myDesensitiZATION@iSin(gap)ore

Stolen from Google Images

First, let me apologize to anybody who might be offended by this post (in true Singapore fashion!).  I’m having an amazing time living in Singapore, and I’ve grown quite fond of this little red dot.  However, I have to get something off my chest.

One of the first things that a foreigner notices when he or she visiting ol’ Singapura is the cleanliness.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the second thing they notice are all the corny advertisements.  Granted, a lot of these are public service announcements and EVERY city has their fair share of corny ads of this ilk.  However, there definitely seem to be more than usual.

Exhibit A:

The main requirement for these ads is that they rhyme.  While this may be very effective for keeping them in our memory (as is their purpose), this technique yields some of the most corny expressions ever.

But the corniness is not relegated only to the public sector, plenty of private, big business ads make you cringe with equal effectiveness.

Now, it wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t so often try to sound hip by trying so hard to appeal to the internet culture.  You get so bombarded by “iSomething” and “mySomething” and “something@something” that you want to tear your ihair out.

My completely unprofessional analysis is that, with Singapore, we have a culture that is made up almost completely of Human Resources.  We all know how corny HR can be when they try to appeal to employees by sounding hip.  Imagine that one a nation-wide scale.  EVERYTHING is about PR.  Oh, did I mention the fact that you often find yourself drowning in acronyms?

The reason I’m making this post is not to bash Singapore.  Again, I love it here and I think it’s a great place in a lot of ways.  But I’m returning home to the States for Christmas this year, and I don’t know how I’m going to react to advertisements that do more than make me laugh at them.

Anyways, there’s one particular video that Mediacorp has been playing recently that I will post.  However, I cannot seem to find it on the internet, and will update as soon as I do.

Cheers, lah.

Henry Rollins vs. Glenn Danzig

This post draws its inspiration from a messageboard discussion on the same topic which I recently sifted through.  Now, I’m not a violent guy, but this is an amusing debate.

The question seems simple at first:  who would win in a fight?  Henry Rollins of Black Flag and the Rollins Band or Glenn Danzig of The Misfits and, well, Danzig.

However, when you really start to think about it, there are some pretty important distinctions to be made.  Are we talking about an early career fight?  Black Flag Rollins versus Misfits Danzig?  Let’s take a look at some early videos for comparison:

In interviews:

In concert:

(pardon the poor recording quality, but we’re looking for violent behavior here, not musical quality)

Obviously they both had a tendency towards violence while performing, but Rollins seems to be more on the aggressive side when it comes to interviews and personal interaction.  This leads me to believe that Rollins would be more likely to instigate a fight.  However, Rollins also seems to be a little more contemplative and less of a “loose cannon” than Danzig.  My guess is that if Danzig had been getting smacked and hit by fans like Rollins was in that first video, he would’ve retaliated immediately.  Rollins takes the hits for a while, seemingly letting the rage build up before he unleashes.

My guess is that early Rollins would thrash early Danzig as Danzig would just wear himself out before Rollins even began to fight back.

The next step, obviously, would be to ask “well, what about a fight in their later lives?”  Let’s do a similar video comparison of the two:

…and “performing”:

Regardless of the change in musical styles; regardless of the change in fan-base; regardless of the fact that he got flat knocked out… Danzig still seems to have a certain aggression about him that would lend itself to instigating (obviously) and probably succeeding in a brawl.  He’s also beefed up a bit since his Misfits days.  While Rollins still has that contemplative, brooding attitude about him, he’s gone the way of the book much moreso than Danzig.  I believe that elder Danzig would probably whipe the floor with elder Rollins.

Either way, younger Rollins would give both younger and elder Danzig a real beating.

But what if Danzig were to have become more bookish in his old age?  Well, I’ll let this last video do the talking.

“Mother…”

Garfield sans Garfield

I actually stumbled across this site/blog some months ago, but it came to my attention again recently and I felt like I should share it with my wide fan-base (ahem).

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of the Garfield comic strip (and the old cartoon, for that matter) but I definitely know some people who don’t feel much of a connection to it. I think this concept pleases both audiences, as it really does create a whole new strip–but at the same time lingers with the knowledge that something is missing. The neuroses of Jon Arbuckle really come through when he’s the main character in a way that they never did when Garfield got all the attention.

Here are a few more that I think are pretty good:

There are plenty more on the blog, so give it a look-see.