Year in Review: 2013

Wow. As much of a cliché as it may already sound, yet another year is on the brink of passing us by tonight. Another one, full of hopes, promises and hastily made resolutions awaits at the gates, ready to take us on another adventure.

Many news sites have been doing their year-in-review posts, showing off their many feature articles and stories (the New York Times is a fantastic example), and this year, we thought we'd debut our own. Our 4th anniversary post already does a great job of summing up our milestones to date, so check that out for those; here, we'd instead like to look back on our favourite articles, handpicked by each team member - save Gregory, who's away on holiday.

Right then, here you go, in no particular order: Suburban KID's top five of 2013.

I See the Future: The Rise of Virtual Reality

Words by Gregory Goh and Matthew Chiam

Additional writing by Terence Wang

We've heard of it before, the staple in so many sci-fi movies, books, comics, games. It simulates one's physical presence in virtual worlds; worlds that mirror our own, worlds of fantasy, anything you can dream of. The reality of virtual reality (VR) today is that, well, it's no longer virtual. I won’t deny that VR has been around for awhile, way back in time, even before I was born. Projecting a virtual world right in front of your eyes definitely sounds exciting, but having to put on a bulky, cumbersome helmet that threatened to snap your neck was not. That’s why VR remained as a dream, floating in man’s imagination. Virtual. 

Until now.

Now You See It (Reader Contribution)

#shortstories is an ongoing series of articles recounting some of our interesting real life experiences.

Words by Jolene Siew

“It's a locked room murder!”

“How did the suspect escape?”

“The key's right beside the deceased.”

My eyes lit up in excitement as I glued them onto the screen, paying special attention to the crime scene trying my best to source out clues. As usual, the police force is utterly useless and the case can only be cracked by the lead – or in this case (pun unintentional), leads.

Four Years!

The Last Ferry Ride

#shortstories is an ongoing series of articles recounting some of our interesting real life experiences.

A ferry is never silent. At any point of time, there will be the shuffling of footsteps, the exchange of chatter, the sudden screaming of children enjoying the cold sea breeze. Even in the absence of all these, there would still be the monotone chime of the monstrous ship engines, chugging, turning, toiling, bringing the vessel from one jetty to another. That evening, however, all this noise was dead to me.

Slowly, reluctantly, I opened my eyes.

Gliding Over All: Singapore, A Two Year Journey

Words by Terence Wang
Picture editing by Lh Isurgranddad

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; 
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; 
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; 
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; 
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.

On 21 November, 2013, I departed Singapore for home, closing the first half of the four-year-long chapter that began from the moment I received the fateful email informing me of my successful entry into the ASEAN scholarship. That journey has been fruitful, surprising, heartbreaking, mind-blowing, and life-changing.

This article is a final summary chronicling this two-year journey, and the people that have been part of it.

Fire Meets Snow - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review

Words by Terence Wang
Additional writing by Siangling Tan

When the train carrying three Hunger Games victors and one poodle-like woman exited the tunnel to reveal a panoramic view of Panem, I felt certain that I was in for a treat. And I was right.

Taking place soon after the events in The Hunger Games, Catching Fire brings viewers behind the cameras and into the lives of Katniss and Peeta, victors of the earlier 74th Hunger Games. Without spoiling too much for people who haven't watched the series at all - honestly though, you should hitting Back, Close, Ctrl+W or whatever you fancy right now - they managed to break the tradition of one-winner-per-game in a spontaneous, last-minute move of desperation, but by doing so have forced the powerful hand of the secretive, authoritarian government led by President Snow (played by Jonathan Sutherland).

A little disclaimer beforehand: You can say I'm a fan of the novel trilogy. It was more accidental than anything else, really - a couple of years ago, I selected the first book at a lazy session in my local bookstore and started a read. Before I knew it, several hours had passed, I was walking out of the store in a mockingjay-induced daze and a desire to catch up with the rest of the series. As such, if you're not enamored by the books, you may want to take my review with a bit of salt, or take the comparison of the movie with its book counterpart out of the equation. On the other hand, if you, too, enjoyed the novels and the themes associated with them, then this overview will be for you.

Falling

#shortstories is an ongoing series of articles recounting some of our interesting real life experiences.

