Ever wondered what it’s like taking Ecstasy? Well wonder no more! Funny man Pablo Francisco, he of the movie voice fame, describes in vivid detail about the time when he took two. With his vocal impressions, physical mannerisms and his profuse sweating, he really makes the story come alive. For those of you who’ve tried it before, you’d love this. And for those of you who haven’t, don’t do what Pablo did.
Mitsubishi makes these? No wonder they sell so many cars!
Say what you want about Clinton’s philandering ways, the guy is intelligent. Like, really intelligent. Kinda makes you wonder if he was still President, how would he have reacted to 9/11; Afghanistan would have been invaded and rightly so but the mess of Iraq may have been avoided and the world would have been such a different place today. And it’s a shame that Al Gore never got to continue that sense of an intelligent and sensitive White House.
But I’ve digressed.
The above two videos show Clinton explaining the current US financial crisis in such lucid and yet layman terms that even the most non-economically minded can understand it. The one big thing that I took away from that interview above was what he said about needing to grow the real economy, and that “making money from money” is not a viable long term growth strategy. Basically, an economy can only grow in a sustainable way via tangible goods and services, and via investment in knowledge and technology, and not from derivatives and speculation.
And while we are on the US economy, did you hear about McCain suspending his presidential campaign so that he can be in Washington to help pass the bill to rescue the US financial sector? And that he would also like to postpone his debate with Obama because of this?
Then he had also used the same excuse to back out of a scheduled interview with David Letterman, but he was caught lying because it turned out that he was down the road from Letterman being interviewed by Katie Couric. Oh man, David was peeved.
If he’s not careful about things like this, McCain can undo all that momentum he’d gained when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Maybe not amongst the hard core Republicans and conservatives, but it may sway the people who haven’t made up their minds. And that could be where the race is won or lost.
I admit to not knowing much about both presidential candidates of the United States. And even though I consider myself a left-centrist, I don’t have preferences for either one. I know John McCain to be a one-time POW in the Vietnam War, that even though he’s a Republican he didn’t agree to everything George Bush said or did, and that generally he seems like an intelligent person in his interviews. Likewise for Barack Obama, I think he gives very effective and inspiring speeches, and is equally intelligent and calm when sharing his thoughts.
But for a while there, it felt like the Democrats was getting all the media attention because they were being revolutionary: Hillary Clinton could become the first female US president, and Barack Obama could become the first black US president. It seemed like the Republicans just couldn’t get equal media air time because their candidates just didn’t inspire our imaginations like the Democrats did.
That was until McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. I thought that was a master stroke by the Republicans. Suddenly everyone was curious about this photogenic woman who went from the mayor of a small town in Alaska to become its governor, and now to become the potential vice-president of the United States. Suddenly, the media was interested in the Republicans again.
In my opinion though, she would have never been considered as a potential VP if it weren’t for Hillary Clinton clearing the way first. But that’s another story. My bigger question is this: is Sarah Palin really the best VP candidate that the Republicans have?
Like it or not, American still leads the way and almost everything that it does or happens to it, affects the entire world. Just think of the current financial crisis, and what’s still happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. After the George Bush years, isn’t it prudent to want someone with better experience and perhaps a bigger world view sitting in that office?
McCain gives me confidence and feels to me very presidential. Sarah Palin? Not so much. So the thought of her potentially becoming US President is a little bit unsettling. Legitimate questions should be asked of and about this woman. Questions such as her Christian conservative thoughts, her legislative experience, her world knowledge, her thoughts on abortion and sex education.
However, when these questions were asked, conservative types thought them sexist and demeaning.
Therefore it is good to have someone like Jon Stewart compare and analyse how these same conservative types were questioning Hilary Clinton and the Democrats in general. It puts it all in very stark perspective.
Saturday Night Live did a similar and a very funny take on sexism with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton whose character says sarcastically,
“An issue which I’m frankly surprised to hear people suddenly care about.”
Due to McCain’s age – he will be the oldest President ever, you have to treat Palin’s potential ascendancy seriously. The conservatives, if they really are patriotic should stop attacking the perceived liberal media bias and start asking Sarah Palin hard and difficult questions themselves. To let her off easily would be sexist and patronising.
In an earlier post, xtralicious has posted about these same thoughts of mine, and in greater detail especially about Sarah Palin’s stance on a variety of issues. It’s a good read, so check it out.
They say that there are three certainties in life: change, death, and taxes. To that I’d add: if you open your door to a couple of Jehovah Witnesses, they will keep coming back.
A couple of months ago, my brother opened the door to Mandarin-speaking ones. My brother’s Mandarin was patchy at best. So he said to them in Mandarin, “My Mandarin is very patchy”. To that, they said some pleasantries, handed him the literature which was in Chinese (natch) and left.
