Welcome to Darkside Daily

When I'm not writing about my experiences in this journey called 'life', I'm singing and uploading my own interpretations of modern music. Click on "Cover Songs" to hear them, or on the YouTube logo on the right to see my YouTube channel.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Generation Zero (Or, How Piracy Killed The Pirates)


It is yet another glorious Monday morning, and I am 'busy' at work, staring importantly at my laptop while clicking furiously away with my mouse, all the while keeping my fingers on the Alt + Tab keys to switch between my work spreadsheets, Twitter and the live Spurs versus Nuggets game on ESPN.

We all have our ways of wasting time at work or school, but somehow we seem to have lost the romance of it all. Gone are the days where men would sit back with their feet on the desk, nonchalantly reading the newspaper while keeping a watchful eye on the boss' office door, should he suddenly appear from his one millionth 'meeting' with his secretary. Gone too are the days when kids would pass handwritten notes between each other, filled with witty reworkings of the teachers lecture, juicy real or imagined gossip, or amusingly accurate caricatures of classmates and staff.

No, today's classroom rebels are rebelling silently, or at worst, to the sound of their fingers on their cell phone keys, and the workplace outlaws are sticking it to The Man by using the office internet for Facebook or YouTube.

In a generation as technologically advanced as ours, shouldn't we be able to find more 'advanced' ways of beating the system than by browsing a social network site? In a classic case of them vs us, the powers that be are banning a website with the same aggression that is used to ban office workers from lighting a joint in the back room. Heck, our modern-day 'pirates' look more like Jack Black rather than Jack Sparrow, sitting behind anonymous computers in their mothers basements, somewhere in Scandinavia, while 'smuggling' music and movies online in broad daylight.

It's all really pathetic.

I have nothing but love for YouTube, which brings me all forms of entertainment when I need it, but I don't get this so-called addiction to Facebook. Sure, I'm on Facebook, and I have been for years. Sure, I upload photos every now and then. Why yes, I log on at least once every day. But addicted?? It baffles me. I spend a maximum of 5 mins online at a time on Facebook; after all, it takes the average person about a second and a half to read someones status update, and multiply that by the number of people that show up on your newsfeed, that gives you what, like, a minute? Unless you're one of those carebears that loves each and every single person on your friends list equally and feel it necessary to go through each one of their updates. If that person is you, you crazy. 'Nuff said.

But again I say: addicted?? Of course, there's the small matter of these farm related games that everyone goes on about. Fascinating, really, how we've suddenly taken such an interest in cattle, livestock and produce. Fascinating and confounding. Personally, I'd be more excited about it if my clicks actually meant there was a little man in some god-forsaken village who went about planting and harvesting stuff based on what I did, but that's just me I suppose.


But, and again I say, addicted??? Apparently people like going through everyone elses pictures and photo albums, performing what I like to call 'legal stalking'. Again, I can understand the fascination with this, but how long could this last? Most people leave the most redundant and pointless comments on Facebook. My personal favourites are the barely literate "Gd job machan, proud of u, keep up the good wrk!!". The dude is standing next to a fountain. He didn't build the damn thing, so I don't know what "gd work" he's talking about, and I don't know why he's proud that his friend is standing next to a source of water getting his hair sprinkled, but to each his/her own.


Bottom line: we need a serious injection of bad-assery in our generation. I vote for everyone to step away from their computers and start living outside our little cyber worlds. If that's too much to ask, then fine, take cyber-terrorism as a hobby, followed with a dash of fraud and inter-school embezzelment for the kiddies.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Eleven Days Into Twenty-Eleven..


As I type this post, it is 830pm on the 11th of 2011. I suppose if I wanted to make it more dramatic I would have waited till 11:11:11 or something, but it's been a long day and I will probably be under my sheets then, vainly attempting to shove aside the thoughts of work tomorrow.


Perhaps it's too early in the year to write a progress report on the new decade, yet I am rarely in the mood to properly blog these days, and when these moments come along where I find myself with the time and the motivation to write, I feel I should 'grab on with both hands'. So here I am, reaching for my work laptop, propping myself up on the bed, about to regale you with what this year has been so far.


