Taken from the New York Times, Thursday 20 April 2006. Yes, that bastion of incisive journalism.
The moment that 13-year-old Miley Cyrus knew for sure that her life had taken a surreal turn happened just a few weeks ago, when her 6-year-old sister, Noah, sheepishly told her that she had entered a contest on the Disney Channel Web site to win backstage passes to a concert featuring the network's newest star. It was Miley.
''You live with me!'' Miley said she told her sister, before issuing a warning: don't even think about swiping anything from my bedroom to sell on eBay.
It sounded like something that might happen to Hannah Montana, the character Miley plays on the new hit Disney series of the same name. The half-hour sitcom is about a 14-year-old girl (named Miley Stewart), regarded by many of her middle-school peers as an outcast geek, who has a secret identity by night as the pop sensation Hannah Montana. (Imagine Britney Spears, only more chaste.)
The series' premiere episode received an enormous boost on its opening night, March 24, by being packaged as the lead-in to an encore showing of the movie ''High School Musical,'' the most-watched film in the 23-year history of Disney Channel. That night, with Corbin Bleu (Chad) of ''High School Musical'' as a guest star, ''Hannah'' attracted 5.4 million viewers. Since then, in its regular time slot (Fridays at 7 p.m. Eastern time), the show has drawn an average of more than 3.5 million viewers, most of them 6 to 14, making it the most popular show among so-called tweens on basic cable television nearly every week it has run.
Little wonder that Disney has already asked the producers of ''Hannah,'' who include two veterans of the sitcom ''Murphy Brown,'' to add 6 episodes to the 20 that were already scheduled for the first season. Believing that ''Hannah'' could also serve as a marketing platform akin to ''Lizzie McGuire,'' the Disney Channel series that catapulted Hilary Duff to stardom and that spawned a cottage industry, Disney is also planning a ''Hannah'' soundtrack album, to be released in the fall, a Miley Cyrus album for early next year and, in all likelihood, a line of accessories that would probably include ''Hannah'' clothing.
Miley -- who was born Destiny Hope Cyrus, but who has long preferred her nickname (Smiley Miley) -- beat out more than 1,000 aspirants for the coveted role of Hannah, though she had little dramatic experience beyond some acting lessons and scattered roles in school plays in her native Nashville.
What ultimately won her the job, the producers and network executives say, was her cool confidence (a quality that stopped well short of cockiness), her intuitive comic timing (which seemed, at least to the older adults, evocative of what a teenage Lucille Ball might have been like) and a husky singing voice not unlike Mary Chapin Carpenter's. In the bargain, Miley, who sings the show's theme song, was able to infuse Hannah with a real-life sense of the joys and perils of superstardom.
Miley is one of five children of Billy Ray Cyrus, who became known in the early 1990's for the foot-stomping anthem ''Achy Breaky Heart'' and who, until recently, could be seen in the United States and more than 40 other countries in original episodes of a drama called ''Doc,'' a show about a country physician who relocates to New York City. That series, on PAX, enabled Mr. Cyrus to parlay his ''Achy Breaky'' exposure into an improbable career as an international TV star, in much the way David Hasselhoff used his fame as an American TV star to become a pop singer abroad. (Attentive viewers of the 2001 David Lynch film ''Mulholland Drive'' may have also noticed Mr. Cyrus in the bit part of Gene, the pool man.)
Mr. Cyrus, 44, has a role on ''Hannah,'' too. He plays Miley's father, Robbie, but he was asked to audition only after his daughter landed her part. And when he was offered the role, he says, he wasn't sure whether he should take it.
''I didn't know if I was right for her dad,'' he said, seriously, as he strummed an acoustic guitar in a cavernous dressing room on the show's Hollywood soundstage, where he and Miley occupy adjoining alcoves, separated by a frilly curtain (hers). ''The last thing I would want to do is screw up Miley's show.''
Mindful that Miley is working alongside her father at an age when she might be craving a little less togetherness, Mr. Cyrus said he had been careful to give his daughter lots of space. He has, he said, made a point of biting his tongue hard to avoid giving her any unsolicited acting advice.
