Parody

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Parody: A Parody, in current use, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.

This entry is created to share my point of view and understanding towards parody. As we can see parody nowadays is used widely in movies to mock reality or other movies. It does not necessarily intended to project hatred of the author or director but just to mock something and poke something fun out of the issue.  For example:

Scary Movie is a famous parody film  series, mocking other horror films

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This particular movie mocks famous horror film scenes and turn it into a joke or humor. The characteristic that needs to be shown in a parody is the irony, satire and humor in becoming a perfect parody. Sarcasm is another key tat needs to be add to project the other elements in order to make it more humorous. 

Not only in movies, parody can be mad out from a joke, song, act or just by ranting. As long as sarcasm is added from the original situation, it can be classified as a parody. Other example of parody in life is stated in this picture below: 

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As we can see that the expression "drop the bass" is merely referring to the fact that there should be a bass element or sound that needs to be added but in this case, the bass guitar is dropped literally; mocking the expression. Thus this is what we can see as a parody.

Euphemistic Language

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A euphemism is a word or phrase that stands in for another word or phrase, chosen to mask or soften the true meaning of what is being expressed. A euphemism may be used for superstitious reasons, due to religious or cultural taboos, or for political reasons. For a fiction writer, euphemisms, in dialogue, can be helpful in revealing character. The opposite of euphemism is dysphemism.

In life it is normal for people to not like the truth to be spoken directly because the truth is often bitter and hard to handle. Euphemism is created for people who can't handle the truth even though it is just a simple fact like death. When we say that someone is dead, it turns out to be a little bit rough in delivering the message hence, we say that the person has passed away.

People nowadays are too exposed to the culture of using euphemisms that now the true word of a particular meaning is now considered as a taboo such as dead and shell-shock. From my opinion, although that it is considered as much more polite to talk in euphemistic language, I doubt that it is a healthy life style. Hiding the reality in delivering the truth is not really the best way to communicate with people. It is very rude to manipulate with others' mind and make them think it is okay when the truth is really a devastating matter.

This video shows a comedian explains how euphemism is used to manipulate our mind and the way we think through time.

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Plato's Myth of the cave

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Plato's "Myth of the cave" is an argument that we can't be sure we know reality. This story illustrates Plato's idealism. The objects we see, hear, touch are shadows of the real things. The reason is human beings don't have a full sense of a real and complete life because of the world. We only know and believe what is shown or expose to us. 

In this story, Plato used a dialog between a teacher and student, it describes a group of prisoners chained inside a cave, sit behind a fire, they can't see each other or the nature of reality, or the heavens, only able to look forward. The fire casts shadows on the cave wall, which they see and it is the only reality they know. They can't truly comprehend what they see, as they are prevented from its true source and nature. One day one of the prisoners having managed to free himself from his chains escape from the cave and see the truth. He will at first be blinded by the brightness of the world. But after some time and effort, he will be able to see anything that resembled what he knew as reality before. But the prisoner didnt believe anything he sees ant sticks to his perception towards the world as before. He has been exposed to the same illusion for so long that he cant accept any new facts in a sudden moment.

In my class last week, we had to find a movie or a situation that can relate to this method in order to help us understand more about Plato's "Myth of the cave". Before that Mr. Mark, our lecturer had shown a scene from the movie The Matrix, where Morphius introduced the concept of the Matrix to Neo.

Anna and the King

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I chose the movie Anna and The King as the movie that I can relate to this method. In this movie, it shows that The King of Thailand exposing false facts about Thailand. He says things like that Thailand is the strongest power in the world and there are no such thing is a phenomenon of  seasons. Anna acts as the old man from this theory who freed the people of Thailand from the illusions of the King. The King's role in this method is the puppet players and the whole kingdom acts as the fire that projects the all the King's illusions.

Jack The Ripper?

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Hi to all my readers (as if there any readers to greet. lol). This entry will be about Jack The Ripper (JTR). As we are all aware, the murder cases of JTR was about century ago, give or take a couple decades, but yet the mystery remains unsolved. For different theorists, comes a theory which involves different suspects. I did a study on this case and had to present it in class. I was convinced by the theory which explains that Dr Thomas Neil Cream was the the most likely suspect to be JTR.

Dr Thomas Neil Cream

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First of all, as we all know is that all of JTR's victims were killed and their organs are been removed neatly as if it was a work of a professional or in other words, by someone who has the knowledge and skills of a surgeon. Dr Thomas Neil Cream was a doctor who specialized in abortion and he had a degree in surgery. This background information covers the claim where the killer might be a doctor.

Next, JTR was said to be psychopath who has mental illness or at least is someone with a very complex and corrupted personality. This is another fact that I find proportional to my suspect. Dr Thomas Neil Cream has the compassion to kill his patients for satisfactory. This personality shows that there is something wrong with his mental and the way he thinks. This covers the claim that the suspect is a psychopath.

