In this episode, I talk about why Malaysians are multilingual, how people react to this, and the politics of language in Malaysia.
And you get to hear me speak Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and English.
Episode summary
Most Malaysians speak at least two languages. It is not surprising at all to find some that can speak three to five, actually!
I talk about why Malaysians are multilingual, how people react to our linguistic abilities, and the politics of language in Malaysia.
At the end, this is something very unique about Malaysia, and we should celebrate this ability to speak to all corners of the world thanks to our linguistic diversity.
I just literally came back from the cinema and I’ve got lots of thoughts in my head about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
To my surprise when I Googled reviews for the movie, it had really low scores. I think it’s about 48% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience was far more forgiving, which is at 85 the last time I checked.
I’m pretty surprised by that. I mean, it’s not a great-great awesome movie. It’s not in the sense that it didn’t do anything groundbreaking. However, it’s a perfectly adequate popcorn movie for the family. It’s not dark, it has the standard Marvel humor.
Lots of CGI battles and the quantum realm was really pretty. But maybe that’s the problem because it just doesn’t break the MCU mold.
You go, oh, another CGI battle. Oh, yeah. Another CGI alien … it just feels very hollow. And my friend and I were like talking about this. It’s a perfectly good movie – I don’t know why I feel this way. It’s odd that I just feel disappointed although I know it’s an okay movie.
I like Paul Rudd (he plays Scott Lang). I like seeing Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas together as Janet and Hank Pym. I don’t really like Cassie because I thought she was really an annoying team. But then again, that’s me. I’m crotchety towards teens in movies most of the time.
But it just doesn’t feel like there are any real stakes. We’re supposed to make this really huge, big bad – Kang the Conqueror in this movie, but I didn’t feel much menace from him. Yet, personally, I feel of all the actors in this movie Jonathan Majors is probably the most impressive.
There’s something boring and mind-numbing about Marvel’s big CGI battles.
Maybe it’s me. Expecting a little bit more from an adequate popcorn movie is probably not the right thing to do, I guess.
Speaking of CGI battles. A few days ago, I was watching Stargate, a 1990s science fiction movie that kicked off this massive science fiction franchise on television. I was actually marveling at how the CGI still looks so good to this day. I feel as if it’s even better than what we see on any Marvel movie.
And it got me thinking, there’s an overly heavy reliance on CGI special effects these days. And it just doesn’t feel good. Massive CGI battles just feel so impersonal. But remember the battles in The Lord of the Rings movies? They always felt so sweeping and grand, had huge stakes involved and you get swept away by the moment. But battles in MCU movies feel very empty and hollow. I saw this comment on the internet: It’s like watching pixels fight other pixels.
Also, there are just too many things going on on the screen and I can’t process it, and everything is happening so fast. So, I don’t feel anything.
Another thing I would like to complain about – we may be going into spoiler territory here. I try my very best to minimize the spoilers but yeah, I feel as if they didn’t do one character – Madok – any justice. He became a lame joke; they tried to make him into comedic relief and I’m going, why??
And MCU humor really failed in this one. So many serious moments broken by a stupid quip. I groan inwardly when this happens. You know,I know this is a lighthearted movie, but honestly, you can have serious moments without ruining the fun.
How would I rate the movie?
65%.
I think critics are being overly harsh. 48% seems a bit much because I’ve seen worse movies.
I think a lot of people would be perfectly happy with this film. As I said, it’s an adequate popcorn movie. But maybe that’s the problem – it is just doesn’t offer anything beyond that.
In an act of utter randomness, I decided to create a podcast. Which is why I thought it’s totally appropriate to call my podcast, Utterly Random. Because that’s me, random.
I reflect on my four months into the decentralized social media network, Mastodon.
In this episode, I share my experience using the social media platform Mastodon. It’s been five months, and I believe I have a clear idea of the platform’s unique features.
The good stuff: It’s full of interesting people and I have rich and intelligent conversations all the time / I have full control over my feed and social media experience.
The bad stuff: Trolls, like on Twitter, have the power to shut down your account by repeatedly reporting you. This can result in the suspension of the account and I actually experienced this recently. I explain what happened and how the moderators of my instance dealt with it, and how I reacted. Then there are instance wars and instances shutting down…
Tune in to find out if Mastodon is for you. Understand the culture and the “unspoken” rules of how to have a great experience on Mastodon.
WARNING: Some swear words in this one.
Quick summary
I have written at length why I quit Twitter but essentially I left because I did not like how Elon Musk was treating his employees and I have never found Twitter a good place for me. I endured it rather than enjoyed it. Elon Musk’s takeover gave me a good excuse to move because it could break down anytime.
I didn’t have high expectations for Mastodon. I just wanted to “park” myself there. However, I ended up loving it a lot because of the intelligent conversations and high engagement I experienced there.
A lot of Twitter refugees are amazed at how kind and courteous people are on Mastodon. They generally are, but there’s a dark side.
I talk about my experience with being trolled after tripping and falling head-long into a super-sensitive topic on Mastodon. Harassment is still a reality on Mastodon.
The politics of managing an instance and content moderation. It’s not easy for everyone, but it enables a great environment.
How I ended up having my account suspended, how I got it back, and how it made me realise I needed to be very careful about certain topics.
To protect yourself from trolls, use strong keyword filters and press that block button as often as you feel like it. Don’t feel embarrassed about it.
Is your nice, nice enough? The politics of being a part of the Mastodon community, how it was built for the marginalised and disabled, and why it’s important to write ALT tags and use the Content Warning button.
Ultimately, Mastodon is a highly flawed social media platform, but one that shows great promise. We hope that it’ll stay around for the long haul.
Elizabeth Tai 