While I was looking through Youtube today, I found this:
Before seeing this, I'd never realized that film had been around for so long; I always thought film was a creation of the 20th century, but apparently it's been around since the later years of the 19th century. But there's technology for you: the camera obscura has been around since 1685, and I didn't know that either.
The fact that fragments of human history are still around like this, preserved and made available to the public makes my heart go pitter patter. I mean, how amazing is this? A little over a hundred years ago, there was already film. People lived lives then, and before then, and we're still living it now. Then, film was a tedious process. Now, we take videos of anything and everything from tiny little camera phones. Special effects were limited and considered ground-breaking. Now, we have software that create almost human-like animation (like FF7: Advent Children).
There was some quote I read some time ago, about being in this world and yet not believing in its wonders; it would have been appropriate if I'd actually remembered it, pfft.
Anyhoo, merry Christmas to everyone out there while I'm at it. ♥
Christmas is coming up in two days, and seeing as I greatly dislike the artificial, commmercial cheer that's generally prevalent around this unfortunate time, I'd rather blog about something else than how pretty the decorations at Orchard Road this year are, or how crowded but lovely the shopping malls are. (Okay, so the decorations are pretty, but. Whatever.)
Still, I guess Christmas is a blogworthy thing, so here I go.
Santa Claus (aka Sandy Claws for those enlightened ones who have watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and actually know who Jack Skellington is, other than a random skeleton decorating so many purses and bags and etc now) apparently appears in many sources.
The most common one that people know of is Saint Nicholas, a Greek Christian bishop who lived in a province of the Byzantine Anatolia- which in modern times would be in Turkey. He was famous for his generousity- a story of his in particular records him giving gifts of gold coins to three extremely impoverished sisters so that they wouldn't have to become prostitutes. (There is a lot I could say about women's rights in the past, but this post is about Santa after all.) In one version, he throws the purse down the chimney, and it lands in the stockings which one of the sisters had washed and left out to dry, which would explain the tradition of leaving Christmas presents in stockings. (Not like we practice it here though. And there's no chimneys around here. Meh.)
Interestingly enough, Saint Nicholas is not only one of the theorized origins of Santa Claus, but he is also the patron saint of quite a few things: children (well, duh), sailors, fishermen, merchants, repentant thieves, prostitutes, pawnbrokers, the falsely accused and of many cities. Santa Claus is a very busy man, it seems, even outside of the holiday season.
Another source draws similarities between the Nordic god Odin, and Santa Claus; both are portrayed as bearded and wise old men, and Odin apparently gives gifts too, though less selflessly as Santa Claus. Before Christmas, there was a Germanic holiday called 'Yule' (this is where Yuletide comes from, guys), and on the eve of Yule, children would leave out things like carrots, hay and sugar in their boots near the chimney for Sleipnir, Odin's eight-legged horse. In return, Odin would gift the children as thanks for Sleipnir's food.
This practice was continued, but meshed into the existing Christian traditions of the time as Christianity continued its growing influence over the rest of the world.
Actually, sometimes, I think it's amazing how Christianity managed to convert so many, by taking the holidays of other religions and making them their own. IMO, it's a smart and tactical move, since it's a compromise on both parties' part (i.e. the Christians and the 'pagans'), and well. You just have to look at the world's current stand on religion to know hw effective that has been. Doesn't mean I like it any better though.
For example, recently there has been an article that says Jesus' birthday may actually have been on the 17th of June; however, to the Joe on the street, Jesus was born on the 25th of December. But originally, as mentioned above, the 25th of December was Yule, and less famously, it is the day after winter solstice. In Greek mythology, the 25th was a day when people held a feast in Apollo's name to implore him to bring the sun back after winter (and therefore spring). There was a similar festival for the Romans, who apparently had this day marked for Sol Invictus (who's basically the Roman incarnation of Apollo, butcreated by a king, and anyway, I have no love for the Roman culture), but that is just repetition.
So. The origins of Christmas in a nutshell; there are various other sources for this, and Wikipedia although not always accurate, is a very good starting point for research. Oh, and Christianity is apparently really good at appropriating other dates too, since they were pretty much downtrodden and unpopular in the past; Easter is another date that they snagged from the 'pagans'. (Eostre was the goddess of the spring, and Easter was her day originally. I think if the gods were real, they'd be fuming so much right now.)
Christmas is a totally overrated thing for one, and for another, the 'goodwill' that festivities seem to force out of people in general is a little... well. Forced.
I've started work as a part-time admin assistant of sorts in my mother's office recently, but apparently sales have been slow, so I get stuck with all the lame things that nobody else in the office really wants to do, like replacing the addresses ('cos the company just moved) on their various catalogues and stuff, and sending out e-cards.
Yes. E-cards. I am so not kidding you.
