one angry yelen.
written: 9:12 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2006

For a TV show, be it drama or reality, success seems to be a double-edged sword. You start out with an organic, original idea and you have a great first season because you're fresh and you're the new kid on the block and so the network you're on pretty much leaves you to your own devices, just to see how audiences would react to you. At the end of your first season you're met with raving critical reviews, overwhelmingly enthusiastic fan responses, and even an Emmy nomination/win. You go home happy with what you've achieved, and all is good - that is, until your second and subsequent seasons roll around.

Sometimes, a show's sophomore season doesn't completely fall short of the quality that its first displayed. I think an apt example of such a show is Project Runway. Granted, I started watching it during Season 2 and I didn't watch the whole of Season 1, but the objective of the show was clear and unambiguous: A true-blue reality TV show about fashion design and how aesthetically-driven, talented individuals work with deadlines and various constrains (including time and budget constrains) to come up with looks that are high-end, chic and expensive. That is exactly why I was so hooked on Project Runway; it's not for the drama, not as an embarrassing guilty pleasure I begrudgingly admit to, but because it gives me a reasonably realistic picture of how fashion and clothes are created - which, in itself, is infinitely interesting.

So imagine my utter dismay, irritation and disgust when I watched the latest episode and discovered that - shock and horror - there was a twist to the episode. It was a twist so utterly stupid and gimmicky that when Heidi Klum announced it to the remaining designers, I almost wanted to stop watching the episode there and then. There was no more apt response to be had than a groan and mental curses at fucking Bravo TV for coming up with something so obviously calculated to create drama, and hence undermining the very foundation of what makes Project Runway fantastic.

They brought back two recently-eliminated contestants. "There are benefits to winning challenges," Heidi Klum said. "This is it."

ARE YOU BLOODY KIDDING ME?

And not only did they bring back eliminated designers, they brought back the weakest of the eliminated designers on the questionable basis that they both won a challenge each. In the first place, Angela Whatever won a group challenge, and I don't see how that even counts. And that creepy Vincent guy who's way too fond of telling the whole world what makes him come (and yes, I mean sexually) does not have the talent to back up his craziness. I suppose the purpose of bringing them back was: 1) to create "suspense" so that the viewer would be on the edge of his seat to find out which three designers would be eliminated; and 2) to create tension and drama amongst the contestants because one of the remaining designers, who happens to be the one I'm rooting for, absolutely abhors Angela.

But guess what? Neither 1 nor 2 even remotely worked. Angela came back, Jeffrey's jaw dropped, it was funny, and that was the end of it. As for the suspense, it was plain to anyone with eyes and some level of taste who were going. Even amongst the remaining five designers it was also obvious who was going to be eliminated. If they wanted to work that suspense element, they should've brought back eliminated designers with actual talent, not some crappy-ass hack like Angela whose point of view is indescribably tacky, and crazy-ass Vincent who's just...weird.

I'm very disappointed with this episode. It's something that I'd expect to see on America's Next Top Model, not Project Runway, for crying out loud. And these two shows weren't even remotely in the same league! If I remember correctly at least ANTM never pulled something so absolutely retarded and anti-climatic.

To make matters worse, there was this stupid rule that the designers must use up every single inch of their fabrics. What the hell is that? I can't imagine for a second that designers in real life never leave scraps.

Tim Gunn also seemed kind of pissed off in this episode. Actually compared to the last season he doesn't seem as chummy with the contestants. Sigh, I miss the Season 2 people. They were fun and entertaining and the clothes they made were, well, nicer and more exciting. Jeffrey, to me, is the only one left who's interesting to watch, but because I like him I'm always afraid that he'd come up with something super hideous that'd get him eliminated. (For this crappy challenge, it was almost totally hideous. The outfit would've been much better without the ugly leggings. Leggings don't look good on anyone, no matter how well you dress or how pretty you are.) Apart from Michael, I don't care much for the other two.

But well, I'm looking forward to the fashion week episodes. The reason I'm not reading any NY Times articles on fashion week and am not visiting the fashion week website is because I don't wanna be spoiled for PR. Jeffrey's stuff is already up online (pictures, I mean) and I'm so tempted to go see but I will resist the temptation.

Funny thing? The most impressive collection for last season's fashion week showing was Kara's - and she was a decoy, not an actual contestant. I think her collection would've won if she'd made the final three.

**

B: Taiwan, Democracy and the Depose Movement

(Note: I don't know what the anti-Chen Shui-bian protests are called in English but they use the word 'depose' so yeah.)

(Note #2: I'm too lazy to give background information on the things I'm going to bitch about/praise.)

I absolutely love Taipei and I can't say the same for the rest of Taiwan.

