Sunday, September 20, 2009

The 1984 Hit Song "ELECTRIC DREAMS" paves the way for the DIGITAL AGE.


DREAMS

I absolutely dig the 1984 hit song TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS.


Yeah, it's sappy, it's cheesy,


Yet it never fails to instill a dancy and uplifting mood in me, each time I hear it.


It's taken from the soundtrack of the saccharine-sweet ELECTRIC DREAMS movie about a corporate man, his girlfriend and his relentless computer.


ELECTRIC DREAMS was the computer movie of the 80's.


It's all pure heart and soul, laced with the most beautiiful of retro pop music.


And yes, the scriptwriters had pre-dated the Personal Computer era.


They had correctly predicted the hassles that mankind was going to face with computers.


The technology was outdated, but the vision on how to expand the use of computers are still very much valid today.


We have already arrived at the threshold of a new age of DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY, no less.


Life, information and data are swiftly moving from offline to online.


These days, I hardly buy the papers anymore.


I read my news online.


I get my worldwide business clients online.


My research is done at the click of a computer.


The demise of traditional marketing?


Everytime the technological environment changes, so does the marketing environment.


Embrace digital technology, or perish in due course when your competitors are taking the lead.


On a happier note, let's take flight with the heartwarming lyrics of this song:


" I only knew you for a while

I never saw your smile

'Til it was time to go

Time to go away (time to go away)

Sometimes it's hard to recognise

Love comes as a surprise

And it's too late

It's just too late to stay

Too late to stay

We'll always be together

However far it seems

(Love never ends)

We'll always be together

Together in Electric Dreams

Because the friendship that you gave

Has taught me to be brave

No matter where I go I'll never find a better prize

(Find a better prize)

Though you're miles and miles away

I see you every day I dont have to try

I just close my eyes I close my eyes

We'll always be together

However far it seems

(Love never ends)

We'll always be together

Together in Electric Dreams

[Guitar Solo]

We'll always be together

However far it seems

(Love never ends)

We'll always be together

Together in Electric Dreams

We'll always be together

However far it seems

(Love never ends)

We'll always be together

Together in Electric Dreams."


On a clear day you can see forever,


LOVE IS LOVE,


And we'll always be together -


in our own ELECTRIC DREAMS.


TILL DEATH DO US PART. The Sappy Song "I WANNA GROW OLD WITH YOU" tells us so.


OLD COUPLE 2

OLD COUPLE 1


Do you have Butterflies in your Tummy this morning?


THERE'S SUCH A THING CALLED ETERNAL LOVE?


Well ..... maybe.


True LOVE is so sappy sweet (drool ...)


Now, separate the REEL world from the REAL world.


The movies will always portray a thousand versions, if you're gullible.


In REAL life, actors and actresses fall in and out of love easily, as the paparazzi will tell you,


LOVE can blissfully arrive one Spring morning at your front door, when you least expect it.


For the same token, love can hurriedly exit by the back during a bleak Winter,


Happiness is transient?


Nothing stays forever?


Joy. Heartbreaks.


Maybe it's a case-to-case basis.


We need to take everything in one stride,


Falling in love is a part of living,


Breaking up is a passage in life.


Regardless of WHY and HOW we come together with someone we love,


If ever there is an ending to the relationship that is not of our choosing


it usually comes with great emotional and physical pain, rejection and guilt,


HEALING takes time.


There's GRIEF ....


coupled with anger and other strong emotions that'd be in turmoil.


ETERNAL LOVE is not impossible.


The 1998 movie THE WEDDING SINGER starring ADAM SANDLER and DREW BARRYMORE is a classic example:


Take this cue from the movie clip attached above:


"Good afternoon, everyone,


We're flying at 26,000 feet, moving up to 30,000 feet,




and we've got clear skies all the way to Las Vegas.


Right now, we're bringing you some in-flight entertainment.


One of our first class passengers would like to sing you


a song inspired by one of our coach passengers.


And since we let our first class passengers do


pretty much whatever they want,


here he is." - Billy Idol


song:


" I wanna make you smile,


whenever you're sad.


Carry you around when your arthritis is bad.


Oh, all i wanna do, is grow old with you.


I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches,


Build you a fire if the furnace breaks.


Oh, it could be so nice, growin' old with you.


I'll miss you, kiss you,


Give you my coat when you are cold,


need you, feed you.


I'll even let you hold the remote control.


So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink,


put you to bed when you've had too much to drink.


Oh I could be the man who grows old with you.


I wanna grow old with you ..."




Again, we pop the question.



CAN LOVE BE ETERNAL? (blissfully)


Yes, it could.


Nothing is unattainable.


Remember the opening strains of this old song "RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET"?


"Red sails in the sunset,


Way out on the sea,


Oh carry my loved one


Home safely to me ..."


AND IF WE DO NOT EVEN TRY,


THEN HOW'S THE HECK ARE WE TO KNOW?


Sunday, September 6, 2009

A SPONTANEOUS BURST can sometimes do WONDERS. Here's JULIE ANDREWS teaching you HOW to take LIFE AS IT COMES.

