Weekly Posting a MaVa

Haven’t been updating any posts lately cos I’ve been busy doing weekly postings for Mars And Venus... Actually

It will be a weekly posting until Christmas, and then back to the regular one post every 2 week schedule.

Meanwhile, just bear with my very quiet blog for the moment.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

Halloween & Dhampirs

Although a tad late, but I'll still like to wish my readers a Happy Belated Halloween with the above video. By the way, this video is not meant for Twilight lovers (if you unfortunately happened to be one).

And back to the other topic in my post heading: Dhampirs!

If you are a true fan of Stephanie Meyer, you would have closely followed her novels and movie adaptations of her novel, The Twilight Saga movie. Edward is a vampire and Bella is a human, they fall in love, got married and conceived a child. All the while Edward is still a vamp and Bella is still human in the "conceived a child" part. Bet you all didn't know that the child Edward and Bella is going to have will no doubt happened to be a "dhampir" when that child grows up. But for those who are still unaware.

A Dhampir in Balkan folklore is the child of a vampire father and a human mother. Dhampir powers are similar to those of vampires, but without the usual weaknesses. Dhampirs are supposed to be adept at detecting and killing vampires.

Info from: Wikipedia

Although Wikipedia seemed to have left out a little piece of important information that might possibly scarred Twilight fans into agony. A dhampir when at adulthood will ultimately seek to destroy it's vampire bloodlines like their undead relatives, family or even vamps that are not associated to them by blood or family ties. This is partly because of the fact that a dhmapir hates that he or she is only half a vampire unlike the rest of his undead bloodline who are 100% vampire. And without the interference of one part of his or her undead parent, he or she could have been 100% human through and through.

And that dhampirs generally lived a short but violent lifes while living as a half human half vamp. And therefore no doubt the "short but violent" part involves eradicating the 100% vamp that he or she detests, but at the same time there are legends that points out that "dhampirs have thin and brittle bones, hence they do not live very long.". Although the generally good part is that dhampirs are only half-vamps, this peculiar immunity to sunlight makes it easier for them to walk around in daytime (when vampires are supposed to be in slumber) to find vampire lairs and stake them in the heart. Sounds like Wesley Snipes in Blade, isn't it? That is what a dhampir is. A half-vampire, half-mortal man.

Yet at the same time, most dhmapires in lore or fiction aren't always having a good rollicking time like Wesley Snipes in Blade did, dispatching vampires with incredible artillery.

Dhampirs are often rejected their vampire blood and became extremely successful vampire hunters due to their advanced abilities. However, despite their help to the human race, they were continually rejected nonetheless because of their vampire blood. Thus, dhampirs most always spent their life as nomads, rejected by both humans and vampires--vampires due to weakness, humans due to fear of the dhampirs' strength. And that dhampirs were allegedly the only people who could see vampires invisably, so they used this advantage to be hired as hunters.

So essentially, Stephanie Meyer probably tried to inject some new interest in one of her novels to generate more interest. But without realizing that the dhampir child Bella is expecting from the union she had with Edward. She is ultimately daming the Cullen family into obliteration all and all. And this situation makes it even worse when Edward had to turn Bella into a vampire to prevent her from dying from extreme blood loss. So all in all, this is another reason why some vampire novels like Stephanie Meyers are rather short-lived, unlike Anne Rice's novel that keeps going on and on until the author decides to stop writing ficitonal tales about vampires.

And on a last note, if you're a hater of Stephanie Meyer's interpretation of vampires, here's a Twilight Saga parody novel series that you can consider reading into. I guarantee this will be well worth the time spent on these parody novels.

Link to buy: The Twishite Saga

Link to read the very first excerpt of New Moan: Teen Fiction: The Twishite Saga: New Moan

When in China....

Yes, I've gone poof for 8 days while keeping track of Yue Yue from Foshan, Guangdong Province. This is really a tragedy, especially when young children are involved without them having a say in life choices.

If you are a daily/regular reader of EastCoastLife blog, chances are you would have recalled ECL blogging about one of her overseas holiday where she saw a lady begging at a side street. She did what anyone with a heart would do, which is to offer just a little assistance in the form of money (that's probably that much you can do if you're a visitor to another foreign country) only to have someone yell/scream/verbally abuse her just for being kind.