Watching the Taiwanese news induces in me both feelings of awe and of disgust. The former was most palpable last week when the anti-Chen protesters began their peaceful protest in front of the presidential building. The official colour of the protest is red and it's initiated by ex-DPP party member (a founding member, I believe), Shi Ming De. They might have been yelling at Chen to vacate himself from the presidential seat, but in the grander scheme of things they were protesting against corruption. Anyone with principles would protest against corruption.

They sat in front of the presidential building - a huge, huge crowd, larger than anything I'd ever seen on the Taiwanese news, way larger than the protest I crashed when I was in Taipei in June. Tens of thousands of people sat in front of the presidential building for days - and absolutely nothing happened.

There were no clashes, no riots, no fights. Only a few isolated incidents of verbal shoutings broke out between some crazy, brainless Chen supporters who stupidly ventured into the protest area and went around shouting pro-Chen slogans at the protesters. Such people really, really deserve to get yelled at, because they're obviously just looking for trouble. Apart from that, no one got injured, no one got arrested, and all was peachy.

The week-long silent protest culminated (or should I say, 'climaxed'; it's not over yet) in an amazing march around Taipei City on Friday/Saturday night (my memory ain't that good!). Police officials reported that there were 350,000 people participating in the march - but anyone with eyes who watched the live coverage of the event on TV can see for him/herself that there were at least a million people there. The streets became a single sea of red. It was raining but seemingly everyone showed up. They marched from the presidential building to the Taipei train station, which, if I'm not wrong, isn't exactly just around the corner.

You'd think that there'd be people amongst such a large crowd who'd start some trouble. You hear about such mass protests on the news and it's always because some idiots decided to set fire to a car or break shop windows or pick fights with the police. A peaceful protest somehow usually manages to morph into something grotesque, marred by violence, resulting in injuries, sometimes even death.

But not in Taipei. And it's amazing because here we have a Chinese city and the power of democracy is so clearly on display. The people exercised its right to civil disobedience (which does not equal violence; please read Thoreau's essay) and they demonstrated the way in which it should be done. This is why Taipei is miles ahead of Singapore: The government allows its people to gather and protest (because it can't stop them and it has no other choice), and they do so peacefully and civilly. Some of them even picked up trash around the front of the presidential building when the crowd moved off towards the Taipei train station.

Compare this to Singapore where a group of six was arrested for protesting against the Iraq war. Compare that to Singapore where the government fines people for littering and people still don't care and litter anyway.

More importantly, contrast the scene in Taipei to what occurred last night in Kaohsiung, and what is currently happening in Tainan.

Kaohsiung may be the second-most populous city in Taiwan, but it's still in southern Taiwan. And Tainan, needless to say, is in southern Taiwan; more importantly, it's Chen Shui-bian's hometown. The hardcore DPP supporters mostly hail from such places, and you can tell them apart from the anti-Chen people in Taipei, or even anyone in Taipei, pretty easily: The former group of people: 1) speak in Taiwanese all the time; 2) cannot speak proper Mandarin; 3) look uncultured and uneducated; and 4) chew so much beetle nuts that their mouths are perpetually red.

And how do you tell a DPP demonstration apart from a non-DPP demonstration?

Easy. The former will always result in violence.

And they will always be the one that initiates the violence.

So last night in Kaohsiung a small group (and I'm talking less than a hundred) of anti-Chen protesters gathered in some square where they sat around - and I mean, sat around, ON PLASTIC CHAIRS - and drank tea and dissed the president. In short, they were exercising their rights to freedom of speech and to civil disobedience. Taiwan is, after all, a free country (ignoring the fact that it isn't a de jure country). It's the freest of all countries on this side of the world.

But for some strange, inexplicably, probably retarded reason, a massive crowd of DPP supporters decided to crash the party. I don't know how they started the clash but what I saw on TV was this: The anti-Chen protesters, a small, small group of them, sat in frozen terror while the police formed a protective circle around them, warding off the fucked up, crazy DPP people who were charging at the anti-Chen protesters. When they couldn't get through the police, some picked up plastic chairs and threw them at the people in red.

But that's not all; they even had a bone to pick with the police. One man was yelling at a policeman, saying that the anti-Chen gathering was illegal (whatever, dude), and as he got more heated up ANOTHER man charged up from behind and started yelling at the police. What the hell is that?

Even more ridiculous? The police arrested three DPP supporters, and the idiotic, mindless plebeians charged towards the police station and demanded that the three of them be released. I feel deeply embarrassed for Kaohsiung's police force that they actually felt forced to release the detainees.

In the end, a bus arrived to get the anti-Chen protesters out of there. To their credit, some were outraged and indignant. A couple of men refused to leave at first; one of them was filmed saying, "This is a democracy!"

