otherwise known as the Little Hater by Jay Smooth, found on his website: http://www.illdoctrine.com/
the little hater lives in all of us, sometimes known as insecurities, sometimes like what he said about the expectation to be perfect and sometimes, it is this thing called procrastination. the Little Hater hates us to be creative, to be productive, to live meaningful. it wants us to break our guitar, stamp on the canvas or move back home to plough the field, not that any of the aforementioned thing is a bad thing, it justs make us stop doing the things we love- creating critical art.
to all creative people out there, don’t stop. let’s bash the Little Hater instead. here’s for you:
my red lips burn
as your hands finger that oysters
bringing it close
my lips
yearn for that oyster to slide into it
oysters uncontaminated by
oil pumped from earth’s last breath
a girl too young to be diving so deep for that 50cent
the gritty hands of the middle man who sold it for triple
the glossy face of magazines that sell this ‘lifestyle’ by tripling the triple
My lips turn blue at the touch.
Take my lips.
In exchange for a breath.
Fine, my ears got distracted
It perks in attention
To something oh so sweet and sexy flowing by
A song, a song you are singing
I could feel a connection and we almost did
And then
An onslaught of obscene words like
‘sales, buy, eat, drink, shop’
Catches on to my ear and beats it to submission
my hand twitches the knob in a spastic reflex
my ears hyperventilates from the attack.
Take my ears.
In exchange for silence.
My eyes
Now fearful and wary
Blink open shyly
And froze in captivation
At the perfect curve of your smile
And the twinkle in your dark brown pupil
It follows your hand down your body
As you unzip undress
And I feast on your bare swollen flesh
That turns into a gun
Holding me still in my position
Hand on a piece of paper
‘contract’ you whisper in my ear
‘possession’ is what I hear
‘I work hard for this body, this money, this life
In order not to be owned.
to be able to own’ you justified.
the pen I hold gorge my eyes out instead.
Take my eyes.
In exchange for nothing and nothing can’t be owned.
My heart that does not want to, does not understand
All this
Consuming, owning, buying, taking
she just
she just beats, breath
Dance around when she’s happy
Skip a bit when she see someone cute looking her way
In a world of taking, buying, consuming, owning
There is indeed nothing left
For my heart
Unless there is a revolution
So please go ahead
Just take my heart
————
the story of consumption is not new. and it is easy to understand by watching this very well done video:
and that is why i am so disheartened this ‘way’ of life.
instead of being dishearten says Keny Arkana, be angry. here’s to inciting the rage within us, to live.
please go to this website to sign the online petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/SISTERS/petition.html
JOINT STATEMENT BY MALAYSIAN CIVIL SOCIETY ON PAS RESOLUTION TO BAN SISTERS IN ISLAM
We the undersigned are deeply disturbed by the call on the part of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) to have Sisters in Islam (SIS) banned and its members rehabilitated should its activities be determined to be contrary to the Islamic shariah. It is apparent to us that in making the call in the manner that it has, PAS has already formed the view that SIS should be banned and its activities brought to an end.
While we respect the freedom of members of PAS to associate in a manner that they consider appropriate or warranted as well as their freedom to express a view in association on such matters as they see fit, the members of SIS, or any other organization for that matter, are equally guaranteed those freedoms. No one person or organization has a monopoly over the right to express views on matter of public importance. The call to silence SIS and send its members for rehabilitation is an act of violence against those freedoms and their constitutional underpinnings. It also lends itself to further closure of the already narrow space of public discourse and debate that a slew of anti-expression laws have allowed Malaysians.
For Malaysia to mature into the democracy that Malaysians aspire to, it is vital that diversity, even of views, be protected and nurtured. Respect for the freedoms guaranteed to all Malaysians by the Federal Constitution, be they members of PAS or any other organization or simply individuals, is crucial to this endeavor.
The demand for action against SIS culminating in a ban is not easily reconciled with PAS public rhetoric in favour of a more democratic and inclusive Malaysia. On the contrary, the demand is wholly anti-democratic. We reiterate that though members of PAS are entitled to their views, the call for the banning of SIS is wholly unacceptable. As a matter of principle, the question of banning any organization purely for their views should not arise at all. Differences of views must be respected and, if at all, be resolved through constructive engagement.
In view of this, we urge PAS to reconsider its position and take such steps as are necessary to retract the call for action against SIS.
