The Lament of Willie McBride

Lyrics to The Green Fields of France by The Dropkick Murphys.

Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done
And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great falling in 1916
Well I hope you died quick
And I hope you died clean
Or Willy McBride, was is it slow and obscene

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen
Or are you a stranger without even a name
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now
But here in this graveyard that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation were butchered and damned

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying it was all done in vain
Oh Willy McBride it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest More, after the jump.

Forgiveness in Ramadhan

Ramadhan, the Holy Month of Mercy and Forgiveness. We abstain from food and drink during the day, and abstain from sins and we spend the night in prayer. We bow, stand and kneel to Allah Almighty, in pray that our sins are forgiven.

Sins to Allah may be forgiven, but what of sins to others?

I am a hateful sinner, I admit.

My crimes are terrible. I have been blessed, with a family, with good friends, and an amazing girlfriend. I have been blessed to be alive, healthy, and to enjoy many of life's pleasures. I have been blessed with material wealth and good health and good friends.

And I spat in their faces.

I complained, I moaned. I wanted things to be better for me without a thought for the rest of the world. I was selfish, resentful and full of hate in my heart. I was a but a child in my emotions and I acted like one. I bemoaned the loss of camaraderie when it was I, I myself who failed to nurture those seeds. And now I reap what I sow.

I thank all of you who have helped me in this troubled time. Even if it is just kind words, posted as comments on my Facebook status. You have helped, asking nothing in return and perhaps knowing nothing shall come your way but more of my resentment. For that I thank you and am truly sorry.

But is this not Ramadhan, the Holy Month of Forgiveness, as The Prophet said: “Whoever observes fast during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, all his past sins will be forgiven.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari) Should it be too much for me to ask for forgiveness not only from Allah, but from mortals as well? I am a monster, but do I not also deserve absolution? Do I not deserve to be forgiven my sins to my family, to my friends?

All I can do is hope. Forgive me, please. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. More, after the jump.

A Long Post, In Short.

It is 2am. I don't know what I'm doing still awake. Mark it down to Restless Heart Syndrome, I suppose.

I've got this really bad disease. I've spoken to health professionals about it, and I suppose I will get treatment soon. In the meantime, life's little pleasures help keep me sane.

Take my Sweet Darling, for instance. Every time my phone rings my heart skips a beat, hoping its her and the disappointment when its not is just too much that I want to scream. I promised I wouldn't do that but sometimes I just want to. And despite her making little jabs at how imperfect I am, I still prefer talking to her than doing anything else. In short, Dear, you keep me sane.

Then there's my friend who I've not seen in six years (well actually we met up last Monday, on Independence Day). He reminded me who I was, who I claimed to be, who I aspired to be for fuck sakes. He made me think, 'That's right. I am Tom Fucking Joad.' And Tom wouldn't have rolled over for anybody, and...well, In short, he stayed my blade from myself.

Then there's stupid movies like Dance Flick. It's dumb, stupid, derivative and not worth the download actually. But we had a great laugh. And for me it was great fun to actually have some dudes (actual dudes, not, like, just normal humans) to laugh with. In short, the Wayans Brothers keep my smile from wilting off.

Then there's fictional guys like Dirty Harry, from a time when men were men and having nice, wavy hair and an award winning smile made you a jackass because you were a jackass, not because you're a sparkly Twilight vampire. Even better, he's a jackass who can both win you over with his charm and fuck you over with his .44 Magnum. In short, Dirty Harry reminded me what men were like.


Pictured is Dirty Harry's most famous scene. "Do I feel lucky? Well do ya punk?"

There's a lot of things I can point out, but for the sake of others' sensibilities, I'd rather not.

In short, let me just say that staying home proved the best decision I've made tonight.
More, after the jump.

Funny Stuff Post

The stupidity of man! Proof that the Malaysian Govt's plan of sticking warning labels on cigarette boxes (while a great idea) may not be as effective as previously thought.

Without further ado, the following conversation from http://notalwaysright.com/selfish-smokers/2371

Me: “Can I help you, sir?”

Customer: “A packet of 20 Marlboro Lights, please.”

(I hand him the cigarettes.)

Customer: “Wait, I don’t want these ones.

Me: “Why? They’re Marlboro Lights. Did you change your mind?”

Customer: “No, I don’t want ones with this health warning about cigarettes causing impotency.”

Me: “Ok. Do you want ’smoking harms those around you,’ or ’smoking causes testicular cancer?’”

