does absolute power corrupt absolutely?

this little question has probably been done to death. but i honestly do feel a need to ramble about this.

is pure democracy overrated? does one possessing absolute power eventually lead to absolute corruption?

we all crave for democracy, the right for our points of view to be put across and aired for all to consider. who likes being shut out of conversation or being barred from participating in making important decisions? yet, does the chaos of being presented with too many opinions outweigh the benefit of everyone being heard out for the best possible solution to be found?

conversely, does having a central figure dictate everything lead to abuses? is it possible for anyone to remain untainted by the alleged corruptive touch that power brings? we will all point to hitler and stalin and saddam hussein and say that the atrocities committed by these dictators is reason enough to shy away from a strong central leadership. but what happens when a collective makes that same decision? isn't a collective leadership performing the same function as the central one with more points of view being injected into the mix? yet is it still considered democracy when they make the same atrocious decision as the dictator?

does having more voices allow a leader to make better decisions? or does it impair his judgment due to the sheer volume of options he or she has available?

will there ever be the right balance between the two?

dilated pupils, masterpiece grimlock and change...

just got back from my eye checkup in the morning. my left optic nerve is still enlarged but not really causing any problems so i'll see the doc again next year to check up on it. in the meantime, my pupils are still dilated and i'm hiding here in my room, with my lappy screen brought down to minimum brightness, appreciating the darkness like a vampire. it doesn't help that the sun is out in full bloody force today.

my eyes... my eyessssssssss.

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on thursday, i dropped by the hangar for the first time to pick up stuff since coming back from the states with david to pick up none other than mp-08 i.e. masterpiece grimlock. as a transformer and a grimlock fan, this is pretty much a geek dream come true. finally, a poseable, super detailed and hugeass grimlock figure that looks like he can take on big bad unicron on his own and kick his ass to kingdom come.

photos are on facebook. lazy to upload them all over again. haha.

me grimlock badass!

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just a little ramble here.

they say change is inevitable. change affects us all in different ways, and while there are people out there who embrace it, i think change is one of the hardest things to accept when the said change drastically affects your life in an such a way that you have to alter your usual patterns of life to accommodate it.

sometimes we crave change when we feel something in our lives needs changing. yet, we absolutely detest change for the better when it is forced upon us. is change always necessary and always good? is it sometimes better to stick to the old, traditional ways that are tried and tested? or do we go and change things by shaking things up?

there's a saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. and i think it's an irony that the more we want to change, the only constant that remains is precisely the opposite: change.

the world is just awesome

i really wish i could embed this video, but i'm guessing discovery asked someone to diable embedding on youtube and discovery's videos don't have an embed function, so this url right here will have to do. yes, go on. click it.

man vs wild is just an awesome show to watch. just watching bear grylls traverse some of the most challenging terrains in the world just makes me recall the odac days and soaking in the wonders that nature has to offer and that our planet does have so many wonderful things worth treasuring even with all the nonsense that goes on around us.

just hearing bear's honest sharing on discovery's "the world is just awesome" spots just hammers it home.

"you've just gotta watch an avalanche. see a big wave. see a croc move fast. see a snake strike. see the torrential rain in the jungle where you can't even hear yourself think.

when you see the animals that are the most wild, the mountains that are the most raw, it's impossible to look at those and not just go, 'wow.' it is awesome."