JULIE ANDREWS 1



LIFE .... (sigh) ..... is LIFE.

Into our mundane existence, some rain must fall, right?

We are not talking about the April showers, but the darn thunderstorms as well,

Oh yeah, when it pours, it surely POURS!

It's a stark reality that LIFE CAN BE PEACEFUL one moment.

And so terrifying the next,

Specially these days when we are all trudging on this thin ice of an economic gloom through no real fault of ours.


And adorning that wry smile when you are just feeling utterly wretched and fearful.

In the business world, entrepreneurs are constantly besieged by enormous humbling bank failures and violent stock market swings.

If you are doing business, this is the name of the game.


STRESS is a drudgery, yet unavoidable.

It's a part of life, part of living, where the rollercoasting wheel of fortune goes up and down, taking us through the uplifts as well as the gloom.

Day in, day out, this corner, round the bend, you'll run into traffic jams, public disputes, people mayhem ....


Capital stress!

It's little wonder that the number of suicide cases are on the rise.

Even celebrities are killing themselves, notably in Korea recently.


THE HIGHER YOU CLIMB, THE STEEPER THE FALL.

When success eludes a CELEBRITY and once the adulation evaporates,

The pressure will start to creep in -

When fans and producers turn their backs,

You're all so-ALONE .... and despair overwhelms YOU,

It's like you are thrust to one dead end and find that there's no escape route.


BEWILDERMENT, MORE STRESS.

But hey, there's salvation if we fortify our minds,

Do something good out of the ordinary.


Be a "cheer leader", spread cheer and good tidings,

SMILE and the world world beams,

DANCE and the whole team rocks,

A spontaneous burst can sometimes works wonders.


Take this episode for example:

More than 200 dancers were deliberately performing their version of "Do Re Mi" in the Central Station of Antwerp on March 23, 2009 8 am, morning.

It was a promotional stunt for a Belgian television program, where they were sourcing for actors in "The Sound of Music".


Passers-by, attracted by the familiar JULIE ANDREWS' "Do Re Mi" song , were not aware of what was happening just burst into song and danced to the rhythm of the music.

Everything was impromptu.

The air was suddenly filled with wonderment and laughter.

People promptly forgot their worries and gyrated to the beat.

They were having the fun of their lives,

There was harmony, there was rhythm during those moments,


Beat it, yeah, beat it!


So remember:

Spread a little sunshine day by day,

A spontaneous burst of laughter from time to time will work wonders with us, the people around us and the environment,

It's good for your soul,

Cheer is infectious,

It is contagious to those around you,


So run,

Pass the baton,

Kindle joy,

Spread a little happiness,

Didn't the late Michael Jackson sing "HEAL THE WORLD"?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

MUMMY DEAREST and FAMILY TIES.

MOTHER 1


MOTHER 2



MOTHER 3


My last rift with my mother took place more than one decade ago.


I had long forgotten what it was all about, but I was sure it was over a triviality.


She was caring, I was stubborn, I was headstrong,


and I said more than I should have, back then.


She was hurt and I was peeved.


I saw only my reasoning, never her logic.


I was devil-may-care and profoundly stupid,


It was purely a mother-and-son squabble, much ado about nothing.


Today, as I trudge down memory lane, I realize that whatever wrong you might have done, no matter how awful you had been, your mother is always there to root for you.


There's often, food on your platter and clothes washed and pressed when you get home.


Blood is always thicker than water.


I pray that if only - I could turn the clock backwards, to get back somewhere in time in order to hear my mother's rants and raves.


In short, I miss her chiding voice, her nagging, her presence.


I wish she is here now, so that I can give her a warm hug and tell her how much I miss her, love her and finally care.


Alas, it is never to be.


Why?


Because my mother passed away in 1993.


A mother's unconditional love is the greatest thing in the world.


Friends may backstab and betray your trust, but never a mother.


Why do we always take our loved ones for granted and regret ONLY when they are no longer around?


This is an universal human failing, to feel "deprived" when something precious is rudely taken away from your life.


Life's short, so we have to adjust to a pitfall of shortcomings and failures along the way,


Something's got to give, so let's learn to forgive and forget


and move on with life's lot.


Give and take, yes, give and take should be our norm.


Enjoy every moment with your loved ones because time and tide wait for no man.


Somewhere along the line if we really try, everyone can be a better man.


The following is an ODE to my late MUM, DAD and LOVED ONES who have departed.


You may be gone, but forever remembered.


Memory of your kind faces are deeply etched deep within my heart.


" Remember me when I am gone,


Gone far away into the silent land,


When you can no more hold me by the hand,


Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay,


Remember me when no more day by day,


You tell me of our future that you planned,


Only remember me, you understand,


It will be late to counsel then or pray,


Yet if you should forget me for a while,


And afterwards remember, do not grieve:


For if the darkness and corruption leave,


A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,


Better by far you should forget and smile,


Than that you should remember and be sad. "