Who watches the Watchmen?

Ok, now I'm thoroughly geeked out. Just watched the trailer of Watchmen, which is set to the song 'The Beginning is the End is the Beginning' by the Smashing Pumpkins.

For those who don't know, the publication of Watchmen was one of THE pivotal moments in comics history, a pioneering comic when it was published in the mid-80s. Many of the themes in it have set the mode for comics (and movies) in subsequent years, so some aspects of it might not seem so new. Then again, it's the only graphic novel to have ever won the Hugo Award and it's by the legendary Alan Moore (the guy who wrote From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and V for Vendetta, amongst others).

Psychomaniac

At the risk of hyperbole, and of sounding like a lovestruck fanboy whose comic fantasies have come true, I have to go on the record and state the Christopher Nolan's latest movie, The Dark Knight, is fucking amazing. As in damn-this-is-what-Batman-is-about kinda amazing. As in I'm-so-gonna-watch-it-again-and-buy-the-DVD -even-when-it's-selling-for-15-quid kinda amazing.

I could wax lyrical about how the depiction of the main characters were so chillingly realistic and oh-so-very-true to Alan Moore's and Frank Miller's depiction of the psyche, or how everything the critics say about Bale and Ledger and Aackhart is true, but I shall not spoil the fun for those who have not watched. Instead, I shall go to bed with all these thoughts in my head, think about where to hang the framed painting of the Batman that Sweetie gave me as a gift recently and look forward to watching it again next week with Jo.

Changes

This time last month, the PM was on the defensive and there were calls from various quarters for him to hand over his resignation in a gentlemanly manner. Fast forward to today, and the calls are still there but there are a few key differences.

The 2 presumptive replacements for the PM have been linked with criminal activities, and will have to devote a fair amount of time to defending themselves. The opposition, who was confidently predicting the crossover of government MPs into their ranks, is suddenly finding themselves having to deny a rift within their own ranks. And the post-election sense of unity is being gradually eroded as the ugly head of ethnic-based politics begins to rear its head.

As I mentioned previously, the individuals from PAS are more devious than they let on and the insistence on their theocratic ideology is something we should keep an eye on. The end probably justifies the means in their case.

But if nothing else, you have to admire the PM for his survival skills. Either his political acumen is being severely underestimated, or his advisers have bucked up. Of course, the little issue of the global economic meltdown seems to be neglected (purposely, I would think). Might prove to be a little bit more difficult to do so as our wallets are hit, especially with inflation in Malaysia reaching its highest levels in a quarter of a century.

I have a feeling that for better or for worse, the rakyat will soon ignore the finer details of democracy and who sodomised what, and would just throw their support behind the team that appears most adept at handling the economy.

Karadzic gets caught!

The past weekend saw a couple of close friends go home for good, along with the imminent break-up of the fellowship of the retreat house. It's always sad when your close friends tend to move away from you. I guess it is part of my life, but I don't particularly like it when it happens as I tend to make a few close friends and stick with them.

On a more light-hearted note, we went to watch Wall-E, which is a quite a heart-warming and funny tale of an analog robot in his search for love in the digital world. I would put it on par with The Incredibles in the list of Pixar films, which is saying a lot. But there's only a few days left before I catch the Dark Knight, and all this avoidance of reading reviews and plot spoilers had better pay off!

And the other note-worthy event is the belated purchase of my first car. I must admit to a certain extragance in choosing it, but it's a wonderful drive and I do intend to keep it for a fair number of years. Here's hoping that the credit-crunch is going to stop rearing its head soon!

Chillaxing

The weekend was eventful. Friday night saw me on a rare sojourn to a hospital ball, which turned out to be rather fun. Food was good, friends were there, and Jo made the trip down which made it all the more enjoyable. Danced till our legs and heads were sore, at which point the comfort of sleep was a welcoming thought in the early hours of the morning.

Saturday wasn’t as fun though. In my unthinking hastiness to install the new lightsabre game in my iPhone, I managed to turn it into a brick. It took me a full day of cursing and trawling the net and cursing and chatting with strangers to make it function again, but all is well now. I probably stroked it like a newfound Persian kitty when it came back to life. After all, Sweetie would’ve killed me if her gift was laid to waste as a result of me succumbing to my Star Wars fanaticism. Damn you, George Lucas!

