we're flying off in SEVEN DAYS. HALP.)

Now, for something entirely different (and completely Singaporean). A plug for Aware! There's a fundraiser running from the 27th May to the 30th May in the form of Caryl Churchill's award-winning classic feminist play, Top Girls. I would love to go, but I WILL BE IN JAPAN. D'oh. Tickets range from $25 (for students), to $40 (for adults), to $80 (for the 30th May Gala night, which includes a reception that I assume involves food and wine. How can you say no to alcohol?)

Here's the pimp post I wrote for the revamped We-Are-Aware site that has more information about the play, the venue, and how to get tickets. If you're in Singapore and you have an evening to burn, why not go for this? It's for a good cause, after all.

...honestly, while I don't begrudge my trip to Japan, I'm a little bitter that I'll be missing out on so much good stuff while I'm gone. This play, my monthly writers' meetup, my company's quarterly social event in the form of a BBQ, the goddamn AMERICAN IDOL FINALE ASFDJKLA. Dangnabbit, life! Augh!

#awaresg_tweetup: putting the 'social' in 'social media'

Sun, 10 May 2009 16:59:28 GMT

Last night I attended the first ever #awaresg_tweetup, which was also the first ever tweetup of its kind in Singapore. It even beat out the planned first-ever Singapore tweetup scheduled for next Thursday (sorry, guys, but we got there first, hah!)

As a tweetup should naturally be, this was a spontaneous event that was conceptualized and organized entirely on Twitter one night before (with its own hastag!) We met up at a beer place by the river, had laughs, beer, some food, more beer, some really good conversations, and then a little more beer. Topics of conversation ranged from MOE's suspension of Aware's CSE to our favorite #awaresg tweets from the EGM to how various American TV shows not just lost the plot and jumped the shark but also slaughtered it and made shark's fin soup with the results. Jokes about what a letdowns we all were, actually spending all our time talking to people instead of incessantly tweeting about the tweetup. A sudden inexplicable flurry of "PLEASE FONDLE MY BUM".

Did I already mention that there was a lot of beer?

Of course, it wasn't all beer and skittles, we discussed Important Stuff too. Stuff like migrating/transitioning the We Are Aware website post-EGM, now that it's no longer a Hub For A Revolution--and I will keep folks posted on that, as I have volunteered to helping out with it in my capacity. We are Serious People, about Serious Business (bum-fondling notwithstanding)!

Finally, as night marched towards next-day, we showed off our stunning math prowess by collecting so much excess money to foot bill that we ended up with a impromptu $70 donation to AWARE, as accepted by Martha, the exco member who joined us. ("Are you guys sure about this!?" "...er, yeah, we have no idea who's supposed to get that money back, so keep it, it'll help towards the $90,000 dollars.")

It was good times. It was really good times.

And here's the amazing thing about it. A month ago, even two weeks ago, I had no idea who any of these people were. I didn't even get to meet any of them during the EGM. All my interaction with them was through that baffling, delightful and often overwhelming you've-got-to-use-it-to-get-it phenomenon, Twitter. Yet within five minutes of meeting each other we were talking and throwing around jokes like old friends. We had so much in common, so much to talk about.

Looking at it now, it was almost as though Twitter and its hashtags had magically drawn together a whole bunch of people who were alike in spirit, and plonked them together IRL. Like the Internet has been doing since the dawn of its creation, but on a much faster, 140-character sized scale. Instant community, for the instant gratification generation (not defined by age, but by mindset). Just add beer.

If we were ever to invent rainbow sparkles that magically bestow the power of telepathy to all in its radius, I imagine the result would looks something like the Twittersphere.

After all, we can all appreciate a bum-fondling joke or two, can't we?

From top to bottom, L to R: @Scubear, @hanifn, @bruincoffee, @ctham, Jac, @gtuckerkellogg. Then @missbossy [the ringleader], @bionic_creative, yours truly, @germaine, Yen & Martha. Had to put on the flash because poor lighting required much steadier hands than the poor waiter had (it takes a lot of practice to figure out my camera on no flash)

ETA: And just because I can! Aware-related linkdump!
Callan/@ctham's tweetup post
How to win an EOGM and win lotsa friends An old post, but still full of delicious, delicious lulz.
Aware saga on Reuters!
Aware saga on the Economist!
Our Feminist Mentos featured on RollOn Friday, a UK blog for lawyers Got to love droll British humor-- sorry, humour.
Dogemperor's post on the WayangParty site (P.S. dogemperor, you were mentioned at the tweetup! You're famous in Singapore now! Ha!)

PinkDot! (I'm going! Who else wants to come?)

Sat, 09 May 2009 05:16:25 GMT

I have decided that, come hell or high water, skipped Japanese lessons and what not, I will be going for PinkDot, the local Freedom To Love! LGBT support event that's happening next Saturday. It's not a protest, it's not a demonstration, it's just a gathering of people who want to show they believe that people should be free to love whomever they want, regardless of sexual orientation.

I want to do this, badly, and the reason is several-pronged. I suppose I can trace it back to the Aware saga, a large part of which became about homosexuality, and the acceptance thereof. I was heartened, really heartened, by the groundswell of support from people who came out to say that yes, there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, yes, we should be telling our kids in school that it's not a bad thing to be gay.

At the same time, I'm disheartened by the number of voices that I've heard saying that it's wrong to teach children about homosexuality, it's wrong to imply that it's not normal, it's wrong to even bring it up for discussion in the first place. It's not part of our accepted social fabric. Bringing it up will disturb the status quo.