My mind was starting to lose its sanity as I climbed up the gate in front of my house, trying to get out of the house silently. I picked up my worn-out basketball, jumped down from the gate and started to saunter to the nearby basketball court. Basketball has always been a stress reliever, momentarily taking me away into a paradise where every predicament loses its grip on my weary soul. That was just what I needed that evening. Exams were coming up and I had studied scarcely, what's more, there was only little time to spare before facing the big hurdle that was presented before me.

A Glimpse of Simplicity

#shortstories is an ongoing series of articles recounting some of our interesting real life experiences.

It happened on a rainy Saturday.

I was at my weekly job as a hostess in a restaurant, and as always, it was busy. It was pouring outside, and business was as busy as ever. An hour before closing, and the crowd was beginning to thin. A middle aged woman ran in, and handed me a leather bound journal, claiming that she found it outside in the rain.

Fight or Flight

Stare down. White space.

Uncomfortable.

Rush of emotions. Head spinning. Anger. Why anger?

Leave. Need to leave.

I See You

#shortstories is an ongoing series of articles recounting some of our interesting real life experiences.

As with many things, spotting her was a pure coincidence. Or luck, depending on what you believe in. I lay back against my chair, partially relieved from completing a long, tedious chemistry worksheet. Massaging my neck a little, I leaned slightly to my right, momentarily enjoying the sweet joy of completion.

I saw her.

Healing

What is it that makes relationships so important to us?

Even forgetting the romance movies, the chick flicks, the chick lit (getting a bit sexist here, I know), love and attraction is just... I don't know, such a big deal. Not to everyone, perhaps - some people couldn't care less - but I think I can safely say it's a big majority. Myself not excluded.

Note to Readers #6

Hi internet, it's your favourite online editor back again with a short update.

You may or may not have noticed a slight decline in Suburban KID posting activity lately. Regional readers will know that nearly our entire team is caught up in various national exams, also known as Very Serious Matters, a natural consequence of being in the final grade and all. Hence the decline in posting frequency.

That line sounded way too much like Physics-cum-Social Studies for my liking. Anyway.

We have yet to emerge from the dark pits of big equations and even bigger textbooks, but I personally am in a more, 'available', state than before. So while we won't be fully operational just yet, I can at least start warming those engines in preparation.

In preparation for S.K.'s fourth anniversary, that is.

Chalking up another year is always a huge excitement for us, and naturally we try to inject some life in commemoration of the event. As you might have seen last year, our third anniversary also saw the launch of v3.0 of the site, which was a complete revamp and relaunch, and the Calling Home series of articles. This year won't see such huge changes - contrary to many rumours, the SK team does sleep - but we will officially usher in v4.0. Actually, that's not quite accurate; v4.0 has actually resembled something of a 'rolling release', and we've been pushing out small updates and bug fixes over the past couple of months, which will accumulate to make version 4 (an example was the site optimisation we announced, which has managed to lower load times by up to 60%).

There are also be some special articles in the pipeline, including a new series that will be launched soon: #shortstories, a series of short (duh) articles of little experiences we have had that were interesting, funny or entertaining in some way to us.

All in all, there is quite a bit of stuff coming up, though we can't announce much yet - need some suspense in life, no? - that we hope you, the reader, will enjoy and love as much as we enjoy and love creating them. Watch this space.

Oh, before I forget: to our readers who celebrate it, happy premature Halloween!

Jetball

The following is a fictional story based in the video game 'Firefall' by Red 5 Studios. All portrayed stunts are conducted by gamers professionals; do not attempt them at home.

It was indeed a proud moment for me as I was hailed as the top scorer for my team. All the time spent training has finally paid off as I scored the winning goal, securing a spot for my team in the finals. It was my first amateur tournament, and getting so far was not a walk in the park.

The year is 2233. It marked the advent of personal flight propulsion systems, more commonly known as jump jets. Also a time when teleportation was at its infancy. It was developed to replace jump jets by instantly transporting one’s physical body from one place to another in an instant. However, the process isn’t exactly appealing nor comfortable, so it didn’t garner the attention of the general public. Instead, it found a home in competitive sports, namely Jetball, my personal favourite. My grandfather calls it a blend of basketball and rugby with a sprinkle of jump jets and guns on top. Well, non-lethal guns of course.

