I Believe(d) in Harvey Dent

I saw someone pasting this small sticker upon a poster in a MTR station in HK, took this photo and it just got me thinking. While everyone is blogging about the Joker, let us look at the lesser 'Villain'. Harvey Dent.
*****note.therewillbeSPOILERShereforthemovieTheDarkKnightwhichyoushouldhavewatchedbynow.ifyoudidn'tyouarealosersogoonaheadandreadthisspoilercauseyoudeserveit****

Harvey Dent. The White Knight of Gotham. In the Dark Knight, Chris Nolan purposely placed him opposite Bruce Wayne as a juxtaposition to the Batman.
A simple Refresher. Harvey Dent is the famous district attorney in Gotham City who decides to rise up and fights against the corrupt and the Mob of Gotham. Idealistic and courageous he is what Gotham city deserves. Their White knight in their darkest hour. Charming, determined and most importantly, charismatic. He does something Batman cannot do, take on the mob in the broad daylight. He is the hero with a face, allusions of the white knight of pure shining virtue. He uses the law to challenge the mob. Alluding the classical concept of fighting evil with good. In contrast, he pinpoints to how Batman, a vigilante is one who fights evil with evil. In all respects, Batman is a criminal, who passes his own judgement and punishment by breaking the law.
Of course, ceteris paribus, a white knight is far desirable as he is a symbol of Hope to Gotham. Whereas Batman is symbol that law and order will return, Harvey Dent is a sign that law and order is returning. In other words, Batman's existence is an indirect sign that anarchy is present while Dent heralds the end of anarchy and the beginning of peace and order. He is pure.
The problem, however, with something pure, is that it can be stained easilly. This is not something metaphorical but its something in a practical sense. Dent, in all of his abstract ideologies attracts and draws in his direct opposite. The joker.
Although many may term the joker a beautiful lunatic, I prefer to see him as a Hero for anarchy. In the same way how Dent believes in order, the Joker believes in chaos. What happen when you mix chaos with order? The pure essence of order gets disrupted. Which is exactly what happened the Harvey... His purity gets stained by the Joker.
Why does Batman prevail? It is because he is on the common ground between both sides.
btw, just a little easter egg that I Am sure everyone should be aware of. The name joker stems from the playing card, the Joker. Although it has no actual function to say, its presence is an anomally, thus, creates... chaos.

So... the next Batman question; which Joker is Better? Tim Burton's Jack or Chris Nolan's Heath ? Let me do some research before I blog again.

Afterthought.... Purity is vulnerable. Ideals are weak if left to stood on their own... Have I been to idealistic from the start?

How do you measure?

How do you measure love?
Passion? Smiles, hugs and kisses? Time spent snuggling with each other watching movies? Or perhaps the money spent on one another. I asked this question out to a friend, of which the reply was simple. 'it's the commitment, the mutual exclusivity of each other to each other. Everything else is a fringe benefit. '

Before I continue, I just want to say that I am rest-deprived. Not sleep. I can go without sleep for a very long time, but my head needs to be a peace. This time, I am rocked with conflicts in turbulent waves of ponder. The last time I felt like this, was the day before my decision not to sign on to the SAF.

Perhaps what really struck me was the term 'mutual exclusivity'. Blunt, but true. As humans, we demand that what we have is special. It has to be something that noone else can enjoy before it is special. For example, if we commit equal time to more than one party... is the lover twice as loving? No, in our social practices, he is a bastard casanova. (and he probably is)
But there has to be more than having a silly exclusive mini-club right?
I looked up the dictionaries as to what the definition of Love is. The results are dissappointing;

1.
a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2.
a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3.
sexual passion or desire.
4.
a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

The list goes on. Basically speaking, Love, in all of its English technicalities, is not anything linked to mutuality. In that case, why the underlying emphasis especially among lovers? I believe that it is out of respect that this mutuality is built up.
As much as for passion, respect is required in a healthy relationship. Mutual respect.
So often we see relationships that are one-sided, one partner does all of the work or perhaps accomodates all. But what is the point if there is no equality between them? The term partner doesnt even apply.
When I was naive, I thought that the only way to measure love was by the time. For only Time can tell. Now I realise that many people stay together, not out of love, but out of security and the commitment not mutually exclusive to one another but towards the safety zone they have built up for themselves. Perhaps there really is no way of measuring Love. Perhaps the only one who knows is the Big Man in heaven who silently watches the Universe in its mundane, eternal course.

Random Filler

Hi, I am squirming in the hotel lounge cos I just feel irritated.

I am back in my homeland HongKong.
I am bored out of my wits cause I dont see you until tmr night.
I feel pissed cos I lost my wallet for the first time in my life. Along with my Zoo name tag which I forgot to remove.
I cannot get the Joker out of my head. Yes, Dark Knight rocked my socks.
Hong Kong is hotter than I expected.
I am missing out so many OG outings and Council dinners cause I am here in HK.
I am still pissed at myself for losing my wallet cause I couldnt be bother to check under the plane seat. Just had to be THAT one place I didnt check...
I feel sian.

