Where Between the Two Extremes?

Alternative title: When advertisements get me thinking - seriously.

I rarely watch television. There's a wider selection of watchable, readable materials available online and searching the WWW beats browsing the television schedule or waiting for your show to air.

Also, advertisements. Pop-ups are more annoying than television ads I suppose, but I pay more attention to the latter - which really isn't saying much though - and few of them are actually capable to force some sort of a thinking hat on my head. Take, for instance, a certain Mountain Dew ad.

Notice that tiny caption at the lower right corner? It took my third scrutiny to figure what it says. First time: I caught sight of the action onscreen and turned away. Second: the stunts sent me thinking, 'Wait, aren't they supposed to warn the public not to reproduce such dangerous acts?' Third: 'Oh, wait, they actually did...'
Fourth, after hearing my companion's remark that the advertisement portrayed the stunt in a light that could mislead the viewer that one could get away with only minor injuries, my thoughts then retorted that some people could be overestimating themselves in terms of their professional abilities. My other companion, on the other hand, said that those stunts were probably fabricated by means of graphic programs and such.

Imagine, for instance, if someone didn't notice the warning. Or, the size of the font was not strong enough to leave an impression that those death-defying acts are more of pure lunacy instead of one heroic display?

To some, the two might be one and the same. Not in this case, it isn't.

Compare the Mountain Dew ad to that of Ridsect. Usually the ad would begin with 'Attention, this is a mosquito insecticide advertisement' done in huge white fonts with a black background, then the scene would shift to someone being harassed by those noisy flying nuisance. Until now I don't see why the warning is necessary - there are mosquitoes, mosquitoes terrorising a household, mosquitoes getting doused by the spray administered by one who doesn't really need to be a sharpshooter, mosquitoes falling down, murdered in the name of protecting one's loved ones. Yup, pretty straightforward piece of message there, folks.

In life sometimes our attention is diverted elsewhere, to things that are more intriguing, fascinating and...profitable. For instance, the prospect of accumulating more money is more appealing to the general public than of donating a substantial amount to charity. Or, in simpler examples, movies that feature out-of-this-world CG animations or beautiful airheads who cannot act to save their lives to cover for shallow stories that have otherwise very little to sell. (I'm thinking of Avatar here...and those numerous shows/events that rely on scantily clad women - even men too, come to think of it - that gladly allow themselves to be degraded to mere objectification of sex...)

That's the sign that the End - be it the world's or our own wellbeing, our morality - is approaching, fast.

Back to the ads. What does it take to hold your attention? Would it be one that is small in comparison to the bigger (and more constant) picture? Or a message that is simple, clear enough but temporary?

I myself couldn't give a definite answer. I do appreciate subtlety and metaphors, but I know that the dangers of being swept away by those aesthetics are very much real in my case. And, as anyone could tell, the nature of my blog itself - imbued with double meanings, imageries and, at other times, overshadowed by obscurities - shows that I view writing as an art in which effort is a rule. For me, finishing much less looking for fictional novels can be a tedious task to bask in!

But those wake-up calls are needed too. It's like an alarm clock that rescues you from those nightmares that tease your imminent rise from bed.

In life's lessons, perhaps simplicity would drive the point home; even so our lack of memory may eventually make a detour to other if not similar mistakes. Art, meanwhile, celebrates the glorious marriage of stark simplicity and knotty intricacies. But in dealing with people - who themselves, for better or for worse, are a motley bunch with individual quirks and touchiness - there're no hard and fast rules.

...Ah, such is the world we live in. Otherwise we'd be long dead bored from uniformity and predictability, and offended by bluntness; or utterly confused by dubiety, put off by complexities, and hypertensive from all the stress of trying to make sense of things that twist our logic.


Current Music: Falling Down - Oasis

P/s: Not affiliated with the brands mentioned above. Merely used them to prove a point...

Now and Then, Here and There

"Si jeunesse savoit; si viellesse pouvoit"
If only youth had the knowledge; if only age had the strength ~ Henri Estienne

Sometimes we hear the laments of the older adults about how the youngsters nowadays have fallen from grace. This standard that the former uses would be "their younger days".

