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brandon_yap
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Name: brandon
Location: Sydney, Australia
Gender: Male
Interests: COLLECTIBLES [Transformers] | CARTOONS [Transformers; Visionaries; Robotech] | BOOKS/ Graphic Novels [Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, The Books of Magic, Stardust; Mike Carey's Lucifer; Dragonlance Chronicles: The Twins Trilogy; Dragon Prince Trilogy; The Vampire Chronicles] | ANIME [Bleach; Neon Genesis Evangelion; Initial D; Macross; Love Hina; Spirited Away] | SNOOKER | POOL | MAHJONG | ROLLER BLADING | ARCHITECTURE | MOVIES | TENNIS | BASKETBALL | FORMULA 1
Expertise: I lost some time once. I knew it was going to be in the last place I looked for it, so I looked there first.
Occupation: Legal
Industry: Legal
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Yahoo:  heroic_decepticon@yahoo.com.sg
Member Since:
8/29/2005
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Today was a pretty momentous day and though it may be difficult to
comprehend, i have the following to say... it has to do with the
number- nine.
Nine out of Nine
If say it I may,
this day is the day.
For nine out of nine,
is like wine that is fine
So now I can take the time,
to speak out in rhyme
After the noon,
out comes the moon.
If we’re not tuned,
we leave the room;
then we are loon?
For nine out of nine,
is that which is mine
In the day there it is I lay,
for in the night I show my might.
To claim that which is mine.
For what I took with might,
I do not take light.
When might makes right
Do you fight for right?
Or the right of might?
To in the nick of time,
find for half the time,
that which is my mind.
To make nine out of nine.
Really must be quite fine.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
This is dedicated to my 'absent friend' Adam, who's
taking a temporary hiatus from xanga. May he promptly return to bombard
us once again with his particular brand of rationality. Cheers
dude! =p
“To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and
the Season of Mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his
due.” – Hob Gadling toasting to Dream [Season of Mists: Chapter 1, The Sandman #22]
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ARTICLE ARCHIVE
September 2005
October 2005
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it is the 2nd, a very special day...
Eyes On Me
[Final Fantasy VIII]
Whenever sang my songs, on the stage, on my own.
Whenever said my words, wishing they would be heard.
I saw you smiling at me, was it real or just my fantasy
You’d always be there in the corner, of this tiny little bar.
My last night here for you, same old songs, just once more.
My last night here with you? Maybe yes, maybe no.
I kind of like it your way, how you shyly placed your eyes on me
Oh, did you ever know? That I had mine on you.
Darling, so share with me, Your love if you have enough;
Your tears if you’re holding back, or pain if that’s what it is.
How can I let you know, I’m more than the dress and the voice.
Just reach me out then, you will know that you’re not dreaming.
Darling, so there you are, with that look on your face.
As if you’re never hurt, as if you’re never down.
Shall I be the one for you? Who pinches you softly but sure.
If frown is shown then, I will know that you are no dreamer.
So let me come to you,close as I wanna be.
Close enough for me to feel your heart beating fast,
And stay there as I whisper how I loved your peaceful eyes on me.
Did you ever know? That I had mine on you.
Darling so share with me, your love if you have enough,
Your tears if you're holding back, or pain if that's what it is.
How can I let you know, I'm more than the dress and the voice.
Just reach me out then,you will know that you're not dreaming.
Darling so there you are,with that look on your face.
As if you're never hurt,as if you're never down.
Shall I be the one for you?Who pinches you softly but sure.
If frown is shown then,I will know that you are no dreamer.
vocals: faye wong
composer: uematsu nobuo
lyrics: someya kozumi
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IN THE SPIRIT OF PERSONALITY TESTS
First test suggested by Trina, second one by Adam.
[1] Jung Typology Test
Your Type is
INTJ
| Introverted | Intuitive | Thinking | Judging |
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Strength of the preferences %
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| 39 | 25 | 62 | 56 |
Qualitative analysis of your type formula
You are:
- moderately expressed introvert
- moderately expressed intuitive personality
- distinctively expressed thinking personality
- moderately expressed judging personality
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[2] Advanced Global Personality Test
Advanced Global Personality Test Results
Stability results were moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Orderliness
results were very high which suggests you are overly organized,
reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense too often of
flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.
Extraversion results were medium which suggests you are moderately talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting.
trait snapshot:
clean,
organized, regular, self reliant, tough, positive, high self control,
very good at saving money, dislikes chaos, resolute, realist, trusting,
hard working, dislikes unpredictability, prefers a technical
specialized career, not worrying, respects authority, enjoys
leadership, finisher, normal, optimistic, controlling, prudent, modest,
adventurous, does not like to be alone, intellectual, likes the
unknown, very practical, high self esteem, assertive, perfectionist,
busy, altruistic
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Well, there it is. Could have summed up me up in one line and one song- Live and Let Die.
Yeah, that would sum it up without an excessive question answering,
inexact proofs, indirect inferences and indefinite conjectures.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“[T]hat one day in every century, Death takes on
mortal flesh, better to comprehend what the mortal lives she takes must feel
like, to taste to bitter tang of mortality: that this is the price she must pay
for being the divider of the living from all that has gone before, all that
must come after.” - Season of Mists: A Prologue [The Sandman #21] | | |
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TOM
My cat's name is Tom. I read him "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" [Dream Country: The Sandman #18] a while back. Ever since, something strange came over him. In the day,
he's a cute and adorable ball of fur; at night he starts kicking an
incomprehesible amount of ass left right and center as a stealth
panther...
