x x Rock 101 x x

duck.Rice Designs

é rocker: joseph matthias goh
é birth: 01 11 90

your typical metalhead next-door neighbour with a tendency to unknowingly bring down his estate whilst fingering his trusty handmaiden, an SA Series Ibanez. tamed by coke, iced lemon tea and coffee, its always a good idea to drop him a cuppa(s). currently doing odd jobs and enjoying his last 5 months of freedom before uni starts and he is forced to join the terrible world of working-class-adulthood. he is also madly in love with this beautiful woman, rachel chang ya hui, whom he met qutie awhile back but never had the fate to be together with till oct 2010 (circa).

last updated on 030310 by é joé.

x x Desires x x

- ORD LOH!
- endless supply of good food
- go overseas with my yahui
( over the straits of singapore/malaya! )
- do a one-arm pull up
  ( don't think i can anymore tho )
- new phone (iphone 4//htc hd7)
- canon dslr camera
- topman black skinnies
  ( thanks yahui [: )
- 2xist boxer briefs
- 20-watt marshall amp
- dunlop crybaby wah pedal
- metal distortion pedal
  ( beta alvin from peninsula )
- subaru impreza wrx sti (long wayy)

x x Significant Others x x

- .the people. -
Alicia, Angelus, Justina, Rishi, Ya Hui, Yoke Ming

- .my other dimensions. -
My DeviantART, My Facebook My Friendster, My MySpace

- .other cool stuff. -
BEASTskills (fitness website)
College Humor (when you're bored)
Corrupt (concept website)
Dawn of Tears [MySpace] (symp. metal)
Dieblo [MySpace] (insudstrial) ISOHunt.Com (the great piracy resistance)
Ultimate-Guitar (self-explanatory)

x x Memories x x

- June 2006
- July 2006
- August 2006
- September 2006
- October 2006
- November 2006
- December 2006
- January 2007
- February 2007
- March 2007
- April 2007
- May 2007
- June 2007
- July 2007
- August 2007
- September 2007
- October 2007
- November 2007
- December 2007
- January 2008
- February 2008
- March 2008
- April 2008
- May 2008
- June 2008
- July 2008
- August 2008
- September 2008
- October 2008
- November 2008
- December 2008
- January 2009
- February 2009
- March 2009
- April 2009
- May 2009
- June 2009
- July 2009
- August 2009
- September 2009
- October 2009
- November 2009
- December 2009
- January 2010
- February 2010
- March 2010
- April 2010
- May 2010
- June 2010
- July 2010
- August 2010
- September 2010
- October 2010
- November 2010
- December 2010
- January 2011
- February 2011
- March 2011
- April 2011
- May 2011
- July 2011
- August 2011
- September 2011
- November 2011
- February 2012

x x Designed by Me x x

Brushed, designed & laid out by Joe
solely with Photoshop and Notepad.

Some images from DeviantART.

Friday, April 29, 2011

a note from the mind of joseph matthias goh. on the upcoming general elections, the opposition, it's arguments, the government, and it's existing policies. disclaimer: this note is purely of the opinion of a 21 year old and who's knowledge of the elections is based on the media and broadcasts of rallies. i am not a journalist, and i have no obligation to hide my distress that singapore is actually thinking of voting the opposition into parliament.

as the media hooks onto the upcoming general elections, i think it's best we start viewing our own thoughts and emotions when we read their articles, as a third-party. because every article has been written by someone else with emotions, and being journalists, they have the authority (well used or misused) to structure articles in a way that invokes the emotions within us in the way they themselves feel. in fact, i daresay that the way online journalists have presented themselves to us through their articles is fairly unprofessional. a good journalist would never allow his/her emotions to be so easily read through an article. it's all just very amateurish.

many people are so easily fooled into wanting to support the opposition when the pap have given us whatever we have today. you can argue that the younger pap candidates are inexperienced and in no way comparable to the first generation (lky, george yeo, balakirshnan), but still, when lky started out, he was as inexperienced as them, and see where it got us today. as opposed to the opposition, look how old and experienced (with regards to elections and politics) they are, and you surely must begin to wonder with such age, where has their wisdom gone to? still bargaining for lower food and housing prices, subsidised transport costs, etc etc.

surely you are not of the opinion that tin pei ling and nicole seah are expounding their own theories and beliefs? being young and inexperienced, the only source of their political foundation would be from those above them. in both cases, i suspect they're just there to put up a youth that other youths (fresh-grads) a person they relate with and rally around (kaki nang mah). nothing wrong with that, but look at it from a larger picture: the pap obviously is using her as a bait to younger people, and the nsp is obviously copying the pap's tatic (who came up with the idea first?). doesn't this prove the pap is still one step ahead of the opposition with regards to intellect and strategy? for the sake of a short article, i shall base my arguments on the youngest candidates' theories (because being young, they would be the most easily influenced by their superiors by choice, or without, and thus their words are an accurate representation of what their political party believes in).

in nicole seah's star article @ http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/felt-stephanie-sun-came-stage-180444041.html, she talked about

1. gst (our 7%, compared to 15% in new zealand, 10% in australia, 5% in canada and hong kong, 4% in malaysia. average it out, ours is arguably low) eating away at the middle class income. but at the same time, doesn't it make the rich not get away with so much of their money? and think about it, where will the budget (of 1k or more to lower income families - 1k to them is alot btw) come from if not for gst? at 24, she should have a basic idea of economics, enough to understand that this is a rebalancing of income (take from the rich, give to the poor), and the reason why we cannot tax the rich more heavily and give the poor no tax is because then what incentive does the rich have to continue bringing in business for singapore? singapore inc would suffer a huge blow if the opposition were allowed to take over and take out gst from our system.

