With the number of people dancing in unison in this year's National Day Song Music Video, I am reminded of a Bollywood movie dance sequence. As my Council of Advisors opines, it has "the most insipid lyrics ever" (what's new?), "bad dance moves", "looks suspiciously like a version of the great singapore workout" and "Taufik spoils it. Rui en is quite pretty though" (uhh).

Apart from the synchronised dancing, though, it's pretty much the same as previous years'. Saccharine music, "The last 5 year plan failed, but come comrades, let us celebrate our achievements and work towards a better tomorrow" lyrics, dance sequences presenting an idealised version of "racial harmony" and the like. Then again, the lyrics seem even more repetitive than ever, so maybe they're running out of ideas.

Oh, and is that a Garuda I see flying across the screen at the start and end of the video? Damnit, this is a Singaporean music video, not an Indonesian one!

Luckily, since I don't watch TV or listen to the radio, I've not been bombarded with this ten times a day.

(JoBeth: they could show this video to hardened criminals. within a minute they'd have the men on their knees begging for forgiveness.

the people in the music video look as if they had to be promised tax rebates to get them to dance such an appallingly unsophisticated, banal dance. "here people, all of you in the warehouse get up and do this! if not, no lunch break tomorrow. and no overtime pay."

they dance in a warehouse. in the mrt station. in a basketball court. we flash through locations faster than a bollywood dance sequence.

i need to go lie down and rest.)

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PETA President Denounces Dumping, Defends Accused Workers

"Dumping the bodies of dead dogs and cats in the garbage is wrong, but the president of Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said Friday that animal cruelty charges against two employees won't stick... Veterinarians and animal control officers said the PETA workers had promised to find homes for the animals rather than euthanize them, according to police. "PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized," Newkirk said."

"A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." — Ingrid Newkirk, President, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)


PETA Kills Animals | PetaKillsAnimals.com

"PETA's Dirty Secret

Hypocrisy is the mother of all credibility problems, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has it in spades. While loudly complaining about the "unethical" treatment of animals by restaurant owners, grocers, farmers, scientists, anglers, and countless other Americans, the group has its own dirty little secret.

PETA kills animals. By the thousands.

PETA kills animals. Because it has other financial priorities.

PETA raked in nearly $29 million last year in income, much of it raised from pet owners who think their donations actually help animals. Instead, the group spends huge sums on programs equating people who eat chicken with Nazis, scaring young children away from drinking milk, recruiting children into the radical animal-rights lifestyle, and intimidating businessmen and their families in their own neighborhoods. PETA has also spent tens of thousands of dollars defending arsonists and other violent extremists...

Other animal protection agencies near PETA's Virginia headquarters "put down" a much smaller percentage of the animals entrusted to them. In 2003 the Norfolk SPCA found adoptive homes for 73 percent of its animals. The Virginia Beach SPCA adopted out 66 percent. PETA could only manage 14 percent."

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Weblog Ethics Survey Results - "This study seeks to explore ethical principles in blogging through a quantitative survey of bloggers from around the world. It is our honors thesis as undergraduates at the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (SCI/NTU)."

Great Weapons of the Ancient World Number 47: the Sling - "The power of slings is famous. When iron plate-armoured Spaniards went into South America against the Aztecs, only the slings of the Aztecs were feared. The stone-tipped arrows would glance off or shatter against the armour, but the sling stones would damage the Spaniards by sheer smashing force... To conclude, the sling is a potent weapon which deserves greater respect from wargamers. It might be used in games other than ancient battles. Perhaps in a post-holocaust setting, soldiers might meet some apparently unarmed people, who later attack with slings in the woods, and then dodge away into the trees, while the soldiers waste their precious ammunition in gun-fire retaliation. Slings are spiffy."