That, at least, seems to be the line echoed by the establishment here. After the Aware EGM was over, after the ruckus has settled down a little, the Ministry of Education suspended all its external sexuality programmes, including the contentious Aware one that was accused of teaching "pro-gay" values. Its official reason, given in a letter to the press, was that part of it was inappropriate. In verbatim, I quote:

In particular, some suggested responses in the instructor guide are explicit and inappropriate, and convey messages which could promote homosexuality or suggest approval of premarital sex.

Promoting homosexuality. Just like promoting being Chinese, or being black. It's not a choice, but lots of people here don't get it. They think that by shielding their children from the fact that homosexuality exists, they will be able to protect them from catching the gay virus, or whatever they think it is causes people to be gay.

It's the sort of thing I can't stand. The misconceptions, the refusal to know all the facts, the "let's sweep this under the rug and not talk about it because it makes me uncomfortable". I cannot really blame the ministry for doing what they did, because that is the way a lot of people think.

But that is why I must go for this. To reaffirm to myself that there are lots of people here who aren't like that. To comfort myself with the knowledge that no matter how uphill the battle for acceptance seems to be, we are not alone. We will be taking steps. Baby steps.

I will be wearing this pink #awaresg shirt there, and will most probably be meeting up with a few others from the #awaresg Twitter hashtag-turned-channel-thingamajig. 4.30-6.00PM, Saturday, Hong Lim Park, FOC, all are welcome regardless of orientation. Can I convince any of you guys to come with me?

ETA: Some blogs.
From Catherine Lim, writer.
Open letter to MOE, written by a very eloquent student
Alvin shall not be ignorant about homosexuality anymore (click on the 'l' to read the post)

Abortions caused SARS, and btw, everybody who grew up on a farm had sex with mules and watermelons.

Wed, 06 May 2009 10:16:56 GMT

Back again! The shenanigans never come to an end on this journal.

First off, I have to link this lovely video that's been going around: a summation of Saturday (the events of which I'm still slowly getting over, btw). It captures a bit of the movie-ending feel I got when I was at the EGM myself, IMHO.

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my Aware-related posts-- I know I haven't gotten back to them, even though there weren't a lot of them. I fail that way! I'll reply to them when I can. In the meantime, though, the madness continues...

According to some links dug up by discerning local netizens, the crazy that is Thio Su Mien has apparently far greater than we've given her credit for, and I'm not even talking about her running a creepy basement church from which she apparently cures cancer or something. Forget "I'm on page 73", according our self-styled Feminist Mentor, the SARS virus was apparently divine punishment for the use of abortion. Taken from an article from The ElijahList, verbatim:

Last February, a USSPN Washington Regional Coordinator was present during a report given by an international lawyer from Singapore, Thio Su Mien (Su), who is gifted in prophetic intercession and healing. She shared about some of the things going on in the area of Indonesia before the tsunami.

She explained how the SARS virus hit Singapore a year prior to the earthquake/tsunami. The Lord alerted the intercessors and told them that if they did not get on their faces and repent on behalf of their nation's involvement in abortion as the contraceptive of choice, that the land would suffer from His hand of judgment.

Because they saw how devastating the SARS virus had been, the intercessors immediately took action to seek His mercy and forgiveness. Singapore was not touched by the earthquake disaster.

Hear that? THE FEMINIST MENTOR SAVED US FROM THE INDONESIAN TSUNAMI! And not, you know, the Indonesian peninsula or physical geography or anything! It's a miracle! Hallelujah praise the Lord!

This, however, perfectly explains why she could go on record at a press conference basically saying that gay women are gay because their daddies touched them when they were kids. It's not because she's a power-hungry fanatic trying to stir up fear and disgust, it's because she's plain BATSHIT INSANE!

Aren't you guys glad someone who thinks that the fucking SARS virus was a result of WOMEN HAVING ABORTIONS isn't in charge of the biggest women's rights group in this country? We dodged a fucking bullet there, my friends.

(Also, counting down until she starts saying that swine flu is the result of those OMG EVIL LESBIANS and their unrepentant supporters at Aware. Just you wait!)

Well, it could be worse, at any rate. She could be like this guy who openly admitted to fucking a mule on national television. And a watermelon. And thinks it's normal behavior for everybody who grew up on a farm. And... no wait one motherfucking second HOW THE FUCK DO YOU FUCK A WATERMELON JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST. Oh screw it, forget, how, WHY WOULD ANYBODY EVEN WANT TO FUCK A WATERMELON?!

I got nothing, man, nothing.

1414 & MORE FOR AWARE: A PHOTOESSAY OF THE MAY 2ND EOGM

Sun, 03 May 2009 15:41:44 GMT

So, by now, everybody who's been following the Aware issue is already I don't think there's anything more I can contribute to the Aware reports that aren't already out there. There are excellent transcripts from Wayang Party, videos and coverage from The Online Citizen, blog posts from everyone, and tons and tons of videos, photos and tweets all flying around the Internet. I can't possibly add anything more useful to that.

What I can do, however, is write a long-winded, hyperbolic, needlessly-dramatic and certainly very backwards-looking-rose-tinted photoessay-cum-personal-account of my day at the EOGM, complete with photos randomly taken in black-and-white because I was having too much fun with my camera's color filters.

So have at it!

THE LONG ROAD IN

I met thurisaz83 sometime around 12.30PM, half an hour after registration had opened. By that time the queue had already snaked its way through the fourth floor of the Suntec convention center, folded itself into crenulations, spilled down the stairs and crept across the third floor. Hundreds had shown up to join the queue hours before the counters were open-- typical of Singaporeans!