Customer: “Give me the ‘harms others’ ones.”
More, after the jump.

DISTRICT 9: A REVIEW

FACEBOOK ONLY ALLOWS A MAX OF 400 CHARACTERS: DO NOT WATCH THIS IN CINEMAS. DOWNLOAD OR UNCENSORED DVD ONLY. EPIC LEVELS OF VIOLENCE HAVE BEEN CUT OUT OF CINEMA VERSION. ODDLY ENOUGH SWEARING IS LEFT IN. NOT AN ACTION MOVIE, MORE OF A SOCIAL COMMENTARY WITH VIOENCE AND SOME ACTION TO HELP IT ALONG. NO HOLLYWOOD HOTTIES, MALE OR FEMALE TO OGLE BUT STILL A FUCKING AWESOME MOVIE YOU MUST SEE.

Amma ba'd.

So I wasn't exactly stoked for the release of District 9 in Malaysia. It was horribly underhyped compared to G.I Joe and other summer movies, and I had made a list of August movies I wanted to watch, which were Coraline, Up and G.I Joe. D9 didn't even factor into my list, and I can kind of guess why. It relied heavily on viral marketing, which of course doesn't pass very well in Malaysia. Such a shame, but then again, most Malaysians (by this I mean Malays), won't get the movie.

D9 is about aliens. Malays hear that, they think, 'oooh, action' and walk away disappointed. Hear me out first, okay, scumbags? D9 is about aliens, but not really about alien invasion. In fact, the movie spends all of ten minutes telling us 'ZOMG ALIENS HAVE LANDED!!!11oneone' before it launches into its main narrative. I'll try not to give too much away, but apparently, in 1982, an alien mothership entered our atmosphere and hovered over Johannesburg, South Africa. The South Africans tear a hole in the side of the ship and find a whole colony of aliens…who didn't look like an invasion army at all. In fact they seemed malnourished, tired, and sick, and all eyes being on Jo-Burg as it were, they decided to offer the aliens asylum.

It's twenty years later and now the 'refugee camp' is an alien slum.

You get the idea of the story? It's not an action flick. It's more like a social commentary with some action to help it along. No cheesy one liners, no Michael Bay style of shit blowing up everywhere but nobody dies unless they have to sort of shit, and no bullet time. It's a really artistic (shudder) movie with a very real message inside an admittedly predictable storyline, with lots of gory ultra-violence and some cool action scenes to boot. If you like Michael Bay movies go home. Save your money man. Don't watch it, go buy some rims. This is more for people who like a good story (lacking here, I'll get on it later) with a message hidden in it.

That said, D9 isn't perfect. As I've mentioned, the storyline is kind of predictable. You just know he's going to grab an alien gun, you just know he's going to team up with an alien, you just know that thing he's supposed to hide is going to get found. It kind of bugs me, because it's one of the biggest flaws of the movies that I can see. Everything else is kind of sort of not really perfect, but the weak story really pulls everything down. There are also lots of funny inconsistencies, and too much parallels being drawn between the aliens and humans that just have a comedic effect where you don't expect-or want-any.

The good part about D9 though, is how they manage to merge a strong message into a story and be able to tell it well, at least. It's got layers upon layers of mistreatment issues, refugee asylum issues, racism (they introduced a 'racial' slur for the aliens which gets thrown around every five minutes) and a whole slew of other things. There's the issue of treating others, both human and alien, as being nothing more than tools for political and business agenda, and the inhumanity of it all.

In short this is one to watch, especially if you like movies that have both action and violence and a nicely layered message woven into it, and not a blatantly in your face 'here's the message of the movie for those too slow' like they always have for dumb action movies and Disney movies (and South Park episodes. 'You know, I learned something today…'). For the rest of you assholes, go watch G.I Joe or I Love You Beth Cooper. Look, Hayden! Go ogle Hayden. Go.

More, after the jump.

When Hours Fly By

Sometimes I wake up and there's nothing there for me.

And then suddenly my phone rings and all that 'nothingness' doesn't really matter anymore.

More, after the jump.

Eloquent No Longer

First, the long, nervous waiting. Then the revelation, driving all thoughts out of my head. Then, nervously, I reached out, and she said it was okay. Then raw fish dares and insane overpricing. Then a short walk, and radiant sunlight. Then aimless wandering, and then, a bench, where my loss of voice made me have to whisper into her ear. Then came the reluctance to go home. We both wished we didn't have to go home. The whole ride, I wished I hadn't gone home.

More, after the jump.