Sunday was an attempt at work, and also a day of reflecting back on the events of my recent trip back home. Somehow, I kept thinking of random bits and pieces that occurred with Sweetie – catching Kung Fu Panda at the new Cineplex at the Gardens, getting our feet nibbled upon by tiny fish, and window shopping to our hearts’ content. Ahh...the little things! Have to think about bigger things now though; as the time is nigh for moving onto the next job, and that means getting a new place, packing things into boxes etc.

Bore...

Religious affairs

"I will move the motion at the state assembly that those who aspire to be leaders, penghulu, village heads and civil servants must pray five times a day and perform the Friday prayer.

"This will ensure that those selected are morally upright and will refrain from corrupt practices and immoral activities," said Kelantan Menter Besar, Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

In case you don't know this already, I have a problem with people who force others to behave in what they perceive to be the right/correct/righteous way. And the situation starts to slide down a slippery slope when such 'learned' views are made by those in power.

In the situation above, a fair number of issues come to mind. How does it apply to non-Muslims? Does that mean that they will be discriminated against as there is no way to 'ensure that those elected are morally upright'? And if it only applies to Muslims, then once again is that not a form of discrimination?

This does not even begin to question the absurdity of equating praying 5 times a day with moral righteousness. Fair enough; all Muslims are meant to pray 5 times a day. But is that set to be a marker of one's faith in what is essentially a relationship with God? This is similar to the tudung-wearing scenario where those who wear a tudung are automatically perceived to be better Muslims.

When will these so-called religious leaders learn that morality is to do with the person inside and not what is exhibited in the open? I know of a man who has been to Mekah at least a dozen times to perform his umrah, and still managed to come home and cheat on his wife, screwing a girl who's young enough to be his daughter.

And what about the fair number of people who can quote the Quran, pray more than 5 times a day and even lead a congregation in prayer - people that I wouldn't trust with the life of my pet hamster (God rest his soul) as they are either individuals who only see their way as the right way, or are of the mentality that everything else is ok (e.g. calling others 'babi', skimming money off the people, talking ill of others behind their backs) as long as they face the Kaabah 5 times a day and mutter the obligatory prayers .

And I know of people who don't pray regularly or who are atheists or who are gay that I would trust with my life.

Which makes you wonder - are these individuals fighting against a perceived dictatorship in order to establish a dictatorship in the form of a theocracy? In that case, you can count me out of it. They say a leopard never changes its spots, and I have an uneasy feeling that for all the talk of moderation, PAS is just waiting for the opportune moment to spring a fundamentalist surprise on all of us.

Another funny thing that has been making its way in the press is the fact that the Perlis religious leader was quoted as asking Anwar Ibrahim to swear on the Quran with regards to his denials in participating in sodomy. I have never quite figured out the rationale behind such acts - what do they actually prove? If he actually did commit sodomy, he obviously doesn't have much of an opinion re the laws within the Quran and would happily lie whilst he swore by it. And if he is a good Muslim etc etc etc, then he would (once again) happily swear by it.

And if you want him to do it, then you really should start asking other accused individuals to perform similar acts. What about Najib swearing on the Quran that he never sodomised that poor Mongolian girl, as alleged by that private investigator dude (sodomy seems to be an alleged favourite of Deputy Prime Ministers, no? Wonder if it's part of the job description)? Or Mugabe swearing by the Bible that no, he really didn't rig any elections. Or Bush swearing by the Bible that he really doesn't think the acts within Guantanomo Bay are unChristian-like at all. Ad infinitum.

A friend recently questioned me again on my reluctance to fully accept the teachings of Islam, and chastised me for picking and choosing the bits that I want to follow. I would say that that's not entirely true - I follow the teachings to the best of my ability and pick and choose bits that I do not want to follow. Why? It is because it is very difficult for me to accept something without question when the 'leaders' appear to pick and choose whatever principles that happen to be of most benefit to them.

As far as I am concerned, morality and your relationship with God isn't judged by what you wear or the things you say or the rituals that you perform, but the deeds you do and the 'niat' you have when performing them. And if even God only judges a man by his deeds at the end of his days, why should human beings be any different?