More Pokémon On The Way

Of all the Pokémon Go websites out there, the most famous is arguably The Silph Road. With the latest update of Pokémon Go, the people running The Silph Road proves once again why that is the case.  introduces new incentives for playing - and may hint at the arrival of 100 more Pokémon to the game in the near future.

While the latest update was to add in a new rewards system, but has got everyone’s attention is the news that the people from The Silph Road has found a hidden code in the game that appears to be placeholders for the next generation of Pokémon. That’s right; the 100 Pokémon that were introduced to the game in Pokémon Gold and Silver are now on their way to Pokémon Go.

More Pokémon means more walking; more catching; and more fun to be had. In short, more Pokémon is always a good thing. 

Comics this week

Superwoman #4- Is she crazy or is it an extension of her new powers? That’s the question facing Lana Lang when she begins to see a vision of the dead Lois Lane. While Superwoman's illness gets worse, Ultrawoman put her plans in motion. This was a fun and well executed issue with good art from Emanuela Lupacchino and Ray McCarthy. The only drawback is that at times it’s a little too talky. If writer Phil Jimenez can rein that in, it would be great. 

Trump Wins

The results are in and Donald J. Trump will be the 45th president of the United States of America. He will be the first person to hold the office despite having no prior political or military experience and many people will consider this an upset.

I don’t. America is such a divided country that a good portion of Americans do not care who the candidates are. A good number of Republicans will not vote for a Democrat, and the feeling is highly mutual on the Democrats side. That’s why anyone following American news channel will see news anchors across various news agency all saying the same thing; this election will be close.

Also, despite all the talk of Hillary Clinton being the favourite, she was never able to pull away from Trump. At the end, her campaign was derailed by the FBI who did the Republicans a clear favour. Honestly, I think America made a huge mistake here with Trump. You don’t make a guy who tweeted at 3am in the morning the President of your country! You just don’t.

For the sake of the world, I hope I am wrong but we can do nothing now but see where the train wreck takes us. I think America is in for an interesting 4 years. 

The Gridlock

Well, it’s out. The “proposed” changes to the Elected Presidency are now out and to the surprise of…no one, changes has been made. The next President Elections due in 2017 will only be limited to Malay candidates. To me, the fun wasn’t in the changes but the way various government personals and media are trying to explain the changes in a way that is digestible to the Singapore public.

Deputy Minister Minister Teo Chee Hean said the changes to the Elected Presidency will help avoid gridlock. I honestly have no idea our parliament is suffering gridlock right now with just 6 opposition Members of Parliament.  I think the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) need to find a way to make their 60+ advantage in Parliament work for them to prevent this.

Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said the Malay candidate for the presidency must meet the same exacting standards as any other candidate from another race as if in the past if a Malay candidate stands for the Presidency, he will be of a lower standard. Trying to tackle the giant elephant in the room, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong insist the reserved election for the minority race is NOT a maneuver by the PAP to prevent the victory of the opposition in the 2017 presidential election.

Every single one of these “explanations” is laughable. Come on, everyone and their uncle in Singapore knows the only reason the PAP did all these changes is because Tan Cheng Bock came within a whisker of winning the past time and he is up for the election this time. Not able to find a way to stop him from contesting the election, they had to invent some way to stop him.

Thus, the PAP played the race card. And as an example of how gridlock the Singapore Parliament truly is right now, the change to our Constitution was announced by the PM Lee Hsien Loong and everyone said it in a language that shows that this is a done deal. That’s right, that changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore! Now that’s gridlock for you. 

In Defense of The Current Guy

There are only two days to go before we know who would be the next President of the United States of America. In the blue corner, we got the secretive yet experienced Hillary Clinton. In the red corner, we got the famous yet loose-lipped Donald Trump.

In short, whoever the winner is, he/she will be a step down from the current guy. I know there are some people in America who just hate current President Barack Obama but from the outside looking in; I think he did a pretty good job as President. It is showing in his opinion polls as he is so popular right now, he is criss-crossing the country campaigning on behalf of Clinton.   

Now I would agree he would probably not go down as a great President, but considering the mess he inherited from George W. Bush, he did a pretty good job. Under his tenure, America’s standing in the world has improved; the US economy began their slow recovery; and many terrorist leaders, including Osman bin Laden, died during his two terms as President.

Did he make mistakes? Of course he did, but what’s new? No one is perfect and every US President in history made mistakes. On the whole however, I think most people would agree Barack Obama was a better than average President. He didn’t set the world on fire, and he didn’t usher in the next golden age of America. He did his job.

In the end, that’s all you can ask for. 

Comics this week

Deadly Class #23- The more things change, the more things remind the same. We see this clearly this issue as Master Lin schooled Saya on the finer points of betrayal and death. Thing is…he does make a certain amount of sense. Master Lin is task with turning Saya into a killer and like all good teachers, he’s not afraid to do whatever is necessary to get things then. The end of the story here he gave Saya a new pledge with a foretelling of the betrayal to come? Man, writer Rick Remender and artist Wes Craig really show their stuff here!

Moon Knight #8- We all know the character of Moon Knight. Marc Spector has a spilt personality which many writers had fun playing with but I can say no one has pushed it as far as writer Jeff Lemire. There is just so much wonderful chaos in this issue that it just works. And the ending; oh, what an ending. I just can’t wait for the next issue of Moon Knight.

Motor Girl #1- A former POW who is now back in America trying to adjust to civilian life while she knowingly has a mental condition that she’s hiding from other people? That in itself would make Motor Girl a potential winner, but that’s not good enough for writer Terry Moore. No, he has Samantha running a junkyard that is visited by a UFO that crashed landed there. When she saw that the aliens were looking for spare parts, she was only too happy to oblige. The first in a long new line of customers? I shall say I always thought Terry Moore to be slightly overrated but count me in on this new series. 

A Prank In Singapore

The killer clown craze is stupid. Originating in the US, the craze is basically guys dressed in “scary” clown costumes scaring unsuspecting people on the street. It’s so stupid the craze has spread to other parts of the world including Singapore.

I know this because there’s a YouTube video titled “Killer Clown Scare Prank In Singapore”. Uploaded by some guy named “Joel Wong”, the video has become well-known in Singapore because…the clown prankster now under police investigations for being a public nuisance.

What? Are you kidding me? Don’t the police have better things to do? This is a prank, and the only crime I see is the fact it wasn’t a very funny one. Last I check, stupidity still isn’t a crime in Singapore. There's a police investigation for a such a harmless stupid prank? Now that's funny.