Ramblings Of An Untimely Man (Entry No. 150908)

If the stars and planets are aligned right, we'll have a new government tomorrow. Will that put an end to the current administration's nonsensical moves such as nabbing people who report on perpetrators of racist remarks rather than the perpetrators themselves? They'd better. It's been a largely comical weekend with the rulers shooting themselves in the neck while the rebels round up for a lawatan-sambil-belajar to Taiwan. A Little Taffer is having a field-day with soundbites and commentaries (while participating in candlelight vigils/protests). As for me, I just signed the "Free Teresa" Petition - so don't say that I'm not doing my part. I'm naturally very apolitical. I trust the Anwar Clan not much more than I trust the vainglorious ruling government. But even someone so apolitical is totally sick to the stomach with the ruling government's antics already. Truth be told, Anwar's victory really has more to do with the ruling government's continued determination to discredit itself by shooting itself in the foot again and again using unpopular archaic nonsense like the ISA. Dr M, on the other hand, is trying to make himself sound like a reformer these days but honestly, a lot of what the ruling government is today is a direct result of his own folly. Just that during his time, he didn't have to deal with naughty bloggers and little taffers! Haha! Many are calling the recent ISA Blitz "Ops Lalang 2". Actually it isn't. The ruling government is a shadow of what it was during the height of Dr M's time (I was going to say "despotism", really). Even Kerisman have long hidden his keris at home already (or maybe sold it off on eBay as "the keris that caused the fall of ARM-NOH on March 8?) Malaysians are very peaceable people, by nature. We don't like sudden shocks or changes in the government. We are naturally very non-revolutionary. Racism is also at an all time low among commoners - unless stoked by politicians playing the racial-card. My family and I dine with Malay/Muslims every evening during "Buka Puasa" and are warmly welcomed by them. Along came an Ah-Mad with his "pendatang" remarks (echoed daily by the Oo-Tosan papers) and the person who reported it was arrested instead?!? Hang tak bersetuju! (Sebenarnya, Hang ni pemalas yang tak berminat langsung dengan perkembangan politik tempatan tapi Hang ni pun tak boleh setuju sama tingkah-laku macam ni, tau?!?)

In other news, Pltypus thinks I'm angsty because I refused to read Alister McGrath. Truth is, I can't afford to buy many books these days and when I have some money, I'd rather buy stuff that I like to read rather than authors I disdain. I used to buy books by people that I dislike so that I can write stupidly angry reviews about them. Sometimes I still do that with movies (like I just did recently with "The Dark Knight"). But seriously, I've got a huge backlog of books still waiting to be read. I'm presently finishing Gu Long's "Full Moon, Curved Blade". This is a novel that I should've finished years ago but for some reason, my copies ended up with La Tey and it's probably somewhere in Bee Pee now. After that, I'll probably finish up the "Iron-Crane" series by Wang Dulu, "Brothers" by Yu Hua, reread Bruce Jones' run on "The Incredible Hulk" before picking up the Loeb/McGuiness "Red Hulk" stuff, etc. No, I'm not out to anathemize McGrath (like what Pltypus suggested). Honestly, I couldn't care less. I wrote on Calvin to make a clean break with Protestantism. We were brought up as Protestants who believed that Catholics deserved to get molotov-cocktails up their collective asses for worshipping Mary, selling/buying indulgences, praying to the Saints, etc. We stupidly walked around under the Reformation Banner (like some politico-folks here in Bolehland) and chanting the "Solas". We stupidly thought that we had the monopoly of truth. I hope the revelation that the Catholic Church fought USURY as long as they could until John Calvin opened the doors to it will show other Protestant folks that there's little to "protest" about Catholicism compared to the evils unleashed by their own founders. There was never a real theological-reformation by Luther and Calvin. Much of what they wrote about can be found in the writings of the Apostles, the Church Fathers, etc. It wasn't so much a theological reform as it was a social-political-economical one - with the goal of decentralizing the power of Rome in order to usher in the "new world order". Are you tired of being lied to? Are you tired of being fooled? Then wake up and smell the vomit around you...

I'm moving on to set up my new teaching schedule once I switch to "freelance" mode in November. My immediate financial concerns have little to do with the creep John Calvin or the Brotherhood-backed global banking system. My immediate financial concerns are limited to bringing back enough money for my family's needs, pay off my backlog of debts, start my degree programme, and (hopefully) have a little left to buy pirated DVDs, comics and novels. La Tey spent the large part of last month knee-deep in the whole financial-system thingy. Don't blame him. These things are fresh and alien to him. As for me? I've had quite enough of it all. That was why I left the whole banking/financial industry in the first place! Calvin approved of the "conscience-free" banking system built firmly upon "capitalism". The Puritan community was really a closed social experiment with its inhabitants as guinea pigs to be observed. It became the foundation for the whole United States of America with the Federal Reserve introduced as the capstone of this nefarious conspiracy. But all this wouldn't have been possible without the "reformation" of Luther/Calvin! Welcome to the New World Order...

Walked around the neighbourhood with my wife, kids and maid last night carrying lanterns. Nobody else seemed interested in celebrating the Mooncake Festival. It was a full-moon night. Was expecting Fa Moon Lau and Luk Siu Fung to appear out of nowhere announcing the duel between Sai Moon Chui Shuet ("Simon the Snow-Blower?") and Yip Goo Sing on the peak of the Summit USJ. The only VVIPs who turned up for the Lantern Party was MCA YB Ong Tee Keat and the boss of Summit USJ. Alas, the Lord of White Cloud City, Yip Goo Sing, was nowhere to be seen. When Ong Tee Keat started his speech, my family left for supper. I have little patience for populist-political ceramah.

Speaking of families, I had a great time last week reading the blog-entries of Asia Carrera, former pornstar. Asia was huge in the crazy 1990s. I only just found out about her marriage, the death of her husband, etc. Interestingly, I came to know Asia many years back (when I just discovered the internet) because of her website talking about her MENSA membership, her piano-playing, her "dictatorship", her geekiness, etc. I was learning HTML programming at the time and was putting up my first websites so I "stole" some of her HTML codes/designs for myself! Years later, I discovered her films and Gerrie Lim's book about the industry ("In Lust We Trust") two years ago. Learned about her Japanese-German parentage, her early life as a child prodigy (and the pressures that came with that), and her infamous atheism (shudder!). I was reading her bulleting entries for in the late 1990s (she was blogging long before there was such a word!) and found them to be very poignant/unpretentious stuff. She's one of the few pornstars who openly show you that porn is nothing more than a fantasy and that her porn-persona is nothing more than a fake identity (kinda like a superhero's costumed identity). The glimpses into her life away from the makeup, the pushup bras, the lighting, etc. showed a person who is obviously intelligent, playful, sad (at times) and refreshingly honest. It's interesting to read her latest bulletin-entries to know about her current activities (from around 2-3 years back). Go check out Asia's Bulletins to read them for yourself. Alister McGrath? Apa binatang itu? Advice: Never read pseudo-theologians or listen to populist political-ceramah to learn about humanity or anything resembling human-sentiments!