-Friday im in love-

Finally back from the first 2 weeks of bmt. Im not allowed to blog about army. But i will say this. There are some people in serious need of deoderant. The smells ive encountered these 14 days have ranged from unholy to life threatening. I was grateful when i had a blocked nose for awhile. But even then the little air that seeped through was nauseating. I should add bad body odour to my list of asthma triggers. Army has been...a unique experience so far. Should get more interesting. Less smelly too i hope.

-Camo Face-

Going into army tomorrow. Ive heard enough about it the past year with alot of friends already in army telling stories about it. Time to get a first hand look. Dont want to over dramatize the thing but its been a reflective day. Feels like the end of another chapter. And the start of perhaps a rather dreary one. Not looking forward to it, i really enjoyed the time ive had this year, but its about time i got it done. Ill go with an open mind.

Im not usually one for any advertised sentimentality so this is an anomaly, but i feel in the mood to indulge myself. Ignore this if you get bored easily. In other words if you're like me. Anyway, been treating every day like it was precious. The past two weeks or so have probably been the best in goodness knows how long. Eating extravagantly, meeting up with friends, even some really old ones from the past which was nice, reading on occasion, running when i wanted to, sleeping when i needed to and watching football with a cold ginger beer in hand. What a time. I will miss this.

Last day today. Had chats with a couple of friends. Went jogging with one in the morning and just had a long conversation with another. I was sleeping in between so the entire day had only two events. Three if i include eating. I really admire both these individuals though, even more so after today, so it was time well spent.

It got me thinking about the past few years. Regrets and guilt usually accompany that activity. Haven't exactly murdered anyone but im certainly glad its done with. It would be prudent not to hastily label transitions as progressions but if there's a basis for hope im going to go ahead and leap ahead of myself. Remorse can aid change but when chronic, taints. Quite apart from remorse specifically but still within that sphere of emotional turmoil it seems to me that moral anguish is essential in our embracing of the world that confronts us. Beautiful in some ways, perhaps even necessary. Wish i had time to type more but i am getting tired, should get to bed soon.

Listened to interviews of Alexander Nehamas and Mark Vernon on friendship recently. Credit to them as the progenitors of some interesting reflections ive had. Its hard to overestimate the potency of the globalised spread of information. The possibilities of the people we could become are constrained by the conditions in our immediate vicinity. Those contingencies frustratingly beyond our control. When those boundaries are moved by consciously exposing ourselves to information outside those traditional confines, the possibilites of who we could become increase multifold and a greater autonomy over who we are as individuals is birthed.

This is for anyone interested in the topic of friendship thats been somewhat neglected in modern and contemporary philosophy, but seems to be making a comeback with a generally renewed interest in reflections of how we should live with the emergence of virtue ethics. Ancient philosophy clearly viewed it with serious interest. To Aristotle it was an absolutely essential ingredient to the good life and Nietsczhe held it in high regard as well. Id agree that it should be back on the terrain of philosophers again. A rough excerpt from one of the interviews that i found interesting.

Alexander Nehamas - " (On a generalized reason of why people fall out of friendship) When we see that our friends have changed, we ourselves have changed as well. So a friendship generally speaking, falls apart when the friends have gradually began to take different directions in their lives and are no longer connected in the way they have been up to that point. Its very painful sometimes to fall out of friendship. No less painful than falling out of love with someone or the other person falling out of love with you, which is often worse. The reason it is so painful is i think the following. If you stop being my friend, you both suggest to me that (a) you no longer like the person i am, which shows that if i were to ask you what did i do wrong, that would have been the wrong question to ask. Its not that i did anything wrong, its who i am that you are no longer satisfied with. But (b), it also suggests something even more painful. Namely that you no longer like the person you have become, as a result of our friendship. And that suggests that you are giving something up that i have been responsible for creating. So once again, in this context, the expression that we often use (more in situations of love than friendship but also friendship) when we say 'Its not you its me' is no consolation to the person to whom its told, because 'Its not you its me', still means its you."

Brutal stuff. I think its fairly clear our friends have an important part to play in moulding us into the people that we are. And yet a yearning for independence and a desire to be indurated from emotional hurt such as the one described, might seem to make dependency on our friends somewhat undesirable. But what else is there to fulfill that longing to know and be known, to have as Aristotle would described a friendship of excellence with both individuals satiated by each other's company regardless of the activity. Not to mention they would be able to make observations over a varied range of a behavior and this would give them priviledged position to launch an attempt into genuine empathy if not sympathy. A sentiment which i think is quite removed from romantic love or even familial love because they are more possessive, protective and consequently rather skewed in their perspectives. (Not that those qualities are necessarily bad on their own, but just not suited for that purpose.) Too sleepy to write anymore. I do feel grateful for some of the individuals i have met.

