New Footwear

Originally Posted: 15 June 2011
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Now who says only girls love their shoes?I thought I'll take a little break and and put up a short post on my new foot gear I got, instead of the food posts even though I still have 3 more batches of photos of food I've yet to publish. Actually there are more, but I have procrastinated far too long and I would rather take a bunch of new and better photos when i visit the next time.

So anyway, I was shopping around with Roseate June at Suntec City when we discovered this really BIG New Look outlet, and she couldn't resist to walk in to browse. As she was happily skipping from rack to rack, I saw this pair of truffle colored military style boots amongst the boring black ones. People who knew me would know that I am a total sucker for boots; Yeah I love high cuts, boots, leather, any kinky footwear and what not. For me, it was "love at first sight". Best part is, there seems to be only one pair left in the entire store and its was just the right size for me. I had been hugging that pair of boots ever since, while June was shopping around.

The pair of boots had a price tag of almost $70-80, I can't really remember, but it was on a sale, so it was $55++. When we checked out, the cashier scanned the item and it was only $39.90 and when I paid with my Citibank credit card, there was another small discount, bring the price down to only $36. It is a great steal for a lovely pair of boots at such a low price. I'm so ready to get into my next gig with these nutcrackers!

Roseate June says it looks sexy. Rawr~~

As a side purchase, I also bought this pair of Rip Curl flip flops for only $16.90 at Flash & Splash, CityLink Mall. Perfect for the upcoming Bintan trip, and its in my favorite colors; black and red! Before that, I couldn't find any flip flops I liked, so Roseate June did suggest me to purchase a pair of Havaianas, then I was thinking the limited edition black one with gold plated words which costs $59.90! However, it was out of stock everywhere so I delayed the whole idea.

June commented that this was actually a wonderful premonition, for me not to be a sucker and spend $60 on a pair of flip flops and I ended up getting what I really like.

She thinks this looks good on me. I think so too.

I also purchased a new pair of brown truffle colored boots from Americaya. Actually I had been eyeing it for the longest time ever since my favorite Aldo boots gave way. It costed $159 originally and I waited a long long time for the price to drop. Finally the recent GSS brought the price down by 30%! I couldn't wait any longer, so ended up $111.30 poorer but a lot happier.

The Glutton's Sins: Okonomiyaki

Original post HERE: 25 May 2011
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Another of my first attempts; this time, making the Okonomiyaki [お好み焼き]. It is a Japanese savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". Okonomiyaki is sometimes compared to an omelette or a pancake and may be referred to as "a Japanese pancake" or even "Osaka soul food". Oh yeah, my dear Roseate June and I are both absolute suckers for Japanese food.

Ingredients and Preparation: The most important is the flour mix for the batter. Some supermarkets bring in Okonomiyaki flour or a premixed blend so you can pry your eyes wide open to read the labels at the Japanese food columns. If you are lucky, you might find them in "Daiso", I got mine there. Or if you ran out of luck, I heard that you can use regular white flour, some dashi or bonito stock and grated mountain yam. Unfortunately, mountain yam is pretty hard to obtain but because of its glutinous and gooey texture when grated, it gives the batter a very good consistency and the cooked product a authentic flavor.

I couldn't get any mountain yam of course, so I'll stick to my Okonomiyaki flour and dashi. Adding in eggs and a pinch of salt to flavor, I mixed the batter to a nice thick mixture. If your mixture is like regular pancake mix, it is too thick. Add in more water. And remember to use a large bowl, because after that, you would put in the other main element of the okonomiyaki; shredded cabbage and garlic leek. I think leek would work fine too, if not green onions. The magical thing about the Okonomiyaki as its name suggests, is that you can add whatever you would like, practically. But stick to vegetables for now. Meat and stuff like that should be added later as it requires more thorough cooking. I was thinking of trying sliced shitake mushrooms the next time, it should gave a very awesome flavor.

As for the meat topping, the typical additions go from sliced pork, bacon, seafood, shrimps, octopus, vegetables, squid, kimchi, mochi, cheese or topping it with another sunny side up. Having said so, I've seen people adding "lup cheong" [chinese sausage], sliced bratwursts, ground meat and other uncommon stuff. Maybe you can add pepperoni or salami even to make it more like a pizza. Hmmm... which gives me an idea of diced tomatoes.

Lastly, for the sauce, you will need okonomiyaki sauce which is similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter. [Try Otafuku or Bulldog brands] And the all time favorite; Kewpie Mayonnaise!

