Passion Irrational

What a cool phrase! Almost sounds like some sleazy two-bit movie, right? But it isn’t.

No, in fact it was something used by Ms. Gracia Ng, Vice-Principal of Anglo-Chinese Junior College, and former conductor of the College Choir. She mentioned it during the second day of the 2-day Choral Workshop held over the weekend. Though she was referring to making music as part of the ACJC Choir, the phrase began to take on a lot of meaning as the weekend continued.

The weekend reminded me that I have four strong passions in life, and in the order they revealed themselves, they are: the ACJC Choir, Professional Wrestling, the Catholic Church and the one common thread binding them all: Friends. As irrational as that might sound, it’s true, and the past weekend proved to me that these three can exist within one person’s social life, in particular, mine.

Saturday officially began when I left the office to make the hour-long trip to school to attend the choir workshop. It’s always a kick to meet the younger batches of choristers because it reminds you of how senior you’re getting. I’m trying to fathom seeing those three years older than I am during my J1 year. It’s times like these which remind me of the love I have, both for the performing art, as well as the ideals and standards that the ACJC Choir stands for. Despite what some might believe, the Alumni is not built on the delusional notion that we’re all still reliving our time in the ACJC Choir, but rather it’s the knowledge that we can “accelerate” the learning process of each new batch just by singing alongside them.

That night was the birthday party of a long time friend and ex-classmate. Now the two of us, as well as most of the other 7 invited shared a particular love for video games (which bunch of guys don’t?), but in particular, I was eager to try out his latest game, Smackdown! 4: Shut Your Mouth. Yep, if you haven’t guessed already, it’s the latest of the game series based on the World Wrestling Entertainment show of the same name. It’s a beautiful game, especially for those who can really appreciate the effort made into making the game as flawless and realistic as possible. Although there are still some minute errors, it is hardly a matter for concern. Needless to say, the second I get my first decent paycheck, I will be purchasing a PS2 just to play this excellent game.

The weird things people search for

It’s one thing to receive hits from friends. It’s another to be directed here via search engine.

Some of the recent hits have been from search engines, for phrases such as “lf2 tricks”, “holy family blog”, “graffitti in pencil”, “little fighter 2 characters” and most damning and freaky… “rape comics catholic”.

I don’t even want to know what he was looking for, though I have a hunch that he was looking for “Convent from Hell”, an erotic graphic ‘novel’ by Ignacio Noe and Eduardo Barreiro. Naturally, I only know this because I’m male, so there.

Another One Bites The Dust

Rest In Peace, James Coburn
1928 – 2002

“If a man is so good… with whom does he compete?” “Himself.”

Number 3 of the original Magnificent Seven to pass away, James Coburn played the knife-toting Britt in the Western classic. He went on to become one of Hollywood’s most underappreciated talents, playing supporting roles and lending his voice talents to shows like Captain Planet and Monsters, Inc. His career finally reached its peak when he won his first and last Oscar for his supporting role in the movie Affliction.

I hope that he’s still entertaining people in the afterlife, along with his friend and mentor, Bruce Lee.

Dreams

A dream died last Sunday. While half the world was tuning to the World Wrestling Entertainment’s monthly PPV Survivor Series, there was travesty after travesty at the Los Angeles Entertainment Centre. Calling itself “Wrestling Roots ’02″, it was to be start-up federation EPIC Pro Wrestling’s peak of it’s 6 month existence. EPIC’s owner Gary Yap promised the American return of top Japanese high-flyer Ultimo Dragon, pitting the puroresu veteran against EPIC’s very own Super Dragon. It was a show to end all shows, the biggest names in the independent scene together for one night.

What happened in the end though was nothing like the dream. There was no show. The L.A. Entertainment Centre was booked for another event. All the workers, the wrestlers, the fans. They all turned up, for nothing. EPIC boss Gary Yap tried his best to source for another venue, but it was a futile attempt that only made the situation worse. As of this writing, Gary Yap is nowhere to be found. He’s a fugitive of his own making.

How does a dream die so fast?

Love. Gary Yap created EPIC because he loved pro wrestling. He had talented people working for him, from the high flying Super Dragon, to the hardcore Messiah, to former ECW wrestlers Sabu and New Jack. He was a fan working for the fans, giving them what he himself would have wanted out of a promotion. He wasn’t a businessman, just riding on his passion for the business to get him across. And he failed.

I suck

It’s funny how you think you’ve done everything, felt everything, gone through everything life can throw at you, and yet still be surprised when a new emotional phase hits you smack when you least expect it. Having been through the craziest emotional lows, a full bout of depression (not clinical yet, mind you…) I thought no, no more. I’m satisfied with my life, I’m mentally stable and I’m ready to face the world.

No, not yet.

All my life I’ve prided myself on two things: leadership and social aptitude. In JC, I lost ‘social aptitude’. In NS, I find I’ve lost ‘leadership’ too. That’s right. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any worse, the human pillars of my life get eroded and crumble away. It may have all been a delusion, or I could have simply received a pre-mature boost of wisdom in my younger days. Whatever it was, I’m learning, in a horrible and frightening manner, that I’m suddenly unable to command leadership from anyone.

The truth only hit me last night, during my Lindy Hop class, where I’m supposed to be the “lead”, to decide how the dance is supposed to look and to inform my partner what to do. I couldn’t. It’s not so much a technical thing than it is mental. I just don’t like leading. Yep. I’m quite surprised myself. I hate to lead. I love giving support, giving ideas, giving direction, but when it actually comes to providing work in a leadership position, I freeze up, falter and generally make a fool of myself.

And dancing isn’t the only project, even the webcomic, Sound of Silence has reached another crisis in my eyes. As of two weeks ago, that writing was mine. All mine. Which explains the relatively mediocre effort. The last comic is kakita’s idea, and I’m very proud of it. However, it comes a point when kakita is not only drawing and scripting the comic, he’s also pointing out that a good majority of my draft script doesn’t make sense. And you know what, he’s right. direcow is using the basis of my script and trying to make sense of it, and I appreciate the happy medium he’s trying to reach, but the truth is my script just doesn’t work. What’s worse, although the project is ours, and the comic belongs to ALL three of us, I’m wondering whether my participation was such a good idea.

It’s a crisis I hope to get over, to ignore, and to generally move away from, but I do hope it doesn’t lead to me backing out of both my Lindy Hop class and the 313 project.

For Freedom!

Wow. I’ve actually completed a game. Wow. Yes, my dear readers, it has happened. I, Peter Lin, have just completed a game where dying is possible. Thank you, thank you very much. I’d like to give thanks to… ahem. Right. Where was I?

Anyway, yes, I’ve just completed Freedom Force on Normal difficulty. Quite a surprise actually. I was enjoying it so much I didn’t even realise it was almost over. I think Irrational really has a winner with this game, and I wish I had Internet connection on my new PC to download skins, and patches, et cetera, et cetera.

Ah well, if you haven’t tried it yet. Go get it. Again, just like Dangerous Lives: for adventure comic book fans only.

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

Watch the movie. Please. Did you know that it’s the only movie with the words “Altar Boys” in the title? But anyway.

Kieran Culkin and Emile Hirsch inject an amazing amount of talent into this tale of two Catholic altar boys who have wild and amazing comic book fantasies. Along with their two friends, they created the “Atomic Trinity”, a superhero team. What follows is a delightful trek through the growing pains of being 14, which the two young actors pull off very well.

It’s hard to describe the whole movie here, because it encompasses a lot of themes and subplots, which is paralleled by the storyline that unfolds in the Atomic Trinity comic book. All in all, a great show. All my base belong to it. It 0wnz.