''I never say, 'I'd do it like that,' '' he said, before adding that Miley was far more likely to tell him, ''It might be funny if you do it that way.''
Of working so closely with her famous father, Miley said: ''At the beginning it was a little bit weird. We'd get into little arguments.''
''Now,'' she added, ''it's really good.''
To devote themselves full-time to the production of ''Hannah,'' on which Miley, a seventh grader, is tutored on the set, Mr. Cyrus and his wife, Tish, moved her and her four siblings to Los Angeles from Nashville. She reluctantly left behind her family's seven horses, as well as a number of good friends.
Young viewers will be pleased to know that she has helped fill that void by befriending two co-stars -- Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso, both 14 -- who also play her best friends, Lilly and Oliver, on the show. At least early in the series, Lilly and Oliver are the only schoolmates whom the fictional Miley trusts with the secret that she is really Hannah.
In real life, Emily, Mitchel and Miley say they are constantly sending each other text messages offstage and gathering, at least electronically, in the evening for three-way conference calls in which they talk like the teenagers they are.
The message underlying ''Hannah'' -- one meant to strike a chord with parents, as well as with their children -- is that celebrity is not to be confused with real life, and that happiness comes when one stays true to oneself. Thus, the on-screen Miley is constantly faced with the temptation to reveal her alternate, bewigged identity to her schoolmates, who pay her little mind but have Hannah pictures plastered inside their lockers.
The real-life Miley still has to make her bed and clean up her room at home. In her father, Miley says, she has a role model as grounded as a daughter (and teenage star) could have. A thoughtful man who is readily self-deprecating, Mr. Cyrus has, for example, written a tongue-in-cheek song for a forthcoming album that tries to turn jokes about his 1990's hairstyle back on his critics. Its title: ''I Want My Mullet Back.''
On more occasions than she could possibly count, Miley says, she has also watched her father get button-holed for autographs during meals out, and, however much he might have been inconvenienced, watched him sign his name with a smile.
''He'll say: 'These are people supporting you. Be good to them,' '' Miley said.
Which is not to say that the real-life Miley has grown comfortable with the notion of being recognized in malls, among many other places.
''I have always been known as Billy Ray Cyrus's daughter,'' she said. ''Now they say my name. I freak out!'
I seriously need to watch less cable tv. In particular, the Disney Channel.
Most folks think that I'm not real
'Cause I'm half girl and I'm half seal
I'm a little seal girl livin' in the real world
And it's so hard to get by
'Cause seals can't even cry
But in this endless, boundless sea
Is there no one who looks like me
I know I must stay chipper,
One day I'll find a friend to hold my flipper
'Cause I'm a little seal girl livin' in the real world
And it's so hard to get by
'Cause seals can't even cry
(The audio is pretty crappy but this is the only copy I can find on YouTube. Make do! And Sandra, stop sniggering)
I seem to have just spent an inordinate amount of money on songs in the iTunes Music Store. It's so... seductively easy to buy music, at the click of a mouse. Everything looks so spiffy and you feel inclined to spend money.
Sigh Apple.
The irony is priceless.
Download this song!
Why why why oh why didn't I go to school to mug instead of staying at home? I just spent the last 4 hours painstakingly organizing my mp3 library, adding missing tags and album art just so I can use the funky Coverflow effect in iTunes. Grrrgrgrgrgrghhhhh. (But if you've never seen it in action, you have to. Seriously!)
Well, at least my spiffy new video iPod has fully loaded and ready to rock with properly organized playlists. But I'm going to fail tax.
Then again, I know that already.
Because I'm staying at home all day today, I have the luxury of reading the papers properly, as opposed to flipping through them hurriedly before I leave the house. Two newsbites of note... (ONE VERY WORRYING)
Indranee Rajah is my new hero! From the looks of it she is a big Star Trek fan. She compares the PAP to the Federation, and says it is not like the Borg. Take that how you will, but fwah! for mentioning something like this in an interview with the Straits Times. Wayfunkycool. (In my book at least) Oh, and she thinks there should be a Starbucks in Parliament House too.
