Happy b'day to me!!!!!

More specifically last Friday. It's quite surreal to see that my day of birth actually reflected the life I've always had. Halloween may be synonymous with Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, but Samhain truly heralds the end of harvest and the beginning of winter. Not every Singaporean can claim to be the nation's equivalent of winter and the "darker half" of the year. I happened to be one. This is also why while I'm willing to say local talents do exist in the creative sphere of Singapore, I just can't connect with anything done by Jack Neo or Anthony Chen. Yes, I've been mocking/bashing my own countrymen on the artistic creativity department, but that's because I can't connect with the mainstream stuff.

In other news, I just stumbled upon another moment of Japanese creativity done right. Despite the wrong message I might have sent out, not all anime and manga series are equal.

Can't understand Japanese? It's okay.

So how did I end up knowing about the story of a Japanese Absalom? This song below.

Lyrics

A new format?

Unless it's writing the only stuff which I can proudly say are decently good, the rest of what I've written is worse than the product of some Dr Frankensteiner. When I say the only stuff, I mean original gaming designs and everything to do with A Requiem From Winter Past from the lore to the main story. In other words, I need to do some actual change.

Firstly, I'll be doing most of the posts in the same format as The Drifting. While I don't know whether I have to regress to my half-Ainu sea otter persona, at least that's the plan.

Secondly, anything I've been using entire posts to write up on will now be broken up in pieces. I know this may sound confusing, but read on and you'll know.

Seriously, playing a 15-year-old game?

I've been spending too much time playing Everquest 2. Not so recently, findings reveal a disturbing trend called gaming addiction. The source of information? Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung Shin-Ri. This might have ignited a debate on whether gaming addiction is an actual problem or symptoms of a dysfunctional society.

So what am I going to say in this section? Well, I've actually removed Viaa Bellerouge from my character roster. I may behave like a full metal gamer, but I'm not crazy enough to spend money on something I can play for free. Yes, Daybreak does employ a paywall the size of Trump's ideal Great Wall Of America. But Everquest 2 has got much more free content than other F2P MMOs I've played. I may have the determination of wintry steel, but my logic is still intact. I got a daily job, thank you very much.

Okay, so back to gaming. I'm going to try my best keeping this short. The reason why I have to switch a Paladin for a half-elf Ranger was very simple: I was merely toying with the idea of creating another version of Arylos (i.e. my ranger main in Neverwinter). Cynical and with a selfish sense of righteousness. Yes, I know what my fellow Singaporeans are going to say: "How can you use selfish and righteousness in the same sentence?" Blame the Japanese.

Long story short, the farcical nature of education=morality in Singapore pushed me to do the unthinkable. After some time of using Aryden Ravenstorm, I realised one thing: I'm more of a ranged user than a stand-and-fight unless it's solo content. If I'm to use a tank in any group content, I'd most likely tank like Nick Kyrgios. To be honest, it took a combination of a cynical Norrath and dysfunctional Singapore to kick me out from the Tower of Ivory Denial.

Hopefully, I can come up with a more coherent post on my experience in using a Ranger so far. But let's just say it's more fun to use than a Fury. Must have been the need to play it tactically.

Tell it like a Norrathian

On a non-gaming related note, something happened before Halloween. Everquest 2 has the best storytelling out of all the MMOs I've played so far. Path of Exile might be on the par because I only spent very little time playing it (to be fair, the lore in PoE was very solid). There were three notable moments which I believe every good storyteller can learn from. After all, humility is power.

The first is Rinna, a vital NPC in a certain questline involving Qeynos and its deep state of corruption. Early in the quest, you realised a terrorist organisation known as the Bloodsabers were planning something big. Not satisfied with moving along the tunnels underground, they're out to corrupt Qeynos from their swamp so that they could establish their brand new kingdom. Either that or forcing Queen Antonia Bayle to be Princess Leia to Bertoxxulous' Jabba the Hutt (also known as Jabba the Jahat if you're a Malay). As the questline progressed, I suspected whether Rinna was a fellow terrorist. After all, she's wearing a veil. Turned out that...

1. Rinna belonged to the forces of good, not terrorism.

2. Islam doesn't exist in Norrath.

So why did I end up becoming more cynical than Batman? Props can go a long way in leading or misleading the audience. For Rinna, she only needed one prop. And that's her veil. By the way, this is Rinna.