Then the youngsters would argue with "Time changes things! Things ain't what they used to be anymore!"

Rinse and repeat until
A) both parties agree to disagree
B) one side chickens out
C) the debate gets more physical
D) all of the above, in no definite order

There is some merit in both. Things are no longer as good as the olden days - I usually phrase this as "when the sky was still blue and the grass greener" - and the world today is a different place to live in compared to, say, thirty years ago. We can hardly blame the elders for their stand - how many times have you yourself frowned upon the idiocy and mischief those younger than yourself were up to?


Sure, some things come with age - responsibilities, maturity, wisdom, driving license and the realisation that the world is not only a bed of roses but the thorns are very much real. But that's not what this post is about.

It's how the younger generation are getting more and more daring at a younger age. Primary schoolchildren getting acquainted with cigarettes. Teenagers experimenting on sexual behaviours. Illegal racing. Drugs and gambling. Women and men alike having no shame of parading every inch of their body for others to worship with their lustful eyes and erotic touches. Adultery seen as something normal. Single parenthood is as common as the traditional idea of parenthood. It's the collapse of the basic institution in a society - which spells eventual doom of the latter.

The problem with this risk-taking behaviour is that it is practised at the wrong place, wrong time, wrong situation.

Perhaps it has something to do with the wrong escape route.

Consider for a moment: when we pursue material enjoyments, our reasonings more often than not revolve around this elementary excuse of "to de-stress". In the olden days, things were harsher - everywhere people laboured, parents were generally stricter, kids rarely sought for entertainment. When they did, their form of amusements were basic, using everyday items like slippers, rubber-bands joined to form a skipping rope, and coconut leaves. They didn't have much of an escape, so they faced their hardships with valour and they prospered in the end when they conquered their difficulties.

So they may have a right to brag after all. And, while they're at it, dismiss our generation as having been pampered, causing us to become weaklings who only complain when things don't go the way we want them to.

In contrast, our escape routes are plenty. Too many to choose from, that even if we can successfully overcome the temptation of one, there is no guarantee that we can survive the next. Nothing good on TV? Switch on the PlayStation or XboX. Bored of the console? There's the Internet. From there...my God, the destinations are innumerable. Practically everything can be found there, with the help of a good search engine.

These temptations beckon us to choose escape routes over facing and looking at our problems in the eye. It's not like one of those shounen anime subplots that require the hero or his posse to go on a journey in search of his/their potential to become stronger, to defeat the current villain. No, this is running away like a coward because one is too afraid of the prospect of getting hurt, failure, or the notion of leaving everything including comfort behind.

In other words, afraid of hardships.

So we run away, abandoning the chance to develop ourselves. As a result, we are accused of being pampered.

We retaliate, then we are labelled as rebels.

...There's just no end to this, is there?

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Now playing: Gackt - 哀戦士
via FoxyTunes

P/s: Title or post is in no other way related to the Now and Then, Here and There anime.

Compilations #9

1. Oxymoronic

Simply amazing.

How silence can convey more than words could. There's facial expressions, of course, and the glimpse of emotions that is finely entwined in those few yet curt words issued.

Like, one may be able to sense that something is up when one walks into a meeting room overtaken by silence, and the people within are muted for whatever reason. Those wearing their poker faces may prove to be a challenge, but then look at the surroundings - if people wouldn't talk, evidence would, in their own way.

Or when one can figure out something is afoot when two people who are close suddenly wouldn't even trade words.

Or when one whose verbose nature suddenly takes a total change.

You don't have to be a genius to decipher those descriptive, explanatory silence. Just a bit more perception, sensitivity and...humanity, really.

2. Norms and Imprisonment

Some habits are hard to break, regardless of whether or not there's insight on how destructive said habits could be.

For instance, nicotine in cigarette makes the person dependent on its very existence in his/her bodily system. The same goes for drugs. Without it being part of the subject, it doesn't feel right, doesn't feel whole.

Tolerance; The old doses just won't work anymore to achieve the same effect, the same amount of 'high'. Addiction; there will always be the want for more.

