Upon reading my past few posts..

… I realize that the this blog is getting too critical of things, like I’m all perfect and everyone’s rubbish. I am not, in fact I practise self-deprecation so much in real life it’s unhealthy. Anyway, here’s a cute picture to lighten the mood:

Ego-boosting via criticism

It may not be true at all but I’ve come to a conclusion lately that most people, I’d give it an arbitrary 95%, think they’re on a higher intellectual level than the average crowd, including myself. I’m not saying that they think they’re smarter than everyone else; that’s a different kind of delusion altogether; just that they think they’re smarter than most people, the average Joes.


It’s easy to come to this conclusion as it would explain a lot about why people criticize everything all the time; often about things that they don’t fully understand. I’m sure you hear people ranting about things everywhere: the fuel subsidies cut, the raise in taxes, the standard of education in Malaysia etc, football tactics, price of goods and the choices other people make.


The latter is particularly annoying for me because the tone in the criticism says they think they know better, that anybody doing anything contrary to what they perceive is right is an idiot. Now it’s perfectly fine if whatever the critic says makes sense or contributes towards a proper debate but if it doesn’t, then he/she comes off as a massive twat. I have to stress that this is directed towards people who use a self-righteous tone when talking. The “I don’t understand why…… Stupid or what?” tone.


There are many examples but I’ll give a mild one.

Critic: “I don’t understand why people queue up for hours to get an iPhone. Can’t you just wait a few days more and just stroll into a shop to get one.” /self-righteous

.. and then you have people agreeing and sneering away. I’ve witnessed this scene on more than a couple of occasions but there’s a personal satisfaction in refuting this one because I did queue for hours (4 to be exact) on the first day to obtain one (not for me). Probably why I took offence to this particular statement.The simple reasons are early-bird promotions and scarcity in stocks.

There was a free RM89 case and a RM100 rebate for anyone who got it on that particular day. If that wasn’t a good enough incentive, there are also massive shortages in stock throughout the country with Digi adopting a rationing system; selling only 20 units a day per store or something. There is also a scarcity in the total available stock. There are people reporting that the wait is 2 months at certain areas for the new batch to arrive.

So by spending approximately 4 hours to wait on the first day; the bulk of which was spent at a Mcdonald’s reading after getting a queue number, I saved myself the time and hassle of running from store to store trying to locate a place that sells one and I got a nice little RM189 rebate. That’s the reason why people queue for hours on the first day. Because unless you’re lucky or have connections, you *cannot* stroll into a store a few days later to get one. Well, that and they have mad gadget lust.

This particular anecdote, besides getting it off my chest, highlights why when you don’t understand what you’re talking about, it’s better to ditch the self-righteous tone instead of being an empty vessel to seem intelligent. If the subject matter seemed laughably trivial to you, then another example would be the criticism of the government over the cutting of fuel subsidies, and criticizing is a mild way of putting it.


Now this subject matter is particularly tricky. Malaysia, after all, is a net exporter of oil. One side argues that the oil reserves will eventually run out and the subsidies are a huge drain on our resources, the other argues that new drilling sites will always be found and that as a net exporter, fuel should be made cheaper to the people who are already being taxed heavily on vehicles and sold a lower grade of fuel.



Now I don’t claim to be an expert of the matter and I personally feel that the subsidy cut should be done but gradually in small amounts so that an efficient public transport offering a suitable transportation alternative can be put in place. I may be wrong and may be missing out a few points worthy of consideration but the fact that there are so many sides to this argument means it warrants more than a simple “Stupid government, useless, always raise fuel prices, absolutely corrupt”.



This used to bother me when it came to football-related chatter but these days, I don’t care about it much anymore. As for other matters, I try not bother to correct the ignorantly loud nowadays. After all, a wise man once said don’t argue with fools, because people from a distance don’t know who is who.

Literary Cliche/Faux Pas

Now I have to admit that I’m no writing genius myself but it grates on me whenever I see any of the following being used; worse still if it’s used wrongly. Maybe, I am being a pedant and there are probably instances of literary cliche here that would annoy some other reader but it’s bothered me too many times for me to keep it in.

Off the top of my head (hmm is this a cliche? It probably is), the list of phrases that I’ve seen used/misused too many times:


1) "Just my 2 cents”. I’ve seen this phrase used to the point of tedium in local online forums and comment sections and it’s usually followed by a smiley doing a peace sign. Every time I see someone use it, it’s like having the phrase morph into a hand, extend itself from my laptop screen and slap me in the face.


Why does it annoy me? I’ve been trying to pin-point the reason and I’ll just put it down to the regularity with which it’s used. It’s the “it’s no rocket science” effect. It seems like people think it “smartens up” the post or as if the 4 words will magically quell any tension caused by his/her preceding post.


“Yeah, I think the Mac is a brilliant machine but the amount of software that is coded for Windows just makes it the more sensible choice especially with the introduction of Windows 7. Just my 2 cents” Why the fuck use it? To me, it’s like writing a sensible post and then scribbling all over it with a marker pen. I have and always will disregard any post which ends with Just. My. Fucking. 2. Cents. Yeah take your change and fuck off, yeah?


2) “Literally”. I think there really is no more going back on this one. It’s a lost cause. People on Facebook do it, I’ve seen blog posts with this mistake and the media does it. Heck, if even the media does it, what hope do these copy and paste fucktards have? I don’t mean you can’t use the word at all but please use it right. People seem to think that “literally” is a word-for-word replacement for “really”.