The second is the Enchanted Lands zone. The name of the place is nothing short of tragic irony. Unlike Thorin Oakenshield's famous last words, the hobbits/halflings there were anything but happy. Recently, I've read some articles highlighting the epidemic of loneliness in America. While every nation has its own dysfunctional side, Enchanted Lands actually explored the way people coped with depression. To be honest, the halflings weren't that good in dealing with it. The most notable aspect of dealing with depression among the halflings wasn't about killing people but... well, getting drunk. Albeit I wouldn't be surprised if this was already touched upon in another piece of wondrous storytelling known as Ravenloft. Either that or Cryptic added the booze.

While the whole getting drunk plot device was significant once you entered the barroom in Rivervale (not the one in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC btw), it was clearly hinted in one of the quests requiring you to kill some mischievous fairies. The reason why? An angry halfling clearly drunk was raging about his dead BFF. Sounds logical in the mad land of the Enchanted Lands? Wait till you complete the task.

Drunk NPC: Oh sorry, they didn't kill Fritz. He just got knocked out for some reason.

Player: What?

Drunk NPC: Here's something for you. Let's pretend the whole deal never happened in the first place.

Player: Okay. *grabs the loot and complete quest*

The typical Singaporean may not find this convo funny, but I do. After all, I'm more used to dark humour because Singapore can be a dark place to deal with depending on your situation. The humour lies in two factors:
1. A tragic past and dark present.
2. The absurdity of what you're doing all the while.

It's like being an accomplice and that halfling wasn't a Hannibal Barca.

The third part would be the Steamfont Mountains where it seemed the only way for you to get loot is to kill bosses (tip for level 40+ characters: Go to the minotaur zone and kill the two bosses there. Both are level 43 and only single upward arrow difficulty). The gnomes there were a surreal bunch. Unlike the halflings, they didn't have to wrestle with demons and inner demons. But there's something in their humour that felt inane. Not the kind we Singaporeans are used to in Mediacorp shows, but the more surreal type. Just don't ask me whether a clockwork non-living thing suffering from depression is funny.

The humour from the gnomes was founded upon a device called irrelevancy. In other words, the humour got nothing to do with the ongoing plot. Let me just use an analogy to highlight what I mean: Does animal cruelty have anything to do with helping those gnomes defending their... well, gnomeland? The answer is no unless you have to kill those minotaurs. Now that's technically animal cruelty. Hilariously enough, the issue of animal cruelty was brought up by one of the NPCs. Why? Because another NPC asked you to destroy some clockwork enemies gone beyond control. The funny part? One fellow was guilty of clockwork cruelty while the other was guilty of hypocrisy because she objected to clockwork cruelty at the expense of animal welfare. If that's not loopy, I don't know what else is. Moral of the story? Not everyone free from trauma is certified balmy. The gnomes proved that.

Also, who in the mechanical hell would call himself a Dangsprocket? Please don't ask me whether Peter Jackson is a gnome. I'm not some kind of fantasy geneticist.

Note: I can't go into specifics, but the dialogue involving the quests Fulgation Sightings and Clockwork Assessment Technology (i.e. C.A.T) has to be one of my funniest moment in playing this game.

Additional note: Bots are common in this zone. A quest dialogue joke actually arose over the gender of one of them.

More additional note: Humour involving the Sootfoot goblins proved to be even more inane.

Okay, enough about the gaming...

Is it true that the gaming industry in South Korea is worth more than the K-pop industry? That'd be like asking me whether TERA Online is worth more than Blackpink. To be honest, I don't know. What I do know is the not-so-recent trade war between the salty Koreans and the equally salty Japanese. Long story short, Toyotomi Hideyoshi set a bad example for the future kids of Japan. Tokugawa Ieyasu was smart enough not to anger the Koreans and it got nothing to do with whether Mikawa was the neighbour of Nagoya, but it's very likely due to Hideyoshi smart enough not to trust a master of psychology. One must understand that Japanese nationalism as we know it via historical events like World War 2 and the Second Sino-Japanese War was caused by a revolution more successful than the ones in France, Russia, and Tunisia. That one actually caused Sakamoto Ryoma to be assassinated like Honest Abe and JFK.