Mosquitoes hover and bite. scratches myself to consciousness. i checks my phone, it’s 4am. and being a member of the gen-y internet junkidom, i turn on my laptop and go online. seeking ‘virtual’ company.
my 10 years old t-shirt clung to my body in sweat. time like this makes me wish for air-cond, but i don’t want to depend on it, i don’t want to perpetuate this onslaught to nature, but most of all, i can’t afford it.
june is here, i have workshops to run all the weekend. but july, july’s calender is still empty, except for a very dear friend’s wedding, july looks like a desert with no oasis. i am getting jumpy. i need work. actually, i just need roof over my head and food on the table. for that, i need money and for that i need work that pays.
what kind of work can one get when people know you as activist who makes films?
maybe a clean slate is what i need, someplace that i am not yet known, someplace to begin anew, to reinvent myself. Mien, the winemaker. that has a nice ring to it yes?
ah but nothing, nothing can take away love. nothing compares to filmmaking. if only it can bring food to the table. something mother has prophesied 10 years ago. let’s give it another 10 years, it is not like i have any other thing to live for. then, then we’ll see if i would have to divorce this vocation.
i was feeling a little unappreciated for being myself today. so a friend told me this and it made me feel much better. here’s to reminding myself ‘in any case, you’ll find a way to where you need to be, sooner or later. it’s not a matter of faith — i don’t have much of it — but a matter of knowing that finding happiness for oneself isn’t and shouldn’t be a selfish thing, because for some people, doing what makes them happy will also have positive repercussions for the world around them. e.g. you like films, you like talking about sexuality — how are those bad things? i mean, i know a hell of a lot of people who do human rights work because NOT doing so makes them unhappy.’. thanks dear. i really needed that.
Peace Vigil In Unity for the liberty of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (Asean wide)
SUARAM, Tenaganita, KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and Youth 4 Change (Y4C) is organising a vigil that is part of an initiative of coordinated vigils by various groups in Southeast Asia. While we have our vigil for Aung San Suu Kyi in Malaysia, other groups in other countries in Southeast Asia will also be having vigils at the same time!
Please come with your friends to show solidarity for Aung San Suu Kyi – one of the greatest leader of peaceful resistance against oppression of our time – and the oppressed people of Burma.
You can also make your own posters and/or banners that shout of support for Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. Spread the word!
Details of the vigil
DATE: Sunday, 31 May 2009
TIME: 6.00pm
VENUE: Meet at entrance of KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, No. 1, Jalan Maharajalela
Dress code: Wear YELLOW and/or RED
Map: http://www.scah.org.my/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=261&forum=16&jump=1
Public transportation: Maharajalela Monorail Station stop
This initiative of coordinated vigils in the region is organised by MARUAH (Singapore Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism).
Background
On 6 May 2009, John Yettaw swam across a lake and spent the night at Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s house. He was asked to leave but had refused to do so. Subsequently, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested on 13 May 2009 for violating the
restrictions of her house arrest. She now faces charges that could put her into jail for three to five years, just when her house arrest of nearly two decades was set to expire at the end of May 2009.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize (1991) laureate who has been placed under house arrest for nearly two decades. The house arrest was set to expire at the end of this month, May 2009, but recent new charges* against her seem designed to deliberately prolong her detention. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi does not deserve this. Her democratic party had won the 1990 Burmese general elections decisively, but they were not allowed to take office and she was placed under house arrest instead.
Many of us across South-East Asia admire her sacrifice, courage and persistence for peace. We will come together on her last day of detention to honour Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and press for her freedom. The 63-year-old has spent almost two decades under house arrest, much of it in isolation from friends and relatives.
A Global Action Call for the Release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all Political Prisoners on
Friday 19 June 2009
On 18 May Burma’s pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her two party members went on trial, on trumped up charges relating to the junta’s own failure to protect their security. The trial has been taking place in a kangaroo court inside Insein Prison compound in Rangoon.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her two companions are not the only ones to be tried in this way. Since October 2008 alone, harsh sentences of up to 104 years have been handed down to over 350 democracy activists in similar trials. There are now over 2,100 political prisoners in the country.
Since 13 March 2009, over 200 Burma exile and solidarity groups in 26 countries have collected over 600,000 petition signatures as part of the Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now! campaign.
The release of all political prisoners is the essential first step towards freedom and democracy in Burma. There can be no democratic transition without them.
There have been many statements from world leaders and the international community condemning the new charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. We implore the international community to keep up the momentum for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s release by issuing follow up statements that outline cohesive action.
Protests at the unjust arrest and detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are already happening all around the world. We, the undersigned organizations, support these actions, and call on groups and communities around the world to prepare for a massive, coordinated show of solidarity for all of Burma’s political prisoners on Friday 19 June, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday.
From Monday 15 June to Friday 19 June – we call on solidarity groups around the world to organize a visual delivery of the signatures collected globally as part of the Free Burma’s Political Prisoners Now! campaign to a government representative in your country. Please ask your government to support the call to Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all of Burma’s political prisoners.
Global Action Day on 19 June – we call on the solidarity groups to hold a public demonstration, organize a march to key embassies, or any event that will further pressure their governments to act on behalf of Burma’s political prisoners.