Damn straight it is. Seriously, I think those DPP supporters would find China a lot more pleasing to live in, considerng they share the same value as the Chinese government. It really, really appalls me that there exists people who are so disgustingly narrow-minded, violent, unreasonable and uneducated. It wasn't even their turf and they shat all over it. What right did they have throwing chairs at the protesters and charging at them with the very real threat of physically hurting them really badly? It's situations like this that give governments like Singapore the excuse to disallow such protests from ever happening in their countries.

But of course, the media only picks up such news when things go wrong. After all, how exciting is it to read about a peaceful protest, right? So here's the whole picture, once and for all: Protests can be, and should be, peaceful. The demonstration in Taipei is the best example anyone can give.

My love for Taipei has only been reaffirmed, and I know more than ever that I never, ever want to go to the south of Taiwan. The hardcore DPP-ers are absolutely horrifying. In Tainan tonight they once again crashed a small anti-Chen gathering (I can't even call it a protest because it's SMALL) and threw rocks at the people. One rock hit a woman, probably on the head. Even more appalling? They charged at a car and started kicking it because the car was red. And the poor woman driver - just ONE woman - was wearing a red shirt. They broke a window and still proceeded to kicking and punching the car.

These people really, really deserve to live in China. On Saturday, when the DPP held a pro-Chen demonstration also in front of the presidential building, the demonstrators started attacking a CTI newscaster. What the hell, right? Some man ran up to the newscasting stand thingy and started hurling abuses at the newscaster, who was there to interview a DPP leader who kind of organised the demonstration, I think (my dad hates him). And the stupid people below, being the dumb shit plebeians they are, started charging at the stand and actually began to dismantle it. And when the poor newscaster finally found a way down, he was attacked by the crowd all the way to the car. These stupid-ass people obviously don't know what media freedom means. Man, they should also come live in Singapore. They'll totally love it here.

(Just so you know, the hardcore DPPers hate TVBS and CTI because these two stations slant towards the blue camp. TVBS is also responsible for breaking stories about corruption within the DPP regime, like the whole Sogo vouchers saga involving Chen's wife and the stock exchange insider info thingy involving Chen's son-in-law.)

Taipei is amazing. I'm really impressed by how civil the whole affair was, and it only makes the various displays of violence I described thus far by the DPP supporters even more disgusting and appalling. They just attack ANYONE. They don't even care that the person they're attacking is a woman. I hate hate HATE people like that. I hate people who can't respect another person's opinion, has to resort to violence to show his disagreement, doesn't respect press freedom, has to use violence to demonstrate his disdain towards a particular news station. And the saddest part about all of this? They're so blind by their loyalty or WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS towards their crappy-ass political party that they can't even see the truth even if it's yelling at them right in the face. How absolutely stupid can people get? If a founding member of the DPP can turn against the party because of the president's corruption, what makes those people think that they'd know any better? This is why getting an education is very, very important. I'm sorry, even though I'm not, but I have very low tolerance for people who're too stupid to know any other way but violence. I'm actually pretty sure that Singaporeans in general, as annoying as they are, wouldn't be as crass and, well, violent than the dimwits in Kaohsiung and Tainan.

At least freedom of speech is safeguarded in Taipei. Sure, there were a few verbal spats, but there were no actual fighting and they always occurred when some random Chen supporter ventured into the red camp and started disturbing the peace. I don't know what the hell is wrong with these people, but there you go. The epitome of stupidity.

To conclude, my dad hates the DPP and I love Taipei for its great shopping, gorgeous Mandarin accent, fantastic organised chaos, and its love for democracy.

**

C. Singapore's legal system

On second thoughts, I've pissed myself off enough for one night and so I won't bitch about how ridiculous and absolutely WRONG the So Wen Kei sentencing was. 7 years jail - okay, fine, considering his previous record and all that.

BUT TWENTY-FOUR STROKES OF THE CANE? I get that his burglary was very extensive; it was something like 117 homes or whatever. But hello, his family is fucking poor, his parent's CPF account was drying up and he needed it to pay for his NUS fees (which are like, damn a lot), and for some strange reason he didn't qualify for an NUS bursary. And it wasn't even like he didn't bother to find some ways to earn money; he GOT A JOB. Does his crime garner 24 strokes of the cane? This totally looks like another fucked up example by this fucked up...PLACE to set a "deterrent sentence". In other words, sacrifice one, benefit all.