There is a (albeit slight) chance that EPL will be moved to PayTV sometime down the road. WHICH TOTALLY DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF ME GETTING CABLE.
epifjweopifjwopeicvnmawopemicvnawoeifnaw;oevinawe;ovipnmawelkvnal;sfn wefn ao;weifhj a;oeiwfhj ao;weiufh aowueh foaweui fhao;eijnf ;laksdnjc lzksdm c.a,ksenfoaiuwhjef;oiejf ao;wiefj awepf
If you look at it closely enough you can tell that its computer generated graphics, but you gotta admit, it looks preeettttty darn good right?
(I wouldn't normally blog about my religion or force it on others, but this is just so well-written and true that I thought I'd share. Please skip if you are offended by such things.)
Malachi 3:3a says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"
He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Specially dedicated to Sha, whom I'm sure is hard at work studying and not reading blogs!
I know everyone has already been to Corduroy but I figured I'd do a foodie thing on it anyway. And since the place needs no introduction I can dive straight into the food.
French Onion Soup: Extremely dissapointing. Generally tasteless except that it was really salty. Lots of onions but could hardly tell they were used to cook the soup.
Mediterranean Platter: When they say for 1, it really means for one. A morsel of 9 different antipasti, but what wonderful morsels they were! Particularly delightful was the sun dried tomato and very lightly seared slab of pork.
Cobb Salad: Generous helping (but then at $16 a portion they'd better be generous!) with heaps of avocado, chicken, cheese, bacon bits and egg. Halfway through the meal it looked untouched! I particularly liked the egg, which was very finely diced but strangely didn't feel mashed. Taste to believe!
Some Spinach Truffle (I forget the exact name) Spinach drizzled in a creamy sauce topped off with fried onions. I didn't particularly like the onions but the spinach was good. Slightly soggy, but that's the way I like my spinach and the sauce was wonderful.
It took me a good 10 seconds to get it but...
She's always on my mind. From the time I wake up Till I close my eyes.
Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore?
And now I'm all alone again nowhere to go no one to turn to...
I'm lying alone with my head on the phone, thinking of you til it hurts.
I haven't slept at all in days, it's been so long since we've talked.
If you're not the one then why does my hand fit yours this way?
How could this happen to me? I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run.
Can't believe that I'm a fool again! I thought this love would never end.
Why love when ends? I know how it feels when it turns and pretends.
Im all out of faith, this is how I feel. Im cold and Im ashamed bound and broken on the floor..
Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.
A lobster dinner might do the trick. Finished off with some cheeeesecake!
My sister isn't normally a soccer fan, but recently she's been watching EPL on Saturdays with my brother and I. Some choice quotes, all in the space of 90 minutes. (Manchester United v. Portsmouth and Liverpool v. Reading were on)
"Why he never tuck in his drawstring! So unglam" (Referring Evra, or some other ManU player) [Note to self: I am guilty of this sometimes too]
"Is v-neck or collar nicer?" (Comparing ManU's and Portsmouth's jerseys)
"Wah, Wayne Rooney's jersey so tight"
"Is it when the defenders are too lazy to defend, or they know they cannot make it, so they all run away?" (Trying to understand the offside trap)
"Ee I don't like his hair. Look like worms" (Dirk Kuyt of Liverpool)
"He needs to shave his sideburns" (Ryan Giggs)
"Huh? How come he suddenly become so dark?" (Confusing Jermaine Pennant with Ryan Giggs, who both have very thick and bushy sideburns. We were swapping between both matches)
"Can you all stop changing the channel? It's very confusing for me to remember who is scoring which side"
"Their thighs must be all very muscular, that's why the shorts are all so tight"
"He runs funny" (Peter Crouch, who has the longest legs ever.) - Actually, I have to agree with this one.
"I think Reading will never be a popular club. Their jersey so ugly, who will want to wear out" - Again, I think I'd agree. Then again, I think ManU's new muscle fit thing isn't too pretty either.
Makes for entertaining viewing, although I think I feel slightly stupider, football-wise.
