Heroes

Heroes
by The Wallflowers, from Godzilla, The Album (1998)

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them for ever and ever.
We can be heroes just for one day.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can be heroes just for one day
We can be us just for one day

I, I remember standing by the wall
And the guns, shot above our heads
And we kissed as though nothing could fall
And the shame was on the other side
We can beat them for ever and ever
Then we can be heroes just for one day

We can be heroes just for one day

I just feel like another song. It is a cover, I know, of David Bowie. David Bowie is an acquired taste, however, so I prefer this (shorter?) version from the Godzilla movie soundtrack by Jakob Dylan and gang.

Speaking of David Bowie, how about some Bowie Bonds?

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PS: Heroes season 3: Villains has started!

Read, Zoe's Tale

I finished Zoe’s Tale during the weekend and absolutely loved it. I don’t think anyone regularly reading this blog cares much about science fiction so I’ll skip the review. There’s Google if you’re interested. Let me just say that it is not the typical SF novel. Zoe’s Tale is told in the first-person narrative of a teenage girl, with all the attitude and issues that goes along with the age and gender.

Just as well, my copy of Brisingr is already in the mail!

It’s Just Been a While

... Since we had a song.

That the original is an all-time classic is no question, but the Mary J Blige duet version grew on me too.

One
by U2, from the album Achtung Baby (1991)

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?
You say one love, one life, when it's one need in the night
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you baby if you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love and you want me to go without
Well, it's too late tonight to drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?
Did I ask too much, more than a lot?
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got
We're one, but we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other, then we do it again

You say love is a temple, love a higher law
Love is a temple, love the higher law
You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all you got is hurt

One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should
One life with each other: sisters, brothers
One life, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other
One, one.

The Book Bug Bites

The web with all of the world at your finger tips just a Google search away is addictive, but nowhere nearly as addictive as a good book. Thankfully though, a book can only be so thick.

I’ve just finished reading By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber, the second book of his Safehold series which started with 2007’s Off Armageddon Reef. By Schism Rent Asunder picks up right where the previous book ends. I’m not very good at reviewing books so I’m not going to. Instead, here’s the link to a review on Sci Fi Weekly. The Safehold series files under science fiction, but the story takes place in a medieval society, albeit in a far away planet in a far away future. So instead of space ships we read about naval battles fought on galleys and galleons while the role of the villain is filled by an almighty Church of God Awaiting. It makes an interesting mix of science fiction and historical fantasy. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book, By Heresies Distressed.

I’m now reading Zoe’s Tale.

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The package of DVDs I’ve been waiting for arrived on Monday. Shipped by Amazon from Phoenix, AZ on July 25, the package was cleared by our Customs on September 12, and arrived in my hands on September 15, after 52 days total. It’s definitely my longest delivery yet from Amazon, but it arrived, which ultimately is the most important thing.

What's on TV?

Returning to things superficial, I have absolutely no idea what they’re showing on local TV but here’s a list of shows I’m downloading:

1. 90210. Yup, remake of Beverly Hills, 90210 of the ‘90s. Episode 2 aired on The CW channel (and went straight into cyberspace) on September 9. From what I’ve read Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty are two of the original main casts returning. I’ve only skipped through episode 1 so I cannot say how good or bad it is.
2. Bones. Season 4 returns with Bones giving a lecture at Oxford. Of course, Booth was there too, and (of course) somebody found a dead body.
3. Burn Notice. One of the more interesting shows currently. Jeffrey Donovan plays a “burned” spy Michael Westen surviving on small jobs while trying to figure out the people who framed him. Think of a cross between MacGyver and Mission Impossible. Gabrielle Anwar plays the former IRA operative ex-girlfriend while Bruce Campbell plays an ex-SEAL buddy who informs on Westen to the FBI. Season 2 introduces Tricia Helfer of BSG fame as Westen’s new handler.
4. Do Not Disturb. New half-hour comedy revolving around employees of a once-famous New York City hotel.
5. Eureka. Quirky science fiction series Eureka is almost half-way through Season 3!
6. Flashpoint. Canadian show about an elite police Strategic Response Unit (SRU) – think of SWAT or our very own UTK. Casts include Veronica Mars’ dad Enrico Colantoni as team sergeant and crisis negotiator and former Pink Ranger Amy Jo Johnson as second sniper.
7. Fringe. One of the most anticipated new shows this year by J J Abrams about an FBI team tasked with investigating all things strange. Of course, behind it all is a huge conspiracy. This is a new X-Files with an in-house mad scientist.
8. Gossip Girl. Season 2.
9. Greek. Season 2.
10. Prison Break. Schofield and gang are back in season 4 to take the Company down with help from DHS agent. They really should think about changing the name of the show now, unless they mean to put him back into another prison to break out again.
11. Privileged. Another new show on The CW about rich people meant for young women. An aspiring writer/journalist takes up a new job as live-in tutor to two spoiled teenage girls.
12. Raising the Bar. Saved by the Bell alum Mark-Paul Gosselaar plays public defender in a new series by Steven Bochco.
13. Samurai Girl. Six-hour mini-series based on Samurai Girl young adult novels by Carrie Asai. Already finished, unless they’ll turn it into a proper TV series.
14. Saving Grace. It’s already half-way into the second season of this mature-rated show with Holly Hunter as an Oklahoma City homicide detective with a “last-chance” angel.
15. Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Billie Piper returns for a second season as London prostitute Belle.
    