(Photo by thurisaz83)

The registration counters right outside the entrances were jam-packed. They really had their hands full. (And yes I was experimenting with the digital color filters.)

The queue just got longer and longer as it got closer to 2PM. In the end, the EGM was pushed back to 2.30 just so that everybody could be seated. All in all, the estimate was that some 3,000 or so people turned up. It was a massive, massive event. Supporters of the Josie Lau's exco were in red shirts, while volunteers from We Are Aware were wearing white shirts, and handing out signs, flowers, and bottles of water.

There was a separate, shorter line for people who wanted to sign up on the spot and then join the EGM, a route which htenywg took. Not sure how many new members Aware got that day but I figure it must have been a few hundred folks at least.

We managed to get into the hall somewhere around 1PM. By then the front third had already filled up, and there were still hundreds more to be seated. The non-voting associate members--men, non-Singaporean/PR women and girls between 15-18--were separated from the voting members on the far side of the conference hall, and given hard white plastic chairs to sit on (instead of the plush green ones that we got). We thought it was rather unkind, and one of the first things the old guard did after declaring Josie Lau's exco ousted was to invite the associate members over--to enthusiastic cheering on both sides.

INSIDE THE HALLS

thurisaz83 reads the materials given out to newly registered members, which included constitutional amendments up for voting. Not all of the new members got these, whether at the registration counter or in the mail (for those who had signed up earlier. It became a serious point of contention later, when Josie Lau's exco tried to push forward a vote to approve these amendments, and people protested strongly against it on the grounds that a) the exco's power was up for debate, and b) a lot of people hadn't even read the proposed amendments, which required quite a bit of effort to digest (being written in legalese and all).

The documents weren't that easy to understand. (photo by thurisaz83)

htenywg engaging the ladies seated in the row in front of us. At first, we thought they were members of Church Of Our Savior, but they turned out to be concerned parents who had come because they were worried about the sexuality program AWARE was teaching, and wanted to seek further clarification. Not sure how many in the crowd were like them, not firmly in either camp. Actual moderates! We had a rather good (and civil!) discussion with them on whether it's right to teach 13 year-olds that anal sex is "neutral", but in the end it boiled down to a difference in values. All of us agreed information was need to make informed choices, but while we thought that informing kids about anal sex as a neutral act was value-neutral, they felt that it represented a value system different from theirs. Fair enough: it might be a generational gap thing, I'm not qualified to judge on that. It's a pity they didn't stay for the 3+ hours of open mic after the vote had been cast, as the sex ed program was only really touched upon then, with the actual trainers coming up to the mic to explain how the program was misrepresented, and parents coming up to voice support for the sex ed program.

The ballots, handed out to each eligible voting member, came in five different colored slips. The vote of no confidence had actually been split into three clauses, a) b) and c), each with a different reason given as grounds for removing Josie Lau's exco. When the meeting started the old guard tried to push through a motion to combine all three clauses into one, but it was shot down. As a result, the company hired to oversee the process spent more than three hours counting through the separate voting slips for all three clauses, pushing the end of the meeting past 9PM. But there was an upside to it all: the extraordinarily long vote-counting process gave many, many more folks the chance to air their well-put and intelligent views during the open mic session.

PUSHING FOR THE VOTE

It opened with a bang: a very vocal scuffle when Josie Lau tried to banish the Old Guard's legal counsel, Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong, over to the associate members' section because he was a man. Protests erupted. Loud protests. Booing and shouting. People jumped to their feet, thumbs jutting down. Others waved red We Are Aware signs that had been distributed. It was a startling mass display of anger from people more used to seeing it on TV screens.

It was also just the beginning a continual struggle that went on throughout the meeting: on one side, Josie Lau's exco trying to gain control, on the other, the very vocal and upset majority who wanted nothing to do with her. Everything was fought over. Their refusal to turn on the floor mikes. Their refusal to move up the vote of no confidence. Their attempts to get security to remove "unruly" members (i.e. anybody who voiced opposition to them and refused to back down). When Josie Lau barreled on ahead with her canned & contrived Powerpoint presentation, people on the floor tried to shut her down after three minutes on grounds that speakers on the floor were also only limited to three minutes. Then-Honorary Treasurer Sally Ang grabbed a mike and bellowed one of the night's many iconic lines: "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos that could have very well just said, "OH NO SHE DIDN'T!"

thurisaz83's color photos here really bring out the frenzy in the crowd.
People were incredibly, incredibly worked up.

In the end, though, Josie Lau got to go through the motions and finish her presentation. Or rather, she got to subject us to half an hour of her droning. For the record, she is a horrible presenter, like those really bad teachers we had in junior college and college who read off the slides in a monotone and drove everyone to sleep. At one point a frustrated someone in the back third yelled out "WE CAN READ!!" as she recited the bullet points in her presentation.

The attitude could not have been more different when the floor was opened and people started speaking up against the exco. People cheered madly when Irene Ang, local actress and household name, stood up and delivered this zinger: "You say you have an open-door policy, and then you went and changed the locks on the office!"

Thio Su Mien also spoke to defend herself, but her spiel consisted of inexplicable self promotion "You put me in YOUR BOOK! I am on PAGE SEVENTY-THREE!" that left quite a few people head-scratching as to what it had to do with her being a "feminist mentor" anyway. I was one amongst that number. Something tells me that she graduated from the same School of Feminism as a certain prominent governor of Alaska.

Eventually, Josie Lau's exco contended that the meeting should skip item 1 on the agenda-voting on constitutional amendments, and go straight to item 3: the vote of no confidence. It was met with great approval. And although it would take another half hour of bickering on the terms, with an added side accusations of tampering to go before the 18 sealed ballot boxes were sent out into the crowd, history was underway...

