Semi-drifting until end of May (4/5/19)

Okay, this is John L’Otter taking a break from his PC until end of May. The reason why being that I (yes, you’ve read it right) decide to buy a new PC instead. From 23rd May to the 26th, the City of Sun(tec) will be having the yearly Consumer Electronics Exhibition. This is most likely my best bet in getting a new PC.

This also means three things:
1. I will be swearing off Neverwinter until that day comes.
2. I will need Archer’s mind of steel against the tag team duo of Apple and Safari.
3. It’s not that bad. I’ve survived more than 30 working days of having no PC and the day I get a smartphone with online access is the day I have a girlfriend. In other words, there’s no need for rehab.
https://www.thecabinsingapore.com.sg/blog/gambling-addiction/teen-gaming-addiction-in-singapore/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14ax9TL7GZM

In the first piece of news, we have the Baey of NUS expressing her optimism.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/monica-baey-sexual-misconduct-nus-university-instagram-11494822

Now it must be said that most likely the reason why Nicholas Lim was being bullied online wasn’t due to Singapore becoming more righteous overnight. We’re living in a world full of post-modern people. That’s why there will always be people saying that’s only your opinion. Then we have people doing things to make themselves feel emotionally fulfilled. I’m not referring to Monica Baey by the way. It’s about human beings feeding their sense of higher awareness to the animals which don’t have any of that at all.

If there’s a 100% legitimate reason for NUS to be serious about changing both the disciplinary measures and campus culture, this would be it. There’s no point making two people suffer if you can make zero people suffer instead. We’re not talking about Emiya Kiritsugu’s pragmatic brand of justice where every one person has to die in order for every ten others to be saved. That’d be terribly dark.

And speaking of dark, I don’t know how true this is. But apparently, a blind busker was robbed in Yishun. While I wholeheartedly support letting the SPF handle this case, there’s something about this that made me go “Hey, that’s so deja-vu”. And it has got nothing to do with whether the robber was a stereotypical resident of stereotypical Yishun.

Recently, I decided to read The Children Of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by his son Chris, and illustrated by a certain Mr Lee. Not Stan or the ones making the news for all the wrong reasons, but
Alan Lee (pretty sure he’s unrelated to Christopher Lee even though they’re both Brits. Yes, Christopher Lee was a Brit, not someone else from Mediacorp). Actually, I only got started less than an hour ago and I’m still in the preface.

This is not to say I don’t know the plot and characters. Unlike many of my fellow Singaporeans, I know the story of Beren and Luthien. Unlike Sun Xu, I know about the Hound of Valinor whose name was Huan.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eMfF5fjC-LY

In other words, The Children of Hurin was the darkest tale written by Tolkien. Of course, this is not to say that Tolkien only went DC mode there. In The Hobbit, my preference defied that of my fellow Singaporeans once again by deciding Thorin Oakenshield was that standout character. Unlike Frodo Baggins, Thorin was an anti-heroic protagonist. Unlike Aragorn, he was an anti-heroic king. Interestingly enough, both Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit seemed to feature two protagonists instead of just only a heroic midget whose original concern was no different from any Singaporean.

I’ pretty sure The Children Of Hurin will be an enjoyable read. That’s until 27th May. This comes to mind an interesting question: How would Tolkien write dark fantasy if he belongs to the current era of G.R.R. Martin, Stephen King (yes, I consider The Dark Tower as fantasy, Claudia Kim or no Claudia Kim), Miura Kentaro, and a possible Stephen Kim?

When I started out on A Requiem From Winter Past, it was entitled A Ranger’s Tale. Because I don’t want to give anybody a reason to hire Drew & Napier in order to sue a poor man till he loses even his pants, I decided to change the title. The first draft was a disaster, but I’ve never cringed whenever looking back at the past. The same couldn’t be said about the rest I’ve written. Apart from depoliticising Lukas Brun (note that I never said degaying him), the most notable alteration was changing the DC aspects of language and portrayal. Don’t ask me why, though. You wouldn’t like my answer.

In the past, I’ve never thought about whether what I’m doing might have been what Tolkien would have done if he’s still alive, cryogenically or not. Now that I’m starting to read a story which not many Singaporeans would know, this question popped up. Quite obviously, Tolkien was a maestro. And he still is. Coupled with an overly practical attitude in Singapore involving artistic creativity (unless you’re the correct Jack Neo), I’d be worst than an idiot to compare myself with a true master.

With that being said, I’m going to risk my hide and neck by re-upping the current edit here.
https://republicofotters.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-requiem-from-winter-past-chapter-1.html
https://republicofotters.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-requiem-from-winter-past-chapter-2.html
https://republicofotters.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-requiem-from-winter-past-chapter-3.html
https://republicofotters.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-requiem-from-winter-past-chapter-4.html