The Twilight Saga

I’m a huge fan of Vampire fiction and I lap everything up, horror, romance, drama, etc. I even liked Charlaine Harris’ True Blood (of course I enjoyed the TV show more than the books)!However, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to vampires. In my world, vampires are vampires who can only survive on blood, thrive on human lust, and will be reduced to ashes/burnt when they come into contact with sunlight.

Which is why the vampires of Twilight and even The Vampire Diaries are so ridiculous. They break the basic covenants of making vampires.

1. There are no “vegetarian” vampires. A “vegetarian” is someone who does not eat from animals. Unless you drink blood from vegetables, you’re not a “vegetarian vampire”. You either drink human blood or you drink animal blood. But you’re still VAMPIRE.
2. When the vampires meet the sun, it means they die. In a fizzle out and get reduced to ashes kinda way.
3. Vampires do not “sparkle like diamonds” in the sun.
4. Vampires are dead, they don’t breathe.
5. Vampires need to sleep in the day.

On top of all that, the whole “Twilight” saga just reeks of a traditional vampire tale twisted and mangled according to a teenager’s whims and fancies. Just because you want a boyfriend who is desperately handsome, powerful and almost dangerous, it doesn’t mean you could create a vampire who can walk in the sun and “sparkle like diamonds”. It also doesn’t mean that you could suggest that it is alright for a teenaged girl to have sex with her immortal boyfriend, marry him, and then turn into a vampire herself.

I mean, aren’t stories supposed to come with morals? The whole idea of sex before marriage is okay when you’re writing books for adults (like Harris’ Southern Vampire Series), because afterall, your target audience are adults who have already made up their mind about pre-marital sex waaay before they’ve read your book. But imagine the legions of teenaged girls reading the Twilight series who are dreaming of their Prince Charming, handsome, tall, dangerously charming, and then thinking that it is okay for them to have sex before marriage just because “Bella” does it too. It doesn’t help that the male protagonist being portrayed in the movies is just as hopelessly good looking. I’m not against pre-marital sex, but should a series of books which has such a large (pre) teen following even suggest the possibility, even though at the end the two lead characters decide they would do it the “right” way?

Sure, its fantasy and you could write whatever you want, but even in fantasy novels, there must be some logic to it. Whats this whole business about getting married while you’re fresh out of high school anyway? So if you find a man you love and want to marry, does this mean you stop planning for the future because hey, it seems like the case.

Vampire fiction may be fiction, but even in fantasy stories, there should be some logic running through it, no? Especially so when you’ve got a modern day setting, which makes it easier for your readers to relate to, no? So tell me why is it that no one has ever questioned the logic behind it all? Even Charlaine Harris’ trashy series has her human characters holding proper jobs. Wait a minute, even her vampires were enterprising enough to start their own businesses, so why can’t yours, Stephanie Meyer? If you want your vampires and humans to not have to hold proper jobs after graduating from high school and run off happily into the sunset, perhaps your story should be set in Beverly Hills and not some random suburban neighbourhood in Washington?

 

A letter to Ris Low

Dear Ris,

Firstly, I am not sure what a name Ris is. Does it mean something? Is it a name your parents gave you or something you thought of yourself? Ris, is it short for something that we ought to know about?

You’ve been the butt of many jokes and the hot topic in every single pantry, classroom and probably water cooler for a while now. How does that make you feel?

I’m not sorry that I laughed at you. In fact, on Sunday the Straits Times ran an article because it seemed that your interview sparked a nation-wide debate on the standard of English in Singapore. I wouldn’t suppose you have read it because you don’t seem to be a fan of newspapers. I hope you didn’t that just because your mugshot was on the papers it means that you’re famous. You are still the butt of many jokes.

The article criticised your fellow Singaporeans for laughing at you because the standard of our English is not any better than yours. But please don’t think this is really true.

Very little Singaporeans speak like you actually. Those who do either start learning proper English or are middle-aged aunties and uncles. I will not even associate you with the Ah Lians and Ah Bengs because some of them do speak really good English. They just have bad fashion sense.

The rest of us earned our right to laugh at you because we actually made the effort to read and write English the proper way. We may not speak the Queen’s English but at least our pronounciation is much, much better than you.

So the next person who tries to empathise with you, here’s what I have to say: it doesn’t matter if you’re nervous in front of the camera or you are not priviledged to the kind of education in the English Language that the rest of us are entitled to.

In case you feel that this reeks of elitism, it doesn’t. Anyone with the chance at a decent secondary education in Singapore will tell you that teachers in school have no doubt tried to make us conform to the “BBC Standard” of English. Makes me wonder where you were during all these years.

Maybe you were in some Safari somewhere oogling at leopard preens and zip-bra preens. I wouldn’t know. But I hope you take the time to brush up on your spoken English before you head on to South Africa. With the way things are, maybe even the zip-bras might not understand you.

And please, there is no such colour called “Khaki Green”.

Fedex’s Amazing Shot

He may have lost the US Open title (Damn you Del Potro!), but Roger Federer still has dibs on the Best Shot Ever in what could be in the entire history of the US Open.

Random act of Violence

A few days ago I spotted a post made by a friend on Facebook. Apparently she had been randomly attacked by a man at Bishan MRT. This is what happened.

Bin and I were going down the escalator at Bishan MRT station (7th Sept 2009, approx. 310pm), having a casual conversation when a Chinese man, burly-built and approx 1.8metres in height, in his early 30s, bespectacled and dressed in a T-shirt and berms, who stood a few steps in front of us turned back and asked loudly, “What did you say?!”. He was obviously well educated from the way he spoke.