But can we please look at the larger picture? We're not even addressing the issue. The issue isn't to deter would-be burglars or whatever by meting out an inhumane 24 strokes of the fucking cane to one recalcitrant burglar, who was, in all probability, driven to the crime by pure desperation. But whether he was or not, really isn't the point. The point is, what the hell are we doing to help people like him? Why can't we think of ways to effectively and humanly deter such crimes by helping such people, instead of severely and unjustly punishing one person who's committed the crime? And seriously, does the court honestly believe that a person would think, Oh, there was this NUS guy who was sentenced to 7 years in jail and received 24 strokes of the cane for stealing from 117 houses; maybe I shouldn't do that! People in moments of desperation don't think logically; if they do, they're not in moments of desperation, plain and simple. So, pray tell, for the love of my sanity and determination to get through the pointlessness that is law school: What the hell are we trying to achieve by handing out TWENTY-FOUR STROKES OF THE CANE to So Wen Kei?

And you know what? I really, really wonder why he didn't get the bursary. This gives me an added reason to fucking hate NUS because I can't conceive of another person who can possibly be in a more urgent and deserving position for financial assistance than this guy, given his background and the fact that he did his O- and A-Levels in prison and still managed to get into NUS.

I'm not saying that he should get away with his crime; I don't even have any beef with the 7-year jail term. But 24 strokes of the cane is simply uncivilised and barbaric, and it doesn't help matters ANY. I get super, super worked up and irritated and pissed off and outraged when I hear of things like that happening. They go against one's basic sense of conscience, that such shit just ain't right. And the fact that it continues to be done in our stupid, crazy-ass criminal system (I can't call it a 'justice system' because that's a gross misnomer) is so appalling that most of the time, I'm rendered speechless.

I can't stand how unfeeling this country is. And of course they try to justify it by saying that we're an Asian country, blah blah, we place society above self, blah blah, but guess what? This Asian country uses an English legal system and it uses English/American legal standards for things that will benefit it economically. But when it comes to human rights issues? They invoke the "We're Asian!" trump card and think all is fine. A detainee can't have immediate access to legal counsel because it will interfere with police investigations, and that cannot happen because we're an Asian country. A drug trafficker must be sentenced to death because drugs damage society, and this must be so because we're an Asian country. We can't abolish the death penalty because society comes before the individual and that is because we're an Asian country. What about fucking up Contract Law altogether and follow, I don't know, China or whatever, or getting rid of the common law system and follow the civil law system? If China and Japan use it, it must be Asian enough. After all, we're an Asian country, and the common law isn't remotely Asian.

Bullfuckingshit.

And it kills me that there's fuck-all I can do about any of it. I'm just a law student who doesn't even want to be in law school, let alone practice law, who got a crappy B- for criminal law.

Okay, so obviously I went back on what I said about not wanting to get into this. I'd originally intended to write a few sentences about this issue but indignance and anger got the better of me; hence this rant.

I want to leave. Now. Please, before my anger and rage consume me.

**

D: Others

I wanted to do my Property tutorial tonight but I ended up writing this very long entry.

Company tutorial was the same old mess of confusion.

I hate Company law. It strikes me odd that people can aspire to something as meaningless as that when there are more important things going on in the world. I honestly think that I'd rather be a public defender or something and get paid like 20 an hour or whatever it is and lose all my cases than to sell my soul and work as a corporate lawyer. Fuck money. I need my principles so much more. They're one of the few things that keep me going, that remind me that I'm still alive when all's said and done. Feeling angry is a vital sign of life. Without feelings, when money is your only goal, you're good as dead and boy do I NOT envy you.

I think I'd kill myself first before I become...well, my dad. All jaded, practical, realistic. I never, ever want to be a realist.

That is also precisely why I can never get anything beyond a C for Company law. And well, I don't care. I just wanna pass and get it done and over with, since I most unfortunately do not have the option of dropping it.

Prof. Kevin Gray had his last lecture with us today and I'm genuinely bummed that he'd be gone after the mid-sem break. He's a huge reason why Property actually makes sense to me, and why I don't hate it as much as I would otherwise. In fact, I'm actually really worried that I don't even dislike Property, and that I - gasp - kind of like it, sometimes, it being an eight-credit, substantive law module and all. If I don't dislike such a module, something must be wrong. I must be missing something. There must be something that I should know, but don't know that I should know. The cosmos are obviously out of whack.

But yeah, Prof. Gray. Can I please go to Cambridge and take Property under him? He's fantastic. He embodies the meaning of the word 'erudite'. I can't imagine going back to lectures with Powerpoint slides again.

Okay, I've been typing for way too long, my eyes hurt, my neck hurts, my ass hurts. And it's 11 and I haven't showered. Oh and I haven't done any work. I should stop watching the news and listening to my mom when she's telling me about some outrageous case she read in the newspaper.

Lastly, I'm in desperate need of shopping.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010