THE LONG WAIT

The overseers took more than three hours to count the 2,000-odd votes for all three clauses. It was a long, and often grueling wait for the many of us who had come down just to see Josie Lau & her exco taken out of power. It was during these hours, though, that many important things were said, and many crucial things came to light: such as the exco's stunning, near-criminal $90,000 expenditure since taking office. Literally: the constitution only allows the exco use of $20,000 without consultation from the main society. Morally: as an NGO, the exco is obliged to reach out and ask for help for cheaper alternatives, and use the money saved to actually further the organization's cause. Josie Lau's exco blew money renting the exhibition hall, hiring event organizers, and contracting legal advisors. People with the appropriate experience assured us that, if they had asked, they could have gotten it all FOC. The lawyer for the old guard noted, very pointedly, that he was working for them pro bono.

On the other hand, at least the new Exco got their money's worth out of their legal adviser. At every turn, when tough questions were thrown at them, Josie Lau would say, "We'll refer that question to Gregory, our legal counsel..." And then the poor man would read a relevant clause out of Aware's constitution and conclude along the lines, "So yes, technically what they did was constitutional..." We got so frustrated we started shouting about the new exco having no answers and no opinions of their own every time they did that. pastles, whom I didn't meet but was also somewhere else in the hall, texted me with: "We should just vote Gregory in as president. This way, he'll be volunteering, and we won't have to pay him". ZING!

It became very clear to us that the new exco had come in with a corporate mindset and were trying to run Aware like a business. Everything they said that day just reinforced it: they way they treated money, their strict adherence to deadlines ("BUT THE DRAFT WAS DUE"), and their employer-employee attitudes towards the volunteers. And there were certainly reasons for it: when thurisaz83, htenywg and I looked at the profiles of the new exco members that they'd given us, it was obvious that they were a group of high-level business executives with very little to no experience in the running of an NGO. No wonder they tried to run the AGM like a boardroom meeting, and were shocked when people got fired up and jumped to their feet.

Many of the old guard took to the mikes to let their voices be heard. Here, the crowd cheers Constance Singam as she asks the new exco where they were during the many, many years of Aware's existence, as they struggled in the good fight for gender equality. We took up her refrain of "Where were you?" and chanted it for what felt like a full minute (and perhaps it was).

But perhaps the most heartwarming thing were the many, many people who came up to the mikes to tell their side of the story. There were a couple of crazies, of course, but they were far outnumbered by those who came with commonsense and compassion. The long-time members who made their passion known, the newest of the new who explained why they felt Aware mattered. The Christians who said no to the actions of the new exco, the Muslim dad who said yes to the work of the old one. Gay people, straight people, feminist women, feminist men. The crowd cheered them all.

VICTORY!

At around 8PM the result of the vote was finally announced: 1414 said yes to removing the new exco, 761 no. Resolution 3 was passed and the new exco lost their mandate to lead Aware as an organization. Cheers erupted. People jumped on chairs, hugged, pumped their fists, wolf-whistled. It was everything we'd been waiting for. Our patience and our passion had been finally rewarded.

Show of hands, everyone! The new exco were stubborn, refused to resign, and after a fair bit of brouhaha, finally ducked out of the hall to consider resigning. We waited and waited, until we could wait no more. The old guard started a motion to have them removed from their positions by show of hands. Everybody put their hands up! A new tactic was adopted: those who object, put your hands up. Many of the pro-Josie & gang folks had already left--many of them left right after the vote itself. So there were just two very brave souls in the back who raised their hands in objection. I give them props for sticking to their guns, all the way to the bitter end.

The motion passed, the old guard got to work, double quick time. They managed to nominate in and elect distinguished ladies for all the major posts and six committee members before the new exco--by then the ex-new exco--sent Josie Lau to officially say they were resigning from their posts. The old guard asked us, the gathered victorious, to give them a round of applause for their graciousness, and we did so. With very polite and restrained applause.

And then, it was over. As we all stood up and gathered in the front of the hall, President of the new new exco, Dana Lam, exuberantly thanked us for our support, and we cheered and cheered. It was late, and I was bone tired and starving and nursing a giant pounding headache from all the exertion and shouting and jumping to my feet, but it felt great. It felt great. On a scale I'd never thought possible, my fellow countrywomen and countrymen had banded together in the name of equality and justice and all that stuff which is right and good and sunshine and puppies, and we had set right something which we had seen as very wrong.

Earlier that morning, on the train to the venue, I thought of how the recent Moldovan student revolution made a top trending topic on Twitter, and felt a little jealous-- why couldn't tech-saavy Singaporeans do the same for Aware? And then a few hours later, as the EGM swung into motion, the #awaresg hashtag became the top trending topic on Twitter, beating out things like #swineflu and X-Men Origins on people's sidebars (PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN-- thanks, @dunpanic!). It was as some genius tweeted: "#awaresg beats out mutant flu and mutant with claws! Never again will I say Singaporeans are apathetic."

At the very late dinner that followed trilled compared the entire thing to last year's US election, an analogy that I find somehow appropriate. Except that instead of "I CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM MY HOUSE", we had "I'M ON PAGE 73". Like the Obama campaign, many of us were running on the promise of hope and change (that we could believe in). We voted with our hearts and we made the difference as a collective. While I was at the EOGM, I ran into friends I had not seen in years, and it heartened me to see that even with all that time in between, we still had something that united us. I personally regret not going up and saying something during the open mike session now, but as the dust settles and I look back on the whole thing I realize that in the end, I contributed in the way that mattered: I was there, and I was aware. I voted. And history was made.