Excuse Me: The Curious Case of Singaporean Apathy

Next to kiasu-ness, one of the most well-known and self-admitted faults of the Singaporean society is, supposedly, its apathetic, ungracious attitude. Specifically, the attitude that's being attributed to for little social issues such as not giving up seats, cutting queues, impoliteness... stuff along those lines.

Why, ever since that article claiming that Singapore was the "least emotional" society in the world, it's been excessively quoted in numerous thousands of student discursive essays nationwide - including my own, yes, but I insist that was done under duress. Regardless, I think that exhibits that the reasons behind this attitude, on a nationwide basis, have been more than sufficiently discussed. I, instead, want to draw attention to something that surprisingly few people have mentioned or observed: the gaping differences across age groups when examined for this phenomenon.

The Fine Line Between Being Indifferent, and Being an Asshole

Some time back, I was embroiled in a conflict that I personally considered extremely petty, and unraveled into something much larger than it really had any business being. In the best interest of all parties involved, myself included, I don't feel like discussing the issue itself anymore. It has, however, made me ponder a lot recently - how does one go about being as objective with oneself as possible, while not being too self-critical?

Remembering Nokia, and How It Changed Our Lives

In all industries, companies rise and fall. Some, sadly, fall quicker than others, and this is perhaps no more true than in the dog-eat-dog tech industry.

Within this decade alone, we've seen Apple rise to become a giant, watched as Google spread its wings to become much more than a search company, held our breath as HP suffered the equivalent of a near-death heart attack as it announced its pullout from the PC business (only to schizophrenically do an about-turn soon after), and mourned the slow crumbling of RIM Blackberry. Even so, arguably the greatest shock arrived a mere five days ago when Microsoft announced to the world that they had purchased the entirety of Nokia's phone manufacturing business, and licensed their "Lumia" and "Asha" brand names. Nokia, as a phone company and brand, was no more.

You've probably read the news, witnessed the collective shock expressed by the many tech blogs out there. But we believe that, more than anywhere else in the world, those of us living in Asia will be the loudest mourners at Nokia's funeral - over the last few decades, Nokia has gradually built a fortress here, with an overwhelming majority of phone owners having purchased a Nokia at some point of our lives. Not seeing the familiar, two-arm logo grace another boot screen will surely be a huge mental shift for many of us.

All of us on the Suburban KID team have owned Nokias. Through this article, we'd like to offer a tribute to our "Connecting People" devices that have changed our lives, in ways both big and small.

Missing Pieces

Words by Siangling Tan
Additional writing by Terence Wang


Inspiration comes at the most unconventional and unexpected of times. Sometimes the search for it takes weeks, months, and sometimes every ounce of effort is for naught. And sometimes, it is painfully obvious, unexpected, and comes in the most unguarded moments.

Every single person who has tried creating anything - be it a piece of writing, like this very article, or a music composition, a painting, any piece of art, a dance - will undoubtedly agree.

For example, today, I suddenly started singing Bohemian Rhapsody. A search on Youtube led to a compilation of Beatles Hits, which I started listening to and singing along to like a maniac. Seriously, though, you don't want to hear me sing. And suddenly, I was overwhelmed by an enormous tsunami of inspiration.

Note to Readers #5: From the Editor

I don't think many people have noticed, but I haven't been posting much lately.

Our front page pretty much illustrates this clearly: with the exception of "Perks of Not Caring" and the previous "Note to Readers" - the latter being nothing more than a very brief update post - every other article was written by another person on the team.

In my opinion, that's not really a bad thing.

A Bottle of Shampoo

It was a stuffy, humid summer night, and after a whole day of binge-watching Homeland, I decided to take a nice, cold shower to clean up before bedtime.

I carried on with my usual routine, and when it was time to shampoo my hair, I looked to the usual spot where the bottle would always reside, and found nothing but empty air.

The Casual Hermit

Words by Gregory Goh

A hermit is someone who, by choice, lives a solitary life, withdrawing from any social activity whatsoever. Casual means informal, lacking serious interest or devotion. As such, a casual hermit would be someone who prefers to be alone, but occasionally enjoys company. This is my modus operandi whenever I play online multiplayer games, especially MMOs (short for Massively-Multiplayer Online Games).