The issue about China is that, sometimes even if the kindness really do comes from your heart, the person whom you are helping might not even recipocrate. Instead, you will probably be blamed for something you did not do and get blamed for another issue that is called "kindness".

But if you recalled this other incident that happened in 2006, a man by the name of Peng Yu was kind enough to offer his help to an elderly woman who took a fall. And instead of thanking Peng Yu for his kind help that stems from his heart, guess what that elderly woman did? She turned around and accused Peng Yu of being the person responsible for knocking/pushing her down and demanded a huge compensation for her injuries.

This is exactly that one reason why people in Foshan seemed almost hesitant to offer any resistance to Yue Yue as the little girl lay in pain and agony while lying in a pool of her own blood. But at the same time, did any of those 18 selfish people who walked past Yue Yue ever think who in the right mind would ask a child or even sacrifice a child's life just for the sake of scamming an innocent person of his or her money? No parent in their right mind would want to put their own child in such a blasphemous act just to be able to put food on the table or be able to pay their bills.

This isn't right, no matter how you look at it. And this ultimately leads back to the very first person in China who conceived this scam idea in their blasted retarded mindset:

Look for a car that seems to be of the latest trend or model, no need to be a Ferrari or Lamborghini just decent will do. And just as that vehicle is slowing, for example, backing out of a parking lot. Quickly rush over so that the vehicle only slightly bump into you, not enough to cause bone fracture(s), amputation or any live-threatening injuries but just enough to make you take a fall. And when the driver comes out, insist that he or she pays you a huge-ass compensation for your own stupidity and scam idea that has just born out of your own evil conscience. A conscience that will ultimately lead to this current outcome where a young life is on the line just because nobody wants to be blamed for being kind.

Currently Yue Yue is presumably still in a coma. And I really wish and pray Yue Yue would survive and pull through this really unfortunate accident as her own way of rubbing back at the so-called phrase "socially responsible citizenship" and make people sit up and think.

A little assistance isn't that much to ask for, although it would go a long way before citizens in China can actually think of helping without having to worry about undue consequences that involves monetary scamming.

Readers can view this video here: Video: Outrage grows in China over run down toddler

Yes, I don't mind blogging and giving my opinions on such topics as long as it can somehow raise awareness. But I will stop short of actually putting up images or videos that literally shows the "damage" because simply put, I do not want to be a statistic that screams "The New Paper". Thank you.

Of all the chefs out there, this is definitely the best

If you are a big fan of Youtube videos, you would probably have come across Vegan Black Metal Chef headbanging and growling through vegan recipes. Yes, he's the new culinary sensation ever born or exist on this earth and he definitely did making cooking more fun.



Obviously, there's going to be a lot of detractors mainly because of 1 simple reason. They lack the genuine mind of the Vegan Black Metal Chef to come up with something that's mindblowing while fun at the same time.

On a honest point of view, I've watched Gordon Ramsay and Martha Stewart. The former is one nightmare of a chef you would think twice about taking cooking lessions with while the latter sometimes border on the really "high-end and expensive" which might sometimes break your bank account.

Vegan Black Metal Chef as compared to those 2 culinary greats is like a breath of fresh air. His recipes are not too difficult and each step is punctuated with the chef's own lol moment to make cooking even more enjoyable. Yes, there's those F-bombs every now and then. But that's how black metal is most times, and the chef's F-bombs doesn't deviate the theme of his video away to F-land totally.

And also, when was the last time you have seen someone cut his veggies on a Pentagram chopping board or even headbang into making his food cook faster. None, I dare assure you all. And for a meat lover like me, this chef really made me fall all in love again with vegan recipes once more. And currently, I can't wait for the 5th episode to be uploaded onto Youtube soon.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try that vegan Pad Thai while putting on Enter Sandman by Metallica on repeat for a feel good mood~

If you're curious, check out Vegan Black Metal Chef on FaceBook too!