This morning, I opened the door to a pair of Japanese speaking ones. As soon as they saw me, they started speaking in Japanese. In my morning daze, it took a while for it to register. Luckily I know a little bit of Japanese from my Japanese girls chasing days, so I said to them, “I’m not Japanese, I’m Chinese”.
They apologised profusely – I recognised some of the words, but they kept speaking in Japanese and very quickly too, which lost me completely. So I kept repeating “I’m not Japanese, I’m Chinese”. I was hoping that that would make them switch to English but that just made them apologise even more.
So I kept smiling and bowing, and at the same time slowly pushing the door close. And finally, I got rid of them.
This episode and my brother’s make me suspect that they’ve got special team members for the different nationalities that they bring in from time to time. But the snag is that they don’t speak English. In their minds, they probably don’t need to because they are targeting specific nationalities.
But why did they send Japanese ones after failing with my brother with the Mandarin speaking ones? Wouldn’t the logical alternative be English speaking ones? Or were they just trying to throw as many Asian nationalities at us until they got it right?
It’d be interesting if they send Korean ones next because I only know how to say “hello” in Korean. If they knock on the door and I am the one greeting them, the conversation would probably go like this in Korean:
Hello, we are Jehovah Wit … Hello.
Yes, hello, good morning. We are Jehovah … Hello.
*puzzled* We are Je … Hello.
Are you ok? Hello.
*the other one pipes in* I think he’s mocking us.
Are you mocking us, sir? Hello.
Idiot. Hello.
I hope you burn in hell! Hello.
So there I was enjoying the music and the ambiance, and the guy next to me started talking to me …
Dude: So yeah I just moved here from over east.
Me: Yeah? Where from?
Dude: Newcastle.
Me: Ah yeah. What’s it like over there?
Dude: It’s nice you know, not like a big city. Very simple way of life. Very Aussie.
Me: Uhuh.
Dude: Not like Sydney or Melbourne, where you know, it’s play spot-the-Aussie. *suddenly realises my decidedly non-white face* Oh, no offense.
Me: None taken.
Dude: But I just think like if you come here, you should at least learn to speak English you know?
Me: I agree. Be proud of your culture but make an effort to join the rest of us.
Dude: Yeah yeah that’s what I mean. So you look pretty happy tonight.
Me: Uhuh.
Dude: Are you on something?
Me: Maybe.
Dude: Know where I can get some?
Me: Nah sorry.
Dude: Any spares on you?
Me: Nope.
We chatted a bit more after this. How I’ve been here 20 years and he could tell from the way I talked; how it’s so hard to get drugs when one’s new in town because no one trusts you (too right!). He bought a round of drinks, and I bought him a round. After that I joined my friends on the other side of the club.
A tip for the kiddies: anyone who asks you about getting some drugs the first time you meet them could be an undercover policeman. So play it safe and feign ignorance!
When I was young, I wanted to be cool. Or have cool friends.
Now I realise.
Being cool is superficial and pointless.
Nobody cares after you leave high school.
When I was young, all I wanted to do was to kiss a girl. Any girl.
Now I know.
There’s a big difference between kissing a girl that I cared about, and kissing one that I don’t. Same goes for sex.
When I was young, I was shy and awkward.
Now I’m not.
I like my own skin and I enjoy being around other people.
Especially women.
When I was young, I drove fast and recklessly. It was a thrill.
Now I understand.
It was stupid, selfish and dangerous.
What might have happened?
When I was young, I didn’t understand my parents. I didn’t understand moving.
Now I do.
They made sacrifices and gave up what they knew,
so that we may have the lives that we have now.
When I was young, I appreciated the simple things.
And I still do, and it’s how I stay happy.
I only need my family, friends, food and shelter.
I have changed a lot as I grew older, but I’m glad this part of me never did.
My friend Nadia may look like a sweet, diminutive girl but that innocent face of hers hides a dirty and naughty mind. Every week on her blog she does this series called, “Would you rather … ?”
For a straight-guy, it’s a no-brainer. I’d much rather kiss a pretty transsexual woman than to kiss a man. She’s got lady bits, looks like a lady and as a gender-corrected person, her personality and emotions would be closer to or in fact, identical to those of a born woman. I would have no qualms sleeping with her too because besides child-rearing organs, she is a woman for all intents and purposes.
So with my rationale above, I can’t kiss a man no matter how effeminate and lady-like, and I can’t kiss a transsexual who’s not 100% yet and still has dangly bits. It’s gotta be all woman!
However, I accept that I may be tricked if I go down that path of sexual misadventure. In which case, please don’t let me find out the folly of my ways, or touch something that feels a lot like my own body down there. *shudder* I’d much rather be blissfully ignorant about it.