-The Prodigious Chiefs-

The Prodigy.

Kaiser Chiefs. I am aware of the terrible quality.

Finally got some files off my phone and these were a couple of photos that were in there of two concerts i attended. The Prodigy was somewhere in February. The Kaiser Chiefs are still vivid in my lousy memory so they must be fairly recent. Both were at Fort Canning which, if you ask me, is a pretty lousy venue. The whole place is a slope and if you're down in front your feet have to bend at weired angles. It might be nice for a fucking picnic but its not fun to stand on. Both were general admission though, which is good for someone with too much free time because i could get there early and stay right up front. We actually went way too early for the Prodigy concert, most other people were really late. Fortunately for them(and a slice of shitcake for us) the band was extremely late so we went there early for nothing. There was an overweight dj playing some raver tunes but there wasn't any rush for standing space; took awhile for people to gather. Which is expected since it was a fairly old-ish crowd. Probably former ravers of the 90s come to be cool again. There were some lunatics with weired hairstyles like half their head shaved with the other half long and flowy. This is not cool. It is incredibly ugly and makes you look like a mental hobo.

When they finally did arrive the concert was not bad. Crowd was up for it and The Prodigy's electronic dance music is just kickass, no band in the world like them. They did seem a tad mechanical though, didn't have the spontaneity or crowd interaction id hoped for. Which wasn't a problem with the Kaiser Chiefs who gave one helluva show. I know maybe 3 songs from the Kaiser Chiefs to be honest, not really my thing. Also they were late. But their songs are fucking radical live and we were jumping to the beats the entire time. I don't know their names, don't know their songs, but ill be going if they come down to Singapore again. The straits times reviewer of the concert lambasted the audience as pretty pathetic. I didnt think they seemed all that bad, not at the front anyway. The songs were 'jumpy' ones, only problem was that it was raining earlier on so we were standing on mud. To actually jump took alot of effort because the ground sucked you right in everytime you landed. I didnt care about that but i paid the price with mud right up to my jeans. I got a few puzzled looks on the mrt afterwards.

There were some morons around though. Right as the band arrived there were these latecomers that tried to push their way through in front; big ogre like oafs yelling 'Scuse us, big fans yeap, big fans, coming through'. They soon had to get their big assess to the back with everyone yelling at them. There was one guy that pushed his way from the back and stood next to me. He folded his arms and just stood there, glaring and looking annoyed by the people jostling and jumping around while we were all singing along chanting 'We are the angry mob'. Tsk, jostling from an angry mob? Who would have thought.. There were afew of these people. Some holding on preciously to their handbags and looking shocked at the 'unruly' behavior at a rock concert. Still, it was largely good and i hope they come down again. I want to go to england someday for the Reading and Leeds Festivale. According to wiki 'the following acts are confirmed as headliners (for 2009): Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys, and Kings of Leon. Other acts include Kaiser Chiefs, The Prodigy, Bloc Party, Fall Out Boy, Deftones, Ian Brown, Enter Shikari, Placebo, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' etc etc. Some of my favourite acts there, talk about value for money. Except for Fall Out Boy, i would pay extra to see them removed from the line-up.

-I pay 90 cents for this.-

Ok this is getting really irksome. There is yet another inane article in the Sunday Times 'Think' section by the same person. When the director of the National Neuroscience Institute first started writing there i genuinely thought, hey this might be good. Maybe she can write some really thought provoking articles about the state of neuroscience and its intriguing findings. Instead we got garbage like 'Why I Choose to be Single'. Who. The. Fuck. Cares. It took up almost the entire page in the 'Think' section. Your personal life is hardly something i want to be thinking about. And there'll be this moral lesson inserted at the end for us dimwits to learn. In this case-"I would advise young men and women not to delay getting married and having children." Thanks im persuaded by your clearly wise advice. Apparently argumentation isn't necessary for some.

I always look forward to articles by Jenadas Devan but they are being published more sparingly now. His writings actually had intellectual depth and appeal. Unlike him, she once wrote an entire anecdote about some sort of speeding incident in the United States where the policeman surprisingly turned out to be an agreeable fella because he agreed that Michael Fay should have been caned. At the end of the thing it was written that there are Americans who feel that 'a compromise in personal freedom to prevent anti-social behaviour is necessary for the welfare of society.' Is that it? What was the bloody point of the whole thing? Yet another teaching lesson for us? Justified by an unidentified solitary American!? The articles are always terrible arguments or opinions i couldn't give a shit about. This is stuff that should go on a blog not the newspaper. The academics and writers in that section usually write lucidly and argumentatively and that section is now being hijacked by this crap.