Cults, Religions and their lol moments

So, last night I was watching television late into the night. I started out with CSI: Miami (just don't ask which season, I don't keep track at all) and when it ended, I was channel surfing between Channel U's 女人我最大 QUEEN, a Taiwanese female-based info lifestyle magazine that finally earned it's spotlight on TV due to the good info that is beneficial to women and Channel 8's 不老传说 (Immortal Love in Mandarin).

Channel 8 won since I remembered watching 不老传说 (Immortal Love) when I was still a student and it featured Chew Chor Meng and a slew of other great actors/actresses during Singapore's golden days of drama serials. Current Singapore-made drama serials weren't so good, but the very latest seems interesting to garner some views. In other words, it's a 1997 drama serial and you all can roughly gauge my actual age more or less.

While watching 不老传说 (Immortal Love), I kind of noticed something really interesting that I probably never paid attention to while watching Mandarin-speaking drama serials. Anyone who knows a Taoist in the drama would atuomatically know Taoist rituals when emergency arises. Vampires, possessions, exorcisms, you named it, everyone knows the Taoist rituals for it. Seems funny, you might think so?

Even old Hong Kong vampire movies are not spared either. Let me give you a scenario since I don't recall some of the actors in those old vampire Hong Kong-based flicks. The master is a Taoist who specializes in minor ghost busting activities like catching ghosts, doing exorcisms, basically really regular jobs in the scope of "ghost-catching". Major ones are the vampires or 僵尸 that needs major destroying.

Vampires are not a good sign in Mandarin or Cantonese-speaking drama serials, movies and the like. Therefore, anything that sucks blood and creates more of it's kind have to be destroyed, one way or another. So, back to topic. Master knows Taoist rituals to do all these stuffs for a living, his disciple will definitely know a trick or two to survive unforseen circumstances, although most will end up in more haphazard scenarios that demands the master's immediate attention. But in the end, everything's well again although the master would be more or less angry at his disciples for making a misstep in one of the Taoist rituals performed, that calls for the master to solve it somehow.

And this somehow weirdly brought me back to when I was reading a book about the Tokyo subway gas attack orchestrated by Shoko Asahara. Yes, it is a tragedy when one recalls about that incident. Normal people going about their daily lives, catching public commute to work or school or maybe even enjoying a long-awaited holiday with loved ones for all we know. And this madman just had to totally ruined it for everyone by orchestrating a gas attack just to prove his illogical points. Although, if we do consider the pros and cons about it, we should probably be glad it's just nerv gas instead of an actual bomb, or the consequences won't be just the statistic "13 dead, thousands more suffered from after-effect".

Back to what this post is actually about: "Cults, Religions and their lol moments".

This weird little cult so-called Aum Supreme Truth had it's members following the teachings of a fat, bearded, partially sighted false prophet Shoko Asahara. And get this straight! Members wear "Mickey Mouse" headpieces through which they believe they will receive Shoko's thoughts. Which is a mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, New Age occultism and mostly crankiness. If you're unsure how that description looks like, look no further:



Somehow, I doubt anyone would hear any type of messages through those ears at any time soon. If Walt Disney is still alive, he'd possibly demand a huge compensation for making people believe that "Disney is Evil" due to the mis-use of those ears. Poor Mickey Mouse, and I've never ever met that famous mouse up till now. And now, it's famous ears has been implicated by Shoko Asahara for his weird beliefs. I'd rather go live like a hermit than to wear that kind of stuff if I ever found myself joining a cult for no apparent reason.

But on the other hand, Witchcraft has been officially announced to be a religion and followers and practitioners are free to pursue Witchcraft without having to be tied and burned at the stake, huh? End story, Witchcraft isn't all about hexing and cursing due to this little law called Rules of Three, which I'll just shorten it to "Whatever you do to others, it will come back to you 3 times you've sent/give out". In other words, if I wished you good luck and the time comes when you do receive good blessings, it will come back to me by 3 times. Same goes for nasty purposes. If I intend to send you a cursing, say, for you to go bald even though I know you love your hair to death. You'll go bald, and when it's time for me to suffer, it won't just be plain old balding when it comes back to me, Yeah, sucks one way or another if you go around cursing someone else.