*edit 30th November 2005* Comments from my ex-housemate
"FYI: that cat is damn cute but also
horny when comes to the owner's blanket, lol, btw just to let u know
that this cat came from award winning competition parents so dun play
play!! all of u will be SMITTEN or should i say OWNED!
hey brandon u never took a pic of him
snuggling behind the 34" sony triniton? that will be a real treat.
anyway, i really had a great time, thanks ivan!"
- KWL
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Truth, like all other good things, may be loved
unwisely, may be pursued too keenly, may cost too much.” -Knight Bruce VC in
Pearse v Pearse (1846) 1 De G & Sm 12
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THE SANDMAN: SEASON OF MISTS [The Sandman #21 - #28]
Inspired by exchanges with midnights_daughter, I am penning my views on
why this is my favourite installment of the Sandman series.
On a visual level this story arc features beautiful art. Dringenberg
who had a hand in creating many of the core characters in Vol 1 to 3
illustrated the prologue; Kelly Jones who did excellent work in Alien: Hive for Darkhorse comics and Venom: The Madness for Marvel comics illustrated the remaining parts of Season of Mists.
I appreciate the fact that the prologue featured for the first time,
the entire anthropomorphic ensemble of the Endless with the exception
of Destruction who will appear later in Brief Lives. Destiny, Death,
Dream, Desire, Despair and Delirium was introduced for the
dysfunctional family that they are. And why not? When ever are these
personifications of the human condition ever complimentary and in good
company with one another?
If you are dead you do not dream, desire, despair or experience
delirium; if you dream, you are aspiring toward something which means
you do not know your destiny, do not contemplate death and do not
despair- but you may feel desire or delirium, which may explain why
Dream does not take kindly to Desire and never did but is somewhat
friendly toward Delirium. In short, when worked to a logical
conclusion, there are varying levels comfort or imcompatilbility one
anthropomorphic state will find with another- this much may be inferred
from the Season of Mists prologue.
The plot is simple enough: Picking up from The Doll's House: Prelude
[The Sandman #9], Morpheus has to descend into Hell to release Nada, a
past love he condemned to the neither realm 10,000years ealier. Metaphorically, it may be extrapolated that sometimes
dreams may have to brave the fires of Hell so that they may be
fulfilled, so that they may be satisfied- love alone may not be enough.
The Dreaming denizens beseeched Morpheus to just take what he wanted,
because he could. Afterall, the Endless are more powerful than gods,
angels or the Devil. Morpheus insisted that 'these things must be done
by the rules'; going though the process of sending a messager and then
braving the gates of Hell without the need to. Perhaps an inference is
that power corrupts and absolute power [or somthing close to that] can
corrupt absolutely- as such there should be a restraint on arbitrary
power whether one is a king, an emperor or one of the Endless- one must
follow rules [or the law] as the only restraint on the exercise of
arbitrary power.
Of course the big twist comes when Morpheus discovers that Lucifer is not going to destroy him like he swore to in Preludes & Nocturnes
but instead is closing up Hell and giving Morpheus the Key to Hell. The
prince of lies had lied without so much as speaking. Lucifer does this
in the hope that the ensuing struggle for the Key would destroy
Morpheus. The real reason is alluded to in the series Lucifer
[by Mike Carrey but 'endorsed' by Gaiman]; Lucifer realised that the
falling out, the rebellion and the fall was not the result of him
having a difference of opinion with the Creator but was something that
the Creator planned and wanted to happen. By rebelling, he was not
throwing a spanar in the works but lubricating the machine of creation-
there had to be a rebellion and there had to be a fall, so that there
can be a Hell because Hell is Heaven's reflection, Hell defines Heaven
because like Morpheus said in Preludes & Nocturnes 'what power can Hell have over you if you are not allowed to dream of Heaven?'.
Among other things Season of Mists was about lost love, atonement,
guile, misdirection, the struggle of power and the closing of a cycle
that began 10,000 years ago. It is the critique of what is very human
behavior- when there is something advantageous to be had, the good, the
bad and the ugly all want it- such power struggles happen everyday and
everywhere whether in a macro or micro sense. Gaiman alludes to this by
the plethora of gods, godesses and deities that turn up demanding the
Key.
I appreciate this story arc for how cunningly Gaiman weaves past
plotlines, subtly divuges future ones within the ongoing story and drop
'easter eggs' for avid readers paying attention. Example being:
(1)
In Season of Mists: 1, Lucien's library shows a collection of books
that actual writers like Tolkien, Dickens and Conan Doyle have dreamt
up. The odd on out was this one by Erasmus Fry- this is a fictional
writer that appeared in Calliope
[Sandman #17]. The name 'Erasmus' could be an allusion to Desiderius
Erasmus Roterodamus a 15th century theologian and humanist, but of this
I am uncertain.
(2) Morpheus was
also shown to visit Hippolyta's son Daniel, whom he names and declares
is his because 'it is unusual for a child to gestate in dreams'. This
is a reference to The Dolls House story arc and will assume pivotal importance in the final 2 volumes of the series.
(3) Mythological
characters: (i) The mass murderer Breschau of Livonia was portrayed as
the last sinner who was unwilling to leave Hell; (ii) the norse gods
Odin, Thor and Loki; (iii) Azazel and Choronzon, lesser angels who fell
with Lucifer but now look more like devils than angels;
(4) After defeating
Azazel, Morpheus puts him in a wooden box which contains among other
things the Corinthian's skull and the bottled city of Baghdad from the
story Ramadan [The Sandman #50]. The bottled city appears to draw its
inspiration from the City of Kandor in the Superman continuity.
Well, that was my view, and penned not as concise and a lot longer than I had imagined it would be when I started writing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and
the Season of Mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his
due.” – Hob Gadling [The Sandman #22]
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