Stephen Colbert -- This Week In God

The reason why I started watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is because of this segment called: This Week In God. It is a segment where they make fun of all things religious. Being the atheist/agnostic/anti-religion-guy, it just cracks me up to see them make fun of and demonstrate the absurdity of religious movements.

This is a clip from two years ago, and one of my favorite segments, which includes the comments about Mecca-Cola. You see, deep down, there is not much difference between Christianity and Islam as both peddle the same kind of illogical crap.




The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

Demetri Martin -- Trendspotting: SATs

Around ten years ago, I have never been a fan of the so-called movement of piquing the student's interest in learning using computers. To me, that seemed more like a fad rather than really helping students to learn. Call me old fashion, but I do think that the best way to make students learn is the satisfaction of learning and knowing something new. Don't get me wrong, I am not for the method of drilling students to memorize by rote memory (well, there are some basic things that they need to remember by rote, but most of it you do it in primary school). I think teaching should be innovative. Teachers should always integrate knowledge that students are attempting to learn to things that are relevant to them in real life, or things that they are interested in. There are enough researches in memory and motivation to suggest that this would aid learning in the long term. But repackaging the same boring materials in a new medium, that adds nothing new once the novelty wears off. I mean, what is the difference if you are learning by rote using books or from information off a computer screen??

This is a clip from a recent The Daily Show with Jon Stewart episode, where Demetri Martin satires the points that I make above...




The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

Vashti Bunyan -- Glow Worms

Vashti released her first album in Britain in the 60s. However, it did not do well commercially and hence she moved back to the country and became a housewife. The album became a cult classic over the years and in 2005 she was invited to release another album Lookingaftering. This song is from her first album in the 60s, and if you listen to it, you can understand why the first album became a cult classic.

Jon Stewart Interviews Bill Bennet on Gay Rights

Again, another gem from the Daily Show archives. Here, Jon takes Bill Bennet, someone from the conservative movement (i.e. religious right) and dismantles his points about denying homosexuals the right to marry one by one. This is a lesson on how to take down another person's illogical arguments with class, precision and humor.


Part 1



Part 2




The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

Jon Stewart On Gay Rights

This is a clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart a few years ago, and he was commenting about the religious right's protest in America regarding gay marriage. While the recent furor in Singapore was not regarding gay marriage but the right for gays to have sex without being criminalized, I thought the points Jon made was pertinent: "Unless the government is going to force you to perform make man-love, why should you even care?"




The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

孙燕姿 -- 雨天

我非常喜欢这首歌，让我想起一些过往云烟。

宗教不再神秘

(刊登于2007年10月30日)

在一般人的心中，宗教仪式和其附属的人事物充满浓厚的神秘色彩，其运作是一般凡夫俗子不能轻易理解。就算是在我许多没有宗教信仰的朋友当中，每当我试图以其他不同的角度来剖析宗教时，他们总会说出一句类似 “宗教是神秘的，人类是永远都无法彻底了解” 的话来表示他们对此话题没什么兴趣。

当然，这句话在不崇尚神秘主义的本人耳中听起来是稍微刺耳。尽管我承认人类的知识有限，不过却不认为所谓宗教真的是多数人说的如此神秘和难以理解。至少，有三位不同的作者也同意本人的话，因为他们以自己的专长，各自从不同的角度去剖析宗教，然后把其看法写成了书。

Pascal Boyer 是一位人类学 (anthropology) 学者，专门研究不同文化的宗教仪式。他在90年代发表的几篇论文提出了要了解宗教就必须先了解人类的认知功能的理论。因为宗教仪式始终是人类社会里的现象，所以必须要了解人类的思维，才能够了解为何该现象在不同的文化和社会里都扮演了重要的角色。Boyer 于2001年将此理论出版成一本可供大众阅读的书，名为《Religion Explained》。在这本书里，Boyer 不赞同一般人对于宗教所赋予的定义，反而提出所谓宗教是个概念的集合体，而人类特有的认知结构导致我们深深地受到这些概念的吸引。Boyer 在书中提供了许多不同文化的宗教仪式和人类的认知特征的例子， 并且陈述出两者相辅相成的关系。《Religion Explained》独特的地方是因为它结合了认知心理学 (Cognitive Psychology) 和人类学两个不同学术领域的知识，从另一个全新的角度来了解宗教。

