Prologue

Ramblings, Ravings, Musings and Mutterings of a charlatan....

Regarding

The Charlatan. A Writer. A Clown. Sometimes a Barnstormer. Vaudevillian. Pirate. I'm a idealistic cynic, silent writer, trapped traveller... God help me, I'm complusively paradoxical.

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June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007

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Saturday, March 25, 2006

I havent really blogged in a long while. Which is to say, i havent made any long thoughtful posts. I should do that again.


Exeunt Charlatan 11:46 PM



Thursday, March 23, 2006

Well its official.... Im going to Cambodia for WOW.


yayz.


Exeunt Charlatan 8:12 PM



Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Sometimes i wish i was born a decade ago, instead of now. The eighties was a grade era. But then so were the seventies and sixties and fifties and forties and thirties.... Hell, every decade was a great decade, for different reason... Its so difficult to decide. I wish i could watch Hendrix play live. I wish i could watch the lunar landing. I wish i could go down to the comic shop and pick up Neil Gaiman's the Sandman weekly. I wish i could read Watchmen when the Cold War was still a big thing.But i like this era too. I like talking to people across the globe in seconds. I like being able to download nearly anything to my computer. I like revelling in the glory of a million broadcasts invisbly flying across the world. I love the tech which we have access to, and the fact that we're jumping forward so fast.

I wouldnt mind living in the future, either. Provided it doesnt go all Orwellian on me. I wouldnnt mind zombies though.

*plot twist*

Im reading Grant Morrision's The Invisibles now, and let me tell you, that is the dopest shit ever. Far out, man.

Graphic novels are amazing. I mean the bad ones and even the average ones are god-awful, but the good ones are superb and the great ones are incredible. I mean, take Watchmen for example. Thats better than any book I've read.

Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrision, Neil Gaiman... and now even Brian Bendis and Brian Wood... these people have put out some great books.


Exeunt Charlatan 3:30 PM



Sunday, March 19, 2006

Damnation.

This TOK Essay is giving me a lot of worry. I just cant think of what to write. Nothing is surfacing in the black lagoon of my mind. Rargh. Its the tea. I thought i was joking earlier, but now, to my horror i realize the truth. I cant think without tea anymore! Nooo!!! Curssses upon cursses.

Im praying for an extention. Somehow, some long long extention. Until April. Thats four days of weekend to work on it.... Still not enough though.... Argh!


Exeunt Charlatan 6:15 PM


Aaaah...

Haha.

Today is the last day of the holidays and all I've really accomplished is... well nothing, really. I just managed to finish a draft of my LWT last night, and today I'm starting on my TOK Essay. Hmm, so much for using the holidays to catch up on my work. Well at least Im not alone... well i hope so.

I cant believe its term two already. Time flies like an arrow, straight into the eye-socket of man. Ugh.. sorry for that... I cant think properly without at least three cups of tea these days. Argh. I wonder if theres a twelve step program.

*plot twist*

Couple of days back i made the mistake of watching the last bit of Back to the Future. Now Im addicted again. I need to watch all three movies in succession or my tormented spirit shall wander the Earth for eternity.


Exeunt Charlatan 12:30 PM



Friday, March 17, 2006

Yesterday, on the 16 of March, some of us of the 416 gang when down to the esplande for the Mosaic Music Festival (Its still on for anyone who wants to go...), mainly partially because we heard that Ronin would be playing, but mainly because it was free. Huzzah for free stuff!

In popular music, indie music (from independent) is any of a number of genres, scenes, subcultures and stylistic and cultural attributes, characterised by (real or perceived) independence from commercial pop music and mainstream culture and an autonomous, do-it-yourself (DIY) approach. -Wikipedia

Yup, t'was yesteday was Indie Night. And judging by the crowd, it was Indi-mand. Everyone was Indi-mood for rock. And we were Indi-middle of it all. Please, dont blame me for the puns... Cause most of them were thought up by the MCs( the entire thing even was labeled 'Indi-mand'). And after listening to someone rattle on like that for five minutes, most people would be willing to punch said individual Indi-mouth. Indi-ed, all those puns were tiresome. The MCs really had their work cut out for em. But then, i suppose it comes with the whole Indie thing. I mean, the people who listen to Indie rock arent the type who take kindly to someone interupting the show from time to time to try and promote the Nokia N-series.