The Cooking: Unless you have teppan [a flat iron griddle], heat up a well oiled skillet over medium heat. Pour the batter [mixture of flour, dashi, eggs, cabbage, leek and what not] to form a large pancake. But not that big. A 6 inch [15cm] diameter okonomiyaki should be ample to fill a regular tummy nicely. Let it cook for, say 3 mins then lay the bacon, sausages or meat *blah blah blah* all over the top. Now scoop a little of the remaining batter and smear lightly or spread thinnly over the topping. This action will secure the toppings in place when it's cooked. After another 2 -3 minutes, when the pancake should have been cooking on that same side for approximately 5-6 minutes, it's time to flip the whole thing over and use whatever necessary time your special ingredients require. If there's nothing special that's hard to cook, another 4-5 minutes will suffice. And its time to serve on a plate.

The key to its taste are the 2 sauces. Slather the pancake generously with okonomiyaki sauce, and drizzle the kewpie mayonnaise all over. Don't be stingy on the sauces. It's optional, but you may sprinkle seaweed flakes and bonito flakes for the final touch!

Add/do whatever you like, have fun and enjoy your okonomiyaki!

Bon Appetit~ ... ... I mean.. itadkimasu~

The Glutton's Sins: Omu Rice with Chicken Nuggets

Original post HERE: 
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Omurice, sometimes spelled "omu-rice" [ オムライス, Omu-raisu], is a contemporary Japanese dish consisting of an omelette made with fried rice and this is my first attempt to cook up this dish, completed with a decent satisfaction. The dish typically consists of fried rice [rice pan-fried with ketchup and chicken) wrapped in a thin sheet of fried egg and is commonly served in western style diners in Japan. As usual, the glutton in Roseate June and me made us crave badly for it.

Ingredients used: As Roseate June was never a fan of green peas and carrots, I replaced them with finely chopped cabbage, onions, button mushrooms and gave them a quick sauté to soften them up. Next went in the chicken dices and rice, then stir fried them up with a harmony of tomato ketchup and other seasoning. Lots of ketchup is the key to the taste, however too much will make it taste sweet and nothing else; there's where the other seasoning [I used a bit of soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine.] comes into play. Lastly, beat the eggs loosely and fry them in a pan over low heat to avoid over-cooking, then fill up the centre with a generous portion of the rice and wrap it up. Flip the whole omurice onto a plate and top with ketchup.

*Notice I did a bad job with the ketchup topping as my ketchup bottle was empty and I had to use those satchets from fast food joints.

Chicken Nuggets: Once again, not from McDonald's or those frozen products. I mashed up some chicken fillet meat and mixed it together with tofu, a small pinch of salt and pepper and the ""secret weapon", Kewpie Mayonnaise. Formed them into small balls and pan fried them while flattening them a little to make it look like a nugget. Cook evenly on both sides for a couple of minutes and there're done. Roseate June loves these, absolutely.

Fried Tofu: That little yellow cube you see on the left is actually a piece of fried tofu. It's a "proto-type" impromptu product that I made using the left over tofu. Used paper towels to repeatedly soak up the moisture in the tofu cube, then dabbed with some corn flour and pan-fried on each side. The taste and texture was quite close, just a bit too much corn flour, which is really hard to control. I'll improve on that next time.

Epic Battle of Internet Figures 2011

Original post HERE: 26 Mar 2011
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In July 2008, blogger Dawn Yang launched a lawsuit against Wendy Cheng for allegedly defamatory remarks made in a blog post on June 30, which drew controversy all over Singapore, and crossing international borders now in March 2011, Wendy is once again facing another legal issue by American YouTube artist Peter Coffin, well not really, more like a bad joke gone wrong, literally. For those of you who do follow Xiaxue on twitter or her blog, you'll probably already know the story of how it sparked Xiaxue to sharpen her feline claws against Peter Coffin. For those who do not know what's going on, you may click here to view Wendy's blog on how it started.

Wendy Cheng; more popularly known by her pseudonym, Xiaxue, is one of the most popular, if not the most popular blogger in Singapore. Famous for her daring honesty to declare her surgical alterations and awesome photoshop skills, infamous for her shrewd thinking, sharp tongue and feisty verbal retorts. Peter Coffin, who quit his job in December 2010 to fulfil being a full time YouTube artist, seemingly offended Xiaxue in Twitter, coarsely criticizing about her plastic surgery revision. Wendy went ahead to block Peter, however, out of nowhere, a Japanese girl by the name of "Kimi Kobayashi", supposedly Peter's girlfriend, lashes insults on her this time.

It may seem really normal at first, but it gets really weird when Kimi, a strangely unfeminine girl tweets nothing but crude humor, seriously weird sex jokes and shares a common interest with Peter Coffin in making racist jokes together.