Boyer 的理论可说是以人为个体来看待宗教的现象。David Sloan Wilson 的看法恰好不同，以人类社会为个体做为讨论的切入点。Wilson 于2002年出版了《Darwin’s Cathedral》，试图从演化论的角度来了解宗教。根据Wilson 的看法，宗教之所以会在人类的历史和不同文化里扮演了重要的角色，主要是因为宗教做为一个社会机制赋予了属于这个机制里的成员某些好处，以致这些成员的生存和繁殖的几率大为提高。因此，宗教做为一个社会机制就能够慢慢演化成许多社会不可或缺的机制。整体上，任何一个人在出生时就拥有笃信宗教倾向的几率也大大提高。此看法和Boyer的理论有雷同之处，尽管出发点稍微有些不同。由于Wilson所提出的理论拥有强烈团体选择 (group selection) 的意味存在，与主流演化论所提倡的个人选择论 (individual selection) 有些出入，因此其理论在学术界颇受争议。至少，像Richard Dawkins 和 Leda Cosmides 等著名的演化论学者就曾多次针对该理论作出批评。

如果说Boyer 和 Wilson 是从学术的角度来分析宗教，那么 Michael Shermer 在《How We Believe》此书里是从个人经验的角度来分析宗教。Shermer 是美国著名杂志《Skeptic》的主编，曾经是个基督教徒，不过最后却变成个不可知论者，在美国普及和推广科学知识的领域中扮演了重要的角色。《How We Believe》此书记载了Shermer 成为不可知论者的过程，以及在变成不可知论者后以完全不同的角度去看待宗教。虽然说记载的是个人经验，不过Shermer 却综合了许多不同的知识领域来讨论宗教。有哲学、心理学、历史、社会学等方面的知识。或许Boyer和Wilson的书对于宗教的讨论较为深入，不过其广度并没有Shermer 此书来得全面。当然，《How We Believe》此书并没有提出任何惊为天人的理论，里头对于宗教的剖析说难听些是老调重弹。然而，如果读者想从神秘论以外的角度来认识宗教，此书可算是非常有用的入门手册，因为Shermer 不仅在书里头提供了许多参考来源，而且其文笔还平易近人，读起来绝对不会觉得枯燥乏味。

尽管许多宗教于不同文化和社会里都是以神秘主义为其指导原则，不过我们没有必要去认同这神秘的面纱。宗教在人类历史里扮演着重要的角色，而在许多现今的社会也有着很大的影响力。对于如此重要的东西，人们不是应该更积极地去了解它，而不是为它戴上神秘的面具吗？希望介绍这三本书可以让大家对于这个在人类社会扮演重大角色的社会机制有着更深一层的了解。

Demetri Martin -- Trendspotting: Credit Card

I don't have a credit card, even until now. I do have a debit card, which I use to make my online purchases. Why don't I have a credit card? Maybe for the same reasons that Demetri Martin spoofed in this Trendspotting section on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Against Big Corporations

I've always not been fond of big corporations, and have been trying to argue that the one of the most important role of the government in the 21st century is not to be corporation friendly, but to make things "difficult" for corporations by ensuring that they are socially and environmentally responsible, that they do not influence politics in any way, and to regulate the market such that there is a more equal distribution of wealth. Yes, this is not the free-market ideology espoused by a lot of people (including the Singapore government), and this is somewhat autocratic. However, I believe that we will be for the better in the long run. If anything, at least try to keep the corporations out of politics. Want to see how corrosive it can be? Watch the clip below. The speaker is Ralph Nader and one of his speech against big corporation is being remixed with some cool background music.

