HATE ME 'COS I'M FAMOUS!

 Greetings people!


Yes, THE AQUINAS knows that he has not been updating thehornbillspeaks for what, 5 months? Guess what, he won't be dishing out excuses to justify his absence like Oprah Winfrey giving away Volkswagen New Beetles, instead he would attempt his best to write an entertaining post for the reading pleasure of anyone who comes across this blog of his (THE AQUINAS himself included).

As the title suggests, THE AQUINAS is interested to address a contemporary trend, whereby hatred, disdain and disgust could as well be one's ticket to fame and most probably, even success. It is somewhat a 21st century "thing" to be well-known just because one becomes a magnet of disgust and ill-feeling. THE AQUINAS opines that there are several reasons leading to this trend. To make things interesting, THE AQUINAS shall disclose the reasons in the form of real life personalities! That would illustrate things better, don't they?



CASE-IN-POINT ONE : Thou shall become the object of hatred because thou attempted to sing, even though thou cannot do so.

Picture courtesy of http://www.simonhar.com/2011/03/rebecca-black-friday.html

Picture courtesy of http://www.sodahead.com/fun/why-do-so-many-people-hate-justin-bieber/question-948598/

Youtube Autotune sensation Rebecca Black gained mass attention and of course, notoriety over her Ark Music Factory produced music video, Friday. There you go Mr Patrice Wilson, another free "honourable mention" for your enterprise. The Friday music video reached the 100 million views benchmark, just several months after its release with a significant amount of "dislikes". Well, who could blame the dislikes if you had watched the music video. THE AQUINAS hates to admit this, but he was among the first few viewers of her video. This happens despite of her inept ability to belt out a decent tune and ultimately, ridiculous lyrics. To put it up a notch, Friday was dangerously catchy. (THE AQUINAS could even sing the lyrics while writing up this post. Bad news). Come on, where else can you find a singer having a hard time to choose a seat in a car? This ain't RapidKL.

Miss Black exploded ever since, having appeared in Katy Perry's Last Friday Night music video. This is somewhat of a rubber stamp, not yet a cornerstone of how big she really is - all thanks to her rise as an object of hatred. Her latest music video, My Moment was in fact quite decent compared to her initial track. Well, at least there are now two words in her chorus. *APPLAUSE


CASE-IN-POINT TWO:  Thou shall become the object of disdain because thou assumed a foreign fad, claim as it thou own and pray to become notorious for it.

Korean pop, or better known as Kpop has spread seen its popularity, or frighteningly, its influence across the Asian continent. To be honest, THE AQUINAS in not a fan of this particular genre. THE AQUINAS finds it hard to celebrate a genre which has its myriad of songs that sound pretty much similar to one another, same dance moves in one video to another, the hospital scenes, the rain, the leaves that fall from a random tree to a random street and so forth.

The worst of all possible outcomes has now come upon us: we now have our very own Kpop band - enter Max 24:7 and Gula-Gula. The former is a 12-member boy band who had themselves publicised as "12 jejaka kacak". To see them for yourself, search Anti 24:7 on your facebook. You'll love what you see. The latter, on the other hand, is a 6-member all-female band, who made a name for themselves mostly via late morning talk-shows (and even danced in one. It was scintillating).

People,

Both Max 24:7 and Gula-gula has grown into a target of disdain. This is due to the notion that they are trying to replicate themselves after the Kpop boy-bands and girl-groups - and attempting to project themselves as an instant favourite among local music aficionados. To these people, it is similar to force-feeding oneself with kimchi fried with sambal. How's that for a combination?









Alright THE AQUINAS admits it, he was not at all sincere with the "scintillating" part. In his opinion, these two groups should go back to the drawing board. As a performer cum entertainer, a perfect entertainment that is worth your audience's money and time is something that we expect from you. THE AQUINAS could forgive the singing (who sings well nowadays anyway) since you have Autotune at your disposal. But could you please work on your entertainment value, let's say your dance, for instance? Have you ever heard of choreography? Heck, THE AQUINAS is not even sure whether these two acts will have that much of a staying power. To add insult to injury, they are modelling themselves after a genre that does not have a staying power in our local scene itself. Remember the reality-TV fad, circa 2000-2006? Remember FO-3, Bayu etc?


CASE-IN-POINT THREE:  Thou shall become the object of hatred, disdain and disgust for whatever reason that might be.

A picture says a thousand words.

Picture courtesy of http://dailyskoop.blogspot.com/2010/10/justin-bieber-looks-so-gay-with-makeup.html

THE AQUINAS has spoken.

DISILLUSIONED MUCH?

Once again, THE AQUINAS is right back here, at thehornbillspeaks after such a long hiatus. No thanks to his lack of effort his maintaining his online presence. Much blame could be put on his real life workloads (again), the only reason THE AQUINAS feels that he should come back to this weblog of his is that he needs an outlet to pour his thoughts out, after months of tense and (un)voluntary accumulation.

Lo, let the pouring begin!

THE AQUINAS now thinks to himself, is he currently disillusioned with life at law school? Don't make THE AQUINAS start with the law subjects. Yes, THE AQUINAS finds that the study of law is interesting, to him at least it is, but as time passes he finds that such interest is getting difficult to sustain. The thought and the act of picking up a book on law is already depressing, in its natural sense. Thanks to mooting, there is actually a practical application of the study of law, although it does not reach the threshold of "practising" law. That would certainly kick in some sense and perhaps "excitement" to such field that THE AQUINAS indulges himself in.

Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/

People,

They say that there will be a time when one would discover that who are his/her real friends and who are not. THE AQUINAS would like to rectify this saying; if he may be. There will be several occasions, before one could discover who are his real friends, and those who are not. Honestly, THE AQUINAS is not really a big fan of the age-old saying " a friend in need is a friend indeed". Well, this saying makes sense IF you are the  one on the "in need" end of any difficult situation. What if you find yourself standing at the end whereby you are needed to help your friend who happens to be "in need"? THE AQUINAS wishes to point out that, you do not have to be in a situation of need to tell who your real companions are. You need to ascertain these people from the situations that your circle of friendship happens to be in.

Why bother blending in if you're meant to stand out? Picture courtesy of http://elpalaciodemusicalatina.blogspot.com/ 

Situations, may of course vary among individuals. This pretext also applies to THE AQUINAS himself. The best indicator whether one or a group of people are your friends may come from trying or difficult situations. Again, the age-old saying mentioned earlier could be true. However, it strikes THE AQUINAS that such indication would be stronger if it is based on the aftermath of those difficult times. Let THE AQUINAS put this finding on a perspective: what are the chances of your friends sticking with you during difficult times to continue to do so after an outcome of such situations? A benefit of the doubt could be given to the so-called friends who were never with you from the starting line. Could the same be said for those who were running the race with you? Depending on the result of such outcome, one could surely tell. To THE AQUINAS, at least. Sometimes, THE AQUINAS feels that things could have been looked at in a bigger picture. Just saying.

As the situation stands, THE AQUINAS really wishes to avoid being disillusioned, as to whom are his real friends?

People, this edition of THE AQUINAS' rambling stops now. Gonna go all out to celebrate the great Reds' victory! Long live King Kenny!

Picture courtesy of http://www.polovision.co.uk/

THE AQUINAS has spoken.