People who work in offices might have gotten those annoying e-cards already, since it's so close to Christmas. You know, those generic free ones you get from say, 1-2-3 Greetingcards or somesuch site, with tacky animation and tacky music and generic messages of good wishes and all that jazz. On my part, I privately thought that I might have to strangle anyone who sent me a card like that from their companies. Hopefully, I'll never get to work in one of those companies. Getting cards from NTUC and companies and etc is already bad enough, because it's just an automated thing that you get since they have your birth date on record, but getting tons of it from other people in companies you barely see a few times a year to liaise with and people you don't really know? Pfffft.
It's a little insincere and it just reeks of office politics, which I don't really care for.
On the other hand, have a happy, corporate Christmas with all its capitalist overtures and overrated and tacky music and festive cheer. <3
But, cynicism and etc aside- I never really liked kids. Actually, I still don't really like kids, and I can't handle people below 15 or 16 quite well. Still, I have to admit defeat to the class of six I'm currently teaching, 'cos they're way too cute. *flail*
Right so, I tend to wear a lot of rings usually, and kids being kids, they were all like "TEACHER TEACHER! Are you married?" (I have no idea why, but students apparently like asking their teachers and lecturers and etc really personal questions. XD)
I was halfway through writing a question on the board, so naturally I got a little surprised. But I kind of got out a reply that was something like, "I'm nineteen, I don't think I'll be getting married anytime soon." And they, being twelve year olds and precocious things, shot back, "But you have a ring on your ring finger! YOU MUST BE MARRIED!"
Even I am no proof against such childish adorable-ness.
Okay, I'll admit it- I'm pretty much close to having the mouth of a sailor's, and well. I don't give a shit about it. Apparently other people do though, because I keep getting lectured on it.
My mother tells me to be more ladylike with my language. Okay, I can understand that because she's my mum and I know she feels obliged to keep me from swearing at least in her presence- I'm pretty much sure she doesn't care though unless it's done excessively, and my basis for this is because I've let slip 'fuck' in front of her a couple of times when she doesn't remember that she has to be some sort of model mother, and she didn't care. :D
On the other hand, I feel deeply indignant when other people tell me to shut the fuck up in an informal situation. Hello. It's not even like I swear that much (fucking shut your own fucking mouth, you fucking fucker), and furthermore, you are not people that I'm meeting for the first time. You're supposed to be (kind-of) friends right? And I was just saying "Goddamnit, it's fucking hot today". It's not like I was all "KNNBCCB" over some minor thing like getting served the wrong drink. (Yes, it's a different thing altogether. I might sound hypocritical, but I have clear labels in my head on what means what and what's appropriate for what. I think it might have something to do with swearing at other people and trying to be cool as opposed to using the word as an emphasis for your feelings. Or well, something like that, idk man).
And then recently, I wrote a drabble (Poltergeist at my sparkling-new writing blog, to be shameless), and it contained the word 'fuck'. Twice. (Only twice, JFC.)
One of my friends read it and she said that she liked it, but she really dislikes having said word in her reading material.
Now, she's a really nice person, and I think she's very sweet, but sometimes I think people like this are unbelievable. How do they exist like that?! And to boot, if I remember correctly, she's like what, thirty? HONESTLY.
Or maybe I'm just too vulgar for my own good. I like being this way though, so fuck off, all of you people who insist on virginally correct English.
Oh my god, it's been a totally busy fortnight, and damn, do I need my sleep. No rest for the wicked just yet though- I still have costumes to make and Christmas cards to make/send out and homework to finish before January rolls around. Whooey, some sort of holiday this is turning out to be- not that I can really complain, because it's half fun and games, and whatever work there is, isn't something I detest either. I just wish I could grab a bit of a break, but eh. I guess I'll have all the time in the world when school breaks for 'summer' vacation in May. Seriously man, THREE friggin' months of holidays. I can hold out.
Anyhoo, I took up jogging some time this week, after three years of non-regular exercise ever since I left secondary school, and surprise surprise- my stamina's better than when I was sixteen. Huh. I'm not even sure how it works, but I guess I've been more active lately. My sister and I are nowhere near 'fit' just yet (although she's running to achieve her bikini bod), but I think we're on the right track. D For one, we're running more consistently than in secondary school, and isn't secondary school when you're supposed to be more fit and all? I feel accomplished, but we'll see how long this streak of insanity lasts until I give up again.
I should stop being so horrible about exercise. Whatever happened to healthy living?
Oh, and anyway, last last Friday, I managed to snag an sms invite to Zirca, the new club in town. I've never been clubbing before, and my opinion has always been that clubbing is boring. I mean, I have better things to do, like sit at home and paint/draw, or write, or talk to friends and well- more productive things. In general. (Although I can't really say that reading fanfics and etc is productive, but whatever.) Zirca totally changed my opinion though- and I think Cynthia was a huge influence too.