ETA: Forgot to add, and perhaps am too late with this, but bigger versions of each photo are available @ my Flickr photostream. Enjoy!

BACK FROM AWARE EOGM

Sat, 02 May 2009 17:01:43 GMT

It came, it went, and things will never be the same again. In other words, it was epic. EPIC.

For those who are not in Singapore and wasn't following the news, here's a quick summary of what happened:

The EGM drew a couple thousand people and lasted about six hours!
The new exco were voted out 1414 to 761(ish)! And the old guard was nominated in to take their place.
Many, many awesome people--both women and men--stood up and made their intelligent and passionate viewpoints heard.
#awaresg made a #1 trending topic on Twitter :D :D :D It even beat out #swineflu and X-Men: Origins!

Personally, I had a great time. I was there with thurisaz83 and htenywg, and I ran into people I have not seen in years, it was amazing. It's days like these when I have to go "God damn but it's really a small world here in Singapore!" (I think the high turnout of young graduate women helped a lot. Lots and lots of NUS alumni there.)

I have never been prouder to be a Singaporean woman than this day and this night.

Photos, videos (maybe), and a more in-depth account of it tomorrow. For now though, I will retire to bed to rest my aching eyes and head, glad and proud that justice, civic society and common sense have prevailed.

Loveable Pinky girls & loveable slinky boys

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:37:08 GMT

Alright, for a change, here's something completely unrelated to the ongoing Aware saga. A photoshoot of my Pinky St. girls!

I have 7 of them at the moment: the first two whose photos I've already posted, then the three that I adopted from shinrei_24, and then finally the two who arrived last week. I'm thinking of getting two more: the one of the kid from The Sky Crawlers and this one named Caine.

Yes, I am rather obsessed with collecting these, it is clear.

From L to R: Ana-Marie & Collette (my first pair), Yuki & Michigan (my latest pair), and Alice, Kim & Jelena (adopted from shinrei_24).

I swap their clothes around a fair bit, and enjoy myself way too much doing it.

Yuki's my favorite of the lot: she has such ~*~sass~*~ and ~*~attitude~*~.

Here's a couple from an older shoot of Ana-Marie and Collette, when they were the only two I had. Yes, they are a couple.

(The rest of the girls are just friends. ;))

Now this one is specially for pigtail78:

And poor Matt's all, "I guess I'm not getting any..." Bawwww.

OMG WHY AM I SLASHING AI CONTESTANTS NAO WTF JUNE WTFF

Aware saga: they might win the battle, but they will lose the war

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:51:37 GMT

The Aware saga continues with MORE shenanigans. Fantastique!

First, earlier this week members got an email announcing that the venue for the Extraordinary General Meeting had been changed from the First Choice Auditorium in Toa Payoh to Hall 2 for the Singapore Expo. Fair enough, a crazy number of people have signed up in the past couple of weeks, and they need a big fat venue. Not much of a bigger fatter venue than a hall at the Singapore Expo, except maybe the National Stadium, and that's under construction.

But then it turns out that the new EGM venue is right smack beside a giant Christian convention comprising of 40+ churches, co-organized by Church Of Our Savior. The COOS have been actively encouraging their flock to sign up for this convention AND join Aware.

It doesn't take a genius to add two and two together, just saying.

If you think your blood pressure isn't high enough by this point, here's a PDF being circulated by the new exco detailing the pro-gay agenda of the old Aware, and how they're all OMG EVIL and doing all these EVIL, HORRIBLE THINGS. Somewhere perhaps, Karl Rove is sitting in a high-backed chair, his fingers steepled, as he intones "you have learned well, my disciples".

You know what I honestly think? The COOS' strongarm tactics are going to backfire against them. Even if they survive the vote of no confidence by sheer minion numbers overwhelming that of the concerned public (which is looking more and more likely by the day), I think they have ultimately doomed themselves.

It's no secret that the S'porean Govt has a very vested interest in keeping Singapore secular to all appearances (*cough* couldn't be a thorn in the side of our big and racially/culturally different neighbors now could we *cough*). If they won't even let non-religious opposition parties gain power in the country, what do you think they would think of ambitious, politically-powerful church groups? They are, without a doubt, monitoring this coup of a secular rights advocacy group very, very closely. And say what you want about our establishment, but dumb they are not. I think the COOS is starting to tread on thin ice.

For one, it's clear that the new exco are not gaining favor with the establishment here. Although the official statement from The Govt. was "Private matter, we will not interfere", and the real big-wigs have remained mum on their opinions, there have been encouraging signs: Minister of Community Development, Youth & Sport Dr Vivian Balakrishnan urged for inclusiveness and a "rainbow coalition", Senior Minister of State for Education S. Iswaran defended the school sex-ed programmes that have come under fire from the new exco, and the Ministry of Education put out a glorious, glorious letter that was essentially a huge "fuck you" to Dr. Thio, insinuating that she was making shit up and would you please pony up with some fact to support the bullshit. (Seriously, verbatim: "MOE has contacted Dr Thio Su Mien to seek clarifications and facts to substantiate her claims." BURRRRRN)

Not exactly glowing endorsements.

Singapore, I think, is becoming increasingly less traditionally conservative, especially as the rest of the world progresses towards acceptance of gay rights. While it may be 20, 30 years before we even think about legalizing gay marriage, homophobia is pretty much falling out of vogue, especially with the establishment. Organizations such as the COOS will be finding their radical views less and less accepted by the man on the street, particularly as the current generation of Web 2.0, information-saavy kids grow up and come into their own. Which is something that gives me hope, despite all the gloom and doom.