When Free Speech Is Not Free Speech

I am not a big fan of censorship, unless in some cases (i.e. you don't show porn to kids under... 12 years old). However, I do not agree with most people that you are free to say anything, or at least my definition of "free speech" does not mean that you can make any statements without impunity. I do think it is important that when someone makes a statement, he or she must back it up with facts and evidences, well-thought-out rationale, good logic and must not subscribe to any fallacies. Sadly, if you look at some of the people who are opposed to the PAP, they make this kind of arguments (I'm looking at you, Chee Soon Juan). And the sad thing is, when they are challenged on their lack of evidence, they come up with all sorts of bullshit like the state-controlled media has falsely informed the people, or that the "truth" is not told to the people, etc etc etc, or that there is a conspiracy against them, etc etc etc.

This is kind of frustrating. Because although I agree with the government on some issues, there are certain issues and policies that I disagree with. And there are good people out there who are making sensible arguments against the government with regards to their bad policies, or policies which makes no sense (think 377a). However, the antics of assholes like CSJ undermines these valid arguments that the other people are making.

Here is a clip from Bill Maher's show, Real Time, recently, where a few 9-11 conspiracy theorists (who believes that 9/11 was a coordinated effort by the US government i.e. there were no terrorist, the government blew up the twin towers in an orchestrated effort) hijacked the show to protest against the host. Bill Maher threw them out (which I think was a correct move). Again, these crazy 9-11 truthers blur the issues with their crazy assertions, which is the Bush administration has badly handled the war and lied the American people into it. This is kind of how it is when people like Chee Soon Juan shoots off his mouth. His crazy antics are then easily dismissed by our government, and it blunts the real criticisms that other people may make against out government. Think about it.

My Pet Hamster

I've named him Cartman.

不受欢迎并不代表不正确

(刊登于联合早报2007年10月28日)

李资政在两个星期前为国际律师协会的常年大会主持开幕式所发表的演讲中指出，新加坡之所以有今天的成就，是因为政府当初采取了很多让人民建立起凝聚力的政策，例如集选区的少数民族候选人、政府组屋的种族配额、推广英语的使用等等。尽管许多政策长期以来不受人民欢迎，不过李资政指出它们最终还是让新加坡社会达到种族和谐的目的。

仔细想想，有关当局其实还推行了许多不受欢迎的政策，例如电子公路收费制和公积金制度。尽管许多国人都有所抱怨，不过也不得不承认这些政策的效率。就拿电子公路收费制，近来伦敦和纽约等著名城市也考虑效仿我国实行类似制度。

也就是说，有关当局向来都不畏实行不受欢迎的政策，就算起初引起大众不满，不过只要政策有益，有关当局都坚持立场。因此，就算我对于有关当局对于刑事法典377A的废留问题所采取的态度和立场不惊讶，却对他们所提供的理由感到失望。许多议员碍于多数持有保守观念的国人还没做好公开接受同性恋准备的情况下，因此决定不废除刑事法典377A。

本人稍早前曾指出，排挤同性恋者与新加坡建国宗旨背道而驰，因为宣誓里的 “不分种族、言语、宗教” 暗示着某种与不同组群合作以建立美好家园的包容精神，而新加坡人一直以能够包容不同文化而自豪。因此，当有关当局以类似少数应该服从多数的理由驳回废除该刑事法典时，不禁让人感觉他们似乎在自掌嘴巴。

或许本人误会了有关当局的用意。或许他们是考虑到维持本地社会现有的凝聚力，所以才决定服从多数人的意愿。许多议员也表示不废除的理由是不想让 “政府是否支持同性恋者的生活方式” 的议题分裂社会不同族群。然而，本人认为此决定虽然从短期利益的角度看似合理，不过从长远的角度却弊多于利。因为曾犯了迎合大众口的先例，所以如果下次想要推行不受大众欢迎的政策时，是否会显得没有说服力？英明的政府不该做出迎合大众口味的决定，而是做出有利于人民的决定，这好像是有关当局不仅一次发表过的声明。