But on hindsight, Witchcraft or Wicca isn't all about the bad stuffs. I've come across various books and websites on Wicca-related stuffs and most rituals I've come across are more on the "blessing" than "cursing" ones. Besides, who wants to be re-cursed back three times at one go? Not me! And talking about Witchcraft or Wicca rituals, most of them are really about blessings and the items/materials needed are mostly found in your own kitchen. Good luck charm for finding a job, a tamer version of making someone feel uncomfortable by just using cat feces and a photo, and also slimming rituals. LOL

Ultimately, it's not in anyone's right to stop you from following a religion. But if that so-called religion imposes weird rules and statements about armageddon, mass suicide. Please stop and think. No right religion would advocate suicide in order to prepare for armageddon. That hot, steamy and fiery planet called "Sun" will keep shining on for another few million more years to come. So therefore, none of us will have the "good fortune" of ever seeing armageddon happen in our current lifetime. Maybe on Hollywood produced movies or drama serials.

Last but not least, a list of Opening theme videos of SBC/TCS/Mediacorp Series if anyone of my readers are curious about the golden days of Singapore drama serials.

Remembering Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

All thoughts, memories and condolences to be sent to rememberingsteve@apple.com

R.I.P Steve Jobs.

You gave your all to providing the next generation easier access and control to music-on-the-go. Your creativity, vision and inspirations will be remembered.

Latest post on Mars And Venus... Actually

have you checked out the latest post over at Mars And Venus... Actually yet? If not, go over and check out my latest post.

And starting from 16 October to 25 December (Christmas Day), it'll be a weekly posting that is Christmas related. Normal posting dates will resume from 8 January 2012 once again. This is done in a way that counts down to Christmas via weekly postings.

Hurry, go bookmark Mars And Venus... Actually for your latest Christmas-related articles.

What exactly will the topics be about? I'm not going to spoil the surprise, so I'll leave it to you my readers, to find out.

It's BlogSpot, not EntreCard

Finally, received word from EntreCard with regards to the post Site is not working? that the issue lies with BlogSpot, instead of EntreCard. And the warning I kept seeing upon logging into EntreCard has also been removed. What I got from a EntreCard representative:

I removed the warning. Apparently there was some down-time with Blogspot.com for maintenance, and I assume that is what the mod who warned you was seeing. I logged all of this in the mod email list.

Thank you EntreCard for the fast response :-D

Katy Perry isn't E.T.

Most of us love or hate pop music, one way or another. I listen to current pop music only when I need an adrenaline rush to get things done real quick. If not, most times I would prefer oldies like Louis Armstrong or Beatles or the more "oldie" metal bands like Metallic and AC/DC. Yeah, sometimes I'm really so old soul or old school, as some of you might prefer to call it.

So, Katy Perry's E.T. music is kinda fresh, but no doubt is a music video "cat-fight" against Lady Gaga who is this generation's Madonna with a penchant for fashion re-invention and the likes. Although I have to admit honestly, Katy Perry sometimes do offend a little with the choice of writing music. Take for instance, Ur So Gay was rumored to have been written in response to Tokio Hotel winning a particular award that Katy had her eyes set on.

But enough of that pop bickering amongst the celebrities. What I'm going to talk about is mainly Katy Perry's E.T. music video here. If you have not watched it yet, just click the Play button that I've already embedded in this blog spot. Try to remember as much as you can about Katy's music, the scenes in the video being the utmost importance here. Now that you have, here's what I'm going to say.

Katy Perry's "definition" of an E.T. , a.k.a Extra Terrestrial is actually a Baobhan Sith. Why so, you might ask and wonder all at the same time? It's really easy peasy explaining. Remember how I asked you, my beloved reader, to watched Katy Perry's video that I've embedded in this post and that you should try to remember the scenes featured in her video?

Most times, Katy's legs were covered in long flowing gowns in the video itself. If you compared this part to the legend of the Baobhan Sith, both "have deer hooves for feet, which they keep hidden under the dress". And then finally, at the end of the music video, we can all clearly see that Katy Perry's rendition of an E.T. is a person with a human upper body and deer hooves for her legs.