Of course, I could ramble on and on about 'change', and 'life', and 'the future', and all these other vague yet intellectual ideas that one usually associates with the new year. 'New beginnings' are aplenty in the month of January, along with the hackneyed 'new leaf'. Yes, the first month, and the first few weeks especially, are characterised by that magical pixie dust that forces the world in general to become a better something.


I do not fully understand why people are in such a rush to change things these days. It's almost as if we have started moving so fast that staying constant is just something that is not done. We change our thoughts, ideas and perceptions faster than John Mayer can dump a beautful blonde celebrity. Change is 'in'; Same is 'old'.


As I watch everyone attempt (and mostly fail) at becoming a new person this year, I find myself in the odd position of trying to stay the same; a task I find infinitely harder. I admire those who can identify areas in their life that needs to adapt and evolve, yet it is a rare phenomenon. Most people want to change simply because it is easy, or because someone else said they should. As for me, I feel like I'm looking in the mirror, and watching as ever so subtly, my skin begins to fade, my hair begins to thin, and eyes beging to glaze over. No, I'm not growing old, but I am being forced into 'turning', ever so slowly, just like everyone else.



I'm tempted to write something deep like "change is constant", or "we are all one consciousness", but that would just be lame and pretentious. I am known (I think) for my dramatic nature, and I have often written about 'fighting' for life and what you believe in, mostly to the smirks and rolled eyes of my readers. But as much as I would like to depart from that line of thought and from using that phrase, I am forced to repeat the same, old, boring and repetitive thing again here.


I'm still fighting.


Bring on the next 354 days; I got all year.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

If My 2010 Was A Michael Bay Movie (Or 'Happy New Year Everyone!')


And before you know it, it's that time of year again. The Earth has gone done it's little trip round the sun, the seasons have passed, the decorations have come and gone again, and we are once again at the beginning of a brand spanking new year, full of endless possibility and promise. It seems like just yesterday I was heading to work in the early morning transport, cursing our employers for making us come into work on New Years Day to celebrate with our 'work family', albeit for only half a day; now, I'm 3 hours away from making sure I don't end up doing it all over again.


However, while last year had gone by faster than a Hollywood romance, it had been an extremely eventful year. Wow, what a year! If you made a movie of my 2010, it would be a Michael Bay movie.

Opening credits!

(This year will be good, it's going to be awesome! Been looking forward to this year all - err - year!)

Opening Scene!

(Alright, so far so good, I'm doing good, we're all fine, this is going to be awesome!)

Explosion!

(Whoa! Okay I didn't see that coming but yeah, that was awesome!)

Meaningless dialogue!

(Okay, I'm not quite sure what the point of this is but I'm okay with it, this is leading somewhere, right?)

HUGE Explosion!

(Um, okay that was very cool but wait this doesn't make sense...)

Dialogue trying to explain what just happened

(But I just saw that in the first movie, and there they said, I mean, how could this happen again? Haven't I seen something kinda similar before...?)

HUGE EXPLOSION! MEGAN FOX! RUNNING-JUMPING-FLYING-WHOA..!

(Yeah this is ridiculous, there better be a pause somewhere here...)

Dramatic pause, followed by somber music and attempts at acting

(Alright this can work, if they end it just right and...)

HUGE EXPLOSION X INFINITY! BAD GUYS DIE! HERO KISSES MEGAN FOX!

(Wait, what?)

END CREDITS

(What a total waste of time, I actually wish I was at work!)


To call my last year a rollercoaster would be a gross understatement. As I flip the page to 2011, I can only heave a sigh of relief that it's over and done with, and be grateful that whatever new mistakes I make don't have to be clubbed with the old ones anymore.



As I try to sleep with the sound of the odd firecracker still bursting outside, and the scandalous misadventures of T flooding my inbox, I'd like to wish everyone a kickass 2011. God knows, i'm sure we all could use one!

Peace!


Gehan
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