Proof that Disney should stop Forcing their Stars to Sing.

Okay, I've been in the States for a little more than two months now and I am kinda liking it here. Kinda. Liking.

Anyways, I've always liked the USA national anthem. It has a beautiful melody to it, and it sounds so patriotic and uplifting.

(Unlike some countries whose name shall not be mentioned).

So I started watching the videos of celebrities singing the national anthem at NFL and the Superbowl (not sure how these two differ, but that's not the point.) on YouTube.

Some were sung beautifully. Some... yuck.

One of the yuck ones was by Demi Lovato. Another pitiful Disney star forced to sing for her supper. Okay, that might sound too harsh but seriously, she can't sing.

Here's the video of her singing at an NFL match. Pardon me if your ears bleed.




She wasn't that bad I suppose. But definitely nowhere near good enough to sing at such a big event like that. Plus all that riffing was just so annoying. She definitely tried too hard. Unfortunately, it ended up sounding like she was having an asthma attack or hyperventilating or something.

Another horrible one was by Miley Cyrus. I don't know what the occasion was but it was sung at the White House.
     

In all fairness, I think Miley Cyrus did a slightly better job than Demi Lovato. There wasn't any of the ridiculous riffing that Lovato threw in for kicks, and she didn't sound as if she was trying that hard.

Don't give me the BS that Miley Cyrus was only 14 at the time and Demi Lovato was 16. There is no age limit to talent like that. You either got it or you don't.

Proof:

Video A - The Cactus Cuties Singing the National Anthem. (I don't know how old they were in this video)



Video B) Billy Gilman singing the national anthem.




Video C) Nothing to do with the national anthem but I just wanted to show how amazing the voices of young singers can be even without the music.



Video D) Just a random video I found showing the awesome talents of child singers.
The embed code was disabled but here is the url if you guys wanna check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu0UoouAyeU


Off the topic of child singers, here are some of the videos of the national anthem sung beautifully by award-winning singers.

Notice how the real singers sing so effortlessly and beautifully compared to Demi Lovato (mainly) and Miley Cyrus.


First one is by Kelly Clarkson.





Here is Beyonce at the Superbowl.




And Celine Dion, though ironically she's Canadian LOLZ. Still beautiful anyways.




Faith Hill at the Superbowl.





AND THE BEST OF ALL =D





DAVID ARCHULETA (at the Pro Bowl)





Call me biased but isn't he just the cutest <3


Okay, so maybe I should change the title of this post to the American National Anthem. But still... it's your national anthem people! Show it some respect by at least allowing REAL singers to sing it at major events.

Stop forcing actors to sing please. There was a video of Hayden Panettiere singing the national anthem also but it was so bad I didn't want to put it up.

And Disney, please redeem your honor as the greatest brand of childhood fun. Stop forcing your teenage actors to sing and then slutty-fying them to distract us from their terrible singing. We loved you before you shoved High School Musical, Hannah Montana etc. into our face. Stick to Mickey Mouse please.


Bleh.


Peace. Love. And All That.

PWNS!

Okay I am not going to (try) not to post any more of my sob stories from now on. Today's post will be about a word that has become near and dear to many of the game-crazed teenagers of the 21st century.

The word is:

PWNED

(pronounced poh-w-n. It's like owned with a 'p')


Meaning: Being successfully able to conquer/dominate your opponent. (or something like that)

Example sentence: That team totally pwned us.

I was watching Nigahiga's video on this particular subject and I started wondering, "Hmm... How the heck did this word come about?"

So I googled it.

According to urbandictionary.com;

1. The origins of "pwned" are debated but there are two possible sources:
a. A prominent quake player mis spelled "owned" and the new word "pwned" was adopted by people who thought it was "1337".
b. A warcraft map designer misspelled "owned" and thus people started using "pwned" instead.

Other definitions from the one I have given above are as follows:
In video games:
1. Completely annihilated or dominated.
2. Perfectly owned, meaning the other player did not do any damage.

Example sentence :

I pwned your head with my awp.

OR

I just pwned your ass noob!

