Brandist

My next paper
Thia has nothing to do with my upcoming paper on consumerism and consumption culture. This is just one of the musings that I have while I am in my "zoned out" zone. Yes, I do have a zone out zone. And while I usually "zone out" while in the lavatory, this event occured when I was reading the Sunday newspapers. And no, the Sunday newspapers, to a very large extent, do not have anything to do with me, zoning out.

Brands, Curries
A friend of mine, a Malay, was venting her frustration at the Malay Wedding function that is invariable, infuriating her. Apparently, she is upset that the wedding organisers has included a karaoke machine as part of the entertainment. Usually, karaoke machines comes with professional karaoke singers. I guess, when one is preparing for one's exams in less than 24 hours, any karaokeing is too much karaokeing. This incident, reminded me of several "fb" incidents where individuals of various ethinic backgrounds openly chided groups of other ethinic origins, due to their customs or their actions. The latest one was about a Chinese, who I think, was so upset about the Malay wedding held within ear shot, hers apparently, wrote in her facebook, with expletives mind you, about the cheapness of marriages in the Malay community. That post went viral, and since it raised the ire of the population (mostly Malays), she was sacked from her job. Seriously, I kid you not. Another incident, involving the cooking of curries by a local household. The neighbours, a non local household, found the smell too unappealing that they lodge a complain with the appropriate authorites (which? your guess is as good as mine) and a settlement was soon reached. Amazing, but true, the settlement was, that the local household can only cook curry when the non-local household was not at home. Amazing, right. What is more amazing  was that that was the settlement, accepted by both parties. Perhaps, in trying to keep to good neighbourliness. I don't know about you but smells play a part in determining how good food taste, so if that curry is so offending smelly, I bet that it so offendingly tasty. But, what is more amazing, and to me a but rediculous, was that this story went viral on face book. There were so many people that were so unhappy with the settlement, that explanations by the authorities, was sought and given. Nevertheless, somehow, there was a Cook Curry Today day that happened. Yup, if only there was an incident involving Mondays and Work. Then I guess, I will gladly sign up for No Mondays for Work day. Would that not be even amazing.

Consumerism
Yes, yes, the title looks very massive, with the boldness and the capital c, but no, its not about consumerism. Its about what happened to being a consumerism. Many sociologist has lamented that modern society will tend to creep towards the art of buying as the new art of living. I, on the other hand is wondering, "whats next"? I remembered how the brand of shoes, bags and clothes that we buy would reflect our statuses among friends. I wonder if, it still holds true to the younger generations. Why I asked, you may wonder, because it seems that brands are not that importants for them. They seemed not to be bothered about the brands of clothers they wear nowadays, they are more bothered by the actual item. I see their point, a shoe is a shoe. An xbox is an xbox. You can't have xbox from brand z while another from brand y. There is only one xbox. Thus, branding has been taken out of the picture. What about watches, mobile phones and all that. All of them have not been a given fact.

I have to continue later. I am getting heart burn.