Aussie hip-hop outfit Thundamentals putting their spin on fellow Aussie singer songwriter Matt Corby's 'Brother'. Love it love it love it.
I'm on the lookout for great cover bands for hire. I have a very specific request - I want someone who can play grungy and/or acoustic-blues-y versions of wedding staples. Since I can't walk down the aisle to any of my all-time favourite songs (they are either about breakups, death, the death row, or losing one's sanity), I must try to at least have a good covers of the standard fare.
And plus - Mitch loves his tacky bad 80s music; so if I must have Spandau Ballet at my wedding, it better be a damn good version of it.
Has anyone seen this video, which has been circulating around Facebook ?
Well I have. And I have plenty to say about it.
First of all, kudos to Ms Bavani who had the guts to stand up in a room-ful of phony intellects and dim-witted hypocrites to speak her mind and present a valid proposition to the government to offer free education for all Malaysians. That's right - for all the rakyats - the rightful citizens, born and bred 3rd, 4th, 5th generation Malaysians who grew up in the country, lived, studied, raised families, worked and paid taxes to a government and obey the law.
But I won't get started on the inequality of race and religion. No, this post is about this video, about this so-called academic Sharifah (the emcee) berating a girl for voicing an opinion that she does not agree with.
"Question number one. When this is our program, we allow you to speak. Number two, when I speak, you listen."
Number one. That is not a question. Number two, this is a public forum, and you are not the dictator.
"I did give her respect. Do you think I need to answer her question with this attitude?"
First of all, cutting someone off mid-speech the way you did, is not what I would call 'respectful', regardless of how much hand-shaking and name-asking you did after that. Second of all, the girl is asking a very valid question - "why can't Malaysia offer free education to its citizens?" Since when is 'being informed' and 'forward-thinking' a bad thing? "Jangan samakan negara Malaysia dengan negara lain. Sekiranya Malaysia disamakan dengan negara lain, what are you doing in Malaysia?"
Well, trying to participate in an intellectual debate. Unfortunately she is not presenting it to the right forum, as it appears that everyone here is either:
a) Disinterested (I'm looking at you, dude on the far left on stage with your phone)
b) Deluded
c) Doesn't know what is happening
d) Only there for the free lunch
"Because if you know what, every student in this hall is happy with what the government has done for them."
Where do I begin with this. Students in the hall, you are just as guilty as the speech dictator for not having an opinion of your own, and enticing her to continue her verbal attacks at someone who does have one. What has the government done for the students? Free education? Subsidies? No wait, we have to go to Cuba for that.
And STOP CLAPPING FOR NO REASONS YOU FOOLS! Pick a side and cheer, don't just WOOOT and HOOOT every time someone pauses for fucks sake you're not 12. "The difference between you and me is a degree and an O Level. That's all."
That's not all, surely that can't be the only difference between the both of you! For one, Ms Bahani appears to be a very confident speaker, who has done her research, knows exactly what she's talking about, and obviously cares very much about the progress and growth of her home country. You on the other hand, loves numbers one and two, don't present any logic or rationale in your rebuttal speech, lost your shit completely when you started talking about animals and their problems... and just so terribly mean!
"You must understand what is democracy. You must understand what is anarchy. You must understand what is 'perhimpunan lebih dari tiga orang di sebuah tempat."
I understand what is democracy. Ms Bahani understands what democracy is. Do you understand what democracy is? By the true definition of the word I mean, not what Barisan refers to at voting parties.
"Saya tidak berkata demo bersih adalah haram. Saya kata Ambiga pencetus demonstrasi"
So she's saying that a clean demonstration is legal... and Ambiga is a perpetrator of a demonstration. Therefore 1+1=2, Ambiga has not done anything wrong. What are we arguing about again?
"And today I am very sorry ... to say that you have the least pendidikan. You know what pendidikan is? Respect, for your elders, respect the adults. Number two, always have a differenciation between ages."
.... no, I don't believe that is what 'pendidikan' is. That's moral and goodwill, something that you lack by the way you are going at Ms Bahani. You throw the word 'respect' around like you think it is going to make you a bigger person, but it doesn't.
"Do you think only humans have problems? I'll tell you who have problems, animals have problems! I tell you which animals has problems. Cats have problems."
HEY, leave the cats out of your craziness, woman!
"Anjing pun ada masalah. Lembu, kambing pun ada masalah."
To quote a comment from a friend on Facebook - "Go home Sharifah, you're drunk."
At this point I stopped watching. It was a train wreck, sans the morbid curiosity. Ms Bavani, I hope you continue your quest to fight for Malaysia, not many of us are as gutsy and ballsy as you are. My hats off to you. Don't be put off by lesser minds who think they can intimidate you with senseless arguments and personal attacks. You have a legion of supporters behind you.
I've never thought about doing this before, but what a fantastic idea! Part new year resolution to start writing again, part wanting a space to rant and comment without imposing on all in Facebook... This is brilliant!
Now let's see what are the features and customisation available.. I will figure this Google+ profile integration thing if it kills me.
Happy 2013 folks. To a year of sticking to commitments and scaling new heights!