况且，没有一个国家或社会是完全没有意见分歧的族群。就算不是多元文化、宗教和种族的国家，其人民的想法也不可能一致。因此，有关当局所能做的就是提供不同族群同等的自由发表空间，不在任何法律或者制度上偏袒或者排挤任何一方。有关当局对待不同宗教团体就是发扬此精神的一个好例子。有关当局不偏袒任何宗教，不在任何公共机构提倡，然而也不会干涉任何人的宗教自由，前提是这不会破坏咱们社会的秩序，或者不会使得任何社会成员受到伤害。

或许，这就是对于刑事法典377A的废留问题的重点。至少，反对废除的群众所给的理由是假如废除刑事法典377A，这就等同有关当局在提倡同性恋者的生活方式，而这将瓦解整个社会的家庭结构。就第一点而言，我觉得这些反对的群众模糊焦点了，因为如果废除刑事法典377A，提倡的不是同性恋者的生活方式，而是人人皆平等的崇高包容态度。换另个角度看待此问题，不知道大家是否记得几年前的头巾风波？当时教育部不允许某些学生戴头巾上学，并非是针对某个宗教，而是出于在教育场所人人平等的前提下。如果运用此逻辑，就可以理解为何废除刑事法典377A不是等同提倡同性恋者的生活方式。

关于接纳同性恋者和保持社会的家庭结构，这并不是个二选一的抉择，而是可以同时实行的。毕竟，并不是所有的离婚者或是不婚者都是同性恋者，而当一对同性恋者在私人空间进行性行为时，并不会在社会某处就有一个美满的家庭就因此受到摧毁。在反对废除的理由如此贫乏和缺乏逻辑时，有关当局迎合大众的口味而做出不废除的决定，是否还是一个明智的决定呢？

Bill Maher New Rules 26th October 2007

Bill Maher on fear, and what to fear.

The Professor

"i got this when i was young,
when i was conquering my first tree,
but then gravity conquered me instead"
pointing to a scar on his forehead
he said boastfully, beaming
like a proud son to his father
even though i never knew him
all my life, this stranger
was talking to me on the jetty

i smiled, nodded, looked over
his shoulder, looked over
the fishing rod, thinking about the line
and what was on the end of it

"i caught myself a big one, last week
you should have seen the baby, big"
he said, with renewed vigour
"it was struggling, like a prize fighter,
it was defiant, like a rampant bull,
reminded me of myself, but then
i pulled the baby in. and man it was
huge." he was almost breathless, "and i laid it
for all to see, right at this seat where i am
sitting now. right at this spot."

i remained silent, but smiled
politely. everybody likes to tell
a story once in a while
but today i'm only listening
i'm only thinking about
what's on the end of the line

"you'd never guess my profession,
i'm teach, lecture, yes, in the university
yeah, got my degree way back then
got my doctorate in the states. worked
my ass off, but now here am i, speaking
to you. and fishing. damn it seemed so
fucking surreal. it seemed like yesterday."

he was beginning to strut
like a proud peacock
like an old sea sailor
after a whiskey and a rum
selling his adventures
but no, he was a professor,
and now he is fishing
or was he parading his life story
standing himself like a trophy

and the line began to move
he excused himself and
he kept on pulling, trying
to rail the line in
i was watching
and he kept on pulling
and he kept on pulling

Demetri Martin -- Trendspotting: Social Networking

Demetri Martin is a talented young comedian. I really like his dead-pan style of execution, and unlike a lot of other comics, he does not rely on the usual jokes about race or gender. Instead, if you look carefully at his jokes, they rely much on creative word-play and out-of-the-box comedic thinking.

Trendspotting is a segment on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in which Demetri contributes sporadically, but what he lacks in quantity, he makes up with quality. Check out this clip on social networking, which had me laughing my ass off.



The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

黄美珍 -- 女爵

Lewis Black During the 2007 Emmys

Bill Maher Demonstrates The Ridiculousness of Religion

Oh my god, god exists, because I saw his face on a taco! Or does anyone remember the story a while back about the Monkey God appearing on the bark of a tree in Toa Payoh? Bill Maher lampoons this kind of naive thinking with comedy of pure gold...