Personally, I don't think it originated from a prominent quake player or a warcraft designer.

I think it's just a typo that hyper-excited players make when they are bragging about their kills or victories or whatever you call it.

Take the urbandictionary.com sentences for example.

"I pwned your head with my awp."

The player who must typed this must have just secured a victory or some sort.

God knows what an 'awp' is, but clearly he's happy about something.

So in all his excitement, he must have just accidentally pressed the 'p' button on the keyboard instead of the 'o'.

(The 'p' and 'o' buttons are right next to each other if you hadn't noticed.)

Trust me, I know how excited these people can get. (My brother is one of them).

Typos are nothing compared to their "humiliation" victory or whatever that is you call it in Counterstrike.

So, multiply this case of adrenaline-crazed gamers who type abbreviated, typo-filled messages to their victims by a billion times and what do we have?

A new word !

Hence, PWNED was born!

For more information (and for your viewing pleasure) here is Nigahiga's video on the word 'Pwn'.

So, gamers, start incorporating the word PWNED into your virtual vocabulary and you will see how nicely it can insult your opponents.


Peace! =D

I should have gone to Australia.

Sigh... Before I came to the States, I was so adamant about not going to Australia.

"So many Malaysians there lah, like second Malaysia already. Walk down the street and ask a random person, "Hey where r u from?" "Malaysia."

I was such an ass. WHY DID I NOT GO TO AUSTRALIA?

WHY DID I COME TO THE UNITED STATES??

Not that the US isn't great, it's awesome. It's just I have no fucking friends here.

Is it so hard to ask for one friend whom I can hang out with and can speak bloody English????

I just hate feeling so lost and confused every time I hang out with my Taiwanese friends.

When they laugh about something, I don't know what they're laughing at.

When go out, they usually don't include me because it's no fun having the banana around.

I want to laugh too. I want to go out and have fun too. Is that too much to ask?

You guys are just lucky because there are so many Taiwanese people here. You feel right at home even when you're miles away from it.

God, I know I'm being such a bitch, scorning other people's happiness because I don't share it.

But they are so lucky... they are in their comfort zone because they have friends from their own country here to laugh with.

I tried hanging out with you guys... I just don't have fun because I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I know it's no fun having me around because you feel bad (initially) that I'm sitting there all by myself and not talking.

(Anyways, later you treat me as though I'm not there so I suppose the feeling of guilt wears off very quickly.)

I wish I had gone to Australia where I'll be just as much at home as I am in Malaysia.

God, I hope I can find a friend soon. Or else I don't know how I am going to survive for five years here.

I miss my friends... I really miss my friends.....

Shyt.. I swore I wouldn't cry for the first few months I was here... Guess I already broke than vow a few times.

But I really really really really miss my friends now. I miss being able to hang out with them, just drive to Taylor's and hang out at Papa Rich or something.

But most of all I miss being able to understand my friends.

I always feel so left out here... just because I don't understand Chinese. Like just now, I was supposed to have a discussion with some of my Taiwanese friends. Fine, I'm all for it. One friend actually asked everyone in the conversation to please type in English (for my sake, obviously).

Thanks for the effort but obviously it didn't work.

They all started typing in chinese and I, being the odd one out... Well, I can't do anything now can I?

I'm such a whiner baby, I know...

I just want to have real friends again, y'know?

Friends whom I can hang out with and have fun together.

I don't want to be a damper on anyone's parade here. I'm pretty sure sometimes that they would prefer me not to be around so that I won't be a damper on their parade. Who wants a dumb little banana baby ruining their Taiwanese fun?

I just want... friends.

Friends whom I can understand. Friends whom I can relate to.

My friends back in Malaysia... Friends like that.

God, it sucks not knowing how to speak Chinese or read Chinese. And hey, I'm suffering from this problem in the United States!

I miss you guys all so much..!

P.S Thanks for the scrapbooks. It's comforting in these times...

Trying to find somewhere I belong...

God, I sound so emo... I don't mean to but I feel so alone here.