[Note: The history textbook approved by the MOE during the 90s was technically lying because it called the Second Sino-Japanese War the Sino-Japanese War.]

The Meiji era was the Japanese Dream. Unfortunately, it also resulted in oppression. It's not just the Koreans, Chinese, and Singapore. There were other victims like Malaysia and the Malays. To make things worse, Yamato supremacy was also whacking the indigenous people of Japan like no tomorrow. To the Yamato Kamui, Ryukyuan lives were made in China while Ainu lives were manufactured in Korea. That's how bad things were. So no, Japanese nationalism didn't start from the Showa era. Interestingly, this also made the Tokugawa era unrelated to what we're seeing right now. In fact, the Meiji era was justified by the ineptitude and corruption of the Tokugawa shogunate.

So will there be a light at the end of the tunnel or will it be something worse than false dawn in the form of an incoming train's headlights? This is not some kind of German joke, but the only continental trade war happening right now.

While there might be some reason for cautious optimism starting from Emperor Naruhito's big ceremonial day, you can't blame the realist for pointing out the incoming headlights. Yes, there's a bit of progress during ASEAN's big ceremonial day. But unless there's a mutual consensus of compromise, you can't blame the pessimist from saying everything is going to get screwed either way. When I say compromise, I'm not referring to the Korean Moon saying history has been lying to us. That'd be like telling me only 7 Jews died in the Holocaust. But if only 7 Jews died during wartime Germany, then how many Jews did Corrie ten Boom save? There's no way the Korean Moon would commit political seppuku. That'd be his Minister of Justice.

Likewise, Abe of the Rising Sun isn't going to say "Sorry, bro. You're right and I'm wrong". There's no way he's committing seppuku. Because that'd be his Minister of Justice.

My definition of compromise is this: A mutual agreement that the Supreme Court ruling is to be non-binding. Yes, I know it's a bitter pill to swallow for both sides of the wrangling. Even more so for the Koreans. But if you're to ask me, the verdict from the Supreme Court of Korea was that one spark setting off the powder keg. You can't reverse the moral nature of the ruling. Because that'd be wrong. Since it's wrong for Seoul to do a moral U-turn and circumstantially impossible for Tokyo to do a political Toyota AE86, perhaps the only way out would be discussing whether the ruling should be binding, non-binding, or somehow semi-binding.

Which now comes to...

Your Korean MAMA. Not your Korean mother because that'd sound like some kind of Hangeul profanity. When CJ E&M decided to make certain changes to this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards (also known as your Korean MAMA), it raised up a controversy boasting the might rivalling that of Susanoo. So should the decision to host the event in Japan make any sense? Morally, the answer is no. Practically... well, the answer is also no. Why? Let's look at it from the cancellation of the venues.

This year, there was supposed to be three venues: Hong Kong, Seoul, and Nagoya. Striking Hong Kong off the list made perfect sense. After all, the scenes resembled the next Planet of the Apes movie and it's not the Koreans' fault.

Then you have Seoul. Surely it'd be a case of 3-1=2 instead of 3-2=1. Even if it's 3-2=1, the special one would be Seoul, right?

Seriously, the decision to host it at Nagoya only (note the keyword) didn't make any sense to me from the business point of view. Considering the current butting of heads between President Moon and the Rising Sun, the question is whether the cultural exchange is more important than long-term interest. Assuming the trade war could be resolved before 4th December, you don't expect the Koreans to heal their wounds like an X-Canuck or the other one. It makes you wonder what made the powers-that-be reach the kind of decision which no one else in their position would do. Definitely not Tokugawa Ieyasu's decision not to anger the Koreans even though Nagoya and Mikawa are still good neighbours.

So to close this post...

I stumbled upon a MAD video (i.e. not Mutually Assured Destruction) and I decided to do two sets of two-panel. I don't know how to explain it, so might as well I demonstrate how it's done.

命に嫌われている。
君の神様になりたい。
とても素敵な六月でした

P.S: Despite detesting the Darwinistic nature of my country's education system, I realised that trying to compare my merit of integrity with whatever paper merit boasted by the likes of SG Nasi Lemak Goreng and SG Telebabi would be like an Anglo-Norman going up against an Anglo-Saxon. My apologies for the racist song btw.

"People have said this is the most famous common assault case in the history of the English legal system."
-Former United director and solicitor Maurice Watkins