11th Hour: My Calling

Another moment passes by in my life,
and yet another chapter comes to a close. Yesterday was the last day of work for me at the Singapore Zoo. I really wanted to spend my 21st birthday working as it would be symbolic to me but in the end... my cough ended up getting the better of me. So as one door closes, another opens, but before I step back into the life of a student... I just want to take one final glance at the things I've learnt.

Before I worked at the Zoo, Ive always believed Humans to be a superior species in the animal kingdom. Each animal has a part of God's gift in themm, an adaption engineered and constructed specifically for them to survive in their unique environment. Take a little glance around and you'll see it. From the amazing wings on the butterflies to the powerful lungs of the blue whale, each animal has their gift. God's gift to man was his amazing mastery over mental thought processes and the ability to communicate with one another. It was because we have had these two key adaptations that we have colonised the four corners of the globe. In essence, we are different from the other animals as we are able to control our own fates.

So when I started working at the Singapore Zoo, as with most visitors, I became mesmerised with the close contact I have had with 'the other species'. The first thought that occupied my mind was how similar these animals were to us. I recall a very special encounter (friends at the zoo may know who I am talking about):
It was raining, and the zookeepers were mobilised to collect all the Free-ranging orangutans in the trees. Most of them responded quickly and came down to be brought to their indoor dens. One youngster, Merlin was day-dreaming by himself and threw a fit when he found out he was the only one left. In the end, the keepers, being at the edge of their patience sent chomel (his surrogate sis/mom) up to drag him back down, but not after a few good smacks to reprimand him.

It was totally amazing how human-like some animals can be. But as my time in the Zoo continued... I got to see more and more of the animals I work with. It was not before long that I came to a revelation:

Animals are not really like Humans.Its the reverse in reality. It is Humans who are more like animals. In fact, humans are animals not matter civilised we claim to be.

I mean this in anything but a derogative manner. Its quite the oppositve. I've said in my previous post how animals go to work in very much the same way we do. The more animals you observe... the more you realise that we are not unique and superior in any way. In fact, the way we squabble among ourselves, hunger and crave for certain things is exactly the same behavious that ALL animals exhibit.

The main drive I had for joining the zoo is not only my passion for animals but the driving need in me to pass on the conservation message to the general public. My time here reinforced my calling: Conservation of the planet we live on.

We are very much similar to the animals we live with. For some reason, perhaps because of our cultural pride, Man have elevated himself into a different categorisation from the rest of the planet. But this is ludicrious, we are part of the planet, not separate, not superior. We share the same planet as minute posion-arrow frog and the gargantuan African Savanna Elephant. Sadly, we multiply and enjoy our existence at the opportunity cost of our neighbours. We are bringing on the onslaught of the next era of mass extinction.

Extinction is a normal part of life. 99.9999%( four decimals) of all life that ever existed on this planet have become extinct. That is roughly... 4-to 5 species per century. But our growth on this planet is speeding up this process to an unnatural rate. In the past 500 years... biologist have identifed at least 5416 extinct species.

We should stop debating on the ethics or the 'percieved reality' of our impact. The evidence is staggering. The sad thing is, we are very much linked to all these advents. We are just another animal afterall. The more we destroy and plunder our home planet the more we are driving ourselves into a fatal corner. Its not the Planet that we must save. It's us. Ironically. life on this planet will carry on.

No matter how much we devastate and defile this planet from its natural state, ecology will find a way as it always had for the past 4 billion years. Earth has all the time in the world for reconfiguration, but we don't. This is the 11th hour of us Humans to choose how we want to live. To prolong our time on this planet or to be marked down in God's annual as a species who brought forth the Holocene mass extinction and ultimately their own demise?

This is the calling in my life that I have grown to accept. To dedicate my life to inform the general public of the impact that we are bringing forth and that WE have the power to change the course of history.

We are like animals because we are the same. We share the same food, the same air, the same water.... the same home we call Earth.

ps: The photo on top is my last working session with these beautiful orangutans. On the extreme left is Chomel who I mentioned earlier. The reason for my choice of this photo is because Sumatran Orangutans such as Chomel WILL become extinct in the wild even before I graduate from College. Let this be a photograph be a long-lasting reminder for my calling.

Suprising comment

" Don't ever stop dreaming. Ever since you were a child, you've always been a big dreamer and most of your dreams did come true in the end."

-how true... let us all continue to have the courage to dream...

TGP : Refresher Post

Fun At Work

this is yet another -___- moment during breaks

A Red-crested Yonks

In all his natural splendour

Fish&co.

-daph

350X

I have switched sides...

Guns of the Patriot

Metal Gear Solid III

beautiful ending to a beautiful game.

Once Again

Rest Well Old Man

Merlin

Along with Zabu, Merlin's one my most favourite orangs.

White Cheeked Gibbon

Ghost

Staring into the eyes that belongs to the Ghosts of the Savannas
They may run faster than any other land animals on the planet,
but they may not be able to outrun extinction.

'River Horse'

Ballerinas my arse

--

"Only after the last tree has been cut down,
the last river has been poisoned, the last fish caught,
only then will you find that money cannot be eaten"

-Cree Indian Prophecy