There was a cartoon. A French-Japanese collaboration. It's called Reporter Blues.
I love the theme song. I've always loved theme songs. But that one was special.
It's a bit jazzy. It went something like, "Toni was a giiiiiirl, who would change the wooooorld...always on the run. Adventures are so much fun."
It was on TV2, every Thursday, 4.30PM. When I was a kid.
When I did become a reporter, there were a lot of Tonys. Not a single Toni, just Tonys. Tony Gayodanto, Tony Fernandez, even Tony the Tiger. They did not look anything like the red-headed, feisty, French-Japanese reporter in the cartoon. And they were not girls. Though I don't know now, with today's miracle of modern science.
See, a lot of my early perceptions of life stemmed from feminine literature.
I read St Mallory's Tower(Sekolah Seri Melur), so I wanted to go to a boarding school. Which I did. Was nothing like it, with all the homosexuality and macho crap. EVEN WITH the homosexuality and the abundance of 'girls'.
And then I saw Reporter Blues, and I thought, "Man, I'd love to bang that red-headed archetype." And a few years later, I was a reporter.
But there were no red-headed French-Japanese archetypes. In fact, I'd love to fuck archetypes. And I'm not gay, so sleeping with any of the Tonys is out of the question.
What essentially stayed the same, though, were some remnants of the 'romance' of the whole thing. And when I say romance, I am not talking about Hallmark cards and the reproductive organs of plants (flowers) and stupid chocolates and cutting yourself up and stupid shit like that.
I'm talking about romance as in nostalgia. And reporters, I found, are a pretty nostalgic bunch.
The 'good old days'. It's always the 'good old days' with these people. New days are not good at all, unless they're 20 years ago.
However, sometimes, I can relate. Even today, there was an attempt to control the Press. Not necessarily bad. Not necessarily good, either. It just simply is.
The Home Ministry is trying to set up a Malaysian Media Council. Which would include bloggers and online writers.
Failing that, a Press Council - sans bloggers - or even a complaints department.
Well, whatever they want to do, can we just have writers - period - band together under one banner?
Like the Writers' Guild of America, but with more muscle with the inclusion of the Press. I don't know. Crazy idea.
The unionization of workers in Malaysia is not that great. I mean, we have CUEPACS and MTUC and of course, the NUJ, but it is currently illegal for some of these people to join or form unions. And why is that?
For some industries, if you go and work in another country, you have to sign up as a temporary or honorary union member. And give as high as 15% of your pay to the organization.
Oh well. We live in different times, man. Jimmy Hoffa's dead. Maybe there is no need to form any. Cause everything's so good.
But still, STILL, there's no red-headed French-Japanese chick by the name of Toni in ANY newspaper in Malaysia. Believe me, I've checked. Man, I'd love to bang that cartoon.
She's like Jessica Rabbit, only way smarter. And she could parachute from the Eiffel Tower using her skirt and wireframes.
Ah, the good old days. Keep on truckin'.
