weird times

not interesting.... but weird.

ghostbusters has undergone a gender bender, iron man is now replaced by 15 year old black girl, thor is now a woman and the list just seems to go on.

why is it that established brands seem to pander to the SJW crowd? is it the money or fear of reprisals? the strange thing is that i don't think it would be reprisals for if that were the case, they would have changed the characters a long time ago.

the ghostbusters one for most of the part seems to be just for the fun of it. the new lady ghostbusters seem less of an experiment than it is a movie that's there just to have fun. the trailers don't look pretty but i'd be looking more at the writing and casting if i was looking for faults. so, its intentionally silly.

whereas with the comics industry things are getting rather weird. i'm apathetic to the whole notion that thor must be a woman or that iron man must be a black teenage girl. all i'm looking for is the real reason behind the sudden change. you don't simply take a character who has been established as such for more than 10 years and suddenly make a huge change. i mean there is a reason that when you have superman, after that you have super girl and super boy. i agree with the camp that says you should make a new stand alone character to represent different parts of society, be they queer, different ethnicity, social status and blablabla.

black heroes. you have so many to choose from. static shock is among one of the chief black heroes i have heard of. cyborg as well. if you must have a female black super hero, storm from the X-men. i'll put it this way. comics have been expanding and expanding their hero and villain roster for so long that you can have a library full of hero bios and history and it'll still need more room to expand. the point of the matter though is you could have created a new character or brought in another character. this is a reverse form of white washing it seems. no matter how many times it is done and no matter which character it is done to, people will never be happy about it. perhaps the SJWs will be happy about it. but then again, if we're talking about taste, they probably don't have any.

but back to the question though. why do it? iron man is still in the picture. and the title is still iron man. how do you reconcile the fact that the titular character is pushed aside for a new character who is of a completely different gender? it doesn't feel like progress. it doesn't feel socially acceptable either. why do writers go out of their way to purposefully change something that had worked previously to something that will antagonize your supporters?

i understand experimentation, but is it? have they really exhausted tony stark's story to the point they have to replace him? i sincerely doubt that. i highly doubt its for the money either.

all i can say is this though. i've ploughed through wikias on marvel and DC characters before. i have also heard horror stories about character reboots so bad that the writers who came after had to reboot the whole thing proper. maybe this is the case we're seeing now? maybe we're seeing writers who take to the helm and using their own.... initiative they've decided to come up with something bad but have not realized it yet? i mean this must be the case because Rob Liefield is still working as a comic book artist isn't it? i strongly feel that all we are seeing now is the creation of a bad part of comic book history, an infamous time where the writers against all logic chose to do what was supposedly right in their mind and in a grand, futile gesture, helped to bury a beloved comic book character.

i'd like to think we're all at a fortune teller's den and we just keep drawing the death tarot. sure, it is pretty  much what it means. Death means dying but the meaning behind the card if i'm not wrong is not an end to something. well... depending on your outlook it is something's life dying but it is a transformative process to say the least. only in death can something else be born. i just hope to still be around when that something nice and new is born though.

Not going anywhere fast or at all for that matter

Like most other days, i often make the mistake of using social media (ie facebook / linkedin) and i see how far my former uni mates are doing. obviously, they're doing a lot better than i am. much better in fact. i feel disgusted at where i am. i'm not even a fucking wage slave, i'm tied to a chair doing work i don't like for a pay that's.... it's not bad, but it's not great either and for what? a boss who's attempting to micromanage everything in malaysia from shanghai. i can sort of see why the previous batch of managers and executives left.

so, i'm going to rant because that's what blogs are for and if the powers that be decide to allow my friends, family or even people at work to find this then so fucking be it.