There's a reason why some refers Wendy as a "detective". She's good at it, she enjoys it, I bet that is her kind of adrenaline rush. After some research, Wendy discovers that "Kimi" is a fake person. Her proper name is Lee Na Young, Korean and her pictures were stolen and misused by someone to create a hoax account. Not being able to differentiate between Japanese and Korean, the creator of "Kimi" left several loopholes. Although I cannot be sure myself, but from the amount of evidence Wendy has retrieved, "Kimi Kobayashi" is most obviously created by, none other than Peter Coffin himself. Being at the verge of her tolerance, Wendy begun her work to unleash her backlash plan. After consolidating an incredible amount of evidence, Wendy posted everything on her blog, revealing Peter's imaginary girlfriend, and somewhat disturbing actions. Ok, I can't always sound diplomatic. To be honest, I think Peter is really disgusting, flirting with himself online, using fake accounts such as Kimi Kobayashi to praise him and his manhood. [Ewww... God damn gross... ]

In a racist point of view, these are a bunch of losers...

But with your imaginary hot asian girlfriend, you just joined the same league as those guys above.

I just don't understand why there are so much of racism going on. Even though it is a known problem all along, they just all seem to surface recently, mostly racism against asians.

Like the blonde UCLA student whose racist video went viral online. Peter's being quite a racist here too but unlike Alexandra Wallace who can just give up everything from her position in the school, to her internet and social life, it is much more difficult for him to abandon his reasonably decent establishment in YouTube.

Trying to save his ego, Peter attempts to employ legal action to deal with Wendy. However, he underestimated Wendy drastically, by sending a inaccurate home-brew lawyer's letter which he created HIMSELF, in attempt to intimidate Wendy into submission. Actually he most probably copied the letter from somewhere else and used it as a template. Little did he know, Wendy not only has past experience with lawsuits, she also gets legal advice from real lawyer friends. Click here to see Xiaxue's blog; she has uploaded images of the letter there.

[Picture by Seraf1] Great! First he imagines his own girlfriend, than he imagines he is his own lawyer. What other things is he going to shamelessly make up next? At first, I was thinking that Peter Coffin is really getting serious this time and I was thinking, "Oh my god, another loser using legal actions to solve petty issues". Being is own legal team with a lousy email from questionable sources makes him a double loser. Is he on drugs, hallucinating or what? I was totally dumbfounded when I saw the lawyer's letter to Xiaxue. I never expected Peter to be so dumb to use such a futile threat. Sorry Peter, but what you have done is really moronic; its so juvenile, so child's play! I hate to say this to any person, as it is quite disrepectful, but seriously dude, you need to grow up. You really are a loser, double loser!

It appears that Peter Coffin might have a problem with lower self esteem, or not feeling popular enough amongst his peers. Therefore, "Kimi Kobayashi" is like an alter ego of Peter Coffin, a seriously hot asian girlfriend to make himself feel more loved and enviable by his peers. Along with the possibility that he might have also purchased a major portion of his YouTube subscribers. [Notice the gapping discrepancy between his subscribers versus actual views.] Though not a major psychological issue, this is a counter-intuitive measure to make oneself feel better. Shocked? Yes! I was too! It IS possible to use money to purchase fake subscribers to make your channel appear more popular.

By the way, I need to declare that I am not a fan of Wendy Cheng. My girlfriend [I have a real girlfriend] loves her stuff but I can't take her bitchiness most of the time. So I don't follow her on twitter or visit her blog other than when something big happens, example: THIS, and her dispute with Dawn Yang back in 2008, when she starts her investigations, usually with astonishing results. There are however, things Wendy says or does that I feel are inappropriate at times and the things she did in the past to get famous but I wouldn't say I hate her though, more of neutral. What she's doing now can really destroy Peter totally, however, sometimes you got to love her guts. And because Peter is making some terribly, stupidly wrong moves, it becomes fun to watch.

After sending the letter to Wendy, Peter probably spent all day trying to delete COUNTLESS nasty comments from the general public; on his Facebook fan page [which he once again shamelessly created for himself], Twitter, and 3 YouTube accounts. But obviously, that isn't going to help as they still kept coming in. His Facebook fan page was so swarmed he was forced to close down his Facebook fan page. He then locked his Twitter and YouTube comments, but everyone still continued to spam comments on every single post of his on Facebook, and Youtube video. Peter than realized, he can run, but he can't hide.

Peter Coffin finally emerged to face the world. As below, I copied and pasted his last few tweets, supposedly in reply to Wendy:

"I attempted to stop this privately with Xiaxue, who she seems quite intent on ruining me. Kimi is not me, I'm not sure who she is."

"I honestly wanted to work it out, but you can't make something real. I want her to be real. Desperately, even. In fact, that is all I want."

"But at this moment, you are attacking me for making something up. I didn't. I don't even know how to put what has happened to me."

"You can say what you'd like, but you need to know that yes. I did something blind, stupid and embarrassing hanging on to someone.."

"I didn't know that long. But I didn't invent this. I wish I had, but I didn't."

