Rest in Peace, Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin was perhaps the best-known conservationist and wildlife expert in the world. His death is tragic and oddly unexpected- even though he put his life on the line time and time again for the sake of educating and entertaining people, his larger-than-life nature made him seem invulnerable. That he was killed by a stingray, an animal that is apparently mostly harmless, just goes to show the unpredictable nature of his line of work and of wild animals in general.

Still, one would think that Steve would be satisfied with his legacy- the Australian Zoo run by him and his wife, his television shows that have been (and will be for many more years) watched by countless people who hopefully were as educated by the shows as they were entertained and his passionate conservation efforts. Plus, he died doing what he loved best; filming a new nature documentary.

So goodbye, Steve Irwin- Wildlife Warrior. You'll be sorely missed.

Technorati Tags: Steve Irwin, tribute

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A Belated Tribute to S Rajaratnam

Singapore's a great country. Yeah, everyone (including me) bitches and moans about stuff we don't like here all the time, but these are the facts: this is one of the safest countries in the world, it's got a really good education system and a strong, stable economy with nowhere near the levels of wealth disparity you see in other Asian countries. For that we have to thank Singapore's founding fathers- who did the impossible and built the country up into the powerhouse it is today.

S Rajaratnam was one of these men. I'm sad to say I'm one of those who knew nearly nothing about the man til his death, but now that I know about him (thanks in part to a very informative documentary on Channel NewsAsia- the obituary on their website has a good write-up about his life), I have nothing but respect for him. So here's to a great man! Long may you live in this nation's memory as one of it's most important historical figures.

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Grant Who?

I just realised that non-comics people would probably have a question mark hovering above their heads, Metal Gear Solid-style, after reading my last post. So who is Grant Morrison? Why, simply one of the greatest writers in the comic book medium, that's who! His magnum opus, in my opinion, is the amazing, mind-bending Vertigo (DC's line of mature comics launched in the wake of Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Sandman) series The Invisibles. It's about psychic secret agents who are waging an unseen war against those who would rule the world. It's about sex, drugs, violence and magic. It's about Buddha and the end of the world. It's about everything, really. It's also the reason I still read comics today- I got my hands on a copy of the first trade paperback. At a time when I thought comics were all about overly-muscular men beating 10 kinds of $*#! out of each other while angsting about their dead wives/girlfriends/children/pets (this was the early-90s!), The Invisibles restored my faith in the medium.

Grant Morrison's specialty is subverting the superhero genre and transmogrifying it into a way to express supremely imaginative concepts and ideas. One of his most famous mainstream works, Arkham Asylum (illustrated by famed Sandman cover artist and director of the recent fantasy film Mirrormask, Dave McKean), is a metaphorical story based on the theories of Carl Jung. Batman is cast in the role of the conscious part of the human mind, fighting to keep the unconscious part (represented, of course, by the inmates of Arkham Asylum) in check. One of the most original takes on the Batman mythos in recent years, Arkham Asylum has been a best-seller since it's release.

He's not incapable of doing mainstream work either! His mid-90s Justice League of America revamp was hugely popular and helped create the genre of "wide-screen" superhero action that Warren Ellis would use to great effect in his later title The Authority (the same book GM is going to be revamping later this year!). He similarly revamped the X-Men in his book New X-Men, which was by far and away the most exciting, SEXY X-Men book to come out for a long, long time. Last but not least, his new All-Star Superman series (with the supremely-talented artist Frank Quitely) makes that tired old hero cool again.

So that's who Grant Morrison is- the coolest English-language comic book writer ever (not the best because that's Alan Moore. Neil Gaiman's the gothest). That's why I'm so, so, so excited about his new (old?) books coming out later this year.

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2006 is the year of Grant Morrison

My main man GM is already writing the superlative All-Star Superman. This year, he's also going to be writing two books for DC's Wildstorm line of comics: WildC.A.T.s and The Authority. The former will be drawn by star artist and cheesecake specialist Jim Lee, while the latter will be drawn by Gene Ha (most famous for his work on Alan Moore's Top 10). If that wasn't cool enough, it's been announced at a DC Wondercon panel that he'll be writing both Batman and Detective Comics after the current writers' runs end.

COOLNESS OVERLOAD. I'm going to have to go lie down now.

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R.I.P. Rosa Parks

You were a true hero. Would that the world had more people like you.

My dad's written a good piece about Rosa Parks on his blog.

Update: This Time magazine piece about her from their 100 Most Important People of the Century special is rather illuminating.

Another Update: Rosa Park's is on Apple's homepage! The picture of her links to a news story about her. Very classy, Apple. Very classy indeed.

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The Hottest Curry Ever

"Also, I had the hottest curry ever on Sunday. Magic Spice in Shimo-Kitazawa. The hot curry requires a password that is not printed on the menu."

Tim Rogers lives in Tokyo. He's a punk rock kinda guy. He writes about games, music and other interesting stuff. Read his blog.

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