No doubt, Katy is a beautiful woman by any means. Back to the Baobhan Sith lore, "A baobhan sith has the form of a beautiful woman in a green dress". Next, Katy's E.T. self is in a place where it's far away from human population, or rather to a place where there's no visible sign of society existance, then to Baobhan Sith lore again, "Once a year she arises from her grave to feed on young men by night in forests or other natural places away from society". Katy's E.T. has really long and sharp looking fingernails, and for the Baobhan Sith lore, "it seems they use sharp fingernails." By now you can see all the seemingly familiar "connections" between Katy's E.T, and the Baobahn Sith or lore. Too much, you suppose?

Yeah, the Baobhan Sith is actually the new E.T. We've all been either fooled by science fiction writers through and through or Katy has convinced all of mankind that Baobhan Sith are in fact extra terrestrials at some point.

Points noticed once more for double checking:

• Long dress covering lower torso - Checked


• Both have deer hooves for leg/feet - Checked


• Form of a beautiful woman - Checked


• Almost no sign of human population - Checked


• Long and sharp fingernails - Checked


• E.T. and Baobhan Sith being almost "supernatural" to comprehend - Checked

But for the record, if you're curious to read about Katy's E.T. music video from another perspective, try Andrew's Blog: What is Katy Perry's E.T. about?

Site is not working?

I have been seeing this notice on EntreCard upon logging in for the past 1-2 weeks. Apparently, they claimed that my blog isn't working and I had to fixed it. Despite not posting between a few days to the previously few months to a year, I never once took down my blog for whatsoever reasons unannounced. Even if it comes to the point where I'm changing my blog URL to something fitting of the layout, I would let everyone know by making a post about it (while at the same time ensuring no one else gets a hold of my old blog address to create a troll blog, trust me, I've encountered it once before).

So, I logged in to EntreCard and immediately sent in a ticket explaining that my blog is still working as per usual, and that I've never taken it down. Instead, I got a reply in my email as follows:

Your account '-Chopsticks- The One And Only Original Chopsticks Blogger' on entrecard.com has been warned. The administrator provided the following message:

Site is not working. Please correct this by September 20, 2011 to avoid being removed from the EntreCard circulation.

Please contact support@entrecard.com if you have any questions regarding this warning.

PLEASE NOTE: You are expected to resolve this issue promptly. Failure to do so will result in the removal
of your Entrecard account.

Please include the following:
User ID: *****

Like, major big ouch here. Either they're using the wrong Internet browser or their site is not working. My blog is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox, not Google Chrome please >.<

Anyone one of you guys on Entrecard encountered such a situation before? Please comment and shed some light for me since that message has been on up till now whenever I logged in. Thanks in advance too~

2 lives lost to tragedy

I haven't been posting for a couple of days partly because I was eagerly following the news report recently of a mother and her son's corpse found floating face-down while holding on to her son, right in Singapore's Bedok Reservoir. They are respectively 31-year-old Madam Tan Sze Sze and three-year-old Jerald Chin Le Hui.

What ultimately drives someone to the brink of suicide, even contemplating on doing this act with their own children who might not even be too young to understand what went wrong with their parents. What could have went through both mother and son's mind when their lungs were rapidly filled with water, what with the mother trying not to surface to breathe or even scream for help and young Jerald's mind as he could probably be trying to break free from his mother's grasp from all that's happening.

Marriage is forever and till do us part in death. And even though both Madam Tan and her husband had marriage woes, it's totally selfish to just seek death with her son in tow. Little Jerald has such a long and bright future ahead of him, considering that he's only a mere 3-year-old child. Even if it comes to the point where both parties in a marriage has to settle for a divorce, it shouldn't have come to 2 deaths, with 1 being wrongly cast into the shadows of the dead.

Sometimes when I come across such newspaper reports, I cannot help but wonder. Exactly what were these people, especially the one who committed suicide was thinking when they did such an act with their own child whom they carry in their womb for so many months only to snuff out a small live due to another person's infidelity or mistakes. I believe no one has the right to take away someone else's live even if they're on the brink of despair.