my dad wanted me to become a lawyer. not sure why he thinks its a great idea frankly. he probably wants someone to inherit his law firm though i am fairly certain and adamant that it'll not be me. i don't like reading legalese anymore than i like reading contracts. last time, i got fucked over by some singaporean bitch who thinks herself a great ad director because i did not have a solid hard copy contract that explicitly delineates what each party is supposed to do. i understand the importance of knowing how to read a contract. i understand that it is also important to learn the laws of a country. but that does not mean i need to become a lawyer to do so. i can't stand sitting in a room day after day, poring over books to find a chink in my opponent's case and argument in a way that he interprets the law. i mean don't get me wrong, i'm sure it makes for great tv otherwise we won't have lawyer flicks or even Phoenix Wright for that matter. but reality? i see my dad doing case after case and so far, only a few of his clients are really grateful for all he does. not that my dream industry has a lot of singing angels to be fair. but the point is that, really... i don't have that sort of mental fortitude needed to deal with both shitty clients, look at my opponents every argument for chinks and also have to study the laws. i'm not great at persuading people, i think i'm fairly certain in that too. i think the part that makes me even more upset is that it's a sterile office environment. for me? that's where my dreams go to die. i would rather self-immolate than sit inside an office.... the irony is not lost on me.

so, here i am. i sit in an office only to use facebook..... and twitter and instagram and emails and wordpress. social media, is the way to conquer the minds of the feeble. i myself, am occasionally feeble minded enough to partake in social media groups but not twitter though because for me sitting there reading about someone's thoughts every 2 minutes seems a bit of a drag. its a gigantic irony i find to do digital marketing. or marketing in general but i'll get to that in a bit. ok, previously i had fun in my office. i could go and do some design work. wasn't very good at it, just ask my former boss in the other department, but i did improve and then i decided i'd go help in the digital marketing side... seemed like a good idea at the time. the only upshot is that i'm reasonably comfortable on my chair and i'm not working directly with possibly the worst marketing manager this side of selangor. i mean... how bad does it have to be that one of the company's supplier's marketing manager sighs heavily and annoyedly at the mere mention of your name? how?

anyway... i do occasionally need to work with her. just... treat her with the same respect you'd give to your computer. no wait... i give my computers more respect... anyway just treat her like that colleague whom you need something from but secretly despise. you would think that working on social media is very entertaining and very relaxing. it isn't. i've had to deal with so many brain dead customers its a wonder that the nation's general IQ hasn't fallen. eg. i put up a poster on facebook telling people that my company has a new contest coming and here's how to join it. few seconds later, i get questions in the comments going: "how do i join?" let me be clear. i posted a poster that was of high resolution, reposted the instructions in the description box and had gone through the instructions with other managers several times to make sure that they were simple enough to understand. so, how mentally retardedly unobservant do you have to be not to know how to join? wait, it gets worse.

i hate doing customer service. unfortunately, this is one of the things that comes with doing social media, you will eventually need to open channels of communication with customers. if you even so much as blink wrongly, you'll get a tonne of backlash for it online. and for a company of company's size, it's something we simply cannot afford... also because it'll get me fired. its maddeningly difficult, especially if you're dealing with self-entitled fucking chinese 'aunties'...'specially the ones from puchong because they mostly think that we owe them free classes. i recently got some fucking cancer survivor who had unfortunately gotten a pack of flour with maggots inside them.... that isn't nice or is it very good. being professional, i sought to try and fix the situation. obviously everyone else in the company just followed policy.... the "cancer survivor" demanded compensation otherwise she would put out a public complaint.... see the problem is that she no longer has the receipt for the flour bag. my company needs the receipt so that we can check when she bought it and so that we can replace it. company policy states that if you've no receipt, you cannot swap the product. also the swap has to take place within 1 day for food stuffs and 3 days for non-foods. but i was prepared to override the rules because: a) the flour costs RM 2 and b) so that the "cancer survivor" bitch would shut up. boy, i got a big fucking slap on my face. "THANK YOU BUT NO THANK YOU, YOU THINK I WANT MORE OF YOUR MAGGOT FLOUR ISIT?!~ GOOD DAY!" love the fucking cancer survivor.... maybe don't go and make your photos public right? also, if you're so upset about the flour, stop baking, it isn't good for your lymph nodes sweety.

these are just some of the customer service stories from my end. retail customers can be some of the worst creatures on the planet. clearly, this is how you make a housefly look more benign.

let me get back to the marketing bit as promised earlier. so, ok. marketing at its bare basic is noise making, trumpeting and in a way, saber rattling. its noise making because you need to attract people to your product. what are your product's good points. you need to trumpet creatively to get people's attention.... and also so that you can get sufficient sales to cover the cost of the trumpet. it's saber rattling because you need to make more noise than your opponents.... that was just a random word that i found that might link to the general idea.... but maybe, just maybe, your marketing campaign is so effective it'll force your opponent to rethink his grand strategy... i have not been able to do that online yet, and with my current resources, i doubt i'll even make them cry... laugh maybe but not much else.

