kenedict

2006-02-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

Stolen Sex Video. Sympathy? Stupidity?

I refer to the recent case of a local poly girl's sex video being distributed in the internet.

I thought that after the Paris Hilton's hoohah in the internet years ago, such act of stupidity should not be happening anymore. How strange it is for the same thing to be happening (and picking up lots of attention) in a small island like Singapore. Similar in both cases, this act of distributing private (sex) video, is intended to destroy a person's life.

However, no matter how promiscuous a person's life may be, it is still a SUICIDAL act to be filming your own love-making video clip with a BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND. For goodness sake, he/she is NOT your spouse (not safe even with spouse - remember the stolen Pamela Anderson's video?). There are just plenty of losers out there who would not hesitate to use such intimate video clips as threatening tools when their relationships fail. Anyone with common sense would be able to foresee the possibility of this outcome, isn't it?

OK, the truth is not out entirely at this point of time. My understanding is that this girl took a sex video of herself with her phone cam. And it got stolen and was distributed online. Alright, I have seen the clip. I shan't comment on how experienced the couple appeared in the video. But what was actually going through the victim's mind when the filming was taking place? Obviously the boyfriend took the video with her consent. Is she so complacent that her boyfriend will not use the clip to threaten her when their relationship is over in future? And the fact that the video was found in her own phone - what was she intending to do with this video? How did the thief knew that there was a sex video in the phone? Did she show it off to her friends?

I feel sorry for the victim (and her parents) to have her private video clips being distributed this way, but I don't think she deserve sympathy to her plight right now. She is no angel to me. It is just so wrong to how this video came to existence (of course, it is even more wrong for the person to have distributed the video, without her consent). How would her Next-Of-Kins feel when they see this video?
"Why would our barely-18-year-old daughter/sister take such video?"
"What kind of sexual life is our daughter/sister living?"

Mistake due to carelessness reckons forgiveness.
Mistake due to stupidity does not presume sympathy.

And that's my thought.

Tammy NYP Nanyang Poly Polytechnic Singapore stolen sex video clip scandal

2005-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

(New?) MLM (Multi Level Marketting) Gimmicks

If a long-time-no-see or just-got-acquainted friend calls you up suddenly and wants to talk to you about a "Business Plan/Venture" or "looking for a business partner", then be real careful! You've been warned here that THIS COULD BE some gimmicks by rather unethical MLM (Multi Level Marketting) members trying to pull you in.

I was so naive to believe a 'friend' (a fellow goldfish hobbyist) whom I have only met once last year. He called me suddenly last week and asked me about ecommerce stuff (I told him before that it is someting which I have been doing for many years). He then told me that he has ventured "into a new business" and he had issues with ecommerce which he needed my advice on.

I am of course, willing to help. If I can help, why not? I am even willing to advise him on how to set it up, and asking nothing in return.

Then after a few times of unsuccessful meetups, I told him over sms to give me his home number so that I can call him up. He can then ask me questions which I will try to answer over the phone. Easy. Short and sweet. Then he replied "With the kind of reply you gave, I think you are the man I am looking for.. Coz I always believe a person with kindness and generousity goes far. I am looking for a business partner rather"
(well, actual fact is... my mobile's plan... incoming is not free one. But I also do not want to give him my home number. :D)

Business partner! Man, anyone would be flattered!! I was of course a little skeptical about this at first because I am well aware of the downside of partnership law in Singapore. So I replied that I have no money for investment. He then replied "My requirement is that the person must be willing to learn and listen, a team player like you. Financial wise is it not so important" So with a possible business partnership in mind, I agred to meeting him today.

So he came to my place and drove me to his "office". But then he say that there is also another interested guy and thus to facilitate the presentation of his "business plan", he would hold it in his house.

So the setup was cool and I kept an opened mind for any business plan which he would try to sell. Excited, yes of course. Eveything was ok until he mentioned... Amway. AMWAY!! Isn't that MLM? At that moment, I realised I have been trapped, cheated, conned, made-use-of, taken-advantage-of, raped, etc etc. Plus there was nothing on ecommerce which he needed my expertise on. That was the reason why I agred to meet him!!

I was so bloody outraged. But there was another guy present and I did not want my actions (I wanted to say goodbye and just walked out) to influence the other guy. I've got good character and upbringing. Hence I remained seated and pretended to pay attention while in fact I was thinking of what to eat for dinner (10 plus and still haven't had my dinner).

Seriously, I have nothing against MLM but he could have told me beforehand that he wants to talk about AmWay. And I would have told him the fact (this is the truth) that both my parents are in AmWay. My pap is even in both Elken and AmWay. If I had wanted to join, I would have joined long ago and under either my pap or mum. Why would I spend 3.5 hours for such talks? And why the hell must he go through all the CONNING to make this meeting possible? Maybe he knew that a lot of people dislike MLM, and at the moment of hearing about MLM, they would run away quickly. And on top of that acquaintance like ours (between me and him) are rather expendable.

But still I feel so cheated. And so disappointed to have made such a lousy friend.

This "friend" is now in my banned list. And I would have no problem having him to read this.

PS: And why did I post this? Because I find it VERY UNETHICAL / Low Class to prey on friends/acquaintances like this.

2005-10-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

RAINS
Compilation CD, Various Artistes
(a-ha, J.D. Souther, The Cascades, Everly Brothers)

I was arranging one of my CD racks (not packing my room which I seriously need to do) today when I came upon a various-artistes compilation CD titled "RAINS" - A CD which I bought many many years ago... I recall it was one of the first 50 CDs which I bought. Somehow I could not resist the temptation of putting it on tray.

