little miss piggy's getting deadly

Get ready world.

Just wait till it hits HK. Then all schools will close. Which is usually a good thing for students, except we have A-Levels. And it doesn't make a difference.

Not that I wish the virus to spread at an even faster rate than now. Idealistically, the spread will stop and a vaccine/cure will be found. But till then, get ready to rumble!

susan boyle - what's happened?

Like many other people, when I watched Susan Boyle defy all expectations and belt out a beautiful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Miserables, I was so impressed and watched the YouTube clip like, a hundred times, each time still awed and claiming this woman to be an inspiration, a real fighter.

The whole appeal about Susan Boyle was that she was your average underdog. She's not pretty at all (forgive me for sounding superficial, but you get my point), she's 47 and never been kissed, unemployed... She's the voice of the normal world, far from Hollywood glamour. Just your average woman, the battling underdog, chasing a dream.

I have tons of respect for this woman. There's no denying the quality of her voice.

But.

Observing the recent hype about her, I think she's become too much of the media's plaything. She's been given a makeover, eyebrow shaping, a new haircut (of some sort), a new wardrobe... But while she's becoming more visually appealing, she's losing exactly what makes her Susan Boyle.

Not that makeovers are sins. Obviously if she feels comfortable or desires it, then it's up to her to have it. But it's almost like, because the media's feasting over her, they're forcing her to become something she's not anymore. If she personifies the normal population, surely her newfound fame and the changes brought about completely defies that image. It's like the media's changing exactly what's so appealing and likeable about her in an attempt to make her a star in their own right. But she doesn't need it. The more change she goes through, the less she remains Susan Boyle.

Look at the past Britain's Got Talent star, Paul Potts. He, like Boyle, was the underdog. When he stepped onto the stage, people sneered. When he said he'd sing opera, people sneered and rolled their eyes. But when he opened his mouth, it brought tears to people's eyes and the crowd to their feet. OK he's a man, and so his appearance wasn't so important, but he, like Boyle, was not, let's say, eye candy. He didn't immediately go lose weight and fix his teeth (he did after he won). He went through, just focused on singing, and it was his down-to-earth appeal that helped him win.

And I just wonder, with the hype, will it backfire? She's losing the whole point of Susan Boyle, and becoming The Media's Temporary Sweetheart. The woman who will be in the spotlight so long as BGT continues, then once it's over, she'll fade from the public eye, and nothing much will happen. I don't wish that at all. I think this woman deserves a better life and a bright future, and the worst thing would be if she's dropped after the storm. You know how harsh the media can be: you are the centre of attention when you sell papers, and dropped the minute the hype is over.

So come on Susan Boyle. Just be yourself. Don't let the sudden attention and fame get to your head too much. Please. Because if you don't, then you're no longer the woman we fell in love with on that stage.

is the world that wonderful, mr wonder?

和平 I 暴力
meaning: peace I violence

It's a recurring joke that in beauty pagents, all aspiring beauty queens say they hope to one day bring about "world peace". It's a funny gag that gets all of us sniggering slightly, but is it that funny a dream? Is it because it's so unattainable, we just laugh at the concept, without attempting to achieve it?

Why does violence even occur? Is it not embedded in the back of everybody's mind that you should only do good? What prompts people to "break away" and commit crimes? Look at the murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase dumped in an irrigation pond. Her alleged murderer has been accused of not only murdering the girl but also raping her with "a foreign object". What could have possibly motivated her to do something like that? Mental illness? Could explain it, but it's an excuse rather than a justification for it.

What about sane killings? OJ Simpson's name was cleared, but the world's pretty convinced that he was guilty of Nicole Brown's murder. Yeah, guilty enough to write that book "If I Did It", and insensitive enough to have the "If" almost non-existent on the front cover of the book. This man is not mentally challenged, nor does he have some sort of emotional problem. He's just a cold-hearted monster of a murderer. And yet he walked free (well, until he got arrested for the other charges), taunting and teasing the world about his "Not Guilty" verdict. Was it prompted by jealousy? Jealous of what? They had divorced 2 years prior to the murder. Pulling jealousy back into the argument is like blaming postpartum depression for your behaviour when your kids are already in their teens. And even if you are a teensy bit jealous, surely you have some sort of mental barrier that stops you from committing "wrong".

And the London stabbings. There's no excuse for that. It's died down now, and obviously everybody's grateful it has, but when it was at its peak, it was absolutely unbelievable in the worst possible way. People say "Oh, it is terrible, but it's okay because it will never happen to you". Well, that's what the victims' friends and families told them, yet they died. Why? Because knife crimes were cool. Cool. What sort of fucked-up world would think that taking somebody else's life--the one most precious thing in the world--is cool? Does this say something about our world? Do we enjoy living on the edge so much that we need deaths to satisfy us? Are we that blood-thirsty now? Is this why people are encouraged to commit violent acts? There are countless excuses for violence and meanness: mental problems, emotional problems, stress, jealousy, financial problems... But that's all they are. Excuses. Not justifications.

You look at the world around you, and it's filled with an air of deadness. Of course there are nice people--I'm not suicidal or pessemistic enough to think that there is absolutely no good in this world--but in this--let's face it--terrifying world we live in, is world peace really such a joke? Is it that stupid of an idea, or is it just so unrealistic that it's merely a dream we revere but not aspire to?

sunny day, sweeping the clouds away

So the fever's cleared up. Still feeling a bit hot, but I think, thanks to my 6-hour roll-around-in-bed sweating session last night (couldn't sleep. Absolutely agonising), it's really dying down. I looked out the window this morning, and man, what a view. The view at our place is gorgeous when it's sunny, but it's fascinating when it's during those in-between days. Looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. Modernised. About to head off to school in half an hour, but my persistent sweating means I couldn't stay in bed a bit longer. What's on my mind now? Hmm. OK I was so right about the quintuplet. My score prediction was a large step in the wrong direction, I know, but told you we couldn't win it. Just too much pressure. And here's some dog trivia: did you know that

* Max is the commonest name for a male dog
* Bella is the commonest name for a female dog

Slightly uncreative, isn't it? My friend's white puppy's called Igloo. Now that is a show of creativity. But according to VPI pet insurance, people apparently like to name dogs as if they're real children. Hmm. Whoa damn the mist is seeping into the house.

And now for some celeb gossip. Apparently the father of Rubina Ali Qureshi, the girl who played the youngest Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, tried to sell her off for adoption. Trust News of the World to stir up a scandel. Quite a lot of people are critical about it. Saying that a parent should keep a children through thick and thin. But (as cruel as this may sound to some), I think he should let someone adopt her. It would be his choice, so no Madonna-David scandel there, and he's right: she's a special child, having been in an Oscar-winning film (whether or not the film deserves it is another issue), and if he can't provide her with a good life, he might as well find someone who can. You can't compare the slums of India with, say, the modern world of America. It's an entirely different situation, and I think people should cut him some slack. Would I ever give up my children (if I have any) for adoption? A big, loud 'no'. But I live in Hong Kong, I'm heading off to London for uni, and wherever I stay in the future (probably still HK), I'll have a job to support my family. But they live in an entirely different world, and sometimes people fail to take that into account.

OK off to school. Joy. =(