i do despise the necessary evil that is marketing. too little marketing and your good product will never get sold. too much marketing and to me that sort of becomes grasping at straws to figure what is exactly nice to say about your product. its very difficult to find something nice to say about your company's own chocolate when there are so many other similar quality chocolates out there already. then, you do have the nastier bits of marketing. massaging the truth so that your products are actually better sounding than they are. you can make it seem that your product has little to no down sides. that feels disingenious enough that i don't even want to be near marketing. fortunately, i have not yet had to do this, but the way things are going, i think it'll be a matter of time.

frankly? my company is not doing well and will not be doing well in the coming years. i have never understood the reason for the big boss maintaining the company. he's clearly done very well for himself in shanghai and will continue to do well. the other share holders and directors just appear to be tagging along for the ride.... as weird as it may seem. the big boss only comes to town once or twice a year, if we're unfortunate enough. he doesn't want to deal with his company's issues. there's a lot of compounded issues here that'll continue to fester in the company. just recently, another batch of managers left too, this time, seasoned retail outlet managers. this is similar to an army having all its platoon sergeants either being killed off or deserting the army; its not just bad for morale, it is indicative that there is something deeply wrong with the army if the rank and file are also choosing to leave. your issues at hq should not have such far reaching effects! obviously, this ties in with the marketing manager and the way things are handled. the new inventory management system is also linked to the financial management system and based on it, it appears to be causing more problems than it is solving. the system provider... who is incidentally the company's consultant too keeps pinning on human error.... which in turn has caused another senior finance executive to leave. this is not forgetting that on the purchasing side, they're either undermanned, mismanaged, misguided or all three. if the system is to be trusted then they're undermanned and mismanaged. however, if the system is indeed at fault, then they've been misguided. it gets fucking stupidly murky at this stage.

a lot of the issues here do not affect me directly, other than having to liase with purchasing to figure out which items i can put on sale... haven't tried liasing with them for that yet but i'm terribly worried about how it'll end.



i think if you want to look at the whole matter from a different perspective, you can look at me. so far, i've been raised reasonably strictly, but all this has done is prove that i have to score well in everything. this is also with regards to me not doing so well in college. i've made mistakes and have considered just ending the whole piece of shit i call my life over and over. i have since learned it would cause more problems for my family and have decided against it but this is fucking close to being torture.

i think there's a certain small masochistic pleasure i get when i see my former uni mates go about achieving their dreams and here i am in a fucking dump. actually, i like to make myself feel even lower in rank than garbage because i also recall i have little to no skill in anything i have ever done. i think i find it reassuring that even if i put in all my effort, gave my everything, sacrificed health, sanity and soul i still would not have gotten a distinction in anything. i would be that random, small oddball in the corner of the room... sort of like that shit stain that won't disapper but doesn't stink enough that you'd notice its there.

i feel rather resigned to my fate that i'm not destined for anything. i've tried fighting and i've just ended up in a dump. offices are where dreams go to die. i'm sincerely hoping all that its done is put my dreams in a coma. i don't quite feel it anymore. i'm 26, i can't pull all nighters as frequently or as regularly as i could. i certainly can't be hired by an animation or games studio anymore either. i have not had any fucking time to put together reel. i have no time to even practice animation. fucking hell, even my doodling has been affected. and for what? to go and do a series of fucking events nobody except the boss cares about? he's not even there! what does he fucking care if anyone turns up? i'm willing to bet we lose more money doing shitty events than we gain from them. maybe if the big boss can admit that he needs to be back in malaysia to sort things out, he might be able to fix things, but i doubt it. in his own words: "why the fuck do i hire you people? i should just replace you all with clerks!"

fucking do it you piece of shit! come on, do it. if you are as great as you claim to be, give me my 6 months of pay, i'll gladly fuck off so you can hire a 2 bit clerk to go and settle everything for you. you don't appreciate the effort we put in. all we get is a lousy thanks that feels more rote than students singing negaraku.

i need to get out of here. i have never been driven to blog before but i have now. my parents will hate me for this but fuck it. i am not made to live inside an office.