Since I now have cable tv, and have way too much viewable programming than I know what to do with, I decided to see what, exactly I could do with it. The original germ of an idea came to me around 5 a.m-ish a couple of days ago, right before Didier Drogba equalized for Chelsea at the Nou Camp. But that's another story. My thought was - this is great, but it would be even greater if I could watch it in the comfort of my room. Or even better, huddled up in bed! My couch and tv are nice and all, but in some situations comfort > a great viewing experience.
So. How can I get my cable tv signal to the computer in my room? Or a laptop? (For the technically unitiated, I will try to keep this next bit as idiot-proof as possible) Here's how I'm (trying to) do it.
Starhub cable tv box
TO video cable connected to a TV tuner card
IN A computer which also works as a streaming video server
WHICH streams the video across my home network
RIGHT to my laptop which recieves it as a windows media streaming video.
Except that right now, I'm stuck between step TO and IN A, cause I can't get windows to recognize the starhub set top box. Watching one channel is nice, but it sorta kinda sucks when you cannot channel surf. Grr. I'm about to tear my hair out.
WHY DOES WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER HATE ME SO!?!?
Four years you think for sure
That’s all you've got to endure
All the total dicks
All the stuck up chicks
So superficial, so immature
Then when you graduate
You take a look around and you say HEY WAIT
This is the same as where I just came from
I thought it was over
Aw that’s just great
The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who‘s the best dressed and who‘s having sex,
Who‘s got the money, who gets the honeys,
Who‘s kinda cute and who‘s just a mess
And you still don’t have the right look
And you don’t have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends
High school never ends
Check out the popular kids
You’ll never guess what Jessica did
How did Mary Kate lose all that weight
And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom’s straight
And the only thing that matters
Is climbing up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn’t matter if you’re sixteen or thirty-five
Reese Witherspoon,
She’s the prom queen
Bill Gates,
Captain of the chess team
Jack Black, the clown
Brad Pitt, the quarterback
I’ve seen it all before
I want my money back
The whole damn world is just as obsessed
With who’s the best dressed and who’s having sex,
Who’s in the clubs and who’s on the drugs,
Who’s throwing up before they digest
And you still don’t have the right look
And you don’t have the right friends
And you’re still listen to the same shit you did back then
High school never ends
Here we go again
I heard a song I decided I liked the other day, and was told the artist is Kelly Clarkson. In my infinite wisdom though, I forgot the title of the track. Nevertheless, I went to get a copy of Breakaway, only to listen to the entire album and not recognizing any of the songs. Urgh.
Inspired by Ross, I decided to try to get people to address me with a little respect. Unlike Ross, however, I failed miserably. /sadface.
[van] says:
b*******, what's theplan tmr?
(L)(W) says:
can you please address me with more respect?
(L)(W) says:
then perhaps i shall decide to answer your question.
[van] says:
hahaa .. ok ...
[van] says:
b******* SISTEr ..
[van] says:
what's the ans
(L)(W) says:
;_;
b******* - original word censored to protect the young and innocent. If you don't know, ignorance is bliss. If you do, WOE TO YOU AND YOUR HOUSE.
Since I've used up my quota of quasi-intelligent posts for the month with my IP question, here's something absolutely, utterly mind-numbing but is oh-so-compelling in an inexplicable way.
http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
If you've ever been to China and gone shopping, you might have noticed that CDs over there are dirt cheap. I forget the price exactly, but they're a fraction of the price we pay here, or even in the States. Mind you, these are the original versions of CDs, licensed by EMI and Sony and Universal China, or what have you. Without going too much into economics, the price point of CDs and other luxury goods has to do with the standard of living, and the absolute amount of disposal income a regular person has to spend on luxuries.
First question - would you buy such CDs, when presented with an opportunity? Their very existence does not violate any IP laws. Their only "problem" - if you can even call it that - is that they have Chinese on the cover art and sleeves. Which to me doesn't really pose a problem, since I rip my CDs onto mp3 and never ever see the actual CD again. Interestingly enough, some retailers in Singapore parallel import these CDs for the local market - you might have seen them in some CD shops. Parallel importing is a different story, however - that might be in violation of trade laws, what have you.