Why do I mention "first 50 CDs "? Well, those were the days before I entered the army (I had lesser than 60 CDs back then). Buying CD was not easy. They were expensive and I as a JC student would have to go several days of hunger campaign just to buy one CD - No joke. But I love CDs then. OK, OK... I love cute girls more. But I figured that I do not need to muster as much courage to buy CDs than to approach a girl for a date. Hence I devoted my time and money on CDs. My private time was spent listening to CDs I bought over and over again. Kind of sad but what else could I do?

Enough crap. I started this blog for this CD. I browsed through my "compilation CD" collection and found no other which has this much of sentimental value to me.

I have to admit what caught me at the first sight was TWO a-ha tracks included in this compilation. Not many people would share my sentiment for "Here I stand And Face The Rain", a song pretty often overlooked by even their fans.
Of course the theme was good - Rain...
It has Japanese words on it. Cool! I like English CD released by the Japanese record companies. They are certainly of better quality than their European/USA releases.
Plus the cover-art was so well done. Very classy indeed.

Front of CD

Back of CD

Inside of CD

Sleeve plus CD

My Review on this CD

First, a look at the tracklist:

Rains - Various Artistes
9548-30494-2 (1992, Warner Bros, WEA International Inc)

CRYING IN THE RAIN - A-HA
GO AHEAD AND RAIN - J.D. SOUTHER
RAINY NIGHT IN TOKYO - MICHAEL FRANKS
RETURN OF THE RAINMAKER - EARL KLUGH
RAINY DAY CROSSROAD BLUES - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
RAINY DAY MAN - BONNIE RAITT
RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA - RANDY CRAWFORD
RHYTHM OF THE RAIN - THE CASCADES
RAIN - BOB JAMES
HERE I STAND AND FACE THE RAIN - A-HA
CRYING IN THE RAIN - THE EVERLY BROTHERS
WALK BETWEEN RAINDROPS - DONALD FAGEN
OVER THE RAINBOW - THE VOGUES
REMEMBERING THE RAIN - BILL EVANS

My reviews:
=========

1. CRYING IN THE RAIN - A-HA

I loved this song right immediately when I first heard it on radio. And you can imagine my estasy when I heard the DJ citing "a-ha"!! My #1 fav band! So I really kept vigilant attention on the performance of this song. Sadly, it didn't do too well on the chart. I was hoping it would hit at least top 3. But amidst other hits performed by more popular artistes like U2, Pet Shop Boys, etc , I guess they had not much chance then. Plus this song was originally sang by The Everly Bros, which I believed led to some people labelling it as "Not original".

2. GO AHEAD AND RAIN - J.D. SOUTHER

This is a great masterpiece. Written by J.D. SOUTHER, I seriously don't know who. Frankly I have never heard this song before.. but this is indeed a masterpiece song in many ways. I like it at the first listen. It has very a romantic lyrics
- "You could be the girl I'm searching for, but I hardly know your name..."
(Occassionally this would flash past my mind whenever I see a pretty girl walk pass...
- "cause you're the face I always see, When I close my eyes and dream..."

3. RAINY NIGHT IN TOKYO - MICHAEL FRANKS

So-so... This is rather a jazzy song. It has this "toh kee yo...kee yo, toh kee yo...kee yo" which would sometimes turn me off and to skip track.

4. RETURN OF THE RAINMAKER - EARL KLUGH

Instrumental. It depends on your mood when listening to this song. It started slow and at the 1min+, it suddenly sprang to some hippy beat. Ok song I would think.

5. RAINY DAY CROSSROAD BLUES - THE DOOBIE BROTHERS

Country song. A bit cowboy style. I would usually skip this song.

6. RAINY DAY MAN - BONNIE RAITT

Not to my liking

7. RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA - RANDY CRAWFORD

Not-so-nice song with an OK chorus.

8. RHYTHM OF THE RAIN - THE CASCADES

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, Telling me just what a fool I've been" I do not need to go further. This is one of these classic "rain" songs. No one would disagree with me that this is a very catchy song. I would sometimes tray this disc for this song alone.

9. RAIN - BOB JAMES

Synthesizer -Instrumental song. What really ponders me is.. among the rain drizzling sound, there are also birds chirpping. I thought they will be the first to hide when it is going to rain?? It should be titled "After Rain" or something like that. But I really like this song though.

10. HERE I STAND AND FACE THE RAIN - A-HA

This is a truthfully nice song by a-ha. I am not saying because I am a fan. I believe a lot of people overlooked this very very nice song from them... probably overwhelmed by "Take On Me". It has a very superb intro. Morten Harket doing the "ah.... ah..." with his super voice which no one could imitate. A song depending heavily on synthesizer. Upbeat and yet very dreamy. Superb chorus too! Have a listen to it to understand what I'm saying!

11. CRYING IN THE RAIN - THE EVERLY BROTHERS

Ok.... no need intro

12. WALK BETWEEN RAINDROPS - DONALD FAGEN

Jazz. Quite upbeat.. sound like a happy song... "Dancing In the Rain" kinda song.

13. OVER THE RAINBOW - THE VOGUES

A classic song. Gives me the "majestic" kind of feeling. I'm pretty sure many have heard this song before. Probably don't know the title. "...Somewhere over the rainbow, Skies are blue, And the dreams that you dare to dream, Really do come true.."

14. REMEMBERING THE RAIN - BILL EVANS

Piano-Instrumental. No comment.

=========
PS: Oh ya.. I forgot to mention that there's a volume 2 of this CD. It is green in colour I believe. I was not enticed to buying it because of the foreign-song tracklist.