It'll be interesting to see how this develops. Definitely interesting.

(Also, I am LOLing heartily over Dr Vivian B's co-opting of "rainbow coalition", as I approve of anything that reminds me of NOM and their ridiculous, blatantly fake "OMG THE GAY STORM IS COMING" ads. Particularly Stephen Colbert's winning parody.)

One more before I go. A lovely video from the old guard:

Love that they've gotten people from all races to participate in this one. Sign up. Turn up. And vote. ♥

ETA: EGM venue changed yet again! Now in Suntec! My inner skeptic and egotist? Is telling me that this was done after WayangParty's exposé blew the new exco's cover open all over Twitter and the blogosphere. How will this affect events? I have no idea, man. I shall consult my Magic 8 ball... "cannot say now"? BAH, FLAKER.

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The Saga Continues: more on the AWARE drama!

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:27:00 GMT

This is a continuation of my post from yesterday, about the ongoing power struggle in Aware, which has very quickly turned into a raging Christian-fundies-versus-sane-people movement online. I spent a large part of yesterday reading links, posting to Facebook/Twitter and talking to people about this subject. Here's a quick summary of online-things I found yesterday which I think an important read.

A bunch of spotlights on the shenanigans of the new guard: stir thy outrage!

An excellent post by dogemperor, on the truth behind the Church Of Our Savior: Steeplejack of AWARE (women's org) in Singapore by Joel's Army church
Particularly rage-inducing email also linked in above post, in which a pastor from CooS urges his flock to join Aware: COOS Pastor Shawn Tay rallying troops to support new exco at EGM in the name of “Singapore” (this email made me gag in particular. "Responsible females"? Could you use language that is any more offensive?)
New exco attempts to lock old guard out of Aware office: Showdown at AWARE office over lock change by new exco
Aware's centre managed fired for "insubordination", replaced by CooS member: Aware's public education officer quits ("quits"? She was FIRED, there wasn't any choice in it)

In interviews with the Straits Times (Singaporean context: largest, oldest and most respected English daily paper), the new exco have denied that their power grab was planned beforehand, and vehemently denied that their church had got anything to do with it at all. Yes, I'll believe that. Nope, no significance to the fact that six of the new exco are all members of the same church, none at all. After all, they didn't know each other from before! And the fact that new center manager they appointed is also a member of the church? Nyet, also must be coincidink. Next thing we know, they'll be selling us title deeds to the Benjamin Sheares bridge for fundraising!

Links that, at least, give a glimmer of hope:

Insightful op-ed from Straits Times: Aware Saga: A new militancy emerges (a must-read!)
Sign the petition! Even if you can't go for the EOGM, even if you're not Singaporean, you can show your support for the old guard by joining the 1300+ signatures here: Save AWARE! Gender equality for all!
Online drive to cancel DBS credit cards in protest against new Aware president Josie Lau, who heads the marketing team for said credit cards: Mr Wang Says So: AWARE - And Why You Should Cancel Your DBS Credit Cards
Note that I don't condone this: as a form of protest, I think it hits the wrong people (DBS, who had nothing to do with this and in fact protested--first privately, and then very publically-- Josie Lau's intention to head Aware). And I honestly don't think it's right to jeopardize Josie Lau's job just because we don't agree with something she's done. My take on it is that it runs counter to everything this protest is about! OTOH, it's good to know what other people are doing in protest. At the very least, it shows just how passionate folks are about this issue. And that's not entirely a bad thing.
Fresh from the Internets! No! Don't cancel your DBS credit card! This surfaced on Twitter while I was typing out this post, and agrees that canceling cards is not really the sort of protest we want to go for. Good.

So what did I take away from all this? It's not all that easy to sum up. I can say that the bottom line is this: the words and the actions of the new exco, particularly the juicy tidbits that came to light yesterday, have completely destroyed any chance for their redemption in my eyes. It's not even a Christian-fundies-vs-gay-rights issue anymore. At this point, I wouldn't care if these women hailed from the Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Communist Party of North Korea: what they have done is sleazy, sleazy, sleazy. I care about the rights of women, and these power-grabbing, lock-changing, despotic closed-door shenanigans are most emphatically not the actions of a group that hold the best interests of all women at heart.

The fight for gender equality is still very much relevant in these supposedly-enlightened days where women can vote and a black man can sit in the White House. In a poll published in the Straits Times today, 48% of respondents said that the Aware issue was "women fighting amongst themselves". Women fighting amongst themselves, is that it? If the situation were different and it were one group of men snatching power from another, would people on the street dismiss it as "men fighting amongst themselves"? Hint: just pick a history book, any history book, and look inside. How many of those male-instigated and male-led conflicts are described as "men fighting amongst themselves"? You got it right, none. I quote, from the ST article, a certain bank consultant Lim Boon Heng (aged 42) who was interviewed: "I think this issue is about women who are overzealous about a certain issue. They are trying to use their existing network to influence the public." Whoah nelly. Psssst Mr Lim, I don't know if anyone's told you yet, but your MCP is showing. You don't have to thank me.

The madness needs to stop. Aware still has a long ways to go in fighting for gender equality here, and the underhanded actions of the new exco have not just thrown suspicion upon their intentions; they have tainted the good name and standing of a 25-year-old organization that has been doing important and excellent work. Allowing them to get away with this would be to the detriment of women all over Singapore.

