I have got two things to blog about today.

Firstly, I caught District 9 today, quite possible the best movie I've seen in a while. It's a sci-fi flick with a limited release which only Cathay bothered to pick up and screen 3 times a day at both Cine and the Cathay.

But, oh, it felt wholesome and rich, kinda like the difference between a plain prata and a nice egg prata. The movie is set in Johannesburg, South Africa. So apt, to have a movie centred around xenophobia to be staged in the last bastion of legalized racism, the apartheid.

The movie starts out documentary-style, lays out the news, the unfair media depiction of the stranded aliens, derogatorily known as 'prawns'. 1.2 million of them were stranded on our world for an unknown reason, and were housed in slums. So many parallels could be drawn between that and reality; it was ironic to see the blacks turning from the opressed to the oppressors.

The aliens were, initially, thought to be chaotic, unpredictable and a nuisance. And it wasn't difficult to believe that as you don't really know any better. As the movie progresses, you find that they are more or less harmless, confused and guillible. They are easily tricked by us crafty humans and get taken advantage of.

You find that their rights are constantly being compromised. They are considered legal persons, but it is usually for the downsides and not for the upsides. For example, they get arrested for crimes just like any humans, but have little rights when it comes to stuff like property laws, welfare, unemployment etc. In fact, while they are still incubating, it is perfectly fine to just 'abort' the still living foetus as it isn't even considered alive.

So, from there onwards, you get romanace (the lead's wife abandoning him). You get betrayal, then you get suspense, drama and thriller. You also get a nice chunk of gore (I love how that zap gun thingy makes a person just implode into small bits of flesh and bones). I also hated the lead quite alot, I thought he really deserved what he got.

The themes that the movie explored were really thought-provoking. How the apartheid was, placed in a different light, but still winning you over at the end. While whites and blacks are alot more similiar, the movie does enough to show you just how unequal treatment arising from xenophobia can be.

All in all, it's a pretty damn good movie for the guys. Thought-inducing action to be had.

The other thing I wanna speak out is PETA. The only non-profit organization that I really hate is Amnesty, but now add PETA to the top of the list. PETA is trying to do something beyond what I think should be acceptable. It is fine to prevent cruelty to animals, but what they are doing is to recognize animals as an individual. No eating them. No eating them!?

Basically, what they are asking from us is to abstain from our natural diet as omnivores and to go fully vegetarian. It's stupid. It's bad enough having to deal with not being able to eat dog meat, shark's fin and the like, now we have to give up chicken and beef?

Here's my beef, pardon the pun. Shark's fin, abalone, bird's nest, etc, are examples of Chinese culture. It defines us as a race and sets our customs. In Singapore, at least, shark's fin has become a fixture of wedding dinners. Abalone is largely considered a luxury cuisine, while bird's nest is believed to be extremely nutritious. Never mind the fact; that these foods probably don't have any value beyond their perceived status. I don't see why we have to change our customs to adhere to some raving Western lunatic, to be honest.

Even dog meat. Isn't freedom all about having a free market, free speech, freedom to live as you will and pursue your dreams? What, now even eating dogs offend you? To be honest, the whole eating dog meat turns you off is thanks to the Western belief that a dog is a man's best friend. You don't see them launching hate campaigns against pig livers or chicken intestines. Why? Because they love their dogs and do not believe it should be eaten.

So that's my first reason. PETA represents one of many ways in which the self-righteous organizations of the world seek to clamp down on the different cultures, using reasons such as animal extinction to cite their case. If you ask me, shark fin soup is alot more important than the survival of sharks as a species. I could care less if another species goes extinct; but I would very much love to preserve a way of life. So I'll definitely be taking the opportunity to consume copious amounts of shark's fin soup wherever possible.

The second thing is that fighting for animals diverts precious resources from other, true causes, such as improving quality of life, closing the proverty gap, bringing education and technology to children, etc. Every celebrity who represents PETA is one who could have made a difference to a child's life somewhere. Every dollar wasted on PETA is a dollar that could have bought a child a book to read somewhere in the world. In fact, there should be an anti-PETA organization because it would help reduce the amount of wastage that PETA generates.

I'm not going to deprive a living human being a chance to live just to preserve a species of animals. But that's what PETA is preaching? In a time where food shortages abound, they ask that you eat only veg. In a time when many are made homeless, they ask that you give a puppy a home. In a time where improvished fishermen hunt the seas for game to feed their families, they ask that you deprive them of a livelihood. In a time whereby cancer and HIV ravage developed and developing countries alike, and the need for animal testing is greater than before, they ask that you either find live human subjects or delay the advance of medicine all together, just to avoid animal testing.

While I don't hate animals, I find that the world is 1) too biased when it comes to saving them (too focused on the cute ones like dogs, rabbits and dolphines), and 2) too absorbed in it and forsaking the more noble and pressing tasks of helping their fellow human being. Mayb someday, I may start something to go against the likes of PETA, because seriously, we need animals.