and so. i am back from my quick sojourn into our more-malay neighbour. what is there to blog about?

1. i stayed in a very pretty chalet
2. i liked it a lot because it had a 4 poster bed with a white organza canopy
3. it was nice staying in the 'stilts, on water' chalet because even though water was only sentosa-quality, the view was still pretty nice, and yay what a novelty.
4. the toilet was very gorgeous (important!). it had an open-air shower area - very liberating to be taking a shower and look up to see the sky. fortunately, all birds were toilet trained.
5. food was good.
6. sibling bonding.
7. harry potter and the chamber of secrets was playing, so i had a nice time complaining about daniel radcliffe once more.
8. met some very nice cats.
9. the beach which was otherwise mediocre, was awesome during low tide (as i expected). swarms of little crabs and other forms of sealife! it was quite freaky deaky, looked like the crabs and hermit crabs were planning on an invasion. but HAH, we ensured that them little critters knew their place in the heirachy! scutter away from our gigantahumongous feet O little ones!
10. resort actually had a small aviary, and in the mornings, they would let a couple of them wander free. had the oppurtunity to come across a really truly crazy bird. i was talking to a pair of chickens, telling them that it's okay i'm safe i really like cows better when quite SUDDENLY, this huge emu-like blue spotted bird came running towards me from a corner! it really ran quite fast, considering its skinny legs atop its bulk. and then a bout a 4 metres away from me, it would abruptly STOP, run away behind the corner, then run back towards me again! several times.
11. mosquitos feasted on my face on my second night while i was sleeping. i covered everything up except my face, because i couldnt bear the suffocation. woke up with several swollen facial bits. monster mosquitos.
12. vistied kampungs and long lost, not-so-distant, practically strangers, i-never-knew-they-exited relatives. in retrospect, the fact that i knew nothing about them is both amazing and alarming. I HAVE KAMPUNG ORIGINS!
13. had an unexpectedly enjoyable time being lost in the maze that is the kampung's roadwork.
14. came across two rather gorgey, european backpackers on motorcycles in weird rubber biker armour. they looked a bit like armadillos. one looked better with his helmet on, and the other disappointed me when he took off his bandanna because then we found out he had boyband floppy hair.
15. i am back in singapore. i like being back, even though i wasn't really away. and in a sporadic moment of patriotism, am glad to be a singaporean because a) we don't live in kampungs without proper electricity, plumbing and most importantly INTERNET. b) i have pleasantly discovered that the majority of the singaporean audience are not as immature as i thought to vote for sylvester instead of taufik. hey hey this is significant and it's NOT because the latter has a very cute smile, but because it proves that generally, we recognize talent. i apologize for general remarks of disdain made in the not so distant past.

now that condensed listing is over, i shall move on to today's Rant. it had started to seriously irk me, the presence of women in recent music videos. it is irritating to see, slammed into my face, these videos with scantily clad women hanging around like spare-whotsits!

we have merely become trophies in these silly videos, a symbol of how desirable this man is. as if we have no better purpose, where is your dignity?! i am angry because i think of all the bra-burners who worked hard for women's liberation and here we are, back to square one. and this time, verily it seems that these women are subjecting themselves to it quite voluntarily.

and please, do not give me the crap that you are exercising your right, your FREEDOM to behave anyway you want. that it is your choice to blatantly exihibit your sexuality, that you WANT to hang on to their arms, because they make you look good, you make him look good so really what is the problem? it's an effing paradox. he looks good because of the women, and the woman looks good hanging on to him because he looks good, which is brought by the tagging harem.

argh.

the funny and interesting is, this occurence transcends genres. it happens in rock, hip-hop, pop. which only goes to show that this situation is universal, and if this is so, there is a huge possibility that it has always been in us humans. the ease in which women are objectified into symbols of sex and power acquired, and the willingness for women to do so because it's the easiest way to give them a sense of worth. and if it's in us, well that is very sad and maybe that's why i'm so worked up. because then it will mean that despite efforts to do good and change things, we are naturally 'bad' and will revert back into this state given the chance.

and to think those women burned their bras for nothing.