If you want to find out more, or find out how you can take part in the vote of no confidence against the new exco next Saturday (2nd May!), Save Aware is an excellent resource! A couple of my friends have actually expressed concern over joining Aware--as one of them said, "What happens if the vote fails? I don't want my money supporting the new exco". And I agree that this is an issue (one I didn't even think of!), and it's a veritable large-scale Prisoner's Dilemma: if you join the organization and the vote fails, the money will be in the hands of the new exco. Yet the vote is more likely to fail if like-minded people don't show up in large numbers and vote. So what to do? Ultimately, it's up to the individual to decide. Myself, I'm banking on sanity prevailing, and the vote succeeding. I've already thrown my lot in with Aware, at any rate, and even if the vote doesn't go through I will continue to fight, and rally people to fight, in whatever ways I can.

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BoingBoing said it best: "Christian fundamentalists hijack Singaporean feminist group".

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:45:54 GMT

It was khaosworks who first brought this to my attention via a Facebook link, and I've spent the day being rather upset by it. I've posted it to ontd_political already, but I feel I must post it here as well.

Okay. Let's start with some background, first, for those who are not Singaporeans. About a month ago, the local (Singaporean) chapter of AWARE, an advocacy group for women's rights, had its AGM. A whole slew of new members turned up, overwhelmed the old guard by sheer numbers, and voted an almost-entirely new executive committee into power.

The new exco began by cutting out older and more experienced members from leadership and subcommittee positions. They weren't being open on what their agenda was, and what it was they were planning to do with the organization. Keen-eyed local bloggers noted that the new exco had previously published anti-homosexual opinions in public forums, there was a lot of speculation that the new exco was trying to subvert the purpose of AWARE by turning it into an anti-gay group.

Now? They've come clean with their intentions. In a press conference, the organizer of the coup, senior layer Thio Su Mien, explicitly stated that she was "disturbed by what she saw as signs that [Aware] was promoting lesbianism and homosexuality", and was moved to take action against "Aware's attempts to redefine marriage and families".

First of all, that is such utter BULLSHIT. Aware is a women's rights group, which campaigns for the welfare of all women, including--you guessed it! LESBIAN WOMEN! Just because Aware is accepting of gay women--a group of women who face more discrimination than heterosexual women-- does not mean that they are ...what was it? "Promoting lesbianism". What the fuck does that even mean? Promoting being gay? That's like saying they're promoting being black. Or being Indian. People don't just wake up and decide that they're gay, FFS. Get a clue, we aren't living in the 1950s any longer!

IN ADDITION. The way she says it, it's like helping out lesbian women is the only thing Aware does. WRONG, TRY AGAIN. Aware is a secular group that aims to help all women--whether in school, the workplace or at home. I wasn't even a member until last week and I know this. That these people have decided to co-opt a women's rights group to push their decided bigoted agenda is both horrifying and infuriating.

Yeah, I haven't hit the bottom of the barrel of stupidity yet. I'll let the soundbites speak for themselves. Presenting: the opinions of Dr. Thio:

ON AWARE'S SEXUALITY PROGRAMME

'I started thinking, 'Hey, parents, you better know what's happening,'' she said. 'I talked to parents. I said: You better do something about this, otherwise your daughter will come back and say, 'Mum, I want to marry my girlfriend. Or your son will say: 'Dad, I want to marry my boyfriend.''

These parents were flabbergasted, she said, adding that such sexuality education was taking place in the United States and Europe and was not new.

'What is happening in society is that we are redefining marriage, we are redefining families,' she said.

'So I'm a concerned citizen and if people are so ignorant, I think I want to teach them.'

AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF LESBIANS?

'And this is something which should concern parents in Singapore. Are we going to have an entire generation of lesbians?'

Insisting that she was not anti-homosexual, she said: 'I have nothing against lesbians or homosexuals personally. On a personal front, I've ministered, I've counselled them.

'They are in pain. And very often from families where you have abusive fathers, they do things with their daughters and the daughters revolt, rebel against society.

'We understand this is what it's all about.'

REFOCUSING ON ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF AWARE

'I find to my dismay that Aware seems to be only very interested in lesbianism and the advancement of homosexuality, which is a man's issue,' she said. 'Can we re-focus on the excellent objectives of Aware? Go back to its original purpose for it being an NGO?' she asked.

There are so many things that are wrong with her statements that I don't even know where to begin. Her comments are such a black hole of close-minded bigotry and "I DO NOT THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS", approaching them with any semblance of logic will cause instant collapse. Bad analogy, I know, but I'm so angry I don't quite care.

Here, have some links!

The Original Source
Sidebar (speech nuggets of WTFery!)
More background on the entire incident
Post I made to ONTD_P, full of incoherent rage!
It's been Boinged too! Interesting take on it from an outsider's perspective

The existing members of Aware, however, are not just sitting by and idly doing nothing. There's going to be an extraordinary General Meeting on the 2nd of May where there will be a petition for a vote of no confidence in the new exco. All female members, old or new, are welcome! Membership for Aware is SG$40 for a year, $25 if you're a student. You can sign up at their website or at their offices.

I joined Aware last week and I will definitely be going for the EOGM. So, Singaporean sisters! If equality for all women matters to you, and you have the time and money to spare, do consider joining Aware and making your voice heard at the EOGM! I'll be there, at the very least. Join me!

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TASTE THE RAINBOW, EAT A SKITTLE OUT

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:26:25 GMT

Some backstory. I RP Ribbons Almark on the #g00tweets Gundam00 Twitter RP. We get to talking about skittles a lot. Not the candy, the Innovators. Sometime during one of our exchanges I was suddenly compelled to go to Skittles.com and check them out. Which was when I discovered that the Skittles.com homepage had been transformed into the Twitter search page for the word "Skittles" and that ALL OUR SKITTLE-RELATED TWEETS WERE SHOWING UP ON IT.**

Several hours of clicking on links and pictures later, I had developed a horrifying craving for Skittles. (GOD DAMN BUT THOSE INSIDIOUS MARKETING TACTICS WORK.)