Contact the Burma Partnership Secretariat at to let us know if you will hold an event so we can collect and share information with other friends around the world.
Let us all join hands to end the injustices and support the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma.
Burma Partnership is a movement of organizations and individuals that aims to develop a strong broad-based partnership of peoples of the Asia-Pacific advocating and mobilizing a movement for promoting freedom, democracy and human rights in Burma. This movement facilitates strategic linkages; coordinates activities; develops and shares its capacity and resources; channels information resources; and promotes dialogue towards unified approaches. Click HERE to learn more about Burma Partnership
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Karen Dcruz
Date: 2009/5/14
Subject: Gross Prejudices on Fly FM
To: communications@mediaprima.com.my
Cc: contact@tiltedworld.org, contact@herstory.ws, merryn@lotl.com, comments@afterellen.com, Elaine Foster
Dear Sirs,
I am sending you this because there isn’t any contact information on the flyfm website for me to send my complaint to. I trust this will reach the relevant individuals concerned and some form of action will be taken to resolve the issue.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Was anyone listening to Flyfm this evening(Wed, 13/5). Well tragically i did not but i was informed of this gross injustice via our community network. This is what happened…
Prem (the person at the end of the mic) was elaborating on some rumours that his ex-girlfriend had ‘turned gay’. This little anecdote came from the topic,” What you would not want to hear about your ex?”
Now as an individual living in today’s society I am immune to the sarcastic comments and remarks dished out on gay lifestyles by ignorant individuals. It’s fine, you’ve got your views, and I’ve got mine. But what really ticked me off was the fact that this person was blatantly spreading prejudices on live national radio. What next, racial manifestos, jihad?
He went along to say the usual stuff, something along the lines that she was really pretty and he couldn’t imagine why she ‘turned gay’ when she could have most men she wanted. Then he started calling her ’sick’ at the end of his little story. Professed aloud after his ‘disclaimer’ that he is not being discriminatory!
For the record, he is technically right. He isn’t discriminating but he was and will most likely continue to spread prejudice and racial manifestos and possibly a jihad against some secular group that he holds a grudge against!
Radio stations should know better than to allow immature, incapable, insensitive, ignorant announcers rant and rave about their personal lives and views on national radio.
So, his ex-gf is now gay, so what? The whole world does no need to know about his dirty laundry and pet peeves. What of professionalism? What of tact and common decency? Going around spreading your negative views and further provokes prejudices against our community. There must be a reason why she turned gay anyway! But lets not even get to that area of grave concern.
To the management of the radio station, I expect you to look into this as a blatant disregard of position. As a member of the gay community in this country I am outraged at such a travesty being allowed. How can one blatantly pass judgment on individuals whom you know next to nothing about? Angered by the fact that a distinct group of people do not conform to the norms of society does not make us sick. Spreading prejudices and ignorance, now that’s more of a pandemic!! The national airwaves are not your platform to voice your personal opinions. Radio announcers are salaried to entertain and play music. You’re no Larry King or Jerry Springer. As an individual who has been entrusted with the responsibility of entertaining the public, YOU my dear radio announcer, have disappointed us.
To members of the LGBT society I urge you to take a stance and let your views be heard. I am sending this note to all LGBT related groups in Malaysia and abroad. Behavior like this cannot and should not be tolerated.
Kind regards,
Karen D’cruz
This letter is also copied to the following:
Tilted world contact@tiltedworld.org.
Herstory contact@herstory.ws
LOTL merryn@lotl.com
After Ellen comments@afterellen.com
————————————-
my respond to that dj and all the bigots, racists, sexists, supremacist that are supremely insecure is this:
i should mention that i am back from the oh, the wonderful melbourne. when i told a friend about my trip, he said i sound like i’m in love. i haven’t sound like that for god knows how long. i should blog about the feelings i’ve for Melbourne, but i’ve been telling so many people about it, it feels stale right now, i think you know what i mean. till when i have that longing for sweet Melbourne, then i would put thoughts to this page.
what i want to share or more like tease you is on the most recent work i’m doing, which is a funky site on banned materials around South East Asia. today, i want to showcase some hmm, interesting video that has been censored and banned in this region.
first off, one must definitely check out Royston Tan’s Cut, that quite aptly sums up the filmmakers and audiences sentiments in regards to films being chop up.
Singapore:
Cut, by Royston Tan, a video he made in reaction to his film, ‘15′ having taken a huge amount of cuts from the Singapore Censorship Board. ‘15′ takes an unflinching look into the lives of Singaporean youth marginalised in a world where good grades and smart appearances are valued over individuality. These outcasts turn to drugs, self-mutilation and to kinship offered by gangs. Biting back after ‘15′ suffered no less than 27 cuts, Tan’s “Cut” has gone viral by mocking the artist’s gratitude to the censors for protecting Singaporeans from his work. Other singaporean films that has gone viral online after being banned or censored by the authorieties are One Nation Under Lee and Singapore Rebel. The filmmakers of both films, Seelan Palay and Martyn See have been investigated or being charged by the authorities for being critical of the government.