The very fact that I don't know how to speak Chinese is a disadvantage here in the United States where their mother tongue is English. Isn't it seriously ironic?

I can't speak Chinese so I have a really hard time making friends.

Actually, that's not true. I have made some friends. Just not the type of friends I can just hang out with and chill. I could if I knew Chinese, because they are all Taiwanese, but I don't know Chinese. So if I go out with them, they'll be speaking Chinese and I'll be stoning by myself.

Suck up and just go with them, you'll be thinking. Learn Chinese for god's sake instead of wallowing in your misery.

I would but it's so hard...

If I go out with them, I won't enjoy myself because I don't know what the heck is going on.
And they'll feel really bad if they just see me blurring by myself and then things will get awkward.

I don't want to be the downer on people's parade.

But I really want some friends whom I can understand and can understand me.

I miss Fiona, Shermaine and Hwoon Yi, my three closest friends since we were in diapers.

I miss PM9, my wacky friends I made in my short time in Taylors'.

I miss my mum and dad, who always know what to say when I'm feeling down.

Most of all, I miss the feeling of belonging to something bigger. Here, I am here nor there. I am a lone ranger, which suits me fine on some occasions. Not permanently.

I really miss home....

Right Now....

You have no idea how much I miss home right now. At this very instant. I've been here for a month and a half and still... I feel as if I just don't fit in.

Don't get me wrong, USA is a great place. People here are ... okay. Food here ain't so hot but there are still some Chinese restaurants here so it's relatively Asian, at least where I'm at.

Yeah and that could be my problem...

It's not relatively Asian here, its VERY Asian. There are tons of Asians here - mostly Taiwanese, a large number of Vietnamese and Koreans and some Japanese. Some China Chinese and a handful of other Asian races.

But there isn't one Malaysian here at all. Well, with the exception of my cousin of course, and there may be some other Malaysians of whom I don't know about, but you get the idea. The number of Malaysians here is soooo low that it's almost as if Malaysians are non-existent. Normally, I wouldn't mind it. Heck, I didn't wanna go to Australia because it's too overpopulated with Malaysians.

I'm really beginning to doubt the wisdom of my decision now.

The fact is, I don't feel as if I fit in here.

Nobody here understands me.

Don't get me wrong, I've met some great people. The problem is... these great people would prefer to hang out with other great people from their own country.

My friends are all from Taiwan and they all speak Chinese with each other. They understand each other's culture and language. I being a Malaysian, plus the disadvantage of not knowing how to speak Chinese, am often left by the wayside when they are conversing happily and joking.

I don't discredit them for wanting to speak Chinese and be with other Taiwanese. It's just human nature - the black sheep concept. We all want to stay in our comfort zone, especially when we're in an unfamiliar place. Hence, Taiwanese stick to Taiwanese, Chinese stick to Chinese, Koreans stick to Koreans and the like.

But I have no one to stick to. There are no Malaysians here.

That wouldn't be a major problem, actually. I just don't know how to speak Chinese. And that has prevented me from basically, having a social life.

Why don't I make friends with the Americans, you ask?

Well, it's a culture thing. I am not familiar with the American culture yet, hence it is hard to make friends when one doesn't understand the other person's culture, even though you understand their language.

On the other hand, I don't understand the Chinese language but I am familiar with the Asian culture. What a bind I am in, seriously. I am neither here, nor there.

The funniest thing is: I have such a powerful command of the English language and I come to the United States of America, where the main language is English, and yet, I have no friends because I can't speak Chinese!

Doesn't the irony just kill you?

I know I am just wallowing in misery and feeling a whole lot of self-pity. But I can't help it.

It's just so hard.

I miss Malaysia.
I miss my friends.
I miss PM 9 so much it hurts.
I miss the times we spent together as a class.
I sometimes regret leaving you guys.
I sometimes regret enrolling in A-Levels in the first place, then I wouldn't have met you guys and it wouldn't be so painful.
I miss my high school friends.
I miss the times we can just hang out and laugh.
I miss the rojak language of Malaysia.
I miss everything... so so much...