And the worst heinous act of this atrocity? TNP happily reported how little Jerald's playmate was struggling through his untimely funeral. What in the hell is wrong with TNP? This is a family grieving for lost loved ones, a family who needed final closure in the darkest moments of their lives. And there TNP were, gleefully snapping photos of Shaun Tan (Jerald's cousin and playmate) struggling to hold back his tears as he performed the final rites for his dead cousin. This is not something a child this young has to go through at an early stage. Losing someone they loved and cared about, and to make this process even more difficult, photographers snapping photos because they needed to do a report.

Can't the media at least grow some sort of brain tissue in their head to at least do a private interview while at the same time being mindful that there is a family grieving for 2 lives that cannot be returned? Even if there is a need to fulfill their reporting duties, couldn't they have at least published this news on the Internet instead of splashing it out on the front page of a dumb tabloid newspaper, dearly titled TNP?

Please TNP, have some respect for the dead and their grieving family.

For full news report, go to News Report @ AsiaOne

iPhone Woe

Ah, the wonders of auto-correct in iPhones. Some are hilarious, some amusing. But this takes the cake. Father hacks kid's iPhone just to rename his name as "DarthVader" just for the sole purpose of saying that 1 famous line, "Luke, I'm your father". Although the pre-requisite for this joke must insist that your kid happened to be named Luke for the joke to work.

Talking about cellphones, I'd possibly like to change mine. I had once talked about my LG phone in an old post previously. But for those who are unaware of how it looks like, here goes:



It's the LG ice cream phone, reason why it's called ice cream phone is because the colors look like ice cream. The #1 reason why I am considering of having a phone change is that, sometimes, my phone just hangs for no apparent reason. And the only way to "reset" it would be to slip off the back cover, pull out the battery and replace it. Sometimes, it doesn't work, and I'd have to pull out the battery once more and replace it again. And when I do that, I lose all the contacts on my phone. When I say all, I mean ALL!

It really does get frustrating at times when I saved important phone numbers inside, including the twitter number. This means I have to practically hunt down my numbers just so I can re-programmed it back into the phone. I have no clue why it hangs so much. And just 2 days ago, I realized that my phone doesn't ring or even vibrate after I set the alarm. As soon as the time comes, it lights up. That's all. And after that hoo-ha, it hang again...

Basically, this ice cream phone series from LG is more on looks, and maybe the technology to take really good pictures due to the high-resolution camera. Other than that, practicality-wise with so much hang issues, I'd definitely not buy another ice cream phone again.

Although at present, I'm kind of eyeing this baby here. Still by LG no doubt, it's called the LG Cookie Cube C320i. I know I tend to go for phones that are named after food. But then, at least the pink isn't so baby pink. The other good thing about this LG Cookie Cube C320i phone is that, it's not iPhone so no worries on the auto-correct issue you see right at the top of this post. Instead, I kinda like it for the fact that:

Features convenient Push Email functionality that keeps you socially networked at all times and also optimized features for texting and web browsing including various SNS native clients such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Windows Live™ Instant Messenger. Supports FM Radio and features Video Recording and 2MP Camera that prepare you to capture every special moment in life.

Definitely a good choice for on-the-run-twitter moment. What do you think?

About Aokigahara

After a little thinking and deliberation, I realized that the previous post might probably steer towards the occult/paranormal. And so, I think I'll post up 2 videos that are somehow but not 100% related to Aokigahara to lighten up the mood. Don't worry, there's English subtitles available in the video itself. Enjoy!





And also, don't forget to check out mars and venus... actually for the latest post and many more interesting posts to come.

Forest of Death

And so, back to my Tumblr blog. I've previously uploaded an image of this controversial book along with a movie made about this book:



This book is written by Wataru Tsurumi. First published on July 4 1993, this book provides explicit descriptions and analysis on a wide range of suicide methods such as overdosing, hanging, jumping, and carbon monoxide poisoning. But never anywhere in this book discourages its readers from attempting suicide.

And everyone probably thought that this would be the 1st and final volume ever published. However after much intense criticism and debate, the author subsequently published the second book, Our "Complete Manual of Suicide which includes fan letters and hate mail the author had received.

The reason why I thought this place where people actually go all the way just to commit suicice (a.k.a Aokigahara Forest / Sea of Trees) seemed really familiar is because I've previously watched this Hong Kong movie starring Ekin Cheng and Shu Qi (directed by one of the famous Pang brothers, Danny Pang). The movie title itself is called Forest of Death.



