the2ndrule Issue 52
the2ndrule
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January/February 2004 email edition
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web edition: http://the2ndrule.com
Contents
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0. Edit
1. Hong Kong [Gorgeous Productions]
2. Instant Cafe Radio Episode 29 [Koh Beng Liang]
3. "I don't believe in using my ethnicity to get things from other people." [Vivian St.George]
4. Departure [Tan Kee Yun]
5. Siva [Low Lai Chow]
Edit
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I bet this will happen: people will wager on anything, trotting down to the casino in hordes, the well-heeled and the slippered, putting their money where their gut tells them. They will bet on cards, dice, horses, and death, the exact date, yes, the opposite date to September 1929. Of course the more hateful will not put their bet too far in the future, hoping that would have the intended karmic effect. Alas joss sticks burn the same rate despite mischievous blowing.
(Many thanks to everyone who made it to our party!)
Please send your comments, suggestions and contributions to: editor@the2ndrule.com
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2ndrule team : Koh Beng Liang, Shannon Low, Benety Goh, Russell Chan, Jason Tong, Adelina Ong
Contributors : Damien Brachet/Gorgeous Productions, Vivian St.George, Tan Kee Yun, Low Lai Chow
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Hong Kong
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A take on Hong Kong, brought to you by Gorgeous Productions.
http://the2ndrule.com/issues/issue52/hk.html
Click the image to play movie.
Music by MC Yan
Check out http://www.gorgeous-productions.com
- Damien Brachet/Gorgeous Productions
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Lego Music Videos
http://www.apocalypticduck.com/index.php?categoryid=9
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Instant Cafe Radio Episode 29
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Stalin never understood statistics.
http://the2ndrule.com/issues/issue52/instantcafe.html
Playlist:
National Anthem - Sri Lanka
Groove Armada - Hands Of Time
Beth Orton - Dolphins (with Terry Callier)
Willie Nelson - Are You Sure (from "Lost")
John Lennon - Dear Yoko
Dusty Springfield - Spooky
Fred Astaire - So Long Oo-Long (How Long You Gonna Be Gone?)
Nina Simone - African Mailman
Jing Ting & Cui Ping & Bei Lei - Jin Tian Bu Hui Jia (Not Coming Home Tonight)
Sanny Alves - Supercalifragilisticexpialidoso (Mary Poppins cover)
Michelle Nicolle - A Spoonful of Sugar
Kung Fu Hustle Soundtrack - Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Lalo Schifrin - Theme from Enter The Dragon (Main Title)
Jackson 5 - Blame It On The Boogie
George W. Bush - Doug Mead Tapes
Sunaga 't Experience - it's you (versione tokyo bossa)
Li Zhongsheng - Ji Mo Nan Nai
Human League - Together In Electric Dreams
Breeders - Cannonball
Sesame Street feat. The Pointer Sisters - Pinball Number Count (DJ Food remix)
- Selection and mix by Koh Beng Liang
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There are two rules of war that have not yet been invalidated by the new world order. The first rule is that the belligerent nation must be fairly sure that its actions will make things better; the second rule is that the belligerent nation must be more or less certain that its actions won't make things worse. America could perhaps claim to be satisfying the first rule (while admitting that the improvement may be only local and short term). It cannot begin to satisfy the second.
- Martin Amis, "The Palace of the End", Guardian Review, 4 Mar 2003
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"I don't believe in using my ethnicity to get things from other people."
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but when i go in for job interviews it's as if i can't control myself.
The Man says, "So what about you? Convince me, Miss Saint George,"
and he leans back and suddenly i think i'm blushing except the flush
wouldn't show underneath my year-round tan and the thought of my
cheeks turning pink like white people makes me giggle and suddenly i'm
reduced to a little brown fucking machine like the GI's used to call
the women at Clark Air Force base, except replace "fucking" with
"word-processing," advance about fifty years, and this is what i exude
toward the Man. And it smells like jasmine and he swims in my jasmine
place like it's a John Cougar Mellencamp song.
("China girl, your daddy tells you white lies
to keep you from my blue eyes.")
He fondles a ballpoint pen,
(says, "To know me is no sin.
It's been my good fortune to find you.")
He offers me a cookie.
The Man tells me his wife is Filipino. i shudder and feel my chest
being pulled forward by some unidentifiable force, something like
lateral gravity and magically i think my tits just grew. WHOOSH.
It's like the Batman reruns i never watched when i was a kid because
my parents locked me up with an abacus and a calculus textbook in the
basement when i was four and said you can't leave until you memorize
the whole thing, now eat rice bitch!
Or maybe it's just cold in here.
("Body, what did you just do?"
my mind asks myself. And Body says:
"i'm taking one for the team.")
and i know i'll hate the world tomorrow because i look more agreeable
than the other candidates for this job and when i say agreeable i mean
easy. Who is a middle-aged white man more likely to hire? Me or
Mohammed? A concubine or a terrorist? He knows i will click click
click from nine to five every damn day and will greet him with a blow
job and a smile and a yes sir no sir me rub you rong time sir.
(my mother told me
to be careful of white people
because we are smaller
and more graceful
and we don't break as easily
as we bend.)
do you understand, Sir?
this means i'm very flexible.
- Vivian St.George
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I am in New York. When it is below freezing, it does not rain.
Not very much. My nipples are hard and erect below my shirt, my
stomach is growling from the non-consumption of extremely expensive
food. And in the subway today, in the arches far below 168th street, in
hollow chambers, I saw a pigeon.
Even underground, there are angels.
- Ng Yi-Sheng, Diary of a stone monkey, 15 Jan 2005
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Departure
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He never liked going to the airport,
Too many people,
Too much noise, he'll frown and
Stamp home his point for the umpteenth time,
How much he prefers
A world of peace and tranquility.
But we all know,
For the gray filaments in his frayed hair
gave him away.
How his heart churns painfully everytime he
Sends his pals off.
Amidst the hugs and congratulatory bon voyages,
How deeply he wishes he was one of them,
Luggage in tow and
Boarding pass tucked smartly between passport.
A ticket to the other end of the globe,
An opportunity to soar more than
A thousand feet above the oceans.
But he never got his chance.
And as he counts the creased lines on his forehead,
Feels his sagging chin and crumpled skin,
He can only sigh,
A tinge of regret that the word 'departure',
In his dictionary
Never meant to be.
- Tan Kee Yun
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Think out of the box --
They said.
Truth is,
Have you started thinking in the box?
[][][][][][][]
BOX REPUBLIC
1st Concept Shoot
http://web.singnet.com/~nkcst/mywebsite/boxrepublic1stconceptshoot.htm
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Siva
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Your blue throat
That would have killed the
Entire universe, were it slit.
It swelled with your dreams, your anxieties, ambitions
Tinkled with your several white arms
Had by the throat your voice -
Blue, that was you in a shower
Varicose veins that crawled all over you like veins
Threatening to suffocate you
But never.
That were your lips,
Pursed and ready to form a powdery wide clam,
A vowel, a consonant,
Anything to change the face of the world.
- Low Lai Chow
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The recipe for great work is: very exacting taste, plus
the ability to gratify it.
- Paul Graham, http://www.paulgraham.com/taste.html
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Hong Kong (c) 2005 Damien Brachet/Gorgeous Productions
Instant Cafe Radio Episode 29 (c) 2005 Koh Beng Liang
"I don't believe in using my ethnicity to get things from other people." (c) 2005 Vivian St.George
Departure (c) 2005 Tan Kee Yun
Siva (c) 2005 Low Lai Chow
