Twentysomething
Jamie Cullum

After years of expensive education,
a car full of books and anticipation,
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
but the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.

Maybe I'll go travelling for a year,
finding myself or start a career.
I could work for the poor though I’m hungry for fame
we all seem so different but we're just the same.

Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat,
aren't things more easy with a tight six pack?
Who knows the answers? Who do you trust?
I can't even separate love from lust.

Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans,
working nine to five answering phones.
Don't make me live for my Friday nights,
drinking eight pints and getting in fights.

I don't want to get up, just let me lie in,
leave me alone, I'm a twenty something.

Maybe I'll just fall in love that could solve it all,
philosophers say that that’s enough,
there surely must be more. Ooooh ...

Love ain’t the answer nor is work,
the truth eludes me so much it hurts.
But I’m still having fun and I guess that's the key,
I'm a twenty something and I'll keep being me.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

I’m a twenty something.
Let me lie in, leave me alone.
I’m a twenty something.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

Contemporary Literature

daily phone calls

Australasian Literature: Colonial to 1945

attempting to sleep better

Introduction to Magical Realism

(and eat better)

European Literature

remembering God

Advanced Victorian Literature & Culture

Gregory Wee notes that Sepet “create[s] a sense of insecurity in the social, cultural and political construct of Malayness”. In so doing, Sepet causes the viewer to confront essentialist notions of racial or ethnic identity as well. The title of the movie comes from the phrase “mata sepet”, which means “slit-eyes”. Indeed, as I have shown, the film foregrounds the narrow perception of race that people tend to succumb to, for example, the “crass Chinese businessman [and] the comic Indian character” (Khoo, “Art”). Sepet also highlights how fine the dividing line between races is. At the end of Sepet, Orked’s father says, “I truly believe this boy’s not suitable”. Orked’s mother, however, compares his response to her own experience with her late father, who said the “exact words when [she] told him [she] wanted to marry” her husband. Orked’s mother chooses to focus on Orked’s love relationship with Jason rather than focusing on Jason’s race. Another value espoused in the movie is “honour among friends”. Keong chides Jason for letting him walk home alone; in so doing, Jason was unable to help Keong, who was attacked by Jimmy’s gang. Keong points out that “even Orked understands” this sentiment. These scenes show that values such as love and friendship cut across racial lines. As Yasmin Ahmad writes in her notes about Sepet, “I have always found, without fail, that racism was just surface stuff”. Sepet reminds us that we need to go deeper and realise our common humanity.

Steamed fish with ginger slices and lots of dried Chinese mushrooms and wood-ear mushrooms,
a drizzle of light soy sauce and oil, and Nyonya sauce spread atop the fish.