But I think most people would agree with me that buying a CD from somewhere else at dirt cheap price isn't in violation of any IP laws. So here's the kicker:
What if you bought mp3s from an online site located in a different country at a fantastically cheap price?
As you might (or might not) know, iTunes charges US$9.99 for an album. That's reasonable, I guess, though you get DRM-ed music that's only playable in iPods. Some people might argue it's a little pricey, but whatever. But in the past couple of years iTunes copycats have been popping up in countries where the long arm of the RIAA cannot reacch - in this case Russia and China - where full albums can come at the low, low price of a buck. Or somewhere around there.
The RIAA has cried long and loud about these sites, who claim that they sell licensed music. While some sites are rather dubious, it is established that there is a provision in Russian copyright law that allow mp3 sites to sell their entire catalogue, and they do so at local (Russian) prices. Which translates into el cheapo for the rest of the world. I haven't visited any Chinese ones, for obvious reasons.
Assuming that they are selling legal mp3s, is there anything wrong in patronizing their site instead of iTunes or whatever? The RIAA has been twsting arms and all to get them shut down, and it won a small battle when Visa agreed to stop accepting credit card payments to a very popular Russian mp3 site. But try as I might, I cannot distinguish between my earlier example of buying CDs on the cheap from somewhere else while on holiday, and buying mp3s on the cheap from another jurisdiction.
So, IP lawyers. Sharpen your pencils! Why can't I buy mp3s from wherever I choose?
a friend says:
got what.....got guys ask for my number,....but all the wrong ones i dont like
a friend says:
so unfair!!!!!!!!!!!
a friend says:
im feeling sad all over again
a friend says:
haha
a friend says:
kidding
me says:
OK!
me says:
i ask for your number
me says:
can i have your number please?
me says:
oh wait.
me says:
i already have it.
a friend says:
okay....nevermind i tell you again
a friend says:
9XXXXXXX
a friend says:
yay
a friend says:
must memorise okay?
a friend says:
better know it
a friend says:
or you're dead
NB names and numbers changed to protect the innocent.
Or alternatively, Who Wants To Be A Math Geek?
http://www.1729.com/math/integers/PrimeShooter.html
My current high score is 134. Beat it with proof, (screenshot will do) and lunch is on me. And a nice lunch, not BTC -canteen-lunch.
Instructions - shoot the numbers coming down at you with their prime factors. If a number is prime, hit P and the number will disappear. One point for every number you get!
So I hear Sha and Eileen are thinking of dressing up as nurses for Halloween...
Oops, wrong blog!.
Let's try again.
So today I paid a visit to the Wellness Centre thingie cause when I woke up my throat was killing me and I was too lazy to visit a doctor. I just needed some lozenges anyway. This is the first time where I've visited a clinic where the doctor was free/available, but I couldn't see him because the nurses kept goofing up my registration. Gee. There were two of them, and they kept (from what I could tell) confusing each other on what to do, and what to do next. I had to take my weight like, 3 times, cause they kept forgetting the result. Good grief.
Finally things got sorted out and I managed to see the doctor, which took all of 3 minutes - 2 minutes which were spent chatting. Then came the wait for the prescription. The dear nurses spent a while arguing among themselves on what was the correct medicine to dispense, and then they decided they would check with the doctor. After finding out the correct one they had to search for it in the system, (painstakingly entering the drug name on the keyboard. Ouch) find the drug, and then finally dispense it.
Meh. And to think they're open from 11-1 daily (not that I begrudge them, unlikely to be that many sick people here anyhow) I wonder what the nurses are doing the rest of the time?
http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/dice/dice.html
Cute risk-like game. No explanation needed, just point and click!
The iPod turned 5 today. Or well, yesterday, depending on how you look at it. Say what you will about Apple, etc, but there's no denying that the iPod with it's trademark white earbuds has become one of the icons of popular culture. It revolutionized the mp3 player industry, and it's accompanying iTunes Music Store went a long way to help legitimize music downloading.
Original picture via Engadget, also check out their iPod cemetery for a trip down memory lane.
PS I wantneed a 5.5G iPod. Preferably in black.
Because a picture speaks a thousand words. And Samsung Mobile >>> everyone else.