"Listen, if I were that mentally ill to make her up, I'd be dead right now. I didn't. I'm heartbroken and just dead inside."

"I'm not even asking you to do anything. You wanted my explanation, you have it. I probably won't be posting again for a while. Peace."

Still no proper apology from him, but given his sorrowful state, I doubt Wendy would ask for more. But I liked his last tweet. I mean, peace is definitely all he can ask for right now.

Continuing to resolutely deny that "Kimi" is actually himself, he was forced to change his statement, however, still all too dumb. He now claims that he didn't know Kimi was a fake person and that he has been also duped by this fake persona into romance? DUH!

How could someone possibly NOT know that person is fake if he previously said he had not only had physical contact but fancy sexual encounters? So what is really fake? Peter or Kimi? Pretty contradicting already huh? So I wonder how he is going to explain what "Kimi" commented on Peter Coffin's made-believe perfect penis size? And what about those carrot bits and genital graffiti? [I still can't stop laughing about how he actually made that shit up...] Is that a kick in the face or what? If I were him, I would have just dumped the god damn ego and shut the f**k up. The ego is way beyond salvation!

Picture by sketchingheaven. Source DeviantArt

All over the internet, people have been commending how Xiaxue owned Peter Coffin, but there are however, others who thinks that Xiaxue has gone too far. I've seen other popular bloggers/Youtube artists who labels Xiaxue is in fact being a cyber bully.

I was confused too, whether I should even post this article in the first place, but I eventually decided to go ahead. Yeah, I agree Wendy can be bitchy at times, but from what I know, she would never resort to such critical methods unless provoked. Sometimes I pity Peter; how he got totally ruined by Wendy and how he has to live with it, but then again I think he deserves it after seeing the outrageously disgusting things he does. That is kind of karma too; think back on how he goes around testing the patience of other users by posting nasty criticism on their pages. I don't think they appreciated his crude humor, no? There may be people who are nice enough to ignore his comments but feisty Xiaxue is obviously the wrong target. Since Peter initiated the "fight", I believe Wendy is just doing what she needed to do; paying him back with his own coin. I agree too that nobody likes to be bullied, including Xiaxue.

I know she'll definitely prefer a nice pink dress or what not, but I just thought this statement would fit her to a tee. [But if you think it's lame don't flame me.]

I too worry that Peter might not be able to take the intense humiliation and commit suicide, which no one wishes. If it 's a man who committed the act, he shall be duly responsible for it, as a man. As simple as that. It's funny that Peter had the cheek to send Wendy a cease and desist letter for all those bullshit. What about the real Lee Na Young? Her personal identity and photos were stolen, used by Peter to satisfy his sexual fantasy and ego! Worse of all, she is being portrayed as a dirty whore bearing the name of "Kimi Kobayashi" who has extremely bad taste for men and enjoys foreign objects being inserted into her vagina? Should she consider Peter a cyber bully? What if she knew about it, can't take the humiliation and decides to take her own life?  Shouldn't she instead send Peter a cease and desist letter for making her sound like a wanton prostitute?

Peter Coffin should just surrender already, forget his erroneous YouTube career and forget about his reputation and seeking attention when he got all the bad ones he could ever ask for. He's still able to make redemptions and be forgiven; like getting a decent job and live on humbly, careful not to agitate others. I still do feel sorry for this dude...

Until then, I shall commemorate his deeds.

Think Before You Act

Original post HERE: 24 Mar 2011
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I know this post came kind of late, but most of us should already know or have heard about the blonde UCLA student, Alexandra Wallace and her racist rant on Youtube. Opsss! Correction; she is an ex-student by this time. She has already decided to leave the university after her family received death threats.

It all started when she posted her video onto YouTube and it went viral, literally. In her three minute video, she lamented about how the University of California in Los Angeles [UCLA] admits what she labels as "hordes of asian people" into the school. She also criticizes that the asians are ill mannered and invites their families into the dormitories on the weekends. What really pissed most people off is how she actually faulted Asian students for disrupting her studies at the library by calling family members in the wake of the tsunami. Speaking in a fake Asian language -- "Ohhhh. Ching chong ling long ting tong" -- she chastised them notably for talking on their cellphones in the library. Even if it didn't affect her, she didn't have to make things worse. If something that disastrous possibly happened that threatens the lives of your family, who wouldn't get uptight? That is totally uncalled for! She should have tried to use a little fraction of her brain before she blurted that out, or to make the whole video in the first place. Unfortunately, it was too late. Despite removing the video after it had over a million hits, her video was copied and reposted by other users. More and more people watched and got enraged. Well, not all. Some who watched the video light-heartedly suggested their preference that she did the video topless. If you haven't watched that video yet, clicking here will bring you to the video.

