I'm dumb; TMC; Avenue Q; and Taiwan. (Edit: US election)
written: 3:51 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008
1. I Am a Retard
I really really REALLY wanted to go for State Building today, but as per my laziness and procrastinating nature, I left the house at like 3.23 p.m. when class was at 3.30. I even drove out and reached Bukit Batok Nature Reserve or whatever shit where I realised: If the purpose of me attending class was to get last-minute words of wisdom from SC regarding the research paper, and if that would probably occur either at the start of the class or at the end of the class, and if my ETA in school was sometime around 3.45 p.m. not counting the time needed to find a parking lot and, in all probability, walk up the slope, the chances of me getting what I decided to go to school for was about 50%. Conflicts is due on Friday at 5 p.m., and I want to finish it today if at all possible. 50% chance of getting last-minute words of wisdom versus finishing Conflicts early and focusing on R2P paper...well, I opted for the latter.
So I turned left at the crossroad between Home and School, and now I'm at home.
I AM SUCH A RETARD.
2. Tennis Masters Cup grouping
OH MY GOD NO WAY ROGER IS IN THE SAME GROUP AS MURRAY WHAT THE FUCK.
Why is he so suay? Why? I'm not entirely sure how the TMC works but there's some round robin round before the final few rounds where a player has to defeat I Don't Know How Many players in his group before he advances. Last year Roger won 3 out of 4 of his matches (losing to Fernando Gonzalez if I'm not wrong) and his opponent in the final, the Super Hot David Ferrer, won all his matches. So the players that Roger draws in his grouping is quite important, obviously.
Guess who he got?
Andy Murray.
Andy Roddick.
Gilles Simon (replacing Rafael Nadal who pulled out due to some injury or other or whatever).
All three players have defeated Roger this year. Most notably, Murray just defeated Roger in Madrid, thereby gaining a one-match lead over him in their head-to-head.
The other group consists of Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nikolai Davydenko. I've never properly watched Davydenko play so I can't comment on him, but the other three have been rather inconsistent. Djoker, much as I adore him, hasn't won anything since winning the Australian Open; Del Potro may be up-and-coming and startlingly accurate, but he came apart when playing Roger in Madrid and I just didn't think he was much of a threat at all; and Tsonga may have won Paris, but once again, when his game is off, it's really off, like how it was against Roger in Madrid.
On the other hand, Gilles Simon met Roger for the first time this year and beat him. Andy Roddick's career may be characterised by losing to Roger Federer, but for the first time in a damn long time, he beat Roger early this year, hence winning his second match against him out of I don't even know how many (but it's quite a lot). And Murray - he's probably the biggest threat to Roger, even if Nadal were in the picture. Nadal was thrashed by Rog in the TMC semi last year and most of his wins over Rog were done on clay, which is his best surface. But the way Murray played against Rog in Madrid when he won? THAT is definitely threatening and scary.
On a more positive note, Roger has a chance to avenge his Madrid loss and show Murray again just who's boss. There IS a damn good reason Roger won the US Open, not Murray. And maybe I'm just willfully blind or some shit but I attribute Roger's loss in Madrid to his wonky serving and I wouldn't call it his best showing at all. He did play well, but it wasn't as well as he's capable of playing.
So yeah I really hope, REALLY HOPE, he plays like he's on fire in Shanghai next week. It's the last tournament of the year, and he's defending champion. I really, REALLY want him to win this one, and I know he will give it his all because he's an amazing fighter like that. So...YAY I CAN'T WAIT!
Also, thanks to Nadal pulling out of the tournament, Roger is now seeded number 1. As he should be. I love seeing the number '1' next to his name. Nadal seems to be crumbling under the pressure of that expectations-laden number, so now that he's achieved his dream of reaching #1, he can abdicate now and return it to Roger who can handle it much better, thanks. Gracias!
