The Royal Courts of Justice 

Sightseeing in London! 

trying to duck (obviously unsuccessful) from Jenny's shot. Us outside the London School of Economics...somewhere on their huge campus at least 

walking in memphis 

posing like a typical tourist 

just personal preference: let's not label

Can somebody who has no inclination towards any beverage with a % sign on the bottle and booming loud music sandwiching gyrating bodies please put up their hand?

sheesh it's stifling in here

Don't remember where I've stopped on the series...plus my DVD seems to have a problem? Is yours working Poon? bah...as you can see I prefer vividly coloured wallpapers to Oscar Wilde's rant on why socialism is better than democracy. 

cool!!! more of Magritte!

Esp. like 'The Lovers'.
we see not what we love? or we love not what we see?

There's a link to Kooning....hahaha his name always cracks me up (think Singlish)

Wicked!

you know how I sometimes insert certain song lyrics in my entries?

A lot of them come from the musical Wicked, a fascinating musical which chronicles the build-up to Dorothy's adventures in Oz, with its underlying message of how a good intention was turned on its head and an intrinsically good person labelled evil by society (The green wicked witch of the west). From what I've read it is a very touching story, and more so the pieces from the musical. (the singing is wonderful!) I have long longed to watch it performed on Broadway.

And then I saw this!!

Wicked musical confirms transfer
Wicked, the record-breaking Broadway musical about the witches of Oz, has confirmed the dates that West End audiences will get a chance to take a look at one of American theatre’s biggest phenomena. Wicked will open at the Apollo Victoria on 27 September following previews from 7 September. Booking will open to the public at 9:00 on 5 March. Casting is expected to be announced by mid-May.

argh!! It opens in September!!! If I could just fly....

If you're interested, some other links to follow:

Wicked UK (London)

Ticketmaster

the problem with passion is

the problem with passion is, when you see something that touches you deeply, you begin to desire it greatly. When I see the grace of theatre, a vibrant myraid of colourful hues, the aching echoes of beautiful voices, I can't help but yearn, nostalgic, and long for.....for... something. So when all three elements conspired to present themselves in the form of Moulin Rouge to the unwitting girl looking for mere dinner-time entertainment, I was enthralled.

It wasn't my first time watching it, and one might have anticipated an expectent boredom about a film seen twice, but that longing was inescapable

I

Never knew I could feel like this

Like I've never seen the sky before

Do you know? When you experience the golden entrance of the horizen, and

make a wish that it be shared

I love you until the end of time

wonder beauty truth

resonating across

stormy blue oceans

dimensions, time

the rising Divine

tremulous fingertips

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace

Conquerable in transcendence: hope.

Spun with a silvery thread, inseparable: love

Death seems like the perfect ending. Come what may.

Lit: an inexplicable existence within

Rene Magritte, Le Mois des vendanges
(The Month of the Harvest)

A feast for the eyes, don't you think?

A living illusion

That thing that fulfills our needs and wants, provides the image we want to project, becomes us - don't we just have to have it? The definition of what we wear/utilise/purchase becomes the definition of ourselves, the item we consume a tell-tale sign of our identity. Is that really true? Should we really believe a brand of an automobile makes the driver a suave, sophisticated gentleman/woman, when all it might indicate in reality is $$ (which might imply sophistication - it is not inherent along with wealth), or falling COE prices? That a washing liquid can strengthen the bonds within families? That a type of hoop-cereal encircles strong emotional ties between youth and age?

In this light I find myself rolling my eyes. yeah right it's true. And go on consuming branded goods.

That's what branding is all about. No, not 'selling', some over-the-counter influential speech that results in the presentation of paper wads which magically transform by immutable law into a product, a good (this noun even has dual identities- it is also an adjective that adorns the buyer). It's the 21st century baby, and branding is it. A perpetual blinding of the consumer.

What spurred the above was a link on Esper's blog, which I followed today: 'The Persuaders'.
It might actually peel back the veil. Have a look, see what you think.

Naomi Klein's (author of No Logo) comment was most impressive: "When you listen to brand managers talk you can get quite carried away in this idea that they are fulfilling these needs for community and narrative and transcendence. But in the end it is a laptop and a pair of running shoes and they might be great but they're not actually going to fulfil those needs; which serves them very well because that means you have to go shopping again." (Chapter 2: Emotional Branding)

Another interesting read on the topic is Roland Barthes Mythologies, an argument that de-mystifies the glossy cover of advertisment and media. The way he describes the covert strategies is so fluent and fabulous you can't help laughing at one's foolish self in the culture of consumption.

I know who the meanie is!!!!

Beware! This be he.......
see, who's threatening who?

To the horrible meanie who won't give me the present:

ALL THE BEST for your remaining 4 days!
(no no I'm not going to fly home just to kill him....)
YOU know what I mean lah!
Check re-check re-re-check the deadline!! hee ok just trying to scare you.
Are you all free after that? Does it mean you've got your degree before me? noooooooooooo!