She has sInce apologized through facebook and the campus newspaper. In her letter to the Daily Bruin Friday, the student said she was "trying to produce a humorous YouTube video," but instead "offended the UCLA community and the entire Asian culture."

"I am truly sorry for the hurtful words I said and the pain it caused to anyone who watched the video," she wrote.

"Clearly the original video posted by me was inappropriate. I cannot explain what possessed me to approach the subject as I did, and if I could undo it, I would. I'd like to offer my apology to the entire UCLA campus. For those who cannot find it within them to accept my apology, I understand."

"Especially in the wake of the ongoing disaster in Japan, I would do anything to take back my insensitive words. I could write apology letters all day and night, but I know they wouldn't erase the video from your memory."

"I made a mistake. My mistake, however, has lead to the harassment of my family, the publishing of my personal information, death threats, and being ostracized from an entire community. Accordingly, for personal safety reasons, I have chosen to no longer attend classes at UCLA," she wrote.

In case the university by any chance decides take disciplinary action and expel her, maybe it was a good idea for her to quit school before that happened. But really, the school never intended to discipline her, and she disclosed her decision to withdraw only after she was informed of the school's verdict. Below anyway, is my favorite video response to Wallace's.

I liked the 7chins and the gibberish that sounded like Korean with a quick statement of "Dirty Asians"

However, I am not totally without sympathy. As David from the response video says, violence only begets violence. What Wallace did was hurtful and inexcusable, but the response has been far more egregious. As much as death threats that went all the way out, even to her family members who weren't involved to being with. Quitting school probably doesn't solve the problem; her entire family might have to reolcate to another residence in order to avoid the harassment. What keeps me wondering is, is she going to enrol in another school? Would it help? I mean, the whole world knows about her now, not just UCLA. Would she still get the same treatment wherever she went? Perhaps, she needs to change the family name? Or even to surgerically alter her looks to avoid being recognized?

The conclusion: Actions always have consequences. It is important to think over our actions carefully as they may bring grave consequences. These were teenagers acting stupidly without thinking through to the consequences. They got caught up in the impulse and didn't think at all. We all have crazy impulses but mostly we think before we put them into action and realize that they are crazy. If in doubt give yourself more time to think, think again and only act once you are sure, or don't act at all. If you want to avoid doing things that you will regret, make sure that you think through your actions beforehand. The consequences of unthinking action may cause hurt feelings or embarrassment, which could have been avoided if you'd taken the time to think. Think before you act and avoid a lot of grief and heartache in your life.

Wallace had to delete her YouTube account, probably her Facebook account too, or whatever in the internet that has to do with her. Threats, Quit school, relocate, all these trouble! In this internet age, it is very easy to be loved, hated or shamed by the whole world, overnight.

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: [Part Three] Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Original post HERE: 18 Mar 2011
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Since the earthquake and tsunami mega-combo that brought Japan down to its knees, there have been many people who emerged with different reactions, some genuinely sympathetic, some pure Samaritans  some insincere ones who pretend to be charitable, some insensitive hypocrites, some who rain oil over fire, some drop a boulder down the well [direct translation from an Chinese proverb], and even people who make use of the current situation or affairs for personal or monetary gains. There's this good old saying that I used to always hear and make sense of , and it goes something [loosely translated] like "In times of perilous crisis, it would be definitive to see the true facets of humans." In this final section, Part Three, I will cover some of these good and some not-so-good deeds of people.

Just before that, a short recap of what happened and some updates; On Friday, March 11, 2011, a record braking 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, and shortly following, a massive tsunami literally devoured a big portion of Japan's east coast, leaving all but extreme devastation in this wake. A nuclear facility in Fukushima failed due to extensive damage, led to 2 explosions so far and threatens to meltdown. Despite the situation looking gloomy, it is fortunate that the nuclear plant is somehow brought back to stability and 50 workers, now deemed as heroic figures in tragedy, were allowed back into the facility to remove its threat. For the full report by Yahoo! News, please click here.

To start things, let's talk about some HUGE donations, not by celebrities but by people with status. As you see the photo [by Mugilan Rajasegeran] on your left, Ms Elaine Low, presented a cheque for $1 million to Japanese Ambassador Yoichi Suzuki for tsunami victims. Yes my friend, a whopping one million dollars! 1,000,000. That's six zeros! It is by far the largest donation by an individual that the embassy has ever received. The young 24 year old Singaporean lady is the daughter of Datuk Low Tuck Kwong, 63, founder of Bayan Resources, an Indonesia-based coal mining company and she handles the business development in the company. She says "My family and I feel that it's an unfortunate disaster and wanted to offer our help." But of course, it seems like that $1 million is just a very small deal for someone with her inheritance and status. Her family usually keeps a low profile, but in times of crisis, they would stand up to contribute to society. That million dollars that the modest young lady donated is actually from her own  pocket, and she has also discreetly donated to China and Indonesia before in the past. For full reports, click here or here. However, some a**holes are still making sarcastic remarks in the reports. Some sounded jealous, others sounded like they needed a life. Some even sounded sour because the biggest donation since the Japan incident, is not by someone from their country to be proud of. In my honest opinion, I think Ms Elaine Low is pretty much like the incarnation of  Diana, Princess of Wales.