We've Moved. Again?

Welcome to suburban-kid.com.

Yes, you read that right: the Suburban KID team is proud to announce our arrival into a new home - www.suburban-kid.com. Yay! Since October 2011, our dot.tk domain has served us well, but we ultimately needed to 'move house'. So, you might ask, why the sudden change? Here is some insight as to why we did it.

Two years ago, we acquired the dot.tk domain name because it was, essentially, free. However, being FOC had its negative connotations. One of them being the fact that dot.tk still owns "www.suburbankid.tk", meaning that it can be swapped from us at any time. Obviously, we don't want that to happen, and I believe our lovely readers share our sentiments, so we decided to acquire a different domain name. Thankfully, the team has been able to chalk up our very own "www.suburban-kid.com", and in a short period of time*, I might say.

Another problem with the dot.tk domain was that it fared badly in search, particularly Google's. It was not search engine optimized (SEO). To put it simply, Google ignored us, and almost all dot.tk sites. Make a quick search for us ("Suburban KID") on Google, and you'll know what I mean; frankly, it was quite hard for us to get our content discovered by readers.

A look at our suburbankid.tk domain will show you that we still have not gotten automatic redirection to work, yet another con of using a free domain. We hope to resolve that issue in time, but for now we hope to ask all readers manually enter this URL to access the site.

This slightly abrupt change of homes, however, presented an opportunity for Suburban KID to grow up. In the past few months, the team has already grown in numbers, adding two writers and contributors - myself and Gregory. While we have had, regretfully, too little time to welcome to Greg properly, he now has his proper place on our "The Team" page, which you can check out (trust us, it's worth it...)

With big exams coming up for all of us, we unfortunately don't have much time to contribute to Suburban KID as we'd like. Rest assured, however, that we always have things in the pipeline, now more than ever, and we're excited about what's to come, which we hope will be equally exciting to all of you once we get to work on them properly. Watch this space.


*Editor's note: we actually acquired our domain name and activated the connection between Blogger's servers and our registrar within less than a day! The redirection from suburbankid.tk to our new location was, as you can see, a whole 'nother story, which resulted in the downtime.

Note to Readers #4

It's been quite a bit since I've done these announcement posts, eh? I like to keep them short and sweet, so here we go.

Good news: We have something exciting coming up.

Bad news: We can't reveal it just yet.

Ugly news: To implement this piece of "exciting news", we will unfortunately need to temporarily go offline, at least at sporadic times between tomorrow, until completion, which we expect to be 2100 hrs (GMT +8) Tuesday, August 13. This also has the side effect of you not being able to read this message, but for those 

Tl;dr: Suburban KID *may* go OFFLINE between 0600 hrs August 11, to 2100 hrs August 13. All times listed in GMT+8.

Overachievers: The Battle Arena of Insecurity

Words by Siangling Tan

I am an Overachiever,

and an incredibly annoying smart-ass.

During the majority of the past school year, I was a bossy know-it-all who annoyed the hell out of friends and acquaintances forced to work with me.

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll say it’s the truth.

But I’m not afraid to admit it.

Butterflies In My Stomach

Words by Gregory Goh

In an ice-cold room, dressed in only a T-shirt and shorts, I sat in a corner, watching the various performances on stage during the last night of a camp. Except that I wasn’t really paying attention to the exotic dances and entertaining skits. All I knew was that I was shivering from head to toe, not because of the cold, but because I was nervous beyond compare. My heart kept pounding like bongo drums on steroids. I went through my performance in my head, thinking about what I should say and do. I totally was not prepared for it, to be honest.

I took a deep breath when I heard the applause for the previous number. “Next up, we shall have Gregory up on stage, I think he has some magic for us, is that right?” said the emcee. I stood up and nodded. Armed with only a deck of cards, a heart that is desperately trying to escape my chest cavity, and my nonexistent charisma, I shambled up on stage for my debut... as a magician.

Nexus 7: Six Months Later

Words by Matthew Chiam

                    

As some of my close friends may know, I have owned a Asus/Google Nexus 7. I got it as a Christmas present last December. Immediately after getting it, I went straight to reviewing it, which was kinda stupid, given the fact that the time I held the device only added up to a mere 5 minutes. Now, 6 months have passed and I think I have more experience with it so I decided to do a revisited post on the Nexus 7.