The night kicked off with a band composed of Republic Polytechnic students called Pulse. Now, Im not one to judge, but personally I felt that they were good, but not great... Ali says they remind him vaguely of No Doubt and i share his suspicions. One thing i can definitely say was that the band was definitely "Indie". For one thing, they havent even released their first album yet. For their first song, the lead singer started off by saying it was going to be a quite slow one to start off... and for the first 30 seconds it was. Then she suddenly started spasming and it song metamorphed into some sort of heavy-head-banging-horror. Course, i mean this in the best possible way.I like Indie music because it can never really be pinned down to any particular genre.


Awi Rafael from Rafe, was next up. But he was playing with a completely different band... something called The Ride( I think... not really sure tho... :P) . They were much heavier that Pulse, but then, at this point we were nearer the speakers so i dont know... In any case, i cant find i link so i dont really know what to say about them... sigh... Sometime really sad about this guy and the Pulse was that the crowd didnt really appreciate them... Most people there were either photographers or stoners. And i mean stoners. When i looked back at the people behind me, they looked like they were watching some blardy IMAX documentary. Maybe it was the photographers fault or something. People were afraid to stand up and get in the way of some guy's shot. And trust me, you didnt want to get into the way of their shots. Some of the cameras had lenses that looked like small tree-trunks. They looked like they could give you a black eye if they focused on you.


Up next was Ronin! Woot. The crowd really livened up at this point. I believe all the photographers were busy reviewing shots... Or maybe they got scared away by the BBC film crew that was taping the whole thing.... For some reason, people who work behind cameras absolutely hate to be caught on film..... In any case, by the third song was partically a small mosh pit forming. Which was suprisingly interesting because there was no space for a mosh pit five minutes prior.

The night rounded of with a rousing chorus of 'Crazy Son', which as you all probably know, is the 416 themesong. This of course led to a us, and a few other groups of like-minded people singing most of the thing louder than the band. Im not sure how the band felt about this...

In any case, that was the evening... After that it was a mad dash home, because a) no one wanted to miss the last bus home, and b) theres a 11 pm curfew for us decadent yoofs.

I wonder whether this will become a yearly tradition?


Exeunt Charlatan 11:59 PM



Thursday, March 16, 2006

I hate it when a file gets accidentally deleted. Has that ever happened to you? You know what Im talking about. You just do the finishing touches on an essay and then you close the file... But, when it prompts you to save, you click 'no'. In essence you have just deleted all your work, and you only realize this when its too late. I remember tthis exact thing happened to me when i was finishing up my ISO. Grr... Had to type the whole conclusion again from scratch. Damnation! See, i was working on a post that i was going to make, condemning the American media, when suddenly, accidently close the window without posting. I dont know why the heck i did that, but i just did. Hence, i just lost my post for yesterday. Or today. Argh. And it was a really good arguement too. Sigh. Oh well.

I remember saying in my last post that i'd be dreaming some dreams. Hmm... normally when i say something like that, i dont dream anything... and i wont be able to get to sleep either. This time was different. I remember actually dreaming a couple of really good ones.

I wonder if i should post them here.

Hmm... maybe after i finish my LWT.


*plot twist*

In other news... RONIN CONCERT TONIGHT. Huzzah!



Exeunt Charlatan 5:26 PM



Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Ok.

Ill admit it.

That last one wasnt so funny.

Mr T has failed me.... Or maybe... I have failed Mr T! Noooooooooooo!!

No matter. The past is of little consequence, it much like soylite and icepicks.

But icepicks..... KILLED TROTSKY!

MEIN GOTT!

time for some serious soul searching. Im going to dream some dreams tonight.


Exeunt Charlatan 10:05 PM



Mr T is hilarious.

I want to be a hippie....



Exeunt Charlatan 5:26 PM



Monday, March 13, 2006

I think i just made one of the biggest mistakes of my IB Year 1 life... well, biggest mistake as of march 2006 (Im pretty sure im going to make bigger ones)

See. A month or so back i signed on to do a centrestage play called The Vault with Ben Soh, Mel and BLT. Its grown since then. Grown alot. But of course that was expected. Plus it means that everyone does a little less work...

BUT.

But then i had to go and sign on to Nuts and Bolts... i dont really know why. I mean, that was a bloody stupid decision, cause now i have to go for double the rehearsals. I really wonder what motivated me when i agreed to contribute to two plays.

