Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

Today’s lecture will be on the issue of Democracy. As you may [or may not] have known, Malaysia is a country under the administration of a democractic government. A government formed by people, to serve the people. Under circumstances of being the big-ass crowd of sheep that MMU [Money Making University] is, a body aimed to hear the plea of students was formed under the same method. Cordially known as the Students Representative Council [a.k.a. the SRC], its members were selected through a poll held every year.

The topic for your assignment today will be to contemplate on the power and truth behind the concept of democracy.

As of 12th July 2004, the SRC has declared a new policy regarding the dress code of MMU students. The entire bulletin post is rather long and dull, but there are several pointers that caught my attention, and I would like you to observe the matters in italic with a critical thinking perspective. It goes as follows;

29.2 All clothing articles should not sport any indecent and / or obscene markings, words or signs.
List down examples like, DO ME NOW or FUCK YOU. Bonus points for creative images

29.3 Male students shall not keep hair beyond the collar, not sport fancy / fashioned hair such that the male identity is lost.
Yes, you. The student over there. Explain to the class exactly how could the male identity be lost through a certain hair style?

29.4(a) Students are not allowed to wear sleeveless blouses, sleeveless tee-shirts, singlets, tank tops or any clothing article which bares the shoulders and armpits ( e.g. tubes ), whether on campus or off campus, except in the privacy of their own accommodation rooms.
An extra question for your homework, list down 10 reasons why one should wear tubes in the privacy of one’s own room.

(d)For female students,(i) all dresses and skirts should not be more than two inches above the knees;
Oh, sorry for the typo error. Please delete the ‘above the knees’ part.

(f)Jeans are not allowed on campus and off campus. However, the jeans worn must be proper and not too tight, faded, tattered and torn, and cut-off ( at the leg section ).
Excuse the horrible points of contradiction.

(g) Shoes that are not allowed are sneakers, sandals ( shoes with open-work upper or no-upper, fastened with straps ), loafers, plumps and court shoes.
Who wants an easy assignment on educating the SRC about shoes?

Now, ladies and gentlemen. Those of you with gf/bf, I say congratulations and may your love life last you your wallet’s lifetime. The SRC, too, wishes the same and has several suggestions on how to enrich your love life;

i. Caressing any part of the partner?s body part
ii. Smooching
iii. Hugging
iv. Kissing
v. Holding hands

Lucky couples found engaged in such activities will have the SRC members hunting you down and reward you with nominations and entitlement to wonderful gifts and surprises. Other such reward-bringing activities include sitting in close proximity to each other in isolation from other people in situation and position that could raise suspicion as to the real motive of the act

And to quote the bulletin post;
Coupling between unmarried couples, or being in physical proximity between opposite genders in any suspicious situation(s) or in any condition(s) which may raise suspicions as to the real motive of the acts(s) and / or all kind(s) of deviant behavior(s) are not allowed. “Suspicious situations” and “deviant activities” here includes all, but not limited to, sexual activities with or without the consent of the involved parties. This shall be a strict liability offense and shall be dealt with in accordance with Procedure 1 in subsection (1) of section 59.

Thus ends the first part of our lecture. We will discuss issues of section 59 in this chapter when the class resumes. Let’s take five, people. I need to take a pee and call my wife to ask if she made me any lunch. Should you have any questions about the assignment, just visit the bulletin board here and look for it by Today’s Bulletin.

Strategic Mess Player

To you, mess is inevitable. It will always be there, no matter what. But, hey, it’s all under control at least to you. You know what’s in each pile so it’s all good.

Got these from Xfresh. It’s quite dumb, though. But I’m bored.

Yes. I just found a very interesting website.

Many times I’ve been wondering, how on earth am I supposed to survive overseas if I weren’t able to cook? How, if I can’t find halal meat? Will be forced to turn vegetarian [na'u zubillahhi min zalik, mintak jauhkan -.-;;]?

I was browsing through some of my favourite blogs when I found an entry regarding halal food in the country of non-muslims [Europe and America]. Eat Halal is a Canadian based Muslim community that seeks to help Muslim eat halal.

Though the list of food outlets is limited to Canada, the rest of the website is very helpful, with recipes, definitions, and tips on eating halal on foreign grounds.

Yeap. After abt a week of its release, I booked a ticket for a 7pm S-2 show. I’m having high expectations of this movie, seeing it from trailers, teasers, etc.

Let’s move on to a geek’s perspective on the movie.

If it’s one thing I love abt the ‘new’ Spiderman Movie over the old ones is that it shows the real agility, flexibilty and speed that is Spider-Man’s most prominent physical ability. The technology back in 1980 [The Amazing Spider-Man] failed to achieve that. The whooshing sound whenever Spidey swings building to building. The velocity, the curve and magnitude of every slingshot leap that he makes. That is one the major things that excited me in both Spider-Man Movies.

Another thing that is equally [and predictably] impressive in Hollywood movies, including this one, is its ability to convey heavy emotion. Parker, as Spidey, owns a superhero title that people look up to. Parker, as himself, leads a fucked up life. Shabby aptment, being jobless, even his Aunt May is having troubles of her own.

At one point where it shows that everything in his life was so so SO fucked up, he decided to give up on being Spider-Man [it says so in the trailer]. Not to mention MJ is getting married, and his own best friend Harry is feeling screwed ever since his father died by Spidey’s hands.