3. Avenue Q
Watched it last night. Maybe all the raves I've been hearing inflated my expectations but I kind of thought it was a bit over-hyped. I expected it to be a lot, A LOT more controversial but what I saw was pretty tame. I've seen more controversial stuff on that Taiwanese political satire show (no idea what it's called in English but it's now called Quan Min Zui Da Dang. If it hasn't yet been changed, that is). The provocative songs like I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today and The Internet is For Porn were more miscellaneous than actually having anything to do with the plot, and it felt like they were added in for shits and giggles. Sure it worked, but it felt rather patchy and not cohesive, and if you take away those songs the whole show would just be another run-of-the-mill find-yourself kind of story which has been done to death, and done better too. The controversy wasn't at the heart of the story which was what I expected, but was more a side-show after-thought which made it rather pointless. And I really don't see what is so controversial about it anyway; it wasn't like the essence of the show had anything new or controversial to say. It was just a few songs, and oh my god MUPPET SEX, and a gay character, and...that's about it, really. It wasn't even cynical at all.
Of course, I have no idea how much Singapore's anal censorship policies affected the performance, but it was what I saw, and this is what I think. Then again, I'm not a fan of musicals anyway. I think musical songs in general are not very melodious at all and they seem to vary around the same few templates. Even more importantly, many of these musicals that make it to Singapore, and probably many of the ones that show in West End and Broadway, are so commercial that they can't cross as many boundaries as they would like to. Avenue Q really didn't deviate very much from the predictable formula to create a commercially-appealing musical; it just added some vaguely unorthodox elements like a song about Internet and porn and a one-verse "song" about not wearing underwear, is all.
I'm sorry, I just find musicals so pointless. It's not even a more artistic version of movies because there's a whole genre of films that mean something which I can't say for most, if not all, of the musicals that I've watched. Musicals are pure entertainment - nothing more. I've yet to watch one that truly pushes the envelop and tries something different, provocative, but I can think of many, many films, even some plays, and so many books that succeed in doing just that. So yeah, that's probably the biggest reason why I'm probably never going to take musicals seriously or see a musical as anything more than fluffy popcorn. Of course, I haven't exactly watched a lot of musicals (though I wonder why I would when I don't like musicals in the first place), but considering what was showing in the West End - The Lion King (seriously?), Lord of the Rings (SERIOUSLY?!)...well. I don't think it's really just my lack of exposure.
Oh well. On a more positive note, I suddenly understand the staying power of Andrew Lloyd Webber, especially his Phantom of the Opera. He probably lucked out in adapting a literary classic, but Phantom still sticks out in my mind as the best and most moving musical I've ever watched, as opposed to the others, some of which are grandiose, others fluff and full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Say what you want about ALW, but Phantom's songs, especially Music of the Night, transcend their genre. Some songs are clearly musical songs with their distinct speech-like, even coarse melodies, but Music of the Night and Phantom of the Opera, even Think of Me, can be taken out of the box and stand on their own, independently of the material from which they are extracted. Damn, I should've watched Phantom in London! But then it's so expensive and it's not like I haven't already watched it anyway.
Oh, and for some reason I found the sound last night a bit off so I couldn't hear some of what the actors said. I did really like the girl that played Kate and Lucy the Slut though, as well as the guy that played Princeton and the gay muppet. But the only storyline I was interested in was the one involving the gay muppet and his friend; I didn't really care much for Princeton. He was wishy-washy and stupid and I hate wishy-washy and stupid guys.
4. Lastly
I'm very excited about going to Taiwan in December. For once in my life, we're not just bumming around in Taipei; we're going to the REST OF TAIWAN! Yes, oh my god, Taiwan actually exists beyond Taipei, did you know? I can't remember where we're going 'cause my folks settled everything so I'll just go along for the ride. I CAN'T WAIT! We're going back to Kinmen (I MISS THE MIAN XIAN OH MY GOD IT WAS DAMN GOOD) which should be interesting. The last time I was there was four years ago and it was quite a unique experience for me. I wonder if it'd be the same this year. I CAN'T WAIT!
But of course, Taipei. I have missed Taipei like you wouldn't believe. I'm curious to know if I'd still feel the same towards Taipei, now that I'm older and have been to other cities not named Singapore. Should be interesting to find out.
Right, I need to get started on my assignment. BLEAH.
***
ETA:
And of course:
YAY OBAMA!
Didn't follow it very closely, but Obama sealed it for me with his enlightened view on foreign policy and his preference to engage rather than alienate. I don't care what he does for the US economy/world economy because that's not really up my alley, but he, at least, represents hope that the American foreign policy of paranoia and mistrust and antagonism of the past 8 years can finally, hopefully, end.
And of course - NO MORE GEORGE W. BUSH! NO MORE REPUBLICANS! This is a pretty fantastic outcome, methinks.
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