Oops, I've been MIA of late. Not that I've been terribly busy. More like I've gone into lurker mode. You know, when I still visit sites but am terribly lazy at posting anything myself. And that in itself becomes a problem, because when I finally decide like I do now to write things down, I can't focus. I keep telling myself to write about something I see either in something I read in the paper or hear in passing that peaks my interest, but it somehow gets lost in translation. So here's a garbled list of thoughts from the last few days that I'm trying to piecemeal together but is still bunk.

Jem rocks. About a month ago, I posted an entry about bands I'd give a try based on Audioscrobbler's formula of taking what I listen to and analyzing what I'd like based upon it. Well, Jem was one of the short list. What can I say... She is reminiscent of Dido's vocals mixed with an eclectic style of beats that sounds, as a fellow reader said to me, like frou frou. Every song is so distinctive in its own right that Jem is really unclassifiable (shouldn't all music be?). So I say go listen to it. Here's track one to give you an idea. "They"



You've got to be fucking kidding me. I saw this ad, though much more subtle, in the local entertainment section of last Friday's paper. "Thousands of single Japanese women are looking for YOU" so goes the headline. "Destina Japan is an innovative company specializing in matching successful western professionals like you with single, relationship oriented Japanese women..." it goes on to say.

Oh dear, where to start? Aside from the obvious perception of white being right, which is the five second soundbite version of why Asian women flock to white guys, what irked me the most from checking out the website was the quotes of why Japanese women are looking for YOU. And that is because they say there's a cultural difference between Japanese women and men in that Japanese men are too conservative and dominant. Now imagine yourself as a Japanese man reading this. You're not open enough to express your love and emotion? I don't know, it's just a sore subject with me because I see instances of this everywhere (the acquiescing of beliefs to the dominant culture). I had a lot more I wanted to write but it's jumbled in thoughts and I'm rushing through this entry.

Something to pass along...

Dear friends,

As you all may or not know that. The Refugee Camp in Philippine
will be closed soon, and this means the Vietnamese boat-people there
will be returned to VN. I beleived we all know, these people have risked
their saving, home, relatives and even their own lives to get there, and
they have been living in bad condition of the refugee camp for so long.
On top of that, they might be mistreated if they are returned. The
Canadian government needs 50,000 signatures in order to consider
accepting these people into their country. So far, there are 30,000
signatures received. We need 20,000 more in order to help save these
people, please click on the link and sign. Please provide correct email
ad! dress or else your signature will not be valid. You will receive
confirmation email after you sign.

Please sign . . . and pass this on to as many people as possible.

http://www.sosvietphi.org/

And for the fluff stuff...

Did Eliot leave Scrubs? Did anyone see the last episode? Always funny, I hope it returns next season :)

I finally got to experience what it's like to be one of those annoying staff people that meet you at the entrance to concerts! Volunteering at the Blues Festival, I got to stamp (for in/out privileges) the hands of thousands on Saturday. It's funny and scary how people oblige to it like zombies and don't question why I'm stamping them.