16. Sons of Anarchy. Interesting new show about a motorcycle gang from The Shield writer/producer Kurt Sutter, featuring The Soprano’s Drea de Matteo and Hellboy’s Ron Perlman.
    
17. Stargate Atlantis. This fifth season turns out to be the last for Stargate Atlantis as Sci-Fi Channel decided not to order season 6. Sad, but not surprising considering the series’ plot has basically stagnated. Good news new Stargate series Universe will begin next year!
18. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Season 2.
19. True Blood. Anna Paquin plays a telepathic waitress who falls in love with a vampire. Oh, vampires have just come out of the coffin, so to speak, so everybody knows about them. The series is based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris.
20. Weeds. Season 4 of this HBO series about marijuana-dealing single-mother Nancy Botwin is almost finished.

Wow, that’s an even twenty! I don’t watch TV all the time, by the way. Some of the shows listed above are reaching the end of their respective seasons; some are going into a mid-season break, and many of the new shows I won’t watch beyond the first episode or two.

Swingtown has just concluded its first season. The show has a brow-rising plot involving swinging or open marriages, but is really about relationships. Spooks: Code 9 is a spin-off of British spy series Spooks, taking place in new-future United Kingdom after a nuclear bomb was detonated in London. I really have to ask why British shows have such short seasons, or series as they call it – only six episodes – compared to US shows running twelve to twenty episodes per season?

Finally, anime series Macross Frontier, released in conjunction with the twenty-five-year anniversary of the original Macross will soon complete its twenty-five-episode run. The series retains the familiar Macross space opera theme but with updated graphics and catchy new songs. This time around, however, the main characters are members of a private military company SMS while the enemy is a new mysterious race of bio-mechanical alien called Vajra.

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PS: How could I forget The Middleman, the coolest and funniest show this summer?!

Identity Crisis II

Somebody read my blog!

Is it unreasonable to expect citizens of any country to speak the national language? Most, if not all, countries have some language requirement for naturalization. You must be able to speak English if you want to become a citizen of New Zealand, or French to become a French citizen. I assume the expectation, if not express requirement, applies to native citizens as well. If that makes me a bigot and extremist I’m definitely fine with it.

Every Malaysian, especially one born and raised in the country, should be expected to be able to speak the national language. That much doesn’t have to be spelled out in the Constitution. I’m not saying that those who cannot should be kicked out of the country. I have relatives, both native and naturalized, who cannot speak proper Malay and I think it’s funny.

A country should have only one integrated school system and in Malaysia that is the national schools system. The existence of religious and vernacular schools does not help the development of a robust singular national identity. So the national schools system is not perfect. Fix it. The existence of alternative school systems is actually contributing to the problem by taking off some of the pressure to improve the national schools system. I’m being simplistic but with better funding we can hire better teachers. That alone should solve a lot of the problems with our schools.

I’m not saying religious and vernacular schools should close. They can stay, but not with public funding.

Quality Service

I received a delivery from Amazon yesterday but it wasn’t the one I was expecting. The package that arrived yesterday with two books – By Schism Rent Asunder and Zoe’s Tale – was shipped from New York on August 24. Although Amazon gave a delivery date estimate of October 1 for the particular delivery, their shipments usually take only 2-3 weeks to arrive.

