Happy Halloween!

Dear World,
Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you're having fun!

Algernon the Cowboy


...and no, I do NOT condone suicide!

Comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

AKU

by Chairil Anwar

Kalau sampai waktuku
'Ku mau tak seorang kan merayu
Tidak juga kau

Tak perlu sedu sedan itu

Aku ini binatang jalang
Dari kumpulannya terbuang

Biar peluru menembus kulitku
Aku tetap meradang menerjang

Luka dan bisa kubawa berlari
Berlari
Hingga hilang pedih peri

Dan aku akan lebih tidak perduli

Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi

I Wish I Was In New York

...although it's actually transferring from London.

Yes We Can!

Speaking of performances, Improv Everywhere is always amazingly inventive and entertaining. Check this out:

I find it pretty amazing that some of the shoppers act like absolutely nothing's going on!

The Big Giant and the Little Giantess

SKR, this one's for you...
Beijing recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of communist China on an immense scale with much pomp and circumstance. In Berlin however, they celebrated the fall of communism in Europe and celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall's on a (relatively) smaller scale without any gigantic weapons, rockets, tanks or armed forces marching.
Click on the post title to enjoy more pictures from The Big Picture blog. I find the symbolism behind the performance engaging and meaningful. Hmm...I wonder if KL will ever see any public spectacle of this sort.

Gorgeous

...and just what I wanted! Thank you so much GJ. I'm still floored by the cover.

You Know Who You Are

Quote of the Week

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.

Gratiano in Act I, Scene i of Shakespeare's "The Merchant Of Venice".

Bring on the celebrations!

Here's To The Rest Of My Life

Hello World,
My name is Joshua Chong, and today is my birthday.
As I turn a year older today, it's only appropriate that I take on a bit more responsibility...I will begin by removing the veil of anonymity I have worn here.

I am doing this more in the interests of responsible, accountable and transparent blogging than for any dramatic reason—after all, most of you already know who I am and "Algernon deWeizer" was a laughably flimsy cover anyway.

So from now on, you can link up this blog using my real name (in fact please do), and identify yourself when commenting. In the interests of continuity, I will continue to use "Algernon" as my pen name.

***By an odd, almost divine coincidence, today is also the day a chapter of my life closes for good.

I finished sitting for my Certificate in Legal Practice referral paper earlier today at UM, and with that I end my formal study of law, probably forever.

I have this much to say about the CLP: NEVER AGAIN! One year's tyranny and degradation is enough to last a lifetime.

***I realise the greatest gift I have received throughout the past 12 months are the people who have rallied around me with love, sympathy, generosity and patience. People who had faith in me and gave me support and hope even as I went through a horrendous experience and lost a lot of self-confidence. And what's even more amazing is that I hardly know some of them.

I also realise that not all the people you expect to help you will comprehend your difficulties or symphatise with you. Not all of them will be there even if you helped them in their times tough times. Learn not expect people to repay you that way.

To those who stood by me, thank you for pulling me through. I am moved by the generous spirits. My faith in humanity is restored because of you. I know at times I have been difficult to deal with the past year and I'm sorry. For putting up with me when I could hardly put up with myself, a million times thank you.

***I am looking forward to a prolonged celebration after my "self-imposed ascetic house arrest". Call me, text me, message me online or email me, because wherever, whatever and whenever it is, the answer is "Yes".

So three cheers to the rest of my life, wherever it may lead.

I wish you well,
Joshua/Algernon.

Here We Go Again

Dear All,
I will not be posting anything on this blog from now till the 26th, i.e. my birthday. I just found out I have to study for a very difficult exam on that date (yes, a lovely birthday gift, isn't it?). I'm going to do nothing besides cram and what is absolutely necessary for human survival (eat, drink, crap, piss, sleep and clean myself) for the next 20 days.

Please, please, PLEASE contact me by email or phone. I really will need as much encouragement as I can get because I'll be going through hell again.

Yours,
Algy

P.S. To those of you celebrating Deepavali, I hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and loved ones.

Blog & Roll: The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

I'm not sure how much of my punctuation anal-ness I'm revealing here, but I find this blog hilarious.

Click on the post title to visit it.

P.S. I'm surprisingly calm for someone who's going to stare into the jaws of death in less than 12 hours from now.

The Oral Stage's Oh Dad, Poor Dad

I watched Arthur Kopit's play "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" (yes, that is the full title) performed at KLPAC's Pentas Dua last night, and I'm glad to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

All three leads were well cast for their roles and were a joy to watch.

Madam Rosepettle, played by Nicole-Ann Thomas, is a domineering mother whose saccharine name doesn't quite suggest her iron-fisted character. Ms. Thomas displayed great confidence, astute comic timing as well as the enviable ability to go through a five page monologue without breaking a sweat, bless her.

Alfred Loh plays her smothered and ineffectual son with comfort and energy. Mr. Loh actually has a second role in the play, and it's amazing how he pulled off both with such ease—it really must be seen to be believed! Hanneke Talbot as the babysitter Rosalie brought out the naughty, playful side of the character and, later on, her less-than-innocent aspects as well.

The entire play takes place in a Caribbean hotel suite Madam Rosepettle has moved into with her son, her pet piranha and her two Venus fly-traps. Everyone else in the play pretty much comes into the room to interact with them. What is clever is that this physical claustrophobia slowly seeps into (or rather shows through) the psychology of the characters as the play unfolds.

Nothing is quite as it seems; the set and costumes are bright and cheery, the characters are really over-the-top, and a lot of the dialogue seems silly and comedic, yet as the play progresses horrible undertones of domineeringness, disloyalty, dysfunction and death creep in to undermine the facade.

However, this production by the Oral Stage (director Kelvin Wong) thankfully brought out the raunchy and brash comedy in the script and played with its absurdist/farcical side to balance its darkness and pessimism. The audience was laughing loudly till the end, and I certainly left the theatre with equal measures of unease and glee.

"Oh Dad, Poor Dad" is playing till the 4th, so please, please catch it if you can!