2. high cost of public housing. it is true that costs are high, but it is only because of the land limitations we have. how will you effectively house 5 million people in 704 km square of land? that's apprx 7000 people in a 1 km square area, or apprx 7 persons in a 1m by 1m square. economics again, heightened demand equals heightened prices. moreover, this cost is payable by installment, and if you're still on the gst and the effects on low-income families, the government offers a 60k grant for housing purchase to couples whose total montly income is below 1.5k. for a two room flat that averages $250,000, the couple only has to pay $190,000, with a home loan of 20 years assuming no upfront payment, it's only 800 per year. assuming the couple's income doesn't increase (which is highly impossible seeing that even a basic office admin job pays about 1.2k a month), they still have $700 to survive on a month. less utilities bills (for a 2-room flat), thats about $600 for food alone. let's not account children into the picture since the nsp already has a problem with housing costs (that has transpired from a large population).

3. over-population of foreigners. let me ask you, where would mbs, rws, all the hdbs you live in, the ongoing project at marina bay, traffics lights, street lamps etc be if not for banglas and prcs? would locals take up a 800 dollar job just to work a day-in day-out physically demanding job. if nicole seah is complaining about foreigners, the only foreigners people complain about are foreign workers, and high level arrogant expats (not a possbility because nicole seah talks about taking the train, highly paid expats would definitely not be on trains and buses). so, would you want to take up such a job? if you don't, what makes you think other people will? when an office admin job would already give you over a thousand montly? and if you want to argue against mbs, rws etc, where would singapore's revenue come from if not for the development of such business and entertainment infrastructure? and if you don't want such people to go out, what are you going to do about it? enprison them for their off-work time?

4. "PM Lee, whose money are you using for upgrading? Whose money is used to pay your salary?". the peoples. firstly, if someone made homes for you to stay, made sure your country has investors, indirectly giving you and your loved one's a job, modelled an education system for your children such that they would be able to compete globally in any possible field, how much would you pay him? or them? such a thing cannot be measured in money, like how you (i'm assuming you are an educated, sensible person) would think an education is a priceless investment. it's the same concept (if you are less educated, here's a more layman story) as "giving a man a fish would only make him return the next day asking for another, but teaching a man how to fish would ensure his survival without your provision.". so how can you put a price on upgrading? upgrading benefits the elderly, makes things easier for people. when you are 80 and in a wheelchair, you WOULD be thankful for lifts on every level. the pure intention and effort to upgrade every hdb with lifts on every floor then becomes priceless to the people. so even if the payment to the government is compulsory, why would you not want to? change citizenship la, if you're so unhappy.

5. "Of course the NSP team feels that it is not masak-masak lah, that's why the NSP never change its Tampines team at the last minute." why then did they field nicole seah in the same grc as tin pei ling? the nsp is just making a fool of themselves but making it seem like the pap is at fault. this just shows how vengeful the nsp can be, when pap did not even comment on why the nsp fielded an equally young female candidate in marine parade. why marine parade when there's so many grcs? obviously the nsp has even a slightest intention of mirroring pap's image. they are just picking at pap's small let-ups to make it seem like pap is incompetent. as most of us are well aware, nobody is perfect, including the pap, but shouldn't we at least vote for the party which is the least petty, the most professional, and makes the least mistakes? compared to the oppositions, the pap has definitely made the least mistakes, even though they have. everyone yearns perfection, but if perfection is not available, don't tell me you'd just go for the least perfect?

and from Nicole Seah's colleague, gilbert goh: "Are you having a better life compared to five years ago? Is your salary right now higher than five years ago? Do you think you have a better Singapore compared to five years ago?". in response, what can you do to make my salary higher in five years time than now? what can you do to make Singapore better compared to five years ago?

asides from all these comparatively small arguments, the opposition's most major flaw would be, they criticise, but they do not have any way out either. in a way, they're like the stompers on stomp.sg.

since in my honest opinion, lina chiam and sitoh yih pin has equally much substance, i'll vote for the party, not for the individual, thus i'll vote pap. even if it is that bloody sitoh yih pin. why? because the party he represents has substance.

duck.Rice Designs x x x x x
rocked the shit out of this blog @
1:39 PM

SUNDAY, 30 FEBRUARY 2007
we hate to MOVE IT, MOVE IT.
and yet another opening article adapted from the story of Twilight and the Thousand Other Fantasy Stories. in this latest article, humour (or rumour) has it that vampires drink orange juice. a petrified employee of orange julius was quoted saying "he just looked at me with those orange eyes, and then, i had no choice. i gave him a cup of orange!". orange julius CEO said that he was launching a personal vendetta against vampires as they were causing his profits to dip.

two <br /> spacings above and below

this linking passage links us to linkin park which is somewhere in my CD rack. "what a nice park," leonardo da vinci had said himself. "its full of dog shit and... eww whats this? spagetthi filled with pieces of dark flakes... ooo, wait, senor! its... chocolate. si si... si penne? no no... si fusilli." pavarotti reportedly slapped him after that for mixing up his favourite pasta.

Andrea Bocelli and Friends x x x x x
rocked the shit out of this blog @
7.15 PM