The summary of the plot/place is really reminiscent of Aokigahara. Incidentally, Aokigahara was never meant to be a place for suicides to go to just for the sake of committing suicide (You can pretty much only hang yourself if you really want to commit suicide in a forest, I suppose). What started it off is due to a 1960 novel written by Seichō Matsumoto, called Nami no Tō (波の塔). At the end of this novel, the 2 protagonists commited suicide in a forest called Aokigahara. And that is where it's reputation took off. However, surprise surprise, the history of suicide in Aokigahara predates the novel's publication, and the place itself has long been associated with death: ubasute may have been practiced there into the 19th century, and the forest is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of those left to die.

What is ubasute, you may wonder? Back in the old days, there is this custom where an infirm or elderly relative was carried to a mountain, or some other remote, desolate place, and left there to die, either by dehydration, starvation, or exposure. Presumably to save money on official funeral rites. Back in the old days, most common folk were not really rich to begin with and only rich folks like samurais, daimyos for example were probably the only people who can afford to have funerals, whether they are big or small. And what do the common folk with no money for burial do? They just simply carry their elderly, preferrably those who do not have long to live, or have been sick for so long they do not have a chance of recovery form their illness, deep all the way into the mountains and left them there to die.

But exaclty why did I feel that Aokigahara and Forest of Death have so much in common? There is just 1 simple reason for it.

If you ever go to Aokigahara in person or just simply watch a YouTube video, you probably would have noticed signages put up by people, volunteers telling suicidal people that "Your life is a precious gift to you by your parents. Treasure it" for example.



In the movie, Forest of Death and according to Amazon:

"In this mind-twisting thriller from the creators of "The Eye" and "Re-cycle," a dark forest known for causing mysterious deaths becomes the focus of a recent savage murder. A homicide detective, a botanist researching the paranormal, and his tabloid TV reporter girlfriend each embark on a treacherous journey to the heart of this "Forest of Death," where a chilling revelation awaits them all."

What I've watched from this movie is that, there is this old forest guard who constantly goes around making up handmade signs telling suicidal people that "Your life is precious", "Nothing is unsolvable in this world" and such signages to deter people from killing themselves. Ring a bell now? In the movie, this old forest guard's daughter comitted suicide in the "Forest of Death" due to a failed relationship and he believes the soul of his dead daughter still lingers in there, unable to cross over to the other side. Hence, he decided to stay within the forest and take up the selfless duty of erecting all those signages to deter people from killing themselves.

What makes Aokigahara such a scary, or maybe unique place? All these deaths and suicides, may they be intentional or not, creates some sort of warped atmosphere that makes the whole place take on a life by itself. What started as a beautiful forest transformed into a place that seems alive, eager to "trap" people who might not even have the initial intention to end their lives. It is a huge place, all 35 km2 of it. Even though there are actual paths for curious folks who dare go all the way there for some Look-see, it is fairly easy to lose your bearings and find yourself totally lost inside the forest itself. That's why I said that it has a life of it's own, bent on increasing more deaths than before.

People who buy a one-way ticket all the way to Aokigahara to commit suicide, there are maybe 2 types of them. The 1st are the ones who are insistent on ending their lives once and for all and they really do go all the way deep into the forest so as to prevent being found while in the midst of hanging themselves. As for the 2nd type, they are still hesistant. And this is why one can see ropes starting from one tree to another tree inside the forest. In the event these people decide against killing themselves, they can simply find their way out of the forest with the rope they wound around the trees or paths. Like a breadcrumb trail to safety.

Finally, as much as Hong Kong is good for making horror movies like these, at least they didn't come up with a chinese or cantonese version of the The Complete Manual of Suicide.

Phew!

Thank you for the Likes and Reblogs

From: Remembering 911 on Chopsticks blog to Chopsticks: Online & Offline @ Tumblr. A big THANK YOU to the tumblr users who took the time to find that post and reblog it for everyone else.