So before I headed for Japanese class this week I went Skittles-hunting in town. I managed to corner a packet of the damn things in a 7-11 and made away with them. As we walked into a narrow, crowded underpass roped into half to manage the traffic flow, I giggled to my sister, "Who needs food when you have Skittles?"

And just then, as we were crammed into the crowd at the barrier's edge, next to the stream of folks going in the opposite direction...

A RANDOM SETSUNA WALKED PAST ME.

... ..."WTF?!?!?!"

It was a random group of cosplayers; aside from the Setsuna in the red scarf and the mad spiky hair, there was at least one character from Bleach amongst their number. Walking around the heart of town in full costume. I have no idea what they were doing, but I very much regret that the crowds were moving too fast in either direction for me to go up to the Setsuna cosplayer and intone, "SETSUNA F. SEIEI". Or, as my sister suggested, "INNOVATOR". Before running away giggling like the madwoman that I am.

Missed chances, missed chances!

But at least I didn't miss the chance to do a Skittle and gunpla/gashapon photoshoot after I got home.

Taste the rainbow, nom a Skittle!

But don't nom too many or you might end up as fat as Virtue.

In case you're asking: yes, I nommed all the Skittles in those pictures after that. No, I obviously don't give a flying fuck about poisoning from lead in paints. IT IS CRIMINAL TO HAVE SKITTLES AND NOT EAT THEM, OKAY?

**(Screencaps of Skittles.com or it didn't happen!)

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Yay! New user profile! Yay! I has a dork moment!

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:12:47 GMT

I was supposed to spend the long weekend catching up on my Japanese studies.

Predictably, what I actually got to doing was watching American Idol videos online, and revamping my lj user profile. Yay! Shiny new user profile!

Still want to revamp the bugger some; I lifted a lot of stuff from the old one because I was too lazy to rewrite the whole thing from scratch. But it could use some rewriting.

I predict for myself a swift death by language misunderstanding when I hit Japan in May. It's going to play out like a cross between Lost In Translation and 28 Days Later.

In the meantime, here's something delicious that I got from konami, whom I met through the #g00tweets Twitter RP.

Can we say PORKIEST PROJECT EVER? The Republicans would be all over this like mold on a week-old orange.

But wait!! If the US had a Gundam, then the US would totally be able to kick all that TERRIST ass and make sure everyone is safe and sound for ever and ever more! So it's defense spending and it's a good thing! Yet--! OMG! If the Dems came up with it it's gotta be wasteful spending! But--!

The neocon heads exploding over this would be awesome.

(konami you are awesome and ILU ♥)

(Should I run another round of Testimonial!Get for the new user profile, you think? Should I?)

Photoshoot: b00bies Season 2 Set 2 Prop Plus Petit

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:43:06 GMT

After weeks of anticipation, my 2nd set of Prop Plus Petit figurines came earlier this week. I got a box of ten, and as expected of it, got one of every figure available--no repeats.

As expected of me, I pulled out a few to do a little PPP photoshoot. Miss Hallelujah Productions is proud to present, for your viewing pleasure, a double bill:

"PRETTY WOMAN"
Starring Tieria Erde, Lockon Stratos

"THE LAMENT OF HALLELUJAH LECTER"
Starring H/Allelujah Haptism

♥

"PRETTY WOMAN"

"Well, hello hello hell-o!"

"I absolutely love your dress, darling, it looks fabulous on you."

"Why, thank you!"

"You know, I have a little favor to ask..."

"Oh, this is perfect, absolutely perfect!"
"Um... excuse me, sir..."

THE LAMENT OF HALLELUJAH LECTER

"I told them I had teething issues."

"But did anybody believe me? Nooo."

"*It's a lonely, thankless life, being a psychopath. It's so hard sometimes."

I'm going to sell the rest of the figurines, so I didn't open their packages to have fun with them. I'll probably still sell the Lockon PPP, though, but probably for cheaper as it's been opened.

The straitjacketed Allelujah, on the other hand... I'm not sure people would want it given the Hallelujah Lecter treatment I've done to it. (Or perhaps the Hallelujah Lecter blood-and-gore treatment is the charm.)

Would any of you folks actually buy it?

And now, time for a shameless plug! Anybody interested in playing a Gundam00 RP on Twitter? So far, there's a Ribbons Almark account (owned by me) and a Red Haro account (owned by anibunny). It would be awesome to find more people to play with. ETA: NOW WE HAVE LYLE, SETSUNA, BRING, MARIE, TIERIA, MILEINA, ~~H/ALLELUJAH~~ NEIL, a HILLING (Healing?), and a REGENE. \o///

I'd probably run the Ribbons account like a normal Twitter account, responding to stuff in the news, replying to other Gundam00 character accounts (or actually, to anyone who sends @ replies to my account). I'm thinking the almost-anarchic structure of would allow for multiple accounts all playing the same character, for real people butting in to have conversations with the fake characters (e.g. the immensely popular God & Socktington accounts for example).

We could even have real accounts pretending to retweet stuff from characters who don't actually have an account running. We'd just have to tie together all the RP tweets with the hashtag #g00tweets. And it's one of those real-time, tweet-when-you-can streams so there isn't even an obligation to take part regularly, only just when you're free. And people who just want to watch can simply do a search for all the tweets tagged #g00tweets.

The more I consider it, the more interesting it seems as an RP format. Think it's a good idea? Anyone want to play along?

....Bueller?