My March Holiday calendar now has roughly 4 days of concentrated rehearsals. Which if you didnt know, kinda sucks. What makes it worse is that i dont really have a big role in either plays. I mean, for The Vault, im an 'advisor' and funy-voice-over-voice-person. And for Nuts and Bolts, im a Indian stereotypical newspaperman (who gets killed 5 mins into the damn thing).



Well, at least im not in Haven... those poor sods have mon and tues for rehearsals... if they're in centrestage, it adds up to a five-day rehearsal week of doom. Ha. Hmm... other peoples misery always seem to cheer me up. Maybe i should take some mental-health days off to clear that up..


Exeunt Charlatan 5:30 PM


Today was full of realizations for me.

Mondays are usually like that.

I hate Mondays.

I also hate these damn one-line paragraphs..
...
...
GRRAAA!
...
...
I realize that this new skin looks quite retar--, ahem.. i mean odd from some angles... And the titles dont show up. Plus, people can’t comment on posts... Oh well, the only people who can be bothered to comment are usually bots anyway…. I kind of miss em.. Those bots always brightened up my day with their kind words and Keerrrazy Deals! That was always something to rant about. Sigh… These days there isn’t much left to rant about, except maybe emoness and suchlike. But my hearts arent in it anymore. Sigh. Hmm.. ooh i know. I notice that whenever i need too rant, i immediately go to the one place im sure ill be able to find a lot of stupid problems. A world news website!

***PLOT TWIST***



WOMAN KILLED BY FALLING HOUSE!
Police searching for ruby red slippers.

Ha. A bit morbid, i know, but this is the only way i know how to get peoples attention.

Arent you noticing the unusual amount of natural disasters that are plaguing the world these days. The biggest ones were Tsunami and Hurricane Katerina. But Im remember that there were many smaller disasters like the one about. Landsides, Earthquakes, monsoons....

Something is happening in the world. Is it the end as we know it? Or have i watched The Day After Tommorow too many times?



"You boast of man's triumph over nature. Fools, if nature were to shrug, or raise an eyebrow, then you would all be gone."

-Swamp Thing




Exeunt Charlatan 4:50 PM



Saturday, March 11, 2006

Doh. I think i missed my friday deadline. I hate deadlines.Always gettiing in the way of the creative process. Ever notice how their always either ages away or.... OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT HISTORY ESSAY DUE TONIGHT!

But then again, without deadlines, i would never get anything done. I still done get anything done, but at least now i get to worry about it.


Worrying is becoming one of my favourite pastimes, as i have recently realized that, deep down, i dont really give a hoot about the stuff Im worrying about... and honestly, i dont really need to either. So now im worrying in a purely recreational setting.


Exeunt Charlatan 3:05 PM



Wednesday, March 08, 2006

It occurs to me now that it was a bloody stupid idea to say that i would update three times a week, since my life isnt that interesting.


OEP! We've been hearing bout it for a while, but now we finally get the details. I would like to say Im a bit suprised, but that would be lying. The destinations are painfully... classic? clinched? You know what i mean. I feel like heading for Beijing, but i gather that so does everyone else. Bintan then, i suppose. Once again a popular destination. I bet I'll be Shanghaied again(i wonder if the link will turn up on the new skin...).


***PLOT TWIST***

Maybe I should take up photography. People seem to think its a lot of fun.

Ah screw that. Im to lazy to use photoshop and to fidgety to stay still long enough.

***PLOT TWIST***

Hahahaha. Downloading Monty Python Seasons 2-4. Still cant find one though. Oh well. When i finish downloading/watching Ill do a proper Monty Python Tribute Post.

*** PLOT TWIST***

Does Amazon ship to Singapore, i wonder?


Exeunt Charlatan 8:15 PM



Tuesday, March 07, 2006

And I won’t find my way back till morning.

Hey, what luck, this seems to be my hundredth post. Huzzah. I can’t believe I made it this far. I’m the first to admit that I’ve got a bit of a short attention span. I always thought I would stop by my fourteenth post of something. But here I am anyway. I wonder how many hours of stoning I sacrificed to do this.

***PLOT TWIST***

Hmm, I’m thinking of getting a new skin or something. I everyone seems to be doing it. If I do get one, please give me some form of feedback so I know what I did wrong. Throw a brick through my window, or something.