Actually, without Cynthia, I probably might have never gone clubbing in my entire life. As it was, she organized a huge outing with the ex track team of our secondary school, but in the end, because everyone was broke, she shifted it to the 6th of Dec. I won't be attending that because meh, I'm broke.
But. Back to the clubbing thing.
Since I got the sms invite for free entry, I thought, what the heck, and threw myself headlong into it; I called Cynthia, only to get dragged into a fiasco involving wigs and thicker makeup than I usually wear (i.e. none) and clothes that I've always wanted to wear but don't because everyone else around me usually dresses so casually (we can't help it- we're sloppy designers/artists). I had some wigs from cosplay, so Cynthia picked up a neon-red one (don't ask really) and I wore a blond one. At first, I was kind of worried that blond would be too obvious, but when Cynthia's wearing neon red, I figured I couldn't really complain. And plus, she wanted to dress up as a trashy whore at first, but then we couldn't go that extreme, so she just went like a rock whore.
Rock whore is totally a profession btw.
Oh, and this is entirely unlikely, but we scoured Chinatown of all places to get Cynthia's stuff- and we found sequined tops, sparkly suspenders and hot pants at OG and People's Park. Dayumn. I mean, usually you think of Chinatown as fuddy-duddy and then suddenly you have these getai-esque clothes staring you in the face. We wanted to get a gold bra for her to wear inside her hoodie, but then it looked too trashy even for what she wanted to dress as, so we ditched that idea.
We tried to camwhore in the taxi, but it was way too dim, and our camwhoring skills sucked, so no photos there.
I was kind of nervous when we started queuing, but then the bouncer saw our wigs, and he was like "Hey I like that", and somehow I felt better. I mean, I don't really mind being outrageous, but somehow, wearing a wig to a club reeked of otaku-ism to me because I've always associated wigs with cosplay only, and I was tempted to cop out of my promise to Cynthia at first that I'd be crazy with her and wear wigs together. Fffft. And it helped that the door bitch who let us in was really pretty and nice.
Taken after the event.
I was totally impressed when I went into the club though, and kind of apprehensive at the same time. We met Cynthia's friend Skylar when we entered the club, and we walked around for a bit. Rebel and Yello Jello weren't open at that time yet, I think, so it was only the trance floor and the VIP rooms (which obviously we couldn't enter) that were open at that time. Still cool.
And ooooh, I squeed so bad at this. Fucking adorable please. <333 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v695/210/78/768042305/n768042305_1592436_6310.jpg">
Zirca has fucking awesome decor. I really love the concept of the place, the interior design and everything. They had a stage next to the dance floor, and there was a screen there that flashed LED lights in words- 'sexy', 'lick', 'caress', 'move', and etc. It was waaaay amusing. The DJ, and the pink neon lights there are the LEDS flashing saucy words at the rest of the club. They weren't kidding when they said they were burlesque style too, btw, because. Just have a look at the female toilet.
I think it's just me, but I adore checkers like this. The colour seems a bit off here- it looks a little pinkish in the photo, but from what I remember, it was totally black/red.
Also, lazy to upload more photos, so this is the end of the photo spam- I've been writing this entry since the Monday after the event (i.e. I've been procrastinating for an entire fucking week), so I'm just going to zoom through the rest of the entry and my night.
Cynthia dragged me onto the dance floor because hell, I'd be one of the first people ever to admit that I can't really dance. But I saw some dorky people there, and no one was really looking at them, so I just joined in. :D It's always better to know that there are people worse than/the same as you, especially when it comes to something this public. Makes the whole experience more endurable.
The music was pretty awesome for the first part of the night, and it wasn't bad as time flew from 11 to 12 to 1. And OH. THE DANCERS. Fucking amazing pls. There were two bridges above the dance floor, and occasionally a couple of dancers would appear and move their way through the entire bridge, side to side. First up were some really hot ladies with huge feathery fans, and then there were guys in hiphop gear. They paraded on the stage too, and everytime the dancers did, the entire dance floor just stopped to gawk at them. Well, I mean they were still moving, obviously, but no one was really dancing anymore.
Stage: needs more sexay and appearances, kthx.
And that wraps up the thing- except for one last complain, which is mostly about the clubbers than anything else. Alright, I know it's common to see people snogging their hearts out and groping each other in clubs, but for a person who FUCKING DETESTS PDA? God. I almost never want to step into another club. Cynthia says there are other clubs whose patrons are way worse- like, she saw unclothed people before, but this is just. JFC. I saw this really cute guy who reminded me of Louis Garrel, but guess what. Do not need to see you playing tonsil-hockey with your girlfriend everytime I turned my head. I settled for turning to face the stage instead.