Here’s a hint for you:

lit·er·al·ly –adverb

1. in the literal or strict sense: What does the word meanliterally?

2. in a literal manner; word for word: to translate literally.

3. actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city wasliterally destroyed.

4. in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.

IT’S NOT!!


So you can’t literally die for someone (well, actually you can, but you weren’t going to), literally explode with happiness, go literally out of your mind or one that I hope to see actually, literally go head over heels.


Unfortunately, this is one abuse I don’t see going away anytime soon, which is literally annoying the shit out of me. Okay, not really.


3) “Random”. I’ll keep this one short. IF IT’S PRE-PLANNED AND DID NOT OCCUR PURELY BY CHANCE, THEN IT’S NOT FUCKING RANDOM! Moving on..


4) “.. however, your argument has a fatal/serious flaw in it//your argument is fatally flawed”


Not quite a cliche yet, but this one’s beginning to piss me off too; yes, I’m a very angry person. So why does this phrase vex me? Well, it’s because the use of this just smacks of smug pompousness. It’s like the person using this thinks he’s fucking Sherlock Holmes or something. It usually starts off with the person agreeing with the post.

”Yes, I agree that the Mac is free of viruses and is generally very user-friendly. iLife which comes free with OSX is a great productivity suite as well and on the whole, the build quality of Macs are indeed impressive.”

Oh cool, so we’re all agreed then. Cheerio. But oh wait, hang on, there’s a mother fucking reveal.

“However, there’s a fatal flaw in your argument.”

Look at him, like he’s from Scooby Doo revealing the masked criminal’s plot to the police officers.

”Macs are only free of viruses because of their incredibly small user base. Cyber criminals will always prefer to spend time and effort coding for something that 90% (pulled-out-of-ass-stat) of the world is using. This coupled with the brilliance that is Windows 7 and the number of programs that are compatible with Microsoft’s OS and suddenly, the Mac becomes a lot less appealing.”

There, who’s the smart one now? He can almost hear the original poster going “..and I would have got away with that one if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!” Just argue your point for fuck’s sake, what’s with The Pledge, The Turn and The Prestige? It’s unnecessary and you come across as a bit of a twat.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


I’m sure there are more but I can’t think of any right now. I’ll be back with more once they decide to show up again in my head. If I sound like a very angry person in the post, I have to stress that yes, I do indeed feel that strongly against the above.

Also, checking the number of blog posts/year at the sidebar, I noticed that I usually do most of my postings towards the end of the year. Interesting stat. Shall investigate further.

Schadenfreude..

.. for me is exclusively reserved for people that I dislike. I know it’s a pretty obvious statement but trust me, not everyone shares the same sentiment. There may be some slight envy at times towards friends or acquaintances but I’d never derive pleasure from watching them fail. I have however on many occassions enjoyed very much observing the misery suffered by people or public figures that I have no love for.

Which is strange why recently, I actually felt true sympathy when I heard some bad news involving someone who had always annoyed the fuck out of me. What exactly is the point of this post? Oh nothing, I guess I’m just reflecting on the goodness of my heart.

Yeah, not much else to add. Move along now.

My Moleskine notebook review..

The popularity of Moleskine notebooks has always been peculiar to me. Who on earth would pay so much for a notebook you can more or less purchase for a tenth of its price? Chee Weng said you have to write on it to understand its greatness so seeing as bookdespository.co.uk had a 10% discount off all its items, I decided to take a plunge and buy the small ruled notebook.


A week later, I think I can recommend it as a good purchase for those in a habit of taking notes. It’s still a big ask to persuade someone who’s value-conscious about its merits but I think I’ll take a stab. First off, opening the wrapping and holding it, you’ll realize that it’s a really well-made notebook. I love how unassuming and understated it is, almost a beauty in simplicity kind of thing. It looks really professional as well.

The binding, the materials used and the build quality feels really solid and durable. The binding is such that you can open it flat. Every notebook, regardless of size or layout, comes standard with a ribbon bookmark, an expandable pocket and an elastic band to keep the notebook closed.

Chee Weng was raving about the paper and after writing on it, to be honest, I don’t really feel a significant difference. I definitely feel that writing on it is much smoother and it absorbs ink really well but this may be down to the placebo effect of dropping US$9 on a fucking notebook.

As purchases go, however, I’d give it a solid 8/10. I use it as a log book and everyday, I look forward to filling its pages; recording my thoughts and results in it. It’s great to read back on it when I need to and find everything there. Could I have done it on a regular notebook? Of course; but there’s something intangible about the Moleskine notebook that makes you just want to write in it. Like Chee Weng deduced, it’s probably down to its build and paper quality.

Of course, there’s also the supposed legacy of the notebook; it’s marketed as the book that Hemingway, van Gogh and Chatwin used to write in. A quick wiki search has found it to be nothing more than a marketing angle: they used the same type of book but it’s not the same brand. Nevertheless, I never bought the book for the glamour anyway; I mean, the book design hardly screams “look at me!”

So, if you’re asking if it’s a worthwhile purchase, my conclusion would be: if you have something you feel you’ll record on a daily basis or if you want to use it as a journal or organizer for work, then why not? There’s a premium to pay, sure, but I don’t think you’ll regret the purchase too much. It’s hard to justify the price to curious minds but screw what they think. Moleskine notebooks. Awesome.

Testing..

 

edit to add: Picture upload’s good. Windows Live Writer 2011’s awesome! Brb kthx..