***PLOT TWIST***
So now that I’ve reached the hundred post mark, what should I do? Ok, hence forth, I’ll blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only. With meaningful posts and interesting links and political commentary. And so on. Blogging with a purpose! A drive! An inner fire! AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-AI…


Stay tuned!


Exeunt Charlatan 7:27 PM



Sunday, March 05, 2006

Deep in the dark places.

I am not the type of man who has the audacity to claim that I am anything other than I am, or that I even know what that is. Neither am I the type to talk in coherent, well-structured sentences.

Wakka Wakka Woo.

At very best, I could claim to be a fool. I do not have great understanding of the nature of reality and inner-workings of the world, nor the cunning to hide this. I am simply and inexorably a clown and a charlatan. Perhaps even a liar, indubitably not a very good one. But at least I know enough about myself to admit it. Which it itself is both a good thing and a bad thing. Self-knowledge is a wonderful thing, but ignorance is bliss, or so they say. But so many people are so… emo… so exasperatingly stupid these days… Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it. I see it on blogs, on forums and god-knows-where-else. What’s causing it? Modern society? The internet? Television? I don’t know. I do know that it’s really terrible in America. North America. But this… disease is seeping out. It’s everywhere now, even here, in good ole Asia. Maybe it was here all along, just in remission. Is awake now, and infecting and spreading and poisoning the hearts and minds of everyone that matters. Twisting the way we think, the way we speak the way we are. Its quite horrible. And the only problem is that only the people who get infected notice.

Ker-bang-ka! Ker-zoing-zoing-POW!

I don’t know what any of us can do about it. This poison in the veins and arteries of our society. People have been noticing it, worrying about it for ages… Will it ever get fatal? Will it ever get cured? Or is it just another paranoid delusion that haunts us hairless psychotic apes. But that’s the proof that’s its there, isn’t it. It exists because we worry about it.

UAI-AI-UAI-AI-aargghhhh...

Don't you just love the clichés (is that a cliché I wonder)? They're the perfect for saying everything and nothing at the same time, which is, as we all know, the purpose of language. The only thing you really need to get a point across is a big rock and a good throwing arm. I’m a patchwork man, made of over-used clichés and cable reruns. I know I’ve told you before.

But this patchwork cretin is getting close to his hundredth post and is wondering what to do to commerate the event.


Exeunt Charlatan 11:00 PM



Thursday, March 02, 2006

I've been a wandering. wondering.

Its really strange these days. Everything i mean. I'm pretty sure im getting worse/better in terms of my random retardness. Or whatever you call it. I mean i have a clown nose, now, and i just drew on a mustache for a history presentation. Plus im really trying to start acting more. Which is really weird. Couple of years back i was as quiet as the dead. Now, im living, if you know what i mean. Probably, you don't. Am i wrong, or are you? Its all in terms of perspective. See, i figured it out. We live, we die, we live for eternity in heaven(as I hope and pray). And when you think about it, even we we live for a century, thats nowhere near eternity. So whats the point of being so, so... boring. Was talking to kentay 'bout this. He tells me (in disbelief) that people think us 416ers are weird, i.e., not normal. I share his opinion that people who think like that are... well... not really very aware of things anymore. I mean, normal, here'n'now? Are you kidding. Just look at the net(got some wicked links at the bottom of the page). We are living in a weird-ass world. And there is nothing we can do about it, except embrace it. I dont mean we should start living a life of decadence. Far from it. We need to start living a life that actually means something. I live for two things, for laughter and dreams. To share this with the world will let me die a happy man. Does that make me weird? Maybe. Definitely,perhaps. But its a nice thing to live for. See im also looking for something. Im not going to die one day, perhaps sooner then i would like to believe, without anything to show for it. I want to die, and go to meet my maker, tell a joke funny enough to justify my existence. Something good enough for God, if you know what i mean. I know that's kind of difficult, impossible perhaps, but I can dream, can't I?

***PLOT TWIST***

This is like, the funniest shit ever. People like Jay Pinkerton make the world a slightly funnier place, no matter how short it is.

This is the weirdest shit ever. 'Nuff Said. People like David Firth make the world a slightly stranger place.


And I am a man who lives for the bizzare and the humorous moments in this life.







Exeunt Charlatan 8:38 PM