Well the latest article is a gem in comparison. Its about how there's a bright side to our worst recession ever. 'Economic hardship can teach us to be resilient'. Come on. Enough of this already. We get it and expect it from politicians. Its probably even necessary from politicians. We dont need it from any other sources. 'Perhaps this economic crisis may be a blessing in disguise' Perhaps.. Oh you've lost your job too? Let's get out the fireworks and party the night away. Ive heard its a blessing in disguise.

It's ridiculous, sure make the best out of a bad situation, but don't pretend like its a damn pathway to success. Don't get me wrong optimism is fine. But articles of little merit are not, especially when they appear time after fucking time.

-Livin La Vida Loca-

Hello there, im back. Why? Unemployment. Well not really, the holidays have been fantastic. Whoever said too much of a good thing is bad should have their head examined. Then bashed in with a dose of shut-the-hell-up. I could get used to this but there's only a month left before the island beckons. Still, ill be writing in here again if only to keep myself active and obtain healthy amounts of self indulgence while im in army.

Went to the Coldplay concert on monday with Sam. Thankfully he got us some good seats, fairly near to the band, slightly elevated, perfect for some photos but neither of us brainiacs thought about bringing a camera. Pictures taken by wiser people can be found here if you're interested.
Now, though i do really like them, they aren't actually my favourite band and id be hestitant to say i was a fan. Im a 'fan' of few bands so id pay an insane amount to watch Pink Floyd, but you can't ressurrect the dead or get old men to do things, so life goes on and you get what you can.

I've never considered them lyrical powerhouses apart from afew songs; too overtly sentimental or obvious for my liking(Think 'big fish in a little pond' from Lost!) but i have to admit they've got a knack for making great catchy tunes with those soaring sing-along choruses. It works against them as well though because it often becomes wearisome and formulaic. First 2 albums were solid but X&Y was a little self-indulgent and somewhat forgettable.. Viva La Vida though? I really like that album. Alot of old coldplay fans didn't like the new sound and understandably so with what they were accustomed to, but i think it was Coldplay with an amplifier. It introduced a much needed layered sound, synthetic distortions, and some added instrumental flair. Ballads tend to sicken me after awhile. Thankfully the list for the concert had just about all the songs from it(they missed Yes but i wouldn't moan about that one.)

A really good band called Mercury Rev opened for Coldplay and i tell you what id have been happy with a full concert by just them. The singer's vocals aren't shabby at all and their psychedelic style sits very well with me. Ive read that Mercury Rev actually influenced Coldplay with their Deserters album so its weired the way things come back around. One minute you're inspiring the next generation, the next you're getting them coffee. No one does stadium anthem pop quite like Coldplay though. The concert was just fantastic.

The sound and lighting was brilliant for one thing and Chris Martin's vocals were effortlessly evocative. Part of its success has to lie with the fact that the songs on Viva, and much of Coldplay's music really, are rousing anthems that lend themselves to stadium concerts like this. Credit has to go to Chris Martin though, that guy ran himself silly and knows how to charm the crowd and get them involved. At one point he mentioned how sincerely grateful he was to everyone that made the effort to come. Heartfelt but a discount would have been gratitude enough Chris. This set me back 200, damnn. It was worth the price though, they did a large set.

These are the songs they played:
Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Yellow
Glass Of Water
Cemeteries Of London
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Remix)
Talk (Remix)
The Hardest Part
Postcards From Far Away
Viva La Vida
Lost!
Speed Of Sound (Acoustic)
Death Will Never Conquer
I'm A Believer (Acoustic)
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
The Scientist

Crowd was good. Not surprising since they have some rabid vocal female fans. Tell them your tired of hearing about that jaundiced baby in Yellow and you'll get a chris martin poster smacked into your face. No one was sitting down which suits me just fine. For the amount we paid i'd groove to fucking Hannah Montana. Well, no, but you get the point. The girl beside me was well enthusiastic about it and it was pretty infectious. I was moving around soon enough too albeit in a much more manly and radical way. I sneaked afew glances around in the dark from time to time and saw afew people caught in two minds between dancing and not dancing. It was interesting to see, it reminded me of the jerky trembling zombies Will Smith finds in I Am Legend.

The songs that really stand out in my memory(and its a terrible one) are Viva la vida, Lost!, and Lovers In Japan. That last one i mentioned was quite something, with even confetti raining down, and would have been perfect for the couples present. Viva was a great sing-along and the crowd got really into it, same for Lost; lighting, sound, amosphere, all blended together seamlessly.

The only low point of the day was that i paid $12 for packets of ribena. That's right, $12. Fuck.Me. And it just made me more thirsty so i had to get a $3 hundred plus can.