I was really expecting an earlier delivery that was shipped on July 25 containing two DVDs. Yes, I pay good money to buy original DVDs. They are Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, two made-for-DVD movie sequels to the Stargate: SG-1 television series. They were supposed to arrive last week by September 2.

So, on Monday I wrote an email to Amazon to ask about the overdue delivery. I also wrote an email to Pos Malaysia. Amazon’s reply came within the day; apologizing for the delay and asking me to wait till September 26 before they’ll send a replacement. Though frustrated, I’m fairly confident that Amazon will come through. They sent me a replacement for a delivery lost in the mail before. My email to Pos Malaysia came back with a “Delivery Status Notification” message from Pos Malaysia’s server, the electronic equivalent of “Return to Sender”. I suppose the customer service email address on Pos Malaysia’s website is only for show.

Popeye’s trip to the bank reminds me of the several times I went to the Bank of America branch at either BU’s George Sherman Union (GSU) building or Kenmore Square. Even at the ever busy GSU branch, a bank officer with a clipboard will always approach you every time you step into the bank to offer assistance. They’ll even fill up your forms for you. I never spent more than five minutes at the bank. We don’t have that level of service yet at the small Bank Islam branch on campus but the officer on duty at the customer service desk by the door is always helpful and the few service counters are always manned.

Identity Crisis

Sunday September 7, 2008
Malaysian spends 11 months at depot for illegals
By C.S. NATHAN

SEREMBAN: Young mother M. Rajeshvari spent 11 agonising months at the Lenggeng Immigration depot for illegals – all because she could not recall her identity card number and was not fluent in Bahasa Malaysia.

The 22-year-old, who was six months pregnant then, was waiting for a relative at a coffee shop in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, when a raiding police party asked to see her identification card. She could not because she had lost it. Worse, she also forgot the IC number.

...

You really cannot fault anyone for not believing your claim to be a Malaysian when:

1. You do not speak the national language;
2. You cannot produce your identification card (she lost it) and cannot even recite your identification number; and
3. You cannot account for your own background including the addresses of your parents and relatives.

Firstly, M Rajeshvari only has primary school education, which is very unfortunate considering our national education policy calls for twelve years of compulsory schooling. Somehow this, however, has not been rigorously pursued and enforced. Despite our current preoccupation with tertiary level education issues (graduate unemployment, ranking, APEX universities, etc.) it is the availability and quality of primary and secondary level education that has the greatest impact to society. It is a greater tragedy that many miss out on this basic level of education due to poverty.

Secondly, all Malaysians must be able to fluently speak Bahasa Malaysia. That much should really go without saying. In many countries, command of the national language is a prerequisite to naturalization. It is therefore ridiculous for any citizen born and raised in the country to not being able to speak the national language. Again, this is a failure of the national education system. We must have only one system – the national schools system – catering to everybody. Public funding of vernacular schools – Chinese and Tamil – must stop, as do public funding of religious schools.

Thirdly, our basic biometric information, namely fingerprints, is already in the national identification registry. IIRC illegal immigrants processed for repatriation are also fingerprinted. Why, then, didn’t they look up her fingerprints to ascertain her claim?

Not a Good Day

Two stalled trucks in Sungai Buloh turned a routine 30-kilometer trip home yesterday which usually takes only about 45 minutes into a more than three-hour nightmare. I left work at about 4.30 p.m. and arrived home at about 7.45. Seriously, there must be a law that punishes people causing traffic jams. Traffic accidents aside, those who cause traffic jams because their poorly maintained vehicles break down should be fined at least RM5000. Why? There are real economic costs to traffic jams and people “saving” by not properly maintaining their vehicles are creating problems the rest of society simply do not need.

Earlier in the morning I found the leather strap of my watch broken from wear. During the weekend the silicone strap of my other watch also broke. What a coincidence! Instead of having to look for a new strap for one watch now I have to look for two. It doesn’t help at all that the Fossil watch has a non-standard design and size.

And my Amazon shipment is overdue.

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TECH NOTE #1: I’ve just changed the blog’s default font to Cambria. Despite everything I said about Microsoft, I really like this new font they ship with Vista and Office 2007. If you still see this blog in plain ol’ Georgia, well, too bad.

TECH NOTE #2: Currently on Google’s new browser, Chrome, which is looking really good towards becoming my new favorite.