The smoker or IV drug user might know he - overgeneralisation of sex here, not because I'm a sexist - is slowly killing himself and, indirectly, those closest to him, but he could not help himself. His self-control is already weak, waning with every passing second and with subsequent dose of his unlawful brand of pleasure.

I'm not condoning this behaviour. It's repulsive, it's degrading. The unspeakable loss of humanity.

What of habits then?

Would you say it's something akin to drugs and nicotine? Does it deserve to have its own designated term, such as habitoholics, such as alcoholics with their alcoholism? Are we conditioned in a way that it is irreversible, or at the very least, any future editing or modification processes will be unduly met with strong resistance?

Why is it so hard to change even when we know it has to be done!?

3. Malpositioned

Is there an honourable place in today's world for a Jack of all trades but master in none?

We can't all be what we yearn to be. Not all dreams become reality. Some live their dreams, some keep on dreaming and just that...no more. It ends once we start our eternal slumber.

Then again, so do most things.

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Now playing: OneRepublic - Made For You
via FoxyTunes

Compilations #8

1. The irony. I'm bored but I'm not exactly _ecstatic_ to start my elective posting next week. Perhaps I have been over-indulging that whatever studious mood I once had had been dampened. Not good, not good indeed.

2. I'm getting a bit too paranoid. It's sad that we can no longer perform charity for others without a certain inkling tingling. Like some sort of a radar for frauds or those with ulterior and evil motives. It's sad, because it feels as if we're having bad preconceived ideas as to a person's character - even though s/he is the complete opposite.
Given the kind of world we live in, of course it doesn't hurt to be extra careful. But still! Why must humans sink so low? And since when?

3. I need to stop buying novels. Seriously. I am so disappointed in Dante's Numbers, and Cocaine Blues just reeks of Mary Sue.
Maybe it's a sign that I should instead focus on some academic reading...

4. Note to self: More pain ahead. Get ready with Band-Aids and other therapeutic measures.

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Now playing: Barenaked Ladies - The Big Bang Theory Theme Song
via FoxyTunes

Content

Thank God. Thank You, dear God, for putting my rumbling heart to rest. Hopefully this shall be a valuable lesson so that there will be no repetition to this...idiocy.

But the journey ahead does not necessarily promise ease. Putrajaya next week - hopefully we shall be greeted with little trouble, because seriously now, I am tired of dealing with difficult people - for 6 weeks. Of course I wonder what possibilities I could have got myself into should I have requested to do my elective elsewhere, but I am reminded as to why I went for one closer to home.

Because I know that I do miss home, and that I might not be able to spend as much time being home anymore in the near future.

Besides, I like to think myself as needed here. It's all right that way, isn't it?

On the side note, perhaps it's time I do something for Avicenna...I've been overworking him too much, he deserves a little reward every now and then. In a form of a decent check-up and a new battery, perhaps.

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Now playing: Savage Garden - Hold Me
via FoxyTunes

Moral of the Story?

1. Good grief.
As long as we are humans, there will almost be that probability that we _will_ fail to learn. No matter how many times the scenario is played from the beginning, there is still that nasty, stubborn stain in you that keeps clicking the replay button in you, which then resulted in the same response.

So much for conditioning. It's more of a masochism! Or a dysfunctional adoption of running on Guilt rather than being motivated by Rewards.

How flawed.

...And why is it that the urge to digress always comes at the most inopportune and inappropriate moment!? Only to be replaced by Indolence once a moment of idleness sets in? *headdesk*

2. As much as I heart Specialised Posting with all my heart and soul - not so for Radiology, but I'll let it slide for now - I'd much rather do Elective posting. Seriously!
Not going to ramble about the exam because...well, it's not good for my tender(?) heart.

3. Am really considering trying out Kaichou wa Maid-sama! because...well, simply because. Even if it's shoujo. Or the lead's a tsundere. Or all the bubbles and sparkles.

4. How to Train Your Dragon OST. A superb collection...also because of the bagpipes. Yes, I like bagpipes...ever since Gackt's Oasis.

Current Music: Wounded - How to Train Your Dragon OST