Perks of Not Caring

"Don't bother," said Weixin. She started stirring in her plastic Starbucks cup at a fantastically breakneck pace.  "Don't bother," she repeated, with unusual conviction. "Cliques are useless, trust me."

I sipped my frappuccino slowly, pondering about this. Without divulging the contents of conversation, as is expected of any decent friendship, I shall simply say that we were discussing...social interaction. Yup, that's probably the best way to sum it up. Although, admittedly, incredibly vague at the same time.

"I don't know," I said. "I mean, I mostly agree with you and all, but it means that sometimes you get left out, you know? They won't share stuff with you, secrets or..."

She raised her palm up, making me instinctively come to a halt.

"It's pointless anyway." More stirring.

I raised an eyebrow. Try as I might, it was hard to disagree.

Away From the Internet

Words by Matthew Chiam

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. The birds were chirping, sparkling rays of the sun shining through the windows with a glimmer of hope for the nation. The day was in fact, Malaysia's 13th general election. (Read more here). I woke up, got ready for church, and scampered off downstairs to get a better Wi-Fi signal for my phone. Eager to digest all election related comments and posts, I toggled on Wi-Fi and opened up Facebook. However, the familiar news feed was replaced by a message popup, saying "No Internet Connection". I shrugged, and checked the modem and found that the last two LED indicators were not lit. A problem with the telephone line, I thought and subsequently ignored, thinking it was only a temporary issue.

On Blogging

Here's a quick little post for those of you who are getting impatient for our next updates. (More specifically, one person - you know who you are.)

Of all the things I'm confident I can do (not many), writing is by far the oldest. I came into the blogging scene relatively late though (2009) and, frankly, it was a poor representation of what I could write. Dig up this site's old archives and you'll get what I mean. 

Actually, no, please don't. It's terribly embarrassing.

Say Hi to Our New Writer

For a long time, I've said that I wanted Suburban KID to expand.

I didn't want to have only one person writing the articles; I felt it would be more enjoyable for Suburban KID to be a collaborative work - our mission statement, after all, is to showcase how teens can do quality writing, and writing that isn't limited to youngsters for reading.

This is the first step, and I am pleased to welcome Matthew Chiam to Suburban KID.

May 6: Aftermath

I admit, initially I was disappointed too.

I was disappointed that we didn't manage to make that leap of faith, into the unknown and a probably drastically different future. It was such a chance to change things for the better.

Now, the People's Alliance/Pakatan Rakyat not only failed to take government, they lost a state too, and did not manage to retake Perak which they did win last election (although complicated matters followed...). A bad, bad day for the opposition and its supporters, then?

No. Not really.

May 5: Approaching the Crossroads of a Nation

My name is Terence Wang, a 17 year old Malaysian.

Usually, I refuse to write political posts on this site, primarily because I wanted to avoid being affiliated with any organisation or ideology. However, recent trends mean that, for once, I must break my own rules.

Tomorrow, 13.3 million voters will set out to decide the outcome on what is arguably the most contested general election Malaysia has ever had. For the first time ever, polls and surveys conducted by various institutions have decided that the race is "too close to call". In other words, these voters will be ultimately deciding the fate of what Malaysia is to become in the near and distant future.

As the heat rises by the hour, I'm taking a look back at my own journey these past few years, growing up alongside the great journey that the nation has walked over the decade, leading up to where we are today.

Leaving, Again

Today, technically speaking, was my last day at English Drama. It may also be my last day being a part of practising drama as a skill, or art.

(Now, saying that I probably won't practise drama in the future has nothing to do with the aesthetic itself; it's just a matter of my personal choices and priorities.)

REVIEW: A Dream PC

Me: “It’s here.”

Terence: “I want to congratulate you but all I can think of is ‘screw you’.”

Grace: “Yay! Pictures!”

Matt: “Photos please and do review it!”

As mentioned in the title, this will be a review of a custom PC currently taking up much of the desk in my  computer room. I received this computer as a birthday present from my dad and to a lesser extent, Terence, for he advised me A LOT on the specs of this rig. So let’s start with that.

Sleep

There's a dark shadow,
Just below my bed.
Is it not visible?
Can't you see it?