Next, superstar Lady Gaga, not matter how eccentrically dressed, also has a heart gold; being one of the first international celebrities who is taking real action to help the plight that Japan is undergoing. I may be I'm wrong, but I think she really is one of the first selfless few. On Friday March 11, she "launched" a little wrist band as you see on the left, to raise funds. Each bracelet is going at donations of $5 or more and all donations received will go directly to relief funds and efforts. As we all know, Lady Gaga is kind of a weirdo, and there's quite some weirdos in Japan too, so... maybe they click. Jokes aside, some may say she has an ulterior motive or what not, but action speaks louder than words, and this, my friend, is what I call action! Once again, for the full report from Yahoo! News, click here.

Apart from Lady Gaga, other stars like R&B icon, Alicia Keys, also offered condolences saying, "My heart breaks for Japan". On her twitter account, she also mentioned that she woke up early in the morning with "a song in her heart", although she has yet to disclose what it would be. Canadian teen idol Justin Bieber called Japan "one of my favorite places on Earth." "It's an incredible culture with amazing people. My prayers go out to them. We all need to help," Bieber wrote on Twitter. Hey don't flame me, I'm neutral about him, I'm just writing with focus on the main topic.

Going down the scale from generous to absolute a**hole, we are at the middle zone now. It's difficult to explain this one. Well, I came across a particular, quite popular, blogger's webpage, and I see that see has donated a pretty significant amount of $200, USD I presume. You can see thumbnails on your left, I've applied more mosaic to protect the users identity. I admit, I never was able to easily depart with that much money for charity, never ever. I don't come from a rich, pampered family, I'm struggling to make my basic ends meet and I only write post or journals for fun, as a past time and some views are due to controversial topics. I don't blog for a living, nor can I bum around, sponge of others, do nothing but bitch around, create make up tutorials and still be able to eat at lavish restaurants. Just kiddin'.

Ok, anyway, I am ashamed that I never donated that much of money and I must say, that person donating $200 is pretty darn generous and charitable. One little problem though, shouldn't giving or donating really come from the heart. I mean, I believe in anonymous donations, otherwise it sounds like an advertisement. Do you have to post it proudly on your own blog, trying so hard to let everyone know? You even posted 3 screenshots of your transactions? No offence please, but it may seem to some people that you are paying $200 to buy popularity. I've have seen a lot of crazy girls who would do just about anything from good to despicable and shameless, to get themselves on the Google "popular search" section, even in my country. I'm not looking for any trouble, sincere apologies if I offend anyone.

"Benevolence is to selflessly give help without any expectations to receive anything in return."

Now for second place! No pictures, just a quick touch on some really shallow people only care about Japan's situation because they fear the safety of their favorite Japanese AV actresses. ... ... .. ...

Yeah I know, there are like so "DOH!". They only are concerned about their daily dose of pornography and not how many poor folks in Japan lost their homes. There are also others who lament that there favorite anime is not showing, possible shortage of sushi or Japanese food, and what not. Typically selfish.

Lastly, at the top of the absolute a**hole chart, we have those unfeeling people who make use of the current affairs for personal or monetary gains. Please refer to the picture you see on your left, click to enlarge. I had to mosaic the pictures and some details in the screenshot in case anyone sues my ass off. Please don't, I'm broke. But honestly, you can find them easily by searching.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure you would find that somewhat familiar or perhaps you have indeed seen many of those spammed everytime you open your twitter. All those "I will donate $1 for every retweet or new follower" kind of bull crap. Unfortunately, there are actually some folks who probably wanted to do their part to help Japan but got cheated of their sympathy to follow their instructions and perform free advertisements. They are obviously out there to cheat some suckers. I've seen some accounts that represent a company or some weird organizations, but there are also several personal accounts of individuals that say the same about donating $1 for every retweet or new follower. What crap! What is their creditibility? Based on what situation can I trust them that you'll really fork out the donations? Retweeting is just a click worth of effort, and there could be millions of people who can retweet, and if there really are millions of retweets, does it mean they can easily afford to throw away millions of dollars for charity and declare themselves bankrupt? Even a big MNC would think twice investing millions of dollars before going bust.

