Draconian appearance policing at schools.

Student suspended from school because of personal style choices — the revolutionary and controversial BEARD.  This illustrates an issue I’ve had with schools in general for a very long time and one of the reasons why, if I ever have kids, I want them to go to school in the USA. Honestly, the beard is

Book slump

I think I’ve been having a bit of a book slump (and a blogging slump, too, by the looks of things, since my last post was in February). The last book I finished was The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and it was a really short book. Granted, I’m currently making my way through Dr Zhivago and Wuthering

Drifting together and apart

It’s been years since I’ve written anything and it just feels like a lifetime ago. Looking back at my posts, I feel like I’m looking at the blog of someone else I used to know but haven’t kept in touch with anymore. It’s like, all of a sudden, wondering about a school friend, you click

Just a few thoughts…

Just a couple of thoughts: On Palm Sunday: When Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, he was supposedly alone, so how did anyone find out what he said in prayer? Same with the forty days in the desert. He was alone, wasn’t he? If Jesus was preaching day in and day out in

The issue of Comfort Women Continued

The argument has continued on YouTube. I have no words for this person’s attitude towards the women. Actually, I do, but most of them should not be uttered in polite society, and I’ve said everything I need to say in a civil way in my response to them.

New Kingdom of Heaven fanvid with a twist

It’s been a while since I’ve made a KoH fanvid, so without further ado… A tribute to Balian using a Chinese song with strangely fitting lyrics (It’s meant to be a theme song for a serial about the Emperor Wu of Han, but it seems to fit this –fictional– Balian much better). English translation of

A Different Perspective

Posting this just because… This is a portrait of a large working class family in Hong Kong, taken during the sixties. The children grew up to take up all sorts of jobs and some moved to the furthest reaches of the world. One of the grandchildren, now looking back, finds it difficult to imagine the

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 15

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. It all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO. Chapter 15: You’re Both Betas Vampire politics was absolutely confusing. He didn’t get any of it. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get any of it. The world was ugly enough without seeing the undead backstab one another.

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 10

True Blood/X-Men Crossover Rating: Teen Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. It all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO. Chapter 10: Ad Victoriam Logan stared at each of the soldiers in turn. Well, just the six at the front. He didn’t have time to give them all individual looks.

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 2

True Blood/X-Men Crossover Rating: T Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters of X-Men or True Blood. They belong to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO. NB: This is mostly based on the X-Men movies and the True Blood television show, with only a few elements of the original comics and books. I am

An Update

Busy busy busy. I’ve two essays due by next Wednesday, and yet I still have the tendency to procrastinate. One of my essays on the effectiveness of propaganda in the twenty first century, and the most striking thing is how some people want to believe their government’s lies–sorry, public diplomacy. Perhaps it makes them feel

A rant

I’ve got a new sort of rant today. So I’m the moderator at this forum for MSTs and parodies, which now boasts more off-topic posts and dodgy role-plays than anything. It’s always been that way, but lately, one of the role-plays –that I started– really took off and we’ve filled three threads of one hundred

Busy Procrastinating

I’ve been so busy lately, what with my new volunteer job –I have the awesome title of media liaison :D– and two essays, one about gender policing in the Mughal court and another about how politics is becoming more and more like entertainment and whether it is good for democracy or not. Or something like