They say sleep cures all;
Your stresses, your fears, your sorrow.
Close your eyes, little child.
Be it midnight or in the middle of the day,
Let sleep take your troubles away.

Cry

Let me tell you a secret:
A secret that is neither open, nor closed,
A secret that everyone should know.

Sometimes,
When things blow up,
When shit happens,
When emotional stakes are too high for any guy to take.
I just want to sit in that corner,
Lie in that bed,
And cry.

Yet Another Pyrrhic Victory: The Making and Aftermath of "The Wasteland - Analogue Style"

I am a master - no, the master - of doing things last minute.

Take the English presentation about reviewing the literary devices used in short stories today as an example. I and Jianqing literally (and I do mean literally) finished editing our script and video within the last few minutes. And that's counting the increased time given to us for not being able to finish earlier.

That aside, what happened next was... interesting.

Follow Us By Email!

I want to apologize: I am a very poor blog administrator.

During the relaunching of Suburban KID late last year, I was very conscious about our social media efforts. Special pages were set up here and here to both promote our name and, more importantly, keep you readers nicely updated. 

But I forgot one basic, yet major element: following by email.

I Detest Social Studies.

After silently grudging it for so long, I'll finally come out and say it: I absolutely hate SS.

(For non-Singapore-resident readers, Social Studies is abbreviated to SS ~95% of the time, so I'll refer to it that way throughout this post).

(More) About Me

Before I start anything, I want to say: you guys are awesome.

No, seriously.

Guerre Sainte: An Article About Religion

Whether you believe or God or otherwise: I would like you to, just for a moment or two, imagine hell.

That is, hell in its most literal form. Full of burning flames, crumbling rock, screaming souls, what have you. Now imagine there’s a cliff that hangs precariously over this madness, just low enough so you can see and imagine what can happen to you if you’re so unlucky to trip and fall over.

Writing this article makes me feel like I’m standing on the edge of that cliff.

Hyperbole aside, there are good reasons why people tend to shy away from talking, much less writing, about religion. Probably the most sensitive subject on the planet, one slight misstep in this article will offend somebody out there.

So I beseech you, dear reader, to read the following with an open mind like never before, and hopefully this article will do something for you.

This point forward, I will criticizing many. And I’m going to split my criticism for two groups: fellow theists, and atheists, starting with the former (but I hope atheists will read it too, and vice versa).

Mädels, Part 2: Bridging the Divide

Read part 1 of Mädels here.

You know what I hate?

Umbrellas.

They're large and unwieldy. They're not exactly cheap. And they don't always do their job well; too many times have I had the unfortunate experience of returning home soaked worse than a shipwrecked pirate, even with a new, supposedly-high-quality umbrella by my side (or above me, depending on how you want to see it). And the absolute worse part: they lose themselves, so easily. I'm serious: one managed to go totally AWOL on me when I left the table for about fifteen minutes or so to meet someone. Needlessly to say, having an umbrella on me is now more of a grudging necessity than anything else.

But you know what I hate more than umbrellas? Fools. Specifically, brainwashed, society-pressured, traditionalist fools.

Why Malaysia Should Stop Trying To Be A High-Income Nation

Just recently, at the Barisan National Open House in Penang, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak reiterated his government's stand to make Malaysia a high-income nation by 2020.

By this, I assume the government means that it intends either to push up our income levels to "rich" levels, or create a much larger class of wealthy people compared to what we have today

While it is certainly comforting to dream about our future lives of fat pockets, fast cars and large bank accounts, this mindset is, to put plainly, foolish.

Emotions, Online

“@terencewang101 hey, long time no see bro... How’s life?”


On 11:44 a.m., 19 September 1982, Scott Fahlman became the first person in the world to use an emoticon.

Posted to the Carnegie Mellon University computer science general board, he was proposing characters for people to express themselves online better. In particular, their emotions. In an early digital world that communicated purely in text, Fahlman knew it would be important to have a means to replace one of the most significant parts of human interaction. And so he decided on three characters - a colon to represent the eyes, a dash for the nose, and a curved bracket for the (what else?) mouth.

I suspect, however, he never imagined the crude, yet ingenious smiley would live on to become an irreplaceable staple of the online world.

"I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:
:-)
Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends.  For this, use
:-( "