Like I have said in my earlier paragraph, there are a lot on thick skinned people who would do just about anything from good to despicable and shameless to make a name for themselves. It is indeed questionable for such companies to use such unethical business ethics, and shameless for individuals who employ such low methods to gain popularity. Some other enraged users also commented things like:

"For those who tweet that you will donate 5c $1 $2 whatever for every retweet i dont believe you will actually do so"

"Is every "we will donate $1 for every retweet" actually going to donate or is it a pathetic attempt to get followers?"

"All this "I'll donate $1 for every retweet" shit is bollocks. If you're going to send money, do it. Don't expect publicity from it."

"RT For every retweet @bing will give $1, up to $100K « Eff you Bing.Just donate the damn money"

I personally liked the last one the most. For others, being focused in results may just backfire. The marketing team for this media company here have some serious consequences to bear. They wrote something like:

A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake shook Japan in the early afternoon today, blah blah blah. Book your spots in the Weekday Evening News Bundle as the channel brings viewers comprehensive coverage reports on the disaster with extended versions of news bulletins tonight.

… Call our sales representatives now!”

Disguised as news, it was actually just another marketing ploy to deliver numbers. Many who received these electronic direct mail were enraged and labelled them as "insensitive" and "heartless". The company has made a formal apology shortly after being bombarded with negative comments. For the full report, click here.

And that would pretty much sum up this lengthy article that has been broken up into 3 parts. Having received so much help, Japan has started to get things under control. Those who have contributed, either by donating, being a volunteer or simply spreading the word to help, give yourselves a pat on the back. Those who are willing to help, have mostly already done their part and that is all we can do. However not to be complacent, Japan is still in the danger zone and needs time to really pull through this mess. Let us all pray for the recovery on Japan. After all, if Mother Earth gets gravely ill, these calamitous disasters will eventually consume all living things on this planet, all of us.

Thanks for reading.

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: [Part Two] Reactions and Statement of Opinions

Original post HERE: 15 Mar 2011
Discrepancy due to failure to export/import blog

Who wants to wake up in the morning, open the window and see the moment of despair as what we see in this picture on your left.. They say that "If you don't have anything proper to say, at least do not make nasty or sarcastic remarks". Despite the catastrophic tragedy that ravaged Japan, it appears that there are people who are making somewhat inappropriate comments that do not lighten the situation at all.

I myself, came across a lot of comments all over that weren't really nice to speak off, some with extreme contents of racism insulting the Japanese with. There is even a giant picture of consolidated comments from various facebook users, most of them talking about the tsunami as an incarnation of karma to bring retribution to Japan for the Pearl Harbor incident.

Before I carry on, I need to warn that the comments on that particular page are rather inappropriate. Some netizens even got enraged by those comments and called them insensitive, nasty, mean or racists. I have battled myself for quite a long time whether I should write this post or not, because, at the end of the day, I just want to share my views, and I have absolutely no intentions to offend anyone to begin with. I also have no intentions of revealing who put in those comments nor their facebook profile pictures directly on my blog. But if you really insist to see it, clicking here will bring you there. Anyway, I did not make or upload that picture, the link was just shared and circulated.

According to a little research I've done, I found out that over 50% of the viewers on my blog are actually from United States. I believe it is mainly contributed by my other post, "Chris Medina Phenomenon" which created a sudden surge in blog hits overnight, and even constant increment daily. I fully understand that If I say any wrong things here, I could easily gain twice the number of haters as much of viewers I gained from the previous post. You should be able to fully understand that I'm putting myself at risk here, but I just think it's fair for equality and peace in the world. And lastly, I'm not Japanese, so look, I don't gain anything for speaking up for Japan. Anyway, below are some examples of those comments somewhat uncalled for; word for word.

"Eat a dick japan! That's what you get for pearl harbor, karma son! Haha!"

"Yeah I hate it for Japan but remember those idiots started World War 2. They bombed Pearl Harbor. Wonder how much money we will send them."

"Fuck Japan. Remember Pearl Harbor." (they were tonnes like this one)

"I think the earthquake in Japan happened because of Pearl Harbor. Paybacks are a motha f...cker. Some people wish God to be with those Japanies sneaky bastards... ... not me...what goes around comes around according to Justin Timberlake. The nuke we gave them may be easier than what they got today."

"Japan you remember Pearl Harbor? Ain't Karma a bitch."

"who gives shit about Japan? Not this guy. Did they send aids when americans were dying during Katrina? hell no, remember Pearl Harbor? Late Justice."