Letter From HELL

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Furthermore, the suspect's hand writings are exactly the same as the writings on the 'letter from hell' that was sent to the police which is claimed to be sent by JTR. Although we don't actually know whether the letter is really from the real killer or not, it has been a clue or more likely to say an important case evidence throughout the whole investigation. This fact has brought this case one step closer on discovering the true killer.

Other than that, the hardest part to explain or prove that Dr Thomas Neil Cream is the killer is the opportunity of him to kill the victims. Most of the murders happened when he was imprisoned. According to some theories that I have read, Dr Thomas Neil Cream was a very wealthy man. He inherited 16000 USD before moving to England. It is believed that he swap places with another person to replace him in prison by paying the person in a large amount of money. But sadly this theory was never been taken seriously because it had to be investigate across countries.

The motive of the murder was only for satisfactory or rather to say fetish. The compassion to kill is very strong to resist. 

The mystery of JTR was never solved and will never be solved.

Julius Caesar and Brutus

Gaius Julius Caesar

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Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative elite within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger

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Julius Caesar had an adopted son, Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger or also known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus. Brutus is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination of Julius Caesar. Brutus claims that the death of Julius Caesar was for the greater good for Julius Caesar was a cruel dictator and his actions needs to be stopped. In his speech he claims that his love to Caesar was no less than Caesar's love towards him but it was just that his love towards Rome is greater. 

In Brutus' speech, he says:

"Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my

cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me

for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that

you may believe: censure me in your wisdom, and 

awake your senses, that you may the better judge. 

If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of 

Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar 

was no less than his. If then that friend demand 

why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:– 

Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved 

Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and 

die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live 

all free men? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; 

as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was 

valiant, I honour him: but, as he was ambitious, I 

slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his 

fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his 

ambition. Who is here so base that would be a 

bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. 

Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If 

any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so 

vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; 

for him have I offended. I pause for a reply."

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Julius Caesar was hated by the people of Rome, thus Brutus' action was not labeled as a bad thing to do. In my class, we've discussed this issue and our lecturer had all of us come up with a syllogism of our own about Julius Caesar and Marcus Junius Brutus and we had to present our syllogism in class dressed in a toga. so this is what i came up with:

A traitor would be most hated by the public,

Brutus was not hated by the public,

Therefore Brutus is not a traitor,

I personally think that Brutus is not a traitor because Brutus did the right thing for his country. He freed the whole empire from a cruel dictator. Its better to die as a free man rather than living as a slave.

Its no longer a safe world

I believe that everyone knows the latest case of Nurul Nadirah Abdullah, 5, who was found killed at an oil palm plantation, near her house after days of missing. Her mother was blamed for the incident because she was the one who asked little Nadirah to go to the shop alone to get a pack of Maggie noodles. But is this really fair? She just lost her child. She is grieving for god sake. From my opinion, I dont think that the mother should be blamed for what happened. If she knew that this would happen, I believe that she would never let her daughter go alone.

http://www.nst.com.my/latest/nadirah-s-family-grieves-for-her-death-1.59617

"The atmosphere was one of deep grief at the family's home at the Seri Delima Flats in Bandar Seri Alam near here which was full of relatives, neighbours and members of the media."

If we were to find someone to blame, we could blame everyone including the police, securiy guards, the Prime Minister and the list goes on and on. We could blame ourselves. Just ask yourself, despite of all the blaming and the finger pointing, what have you done to make this world a better and safer place to live in? Can you make sure that this kind of incidents never happens again?

Despite of all the good values we see around us everyday and how beutiful they are, there is still bad people hiding in the dark waiting for the right time to strike. Its no longer a safe world to let our sons and daughters live in.

Perhaps this is our wake up call. Perhaps this is where e stop being ignorant and start caring. Perhaps this is a new beginning for us to start a new lifestyle where everybody looks after each other. No more bad guys, no more crime. But it will always be just a dream if we dont take the first step.

Propaganda Spread Through The Internet

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Hello to everyone. Its been a while since I've made an entry. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.In this entry I'm going to discuss about the power to spread news, lies, information and facts through the internet specifically social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. As we can see, a lot of things has been passed and shared around on Facebook and Twitter and this is very useful to use. These social networks also acts as a medium to share news. The power of spreading and influencing is very high.

The latest and biggest 'thing' on almost every social networking sites is about the KONY 2012. If there's someone that doesn't know about the KONY 2012 thing, man you must be from outer space! LOL. Nevermind, here's a video of the KONY 2012 program in case you haven't watched it.

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Now after seeing the video that I've attached, what are your reactions? sad, pity, and the urge to help those kids? Yes, I felt the same way because this video plays with your emotion. It has very high emotional values. I mean, Who would not be sad seeing kids being tortured ? Now imagine if you share this video to your friends. As we know how this video affects our emotions, they too will share the video. There is 700 million people on facebook. Thats 700 million people talking about the issue. NOT knowing whether its true or not.

When you first saw the video, you didnt even asked yourself whether its true or not. You just believed everything you see. Now this is the power that the Internet holds. Spread things without people questioning it. Now set your mind clear, and watch these video. Then try to digest everything you've watched from this entry before coming with a conclusion.

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So, can we believe everything we see?