At this point, we were talking to each other, and upon his cranky outburst, my friend asked me jokingly, “Hey! Did you hear a dog?” I smiled, laughing at her usual witty demeanor, looked down and kept my wallet, thinking nothing of the situation at this point in time.

The next thing I know, when I looked up, Bin was being thrown against the wall with the man’s right hand around her neck. He held her with a vice grip, fingers digging into her flesh aka Arnold Schwarzeneggar, displaying a look on his face as though he was thinking to himself how strong he was, and almost PROUD that he could totally over-power her.

What had happened during the time I was keeping my wallet (a split second) was that he had climbed up the escalator, reached up, dragged her by the collar down to the escalator’s landing and held her up using his right hand. Bin was being thrown around like a rag doll.

Shocked and horrified, I tried to push him away from her, all the while shouting at him, hoping he will back off and loosen his grip. I couldn’t tell if he was strangling her! Panic rushed through me. I was standing between the both of them when he reached over my head and threw her a punch, with a closed fist, which landed on her left upper lip. A smirk spread across his face, which only I caught. Such horror! This guy, easily twice Bin’s size, somehow has managed to gain so much PLEASURE from assaulting a girl! I was looking up at him, in close range, fearing for my own safety. He had obviously felt the satisfaction of overpowering her and inflicting pain.

In shock, I screamed, “What are u doing?! Do you know you just punched a girl?! I am getting security!” At this point, Bin was visibly shaken. She shook her head, as if to clear her mind. We both couldn’t believe what was happening.

“I’m calling the police”, Bin said and started dialing on her hand phone.

The guy backed off, a flash in his eyes told me he realized what deep shit he was in. “Who punched who? I didn’t do anything!” He said, trying to deny the damage done. Yet, no signs of remorse. Mere defiance and a rapid attempt to deny his own atrocities.

Infuriated, I shouted back in a shaky voice, “You don’t have to admit to anything, there are witnesses all around and the security camera was pointing directly at you!” I had totally lost my cool and was physically shaking from anger. In the background, I heard an elderly couple commenting in Mandarin, “Obviously you hit her and you dare deny?!”

Hearing this, I asked them loudly, making sure that the perpetrator heard, ”So you saw what he did?” and they replied that yes indeed, they saw what happened. We got our eye witnesses.

By this time, a crowd had gathered at the MRT landing and a train was approaching. The perpetrator stepped away, as though he was about to board the train. Angrily, I shouted into the crowd, “Can someone get security, PLEASE!” Thankfully, a teenage boy ran up the stairs to get help.

Sensing the situation change, the perpetuator then tried another tactic. He apologized half-heartedly, bending over with the pretence of picking up Bin’s books (which were strewn all over the floor), saying “OH! It’s nothing really! I just lost my cool. It’s no big deal.”

How dare one injure someone and YET claim this to be “no big deal”?!

Not long after, 3 SMRT officers came running down the stairs. We narrated the incident briefly and told them we called the police and they were on their way. They escorted us to the SMRT staff room, all the while making sure that the perpetuator was not too close to us.

During the wait for the police, the perpetrator tried to trivialize the situation by saying to the SMRT officers, “Why am I held here? I have somewhere important to go.” All the while he was making silly comments like, “OH, if this is a serious case, the police would be here long ago!” He also tried to find excuses for his actions. Hearing all this, we kept quiet, ignoring his rantings, not wanting to grant him an audience.

The police arrived, took our statements and advised us to use the ambulance which they called for. We went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Emergency department where Bin was treated with minor injuries. The doctor advised her to return to the hospital immediately if she shows any symptoms of a concussion.

What we wish to highlight is that this man is an educated individual. He was not insane or mentally challenged. He had picked on someone who was half his size (would this have happened if Bin was a man of similar build to him? I truly wonder). What struck me, was the smirk on his face after he punched her – it was as though he ‘discovered’ his power. The smug face showed me the satisfaction he gained from physically assaulting her. All this and he still had the cheek to say, “Hey. this is no big deal. Why am I held in here?”

At the end of the day, I hope that by documenting this incident, we can create awareness of how easily it is for an abuser to escape from the consequences by finding excuses for his actions. Our intention is NOT to criminalize, but to let people know, that even in such a safe society, such atrocities still happen in broad daylight, in full view of the public audience. He committed the assault without a flinch of an eye, without a hint of hesitation, leaving her no room to even brace herself. The most appalling aspect was not merely the hurt caused, but the WAY he reacted after, with NO SIGNS of REMORSE. He acted as though he was RIGHTOUS, as though he was “Superman”, as though we deserved it.

Reporting is essential to such cases, no matter how much the abuser tries to trivialize the situation. Making a police report may not send him to prison on the first offence, but it will be on his record, even if he is slapped with a fine. It is a permanent mark on his record, something to remind him that he’d better think twice before inflicting pain upon another individual the next time.

Not too long after, this incident was posted on STOMP! by the friend. The typical occurred. Sympathetic comments were followed with rude and extremely hurtful comments such as how the victim deserved it because she was “ugly”, that she was a “tomboy”, a “butch”, or that she had said something to trigger such a reaction.

There were no face pictures of Bin, nor were there any indication of her sexual orientation or even what transpired before the assault. People chose to make unfair comments based on images of her partial features which included her mouth and her neck.

What I want to say is, there is no reason for anyone to be physically assaulted. It is extremely uncivil and inhumane for someone to hurt another simply because of the way he or she looks, or even what they said, even if it was meant to hurt someone else. Especially so if the first punch was not thrown by this person.

Whatever the case, random acts of violence should never be condoned. Rude and insensitive remarks given to a total stranger over the internet is no better.