"Mother nature remembers Pearl Harbor when we were attacked and by whom. December 7, 1941"

"Dear Japan, enjoy your tsunami. - Sincerely, Pearl Harbor"

Pearl Harbor, Pearl Harbor. Wow! As you can see, Pearl Harbor became a kind of convenient topic of excuse for unwanted hatred. Ok I'm not perfect either, but I really hate to say that a lot of those comments seemed to contain a bit of racism. From what I see, most of the comments came from people who weren't even born yet to experience the real pain and agony of the actual Pearl Harbor incident. So how did they know about it? How did they get such a hatred over it? Perhaps some read the history books, perhaps some watched the "Pearl Harbor" movie, starred by Ben Affleck. Well, to what I know, movies should only be considered as a form of entertainment. Even though its based [loosely] on a true story, it's common to infuse huge doses of dramatization to make the movie successful. To what I feel, most people were just influenced by various ways, most of them, didn't know what it felt like to be really going through Pearl Harbor, and that includes me.

One guy lamented,

"who gives shit about Japan? Not this guy. Did they send aids when americans were dying during Katrina? hell no...". Actually, Japan really did send help to the United States during the Katrina event, in case anyone really didn't know. Then again, when things like Hurricane Katrina hit USA, it's called a natural disaster. But when a natural disaster hit Japan, it's karma, retribution or what not. Statements of  what seems like double standards would appear selfish, arrogant and sometimes racist, and I believe no one likes that from both perspectives. Another lady states that she hated Japan because "Japan were the idiots who started World War 2." Technically, Japan did bomb Pearl Harbor but they did not start World War 2. It was Hilter and the Nazis [Germany and Slovakia] who invaded Poland back in 1939 that sparked it all. If you have to be influenced by history, at least get the facts right. The documented story lies here.

Ever since history was recorded, there were a lot of wars dictated; Civil War, American Revolution, Iraq War, Napolenic War, French Revolution, The Peloponessian War and much, much more. That's a lot of senseless violence. Oddly, we hate wars and point fingers these days but yet those extreme bloodshed in history were actually ok. Those were before our current democratic times and forms of government didn't really seem to work well in most countries. People who military power during those days usually have the say. However, these people didn't seem to have much forms of entertainment and probably, their only career perspective was to wage war, gain more power, and conquer the world. It was all the rage then, and quests for domination were so common, as though it were their past time hobby. I'm sure we know of many more ruthless warlords in history who were brutal to the bone. In the modern times now, we still have terrorists in this world and they are posing a standing problem. I would think it's more logical to be wary of them rather than to whine over some history that  we vaguely know of.

As we all know, World War 2 was a world war because it involved multiple countries from different continents and regions in the world, including my country. They did terrible things on our lands but over the years, most of the citizens and countries have already forgiven them. And to remind that the Pearl Harbor incident is dated back December 7, 1941, that's almost 70 years ago. Don't we have better things to do in our lives then hold a grudge way before our time?

As a counter attack, Japan too, took 2 atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; talk about being paid back with their own coin. But don't you think that was some massive bad ass punishment for such a small country as compared to the U.S? You have any idea about the death toll or thought about the amount of casualties over there? If you thought only Pearl Harbor was bad, the bombs in Japan killed over thousands! In specific, horrific deaths by acute radiation exposures and survivors were stricken with various forms of cancer later in life and I'm not even finished yet. The ruler or military power of Japan during then no longer lives, a new populace started afresh and the later generations also had to rebuild what their ancestors screwed up back then. This was already their karma, and they have already done more than enough to serve the world and atone for their predecessor's sins. So why should we still bear a grudge, bring up the doggone past and be sore over it after so many long decades. Once again, most of us didn't even go through it, that makes us look like we can only know how to talk big. If this questionable behavior isn't caused by racism, I really can't see what else made us so petty.

If some kind of doomsday really came and threatens to eradicate all the humans entirely, do we still classify it as a natural disaster? Or could it have been our very own negative karma by shamelessly making fun of each other? Karma can be a bitch, I agree, and so can mother nature. If she were to really throw a tantrum, she could blow up anywhere she fancies. If we can't help or aren't willing to help, we could at least shut up. Those nasty comments will lead us to hell either, that's how karma works too, ain't it so? So laughing at another's misfortune isn't really a nice idea, we don't need Justin Timberlake to remind us that karma may turn around and bite our ass.

Let bygones be bygones, we live for today and tomorrow, not for yesterday. I may not be a follower of the christian faith, but I know that God also taught us to "Forgive and Forget".

Having said so much, it is very fortunate to know that these senseless racism and improper comments are only in minority. Most of us still embrace the warm morals of human compassion and common empathy. If you wish to lend a helping hand or make a donation, you can also click here to refer to Part One of this article, which will lead you there.

Japan's going through an excruciatingly painful time right now and they need all the help they could get to pull through this one. Especially, with a failing nuclear power plant that could meltdown anytime. Regrettably, I personally couldn't do much, I just wish we can settle all these social unrest and solve these petty differences. After all, Earth is home to us all.

Here's the end of Part two of this post.  There's one more part and I have more views to share regarding the reactions of the general public.

Next up:
Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: [Part Three] Action Speaks Louder than Words