新宝岛康乐队访问

虽然说这是新宝岛康乐队的访问，不过好像都是阿升在说话。

Part I



Part II



Part III

陈升 -- 純情青春夢

这是阿升早期为潘越云写词的一首歌。这是他最近在台南的一个活动现场Live演唱，以unplugged的方式来诠释这首歌。

==========================================================================
《純情青春夢》

作詞：陳升　作曲：鄭文魁　編曲：李正帆

送你到火車頭　越頭就做你走
親像斷線風吹　雙人放手就來自由飛
阮還有幾句話　想要對你解釋
看是藏在心肝底較實在

阮也有每天等　只驚等來的是絕望
想來想去　抹凍辜負著青春夢　青春夢
咱兩人相欠債　你欠阮有較多
歸去看破來切切　較實在

送你到火車頭　越頭阮要來走
親像斷線風吹　雙人放手就愛自由飛
不是阮不肯等　時代已經不同
查某人嘛有自己的想法

甘願是不曾等　較贏等來是一場空
想來想去　同款辜負著青春夢　青春夢
唱歌來解憂愁　歌聲是真溫柔
查某人嘛有自己的願望

阮也有每天等　只驚等來的是絕望
想來想去　抹凍辜負著青春夢　青春夢
咱兩人相欠債　你欠阮有較多
歸去看破來切切　較實在

陈升 -- 风筝

太喜欢这首歌了。总觉得阿升应该就是一个贪玩的孩子，所以才能写得出这个歌词。或许自己也是一个大顽童的关系，因此每次听到这首歌时都感同深受。

===========================================================================
《风筝》

词曲： 陈升

因为我知道你是个 容易担心的小孩子
所以我将线交你手中 却也不敢飞得太远

不管我随着风飞翔到云间 我希望你能看得见
就算我偶尔会贪玩迷了路 也知道你在等着我
我是一个贪玩又自由的风筝 每天都会让你担忧
如果有一天迷失风中 要如何回到你身边
因为我知道你是个 容易担心的小孩子
所以我会在乌云来时 轻轻滑落在你怀中

我是一个贪玩又自由的风筝 每天都会让你担忧
如果有一天迷失风中 要如何回到你身边
贪玩又自由的风筝 每天都游戏在天空
如果有一天扯断了线 你是否会来寻找我
如果有一天迷失风中 带我回到你的怀中

因为我知道你是个 容易担心的小孩子
所以我在天上的时候 却也不敢飞的太远

Seinfeld's History Class

This is a classic clip from Saturday Night Live a few years back, where Seinfeld is a history teacher trying to teach a class of ignorant students about history. Although I am not teaching history but psychology, I can attest to the fact that a lot of kids nowadays are like the students in the clip.

Toshihiko Koga's Superb Seoi Nage

When I was playing judo back in high school, Koga was a player I admired most, mainly for his kick-ass Ippon and Morote Seoi Nages (i.e. one and two armed shoulder throws). Here is a clip that shows just how devastating his shoulder throws were.

Another Tirade On Intelligent Design

This time it is not by me, but by Neil deGrasse Tyson, a famous astrophysicist in the Beyond Belief Conference in 2006.

David Beckham's Free Kicks

陈奕迅 -- 随意门

Jon Stewart On Mixed Martial Arts

This is a clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he and John Hodgman, probably one of the most dead-pan satirist in America now, discusses about mixed martial arts.



The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - The Most Trusted Name in Fake News

Antony and the Johnsons -- If It Be Your Will

This is a clip from the new documentary about Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man, where Anthony covers one of his songs, If It Be Your Will.

女权主义

(One of the few "image poems" I've written...)

新寶島康樂隊 -- 一百萬

这是阿升早期与黄连煜在新宝岛康乐队里一首非常动听的歌，讲述的是台湾南部当时很多青少年到台北寻找更好的未来，却不慎误入歧途的故事。曾读过一篇评论，说这首歌许多台湾南部的人当时听了都很有感触，因为他们的身边都有一个类似的故事。