2nd up is this film from Thailand, apparently doctors do not kiss, no, not at work. boy, the censors there should really watch Grey Anatomy.
Syndromes and a Century by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Two “sensitive” scenes involve doctors engaging in “inappropriate” conduct (kissing and drinking liquor) in a hospital. Meanwhile, censors objected to portrayals of a Buddhist monk playing a guitar and two monks playing with a remote-control flying saucer. The censors refused to return the print unless the requested cuts were made. Director Apichatpong refused to cut the film and withdrew it from domestic circulation.
He explained his reasons for doing so in an article in the Bangkok Post:
“I, as a filmmaker, treat my works as I do my own sons or daughters. I don’t care if people are fond of them or despise them, as long as I created them with my best intentions and efforts. If these offspring of mine cannot live in their own country for whatever reason, let them be free. There is no reason to mutilate them in fear of the system. Otherwise there is no reason for one to continue making art.”
3rd is a feature film staring Mel Gibson made by respected political filmmaker Peter Weir. Then president Sukarno felt threaten by this film. makes me wonder what he isn’t afraid when a film can scares him shitless eh.
Indonesia:
The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Peter Weir film adapted from the novel of the same name by its author Christopher Koch, Weir, and David Williamson.The film stars Mel Gibson as Guy Hamilton, an Australian journalist, and Sigourney Weaver as Jill Bryant, a British Embassy officer. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the so-called 30 September Movement on 30 September 1965 and during the beginning of the violent reprisals by military-led vigilante groups that killed hundreds of thousands. It was banned from being shown in Indonesia until 1999. The title The Year of Living Dangerously is a quote which refers to a famous Italian phrase used by Sukarno; vivere pericoloso, meaning “living dangerously”. Sukarno borrowed the line for the title of his National Day speech of August 17, 1964
4th of course something so typical of South East Asian, morality! ah, showing men ogling women in strip joints is fine in films but no way can women play with phallic symbols?
Phillipines:
TV network GMA-7’s i-Witness program, a popular TV magazine, was suspended for two weeks after airing an episode titled, “Lukayo: Hindi Ito Bastos (Lukayo: This is not obscene)” in July 2006. What the censors found objectionable: the episode discussed the custom of elderly women’s dancing and playing with phallic symbols during weddings in a town in Laguna province, south of Manila. Notwithstanding the tradition being tied to fertility rites and long-held local customs, censors insisted that the content was objectionable and not fit for general viewership.
lastly, one from our home.
5. Malaysia:
“Lelaki Komunis Terakhir” is a semi-musical road movie documentary tracing the towns in which Chin Peng (the exiled leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya) lived from birth until independence in 1957. Unlike various books freely available in Malaysian bookshops, the film does not even include any interviews or photographs of Chin Peng and he is only mentioned once during the interviews. The movie was passed uncut by the Censorship Board and was given the rating of U, meaning suitable for all ages. Due to the potentially ’sensitive’ subject matter, a special screening was organised for 20 Special Branch officers who, according to the movie’s director, raised no objections to the film. And yet it was banned. The decision was based solely on a series of articles which appeared in Berita Harian news daily even before the movie was screened. In fact, not one person in Berita Harian, nor any of the people they interviewed for their opinion of the film, had actually seen the film by the time, yet their comments were made the basis for the picture’s banning.
one can obtain this dvd from Singapore. or various underground dvd/cd retail shop. but if you really wanna know more about communism back in those days, check Fahmi Reza’s latest flick Revolusi 48, which actually does the job in style.
so, has your value system begin to tumble down around you yet after watching such videos? think about that the next time someone in authority said it’s for your own good. maybe it’s more of for their good.
Hello to all the new visitors from All Things Considered! I'm busy figuring out what in the world I can say about Michael that hasn't already been said, so in the meantime here are some golden oldies that might be a good introduction for newcomers. How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist Still the video I see cited and linked most often, a year […]
it’s not a matter of faith — i don’t have much of it — but a matter of knowing that finding happiness for oneself isn’t and shouldn’t be a selfish thing, because for some people, doing what makes them happy will also have positive repercussions for the world around them. e.g. you like films, you like talking about sexuality — how are those bad things? i mean, i know a hell of a lot of people who do human rights work because NOT doing so makes them unhappy.’. thanks dear. i really needed that.
think about that the next time someone in authority said it’s for your own good. maybe it’s more of for their good.