If you're still unaware, I do have a photo- and quote-based blog over at Tumblr: Chopsticks: Online & Offline. Heck, you can even follow me on Tumblr to check out the latest photo-happenings I find while surfing the Internet.

mars and venus... actually

mars and venus... actually is a female-mostly lifestyle blog I've started up around 2 years back. Although the articles in there are mostly geared towards a female readership, this doesn't necessarily mean that male readers can't get a good amount of information from it too. There are definitely some good articles in there which my female readers can definitely share their their male acquaintances like friends, colleagues, neighbors and even male bloggers on the blogosphere.

All the articles over at mars and venus... actually is also a good source for male readers to get a better understanding on how women think and act too.

And you all know what's awesome about it, it's coming back. Watch out for the latest and newest post after such a long hiatus, coming straight at you on 18 September 2011. Yes, this year lol. So, remember to bookmark your calendars for this important date. What topic will it be? I'll let you, my dear readers, find out on 18 September itself.

Remembering 911

Image © candleandribbon.org

Let us take a brief moment of silence and remember those lost in the September 11 attacks.

Let us not forget those who sacrifice their lives in order to save others.

Let us not forget that terrorism is not the solution in any possible worst case scenario.

And let us not forget those who worked hard day and night looking for survivors who might miraculously survive in this horrific incident.

R.I.P to those who have perished for you are not forgotten.

ZOMG! Do you like carrots?

LOL! Checked around and managed to find at least 1 paid "blogpost" after so many sites >_< Better than nothing, although I really have to admit that the questions asked in dNeero are getting kind of weird and nonsensical all along.

Other than that, kindly bear with me kind readers as I try somehow to get all my "paid-to-blog" accounts up and working again. Basically, there are quite a lot that kept asking me to blog about casinos, sex toys, etc. I really really have no interest to blog about these stuffs that are totally not related to my blog at all. I ended up getting mildly angry and kinda went M.I.A on my blog(s) >_<

I know it's really irresponsible to just went off without saying anything. But it's even more annoying to log to these "paid-to-blog" sites just to decline offers on casinos, gambling and alcohol related jobs..

1st post on tumblr

Well, after some good soul-searching and almost close to “abandoning” my blog, I’ve come up with this decision. I will still blog, but stuffs I found while surfing the Internet, I’d mostly post them up on tumblr here: http://puniao.tumblr.com/

Instead of just lumping everything onto my blog, and thus making the loading time even longer. Blog-wise, I’m going to try keeping it to what it is supposed to be, a blog with loads of text. Yes, long boring text that mostly scares off readers who don’t like to read long lines of text.

Let’s face it, that’s what a blog is for. Text, text and more text. But meaningful nonetheless. But using this tumblr site as a 2nd substitute blog for photos found on the Internet to the ones I snapped in real life, it won’t bog down my blog. As mentioned in the 2nd paragraph, my blog is taking way too long to load due to the insane amount of photos I’ve found here and there.

So, remember to bookmark this tumblr site along with my blog address. It’s going to take some time, but everything will be nicely classified in a sense that one portal is for everday life-sharing moments while the other is a everday-photo sharing moments.

And in case you all forgot the URLS, here they are again:

Chopsticks: Photo - http://puniao.tumblr.com/

Chopsticks: The One And Only Original Chopsticks Blogger - http://sexybluemame.blogspot.com/

Last but not least, Mars And Venus… Actually ( http://marsnvenusactually.blogspot.com/ ) isn’t abandoned too. I’ve realised that uploading a post every week leaves me, quite frankly, close to zilch when it comes to sharing. So, I’ve taken the same amount of time “abandoning” my blog to also brainstorm on how much time should I leave in between posts. 2 weeks interval or 1 month interval? Something like a online magazine, since 1 month seems a bit tad too long for readers who do want the next post and are curious about it. Whereas new post per 2 week interval seems almost like I’m uploading weekly, which practically makes no difference. Sounds confusing, huh?

Coming up with posts (for Mars And Venus… Actually ) has been ongoing while I wasn’t online to blog or even do anything. It’s better than to try and rush out a post at breakneck speed when i could have taken some time to slowly but steadily come up with something.

So, stay tuned while I worked out some more stuffs with regards to my blog(s) and such.

Sincerely,

Pu Niao