As for Doc Ock, well, let’s just say he was engineered [no pun intended] to perfection. His tentacles’ design, the way they animate, the strength and flexibility that they display got me smiling cheek to cheek.

However, I can’t help but agree with Kenny Lee when it comes to Spider-Man’s true strength. As a real [though not as zealous as Kenny] Spidey fan, I felt very dissapointed knowing that Spidey generates his own web. In fact they even used that basis as Spidey’s downfall. Here’s a rant on the web-shooter Spidey vs the natural-web Spidey.

**SPOILER ALERT**
At one point where Spidey was just swinging around, he wasn’t able to produce anymore web, and he fell. It was a bloody LONG fall, and he was screaming like hell [like who wouldn't?]. And when he did fall, he slammed on to the roof of a tall building.

Not to mention he got one of his web-shooters damaged in fights against the Hobgoblin and Mysterio. That was when Spidey actually had to rely on tricks to win and not his web. His web is NOT his primary weapon. But his acrobatic skills and cunning are.
**END SPOILER**

And when it comes to emotions, there was a scene when Spidey saved a train full of people. His fight with Otto somehow damaged his mask, so he had to pull it off. After rescuing that train, he almost fell off the track, but people caught him. They carried him gently, laid him down and looked at him with admiration. Just when Parker felt his life was fucked up, that the media hates him, that none but Aunt May loves him, that his life was going down the drain, there was an entire group of people who caught a nice look of his face, and their facial expression showed their love and gratitude. A pair of kids even handed a new mask for him, saying ‘We won’t tell nobody’.

I was so touched I almost cried [sue me]. Okay, into devil’s advocate mode.

Another note is that the Movie exaggerates his Spider Strength. Being fast is fine, being able to throw a punch that sends people flying is fine, being able to survive a 90 km/h slam into a solid brick wall is fine, but **SPOILER ALERT** STOPPING AN ENTIRE TRAIN, FULL OF PEOPLE, ACCELERATING AT TOP SPEED, AND NO BRAKES from falling off it’s track **END SPOILER** is not!

Goodamit I hate Hollywood for insulting Spidey like that. They could’ve relied on something else like Spidey messing around with chains lying somewhere or jamming brakes with a flagpole or something. But NOOOOOOO. They just had to **SPOILER ALERT** Let Spidey shoot his web across the track on both sides, and stretch oh so fucking hard that he himself, acts as the train’s speed dampener! YES! He fucking slinged his web onto multiple buildings, stood at the front of the driver’s coach, and held his web together!! And he fucking stopped the train!!! **END SPOILER** Goodamit, atheletes lift abt 4 times their own weight and they suffer from torn ligaments and severely injured muscles. Him? He just fainted.

Good thing the fight scenes more than make up in entertainment value. I was so thrilled when I saw Spidey vs Green Goblin, and Greeny was just flying around shooting stuff. And when I saw Otto, I knew I shouldn’t expect less. And boy did Otto do good job. His mech arms were flinging around with solid strength, yet with graceful fluidity and at unthinkable rates. Lashing, smacking, grabbing. It just made me go wow.

I love movies that can make me go wow.

Spidey did more than stood a chance vs Otto. By right, Spidey’s agility and spider-senses owned Otto’s tentacles quite well. Swift punches here and there regular kicks and at the same time leaping, flipping and dodging away from the metal thingymajiggies.

The fight scenes were very, VERY well made. Too bad the swinging scenes weren’t. Sure, the environment was good. It was high-speed, so I’m sure many people failed to notice.

[geek talk]
Spidey swung well, his movements precise. But they weren’t as well-made as it should be. Look at him fighting, and look at him swinging. You can tell that Spidey is under different lighting conditions. While swinging, he’s sometimes in the shadow of this building, and thenhe’s out of the shadow. Into shadow, out of shadow.

He doesn’t swing in just one straight direction, he makes a turn here and there, taking ocasional leaps, saving kids crossing the street. That means light fall onto him on different sides and at different angles and intensity. The swing scenes didn’t show much of that.

If you have watched Hellboy, think of the fish guy [i forgot his name]. His underwater scenes, that is. They were perfect. Just like Spidey’s swinging scenes, Fishy’s diving scenes were FULLY 3D.

His fight scenes were abso-fucking-lutely perfect [effects-wise] but his swings aren’t. And that’s a bit disspointing.
[/geek talk]

Above all else, I just love it when Spidey and Otto clash up. That was the best eye-candy I’ve had since The Matrix: Revolutions. Oh well. I enjoy good movies. That was a good movie. So yeah. Now I can just chill abit, and wait for the Hobgoblin. S-3, perhaps?

A few days ago[Monday, actually], I found out the reason as to why I have been broke this semester.

I was lamenting abt my late scholarship deposit to fellow YTM scholar when he said;
‘Kau dah hantar result sem lepas belum?’
‘Belum’
‘Member aku cakap kena hantar, and then seminggu lepas dia hantar tu baru duit dia masuk’
‘Kau dah hantar belum?’
‘Aku nak hantar la ni’
‘Alamak’

So there. And today, I trust Justin to stick a copy of it [along with an apology letter] into the Pos Ekspress box today. Godspeed the delivery, and my money.

[edit: Justin missed his 9am class because he thought it was at 10. I'm now praying for some sort of divine intervention]