cole_p's New Writeups

Inside the Kingdom (thing)

2004-08-30T15:15:42Z

'Inside the Kingdom' was first published in English by Warner Books in July 2004; it is the story of one woman's experiences living as a foreigner in Saudi Arabia. The first thing that one notices, however, is the author's name: Carmen Bin Laden, a sister-in-law of Osama Bin Laden. The book itself provides a fascinating insight into Saudi Arabian culture, as well as into the lives of the members of the Bin Laden clan.

It tells the story of Carmen's life, from beginning to present. Her father was Swiss and her mother Iranian. After her parents broke up, she and her sister were raised in Switzerland by her mother. The book focuses on her experiences in meeting, falling in love with, marrying, and eventually divorcing one of the members of the Saudi Arabian Bin Laden clan â Yeslam Bin Laden, one of Osama Bin Laden's many brothers. During much of the time that she was married to Yeslam she lived in Saudi Arabia, and was subject to its strict laws regarding the behavior and dress of…

Coffee and Cigarettes (thing)

2004-08-22T15:35:14Z

This node is here not to praise the most praise-worthy combination of coffee and cigarettes, but rather as a review of Jim Jarmusch's film of that title: âCoffee and Cigarettes.â It is hard to describe this film, but if I had to try to describe it in one word it would have to be âminimalist.â

The film, released to cinemas in the US in May 2004, is made up of a eleven short vignettes, all shot entirely in black and white. There is no plot to speak of â it consists entirely of the characters talking to each other over coffee and cigarettes. The cast for this movie is simply incredible; Roberto Benigni, Cate Blanchett, Steve Buscemi, Steve Coogan, Bill Murray, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits and Steven Wright to name a few.

The characters talk about anything from Tesla coils to Elvis to, of course, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Each vignette features two or three characters, and the only thing that links one vignette to another is the fact that the setting, a…

August 21, 2004 (idea)

2004-08-21T17:22:53Z

So seriously, it is as if the community is waving a great big stick at me, saying âcriticize Singapore all you like, we enjoy reading you telling us about how silly people are over there; but criticize anything else, raise an opinion about anything else, and we will smack you with this here stick so hard that your, um, node gets nuked.â I can understand that over time, the general standards of E2 have been raised a lot higher than they were in years gone by â just look at, say, the daylogs written in the year 2000; pretty unremarkable stuff really. Okay, I am through with the rant - the stuff that was downvoted and eventually nuked of mine was pretty shoddy stuff, I admit. I'm sorry to all of those whom it was inflicted upon.

So I have been around for all of a month now (3.4 weeks and counting) and overall I am pretty happy with how things are going â the quality of the writing I am outputting, judging by the response, has been somewhat erratic, but then I am an…

Harry Potter and Reality TV (idea)

2004-08-21T16:24:22Z

The storyline and whatnot of the Harry Potter series of books and movies has already been detailed in other nodes. Regarding the books, one has to ask, what is it about them that has made the Harry Potter series so incredibly popular? I do not dispute the fact that they are very good books, but rather I have to question what it is about them that has led to their incredible success â there have been few books which have spawned such a following amongst both young and old, or so much in the way of merchandising, and film adaptations.

Having thought about this a lot over the past few years, my opinion about the books is that their success is derived not from the storyline aspects of the books, but rather from the descriptions of every-day life at Hogwarts. In this way, it is somewhat reminiscent of the whole 'Survivor' / Reality TV craze â which gained popularity around the same time as Harry Potter did. Both are centered more around day-to-day life of those put into…

Singapore (place)

2004-08-21T07:05:15Z

There has been a lot of criticism of the Singapore government, on this site most of it originates from me. However, there are a number of things which are hard to criticize â especially in light of how successful Singapore has become due to the government's policies. Human rights may be ignored; the laws are strict and, some say, draconian in nature; and there are so many things about Singaporean society which seem to be so very wrong; but Singapore is a phenomenal success, and for that we have Lee Kuan Yew and the ruling People's Action Party to thank.

Singapore has no natural resources to speak of; the only thing that it originally had in its favor is its prime location at the tip of the Malay peninsula. It was for this reason that it was declared an ideal place for a colony by Sir Stamford Raffles, and it is also largely for this reason that, as an independent nation, it is successful today.

Singapore today boasts some of the world's finest…

Disneyland with the Death Penalty (idea)

2004-08-19T15:30:02Z

'Disneyland with the Death Penalty' is the first major piece of non-fiction written by William Gibson, the author of 'Neuromancer' and a range of other science-fiction novels and short stories. It was published on Wired (www.wired.com) in September 1993. Its topic is the Republic of Singapore, the 'Disneyland' in question, and his perspective on it. He covers a range of topics, and he provides some interesting insights into Singaporean society and government.

âIt's like an entire country run ... under the motto 'Be happy or I'll kill you.â

Despite the fact that the article was published more than a decade ago, I (speaking as one who has been in Singapore for nearly 18 years) find that the article is still incredibly relevant. Where some may consider that after ten years the article would be inaccurate, I would say that the opposite was true â everything he claimed about Singapore ten years ago is more true today than it was back…